Dark Empire Book One: Shadows Approach Chapter Two Scene One

 

Just a little over a week before the book is out! Meanwhile, a little hint of shared attraction between Stacy and Nobek Kuran as they head for the Government House and a first look at Earth II:

With every passing mile they flew, Stacy’s nervousness andexhilaration mounted. Outside the shuttle Kuran piloted, Earth II was asparkling jewel. From the metal-and-glass buildings of its first city, lyingoutside the spaceport, to the lush wooded areas beyond, to the seashore wherethe largest of the planet’s ocean lapped, it was as beautiful as Haven. Soon itwould be teeming with Earthers, whom had been displaced a decade prior fromtheir dying home planet.

“What do you think of it?” she asked her companion.

He shrugged. “Considering this was a lifeless rock less thanfive years ago, it’s impressive. Terraforming an entire planet is difficult,from what I’ve been told. The engineers outdid themselves when they cooked upyour second Earth.”

“They invented groundbreaking processes to make it happenquickly. Barely a century ago, it would have taken fifty years to do this, andthere was no guarantee it would take. This became reality in a mere five years,if you count surveying potential planets and narrowing the candidates down tothe right one. Once they started establishing the atmosphere, it became viablewithin two years. All that was left then was putting our native flora and faunain place.” She gazed in awe at the distant mountains, verdant with trees andfoliage. The seeds had come from the original Earth, as had the animals, birds,and fish, which now proliferated on its namesake.

“Too bad you’re spoiling it by erecting all those buildings.You couldn’t just use the natural landscape the way we do on Kalquor? Naturalis so much better.”

“Says the man living on a space station.”

“Says the man who gets to be planet-side for most of mywaking hours. If I were cooped up on that orbiting nightmare day in and dayout, I’d probably blow it up.” He assumed a fierce expression to back up hisclaim.

Stacy chuckled. Kuran had been in and out of the Kalquorianfleet, depending on the manpower needed, in recent wars. He might prefer tolive on a planet, but he coped fine shut up in a ship or space station.

It was the perfect opportunity to dig for a littleinformation. “How are your clanmates handling Station Alpha?”

“Rihep can handle anything. If you threw a wooden box at himand said, ‘live in there,’ he wouldn’t bat an eye.” Kuran’s smile deepened, hisaffection for his clan leader obvious.

“And your Imdiko?”

“Etnil’s complained nonstop.”

Stacy eyed him with confused concern. “Why are you laughingabout it?”

“You have to understand Etnil. If he’s bitching, theneverything is probably all right. I don’t worry until he goes quiet.” Kuranshook his head, snickering. “Our window vid stopped working last night. He saidthe view of Earth was the only reason he took the job. He got hold of sheetmetal cutters this morning before I left and pretended he was cutting a windowin the hull. He said, ‘The vacuum of space will kill us, but what a wonderfulview as we gasp for air.’”

Stacy’s laughter joined his. It wasn’t the only tale she’dheard of Etnil’s sense of humor. For a psychologist, he was quite the cutup.

She quieted as they approached the outskirts of anothercity. Kuran didn’t take them as far as where the tallest buildings stretchedskyward. It was on the outer border where Government Hall, also the governor’sresidence, sat in the middle of ten acres of manicured grounds. It would be herhome until voters tossed her out or she ran the length of allowed terms.

Kuran might have been dismissive of Earther building andlandscaping preferences, but Stacy thought the stretch of green grass and plotsof flowers and vegetable gardens were lovely. He banked around the whitebuilding itself, an impressive edifice with two wings and columns reaching itsfour-story height. It was elegant but not overly showy, in her opinion. TheSaucin’s residence on Plasius was far more ostentatious, and the Dantovonianprime minister had a compound that stretched a square mile.

“Home sweet home,” Kuran said. “We should have brought abooster pack, so you could jump from the shuttle and land on the lawn for adramatic entrance.”

“Don’t start on our first day, now.”

They grinned at each other.

* * * *

A new planet. A newenemy. Is the end coming for the Kalquorian Empire?

In the aftermath ofthe Kalquorian civil war and the defeat of the Bi’is invasion fleet, the empirehas enjoyed peace. A new Earth has been born. A Kalquorian leads the GalacticCouncil of Planets. An era of harmony seems assured.

However, new dangersarrive on the horizon. Governor Stacy Nichols finds herself at odds withpowerful opponents who want Earth II to return to the old ways that led to thedemise of their original planet. They’ll do anything to stop her, especiallywhen they discover her newfound romance with Clan Rihep of Kalquor.

After five years and aterrifying encounter with an unknown entity, Clan Piras is finally leavingtheir spy duties in Bi’is space. Now they must face enemies closer to home: thefamilies of those they sacrificed while on a secret mission during theKalquorian civil war.

A new threat to theexistence of Kalquor and the entire Galactic Council of Planets arrives in themidst of these challenges, a dark menace unlike anything faced before. Oneyoung, inexperienced spyship ensign is all that stands between the galaxy andutter destruction. Can he warn the empire in time…or is it already too late?

DarkEmpire 1: Shadows Approach releasesAugust 4. Pre-order now at Amazon, Amazon UK, Nook, Smashwords, Kobo, Apple, and print.