"Riza, you're coming with?" Soren asked as he strapped his chest armor into place. "What about the baby?"

  There was an energetic bustle about the team as they prepped gear in The North Wing. HUDs were synced up, gear checked, loadouts verified. The mood was calm, but positive.

  Riza cast a cool glance at Soren. “Your concern is noted, Big Guy, but I’ll be fine. Amalia’s leaving NMW on the ship, and I’ll be far enough away from any gunfire that I’m not worried. I’m strictly on overwatch today with Tamiyo.”

  Soren gave a small nod, then glanced at Tamiyo. “You good? I know it’s been a minute since you were in the field.”

  He wasn’t saying his entire thought.

  “Since Piria,” Tamiyo answered. The words came out heavier than she intended, everyone feeling the impact of them. Since Elias.

  “I’ll be alright,” Tamiyo said after a moment. “You just keep your temper in check.” She shot him a small smile to help ease the tension.

  They left twenty minutes later, hiking out along a winding trail that led into a sunburned canyon northeast of Boadicea. The route was rocky, exposed in some places and choked with scraggly bush in others. The air was dry and metallic, and heat shimmered across the stone like oil on water.

  Aurania told Inelius to take lead since he had hiked out here once before—Inelius delegated to Veolo. Nobody talked much on the way up, but morale was optimistic. They knew what each other could do, knew they could rely on each other. These raiders were in for a rude awakening.

  Two hours passed in content silence. When they were about twenty minutes from the suspected compound, Veolo raised a hand from the front for the group to slow.

  “We should take a breather before we engage,” she said, tone commanding. “Everyone hydrate.”

  Aurania glanced at Inelius with a smile, then said to Veolo, “Good call.”

  Tamiyo sat down near a shaded rock and leaned back. Riza knelt beside her, already scanning the landscape with a compact scope, marking likely enemy perches.

  Tamiyo keyed up her HUD and began the sync. One by one, green icons blinked to life across her vision as she flagged friendlies.

  “Wooaah!” Amalia bubbled out as Tamiyo fed her highlights to the rest of the team. “This is so cool!”

  Tamiyo smiled at her. “Once we’re on site, all hostiles will be tagged red. As long as I have eyes on them, you’ll be able to see them even if they’re in cover relative to your position.”

  “Ohohoho,” Amalia let out a deep excited chuckle. “Violet, go behind that rock! But stay where Tamiyo can see you!”

  The sisters played a combination of hide-and-seek and peek-a-boo for a minute, testing the limits of the link. It kept positions updated in real time with no issues.

  “Are you anticipating any glitches like on Piria?” Aurania asked.

  Tamiyo shook her head. “Nope, I spent a considerable amount of time with the LU techs ironing out the kinks.” She exhaled slowly. This time, she would see everything.

  No surprises. No blind spots.

  They rested for fifteen minutes then set out again, breaking up to take positions shortly after leaving their rest point. The sun was nearing its peak, the sky bleaching white at the edges. The wind that blew across the basin floor carried dust and heat in equal measure.

  Soren, Aurania, and Violet moved downhill first, cutting a diagonal path toward the relay tower. From above, they looked deceptively small—just three dark silhouettes crossing broken terrain.

  Inelius and Veolo went up the ridge to the right, Amalia running left ahead of Riza and Tamiyo. They each would have elevated firing positions with differing sightlines into the compound. The plateau surrounding the basin made for a natural kill box—the fact that the raiders left it unprotected showed just how amateur they were.

  Tamiyo followed Riza up a craggy rise to the northwestern ridge, Amalia quickly hurrying off beyond them. They were just high enough to see everything but low enough to avoid standing out. A flat outcrop of sun-warmed stone gave them a perfect vantage over the main approach and partial view inside the relay structure’s collapsed roof.

  Tamiyo knelt and immediately got to work identifying targets. The HUD feed lit up with red markers, 23 in total so far mulling around the compound doing various tasks.

  Beside her, Riza both watched the compound and listened to make sure no threats approached their position. All lacravida had long ears similar to animals, but Tamiyo noted they weren’t all identical. She thought Riza’s looked a little like jackrabbit ears, although angled more back than straight up. The sniper could hear insanely well, lending to the similarity.

  There was a lull—for a moment, it was only the wind, the hum of the HUD, and the faint rattle of rocks somewhere below. Tamiyo felt a tightness in her chest, noticing some painful familiarities.

  She didn’t realize Riza was looking at her until the silence stretched too long.

  “You alright?” Riza asked, voice quiet.

  Tamiyo hesitated. “I um… I just realized. The distance is obviously scaled up, but… This positioning is almost identical to where I was on Piria.”

  She wouldn’t shy from saying it.

  “With Elias.”

