Starship Victory: The Maniac Planet: Starship Victory, #6

By Joey Peters

The Starship Victory has awakened a dormant virus on Planet Athenia. For a decades the residents of Athenia have been reduced to blood thirsty psychotic monsters, but at least they have stayed contained. Now, however, they have kicked to action and begun cobbling together a fleet of the living dead from whatever spare parts they can dig up.

Colonel Dart, the Victory's commander, has always known this day would come. He has a destiny and it can only be fulfilled by finding the cure to the Athenian contagion. Security Chief Kylie Hayes is skeptical about all this, but Colonel Dart is her superior officer.

But events quickly turn sour when they set foot on the maniac planet. Can the Victory discover the terrible secret of Planet Athenia? Can Chief Hayes stop the colonel from putting himself in incredible danger? Or will his grand destiny save him after all?

Find out in the sixth episode of the Starship Victory saga!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Studio Tacolicious
• Release date: Jan 24, 2014
• ISBN: 9781501450136

Joey Peters

Joey Peters is a writer, cartoonist and beauty contest champion. His comics have appeared in “In a Single Bound”, “Leftovers of the Living Dead”, the Boston Phoenix, and all across the internet. He is probably most well known for his reimaginings of public domain superheroes, most particularly Stardust the Super-Wizard. His other prose works include the “Starship Victory” series and “Moonlit Massacres”. Joey lives in Boston with his wife, Donna.

Book preview

The Maniac Planet

Hate's fingers worked of their own accord and had done so for as long as he could remember. They slipped over the controls, adjusting the pitch, increasing the engine power.

The readouts meant nothing to Hate. He had never read anything in his life—Hate was an animal, a monstrous beast who took what he desired by force and had no compunction harming anyone.

For whatever force drove him forward—for whatever caused him to shamble up to this tiny space ship and take the controls—he felt only hate.

Like everyone on his world. The emotional range of the residents of Planet Athenia had never been very far, but now it was cut down to just hate and, if they were feeling especially powerful, rage.

Hate paid no attention to the other tiny forms that joined him in the churning, boiling red skies of Planet Athenia. Tiny mechanical shapes. Other vessels.

The tiny ships were populated with beings essentially identical to Hate, with only stunted, negative emotions and a hunger dark lust for destruction.

Without any logical thought they could not ascertain the true nature of the other shapes that joined them in the sky.

Dozens of tiny probes orbited the planet and kept watch.

A century earlier some strange contagion swept through the planet and replaced every mind on the tiny world with hate.

They watched with mounting horror as the hate turned inward. Nothing could be done for a world turned against itself suddenly and for no apparent reason.

But now came the disaster that the satellites had waited for.

The hate was spreading.

* * *

Elorg pressed a glass to his lips. It tasted minty and sour—precisely what he wanted. He swallowed and reclined back in his chair.

I wish you wouldn't drink while we're on duty, said Security Chief Hayes with a sigh.

Lieutenant Colonel Elorg said, Technically, we're off duty.

They sat in the middle of the Ship's Pub—the only place on the ship where you could get a real strong drink and relax.

Around them, the other crew members did their best to ignore Elorg and Chief Hayes. They were high level officers, the bridge crew, and as such, dangerous friends.

We're still working, though, said Chief Hayes.

Okay okay, Elorg said, and slipped his drink to the side of the table, Who's next on the crew assessments?

Ensign Henson, said Chief Hayes.

Elorg sent a request to the