High Steaks
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"High Steaks" Quantum Series: Book 6
Action! Adventure! Uncivil War!
Troubled times have come to the Terran Colony planet Deanna, and unfortunately, having amusing names for its sun (Ramalama) and two moons (Ding and Dong) haven’t made this quaint little world immune to bad things.
Right now, things are looking pretty darned bleak.
On Lupini Square, the epicenter of Deannan social life, a much-anticipated royal visit has gone spectacularly awry - live on DNN! The popular Prince Justin - a handsome young man with a rock-star following, had come to Deanna just for a quick tour and to check out a few local babes afterwards - now lies dead after a shockingly violent and totally unexpected assassination outside the Governor's Palace on Lupini Square. To say that his hopes had been dashed, would be somewhat of an understatement.
A horde of heavily-armed camouflage-wearing thugs pretending to be a patriotic army the colony didn't actually have, have torn down Deanna's two official flags - the Jack and the Crow, and replaced them with the crimson propeller-embossed banners of a sinister, secretive organization called 'the Deannan Service League'. Simultaneously, in a master-stroke of careful planning and organization, Deanna's three largest cities are quickly and methodically overrun by stormtroops of the Deannan Republican Army - a highly organized para-military group nobody on Deanna appeared to even know existed.
Inside the palace, a panicked Governor Landry and his staff do everything Humanly possible under the circumstances: they lock the doors and hope nobody tries to open them. Just then, Deanna's most famous son - the bounty hunter called Beck the Badfeller - and former CIA agent Cindy-Mei Winter, arrive to show them to safety via an escape route that (thanks to some futuristic tech that hasn't been invented yet) didn't exist five minutes ago.
With the population of Deanna reeling in shock, the D.S.L. makes the most of the delay before the remote Terran government light-years away on Earth, can react. A larger, more complex plan begins to swing into effect to take full control of Deannan society, isolate the system from the rest of the galaxy. In the cities, martial law is declared - and the D.S.L. begins to show their hand. Overnight, aliens - and people now deemed 'undesirable', begin to vanish from Deannan society. But while the fascists and their rhetoric seem altogether predictable, turning Atro City upside down to root out the usual sort of targets, there's another group of people they're really after - one that occupies a space right at the top of the list: vampires. Unlike everyone else - blissfully unaware of their existence, the D.S.L. prides itself on knowing better, and is more bloodthirsty than Dracula forced to go on a vegan diet.
For reasons of her own, Marla De Bris – despite looking unusually youthful, healthy (and alive) for someone who has about 200 years experience in being a secret vampire - has kept a discreet distance from the local vampire community since her arrival on Deanna 30 years ago. Her only contact with the estranged underground community in all that time has been her uncle Vernon, who keeps her up to date with various tidbits of news and gossip, so she is maddeningly unimpressed when all this goes down. All she really wants to do is find her Human best friend Danielle, who was last seen taking selfies against the backdrop of the Prince's motorcade at Lupini Square, and get her out of the city and home safely to Skeggs Valley - not waste her time playing special envoy to the silly Humans there... But since the Council of Elders asked so nicely, even though she has very real fears for Danielle's safety, she didn't really know how to refuse. Besides, having the support of uncle Veronon - and the bizarre Fred at her side, is oddly reassuring in a really weird sort of way.
Likewise, the people of Deanna are not as alone as they think. With someone at the Time Saving Agency (who for 'legal reasons' shall remain nameless) advising Gary and Mei on which strings to pull, everything according to the Anals of History (still not a typo) is unfolding more or less as it should to stay within the rules - just a bit quicker... but fast enough to avoid as many casualties as possible - which is kinda the point.
Even so, the backdrop darkens, storm clouds gather. With history playing out more-or-less as it should, the would-be leader of the revolutionaries arrives - freshly traumatized by something called 'bovine torpedoes' - to take up residence in the former Governor's Palace, and not even his unsteady waddle up the front steps can lighten the mood.
In spite of strict new media control and censorship, rumors begin to circulate: Governor Landry is in hiding in Skeggs Valley - and volunteers have secretly begun to form a Loyalist Army. The message is clear - the assault on Deannan liberty or identity will not go unchallenged. The stage is set. War is on its way.
Whatever happens next, Deanna - the spotted cow of the galaxy, is in a lot of trouble.
