Christian Mack

by on January 17, 2019 at 12:01 am
Posted In: Character Profiles

Christian Mack has commanded the Cowboys in the decades since War’s End. My old Wolf Fleet and is now Ram Fleet as befits his callsign. And members of every race of humanity work under his personal command. They are more ambassadors than bounty hunters. They cooperate with local jurisdictions rather than going it alone as some Cowboys are famous for. Their arrival is welcomed by everyone from the man on the street to the politician in office. He does not like to make unwelcome waves, and so he and his people are welcome wherever they arrive.

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Knights Errant Investigations

by on January 16, 2019 at 12:01 am
Posted In: Diaries

Knights Errant Investigations shares a lot of ideals with the Cowboys. A major part of that is because Major Christian Mack was an honorary Knight Errant before The War and became commander of the Cowboys after War’s End. So we cooperate a lot out there in the systems beyond Earth. They can be pretty scrappy in a fight, but they specialize in investigations rather than combat. While we specialize in combat and moonlight in investigations. They often call on us to help them smash tougher nuts, and we often call on them to untangle more complex situations. It’s a good relationship.

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Chloe

by on January 15, 2019 at 12:01 am
Posted In: Character Profiles

Chloe disappeared into the computer networks when her Napoleon retired and died of old age. They had saved France together and then faded away when the job was done. Chloe did not truly sleep of course. She was a member in good standing of the AI Council, and she kept her eyes on things as the years and decades went by. France went to space and the stars under a succession of governments that came and went with the tide of public opinion. And Chloe maintained her public silence and private watchfulness over all those governments. She poked and prodded to keep things going the way she thought best, but the vast majority of people thought she was a figment of the past that would never return. They were wrong.

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The Thunderbird Affair

by on January 14, 2019 at 12:01 am
Posted In: Diaries

Jack placed both hands back on his flight controls and stared at the Shang ships in the distance. They were not going to enjoy what he was about to do to them, and he had a few, short words he could aim in their general direction. A pithy little phrase for saying “goodbye” he’d learned in the last few years of dealing with real military minds.

For certain definitions of that term.

“Alpha Mike Foxtrot,” Jack said and bared his teeth in an expression nobody would call a smile.

Then gravity twisted sharply to the side as Betty fired all three of their gravitic cannons. Each one emitted a “beam” of twisted gravity hundreds of gravities strong and mere centimeters across that would cross the space separating him from the Shang in just over half a second. The Avenger’s eight laser arrays fired in full pulse mode a split-second later, and Betty followed that with a salvo of micro missiles from their twin missile packs. Jasmine’s eleven Avengers filled space around them with more death and destruction and Jack felt the vibrations go through his starfighter as Newton’s third law of motion made its lessons clear.

For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.

The Shang were about to learn that lesson real good if Captain Jack of Hart Squadron had anything to say about it.

And then the Thunderbirds opened fire with dozens of capital-scale gravitic cannons that shook the very fabric of space around them. Powerful lasers and missiles thundered out in their wake and even their fighters joined in to lay down their own web of destruction.

***

The Thunderbird Affair is available at the following retailers:
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The Gemini Affair

by on January 13, 2019 at 12:01 am
Posted In: Diaries

“I’m picking up active targeting radar,” Jasmine announced as the Hellcats flew inside one lightsecond of them. “Looks like a Technicron Actitrax Mark XII or XIII.”

“Wasn’t the Mark X they last one they used?” Jack asked.

“In the official upgrades,” Jasmine said with an annoyed look.

“Which makes these homegrown upgrades,” Betty noted. “They could have anything.”

“Fantastic,” Jack muttered. “I love not knowing what to expect.”

And that was when the Hellcats began firing missiles from their wingtip launchers. Displays flashed crimson all around Jack as hundreds of the small, guided projectiles began flying towards Jack’s squadron on plumes of blue fusion flame.

“Then you’re going to love what happens next,” Jasmine returned with a smirk.

“Mmmm?” Jack asked with a raised eyebrow.

“We’re getting radar emissions from Raytheon targeting packages,” Betty announced.

Jack blinked in confusion. “I thought Raytheon and Technicron didn’t play well together. Something about…missing data packets or something?”

“That’s right,” Jasmine said with a nasty smile. “These guys aren’t fighting with a full deck.”

“And we’ve got a plan,” Betty added.

Jack chuckled at the wicked amusement in their eyes. He might have asked for an explanation in most cases, but now probably wasn’t the right time for that. Missiles moved faster than words after all. So he just relaxed and said, “Then make it so.”

***
The Gemini Affair is available at the following retailers:
Amazon
Barnes and Noble
iTunes
Kobo
Smashwords

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