Hold the Line is publishing now!

 So, sorry for the delay, it was out of my hands.

Still, it is being published before the long weekend, so there is that. :)

  In other news, I finished the second comic last night and it has been proofread once and will be sorted out and then sent to the rest of the Betas soon.

On to the book!

   The war in Tau sector continues to boil as the Federation struggles to fend off the Tauren Confederation. The Taurens have taken losses but that has only made them angrier. They've worked to consolidate their territorial gains while finding ways to redress the balance back in their favor.

  Vice Admiral Shelby Logan can see a light at the end of the long tunnel but she still has to lead her people there… and survive!

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0B2L1197D

B&N: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/hold-the-line-chris-hechtl/1141570672?ean=2940185595046

Rest In Peace

 I received a text before sunrise this morning that my Aunt Cindy has unfortunately passed away.

  She battled various cancers over the past few years. She was always a feisty fighter though, and rose to each challenge with the love and support of her husband and family. This last battle unfortunately she didn't win. But she fought valiantly and she will be missed.

...Especially her cheekiness as seen here when I texted her "Happy Birthday Blondy," back in 2019. lol

Rest In Peace

Shelby 6 Snippet 6

 Sitrep:

So, Rea sent me the book back this morning. I just finished the edits and I'm about to shoot it off to Goodlifeguide for final formatting.

I also just uploaded the short teaser promo video I did to Youtube:

   In other news, I'm still working on the comic and R2. I'm printing some replacement parts now. Also, for some reason I'm being aggressively spammed by phone scammers this morning. Apparently Mark Rober's pranks got didn't stop them. I am getting calls every 2-5 minutes on my land line claiming Amazon has a $999 Iphone in my cart and I need to respond to them. lol

Ugh. Luckily I'm not in write mode so I'm not tearing what little hair I've got left out. 

Anyway... on to the snippet!

Chapter 5

 

TauR7-21

 

Commander Bluenose watched his boss warily. He'd liked the idea of being Admiral Yen's chief of staff since it was an out-of-the-way assignment in the northern reaches of the confederation. A nice place for his family to set down roots for a while. His wife hadn't been happy about being far away from the moving and shaking initially, but she had finally admitted that she liked being able to have a stable home.

Admiral Yen was known as a hoof-dragging old bull, stuck in the past. The recent changes had thrown him several times. The commander mentally shuddered as to how the admiral would have reacted if he'd been somewhere else, like say, in Purple Nights.

The admiral reacted badly to change and to new orders. So getting someone from the Admiralty asking stupid questions and demanding results for things out of their control had him in what the commander privately called a tizzy.

“What do they expect out of me? Miracles? No, we don't have any reports from the northern attack force! Damn it, if we get them, we'd pass them on! Why do they keep asking shit they should know?” he complained caustically.

“I'm certain it is just someone covering themselves, Herd Leader. They have to know we'd pass on the report if a ship came in. They might think the report was misplaced on their end.”

The bull's nostrils flared as he digested that soothing platitude.

“Maybe,” he rumbled after a moment. He looked away, clearly disgusted with the overall situation. “It's not like we don't have the same problem, waiting,” he said with a shake of his massive head. “I can't do anything about that. If we send ships out to see if there is a courier in transit, they might miss them. I'd get called out on waste by the IG's office,” he threw his hands up in the air in frustration.

“There are a few things we can be working on, Herd Leader.”

“Like what?”

“Well, you wanted more training with the new units …”

“Which we don't have.”

“There are some in the pipeline …”

“But we have to expedite their movement.”

“Yes, Herd Leader. But we do have access to the simulators and sim packages. We also have some of the intelligence reports from the early engagements. If we toss those over to intel and operations, they can throw some training packages together for our people to go over. Briefing material too.”

The admiral grimaced as he considered that for a moment. Slowly he began to stroke his beard, a sign he was calming down and actually considering the idea objectively. “They'd be out of date,” he finally rumbled.

“We … can use the latest intel we have and petition the Admiralty to see what is still up to date and what needs to be corrected. They occasionally send us reports. They've been more on us about progress as of late. Isn't it time we get on them to send us material to better prepare?” the chief of staff asked slyly.

The admiral slowly nodded. “You may be on to something. At the least it will deflect whoever is on our case and get them on someone else's.”

The commander nodded in relief as he began to mentally outline what they needed to do and the most diplomatic way of requesting updates he could manage.

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Perfect Mountains

 

Retired Admiral Kox was not thrilled at the crew who had arrived to gut a section of his station. Well, not gut the station, but take some of the ships outside it. He was the curator of those old ships. He might not have appreciated them as he probably should have, but he was a product of his generation. He'd been a battleline veteran.

