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Reading, Science Fiction

Ghost Star Snippet Three

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Here is snippet three for Ghost Star.  If you missed Snippet one or two, you can find them here and here.  Ghost Star will be available on September 1st.

June 5, 2410

Saariskella Colony, Ottokar System

Colonial Republic

 

Colonel Price propped his feet up and enjoyed the warm fire as he sipped at his whisky. He stared at the old-fashioned paper book in his lap without really seeing it. Officially, Commander Bowder had requested leave after the Battle of Kapteyn’s Star. Unofficially, he’d mentioned he was thinking about retiring, too sick of death and war to take it much longer.

He’d slipped any potential observers and left a trail that would indicate that Commander Bowder might have taken his own life… should he fail to return.

Colonel Price had shaken off the false identity, donned a different one, and boarded a transport here. Saariskella was a cold, damp world, renowned for its skiing and for its secluded hunting lodges. The colonists eked out a living by catering to tourists and hunters. Since most people wore heavy coats with goggles and hoods, it was also a good world for doing business anonymously.

He looked up at a knock on the door. His hand settled to the Sako TR-7 in his lap, underneath his book, “Come in.” It wasn’t the only bit of protection he had. There was an entire security team, men he’d trained himself, along the perimeter, ready to take down any potential attackers.

The door opened and a man stomped inside, shaking snow off and throwing back his hood. “Colonel Price,” Admiral Collae said, his stony face harsh in the light from the fire. “I see you’re interested in my offer after all?”

“Well, I’m willing to listen to what you have to say,” Colonel Price replied. “After all, things happened mostly as you predicted back at Kapteyn’s Star. Though I will admit the bit with Princess Giovanni being killed was something of a surprise.”

Admiral Collae gave a narrow smile, “Yes. Some things are best as surprises. I have an associate coming soon who’ll put your mind at ease about some of our other plans, but in the meantime, I wanted to know if your facility, the antimatter production one… is it secure?”

“Very secure,” Colonel Price said. “It’s located in deep space, only the people there and myself know the coordinates.” He gave a wolfish grin, “The crews of supply ships I charter tend to be unhappy when they realize how I keep it that way.”

Admiral Collae nodded, “Excellent. My organization is in need of a secure base of operations with a massive power output. I think your organization could help us out.”

“I’ll assume you aren’t talking about the CRAN?” Colonel Price asked. Admiral Collae probably hadn’t lured him all the way out here just to murder him and try to take his resources… but that didn’t mean Colonel Price was going to drop his guard.

“No,” Admiral Collae snorted, “I’m not.”

There was a knock at the door, but Colonel Price didn’t jump. His security team had already alerted him to the second guest. “Come on in,” he said.

The second guest came in and then put back his hood and pulled off his goggles, “Cold out there,” he said with an easy, boyish smile. The horribly disfiguring scars marred that smile, somewhat, but Colonel Price wasn’t bothered by scars. “Couldn’t we meet somewhere nice, like a beach?”

Colonel Price recognized Reese Leone. He felt a real spurt of surprise as he saw him, though. “You’re supposed to be dead.”

“So are you, Colonel Price,” Reese smiled broadly. “And like you, I’ve found death to be remarkably… liberating.” He gestured at a chair, “May I sit?”

Colonel Price nodded slowly. He contemplated Reese’s presence, combined with Admiral Collae’s presence. Admiral Collae’s people didn’t just seize his transports, Colonel Price mused, he evacuated Reese, all of us none the wiser. That meant that the attempt to board the Enforcer Platform had been another ruse. He felt oddly relieved that the end goal hadn’t been the alien station.

“So,” Reese said, taking a seat in the chair and then leaning forward, elbows on his knees, his blue eyes flickering with odd reflections of the fire. “Colonel Price, tell me about this station of yours. I need to know exactly how much power you can produce.”

***

Reading, Science Fiction

Ghost Star Snippet Two

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If you haven’t read snippet one, you can find it here.  Ghost Star goes live on September 1st.  Here’s snippet two of Ghost Star:

“I can’t believe you stole a ship!” Rory shook his head, looking between Lieutenant Medica and Forrest Perkins. “There should be a law against that, right?”

“Several,” Feliks nodded, “especially for interrupting our work.”

“Explain to me again, why exactly you’re aboard?” Forrest asked rubbing his face tiredly.

“I already told your jack-booted accomplices!” Rory protested. “We’re calibrating some sensitive equipment…”

“What equipment?!” Forrest demanded.

“Uh,” Rory looked at Feliks, “I don’t think we’re authorized to tell you.” Yet the expression of the short, overweight man was one of worry. He looked as if he were afraid that they might find something out.

“Your schedule didn’t show you here,” Forrest mused aloud. “You were aboard the ship at two in the morning, standard time. You had no assistants, nothing was scheduled…” His eyes went narrow, “You were doing something you weren’t supposed to be doing, weren’t you?”

“How does he know that?” Rory waved at Feliks, “He’s not supposed to be smart enough to know that!”

“I don’t have to tell you anything,” Feliks muttered.

“Right!” Rory nodded and raised a fist, “We don’t have to tell you anything! You’re the criminals, here! We won’t be bullied!”

“Setting aside some issues with that,” Forrest said. “If you assume that we are criminals…. what is to stop us from venting you out an airlock if you don’t tell us what we want to know?”

“You wouldn’t,” Rory’s eyes went big. He looked over at Lieutenant Medica for support, but the engineering officer folded his arms and scowled. From what Forrest had heard, the Lieutenant had plenty of pent up irritation with the two men.

“Corporal Wicklund,” Forrest pressed a button on the arm of the command chair, “Please ready your ship’s suit and come up to the bridge. There’s a little detail I have for you to take care of.”

“Okay, okay!” Rory sputtered. “It’s not really that big of a secret. It’s just that, well, Feliks and I got a message from one of our friends, working for General Shaden.”

“She’s not really a friend,” Feliks commented. “Rory thinks she’s cute.”

“She is cute,” Rory snapped. “And she was bragging about how they’ve made adjustments to their ship’s drives that lets psychics screen the vessel’s signatures, sort of a psionic screen that makes it harder for the Balor to target them…”

“And?” Forrest asked.

“Well, it got Feliks and I to wondering if this ship’s active stealth system might do something similar, if those mystery aliens we’ve encountered might have telepathic abilities, which was why they weren’t able to see this ship at all.”

“Yes,” Feliks nodded, and blinked, his eyes big behind his thick glasses. “After you fired on the enemy ship, it should have been able to track your weapons fire back and engage you, but it didn’t.”

“I know that,” Forrest said, “I assumed their active sensors just weren’t good enough to pick us up, even at that range.”

