Excerpt: United: Survival [working title]

Kai-Lynn shook her head quickly, muttering under her breath again. Lexa could hear the wildly despairing thoughts running across her mind even as she formed words of prayers. “Atmosphere in twenty,” she announced. Lexa knew the prospect was far from pleasing for her, and not just by the deep sigh she gave. Her dark eyes turned to Lexa for mere seconds before returning the world before them. “Reader, start looking for a city. The closest, biggest one you can find – we’re running for cover.”

Lexa nodded, already tapping at sensor keys. She brought up the information from the lifesign and technology scanners for the planet to the display screen, frowning as she searched the results.

“It looks like there’s not much on this side of the planet,” she said.

Kai-Lynn appeared to ignore Lexa’s words. “Atmosphere,” she announced quietly.

The ship shuddered slightly as the artificial gravity compensators began to adjust to the pull of actual gravity. The four women in the turrets bore what had to be a rough ride in silence. The world around them came into increasingly sharper view as sped rapidly towards it.

The entire planet’s surface, so far as she could see, was covered in snow.

“Where’s the closest city?” Kai-Lynn asked.

“Seventy miles to the north,” Lexa responded. “There’s nothing closer – it seems like this corner of the world is deserted. And with good reason, too. It’s almost thirty Fahrenheit below out there.”

Kai-Lynn shuddered. “Makes me cold just thinking about it,” she muttered.

“Me too,” Lexa added. “It doesn’t get anywhere near that on Ezion. It’s –” She broke off as she noticed something odd on the display screen, the thoughts of the four women in the gunner turrets confirming what she saw. The three remaining strikers were drawing back, allowing the Sea Dragon to distance itself from them – that was the only explanation; in atmosphere, they’d be able to far outrun the larger ship.

“The strikers are drawing back,” Jessia announced, her puzzlement evident in her voice.

“What are they doing?” Olivanya wondered aloud, the first words she’d spoken since taking up her position in the turret.

As Kai-Lynn brought the ship out of its planetward dive to fly parallel to the ground about eighty feet above it, the answer came.

And this was far more than a tingle.

Lexa’s entire body seized as unbridled terror burned through her.

A bloodcurdling scream split the air, echoing off of every bulkhead in the ship.

“NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!”

And then everything exploded.