Shelby 6 Snippet 1

 Sitrep:

  So, I am still working on the last 3 scenes of comic #1. There are a lot of people and a lot of things to do for just 3 images. Fun. Hopefully I can get the pieces all together and rendered by next week.

On to the snippet!

Chapter 1

 

TauG9-2 Stiff Breeze

 

Captain Tim Chandrek stared at the plot as his bridge crew worked at their stations and duties. He ignored the occasional surreptitious look his way. He knew what was on their mind, the same thing that was on his own mind.

He had 6 light cruisers under his command. They had managed to penetrate Confederation space up to T-9, TauG6R33-9 before they'd been driven back. Along the way they had scuttled dozens of civilian vessels and platforms, and probably put the fear of the Federation in the population.

All good things, and in the grand scheme of things probably great for the war effort. But he wanted more.

He'd gotten more in the form of pulling intelligence material from the bots and viruses the ansible attack on the Confederation had sown. His A.I. and ONI people had sown more electronic spies and saboteurs.

And he wanted more.

His people had picked up all sorts of information about enemy civilian and military traffic. Better still they had forced the enemy to redeploy units to hunt him down. That had probably cost them something somewhere. And his stubborn refusal to just die had to have sprayed egg on some faces. They really wanted his ass on toast.

His lips quivered in an almost smile as his errant mind thought that thought.

But he still wanted more. His lips stilled.

He wanted to get out of Confederation space. More importantly, get his people and ships out, and the intelligence they had gathered. The stories alone were worth a few beers. He could care less about the medals and promotions at this point. Life had its own sort of appeal. He had no interest in ending his prematurely.

Which was what brought him to the present conundrum.

His squadron had been on fumes before getting to this star system. They'd managed to scavenge enough fuel for 2 jumps. Now he was down to 1.

South to Purple Nights was obviously out. Purple Nights was a major naval station of the Confederation. Not unlike the massive naval station he was seeing in the inner star system before him.

North there was a jump point to a dead star system, in fact it was the one he'd come in on. It was supposed to be known only to the pirates, but apparently one or more of their ships had been captured with intact navigational databases at some point. The Confederation knew about the route and had a picket in the dead system.

Worse, it was a dead star system. Which meant it was a spacial desert. There was nothing to scavenge there in the way of fuel to continue their escape. Whatever was left there was cinders spread far and wide over the former star system. Dust in the nonexistent solar wind, he thought.

In order to make good on their escape he needed enough fuel to jump 4 more times. Five would be the safe bet.

Which brought him around again to his present dilemma.

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“Think the skipper has a plan?” Bob, one of the sensor techs asked softly.

“No idea. Why are you asking me?” Patrick Star asked his colleague softly.

The yellow Neocat glared at his partner. “Why are you asking me?” he demanded.

“Sorry.”

“I don't have a clue either,” Bob huffed.

“Then let's focus on our jobs and less on chatter,” the bosun said. The 2 techs looked sheepish but then dutifully returned their attention to their implant feeds and the screens in front of them.

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Lieutenant Merkowitz had to wonder if the skipper was going to call a senior staff meeting shortly, or call the other ships, or do something. He obviously didn't have a plan, or had decided to abandon his previous one.

He knew why since he was the ship's chief navigator. They were short on fuel. The skipper had to be aware of that, and he had to be aware that there was some sort of trap in the inner star system. There were also beaters chasing them in the form of a battle cruiser squadron with another squadron or 2 of cruisers.

That meant they had to find a way to outrun them. At the moment though they were sitting 4 light days outside the star system in stealth, well away from the established jump point.

He'd anticipated a skip. He didn't like doing them but he'd been more or less resigned to another to get home. But apparently their damage was such that the skipper had rethought the plan. Hence their current stop.

He looked over to the captain.

The captain caught the look and grunted. He hit a switch on his armrest. “Senior officers to the wardroom. Comm, set up a link to the other ship captains. We're going to have an old fashioned pow-wow.”

He then rose and nodded to the navigator and to the XO to follow. The ATO grimaced but took charge of the bridge.

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