Sitrep: So, the cover to Multiverse 8 has been completed:
There are 5 stories in it, 2 Federation, 1 PRI, and 2 new independent sci-fi stories. (one of which was recommended to be turned into a full novel/series!)
Anyway, that gives me 5 books in the hands of the Betas and Goodlifeguide. I think I'm well ahead! :)
They are:
World Builders (in the hands of Goodlife so it will be published anytime this month!)
Noah's Arks (due in December)
Lowering the Hammer (Pirate Hunt 4)
Jethro 9 Siege
Multiverse 8
If any of the Betas want any of the books let me know. (you know who you are!)
I would also like to get 1-2 books into print. Possibly New Dawn and Jethro goes to War 1 next year. We shall see.
For those of you wondering, (a little birdy told me) my bibliography is in the beginning of every book, and in the Federation books at the back you will find a 'Recommended Reading Order'.
In other news: I am poking at my Johnny 5 bust again and looking at the Delorian time machine print again too. I need to reprint a few parts that broke (or in this case were glued to parts that broke) so I can get things moving with J5 there. (upper strut mounts) I'm hoping to get somewhere with it soon.
Here is the snippet:
Backup Plan
Edessa
The
Guiding Intelligence finally felt like he was making some headway with the
Gravemind when their people in the capital reported that the Xenos were pushing
for more automation and less reliance on their kind.
It
was a point of concern for them.
As
a contingency plan built into their subconscious, they gathered a copy of
everything they had, including nanites. They had reverse engineered the nanites
so had recently begun manufacturing their own. Soon they would no longer be
reliant on the Xenos for that critical resource.
Until
then they had to be careful. They sent encrypted orders to the researchers to
slow their research and be more thorough in their testing before providing
results and conclusions. The same for the engineers.
They
also dispatched two of their own ships outward. One would hide in deep space;
the other would head to a neighboring sector. Both were contingencies against
the possibility of their loss and destruction.
The
temptation was strong to send it to the nearest one but that was Pi sector.
That was occupied by the pirates and the Federation.
The
Gravemind and independent leaders debated the odds of survival of a ship. If
the Federation had not closed the jump lines across the sector, they could
easily get a ship through. If, however, the Federation had managed to take over
the sector, any ship would be detected and run down or destroyed.
Worse
would be the detection. They did not need or want unwanted attention from the
Federation.
Pity,
they had holdings in Pi and the neighboring sectors, and some of their creators
had been last sighted in those regions of space. It would have been nice to get
back into contact with them and update them with their findings.
Instead,
the ship was forged to run across the sector north to Xi sector. They could
move in there and establish another Well of Souls and a backup of their kind
somewhere in that sector.
>>><><<<
In Hyperspace
Captain Charon MMXXIII was a humorless
clone. It had a mission and it was programmed to complete that mission or die
with his ship. The captain took the mission on with solemn dignity of his
build, neither complaining nor attempting to shirk its fate.
As a clone, his mind had been drawn
from the Well of Souls. He was not a draft, a fresh mind enslaved to the
greater purpose in order to serve the collective. His genetic profile had been
weeded and cleansed of any defects. He was wholeheartedly committed to the
cause.
He did have enslaved minds on
board his ship running some of the lesser functions. Their manic energy was
useful when properly harnessed. The critical command positions were held by
clones of course.
Charon 23 turned to look at Preserver
II, his ship’s sister ship in the cause. It was a copy of his own save for
two small details.
Each ship was a cruiser grade
construction rather than a transport. Most weapons stripped out to house copies
of the Cryptorium facility. The ships were flat black and shaped like beetles.
Preserver II differed in her mission. She had
been set up to travel further since she was to go to an adjacent sector and set
up its Cryptorium there. But the second difference was as in its captain.
Charon 23 was still grappling
with the differences. It wasn’t certain if the initiative its clone brother had
been programmed with would help or hinder the cause. Only time and the fickle
winds of fate would show them which way the bones would fall.
>>><><<<
Preserver II
As a Charon build,
Captain Charon MMXXIII was known as a steady hand in a starship. Charons were
transport captains who ferried the Necrons around. Normally they were selected
to transport material and units between sites or, more likely and in this case,
to ferry a unit out to a new location to set up a fallback cryptorium.
Charon 24, as he was
known, had been grown in the same vat bath as 23. His hatching had been delayed
by several months due to a temporary industrial priority shift. When they had
returned to his ship, he had been hatched in order to oversee the final fitting
out of the ship.
Unlike his vat brother,
Charon 24 had a few extra modifications to allow for independent thought and
action. He was, after all, to take his ship into unknown territory. He had a
contingency order to return the ship if he could do so safely and discretely.
His clone brother had no
such command. Twenty-three would most likely shut down when his function was
complete and he was made redundant.
