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Month: April 2019

Maelstrom Rising Tech: Kamikaze Drones

Maelstrom Rising Tech: Kamikaze Drones

Published by Peter Nealen on April 24, 2019

The Maelstrom Rising series already features some “cutting-edge” tech.  Some of that tech has already been fielded; some of it is in development.  One of these pieces of tech are “kamikaze drones,” which get employed to devastating effect in Escalation.  A couple of my readers have commented on how scary they are.  But they’re real, and we’re going to see more of them in the years to come.

(Side note: While tech will feature in the Maelstrom Rising series, it will never be depicted as the panacea that you might find in a lot of ’90s techno-thrillers.  Anyone who has read my stuff before should already be aware of that.  High tech complicates logistics, and logistics are already hampering everybody’s war effort in Maelstrom Rising.)

These kamikaze drones have been in development for some time.  The US and Israel appear to have been the primary developers.  The US has begun fielding the Switchblade drone several years ago.

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Larue OBR: guns of the TriariiLarue Tactical at 10th World Snipers Championship in Bzenec Czech Republic @yorick_drd

Larue OBR: guns of the Triarii

Published by Peter Nealen on April 17, 2019

⊕ The thunderous report of the 7.62 echoed across the hills around the town, shattering the early morning calm.  The dark-clad man with the FAMAS bullpup staggered, staring down at the widening dark stain on his chest for a brief fraction of a second before he crumpled, crashing to the deck with a thump and a muffled clatter as he landed on top of his rifle.

I was already up and moving as he hit the floor, sprinting around the side of the guest house and heading for the steps leading up to the deck.  A figure loomed in the doorway, and I caught a glimpse of a weapon.  I started to slow, bringing my own rifle back up to fire, but a shot cracked past my shoulder and took the man in the chest.  He fell backwards, into the house. ⊕

Larue Tactical OBR

Cover photo 📷 @yorick_drd; Larue Tactical rifles at the 10th World Snipers Championship in the Czech Republic.

Continue readingLarue OBR: guns of the Triarii
Couple of Things

Couple of Things

Published by Peter Nealen on April 15, 2019

It’s becoming harder and harder to get the word out to you, the fans, that I’ve got new books out.  Facebook throttles everything.  Amazon Marketing Services has gotten less and less effective over the last six to nine months, as the market has gotten more and more saturated.  And that same market saturation makes visibility more difficult, as well.  So, the solution is more of a direct contact between me, the author, and you, the reader.  The newsletter is one of the best ways to accomplish that.  So, if you haven’t read Drawing the Line before, or even if you have, go ahead and sign up.  It will help ensure that you do get the word when I’ve got stuff happening, instead of letting it get lost in the noise.

Continue readingCouple of Things
Setting the Stage Part 7: European Defense CouncilThe actual insignia of the real-world Eurocorps.

Setting the Stage Part 7: European Defense Council

Published by Peter Nealen on April 12, 2019

I’d held off posting this because it might end up being slightly (slightly) spoilery for Escalation.  But only slightly.

The acronym “EDC” technically applies to two entities.  The most obvious, and most well-known, is the European Defense Council, made up of select, appointed representatives of Germany, France, Belgium, Austria, Spain, Greece, Denmark, Portugal, Sweden, and Turkey (a late addition).  The bulk of these representatives are German and French.

The European Defense Council is secretive, but has shown every sign of being an order of magnitude more tyrannical than the EU parliament that it effectively took over from.  It continues to follow much the same policy guidelines, but they do not accept any feedback from national governments, and in fact expect that their edicts should be enforced across the old EU, to include the Eastern European countries, even nations that are not represented on the Council.  Those nations are not deemed “mature” enough for a seat.

The EDC arose during the upheaval following the Yellow Vest protests and Italy’s abrupt withdrawal from the EU, after Britain’s.  With the European Experiment in peril, the “biggest pack of utopian sociopaths you ever imagined” stepped up, forcing a vote to dissolve the EU parliament in favor of the EDC, which was granted emergency powers.

Continue readingSetting the Stage Part 7: European Defense Council
ESCALATION Chapter 2

ESCALATION Chapter 2

Published by Peter Nealen on April 9, 2019

“Friendlies coming in,” I called over the radio.

“I’ve got you,” Tony replied.  “Come ahead.”

It was almost dark.  As thick as the woods were in that part of Slovakia, we’d had to move very carefully to avoid the locals, not to mention the occasional peacekeeper or militia patrols.  It had taken slow, methodical movement, slipping from cover to cover, often halting to stay put and just watch and listen.

