Dedication and Foreword

Dedication and Foreword

Dedication:

This Book is dedicated to my readers and friends who have stayed with me over many years now. It fills me with immeasurable pride to know I have readers in Bulgaria, New Zealand and Australia and even someone reading Galactic Chronicles in Iran.

While I don’t get paid for writing (yet), the greatest gift to me is that my stories find readers and dare I say even fans? So I will continue filling pages with stories about this mine and our imagined Universe and I hope I will be able to entertain you in the new year as well.

Foreword:

The Year is 5022 (Old Terran Time). The Milky Way Galaxy is teaming with life and sentient species. Earth is now known as Terra and part of the United Stars of the Galaxies, a multi-cultural mega civilization that by now stretches across two quarters of the Milky Way Galaxy and has a foothold in the Andromeda Galaxy. There are over 5030 distinctive member civilizations calling themselves members of the Union. The United Stars Space fleet protects this mega civilization against external threats.

Eric Olafson, born on a cold world called Nilfeheim raised under harsh conditions of a very traditional inward looking society of Neo Vikings left his planet to fulfill his dream to become a Star ship captain.

He had reached that goal much sooner than he expected and is now the commanding officer of a unique Star ship, the USS Tigershark. The ship is state of the art and incorporates the finest technologies of the most advanced civilizations of the Union.

Together with his truly unusual crew he is sent into Freespace to hunt Pirates and Criminals.

During this mission they learned that the notorious Pirate known as Red Dragon uses Seenian technology and even knows the location of a Seenian fleet depot, filled with Tech-level 11 artifacts, weapons and ships. Anyone controlling such a treasure would become a serious threat to the United Stars of the Galaxies.

However things get complicated as the Crew of the Tigershark gets mixed up in the local revolution of a planet far from Union space but closely connected to the Karthanian Conglomerate.

Eric used to be 198 cm tall and weighs almost exactly 90 kilos. He still has gray eyes and some say he moves with the same purpose and grace as a Tiger or Nubhir Wolf.

Like everyone from Nilfeheim he has a greater tolerance to freezing temperatures and is able to stay submerged under water for a very long time because of gills and eyes that are adapted to see well under water thanks to a second set of clear eyelids. His muscles are denser than that of a standard human, allowing him to swim longer and deeper. Due to that he has great endurance and is much stronger than he looks.

He loves fish, has a very clear sense of honor and hates unfair situations. Even though he doesn’t like to admit it, he carries the same short temper of his father and is more often than not ready to face a challenge with his fists or weapons.

But all this has changed. Eric now lives as Black Velvet, a female pirate captain of mysterious background and feared by merchants and other pirates alike.

Currently he appears to be a gorgeous female with beautiful long blonde hair and a killer body. His greatest wish fulfilled and his secret desire no longer a secret, he isn’t so sure anymore what or who he is.

That he now looks like the fairer sex has done little to change his general approach to problems.

Erica now knows that she linked to an ancient, powerful godlike entity called the Dark One. The entity is still sleeping and not completely awake and he knows that his Erica personality is just another step on his journey.

The Author