Jack of Harts

Hello, my name is Jack. This is my story.
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Jack of Harts

Featured Post
by Medron Pryde on January 19, 2024 at 12:02 am
Posted In: Diaries

We found hyperspace in 2105 and the Great Space Race began. Alliances, nations, corporations, and religions reached out for the stars and humanity spread beyond the Solar System. We learned the answer to one of the oldest questions of all time in 2205. Are we alone? They brought medicines with them that nearly wiped out diseases, and extended the human lifespan into the centuries. They helped us study advanced technologies, and we expanded our colonies hundreds of lightyears from Earth. It was a golden age that many thought would never end.

Jack grew up in a world at peace, his only interests, partying and girls. But then an alien sneak attack killed millions of Americans, and wiped out almost everything and everybody Jack knew. He volunteered to serve and kick the alien scum back to the other side of the galaxy. But the Marines wanted more than people looking for revenge, and cybernetic partners demanded a far higher commitment. If Jack wanted to earn his commission as a Marine Corps fighter pilot, he had to grow up. He had to let himself be forged into something stronger than he’d ever wanted to be. He had to live up to the name of his squadron.

The Republic of Texas Marine Corps Fighter Attack Squadron 112. The Cowboys.

 Comment 

Midnight Hammer

by Medron Pryde on June 24, 2025 at 12:01 am
Posted In: Diaries

Midnight Hammer is just an awesome name for an operation. Especially one that ends up punching holes deep into the mountain atop a nuclear research facility. It started with some B-2 stealth bombers flying over towards Guam in what turned out to be a very effective strategic feint. Things get interesting after that, because everybody lies in war, and one never knows exactly what is true and wasn’t it.

What we understand is that seven B-2s flew directly from America, pausing along the way to refuel at need, arrived in Iran where they linked up with probably between fifty and one hundred F-22s and F-35s. They said around 125 aircraft were involved. I’m assuming a certain number of them were tankers and communications or radar craft. But over 100 aircraft is an impressive number. Many major national air forces cannot fly that many at once. We did it on the other side of the world.

The fighters escorted the bombers in, watching for aerial or surface defenses, as at least one nearby sub fired over two dozen surface to surface missiles into the area. The fighters opened fire to suppress any defenses, then the bombers dropped their deep penetration bunker busting bombs, and everybody flew away without ever being detected or fired upon if our knowledge is accurate.

And the really impressive thing? No word about it got out. Nothing at all. Operational Security held throughout the entire operation. It was a complete surprise to all the enemies of America. And it was a message I think, to all enemies of America. Much as Israel’s campaign against Iran has been a message to them. Don’t make us do this to you. We can. We just don’t want to. Don’t make us drop the Midnight Hammer on you.

 Comment 

Iran

by Medron Pryde on June 23, 2025 at 12:01 am
Posted In: Diaries

Iran has been at war with us since their religious revolution in 1980. They started by taking our diplomats prisoner in Tehran. They went on to kill American Marines who were trying to stabilize Lebanon against the revolution Iranian-sponsored terrorists started. They’ve killed hundreds, maybe thousands of Americans in the decades since depending on which estimates you look at. They’ve influenced, bought off, or overthrown nations to make them friendly to their cause. And we’ve responded by influencing, buying off, or overthrowing nations to make them friendly to our cause.

Israel has weathered decades of assaults and terrorist attacks from Irianian proxies, and then there was the 10-7 attack that slaughtered a thousand Israelis in one day. They’ve smashed most of Iran’s pet terrorists flat since then, and even shot down direct Iranian attacks on their homeland.

Through all of this, we’ve tried to avoid open warfare with Iran. Americans are sick and tired of the proxy wars. We don’t want to fight them anymore. It’s one of the reasons American voters have voted for Trump three elections in a row now. To end the forever wars. To stop fighting in flee-bitten hellholes. To stop sending our young men and women into harm’s way on foreign soil.

