Cobra Alliance by Timothy Zahn (Cobra War Trilogy, Book 1)

Haha, you can't cuff a Cobra.

   

Merrik firing at Trofts

  When I set my mind to picturing one of the many Cobra fight scenes in this book, I was momentarily stymied by the antiarmor laser. It's implanted in the leg. Talk about an awkward weapon to fire! I'd love to see an animated sequence of a Cobra in action.

  The narrative doesn't really help me picture this. It tends to say something along the lines of "he lifted his leg and aimed at the ship..." Well, okay then. That's all there is to it, hm? I get that the Cobras are a force to behold, yes, but with visuals, I think that idea would have way more, shall I say... punch

 

Daulo & Fadil with Qasaman soldiers fighting back against the Troft invaders

Merrik gets most of the cool action shots in this book. Thus the scene I end up doodling that shows Jin using Cobra abilities... is of her closing a bulkhead door in the Qasaman underground. Exciting, huh?

Airman by Eoin Colfer

The mysterious Airman

   Oh, Eoin Colfer... I appreciate your sense of humor so much.
 *coughcough* I don't have much to say today, so why don't I just give you the sketches:
 


 

Fighting in a diving bell? Not a great idea.

"Monsieur, I can be either angel or devil... but to you, I am a devil."

Cobra Bargain by Timothy Zahn (Cobra Trilogy, Book 3)

Wrapping up the first Cobra trilogy.

Daulo Sammon

Jin & Akim with an unconscious Daulo, dropping into the Troft side of the Mangus compound

Cobra Strike by Timothy Zahn (Cobra Trilogy, Book 2)

     Inspired by the background of the original cover... here's a  sketch of a random Qasaman guard with his mojo (the bird).

Frankly, I didn't do the mojo justice. Those things are supposed to be the quintessential birds-of-prey. They're the Qasamans' bodyguards. Don't even think about shooting a weapon in their presence. The result can be absolutely horrific. Just look at what happened to York:

 York shifted his aim to the mojo on the dying man's shoulder and a second dart found its target . . . but as he brought the palm-mate to bear on Moff's mojo all hell broke loose.
  They were smart all right, those birds. The dead Qasaman hadn't even fallen to the floor before the remaining five mojos were in the air, sweeping toward him like silver-blue Furies. He got off two more shots, but neither connected--and then they were on him, talons digging into his face and gun arm and slamming him hard into the seat.  . . .

It was like a scene out of a nightmare -- York under attack by mojos.

Cobra by Timothy Zahn (Cobra Trilogy, Book 1)

   A sudden rustle of cloth brought Jonny's attention back to the priest. The service was drawing to a close, he saw, and the crowd was kneeling for the final prayer. Hastily, Jonny dropped to his knees, glancing around as he did so. Challinor's Cobras were still on their feet, whatever feelings of respect they might have overridden by the tactical necessity of keeping close watch on the crowd. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Almo hesitate and then, with a glance in Jonny's direction, kneel with the rest of the people around him. Between the coffin stands Father Vitkauskas had himself knelt . . . and as he began the requiescat, Jonny's eyes sought Chrys, saw her hand slip under the hem of her long skirt to the device strapped to her leg . . . .
   And MacDonald sat up in his coffin.

MacDonald sits up in his coffin . . . and subsequently unleashes a wild spray of laser beams into the unsuspecting Cobra rebels. YESSS.

Future Imperfect by L.A. Graf (The Janus Gate Trilogy, Book 2)

The Drake rides the bow wave of an explosion over Tesseract Fortress.
(Hm, this is a scene worth revisiting later, with more detail and accuracy.)

So there's this scene with altChekov and Sulu...

As quickly as they had moved, it still hadn't been quick enough. They landed in the midst of a circle of weapons, and behind each gleaming metallic barrel was a lean, angular face taking aim with unemotional efficiency. Sulu felt a disorienting wave of disbelief--it was like facing an execution squad of multiple Spocks--but he drew himself up and made his expression as austere as he could, to match theirs. After one swift glance around to make sure there weren't any Gorn or Klingon supervisors in sight, Chekov did the same.

 ...And that picture--of a solemn-faced Sulu standing up against a crowd of well-armed Romulans--interested me. But as I was trying to figure out the positions of the Romulans, it dawned on me: I stink at crowd scenes. Cringe. Didn't even bother trying out different poses/angles/etc for this one.











   Sulu & altChekov flying a Gorn shuttle with another shuttle's warp core on board. Okay, this may be one of those that reeeally needs context to make sense.

Ensign Chekov (Walter Koenig)
 

Future Imperfect on Amazon

Present Tense by L.A. Graf (The Janus Gate Trilogy, Book 1)

"What's the deal?" the geologist asked, glancing back and forth between them as if their silence had alarmed him. "What the heck did you guys see?" 

   "A human shape," Uhura said, trying to keep her voice calm and unshaken. "The lights were outlining it, as if it was just starting to appear." McCoy was already scrambling down the rubble pile, and she snapped her own helmet alight, then levered herself out from between her boulders to follow him. "The problem is, it's appearing right in the middle of that rock column."

Dr. McCoy, Lt. Uhura, and geologist Zap Sanner return to the healing chamber to look for Lt. Sulu. Sketched in pencil, tone & color added digitally.

      Bonus sketch of two Lt. Sulus (George Takei, John Cho). Funny thing is, I couldn't make up my mind while reading this trilogy whether to picture Sulu as George Takei or as John Cho. All the others I easily pictured as the original cast. I think I eventually decided Captain Sulu would look more like George Takei, and Lt. Sulu more like John Cho.







"Virtual Cave" = a handy reference for this trilogy
Present Tense on Amazon