TRIAD

After five years of silence, the Arkosian space pirates are back to terrorize the sector where Trezanna Len fights to save her Solarii colony, a small group of Terran descendants settled on the planet Induna. To survive, the Solarii need assistance. And soon. Trezanna could ask for help from the neighboring group called Dragonfleet, but its cruel leader Estrella Drake has been on a rampage to annex Solarii space. Estrella would never agree to an alliance with the Solarii. Or would she?

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PAPERBACK [EAN 978-1-936381-32-6 | ISBN 1-936381-32-X] 6x9 library trim (256 pages) | Average Price: $12.99

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READ AN EXCERPT

CHAPTER 1:

NEW blood. If we don't get it soon, we're finished.
Trezanna Len watched the large monitors of the Solarii command center, her breath coming in tight gasps as she willed her remaining fighters to stay in the sky.
She had assigned fifteen ships to battle the Arkosian space pirates. Seven were still holding on. To their credit, they had knocked out a dozen smaller pirate craft. Two pirate ships continued to drop hydro-bombs, the impact of the deadly missiles registering in cold numbers on the radar.
The thought of the destruction of her colony made her stomach turn. For so long hundreds of people depended on her to keep them safe. Now she may have run out of luck.
"Incoming!"
The alert caught her off guard.
"What? Where?" Trezanna jumped out of her chair, running across to the command center's main viewer. She didn't wait for bad news. "Get out! Everyone out!"
The half-dozen people who manned the center scattered out the doors. With headset in hand, Trezanna made sure she was the last to leave. As her hand left the doorframe, the command center exploded into shards of plasteel and krete. She stumbled into the corridor, the shock driving her into the wall opposite. Her nose and eyes filled with a sharp, choking smoke.
Almost immediately, the hallway went dark.
No power. That meant no radar, no communication, no ability to monitor. She had to find out what was transpiring overhead.
Head spinning and her shoulder aching, she shoved off the wall in the direction of the nearest set of computers she knew of, the rec-room. People screamed in the distance, the sound echoing along the halls and rattling her spine. Despair stalked her like the trails of smoke and dust in the passageway. She did her best to ignore it as she felt her way through the dark until she reached a junction with power.
Eyes burning, she tried to focus on her goal. Left, then another left, halfway down that hall and a sharp right. Now. More people of the Induna colony could die with every second that passed. She couldn't let that happen. She forced herself to keep moving.
If she had been on the small command deck of her fighter, she would have blasted the pirates for all they were worth. She had chosen to stay on the ground this time, since the number of command officers not confined to the infirmary was growing short. If she could keep the generator from crashing and the shields fully operational, there was a chance to keep the base viable. How much damage did the bomb do to the command center? Did the Arkosians now have entry?
Trezanna hurried across the debris-cluttered floor to the games console and pushed aside the remnants of a child's birthday celebration. Her priority now was to make sure that young Jahn survived to see his next one.
She tapped in her command password and the screen blanked. The lights overhead flickered. "No! Hold on, you sorry piece of crap gennie!"
She held her breath a moment, glaring upward as if she could force the current to remain by sheer will power. A few seconds later, the lights stopped their intermittent blinking and the screen flashed, first with her command link, and then current status. She surveyed the base's remaining power supplies. Nearly gone.
Her arm ached from where her shoulder had hit the wall and her fingers shook, making her typing erratic. Almost twelve hours since the attack began in the dark of the early morning. The Arkosians were old enemies. They vacated this sector years ago. Now they were back and without even a greeting or a demand. Just the blast from their weapons.
Her fingers couldn't seem to hit the right keys, so she gave up on the keyboard. "Marus, voice mode," she snapped, waiting for the computer to process her orders. When its red light flashed, she stood back, able to give vocal commands.
"Marus, cut lights to fifty percent base-wide. Transfer power to shields. Display current tactical data."
Trezanna focused closely on the screen as the overhead lights dimmed. Other than the command post, the attack had not damaged anything crucial. Seven ships now occupied the air space directly over the base, four pirate ships and three of Trezanna's. The Solarii ships, the Whirlwind, the Tiboron, and the Blaze, smaller and more maneuverable, circled the larger attackers like wild dogs, taking bites out of their hulls with each pass.
Running a hand through her hair and shoving it out of her face, she loosed a shower of krete debris. Trezanna tuned the controls, trying to catch the frequency her fighters used. Barely able to hear at first, she leaned in close, the blue light from the screen dimly illuminating her face and body. Static phased in, and then sharpened to a war whoop.
"Beat it, Winston, she's gonna blow!" came the triumphant voice of Shelby Hussard, the spitfire teacher-turned-pilot of the Tiboron.
"Cheeky bit." Monty Winston swerved the Whirlwind from its path, swinging wide to avoid the coming explosion. His voice was warm and amused, despite the stress-inducing situation he was in. Trezanna noted with approval that he avoided Hussard's trajectory, preventing pirate gunners from acquiring an easy shot at them both.
Hussard counted down. "Three. Two. One. Now!"
The on-screen trace of the larger of the pirate cruisers wavered and vanished.
"Yes!" Trezanna waved a fist of satisfaction as she imagined a silent shower of fire and sparks bursting into the vacuum of space only to be swallowed by the black. "Well done!"
She leaned against the edge of the console, her body aching. The smell of burnt plastic and wiring filled the room.
"Give it up, you bastards," she whispered. "Call it a day. Go home."
Winston reported one pirate lightship decimated by a large piece of torn metal. Apparent chaos reigned overhead as the debris from the cruiser scattered. Then he and Hussard turned their ships to dog the rest until they turned and fled.
The Blaze hung in space, power readings flickering. Dr. Shahla Talib was in the cockpit, reluctantly pressed into service after two pilots had been killed the week before. Talib had been through Space Force training before joining the Solarii and assured them that she could handle the controls of a small ship.
Trezanna frowned and thumbed the com-unit. "Talib? Solarii base to Blaze, come in. Blaze?"
No answer. Had Talib been sent up there to die?
The Solarii personnel roster had counted about seven hundred at the beginning of today's attack, approximately two hundred on the compound itself, another several hundred in support personnel, farmers, artisans, metalworkers, living outside the compound on Solarii-claimed territory. Trezanna was responsible for all of them. She couldn't afford to lose anyone else, especially someone on the medical staff.
Perhaps the flickering power interfered with communication. Ship-to-ship might be more effective. "Tiboron, what's Talib's status?"
"Reading one life sign through explosion residue, but it's faint, ma'am." The Tiboron swooped closer to the wounded ship. "I can send someone to tow her home."
"Do that. We can't afford to lose the doctor, or the ship. Rendezvous in thirty minutes in the conference room. Len out."
"Understood."
Trezanna waited for Winston to acknowledge the order, and then cut the frequency. Time to regroup and see what the pirates had left them. Why had the Arkosians come back after being defeated so soundly years before? Why now?
"Marus, show the command display stats."
Trezanna studied the information coming in from the ships and the local outposts. Only when she had made sure all her chicks were safely headed home did she notice the blood soaking her right sleeve and the piece of metal poking through her upper arm. Buzzing filled her head until everything went black...

