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  Short Fiction Complete

  William C. Dietz

  (custom book cover)

  Jerry eBooks

  Title Page

  About William C. Dietz

  Bibliography: Novels

  Bibliography: Novelizations

  Bibliography: Chapbooks

  Bibliography: Omnibus

  Short Fiction Bibliography

  Fiction Series

  Museum Piece

  Brig Rats

  Willie Lawson Goes to War

  Dead Men Talk a Lot

  The Bodyguard and the Client Who Wouldn’t Die

  A Family Affair

  Path of the Storm

  The Run to Hardscrabble Station

  The Battle of Cumberland Gap

  Rogan’s World

  In the Shadow of the Gate

  Legio Patria Nostra

  The Good Shepherd

  The Battle for Rainbow’s End

  Snakeskin

  William Corey Dietz was born in 1945 in Seattle, Washington. He served in both the Navy and in the Marine Corps as a corpsman. He graduated from the University of Washington.

  Dietz has been employed as a surgical technician, college instructor, news writer, television producer, and director of public relations and marketing for an international telephone company.

  Dietz has used the expertise he developed during his time in the military to produce realistic military narratives in several series of books.

  William C. Dietz and his wife Marjorie live near the city of Gig Harbor in Washington State.

  BIBLIOGRAPHY

  NOVELS

  Galactic Bounty (1986)

  War World (1986)

  Freehold (1987)

  Imperial Bounty (1988)

  Cluster Command (1989)

  Prison Planet (1989)

  Alien Bounty (1990)

  Matrix Man (1990)

  McCade’s Bounty (1990)

  Drifter (1991)

  Drifter’s Run (1992)

  Drifter’s War (1992)

  Mars Prime (1992)

  Legion of the Damned (1993)

  Bodyguard (1994)

  The Final Battle (1995)

  Where the Ships Die (1996)

  Soldier for the Empire (1997)

  Jedi Knight (1998)

  Rebel Agent (1998)

  Steelheart (1998)

  By Blood Alone (1999)

  By Force of Arms (2000)

  DeathDay (2001)

  EarthRise (2002)

  For More Than Glory (2003)

  For Those Who Fell (2004)

  Runner (2005)

  Logos Run (2006)

  Hitman: Enemy Within (2007)

  When All Seems Lost (2007)

  Snake Eye (2008)

  When Duty Calls (2008)

  At Empire’s Edge (2009)

  The Gathering Storm (2009)

  Bones of Empire (2010)

  Heaven’s Devils (2010)

  A Fighting Chance (2011)

  A Hole in the Sky (2011)

  Andromeda’s Fall (2012)

  Deception (2012)

  Andromeda’s Choice (2013)

  The Seeds of Man (2013)

  Andromeda’s War (2014)

  Deadeye (2015)

  Ejecta (2015)

  Redzone (2015)

  Graveyard (2016)

  Into the Guns (2016)

  Seek and Destroy (2017)

  Battle Hymn (2018)

  Red Ice (2018)

  Red Flood (2019)

  Red Tide (2021)

  Crickets (2022)

  Crickets 2 (2023)

  El Soldado: The Soldier (2024)

  Red Line (2024)

  BIBLIOGRAPHY

  NOVELIZATIONS

  The Flood (2003)

  BIBLIOGRAPHY

  CHAPBOOKS

  Rogan’s World (2013)

  BIBLIOGRAPHY

  OMNIBUS

  The Fall of Reach / The Flood / First Strike (2004)

  McCade for Hire (2004)

  McCade on the Run (2005)

  SHORT FICTION BIBLIOGRAPHY

  Museum Piece, The Far Stars War, July 1990

  Brig Rats, The Siege of Arista, January 1991

  Willie Lawson Goes to War, The Jupiter War, August 1991

  Dead Men Talk a Lot, Armageddon, May 1998

  The Bodyguard and the Client Who Wouldn’t Die, First to Fight, July 1999

  A Family Affair, Treachery and Treason, March 2000

  Path of the Storm, A Date Which Will Live in Infamy, September 2001

  The Run to Hardscrabble Station, Elemental: The Tsunami Relief Anthology: Stories of Science Fiction and Fantasy, May 2006

