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New Fine Arts Guild Novel!
Pulsar Picked
Chapter 1
A Semi-Fateful Meeting
Major Ezekiel 'Pip' Dynamo (Ret.) was in a poor mood.
Nursing his Zydorbian Fizz at the back of Charlie's Bar, Star Station Tijuana, the former star officer stewed in his own discontentment. This was not a man used to being unsettled, much less lacking a sense of purpose. Yes, Dynamo had a trusty starship and crew (both in orbit off-station), both excellent. But he lacked something even more fundamental: a man's sense of purpose.
Once, before he joined the, Dynamo's life was seemingly charted out for him like a routine run from Earth to Titan for a weekend jaunt. As the son of a high priest in the Church of Wayne (the dominant religion on Earth since 2244 AD), Dynamo was assumed to one day have taken his father's place from the day of his birth. But upon finding a new course within Dynamo, one that longed for an excitement his father's church could never provide, a permanent wedge formed between father and son, prompting the latter to one day storm out of his father's holy chambers, and into a recruiting office for the Galactic Star Force.
Soon after, Dynamo found himself a Junior Petty Officer aboard the USS Spectacular, and millions of miles from Earth.
Since then, Dynamo knew little else but action, adventure, and a steady string of lovers in every star port. But after a time, even that was not enough to quench Dynamo's thirst for something greater. So six years later, at the end of his third tour of duty following the Battle of Gynax (during which Dynamo was awarded the Medal of Big Courage), Dynamo shocked the galaxy by quitting the Star Force, and buying his own starship (dubbed Omega Rising) with his savings.
Once Dynamo had so many ambitions, but now, what had they led to?
Yes, he was now revered (and feared by some) throughout the quadrant as a first-rate space adventurer, and an even better lover of women. But now&staring at the bottom of his glass at Star Station Tijuana, Dynamo's face was more unsavory than a Plutonian Blood Worm's.
Suddenly, a familiar voice met Dynamo's ears, rising out of the bar's dim track lighting system.
'Is this seat taken?' it asked. 'Or do you prefer to keep company with your own self-loathing?'
Dynamo glanced up through the smoke. It was her.
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