Marc J. Mitchell
Sample Chapters
Here you can read a sample of the first chapter of each book. Enjoy.
Starr Frontiers: Fragments
Chapter I
"DAMAGE REPORT!!!"
"Shields at forty-three percent and dropping."
"We have a coolant leak down here and currently are trying to get it locked down and contained."
"Navigation is down. Weapons are down also, trying to bring them back on-line."
'What else can go wrong today,' thought Logan Starr. 'This was supposed to be a simple test on the new systems we just installed and upgraded. Then unexpectedly I am attacked with no reason. Why me. What did I do to deserve this treatment?''
The bridge laid in almost complete darkness, only the red hue of the emergency lighting illuminating the surroundings. Wire, hoses, pieces of shattered equipment lying everywhere, sparks raining and dancing from damaged consoles. The ship shook again. "If this keeps up, we will all be itty-bitty pieces ourselves," Logan said.
"Well at least you haven't lost your snappy comments," said Kym White from the tactics station of the bridge.
Logan looked at his bridge crew, or what was left of it. Bodies had been tossed everywhere. He put a hand to his forehead to try to rub away the pain of a headache that was starting. Bringing his hand back down, he noticed that he was bleeding from a gash on his forehead. 'Damn,' he thought, 'Doc is going to have my ass this time, if we make it back in one piece.' "Ship status," he yelled and winced at the pain from yelling. 'Damn headache'.
Another explosion rocked the ship. Holding on to her console, Kym reported, “Shields now at thirty percent. Weapons are still off-line, trying to get them back. Navigation still out, trying to reroute to the secondary circuits. Stealth unit is still off-line. We're going to get turned into swiss cheese here soon Starr.”
“I know. At least the new plating to the hull is still holding for now,” Logan said. "We are going to have to work on increasing that shielding when, and if, we make it back and also consider some backups."
Another explosion buffered the ship. This time Logan was tossed out of his chair towards the helm. Landing hard on the floor, he rolled over and reached up to grab hold of the helm station. Struggling to get to his feet, he managed to hit the comm button, "Hey Artman," he yelled into the comm, "I need some more power up here…like yesterday, otherwise we are dead and you can forget that raise I promised you.” In the background, he could hear all the commotion in Engineering.
"Hold your pants on Captain," Sean Artman replied. "We are working as fast as we can down here. It would be easier if you stopped shaking us around so much."
"Well if you don't get me some more power, you'll never have to worry about wearing pants again," Logan quipped. With that, he closed the channel.
Artman closed the connection with the bridge. "Get that leak locked down fast," he yelled. 'What does he think we are doing down here, having a party?' Artman thought. Minutes later, and a few more bumps and bruises, they managed to get the leak contained.
"Ok." he said, "let's see about getting this rust bucket a little more power." Suddenly a tremendous explosion tossed anyone that was not already on the floor into control panels, the walls, and to the floor.
“I need a vacation badly,” Artman said out loud. The shock that threw the engineering staff to the deck, into walls and across their consoles, confirmed his ugliest fears; they were targeting the engine room. One of the heavier mantles to bear as Chief Engineer was the fact that your sacred place was top of the list on every hostile's targeting system; right before the bridge of course. Flames and sparks cascaded from the upper decks as half the systems up there crashed with a vengeance. Ensign Kandal, one of four tending to those systems, caught the worst of it. She screamed a short little yelp and tumbled over the railing. Nice thing about all the noise down here, you couldn't hear the body hit the deck after a four-story fall.
"Engineering to the Bridge, we have casualties down here!"
"What have you got?" A voice asked from the comm panel.
"Blunt-force traumas, lacerations, heavy burns-you name it and we’ve got it. I've got about a half dozen down!"
"We'll be there as soon as we can. You’ll have to try to make due for the moment."
“Hurry it up though.” Closing the comm. channel, Artman turned to address his remaining staff. “We’re on our own. Let’s try to get the wounded stable and see about getting some systems patched. Sanz and Atroll, I want you to go see if you can get the number five and six thruster relays back on-line.”
“Yes sir,” they said as they grabbed the portable laser-welder on the way out.
"WARNING!! Hull breach on decks one through four," droned the computer.
'Just great,' Artman thought as he worked, ’I just start to get one problem fix and something else has to go wrong.’ Glancing at his assistant engineer he said, "Ok, I'm going to jack in and see what I can do".
