Tyche's Chosen Read online

  El lifted the ship back up, the water deluge stopping. “That worked,” she said.

  “You didn’t know it would work before you did it?” said Nate.

  “No,” said El. “Never had to fly a ship without weapons before.”

  “I could stand this being a little less stressful,” admitted Nate.

  “Why don’t you get on the maser then?” said El. “It’ll give you something useful to do.”

  “We need to face the enemy,” said Nate.

  “No problem,” said El, banking the ship. They curved around to face their pursuers.

  “Uh,” said Nate. “I don’t like playing chicken.”

  “I do,” said El, keeping their speed up.

  Nate looked at her, then at the approaching ships, then at her, and then at his console. He worked furiously. The Tyche’s forward masers came online. She reached out across the air to the Emissary, blasting the enemy’s hull with microwaves. Nothing happened immediately, then the Emissary wobbled, before a piece of the hull tore off to spin across the heavens. A moment later, the enemy ship lost altitude, heading towards the deck. The plume of water where it hit was spectacular, but that’s not what El was paying attention to. Her eyes was on the Perilous. The other ship screamed sideways, about as keen to play chicken as Nate. El slammed the throttles forward moments before it flew past. Time to run. Back to San Francisco, if need be.

  The Tyche had different ideas. The holo lit with the drive warning as the Perilous passed them. There was a crackabooom from the rear of the Tyche, then the holo warning cleared. The Perilous was also gone, fragments lost in the waves.

  “What just happened?” said Nate.

  “I think we spat out a piece of carbon the size of a baseball and cored the Perilous,” said El. “I do not know how that happened. That was … that wasn’t me,” she finished. “That was luck.” It wasn’t lucky that a piece of carbon the size of a cat’s head shot out like a cannonball to kill a starship. Sure, that was luck of a level you couldn’t even calculate with an Engineer’s Shingle under your belt. The real luck was that the drive core hadn’t burned out with it, tearing the ship into pieces and scattering them across the Pacific.

  The holo stuttered then cleared, the drive’s warning indicator gone.

  No more Perilous. No more Emissary. No more Republic assholes gunning for them. Just the blue ocean under them, stretching all the way to Anchorage.

  CHAPTER SIX

  SKIDS ON THE deck at the Anchorage spaceport, El walked the Tyche. She ran a hand down the walls of the crew deck. El walked past empty crew quarters, sitting and waiting for the right souls to fill them.

  When she arrived at Engineering, she sighed. There was no Engineer here, the lights dark, gloom around. Even the Engineer’s holo was blank, not a readout in sight. A ship this old and well-worn couldn’t fly without one. It’d be suicide, trying to stay out there in the hard black without a Shingle onboard. That’d need fixing if she was going to Helm this starship. Not that she’d decided to, mind. But it was worth considering.

  If she’d tried something as risqué as that cavitation maneuver with the Nostradamus — not that the destroyer was atmosphere-capable, but as a for-instance — El was sure they would have blown into a million pieces.

  There was another thing worth considering. If El had talked to any other military captain the way she’d talked to Nate, she’d be gone. It was like he wanted to get out of her way and let her do the thing she was best at: flying starships. And if she needed to give a little sass while she did that, it didn’t phase him one bit.

  El considered the reactor, sitting pretty in the middle of Engineering. It was the beating heart of this ship and it bugged her she couldn’t tell if it was in good condition.

  Footsteps behind her interrupted her train of thought. She turned as Nate entered Engineering. He leaned against the airlock sill. “Well. We’ve made Anchorage. This is your stop.”

  She nodded. “It’s my stop.”

  “You’re still here,” he said.

  “Just … thinking,” El said. “This ship flies better than it should.”

  “Hand of a good Helm,” Nate offered.

  “More than that,” said El. “It’s like … she wanted to fly. For me.”

  “Ship picks her Helm,” said Nate. “Plenty of space on this ship to find your way in the universe. Things are all mixed up, El. Top is bottom. Down is up. East has met west, and the sun never sets. Do you hear me?”

  “The Empire is lost,” she said. There. She’d admitted it. But with the admission, she felt something inside her break.

  “The Empire is lost,” he agreed, eyes down.

  “This ship,” said El. “Is she going to fly into danger?”

  “I don’t know what’s in the universe, El. There are dangers aplenty, waiting for the unwary. But the right crew? A small crew. One that chose their own jobs? They might minimize that risk some. Choose missions that didn’t have so many sharp edges. And maybe, just maybe, pull the tiger by the tail.” He didn’t seem to be worried about the future. Not like Captain Tight-Ass, now dead. That man had carried his worry like a cloak. This Captain Chevell seemed to have his eyes set on something only he could see. He wasn’t driven by fear. Not like her.

  “A small crew, you say,” she said. “A tight-knit one. Shoulder to shoulder. We’d be so small the boot coming down would pass us by?”

  “Something like that.” Nate still hadn’t moved. “Like I said. I can’t promise the universe is safe. But I can tell you that on this ship, no one will threaten you because you worked under the falcon’s wings. There’ll be no talk of Empire sympathizers on my ship.”

  She looked at him, hard. “Who are you, Nate?”

  “An old soldier,” he said. “That’s all.”

  “An old soldier with a gold hand and a fancy sword. One who can use a blaster like he was born carrying one. An old soldier, who just so happened to get himself an Empire heavy lifter?”

  “That’s right,” he said.

  “Any tight-knit crew needs to have trust, Cap,” she said.

  He smiled at that. “Fair enough. I know you Helmed starships for the Empire, and that sits easy with me. I captained the Emperor’s Black. Rebels, back when they styled themselves as such, came for Dom. They didn’t get him, but they took my arm and leg both.”

  El thought about that. “Could be that there’s people who’d want to question the Captain of the Black.”

  “Could be,” he said. Like he was waiting for her to do something with the information. Daring her resolve.

  She thought about Dumpty’s Grill, where the man who’d lost his arm and his leg for an Empire had stood at a stranger’s shoulder because he didn’t like bullies. “We’ll need an Engineer,” El said. “We’ll need a good Engineer who will work on an aging starship. Where are we going to find one of those?”

  “I was lucky enough to find a good Helm,” said Nate. “I figure an Engineer will be easy enough.” He turned to go. “You can have any cabin you like, ‘cept the middle one. The one under the flight deck? That’s mine.”

  She realized she was smiling as she watched him go. El didn’t need an Empire. She needed a good starship with an honest captain. And maybe she’d found both.

  • • •

  You’ve finished Tyche’s Chosen. I hope you loved it!

  If you want to continue the Tyche’s discovery of her crew, grab the next in the series. Tyche’s Hope is where the ship finds her innocence. 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:

  www.mondegreen.co

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  http://hit.mondegreen.co/starterlibrary

  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 Endless 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 u
se 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.