We the People publishing... now!

Yup, got it in yesterday and decided to roll it out.

  Twenty-eight years after the First Terran Interstellar War the galaxy is exploding with life. The Terran Confederation has risen in prominence to become the galactic policeman of the era. Terran scientists and engineers are busy terraforming worlds all across the galaxy.

The one threat on the Confederation's horizon is the growing threat of piracy. The pirates become bold enough to strike openly at targets in the Confederation, forcing the government to act to secure the frontier.

But something else is afoot with the alien governments. Many are aware of a coming ancient threat and forces conspire to push them into banding together with the Confederation for mutual survival...

As usual I'll post the links to Amazon and B&N when they go live...

EDIT:
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07SZ9BXC9

Thanks Bitcreator!

B&N: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/books/1132046681?ean=2940161212585

The Fusion Furnace

So, I sorta fell off the wagon as far as snippets are concerned, sorry about that. :)

Anyway, the topic of this post is the Fusion Furnace. What's that you ask? Well, I'm glad you did.
It is this little doo-dad right here:

Yup, that is a screengrab from Star Wars Empire Strike's Back.
That not so little gizmo is a portable generator Luke uses to recharge R2-D2.

I found it on Thingiverse and decided to give it a go.

I ended up going to the maker's blog to see how he assembled it and what extra parts to get.
This morning I glued the last tube on and declared it complete:

The clear tubes do not fit in as well as I'd like. I resized the ends to work with what I have so that's on me.
Yes it lights up. Instead of hand wiring LED's I went the cheap lazy route and bought a string of yellow LEDs and glued them inside. There is a battery pack glued on the bottom.

So, another Star Wars prop completed. :)

...Oh, in other news, I received We the People and will publish it tomorrow... if I don't get interrupted that is!

We the People Snippet 3

Still in Chapter 3:

"They know we're here," the communications rating stated.

The captain grunted. His ship was one of the most modern ships in the growing pirate fleet. He fully intended to make sure she was also the best trained, and his people were trained to his exacting standards.

It was a little ironic that he took a lot of his knowledge from his time in the navy. But, he didn't have to answer to anyone but himself for his decisions. He rather liked that arrangement.

"Then let's get this show moving," the captain growled. "Transmit the demand to surrender."

"We're not going to fire a warning..." the TO paused at the glower from the captain. "I mean aye sir," he said quickly.

"Better," the captain growled, eyes narrowing at the near questioning of his orders. He'd considered all options up to and including pretending to be a tramp freighter to get in close. He'd chosen this one because he wanted to put the fear into the sheep and let his crew savor it. He wanted the noobs, the polliwogs to have a proper taste of what they were in for to harden them for what was to come.

He watched as the flag came up and was transmitted to the station along with the audio demand to surrender.

He was curious to know if the sheep knew the historical reference to the flag. On old Earth it had meant 'no quarter'.

He was rather looking forward to educating the commander about that reference before he spaced her along with the rest of her sheep.

(^)#(^)

"What do we do?" Doctor Do asked as the command team gathered once more. They'd all had a chance to hear the audio recording and see the single image of a pirate flag. It hadn't gone well. Panic was spreading throughout the station as word spread of the pirates.

If they only knew that the flag meant no quarter, they'd really freak, Aeyrn thought. She realized a part of her mind was disengaged from the situation and quite possibly looking at it from a tactical view. She had already come to the conclusion though that they were hopelessly screwed.

Not that she was going to completely admit that. At least, not at first. She didn't want anyone doing anything stupid.

"If we roll over they'll just board us right? Take what they want and then leave?" Monique asked, lower lip quivering. She shivered.

"They can't leave any witnesses," Sho said. "They can't let the galaxy know who did this. We're dead men walking," he said from his place in engineering.

"Tell me you have something! Anything!" Monique said, voice rising into a shrill demand.

He shook his head. "I wish I did. They are staying beyond the moons. They are way out of range of the beams."

"It's space! Nothing like an atmosphere to occlude them right?" she demanded.

"It's not that simple," Doctor Do stated. "Ranginui, show her," he ordered.

An image of the laser satellites came up. "The solar collectors are diffuse. They mirrors beam the solar energy to collectors and then to others and then to the main beam. We tried flipping the beam satellite but that disrupts the line of sight of the collection beams. I'm trying to get that sorted out but it takes time."

"And moving the satellites has been noted. That's why they are staying out of range," Aeyrn stated.

"How do you know?" Monique demanded.

"Because, they altered course and speed. And it's what I'd do," she said evenly, crossing her arms.

The other woman's eyes widened briefly, and then her brows knit in anger and rage.

"I was a naval officer remember?" Aeyrn said evenly. "We can't run. We can't fight back. There is one last option."

