Princess Rescue Inc Snippet 3

   So, I see Lil Red is having trouble staying off the naughty list, she's made some of my decorations disappear and is currently tormenting our other elderly grumpy resident. Loki is not amused by her being playful and hateful all in one bundle of tussling fur.😼

  She got me this morning; my mistake in assuming the wire tie was long enough and she wouldn't go after the hand holding it. Sigh. It's skin, it'll grow back... eventually.😩

 In other news, Christmas print and paint projects are moving forward full steam. And on to the snippet!

 

 

Chapter 2

 

Retired Master Sergeant Wayne Waters watched the military exercise. He nodded to himself as he watched the boots being put through their paces on the obstacle course. Another platoon was jogging past him.

He'd had to adapt the native terms to some degree, but he was creeping in some modern military terms and training into things as time passed. He nodded to himself and then took himself off to the next stop.

He heard the soft rounds going off, then a flashbang and winced. He'd planned to get there ahead of time but had been delayed. Oh well.

He got out of the jeep and went to the control center. Once inside he looked down at the inside of the shoot house. “How are they doing?”

“Fair to middling,” the tech in charge of the shoot house replied.

He nodded. He had the effective rank of a general but refused to put on airs. He insisted on being called a sergeant if someone had to call him by a title. Not that anyone did so. He liked that they deferred to his wisdom, though it felt odd.

His eyebrows rose as he saw the two competing teams in the shoot house. The attackers were a SWAT unit attached to security. The equivalent of the Secret Service in the Imperium. They were in a hostage rescue scenario. The counterforce was run by some of the Flying Legion, and they weren't making it easy on the SWAT people.

Good. That was how he liked it. Train hard. The more you sweat, the less you bleed.

The assault team was making their way through the shoot house but had gotten bogged down at a door. Typical, it wasn't like you could blow holes through the building like you could back on Earth. Here, a majority of the buildings were made out of stone. Even the lathe and plaster ones were tough to penetrate. If you set a charge, you might kill the hostage on the other side with shrapnel.

As he watched, the point on the assault team underhand threw a grenade. It went off and the two guards opposing them were graded as terminated.

The assault team moved forward as the disgusted guards got on their knees and placed their hands behind their heads to signal they were out of the fight. The point waved and another team member came up with a handheld scanner. They scanned through the door. The sergeant looked down to a screen that echoed what they were seeing. He saw the heat signatures of four people in the room including one, the hostage, seated facing the door.

“Yeah, this isn't going to end well,” the tech murmured.

Small charges were placed on the hinges and latch and then blown. The door bounced off of the lip in the inner archway and came back at the assault team. The point shrugged it off but the delay allowed the shooters inside to fire at them and more importantly, take out the hostage.

“Sucks to be the hostage,” the sergeant muttered as the team entered, took out the opposition with a flurry of shots and then the exercise ended. A klaxon went off to signal it was over. The lights came up.

“Fail,” the grader said over the PA. The sergeant crossed his arms and listened as they graded the exercise. He made a mental note to look into some sort of recon drone that could fit under doors. Something flat. Maybe even a flashbang? Something about as thick as an eighth of an inch that would go off and momentarily disable the people inside? The doors in the Imperium were thick and solid but had gaps on the bottom to allow them to swing easily. Some of those gaps were damn near a half inch wide. He'd seen Hex-rats go under them easily.

“Carry on,” he murmured as they began to reset the exercise.

^^^^^^

“It's been a year local time. No sign of anything from Earth. I wonder what is going on?” Sydney asked. The group was together for a rare evening. Not everyone was there of course; many were off on one duty assignment or another. But a full one-third of the Terrans had managed to get together to make it something of a party.

“I'm not sure I care,” Max replied with a shrug as he toyed with his beer bottle.

“I do care. I don't like not knowing,” Sergeant Waters growled. “They are up to something.”

“Well, fortunately, Doctor Delacroix has made it so they can't come through easily,” Sydney said.

“With a bit of help,” Max interjected with a nod. They'd figured out how to flip the gate so it faced out to sea rather than to the plateau above the cliffs. That meant anyone who came through would replay the Loony Toon gag of walking out into open air.