  The Battle of Cumberland Gap, Steampunk’d, November 20210

  Rogan’s World, Rogan’s World, January 2013

  In the Shadow of the Gate, Shadows of the New Sun: Stories in Honor of Gene Wolfe, August 2013

  Legio Patria Nostra, Five by Five 2: No Surrender, August 2013

  The Good Shepherd, Infinite Stars, October 2017

  The Battle for Rainbow’s End, The Razor’s Edge, June 2018

  Snakeskin, Hath No Fury, August 2018

  FICTION SERIES

  [N] = Novel

  [NV] = Novelization

  [O] = Ominbus

  [SF] = Short Story/Novelette

  Series List

  America Rising

  Crickets

  DeathDay

  Halo

  Jak Rebo

  Lando

  Legion of the Damned

  The Mutant Files

  Resistance

  Rex Corvan

  Sam McCade

  Star Wars

  Urboplex

  Winds of War

  Zak Cato

  America Rising

  Into the Guns [N]

  Seek and Destroy [N]

  Battle Hymn [N]

  Crickets

  Crickets [N]

  Crickets 2 [N]

  DeathDay

  DeathDay [N]

  EarthRise [N]

  Halo

  The Flood [NV]

  The Fall of Reach / The Flood / First Strike [O]

  Jak Rebo

  Runner [N]

  Logos Run [N]

  Lando

  Drifter [N]

  Drifter’s Run [N]

  Drifter’s War [N]

  Legion of the Damned

  Legion of the Damned [N]

  The Final Battle [N]

  By Blood Alone [N]

  By Force of Arms [N]

  For More Than Glory [N]

  For Those Who Fell [N]

  When All Seems Lost [N]

  When Duty Calls [N]

  A Fighting Chance [N]

  Legio Patria Nostra [SF]

  The Good Shepherd [SF]

  Legion of the Damned Prequels

  Andromeda’s Fall [N]

  Andromeda’s Choice [N]

  Andromeda’s War [N]

  The Mutant Files

  Deadeye [N]

  Redzone [N]

  Graveyard [N]

  Resistance

  The Gathering Storm [N]

  A Hole in the Sky [N]

  Rex Corvan

  Matrix Man [N]

  Mars Prime [N]

  Sam McCade

  War World [N]

  Galactic Bounty [N]

  Imperial Bounty [N]

  Alien Bounty [N]

  McCade’s Bounty [N]

  McCade for Hire [O]

  McCade on the Run [O]

  Star Wars

  Soldier for the Empire [N]

  Rebel Agent [N]

  Jedi Knight [N]

  Urboplex

  The Bodyguard and the Client Who Wouldn’t Die [SF]

  A Family Affair [SF]

  Winds of War

  Red Ice [N]

  Red Flood [N]

  Red Tide [N]

  Red Line [N]

  Museum Piece

  “ADMIRAL KYRO is an old fart.” Commodore H. L. Heath, Sector Commander for the Nargo Star Cluster, let the words roll off his tongue. Heath was a big man with a face to match. His high forehead, thick lips, and heavy jowls gave him the look of a Buddha, though few thought of him as especially enlightened.

  His aide, Captain George Sokolof, nodded sagely and tapped some ash from the end of his cigar. Like the man, the cigar was slim and elegant.

  “True, true. But Kyro pulls some heavy gees. He served with the admiral back when Mac was Lieutenant Chu Lin MacDonald, and he’s a war hero to boot. Battle of Gemini, Legion of Merit, and all that.”

  Heath nodded, remembering Kyro’s last visit. Somehow he always felt nervous and a little bit ashamed as the metal box whirred and hummed its way into the room, sensors swiveling this way and that, fans stirring the expensive nap of his rug, all of it reminding Heath of the other man’s sacrifice.

