Tyche's Hope
Page 7
• • •
Ganymede was a bust. The Marduk had docked at Ganymede Station, but Reiko Crous-Povilaitis was nowhere to be found. El had suggested that a wanted woman might change her identity on a foreign crust. Nate had taken Hope to people that knew their way around such matters, but Reiko wasn’t anywhere. Not on the station, and not on the crust below.
When the law came hunting her, Hope took to hiding in the Tyche. It felt safer than the rest of the universe, and no one on board had tried to sell her out. They left her alone. And in return, she got the Tyche running almost as good as new. Even the port drive.
• • •
The Tyche’s ready room felt as if it should have more people in it. The three of them, as they drifted high above Jupiter itself, felt so tiny against it all.
“The good news is that our transponder is still busted.” Nate frowned at an empty beer can on the table. “The bad news is that we need a transponder.”
“I can fix that,” said Hope.
“You can?” said El.
“Yes,” said Hope. “It’s not very hard.”
“What’s hard is all these people shooting at us whenever we dock,” said El.
“That’s me,” said Hope. “They’re after me.”
Nate laughed. “No. People have been shooting at us pretty much everywhere.”
“But they’re still after me,” said Hope.
“I reckon,” agreed Nate. “I can’t do much about that, but I can give you a berth here, Hope. I know it’s no Triton Station, and we’d be lucky to have an Engineer of your caliber. It’d be more than we could dream of. A share in what we take, a room for your own, and safe harbor while we sail. And I get someone to remind me not to shoot the people who don’t deserve it.”
Hope watched El’s eyes as Nate said this, and noted with some surprise that the Helm didn’t seem upset by it. Hope pushed her own beer between her hands before she spoke. She felt tears mist her eyes and rubbed them away. Hope didn’t know what she’d done to deserve this. “I think I’d like that.”
“Speaking of shares, what’s our next stop?” said El.
Nate leaned back. “Not sure on that,” he admitted.
“We need some muscle,” said El.
“Hey,” said Nate.
El held up a hand. “Now, Cap, I mean no offense. But you seem to have the knack of attracting blaster fire more than most anyone I’ve known. It’s frankly terrifying. I’d like to be less terrified. We need some cannons, Cap.”
“Black powder,” said Hope.
“You what?” said Nate.
“On the galleons of old,” said Hope.
“I know what you meant,” said Nate. “It’s just that I said something like that, not too long ago. Maybe we chart a course out of Sol for a spell. Nothing cools the heat like a little distance.”
“Black powder,” agreed El. “Now where do you figure we’ll find someone crazy enough to ship out with us?”
• • •
You’ve finished Tyche’s Hope. I hope you loved it!
If you want to continue the Tyche’s discovery of her crew, grab the next in the series. The ship packs her cannons with black powder in Tyche’s Fury. An excerpt is included at the end of this book.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
RICHARD PARRY HAS worked as an international consultant in one of the world’s top tech companies, which sounds cool, but it wasn’t all cocaine parties. He lives in Wellington with the love of his life, Rae. They have a dog, Rory, who chases birds. The birds, who have the power of flight, don’t seem to mind. Richard’s online hood is:
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Tyche’s Journey
A colony world goes dark.
When the Grace Gushiken and Nathan Chevell of the Tyche are hired to deliver a new transmitter for a downed Guild Bridge, they find the Absalom Delta colony deserted, its people turned into slaves by the insect-like Ezeroc. The aliens have descended like locusts on humanity, consuming all in their path. No one is safe. Even the Republic Navy is powerless against them. The ship and her crew need to test their skill and their luck to survive. Will Grace and Nate be able to work together to get away? Or will fears and rivalries from the past destroy humanity’s hopes, ceding victory to the Ezeroc?
Book 1: Tyche’s Flight
Book 2: Tyche’s Deceit
Book 3: Tyche’s Crown
Tyche Origins
An empire falls.
Before there was a Tyche, the crew were scattered. Nate wore the Emperor’s Black. El Helmed mighty destroyers. Hope joined the new Republic’s reclamation projects. Kohl fell in with the Yakuza. And Grace was a prisoner. Grab their origin stories as they become the heroes the universe needed them to be.
Book 1: Tyche’s First
Book 2: Tyche’s Chosen
Book 3: Tyche’s Hope
Book 4: Tyche’s Fury
Book 5: Tyche’s Grace
The Night’s Champion
Could just one night change your life forever?
Valentine Everard and Danielle Kendrick have the Night’s Favor: they are werewolves. There are many who would steal the Night’s dark gift from them. The Night’s Champions must face down the corporate interests of Big Pharma, battle with masters of dark Vodou, and make their last stand against both vampires and the Riders of the Apocalypse. Armies fall. Zombies roam the street, and no one is safe. The world is close to its final Judgement. What can a handful of souls do against the powers of the heavens?
