Mavericks (Expeditionary Force Book 6)

by Craig Alanson

  After being poked, prodded and sampled until she wasn’t sure she had any blood left in her veins, Perkins had been allowed to visit UNEF HQ, although no aircraft were available so the trip took six hours over back-breaking dirt roads in a truck. She was greeted by General Lynn Bezanson, who had also been vaccinated, and was hoping to return to the capital city to resume her duty as a liaison officer.

  After congratulations and the necessary idle chit-chat, Perkins got right to the point. “General, being offworld was terrific, but it was a small team, on an old training ship full of cadets. If we are going to prove our worth to the Ruhar, and keep what’s left of the ExForce from evaporating, we need a much bigger opportunity to do something really useful out here.”

  “What kind of opportunity are you thinking?”

  “The Ruhar military, especially their light ground forces, are stretched very thin right now. They’re taking a lot of new territory since the Jeraptha offensive pushed the Thuranin back, and the hamsters don’t have enough boots to cover the ground they want to secure. The longer they wait to establish a presence on a world they want to claim, the more the Thuranin, and now the Bosphuraq, will be tempted to take star systems back. In the current offensive, the Bosphuraq are coming into systems, knocking out major defenses, then moving on to the next objective. They leave Wurgalan ships and troops behind to do the dirty, dangerous work of securing the place. I’m thinking that’s where we could play a role; doing the crap jobs that the hamsters don’t have the manpower for, or just don’t want to do.”

  “Like a band of mercenaries?” Bezanson asked with a frown that included more than a hint of revulsion. She had served alongside mercs, or to use the more politically correct term ‘military contractors’, in the Middle East and Nigeria, and she did not have good memories of that experience. Renting out the ExForce sounded too much like the dubious reason they left Earth, years ago.

  Perkins shook her head once, emphatically, knowing what the General was thinking. “No, Ma’am, I was thinking this would be more like an alien version of the French Foreign Legion. An Alien Legion. We wouldn’t really be mercenaries, because we would only work for the Ruhar, not the highest bidder.”

  “Alien Legion? I can just imagine what a nightmare command and control would be for a force that has multiple species in it.”

  “I’m more concerned about logistics. We can settle on standard armor, weapons and other gear, but food is going to be a big problem. We can’t eat Ruhar food, or Kristang, I mean, Verd-Kris food.”

  “And the lizards can’t eat hamster chow either, I get it. How far down the road have you gotten in planning this?”

  “With the Ruhar, not far other than a ‘what if’ conversation aboard the Toaster, before everything went sideways. I overheard a group of hamsters complaining how their ground forces have too many taskings and not enough boots, and there are some jobs their Starborne Army doesn’t want to take on.”

  Bezanson did not like the sound of that. “Too risky?”

  “No, too messy. Like ops to pacify and move out a native population, on a planet the hamsters want, but is not a big enough strategic priority for them to commit a couple Army divisions. That kind of op is time and manpower-intensive, and their Army doesn’t want to get bogged down in ops that are not strategically vital right now. The officers I overheard were complaining their military command is missing opportunities they should exploit, because they don’t have the resources. I mentioned it to Surgun Jakes, he has heard rumors of Ruhar command approaching the Verd-Kris to assist, but so far the Ruhar brass doesn’t want to trust one group of lizards to police another group of lizards. But if humans were in the mix, in command of the op,” she held her hands palms up.

  The General nodded, warming to the idea. “Especially if the particular human in command has saved thousands, millions, of Ruhar lives on multiple occasions?”

  Perkins blushed at the praise. “Right now, the Mavericks are popular with the Ruhar public, even beyond Paradise. This is a golden opportunity for us to get beyond one planet. And we have transport.”

  “What?”

  “That Jeraptha ship that plucked us away from Camp Alpha? They are an independent operation and they’re looking for paying work. I got the impression they owe more in gambling debts than the ship is worth, and they are finding it hard to get shipping contracts in their own society. Their ship is sort of a star carrier, only its hardpoints are for attaching cargo or passenger modules. It could be made into an assault transport if the Ruhar pay for the conversion. These beetles are desperate for paying jobs. The money they earned recently just got them to the break-even point.”

