Virtual Book Tour Dates: 7/22/14
- 7/29/14
Genres: Science Fiction
Blurb:
Katherine Kirk lived only for vengeance.
Vengeance against the man who destroyed her home, her family and her life.Katherine Kirk lived only for vengeance.
Sent on a babysitting mission to Junter 3, RAN officer Katherine Kirk, finds herself quickly embroiled in the politics between the New Holland Government and the Val Myran refugees claiming asylum.
After an Alliance attack Kirk and her team hunt the enemy down and discover that they have finally found the lair of the man they have been searching for…
And the captive who has been waiting patiently for rescue.
“What would you do to the man who destroyed every important person in your life?”
Excerpt:
Gunfire
flew from the cars behind and Katherine turned tail and leapt up the
stairs. Joshua was crouched waiting at the top of the last tier and had
managed to get hold of a pistol. Around them the NHSIO security from
the front foyer was now positioned around the portico columns and
returning fire to the attackers below. The defenders controlled the
high ground and the people in those cars had no hope of getting them
now.
So why were they still attacking?
Katherine
dragged Josh away from the stairs back into the foyer as more security
personnel streamed past them. No one spared them much of a glance but
Katherine did not care. Something was not right. Inexperience (or
stupidity), would be the only reason someone would even consider
committing to a frontal assault on Federation House. The place was just
too well protected.
“Are
they Alliance Katherine?” Josh asked as she checked the magazine on her
pistol. Thirty HC rounds remaining. Hopefully it would do.
“The Alliance isn’t this stupid,” she shouted over the sound of fresh gunfire. But I would bet a year’s pay that they are involved somehow. “Whoever
they are; I think we should retreat back to my brother’s office. At
least I can guarantee that we’ll be well defended there if anything
untoward happens.”
Joshua nodded. Katherine then noted the ease with which he held his weapon. “You’ve had weapons training?”
“I served with the Alliance Infantry. Every citizen owes three years service.”
Katherine
nodded impressed. Leading families were known for finding loopholes to
stop their members from meeting their obligations. Nice to see the Val
Myrans did not use it. “Then you can cover my back.”
Both
entered the stairwell at a run; taking the lifts would have been risky
if the power went; and climbed several flights before Katherine was sure
they were on the right floor. As they climbed Katherine open a comm
link to the Adelaide.
“Adelaide
do you read me?” no one answered her and Katherine repeated herself
another three times. “Come on damn you – somebody talk to me!” she half
shouted as they reached the landing she wanted.
“Skipper?” A burst of static broke over the comm unit.
“Sue, is that you?” Abruptly the static disappeared and the musical voice of Susan Mayer came over the wire.
“-interference is shocking, like someone is jamming-”
“Sue, is Steve on the bridge?” Katherine cut across her.
“Yes Ma’am.”
There was a click and then Steven Tran’s voice came over the link.
“Skipper?”
“Steve,
I want you and two squads to suit up and get your arses over to
Federation House ASAP. We are under heavy fire and I think the idiots
outside will break off if they see some extra persuasion coming up
behind them.”
There
was a pause and then, “Yes Ma’am,” and the link went silent as Steve
cut his connection. “Sue, has Tom returned to the ship?” Katherine
asked hoping for an affirmative but knowing that not enough time had
gone by since he had left from lunch.
“No ma’am”
“Katherine?” A new voice cut into the line.
“Richard?
I thought you were taking shore leave – it doesn’t matter. We’ve got
an incident here and I’m afraid that it might splash over to the Adelaide.
Steve is bringing two squads here to me and I want whatever personnel
remaining on board to protect the ship and the port in that order.”
“How bad is it Kath?” Richard asked.
“Ask
me again in another hour, I might have an answer by then.” She cut the
connection and turned to Joshua. She may be overreacting but there was
something in her gut telling her that she was right. But first they
both had to get back to John’s office.
“Ready?”
“Ready.”
Joshua’s voice was firm and there was a look in his eyes that Katherine
recognized, she had seen it enough times in her own crew when the
situation was tight.
She
palmed the stairwell door open and checked that the corridor was clear,
then she and Joshua came out, pistols raised to line of sight. They
moved down the empty corridors seeing nothing out of place except for
the obvious signs of a hurried evacuation of office personnel.
“They wouldn’t be able to penetrate this far into the building?” Joshua flexed his fingers over the grip on his handgun.
“Not from the frontal assault, but I have a bad feel-”
Katherine stopped speaking as the sounds of gunfire echoed down the corridor ahead of them.
Buy Links:
Amazon Barnes&Noble
Smashwords
About the Author:
In
a former life, H.M. Clarke has been a Console Operator, Public Servant,
ICT Project Manager, Paper Shuffler and an Accountant (the last being
the most exciting.)
She
also has a degree in how to blow things up and then write about why it
blew up. In her spare time, she likes to lay on the couch and watch TV,
read and tell ALL her family what wonderful human beings they are.
She
keeps threatening to go out and get a real job (Chocolate Test Taster
sounds good) and intends to retire somewhere warm and dry – like the
middle of the Simpson Desert. For the time being however, she is an
Aussie in Ohio and dreams about being warm…
Connect With The Author:
Thanks very much for having me :)
ReplyDelete