Of course they'd warned the people of Earth with a message in a bottle. There had been no response.

Given that the gate was inside a room on the platform and had a narrow ramp entrance to get up it, they couldn't launch aircraft other than small drones. There had been two drones that had been reportedly sent through the gate, one a ground drone, which had pitched over the cliff into the sea, and then an air drone, which had gotten about a hundred meters out over the sea before a local Pterosaur had pounced on it midair.

After that, nothing, nothing at all.

“They earned it. Wanton poisoning the planet with pollution … raping the natural resources …,” Charlie sniffed.

“We were a part of that group too up until a few years ago,” the sergeant reminded her.

“But we've done better. I did. I went as green as I could,” she said defensively.

“Sometimes you have to break eggs to make an omelet,” the sergeant said.

“And what's that supposed to mean?”

“It means we can't always take the high road and go green right off,” Ginger, one of their lead pilots stated. She flapped her hands. “Being green is nice, but it is extremely limiting.”

“But it is the right thing to do,” Charlie insisted.

“And we're not doing the same here?” Ginger asked. “We've got to have petroleum for some things; we've got to have fossil fuels to extend the range of our vehicles and aircraft …”

“We're trying to not do that! Right?” Sydney demanded. “Right?”

“We're trying. That doesn't mean we’re succeeding totally,” Max admitted with a shrug as he left.

^^^^^^

Princess Rescue Inc 3 Snippet 2

 Still in chapter 1...

Doctor Sue Carter felt her hair ripple as she wandered the battlements. She had needed to stretch her legs after the cabinet meeting.

Her time was taken up entirely too much by meetings. As a doctor, she understood it; you had to make sure everyone was on the same page. You also needed to be there to discuss problems and put your two cents in to make sure your voice was heard and that medicine was progressing as a field and not stagnating from neglect.

Well, that wasn't going to happen. Not on her watch. Which was why she put her time in. At least Eugene and Deidra didn't make her sit in on parliament or other meetings. She shivered slightly.

She ran her fingertips through her hair and then went back to the counsel room. When she found it abandoned, she turned to a page. “Are we done?”

“Yes, Doctor,” he replied with a nod.

“Okay. Glad I checked I guess,” she said as she checked her phone. Phone service was solid in the capital but spotty outside it. She noted the time and then called Wanda. “Hey, I'm free.”

“Cool. Charlie just checked in. She said you took off as soon as you could.”

“Yeah, I was getting a headache. Anything new happening?”

“Nope. No fires, no major accidents.”

“Okay. I'll check-in with the U and then maybe kick it for the night.”

“Bully on you, girl. Wanna do our nails? Wine and movie night? And don't tell me you plan to grade papers. I'll … I'll … bury you in them!”

Sue laughed softly.

“That's what TAs and grad students are for,” Wanda complained.

“Okay, okay. I'll check …,” she caught herself as she was about to say in with Zara or Deidra. “Um …”

“Charlie's free. She said she'd give me her rundown on how the cabinet meeting went. So come on, live a little, gal, you earned it,” Wanda said in a properly wheedling tone of voice.

“Well … okay,” Sue said as she turned and headed to Wanda's tower. “You talked me into it.”

“That's the spirit!” Wanda replied with a grin. “See you in a bit?”

“Sooner than you think,” Sue said as she changed course for the tower.

Security might need to carry her back to her suite later, but that was then. For the moment, she was going to enjoy the rare free evening with her friends.

^^^^^^

“Should I be going?” Eugene asked, looking at Deidra over the suitcase. He could tell she was distressed by the separation. He was too; he didn't like leaving her with her morning sickness.

He had returned from Duluth three local months ago, just after the Caliope Caravan incident. He hadn't planned on going back north again until fall, but parliament was making noises and Zara seemed in need of additional hand holding.

He'd also promised to be there when they opened several more factories and to help set up two that were a bit tricky. Trying to explain what to do over the radio when they ran into issues had proven tougher than he'd expected, so he knew he had to go.

