Clans of Kalquor 12: Alien Outcast Preview

An old threat reappears with new strength:

              A lump grew in Piper’s throat to see Nako’s and Terig’s worry as they manhandled the protesting Ulof to a medi-bed, where he was forced to lie down and his arm was stuck in a mechanical sleeve. She sucked on her lower lip, fear making her pulse loud in her ears.

              Blood moved from a tube connected to the sampling cuff. Dr. Zo locked Ulof into another machine next to the bed. Zo tapped on its keyboard as he issued orders. “Computer, analyze and identify any pathogens.”

              Piper held her breath.

              Seconds later, an electronic voice answered the doctor. “Virus detected. No perfect match to any on record, but multiple markers identified.”

              “Markers for what?”

              “The virus appears to be a mutation of K-U-Three-Z.”

              The men froze. Zo, Nako, and Terig stared at Ulof. Ulof paled.

              “K-U-Three-Z?” Piper asked, as if she’d not heard of it. Putting off the inevitable.

              Zo’s unwilling answer came out slow, as if he could put it off too. “K-U-Three-Z is the virus that devastated our race. The illness that killed so many of our women and left most of the survivors infertile. It’s the reason we’re going extinct.”

Releasing July 3. (No pre-ordering.)

She escaped to Kalquor to warn the empire…but did she bring its destruction instead?

When a rogue Kalquorian raider snags a Bi’isil cruiser in Empire space, the outlaw crew is hoping for supplies. Instead, they find a Tragoom and an Earther woman with a dire warning: Bi’is is set to unleash a fatal plague on the Kalquorian Empire.

Piper Warren, with the help of her friend Ob, has faced death to save the Kalquorians from utter destruction. Instead of help, she stumbles on a ship filled with men who swear no loyalty to anyone but themselves. Can she convince them to set aside their lawless ways to save their people?

Captain Nako turned his back on Kalquor after Fleet Command decommissioned his raider. Abandoned by his government, he swears he will never lift a finger to aid them, not even against the traitor Dramok Maf and his fleet. With the new Bi’is threat, if Nako doesn’t do something, the empire will fall and its people will die.

Nako’s Nobek clanmate Terig is as fierce as they come. However, his shameful past destroyed a once-promising career, and leading his men into battle can only end in defeat.  But how can he refuse when utter annihilation is racing straight to Kalquor?

Dual breed Imdiko Ulof is a terror to anyone who crosses him. Leaving broken bodies in his wake, the ex-convict struggles with equally broken dreams. No one can tame him, until a beautiful Earther and an unlikely new friend show that belief has the power to heal all wounds.

The survival of Kalquor depends on this unlikely band of misfits. Clan Nako learns that love for an Earther woman can make heroes out of outcasts…until they discover that Piper harbors dark, deadly secrets of her own.