Diplomacy Snippet 2

Well! I sent Diplomacy off to Goodlifeguide.com for formatting, and it came back in 3 hours, a new record. Wow!

So, I'm going to post snippets today and tomorrow and then publish the manuscript. :)

So, next snippet!

Still in chapter 1:

Lieutenant JG Clay Petrov nodded to his squad of Raiders as they settled down for the briefing. He had recently been promoted off of the heavy cruiser Marlin when she'd gotten to port. He'd taken his squad with him.

They'd run all of the sims on the base on the way out. The Drua class ship they were on was nicely outfitted with sim rooms to be used as shoot houses. It also had extensive and some would say lavish computer support to allow them to run virtual sims and intelligence processing activities.

He looked over to Sergeant Jared Morales. The Neochimp Marine crossed his arms and wiggled his lips slightly as if he was suppressing a smile, which he probably was. Everyone was excited and eager.

“Okay, by now you've all read the plans and could probably navigate them in your sleep,” the lieutenant said, surveying the group. There was a chuckle from the assembly. “Tough.” That earned a groan. “We've got three days to practice and prep, and I'm going to make sure we got it down cold. Now …”

“~~^V^~~”

Captain Fargus sighed heavily as the frantic calls came in about the activity at the Cenarius jump point. He nodded, keeping his cool. “Well, there goes the neighborhood. Party's over. It's time to leave.”

“Where do we go?” Commander Ashton asked. The Neochimp was scared; you could smell the fear in the air. The chimp's fur was practically standing on end. He looked like he was full of static energy.

“Go? Away. Wherever they aren't,” the captain said scathingly. He'd taken command of the base when others had fled. He'd wanted to make sure his ship was ready and fully stocked. Besides, the base had seemed like a safe place to hide until the Feds had shown up to ruin it.

“And how do we do that? They took Tortuga, remember? And Dead Man's Hand! Where do we run? South, we run into their arms. West is the same problem. If we get past them in the west, we run into the Tauren Confederation!”

“North then or east,” the Tauren said gruffly.

A concentrated effort had been placed in getting every ship that could fly back into operational condition by the crews of those ships. Some ships that been berthed for years had been hastily restored. Some ships in the bone yards had also been put into service. There had been an unhealthy competition for parts and crew, to the point of poaching and the occasional shanghai. Fistfights had devolved into outright battles until he had put a stop to it by insisting on the code, that all disputes be settled in the arena. Anyone who started a fight outside of a good-natured brawl would walk the plank.

A few examples had gotten discipline more or less restored. But that had been a thin veneer, a calm before the storm. Now it was all being pealed back as the Federation arrived to kick them out once and for all.

Some ships were ready and eager to go. Some ships and crews were desperate and not ready. And they were screaming bloody murder about that. Already some crew had jumped ship for better ships, sometimes taking more than just their bodies and skills with them.

Again, ugly. Not really his problem as long as his cruiser wasn't picked apart in the strife.

Forty-two ships were already getting underway. He ignored the griping from the cargo masters and port crews. They were bitching but some were trying to get onto those same ships. He wished them the best of luck. His Broadzilla was all buttoned up and cleared to get underway. He had to get to the last shuttle to depart shortly.

The chief engineer knew that the ship had a kill switch. If he wasn't on board, she would flameout when they tried to get underway. Which was probably why Billy was calling every five minutes with requests for him to get moving.

“North means we have to go through Dead Man's Hand. A gauntlet since they took that star system. East means we're stuck in a loop. No ship has come back after going east. They have to have pickets and ships protecting the star systems in that direction. It is the gateway to Rho after all.” He paused to look around with a bleak look. “And no one wants to take the long jump to Rho since the Feds are on the other side.” the chimp XO said with a scowl. “So, what do we do? Where can we go?”

“We'll figure it out later! For the moment, we need to be anywhere but here. Got it?” the Tauren glared at his XO, drumming his fingers on the hilt of his sword.

The chimp's brown eyes widened and then he bobbed an earnest nod.

The Tauren crossed his arms as he watched chaos unfold. They really should have prepared better, trained, ran a few drills, anything but this. He shook his head wearily. Too late now he thought.

Ashton wasn't wrong he mused. The navy had come in from Cenarius, which meant the Tortuga route was well and truly out. Tau-42Z15 to the northeast was possible, but it led to Tau-49436 or one other jump point as the commander had pointed out.

Tau-OX22 to the south was tricky to navigate; the star system had once been an O class star, which had been an anchor point for a hyper bridge. They might be able to lose any pursuit in the star system since it was new to the navy and it was filled with radiation and debris. It did leave a lot of options though. Unfortunately, he was fairly certain that option led to Federation controlled space.

The Tauren bull's lips puckered in bitter irony. North it was, he thought. Tau-49436 was appropriately named “Hell's Last Chance.” From there they could double back and go east to Tau-42Z15 or northwest around the loop. When they got to TauG9-37, the destroyed star system, the only way out would be to jump the destroyed star system chain. They could skirt Tortuga's northern flank, get around it and then hook up to get past any force at Dead Man's Hand.

In other words, the greatest chance of survival was to the north. But they had to get there first.

He opened his mouth to pass on the order but then stopped himself. If he did it now, it would get other ships to go since there was theoretically safety in numbers. But it would mean that the navy would see it and no doubt send a courier to their forces to move to stop them. If everyone scattered, the navy would have to break up into smaller units to run them down.

He nodded ever so slightly as he closed his mouth. Yes, as much as it pained him, the pirate code was clear, every man for himself.

“Fight to run away,” he said. “All hands, grab what ye can. Anything not nailed down and then to the ships!”

“Ar!” Commander Ashton said, pumping a fist into the air. “Last man fights the enemy alone! Move ye scurvy dogs!” the Neochimp said, whipping them into further action.

Captain Fargus snorted. The Neochimp turned and eyed him. “Too much?”

“No, just about right I think,” the Tauren said dryly.

“~~^V^~~”