“Yes,” she finally said. He hugged her gently. “It's the right thing to do.”

He sighed. He heard the leader in that voice, but also the doubt. She knew the risks of flying, of travel. But she also knew it was important.

“Besides, we promised Zara, and well …”

“We're committed to Duluth's recovery,” he supplied for her when she faltered and her shoulders shook.

“Something like that,” Deidra replied.

Duluth's recovery was still an ongoing process. Deidra refused to invest again in the country since they were struggling to repay back the loans she'd already made. There were some in the Duluth parliament who were resentful over it. Reports trickled in that they were sullen. “You did nothing to warn us, to stop the coup, or to help us. In an annus, I will reconsider it,” had been sent to those who had called her out on the lack of progress.

“Those who helped were rewarded with new titles and lands. And we're giving them discounts,” she said.

“But it isn't enough,” he said.

“No.”

“They think that we're keeping them under the Imperial boot. Forcing them to pay back for the war,” he said. She shook her head.

“I know, love; it's more than that. If you'd gone that route, you would have taken a page from the Romans or the English,” he said. She turned to him. “The English conquered their northern neighbor Scotland. In order to stop the frequent attempts at revolt, they committed genocide. They went around and killed many of the first-born males in the prominent homes. Later they drafted the Scottish males into their army and navy and sent them overseas to die in the colonial wars.”

She blinked and then shook her head.

“I know, I know, you aren't that way. But I'm just quoting an event from my history as a reference.”

She nodded. “I won't deny that it has happened. But you counseled me on the eye-for-an-eye thing. As much as I resent the war and … losses,” she didn't mention her little brother's death or her and her sister's rape but he could feel it lingering in the air. “I know there are some good people there now. They are working on it.”

“Right. And they have a say in their future. And we're working on parliament here, one that will incorporate the Imperium and Duluth together.”

She nodded.

“It's just going to take time,” he murmured.

She nodded. She watched him quietly as he finished packing. When she couldn't stand it anymore, she got up and pulled him into her arms and then down to the bed.

“One more for the road?” he teased in a husky whisper as he smiled.

“Shut up and get busy,” she growled huskily.

He chuckled and complied.

^^^^^^

Princess Rescue Inc 3 Snippet 1

 So, I got this back from Rea yesterday and just finished the edits to send it to Goodlifeguide.

FYI: Look for the maps inside!

In other news, Juggernaut and Pantheon are still in the hands of the Betas. I'm hip deep in Christmas projects. Most of the decorations are up (6,000+ lights!) and we're working on 3D print projects while I paint in the evenings. :)

On to the snippet!

Chapter 1

 

Ianna Imperium Capital City

 

Sydney Heart chuckled softly to himself as he walked the battlements in the evening. Things were returning to normal, such as it was in the Imperium. He was glad he had returned with the others. He rather regretted leaving. His life, his purpose was on this new world.

He didn't regret for an instant taking on Eugene's call for adventure on an alien planet. Everyone thought they were insane, but it had paid off. Well, for most of us, we've lost some people along the way he reminded himself with a pang.

He looked over to the lights of the drum tower in the keep. The windows were lit, and he could see movement inside. He also saw guards outside on the battlements and nodded.

He could have crashed the cabinet meeting but he didn't really have a purpose there other than to take notes for historians to write about this time period. He frowned thoughtfully.

He had his fill of fame and fortune when he'd returned to Earth. Also skepticism that they'd gone anywhere. He was busy since his return, but not as busy as he'd expected.

Deidra had carved out a title for him, chief historian, and he was a history professor at the capital university. In fact, he was chief of the department. He also helped a few of the local media out. That was starting to be his new passion, to start up a healthy media to keep the populace informed and the power mad lords of the lands in check.

It was tough though, but it might be worth investing more of his time into it he thought as he finished another lap. He needed investors though, and that was tricky.

^^^^^^

“So, they are sticking to the Caliope mountain slopes this season?” Eugene Ryans asked. He was a Terran like some of the others in the room. He had gone from running his own multi-billion dollar company to an adventurer through the wormhole on this world.

