Jethro: First to Fight (88 page)

Cheetahra:
Neo Cheetah medic.
Former member of the Anvil cat clan. Relocated to Agnosta from Anvil. Was the
Omega of the Anvil cat clan like all cheetah. Now has a small clinic near the
equator and was pregnant with a littler of kits.

Nana Jersey:
Elderly woman,
grandmother of Billy and Pidge.

George Custard:
Leader of the
Agnosta delegation. Avid reader, mayor, w/ largest book collection on the
planet. He is being maneuvered into the role as governor of the system.

Jim:
Delegate, former mayor.

Chumly:
Farmer, aide to
other Agnosta delegates. Works as a manager in a store George owns. Into cars.
Quiet, seemingly thick headed but not.

Doc Wallace Waley:
Balding
dentist, former pirate slave. Returned to Agnosta on Destiny.

Maggie Lu Kasey:
Friend of Nana
Jersey. Former pirate slave returned to Agnosta on Destiny. Became the
outspoken leader of former slaves. In her 20's.

Vesuvian:
A giant adult
Vesuvian near the growing space port. Several juvenile Vesuvians from Destiny
joined it to form a small colonial forest.

Lieandra:

Captain Pen'Kelly:
Veraxin Captain.
Old, past his prime but eager to help in order to improve his ship and unload
some of his excess passengers.

Antigua Prime:

Cybers:

Yan Fu + wife Hishina:
Leaders of the
pacifist and old guard parties. Asians from Earth. Hishina was a reserve first
Lieutenant in the Navy when she met her husband in college and fell in love.
She resigned her commission and hid her former life from her husband. She has
lived in his shadow for centuries, always supportive, even when Prime was in
it's darkest time. She started to come out of her shell a bit when the Admiral
was on board. His mistreatment by her husband and his supporters rankled and
hit a nerve with her. She began to quietly support the admiral and after he
left, the Yard Dogs. Her former rank and support for the Yard Dogs has come out
into the open when the Horathian's attacked Pyrax. Her father was a general,
her brother was an Army officer.

Kenny Kennet :
Lawyer, follower
of the Fu's.

Averies:
Dilettante and
self taught programmer of cybers.

Sid and Emily Berkheart:
Directors of
Human resources.

Doctor Megan Trask:
Head of the
medical department.

Ron and Rachael Steward
: Neo bears, 1
grizzly, 1 half human half black bear. Life Support managers. They like Averies
trained themselves to run and repair what they could after the station went dark.
They usually give their council proxy to the Fu's to vote since they are so
busy. They resigned from the station council in order to clear the way for
someone younger. They will continue serving in their department.

Doctor Myers:
Head of science and
R&D.

Ribber:
Gashg gardener.
Signed over his proxy to Yan Fu before resigning from the council. He is a
pacifist, preferring to attend to his garden over dealing with people. He
committed suicide after the Horathians tore up his newly restored gardens and
parks.

The Warners, 1
^st
Lt Taylor
Warner and Ensign Rasha Warner:
Sleepers awakened over 100 years ago.
Their son is the exec of Kiev 221. Both have been placed in the reserves and
are currently the system naval commanders.

AI:

The muses:
all class one
dumb AI

Clio:
historian/researcher. repurposed
to manage the first fusion reactor.

Euterpe and Terpsichore:
Music and Dance:
air heads, entertainment coordinators and directors

Thalia:
Muse of comedy:
recovered. Rebuilt.

Urania:
Astronomy: science.
Found and recovered. Brought online.
Assistant to doctor Myers in
science and teaching.

Mnemosyne:
Memory computer
management Smart AI. Took a lot of her higher functions down to keep system
running. Did permanent damage to herself. She has to be reintegrated as each
fragment is recovered. She is an experimental civilian AI.

Tribal leaders:

Romeo:
Terran male.
Former gang leader. Killed by the Horathians. He had a love interest in Juliet.

Y'ru:
Veraxin, old but wise.

Juliet:
Terran female.
Genie descendant. Former gang leader. Killed by the Horathians.

Sheriff Derrango:
Curly handle bar
mustache, old, silver hair, beady eyes. Laid back attitude. Has a wife, kids,
and grand kids.

