SFR Brigade Presents... Cold Revenge

Check out the great story snippets from other SFR Brigade authors.

Here's my contribution - a snippet from Cold Revenge, book 5 in the Fall of the Altairan Empire. And as a bonus, I'm giving away copies of Nexus Point, book 1. Use coupon code AA47G.

I opened my eyes with an effort of will. Everything from my shoulders down screamed with pain. My knee wouldn’t bend. If I took shallow breaths my ribs didn’t creak and protest. I wrapped my arms around my stomach and looked up.
Sitting at my table, drinking from my mug, was an older man. He had an air of suave gentility that didn’t fool me for a second. He looked over at me and smiled.
"Take the ship up," he said to someone behind me in the cockpit.
I turned my head with an effort that sent more pain through my middle. Three people I didn’t recognize were in the cockpit. The engines throbbed in time with my knee. They were flying my ship. Rage overcame pain. I got up and threw myself at the man in the navigator’s seat.
The thugs dragged me back and beat me some more.
When I could think again, I was back on the bench and the ship was well on its way to the jump point. The man at the table was still sipping from my mug and watching me with a cold and toothy smile.
"That was stupid, Captain," he said.
"Where are the rest of the crew?"
"Safe enough. For now."
"Where are they?" I started to stand and but thought better of it when the thug nearest me stepped closer and raised his fist.
"Your concern is most touching. Show her," he said to the thug nearest the cabin doors.
The man opened Jerimon’s cabin door. The thug looming over me jerked me to my feet and dragged me across the lounge to look inside the cabin. Clark and Jasyn sat on one bunk, Ginni held Habim’s hands as they sat on the other bunk. The cabin door slid shut. The thug dragged me across the lounge and dumped me on the bench.
"Where’s Jerimon?" I said through teeth gritted against screaming in pain.
The man smiled, stretching his thin lips wider.
I turned quickly and looked back in the cockpit. Jerimon sat in the pilot’s chair, my chair, he was flying my ship. I was going to kill him, slowly and painfully. Just not right then.
"Who are you and what do you want?" I flung it at the man like a challenge.
"You know who I am, if you think hard enough," the man said. "You cost me fortunes, Dace. I’m here for revenge."
I scrounged desperately through my memories. Who could he be? The list of enemies I’d managed to accumulate was depressingly long. And those were only the ones that I knew. How many more did I have that I didn’t know about?
"Don’t tell me you have no idea who I am," he said and frowned. I preferred that to his false smile. "Does the name Belliff mean anything to you?"
My heart sank. The Targon Syndicate had finally caught up to me.

Excerpt from book 4 - The Kumadai Run

I've been writing lots of stuff lately, just not fiction.

Want to read a review of a book chapter titled "The Architecture of Instructional Design"? It's been rewritten at least a dozen times now. Yeah, I didn't think you would. I found it an interesting topic, but then that's the graduate program I just started.

How about a handout that I created for a Cub Scout Leader Powwow on teaching cubs astronomy? Maybe? Drop me a note and your email address and I'll send you the pdf.

How about a snippet from my book four in my series? Kumadai Run is now available!

Kumadai Run, Chapter 1
If you ever find yourself as crew on a small ship with newlyweds, don’t go.
I winced as another thud sounded against the wall. Jasyn and Clark had been married a little over a month. The first couple of weeks were peaceful, for me, because they were off on their honeymoon. I had the ship to myself.
Things had gone pretty well the week after that. We were headed out of the Cygnus sector and into a part of the Empire where I’d never been. Hopefully, the Targon Syndicate didn’t reach that far. I still had a price on my head.
Another thud sounded against the wall, along with some muffled shouting. I swiveled the pilot’s chair and leaned back to close the door of the cockpit.
I heard more muffled shouting. I didn’t want to know what it was about. I’d made the mistake of getting involved in their first fight, something about socks. I refused to even listen to either of them now. It was their fight, they should resolve it.
Things got ominously quiet. I stared at the streaks of light on the viewscreen and wished we were a lot closer to our destination. We still had at least five days of hyperspace travel.
We were hauling a load of medical equipment and supplies that needed to get to Parrus as soon as possible. The shortest route there, the Kumadai Run, was the trickiest, passing through two active nebulaes and skirting at least one black hole. Most people didn’t even attempt it. We were promised a huge bonus if we could deliver the supplies in less than ten days. Jasyn, the navigator and co-owner, said it wasn’t a problem. I signed the contract.
We were over halfway there and so far the only problems had been between Clark and Jasyn. The ship flew smoothly and the route hadn’t given us problems. Five more days and I could find some excuse to get away from them for a while.
The door slid open. Clark dropped into the copilots seat. I snuck a look at him. His green eyes, normally full of mischief, were angry.
“She locked herself in the cabin again,” he said. “I don’t understand her.”
I stared at my controls and wished he would go away. I didn’t want to be dragged into their fight. I didn’t want them to insist I take sides. He didn’t get my subliminal message.
“Dace, help me. You know her. You tell me why—”
“I don’t know what to tell you to do.”
He sighed heavily and lounged back in his chair. “She’s so unreasonable about things.”
I would have got up and left but there really wasn’t anywhere else to go. He was going to make me part of the argument whether I wanted to be or not.
“She asked me how she looked in that new dress she bought. So I told her and she started throwing things at me.”
I sighed and put my head in my hands.