He'd rescued and married the local king's daughter during a war and had negotiated to apply Terran tech to help the kingdom survive. When the king and queen had died, he'd stayed and married his beautiful wife. They now had two beautiful children.

Two beautiful children but also problems. It seemed like every time they solved one, two more sprang out of the bushes and threatened to overwhelm the careful balance they were patiently trying to forge.

“Yes. The science expedition wants to do a comparison of the flora and fauna in the mountains there and compare it to what they found in the north,” Charlie Therman said.

Eugene nodded. Charlie was one of their two premier chemists. She preferred biochemistry over general or industrial chemistry like Wanda did. She was in with Nate Billings and Mary Delouses, their two prime biologists and botanists.

“We're still arguing over the size of this place,” Charlie sniffed. “I still think this place isn't much bigger than Great Britain,” she said.

Eugene nodded. “And we know there are islands around it. What's beyond it?” he echoed as he looked at the large map that dominated the wall in the conference room.

“What do you mean?” Deidra, his lovely wife and Impertrix of the land, asked.

“Just what I said.” Eugene got up and walked over to the map. He looked at it and then pointed to it. “What's beyond these islands? Is there a larger continent? More than one?”

Deidra shook her head. “Always exploring?” She smiled to her mate. It was that sense of curiosity and desire to explore that had brought him and his people to her.

“Why not?” Eugene asked as he cocked his head.

She pursed her lips. “I'd like a little security here for us and our people before we spend a lot of energy and resources exploring.” Over the years, she had grown more comfortable in her role as Impertrix. Eugene rarely interfered with her decisions. He did want to be consulted though, and he was an excellent sounding board.

He frowned thoughtfully. “There isn't anything more about Duluth? What about these islands?” he pointed to the islands in the northeast above Duluth.

“No,” she replied with a shake of her head. He could see her look of concern though.

“The grand duchy? Do we know what is within their borders? What about beyond them?” They had the coastline mapped from the sailors who plied the planet's oceans as well as the aircraft and balloons that had gone up to improve their maps.

“Which one?” Ivara, the kingdom's spymaster asked. She was a recent addition to the cabinet and didn't like being exposed to the others in it.

“Caliope?” he asked.

“Yes, we have maps but they are old. We have Caliope in the southeast, the Grand Duchy of Medicini in the northwest, the Nuevo Imperium in the south, and pirates off our west coast,” the spymaster stated.

Eugene nodded thoughtfully as he resumed his seat.

“The Frumentarii have managed to penetrate Medicini and the Nuevo Imperium,” Deidra said as she got up and went over and sat down in his lap. He didn't protest her pregnant form; he knew better. Besides, she knew he liked it. His arm went up to support her like a lap belt. She stroked his hand gently.

The others in the room smiled slightly. There were just the few there, not the full cabinet to scandalize anyway.

“We know Medicini and Caliope aren't happy about our sudden tech advance. They've been talking with each other. What we can only guess, our spies can't penetrate that high up the … what did you call it?” Ivara stated.

“Chain of command,” he said as he thought about the problem.

“Right.”

“You think they might form an alliance?” Eugene asked after a moment of thought.

“It is possible. They probably feel threatened by our rapid advances,” Ivara explained.

“You and I both know that they can't stand against our army,” Charlie replied with a sniff.

“And I think they know too. But both countries are well known for their scheming. They have been traced in such acts as destabilizing our people more than once,” Deidra said with a scowl.

Eugene frowned thoughtfully. “Asymmetrical warfare,” he murmured.

“What?”

“When one can't stand against a more powerful enemy you get crafty. In this case, you fight a different form of war—with spies, economics, sabotage, assassination, terrorism, or sponsoring conflict and division.”

Deidra winced.

“At the moment, most of the dominus are focused on their own domains and getting their tech levels in parity with each other. They aren't interested in going to war against each other,” the spymaster stated quietly.

“Not directly. That is always another threat, their scheming too,” Deidra sighed.

He squeezed her gently. She patted his hand as he slowly let up.