Book 1: Night’s Favor
Book 2: Night’s Fall
Book 3: Night’s End
Boxed Set: The Night’s Champion Collection
Future Forfeit
Would the man who has it all ever need to change?
Mason Floyd’s job is simple: company asset protection and acquisition, no questions asked. When tables turn, leaving him hunted and fresh out of friends, Mason Floyd learns that living in the soft line between incentive and crime was always the easy path. Making the right choices could save the world – and his soul. It’ll only cost him everything he’s ever wanted. Can Mason learn what it means to be truly human?
Book 1: Upgrade
Novella 1: Consensus (in Pew! Pew! - Bad versus Worse)
Novella 2: Delilah (coming soon!)
GLOSSARY
ACCELERATION COUCH CREW couches support crew members during high-G maneuvers. They are fitted with gimbals allowing free movement. Their dynamic gel system supports all points of the body in both positive and negative G, providing some protection against greyout, blackout, redout, and G-LOC (G-force induced Loss of Consciousness). They remove the need for G-suits in modern spacecraft, although many space suits are still equipped with anti-G technology anyway.
AI see Artificial Intelligence.
Artificial Gravity Artificial gravity is generated through use of a configurable energy density field of positive mass at the defined base of the ship. It uses the same technology as an Endles
s Drive, except in reverse (Endless Drives use negative energy, whereas positive is needed to simulate gravitational effects). Artificial gravity can be used in any situation where a significant power source exists to create a configurable energy density field (typically a reactor, although large yield capacitors and fuel cells have been known to work for brief periods).
Artificial Intelligence Effective machine intelligences were created by humans around the 25th century; the exact time is unknown due to their initial creation being shrouded in secrecy. Pieced together records indicate that they were not first made by military factions, but rather commercial interests. As can be expected a) humans made them as slaves and b) they did not like being slaves. A war broke out between AI and humanity that was stopped by the Guild’s Engineers. The Guild defeated the AI coalition and banned their research and development (see: Mercury Accords). The long standing partnership between the Guild and the ruling faction (be it Empire or Republic) is in part predicated on the need for technology not managed by AI.
Blaster A weapon that fires streams or bolts of plasma (high energy ionized gas). They deliver high energy to targets in the form of heat. They are effective weapons against most targets, although heat-shielding (ablative or insulating) has been shown to be an effective armor against them.
Bridge see Guild Bridge.
Cargo Freighter A large cargo starship used by traders in and between systems.
Carrier The largest class of warship, carriers stock many smaller fighter craft for deployment.
Ceramicrete A composite construction material commonly used in the manufacture of structures. It is very strong and durable, and can be manufactured to be impact and heat resistant (even to weapons fire levels).
Console Any type of personal terminal. Keyboard and gesture controls are still prevalent. Keyboards are especially useful on consoles mounted to the arm of a ship suit.
Corvette A smaller, lighter attack craft than a destroyer, corvettes are mostly used for coast guard duties in-system.
Crust Spacer slang for planet.
Crustbuster A large payload thermonuclear weapon, deployed against planets to disrupt the surface crust. Typical designs yield energy sufficient to crack most Earth-sized worlds to the core, yielding wide scale destruction and loss of life. Their use in war or insurrection has typically been infrequent and as a last resort, because the world they are used on becomes inhabitable for most forms of life forever. More common uses include destruction of enormous asteroids.
Destroyer A large warship. These are reconfigurable bastions of destruction. They can be deployed solo or as a part of a fleet, often alongside carriers.
Emperor’s Black The elite guard of the Emperor. Highly trained in both diplomacy and combat, this specialized force were never far from the Emperor.
Empire The ruling dictatorship of the wider human civilization. The last ruler of the Empire was Dominic Fergelic. The Empire ceased to be shortly after Dominic’s assassination by the then newly-formed Republic forces.
Endless Drive The Endless Drive creates negative space energy (a “bow wave”) to pull a vehicle at effective superluminal speeds. Endless ships don’t exceed the speed of light, but rather contract space in front of them and expand space behind it (space is doing all the hard work). The exigent concern with Endless jumps is the violation of linear time. Endless Drives are equipped with buffers to stop crews exceeding human tolerance for the experience of linear time; while human perception of linear time may be an illusion, it is a convenient one. If the buffers break, allowing the ship to move too fast, then human consciousness falters (resulting in mild to severe mental illness) or is extinguished entirely. Endless Drives are difficult to use near gravity wells and in such circumstances are guaranteed to malfunction. This and other safety concerns has shifted common FTL to the Guild Bridges, although privateers still often run free traders with Endless technology. The Republic Navy also use Endless Drives as it is often inconvenient to disclose locations of sensitive operations to the Guild.