Party Wrap-Up

Whew! Look at the mess. Confetti everywhere. Cupcakes wrappers dangling from the ceiling fan. Crumbs in the sofa. Popcorn littering the house. I don't know what it looks like at your house, but we partied here.

Thanks for coming to my book launch party. Thanks for celebrating with me. Thanks for being great friends and offering support.

Now I'm getting all sniffly. Sorry, allergies.

Okay, one prize left - the GRAND PRIZE. Anyone who commented during the party is entered once. Anyone who leaves a comment before midnight Sunday will be entered, too, just in case you had to miss the party.

Grand prize winner will be announced Monday morning. Along with the other winners. I'll be in touch to for addresses, which is why I want your email.

What is the GRAND PRIZE? Glad you asked.

Grand prize is a whole box of stuff:
A paperback signed copy of Nexus Point (book 1)
A paperback signed copy of Priestess of the Eggstone (book 2)
A big Eggstone, 3 inches high
A round skystone, about an inch across
Your choice of a crocheted Cthulhu cat toy or a sunbonnet Cthulhu pillow
Probably some guava candy, if my kids haven't eaten them all

Check out Priestess of the Eggstone, if you haven't already.
Here's an excerpt:

A cup clattered onto the floor behind us. Leon twitched, the cold barrel of the stunner prodded my cheek. I flinched. Let Leon think I was scared, let the Patrol and Station Control think I was scared. This just might work to get me off the hook with the Patrol if I played it right.
"Who's back there?" Leon took a step to the door of the cockpit. "Get us out of here." He waved the gun nervously.
I flipped on the com, keeping half an eye on Leon as he tried to peer into the cabin without moving me out of his gun sights. My left hand crept slowly over the controls to the engine starters.
"Viya Station, this is Twinkle," I said into the mike.
"Go ahead, Twinkle," the same male voice I'd talked to earlier replied.
"Requesting immediate clearance for undocking."
Leon craned his neck farther around the door, trying to peer into the cramped cabin while still keeping the gun on me. I could have knocked him down and taken it away any time, except that wasn't what I wanted. I didn't want to spend the next six months in Patrol custody answering questions and possibly facing life in prison for smuggling. They weren't going to believe I knew nothing. Nobody was that stupid.
"Sorry, Twinkle. Viya is currently under lockdown. You will open your hatches and allow the Patrol to board your vessel."
"You don't understand," I said, lowering my voice and doing my best to sound scared. A muffled thump came from the cabin, followed by an ear-shattering scream. Jerimon had decided to play hero. I hoped the scream carried over the mike. "There's a maniac in here with a gun who is going to shoot me if I don't fly him out."
Muffled talking carried over the headset. It sounded urgent. I grinned. Leon and Jerimon smashed into the table, then crashed onto the floor.
"Twinkle, what is your status?" a new voice, a very mature, concerned voice, asked. This was too perfect.
"There is a maniac with a gun who is demanding I fly him out," I said, trying to get just the right note of panic in my voice. "You have to let me undock!"
Jerimon and Leon stumbled into the cockpit, landing across the control panels and slamming my seat against the wall. My left hand hit the starters for the engines. They came to throbbing life. The men wrestled over the gun, slamming into controls. Alarms shrieked through the cabin.
"Twinkle, what is happening now?" Whoever owned the concerned voice sounded a lot more worried. "We are showing your engines running. Shut them down immediately."
"He won't let me. He's going to take out the docks if you don't let us go!"
Leon's gun went off. The shot ricocheted through the cockpit. Jerimon jerked Leon backwards. Leon shouted incoherently and flailed at Jerimon with his free hand. More alarms beeped and shrieked. I turned up the gain on the mike to register as much noise as possible. I goosed the engines slightly just to add to the confusion.
"Shut the engines down, now!" the very worried voice ordered.
"He's going to shoot me! He's going to kill me!"
Jerimon and Leon tumbled into the cockpit, landing in the copilot's seat, Jerimon on the bottom. Blood dripped from his nose, one eye swelled shut. Leon foamed at the mouth. The two of them yelled so loudly I couldn't hear what the worried voice said. The engine warning lights edged over into yellow.
It must have sounded like total pandemonium to Viya Station because within moments the ship jerked as the emergency releases kicked us free of the station. I shoved the throttles to full, twisting the nose of the ship away from Viya. Leon landed on my lap, shoving the steering too far to the left. I elbowed him off, then corrected course.