  It was no way for a man to live, if you could call Kyro a man. “A brain in a box,” someone had said. Ugly words but true nevertheless.

  Everyone knew the story. How the Gerin globeships cut him off from the rest of the fleet. How Kyro fought to the last man, never dreaming that the last man would be himself, and how the medics had brought him back to life.

  Well, a sort of half-life anyho
w . . . because these days Kyro was little more than brain tissue in a nutrient bath. Had the medics been able to save some spinal cord they could’ve given him a bionic body and something approaching normal life.

  But such was not the case, so Kyro was forever imprisoned in a metal box. And then, goddam his soul, the miserable old bastard retired to Gloria, where he would live out his days making Heath’s life miserable.

  Sokolof raised an eyebrow and smiled, as if reading Heath’s thoughts.

  The commodore scowled and swiveled his chair a few degrees right. His office occupied the entire top floor of the League Tower and afforded him an unobstructed view of Felson Prime, Gloria’s largest city.

  It was pretty, completely untouched by the war which raged a few hundred light-years away, all spires and soaring conifers.

  There were factories, of course, hundreds of square miles of them, but they were miles away, where their smoke and pollution wouldn’t bother the citizens of Felson Prime.

  Ah, Gloria! A plum, actually, and well deserved, too, considering Heath’s many accomplishments. After all, wars are fought by factories when you boil it all down. Factories which make the guns, body armor, hull plating, medical kits, bombs, coffee cups, and the million other things it takes to kill the enemy. Factories run by unsung heroes.

  “Yes,” Heath told himself, “if it weren’t for men like me, the navy would be throwing rocks instead of torpedoes. Maybe we don’t lead ships into battle, but we do turn factories into engines of war, and transform planets into fortified arsenals.”

  Yes, Gloria was a reward for services rendered. But could he enjoy it? Hell no. He had Gerin raiders nibbling along the edges of his sector, a daughter who was completely unreasonable, and a retired admiral who insisted on a war museum.

  More specifically, Kyro wanted the Hebe, a dreadnought almost as ancient as her name. Decommissioned in orbit six years before, the Hebe had since served as a platform for weather studies and as a lab for zero-gee experiments. She was presently unused and scheduled for salvage.

  And like all other military property in the Nargo Cluster, the Hebe came under Heath’s authority. Twice Kyro had requested use of the ship as a museum, and twice Heath had refused. Then the letter arrived.

  It came via official message torp and was rushed to Heath’s office. The letter was typed on admiralty stationery and bore the signature of Admiral Chu Lin MacDonald himself. Heath picked it up and read it again.

  Dear Herbert,

  Kyro tells me he could use some help creating an orbital war museum for Gloria. Sounds like a good idea to me. It’ll keep the old bastard out of your hair! I’d appreciate any help you could provide.

  Thanks, Mac

  Heath ran a hand through his thinning hair and wondered if Mac had cracked a bald joke at his expense.

  A war museum indeed! What did the people of Gloria need with a war museum? Many were like Kyro himself . . . used-up has-beens sent to a backwater planet to nurse broken bodies and shattered minds. The rest were good citizens, working round the clock to make weapons for the navy, blissfully ignorant of real war.

  Yes, Heath decided, the people might be ready for war memorials in another twenty-five or thirty years, but not yet. Right now they needed encouragement to work extra shifts, to make their quotas, to win the war of production.

  Still, the meaning of Admiral MacDonald’s letter was quite clear: “Help my old friend or pay with your ass.”

  Heath shifted that rather large piece of his anatomy and turned back toward his aide. “Dammit . . . why did Kyro have to retire to my sector?”

  Sokolof blew a long thin streamer of smoke toward the nearest vent and smiled. “Some people are just lucky, I guess.”