Running over to the nearest engineering panel, Artman took and slid into a chair. Reaching into one of the many pouches on his tool belt, he pulled out a connection cable. He connected one end of the datajack cable to the console port and then slid the other end of the connector into the jack into his left temple. Suddenly he went rigid as his consciousness merged with the ship's systems. Artman suddenly felt himself becoming the ship. Reaching out, he felt himself moving along the microfilament wiring with other data. He could, in a sense, feel the damage to the systems. Navigating towards these damaged systems, he began to redirect circuit pathways to bypass the damaged ones.
The assistant engineer looked at Artman and waved his hand in front of the chief engineer’s face and was about to ask him if everything was ok, until he noticed Artman's eyes. Upon a closer look, the assistant noticed that his eyes had gone white and also noticed tiny, unreadable data streams passed back and forth across his eyes.
The ship trembled again, causing the laser-welder to skitter across the circuit-pack's alloy surface, leaving a jagged, black stripe. Ensign Sanz swore loudly and colorfully. Couldn't anyone keep the ship steady for a minute? She adjusted her aim and went back to securing the thruster circuitry. Bad enough they had to crawl around the infrastructure of the ship; out at the rim of the primary hull where they'd be incinerated by enemy fire if the shields failed and still ran the risk of being irradiated if they held. ‘Damn thrusters. They should have redesigned them a long time ago,’ she mumbled to herself.
“I got number six repaired," Atroll reported.
"Good, now get back to main engineering with Teams Two and Five. I'll be there to join you in a few," Sanz replied into her wristrcom.
"Yes ma'am, I-"
Then her world shifted, and Sanz felt herself sliding down the maintenance access tube. She reached out, managing to grab hold of a support railing just as the ship righted itself and a tongue of flame engulfed her. Sanz felt her skin sear as if from a bad sunburn, she opened her mouth to scream and inhaled fumes. “Atroll? Atroll, do you have any idea what just happened?" she coughed as she dragged her way back to where she was doing her repairs
Static.
"Atroll?" No reply. Sanz sighed and paged main engineering. "Engineering, what's our status and I also think that I need a medical team dispatched to maintenance access tube twelve deck three. Atroll's not responding, and I'm not sure if he completed the repairs on that thruster relay."
One of the engineering staff answered, "That area no longer exists. We need you to get back here double-time. We've got a hull breech and a lot to do."
"On my way as soon as I finish these last few repairs," Sanz answered. Her mouth was dry. Probably from the explosion, she thought as she set about final repairs to the thruster circuitry.
After what seemed to be an eternity, all of the boards lit up suddenly, causing the assistant to give a startled yip. After jacking out, Artman removed the jack from his temple and shook his head, as if waking up suddenly from a dream. Reaching over, he hit the intercom and yelled, "Bridge, you got partial control"
'How much more can this crate take,’ Logan thought. "Kym, if possible see if you can reroute power from the evaced decks and transfer it to the shields. Maybe we can buy a few extra minutes of life."
"OKI'm on it."
"Well hustle it and fast," Logan said impatiently.
The screen flared yellow and the bridge seemed to drop from beneath them for a moment, then settled with a lurch and a cry like a peal of thunder. "That one hurt us," Kym remarked tightly.
"Find out how bad," Logan ordered.
"Hull breech..."Kym reported, "Deck three, sections one through four. We’ve lost a navigational thruster. Forcefields are in place."
"Have the damage control teams seal it off with torches and sealant. I don't want any unnecessary drains on our power reserves. I also don't want those seals going down the first time there's a power outage and sucking some people out into space." The ship shook suddenly, rattling them, and Logan had the ugly mental image of the ship simply falling apart like a child's model which hadn't been glued very well. With the billowing, smoke clutching at his throat and stinging his eyes, Logan wiped away the sweat trickling down his forehead. Suddenly, the helm lit up like a Christmas tree.
"You have partial control now, not much, but maybe enough to dodge a few of those shots," said Artman through the static of the intercom.
"Way to go Art. Consider yourself getting that long overdue pay raise, if and when, we make it back," Logan said. Closing the line, he yelled, "Helm, let's see if we can't get this little lady to dance."
"Yes sir," replied the helmsman.
Kym rolled her eyes at his comment. "You have a way with words Starr."
He smiled at the comment. "What about the shields?"
