New Novelette for Subscribers!
Need something to tide you over until The Stars Unbound? Wondering what Kerelle was doing before Elekar? Wonder no more: Radio Silence is available free to newsletter subscribers (excerpt below)!
The story takes place immediately before The Stars Within, and follows Kerelle on her most recent mission before Elekar (with special guest appearance by everyone’s favorite regenerative).
When a SysTech survey team on a promising new planet goes missing, Kerelle is assigned to help track them down. A routine mission quickly goes awry, however, when her squad discovers there's more waiting on Wendu XIV than they bargained for.
The whole thing is around 10,000 words (which Scrivener tells me is roughly 28 pages in paperback). Here’s an excerpt:
***
Kerelle listened to the briefing with a pleasantly neutral expression, and tried to figure out what she was doing here.
Even by SysTech standards, her initial briefing back on Tallimau had been cagey, with the note that further details would be provided on her approach. She knew it was some kind of search-and-rescue mission, helping locate a missing team on a recently settled wilderness planet. What she didn’t know was why this required a class-3 telekinetic.
Judging from the expressions around the room, the heavily-armed Security Force squad she would be accompanying hadn’t quite figured out why they were there either.
If the intelligence officer noticed her audience’s confusion, she didn’t comment. “Our last report from Outpost Alpha-1 came a little over three weeks ago. Up to that point, we were receiving regular messages from the science officer there, containing updates on the research our survey and field teams were conducting.”
She flicked her hand and the conference room’s small screen lit up with a satellite view of a densely forested landscape, with a small cluster of buildings Kerelle assumed was the outpost. The images were dark and somewhat obscured, as if a veil was drawn over them. The problem certainly wasn’t with the screen’s electronics; the cruiser that was currently ferrying them was new, and near top of the line.
Another curious choice, for a “rescue” mission.
“Wendu XIV’s atmosphere produces frequent electrical storms, which sometimes can interfere with comms. It’s possible that such a storm has damaged the communications array on the surface, and our team has thus been unable to reach us.”
The squad commander lifted his eyebrows ever so slightly at damaged communications array, and pointedly glanced down at the high-caliber rifle strapped to his body armor.
The intel officer didn’t react, instead flicking to another satellite image, this one zoomed further out. It was even harder to see than the first one; the cloud cover or whatever it was must have been thicker when this one was taken.
“However,” the officer continued, “We are concerned that that may not be the case.”
Kerelle leaned forward slightly. It seemed they were about to get down to it.
“There is limited human habitation on Wendu XIV, and most groups are other corporate survey teams. As you can see,” she said with faint distaste, tapping a dark smudge that looked as much like a fingerprint on the lens as a rival outpost, “ConEn has a base of operations within roughly 25 kilometers of ours.”
Aha.
“Our hope, of course, is that the team is merely experiencing a communications equipment problem. Unfortunately, we cannot rule out more sinister possibilities, which is why you’ll be dropped in by stealth ship to avoid unnecessary attention. Your mission is to locate the missing team, and if necessary extract them. If that is not possible, your secondary objective is to retrieve any research files they may have left behind.”
“Straightforward enough,” the squad commander replied archly. “Is there a reason for the…” his eyes flicked over to Kerelle “unconventional assistance?”
Kerelle sighed inwardly. He was going to be one of those.
“Senior Agent Evandra is one of our top-ranked telekinetics, and is also a class-3 telepath,” the intel officer answered evenly. “If our people are alive down there, she may be able to locate them psionically. If it is necessary to neutralize threats to our personnel and property…” She smirked slightly. “Agent Evandra is a specialist.”
“I look forward to working with you,” Kerelle lied politely. He only snorted back.
One of those indeed. She could only hope the team down there really had just broken their comm array - she could be done with this asshole by tomorrow night.
Somehow she doubted it would be that easy.