Let me kick this off with a snippet from the start of the story and the incident that sparked an adventure for this star navigator:
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“Freeze.”
When Captain Dava Jordon
used that bone-chilling tone, no one asked questions.
Taro Shall, ship’s
navigator, didn’t even blink as she stalked toward his navcon, weapon drawn and
eyes locked on her target. Thankfully, whatever that target was, it wasn’t him.
She was aiming toward the deck in the general vicinity of his feet.
She squeezed off two
blasts of her laze-pistol.
Taro jumped back as the
searing heat penetrated through his deck boots.
Just below his station,
something long, tan, and patterned in singe marks writhed on the floor. “What
the Hades, Skipper?”
Captain Jordon took two
cautious steps forward and leaned down to examine the victim, sweeping back her
long black hair with one hand. “Take a look.”
Taro gripped the armrest
of his flight couch and went to one knee, craning his neck to get a better look
at the thing on the floor. When he finally registered the shape and scales, he
sucked in his breath. “Snake?”
The captain screwed up
her face in disgust. “Must’ve picked it up back on Dartis. It’s a sand viper.”
“Viper?” Taro pushed to
his feet and backed off a step.
“Yeah. A very deadly
one. If one of these little terrors sinks his fangs into you, you’ll drop
before you can spit out a curse.”
Taro swallowed the ball
of ice rising in his throat. “Guess I’m damn lucky you saw it.”
“Sensed it,” she
clarified. “I was plugged into Calypso. The flight deck motion
sensors picked it up.” She nodded to the black drive helmet now perched on a
cradle at her command console.
Taro exhaled, his pulse
still in the process of deceleration. “Glad you never miss.”
“Well, it’s not the end
of our problems.” She straightened, holstering her weapon.
“That’s a hatchling.
Maybe a couple days old. It’s been five days since we left Dartis.
That means there’s a
mother and several dozen siblings slithering around Calypso.”
“Damn. We’ve got
trouble.”
“Exactly.” Captain
Jordon scrubbed a hand over her face. “Looks like we’re grounded until we find
a fix. Before Doc Emboratyr gets word of our little issue, we need to hire an
exterminator. A good one.” She pinned him with a look. “We, of course,
means you. Best get to it. We’re losing daylight.”
Taro snagged his jacket
from the back of his flight couch. “Aye, Boss, I’m on it.”
With one last glance at
the charbroiled little carcass, he strode to the lift.
“Better watch where you
step on your way out. Could be more of them anywhere,” the captain called after
him.
Taro gave her a casual
salute and did a quick check of the floor as the lift rotated to descend
from Calypso’s upper flight deck to the main level below. He warily
scanned the corridor before venturing off.
The wall com clicked on
as he headed down the curved passage toward the airlock. Captain Jordan’s voice
filled the corridor. “If you see Pareen out there, tell him to stay away
from Calypso until I shoot him an all-clear on his recall. I’m
not going to drop the quarantine flags. Don’t want to scare off our client.”
“You got it, Skipper,”
Taro answered as he reached Calypso’s main airlock and activated
the controls to extend the ramp.
“And watch out for
Palies. I want no trouble with the Ithians.”
“No messing with the
Alliance. Check that.”
Outside the ship,
Carduwa’s warm, herbal-scented air ruffled Taro’s hair and danced along the
pavement in gentle eddies. A friendly sun lit the heavy greenery of tall trees
and dense shrubbery just beyond the spaceport grounds. This planet was nothing
like the bone-dry dustbowl of Dartis where they’d last made port. Thank the
Island Spirits for that much.
Taro made his way to the
nearest street just off the spaceport exit and glanced down an endless row of
brightly colored vendor tents. Where to start?
He ducked his head into
the entrance of the first two pavilions with a questioning, “Exterminator?” The
answer on both counts was a brisk shake of a keeper’s head. Somewhere around
vendor twelve, he got a lead.
“No exterminator, but
you wanna see Dini Kemm. Red and yellow striper. Tiharra Lane. Three streets
west.”
Taro plucked a citrus
drink tube from the vendor’s laboring chiller, tossing the elderly man five
replas. “Many thanks.”
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The book trailer also provides the exciting tone of this adventure:
It's taken me a couple of years to get this one where I wanted it to be, expanding scenes, adding chapters, and writing a whole new epilogue.
This standalone book is nearly twice the length of the original, which gave me the opportunity to delve a little deeper into the mystery surrounding the Calypso and her captain, to better establish a new character who also has a role in SpyDog, and to give more insights into the relationship of the leading couple.
Readers loved the original story and the HEA, but a few were a little distraught that Taro had been left in such a quandary. The new epilogue addresses this and takes the relationship between Taro and Adini just a little further into the future.
I think you're gonna love it!
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Navigator Taro Shall's captain assigns him an unexpected
mission–find a way to eradicate deadly vipers that have infested starship
Calypso. He never expects to find the solution to his problem in the hands of
Adini, a charming street vendor. But the bio-engineered StarDog he acquires
turns out to be a galactic hot potato, and both Taro and Adini are soon
fugitives on the run.
Adini Kemm can't deny her fascination for the honor-bound
navigator, though his past and her present seem to null any chance at a shared
future. Until her father's capture as a spy catapults both her and Taro into a
desperate bid to save him...and straight into the clutches of a brewing
insurrection.
As Taro's bond with Adini grows, so does their jeopardy.
Determined not to draw Calypso or his captain into the fray, Taro must rely on
his wits to keep both Adini and his secrets safe from the renegade leader who takes
them prisoner.
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StarDog will be on sale for only .99 cents until November 11th, Veteran's Day.
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You all have a Happy Halloween and a wonderful week!
