Jack of Harts

“I’ve got your back, John,” Cassie said.

His displays flashed with recommendations and target locks.

“Never doubted it for a second,” Christensen said and sprang back to his feet. He lined the rifle in his right hand up on one enemy quad, waited a moment for the display to flash a target lock, and pulled the trigger. The secondary barrel glowed with electromagnetic energy for an instant before spitting out a single high explosive round that shot across the Martian landscape faster than the speed of sound. The kinetic energy alone was enough to breach the armor of anything but the heaviest enemy tanks. He would have needed a proper armor-piercing warhead to take one of them out, but the unarmored quad and its rider were an entirely different matter. It was akin to beating a piñata with a sledgehammer.

The other quads opened fire and rounds bounced off his armor or sent showers of red Martian dirt into the air all around him.

Christensen rode the recoil and turned away from the exploding quad. He stepped up onto the rim of the small crater, bringing the heavy rifle in his left hand to aim at another target. He pulled that trigger, kinetic energy flashed, and his second target exploded. He rode the recoil once more and brought the first rifle down on a third target. A stream of enemy rounds smashed into it and sparks filled his view. Powerful electromagnetic coils crackled their energy all over the Martian landscape. His display flashed red warning signs as the rifle fried itself to death in his hand.

***

The Martian Affair is available at the following retailers

Amazon

Barnes and Noble

Apple Books

Kobo

Smashwords

Malcolm McDonnell grew up in a world before Contact, when we still thought we were alone in the universe. Then the Peloran brought medicines that nearly wiped out diseases, and extended the human lifespan into the centuries. They helped us study advanced technologies, and expand our colonies hundreds of lightyears from Earth. It was a golden age for mankind, but the Peloran were not the only ones to make Contact.

Four years after the Shang attacked us, Malcolm had used his contacts inside the Hurst Family to make the Wolfenheim Project a reality. His mission was to take humanity’s message back to the stars with that most human of responses. A new colony in Alien space. No Alien power would drive us from them. We were coming. We would always be coming.

But the head of the Hurst Family discovered he was funding the Wolfenheim Project and sent a fleet to impound it. Now Malcolm McDonnell and the Class One Colonization Ship Wolfenheim fly through Alien stars on their way towards a new home with a determined foe on their heels. One that Malcolm does not remember, but who most certainly remembers him.

***

Wolfenheim Emergent is available at the following retailers

Amazon

Barnes and Noble

Apple Books

Kobo

Smashwords

The alien Shang attacked us in 2304. They blew Yosemite Station out of Earth orbit and dropped it all over the western half of America. They obliterated Washington DC with a missile bombardment and brought nuclear winter to my home. We stood back up, we fought back, and we hit them in hundreds of systems from one end of known space to the other. And then we sent out the call to rally the fleets for a coordinated strike on their heart of power near Earth.

I am Captain Jack Hart of the Republic of Texas Marine Corps Fighter Attack Wing 112, the Cowboys. It was our job to protect the fleets from Shang spoiling attacks while they organized themselves into a cohesive assault force. It was our job to watch the flanks and keep the system secure. It was our job to be ready to investigate any unidentified contact entering the system.

Most of those days were boring. A faulty transmitter. Or somebody showing up ahead of schedule or long after they were supposed to arrive. And some days it was far more exciting than that. This was one of those days.

***

The Thunderbird Affair is available at the following retailers

Amazon

Barnes and Noble

Apple Books

Kobo

Smashwords