"Shields now at fifty-one percent. Best I can do with what I got to work with."
"Weapons?"
"Still working on them."
Suddenly the ship shuddered violently again, this time sending Kym flying over top of the tactical station, onto the floor.
“Kym,” he yelled. Suddenly Logan was also tossed out of his seat by another explosion, and this time he ended up landing on the floor by the navigator’s side. As he staggered to feet again, he managed to hit the intercom toggle on the navigator’s side of the helm. "Engineering, report." Nothing but static. "Art!" he yelled. Nothing but more static. "Damn", he swore. Turning around, he saw Kym staggering to her feet. "Next time hold on tighter," Logan said.
"Thanks. I'll remember that," Kym said. 'If there is a next time is more like the operative phrase', she thought to herself as she made her way cautiously back to tactical.
Glancing over at the helm, Logan noticed that the helmsman had been tossed roughly from his seat and was lying in a crumpled heap. Kneeling down, he checked the fallen crewmember and detected a faint pulse. Moving the crewmember out of the way, Logan slid into the helm position and looking things over said, "OK, here we go. We are out of here. That is if I can remember how to pilot a ship."
"Well, I hope it all comes back to you real fast there,” Kym commented from her tactics station.
Logan's fingers flew over the control panel, trying to kick the ship into full impulse, only to discover they were going nowhere. Looking at the board, he noticed that the helm was flickering and then had gone dead once again. Slamming his hands down on the helm panel, he swore, "Dammit Art. YOU'RE FIRED!"
Kym did a few checks on the situation at hand. "Umm, Starr, they've locked a tractor on to us". A few more reading checks. "Also there is an incoming transmission."
"Put them on Kym."
"On screen".
The forward view screen came to life. Through the cracks in the screen, he could make out the form of his attacker. Starr groaned and shook his head. Smiling he said, "Hi ya Commander. What brings you out this way?"
"You know damn well why I'm here Starr. You thought you could get away from us that easily?"
"Well give me credit Commander, I tried. Besides, how did you manage to find us? We were just out here minding our own business and you start having target practice on me. Am I wearing a big bull's-eye on my back or something?"
Crossman smiled. "It was easy. You can say it was an 'inside job' that allowed us to catch up with you.”
“Well then could you at least tell me what it is that I supposedly have done to warrant this?”
“Don’t play stupid with me. Anyway, playtime is now over. We are heading back to Star Outpost Four now. So sit back and enjoy the ride, and leave the driving to us."
"Don't bet your ass that we are going to enjoy our ride Commander," Logan said.
With an amused look on her face, Crossman closed the connection.
"Well, guess it's over Starr. She's got us," said Kym.
"It's not over till the fat lady sings." Logan slumped forward in the helm chair and put his head on the control panel. 'This can't be it,' he thought, 'There has to be another way out.' Rising from the chair, he walked up the short ramp that led to the slightly raised portion of the bridge where the tactics station was.
Standing there looking at the weapons readouts, he suddenly slammed a fist down onto the console. 'Come on dammit. Think!'
“Beating up the equipment isn’t going to help out this situation were in,” Kym stated. “And what in the hell did you do?”
Logan shrugged. “I have no idea. What did you do to her?”
“Don’t look at me mister. You’re the one that always starts something…” Suddenly a small grin started to appear on Logan’s face. Kym shot a glance at him and said, "Uh oh. I don't like that grin of yours, usually means trouble."
"Kym, I need a reading of our current shield strength. Also do we have sensors on line?"
"All we have is short range sensors, weapons are still offline, partial internal communication available."
Looking at the view screen, Logan saw Crossman's ship towing them. "Kym, can you give me any readings on the Commander's ship?"
"I'm on it," she answered. She began a series of sensor readings. "If these readings are accurate, it's the Virginia that has us in tow. It appears to be one of the newer Vendetta class cruisers. Why? Planning on shooting spit wads at them? They have us outgunned two to one. That last volley from them took us down to about twenty-five percent shield strength.” Looking at Logan, a look of concern crossed her face. “Don't you dare even thinking of trying to ram them."
'Not enough protection, but it will have to do.' Logan thought. Looking at Kym he said, "Now if I can get just one torpedo tube working, this plan may just work".
“Plan? What plan?" Kym asked.
Starr Frontiers: Beginnings
Book 1 - Destiny
Chapter 1
“Move, move!”
