Kindle Edition
Wrath of the Testament at Amazon.com
Category:
Action/Thriller
Publisher: amazon.com
Pages: 169
Copyright: November 23, 2010
Price: $3.99 (eBook)
In a future America gone mad with war and absolute repression , a small cybernetic Coast Guard cutter and her crew, sailing out of the San Juan Islands of Washington State, mutiny and in so doing, ignite a rebellion which frees the Pacific Northwest and establishes Canada as the new leader of the hemisphere.
It is an America gone mad from the addiction to war and desperate for resources beyond her own borders. A military dictatorship controls the country and life is grim. The Republic is fighting for its very survival.
In the Pacific Northwest, the spirit of freedom remains alive, despite the harshest of oppression. They call themselves Cascadians, after that reckonable range of mountains which shields them from the east. And whose shaggy peaks can be seen from the helms of the San Juan Island fishing fleet and by those, as well, who survive in the curve of Bellingham and its harbor, the site of a concentration camp as venal as any served up during the Holocaust.
This is the world of the United States Coast Guard cutter Testament, a cybernetic patrol boat, and her six-person crew. Her mission, and those of her sister craft, is simple. Quench the rebellion and stop the flow of Americans seeking refuge in Canada. Kill when expedient. Deliver the survivors to the Bellingham Re-Education Center. A simple operational order and one which has served America well. Until Testament.
Excerpt
"Unknown ship, this is Coast Guard cutter Testament. Identify yourself and state your intentions."
When there is no response, Thomas Lightfoot touches his triggers lightly and twin streams of Ares fire bracket the contact. An instant later, a Swiss-accented voice crackles urgently across the air waves,
"Please, do not fire on us. This is the International Health Ship Pasteur. Our code system has been scrambled. Please, hold your fire."
"That isn't coming from the Pasteur," Sara Golden informs them tersely.
Topside, Fitch nods and touches the microphone at his throat. "Give it up, Bobby Lee," the Southerner urges his younger brother softly. "Please, don't make me fight one of my own."
The voice which responds is both familiar and gentle. "Fitch, we can't do this anymore. We got a contract to run a barge full of 'gees' to Sydney. They're from that mutiny roundup in Galveston. The Alamo and two of her destroyers went over to the Costa Ricans."
The small Mississippian closes his eyes briefly. That action cost them their two youngest brothers. Fitch's voice trembles faintly as he replies,
"And where y'all after that, Bobby Lee? Canadians can't help you without breaking neutrality. Nobody else wants you except for the boat and what your crew can teach."
"If we can get shed of you," the Exodus captain reminds his older brother, " we might just make it to open water."
"Once you get past Cape Flattery," Testament's captain continues with wrenching implacability, "you've got the whole damned First Fleet to run. And in case you've forgotten, that's McKay all over again. Only he's an admiral now, Bobby Lee, and he's got a devout Farragut Complex."
"Either way, then, " the younger Henderson acknowledges. "Ah'm not giving up the boat." Then he pauses "Know what Ah always liked best about the sea service, Fitch?"
The older Henderson's throat thickens. "What's that, Bobby Lee?"
"At least you die clean."
Closing his eyes again, Fitch nods. "We're in the killin' fields and y'all ain't got much time left, little brother."
It is with deep and abiding sadness that Robert E. Lee Henderson, captain of the Exodus, shrugs and replies, "Come ahead on then, Testament, and good luck."
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