In Patience to Abide Chap 1

IN PATIENCE TO ABIDE

KELDARA /BLACK TIDE CROSSOVER

BY

JOHN RINGO

Dedication

As always

For Captain Tamara Long, USAF

Born: May 12, 1979

Died: 23 March 2003, Afghanistan

You fly with the angels now.

A Brief Author Excusal

The thought of this novel occurred very near the end of writing the Wolf Squadron books. 'What would the Keldara do in a zombie apocalypse?' is a fairly reasonable question. Given the nature of the Black Tide apocalypse the Keldara had several things going for them. World-class microbiologist? Check. Relatively remote? Check. Guns? Double check. Ditto ammo.

But all the ammo in the world, as previously discussed, really did not help in the Black Tide universe on the ground. On the gripping hand… The Keldara had only recently gotten into this whole 'modern samurai' bullshit. Before that, well, they'd had other ways to settle differences.

All of that being said, I held off. There were other projects including the Black Tide anthology. Also, writing a universe cross-over is one of those general 'no-nos' of fiction. It breaks the fourth wall. It's generally considered lazy or at least self-referential. All things I despise in other authors. It's like a member of a rock band wearing their own band's t-shirt. (Unless it's Keith Richards and he's wearing one from the 1960s.) It's like a time travel gimmick to reset your universe when you'd written yourself into a corner. (See Lost.) And it was the clearest sign that Heinlein was going downhill when he created the Number of the Beast multi-verse. I liked Mike and Manny. They didn't need to meet Lazarus Long. He could have brought Manny back any number of other ways.

But… DAMNIT! The Keldara were MADE FOR THIS UNIVERSE. They were going to be much happier in a post-apocalyptic universe than dealing with international relations, the Hague and all the rest of the 'stuff' that kept their hands tied. The toughest part in any 'failed state' environment (as discussed in Under a Graveyard Sky) is 'who do you trust with weapons at your back?' The Keldara had a thousand years of cultural commitment to 'support the Kildar'. (At least as long as he's a 'true Kildar'. And Mike's as true to the test as any Kildar they've had in a loooong time.)

'This idea is so wrong!' 'This idea is so right!' Back and forth over months with no real ideation as to the full story, just that the idea was constantly there, burning away.

In the end, I put it up to a vote. I put the idea up on Facebook and said 'If you want this, like it.'

There were nearly a thousand 'likes' in two hours. To give you an idea, most of my posts tend to run in the couple of hundred likes.

I don't exactly write for money. I do like the money and sort of need to keep a roof over my head but it's not my primary motivation. Money is just a way to keep score. If a book makes lots of money, lots of people found it and read it and liked it. That's the real motivation. Telling stories that people like. Or as Jim Baen, founder of Baen books, put it: the best award is a big fat royalty check.

If that many people wanted to hear the story of Mike Harmon and his retainers dealing with the Black Tide universe, who am I to say no? Especially given that my muse kept whispering in my ear: 'Shota with an axe and a road packed side to side with infected. Adams with a claymore in each hand. Sword in one, directional mine in the other. Either way it's gonna get bloody.'

Honor be damned. Who am I to refuse my muse?

And face it, Faith and Trixie need some competition for cool factor.

For those who have never read the Keldara series (Ghost, Kildar, Choosers of the Slain, Unto the Breach and A Deeper Blue particularly) I'm not going to make a strong recommendation. The series is my only truly X-rated series. I will say that Unto the Breach redeems it. Unto the Breach is, in my estimation, my single best novel. But the universe is not everyone's cup of tea. (My own wife won't read it.)

Be warned: I don't intend to do serious backstory. The universe of the Kildar and his Georgian semi-Viking, pagan, beer making, elite anti-terrorist team retainers is already too complex and vivid and requires several thousand words to even vaguely understand. You'll just have to play it as it lies. For those who are expecting a Keldara book about fighting terrorists and gangsters and rescuing sex-slaves… Might be some of that. Haven't really figured out what's going to be on this road. (Although slavery, and especially female slavery, is so endemic to the human beast at some point there's going to be some of that.)

By the same token if you're unfamiliar with the Black Tide universe (Under a Graveyard Sky, To Sail a Darkling Sea, Islands of Rage and Hope and Strands of Sorrow)… You'll get most of what you need to catch up. The story of Wolf Squadron and the Keldara is distant in time and space. Not that you shouldn't read those books as well. They're very good if I do say myself. The books were so much fun to write that I wish I could write them again for the first time just because there was so much enjoyment. And from what readers have said, the response is similar in reading them.

J

For those Black Tide fans who are worried that I'm planning on bringing the already PG-13+ rated Black Tide universe up to full X: Don't. I'm going to be skipping most of that stuff. For those who were looking forward to 'Fifty Shades of Ghost' scenes: Sorry. Mike's going to have his hands full. And not with harem girls, alas.

BOOK ONE

Fluttered Folk and Wild

CHAPTER 1

"Returning to the study of evolutionary changes in humans due to changing societal factors…"

Doctor Katrina Devlich, PhD (Gen), twenty-three, five two, one hundred pounds, with fiery red hair and eyes so blue they were almost black, knew she shouldn't think of being a researcher and lecturer at Stanford as 'exile.' There were lots of great things to be said for California. She couldn't stand the politics, but the weather was nice. Then there were the restaurants, the shopping, which with her patents and salary she could afford, the 'culture.' Not to mention the chance to use her unquestionably fine mind to peer into the heart of human genetics. When she took her first serious genetics course, also at Stanford, she'd realized that studying human genetics was like looking into the mind of the All Mother.

Given that along with being one of the youngest PhD researchers at Stanford she was also the youngest High Priestess of Demeter in the world, the two went hand in hand.

"Determining the interplay of direct genetic response, expresssors and environmental factors is always arguable," Doctor Devlich said.

As usual, she was dressed to the nines. Female co-workers, especially other PhDs, constantly carped about her wearing form hugging dresses, make-up and high heels on a daily basis. Fuck them. She wasn't just way better looking than they were, the drudges, she was smarter. As she'd proven repeatedly. And with the most recent patent on a gene-therapy approach to cancer research, she could afford Prada so she did. She wasn't going to dress in browns and flats like a bunch of peasant women.