Colonial Expansion
The Colony (Book 1)
Not everyone will make it out alive.
Responding to a distress call, Officer Alexander Valerian and the rest of his security team arrive at the human colony on the planet of Jangala to find blood and gore all over the walls. All the colonists are dead or missing except for Dr. Elisa Everett, a pretty paleontologist he finds injured and nearly suffocated in a ventilation shaft. Now Alex has to figure out how sixty-nine colonists were wiped out in a single night, but Elisa’s account of killer monsters just raises more questions. Has the colony really been attacked by bloodthirsty beasts, or did everyone succumb to a powerful hallucinogen that made them turn on one another? He had better find out fast, because Elisa’s life is in his hands.
Content: m/f romance, love scene, attacks on humans, no cliffhangers, can be read as a standalone book
Print: Available from Amazon, Books-A-Million, and Barnes & Noble Universal Buy Link
E-book: Available at Amazon (US, UK, CA, AU, etc.), Barnes & Noble, Kobo (US & UK), iBooks/Apple, Everand, Smashwords, and more! Universal Buy Link
- "Awesome sci-fi thriller with romantic elements. A heart-pounding read!" - 5 Stars - author Cara Bristol on BookBub
- "Great character development, fast paced from beginning to end" - 5 Stars - E.M. on Amazon
- "Great world building" - 5 Stars - Renee Palmer on Amazon & Goodreads
- "This book had me turning pages with a high degree of interest and suspense...I would urge my fellow SFR fans to give this book a try." - 4 Stars - Celestine on Amazon & Goodreads
- "interesting thriller/suspense in sci-fi setting" - 3 Stars - Vic on Goodreads
Excerpt from The Colony
Human colony, planet Jangala…
“What the hell is going on?”
Dr. Elisa Everett huffed out the demand as she ran into the colony’s security room. Her hand wasn’t quite steady as she took a hit from her asthma inhaler and got her first good breath since sprinting here from her lab in the southwest wing. The blaring overhead alarm nearly drowned her out.
From her seat in front of the security monitor, her sister shot her a concerned look while she punched buttons that were blinking a violent shade of red.
“All hell is breaking loose,” Bria shouted.
Her remark was punctuated by the frantic squawking of the nearby intercom.
Elisa strode closer to get a look at the screen and was overwhelmed by the kaleidoscope of images. Section N1’s camera revealed two male colonists pounding at each other with their fists. They were both swaying on their feet, but they didn’t let up. In another frame, a woman in section NW2 was gesticulating wildly and evidently talking to herself. The Jameson cousins in R3 stood atop the cafeteria table and waved at the lens for help. Five other displays were down and filled with static.
Elisa muttered a prayer. “Where’s your commander? What happened to your backup?”
Her sister was a Beta security officer here at the Jangala colony. She wasn’t supposed to handle something like this by herself.
“I don’t know!” Bria cried above the alarm. “Someone triggered the fire alert in the northeast wing. Commander Walsh took Donaldson with him to check it out. I didn’t see flames, but Guy Robbins was spraying extinguisher mist all over the damn place. I saw someone tackle him through the haze. By the time the fog cleared, Guy was lying there with his head bashed in. Nobody is answering their radio, Commander Walsh ran for the north door ten seconds before we lost picture for that whole wing, and then my emergency panel lit up. We’ve got an outbreak of assaults, reports of killer insects, and— Oh, my God!”
Elisa followed her sister’s gaze and gripped the edge of the table. Framed at the top of the screen was Liddy Harper, a petite eighteen-year-old who usually wore a star-bright smile. The girl was currently throwing herself against the walls of one of the workrooms in the northwest wing. A gash on her forehead bled profusely, and blood smeared the room where she’d pinged around like a fly in a bottle.
Elisa’s mouth went dry, which only made the medicinal aftertaste from her inhaler more noticeable. “She’s hurting herself. We’ve got to stop her.”
“She’s on the other side of the compound,” Bria pointed out, but she was already heading for the door. “We need stunners. Weapons locker, sublevel.”
Elisa didn’t argue. She just concentrated on her breathing as she followed her sister’s quick, athletic strides.
The air grew stale as they hit the cold metal staircase that descended to the basement. They’d almost reached the last step when the lights cut out. Elisa rocked back on her heels and clutched the handrail as they were plunged into total darkness. Her sister cursed in front of her, and the alarms fell silent.
Bria’s voice rose from the void. “Elisa, you’re only one or two steps behind me. Reach forward and find the back of my jacket.”
“Okay.” Elisa ignored the tremor in her hand as she reached blindly ahead.
