1. News and Updates
Happy Monday, everyone! I hope you all had a safe and happy Fourth of July. We certainly had a good day with a barbecue in the afternoon and fireworks until late in the evening.
I’m still working on “AI Chronicles 02: Steve and Terri” for Literotica and Medium. I hope to have that completed and submitted by the end of the week.
My outline is progressing nicely for “Prime Directive,” the continuing adventures of Bill Jones and the USS Enterprise. You can catch up on that by reading “The Kepler Incident” and “Tabitha Prime” on Amazon. (You can read them both for free if you have Amazon Prime)
As a reminder, “Love Potion 69” is finally out and available on Amazon. It’s the only place where you can read my latest story, “Cinnamon: The Lothario.” The entire collection of 13 stories is available in both e-book and paperback.
2. Featured Book of the Week
The featured book of the week for this week is “The Cursed Phallus of Baalak-Ra,” published on Amazon on August 15, 2022. This is the first book in the Baalak trilogy and features one of my favorite characters, Adrestia Rhamnousia.
Terry and Eileen Fletcher, a husband-and-wife team of archaeologists, are tasked with investigating an ancient dildo found in a tiny chamber in Egypt.
What they don’t know is that the dildo contains the essence of a megalomaniacal being who not only takes control of any woman who uses the dildo but saps the energy of the woman’s mate.
Terry gets help from Adrestia Rhamnousia, an immortal being who turns out to be the sister of the being inside the dildo.
Read an excerpt here, then get your copy on Amazon, here. This book is also available on Kindle Unlimited, so you can read it for free with Amazon Prime.
3. Featured Free Story of the Week
The featured free story of the week on my website is “Houston 01: The Problem.” I had a lot of fun writing this back in 2020. Let’s just say it’s a version of “Mr. & Mrs. Smith” you won’t see in the movies…
You can read the full chapter on my website, here.
4. Book Excerpt: “The Kepler Incident”
Chapter One
Copyright© 2023 by Saddletramp1956, All rights reserved
Captain's Log, Thursday, 17 March 2112, 1845 hours CST
Having delivered Ambassador Kelly and his entourage to the Gingravik home planet where they will ramp up the new U.S. Embassy, Enterprise has left Star Base Two in the Gingravik system and is on its way to 61 Virginis to catalog and map planets believed to be suitable for human habitation.
Although I am not usually very fond of diplomatic missions, I must admit that I found the ambassador quite personable, even friendly – something I had not anticipated. I was also glad to see my former First Officer, Jim Decker, and his Gingravik wife, Commander Mishita. It seems that Captain Decker has acclimated well to life among the Gingravik.
As always, the ship and crew are performing at top efficiency, and we are all anxious to continue going “where no one has gone before.”
End of log entry.
William Jones, Captain, Commanding Officer, USS Enterprise
…
I closed out the log entry application, removed my flight suit, grabbed my acoustic guitar, and turned to see my lovely wife, Kyra.
“Would you care for some hot chocolate?” she asked. I loved Kyra’s hot chocolate, and even after more than 12 years, I couldn’t get enough of it.
“I’d love some, sweetheart,” I told her with a smile. Just as she turned, however, my wrist communicator sounded off. “Shit,” I mumbled. Knowing how often that beep usually preceded my leaving our quarters, Kyra stopped and patiently waited. I pressed the “incoming” button. “Jones,” I announced.
“Captain, I apologize for interrupting your evening, but we have an incoming flash comm with Admiral Simmons,” my executive officer, Commander Elizabeth Travers, announced. There goes my evening, I thought.
“No problem, Number One,” I told her. “I’ll be there in a couple of minutes. Captain out.” I looked at my wife and shrugged my shoulders. “Sorry,” I told her.
“No problem, sweetheart. It comes with the territory,” Kyra said. I took her in my arms and gave her a much-deserved kiss. We were both used to this, but I still felt bad when it happened. “Now, you’d better get dressed and find out what the Admiral wants.”
“Yeah, I’d better,” I sighed, wondering what could cause the admiral to contact us on an emergency flash channel. I had known Alan Simmons for a long time, having served as his weapons officer aboard the USS Armstrong nearly 15 years earlier.
That was the mission that changed my life. I learned that my first wife, Tabitha, had been cheating on me with Bull Travers, the executive officer of the Armstrong. He and Tabitha had conspired to kill me if I refused to go along with their cuckolding of me. Still, thanks to my knowledge of Grav Tac, a martial art form designed for low gravity, Bull was jettisoned into open space over Mars instead of me.
I filed for divorce from Tabitha and was cleared of any wrongdoing by a board of inquiry. Afterward, I was sent to Advanced Spacecraft Operations School. I was assigned to the Enterprise at the end of my training, having been promoted to Lieutenant Commander.
Tabitha was stripped of her rank and imprisoned for conspiring with Bull. She was later released and joined a group of lesbian space pirates. I ran across her one last time after my return from Alpha Centauri. Kyra and I had just ended our honeymoon. We were on our way back to Enterprise when Tabitha and her cadre of pirates stopped the transport ship we were on and took us captive.