Then Israel finally struck back at Iran with a full-scale campaign of destruction aimed at Iranian military and nuclear targets. The Iranians responded by shooting missiles at Israeli cities. And now we upped the ante by rearranging the landscape above their nuclear facilities with our biggest bunker-busting bombs. It was awesome to see.

But I don’t want to see it. I don’t want war with Iran. I don’t want Iran touched by the kind of destruction their proxies have seen. Or us. But the drums of war and regime change are pounding away, and I don’t know if we can stop it.

 Comment 

I Don’t Know

by Medron Pryde on June 22, 2025 at 12:01 am
Posted In: Diaries

I don’t know if we did the right thing this weekend. I dont have enough info to know. I didn’t want it, but we don’t always get what we want. I don’t know if it is good or bad or the least bad we could do to keep things from getting more bad. But I’m very afraid we’re going to find out.

 Comment 

Stretching My Legs

by Medron Pryde on June 21, 2025 at 12:01 am
Posted In: Diaries

I’m stretching my legs at the moment.

After months of writing my monster hunter stories and getting a half-dozen of them accepted for publishing, I’m back to writing pure science fiction again. I didn’t know how much I’d love doing the real world fantasy I’ve been doing. I hesitate to call it urban fantasy because only one of them was in a city, and that one had no magic it. Just the more granular magic of John Moses Browning.

But this week I’m writing science fiction again, and it feels like I’m wrapping myself up in an old friend. First I’ve been working on an actual fan story. Transformers. The toys that turn into cars and such. Not the power convertors. It’s a redo of a story I did decades ago, and I’m having fun. And second I’m working on a little story about an alien family trying to survive in interstellar space. And by alien, I mean each member is part of another alien race. A mixed up family trying to survive the crisis that occurs.

Just a little cleansing of the creative palette. I’m enjoying it a lot. It’s just fun to do the jam again. To stretch my legs and play in the stars. 🙂

 Comment 

The Politics of Power

by Medron Pryde on June 20, 2025 at 12:01 am
Posted In: Diaries

Many strong-minded individuals in The West saw the fall of the Soviet Union as a way to build a New World Order where no one stood against our power. They promised Russia they wouldn’t expand NATO towards them, and then instantly began absorbing former Warsaw Pact nations into NATO. What could Russia do? Protest? They were bankrupt. And the many nations that weren’t Russian and didn’t like being in the Soviet Union really wanted in on that NATO thing. I don’t blame them. I wouldn’t want a hungry Russia looking at me after fifty years of Soviet rule. I would want friends backing me up, thank you very much.

But if you are the sole unipolar superpower in the world, what do you do when nations don’t want to do what you want them to do? You either shrug and let it go… or you don’t. And the Neocons that infected both parties did not want to let it go. They had power, and they were going to use it to get what they wanted. And any nation that disagreed just ate some bombs. Or some uranium-tipped bullets. Or some USAID-funded street protests. Or a totally-locally-led rebellion that toppled a government in hours. Or maybe they just had a tyrant that needed taking care of. Or maybe they sent a terrorist attack against us.

Yugoslavia. Libya. Syria. Georgia. The Country, not the State. Iraq. Ukraine. Afghanistan. These are the big names. The ones that made the news in America. Care to guess how many other nations we touched with USAID and other fingers of our foreign policy? Go ahead and look. You might be surprised by the names you see. And then ask yourself, how many of those names are better off now than they were in 1990? Or go back to 1980 and look. 1970. 1960.

The Neocons didn’t appear fully formed in 1990 and start their work with no history of their previous actions. Look at the world we have today and compare it to the world of the past, and ask yourself… do you like what absolute power has built?

 Comment 
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2080 - The Martian Affair

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2304 - Forge of War

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2305 - The Audacious Affair

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2307 - Angel Flight

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2307 - Angel Strike

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2307 - Angel War

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2307 - The Family Affair

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2309 - The Thunderbird Affair

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2309 - Wolfenheim Rising

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2309 - Wolfenheim Emergent

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2395 - The Gemini Affair

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