Though it is very late in the game, I am happy to announce through the blog that the book The Grand Tour is finally available for online purchase. You can find it in many retailers, but I’ll link the source, Smashwords, a very useful and helpful site for publishing your novels at zero cost. I recommend it to any writers looking for an easy way in. I sure know I was trying hard to make it easy.
The book is available at whatever price you deem worthy.
You can freely download and share the book, or pay and share ot for free among your friends and family.
The first ever Red Universe book is a Sci-Fi driven adventure for all the family and I expect many readers will find it an entertaining read.
The link is below, enjoy it.
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/520021
Tag Archives: Universal Empire
Crimson Guard C.1 – Start the Eradication
There was a blinding flash of light and the Ring closed behind the Red Vessel.
Eric stood up and counted the seconds. They had waited patiently and there was no more time to waste. Their orders had come not long before and Eric was anxious to start.
The controller of the ship turned to face him.
«Eric, all systems are green. Antennae is already receiving pings. We have about five signals ready to be intercepted.»
«Very good.» he answered.
Hi clasped his gloved hands behind his back and nodded satisfied.
«Shall I give the order, Eric?» His second in command, Baldr, asked.
«Do it.»
«You heard the man, Guards. scramble all fighters, mark the enemies and eliminate with prejudice.»
There was a loud murmur of voices as the orders were repeated to the men aboard the huge ship.
All over the speakers boomed with the go for the Emperor’s latest orders: locate and eliminate every and all pirates. Eliminate all pirate havens. Intercept any pirate activity. Destroy any pirate lore they found. Erase piracy from the Empire.
They had never undertaken such a huge mission before in the entire history of the Guard, but they could not admit it. They were about to embark on the longest and most arduous quest ever given by their Emperor.
The Imperial planet was a luscious technological wonder. Castles made of glass, gold and energy shields dotted the sights of all who entered its atmosphere. It was breathtaking.
The biggest of all palaces was the Imperial House of the Senate, where the Emperor met and discussed with all the senators.
The building was not meant to be imposing, but it was supposed to support all the representatives of all regions of the Universal Empire in all it’s enormousness. Right now, the chambers were silent. The time for resting was there and now and all representatives were resting in their own apartments. The Emperor, however, was not.
«I cannot believe you would question my orders.»
«I do when it regards the Crimson Guard, your majesty. They are dangerous. You should disband them.»
«That cannot happen.»
«Why not? Because they are a security measure? Because they serve as a deterrent?»
«They are a symbol. They represent the evil inside the Empire. The evil under our control. They are the worst in all the planets and they are under our thumbs.»
«The Emperor’s thumbs, your majesty. With all due respect.»
«I would never!»
«Maybe not you, but certainly another. It has happened before, it will happen again.»
«Not under my watch. They will keep on their meaningless quest forever or until they are actually needed for something useful.»
General Arkan went silent for a moment, pondering on the reasoning behind that.
«What if that is not the case?»
«What do you mean?»
«What if they actually do it?»
«You are not serious, are you? How could they?»
«They are the Crimson Guard, your majesty. You know very well that they will not stop until they have achieved their goal. Until they have completed their task.»
«I can make them stop.»
«Perhaps. What if the time comes when they are needed and their hunt so hot that they refuse?»
«They won’t refuse an order from the Emperor. They can’t.»
«And what if they finish the job?»
«They won’t. They have tried before. Generations ago.»
«Two generations ago, you majesty. Things have changed so much since then. There were no Rings then. They were confined by limited movements. Now they can travel through the entire Empire in the blink of an eye.»
«That won’t happen, Arkan. Piracy will never die. Crime will never die. Evil will never die.»
Arkan nodded and sighed. He knew how philosophical the Emperor could become when discussing the Crimson Guard. He also knew that the man did not have all the support he needed in case there was a decision to vote to disband the Crimson Guard. Even if he had wanted, many systems were against the dissolution of the Crimson Guard. Arkan was sure his Emperor was already trying to figure out a way to get rid of that ancient blight in the Empire’s history.
Back on the Red Vessel, Eric was now at the hangar, getting ready to blast off with the rest of the Hunters.
«Eric, I’m highly against this.» Baldr said in an urgent tone.
«Noted. Get back to the bridge. You have command now.»
Baldr nodded and let Eric continue alone.
He was always alone. Eric was so far from the rest of them. Even for a Crimson Guard. Baldr always wondered about his origins. He knew the standard procedure for selection, but most managed to pass for social. Eric was far from social or functional. He had been bred for leadership. He had been prepared for it and was by far the best and the worst Crimson Guard.
Baldr went back to the bridge. Eric hopped inside his Hunter.
Anyone else that was not a Crimson Guard would be confused as to what was happening on the cockpit. There was only a seat and over ten wires coming from the headrest. That was all.
The rest of the cockpit was painted black, no physical view of the outside, no way to find his route. The seat was comfortable and quite like a bed, in reality.
