C. C. Blake's Sweaty Space Operas, Issue 10

By C. C. Blake

In this tenth issue, C. C. Blake returns with two stories about the far flung space-faring universes he writes so well about.

Rick Cave finds himself on the CORE world of Septimus, encountering a familiar face. Jordan was a regular face from his StarBar military days, a pal back then and still. Jordan is a Major now with a family and the kind of life Rick is both attracted and repelled by. However, he's got his share of troubles, too. Due to some bad decisions and addictions, Jordan's son Ayomi has attracted the attention of a local syndicate. They are pressuring him through Jordan's grandchild to give them sensitive data. Rick doesn't need to be asked to step in, and that decision could be a costly one. Things work differently on CORE worlds than the free frontier of Slav Space . . .

In the follow-up story, a former CORE military intelligence officer turned on the run killer finds herself tagged to help a wealthy man with a problem thanks to her rep for special skills. Ling-Ling left bodies behind her, due to a matter of family honor. Now, however, she is caught up in the honor of a family not her own. Can she see her way clear to helping strangers in exchange for the promise of a pardon? The payout is big, but the job itself is not cakewalk when she stands off against a mysterious guru who operates from behind fortified walls.

The far future may bring faster than light travel and strange surroundings, but humanity still comes in all the different shades of greed, weakness, and courage. C. C. Blake explores these future worlds where working class folks get in over their heads in trouble and try to make their way out in his action packed series of space opera thrillers.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Twice Told Tales II
• Release date: Mar 24, 2019
• ISBN: 9780463690703

C. C. Blake

C.C. Blake has lived across the United States, starting in the suburbs of Detroit, to Massachusetts’ second largest city (Worcester) to the country’s seventh largest city (San Antonio, Texas, that is). He’s has a variety of jobs, working as a substitute teacher, the graveyard shift dishwasher at a haunted Denny’s, lab research monkey and teaching assistant at a second tier college. Currently, he works as an automation consultant for a chemical company on the Northeast side of SAtown (which isn’t as Hellish as it sounds). Blake’s most popular character, irrepressible adventurer Chuck Cave, has appeared in over two dozen stories, including the 2005 Man’s Story 2 Story of the Year Award winner “Chuck Cave and the Vanishing Vixen.” The character’s supernatural thriller stories (which began with the seminal “Cave and the Vamp”) are all being released as a part of Vampires2.com’s initial foray into e-books. These new versions are presented in expanded and revised versions, all are the author’s preferred texts. Be sure to collect them all! In addition to his pulp stories for the 2-Empire (Man’s Story 2, Vampires 2, Androids 2 and Paranormal Romance 2), Blake’s fiction has appeared in several anthologies, including Unparalleled Journeys II (from Journey Books Publishing) and Fearology: Terrifying Tales of Phobias (from Library of Horror Press).

Book preview

C. C. Blake's Sweaty Space Operas

Issue 10

C. C. Blake

Table of Contents

Rick Cave and the Red Ledger

A Special Set of Skills

Rick Cave and the Red Ledger

When he saw me, Jordan's dark skin moved out of the way of his teeth, flashing his pearlies in a brilliant smile. Cave is that you? he asked. At first, I did not recognize him. My StarBar days were long behind me, all that youthful vigor and all the battle hard-ons happening during the heydays before the ORPHAN world separations. When he asked, You're Cave? Rick Cave? I caught a whiff of strong recollection.

Sorry, I said. The brain cells have gone through hell. Takes them time to remember proper. I was a damned fool for forgetting, but a brush with some neural damage was partially healed through a bleeding edge medicinal process. In fact, backup sectors in my brain were tapped for their functionality and the process itself is best discussed elsewhere. It's been a long time, Loot.

We had run into each other in a fruit marketplace on Septimus, the seat of the new CORE government. I had a simple but well-paying job to bring augmentation throats from a shady shop in the belt to core world. It was a far cry from my normal types of work, and the slow pace was rather enjoyable. Also, being this close to the CORE kept me out of sight of Gambizzizzi mafia attention. Syndicates kept to Crime Space, these days. Too much red tape in the CORE to trouble themselves with.

Major, now, Jordan said. He was looking pretty good even with his dark hair gone silver. When he walked over to me with glad hand extended, I saw the way his left leg was stiffer than the right. Bad VA mods post combat injury by my guess. For all I knew he got the bum leg at the gym, but I expected it was combat. Well, Major before I retired with honors. These days, I'm bumming around the galaxy seeing what kind of trouble I can get into. How about you?

I felt odd being so far from Slav Space and my stomping grounds. I'm in transport, these days. Own my own medium tonnage darling.

Not that bucket of bolts you carried around when you were a greenie? Jordan laughed. The model was the same, though mine was nowhere near as new as the dream boat had been.

That's the one, I said. Souped up and fixed up and running like a dream, all these years.

He studied me, my old CO. You're looking good, Cave.

And you're looking troubled, Major.

Maybe I am, he said. Maybe I am.

I offered to buy him a drink, and he relented, and we found a place that served reasonably priced drinks, and after he bought the second round he opened up. His family had accrued a debt. Well, his son had accrued the debt, betting on anything that walked, crawled, and lost races while doing so. Crime Space? I asked, and he shook his head.

Bookies right here in the CORE. He read my shock, but misinterpreted the source of it. I know. This kind of crap isn't supposed to happen around here, right? This is supposed to be the worlds of the free, bought with the blood of patriots.

Something like that, I said.

Well, it is happening. My son lives in a trashy CORE backwater. Gambling, bum buddies, and homelessness. All the colors of stuff you might expect to see in, say, Slav Space.

I almost asked how he knew I spent so much time in Slav, but it was just a name he pulled out of the ether. So, what's the score?

My son's family is getting the brunt of it, Jordan said. Bad news, bad luck, and bad choices should have been enough. Now, he's getting harassed.

How much debt are we talking?

Lots. More zeroes than I made in ten years as an officer.

I shook my head in displeased surprise. How the hell did his people let him get away with that? He had a spouse. He had parents. They should have intervened, right?

He did a lot in secret, Jordan admitted. Now, the syndicate is putting pressure on him to cough up state secrets.

Wait, what?

Didn't I tell you? He's a courier. Attaché for political party data. You know the guys in those shows, rushing around with locked cases handcuffed to their arms? That's all vid show nonsense, but the job behind the action thrillers is him.

I nodded. I dabbled, myself. It's hard to pass up the offered money when you have a ship to feed. As I recalled, it had been hard work not because of the dangers of message interception, but because of all the damned forms that needed filling out. The certifications and licenses. A ton of paper and ink and headache inducing font sizes.

Oh yeah? He shook his head. When Ayomi told me his intentions, I was shocked. I thought all that crap was done electronic.

Some things have to be on paper, I said, recalling the