In Her Name: Dead Soul

Three years after the brutal first contact encounter with the alien Kreelan Empire, the human Confederation is desperate for a victory. With over a dozen worlds under siege by legions of Kreelan warriors, President McKenna orders the Confederation military to deliver a victory to give humanity hope

Roland Mills, Valentina Sikorsky, Ichiro Sato and his wife Steph, along with the irrepressible General James Sparks are once again at the sharp end of the spear in a mission to take back the colony of Alger's World from the alien invaders before it's too late.

But overwhelming firepower may not be enough. For the warrior leading the invasion of Alger's World is Ku'ar-Marekh. While she has the powers of a Kreelan high priestess, her spirit is trapped on the boundary between life and death. She is feared by warriors and priestesses alike, who call her the Dead Soul…

Excerpt
"They've got us," the pilot called back to where Mills now sat, strapped into one of the fold-out seats against the inner wall of the hull.

"****." Mills shook his head, looking at Valentina. The plan had called for the courier to set down on the planet. If that wasn't possible for any reason, the Marines were to jump from high altitude using parasails. Mills had made the decision to prepare to jump, but had hoped they could land. They had the bulky packs strapped to their chests, with their equipment stuffed into backpacks. They also had face masks and oxygen cylinders. If they had to jump at high altitude, they would need oxygen to breathe.

"Mills," the pilot shouted, "we have to abort! We haven't gotten too far into the gravity well that I can't jump out-"

"No!" Mills barked through the microphone in his face mask. "There's no aborting this one, missy. The fleet and Marines are coming in behind us and they need to know what the hell they'll be facing here. We either make it or we die trying. Got that?"

The pilot muttered a string of curses as she and the copilot fought to get the courier into the atmosphere. If they could make it that far, the Kreelan destroyers wouldn't be able to follow them, as the sensors suggested that these particular ships weren't designed to operate in the atmosphere.

The courier lurched. Then it began to roll, the arc of the planet below spinning in the forward view screen. Mills felt a wave of nausea as his inner ear went crazy. The gravity compensators were failing.

The pilot shouted something just before everything went to hell. There was an explosion at the rear of the main cabin that sent shards of metal and plastic flying, but the screams of the men and women of his team were drowned out by the roar of the ship's air streaming through the hole punched into the engineering section by a Kreelan shell.

The explosion had weakened part of the hull wall, and the seat of Staff Sergeant Rajesh Desai, the team's heavy weapons specialist, tore loose. Still strapped to his seat, the NCO tumbled through the cabin, screaming. His screams were cut off as he slammed into the torn metal in the aft bulkhead. Mills watched in horror as the man was pinned there for a moment, then in a spray of blood was blown out through the hole, which was much smaller than Desai.

The ship was wallowing in the atmosphere now as the pilots fought the controls, and the only thing that kept them alive were the shields. If those failed, they would burn up in an instant.

"Is anyone injured?" Mills bellowed through the face mask comm system. "Sound off!"

"Ephraim is gone." Valentina spoke loud enough to be heard through the scream of the air still streaming out, but her voice was completely calm.

Mills turned to look to where Jeremy Ephraim sat. The upper half of the man's body had been torn to ribbons by shrapnel from the shell hit. "Bloody hell. Anybody else hit?"

He received a brief volley of no's from Valentina, Steph, Ella Stallick, and Danielson.

"Mills!" the pilot shouted. While the air had by now vented out, the cabin was filled with the whistling roar of the atmosphere through which the courier was now tumbling, out of control. "You have to jump!"

"Are you off your nut?" Mills shouted back, his mask fogging up slightly as he did. "We're not even close to our release altitude! We'll burn up out there!"

"We're through the worst of it! We redlined our descent, using the shields as a brake. We're high but not too fast now. You don't have any choice! If you don't jump now, you-"

The pilot's words were brutally cut off by a brace of Kreelan shells that blew the nose from the courier. Mills stared in horror as the entire forward part of the ship sheared away, the pilot and copilot carried with it. He could hear the pilot screaming as she fell, her voice echoing in his earphones from the comm system, when he looked up to find Valentina in front of him, clinging to his chair.

"Come on! We've got to go! Now!"

Fighting against the roller coaster motion of the courier's hulk, Mills pushed away his fear and focused on what had to be done.

Taking hold of a nearby conduit running along the wall, he unstrapped himself with his free hand and got to his feet. Stallick and Danielson followed his example, but Steph was still in her chair, struggling with her seat harness.

"Go on!" Mills shouted at Valentina and the others. "Get out! I'll help her!"

"No!" Valentina grabbed his arm. "I'll get her. You get the others and the weapons!"

Mills didn't argue. He understood Valentina's intent. He was the mission leader, and the mission was the most important thing. Everything else was secondary, and he didn't have the luxury now for any heroics.

"Stallick! Danielson! Get one ammo and both supply containers!" Aside from their personal weapons and other gear that was on each Marine's weapons harness, the team's equipment was in a set of containers that had their own parachutes. Mills would have liked to take everything, but having enough to eat and at least some ammunition were the top priorities.

The two Marines nodded. Fighting the tumbling motion of the courier, they began to unstrap the containers from the deck.

In the meantime, Valentina had made her way to where Steph still struggled. The former spy could see Steph's mouth moving, but couldn't hear anything.

"Steph!" She leaned closer to better see Steph's face. "Can you hear me?"

Steph nodded, then pointed to her face mask. A tiny sliver of shrapnel from the hit that had taken the courier's forward section had damaged the microphone's electronics. Had it been a few centimeters to either side, it would have sliced into her mask and her face.

Looking down at the buckle of Steph's harness, Valentina saw that shrapnel had done its work there too. Another shard had bent the buckle's latch mechanism, somehow glancing away from Steph.

"God, you're lucky." Valentina pulled her combat knife from its scabbard and quickly sawed through the tough straps. "Come on!"

Valentina turned to make her way forward toward Mills after Steph was free.

But Steph didn't follow her. Instead, she headed aft.

Valentina was about to go after her when she saw that Steph was going after the small case she'd brought aboard, and which had been stowed in one of the lockers near the smoking wreckage of the lavatory.

Steph grabbed the case and strapped it to her side.

While Valentina waited for her, she told Mills, "Steph's all right, but her mic's not working. She can receive but not transmit."

"That's not a bad thing for a woman sometimes," Mills quipped as he helped Danielson move the second supply container.

"**** you, Mills." Stallick, who was silhouetted against the spinning planet in the opening at the front of the hull, was holding down the first supply container and the ammo container.

The ship lurched again, and Stallick reached out to brace herself, taking hold of some bent conduits. The Kreelan destroyers had given up the chase, but the air currents were tossing the ship around as it plummeted toward the surface. "If you-"

The ship dropped, and the container that Mills and Danielson had been shepherding down the aisle toward Stallick got away from them.

"Down!" Mills tried to warn Stallick, but it was too late.

With a single bounce, the fifty kilo container caught Stallick right in the face and carried her out of the ship. Unconscious or dead, she silently spiraled out of sight…

Search for the title using (opens in a new window).

Alternatively, the author has provided links that you can use to buy the book.

If you want to see the link before you click - hover over a Click to Choose link in the list above.

If you don't see the country or format you want to buy - try a Google Search - this may deliver a book that fits your region or needs.

Important: You don't purchase through Wise Grey Owl - the author decides where you purchase her/his book and provides a link to the purchase site. Wise Grey Owl is not responsible for external links. Please validate the link before you click using a reputable virus checking application.