Bootstrap Colony 3 Regenesis Snippet

 Sitrep: So, a number of factors have delayed the launch of Fortunes of War. Honestly, it's out of my hands. I am trying to get it sorted now. That is just 1 frustrating thing among many others going on. Sigh.

But, in the meantime, Goodlifeguide did send BSC3 Regenesis back early. I checked, the manuscript is hopefully bug free. I can switch gears and launch that. I had planned for it to be published this month anyway, so, let's roll.

One snippet (maybe two) and then we'll look into the launch tomorrow afternoon or so.

Chapter 1

 

Base

 

Jolie Havana monitored the video feeds from the drones. Pete was supposed to spell her for his shift soon, but she was pretty intent on the feed. She glanced at the screen on the side.

Each time a person looked up, she made a screen grab. She then zoomed in, drew a box around the face and then dumped it into their database.

They had a growing database of people in the Tropical Village and Dunn’s Fortress for comparison purposes. But the two that they wanted were hard to track. The AI within the computer compared the images to others to compile the database. It also applied facial recognition profiles and searched for two specific women, one in each village. The computer beeped, and she turned expecting a false hit.

She looked and a smile blossomed at the image of the Jamaican woman. The match came from the series of images from her visits to the Base. A 3D model had been constructed, and the computer had verified the dimensions within 4 percent of error.

“Gotcha,” she murmured.  “Well hello, Tariq,” she said maliciously as she turned and tapped at the computer. Within a moment, the image and location had been uploaded to the satellite and then to the Falklands. From there others would take things to their natural conclusion.

Hopefully she thought as she picked up a cup of tea and sipped it gently as she cradled the mug.

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New Falkland Island

 

“So, she is alive,” Cassie O'Connell said coldly as she stared at the file Jolie had just transmitted. “I thought so. So much for the Tropics punishing her,” she said with an arctic chill in her voice.

“We already knew that when they refused to confirm her death,” a familiar voice said over her shoulder. She looked over to Klinger and then away.

Half of the military people were in on this dual operation or Op as they called it. It had taken all summer to organize it. That had given Cassie time to recover from her surgery.

She didn’t blame her mother for what had to have been done in order to save her life. No, she blamed others like the woman that was currently on her tablet screen—her and another.

They, Colonel Dunn, and Bob Newart had conspired to kill Mitch Chambers, the leader of the Base, as well as infest other people to cover their tracks. It was a heinous crime. She, her late fiancé Vance, and two teenage friends, Tish and Jayden, had inadvertently wandered into the line of fire. Vance, Tish, and Jayden had paid the price.

Mitch had gotten off lightly. He had only taken a sip of the alien concoction while the teens had taken turns guzzling it. Cassie’s fetus and many of her internal organs had been riddled by the parasites and eaten alive. Her mother had performed a brutal savage cut and burn surgery to save her life.

She had lost a lot and was horribly maimed. At the moment, the only reason alive was what kept her going, a desire for justice and revenge. She couldn’t get her love or her child or her body back. But she could and would make sure those who had committed the crimes would pay for it.

“For this to work, we’ve got to hit them within twelve hours of each other,” Gunny Usher stated.

She turned and nodded to him. Gunny Usher was one of the leaders of Crash Town in the southeast. He and Gunny Hodges of the Mountain Village were some of the Marines in the team.

“I’m taking the bitch. We’ll hit her during the harvest. With luck we’ll pull out before they notice she’s gone.”

“Right,” Klinger said with a nod. “We’ve got a truck ready.”

“Yeah. Is the chief ready for his part?”

“Yes. Gunny Hodges is ready too,” Akira Tanaka stated with a nod.

The chief and gunny had placed themselves well outside Dunn’s fortress with two support team members. They were monitoring the drone feed and the coming and goings from the fortress to map it thoroughly. They had already scouted a way in, though it was going to be tough weighed down with their gear.

Tougher still was the part where they had to get in undetected without killing anyone. Getting out was tricky. The primary plan seemed insane but was easier than trying to extract overland.

“The plan?” Cassie asked.

Akira looked to Gunny Usher, but the gunny nodded and let Cassie take the lead.

“A go. Both of them.”

A part of their delay had been rigging the Hercules to play its part and to get the airfields set up. At the moment, only three airfields on the planet could support the L-100 Hercules, one of which was right there. Warrant Brown and Jacklynn were slated to pilot the bird for the mission.

Once the modifications to the bird had been finished, they’d done a series of rehearsals to make sure the tech functioned as planned. Only an idiot believed it worked first thing like in the movies, so they’d planned for a bit of slack and even a backup extraction.

Hopefully, it wouldn’t be necessary. Where they were going, it was considered deep Injun territory. The enemy would no doubt roust like a hornet’s nest and come after them. The last thing anyone needed was to be driving in the bush with predators at night while people with guns were chasing them.

“No surprise that Doctor Pierre didn’t mention she was alive, just changed the subject,” Akira said with a sniff. Cassie nodded as her hating eyes bore into the woman’s image. They’d meet in person … hopefully soon.

“Let’s do this,” she said simply.

----=^=^=@