Action! Adventure! Uncivil War!
Troubled times have come to the Terran Colony planet Deanna, and unfortunately, having amusing names for its sun (Ramalama) and two moons (Ding and Dong) haven’t made this quaint little world immune to bad things.
Right now, things are looking pretty darned bleak.
On Lupini Square, the epicenter of Deannan social life, a much-anticipated royal visit has gone spectacularly awry - live on DNN! The popular Prince Justin - a handsome young man with a rock-star following, had come to Deanna just for a quick tour and to check out a few local babes afterwards - now lies dead after a shockingly violent and totally unexpected assassination outside the Governor's Palace on Lupini Square. To say that his hopes had been dashed, would be somewhat of an understatement.
A horde of heavily-armed camouflage-wearing thugs pretending to be a patriotic army the colony didn't actually have, have torn down Deanna's two official flags - the Jack and the Crow, and replaced them with the crimson propeller-embossed banners of a sinister, secretive organization called 'the Deannan Service League'. Simultaneously, in a master-stroke of careful planning and organization, Deanna's three largest cities are quickly and methodically overrun by stormtroops of the Deannan Republican Army - a highly organized para-military group nobody on Deanna appeared to even know existed.
Inside the palace, a panicked Governor Landry and his staff do everything Humanly possible under the circumstances: they lock the doors and hope nobody tries to open them. Just then, Deanna's most famous son - the bounty hunter called Beck the Badfeller - and former CIA agent Cindy-Mei Winter, arrive to show them to safety via an escape route that (thanks to some futuristic tech that hasn't been invented yet) didn't exist five minutes ago.
With the population of Deanna reeling in shock, the D.S.L. makes the most of the delay before the remote Terran government light-years away on Earth, can react. A larger, more complex plan begins to swing into effect to take full control of Deannan society, isolate the system from the rest of the galaxy. In the cities, martial law is declared - and the D.S.L. begins to show their hand. Overnight, aliens - and people now deemed 'undesirable', begin to vanish from Deannan society. But while the fascists and their rhetoric seem altogether predictable, turning Atro City upside down to root out the usual sort of targets, there's another group of people they're really after - one that occupies a space right at the top of the list: vampires. Unlike everyone else - blissfully unaware of their existence, the D.S.L. prides itself on knowing better, and is more bloodthirsty than Dracula forced to go on a vegan diet.
For reasons of her own, Marla De Bris – despite looking unusually youthful, healthy (and alive) for someone who has about 200 years experience in being a secret vampire - has kept a discreet distance from the local vampire community since her arrival on Deanna 30 years ago. Her only contact with the estranged underground community in all that time has been her uncle Vernon, who keeps her up to date with various tidbits of news and gossip, so she is maddeningly unimpressed when all this goes down. All she really wants to do is find her Human best friend Danielle, who was last seen taking selfies against the backdrop of the Prince's motorcade at Lupini Square, and get her out of the city and home safely to Skeggs Valley - not waste her time playing special envoy to the silly Humans there... But since the Council of Elders asked so nicely, even though she has very real fears for Danielle's safety, she didn't really know how to refuse. Besides, having the support of uncle Veronon - and the bizarre Fred at her side, is oddly reassuring in a really weird sort of way.
Likewise, the people of Deanna are not as alone as they think. With someone at the Time Saving Agency (who for 'legal reasons' shall remain nameless) advising Gary and Mei on which strings to pull, everything according to the Anals of History (still not a typo) is unfolding more or less as it should to stay within the rules - just a bit quicker... but fast enough to avoid as many casualties as possible - which is kinda the point.
Even so, the backdrop darkens, storm clouds gather. With history playing out more-or-less as it should, the would-be leader of the revolutionaries arrives - freshly traumatized by something called 'bovine torpedoes' - to take up residence in the former Governor's Palace, and not even his unsteady waddle up the front steps can lighten the mood.
In spite of strict new media control and censorship, rumors begin to circulate: Governor Landry is in hiding in Skeggs Valley - and volunteers have secretly begun to form a Loyalist Army. The message is clear - the assault on Deannan liberty or identity will not go unchallenged. The stage is set. War is on its way.
Whatever happens next, Deanna - the spotted cow of the galaxy, is in a lot of trouble.