He'd taken on the job of president of the museum to watch over those ships. He couldn't be prouder that some had been selected to be reactivated and sent back into service. He just wasn't certain of the timing or the choice in ships.

There had been some dark rumors that the ships would be sent to the breakers or used as targets in an exercise. But that had ended when he had received an electronic letter formally informing him that the ships were to be refurbished and reconditioned before commissioned back into naval service.

They would be making history again in other words.

The three carriers were not that popular; his guides generally skipped over them in tours. But now they had interest, so it was a pity to see them go. He'd ordered his people to document as much as possible about each. He'd tried and failed to get a list of things the navy intended to rip out. He could have pulled the material out and kept it for other ships, but that was not to be. It would have saved them the trouble, but apparently, they weren't interested in what he had to ask or say.

What was that line? Oh yes, old sailors don't die; they just fade away. Or the young ones just wish them to do so he thought sourly.

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Shelby Snippet 5

 Sitrep: I finished the rough out of images for Comic 1 (the second produced) yesterday. I'm going to get into post work (maybe) today. 

I managed to do a lot of minor work on my R2 yesterday, (I've been a busy big ass hairy beaver, yes I know, complete with buck teeth) so progress on that front too.

On to the Snippetttt....

Chapter 4

 

Minox IV

 

Admiral White Skin tucked his hands behind his back as he stared blankly out the big picture window in his quarters. One might call it bleakly, though he wasn't quite resigned to the inevitable just yet. People passed by outside, oblivious to his inner turmoil. Perhaps that was for the best.

They had received word that Admiral Broken Tooth was on the march north and should be taking 63. If he got it done in time for Admiral Rill to arrive then they would be back on track in some ways.

In others though... he grimaced.

Senator Mel had come out with the discrepancies in timing of the war and how it was not playing in the Confederation's favor just before his arrest. It had been an open secret among the establishment, something everyone knew but no one could fix or wanted to draw attention to. They were just pushing to get as far into Federation territory as they could with the hopes that the Federation would be slow on sending reinforcements. After all, the Federation had their own concerns, both domestically and with the pirates.

Domestically they had politicians much like his own who wanted to eviscerate the military in favor of their own pork troughs. And of course the aftermath of the pirate plagues.

The pirates were also very much a threat in Sigma, which was a sector on the other side of Rho, so most of the Federation's naval efforts were tied up there.

Unfortunately, they had underestimated the Federation's willingness to fight. The initial read had been part bluff and part a play for time. Now they knew better. The Federation navy was hitting far and above their throw weight. He had to admit that in large part that was also due to in the institutional arrogance of his own navy.

They had downplayed the threat of carriers and small craft operations in their own minds over the centuries. That was incorrect, and history itself proved it during the first encounter between Taurens and Terrans. They had erred in not learning from those mistakes and it was costing them dearly.

He was doing his best to make it right, but it was an ugly thing to see in present time. The optics didn't pan well with his civilian bosses or the public either. They just saw a rising body count and ships being thrown away seemingly for nothing.

His eyes cut to his own reflection ever so briefly. If they only knew how bad... his eyes cut away. He shook himself in irritation.

They were making headway to set things right. Some of the old ships were still in mothballs, they were dredging them up and refurbishing them. They had also set upon a crash course of building carriers and small craft of their own. The first of those units should be with the various fronts by now, Admiral Broken Tooth had acknowledged he'd received his units just before marching on 63.

It would be nice to see them blunt the effectiveness of the enemy's small craft enough to get the upper hand again. It just wasn't natural to have the advantage in numbers and mass and yet still be torn to shreds...

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Director Blacksight checked the logs but there was nothing new other than an ansible coming online to report. He would get a domestic update in a few days, but his concern was on the front and the Federation.

He had inherited his job when his last boss had the unfortunate luck to be born female and be scapegoated for the Federation's ansible attack. His head should have been on the chopping block as well, but he'd lucked out there.

He checked the fronts again and then sighed as he turned his attention to the domestic side of things. Not that he wanted to do so. Right now it was a white hot mess.

The president's order to arrest Senator Mel had sent shockwaves through the establishment. The public didn't know that the senator had died from a heart failure during an intense round of questioning so they were stonewalling on that. Eventually the news was going to get out.

His staff had fallen all over themselves to clear their own names. A few hadn't taken the rough handling well, and had also been 'cleaned up as a routine precaution.'

Senator Mel's run had made some waves beforehand, they might have been absorbed by the usual day to day things going on except for his arrest. They now had a new flavor as the media and congress tore apart everything he said down to the minute detail and debated it before the cameras. The party was doing its best to hold the line and throw accusations of treason against him, but he knew that it was only a matter of time before cracks appeared there. They had to be uncomfortable with the senator being MIA.

