WIP Wednesday - Clans of Kalquor 11: Alien Revolt

              Hope gave Kila a shove, as if the muscled beast couldn’t break her in half without real effort. How dare he! “You stole my files? You jerk!”

              His grin got bigger. “Yes, I made copies of a few of your specifications, along with other things. We had to be sure of you and the general before approaching you about joining forces.”

              They had forces? Hope’s elation grew to hear there was a plot against Copeland afoot. “How many of your ships are involved?”

              “Here? Just mine, but it’s the whole crew.”

              Piras added, “We are here to infiltrate Maf’s forces and undermine them as much as possible. To take as much of his fleet out of the fight as we can.”

              “This is only a fraction of the Basma’s force,” Hope said, her delight draining away. “And you brought only one ship?”

              “Unfortunately. But we’re damned good at what we do.” Piras sighed. “I’d hoped to be in the thick of things, in the midst of the main enemy fleet, in all honesty. This was not what Fleet Command had in mind when they sent us out here.”

              “Plans must change,” Kila told him. He turned his somehow inoffensive sneer back to Hope. “What about your resources? I couldn’t get a real handle on how many are in your resistance effort.”

              Hope made a face. “Dismal. Few and far between.”

              Kila’s grin fell a little. “Really? Damn. We were hoping for more help.”

              Hope tried to absorb this turn of events. “You came out here to cripple Maf’s fleet. To take out Copeland too, I hope.”

              Piras nodded. “Copeland is still a worthwhile prize to be won. We’re concentrating on rescuing Haven and Rokan, if we can. Particularly Haven, with all those civilians. If we can make that happen, we’ll redirect our attention elsewhere, in hopes of getting our hands on Maf.”

Releasing Summer 2017