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    Copy Cat
    Copy Cat
    Copy Cat
    Ebook52 pages49 minutes

    Copy Cat

    By William Mangieri

    ()

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    About this ebook

    The filthy Canines have taken the Quartz Sector and overthrown Ramses’ nemesis on Baast. The Emperor has vowed that the feline systems will NOT go to the dogs, so it’s up to Herc Tom to once again to save the Empire AND the Baastards.
    But unbeknownst to our hero, Inga Quin left a surprise the last time she was in Herc’s head, and he may not be quite himself, but someone else might be.
    “Copy Cat" is a speculative fiction novelette, and is the eleventh of the “Herc Tom, Champion of the Empire" stories, following “Purr Mission”, “Nipped in the Butt”, “Cat and Mouse”, “Baastards’ Revenge”, “Imperial Purrogative”, “Cats Out of the Bag”, “Reining Cats and Dogs”, “Imperial Imperilment”, “A Tail of Two Species”, and The Cat’s Paw.”

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherWilliam Mangieri
    Release dateApr 16, 2021
    ISBN9781005967901
    Copy Cat
    Author

    William Mangieri

    William Mangieri is a karaoke junkie, former theater student, and recovered wargamer who spends as much time wondering "what if?" as "why not?". He writes from Texas, where he and his family live at the mercy of the ghost of a nine-pound westie.William writes mostly speculative fiction (that’s science fiction, fantasy and horror), although he also has a detective series with a soft sci-fi element (Detective Jimmy Delaney.) He completed writing his first novel (Swordsmaster) in 2019; prior to this, he has honed his skills on short fiction. He has been published in Daily Science Fiction and The Anarchist, and six of his stories have earned Honorable Mentions in the Writers of the Future contest.

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      Book preview

      Copy Cat - William Mangieri

      Copy Cat

      by William Mangieri

      Copyright 2021 by William Mangieri

      Smashwords Edition

      This eBook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This eBook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

      Copy Cat

      Emperor Octavio gathered us all in the war room immediately. As unnecessary as Octavio’s trial had been (and as disastrous as it had been for Yours Truly), it had at least had the benefit of bringing all of Command to the Hall of State.

      Head of the army High Duke, General Katz, Imperial Marines General Patinson, Mack for Military Intelligence, the Admiral himself representing Fleet, and myself – just because I’m a Champion - sat about the conference table with Octavio and his brother Furdinand, while a handful of junior officers lined the walls. There was no shortage of lashing tails as we watched the debrief video Mack had assembled as it ran on the vidscreen.

      The Quartz-Ramses transit station had transmitted a report that Canine saucers had entered the Quartz sector in force before all communications went down. We didn’t know why they had taken Quartz, although it might have been because both the Lynx and I had jumped to Canix from that system. They may have been concerned that one or the other of us would do it again – I’ll leave it to you to decide which one of us worried them more – and wished to block any further ingress to their homeworld. Still, it seemed unlikely that this was a purely defensive move. Lord Phylo – that devious canine - was not one to sit back and wait, and I knew he was up to more than just taking that system from us.

      General Katz insisted that we reinforce our fleet in the Quartz sector immediately. His faction in the recent insurrection against Octavio had also been the largest portion of the fleet in Quartz, and he wished to halt any further weakening of his own position. Katz proposed that he himself take the only three battle cruisers that had been outfitted with Reggie’s jumpers and hop into Quartz, while at the same time rushing the remainder of our ships through the transit-point.

      If anyone is going to lead our troops into battle, General, it will be me, Octavio said. I will not have more systems go to the dogs.

      I think that Octavio was so eager to reassert his primacy as Emperor that he would have gone right then. But cooler heads prevailed.

      Mack and the Admiral alternately pointed out that even though Reggie Pelage’s research had made our fleet far more capable of handling the slobberers, they still had a mobility advantage. They didn’t require jump-points, and could decide to invade our own system at any time, and from any direction. We had no idea what the conditions were in Quartz; best we reconnoiter first.

      Which naturally called for Yours Truly to be sent on yet another mission.

      The bulk of the military leadership were dismissed to attend to their duties, leaving Max, the Admiral, Furdinand and myself with Octavio to iron some things out.

      Are you certain that you are up to this, Colonel? You seemed a bit… noncommittal in the Hall, Octavio said.

      It is understandable, with what Quin put him through, Mack said.

      Thankfully, that had no permanent effect on your succession, Brother, Furdinand said.

      "And I have you to thank for that, Brother, Octavio said, but can we be certain that was all that she did to him?"

      So, I was not only taking a bath for being unable to confirm his right to the throne; now Octavio was suspicious that I might be even more of

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