Alarms rang in the cockpit. Jerimon shoved Leon backwards and followed, landing on top with a loud grunt.
"Twinkle, follow a course of nine three seven," the worried voice said slowly. "Can you do that?"
"He did something to the controls." I jiggled the steering in what I hoped looked like uncontrolled shifting. An ore tanker lurched into view. I swerved around it. Jerimon and Leon rolled into the wall. More alarms went off, none of them serious. I watched carefully to make sure I didn't push anything into the red.
"We're sending ships to intercept you," the worried voice said.
I shoved the throttles forward, trying to pick up speed. It was time to leave. I suddenly realized we had no course set. We couldn't jump to hyperspace without one, the ship's safety circuits wouldn't let me. I bit my tongue to keep from swearing. I twisted the ship around in a tight loop.
"Twinkle, acknowledge," the worried voice urged. "Heading nine-three-seven. Repeat, nine-three-seven."
I shifted away from that heading. I didn't want Patrol interception, not until I knew what trouble was currently sitting in my cargo bay.
Jerimon slammed Leon's hand against the floor. The gun went off. I ducked as the bolt raced over my head. It reflected off the viewscreen, bounced off the bulkhead twice, zipped past Jerimon's ear, and caught Leon straight between the eyes. Leon went limp. Jerimon yanked the gun from his hand and stared disbelievingly at it.
"What is this? You knew all about this peashooter, didn't you?" He tossed the stunner onto the bunk.
"Twinkle, respond!" the worried voice demanded in my ear.
"Dace," Jerimon said as he loomed over my chair, "what game are you playing?"
"Respond, if you can!"
I jerked the ship onto a new course, flinging Jerimon into the copilot's chair and sending Leon's limp body smacking into the wall. I pulled off the headset, punching the cutoff for the com. "Fly, unless you want to end up in prison." 

Nervous Butterflies

Today is the day we start ripping our kitchen apart. WOOT! I'm excited. I hate those stupid cabinets that bash me in the head every time I cook.

And in two weeks, Priestess of the Eggstone will start shipping! To tease you, here's a blurb and excerpt:

Pursued by the Targon Crime Syndicate bent on revenge, the Patrol intent on recruitment, and the Sessimoniss who want their god back, the last thing Captain Dace needs is a handsome copilot with romance on his mind.

But that’s exactly what she’s got.

She didn’t realize she was smuggling when she accepted the courier job. Now Targon wants her for stealing the shipment and the Patrol wants to arrest her. The Sessimoniss want their god back. And Jerimon’s aunt is planning their wedding.

She doesn’t know which scares her most.

Priestess of the Eggstone: The Fall of the Altairan Empire Book 2 by Jaleta Clegg
http://journal-store.com/bookstore/priestess-of-the-eggstone/
http://www.jaletac.com

Excerpt:

We rounded the last big moon into clear space. I checked the nav program one last time, to make sure we were headed the right direction before we jumped. The chatter of local pilots was steady as a background noise that dissolved into static as we passed into the moon's shadow. The ship lurched, then slowed, the engines whining.
I flipped switches, trying to find the problem. Jerimon pushed the thrusters all the way to the stops. The engine whine rose in pitch. The ship shuddered. The emergency lights flashed. Warnings hooted through the ship.
"Shut it down!" I yelled over the noise.
Jerimon stubbornly tried to pull more power from the engines. His face was pale and his chin set as he goosed the throttles. I reached across the controls to slam the switches off. Jerimon slumped in his chair, hands over his face. The engines spun down. The alarms shut up, all except one. It was a quiet, insistent beeping with a single, flashing red light.
I checked the screen, then muttered a bad word at the unknown vessel showing on the scans. "Who'd be using a tractor beam out here?"
The ship was bigger, but that didn't mean much. Anything was bigger than my ship. The scanners didn't show any ID traces from the other ship.
"Does it look like pirates to you?" Pirates weren't uncommon in this sector but Rucal had a major Patrol station out beyond the moons. What pirate would be stupid enough to operate under the Patrol's nose?
I knew of at least one, but he was in prison. I scowled at the screen. In a few moments, I wouldn't need the scanner. I could just look outside.
Jerimon dropped his hands to his lap, staring bleakly at the monitor. If he didn't know who was on that ship, I'd eat my socks—the ones I'd been wearing for three days without washing because I hadn't found the time.
"Who are they and why are they dragging us in?"
Jerimon shook his head, eyes locked on the approaching ship. He gripped the chair so hard his knuckles went white.