“So, enemies above, below, and to the either side. Yeah, I get your point about not getting too involved with exploring,” he said with a grimace.

“Sometime, love,” she murmured, stroking his hand gently. “Let's make sure our home is safe for our children first.”

He nodded. He'd never forgive himself if he went off gallivanting and something happened at home while he was away. He winced internally. Speaking of gallivanting, he was about to take another state trip. “Okay,” he murmured.

“With Duluth under our command, the others might feel even more threatened. I am unsure as to how to handle them,” Deidra admitted, looking from him to the map. She bit her lower lip slightly.

“Talk,” Charlie stated.

“Talk?” Deidra and the others turned to her.

The biochemist shrugged. “Talk to them. Diplomacy. As long as we're talking, we're not shooting at each other.”

She turned to look at Charlie and then to Eugene. He nodded and then shrugged.

“Sorry, something I picked up from my reading,” Charlie murmured.

“No, you are right,” Eugene said, returning his wife's look.

She studied him and then nodded slowly.

“It won't work with the pirates,” he said as he considered the problem. “Nuevo Imperium?”

“They are trading with us and show no interest in war. Far from it,” Ivara supplied. “They are eager to trade.”

“Good. So, the duchies?”

“Medicini is scheming but hasn't reached out to us. Caliope …,” Ivara shook her head.

“Sent spies. Pity we can't return the favor,” Eugene said as he eyed her.

She blinked and then her eyes narrowed at him. “What do you mean?”

“Well,” he paused and then shrugged. “One of the covers for spies is diplomats. By sending in people to talk, they need to get to know each other, which means gathering information. That information allows you,” he nodded to Deidra, “to make informed decisions better.”

Deidra pursed her lips thoughtfully.

“The trick is to not be blatant about it and get caught,” Charlie slipped in helpfully. “A little bit here and there, just enough to get a clearer picture of the players and what motivates them.”

Eugene nodded.

“What do we know about them?” Charlie asked as she indicated the map and Caliope.

“Very little. It has been many, many Annus since we sent a delegation there. They have forts at the passes and turn away independent traders. Anyone who climbs over the mountains do not return,” the spymaster said.

Eugene winced. That statement told him what he needed to know, that she had tried to send spies and they hadn't returned.

“Ah.”

“I wanted to send more spies over the mountains but all of the passes are covered,” Ivara admitted. “Trappers …,” she shrugged. “They have to survive the basilisks and living in the bush and get over the mountains, and then look around, then back.” She shook her head.

“Then they are … wait, they are isolationist yet sent traders to you?” Charlie asked. “I mean us?”

“I believe you know why. As cover for spies and thieves,” Ivara said.

Eugene nodded. “And to sow discord. To keep the Imperium fighting itself or others like Duluth instead of paying attention to them. That is how they keep things going for them.”

“Yes,” Ivara replied.

Deidra looked annoyed at the idea. “Well, we'll have to change that.”

“How?” Ivara asked.

“By demonstrating we aren't interested in conquering them,” Eugene shrugged. She nodded. “But it's all moot until they reach out again. We have to bargain from a position of strength.” Deidra nodded.

Ivara nodded as well. “So, that leaves last on the subjects for the month …”

“The gate,” Charlie supplied, looking to the image on the map.

“And we did something about that too,” Eugene said.

“For now. I think it was hasty though,” Ivara said.

“Hindsight. But I agree. I'll talk to Max and see if we can do something else. Open negotiations or at least make sure they can't invade through the portal. If they really are under threat of destruction, they could get desperate and bad things could happen. Bad things for us I mean.”

Deidra shuddered. He hugged her again. She patted his hand. “Yes, please do that.”

^^^^^^

Multiverse 5 has published!

 

Fantasy, Science Fiction... 5 new stories to explore. From The Collection, an alternate history to Burrow, and then more exploration of the world of Princess Rescue Inc and even 2 stories in the Federation Universe!

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09KZG9ZJS

B&N: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/multiverse-5-chris-hechtl/1140484650;jsessionid=1449518C7B8CB4588CC7D185B2FE1360.prodny_store02-atgap17?ean=2940160790657