  “If they’re that desperate, can you trust the ship not to fall apart?”

  “I think so. One of their engineers bitched about not being paid in months, but she said the money went toward parts they needed. Ma’am, an Alien Legion-”

  “Let’s call this theoretical outfit the ExForce, take advantage of the name recognition. Your Mavericks can take the lead.”

  “Yes, Ma’am,” Perkins blushed faintly. In her background as an intelligence analyst, she was used to being in the backgro

  und. Having the spotlight, and all the pressure on her, made her uncomfortable. “The Force is falling apart, like you said, soon the last person to leave UNEF HQ will need to turn the lights off. The problem isn’t just tempting opportunities available here to civilians. We came out here as soldiers, as a fighting force, and other than my unit, there hasn’t been any potential for action since the last Kristang left the planet. If we can offer people to be soldiers again, to carry weapons in harm’s way and make a difference, that might pull the Force together again. It won’t bring everyone back, we won’t need that many people. But it will be a reason to have pride in this,” she tapped the ExForce patch on her uniform top. “Our motto is ‘Anytime, anywhere, any fight’? Right now, the only ‘where’ is our little patch of southern Lemuria, and the only thing we’re ‘fighting’ is native weeds in our corn fields.”

  “Yeah, and the ‘time’ is every day. Same thing, every single day. All right, Perkins, you’ve sold me. I’ll kick it upstairs, the Old Man,” she meant the Indian Army general currently commanding what was left of the Expeditionary Force, “will want to see a detailed plan before we approach the hamsters. But, I can tell you right now,” she flashed a grin, “HQ is going to love this idea. They’ve got nothing else to offer as incentives for people staying in the Force. The person we,” Perkins noted the General had used the word ‘we’, “really need to sell on the concept is your old friend the Burgermeister.”

  “We have a good relationship,” the Mavericks leader said with confidence.

  “I’m sure you do, and that’s not our ace in the hole,” Bezanson added with an arched eyebrow. “When the Chief Administrator heard about what you found on Camp Alpha, and how you got there, she told me she had complete confidence in you. She also asked me how you manage to find trouble everywhere you go.”

  “Trouble finds us. Our Mysterious Benefactor ‘Emby’, whoever that is, recruited us to dig up those maser projectors. It wasn’t our idea.”

  “That’s not the point. Perkins, I am certain the Burgermeister would prefer you find trouble on some other planet.”

  “Oh,” Perkins expression brightened as she understood the General’s meaning. “We will do our best, but I can’t promise anything.”

  “I was afraid you’d say that.”

  “General, there is another, longer-term reason I want to set up this Alien Legion or whatever we’re going to call it.”

  “Let’s call it ‘ExForce’ for now. We already have a logo.”

  “And a slogan,” Perkins nodded with a smile. “Ok, the slogan fits; we’ll go anytime or anywhere the Ruhar need dirty jobs done. We can’t refuse the engagements, or the Ruhar won’t trust us to come through for them. So, ‘any fight’ is for damned sure true. Ma’am, long-term, there are groups like the Verd-Kris who want to set things right i
n the galaxy, and they are heartily sick of this war. Their goal is to retake control of Kristang society and bring their culture back to what it was, before the Thuranin put the warrior caste in power to serve those little green assholes. If they succeed, the Verd-Kris plan to stop fighting, other than defensive battles. They want out of this endless war, and the Verd-Kris are not the only people who feel that way.”

  “They’ll need a whole lot more firepower to make their pie-in-the-sky dream come true, Perkins.”

  “Yes, but we know a large faction of Ruhar society is also tired of the war. Even the Jeraptha are weary of the fighting, that’s why they haven’t made a big effort to press their advantage after they kicked the Thuranin’s asses. Ma’am, if we ever contact Earth again, and our planet is in one piece, we can’t do the same stupid shit we tried the first time. We can’t fight in this war, not for either side. Earth’s only hope is to join a coalition that does not want to fight anymore.”

