Sunday Snippet: Lover's Lament

Well, January in Ohio has been the usual weird warm one day, cool the next, and hey, let's throw some snow into the mix. It's not a lot of snow, but it's enough to be annoying until we get the first really good blanket of the white stuff.

Solid work week. I had a bunch of projects going and added a few to my calendar. I'm kind of excited to be delving into some new territory. I also got a lot done on my new venture and updating my website, which is very much needed. I've neglected it for far too long.

Had a decent week of television. Didn't quite make it through every show, but I got most of my current slate watched.

Stared the week with My Life Is Murder and kind of liked seeing a bit of Alexa's past even if her friend ended up being the culprit.

Caught the first part of a two-part Agatha Raisin. Enjoyed it for the most part. I'm not a fan of the whole lack of progress with Bill and Toni, but I loved having Roy back.

Finished up the second part of Silent Witness and I'm disappointed they lost Adam after a handful of episodes. What a twist though.

Watched another episode of Death in Paradise, starting the fifth season. I'm very much enjoying being able to watch all the episodes in chronological order.

Enjoyed an episode of Elementary. I kind of like the lack of boundaries and the need to establish them. This episode kind of brought that idea home in a big way.

Caught another episode of The Batman. "Grundy's Night" ended up being so much fun and it's one I didn't quite remember from my original run through.

Watched another Classic Rugrats. I actually didn't remember either of these, so it was fun to watch.

Finally, started a new episode of The Secret Life of Amy Benson. I'm enjoying this series, but I also feel like a lot is being left off the screen. Probably the biggest fallback when adapting books for viewing. That said, I love that Passionflix is doing this. So many books to choose from and they've chosen some of the very best.

That's it for the life update this week. Tonight's post is from Lover's Lament, a novella that explores what happens when things are stretched too thin.

Here's the miniblurb:

Taryn Untied and Holmes Selari, two soldiers under a constant stream of pressure, start making mistakes due to lack of any kind of down time. Their superior officer finally orders them to take R&R on the Lover's Lament and promises to conveniently forget their location if anything else goes wrong. Thirty-six hours of alone time should clear up their cranky attitudes.

And a sneaky peek…

Holmes Selari attempted to tighten a bolt on the landing strut of his bird. "Come on, dammit." The wrench slipped and his knuckles grazed the undercarriage of the craft. "Son of a bitch." The tool went sailing through the air and skidded across the floor, which did nothing to ease Holmes's frustration. "Why isn't there a number five hex wrench over here?" Is it too much to ask to have the most commonly used tool available for repairs?

Holmes riffled around the pile of equipment, searching for the elusive size he needed to finish the job on his landing gear. Unable to locate a number five, he whirled around and came face-to-face with the chief. The wrench Holmes tossed got placed on the workstation.

Newman folded his arms over his chest before he spoke. "We're short on the size you need, so you'll have to check the station next door." He stomped over and grabbed the correct wrench then returned. "I'm going to suggest you save the temper tantrums for the rec room, sir. Tools do not get thrown on my deck." Robbie stepped in and tightened the bolt on Holmes's plane.

Which only pissed him off more. "Maybe if you had the tools we need while we're covering your ass, shit wouldn't get thrown." Okay, I'm being a dick, but damn, it's been a day.

Taryn strolled over with her head tilted to one side. "Yeah, chief. This crap with your deck crew not catching things and having empty workstations is getting old."

Robbie leaned in closed, his voice dropping to a snarl. "They're doing their best. Doesn't help when you guys come down here and do nothing but bitch the entire time … from the moment you step foot until you leave."

Holmes snapped, his voice rising. "Don't talk to me about doing your best when you're the one asking my pilots to help out." They couldn't be stretched any thinner and the deck chief knew it.

Robbie pushed back. "None of your other pilots put my crew at risk by throwing shit."

Taryn added her two cents. "Is that right? How about your crew putting us at risk because they're not doing thorough evaluations?" She stared Newman down.

Say, what?

Holmes growled. "Why am I hearing about this now? When did this happen?" If he missed a memo or an after-action report, his ass would be in a sling.

Taryn held up a hand. "It happened earlier today, and I'm on the hangar deck so I could find you and fill you in."

Robbie rolled his eyes. "Nice, lieutenant, don't even give me a chance to address the concern with the crew. Terrific." He flung an arm out.

Holmes lost his cool. "Goddammit, chief. This is—"

"Enough!" A voice boomed from the direction of the corridor.

The XO poked his head out from the briefing room, a harsh glare on his face.

Holmes sighed. Well, fuck. Now shit'll get interesting.

Having a bit of fun with this one. Holmes and Taryn definitely need a break, but at this point, they're hoping it won't be in the brig.