Deputy Barney Fife:
Nervous gangly
1
^st
deputy. Terrible shot, very by the book person. The Sheriff
frequently uses him as a foil to get others to accept his directives.

General Staff On the station:

Savo and Petunia:
Primate Neo
chimp security officer and Neo gorilla space worker. Transferred from Kiev 221

Howi and Shari:
Tribal members.
Neo chimps. Both have become welders on the station.

Sparks and Regina:
40's something
couple transferred from Kiev 221. Sparks is an electrician, Regina is a SBA
training to be a nurse. Regina was killed by the Horathians.

Mr. Freeze and Ezri:
Freeze is a
lifetime friend of Sparks. Partner, HAC tech. Ezri is his wife, she is a RN and
surgical nurse. 1 adult child left on Kiev 221.

Ralphie and Alice:
50's couple
bartenders from Kiev 221. Adult son left in charge of bar on Kiev 221. Own
Ralphie's bar and grill and Alice's nail salon.

Gwen, Riff, Torg:
Tauren
engineers who transferred to the station from Kiev 221. Torg was killed by the
Horathrians.

Doctor Kraft:
Sleeper from
Kiev, specializing in implant surgeries. Dr. Kraft is old, a former teacher of
implant tech.

Antiguans:

Governor elect mayor Jeff Randall and
his wife
:
Politically charismatic couple set on changing their world. 2 daughters,
Ramona/Kylie, age six and four. The Governor like his wife and many other
Antiguans lost relatives during the Horathian attack. He has an about face with
his former beliefs and becomes a military supporter. He has grown into his role
as leader.

The following
excerpt is from Afraid of the Dark:

The beginning of
a never ending nightmare:

Shane
woke to the sound of the dogs barking and the girls screaming at them to shut
up.

“Trina,
Tori, go back to bed, I'll deal with it,” he sighed pulling the sheet off and
kicking his feet out of the bed.

“Something
going after the rabbits?” Jen asked sleepily, sitting up.

“No
idea. Might be a cat, I'll check it out,” he said, getting the flashlight and
kissing her on the cheek. “Try to get back to sleep dear.” He knew it was
useless, she'd be up in a few minutes, worried about the animals.

He
sighed and headed outside to see what was happening. Something was out there,
something... a cat maybe, he could see light reflecting from eyes. Definitely
not a coyote. A couple of them, maybe a whole pack. Max and Rufus were going
nuts at the door, but their mother Broadzilla was looking unsure.

“Scaredy
cat,” he said looking at her. He fumbled the lock open and then had to haul Max
back from the door so he could get it open. He opened the security door and the
dogs shot past him, snarling. “Go get em!” he said stepping out with Mama.

“You
too...” he said as she stalked by him. He heard crunching and winced. He was
wrong, definitely a coyote he thought, wondering now if it was such a good idea
to be out there unarmed.

He
heard one of the dogs yelp and then something moved, leaping in the shadows.
There was an animal squeal and he felt his heart begin to hammer, smelling
blood. He shined the light and saw something insane... something tearing up his
German Sheppard puppies. The mother was barking hysterically, dancing around.
The lights came on, something he should have thought of before.

A
spotlight illuminated monsters the size of large cats, lizard creatures with
spines and sails on their backs. Two were in a tug of war, tearing apart one of
the puppies. Other animals were swarming all over the place. Some went right
over or through the fences. Most screeched or hissed as light hit them, shying
away from the spotlights, retreating into the dark.

He
could hear more altercations from his neighbors. He waved to Jayne as he heard
her sliding glass door open. “Get back inside!” he yelled. She looked out, saw
something and screamed. He heard the door slam shut and then winced at the
sound of breaking glass.

Broadzilla
was frantic now, barking and snarling and whining. He started backing up, and
then checked his six, unsure about what was behind him. One of the animals
tried to make a run at him and the mother dog snapped at it. With a whirl the
thing spun and tore into her, another leaped on her hind quarters and she went
down with a frightened squeal.