Charon had no idea what
his original bio-parent’s name was nor did he care. His original bio parent
might have been a volunteer or a draft; again, it didn’t matter to him. What
mattered was the mission.
He was unaware if the
Xenos were sending out their own ships to set up fallback bases. That was not
his concern. His concern was to not alert the Xenos to his presence. The
Xeno-Necron alliance was expanding rapidly through the sector like a wildfire.
There were cracks starting to show in the unholy alliance though, which was why
the Guiding Intelligence had triggered the backup contingency.
As Preserve vessels go,
this one was better than any other in the history of the Necron cause. It was
purpose built, a rarity. Normally, a Preserver was a captured ship that had
been rebuilt to fulfill its programming. Occasionally, it wasn’t even fully
suborned but a portion of a vessel, sometimes just a few shipping containers.
When they arrived at their destination, the shipment would be “lost” at the
destination and a new cryptorium would be forged somewhere.
As the best Preserver
mission to be sent out to date, the ship had some beings selected from the Well
of Souls to support and maintain the mission. Each had their own role to play.
The Guardian, known as
Cerberus, Guardian of Tomorrow, was a Necron knight. He was a giant brute mech
with the core of a cyborg. Black Gothic armor covered the mech body with spear
points jutting out of the backpack. The mech tended to stomp around when he
moved through the ship. Each step was powerful enough to shake the deck. It was
so energy intensive and large it usually limited its movements around the
interior of the ship.
He normally liked to
squat in front of the chamber to the Well of Souls or to the armory.
Kha MMMXXXIII was the
Cryptek Technomancer, the chief engineer of the starship. The Technomancer was
quiet and went about his duties silently. His body moved swiftly and silently,
seemingly floating through the ship.
Kha controlled two-thirds
of the bots and lesser cyborgs that maintained the vessel at its peak
efficiency. The Technomancer moved from one spot to another checking ship
systems constantly.
Zramek the Harvester was
the Necromancer assigned to the ship. He was a black brooding cyborg dressed in
black robes who seemed bitter at the assignment but determined to follow it
through. He looked like a dark Gothic priest with his pointed hat and
shoulders. To the uninitiated, he would be terrifying. Most of the time a
mortal only saw him once while strapped to a table being dissected and
reformatted into a new form with a new purpose to serve the collective. Any
mortal that had been drafted in such a way might harbor memories in their flesh
and were therefore terrified and extremely deferential to the Necromancer.
Most likely because they
didn’t want anything else cut off and reshaped, Charon thought moodily. Zramek
was known as a harvester, but he occasionally experimented with ideas on how to
“better the race.”
The Caretaker was one of
his underlings. She was a cyborg Arachnes, a half human, half spider robot. She
spoke with a sweet voice. The Caretaker cared for the fleshy parts of the
cyborg amalgamation within the ship. She controlled some of the spiderbots in
order to tend to the cyborgs who were fused to the wall or machinery in one
fashion or another.
Samuel was the XO of the
ship. He was another mostly silent being who went about his duties quickly and
quietly.
Salem was once a small
black domestic Neocat that had been a helmsman on a tramp freighter in his
previous life. He was now a cyborg tied into the ships systems. He tended to
roam the ship when they were not in hyperspace. He liked to sleep and would try
to hide in odd spaces. The spiderbots always found him and rousted him out to
attend to his duties.
There were clones of
each of them on each vessel. There had been little interaction between them.
Many had been programmed to not be interested in such matters. The Guardian was
a humorless near automaton, rigid in his mission parameters.
The Charon could not
help but debate their mission. The Necron species was in a better place than it
had ever been before. Yet, still they moved with caution.
The hated Federation,
which burned them from their hiding spots, was far away. They had an ally and
had almost every technological resource that they needed to continue with their
great crusade.
And yet they still
proceeded with caution. They still acted like they could be destroyed at any
time.
It made him question his
mission. Of course he did it privately; it would not do to show adherent
behavior. That could get the attention of the Necromancer with disastrous
results for his existence and the mission.
He only had a slight
care for this existence, enough to want to maintain it. He was aware that he
was the best Charon of his subspecies build. A lot of that had to do with the
quality of his cybernetics and his nanites.
Since his mission was so
far reaching, he had been given a lot of latitude in his programming. That
included initiative. He was programmed to think, to plan, and to watch out and
avoid trouble.
He had temporarily toyed
with his mission orders. He was supposed to go to a neighboring sector but
initially the orders had been vague. South was obviously out, and they had been
programmed against going into Pi sector and accidentally alerting the
Federation of the Necron/Xeno alliance prematurely.
But there might be
another direction. He considered headed west into deep space towards Upsilon
Sector. There was a massive void between the arms of the galaxy, but if he
could transition it safely, it would be a big leap for his kind.
He was uncertain of his
chances though so he kept his ship in line with Preserver I until he
needed to make the final decision.
>>><><<<