“No, see that doesn’t make any sense, not after what we’ve seen of their other capabilities!” Rory protested. “Look, their weapons fire is extremely accurate, their systems, despite being made with human components, are at least a generation ahead of anything we can make. We’ve gone under the assumption that their radar systems, based off the emissions we’ve seen, are just very sophisticated, which aids their accuracy. But what if that’s not the case at all? What if their radar emissions are just a spoof, so that we don’t realize they’re psionic?”

Forrest frowned, “Why would they do that?”

Feliks and Rory looked at one another, “Seriously, he’s this dense? No wonder he got captured…” Forrest felt a spike of rage as they made light of the ambush that had killed his last command and over a hundred of his crew.

“Explain,” Forrest snapped, “now.”

“Fine,” Rory rolled his eyes. “Look, we’ve assumed until now that any kind of ansible interception must be done through some technological means. But that’s impossible.”

“Highly improbable,” Feliks interrupted.

“Yes, well, it would be like intercepting a single photon in a star system and determining its energy state without preventing it from reaching its destination, only far, far harder,” Rory said. “These are transmissions beamed through shadow space. To intercept them, either you’d need machinery that senses things through shadow space and can detect, intercept, and re-transmit communications faster than real-time or…”

“Or you would need someone capable of sensing things in shadow space without altering the state of whatever they’re sensing,” Feliks finished. “Which would imply a psychic ability, as yet never-before-seen. Which these aliens might be capable of… and if they can do that, then they could also possess other psionic abilities, such as senses powerful enough to use to target enemy ships.”

Forrest sat back in his command chair. “That’s… that’s an interesting assumption.”

“Yes. It would suggest that the active emissions we’ve picked up from their vessels are a further byproduct of their low-shielded reactors rather than being active sensors. So we were studying the ship’s stealth systems and comparing it to the stealth systems aboard one of the modified combat shuttles the Dreyfus Mutineers possessed, to see if we could detect the modification and what frequencies it might operate upon.”

That explains the combat shuttle docked in our internal launch bay. There hadn’t been any such craft aboard when Forrest had stolen the vessel from Marius Giovanni. “Well?” Forrest asked.

Rory looked at Feliks. Neither spoke for a long moment, “Well, our results are as yet inconclusive, however, we estimate a thirty percent–”

“Ten percent at most,” Feliks muttered.

“Really, that low?” Rory asked. He pursed his lips, “Well, a twenty percent possibility that the modifications performed on this vessel by the people you hijacked it from the first time, were designed to screen it from psionic senses… and that they were done by the people who captured you… the people who planned to use the ship against these unknown aliens before you stole it.”

“What’s the other eighty percent chance?” Lieutenant Medica asked.

“Oh, uh,” Rory looked at Feliks, who shrugged, “That’s the likelihood that they didn’t understand the systems well enough and that their modifications didn’t work as intended. Either way, it has the same result. We think this ship would be completely invisible to any psychic senses. It would be like it didn’t exist!”

“It isn’t perfect,” Feliks interjected. “There will be ways that a psychic could locate it if they knew it was present, but it is still an unprecedented achievement.”

“Okay,” Forrest mused, “so they modified this ship and now those mystery aliens can’t see it and it is still very hard to detect to almost everyone else…” He looked at Lieutenant Medica. This didn’t really change much, if anything.   “Can we dump them at Formosa Station?”

The engineering officer scowled at the two scientists. “I’m not sure they’d survive.”

Rory’s back went straight, “I’ll have you know that I can take care of myself–”

“Formosa Station,” Forrest interrupted, “is an independent station sometimes frequented by pirates and slavers. I’m assuming you have no hard currency on you?”

As Rory and Feliks shook their heads, Forrest sighed, “We have some, but probably not enough to buy you passage back to the United Colonies. Certainly not enough to pay for passage on a trustworthy vessel. An untrustworthy captain might sell you into slavery… or just steal everything you own and dump you out an airlock.”

“Uh, maybe we should stay aboard the ship,” Rory looked over at Feliks.

“That seems to be the better option,” Feliks nodded.

“We don’t have enough people aboard to babysit you,” Lieutenant Medica growled. Forrest winced at the reminder. They had ten people to operate the destroyer. Normally that would have made the task impossible. However, the Widowmaker was heavily automated, so the skeleton crew could manage, if only barely. At least, until serious maintenance issues came due, anyway. Lieutenant Medica went on after a moment, “We can’t afford to have you getting in the way at the last minute and getting us all killed.”

“We can be helpful!” Rory protested. “We’ve been studying the ship’s systems, we know far more about the stealth systems and how they interact with the rest of the vessel’s systems than you could have learned in your time aboard.”

Forrest pursed his lips, “Fine, it isn’t as if we have many options. You stay aboard… but if you get in the way, or if Lieutenant Medica says you’re a nuisance or risk, we’ll drop you at the first port.” In reality, he knew the two men were too valuable to risk them, but he didn’t have many options. Hopefully they’d stay out of the way and be somewhat useful. Forrest almost wanted to turn around and drop them off in United Colonies territory, but there was too much risk that word would have gone out about the theft of the ship.

“Of course,” Rory nodded, “We’ll be very helpful, not a worry at all… uh, by the way, why are we going to this pirate station?”

“There’s a rumor that some of Marius Giovanni’s people might resupply at the station,” Forrest said. “And we’re trying to track them down.”

“Wait,” Rory looked at Feliks, “isn’t that the guy…”

“Yes,” Feliks nodded, “he’s related to the new Nova Roman Emperor, correct?”

“He’s Emperor Lucius Giovanni’s father… or a clone of his father, anyway,” Forrest shrugged. “More importantly to our business, he’s the father of Alannis Giovanni, and for that reason I’m hoping that she’s still alive.”

“I’m confused,” Rory said. “We saw the footage, the shuttle she was aboard was destroyed at Kapteyn’s Star. I don’t see how it would be possible for her to have survived.”

“There’s a chance,” Lieutenant Medica said, “that she’s still alive. The Skipper thinks it wasn’t really her aboard the shuttle.”

“Why on Earth…” Rory shook his head, “What logical reason would you have to think that? I mean, Reese Leone wanted to take control of the Enforcer Platform. We have transmissions from him as he tried to dock with the station. We searched the planet below. All his people said he was aboard the shuttle along with Princess Giovanni. What evidence do you have to prove otherwise?”

“Little things,” Forrest snapped. It felt good to speak about it to someone who wasn’t inclined to believe him. The intelligence branch people he’d briefed had looked at him like he was crazy. The nine members of his former crew who he’d talked into helping him were already loyal to him, they trusted his judgment. Rory and Feliks were about as impartial as he could expect anyone to be. “She didn’t address me by my first name, she and Reese didn’t bring up my relationship with her, just… little things.”