  Though not comparable to the small lake which occupies the center of Gerin command ships, the Sea Storm’s battle center did boast a rather comfortable pool, and La’seek took comfort from it. He used four of his eight arms to shift himself into a more comfortable position, and felt the water move behind him as Nu’rech and Is’amik did likewise.

  Each of his warrior apprentices would rather self-kill than be one garik out of position. Always behind him, Nu’rech and Is’amik made a perfect triangle, and protected his back. That’s how it was and how it would always be.

  Having seen to his own comfort, La’seek turned his attention to the level-three subordinate across from him. As befitted his lower rank, Wa’ neck had draped himself over a slightly higher rock, signifying his determination to protect La’seek from any dangers which might lurk above, and ceding first rights to whatever bottom food might be handy. A bit old-fashioned, perhaps, but laudable nonetheless. So too the seemly green color of the other warrior’s skin. It signified peace and cooperation.

  La’seek waved a tentacle in Wa’neck’s direction. When he spoke, his words came out as a series of ultrasonic squeaks and twitters. “You may proceed.”

  Wa’neck squeezed a small remote, and a holo popped into existence between them. It shimmered slightly with the movement of the water but not enough to trouble their double-lidded eyes. It was a battle map complete with pulsing yellow disks to symbolize stars and brown squares to represent their planets.

  “We are here,” Wa’neck intoned, and a red diamond popped into existence just off the star Iba S-8.

  “I recommend a surprise raid deep into human-held space.” Another diamond popped into existence, this one a brilliant blue. It pulsated next to a star identified as Nargo S-2. A human descriptor, lacking in elegance, but sufficient for military purposes.

  “This star has four planets,” Wa’neck continued, “and two of them are infested with humans. One is of little importance, but the other produces vast quantities of armaments, and is ripe for the plucking.”

  The battle map disappeared and was replaced by real video. What La’seek saw was beautiful, a rotating blue jewel blessed with equal parts water and land, the very embodiment of the Gerin ideal.

  Seeing his superior’s skin turn pink with excitement, Wa’neck took full advantage. “The humans call it Gloria, which is a word of worship.”

  “And worship they should,” La’seek replied. “The planet is very beautiful. Tell me, Wa’neck, how did we come by such images? How many warriors life-gave to bring them here?”

  “None,” Wa’neck answered. “We received the pictures from a human spy, a former prisoner who has agreed to do our work, and profit in the process.”

  “How extraordinary,” La’seek said. “How very extraordinary.” Human spies were extremely rare, partly because of loyalty to their own species, but also because the Gerin form seemed to tap xenophobic fears buried deep in their psyches.

  “And what of their defenses?”

  The holo changed. Now La’seek looked at a detailed listing of the planet’s defenses. He found them rather weak by wartime standards. The local naval contingent boasted seven cruisers and a deactivated dreadnought. A “useless hulk,” according to Wa’neck’s annotation.

  The planet’s single moon was only lightly fortified.

  There were no orbital defense platforms to speak of, and nothing much on the ground. A rather tempting target.

  “A raid you say. Details, please.”

  La’seek was interested! Inside Wa’neck rejoiced, but outside he was careful to maintain the same subservient skin color. He made a bold move by slithering down to a lower rock only gariks higher than La’seek himself. Behind Wa’neck his two apprentices did likewise.

  The battle map reappeared as Wa’neck spoke. “It would work like this. Two of our ships will attack Dusa, Nargo S-2’s second planet, and draw off the naval contingent. Then, when the human warships are out of position, a strike force of ten globeships will attack Gloria, and eradicate the population.”

  The battle map vanished and was replaced by what appeared to be a detailed receipt for naval stores, printed on League stationery and signed by a human named Heath. La’seek wondered if he was the spy.

  “Time permitting,” Wa’neck continued, “we will also load our ships with human weapons. If not, our warriors will destroy them. That accomplished, our ships will upwarp and return here. Should the humans follow they will downwarp into a well-prepared trap.”