The Eversence

The start of the book - Orlando Jax attacks the Eversence:

‘Fire again lads, fire again. Bring her down!’

The pirate ship’s torsion beams ravaged the ion drive engines of the Eversence. The polished silver lines of the cruiser shivered under the power of the attack. Green light from the beams flooded the bridge, casting monstrous shadows of the pirate crew and their captain.

‘She’s dead in space Cap’n, like a beached whale,’ said the First Mate, as the blue embers of the ion drives flickered and then went out for the last time.

‘Good work lads, good work. Now bring the ship around and prepare the fangs. All boarding parties to stand by!’

The helmsman manoeuvred the ship so that she slid back from the Eversence. Then in one graceful movement he moved her forward, turning as they went, so that the port side of the Eversence was now directly ahead of them.

The captain smiled. It was the smile of the most notorious and feared of all the deep space raiders. It was the smile of Orlando Jax, pirate captain of the Claw.

‘Ramming speed!’ yelled Jax.

The helmsman opened all the throttles and the Claw, fangs bared, leapt towards its prey.

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The Essex

Lord Havering hears of the attack on the Eversence:

Lord Havering, Captain of the star frigate the HMSS Essex, was relaxing after dinner with a glass of very fine port and a cigar. The Essex was in orbit round the planet Laxfala, a planet famous throughout the galaxy for its fine wines and sumptuous foods. Needless to say, Havering had dispatched a party down to the surface the moment the Essex had made orbit, and now the crew were all enjoying the finest that Laxfala had to offer.

The Officers’ Mess was not a lavish room, but comfortable. Tonight it was full with the complete officer corps of the Essex, plus a couple of visitors from other ships in synchronous orbits. Lord Havering was just about to pass the port round again, when there was a knock on the door.

‘Come!’ he called, and the door opened quickly. Montgomery, his valet, moved without hesitation towards Havering and handed him a piece of paper. Lord Havering looked a little surprised, but with the port in one hand, he took the paper with the other and read it. His relaxed demeanour vanished. He lobbed the bottle of port to Montgomery and rising to his feet yelled ‘Actions stations! Every man to his post!’

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The Claw

The Essex attacks The Claw, Jax releases a dark mine:

‘Is the mine ready?’ he shouted into the intercom.

At that point in time, Bottle and Rank were carrying the mine into one of the rear facing air locks. This mine wasn’t a weapon that could be fired in a conventional way from the Claw. They’d stolen it from a mercenary supply depot, and to launch it they had to throw it out of the back of the ship. Dead Meat was in the air lock with Bottle and Rank but unlike them, he’d drawn the short straw. He was the poor bugger that would have to push it out of the ship.

The Starboard Boarding Mate replied ‘Aye Cap’n. We’re in the air lock ready to go.’

‘Stand by, on my word’, said Jax.

Bottle and Rank put the charge down right against the outer air lock door, then quick as they could they helped Dead Meat strap himself onto the air lock wall. They dived through the open air lock door back into the ship. The Starboard Boarding Mate looked at them spread-eagled on the floor and sighed. He turned to Dead Meat.

‘When the outer doors open, give the charge a shove. Make damn sure it’s away to space. If I get time I’ll close the outer door before we jump, but whatever happens, hang on you dog!’

No sooner had he finished and closed the inner air lock door than Jax shouted ‘Now, release the dark mine!’

The Starboard Boarding Mate punched the button and under the pressure from the air inside, the outer air lock door blasted open. Dead Meat experienced a surreal moment of calm. He looked out onto the beauty and blackness and stillness of space, and for a moment wondered at the majesty of it all. But then there was the Essex, in all its terrible glory, guns blazing, coming right towards him. Dead Meat lurched towards the mine and kicked out wildly, but the sudden rush of air had already shoved it out into the path of the charging Essex, and then as far as Dead Meat was concerned there was a flash, and the world ended.

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The Space Elevator

Jezebel, one of Jax's kidnap survivors, is searching for him:

Ruth woke Jezebel. It was still pitch black outside. After coming back from Alta Stari, Ruth and Sarah hadn’t been to bed. While Jezebel slept, they had gone to the temple and spent the night deep in thought, meditating and talking with the other Mothers.

But now it was time for Jezebel to be moving. She had a way to go to get to the space elevator. Ruth helped her gather together her things and they ate breakfast in silence. Ruth could sense the uncertainty, even the fear in Jezebel, but she didn’t want to talk about it. After breakfast they saw Sarah, who talked about practical things, where things were, how to get to places and what to do if she needed help. When there was nothing left to say, she walked with Jezebel to the car, gave her a hug and watched Jezebel leave.

The car took Jezebel to the station. One train would take her straight to the base of the space elevator. There she would buy a one way ticket to the top. If all went well, she wouldn’t need to come down again. Not that day, anyway.

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The Lighter

Jax is to leave prisoners from the Eversence in the Lighter till the ransom be paid:

They were close now. Jax could almost smell the ransom. He could also see the forbidding gas giant. Coober Pedy. A brilliant cerulean blue sphere that looked inviting and yet there was something sinister here. Jax had a sense that it was an unholy place. As pilgrims in a foreign land, they were best to do their business then move on. Navigation indicated that the voyage had gone as planned. They were on course to insert the Lighter they took from the Eversence into the right kind of decaying orbit around Fini Revo.

The orbit was critical. If it was too generous, then the Lighter would carry on spinning round the moon forever, long enough for a rescue. If the orbit were too tight, then the little ship would plunge to the surface before the ransom could be paid and the rescuers were told where to go. And of course they couldn’t fire their own engines, but they could do some fine tuning using the engines on the Lighter. It was going to be a critical manoeuvre. They had to know exactly what the Lighter would weigh, so they needed the hostages inside the little ship now.

‘Right lads, let’s get his Highness to the hangar deck and get him acquainted with his new accommodations. Bring provisions for the ship. He’s got to be able to last the full twenty five standard days.’

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Reviews

The following are real reviews taken from the Amazon website.

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Orlando Jax is available as a paperback from Amazon and an ebook from Kindle.

For Amazon and Kindle it is probably best to buy through your own local country store. Simply search for "Orlando Jax: The Death of Orlando Jax". I know the following links work in Australia.

Orlando Jax ebook on Amazon Kindle Orlando Jax paperback on Amazon

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