“Wait, you were in a relationship with the princess?” Rory demanded. He shook his head, “Great… this is about a girl. He stole a unique, irreplaceable, and priceless, warship because of a girl.”

“Women,” Feliks nodded somberly.   “Women ruin everything.”

***

Reading, Science Fiction

Prisoner of the Mind on Kindle Scout

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I’m happy to announce that my novel, Prisoner of the Mind, will appear on Kindle Scout.

How do you know right from wrong if every memory, every thought in your head was put there by your enemies?

In a near-future, when humanity has begun to spread throughout the stars.  In the process, they’ve awakened abilities hidden within their own DNA.  Psychics have begun to appear at ever-increasing rates with abilities that range from mental manipulation to mass destruction and beyond.  Empowered by public hysteria and fear of psychics, Amalgamated Worlds has taken over.  Their powerful combination of military and security forces, control of media and communications, and manipulation of internal threats has created a police state that spans all of human space.

Shaden Kirroy is a product of that police state.  Designed to be a weapon for use against his fellow psychics as well as any civilians who step out of line, he is an artificially enhanced psychic.  He is a blank slate, his past erased and replaced with engineered loyalty to Amalgamated Worlds.
 
Yet Shaden realizes that something is terribly wrong.  As his world begins to unravel, as he realizes the horrors of what was done to him, Shaden must find a way to free himself, to unlock the prison of his own mind.
Prisoner of the Mind is a novel set in the greater Shadow Space Chronicles universe.  It is set before the fall of Amalgamated Worlds.  So for those of you who want to see how it is that humanity got where it was, this is a book where you’ll learn a great deal.  Thanks for reading!
Reading, Science Fiction

Ghost Star Snippet One

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Here is the first snippet of Ghost Star, book six of the Shadow Space Chronicles:

Prologue

June 3, 2410
Sanctuary Station, Faraday System
United Colonies

Lieutenant Elvis Medica really hoped that the Marines guarding the hatch to the Widowmaker didn’t notice the stunwand he’d tucked in the back of his trousers. As he and Lieutenant Commander Forrest Perkins walked towards the hatch, he felt a nervous sweat break out on his forehead.
If Lieutenant Commander Perkins felt nervous, he certainly didn’t show it, his face split in a wide, goofy grin as he continued to tell his story, “So,” he said, “there we were, skunk drunk off moonshine, and they dragged us in front of the Baron…”
“Right,” Elvis said, not even really listening as he nervously ran a hand over the biometric scanner next to the hatch. Forrest didn’t, and as they started towards the hatch, Elvis let himself feel a spurt of hope.
“Gentlemen,” one of the Marines stepped in front of them, “Sorry, but you both need to scan in.” Her voice was polite and professional, but Elvis’s stomach sank all the same. Stealing a ship was ever so much harder when people did their jobs.
Elvis gave a nervous smile, “I’m authorized to access the vessel,” he gestured at the scanner, “surely I can authorize the Lieutenant Commander?”
“I’m afraid not, sir,” the Marine said. “We’ve been instructed that only authorized personnel can access this ship.”
“Sure,” Forrest gave the Marine a smile, “I’ll just do that right now.”
Shit, Elvis thought to himself as Forrest turned back towards the scanner. That was the signal. Elvis drew the stun wand from behind his back, even as Forrest turned back, as if to say something. Elvis hit the nearest Marine just under the chin and the stunwand discharged twenty thousand volts to incapacitate the Marine even as it administered a tranquilizer dose.
Elvis looked back and saw that Forrest had the second Marine down as well. Forrest spoke into his comm for a moment and then he nodded at Elvis, “Corporal Wandry and Corporal Wicklund are on their way.”
Elvis could only nod nervously. Forrest had brought in about a dozen of their crew from the escape. The two Marines had volunteered immediately, both of them eager to get some revenge on Marius Giovanni. Yet both of them were hotheads and Elvis just hoped they didn’t blow this whole operation.
He tried hard not to think about what the operation involved as he and his nominal superior dragged the two unconscious Marines down the corridor and stashed them in a storage locker. Thankfully, this was the research portion of the station and was mostly empty at these hours. Most of Sanctuary Station was empty, really. The station lay on the outer edges of the Faraday system and it still hadn’t expanded to its full capacity, other than the shipyards. Most of the berths for warships were empty, the United Colonies Fleet scattered across dozens of star systems.
In another five years, Elvis knew that the fleet buildup would reach its stride, tens of thousands, possibly hundreds of thousands of spacers and Marines would move through these corridors. But for now, it was mostly empty… which was good since Elvis and Lieutenant Commander Forrest Perkins had just committed multiple felonies when they assaulted these two Marines.
By the time they got back to the airlock, Petty Officer Chap Godbey and Staff Sergeant Dawn Witzke stood outside the hatch. Staff Sergeant Witzke gave them both respectful nods, her face cheerful. “Skipper, Lieutenant.”
“Any trouble?” Elvis asked.
“Negative, sir. Your code authorized access, we started moving people aboard in small groups, as the Skipper instructed.”
“Good,” Lieutenant Commander Perkins said. “Once the last of our group get aboard, secure the hatch.”
On impulse, Elvis passed his comm unit over to Petty Officer Godbey. The station employed smart jamming in the research section to prevent unauthorized transmissions. Since he’d been assigned to the station, his comm unit should be able to reach the vessel’s bridge and let Forrest know if there were any issues.
Elvis followed his superior aboard, “We sure about this Skipper?”
“I think we’re a little bit beyond the point of no return at this point,” Forrest grinned at him. They worked their way up to the bridge of the Widowmaker and Forrest’s smile grew broad as he stroked the arm of the command chair. “You know,” he said after a long moment, “I didn’t think they’d ever let me command again after what happened to the Bowie.”
“Uh,” Elvis rolled his eyes, “technically they haven’t.” Forrest had been exonerated of wrongdoing in the initial board of inquiry, but that was hardly a statement of approval. There’d been rumors, too, of politicians wanting to drag him and other officers close to Emperor Lucius Giovanni through the mud. If those rumors were true, Lieutenant Commander Forrest Perkins might well never command again.
“True enough. Get down to engineering,” Forrest said after a moment. “Fire up the reactor and let me know when we’re good to go.”
“Sure thing, Skipper,” Elvis said. Despite his doubts about this whole thing, he trusted Forrest’s judgment. He had no idea whether Forrest was right about Princess Alannis Giovanni being alive or if this was the best way to go about rescuing her… but he had faith in Forrest’s experience and capabilities to determine the right course of action.
Elvis brought the antimatter reactor up with only a few minutes work. In fact, it was easier than he had expected, it wasn’t even in full standby mode, merely at idle. As the matter and antimatter matrix began feeding power to the ship’s systems, he messaged Lieutenant Commander Perkins, “We’re ready, Skipper.”
“Roger,” he replied. “I’ve disconnected us from the station. We’re getting calls from the station, but I’ve bluffed them so far, saying we’re doing some systems tests, but that won’t last long. I’m bringing up the drives.”
Elvis began to feed power to the ship’s drives, watching everything carefully. The automated systems controlled everything well, but it still required his direct attention, a glitch in the process would either ramp up the reactor’s power too quickly or could result in the grav-drives over drawing and locking out. The one would shut down the reactor and leave the ship without power and the other would knock out the drives long enough for them to reset. Either way, it wold mean they wouldn’t escape the system. Not before some kind of response team could take over the ship.
Under normal operation, Elvis would have engine techs who could monitor the process… but to say that Lieutenant Commander Perkins had assembled a skeleton crew would be something of an overstatement. Including Corporal Wandry and Corporal Wicklund, they had ten people to operate the destroyer. Despite the vessel’s extensive automation, the ship was still designed for a crew of thirty or more. That’s not even counting the bunk-space for fifty marines, he thought. The ship had been built in the Centauri Confederation as one of their hunter-killers, designed to insert teams of commandos on raids against rebel factions within the Centauri Confederation. Elvis wasn’t terribly impressed with the armament, but it’s stealth capabilities were damned impressive.
“Okay,” Forrest called out over the intercom,” we’re clear of the station.” Elvis let out a tense breath. That meant they were past the point of no return. Everyone aboard the ship was now guilty of piracy and mutiny. “I’ve just sent a formal message to Sanctuary Station’s commanding officer, informing him that I’ve instructed my crew that we’re on secret orders from Emperor Giovanni and that I bear all responsibility for our actions from this moment forward.”
Elvis swallowed as he realized what that meant. While it might not save their careers, it could be enough to avoid criminal charges for the rest of the crew.
Of course, even if they somehow accomplished the impossible, then Forrest would still be hung out to dry. He’d not only stolen the vessel, but he’d shouldered all the responsibility for it. Elvis’s lips pressed into a flat line. He stormed out of the engine room, headed for the bridge. He’d be damned if he let Forrest take all the blame for this.
He ran into a couple of men in civilian ship suits in the corridor.
“What is going on?” Rory demanded, running hand through his thinning hair. “We were in the middle of a delicate calibration process…” He blinked at Elvis, “Wait, what are you doing here?”
“This is most unusual,” Feliks gave a stork-like head bob, “you should know better than to run some kind of systems function while we conduct our work.”
“What the hell are you two doing here?” Elvis demanded. The two civilian engineers were supposed to be at work on several of the Balor vessel retrofits. That was why Elvis had let Forrest know that it was clear to steal the ship. No one was supposed to be aboard the ship. “Is there anyone else aboard?”
“Of course there isn’t anyone else aboard!” Rory sputtered. “That’s why we’re doing these calibrations tonight! You have no idea how annoying it is to have ‘help’ on hand getting in the way and messing things up!”
“Very counterproductive,” Feliks nodded. “Especially when one of them manages to injure themselves because they don’t follow safety procedures.” His dour expression and morose voice added extra weight to his statement, as if he saw such injuries on a regular basis.
With how these two are, it’s a wonder they haven’t killed anyone, Elvis thought.
“All the blood and screaming,” Rory nodded. “Very distracting. And I hate blood.”
“Look, we need to get you off the ship, now!” Elvis snapped. The last thing he wanted to add to his criminal record just now was kidnapping.
“That’s ridiculous!” Rory shouted. “I’m in the middle of a very delicate–”
“Jump is calculated,” Forrest said over the intercom, “jumping in ten seconds.”
“No!” Elvis shouted. Then he remembered that he’d passed his comm unit to Petty Officer Godbey. He turned and ran for the engineering console. The two engineers were bad enough to work with. He was not going to be stuck with them for weeks in shadow space, especially not after kidnapping them…
His hand slammed down on the intercom system, “Skipper, this is Lieutenant Medica, you can’t jump to shadow space we–”
The ship dropped into shadow space before he could finish.

