Orion: Suresh Adventure

By J. Thomas Beaton

Exciting, fast-paced and full of action right from the start. If you love Firefly and Star Trek, you will love this.

When the crew of the Orion are hit by an unexpected Meteor Storm on their way home they are forced to land on a strange and uncharted planet. Hoping for easy assistance, Captain John Kruiger encounter a sordid society and must risk their lives to do what is right.

"J Thomas Beaton delivers a story that is adventurous and fun to read, transporting you in time and leaving you rooting for the good guys." - H.M.
"Orion is a great new book by an exciting author. It is well written and engaging and left me wanting to see more from Thomas Beaton." - J.R.
"Overall Orion: Suresh Adventure made an entertaining story that was great to read. I loved the plot idea and how it was laid out and revealed. Exciting." - C.M.
"A fast paced story that I had no trouble reading and would love to see more of. A Must Read"- M.R.

• Language: English
• Publisher: J. Thomas Beaton
• Release date: Apr 5, 2013
• ISBN: 9781301105014

J. Thomas Beaton

I was born in Toronto, Canada and have since moved around the United States and Europe, living most of my adult life in southern England, which is currently my home. I love Science Fiction and fantasy with some of my favorite authors being George R. R. Martin, Raymond E. Feist and J. R. R. Tolkien to name just a few. I grew up with heroes from Star Wars and Star Trek equally weighted (No I won't join in a debate about which is better, choosing the middle path between them, though I will mention that J. J. Abrams' remakes rock the house). I Write in my spare time between work and my writing means a lot to me and if you appreciate it I'd love to hear about it because producing something that entertains others is the whole point really isn't it? I can be contacted via email at [e-mail] I will never sell your email or contact details nor will I send you any spam. I will only ever answer your messages and occasionally (hopefully!) let you know when I publish another book.

Book preview

J. THOMAS BEATON

ORION:

SURESH ADVENTURE

ORION: SURESH ADVENTURE

J. Thomas Beaton

By J. Thomas Beaton at Smashwords

Copyright 2013 J. Thomas Beaton. All Rights Reserved.

The right of J. Thomas Beaton to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All the characters in this book are fictitious, and any resemblance to actual persons living or dead is purely coincidental.

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

For my dad who has always been

there for me and always inspired a

love of literature from a young age —

For I do not like Green Eggs and Ham.

Chapter 1

ORION

Chapter start

The blue light flashed incessantly throughout the ship while the electronic klaxon screamed at timed intervals to ensure all personnel were aware of impending doom and not asleep, no matter how well earned the rest.

Just before stepping out of my quarters I tugged my uniform shirt straight and tried my best to look like I hadn’t just woken up after a measly two hours rest. The floor abruptly dropped from beneath my feet, knocking me and everything else to the floor. The walls shook and the unmistakable sound of impact reverberated through the hull. I really needed to get to the Bridge fast.

oOo

The doors to the bridge opened and I stepped through. Long blonde hair pulled severely back in a rough ponytail behind my head, every line of my well muscled body the definition of intense – I hoped. The pilot jerked the controls forward maybe just a little more than was needed, and I unbalanced landing a little … ungraciously.

‘James – what in the name of hell are you playing at?!’ Unceremoniously landing on the deck of my ship didn’t improve my mood any.

‘Don’t worry about a thing captain – everything is peaches and cream’ said James, pilot of our small home, the Orion.

Giving the lie to his statement I noticed the sweat beading on his brow, his muscles straining at the controls, forcing the little ship to perform acrobatic feats that no engineer had ever envisioned for it.

Addressing the third and only other member of the crew I called out ‘Scott – status report’ while sliding into the gunners turret and strapping in.

‘Captain, our Light Drives failed and we were forced into normal space rather abruptly. This would not have been a problem except we seem to have come out in the middle of a meteor storm and… ’

I mentally tuned him out, having heard enough and knowing that I needed to get busy to get us out of this mess. The hard leather of the gunners chair pressed into my back and the cool metal of the gun grips fit into the palms of my hands.

I opened fire on the rocky debris flying towards us in an attempt to break it apart before it had a chance to end our existence with a brief collision and no one the wiser – probably branded as deserters despite a courageous history.

The ship weapon systems were magnificent in battle with three exterior mounted cannons giving heavy fire power and covering a 180 degree field – ideal for sneaking in close to a large troop carrier and levying catastrophic damage. The bottom of the ship however only had smaller arms for close up dog fights – this however was asking a little too much of them – one massive piece of rock being blown out of our path only to be replaced by two others, while James tried to pilot his way past the worst.

So focused on the ship guns and target after target, I only realized Scott had long since ceased his report when his voice came over the intercom, ‘Captain, there is a habitable planet in this sector at coordinates MZS1YX – I suggest we try to make it there to effect needed repairs and get back on track.’

Snorting, James replied ‘Sure, let’s just stroll on over then shall we?’ sarcasm laid on heavily at the slightly blasé comment from our navigator. ‘Like to see you fly this thing.’ A smaller asteroid collided with our port engine and blue lights that had not stopped flashing turned orange alerting us to serious damage.

‘James get us to that planet now.’ I barked. ‘I need more leaf on the wind not this roller derby you’ve got going.’ I felt him roll his eyes even before he answered ‘That movie is centuries old Captain, and for all his leaf business, the pilot died