  “There is no such coalition, Perkins.”

  “Not yet, Ma’am. Someone needs to get it started, and in the new ExForce, I will be meeting a lot of aliens who are not just fighting the usual, age-old fight.”

  Bezanson straightened in her chair, leaning forward. “You are certainly ambitious, Lieutenant Colonel Perkins.”

  “I was trained as an intel specialist, this kind of political intrigue is my wheelhouse.”

  “Maybe,” Bezanson conceded. “Don’t let your wheel steer humanity onto the rocks, because we don’t have a fallback. I do not think HQ will approve any plan for creating a revolution in alien societies.”

  “For now, all I will do is gather intel. General, I know nothing can happen unless something changes the balance of power in this sector, maybe the entire galaxy. If it does,” she raised an eyebrow, “we need to be ready to take advantage. The time for planning is before the action kicks off.”

  That night, Emily called Sergeant Czajka. “Dave, I heard you have an offer to go into business here, something about brewing beer for the hamsters?”

  Dave? David Czajka held the zPhone away from his ear so he could stare at it in disbelief. She called him by his first name? What the hell was going on? “Uh,” he had absolutely no idea what to say. “Colonel, I, uh-”

  “Sergeant Jarrett mentioned you have an opportunity dirtside here.”

  “Oh, um, yeah. I’ve been thinking about it. Listen, Ma’am, I really appreciate being on your team, it’s been great, it’s just-” Just what? What would he say? What could he say? “Colonel-”

  “Please, call me Emily,” there was a catch in her voice. “If you haven’t accepted the offer yet, I would,” she had to pause to swallow hard. “I would very much appreciate if you wait a bit. I’m working on something, something big, and there might be an opportunity for you, for all of us. Things are changing, we are stuck out here and we can’t keep blindly following all the old rules, if they aren’t working for us. For the mission.”

  “Um, uh, yeah.”

  “You hear what I’m saying?” She had to catch her breath again. “Dave?”

  “I, I think so. Em, Emily.”

  “Great!” Damn, she pressed a hand to her forehead. I am as giddy as a schoolgirl. “I’m at HQ now, but, I’ll find a truck and I’ll come see you. We can talk, Ok?”

  “Talk. Yeah, that,” Dave silently pumped a fist in the air, making Jesse look to see what the fuss was about. “That would be great!”

  THE END

  Author’s note:

  Thank you reading one of my books! It took years to write my first three books, I had a job as a business manager for an IT company so I wrote at night, on weekends and during vacations. While I had many ideas for books over the years, the first one I ever completed was ‘Aces’ and I sort of wrote that book for my at-the-time teenage nieces. If you read ‘Aces’, you can see some early elements of the Expeditionary Force stories; impossible situations, problem-solving, clever thinking and some sarcastic humor.

  Next I wrote a book about the program to develop faster-than-light spaceflight, it was an adventure story about astronauts stranded on an alien planet and trying to warn Earth about a dangerous flaw in the FTL drive. It was a good story, and I submitted it to traditional publishers back in the mid-2000s. And I got rejections. My writing was ‘solid’, which I have since learned means publishers can’t think of anything else to say but don’t want to insult aspiring writers. The story was too long, they wanted me to cut it to a novella and change just about everything. Instead of essentially scrapping the story and starting over, I threw it out and tried something else.

  Columbus Day and Ascendant were written together starting around 2011, I switched back and forth between writing those two books. The idea for Ascendant came to me after watching the first Harry Potter movie, one of my nieces asked what would have happened to Harry Potter if no one ever told him he is a wizard? Hmm, I thought, that is a very good question.... So, I wrote Ascendant.

