Sunday Snippet: Lockdown

With January coming to a close, the first month of the year is in the books. Oddly, I have a good feeling about 2021. I hope I'm right and the year is terrific for everyone.

Ended up with a full slate of work projects this week and I welcomed them with open arms. But they kept me pretty busy so I didn't get a lot of television watched.

I did finish up the second part of the racing episode of Silent Witness. Ended up being very twisty and turny.

I caught a full arc of Classic Who and I'm about halfway through the thirteenth series. I think I like the previous season better than this one so far.

Started a new Queens of Mystery episode and I'm still enjoying this series. I hope they end up doing another one. It's a lot of fun.

As always, I caught the usual mysteries on Ovation and some additional classic episodes of Perry Mason.

That's pretty much it for television this week. Tonight's post is from Lockdown, a novella that got a start with a writing community prompt.

Here's the mini-blurb:

Tod Langkowski and Mitzi Stahl are trapped when a power outage aboard their ship locks them in the training area. The commander and his CAG have a unique opportunity to examine their relationship—and where it should go—with zero interruptions.

And a sneaky peek…

Colonel Tod Langkowski answered when his XO's name flashed on his holo screen. "Major, what's the good word today?" He shuffled through his memos, pulling one from engineering, which she probably wanted to discuss.

Belinda got directly to her point, as she always did. "Did you review the issues we're having with the power conduits?" She didn't wait for confirmation she didn't need. "They're evaluating the problem and should have a sitrep soon."

Tod nodded. "Good. Keep me in the loop." He flagged the communiqué and set it aside. "Anything else?" He assumed there would be when she didn't end the conference.

Belinda gave a brief shrug. "We've got a bit of a Mitzi problem."

Okay, when didn't they? His CAG rarely did anything by the book and she always skated on the edge of standard operating procedure, but she ran tight-knit squadrons and got results. Tod let a lot slide with Mitzi because he'd known her forever—their dad's usually ended up stationed on the same base.

Sitting back, he gave his full attention to his XO. "Is this a general Mitzi problem or a CAG and XO problem?" The two women hadn't found a comfortable groove yet.

Belinda gave him a pointed stare, indicating the former.

Tod sighed. "What happened this time?" He didn't ask who held the blame because his CAG and XO usually split it right down the middle.

He'd never understand why the two women rubbed each other the wrong way. Actually, he totally got why they did, but convincing them would be impossible.

Belinda shrugged. "She left here with blood in her eye and I'm not the person to handle her this time."

He narrowed his gaze at the qualifier but didn't dive into her reason for making it. "Okay, anything I need to know?"

Belinda glanced away, a sure indicator she'd been pushing Mitzi's buttons. "Not really. Just thought you might like to remind her she has an example to set now that she's moved up to being the CAG."

Tod bit back another sigh. Mitzi didn't need an instruction manual—she'd been around the military structure her entire life—but she often pushed against boundaries, which drove his by-the-book XO bonkers. Belinda lived and breathed regulations, unless it suited her not to.

He gave a nod. "Fine. Any idea where she went?" He'd rather not search the entire ship.

Belinda snorted. "She something about pounding a heavy bag. The gym, maybe?" Another line buzzed and Belinda checked the screen. "Gotta take this. It's engineering."

Tod inclined his chin. "Let me know if you need me." He signed off the video screen and pushed away from his desk. "If Mitzi's pissed off, she wouldn't go anywhere there might be people."

That meant she didn't go to the main gym on c-deck. But Tod had a solid idea where she'd be. They had a smaller gym on d-deck tucked between two small arms lockers and across from the target range.

He pushed away from his desk and crossed his quarters. "Guess that's where I'm headed."

This story is a lot of fun. The XO is being a little sneaky and the weird stuff happening with engineering ends up helping her out.

 

That's it for this week. Catch everyone on the flipside.