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Shelby 6 Snippet 4

   So, I had the blue screen of death while trying to render the last few scenes of the first comic. I'm leery about shooting them now. I'm trying to find work arounds that still have the visual impact I wanted to express. It is not easy.

Anyway, while my PC renders I am doing bits on my R2 and thinking of other things...and worrying.

I have 3 shots left for the rough out, lets hope I don't run into anymore problems.

On to the snippet!

Chapter 3

 

New Tau Metropolis

 

Vice Admiral Shelby Logan tried to relax in her chair as she checked the status board. She grimaced when she caught herself doing it. Nope, nothing new, just like the last check she'd made 2 hours ago.

You'd think the recent win in 63 by Janice and carrier crews would have her doing cartwheels, but no. That euphoria hadn't lasted more than a moment; she'd known something Janice hadn't. There was a new threat bearing down on the star system and eventually the capital.

Operations and Intelligence had tried to squeeze as much information as possible about this fleet. They had little to go on other than the intelligence picked up in Tau-O79XP. Fortunately, the captain in command of the raiding squadron had been smart enough to abort the mission and return to the neighboring star system with the news. That news had been transmitted by the hidden ansible in the destroyed star system.

They didn't have a timeline on the movement yet. Nor a path, there were 2 to follow. They did have a starting point, T-12 according to the latest report from Commodore Piercing Gaze. The high elf had combined information from that report with the deep background they had built about the Confederation naval forces. Some of the information had been culled from the ansible attack, other bits and snippets from the captured diplomatic team.

Of course, all of that intelligence was old and suspect without proper confirmation. But it was all they had to go on at the moment.

There were a lot of unanswered questions, like the route they were taking, timing, and composition of the force. Did they have carriers? It bothered her not knowing.

“Penny for your thoughts?” Boni, lieutenant Bonibi her A.I. asked.

“Willing to play sounding board?” Shelby asked with an arched eyebrow.

“If it helps, sure. What is on your mind ma'am?”

“The western force. Hell, the northern one too, though that one seems to be taking its time putting in an appearance.”

“But it is moving down. Just slower than anticipated. Commodore Falling Leaf and TF 4.4 really blooded his nose. Enough that he's learned caution.”

“True,” Shelby said. She had dispatched the high elf commodore to run down the fleeing pirates. They had done so, but had been ambushed by the Taurens on their way home. They had managed to fight their way out of the ambush, but not without heavy losses.

They had inflicted a lot of pain in response though, and that might be why the opposition admiral was playing it cautious.

The Xenophobic Tauren Confederation had initially had an arrogant attitude towards naval warfare. Initially it had seemed they had disdained the threat of carriers, which was why she'd formulated a response centered around them. Carrier forces could punch well above their weight if handled properly.

Unfortunately, she was limited on the number she could put into play. They could and did take horrific losses when fighting a prepared enemy.

They'd thought they'd had the advantage until the Taurens had surprised them by deploying their own carriers with Admiral Broken Tooth in the south after their initial engagements. From what Piercing Gaze speculated the carriers might be a new thing. The survivors picked up in 63 were being rather remarkably tight lipped about the subject.

The Tauren carriers had thrown her plans into doubt. “Could Ela be delaying to wait on his own carrier force to catch up to him?”

“There is a nasty thought,” Boni said as she wrote it down in Shelby's HUD.

Shelby grimaced ever so slightly.

“What does Rill have in the way of carriers? And how much intel does he have on our abilities?”

“Ouch,” Boni said as she put that up too. “Are you considering sending some of the cruisers to get a peak?”

“It's a thought. But the only place we know he might pass through is 79. I don't like the idea of missing them and sending our people behind the lines.”

“They know the risks ma'am. They have superior speed and can find ways to get around a moving fleet.”

“True.” Shelby nodded slightly. They might pass a Tauren fleet in hyperspace without even seeing them, or vise versa. It was the mix up in real space that was every captain and flag officer's private nightmare.

“Is it worth it though?”

“I don't know,” Shelby sighed. “We need the intel. The problem is, we have fingerprints on some of the Tauren carrier designs, but not all of them. How close do we have to be to get a solid look at them?”

“If they are smart they won't allow that look. Or they'd draw the spy ships in to get a look but use their carrier's long range punch to wound or destroy them.”

“I know,” Shelby said as she scrubbed her face slightly. “Damn.”

“That's why they pay you the big bucks ma'am,” Boni said gently.

“I know. Pass those questions on to Brad and his staff. Get their thoughts on them.”

“Yes ma'am.”

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