"It is an act of defiance," Ranginui. "The company will not like the wholesale destruction," he reminded her.

"They can bill me," she said, jutting her chin out.

"You are talking about the self-destruct," Sho said in a stunned voice. "Has it really come to that?"

"There are six hundred people on this station!" Monique protested. Her voice cut above the others as they all protested.

Aeyrn rode it out. When they finally settled down she stared them down. "I don't see any other options people. We're quite frankly out of them. All but one," she said.

"Nice of you to say that given you are single and your kid isn't even here. Some of us had our whole lives ahead of us," Monique said bitterly.

Aeyrn gave her a cold look. "Look, I didn't want this either. But, I'll compromise. I'll let anyone who wants evacuate to the surface go before I set it off."

"And what, live a day or two there? At best a week?" Sho asked.

"Yes. They are not taking this station," Aeyrn stated. "No way no how," she said flatly.

"Some choice," Monique said bitterly.

"Do you have a better idea?" Doctor Do asked.

"We all have to choose between a clean death or being tortured, or dying slowly on the surface. Not many get a choice at all. I for one do not," Ranginui stated. "I'll take a clean death."

"And what, we're supposed to be thankful?! Where's the damn navy when you need them!" Monique demanded, starting to get hysterical as the terror of the hopeless situation hit her full force.

"Elsewhere obviously! They probably scouted the navy, saw their routine and timed this attack!" Sho said with a shake of his head.

(^)#(^)

We the People Snippet 2

Not much of a sitrep, so here we go!

Skipping to Chapter 3:

Chapter 3

 

Alpha-G7-449351 star system

 

Captain Ivan 'the Terrible' Drakov watched his bridge crew as they slowly crossed the star system. His ship the Rosebud was a privateer, a converted freighter turned into a pirate ship with the addition of some off the shelf military hardware as well as some cobbled together weapons, shields, and other equipment.

He longed for the days when he'd had a proper warship under his boots. He'd been drummed out of the navy and was still bitter over being court-martialed and brigged. It had been stupid but he'd learned his lesson and had schemed to reach the point he was at now. And, because he'd had military grade implants and geriatric stabilization treatments, he was assured of living a long life.

To fulfill his plan he made judicious use of the stasis pods on his ship. He had calculated that if he used them properly he could stretch out his life span almost indefinitely. Sleeping in stasis beat the boredom of being on the ship during long stretches between ports.

Each successful strike added to his growing bank account and to his adopted clan. Eventually they'd be able to get to the point where he'd have his dream of having a proper warship again.

And then, oh, and then, he thought with a vicious grin. "Watch out galaxy," he murmured as his ship set her sights on his latest prize to be.

(^)#(^)

Although the terraforming station had the bulk of their satellites pointed to the ground and their work, that didn't mean they didn't have a series of satellites in geosynchronous orbit to relay communications, as well as satellites inward toward the sun to monitor it for activity. Mapping the solar cycle was a part of their package that took years of data.

Mapping the skies to make sure there were no inconvenient rocks that would hit and destroy all of their hard work was another part of the package. And one satellite, Echo-44 found something. Its computers analyzed the images and then sent it to the station for further processing.

It didn't take long for the station A.I. to note the anomaly was a starship. He dutifully logged the information and brought it to the station command team when they gathered for their daily meeting.

Aeyrn was at first interested in the contact but stiffened when she noted there was no ID. Nor had anyone announced the arrival.

"That's funny," Monique stated.

"What is?" Sho asked, sounding bored.

"The ship coming in. She's not giving off an IFF."

"What ship? Someone want to run that one past me again a little slower?" Sho demanded. He'd been focused on his implants as usual and hadn't been paying attention to the briefing. That was an ongoing problem with him, he was there physically but mentally he was checked out. He'd then complain that he hadn't been clued in to changes or no one had reminded him.

Aeyrn had taken to video recording things and then sending him the files to rub his nose into his inattentiveness.

"Could it be the resupply ship or an inspector?" Doctor Do asked carefully.

We're sure it's not Perth running a stupid drill and pranking us?" Sho demanded.

"No."

"One person at a time people," Aeyrn said evenly. She studied the readings but felt something grow cold within her. Ranginui's back trace said that the unknown came from the general vicinity of the jump points but not either one. And they were trying to come in stealthy so that said they were being cute.

Plus, she knew Klaus. He wouldn't pull a stunt like this. An inspection or supply ship would have come in broadcasting an IFF.

"Is it a false reading? A rock?"

"It's not a rock, it is slowing down," the A.I. pointed out.

"I see that," Aeyrn stated quietly.

"Where's the navy when we need them?" Sho asked caustically. You could strip paint with his tone.

"Obviously elsewhere. They waited until Perth was long gone before they waltzed in," Aeyrn said softly.