“Damn
it,” he said backing up fast. He knew that Broadzilla had just saved his life
and had gone down fighting like a true man's best friend. He got inside and
screamed at his family to lock the doors and to get away from the windows. Jen
came running, belting her robe on and wanting to know what was going on. She
looked outside to see the animals fighting over the body of the dog. “Oh my
god,” she said, hand going to her mouth in sudden shock, the sudden attack
scared her.

“Go,”
he said, pushing her back, not caring if he was too rough. “Get to the kids,”
he hissed at her, looking around frantically for a weapon. He grabbed a dirty
steak knife from the counter then tossed it aside and pulled out a chef's
knife. “I've got to get a better weapon,” he said. Jen reached around him and
pulled the knife drawer open. She grabbed a pair of knives and headed out at a
run.

He
made his way to the gun cabinet and fumbled in the dark for the combination. At
least it was a combination lock, not a key, right now he was cursing himself
for not opting for the thumb print lock.

Shane
got to his shotgun just as he heard breaking glass in the dining room. He
loaded ten shells fast and turned just as the four eyed monster came around the
corner.

He
blasted it, watching it rebound off the lower kitchen cabinet and then shake
itself. Its sail was pretty torn up but otherwise it appeared to have suffered
little damage.

“Shit,”
he said, giving it a second and then third shot. Another animal came around the
corner and he gave it a load of buckshot as well, flinging it onto its' back.

“Shit!
What does it take to kill these things?” he snarled, firing a second and third
shot into the overturned animal's exposed abdomen. It writhed on the ground and
he was gratified to see purple guts suddenly fountain up.

“Gotcha,
that's for Max you bastard,” he snarled.

“Dad!”
Nick said, opening the garage door. He whirled leveling the gun then quickly
dropping the muzzle down. “Damn it Nick!”

“Sorry,”
Nick said, coming in and hefting an ax and hatchet in either hand.

“Give
me that,” Shane said, handing the boy his shot gun as he took the ax. He turned
and swung just as the first alien started to recover. Three good strokes were
all it took to sever the neck, purple blood squirted out, spraying him and the
kitchen. He turned, ignoring the mess.

 “Dad
what's going on?” Tori said coming into the kitchen. “Have you gone nuts and
lost it?” she said, eyes wide. “What happened to... wait that's not Rufus is
it? What...”

Nick
turned and handed his father the gun. Shane tucked the ax under one arm as Nick
approached the horrified Tori. “Tori,” he said touching her arm. She was
shaking. “Look Tori, we don't have time for this,” he said. When she started to
tear up and bite her lip he grabbed her arms and shook her.

“Listen
to me. Come on,” he said, taking her by the arm and pulling her away. She
looked back, eyes wide.

“Come
on, where is your hair stuff?” he demanded.

“Huh?”
she asked as he pulled her down the hall. “In the bathroom of course. You know
that,” she said.

“Good,
go get it,” he told her. He came back and yanked the extended lighter off the
key rack and when Tori returned with an arm load of cans he took one can, gave
it a shake, lit the pilot and then pointed it at the broken window just as
another alien came up to it. He pressed the can nozzle and a burst of flame
licked out into the alien's face. It screamed and backed away, pawing at its
face, its ears and sail on fire. It tumbled away in grass and other aliens came
to investigate it as Shane checked the window.

Shane
watched warily as one of the newcomers poked at the wounded one. The wounded
beast turned and swiped at it. The second creature backed off a little, hissing
and arching its back. Jen flipped the patio lights on, the aliens screeched,
red eyes closing, bellies flat. They spun and ran away into dark. “Good job
kids,” Shane told them, nodding. Jen moved to the coffee table but Nick saw and
understanding her intent and took it from her. He wrestled it in front of the
broken window. “What are we going to do dad?” he asked.

There
were screams in the night. Some of them were human, all too many sounded alien.
There was a weird chitterling sound, and strange animals growled and roared.

“I think we've got a problem,” he said
softly looking around. He was a cop; he knew what was going on right now. The
police and military were most likely swamped. Anyone who was armed, like the
gangs or for home protection were probably fighting for their lives. Most were
likely losing, taken by surprise and lacking the experience and discipline
necessary to overcome the invaders.

You'll have to
wait for the book to come out to read the rest!

Hopefully by
Spring of 2014 (yeah, I keep saying that)