First Command: Space Rogue, #0.5

By Jay Toney

Bartholomew Roberts is retiring, leaving his son in command of the Queen Anne's Revenge. It is his first command, and it may be his last. The Alliance will do everything in their power to ensure that he fails.

 Failure in the Alliance is not tolerated. If Doc Roberts is lucky, they will hang him. If not, he will be sent to a reeducation center, mind-wiped, and a control collar will be placed around his neck, then he will be paraded in the streets of Avalon's capital city, as an example of what happens to people who fail in their missions.

He can't afford to fail!

 

• Language: English
• Publisher: Jay Toney
• Release date: Mar 20, 2021
• ISBN: 9781393140146

Jay Toney

I got hooked on reading early in life, reading nearly everything I could get my hands on including the Encyclopedia Britannica. As well as being an avid reader I enjoyed bicycling, skateboarding, fishing, and building models and puzzles. As far back as I can remember, I loved anything to do with aircraft. I joined the USAF as an aircraft mechanic working on the F-4, T-38, F-117. and the F-16. A knee injury stopped me from working on aircraft. My knee couldn't support me on the odd angles and slick surfaces anylonger. While in the USAF I attended college. My second love was tormenting my English teacher. I found out she had a fear of death, then she was at my mercy. Anything she said not to do I did just to show her I could. Every essay or theme I wrote dealt with the topic of death, from a first person perspective of a person under going an autopsy, being buried alive, and rising from the grave. She was glad when I graduated. Some authors who inspired me are Robert Heinlein, Harry Harrison, Alan Dean Foster, Piers Anthony, and much more.

Book preview

Dedications

Edited by Ann Attwood , Editing and Proofreading Services

Introduction

Bartholomew Roberts is retiring, leaving his son in command of the Queen Anne’s Revenge. It is his first command, and it may be his last. The Alliance will do everything in their power to ensure that he fails.

Failure in the Alliance is not tolerated. If Doc Roberts is lucky, they will hang him. If not, he will be sent to a reeducation center, mind-wiped, and a control collar will be placed around his neck, then he will be paraded in the streets of Avalon’s capital city, as an example of what happens to people who fail in their missions.

He can’t afford to fail!

Retirement

W hy are we returning to Alliance territory, and why the Luxor star system? Doc Roberts says to his father. He barely gets the blade of his energy sword up in time to parry his father’s blade. The blades hum and crackle when they make contact. He spins on his heels, sweeping his blade low at his father’s legs.

Bartholomew jumps back, avoiding his son’s attack, and says, "Where else would I go to retire? When word gets out that I am no longer the captain of the Queen Anne’s Revenge, every bounty hunter in Coalition space will come after me, to try claiming the reward on my head. The only place Amanda and I have any chance of living to old age is within the safety of the Alliance borders." He falls for the feint and slashes at his son’s belly.

Doc is ready. He steps back, just outside of his father’s reach. Then he lunges forward and slashes downward. The blade of his energy sword burns the left sleeve of his father’s coat. He is rewarded by a fiery burn across his forehead. Bartholomew says, That scar will serve to remind you to stay focused. Don’t fall for what looks like an easy victory without being prepared for the counter attack.

Nanites will heal the scar in a few days, but until then, everyone will know that my father and I have had another discussion about his assuming command of the ship. He continues, I have been in command of the cruiser for over sixty years. I’m getting slow. It is time for me to step down and let someone younger and faster take the reins.

You are still fast and strong enough to kick the ass of everyone aboard this ship.

Not quite everyone. He shows me the blackened sleeve of his lizard skin coat and says, This was my favorite jacket.

But, why the Luxor system? You can afford to retire on Avalon IV.

My father spits on the floor. He has no love for the Alliance. He works for the government, because it pays well. At least it does with the type of business that Doc is inheriting—a privateer. You know damned well that if I settled on Avalon, I’d be put in a reeducation camp, and have my mind wiped within a year. I hate to think what they would do to your mother. I need to stay as far out of the government’s reach as possible. With your mother and I settling on Luxor III, we won’t be perceived as a threat to the Alliance.

But, it is a retirement planet, populated with wealthy aristocrats.

Do you think that I want to spend the rest of my life on a primitive world, struggling to survive? I don’t. I plan on retiring where I can do it in comfort, so why not Luxor III? I can afford it. He deactivates his energy sword, and clips it