  Riza inhaled slowly through her nose, staying silent and calm.

  “I know it’s not the same,” Tamiyo added. “I know it’s not. But sitting here, tagging targets, watching them… it feels close.”

  Riza let her breath out, slow and deliberate. Tamiyo noticed a single tear run down her cheek, but she never sobbed.

  “I loved that man,” Riza said finally, her voice resolute. “There was no keeping him from a battlefield if he felt needed, but…” she offered Tamiyo a sad smile. “He was a better doctor than fighter. There’s only one person that has ever been able to surprise me in a fight, and he’s down there.” She nodded towards Soren. “You have nothing to be afraid of.”

  Tamiyo smiled, but she felt her throat tighten as well. She didn’t know what to say.

  Riza wiped her cheek then playfully pushed Tamiyo’s cheek to turn her head back toward the battlefield. “Focus, they need you.”

  Tamiyo nodded. “Yes ma’am.”

  Below, Soren walked forward at the head of the strike team, rifle in hand. Aurania walked on his left, greataxe held one-handed near the blade. Violet was on his right—her hands were empty, but the right one was never far from Morgan’s Mercy. They were almost at the compound.

  Inelius’ voice came over comms. “Veolo, I thought you counted over 30 when we scouted a couple weeks ago.”

  The three long-range fighters were all posted prone by now.

  “Well yeah,” Veolo responded. “But that was before Aurania went berserk on one truck and Soren squished the other one. You were asleep back in town though, I don’t blame you for not remembering.”

  Tamiyo laughed lightly at their banter.

  “Cut the chatter,” Riza commanded. “They’re a couple seconds from being noticed.”

  Soren, Aurania, and Violet didn’t even try to sneak up on the compound. They walked confident and unhurried right up to the old gate standing ajar, which even Tamiyo knew should’ve had a guard posted.

  They stepped through the gate like they belonged there.

  The compound spread out in a dusty circle ahead of them—ramshackle buildings, stacked supply crates, a few beat-up vehicles, and the old relay tower at the center. But no one had come running. No one shouted, or drew weapons—not a single raider had even noticed they were there yet.

  Soren stopped a few paces in and slowly looked back and forth around the compound. Their comms were open so the rest of the team could monitor the situation.

  “You think they’re on break?” Soren asked casually.

  “I think they’re just stupid,” Aurania answered.

  Violet put her hands on her hips. “Kind of thought whoever their source was in town would’ve given them a heads up.”

  A few raiders milled in the yard ahead. Some were smoking, a few stacked crates, one was dragging a metal sheet across the ground for some indiscernible objective.

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  Aurania took a deep breath and yelled out, “HEY!”

  Finally, some heads turned. The workers froze in place and someone off in the back dropped a wrench with a loud clatter.

  A moment passed and then they all scrambled to their feet, grabbing weapons and bracing for a fight. Up on the tower, a door slammed open and a lazarco stepped out that looked like he was in charge.

  Violet muttered, “How much you wanna bet they think it’s just the three of us?”

  They didn’t raise their weapons. They just waited for the raiders to finish scrambling into whatever ragtag setup they were going for.

  Tamiyo counted five other hostiles emerge from buildings in addition to the leader, bringing the total enemy combatant count to 29.

  The leader leaned against the railing with his bottom arms like some little lordling, top arms crossed. He looked the trio over before speaking.

  “You got a name, stranger?” he asked Soren.

  “Not one that matters,” Soren replied. “We’re here because Liberty Union convoys keep getting hit, and your little crew keeps showing up right on time.”

  Aurania stepped forward slightly, axe still relaxed at her side. “We want to know who’s feeding you intel.”

  The man gave a single, slow shake of his head. “No idea what you’re talking about.”

  Soren kept his tone cool as he casually glanced around the compound. “You guys got a couple vehicles around here I see. But it looks like you’re missing a couple flatbeds.”

  From what Tamiyo could tell up on her perch, the lazarco leader got visibly irritated at the comment.

  “You the reason for that?” he spit at Soren.

  “No, that was another guy, last name Shit, first name No.” Soren shook his head slightly. “I gotta say I’m disappointed, not one of your guys even noticed us walk into your base here. What kind of operation you running?”

  The lazarco paused then gave a slow, dry chuckle.

  “You got a mouth on you, I’ll give you that.” He raised his voice a bit. “Why should we tell you anything… when you were so gracious as to walk in here and get yourselves surrounded?”

  Aurania cocked a hip and gestured to Soren. “Because I’ve personally watched this man beat a motherfucker to death with another motherfucker.”

  Violet let out a soft snort.

  “We don’t have to fight,” Soren said. “You all gave us plenty of opportunity to start dropping you before you even knew we were here.”