ML Skye

Sunday Snippet: Living with Scars

Wow, January is almost over and it's been a month. I'm cautiously optimistic the year will get better and crossing my fingers to be on the safe side.

Had a semi-busy week with work and I'm still on my cleaning spree. I did get some television watched. Started with another arc of Classic Who and watched the four-part Pyramids of Mars. Will probably get another arc in this week.

Started the next two episodes of Silent Witness. Oddly enough, it featured a horse race and I just finished editing a book about a thoroughbred dynasty so I understood a lot of the jargon.

Also started a new episode of Blue Heelers. There's another new cast member and I'll reserve judgment on whether I like her or not.

As usual, I caught a bunch of the Ovation mysteries and some classic Perry Mason. I also caught a marathon of Hawaii Five-0. I might be somewhat over the loss of Chin and Kono and ready to watch the final seasons. We'll see.

That's pretty much it for television. Tonight's post is from Living with Scars, a novella that got a start with a writing community prompt.

Here's the mini-blurb:

Britta Dane, a woman who avoids entanglements, lets Yale Sullivan get a little too close. But when she finds a way to put some distance between them, she lands behind enemy lines. When she finally returns, a little broken and torn up with guilt, she has to find a way to get her brand of normal back.

And a sneaky peek…

Shit. He would ask the question, wouldn't he? The urge to run hit Britta hard, but she resisted … barely. She might as well answer … with truth. Even if the thought terrified her, she didn't have much left to lose.

She sucked in a deep breath and jumped in. "Because you scare me. No, we, scares me." She paused, tilting her head to the side. "At least it did."

Yale lifted a brow. "Not anymore?"

She almost wanted to hug him for not just going with her and only asking a simple question.

One she could kinda answer. "Not as much." In her usual roundabout way.

Yale pressed, but only lightly. "What changed?"

She sighed and stayed quiet for a minute, trying to form her reply. "The whole time I was gone you were there. In my head. At first I tried to ignore you. But that didn't work." She shot him a narrow-eyed look. "You can be very loud and obnoxious, even in my imagination."

He snorted but didn't respond.

She worried her lower lip. The next part could make or break how they continued forward. But she wouldn't hold anything else back.

She glanced away then forced herself to look him in the eye. "Then I tried to drive you out by using Shep." She didn't have to give the details. Yale knew her extremely well.

He didn't react. Okay, his jaw clenched, but he didn't say anything. And why would he? He had every right to shut down on her before completely losing it. She'd just proven his point that she used sex to run away or attempt to make everything okay.

Well, the joke ended up being on her.

She lowered her gaze, staring at her hands, twisting her lap. Because it didn't work. Never did. She sorta got that now.

She waited for the explosion. When Yale didn't get up and stalk out with a well-deserved 'Told you so', she decided to continue.

Raising her gaze to his, she shrugged. "As you already know, the deal with Shep didn't turn out well."

Yale leaned forward. "Wait. Are you saying he was the one—" He broke off, unable to give voice to his suspicion.

Britta didn't have that problem. "Who turned me over to the enemy because we had a less than stellar tumble in the sack?" She shrugged again. "You betcha. But who knows? Maybe he tried to use me the way I used him." She left out the part where she called out Yale's name in the throes of passion. "Would serve me right if he did."

Yale snarled. "Stop it. Right now." He shook his head. "You didn't dump him outside an enemy outpost and leave him for dead. He had to know what they'd do to you."

"Maybe." She got up. "But you called it. You warned me that playing fast and loose with someone's feelings would bite me in the ass." She turned back toward him. "You were right." She crossed the office, feeling caged up … like she always did when she had to talk about that period of time.

Yale got up and chased her down. "And what? You think that makes me happy?" He grabbed her arm. "Christ, Britta. Nothing could be further from the truth." He let go of her. "So it's on me then? You're off the rails and it's my fault?" He stalked back toward the couch, clearly pissed off.

Which, honestly, confused the hell out of her. "What?" She followed him across the room. "No." How did he come up with she blamed him?