Reading, Science Fiction

Coming Soon: Ghost Star

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Ghost Star, Book Six of the Shadow Space Chronicles, is coming soon!  How soon is soon, you may ask?  September 1st is the answer!

Lieutenant Commander Forrest Perkins is haunted by ghosts.

 
He’s lost his ship and most of his crew, he’s been accused of being an enemy agent, and the woman he has come to love has been officially declared dead.  He’s a man with nothing left to lose… which is why he’s about to do the unthinkable.  His plan is simple: steal a prototype warship, assemble a crew, and hunt down the man behind all this: Marius Giovanni.
 
To do that, he’s going to have to find a place whose location is shrouded in mystery.  It’s a star system that has been erased from the star charts, a star system of ancient alien ruins, rumored to be haunted and cursed, and a place where death and misery befalls all who venture there.  Forrest will have to go to the Ghost Star.
 
Where better to bring the woman he loves back from the dead?
Reading, Science Fiction, Writing

Valor’s Child

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Valor’s Child by Kal Spriggs

Valor’s Child is now live on Amazon!  Valor’s Child is the first book of my YA series, Valor’s Children.  The second book of the series, Valor’s Calling, is nearly complete and I hope to have it out  near the end of August.

This is a quick, fast, fun set of stories and I hope you all will enjoy reading them as much as I have writing them!

Life isn’t fair.

Jiden’s parents barely scrape out a living on the dry, dusty world of Century. Jiden wants more for herself and she is ready to step into a bright future, one which may lead her far from the frontier world of her birth.

She’s just got one obstacle: five months of military school. She’ll be away from her friends, subjected to long hours and a crushing work load. Yet as the challenges mount, she finds that there may be more to life besides comfort and security… things like duty and service.

You can get your copy from Amazon.  And in case you’d like to learn more about my writing process and why I wrote Valor’s Child, sign up for the Century Military Academy.

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The Temple of Light, Available Now!

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the-temple-of-light-kindle-v2The Temple of Light, book 5 of The Shadow Space Chronicles, is now available on Amazon.

The greatest threat is the one that you don’t see coming.

Lieutenant Alannis Giovanni has proven herself in battle, but now she has to face a far more personal threat. Her ex-husband, Reese, plans to activate an alien superweapon located at the Temple of Light that could devastate entire star systems and Alannis is the only one who can stop him.

She and the crew of the UCS Constellation will have to fight off Reese’s other pursuers, infiltrate pirate bastions, and defeat aliens bent upon the destruction of humanity in an effort to stop Reese from activating the superweapon.

