For a Few Credits More: More Stories from the Four Horsemen Universe (The Revelations Cycle Book 7) Read online

  For a Few Credits More

  More Stories from the Four Horsemen Universe

  Edited by

  Chris Kennedy and Mark Wandrey

  For a Few Credits More

  edited by Chris Kennedy and Mark Wandrey

  Published by Seventh Seal Press

  Virginia Beach, VA, USA

  www.chriskennedypublishing.com

  This book or parts thereof may not be reproduced in any form, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or otherwise—without prior written permission of the publisher, except as provided by United States’ copyright law.

  The stories in this collection are works of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination and are used in a fictitious manner. Any similarity to actual people, organizations, and/or events is purely coincidental.

  Editor: Chris Kennedy

  Co-Editor: Mark Wandrey

  Cover Design: Brenda Mihalko

  Cover Image: Ricky Ryan

  Copyright © 2017 by Chris Kennedy

  All rights reserved.

  The stories and articles contained herein have never been previously published. They are copyrighted as follows:

  BUTCH AND SUNDANCE by Peter Cawdron. Copyright © 2017 by Peter Cawdron.

  WHERE ENEMIES SIT by Rob Howell. Copyright © 2017 by Rob Howell.

  LEVERAGE by Josh Hayes. Copyright © 2017 by Josh Hayes.

  BOSS by Scott Moon. Copyright © 2017 by Scott Moon.

  LUCK OF THE DRAW by JR Handley and Corey Truax. Copyright © 2017 by JR Handley and Corey Truax.

  CONTRACT FULFILLED by Tim C. Taylor. Copyright © 2017 by Tim C. Taylor.

  EMANCIPATION by Mark Wandrey. Copyright © 2017 by Mark Wandrey.

  FORBIDDEN SCIENCE by Terry Mixon. Copyright © 2017 by Terry Mixon.

  CHANGE OF COMMAND by Thomas A. Mays. Copyright © 2017 by Thomas A. Mays.

  A FAMILY TRADITION by Ian J. Malone. Copyright © 2017 by Ian J. Malone.

  GO FOR BAIT by T.C. Bucher. Copyright © 2017 by T.C. Bucher.

  THE KRA’DAAR by Chris Winder. Copyright © 2017 by Chris Winder.

  BLOOD OF INNOCENTS by James Young. Copyright © 2017 by James Young.

  MESSENGER by Nick Cole. Copyright © 2017 by Nick Cole.

  FAITH by Chris Kennedy. Copyright © 2017 by Chris Kennedy.

  TINKERMAN by Jake Bible. Copyright © 2017 by Jake Bible.

  THE START OF SOMETHING BEAUTIFUL by Kacey Ezell. Copyright © 2017 by Kacey Ezell.

  Get the free Four Horsemen prelude story “Gateway to Union”

  and discover other titles by Mark Wandrey at:

  http://worldmaker.us/

  * * *

  Get the free Four Horsemen prelude story “Shattered Crucible”

  and discover other titles by Chris Kennedy at:

  http://chriskennedypublishing.com/

  * * * * *

  This book is dedicated to CPL Shawn Thomas Lasswell, Jr., who was killed in Iraq on April 23, 2006, and to all the other men and women who have given their lives defending our freedom. This book is for you.

  * * * * *

  “And when He had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the Word of God, and for the testimony which they held. And they cried with a loud voice, saying, “How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost Thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?” And white robes were given unto every one of them, and it was said unto them that they should rest yet for a little while, until it was fulfilled that their fellow servants and brethren were killed, as they had been.”

  ― Revelation 6:9-11

  * * * * *

  Contents

  Contents

  Preface by Chris Kennedy

  Foreword by David Weber

  BUTCH AND SUNDANCE by Peter Cawdron

  WHERE ENEMIES SIT by Rob Howell

  BOSS by Scott Moon

  LEVERAGE by Josh Hayes

  LUCK OF THE DRAW by J.R. Handley & Corey D. Truax

  CONTRACT FULFILLED by Tim C. Taylor

  EMANCIPATION by Mark Wandrey

  FORBIDDEN SCIENCE by Terry Mixon

  CHANGE OF COMMAND by Thomas A. Mays

  A FAMILY TRADITION by Ian J. Malone

  GO FOR BAIT by T.C. Bucher

  THE KRA’DAAR by Chris Winder

  BLOOD OF INNOCENTS by James Young

  MESSENGER by Nick Cole

  FAITH by Chris Kennedy

  TINKERMAN by Jake Bible

  THE START OF SOMETHING BEAUTIFUL by Kacey Ezell

  About the Editors

  Four Horsemen Titles

  Excerpt from Book One of the Revelations Cycle:

  Excerpt from Book One of the Kin Wars Saga:

  Preface by Chris Kennedy

  This book was born in the same place as the rest of the Four Horsemen Universe—in a bar. Mark and I were talking about the universe, and where we wanted to go with it, and we realized the galaxy was a lot bigger than we were going to be able to flesh out on our own any time soon.

  We needed help.