He flung a hand out. "So the crazy stunts, binge drinking, and utter lack of giving a shit about yourself is what? Jolly fun times?"

Britta sat back down. "I don't know what it is. I really don't."

"You gotta figure it out, Britt. Find a way to get okay."

She frowned. "Why? So I can go out there and fight with a clear head? Not gonna happen. Besides, I don't need a clear head to pull the trigger."

Yale sighed. "You're so wrong. But I'm done trying to convince you. You wanna kill yourself, nothing I can do about it. But I won't let you be responsible for killing someone else. You're grounded until you work this shit out."

She jumped up, ready to battle. "You son of a bitch." Quickly realized he wouldn't budge. "Fine. I'll get a transfer to a ground unit. I'm sure they can use the help."

"You can try. But I don't think the XO is gonna be so willing to sign off on your request this time. Even he sees the damage you're doing."

She paced back and forth. "You think you can do this? Because you think I have a problem." She tilted her head sideways. "Or does this all boil down to the fact we didn't have mind-blowing sex like you thought we would?" She gave him a nasty look. "It'll never happen now."

Yale's lips twisted. "I know." He crossed his arms over his chest. "And the fact you think it makes a difference speaks volumes about how twisted up you are." He leveled his gaze on her. "I'm not that guy, Britt. I never will be."

She opened her mouth but nothing came out. What the hell could she say? She actually already knew he'd never be that guy. And she sucked major balls for implying differently.

Yale gave her a look full of disappointment. "You're dismissed. See the chief on your way out. He'll put you on the schedule for maintenance shifts." He added quietly. "Quit the drinking, make the morning briefings, and I'll get you back on rotation."

Britta nodded and slowly made her way to the hatch. She had a lot to think about.

This story is all over the place but it's finally starting to come together. The sages like to deliver ideas in small bits but I'm having fun with the pieces.

 

That's it for this week. Catch everyone on the flipside.

ML Skye

Sunday Snippet: A Little More

Okay, I've been on a cleaning spree again, which means I had a somewhat slow week with television. I haven't been in the mood and my attention span is limited right now.

I did get a new episode of Blue Heelers started. It's an interesting one and I'm enjoying it.

I also finished up the final chapter of the second episode of Queens of Mystery. I really like this show.

Caught the second part of a Silent Witness episode and quite liked the mystery this time. I also enjoyed getting to see the transition from Sam to Leo as professor. I've never seen how they handled that.

Other than my usual slate of Classic Perry Mason and The Saint along with the Ovation shows, I haven't caught much else. Ovation has a new-to-me show called King and I've seen a few of the episodes. Not bad. I'll see if my opinion holds.

That's it for television this week. Tonight's post is from A Little More, a novella that got a start with a writing community prompt.

Here's the mini-blurb:

Lexie Krost and Tighe Milligan work and live together—and a little more—on a remote base in the depths of space. They shouldn't act on their attraction, but the pull is strong and once they've crossed the line they have to figure out how to be a little less.

And a sneaky peek…

Tighe Milligan dragged his butt down the corridor to quarters. "Ugh. No more double shifts—at least not for a while." He'd pulled the back-to-back shifts to help out a friend who wanted to ship out early for his new post. "Right now, I want nothing more than a shower and some rack time." He didn't bother grabbing clothes. "Heh, I'll probably have the head to myself." Not to mention the corridors.

Damned spooky and eerily quiet. Who knew an almost empty starbase could be creepy. Okay, everyone knew that.

He ducked into the head and started a shower then stepped under when the spray warmed. "Fourteen people and two command officers rambling around on a starbase." By the time they finished the shutdown, they'd all be in each other's pockets if only to avoid the vast feeling of loneliness.

He lathered up and rinsed off then took some extra time to let the hot water work out some of the kinks from eight hours in the cockpit. "At least we've got a decent group remaining." The CO, Colonel Barrick Klemper made sure he kept a crew that got along.

