No One’s Going to Make It WRECK OF THE NEBULA DREAM Weekend Writing Warriors

WeWriWa buttonA fun way to sample new books and find new writers! Here’s the link to the Weekend Writing Warriors central page, so you can visit all the participants sharing excerpts today…

(Last night was another ER trip, doing ok now, so just going to post something from WRECK, which was my first SFR….)

The luxury ship Nebula Dream has suffered a middle of the night catastrophe in space. My hero, Nick Jameson, has fought his way to the nearest lifeboat and found chaos. (SMT is the name of the shipping line.) Some creative editing and punctuation has occurred. I hope this is only eight sentences, kinda struggling with the medicines and a flu variation I picked up!

“Quiet down now,” he said, watching the people in the front row of the mob, getting eye contact, to personalize his commands, make them feel like responsible individuals, not a mindless, panicking herd.

The blaring sirens and recorded emergency warnings cut out, resumed briefly and then died away in a slowly fading gibber­ish. The lights in the corridor flickered, causing gasps here and there in the crowd.

“Are there any SMT officers or crew here?” Nick said.

Desperation, fear, and puzzlement on the faces in front of him, many sidelong glances, mute head shakes.

Silence.

“All right, then, I’m Captain Jameson, Sectors Special Forces and I’m taking charge of this LB portal. You can’t all get into this LB –  no one’s going to make it off unless you keep your heads and we go about this calmly and quickly.”

Wreck-of-the-Nebula-DreamFinalMedThe Story
Traveling unexpectedly aboard the luxury liner Nebula Dream on its maiden voyage across the galaxy, Sectors Special Forces Captain Nick Jameson is ready for ten relaxing days, and hoping to forget his last disastrous mission behind enemy lines. He figures he’ll gamble at the casino, take in the shows, maybe even have a shipboard fling with Mara Lyrae, the beautiful but reserved businesswoman he meets.

All his plans vaporize when the ship suffers a wreck of Titanic proportions. Captain and crew abandon ship, leaving the 8000 passengers stranded without enough lifeboats and drifting unarmed in enemy territory. Aided by Mara, Nick must find a way off the doomed ship for himself and several other innocent people before deadly enemy forces reach them or the ship’s malfunctioning engines finish ticking down to self destruction.

But can Nick conquer the demons from his past that tell him he’ll fail these innocent people just as he failed to save his Special Forces team? Will he outpace his own doubts to win this vital race against time?

 

38 comments on “No One’s Going to Make It WRECK OF THE NEBULA DREAM Weekend Writing Warriors

  1. Thanks for the good wishes! I’ll TRY not to have any new health bulletins to share after this…..some normal every day life would be nice :-). Tired of the ER even with the wonderful people there! I was hoping it had been long enough since I excerpted WRECK that people wouldn’t mind seeing a bit of it. Taking things very easy and slow today but I’ll try to get around to all the Warriors and comment. HUGS!

  2. Great eight, I really enjoyed it. I love how there is so much intensity in what you write. I do have one suggestion: ““Are there any SMT officers or crew here?” Nick said.” Should be Nick asked, I think…. I look forward to reading more. 🙂

  3. He’s in charge for the moment… I wonder how long it will last? Scared people won’t usually let their rescue slip away–even if they doom everyone with their panic.

    Feel better soon!

  4. Huge, HUGE responsibility and a very frightening scene. Really admire his willingness to step up no matter how daunting. Great snippet.

    Hope you are feeling much better very soon.

  5. That first sentence and the reference to a “mindless, panicking herd.” had me laughing. Good thing he’s ready to step up and be in charge. I’d probably be part of the herd. *grin* Great snippet, Veronica!

  6. I loved this snippet. I could hear the sirens and the bystanders gasping. My favorite line “Silence.” So effective…

    Keep smiling,
    Yawatta

Leave a Reply