It’s a dangerous mission, one where a single misstep could not only doom entire star systems, but embroil the United Colonies in a multiway war. Yet Alannis has little choice. She has to stop her ex-husband no matter the cost.

It’s a race to the Temple of Light, and whoever gets there first will have the power to destroy worlds.

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The Temple of Light Snippet Three

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the-temple-of-light-kindle-v2 Here’s snippet three of The Temple of Light.  The Temple of Light will be available on January 14th.

If you missed the first and second snippets you should read those first.  Snippet three focuses on what Reese and the mysterious Minder are up to…

 

 

 

Trident Forward Operational Base

<Redacted> System

July 7, 2409

 

Captain Reese Leone snapped to attention in front of his boss’s desk.  “My Lord, reporting as ordered.”

Lord Marius Octavious Giovanni, rightful Baron Giovanni, and eldest son of the Emperor Romulus I and his rightful heir, gave Reese a nod.  When he spoke his voice carried both authority and weight.  Marius Giovanni had every bit of the presence that his son, Lucius Giovanni had.  And he’s far more loyal to his people, Reese thought bitterly.  “Reese, I hear that you have almost completed our preparations?” Marius Giovanni asked.

“Yes, my Lord,” Reese nodded.  “I’ve acquired almost all of the items we’ll need.  There’s a few of the more… unique items that my people have located but not yet acquired.  I haven’t wanted to draw that level of attention until we begin our final preparations.”

“Understood,” Marius nodded.  He rose from behind his desk and came around.  As always, it somewhat surprised Reese at how short the man was, he barely came to Reese’s shoulder.  Granted, Reese was a hundred and ninety centimeters.  Marius projected so much presence that he seemed bigger, somehow.  “How has the other project come along… the one involving my daughter and grandson?”

Reese looked down.  “I’ve set things up, my Lord.”  Alannis Giovanni, Reese’s former wife and the mother of his child, was also Marius’s daughter.  The entire situation gave Reese a bit of a headache.  Marius Giovanni had lived in exile since Alannis was three weeks old, when he’d led a failed coup attempt to seize the Nova Roma Imperial Throne from his half-brother, Emperor Romulus II.  His son, Lucius Giovanni, had assumed the title of Baron and everyone had, until recently, believed that Marius had been executed for treason.  When the Chxor had seized Nova Roma, Emperor Romulus III had been executed, along with the crown prince, leaving the young Prince Octavian to assume the throne as Emperor Romulus IV.  Yet Marius’s son, Baron Lucius Giovanni had built alliances and founded the United Colonies, which had then liberated dozens of captured human worlds… including Nova Roma.

Reese didn’t know the details of how his brother-in-law had managed it, but his triumphant return had resulted in the people hailing him as their new Emperor.  He’d managed to pull off the “if I am called upon for the duty, then I will do it” appearance well enough, but Reese knew better than to believe that for a heartbeat.  Lucius must have arranged it all, just as he had manipulated Reese’s wife into joining the military to portray their family’s “noble service.”

Lucius had destroyed Reese’s marriage in the process and Reese wasn’t about to forget it.

However, Marius Giovanni was the rightful heir to the Nova Roma Empire.  Whatever else had happened in the time since didn’t change that.  And while Lucius had a vast wealth of resources to include the fabled Dreyfus Fleet… Marius Giovanni had quite a few resources of his own.  Reese didn’t expect Lucius to step down –not for his estranged father– but he did expect Marius Giovanni to come out on top of this little matter of Imperial succession.

Reese realized that he’d been quiet too long and he spoke up, “The teams are in place, I’ve set up multiple layers of cut-outs.  They don’t know exactly who they’re working for or anything beyond their part of the plan.  I’ve also kept the information secure from your man on the ground, since you don’t want to compromise his position.”

That last had been more than difficult.  Reese had been shocked to learn that General William Proscia worked for Lord Marius Giovanni.  The Marine General had served under Lucius for decades… but he’d begun his career as a junior officer under Marius Giovanni.  Apparently the same total loyalty that Lucius seemed to generate held true for his father as well.

In any case, General Proscia not only ran the Faraday Military Academy, but he also bore chief responsibility for the Imperial Regiment, the bodyguard unit for Lucius and his close family.

“Good,” Marius said.  His dark eyes bored into Reese.  “Do you feel a high level of confidence towards their success?”

Reese felt sweat bead his forehead as he met his superior’s eyes.  Failure was one area where Reese had seen that Marius was very different from his son.  Admiral Lucretta Mannetti had been Marius Giovanni’s chief agent until only a few years earlier.  After Lucius had defeated her not just once, but twice, Marius had given the order for her death.  He’d managed to arrange for her to die while she was under guard in a prison on Faraday, in a place where she should have been untouchable.

Not only that, but Marius had arranged the death in such a fashion as it looked like an accident… and as far as Reese could tell, no one questioned the story.  Failure brought drastic consequences.

“I’m not, my Lord,” Reese said.  “The security situation being what it is…” he thought about the new Imperial House that had been constructed on Faraday, designed with all manner of electronic and physical defenses.  Reese shook his head, “I wouldn’t give them even odds of success.”  The situation was almost as bad when Lucius’s family was on Nova Roma, but there at least the urban sprawl had encircled the Imperial Palace, which gave his people more freedom to move around.

“Even with your… connection?” Marius asked.

Reese swallowed nervously, “My Lord, I don’t feel confident enough to exploit it fully, not without exposing that source.”

“You aren’t allowing your personal feelings to sway you in this?” Marius asked with an intent voice.

“No, my Lord,” Reese swallowed.  “And I will assure you, I want this to succeed every bit as much as you do.  I just don’t feel this gives us the best opportunity of success.  Given what happened to the last person that tried to kidnap a member of Lucius’s family…”

He shouldn’t have said that, he realized.

Marius glared at him, “The imposter behind that bungled attempt deserved what he received.”  The Centauri Confederation Ambassador, who had claimed to be Marius Giovanni, had actually succeeded in kidnapping Lucius’s daughter.  Parties unknown had returned her… and the charred remains of the impostor had been delivered to the Centauri Confederation with a stern warning not to try such a thing ever again.

“Still, my Lord,” Reese hedged, “I think that even the attempt will be likely to draw more attention to our other activities when we draw near the critical juncture.”

Marius Giovanni cocked his head, his face stern.  Yet he gave a single nod, “Alright, I’ll grant you that point.  The last thing we need is someone getting in the way of some of those preparations… though involvement at the right time might be to our overall benefit.”

“My Lord?” Reese asked.

