Grace

by on April 19, 2017 at 12:01 am
Posted In: Art, Character Profiles

We had an amazing number of rich and powerful people in the Cowboys when we started. And slackers like me. The fact is that nobody expected us to deploy anywhere, so some strings were pulled to get people into our sleepy little reserve Marine squadron. Boy, were those stringpullers in for a surprise. I asked Grace once if she’d known what was coming. She just smiled and said she picked Daniel because he was a fighter. I asked if she would have still picked him if she knew everything that would happen and she smiled again. She chose the son of a president as her partner and she always worked to bring dignity to his role. Knowing Daniel like I do, she had a long and hard road when it comes to that. But she was always a very patient partner.

High rez version available for free on Patreon

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The Gemini Affair

by on April 18, 2017 at 12:01 am
Posted In: Diaries

“All fighters are fully operational and ready to engage the enemy, Jack. Shall we?”

“We shall,” Jack answered as over one hundred point defense lasers opened fire on the incoming missiles. The freighter’s attack evaporated far short of Jack’s thirteen Avengers. “But let’s try to take her intact. They were nice enough not to shoot up our cargo pods. Let’s return the favor.”

“Yes, Jack,” Betty and Jasmine said in perfect unison, and the Avenger shuddered as her missile arrays deployed from their main fuselage. Covers rolled back to reveal the many small tubes, the arrays spun back and forth to test their range of motion, and then they finally locked onto the freighter and his displays began to flash red with multiple target locks.

Jack smiled and passed his hand over a control that started his favorite music. One had to have the right soundtrack playing when you made the bad guys pay, after all. The very best singing duo in all the worlds, in Jack’s completely biased opinion, began to sing about bad boys and Jack chuckled.

“Fire,” Jack ordered to the tune of T&J’s screaming guitars and all thirteen Avengers spat scores of tiny missiles towards the freighter.

…

The Gemini Affair is a short story written for An Atlas to Time, Space, and Bonfires. There’s a kickstarter for it right now in case you’re interested in seeing a couple dozen stories by different authors. And this one, of course.

An Atlas to Time, Space, and Bonfires Kickstarter

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Happy Easter

by on April 17, 2017 at 12:01 am
Posted In: Diaries

Some of you spent the weekend enjoying time with family. Some of you went to church. Some of you celebrated that Christ was reborn.

Some of you made fun of those who celebrate Easter for its religious significance. Some of you simply ignored the religious aspects of the holiday in favor of cute bunnies and eggs. A search on google for images related to Easter is an example of that. This was the only non-Egg or non-Bunny image I could find on the first few pages. Just this suggesting that there might be some other meaning to the holiday.

So what is the holiday? Well, for starters it is a Holy Day. Yes, that is the origin of the term holiday. Much like Christmas was once said as Christ Mass. But Easter in many ways is closer to its original form than many other Christian Holidays. It was a celebration of new life and fertility before Christianity was a going concern, and that is where the egg symbol comes from. The egg-toting bunny is a purely Christian addition, and bringing eggs and presents to the good little children much like Santa Claus.

But all of that history comes down into one thought. What is the meaning of Easter? Is it a time to get together with family? An excuse to get a day off work? A chance to mock those who celebrate Easter? For most of us in America, it is the time to remember that God sent his only son to die for us. To shield us from death. To give us new life.

And that is the reason for the cross. God could have remained aloof from us, speaking to priests in a temple and never showing his face. But he came to Earth as a man and grew up as the son of a man and a woman. A carpenter who built things with his hands. He brought a face to God, and he became one of us. He walked in our footsteps and then he died in them. And then he rose once more so that we would know the truth of his words. To be good to one another.

We celebrate the love of a God who cared so much for us that he was willing to sacrifice a part of Himself to give all of us new life and new meaning. That is why me and mine celebrate Easter.

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Christian

by on April 16, 2017 at 12:01 am
Posted In: Art, Character Profiles

Many people do not know that I stepped down from leading the Cowboys after The War. I moved to Wolfenheim and started a new life. I still fly with the Cowboys, but Christian Mack became the new Major, the new Cowboy One. He commanded the Cowboys far longer than I, and it is thanks to him that the Cowboys remained a viable force after War’s End. He held us together with newsletters and reunions and commissioned the construction of Cowboy Countries on every major world. He took a weapon built to drive the Shang out of this sector of the galaxy and turned it into the Cowboys we know today. Part veteran’s group, part private security, transport organization, bounty hunter guild, and a dozen and more other occupations. He accommodated almost anything our people wanted to do, and made it all part of the official Cowboy mission. He was not content with the Cowboys being famous for helping to win The War. He wanted everyone to think of the Cowboys as helping to keep The Peace that followed. He succeeded beyond my wildest imaginations.

High res version available for free on Patreon

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Rio

by on April 15, 2017 at 12:01 am
Posted In: Art, Character Profiles

Rio never has answered my questions as to why she chose Christian’s personal assistant as her new body. She just gives that mysterious smile the old Rio was famous for. Rio was one of the best AIs I’d ever seen, close enough to human that most of us fanboys didn’t see the limitations. The new Rio is similar to that Rio of old, complete with the mischievous glances as she does something new. She has the stage presence down perfect, and can make anyone feel like they are inside one of Christian and Rio’s old Pre-War adventures with one look. But the new Rio is far more than the old Rio ever was. She’s like bright colors compared to a pale imitation. But in Rio’s case, the imitation came first, and then we got to see the real thing. She’s alive now, in every way that matters, and that makes her far more amazing than the old Rio ever was.

High res version available for free on Patreon

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