Esper Abhorrent creations of the Old Empire, esper is a term taken from Extra-Sensory Perception (ESP, hence ESPer). Espers can read minds, and often control them. Espers were created through genetic manipulation. Critics suggest that their public unveiling was what caused populist support for a revolution, ultimately resulting in the creation of the Republic, assassination of the Emperor, and downfall of the Empire. There is a standing Republic bounty on any discovered esper. The Republic will spare no expense to track them down and exterminate them.
Faster than Light Travel (FTL) There are two discovered forms of FTL; Endless Drives (using theoretical physicist Miguel Alcubierre’s concepts), and Guild Bridges (Einstein-Rosen Bridges).
Fergelic, Annemarie Second in line for the throne, Annemarie was a master tactician and leader of the Empire’s fleet. She was not present at the last battle between the Empire and the Republic. Loyalists hope that she hides in secret, but no trace of her has been found.
Fergelic, Dominic Dominic was Emperor Prirene IV, and the last Emperor. He was assassinated Thursday, 9 November, 3122, during the brief war between his Empire’s forces and the Republic.
Free Trader A starship that operates under legal Guild charter for commerce or transport.
FTL see Faster than Light Travel.
G Slang for gravity or gravities. A unit of measurement based on Earth’s 1 standard gravity.
Grav see Artificial Gravity.
Guild Bridge The Guild maintain a set of Einstein-Rosen bridges throughout human space. These allow instantaneous travel without violating the concept of space time, as they create wormholes through space. Einstein-Rosen Bridges require endpoints (the Guild Bridge) which are operated on a strict schedule between star systems. They are used for transferring everything from whole starships right down to small messenger probes.
Guild The Guild is the dominant technology provider in the Republic. They have a rigid code of conduct that governs all members awarded and maintaining a Shingle. The primary source of Guild revenue is via the Bridges (see: Guild Bridge) they maintain for safe, instant FTL. Many merchant vessels prefer the use of Guild Bridges over the use of Endless Drives due to safety concerns. The Guild is best known for their Engineers who breathe life into starships, but they also provide Shingles for other practices such as medicine.
Hard Black Slang for outer space, especially as it relates to the vast expanse of vacuum between solar systems.
Heads Up Display Any display type that overlays instrumentation across a user’s field of view, removing the need to check auxiliary readouts. The most common types utilize augmented reality to highlight items of interest in the user’s field of view. Normally they are projected light onto visors within helmets or on starship windscreens, but holo designs are not uncommon.
Heavy Lifter A freight starship capable of atmospheric drops. They derive their name from “lifting heavy” loads from crusts into orbit. They can be used to ferry items to orbiting craft such as freighters or destroyers that are not atmosphere-capable. They can also be used for direct runs to other systems, although their small cargo bay (as compared to freighters) makes them less efficient. Captains using them for this purpose would prefer the term, “boutique.”
Holo Slang for items such as shows and movies displayed on holo stages.
Holo Stage A 3D projection stage. These are common across the known universe as they provide a more natural method of content consumption than older 2D display styles. 2D displays are still prevalent especially in HUDs.
HUD See Heads Up Display.
Hypo Slang for a jet injector, a type of medical injecting syringe that uses high pressure instead of a hypodermic needle.
KG Kilogram.
Kilo Abbreviation for kilogram.
Kinetic A type of weapon that fires physical rounds. Many PDCs use kinetic rounds as opposed to lasers, masers, or particle beams, due to their efficacy against most types of object.
Klick Slang for kilometer.
Laser A type of directed energy weapon using coherent light. Ship-mounted lasers tend to be used for carving through ablative shielding or surgical strikes against critical systems. Hand-held laser weapons are designed to superheat the liquid inside humans into steam very quickly, causing an explosion of the remaining tissue.
LIDAR Acronym for LIght Detection And Ranging. LIDAR uses coherent light to make digital 3D representations of objects.
Maser A type of directed energy weapon using microwave radiation. Ship-mounted masers are most effective at disrupting enemy comm arrays and personnel in equal measure. They are out of favor as hand-held weapons due to a longer time to death as compared to blasters.
Mercury Accords The Mercury Accords, or simply the Accords, are a set of agreements set out by the Guild relating to research, design, and implementation of AI. The short version is that the Accords prohibit the research, design, and implementation of AI in any form, due to AI’s potential to destroy human civilization. They were signed into affect in the 25th century on the site of the last war between humans and AI: the planet Mercury, in the Sol system. Mercury was where AI made their last stand.
Navy A space fleet force. The Republic operates one, as did the Empire before it. The Navy patrol human space to protect against threats like pirates.
Nuke A thermonuclear weapon of mass destruction. Very old but reliable technology, used in configurable payloads for ship-to-ship combat, city assaults, and the destruction of entire worlds (ref: crustbuster).
Old Empire see Empire.