  “You’re right,” the leader answered. “And I’ll have to lash these idiots after we’re done here.” His smile turned wolfish. “Y’all are on the wrooonng side of this, Mol’eyne don’t belong in the LU.”

  He glanced between them, then shrugged. “You think you’re bringing peace. Order. Justice.” His voice started to rise. “But not everyone wants your rules. Some of us liked our way of life just fine before a bunch of shiny foreigners showed up and told us how to behave.”

  “Good gods,” Violet muttered under her breath again. “This guy is actually monologuing like some super villain.”

  “He’s trying to provoke you guys, Violet,” Tamiyo said quietly. She marked one target each for Veolo, Amalia, and Inelius to fire on first. She marked two for Violet—Aurania and Soren would likely do whatever they felt like once the fighting started.

  The leader finally finished what felt like a rehearsed speech and turned slightly to address a shorn on his right. “Which one you want?” he said loud enough for them all to hear.

  “I’ll take the stupid one,” the shorn answered confidently. “The one that decided to try talking to us rather than shoot when he had the chan—”

  Tamiyo pinged the three long-range fighters to engage, and three synced Cracks! rang out through the air.

  Three raiders crumpled where they stood—26 enemy combatants remaining.

  There wasn’t even time for a breath before Violet was hip firing Morgan’s Mercy and running for cover. She dropped the two targets Tamiyo had marked—24 enemies remaining.

  The compound erupted in chaos.

  Tamiyo updated the team’s HUD in real time, red markers flickering out while others repositioned. From her vantage, she had a clean read on almost everyone. Riza started calling out movements, directing fire and anticipating flanks before they even began.

  Soren surged forward with controlled force, rifle raised. He fired in short, deliberate bursts—one to the chest, one to the leg, one to the shoulder. He wasn’t aiming to kill unless he had to. But when a raider rushed him with a spiked pipe, he pivoted low, caught the man’s arm, and drove his knee into the raider’s gut hard enough to lift him off his feet. The pipe clattered uselessly to the dirt.

  Another raider came at him from the side—Soren turned and slammed the butt of his rifle into the attacker’s jaw with a crack. Blood sprayed, but the man stayed up. Soren finished it with a kick to the knee that sent him sprawling.

  Aurania was a storm. Her axe arced like a pendulum through dust and flesh, cleaving a path toward the tower. A handgun flashed in her off-hand between swings—one raider dropped with a bullet through the throat while another lost a leg at the knee to her blade. She ducked under a wild shot, rolled forward, and came up with a snarl.

  The lazarco leader tried to get a bead on her from the stairs, two of his crew moving to flank. Tamiyo marked them both—Veolo and Amalia took the cue and dropped them instantly.

  14 enemies left, they were dropping like flies.

  Aurania reached the base of the tower. The leader took a shot at her—missed. Over seven-and-a-half feet tall, she jumped and grabbed the railing, launching herself up onto the platform with a fury Tamiyo could feel even from across the basin.

  Her axe flashed.

  The leader’s two right arms severed at the elbow, and his upper left arm disconnected at the wrist. The weapon clattered from his grip as he screamed and fell back, blood spattering the tower wall.

  “Violet you got three behind you,” Riza called out.

  Tamiyo heard the ping from Violet ejecting her magazine as she looked at the stack of crates behind her, identifying the red highlights approaching on the other side of them. She slammed a new mag into her weapon and leapt over the crates, delivering Mercy before her hooves touched the ground again.

  10 enemies.

  Down in the fray, Soren ducked into a broken storage shed as gunfire shredded the wall behind him. He exhaled, waited for the rhythm of shots to pause, then peeked out and made a single waving motion with his hand.

  It was a small, controlled use of his powers—the shooter’s rifle flew out of their hands faster than they could react.

  Then he tackled the shooter and ended it with a punch so hard it left a small crater in the dirt beside them.

  Inelius called over comms, “Tamiyo, any of them breaking off?”

  “None yet. They’re holding the line, but thinning fast. Keep them pinned if you see movement.”

  Tamiyo tagged three more targets. Amalia picked off two. The third tried to run—Veolo took him in the back with a clean, cold shot.

  Six.

  The last handful of raiders were fighting desperately now—no more bravado or clever speeches. Just panic, survival, and blood.

  A couple quick rounds of gunfire went back and forth between the teams, the raiders steadily losing men.

  When only two of them still remained, they stopped shooting back.

  There was a pause.

  Aurania hurled the leader down from the balcony. He landed on his side, skidded slightly, and left a small trail of blood in the dirt from his stumps. He wouldn’t stay alive much longer without medical attention.

  Aurania yelled out across the compound. “Lay down your weapons and surrender. You have my word that you will walk out of here alive.”

  A moment of silence stretched.

