Aydarr
(A Badari Warriors Scifi Romance Novel), Sectors New Allies Series Book
1 is the the first book in a new series I’m launching, connected to my
scifi world of the Sectors, but with the action taking place elsewhere. I’m
excited about writing an actual series with a specific overarching plotline,
although of course each individual book has a satisfying Happy for Now ending
for the hero and heroine. No cliffhangers! One of the reasons I wrote this book
is that I’ve wanted to tackle an actual series for a while now, where each novel
has a different couple front and center in the story, but the other characters will
be showing up in the story too!
My Sectors SF Romance series is more of a connected series,
all being set in the Sectors and with some characters mentioned in more than
one book, plus a few direct sequels. But for this New Allies series, I had to
come up with a longer running story arc that could stretch over 3 to 5 books
before the conflict is resolved, but not do too much detailed plotting, because
my Muse balks at telling a story where I’ve already figured out too much in
advance. I lose the desire to write it all down then. It’s a total no go.
I’ve long been a fan of the Lora Leigh Breeds series and the
Laurann Dohner New Species series, both centering around genetically engineered
soldiers. I can’t ever get enough of those stories! So I decided to challenge
myself to write my own novels with genetically enhanced warriors as the heroes
(for the most part – there are a few Sectors Special Forces guys appearing in
the books already and I think Gabe may get his own book soon. He’d demanding
one!). The heroines in the first two
books are Sectors women, Jill and her sister Megan respectively.
And I’ve thrown in a few other elements of my own brand of
scifi romance along the way…
I thought the concept of these warriors created by alien
scientists lent itself to a series arc I could handle and write some exciting
stories for. I also see a lot of potential for ‘sidequels’ about other
characters, that might not advance the main series arc, but which would be fun
to tell. It’s going to depend if the readers like the books or not!
The story:
Jill Garrison, a
maintenance tech at the Sectors Amarcae 7 colony, goes to sleep one night as
usual only to wake up in her nightgown stranded in the middle of a forest on an
unknown world. There’s no time to think as she’s stalked by carnivorous
predators and rescued by genetically engineered warriors calling themselves the
Badari. Turns out they and she, along with her whole colony, are now prisoners
of the Khagrish, a ruthless race of alien scientists. Working for enemies of
the Sectors, the Khagrish have created the Badari to be super soldiers.
Aydarr, the Badari
alpha, isn’t sure he can trust Jill but his attraction to her is undeniable. He
impulsively claims her as his mate to prevent her death at the hands of the
Khagrish.
Can he continue to
protect her from the experiments already underway? Will his claiming her put his pack in
jeopardy from their alien masters?
As Jill searches for a
way to rescue her fellow humans and get them all to safety, she finds herself
falling for Aydarr, despite the secrets he’s keeping. She has a few of her own.
The situation becomes
dire when Aydarr and his pack are sent offplanet on a mission, leaving Jill
unprotected, prey for the senior scientist. Can she escape the experiments he
has in mind for her? Will she be able to thwart the Khagrish plans and liberate
humans and Badari alike? How will she and Aydarr reunite?
The excerpt from the start of the book:
Why am I lying face
down on the wet grass in the rain?
Jill rolled over, putting a hand to her forehead in an
attempt to quell a ferocious headache. Opening her eyes gingerly, she blinked at
the vividly colored pink, purple and blue leaves on the tree above her, which
certainly had never grown on Amarcae 7. She’d been all around her home colony
on various repair jobs, and nothing there had riotous leaves in these colors,
much less with spikes at the tips. As she watched, one of the leaves snapped
into a tight roll to capture a slow moving insect.
“Thank the Lords of Space I’m too big a bite.” Wary, nauseous,
she sat up, swaying a bit, and examined her unfamiliar surroundings. She was in
the midst of an old growth forest, with other forms of vegetation besides the
carnivorous trees but nothing recognizable.
A loud roar in the distance gave her the shivers, and she
forced herself to stand, staggering a few feet to lean on a less colorful tree’s
broad trunk to stay upright. Despite the rain, her mouth was dry, and she had a
hard time swallowing. “What the seven hells?”
Her mind was curiously blank, no memory of how she’d gotten
to this place, or what had happened in the last few hours. She guessed it might
be late afternoon here, from the glimpse she got of the white sun above the
horizon, before the clouds drifted in front of the orb again. She refused to
contemplate the fact that the star providing heat and light to her colony was
yellow. If the sun here was white hot, the reality of where she stood, lost in
the galaxy, was terrifying.
She remembered eating dinner in her small modular house on the
edge of the colony, falling asleep watching an adventure trideo she’d seen a
hundred times then…nothing.
“And
now I’m here.” She took a closer look at her left arm and did a double take. A
black bracelet she’d never seen before was solid against her skin just above
the wrist, with no visible hinge or fastening. As she gawked at it, prying at
the edges in an increasingly desperate attempt to make the band move, flickers
of red and yellow pulsed inside the cool, hard surface. The bracelet and what
it might mean scared her more than the loss of short term memory or even the
unknown sun above her.
The
roar came again, closer, and was answered by another. Something hunting me maybe?
Distracted
from the ominous mystery of the bracelet, she was briefly tempted to try
climbing the tree, but the lightheadedness persisted. Also, the smooth trunk
didn’t offer anything in the way of handholds. She pushed off, realizing she
was barefoot, wearing her short, pink-and-black nightgown, molded to her body
by the rain. Lingerie was her secret luxury after a day spent in technician’s
coveralls, but certainly not suited to this experience.
Am I dreaming? She paused, gazing at the
sky and pushing her damp hair off her face. The shower had tapered off and now
the sun was shining but an ominous gray storm front was advancing. A bolt of
lightning arced across the sky, and Jill broke into a zigzag run, forcing her
body to respond to her terror. Standing anywhere close to a giant tree in a
thunder storm was a recipe for disaster.
I’m in a nightmare,
not a dream, but it’s all too real. In her headlong flight, she stepped on
a rock or a sharp root and cried out, but she kept going as thunder boomed. She
had to find either a stand of small trees surrounded by taller ones or a
ravine. Of course, an actual shelter would be better than either of those
make-do options but probably too much to hope for.
Running
full tilt, ignoring the pain from her foot, she suddenly slammed into an invisible
barrier and bounced off, falling on her back. Cautiously she rose, extending
her arms. The barrier was a tingling against her palms. She tried going right
then left, but the wall ran for quite some distance in both directions. Being
in an invisible cage was the most unsettling thing since she’d awakened, especially
when coupled with the bracelet affixed to her arm.
A boom of thunder directly overhead startled her into motion,
and she ran in a new direction, terrified of being struck by lightning. The
rain lashed her face and barely-covered body, like stinging nettles, adding
impetus to her desperation to find cover.
The
ground gave way under her feet. She teetered on the edge of the sinkhole or
pit, but her precarious state of vertigo betrayed her. Screaming, she half
slid, half fell into the deep hole, debris raining down with her.