[Copyright ©2023 Lyndi Alexander | No unauthorized reproduction or distribution]

READ REVIEWS

"Readers are welcomed to a planetary outpost where remnants of the Solarii and Khimeyr have gathered in an unlikely alliance to fight space pirates and the cruel Dragonfleet leader. Amid the leading factions, each has their own motivations and goals, keeping the reader wondering, in a page-turning read, if this misfit team can hold together long enough for the warring parties to save their planetary homes or lose everything. Follow their day-to-day lives as they seek peace, love, and healing from past wounds, old wars, and hidden pasts. TRIAD takes you on many surprising twists and turns with a character-driven story filled with entities to both love and hate." ~ reviewed by J. L. Saloff at Amazon Reviews [FIVE STARS]

"As a trekkie, I enjoyed TRIAD by Lyndi Alexander where good fights evil at every turn. Memorable characters and unique spins on good versus evil kept me turning the page until after two days I’d read the entire 304 pages. A master at building suspense and creating real to life characters make this book a gem." ~ reviewed by JLP at Amazon Reviews [FIVE STARS]

"The enemy of my enemy stands true in TRIAD. Two factions brought together to defend against a common foe. This story starts off with a battle and the action keeps going. The author introduces us to the characters, their quirks, their good points and their faults, Piper, Chase, Julian and the rest draw you in. I don't want to spoil the book for you but it is an adventure, filled with twists and turns, characters to like and others you want to see squished. I would love to see them again, in some form. I enjoyed this book a lot!" ~ reviewed by K. Hicks for Geek Girl [FIVE STARS]

"Packed with unique characters and spaceship battles galore, TRIAD by Lyndi Alexander is space opera at its best. The author really knows her space lore and has created memorable characters. The plot moves lightning fast, so pay attention to every word. TRIAD is a great read!" ~ reviewed by Amber Sparks [FIVE STARS]