Desperation is a book I honestly hadn't anticipated writing at all. My goal was to be stubborn and market a book coming in at 220 000 words, that was only semi-standalone, and would be the first of most likely a trilogy. Man was I wrong. When I wrote Desperation, Triumvirate, Duality and Unity (the last two are working titles and may change) we're already written, I had to really think what this book would be about. Would I step back in time and describe the beginning the war (nope too much of a time gap), so I decided I would focus on what got Savage out to Lonsatia, and do the famous Sigma 6 battle that was mentioned in Triumvirate, and also how did one of his closest Admirals end up not making it. I thought, given what Savage was like, that it would be cool to have him start off in a classroom. He does have a unique perspective on the war per se, and it jumped into my head, to create an event that would not only create controversy with the protagonist, but would show he had one set of balls.
Lons and Skardo came out of a session of heavy drinking to be honest. I knew that I had to deviate somehow from my normal villains, and well out popped the most despised characters I have ever written. I was uneasy at first with these two, but finally I just said fuck it, and then pushed the boundaries. I never reveal how these two came to be this way, that perhaps is for the story on how they got exiled to begin with, but we shall see.
It was a good adventure in writing Desperation and it proved that I could just sit down with 3 or 4 basic ideas and create a standalone novel that was not a bad size. It also opened up a whole other world on some characters that I honestly didn't know existed, but sets things up for some interesting stories to tell. Now I will leave you with an excerpt of Desperation that has to date only been available if you bought the book.
The Setup: Admiral Savage is in battle to save the Territories of the Twentys' main uranium resources, and he is losing the battle. He is forced to make a decision, and the outcome is only revealed is you read the book!!
Savage picked himself up off of the deck of his bridge and sat back
down in his chair. The smoke was getting
thicker and fire lapped at some of the control centers around him. “Status!?” he yelled.
“We are still
operational sir, warp inducers are currently offline, engine output down to
seventy-five percent. Weapons pods are
still putting out one hundred fifteen percent of normal output,” replied the
young man at engineering.
“Keep up the weapons
output for as long as possible.” He looked
at the battle display and saw that his reinforcements had arrived. Savage quickly punched orders in through his
displays and sent them to the reinforcements.
“Let’s see how the Heggies like that.
Bastards.”
The Bloodwing
shook as it came under heavy fire on the port side from passing Hegemony
cruisers. The vibrations knocked a few
of the bridge crew to their knees, wincing from the shaking and beating they
were taking. More fires erupted as laser
fire danced across the hull close to the bridge. Damage control crews rushed onto the bridge
finally and started putting out the fires that were spreading from console to
console.
Battles with the
Hegemony were tough on the naval ships of the Territories of the Twenty. The Hegemony navy was somewhat more advanced
and had higher impact weapons. As a
result, the Territories ships normally spent a few days in dry dock receiving
repairs. So far all attempts at energy
shields by their scientists had failed.
So for now, they had to deal with heavy damage during battle and use
damage control crews to do emergency hull patches and to jury rig the
electronics that were damaged in the heat of battle.
Savage turned to the
battle monitor and saw that they were about to push through the enemy
lines. “I’ve got you now Propoose, I
have you now,” muttered Savage, clenching his fist. Savage opened up fleet wide
communications. “Keep pushing forward,
if you get too damaged, fall back and let the next ship in line take over. Savage out.”
A proximity alarm went
off and Savage’s eyes widened. “Sir, enemy
cruiser off our bow, it's on a collision course!”
“Evasive
maneuvers!!” He felt the ship lurch
underneath him as it went into a steep dive.
His stomach was thrust into his throat, and by the retching around the
bridge, he was not the only one. Using
his Guardian powers, he got it under control and saw that they were still going
to hit. “Fuck,” he whispered as he
reached out into space and into the mind of the pilot of the cruiser bearing
down on them. With a little push, Savage
took control of the pilot long enough to get the pilot to veer off, missing the
Bloodwing by mere meters.
“That was close,”
said the fair haired commander piloting the Bloodwing.
“Dammit, keep an eye
out for that,” ordered Savage. This
would’ve never happened if Trent was here.
Damn I can’t keep track of the ship and the fleet.
Having been
distracted by the imminent collision, Savage finally turned back to the battle
and his gut went cold. “How in the hell
did I miss that?” Three thousand
Hegemony ships were now on the outer arm of the battle engaging his
reinforcements from Hawthorne. “Where
the fuck did they come from?” A chiming
came from his chair and he hit a button, producing Sloane on the left viewer,
blood spilling down her cheek from the gash in her forehead.
“Admiral, there is no
way we can take on those reinforcements.
Our ships are too damaged and we are simply out numbered. What are your orders?”
Savage closed his
eyes and reached out, looking for an answer.
A brief vision came to him showing his defeat at Dubrilla if he stayed,
but if he did not win, he also saw the Territories in flames. So there’s no hope, after all these years,
there’s no hope.
“Alert all commands,
general retreat starts in ten minutes.
Order all fighters to berth at the nearest ships. Set warp coordinates for Veloxora for
relatively undamaged ships, for those that need repairs, Sholtan or Malanata. Savage out.”
Savage smashed his fist into the arm of his chair. “Get me the President of Dubrilla
immediately.”
“Yes sir,” replied
the communications officer. A haggard
man appeared about a minute later, fear in his eyes, his short blond hair
plastered back with sweat on his balding head.
“Where are you going
Admiral Savage?” demanded the President of Dubrilla, wringing his hands, hope
in his voice.
“The battle is lost
and we’re forced to retreat. There are
just too many ships here for us to take on, and given the situation I warped
into, I can’t project a win at all. I cannot
possibly take on three thousand of their vessels even on the best of days with
a full complement from our fleet. I sure as hell want to know where they’re
getting such resources. I suggest you surrender to them and hope for the best.”
“Hope for the
best? Hope for the best?! What in the hell is that supposed to mean?!”
“Listen; didn’t you
hear what I just said? We’re greatly
outnumbered here and if I stay and fight, they will win no matter what. We can’t afford to lose any more ships
defending Dubrilla. I’m sorry, but if
that simpleton Grooben had done what he was supposed to, we wouldn’t be in this
mess. I am sorry to leave you like this,
but we have no choice in the matter.
Savage out.” Savage slammed his
fist down and cut off the President.
Truth be told, he did not want to retreat; he wanted to fight. But to win this battle would be impossible; he
simply didn’t have enough ships to accomplish that. Then it hit him. The only move left to ensure that the uranium
reserves did not fall into Hegemony hands as well.
“Get me Sloane, now,
before she warps out.” With barely a
pause, Sloane appeared again, medics around her. “Dianne, no fucking way I’m letting the
Heggies get the uranium. Order your two
back squads to play cat and mouse with the Heggie fleet near the mining
moon. I’m going after the mines.”
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| This is a hint as to what happens!! |
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