Tighe chuckled. "That's the only reason Lexie's still here." She made Klemper lose his mind on a semi-regular basis.

Lexie. Man. He attempted a test run with her, primed the launch tube but flamed out. Hell, every guy on station had tried their luck with her. Gorgeous looks combined with a wild sense of humor and high intelligence made her extremely attractive. She shot everyone down.

Tighe laughed. "She didn't need any help trying Klemper's patience by adding breaking frat regs to her list of annoyances." Grabbing a towel, he dried off.

Turning him down didn't keep her from flirting up a storm. And they'd developed a friendly rivalry. One he'd miss like crazy when they finished the station shutdown.

With a towel around his waist, he headed for quarters. "Day before laundry day and one pair of socks left. I can't wait to put them on." The deck always made him chilly when he went barefoot.

Ducking into the bunkroom, he grabbed his clothes from his locker. "Dammit." One of his socks had gone missing.

A quick search turned up nothing.

"Lexie."

Damn fool woman. He didn't doubt she'd taken the match to his pair. He should've expected the theft. She'd been too quiet lately. And with Colonel Klemper off base, she didn't have anyone else to drive insane with her antics.

"Figures, she passed the torch to me."

The fact he read her moves so well probably didn't count as a good thing. He spent a little too much time observing her antics in action. She had such a creative mind.

But … she'd called it. While tempting to act on the attraction, with so few crew left everyone would know. But … he'd use whatever means necessary. He had to get his sock back.

Yanking on a T-shirt and boxers—and one damn sock—he took off to find his thief.

I'm having so much fun writing this one. Lexie and Tighe are a great couple and I love their dynamic.

 

That's it for this week. Catch everyone on the flipside.

ML Skye

Sunday Snippet: Leading the War Effort

Well, it's definitely been an interesting beginning to the new year. At this point, I'm coasting through and taking happy moments when I can. Blogging is a happy moment for me.

Had a couple of work projects I needed to finish up and started a new one. I didn't have a lot of time for television but I did get a few things watched.

I watched a little more of Gabriel's Inferno and hope to finish it up sometime this week.

Also watched the next two installments of Queens of Mystery. I finished the second part of the first episode and started the first part of the second installment. I rather like this show.

Other than that, I watched most of an episode of Blue Heelers and caught my usual mysteries on Ovation. I'm a little bummed they've changed their line-up, but that always happens. I get used to and love having my shows on at a certain time and the network has to change things up. Ah, well.

Tonight's post is from Leading the War Effort, a novella that got a start with a writing community prompt.

Here's the mini-blurb:

North Normandy becomes the test subject for a super soldier project and his first mission is to rescue his captured father. Frankie Gant knows the venture inside out, but lacks the emotional connection her superiors feel the candidate will need. Frankie acts as North's handler and when the planned op goes south, she risks her life, undergoing the same process to pull both men out of enemy territory.

And a sneaky peek…

North planted his hands on his hips. "Train with me." He'd had enough of playing everything her way.

Frankie blinked. "I'm sorry. What?"

North jerked his thumb toward the equipment. "Get your ass over here and run through each regimen with me." He'd bet his next pay grade she could do the sets without issue.

She tilted her head sideways. "You're serious." She made it a statement but her face showed she questioned if she'd heard correctly.

North lifted his chin. "Absolutely. Look, you said it yourself. I'm half-assing this. Give me a challenge and I rise to the occasion. Going up against the person who designed the program should get my head out of my ass." Or at least give him something else to focus on.

Frankie considered the idea but shook her head. "No. There're too many reasons why this is a bad idea. I'm the project head. I have to monitor and take notes while you're going through each session. If the department leads get wind of me joining you, they'd flip their shit." She paused and shot him a look. "A little too unconventional for their liking."