“It’s easy to forget that some of our opponents,” Marius had never once referred to his son as an enemy, just as an opponent, a point that Reese hadn’t missed, “are at odds.  Putting them against one another isn’t always something we need to take the time to arrange, sometimes they’ll do that on their own.”  His eyes went narrow, “Any further news about our special ‘friends’?”

Reese shivered a bit as he considered those particular enemies.  Up until the battle in Ghornath space, Marius’s organization had only had a theory about them even existing.  Yet the rumors that had come out had already had profound ripples across human space.  Former rivals in any number of systems now had reason to reexamine old grudges.  Even the Shadow Lords had apparently been surprised by the revelation of a hidden force within human space.

But not Marius, Reese thought, whoever these people are, my boss at least suspected their existence and has included them in his plans.

“No additional news, yet, my Lord,” Reese said.  “But I’ve confirmed that the destruction of Admiral Mannetti’s facility at Iota Persei was their work, based off of examination of the wreckage.”  Admiral Mannetti’s research into Reese’s current field of study had come to an abrupt halt when parties unknown had destroyed her facility in the Iota Persei system, killing most of her scientists and engineers.  She’d assumed it was the work of Shadow Lord Imperious, based upon the timing… but Reese had examined some of the wreckage and confirmed that the energy weapons damage was most likely a result of high energy gamma or x-rays.  Since that seemed to be the primary weapon system of this mysterious faction, it seemed evident that they’d been behind the setback.

And so it only stands to reason that they’ll try to do the same against us again, Reese thought.

“Well, then,” Marius Giovanni said, “in that case, I want you to remind all of our involved allies of the importance of secrecy, especially as we draw closer to success.  Go ahead and begin our final round of acquisitions… and I trust you are willing to do what’s necessary to achieve that?”

Reese swallowed as he contemplated the risk, not just to their project, but to himself in particular.  “Yes, my Lord, I’m willing to do it.”  Self-sacrifice wasn’t something he normally valued, but with the stakes they faced, and for his wife and son, he considered the risk acceptable.

“Excellent,” Marius said.  “I’ve said before that you’ve impressed me as my son-in-law, but you continue to show that my daughter has excellent taste… even if she may be a little confused at the moment in her priorities.”

Reese knew the comment was meant to be a compliment, but that didn’t take the sting out of it, either.  Alannis had rejected him at their last meeting, too focused on her own perspective to see the big picture.  Everything I’ve done, he thought, I’ve done for her… for us.

“That will be all, Reese,” Marius straightened and walked back around his desk.  Reese turned away, headed for the door, his mind already going to the preparations he had to make.

“Oh, and Reese?” Marius Giovanni’s words caught him in the doorway, and Reese turned attentively.  “Go ahead and initiate your secondary operation.  I’ll accept the risk of failure for the opportunity it presents: bring my daughter and her son to me.”

***

 

Location Unspecified

<Redacted> System

July 7, 2409

 

The being that called itself Minder had worked at his task for decades.  He took pleasure in his schemes and manipulations.  The human race, the greatest threat his kind had ever faced, were a persistent foe.  They had come back from defeat after defeat, and Minder and his predecessors had still managed to keep them contained and focused inwards.

It had taken carefully-tailored plagues, massacres, assassinations, and even the occasional destruction of entire star systems.  Minder had personally killed thousands and his efforts had killed humans in the hundreds of millions.  As detached as he was from it all, even he felt a little sick considering the number of intelligent beings he had snuffed out of existence.

And yet they continue to be a threat, he pondered.  More and more it feels as if I’m merely fighting a holding action.  Despite the darkness of the thought, he let no trace of it touch his face.  It wasn’t merely emotional control.  It was an element of instinct… for while he wore a handsome face and looked as indistinguishably human as anyone, facial expression was not an element of his genetic ancestry.  Well, he thought wryly, except by a sort of adoption.

He summoned his daughter with a thought and his door opened.  She stepped inside, a smile on her face.  She looked as human as Minder did, but while he was handsome, she possessed a stunning level of beauty.  Even as disconnected as he was from human emotions such as physical attraction, he could still appreciate her appearance, just as he could enjoy human artistic expression.  She was every bit as breath-taking as one of the classical human sculptures… and just as human as a sculpted piece of marble.  Of course, only a few years ago she had been entirely human.  In fact, his decision to convert her to one of his kind had been a reluctant one, yet between his outward duties and his secret efforts, he had needed someone with enough authority among the humans to act in his interests.  “You called, Father?”

Even here in the offices that they absolutely controlled, they sustained the appearance.  After the many years of his kind’s efforts, it would not do to slip up, to let their guard down and so spoil things.  Besides, he left a small number of listening and observation devices in place in his offices, to better manipulate his human underlings.  More than once he had used such devices to lure humans into false expectations, including at least one assassination attempt where humans had expected their leader to be merely human.  He felt real pleasure as he remembered their shock and horror at how easily he had defeated them.  “Any progress on that matter I asked you to look into?”  The interest in the Enemy’s artifacts, he projected his thoughts, has it continued?

“Unfortunately not,” She replied aloud.  My sources have confirmed that there has been an increased interest in their acquisition, she replied in his mind, they continue to investigate and Sidewinder has intervened as necessary.

“I understand,” Minder said.  “Please keep me informed of any changes in the situation as they occur.”  Sidewinder is to be used only when we are left with no other options, he told her, the humans have begun to suspect our existence and if they start to examine things too closely, too many of our projects will fail.  He formed an easy smile as if the matter he’d mentioned was of little import, even while he shifted the topic to one that any potential observers would find of more interest, “Now, I was looking at the financial sector reports…”

***

Reading, Science Fiction

The Temple of Light Snippet Two

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the-temple-of-light-kindle-v2Here is the second snippet from The Temple of Light, book five of The Shadow Space Chronicles.  You can get The Temple of Light on 14 January.  Find the first snippet here.

***

“Well,” Captain Daniel Beeson smiled, “that could have gone better.”

“Sorry, sir,” Lieutenant Giovanni said, her expression downcast.

“Well, we’ve received the official thanks of Tigel’s planetary government for ‘removing an entire criminal organization,’ so I suppose it didn’t work out too bad,” Daniel said.  “But as I considered just how to break it to the Emperor that I got you killed —if I got you killed– I somehow don’t think that thanks would be worth all that much.”

Lieutenant Giovanni looked down and Daniel’s smile faded.  “I think it is best that we return to Faraday.  From what I understand, they’ve had some developments there and the Admiralty may have a better grasp on the situation rather than us continuing to chase after rumors and false leads.”

