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The Bad Company – Snippet 1

The Bad Company: The Age of Expansion Book 1

By Craig Martelle & Michael Anderle

Humanity’s greatest export – Justice. Space is a dangerous place, even for the wary, especially for the unprepared. The aliens have no idea. Here comes the Bad Company.

  An explosion sounded and plasma fire flashed before his eyes.

     Hidden in a remote corner of the Pan Galaxy, Nathan Lowell sat in his private office looking at the video communication screen. The President of the Bad Company frowned.

     His direct action branch was engaged and not in a good way. Nathan shook his head slowly as he watched.

     Thirty seven star systems away, General Lance Reynolds saw the same images displayed on his monitor. He chewed vigorously on his cigar. The report wasn’t what he had expected.

     Colonel Terry Henry Walton, the man in the image, looked back and forth between the screen and something to his left. Ominous sounds accompanied the image.

     “This first mission wasn’t what we contracted for, Nathan,” Terry yelled at the portable console that sat with a sideways tilt. He stared at a point off screen, shook his head, and continued. “My first stop when I get off this rock is that dandy president’s office where I’ll wring his pencil-neck to get our thirty percent bonus and seventy percent kicker. And then I’m leveling his fucking palace!”

     “Can you settle this with what you have?” Lance asked.

     “Yes, sir,” Terry replied.

     “I already told you once, call me, Lance.”

     “No can do, General. Can’t have you thinking I’ve grown soft just because I’ve been a pseudo-civilian for over a hundred and fifty years. Hang on,” Terry’s smile evaporated as he looked off screen, his lip curling involuntarily. “SHOOT HIM!” he shouted.

     The crack of hand-held railguns answered. Terry stabbed his finger at something neither Nathan nor Lance could see.

     “Not that one, the other one,” Terry corrected. More cracks from the hypervelocity weapons. Terry nodded and flipped the bird. “Fuck you, buddy and your stupid looking stalk head!”

     Terry turned back to the screen. “Where were we?”

     “Something about you intending to level our client’s palace,” Nathan said coldly.

     “After we’re paid, that is. Hang on,” Terry looked off screen, flinched with surprise, and started yelling, “Why won’t you die? WOULD SOMEONE KILL THAT THING!”

     Terry continued to watch off screen.

     A rapid barrage followed, then a brief silence, and finally a blast that nearly threw the colonel off his feet. Laughing, Terry brushed his uniform jacket with his free hand. “Come back from that one, you blue fuck!”

     “Sorry, General, Nathan. There’s about a hundred times more of these crawly bastards than we were led to believe. Mano a mano ain’t working. For every one we pop, five more appear in its place. Gotta run. We need to lop the head off this dragon. Have your people call my people and we’ll do lunch.” Terry saluted and ran off screen. Plasma beams cut through the spot where the colonel had just been standing.

     “I’ll call our least favorite client right now and tell him to stand the fuck by. I’m coming for a visit,” Nathan growled, eyes flashing yellow as his anger charged his Were form. He tamped down the urge to change into a Pricolici, an upright-walking Werewolf.

     He didn’t have the luxury of tearing up the universe. He was in charge and had passed the mantle of Bad Company door-kicker in chief to Terry Henry Walton.

     Lance Reynolds stroked his chin as he thought about the man who looked happy to be in the middle of a battle that seemed to be raging out of control.

About the author

Craig Martelle

Visit Craig's web page, craigmartelle.com for the latest posts and updates or find him on Facebook, Author Craig Martelle. Send an email to craig@craigmartelle.com to join his mailing list for the latest on new releases, information on old releases, and anything related to his books.

Enough 3rd person - this is me writing to you, the incredible readers who have stumbled upon my stuff and then liked it. The great reviews, the emails, the notes, the Facebook comments - all of it keeps me writing because you are so supportive.

I grew up in Iowa, joined the Marine Corps and got to see the best and the worst that the world had to offer. No matter where I went, I always had a book with me. Thanks to 21st Century technology, I now have hundreds of books loaded on my phone and computer at any point in time. This breakthrough allows us to binge read our favorites. How many books would I have read on deployments and at home had I not had to have a physical book with me. I paced myself so I wouldn't finish it too quickly.

We aren't encumbered like that now. I love the works of Andre Norton, Anne McCaffrey, JRR Tolkien, Robert E. Howard, and so many more. I have been compared to Andre Norton and that is humbling - she was an incredible author with a huge list of novels to her credit. With every new book, I aspire to live up to the comparisons to make you, my readers happy that you've picked up my latest book.

Through a bizarre series of events, I ended up in Fairbanks, Alaska. I never expected to retire to a place where golf courses are only open for four months out of the year. But that's the way it is. It is off the beaten path. My wife and I get to watch the northern lights from their driveway. Our dog has lots of room to run. And temperatures reach fifty below zero. We have from three and a half hours of daylight in the winter to twenty-four hours in the summer.

It’s all part of the give and take of life. If we didn’t have those extremes, then everyone would live in the sub-arctic.