Title: Requiem
Author: P.L. Parker
Genre: Science Fiction Romance
Book Blurb:
The rebels are losing the intergalactic war.
They need a prototype of the Deg’Nara’s latest weapon, a planet-killer, to survive. A covert operations team is tasked with finding and retrieving the weapon. Their mission is proceeding as planned but goes horribly wrong when Ashyr, a space pirate, swoops in and literally tears the weapon from the team’s hands.
Cam can’t let that happen. Impetuous, reckless, and determined to retrieve it at all costs, she throws herself onto Ashyr’s ship and the battle begins.
Excerpt:
At a snail’s pace, Camilla Shaw belly-crawled down the steep incline leading to a pit utilized as an open refuse dump. Silently cursing her luck, she inched forward. Seasonal rains had transformed the embankment into a mudslide and only by grasping at the sparse vegetation was she able to prevent a downhill slide into the filth below and, with each imperceptible move, prickly shrubs and barbed foliage drew blood from exposed flesh causing her skin to itch as though from a thousand mosquito bites.
She drew in a slow, deep breath and immediately regretted it as the foul stench of feces and rotting garbage filled her nostrils. She resisted the urge to sniff, conscious of the fact that every sound, no matter how imperceptible, carried in the stillness of the night.
Within the buffer of the specialized night vision apparatus, the glow of the base floodlights registered a warm yellow on the computerized faceplate. Plant life and the rock-strewn ground were encapsulated in muted shades of the color spectrum. Overhead, in the blackness of the illimitable night sky, a trillion spots of flickering white light lit the darkness.
She reached up, adjusting the angle of the faceplate. The light-weight apparatus clung to her face like a second skin, without the bulk of the heavy goggles utilized by special ops teams on Earth—one of the few good things about this mucked up universe!
Inching forward, she slid beneath the draping limb of a low hanging bush. The faceplate clicked, automatically adjusting the distance to the compound. Almost there!
From the rebel battle cruiser stationed outside the Deg’Nara’s patrolled sphere, operations techs kept a tight watch on the five team members, receiving vids from the mission team through the computerized faceplates and, alternately, coordinating the actions of the group.
She took a few parsecs to study the fortification, giving the ops techs the opportunity to modify the assault team’s progress. Guard towers were set at systematic intervals on the frontal portion of the stockade facing the landing grid but here on the backside of the fortress only two towers were situated on the high wall. A single guard walked the perimeter on this side of the compound and, from his movements, he wasn’t pleased with the duty station. A portion of the long cape’s cowl hood was draped across his face as though to shelter him from the breathtaking stink of the refuse pit. With every few paces, he would stop, snuffle and blow, wiping his dripping nose with his sleeve. Why the stench bothered him she couldn’t say because, as a whole, the Deg’Nara were a disgusting, filthy race.
As the guard moved past her position, she inched a few feet forward, freezing in place as he stopped and turned. Heart thrumming in her chest, she flattened out as his head swiveled from side to side, scanning the boundary of the lit area. For several parsecs he kept watch and then, with a shrug, he continued his stroll along the periphery of the fortification.
Her ear-com pinged. “Status,” Nadic, her squad leader’s voice whispered.
She bent forward, cupping her mouth with her hand. “In position.”
“Hold for my signal,” Nadic replied.
Better be worth this shit! Intelligence confirmed the existence of a new category of weaponry designed by the Deg’Nara. Impossible to detect until the weapon was deployed, the resulting devastation was epic in its after-effects. She’d heard whole planets disintegrated when targeted by the horrendous mechanism. The only apparent defect in the weapon appeared to be its useful distance, which meant the Deg’Nara had to be in close proximity to deploy it. Though still in its early stages, rumor had it the Deg’Nara were ecstatic about the possibilities and preliminary prototypes were already being installed on the battleships patrolling the outland bases. Nadic’s team, including Cam, was sent to this godforsaken place to acquire a holographic schematic of one such prototype in hopes of recreating the weapon and generating a viable countermeasure. Her job was to take out the perimeter guard and assume his strolling pace, keeping watch for the unexpected. Two of the team members, Ursula, the tall blonde from Finland, and Drust, the Potaen Tustuwa or night stalker, were to scale the high wall and neutralize the guard towers; thereby allowing Nadic and the weapons tech, Seisyll, the opportunity to infiltrate the compound, photoscan the weapon into 3D spatial data images, and, if possible, acquire a copy of the design plans. If all goes like we hope!
The perimeter guard reached the far edge of his post, turned and ambled back towards Cam’s position. She tensed, ready to act at the instant Nadic gave the word. The apathetic guard once again sauntered by her position and then continued towards the darkness edging the boundary of his duty walk.
“Now!” Nadic snapped the order.
Cam sprang to her feet and broke into a crouching run, angling around the rim of the refuse pit. The guard halted, gazing into the darkness beyond the perimeter. He coughed, hacking a glob of phlegm into the shadows and then swiped an arm across his mouth. He neither heard nor saw Cam before he dropped to the ground, neck snapped almost in two. With a swift kick to his backside, she rolled the body down the incline where it fell into the refuse pit with a squelchy plop.
Good place for him, she thought.
Buy Links (including Goodreads and BookBub):
New Concepts Publishing: https://www.newconceptspublishing.com/product-page/copy-of-deg-nara-four-requiem
Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/degnara-book-four-pl-parker/1139114780?ean=2940164857769
What makes your featured book a must-read?
My scifi romance novel, Requiem, is loaded with action and romance. Cam (the heroine) is part of a special ops team tasked with obtaining the bad guys’ latest weapon. She is a fighter, determined to do the right thing.
My readers say Requiem grabs them from the very first page and transports them into another world.
Giveaway –
Enter to win a $20 Amazon US or Amazon Canada gift card
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Runs May 25 – June 1, 2022.
Winner will be drawn on June 2, 2022.
Author Biography:
I write stories with alpha males and strong, determined women. I am a dreamer, an avid reader of fiction, a sometimes gardener and an inept crafter. I live in Idaho and was born and raised here. I love the beauty of Idaho and would not be happy anywhere else. I have three sons, two daughters-in-law, a granddaughter and little grandson. Over the years, I taught and performed dance but as time passed, I decided to try my hand at a new endeavor - writing. I enjoy life and all its promises.
Social Media Links:
Website: https://www.plparker.net/
Blogspot: http://plparker.blogspot.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/PLParker