by
Size: 6.00 x 9.00 in
Pages: 328
Returning to duty following his long recovery from the injuries he sustained during the events recounted in Heart Scarab, Shield Captain Bennet accepts a tour of duty in Fleet as flight captain on a dreadnought. The one saving grace is that it isn’t his father’s ship—bad enough that he can’t yet return to the Shield Regiment, at least he doesn’t have the added stress of commanding former lover, Fleet Lieutenant Flynn and knowing the fraternisation regulations will keep them apart.
Bennet’s new mission takes him behind the lines to Makepeace, once a human colony but under Maess control for more than a century. The mission goes belly up, costing Albion one of her precious, irreplaceable dreadnoughts and bringing political upheaval, acrimony and the threat of public unrest in its wake. But for Bennet, the real nightmare is discovering what the Maess have in store for humanity. It’s not good. It’s not good at all
- 2 To Be Read lists
- 2 Read lists
Editors:
Cover Artists:
Genres:
Tropes: Alien Invasion, Galactic Civilization, Space Pilot
Word Count: 94,500
Setting: Spaceship, non-Earth planets
Languages Available: English
Series Type: Continuous / Same Characters
Tropes: Alien Invasion, Galactic Civilization, Space Pilot
Word Count: 94,500
Setting: Spaceship, non-Earth planets
Languages Available: English
Series Type: Continuous / Same Characters
The thing, whatever it was, had fallen between two pods. It didn’t move. Unlike the soldier outside, it didn’t kick its legs or drum its heels. It felt nothing. Bennet bent over it, laser at the ready, his shoulders lifting to hunch protectively over his neck. He blew out a soft breath. Thank fuck. Thank fuck.
Not an organic Maess, at least.
Definitely a drone. Possibly a modified EDA? It had the same well articulated hands, the same smooth plasticised skin over the electronics and metal underneath. But the metallic body had a bluish tinge.
The head was different. His first thought was it was translucent, the interior scattered with pinpoint lights. But no. The ovoid was bigger than usual but solid and opaque. Some sort of mesh covered the metal casing, the tiny lights woven into it at varying depths, giving the illusion he could see inside.
READ MOREBlue lights, the intense sapphire blue of the lights fizzing down the columns into the pods. Whatever this was, it was no ordinary drone.
The lights in its head dimmed. Flickered out.
The thing was deactivated.
It had shaken Haydn out of his previous calm. “What the hell is that?”
T18. Bennet had seen something like this on T18. Just a glimpse. When he’d seen that Thing, the real Maess, surrounded by drones, there had been something else. Something thinner than the usual drones, less bulky. Blue lights were involved, too. The Strategy Unit analysts never had worked out what it was. In the end they’d concluded it had been a problem with his camera, reflecting the lighting inside the base on T18. He’d had no reason to argue.
Well, now he knew it hadn’t been the lighting.
MM Good Book Reviews on MM Good Book Reviews wrote:"...Well, now we have a new installment in the series. Do I like it as much as the previous ones? No. I like it more. I’m loving this universe that the author has created. It is huge, there are aliens, there are space battles and there is political intrigue. Winding through it all is our hero Bennet, the character we’ve been following since book one.
I loved this book. I would not recommend reading it as a standalone. These books are the continuing story of Bennet, and the people and events he comes into contact with. This is a mainstream Sci-fi book that just happens to have a gay protagonist. It is not a romance, and I don’t believe there is any sex in this one at all.
The world building is phenomenal…with a wide sweeping story and the book is heavy in detail. I highly recommend the entire series if you are a Sci-Fi/Spec Fic reader."
Diverse Reader on Diverse Reader Reviews wrote:"...Stunning battles scenes, harrowing confrontations and a well-balanced array of other things in the mix. This book will have you on the edge of your seat, holding your breath. It captures you from the start and does not let go until the end.... I loved how the setting was in this book. This is a greatly detailed and invigorating story... This was truly an amazing read that I thoroughly enjoyed."
"Just like the first two books this was a very well written epic sci-fi drama with plenty of intrigue, political games, tensions between the crew, and corruption. I was looking to see where she would take Bennet’s story next after his injuries from book two and major changes in his life.
She continues with her great ability to create fantastic action scenes that have your heart rate kicking up and your butt on the edge of your seat...."