  So we asked some authors we knew, and some we just sort of knew of, if they’d like to help us expand our universe by writing a short story set in the universe. We were overwhelmed at the response—it will take us several books to accommodate all of the authors who immediately said “Yes!” when we asked them to participate. Like us, they found the universe a lot of fun and couldn’t wait to jump in.

  We gave them a short primer on the universe and sent them on their way with only two points of guidance: it had to be set in the Four Horsemen Universe, and it had to be good. As such, these 16 tales describe the highs and lows of life on the battlefield, as well as in the streets and alleys of the Four Horsemen Universe. While some deal with mercenaries, others introduce readers to members of the other guilds, organizations, and races. There’s even a new form of life to get acquainted with and a look at alien interaction at its youngest level.

  Like its predecessor, “A Fistful of Credits,” “For a Few Credits More” includes all-new stories by a variety of bestselling authors—and some you may not have heard of…yet. Edited by universe creators Mark Wandrey and Chris Kennedy, authors Peter Cawdron, Rob Howell, Josh Hayes, Scott Moon, JR Handley, Corey Truax, Tim C. Taylor, Terry Mixon, Thomas A. Mays, Ian J. Malone, T.C. Bucher, Chris Winder, James Young, Nick Cole, Jake Bible, Kacey Ezell, Mark Wandrey, and Chris Kennedy take on various aspects of the universe, giving you additional insight into a galaxy where people will do almost anything for a few credits more.

  Mark and I are indebted to the authors who participated in this project for their time and talents, and to David Weber for the foreword.

  What makes David Weber worthy of kicking off this book? A New York Times bestselling author, he is one of the military scifi masters, having written a number of bestselling series, including the Honor Harrington science fiction series. If you don’t recognize his name and body of work, you’re not a scifi reader (and you’ll want to fix that soonest—it’s awesome!) He’s also probably the best person I know—just being around him makes me want to be a better person.

  Take a look at what David Weber has to say. He knows science fiction.

  Chris Kennedy

  Virginia Beach, VAr />
  Foreword by David Weber

  The great thing about electronic publishing, is that a ton of stuff that would never have made it into print with traditional publishing houses is available to be read.

  The terrible thing about electronic publishing, is that a ton of stuff that would never have made it into print with traditional publishing houses is now available to be read.

  This creates a quandary. What rules do you use when you’re trying to figure out whether what you’re looking at is likely to be the great stuff that wouldn’t have made it into print or the terrible stuff that shouldn’t have made it into print? How do you pick and choose, short of simply diving in and starting to read? And if you aren’t one of those fortunate souls with unlimited time to spend spelunking through the labyrinthine bowels of electronic publishing, who can’t afford to sample everything, how do you prioritize the effort? It’s worth figuring out a set of rules rather than just deciding to let the traditional publishing houses decide for you, because there really is a lot of good stuff out there. But as the King of Siam says in “The King and I,” when it comes to finding it, “Is a puzzlement.”

  Enter Chris Kennedy and Mark Wandrey.

  Now, Chris is a friend of mine, so you might want to take this with a certain grain of salt, but, having issued that fig leaf in the name of truth in advertising, I have enormous respect for what he has accomplished, both in his life before science fiction (as a pusher, not an addict) and since he and Mark joined forces to explore the potentials of electronic publishing. And, I might add, that the two of them understand what a completely natural fit science fiction and electronic publishing truly are. They understand that they are dealing with a format here which is particularly suited to the sorts of minds and interests that create science fiction readers. Moreover, they understand that the realities of electronic publishing mean that if they don’t consistently produce good stories, their patrons have any number of other places they can go to find them. Which makes it a good thing — for all of us — that they have demonstrated the judgment to pick the good ones for inclusion under their imprint.

  Both of them do pretty darned good work as writers themselves, which also helps immensely, and they also have a grasp of something I think may be even more important — from the editorial/publisher’s perspective — given the nature of electronic publishing in general. They understand the value of unifying themes.

  There are no word count limits in electronic publishing, because photons are cheap and the supply of pages is unlimited. I’m sure all of us have encountered stories with too many words in them — some of us have even written them (although I have no intention of going there) — and that can happen even more frequently in an electronic format. Mind you, I’m not saying that it always does; I’m saying that it sometimes does and that it is something of which both writers and publishers need to be aware. My personal feeling is that, despite the potentially unlimited word count, electronic publishing is the twenty-first century version of the 1930s and 1940s pulp magazines. There’s a constant need for new content, production costs are low, and it’s an ideal format for short fiction. For stories that get up and move and deliver in a relatively tight word count. And for anthologies of short fiction or for shared universes.

  And that, finally (I did mention that electronic publishing allows for unlimited word counts, didn’t I?), brings me to For A Few Credits More.

  Chris and Mark have created something that plays to what I consider to be the strengths of electronic publishing. Shared universes have been around for a long time, but as someone who’s done quite a few collaborations in his time, I can tell you that the Internet makes collaborating incredibly easier than it used to be. I know, because I’ve done it both ways. Yes, I’ve been around that long.