When she made contact with nothing but air, she slid her shoe forward to find the step’s edge with her toe. Both she and Bria jumped when her fingertips hit her sister’s hair, but then she managed to pinch a crease in the back of Bria’s security jacket.
Her sister took control. “Good. Step down the rest of the way with me, and we’ll walk to the weapons locker together. It’s going to be down the hall to the right, second door on the left.”
As one, they started moving. Elisa felt a moment of disorientation when they first hit the landing, but she got her bearings once she was sure there were no more steps. After navigating the narrow hallway, they found the door they wanted.
“Maintaining,” Elisa replied, and she hoped she could keep it that way.
Her palm grew sweaty against Bria’s jacket, but she expelled a breath of relief when the code panel beside the doorframe lit up. She could just make out her sibling’s outline in the eerie green glow of the buttons. Bria punched a few numbers, and the lock opened with a snick.
“Hand lights,” her sister announced as she plucked one from the shelf and clicked it on.
Elisa released her grip. “We’d better grab a couple of extras as backup.”
“Good idea.” Bria took her suggestion. “The sun has already set, and I don’t know how long it’ll take to get the power back on. It could be we tripped a breaker or burned out a generator.”
“There’s more than one generator,” Elisa pointed out, “and they’re zoned.”
Given the pandemonium upstairs, she was sure this was more than a simple electrical short.
Bria didn’t debate the issue. “First priority is to get the lights back on. Things are bad enough without everyone freaking out in the dark. We’ll go to the generator room and see what’s what. Maybe we’ll bump into one of the engineers on the way.”
“Is it safe to go back up there?” Although she had been the one to suggest going to Liddy’s rescue, Elisa didn’t want to wind up bruised and bloodied. The darkness only made the situation more frightening.
“It is with an I-100 Suppression Taser in hand.” Her sister slapped one of the short, bulky stunners into Elisa’s palm. “You’ve just been deputized.”
“Bria! You’ve got to be kidding me. I suck at shooting these things.”
“I taught you well enough,” Bria argued.
“This isn’t the same as stunning an overzealous boyfriend. I’m not trained for this. You’re the warrior woman. I’m the science nerd, remember?”
“Don’t give me that,” her sister hissed. “Look, you probably won’t have to use it, but I want you protected. Panic makes people dangerous. We’ll be in close quarters up there, and we’re still not sure what’s going on.”
“And no,” she added before Elisa could speak. “I’m not leaving you here to bounce off the walls like Liddy Harper. Now come on.”
Elisa huffed as she followed her big sis out the door and down the hall.
“Just try not to frag me,” Bria muttered as they reached the stairs.
Despite the situation, Elisa smiled.
When they reached the top landing, her sister stopped abruptly.
Elisa nearly plowed into her. “What?” she asked, but then she heard it too.
Far ahead of them, dozens of people were screaming.
The planet of Silveira has been colonized by humans for over twenty years. When wildlife biologist Lilah Reiss is sent to hunt down a man-eater that is attacking her fellow colonists, she assumes she’s after one sick animal. Instead she discovers that something is very wrong with Silveira’s top predators. The animals are moving oddly, and they’ve begun to target humans. Her budding relationship with Darren Jayr, her outpost’s medical doctor, is put to the test when civilization and nature collide. As the number of attacks increases, she and Darren must find out what is causing the change in behavior…and how to stop it from spreading to the colonists.
Content: m/f romance, love scenes, animal attacks, medical drama, hunting alien animals, euthanasia of alien predators that have attacked humans, no cliffhangers, can be read as a standalone novel (set in the same universe as The Colony)
E-book: Available at Amazon (US, UK, CA, AU, etc.), Barnes & Noble, Kobo (US & UK), iBooks/Apple, Everand, Smashwords, and more! Universal Buy Link
Josie’s first day as a colonial security officer on planet Litus starts with the discovery of human remains washed up on a sandbar. She assumes the bones belong to the outpost’s only missing resident, a scientist named Heidi Ferrin. Then Heidi’s body turns up farther along the shore. Using her background as a police detective, Josie investigates the mysterious deaths and uncovers a disturbing secret about the colony.
Her ex, Brayden, works at the outpost as an engineer. In a building full of strangers, he’s the only one she fully trusts. He also has the smarts and technical savvy to help her. Maybe this is a second chance for them, but to keep him and the other colonists safe, she’ll have to figure out what’s happening on this planet before anyone else turns up dead.
Content: m/f romance, love scene, suspicious deaths, human remains, no cliffhangers, can be read as a standalone novel (set in the same universe as The Colony and The Frontier)
Print: Coming January 30, 2025
E-book: Coming January 30, 2025 Universal Buy Link
Schematics of the colony building:
