Showing results by author "Mike Shepherd" in All Categories

Sandy Santiago has problems coming out her ears. Granny Rita is out of control. The workers are out on strike. Worse, the murderous alien raiders are testing Alwa's defense perimeter. Once she has her house in order, Sandy is strongly thinking of getting her own good look at what appears to be the alien home world. Last time Kris Longknife visited the place, she threw some serious shade on the aliens. Dare Sandy return? Might the aliens be waiting for her? What could a serious, organized scientific look at this world tell Sandy?

Grand Admiral, Her Royal Highness Kris Longknife, commander of the Iteeche Imperial Combined Fleets has the enemy on the run. Literally. The last time she entered a rebel system, every disloyal ship picked up its skirts and ran. So why has she been ordered, as in requested and required, to make a formal report to the Emperor? Ron the Iteeche and his two young Iteeche Counselors have little to say on the subject except that some Iteeche think Kris is winning too much, too fast.

While summoned to the Imperial Iteeche Court to be humanity’s Emissary, it turns out that what the Iteeche really want is a fighting admiral! You see, they’ve got this huge civil war going, and the Imperial side isn’t doing so well. Kris now has command of the entire Imperial Combined Fleet. Sort of. The Iteeche Empire has a 10,000-year-long history. There is nothing that won’t say, “We’ve always done it that way,” pointing to a track record lasting for thousands of years. Even when Kris reminds them they’re losing, many have a hard time changing.

Grand Admiral Kris Longknife is rampaging across the stars, kicking butt and taking planets away from the Iteeche rebels. She asks her grandparents, Gramma and Grampa Trouble, to came out to spend time with Kris' kids while she is gone. Meanwhile, back on the Iteeche Imperial Capitol planet, intrigue and power plays continue. Within 50 kilometers of the Imperial Palace are a dozen clan factions that dream of seizing the purple from the hand of the young emperor.

The foolish Iteeche clans that hauled Grand Admiral Kris Longknife back to the Iteeche Capital and interrupted her campaign against the rebels, are dead. Very dead. Their clans are disgraced and their palaces in ruin. However, while Kris was handling that noise, the rebels took back one of the planets she had recently captured, Arteccia, and are planning to take more. Now it's time once more again for Kris to kick butts and take names. However, life is never easy for a Human in the Iteeche Empire.

Colonel Ray Longknife and Marine Captain Mary Rodrigo were once enemies in an interstellar war. Now they're working together to keep the peace. But can they protect themselves from an enemy they can't even see? When a bad space jump flings their starship thousands of light-years away from home, Longknife and Rodrigo make an amazing discovery: a planet inhabited by the descendants of a ship's crew - lost three hundred years earlier.

Grand Duchess Vicky Peterwald's father could have showed up to walk her down the aisle, but she's not really bothered about that. Then, suddenly, she is. It turns out he didn't make the wedding because he's broke and living nearly homeless in an abandoned, half-built palace. How'd that happen? News isn't coming out of Dad's side of the empire, so it looks like Vicky may need a battle fleet to go pay Daddy dear a visit. Oh, and four or six brigades of infantry and tanks.

Raised in the shadow of her brother Hank, Vicky now finds herself heir to the Peterwald Empire and hell bent on killing Kris Longknife. When that doesn't work out, she finds herself shipped off to the Greenfeld Navy as a boot ensign. There she learns she can solve problems without taking her clothes off, and really feel good about it! When Kris Longknife crosses Vicky's path again, Vicky is ready to help her save Vicky's dad's life.

Everyone has known since Kris Longknife: Mutineer that Kris ran off to join the Navy after graduating college much to her parents’ dismay. However, the story has never been told of how that came to pass. Worse, how does a scion of the Longknife clan survive that massive drop in social levels, plummeting from the prime minister’s brat to a lowly boot recruit. Here, at last, is the story in all its fuss and feathers still on this rare bird. Enjoy.

Vicky has cleared Dresden of the so-called Security Specialists of the Bowlingame crime family. Every Redcoat is dead on that planet...and good riddance. Vicky thought she had killed that family twice: first when the Empress and her dad died at the Battle of Cuzco, then when she captured all the uncles and brothers who'd done their best to keep the government going.