  Before the Internet, collaborators basically had to live in the same town — the same house was even better — or else accept interruptions in the writing process while mail moved back and forth. When Steve White and I were working on Insurrection, our first novel, I discovered that for some reason known only to the US Postal Service, it took three days for a letter from Charlottesville, Virginia, to reach Greenville, South Carolina, but it took ten days (on average) for a letter to go from Greenville to Virginia. We never did figure out why that was, aside from some pretty bad jokes. But it was a definite factor in the speed and flow of what we were doing.

  Today, I can be working with John Ringo or Eric Flint or Tim Zahn and the chapter I’ve written, or the review comments they’ve inserted, can be emailed back and forth in seconds. That’s an advantage that would be almost impossible to overestimate. And what is true for collaborative novels, is also true for collaborative universes — for shared universes.

  That’s what Chris and Mark have done here. They have provided a well laid out literary universe in which their contributors can labor, and they’ve taken full and intelligent advantage of that ease of communication as well as the availability of electronic publication.

  The universe they’ve created is guaranteed to generate tons of action, it’s also one that offers an enormous spectrum for the types of stories to be placed within it.

  The Four Horsemen Universe is one in which humanity is the new kid on the block, very much at the bottom of the interstellar totem pole, with only one real asset: our willingness to fight. We’re not the only species that has it, we’re just the only species that doesn’t have anything else to offer, and so, inevitably, we become some of the most proficient bounty hunters and mercenaries in a galactic “community” that makes China’s Warring States or the condottieri’s Italy look effetely civilized. There are rules, enforced by the various guilds, but just about anything goes within those rules and for those more enlightened races which don’t like to do their own fighting (but don’t much care who gets killed in the pursuit of their goals), humans become a valuable commodity. It creates a situation that is a natural setting for storylines ranging from “Rio Bravo” to “The Dirty Dozen” to “The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly,” but with the addition of starships, nanotech, combat mechs that could give Optimus Prime a run for his money, genetic engineering, and good, intelligent speculative fiction that goes well beyond a simple “shoot up the bad guys” mentality. That delves beneath the surface of the action to examine why it’s happening . . . and what it can cost.

  Which is what brings us to the stories in this volume.

  They cover a wide range of “other peoples’ conflicts” from the human’s-eye perspective, and Chris and Mark have chosen them with their usual discerning eye. I think you’ll not only enjoy them but quickly discover why they’ve given this volume its title after naming its predecessor A Fistful of Credits. I’m not saying Sergio Leone and Clint Eastwood would have been right at home in all of them, but Colonel Mortimer and Manco could certainly sit down to a beer with the characters in most of them.

  Some are stronger than others; none are weak, and which ones you’ll like best ultimately comes down, as always, to your own taste as a reader. I can say only that Chris and Mark have done their best — successfully, in my opinion — to give you a varied selection. You’ll find something for every palate in this smorgasbord, and I look forward to book number three.

  David Weber

  August 28, 2017

  * * * * *

  BUTCH AND SUNDANCE by Peter Cawdron

  Moscow

  I hate myself.

  Standing in the darkness, with the barrel of my gun inches from the old man’s head, I’m not sure quite how I ended up here in Moscow. Physically, it’s pretty damn obvious. I boarded a sub in Chicago—strapped into the commercial suborbital flight along with forty other people—sardines in a can, and blasted into the mesosphere. At apogee, the skin of the orbiter went from negative two hundred to over five thousand degrees Fahrenheit in roughly a minute. Russia might be a shit hole, but I’ll never tire watching the fireworks on reentry. Ballistic drops are always worth the hefty ticket price, even if some of the older launch
ers are repurposed ICBMs.

  We glided into Sheremetyevo Starport, on the outskirts of the Russian capital. Glide is an exaggeration. Sub-flights are bricks with wings. There are no second chances at approach, no fuel for go-around if we’re coming in long. Coming in short is worse. Like the shuttles of old, subs fall rather than fly. The pilot dropped that tin can like she was headed for the junkyard instead of refueling and returning the next day.

  The mark lying before me is a scientist born in Kyrgyzstan, a former soviet state—a country that might as well still be in the Cold War. Aliens may have made contact, linking us with the Galactic Union and over 30 different interstellar species, but they still drive teams of horses to plough the fields in Kyrgyzstan. This poor bastard pissed off someone in some guild, and he’s gonna pay.

  Me? How did I get here, inside this shitty apartment off Gorky Park? Thirty years ago, I thought hunting for bounties would be cool—adventurous. I guess everyone starts out that way, but eventually it’s about one thing—the money.

  Most hunters like a public takedown. Perps tend to get flustered, taken off guard when they’re out and about. If they run, it’s a taser in the back. There’s something immensely satisfying about watching someone writhe and spasm in pain beneath fifty thousand volts. Zeus never had it so good.

  Me? I don’t like to fight. I’m no coward, but bounties can be set for anything from fraud to rape—no one ever tells us. Frying someone’s heart or blowing their leg off when they’re being collared for the equivalent of a shitty parking ticket sucks. I’m too old, too soft. I need to harden the fuck up and stop being a Care Bear.