Lieutenant Giovanni gave a nod at that and Daniel’s gaze went to Lieutenant Commander Perkins.  He’d turned a blind eye to their relationship mostly because they kept things professional and as his XO, Lieutenant Commander Perkins wasn’t directly in her rating chain.  That didn’t mean he didn’t know about it.  “Besides, Forrest, you’ve just come down on orders.”

“Orders, sir?” Forrest stared at him in surprise.  “I’m being transferred?”

“You are.  Apparently they’ve had an officer vacancy aboard the destroyer Bowie, so once we get back to Faraday’s Sanctuary Station, you’ll transfer immediately,” Daniel said.  He couldn’t help a smile at Forrest’s obvious dismay.  A transfer to a destroyer after his time aboard the Constellation was something of a demotion.  While that wasn’t technically true, that’s how it would be seen… except for one important point.  “I understand you’ll be replacing Lieutenant Commander Felton as the new CO of the Bowie.  Congratulations.”

Forrest’s eyes went wide, “Thank you, sir.”

A command after such a short time as XO aboard the Constellation was a sign that his performance had been noticed.  Granted, Forrest Perkins was older than most Lieutenant Commanders, at nearly fifty, though his youthful demeanor and access to the United Colonies’ longevity treatments made him look no older than twenty-five.  He’d only served in the United Colonies Fleet for six years, but he’d plenty of civilian ship experience and had graduated from Saragossa’s Fleet Academy over twenty years previously.

And since Saragossa may sign on to the United Colonies, Daniel thought, using him as something of a poster-child isn’t a bad idea.  Daniel didn’t know if Forrest realized such politics were involved, but he wouldn’t be surprised if he would figure it out soon enough.  Not that he hasn’t earned it, Daniel thought.

“No, thank you for your exemplary service,” Daniel said.  “Once we make port, Lieutenant Commander Rickard will take over as XO until your replacement arrives.”  He couldn’t help a look at Ensign Giovanni.  “At that point, I’d understand if both of you might want to take some leave.”

Both of them flushed and neither looked at the other.  Well, he thought, serves them right for them thinking they’re fooling anyone, but at least they kept things professional.

“Did we learn anything from the smuggler’s files?” Lieutenant Giovanni asked.  The short woman’s olive-skinned face was intent.  Captain Beeson understood why, but that didn’t mean he fully approved of her dedication.

“I see that you’ve spoken with Gunny Tam,” Daniel snorted.  “We’re still sorting through the data.  Strictly speaking, I shouldn’t be telling you this as the assistant tactical officer.”  She blanched a bit as he said that, but his tone eased, “however, since I figure you’ll be seeing most of this information from your brother, the Emperor, I might as well save a couple of steps.”

She rolled her eyes at that, but she gave him a nod, so he went on.  “We’ve found some sales data as well as indications of where Reese Leone has made purchases,” Daniel said.  “Which did include this system, but apparently he hasn’t been seen here for at least four months.”

She looked disappointed at that, especially since they’d come here based upon information that he was based out of or operating in this system.  If he hadn’t been seen in that long, it suggested that this was yet another dead end.

There’d been a few of those over the past six months.  The Constellation’s mission was to investigate any leads on Reese’s whereabouts, activities, and his mysterious patrons.  Certainly the amount of money and resources Reese accessed on a regular basis suggested that he had some powerful allies.  “The word I’ve received from Faraday says that they’ve put together a working group for this specific job.”  The somewhat cryptic statement had come through the ansible network.  They still didn’t know for certain if the network was compromised.  The Ghornath had discovered indications that a mysterious group could intercept ansible transmissions.  The United Colonies Fleet had begun to limit the critical information they transmitted.  Most of what they did send now was either entirely administrative or personal.

“Now, we’re headed back home.  Lieutenant Commander Perkins, I understand some of the other officers will be throwing you a congratulatory party, so I expect you to be appropriately surprised.”  Daniel smiled, “you are dismissed.”

***

The Temple of Light will be available on 14 January.  Find out more here.

Reading, Science Fiction, Writing

The Temple of Light: Snippet One

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the-temple-of-light-kindle-v2Here’s the first snippet of The Temple of Light!

Prologue

Gamma Leporis System

Colonial Republic

July 1, 2409

Lieutenant Alanis Giovanni ducked as gunfire ripped down the alleyway behind her and bullets tore through the air over her head.  “This is all your fault!” Alanis shouted as she ducked into a doorway next to Lieutenant Commander Forrest Perkins.

“Me?” He asked, even as he squatted and then leaned out to fire his pistol.  “You’re the one that mentioned Reese’s name, all I did was find the guy selling illegal artifacts.”

Alanis couldn’t argue with that.  As soon as she’d mentioned her ex-husband’s name, the situation had gone from a shady business deal to a running gunfight.  They’d come down here in civilian clothing to attract less attention, but right now, she wished they’d been suited up for combat.

Alanis peeked down the alleyway.  She only saw a couple of the artifact smugglers at that end, which probably meant the others were flanking them.  She pulled out her comm and spoke into it, “Gunny Tam, we need that extraction.”

“We’re on the way,” Gunny Tam said.  “ETA five minutes.”

“What do they say?” Forrest demanded as he fired again.    He’d lost his earbud in their mad scramble through the town.  He barely fit his tall, lanky frame into the narrow alcove, though when they’d been running, Alanis had barely been able to keep up.

“Five minutes,” Alanis said to Forrest.  Her small frame fit into the little bit of cover just fine.

“How are you on ammo?” Forrest asked.

“Have you seen me firing at all for the past ten minutes?” Alanis asked.  “I fired off both my magazines just getting out of the warehouse.”  She’d killed a few of their attackers in the process, which might have been a mistake.  The smugglers seemed to be the types to hold grudges.

“Well,” Forrest said, “I’ve got three rounds left.”

“Keep their heads down,” Alanis said.  She turned to the door and pulled out her datapad.  As she plugged it in, she noticed the bullet lodged in the screen.  The smart-crystal screen had shattered, but apparently her personal datapad’s thick circuitry had stopped the bullet.  Which doesn’t do me much good right now, she thought as she threw it aside.  “Give me your datapad,” Alanis snapped.

“It’s in my back pocket,” Forrest said as he leaned over and fired.  Down the alleyway, someone screamed.  A rattle of gunfire came from both directions and both Alanis and Forrest went flat against the doorway as bullets screamed past and bits of brick and stonework shattered around them.

“Which pocket!” Alanis screamed.

“Left cheek, left cheek!” Forest shouted, even as he fired off his second-to-last round.

Alanis pulled out his data pad and hooked it into her cable.  “Seriously?!” she demanded, “this thing is like twenty years old!  It doesn’t even have any software upgrades!”

“I just use it for messaging!” Forrest shouted as he ducked back.