Teaser Tuesday! Excerpt from "Nexus Point"

Check out #teasertuesday on Twitter for a lot of great stories!


Nexus Point - Captain Dace just wants her own ship and a trade route. She has that, until her crew blows up the ship and strands her on Dadilan, a primitive tech world restricted from all unauthorized contact. The natives think she's a demon. The researcher, Leran, rescues her from the native ruler only to threaten her with arrest by the Patrol for interfering. On the way to the Patrol base, they are attacked. During the fight, Dace gets separated and lost in the woods. And that's only the first two chapters.

    He came out of the mist like a primeval god in a really bad romance vid–dark hair, darker eyes, and a face stolen from my most secret fantasies. He wore a leather vest with no shirt, tight pants, and tall boots. He stopped on the other side of the stream, muscles flexing as he folded his bare arms across his chest.
    I swallowed hard, wondering if he was just a dream. I shifted my feet on the stream bank. "What do you want?"
    He looked me over, not answering.
    I lifted the rock, trying to appear as threatening as possible. I lost my hold on it. It fell into the stream with a loud splash.
    His lip twitched as he smothered a chuckle.
    Having a complete stranger laugh at me was the final straw. I thumped down on the stream bank, dropping my head into my hands.
    The man splashed across the stream, his touch gentle on my shoulder. "Are you hurt?"
    I shook my head. I'd felt worse and lived.
    He watched me a moment longer, then put his arm around my shoulders.
    I stiffened at the unexpected touch. No one had ever tried to comfort me. I surprised myself by bursting into tears. I'd lost control. I hated the feeling. I struggled until I finally fought the tears back. Only the occasional hiccuping sniffle escaped.
    "Feel better?" he asked, just a trace of sarcasm coloring his voice. He shifted away, leaving me cold.
    I couldn't look at him, embarrassed by my outburst. I stared down at his vest, at his muscles, at his hands, anywhere but at his face.
    "You want to explain why you're out here?" He waited, still as a statue.
    I finally looked up, at his face. It was a mask, giving nothing away. "I got lost?"
    He raised one eyebrow. "Lost from where?"
    I dug through the information Ameli had dumped into my head. I found little of any help. "My father's house."
    He shifted position slightly, enough to change from sympathy to threat. "You're no native of this planet. You want to try again?"
    I edged away. "No. How do you know I'm not native?" My curiosity got the better of me.
    "You're speaking Basic."
    I hadn't realized it. I repeated one of the more colorful expressions I'd learned from Toiba.
    The man raised his eyebrow higher.
    "You aren't native, either." I sniffled, wiping my nose on the back of my hand.
    He stood. I glimpsed a tattoo on the inside of his wrist, an intricate black diamond that only one group in the Empire had.
    I froze, not knowing if it was good or bad. "You're a Patrol Enforcer."
    "Give me one good reason I shouldn't shoot you."
    "You aren't carrying a blaster."
    He moved fast. He knotted his fist into the neck of my dress, his face barely an inch from mine. "I don't need one. Who are you and why are you here? Don't even try lying."
    "Leran . . ."
    He shoved me to the ground, on my stomach. His hand pinned me to the bank. I struggled to keep my face above the rippling surface of the stream. I planted my hands in the icy water and shoved. His hold didn't budge.
    "You work for him?"
    "Leran? No. He was taking me to the Patrol." I shut my eyes and waited for the man to drown me.
    "Why would he do that?"
    I was a lousy liar. This man would see through anything I tried. I gave him the truth. "Because I ruined his research. I crashed in Baron Molier's cow pasture. He said I was a demon. He was going to kill me. Leran decided to take me to the Patrol base and turn me in instead."
    The man's hold relaxed. I shifted back an inch from the water.
    "Keep talking," he said.
    "We stopped somewhere in the hills. The camp was attacked."
    "And?"
    "There were too many to fight so I left. I got lost."
    "You still haven't told me who you are."
    "Dace. My name is Dace."
    He rocked onto his heels, letting me go. I scrambled away from the water.
    "I don't think you heard me." He flexed his hands. "What's your name, your full name?"