The others were quiet. Finally, Doctor Do cleared his throat. "You believe it is a pirate then," he said in a voice that said he'd come to that conclusion as well.

She nodded eyes still on the holographic image of the intruder. "It is the only thing that fits."

"What can we do?" Doctor Do asked.

"Do? Dick all," Sho scoffed. "We're fracked. They won't allow any witnesses," he said with a shake of his head.

"Can you... turn the laser satellites around? Use them to attack them?" someone asked, clearly trying to think out of the box.

"Sho, look into that."

"We don't have the means to target them."

"Flip the observation satellites too. Figure something out," Aeyrn ordered. That would keep her people busy as she tried to formulate some other response. "And look into evacuating the station."

The room broke into chatter of disbelief over that idea.

"Where?" Sho said, booming voice cutting over the chatter and silencing many protests. "To the planet? It's mostly geologically active. I don't know of much that isn't currently covered in slowly cooling lava," he reminded her.

"Somewhere is better than here," she said, shaking her head. "Just give me options," she said firmly.

Sho grimaced but then nodded.

(^)#(^)

We the People Snippet 1

First up, sitrep:
I finished The Gaia Project last week. I put the last minute touches on the cover and I'm off this week (more or less) for grads and parties.

I just sent Rea We the People and sent out a Beta blast for The Gaia Project.

FYI, the current schedule is centered around finishing the Founding time period this year. I've had complaints that I've got too many irons (series) in the fire and I need to cut back. So, we're going to knock out the Founding series and you'll see some more foundation work for the Ragnarok and Irons time. (and these books have more Easter Eggs!)

I've had another request for a print copy of my books. (and my family asked for 1 too when I mentioned it to them) The reason I don't print... okay, there are 3 reasons.

1: I have to format each book. Which costs $$$ per book. I don't trust the auto-formatting.

2: Amazon won't let me do a proof copy to make sure the bugs are out. (Some of you have seen that in my e-books) I don't want to be dinged because someone doesn't like a typo, or if something gets messed up in the print process. (like a missed highlight, or overrun, or whatever) They charge me for returns for that sort of stuff.

3: the profit margin is scary small. For my books (which are apparently big) something like Convoy would cost $15 for a paperback. I'd get $0.05 per copy in royalties, (yes, not kidding, 5 cents!) and lose money (I mean pay in) for over seas sales to the tune of $0.50 per copy in some countries, $1 in others.

So, no, not going to happen. I'd love to have a printed copy of each of my books (despite not having room in my library) but nope.
So, there you have it. When some of those factors change I'll reconsider it.

Anyway, here is the first snippet from We the People:

Chapter 1

April 4, 2284

 

Alpha-G7-449351 star system, Alpha sector

 

Station Commander Aeyrn Glock made her way through the station, nodding on occasion to those she passed but with a resolute face that forbade others to approach her. She had the expression of polite interest but I'm busy come back later was the subtext.

Just about everyone on the station got it. Well, almost everyone, Toshido was clueless when he had something on his mind. A bomb could go off next to him and he'd be single minded about something or other. Sho the station's massive chief engineer didn't give a damn, if he had a problem that needed her attention he brought it to her as he was supposed to do.

She ran a hand through her short cropped hair as she got into the lift. "Command center," she ordered. She needed a trim, but not quite yet.

Alpha-G7-449351 was a star system on the outer edge of the Alpha sector, near the edge of Gamma. It was along the Orion spiral arm and well away from the known areas that other species tended to inhabit or pass through, just what the client had specified.

She had once been a naval officer before she'd seen the light and gotten out. She had gotten an education though, and her brief career allowed her some perks. That included respect from those who were currently in the navy or those who still looked up to such things.

Other than Sho she'd been in LGM's field station department the longest. Well, no, that wasn't quite true, she thought, reminding herself that Ranginui had them both beat.

Ranginui was a dumb A.I. originally created to manage the station. As more and more computers were brought on to handle the process of terraforming, the A.I. had grown with it.

Ranginui had named himself after the Maoiri patriarch of creation also known as the Sky Father. Rather appropriate given that he was in the core of the space station orbiting their current project.

The station was massive, a series of cylinders and spheres over a 3 kilometers long with a crew of 600 organics. The crew was there to maintain and occasionally service and refurbish the network of satellites orbiting the planet in a dense grid.

Over the years since Lagroose Industries had started terraforming exoworlds, LGM and her competitors had improved the process. Lagroose had gotten lucky with Pyrax and a few of their other conquests. LGM preferred to rely on steady careful work and hard science and engineering to get the job done.

Which was where Commander Glock's people came in. Chief Sho managed engineering for her. He oversaw not only the station's engineering spaces but every maintenance shop and shed as well as the overhaul of every satellite, shuttle, tug, and barge they had.