Eric sat and moved a bit until he fitted perfectly, then his neural mask’s plates started to shift quickly, revealing openings and connections. The cables on the headrest moved by themselves, connecting directly into his mask and his brain.
He was now the Hunter. The brain of the machine. Nothing was faster or better. There was no lag between order and execution. There was no time to hesitate and no time to waste. The neural connection had failed several times in the past, but that problem had been fixed with the new Hunters.
He took off as fast as possible, leaving the Red Vessel behind in a matter of minutes.
Aboard the Echin’s Bark, the crew was finally getting some rest. They had been traveling the outer planets of the Empire, hauling illegal cargo for weeks, fending off attackers the whole time. Other pirates, law enforcers, mercenaries and even a bounty hunter. But they had finally hit the final stretch of their journey. Their final delivery then they could take a month’s rest without any worries.
On the bridge was only the second shift crew, a bunch of seasoned men and women who preferred to stay awake past bedtime.
The captain of the ship, however, was wide awake in his quarters in the company of his lovely pirate wife.
«We can finally stop, Galren. It’s finally over.» she said softly, caressing his temple.
«Yes, my love. Finally. We will disband the crew, sell the ship and use the profits to free our family.»
She smiled and kissed him tenderly.
There was a loud buzz from the computer on his desk in front of the bed.
«I better get that, they never call.» he said.
«Must be some malfunction.»
«They wouldn’t dare disturb me for that.»
«Go for Captain.»
«Sir, we are picking up two bogeys. One man ships. They are marked see-gee-aitch. I’ve never seen that before. Need orders.»
Galren took a second to understand what was happening. When he looked to his wife, the horror in her face reminded him of the code.
He pushed the button and screamed.
«All stop! Dump everything we have, clear all the parts, raise the white flag!»
«Sir?»
«NOW!»
He ran out of his quarters and through the corridors. An alarm started booming as he made his way and the crew started moving, activity all around. The voice of the commanding officer came over the speakers in the ship.
«All crew, all crew, ditch cargo. Repeat, ditch cargo. We have a maximum priority given by the captain, clean the ship, now.»
He sounded calm, he sounded confused. Baffled even. His unsure tone would not do. Some men were moving, others were staring at the speakers.
As Galren ran through the corridors, he could only think of his family trapped in Kradack’s Pits.
He entered the cockpit wearing only his night pants and sweating profusely.
«Captain, what–»
But Galren ignored the man, taking the communicator from him.
«All hands, the Crimson Guard is on to us, ditch EVERYTHING. No contraband can stay. No exceptions. I repeat, the Crimson Guard is coming. Clean the ship, now!»
The alarm was still blaring, but the panic that spread all over the ship clouded that sound with the thunder of crates crashing, glass breaking, and furnaces burning everything they had aboard.
«Malik, change our ID, now. Transport vessel.» Galren ordered.
«Yes, sir.»
«Udon, do not raise the shields yet, power down the guns.»
«Sir?»
«We are not fighting a Hunter, let alone two.»
«Yes, sir.»
«Open a communication channel with them.»
«Sir, they are not responding.»
«Keep trying. Hailing signals on friendly.»
He stopped and breathed deep. His wife finally made her way to the bridge.
«Can we make it?»
«We’re about to find out.»
They waited for two whole minutes.
«Why won’t they answer?» Galren asked to no one in particular.
«Sir, they are locking in on us!»
«Shields!»
The first hit came just as the shield closed around the hull. There were a thousand lights blinking all over the bridge and explosions rocked the ship.
«Goddammit! Stop firing, we surrender!» Galren shouted into his communicator.
«No surrender accepted, Captain Galren. Your criminal activities are at an end.»
He recognized the voice. It was the dreaded Eric Red.
«Blood take us. We are dead.»
He dropped the communicator.
Another blast hit them, shutting down half of the systems.
«Captain, orders?»
«Abandon…»
«Abandon ship?»
«Abandon hope.»
A third shot was fire, punching through the shield and shredding the hull into pieces. A fourth shot came, cutting the ship in half. As the Hunters made a final pass, two heavy missiles were launched, cleaning the area. Only dust remained from what had once been a ship, its fifty men crew and tons of seeds for cultivation of grains obtained illegally.
«Target destroyed.» Eric said.
«Roger that, Hunter Zero. Hunters Five, Sixteen, Seven and Fifty-Two all report mission accomplished.»
«Understood. Hunter Zero returning home. Prepare for surface cleanse.»
«The planets have already been scanned, Eric. We marked eight in the surrounding Systems.»
«Any here?»
«No, sir.»
«Then all Hunters back to the Vessel and from there we will start cleaning the planets.»
«Roger. Over and out.»
Eric could be smiling under his neural mask, but his voice and body showed no hint of it. There was no trace of joy in him. No trace of pride. No trace of anything.
The Hunters turned back to their departure point and left behind the dust they had just made.
The Red Universe 