  In the original, very early version of Columbus Day, Skippy was a cute little robot who stowawayed on a ship when the Kristang invade Earth, and he helps Joe defeat the aliens. After a year trying to write that version, I decided it sounded too much like a Disney Channel movie of the week, and it, well, it sucked. Although it hurt to waste a year’s worth of writing, I threw away that version and started over. This time I wrote an outline for the entire Expeditionary Force story arc first, so I would know where the overall story is going. That was a great idea and I have stuck to that outline (with minor detours along the way).

  With Aces, Columbus Day and Ascendant finished by the summer of 2015 and no publisher interested, my wife suggested that I:

  1) Try self-publishing the books in Amazon

  2) For the love of God please shut up about not being able to get my books published

  3) Clean out the garage

  It took six months of research and revisions to get the three books ready for upload to Amazon. In addition to reformatting the books to Amazon’s standards, I had to buy covers and set up an Amazon account as a writer. When I clicked the ‘Upload’ button on January 10th 2016 my greatest hope was that somebody, anybody out there would buy ONE of my books because then I could be a published author. After selling one of each book, my goal was to make enough money to pay for the cover art I bought online (about $35 for each book).

  For that first half-month of January 2016, Amazon sent us a check for $410.09 and we used part of the money for a nice dinner. I think the rest of the money went toward buying new tires for my car.

  At the time I uploaded Columbus Day, I had the second book in the series SpecOps about halfway done, and I kept writing at night and on weekends. By April, the sales of Columbus Day were at the point where my wife and I said “Whoa, this could be more than just a hobby”. At that point, I took a week of vacation to stay home and write SpecOps 12 hours a day for nine days. Truly fun-filled vacation! Doing that gave me a jump-start on the schedule, and SpecOps was published at the beginning of June 2016. In the middle of that July, to our complete amazement, we were discussing whether I should quit my job to write full-time. That August I had a “life is too short” moment when a family friend died and then my grandmother died, and we decided I should try this writing thing full-time. Before I gave notice at my job, I showed my wife a business plan listing the books I planned to write for the next three years, with plot outlines and publication dates. This assured my wife that quitting my real job was not an excuse to sit around in shorts and T-shirts watching sci fi movies ‘for research’.

  During the summer of 2016, R.C. Bray was offered Columbus Day to narrate, and I’m sure his first thought was “A book about a talking beer can? Riiiight. No.” Fortunately, he thought about it again, or was on heavy-duty medication for a bad cold, or if he wasn’t busy recording the book his wife expected him to repaint the house. Anyway, RC recorded Columbus Day, went back to his fabulous life of hanging out with movie stars and hitting golf balls off his yacht, and probably forgot
all about the talking beer can.

  When I heard RC Bray would be narrating Columbus Day, my reaction was “THE RC Bray? The guy who narrated The Martian? Winner of an Audie Award for best sci fi narrator? Ha ha, that is a good one. Ok, who is really narrating the book?”

  Then the Columbus Day audiobook became a huge hit. And is a finalist for an ‘Audie’ Award as Audiobook of the Year!

  When I got an offer to create audio versions of the Ascendant series, I was told the narrator would be Tim Gerard Reynolds. My reaction was “You mean some other guy named Tim Gerard Reynolds? Not the TGR who narrated the Red Rising audiobooks, right?”

  Clearly, I have been very fortunate with narrators for my audiobooks. To be clear, they chose to work with me, I did not ‘choose’ them. If I had contacted Bob or Tim directly, I would have gone into super fan-boy mode and they would have filed for a restraining order. So, again, I am lucky they signed onto the projects.

  So far, there is no deal for Expeditionary Force to become a movie or TV show, although I have had inquiries from producers and studios about the ‘entertainment rights’. From what people in the industry have told me, even if a studio or network options the rights, it will be a loooooooooong time before anything actually happens. I will get all excited for nothing, and years will go by with the project going through endless cycles with producers and directors coming aboard and disappearing, and just when I have totally given up and sunk into the Pit of Despair, a miracle will happen and the project gets financing! Whoo-hoo. I am not counting on it. On the other hand, Disney is pulling their content off Netflix next year, so Netflix will be looking for new original content...