He herded the soldiers to their positions, tossing them blaster rifles or giving them a push on their backs to hurry them along the smoke-filled corridor. The deck buckled beneath his feet and he struggled to keep his footing - only the long years of training and battle had given him those reflexes. The less experienced of the current crew settled for bracing themselves against walls or grabbing what they could to help them along. The stench of fried electronics and blaster discharge hung heavily in the stale air. His first guess was the air scrubber system had gone off-line and maybe even the life support system. Before they knew what hit them, the Defiance’s shield generators and guns had suddenly gone off-line. It was executed with such timing and skill, he knew right away who the only person was that could have orchestrated it. ‘If I could put this blaster to Saul's head right now...’ Banishing the thought from his mind, he concentrated on getting the remaining survivors to the remaining escape pods.
“Lieutenant Starr! Lieutenant!” A young ensign’s shout cut through the noise and chaos. Logan snapped his head up from the terminal that he was trying to secure to look over at the ensign.
“Report Ensign!”
“Sir, reports of boarding parties on decks five, four and three. They're heading for the bridge! There are reports of blaster fire in the area of the crew quarters also.”
“Damn!” There wasn't time to do anything else but retreat at this point. He waved the petty officer ahead. “All right, send the order to the others - tell them that they are to head to the nearest escape pod and no arguments. If anyone objects, I will personally toss them out the airlock myself. Do I make myself clear Ensign?”
“Yes sir. I will relay those exact words to them.” With a quick nod, the ensign turned and ran off down the corridor.
After a few more quick keystrokes, Logan secured the terminal. Turning around, he drew his blaster and with two quick shots, destroyed it. At least he could hope the Raiders wouldn't get anything valuable from this raid aside from yet another ship. Pushing his way in the opposite direction from the surge of crewmen headed for the escape pods or the bridge, Logan ducked down a side corridor.
Things were not looking good Logan noticed as he made his way down the corridor. Dead Raiders leaned up against the walls. An equal, if not greater number of the Defiance’s crewmen were among the bodies on deck.
Two utility droids that had been trying to repair the damage in this corridor were useless wrecks, their circuits ionized and parts scattered. The only light that currently illuminated the corridor came from the emergency panels and small fires that the suppression systems were too damaged to put out.
As Logan made his way down another dimly lit corridor, he saw movement ahead and pulled up the blaster. Logan dropped behind a cargo crate for cover before trying to see what was going on. Peering around the crate, he saw that one Raider was dead on the deck, the silver helmet shot through at close range. Two other Raiders were trying to hit one of the soldiers, who dodged the blasts and countered with quick shots of his own. As he dropped behind a bulkhead, the soldier pulled a grenade from his belt and threw it towards the two Raiders that were trying to take cover on either side of another bulkhead. Noticing this, Logan saw another door access panel and as soon as the grenade left the soldier’s hand, Logan dove for the wall panel, jamming the hatch override. The door dropped just as the blast and screams hit. Hearing the muffled explosion, the solider turned around. “Lieutenant Starr? I thought you were headed for…”
Logan shook his head, cutting off the ensign’s question. “Ensign, you're coming with me. We're going to make a quick sweep of the crew quarters and grab anyone who's still alive, got it?”
“Yes, sir,” the ensign replied.
Logan slammed the button to the main corridor and charged out with the ensign at his heels. The wailing noise of alarms and the muffled sounds of explosions were making his insides ache. Screams from the fallen and the clash of combat added to the noise. The halls were scarred with blaster scorching or electroblade cuts. There were more corpses, more ruined droids, and no reason to stop.
The ensign took point as Logan watched their backs. They worked their way through the quarters, finding only empty rooms or a soldier shot dead before he'd even had time to reach for his blaster. Shaking his head, Logan took a moment to check the power cell of his blaster. Seeing that it was only half charged, he reached down and searched the fallen soldiers and raiders for power cells. After finding a few cells, he picked up a blaster rifle and reloaded a fresh power cell into it. Picking up an extra rifle, Logan was about to order the ensign to turn around so they could reach the pods when he heard the ensign shout, “Found a survivor, sir! She's all right!”
As he rounded the corner and entered one of the rooms, Logan didn't recognize the woman that was sitting on the bed. She was a dark haired and dark-eyed woman, slim built and barely tall enough to come up to his shoulder. Logan knew all the soldiers on the Defiance. This woman must have been one of the military advisors that had come aboard at the last stop on his current tour of duty. “Are you one of the MA’s that we picked up?” Logan asked.