North waved a hand and raised a finger. "First, you're the project head so you can do as you see fit. There's no one better qualified to get results." He held up another digit. "Second, record the session and make notes after." He ticked off another item. "Third. If the department leads want this program to succeed—and they do—they've already accepted unconventional is the only way to make that happen. They'll give a token bit of objection then get the hell out of the way." He folded his arms to wait for her reaction.

And damn if he didn't look forward to it. He liked having her off kilter.

She opened her mouth then closed it. Determination filled her gaze. Okay, he had her convinced. He should get points for his skill in persuasion.

Setting her clipboard aside, she removed her lab coat. He'd be lying if he said his pulse rate didn't kick up about ten clicks. He couldn't wait to see her in a different light. Anything but the button-down persona.

She unbuttoned her shirt. "Video and audio record begin in five minutes." She slipped out of the shirt and kicked off her boots.

Clad in her fatigues and a sports bra, she ran through a quick warm-up. North blatantly observed the play of muscle under her skin. She had an incredible physique. The department leads were stupid to hold her back. And he had no doubt she'd make a strong addition to the program.

Frankie finished the routine and turned toward him.

He nodded. "Ready?" I certainly am.

I love this story. I pulled in some elements from Pacific Rim and Captain America and I like how they're meshing together.

 

That's it for this week. Catch everyone on the flipside.

ML Skye

Sunday Snippet: Last Best Chance ... at a First Impression

Welcome 2021! It's been raining like crazy the last few days, which is kind of soothing even if it's also a little dark and dreary.

I finished up a work project and had time to get somewhat organized for the new year. I have a few small things to get lined up but I'm ready to dive deep into 2021.

Had a very slow week in television. I caught a couple episodes of Blue Heelers and a couple episodes of Silent Witness. I also did a few year-end marathons and watched my usual classic TV and mystery shows.

And that's how I'm starting this year. Tonight's post is from Last Best Chance …at a First Impression, a novella that got a start with a writing community prompt.

Here's the mini-blurb:

Cadence Coll, a top pilot, dreads her new assignment to the Cressida because the scuttlebutt has the CAG known for his rigid adhesion to the status quo. Nik Garrick likes order and structure and his new flying ace has a mile-long list of infractions. Cadence and Nik discover first impressions aren't always what they seem and a rush to make a judgment isn't the best idea.

And a sneaky peek…

Cadence pounded on the hatch and entered to find her new superior, off in a corner by the filing cabinet.

His head swiveled around. "Lt. Coll, I presume." He slammed the drawer shut.

Cadence recognized the voice and the man. "Ah … fuck me." Her face flamed hot when she realized she'd just made the worst of the worst first impressions on Nik Garrick.

Nik strode to the desk, nodding for her to have a seat in the chair opposite.

She sat, searching to find her footing. "Um, about that stick thing…" God, not the place to start.

Nik lifted a brow, but said nothing.

She huffed out a breath. "You're gonna leave me hanging, aren't you?" Not what she expected from a rigid, by the book superior.

He leaned back and crossed his arms over his chest. "You think on your feet. I wanna see how you get yourself out of this." His lips curved with the smallest of grins.

Cadence shrugged. "You've read my jacket." Her shoulders slumped forward. "Shit. You've read my jacket." She met his gaze head-on. "Look, you obviously have a sense of humor or I'd be in the brig right now." She tilted her head and gave him a considering look, remembering the prime physique from earlier. "And from where I sit, there's no room for a stick anywhere near your ass." She waited a beat. "Sir."

Nik's lips twitched. "And that, lieutenant, is why you and I are going to get along just fine." He leaned forward. "But don't tell anyone there's no stick. It keeps the flight crew in line." He winked and clicked his tongue against his cheek.

Cadence let out a bark of laughter. "I think I'm going to like it here."

And, so far, she really liked her new CAG.

I'm having fun with this story. I love writing awkward moments and dealing with preconceived ideas that aren't always correct. Cadence and Nik discover a lot of interesting things about each other.

That's it for this week. Catch everyone on the flipside.

ML Skye