    "Dace." I wasn't about to use a name I'd discarded six years previously.
    "I'll let that pass for now. How did you come here?"
    "My ship exploded. The core redlined. The escape pod landed me here."
    "In Baron Molier's cow pasture, you already said that. What ship?"
    "Star's Grace, Independent trader registered out of Eruus."
    "What was your position, ship's idiot?"
    I'd already embarrassed myself, I wasn't about to let him insult me. I sat, sticking out my chin. "I'm the pilot. And I'm telling you the truth."
    He gave me a look that said he didn't believe it.
    "I'm also the captain and owner."
    He laughed, a short bark of sound.
    "Believe it or not, it's the truth." The anger drained away, replaced by fatigue. I wrapped my arms around myself, wishing I was at the Academy where I could ignore the humiliation the other cadets dished out.
    "You aren't going to cry again, are you?" He looked afraid of the possibility.
    I shook my head and sniffled. I'd wait until later, when he wasn't looking. He watched me fight with myself. He finally sighed.
    "My camp is just across the stream. You look like you could use something to drink." He stood and offered me his hand.
    I stared stupidly at it. He confused me. He wasn't threatening me, not now. I took his hand. He lifted me without effort. I couldn't hide my wince when my feet hit the rocks.
    "This way," he said, pulling me after him.
    I limped across the stream, soaking the bottom of my skirt. He pushed me down onto a rock before stirring up a small fire. My stomach growled. I rubbed my arms, shivering in the night air.
    I studied the man surreptitiously. His hair was longer than mine, very dark with reddish highlights. It curled just slightly where it brushed the back of his neck. He stirred the pot steaming on the fire. The tattoo on his wrist caught the light and my imagination. What was a Patrol Enforcer doing here? Why try to drown me when I mentioned Leran's name? Something was rotten on Dadilan.
    Not my problem; I was leaving. I would face whatever criminal charges were levied against me. I would give them the truth. The Patrol would have to believe me. But this man was Patrol and he didn't believe me.
    The man handed me a steaming cup dipped out of the pot. I wrapped my hands around it and sipped the hot drink. It wasn't enough to counterbalance the cold night air and my wet skirt. My teeth chattered. The man fetched a blanket out of a neat pack on the ground. He dropped it over my shoulders. I clutched it tight. He loomed over me. I felt even shorter than I usually did.
    "Try again." He sat on a rock nearby. "Start at the beginning."
    "I was born . . ."
    "Not that far back." He shot me an impatient look.
    "I told you. My ship was en route to Thurwood with a load of machine parts. Something went wrong. I had to do an emergency downshift out of hyperspace. The core redlined and the ship exploded."
    "Not very professional of you." He poked at the fire with a stick. "You say your name is Dace and you own your own ship."
    "It's the truth." My ship was a cloud of radioactive debris. I sighed again.
    "No crying." He pointed the stick at me. "That isn't fair."
    I wiped my nose on his blanket.
    "What were you doing with Leran?" he asked casually, studying the end of his pointy stick. I sensed the answer I gave would determine how he used it.
    "He pulled me out of Baron Molier's dungeon and offered to have me arrested. It was better than being skewered by hot iron pokers."
    "Why are you speaking like a native now?" The man touched the pointy end of his stick.
    "They used a hypnoteacher. It doesn't work right on me." I sipped at the drink, watching him carefully. The stick was still very evident. "It usually takes me a week or two to get all the information straight again. It's easier just to learn it the old way. What's your name and why are you out here?"
    He studied me, the stick waving in the air between us. After a moment, it went into the fire, pointy end first.
    "Malcolm Tayvis," he said. "I'm looking for my partner. He was supposed to meet me here two days ago. I don't think he's going to make it."

Want more? Ordering information and the first three chapters are here for free: http://www.nexuspoint.info
Or download more at Smashwords - Nexus Point

Excerpt Monday - Try something new!

Head over to the Far Edge on WordPress to read chapter 1 of Nexus Point, then follow the links to try out some new authors on Excerpt Monday - http://bit.ly/cSori1

Good reading, everyone!