 

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

ML Skye

Sunday Snippet: Lover's Lament

What a week. I spent a lot of time texting family and friends in Texas to make sure they were making it through their worst deep freeze ever. Even my brother, who lived in Ohio for most of his life, had a tough time. He's in the Dallas area and, so far, has had two pipes burst. Here's hoping that's the worst of the damage.

Television ended up being pretty light this week. I caught another episode of No Offence, which I'm enjoying a lot.

Also finished up the final episode of Silent Witness for season eight. I'll be moving on to season nine this week.

I've heard some good things about Riverdale, so I should probably finish up what I have to watch and get started on the new season.

Weirdly, the sages have been feeding me a ton of new story ideas, which I love, but I also have a massive amount of WIPs that need to be finished. I need to have a sit-down chat with those pesky imps.

Tonight's post is from Lover's Lament, a novella that got a start with a writing community prompt.

Here's the mini-blurb:

Taryn Untied and Holmes Selari, two soldiers under a constant stream of pressure, start making mistakes due to lack of any kind of down time. Their superior officer finally orders them to take R&R on the Lover's Lament and promises to conveniently forget their location if anything else goes wrong. Thirty-six hours of alone time should clear up their cranky attitudes.

And a sneaky peek…

"Why the hell isn't my bird ready to go?" Taryn Untied stalked across the hangar deck and snagged the arm of a deckhand. "The retrofit should've been done four hours ago." Why didn't anything go right anymore?

Gee, maybe because everyone took stupid pills for breakfast.

The crewman, Janty Combs, pulled away from Taryn's grasp. "What retrofit, sir?" She grabbed the clipboard and ran her finger down the list of planes. "There's nothing listed here." Her gaze met Taryn's. "Did you check it on the post-flight report?"

Taryn had no idea if she had or not. She'd been lucky to get the craft landed after pulling a double shift rotation.

The deck chief nosed into the conversation. "Is there a problem here, lieutenant?"

Taryn snapped her gaze to his. "Yeah, chief. My bird is down and I'm due back out on the next shift." Her head spun at the thought. "Wanna tell me why the part didn't get installed?"

The chief, Robbie Newman, gave her a smug look. "I'm pretty sure it's because you didn't check the little ticky box to let us know it needed to be done."

Taryn did a slow five count. "Bullshit. Even if I didn't make the note, the stripped piece is noticeable. Anyone with a pair of eyeballs can see it right there in the open." She shouldn't have to explain any of this.

Robbie folded his arms over his chest. "Maybe so, lieutenant, but we have twenty-seven birds on the hangar deck right now."

Taryn snorted. "So what? Checks and balances, chief. The post-flight report isn't the be all end all of anything. It's your job to go over them between launches. The checklist is only a guide meant to help you out." She couldn't and shouldn't have to do everything.

Right, as if that makes a damn bit of difference.

Newman flung his arm out. "We've been a little busy, sir. In case you hadn't noticed." His voice lowered to an angry hiss.

Taryn resisted the urge to punch Robbie in the face. "Not a good comeback, chief. You should've caught it. Talk to me about busy when you're pulling back-to-back shifts on four hours of sleep. Until then, the whole deck crew can kiss my ass and fix my damn plane." But not in time for her to fly it. "Whose plane is available?"

The chief glanced at the ready board. "Tandem's is closest to the launch tube." His lips twitched.

Taryn closed her eyes. "Great." George Tandem always left his cockpit smelling like the putrid cologne he splashed on before every shift.

Robbie laughed and shook his head. "You asked. I answered."

Taryn gave him a level look. "I'm going to kill you in your sleep." If she didn't die from the overpowering scent of eau de George and utter exhaustion first.

I'm having a fun time writing this one. Taryn is about to flip out but help is on the way.

 

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

ML Skye

Sunday Snippet: Lover's Lament

And so the crazypants onslaught begins. October starts the official launch of "let's go Mach II with our hair on fire" season. Homecoming is this weekend and my daughter is hosting nine other couples for pictures and dinner. Then we slide into Halloween, followed by the fall sports banquet, Thanksgiving, Christmas, the New Year, and starting January 11, birthdays for all but one of my immediate family. LOL See… crazypants.

So, moving on to what calms me… television. The Last Ship proved, once again, it's never a good idea to mess with a wolf. Seriously, a few nice reveals were dropped and the episode let Fletch redeem himself… kind of. I'm probably in the minority but I'm not quite ready to forgive his transgressions yet.

Still need to watch Teen Wolf's finale. The past week got crazy busy so I didn't have time.

