DARK HORSE
by Michelle
Diener
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
BLURB:
Rose McKenzie may be far from Earth with no way back, but she's made a
powerful ally--a fellow prisoner with whom she's formed a strong bond. Sazo's
an artificial intelligence. He's saved her from captivity and torture, but he's
also put her in the middle of a conflict, leaving Rose with her loyalties
divided.
Captain Dav Jallan doesn't know why he and his crew have stumbled
across an almost legendary Class 5 battleship, but he's not going to complain.
The only problem is, all its crew are dead, all except for one strange, new
alien being.
She calls herself Rose. She seems small and harmless, but less and
less about her story is adding up, and Dav has a bad feeling his crew, and
maybe even the four planets, are in jeopardy. The Class 5's owners, the Tecran,
look set to start a war to get it back and Dav suspects Rose isn't the only
alien being who survived what happened on the Class 5. And whatever else is out
there is playing its own games.
In this race for the truth, he's going to have to go against his
leaders and trust the dark horse.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
EXCERPTS:
Gee stretched himself impossibly straighter, his slightly
rounded chest puffing up. “Iʼm finished talking to you.”
Dav stared at him until the Tecran turned away, then he
walked over to the one cell that was different.
He could feel Geeʼs eyes on him, sense Appalʼs interest, as
she also picked up what he was seeing.
This was the cell of an advanced sentient. He could see a
chair and table, a handheld tablet and a bed made up with sheets and blankets.
He looked up and down the row, but this was the only cell set up like this. He
looked over at Gee, but the captain was still turned away, his shoulders stiff.
Dav shrugged. Heʼd be wasting his time trying to get anything
out of the Tecran. Borji could give him the lens feed. Give them an idea what
they would find on Harmon.
He walked out of the holding area, taking a deep breath of
clean air when he and Appal were on the other side of the closed door, although
now that the air filtration was working again, the smell was not as bad as it
had been.
That, or heʼd gotten used to it.
“He didnʼt know the explorer craft had left the ship.” Appal
almost whispered the words.
“No. We might have to consider this was a rescue and revenge
mission.”
“Someone rescued the prisoners, punished their captors?” Appal
looked at the dead Tecran littering the passageway. Whistled. “Some punishment.
What were they holding in there? If Borji is right, whoever they are they
hijacked a Class 5ʼs internal systems and used it against itself.”
“Whoever or whatever they are, I donʼt think the Tecran
realized they were quite so powerful. Or perhaps they simply have powerful
friends.” Dav frowned. While the animal in the launch bay looked fierce, in
fact sent a primal chill down his spine, he had the sense it wasnʼt an advanced
sentience. But one of the prisoners definitely had been.
“Weʼre going to Harmon?” Appal asked, and there was a keen
edge to her words.
“Weʼre going to Harmon."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
AUTHOR Bio and Links:
Michelle Diener
writes historical fiction, fantasy and science fiction. Having worked in
publishing and IT, she’s now very happy crafting new worlds and interesting
characters and wondering which part of the world she can travel to next.
Michelle was
born in London, grew up in South Africa and currently lives in Australia with
her husband and two children.
When she’s not
writing, or driving her kids from activity to activity, you can find her
blogging at Magical Musings, or online at Twitter, at Google+ and Facebook.
http://www.michellediener.com/
http://www.magicalmusings.com/
http://twitter.com/michellediener
https://plus.google.com/u/0/+MichelleDiener/posts
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Michelle-Diener/196593580366013
BUY Links:
http://www.amazon.com/Dark-Horse-Michelle-Diener-ebook/dp/B00Z9R1W9W/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1434370128&sr=8-1&keywords=dark+horse+michelle+diener
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/dark-horse-michelle-diener/1122089042?ean=2940152186161
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
No comments:
Post a Comment