'Be The Difference' is the official podcast of Redlands College, embodying our vision of Curious Minds, Serving Hands, Loving Hearts, and Purposeful Lives. Produced by our community, this termly podcast stitches together diverse segments that reflect the ingenuity and compassion of our school's culture. Engage with the College as we navigate through topics that ignite curiosity, showcase service, unfold purpose, and express the warmth of community. Tune in to celebrate and be inspired by the difference our students are making, one story at a time.

Best friends Mike Wessells and Cam Shepherd comb through Mike's beloved journal and discuss the juicy details. From salacious to silly to sins of the past, nothing here is sacred. Find out what happens when a very private journal is made very public in this no holds barred comedy.

Grand Admiral Santiago has all the challenges for which a gal could ask. Granny Rita is on the rampage, and the cats have gone on strike. Leaving the Colonials to deal with Granny Rita, Sandy heads off to work with the cats, only to discover she is not the only one who has a bone to pick with them - alien monsters have a vendetta as well!

The victory parades are over and half the fleet is back in mothballs. The Navies better start getting them back in Commission! Rita Longknife, commander of the heavy cruiser Exeter, has proof. Proof that there is something else out there. Proof we are not alone in the galaxy. Aboard her ship is evidence that we have blown up an alien ship, and they have blown up one of ours. So far, contact with the aliens is being made by pirates, the worst scum humanity has. How do the right people take over making contact?

The war is over. Hurray! Half the fleet is back in mothballs. But out on the rim of human space, ships are disappearing. Some are merchant ships going about their business. Others are exploration ships on deep space probes. What's happening to them? Captain Rita Nuu Longknife is ready to take the heavy cruiser Exeter to space and see what's out there. She may have a nursery next to the captain's cabin and a two-month-old baby on her hip, but she's taking a warship out there, and nobody better get in her way.

Vicky Peterwald is no longer just the heir apparent to an imperial dynasty. She survived naval training and proved her mettle in combat to help the starving people of the ravaged world of St. Petersburg. Now she is truly a grand duchess, leading a growing battle fleet in a rebellion against the tyranny of her stepmother, the empress.

Seeking revenge for her brother's death, Grand Duchess Vicky Peterwald underwent an unlikely transformation - from pampered heir to naval lieutenant. Now a new challenge looms: Vicky will need to use both her military and political ranks to rebuild war-torn planets, planets ruined both by the Peterwald Empire and by Kris Longknife's revolutionary quests.

Her Imperial Highness the Grand Duchess Victoria Maria Teresa Inez Smythe-Peterwald, daughter of wealth and power, was raised to do little except be attractive and marry well. Then everything changed - her brother, her father’s favorite and the heir apparent, was killed in battle by Lieutenant Kris Longknife, daughter of the Peterwald’s longtime enemies. Vicky vowed revenge, but her skill set was more suitable for seduction than assassination, and she failed. Angry and disappointed, her father decided she needed military training and forced her to join the Navy.

Retired Colonel Ray Longknife and Marine Captain Terrence “Trouble” Tordon come to Savannah via different routes, but what they find is the same. One bully strongman is intent on keeping power no matter what the new rules are for peace. He’s got the population cowered by thugs, and tanks at the ready. He expects to win the coming elections handily. He doesn’t expect Mrs. Trouble - aka Ruth Tordon - a Marine wife on a mission to find the drug lords that almost killed her and her husband and put them out of business - and she’s not about to be stopped.

Asteroid miner Mary Rodrigo and freighter owner Mattim Abeeb are green draftees of the Society of Humanity, forced to fight for Earth - a planet they’ve never even seen. Major Ray Longknife and his lover, Senior Pilot Rita Nuu, are career soldiers, invested with the cause of the Unity Party - and its ambitious new president. These four soldiers on opposing sides of the battle are about to discover the true nature of this terrible war: a quest for profit - from the high command of both sides. What they will risk is nothing less than their lives. For although truth may be the first casualty of war, it’s not going to be the last….