She stood up and shook her head in acknowledgment. Logan tossed her a blaster he pried from the corpse of a nearby Raider and also tossed another one to the ensign. Logan heard a blaster clatter to the floor and turned to see the woman reaching down to pick it up off the floor. Logan just hoped she was more likely to shoot the enemy, rather than them or even herself. Walking over to her, he asked, “Are you okay?”
The woman nodded as she picked up the rifle. “I’m fine. What’s going on?”
The ensign spoke up before Logan could reply, “I’m Ensign Lars and that is Lieutenant Starr. Basically we’re under attack and we don’t have much time so I would advise that we get moving.”
As the ensign made his way out of the room, Logan stopped in the doorway and looked at the woman, “Listen Miss…”
“Trask. Kari Trask.”
“Listen Miss Trask,” he continued, “the Defiance is a total loss. Raiders have already boarded as you can already tell and all that matters at the moment is making sure everyone gets off this crate in one piece.”
“Thank you Lieutenant Starr.”
Stepping out into the corridor, Logan found the ensign. “We’re walking straight into hell and I didn’t bring a gift basket.”
“Don’t worry sir, I’ve got a few party favors,” the ensign said as he patted the grenades.
“Let’s get to the bridge and see if anyone is left. You’re on point ensign. Miss Trask will follow and I’ll do rear,” Logan said as he motioned for Kari Trask to follow the ensign.
The maze of corridors and bulkheads were scarred and pitted, with only the sounds of the alarms as they made their way across the decks to the nearest escape pods. Ensign Lars moved recklessly, leaping over the piles of debris and wreckage in their path. Logan would have to lecture him on that later. Kari Trask was in the middle; at least she wasn't paralyzed with fear or hysterical. That would just make matters worse. The sizzle of damaged electronics and the shriek of a utility droid brought them back to the present danger. They were just about to the bridge, crossing one of the wide corridors when they heard, “Halt!”
Raiders. These were not your average bunch. There were four of them in armor that gave them the look of cold and impersonal killing machines in a polished exoskeleton; more droid than sentient. Three of them had blasters and a fourth, the officer in charge, carried an electroblade. Just as the Raiders were about to shoot them, the deck buckled, sending all parties sprawling to the deck. Rolling to one knee, Logan managed to pick off the officer in two shots from the blaster rifle he had. Lars missed the first shot, but the next one wounded one of them in the leg.
The Raiders were so distracted by the blaster fire that they didn't see the small sphere that suddenly landed at their feet. A few seconds later, the plasma grenade went off, blasting the Raiders with a wave of searing heat, knocking then to the deck.
Logan turned to look behind him to see who threw it. Kari just nodded at him. “Not bad,” he commented. Stepping over the bodies, he stopped suddenly as the doors to the bridge did not open automatically. Stepping back, he motioned the ensign to work on the manual override of the bridge doors. A few minutes later, the doors groaned open.
The bridge was in bad shape. The transparent plastisteel windows were starting to show splinters of cracks. From the amount of cracks playing across the windows it was apparent that it wouldn't be long before this entire area would vent everything and everyone into space. Control panels sputtered smoke and sparks, appearing to be beyond the scope of repair. Numerous bodies of both Raider and bridge crew were scattered through the wreckage of what was once the bridge.
Besides Logan, Lars & Trask the only ones still standing on the bridge appeared to be two Raider duelists with short swords.
They were dressed in a light fiber armor to add to their freedom of movement, and their faces had a half-mask, which concealed all but their eyes. Before the trio had a chance to react, the two duelist rushed them. Lars tried to duck away, but wasn't fast enough. One of the duelist caught him in the ribs, driving the sword deep. As Lars’s eyes went wide with shock, the Raider yanked out the blade. As foamy blood spurted from the wound, Lars slumped to the deck.
Logan's blaster shots managed to take out one of the duelist by hitting him in the shoulder, causing him to drop his sword. The second and third shots caught the duelist in the chest and sent him flying backwards into an exposed control panel, engulfing him in a halo of blue-white energy from the exposed circuits. Walking over to the fallen duelist, Logan knelt down and picked up the sword and the sheath. Turning, he made his way over to where Kari was kneeling over Lars.