Her lips pursed as she arrived at her destination. The doors opened and she paused to make sure no one was going to barge in on her as what had happened last week before stepping out.

She missed Jenny her daughter. Her daughter was a teenager and a handful for her parents despite already being in college at the tender age of 15. It was one reason why she'd accepted the posting despite the ban on children.

It hurt, missing Jenny, but it was what it was. Jenny was where she needed to be, and keeping busy on the station was fine with her. Since many of the stationers were in stable relationships she didn't have to worry about the dating scene.

Even if her mother and sister tended to twitter her about the lack of prospective replacements for Ben. She had no intention of replacing Ben anytime soon, and certainly not with some absent minded egghead or tech.

She nodded to the personnel near the door as she strode onto the command deck. A quick survey told her everything was fine, not that she'd expected anything different. On the left of the main screen was the planet statistics. The right was a series of graphs from the various satellites in orbit. Telemetry feeds that hardly made sense to most organics since they were scrolling so fast.

The main holographic emitter normally had an image of the planet. At the moment it had an image of the plot with a zoomed in image of a familiar looking naval ship.

"Talk to me," she ordered.

"IFF confirms it is Perth ma'am," Ranginui stated flatly.

"Ah," she said with a nod, not that she'd expected much else. Sure they were on the butt end of nowhere but there could always be the unexpected visitor in the form of a tramp freighter, alien, or someone else.

Someone not as friendly to see for instance.

Visits from the Confederation navy's light cruiser Perth were supposed to ease the anxiety of the crew and her corporate backers. Captain Stuart was so punctual they could practically set their watch by his scheduled arrival time.

"We're getting the usual canned greeting," the A.I. reported.

"Understood. Send them our regards and the latest report on the planet."

"Yes ma'am," the A.I. replied. It had taken him a bit of processing time to understand that particular bit of humor between the organics. Captain Stuart's open message asking about when the mountains would be open to skiing had finally clued him in.

(^)#(^)

Captain Klaus Stuart was not on his bridge when he got the reply from the station. Quite the contrary, since the reply would most likely take hours to get to his ship on the outskirts of the star system he'd gone about his daily business.

He was unsurprised by the weather report on the planet. Aeyrn had taken to twittering him about that, their shared little joke. Based on the current readings though they were getting down there. If it wasn't just a trick of the weather and the temperatures was average it looked like the terraformers might stay on schedule.

Which was good for them. It would also mean his routine visits to the planet might get more interesting in a few more years when they moved on to the next phase, bioforming.

It was always nice to see a planet turned from a lifeless mudball or iceball into a habitable world ripe for colonists. He knew companies like LGM loved the work. They certainly profited enough from it.

LGM and their competitors had perfected the art of terraforming planets, dwarf planets, and even large moons. If it was big enough and anywhere near the goldilocks zone of a star system they could turn it into a new Eden.

As long as the client's checks cleared that was.

With the current set up they could terraform a world in 30 years or less. It turned out that having a manned crew plus plenty of A.I. and orbital support helped. Of course it was easier to terraform a world that was already partially to where they wanted it to be. And it always worked out for the best if the planet had a magnetosphere and near 1 G to work with.

The stationers managed the entire system of satellites and robots. Technically an A.I. like Ranginui did most of the heavy lifting, the organics were there to keep things running smoothly or to interpret the data and add their own intuitive processes into the mix.

Once LGM handed off the planet the station and most of the satellites would be pulled out by a series of large freighters. They'd be staged somewhere, most likely a central depot to be refurbished before being returned to service and transported to the next candidate world to start the entire process all over again.

About half of the science and observation satellites would remain in orbit to keep tabs on the planet as it underwent its final metamorphosis. He'd read that LGM had been burned when a planet had backslid after a team had thought it was fully 'cooked'.

He checked the status. They had another three days before they arrived in orbit and could check in more thoroughly with the stationers. He knew that Aeyrn was looking forward to the break in the otherwise boring and dull routine.

He sat back in his office chair. It was a bit thread bare, he had rigger tape on one arm rest but it fit him. Trying to get another or even parts for it was a pain in the ass.

Sure, engineering could and frequently did make some replacement parts with their 3D printers, CNC machines, and other equipment in the machine shops. But the basic stock had to be accounted for. In the current penny pinching red tape mood of the navy, he'd rather put up with the lumpy thing and annoying squeak rather then get drowned in paperwork.

Just like he'd more or less resigned his career to being a patrol cruiser captain. It beat sitting in an office somewhere, or drummed out onto the street with little prospect for a job commanding a vessel.

He glanced at the ship status board and then stretched. Andrea was planning a series of drills in the morning so he might as well catch some rest while he could before they began.

(^)#(^)