With a wrecked car and no cellphone reception, Freddy seeks help in the only place that he can, a run-down mansion that looks long abandoned. To his surprise, he finds a strange woman living there alone, but there’s an ulterior motive to her gracious hospitality.
The conspiracy is in disarray, but Duncan and Niasa’s still have some choices to make.
Fire + Elixirs = Wild Nights
When a council meeting on the Pinwheel is interrupted by an assassination attempt, Security Chief Moralez is given seventy-two hours to unmask the culprit, all while under the watchful eye of two mysterious intelligence operatives with an unknown agenda. The suspects range from hostile aliens to shady special forces operatives, even elements of his own government are not above suspicion. Only by piecing together the clues can he uncover who carried out the attack, and why.
A UNN fleet on routine patrol near the outskirts of Coalition space encounters a previously uncontacted civilization, but while the aliens seem friendly, the Betelgeusian hive fleet that’s sizing up their homeworld is not. Undersupplied and months from the nearest reinforcements, the fleet must coordinate with the locals in order to organize a last-ditch defense of the planet.
A freighter pilot is plunged into a fight for his life when Borealan pirates board his vessel, but their sadistic captain may have more on her mind than just his cargo.
James is new to the Pinwheel, and the first place he finds himself is the bar, where he meets a friendly Borealan named Datz. As he gets to know the rowdy alien, they’re interrupted by her acquaintance, a Polar Borealan named Railha who seems intent on showing Datz up. James soon finds himself moderating a drinking competition between the two rival species.
Raz travels to Earth with Stanley to visit the farm where he grew up, and to meet his parents, but how will they react to his giant alien companion?
When Schaffer uncovers a network of black markets and corruption in the heart of the Pinwheel, he is made to disappear, exiled to a remote and inhospitable region of Borealis where he is expected to die of exposure. A fight for survival begins as he braves the dangers of an alien environment and attempts to restore power to an abandoned listening post, but his true salvation may lie in the planet’s mysterious natives.
Moralez is horribly maimed when a recon mission in the Kruger system goes badly wrong, costing him both his limbs and his pride. His only hope for recovery lies in Kaisha, an alien doctor on the notorious Pinwheel station. With her help, he might be able to heal his body and his mind, but only if he can overcome his mistrust of her people.
