Loose Ends

Sitrep:
So, Goodlifeguide contacted me this morning, we're back on track with Loose Ends.

PRI 2 Hostage Rescue is in the hands of the last 2 Betas. We'll see how it goes.
Speaking of Hostage Rescue, here is the cover:

It was an interesting project. I've already got the threads and plot for the next book. (and it is going to be a doozy!)

In other news, I'm back to writing after a somewhat productive week off. I finished 1 Christmas project, started 1, I have a V3 reindeer frame printing now after spending the weekend redesigning it, and made minor progress on the droid.
I even experimented with PETG and managed to print the pulley tensioners. But it messed my CR-10 up. I just got it back to normal.
I got the parts in to fix the Da Vinci Pro. That will be a project to fix. I want to use that to print the TPU and PETG stuff from now on.
But, as I said, I started writing. The next book is another anthology of short stories, these all in the Irons time period in the Engineer Universe. That should make some people happy. :) The first story is nearly half finished. I'm shooting for 8-10, hopefully completing 2 a week if I can swing it. There are 17 in the folder so there are still a few more to be cut from the list. (There were 25!)

On to the snippet!

Still in Third Earth:

<O>^<O>

Tygra checked the new base setup and then looked over to the shuttle. It didn't stay long; it couldn't since the jarheads had tried to appropriate it twice.

The new base was further back than the one he, Panthro, and the others had built. They'd thought the army would have taken that one too, but Colonel Heiser had other ideas. He'd set up on a outcrop of rock a couple dozen kilometers away from their old base that the Marines had taken over.

At one point, his people had considered it, but he'd discarded it since the slope had been too much to easily use for the shuttle. The army had brought in their combat engineers to solve that problem, much to his envy and secret disgust.

The new base was supposed to serve as a resupply base. That was its official purpose on paper at any rate.

What they were really doing with it was a bit different. Veterans had come forward but they'd been rusty. They were being retrained at the base. Retrained and rearmed with a mix of found and manufactured improvised weapons. The majority of the group were cats of course, many from their old unit—those that had survived the last pyramid assault on Earth that was.

Many still had nightmares about it. And none were happy that a copy had appeared here, on their adopted homeworld. And all were vehemently united in their desire to remove the bloat from their home once and for all.

After all, they owed the next generation that much, to get it right.

Even if they had to do it all over again, with, or perhaps without the official help of the military.

Panthro's scheme might break the stalemate they had all found themselves stuck in. The Marine and army battalions had been stymied by the pyramid for too long. Burrowing under the energy shield and its guns seemed like the only logical option they had left.

Now it was up to Roberts to accept the damn report.

<O>^<O>

Lieutenant Colonel Schultz Heiser nodded in approval as his people moved around the base with order and efficiency.

He'd read the latest proposal from the native cats and approved. He'd even offered the services of his combat engineers, but that had been nixed by Colonel Roberts. He found that knee-jerk reaction petty. Roberts was keen on remaining in command. He knew why; they both wanted their combat ticket punched.

He was pretty sure the stiff-necked jarhead would see the way the wind was blowing and fall in line. Which was why he was ramping up his combat engineers and prepping them to move in to support.

The big black cat's plan wasn't without its flaws. He knew it couldn't be done alone though; it would take more than just the tunnel machine the cats had bodged together on that tank. Supports were going to be needed, plus a way to keep back the sand. It wasn't rock they were tunneling through after all.

His people were working on that or so they said.

He whistled tunelessly as he decided to go drop in on them and check and make sure they really were doing as they said.

<O>^<O>