Finished up The Defenders and, yeah, I pretty much loved it. Looking forward to more from the individual series and also to The Punisher whenever it arrives. Heh, if it hasn't already because I'm that far behind right now.

Almost finished with Hawaii Five-0. Truly can't see how season eight is going to be decent without Chin or Kono. I guess I'll play it by ear.

I'm all caught up on Gotham and I love this show. The soft intro of Bruce's alter ego ended up being exactly perfect. Penguin raining havoc is a joy to watch. And poor Jim is getting ready for another round of the absolute wrong woman for him bingo. Falcone's daughter is probably not what the doctor ordered for the guy. Just saying.

That's it for television this week. Tonight's post is from Lover's Lament, a novella that got a start with a writing community prompt of putting military types on a civilian ship away from prying eyes and see what happens.

Here's the mini-blurb:

Taryn Untied and Holmes Selari, two soldiers under a constant stream of pressure, start making mistakes due to lack of any kind of downtime. Their superior officer finally orders them to take R and R on the Lover's Lament and promises to conveniently forget their location if anything else goes wrong. Thirty-six hours of alone time should clear up their cranky attitudes.

And a sneaky peek…

Well, she managed to piss Waybright off even more. Way to go, Taryn.

Holmes shook his head and sighed.

Taryn stomped back down to the front of the room and parked her ass in a seat. "A little show of solidarity would've been nice." Her snarky tone carried to Waybright's ears.

The man turned and glared and Taryn shut up.

Holmes snorted. "I'm too damned tired." He slouched further down into the chair. "First time I've actually sat down all day… aside from being in the cockpit." The cramped confines didn't exactly inspire relaxation.

Waybright came around the front of the podium after he'd picked up the clipboard. "Here's what's going to happen." He held up the board, moving it slowly in front of their faces. "I'm ordering immediate R and R for you."

Holmes barked out a laugh. "Right. I have to be dreaming. Or I woke up in an alternate universe." His head dropped to the back of the seat cushion.

Is it possible to dream with my eyes open?

Taryn agreed. "Yeah, and we'll get within five seconds of leaving the ship when you revoke the passes because some idiot fucks up their job and we have to fix it."

A valid point. Waybright pulled rank more than a few times.

He shook his head. "Not this time. Frankly, I can't stand either one of you right now and if you don't get off the ship, I may shoot you." He moved closer and stopped at the edge of the row. "You're going to quarters. You're getting your rucksacks, and I'm personally escorting you to a transport in the aft landing bay."

Taryn crossed her arms over her chest. "And when the transport fails to show up, what then?"

Another valid concern. Too often, the small crafts ran behind schedule and during the wait something went sideways and they got called back.

Waybright held up a hand. "Oh, Lieutenant, I'm one up on you. It's already here." He leaned in close to Taryn. "And that transport is going to take you and your grouchy captain to the Lover's Lament and get you the hell off this ship for seventy-two hours." He straightened. "And as soon as you two are clear, I'm burying the flight manifest so nobody else can find you." He waved the clipboard back and forth, then tucked it under his arm.

Something in the man's tone indicated he meant business.

Holmes blinked and sat up. "Are you serious, Sir?" Seventy-two hours of downtime sounded like pure bliss right now.

Waybright quirked an eyebrow. "Am I ever not, Captain? Get moving." He pointed toward the hatch. "You've got five minutes. If you're not packed when I get there, you'll leave with nothing, because you are going."

Taryn shot Holmes a quick glance. He hustled to his feet and made a dash for the exit. He and Taryn didn't waste time, they hot-footed it out of the briefing room and double-timed it to quarters.

She yanked open her locker and grabbed her rucksack, already packed. "Do you really think—"

Holmes cut her off. "I'm not taking the time." He pulled his duffel out—already packed like hers. "Right now, blind faith works for me." His lips quirked. "You left yours ready to go, too?" He nodded toward her rucksack.

She rolled her eyes. "Hell, I didn't have time to unpack so, yeah, it was ready and waiting." She started for the hatch but stopped. "You don't think he's just messing with us, do you?" Her tone held menace.

Holmes gave a quick back and forth of his head. "No. You saw the stack of complaints. He had to do something." Geez, Holmes hoped the XO wouldn't prove him wrong.

If the man reneged on the R and R, Taryn would have to race Holmes to take the guy out.
I have a feeling Taryn and Holmes won't know what to do with downtime and that's going to be fun to write.