Alanis didn’t bother to respond.  She finished hacking the door’s electronic lock and the metal security door for the warehouse clicked open.  “Inside!” She shouted.  As Forrest followed her in, she slammed the door and triggered the lock from the inside.  “That should hold them for a moment, come on.”

“That’s come on, sir.” Forrest smirked as he followed her at a jog.  “Can I get my datapad back?”

“This barely even qualifies as a datapad, sir.” Alanis shook the offensive bit of equipment.  “I’ve got a music player with more capabilities.”

“It does what I need it for…”

They paused as they heard the sound of impacts on the door to the warehouse.  “That’s not going to hold them long,” Alanis said.

“Anything useful in here?” Forrest moved over to a heavy crate, the top covered by a tarp.  He sighed, “Mratha rice.”

“Well, at least we won’t starve,” Alanis said.  She threw back another tarp and wrinkled her nose in distaste.  Mratha rice was a healthy, nutritional grain that basically tasted like cardboard.  It also smelled sort of like old gym socks.

Someone opened fire on the door and bullets ricocheted through the warehouse.  Alanis cursed and took off in the other direction.  She skidded to a halt, though, as she saw a set of offices off to the side, “this way, there may be a door!”  I am never going to insist on going on one of these again, Alanis thought.  It was all supposed to be simple.  Meet the smugglers, see if they knew anything about Reese.  Yet this was the third time one of these meetings had ended in gunfire.  Three for three, she thought.

She and Forrest rushed over, just as they heard their attackers kick in the door behind them.  As someone sprayed gunfire through the warehouse, Alanis dove through the doorway to the offices.  Glass shattered as windows exploded inwards and the archaic displays shattered.  “They’re firing blind, at least,” Forrest muttered as he crawled across the floor, pushing a wave of broken glass ahead of him.

“They’re trying to keep our heads down,” Alanis snapped.  It was working, too.  The smugglers were local, they probably knew where the other entrances were to this warehouse and they probably just wanted to keep them pinned in while they got in position.  With how dilapidated most of the neighborhood was, she doubted any kind of law enforcement would arrive soon enough to help.  Another few minutes for Gunny Tam, she thought.

She glanced up and her eyes widened as she saw the shotgun in place under the desk.  Apparently the office manager didn’t feel this was a quality neighborhood either.  She pulled the shotgun down and checked it.  It was local manufacture, a simple pump action, but it was better than nothing.  She dragged it with her as she backed across the floor.

“Where did you find that?” Forrest demanded.

“I’ve got resources,” Alanis smirked.  They came up to the back of the office and Alanis tried the door.  It opened, but just on a storage closet, filled with cleaning supplies.  Worse, the thin plastic walls wouldn’t stop any bullets.  It was a place to die, not one to hold out for help.

“Alright, we need to move,” Forrest said.  She could hear shouts as the smugglers moved through the warehouse.  They didn’t have much time.

“Split up?” Alanis asked.

Forrest nodded.  “I’ll work my way around the right, you go left.”

Alanis hesitated.  Right led back towards the door they’d come in.  Their attackers probably had more people concentrated there.  She didn’t know if he’d chosen that direction because it held the most risk or because he wanted to protect her… or because she had a comm unit still and could summon help for both of them.

On impulse she reached out, caught him by the collar and pulled him in for a kiss.  It was short, passionate and it sent an electric thrill through her.  “Be careful,” she said.  Technically their relationship was within the regulations, they weren’t under same command: he was the ship’s XO, she was in the tactical department.  Keep telling yourself that, she thought.

She moved to the side door of the office and then out into the warehouse without a look back.

As further gunfire echoed, she bit her lip and stayed low, keeping quiet even as bullets impacted crates of Mratha rice and sent grains raining down on her.  A moment later, she froze at the sound of a footstep, just around the corner.

“That fucking bitch,” an accented voice said, “she killed Nori.  When we get her, I’m going to kill her and rape her.”

“Only if she doesn’t kill you first, Jas,” a nervous voice said.  “She zakked Nori fast.   Two shots, bam-bam.”  He had a similar, rolling accent, different from most that Alanis had heard.

“Shut up,” Jas whispered.  “I’m not afraid of no woman.”

“I don’t want to die, Jas,” the second man said.

Alanis didn’t wait to hear more.  As their footsteps drew near, she rolled around the corner and leveled the shotgun on the nearest man.  As Jas’s rifle came around, she fired the shotgun.  The heavy shot ripped open the man’s torso and he fell back.  Alanis worked the pump action, even as the second smuggler let out a panicked shout and turned to run.  Her second shot caught the man in the back and he dropped to the ground with a wail.

Alanis worked the pump, ejecting another shell and then crawled forward.  She heard shouts and running feet, then a single shot from the far side of the office and a scream.  I hope Forrest gets another weapon, she thought, even as she reached the fallen smuggler.  She picked up his rifle and checked it.  It was an unfamiliar model, but she worked the action and chambered a round.  She dug through the dead smuggler’s pockets until she found another couple of magazines.  Next time, she told herself, I’m bringing more ammunition, I don’t care how it looks.

The smuggler she’d shot in the back gave a whimper as he tried to crawl away.  Alanis saw that he had dragged himself along, his legs limp, with a broad trail of blood behind him.  “She’s over here!” he shouted, “help me!”

Alanis took careful aim and fired.  The smuggler dropped lifeless to the ground.

Yet a moment later she heard more gunfire and she rolled away as bullets tore through the crate next to her.  Alanis abandoned the shotgun and crawled away as fast as she could.  Her boots cleared the corner just as flashlights illuminated the dead smuggler and more gunfire riddled his corpse.  These guys are a little trigger-happy, now, aren’t they?

“There’s one over here!” Someone shouted, just as gunfire picked up from the far side of the warehouse.  As the flashlights turned away, Alanis pivoted around the corner and brought her rifle up.  She could barely see the two men in the dim light, but she didn’t hesitate.  She fired four times in as many seconds and both men dropped to the ground, wounded or dead.  She took off at a crouch, running the opposite direction, just as more gunfire tore through the warehouse where she’d been.

As she reached the far end of the warehouse, she heard a roar of engines outside the building.  “We’re here,” Gunny Tam barked over her earbud.

“I’m at the rear of the building,” Alanis said.  “Lieutenant Commander Perkins is near the front of the building.  Ten or more hostiles inside, undetermined number outside.”

“Roger,” Gunny Tam said.  “We’re making a door.”

“Marines inbound!” Alanis shouted, even as she dropped to the ground and covered her ears.  This was going to be loud…

As the back wall of the warehouse blew inwards, she was very glad that the Constellation had upgraded their Marines to powered armor.

***

The Temple of Light will be available on 14 January.  Find out more here.