  “What if we don’t?” one of them yelled out.

  Aurania shrugged to no one in particular and shook her head, frustrated with the stupid question. “Then we’ll fucking kill ya.”

  It almost seemed like they were going to surrender, but then both raiders let out what Tamiyo could only assume were attempts at war cries. They jumped from cover, one tried aiming at Soren, the other at Aurania.

  Amalia, Violet, Veolo, and Inelius all riddled them with holes.

  Bodies lay strewn across the compound. Smoke curled from broken machines. The wind blew dust through shattered crates, cracked helmets, and the scorched earth where the fighting had been hottest.

  Aurania hopped down off of the tower platform, landing heavy in the red dirt. She approached the lazarco leader and picked him up by his chest armor, setting him against a barrel. Her blade dripped almost as much blood as his stumps were, clotting in the dirt.

  The lazarco didn’t beg, but he knew he was finished.

  “Is there any chance I’m walking out of this alive?” he asked, voice dry but steady.

  Violet took a slow step forward and reloaded Morgan’s Mercy with a sharp, metallic clack. “Depends how well you cooperate.”

  Aurania set the axe head on the ground and grabbed the long handle with both hands in a relaxed, powerful stance. “Who’s been feeding you intel about the convoys?”

  The leader gave a bitter smile. “You talk like you already know the answer.”

  “Still gotta hear you say it.”

  He coughed and grimaced. “Venlin and me been coordinating a long time. Didn’t need convoy heists ‘til the LU rolled in. Things used to be quiet. Just another way they’re makin’ our way of life harder. Bunch of polished uniforms thinking they know better.” He coughed again.

  Aurania gave a single nod. “Thank you.” She looked at him for a long moment, then cast a gaze to where Soren was checking bodies for survivors.

  She looked back at the leader and tilted her head slightly. “We’re a long way from any decent medical facility. We could strap a bunch of tourniquets to you, but it’s a long ass walk and an even longer wait for the LU to show up with a shuttle.”

  She let him think about her words before continuing.

  “What’s your name, anyway?” Aurania asked, tone almost kind.

  “Trask,” the lazarco said, voice raspy.

  “Let’s say you live another day, Trask. And another after that. You heal up, find yourself somewhere that ain’t got bars. What are you gonna do? You gonna go raise more hell?”

  He looked up at her, pain in his eyes, but no delusion. “You know, now that I think about it, maybe I’d just ask you to make it quick.”

  Violet spun Morgan’s Mercy once then holstered it in one smooth motion, standing just off to the right of where Trask was sitting. “You sure?”

  “I could make up all manner of excuse,” Trask said. “Tell you what I think you wanna hear. But I been doing this a long time. I think we all know I ain’t gonna change. And…” he nodded weakly toward his mangled limbs, “you just chopped off my second and third favorite drinking hands, so…”

  Aurania walked to his left, drawing his gaze towards her. “Which one was your favorite?”

  He turned his head to face her, “It was, uh—”

  Violet drew like lightning and offered Mercy. Trask slumped sideways, dead before he hit the dirt.

  Soren stood silent for a moment, then spoke softly. “At least he faced it with honor. Didn’t try to run or make excuses for what he was.”

  Aurania exhaled, her tone more tired than triumphant. “These people might be stuck in their ways… but they’re not monsters. It’s not so black and white.” She looked thoughtfully at the carnage around them. “Just men on the wrong side of change.”

  Tamiyo watched the scene from the ridge, her HUD still active and feeding live updates. Amalia, Veolo, and Inelius were up from their posts, making their way down to the compound.

  The wind kept blowing dust into the air, mixed with smoke and the scent of blood.

  “Come on,” Riza said, standing up next to her.

  Tamiyo powered off the HUD, and stood to follow the sniper.

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  NUCLEUS

  THE DUST OF MOON

  ?? A Space Opera Where Sexuality Meets Cosmic Drama

  ?? In 2295, humanity has expanded across the Solar System, but ancient terrors have awakened with them.

  Four destinies collide:

  - Lorna Weiss, a psionic operative with the Terra Alliance;

  - Zhi-Xin Wu, a programmer fleeing the Imperium's grip;

  - Jabari Adomako, an ambitious Scarab pilot from the Emerald Directorate;

  - and Dilinur Altai, a conflicted Conjurer serving Imperial masters.

  As these rivals, potential allies—and sometimes lovers—cross paths, they discover the Moondust Crystal, an artifact with the power to control mutated monsters known as Radi-Mons.

  Rich with diverse cultures ??????, complex relationships ????, and spicy cosmic romance ???? that'll blow your mind (among other things).

  New chapters released on Tuesdays and Fridays.

  Volumes 1 & 2 complete, 200K words ready for reading.

  3 more volumes in the works.