Expect it out by this weekend.
Loose Ends is done, the cover is done (I'll post it later) and I've passed it to the Betas.
In other news, my CR-10 is down, I had problems so I decided to bite the bullet and get an all metal hot end. Dummy me I went with a cheap Chinese knock off and it bit me. I'm returning it today and a better one is coming in.
I also bollixed the wiring on one of my other printers, I tried to fix a broken wire again and goofed by putting too much solder on. It wired 4 connections together and I can't get it cleaned off. I'm trying to figure that one out now. I may need a new wiring harness, or at least cut the wires and rewire them to a different connector.
So, between that and someone else monopolizing the workbench, and the heat, I haven't gotten any progress on the droid or other projects. :P
So, this hasn't been a productive week... yet.
I think I'm going to have a character do that just to make someone else feel my pain. lol
Chapter 3
Epsilon
131 Base
Orders were cut and passed for a light
cruiser to picket the Third Earth star system. Commodore Butterworth received
the orders and scowled blackly at them. It was the last thing he wanted to see;
he only had a single six ship squadron scattered on patrols. Losing one of them
would turn his carefully crafted schedules into hash.
But, orders were orders. Which didn't mean
he had to like it nor did Captain Roper Calvert when he cut the orders to the
light cruiser captain.
“Sir?” the captain said when the call went
through.
“That was fast,” the Neodog flag officer
said dryly. The yellow lab flicked his ears. “Read the orders that quickly, did
you?”
“Sorry, sir, it's just …”
“It's just you don't think Gloucester
can handle the job, Roper?” They had served together for a few years, and the
captain had eaten at the commandant's table when his ship was in port.
Roper's lips twitched but he didn't flare
or otherwise growl. “No, sir. We can handle it. I'm just wondering about why
we're stuck on babysitting duty when there is a war on.”
The lab nodded his head. “Fair enough.
Since you didn't read why the planet is quarantined, let me give you the 4-1-1
on the nature of the mission and the reason for the quarantine since I don't
have anything better to do,” he said.
That did get Roper to flush slightly. “I
can read about it, sir.”
“No, this one I think you should hear from
me,” the Neodog said, yellow eyes flickering. “You've been through Third Earth,
right?” Roper nodded.
“Well, somehow, in some way, a legacy of
Earth's past came back to haunt the colonists recently. We don't know how it
showed up there, or why, or what it means, but a very dangerous … let's call
him a general with a war crimes history showed up out of the desert.”
“Showed up? A war crimes offender? And we
can't just pick him up?” the captain asked, wrinkling his nose.
“Not when you think about it. This guy
fought and died in the last war on Earth,” the Neodog said softly. That made
the captain sit up straight. The Neodog nodded. “That's right. It seems he died
on Earth. We've confirmed that six ways to Sunday. But now, he's back haunting
the very people who were sent on the suicide mission to kill him.”
“Earth … the last war … war crimes … you
mean a creature of Skynet?”
The Neodog's ears flicked. “Now you are
catching on. Any other problems with the assignment, Captain?”
Captain Calvert shook his head
emphatically no. “No, sir, we'll get it done. I'll need supplies though since
I'm under the understanding that we can't land.”
The commodore nodded. “I think we can
arrange to stuff you to the deck heads,” he said with an amused ear flick.
“Just don't tell the bean counters.”
The captain cracked a smile. “I won't if
you won't, sir.”
“Well, as it happens I have to but you'll
be long gone by the time they take notice … hopefully. Just don't go hog wild.”
“I'll try to leave the caviar behind,
sir,” the captain said with a gracious nod.
“Yes, definitely leave the fish eggs,” the
dog said, scratching behind one large floppy ear. “Anything else?”
“No, sir. We'll get on it.”
“Good. Get underway soon. Out,” the flag
officer ordered and then cut the channel.
)=+=(
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