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

ML Skye

Sunday Snippet: Lover's Lament

I'm so happy The Flash and Arrow are back! Also, Gotham and Sleepy Hollow had great returns. As always, Banshee threw me for a sideways spin, bringing something random in from last season to kick the story and plot forward in a totally new way. Gotta say I'm pretty thrilled the topic of who Hood is or is not is being raised. I'm so damned curious about his past, which I rather hope ties into the military heist plot thread. We'll know if I'm right in about seven more episodes. J

Caught up with The Librarians and would not be disappointed if that one gets another season. It's such a fun show! Also loving the news of an X-Files revival. I'm almost through season six of my rewatch so the information comes at a timely moment. J

Tonight's post is from Lover's Lament, a novella where my main characters have had enough of everyone and everything.

Here's the tagline:

Taryn Untied and Holmes Selari, two soldiers under a constant stream of pressure, start making mistakes due to lack of any kind of down time. Their superior officer finally orders them to take R&R on the Lover's Lament and promises to conveniently forget their location if anything else goes wrong. Thirty-six hours of alone time should clear up their cranky attitudes

And a sneaky peek…

Colonel Waybright stepped out of the briefing room and bellowed. "Untied, Selari, get your asses in here right now." He jabbed his arm into the space he just vacated.

Taryn rolled her eyes, but complied with the order, heading for the ready room. Obnoxious son of a bitch better have a damned good reason for busting up her gripe session. She'd worked up a good head of anger and needed an outlet or she might explode.

Holmes glared in the chief's direction, grabbed a towel and wiped the grease from his hands. "We'll pick this back up when I'm through with the XO." He stalked away, ignoring the chief's blatant middle finger response.

She fell into step beside Holmes. "Pretty brave of the chief. You gonna have him tagged for insubordination?" She ducked through the doorway first and slumped down into the second seat of the back row.

Holmes dropped down beside her. "I don't know. Depends on whether he gets his shit together and has a full set of tools when we're done here." He propped a foot on the back of the chair in the row ahead of him.

Waybright entered and slammed the hatch shut. "You two are out of control." He strode to the front of the room. "I'm not gonna shout. Move up here or report to the brig." Moving behind the podium, he sent a blistering glance in their direction before grabbing a clipboard from the shelf.

Taryn heaved a sigh and shoved Holmes's foot out of her way. "Both options suck, but I'm not in the mood for the lumpy cots in the brig." She brushed past Holmes, walked to the first row and saw front and center.

Holmes followed behind, taking a seat in the second set of chairs. He again propped his foot up on the backrest next to Taryn. Waybright rested his forearms on the podium, leaned forward, and stared down his nose.

When the XO remained quiet for another full minute, she shook her head, fighting off a wave of fatigue. "Colonel, with all due respect, if you don't start talking in the next five seconds, I can't guarantee I'll be awake to hear what you say." A yawn tried to claw its way up from her lungs, but she swallowed hard and forced it down.

Holmes snorted. "I won't last three seconds." He put his foot down and sat up, draping his arms over the back of Taryn's seat.

The XO straightened. "You two think you're tired, don't you? You feel all pissed off and cranky because you can't catch a break." He grabbed the clipboard and stepped down off the dais. "Well, guess what? The fourteen hours days coupled with maintenance shifts aren't gonna end any time soon. But you two…" He glanced at the chart in his hand. "Haven't had any downtime in what? Thirty-six days?" His gaze left the clipboard and landed on the pilots. "Why is that?"

Taryn almost choked on the angry bile ready to overflow. "You're kidding, right?" She got up and paced back and forth in front of the colonel. "Every goddamned time I pull R&R some major clusterfuck happens and I'm on standby, pass revoked." Her head jerked toward Holmes. "Same goes for him." Her hands fisted. "And you know this, Colonel, because you're usually the one who does the revoking." She shot Holmes a sideways glance. "Do you believe this guy?"

Holmes settled back again and crossed his arms over his chest. "Oh, yeah. I believe it." He quirked an eyebrow. "Why are we here, Colonel? Because if you only brought us in here to remind us how much R and R we haven't had, I don't have time to listen. I've got two downed planes and a deck chief who's being a pain in my ass."

Waybright nodded. "Oh, I know, Selari. Believe me, I know." He strode back to the podium and grabbed a big pile of papers. "But I have something of a different version here." He waved the pages. "This entire stack is dedicated to complaints about you two and your piss poor attitudes." Tossing the grievances in the air, he smacked his hand on the podium. "It's gonna stop now."

Taryn lost her cool. "Is that an order, Colonel?" She didn't wait for a response. "Fine. Whatever. Consider me chastised and ready to paint a big, fake smile on my face." Turning, she started toward the hatch. "If that's all, I've got a checklist to oversee."

Waybright followed on her heels. "You're not dismissed yet, Lieutenant. Sit your ass down."

Taryn is in take no prisoners mode. Not even her XO is safe from her wrath.

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