Her plan was to ram a tiny shuttle into Galileo Station, killing me, Kyra, and the more than two hundred souls aboard humanity’s first interstellar ship. Tabitha and her pirates had somehow gotten a nuclear device and set it to detonate upon impact.
Again, my knowledge of Grav Tac saved us – along with the assistance of my new wife, Kyra. Tabitha’s neck was broken in the struggle aboard that shuttle, but a dead-man switch Tabitha had arranged activated a countdown on the nuclear device. Kyra helped me strap Tabitha’s dead body to the device. We jettisoned it and her into open space, where it detonated, causing a lot of excitement but no further damage.
The remaining pirates were defeated in a short but intense battle. Although not a trained Space Corps officer, Kyra acquitted herself well, defending our little craft from the pirates as I piloted the ship. All that went through my mind in the few minutes it took me to dress and return to the bridge.
“Captain on the bridge,” the duty Marine announced when I stepped.
“As you were,” I stated. I knew the Marine was only doing his job. I understood discipline was necessary, but I wanted the bridge crew to focus on their jobs and not jump to attention every time I walked onto the bridge. Elizabeth, who, by the way, was Bull’s niece, approached me.
“The Admiral’s comm is being routed to your ready room, sir,” she told me.
“All right. Why don’t you join me?” I asked. Elizabeth turned the conn over to the operations officer on duty, then followed me to the ready room. I poured us each a cup of coffee from the dispenser, somehow knowing it would come in handy. Then I sat behind my desk and waited for the beep indicating the connection had been made.
“Captain, Commander, it’s good to see you,” Alan said with a wry smile.
“Good to see you as well, sir,” I replied.
“We don’t have much time as the comm window is quite short, so I’ll get right to it. Are you familiar with the USS Kepler, Captain?”
“I recall reading about it in a brief, sir. That was nearly four years ago if memory serves me right,” I replied. As far as I could recall from the briefs I had seen, the Kepler, a science and survey ship with about 50 people on board, had dropped off the grid without any warning or explanation.
“Yes, it was. As you know, we conducted a thorough search at the time but found nothing. At 0300 this morning, we received a transponder signal. Star Fleet Communications confirmed the signal was from the Kepler,” Alan said.
“I take it they were able to pinpoint the source of the signal?” I asked.
“Yes, we were able to pin down the location of the signal’s source – give or take.”
“Give or take? That doesn’t sound too promising, Admiral,” I replied.
“I know, Bill. You have to understand we only received a single packet. Star Fleet Comm confirmed it was sent in April 2111, and it almost got overlooked. At any rate, here’s the closest location we could come up with.”
The screen split in two, and we could see a star map with the signal source highlighted with a flashing red dot. Alan continued his explanation: “As you can see, it’s in the vicinity of Wolf 437. I’d like you and Enterprise to investigate the matter, and recover what you can, if possible.”
“Do you think there might be survivors, Admiral?” Elizabeth asked. “After all this time?”
“I doubt it, but stranger things have happened, Commander. Still, there are at least 50 families here who deserve closure, one way or another. I’ve already sent the coordinates so you should have them by now. This is a top priority, Bill. See to it,” Alan said.
“Yes, sir, we’ll get right on it,” I assured him.
“Good. I look forward to your report. Admiral Simmons out,” Alan said before the connection ended. I looked at Elizabeth and saw the stricken look on her face.
“Are you okay, Number One?” I asked her, concerned.
“I was assigned to a ship that was part of the search effort,” she said quietly. “If only we had gone out a half parsec further, we might have found them.”
“Maybe. Maybe not. There’s a lot of space in a half-parsec,” I told her. To be precise, 1.63 light years – and that covers an awful lot of space. “And there’s still no guarantee you would’ve found them without some kind of energy signature.”
“The logical part of me says you’re right, Captain. It still galls me to think we couldn’t go further than we did,” Elizabeth replied.
“I don’t understand how we went all this time without a single transponder signal. I’m sure the comm folks will have an answer for that. How much longer do you plan to be on station?” As the Executive Officer, Elizabeth’s job was to coordinate the bridge crew’s schedule.
“At least another hour,” she replied.
“Good. Let’s get this show on the road.” I stood, Elizabeth followed, and we left the ready room. I stood next to my chair and pressed the intra-ship comm button. The duty officer wordlessly stood and took her position at the operations console.
…
Read the rest on Amazon, here.
5. Wrapping up
Well, that’s about it for this week. Thank you for taking the time to read this update. I appreciate all of you more than you know. So until next time, happy trails! Between now and next week, take some time off, snuggle up with a good read or two — preferably mine — and stay warm and safe.
While you’re at it, be sure to follow me on Twitter, Facebook, Bluesky, Reddit, YouTube, TikTok, Spoutible, Pinterest, and Mastodon. And don’t forget to follow me on Amazon so you can get updated when something gets published!
All my best!
Saddletramp