Phil got to his feet and started toward the ancient barn.  Built of plastered stone and graying, aged timber, the roof was starting to sag and the base was overgrown, but it was still solid.  I suspected it had been standing for at least a couple of centuries.  It probably would still have been in use if not for the turmoil that had engulfed Slovakia over the last few years.

I carefully scanned the surrounding woods and the open field beyond for a moment, despite the fact that I knew that Scott had security set and the drone up.  The abandoned farm sat right at the no-man’s land between the Belgian peacekeeping sector and one of the few, small, Loyalist Slovak Army sectors.  While what was left of the Army that hadn’t gone over to the Nationalists after the initial riots was still outwardly loyal to the shaky government in Bratislava, that loyalty was in question among many of the peacekeepers, especially the Germans and Belgians.  None of this would have been happening if the Slovaks hadn’t already had enough of both Brussels’ financial demands and the forced immigration, mostly of young Kosovar, Bosnian, and Syrian men.  To that end, most of the EDC peacekeepers made no secret of the fact that they didn’t trust the Slovak Army.

Which made the uneasy borders between zones the best place to hide out, even though it had meant one hell of an infiltration from Hungary.

(Continued from Escalation Chapter 1)

Continue readingESCALATION Chapter 2
Setting the Stage Part 6

Setting the Stage Part 6

Published by Peter Nealen on April 4, 2019

Russia is a difficult animal to figure out.  Formerly the Soviet Union (while the USSR consisted of Russia, the Baltics, Ukraine, and most of the Central Asian -Stans, it was really a Russian Empire, run by the Communist Party), it is no longer dominated by Communist ideology–in fact, President Vladimir Putin has bashed Communism more than once.  However, Russia is not a liberal Western democracy.  Putin is, effectively, President for Life, in fact if not in name.  Continual claims of election meddling and corruption have been made concerning his grip on power (including by the Communists, no less).  Enemies of the Russian State don’t tend to live very long.  Furthermore, the Russian government for most of the last decade has been dominated by the siloviki, former security force “strongmen.”  Putin himself, former KGB and the man who uttered the quote, “There is no such thing as an ex-chekist,” could be categorized as a silovik, though he has held himself somewhat aloof as President, curtailing siloviki power where he apparently felt it necessary.

All of that said, there are many ways in which the Russian Federation should have become an ally of the West.  Putin himself has publicly renounced the Soviet Union’s militant atheism.  The West and Russia have a common enemy in militant Islam (though some of that is, in fact, Russia’s fault, due to their moves against the nationalist–and originally Sufi Muslim rather than Wahhabi Sunni Muslim–Chechens).

But, despite overtures since the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, Russian foreign policy has largely gone unchanged.

Continue readingSetting the Stage Part 6
ESCALATION Chapter 1

ESCALATION Chapter 1

Published by Peter Nealen on April 2, 2019

 

The bad guys suddenly started moving about an hour after sunrise.

We had eyes on two sides of the house from our hide site, and so it was impossible to miss when the front door slammed open and half a dozen men rushed out, bearded and armed to the teeth.  The only one who wasn’t in a rush was the guy with the Talib beard, wearing all Russian camouflage and talking into a radio.  We were so close that I could actually pick out a few of the Albanian words.

I was already nervous about being within a hundred meters of the target building, but having what looked an awful lot like a terrorist react force come rushing out made my guts pucker.  Only training and discipline kept me stock-still, though my hand was already on my OBR’s firing control, finger hovering near the trigger.  If we’d been made, it was going to get really loud and really messy, really fast.

We were also probably all going to die in the process.  Not to mention the hostage whom I was already pretty sure was tied up inside that house.

“Deacon, Weeb,” Scott Hayes’ voice said in my ear.  “I think I see what’s got ‘em all stirred up.  There’s company coming.”

I didn’t answer right away.  I was keeping my eyes fixed somewhere just above Camouflage Jacket’s shoulder as I inched my off hand toward the push-to-talk clipped to the strap of my chest rig.

None of us had wanted to set up so close.  Phil had been downright adamant that we needed to find some other way of handling the situation, as the night had worn on and we’d had to get closer and closer just to see the house through the trees.  The hills we’d hiked in through were heavily forested, and just the crunch of leaves under our boots had been excruciatingly loud.

And if I could hear the guy who I was pretty sure was Ibrahim Baruti, then he could hear me.

(Continued from the Escalation Prologue)

Continue readingESCALATION Chapter 1