R L Stanley

Ash and Dust R L Stanley

It has been four months since Rin Cooper was abducted from Earth and rescued by the Peacekeeper Corps vessel Starlight. Four months since she was thrown headfirst into a wondrous world of aliens both beautiful and terrifying, including Jon Bledsoe-an Alympan with the power to control people with nothing more than his voice. He is hell-bent on destroying Rin's newfound family through any means possible, and his rage and thirst for destruction has only increased after learning that Rin is his daughter and that she possesses Alympan powers of her own that are capable of going toe-to-toe with Jon himself. So for now, he's fallen back, evaluating his options and planning his next attack. For Rin, life is now focused on trying to find her place in this new universe as a Corps civilian asset, and it seems she's found her chance. A research station has gone silent, and Rin is excited because this is her first mission with Oren's crew. It's probably just a repair job, but the half-human is eager to see Paetana-Jaeda-a planet whose orbit has split it into a permanent dichotomy of blistering day and frigid night. However, she's the only eager one. The mission is top secret, and nobody can stop talking about the monsters that live beneath the planet's surface-or a mission that failed two years ago at a now-abandoned base on the other side of the planet. So when Rin and Strike Team Leo reach the station on day-side Paetana and find it eerily empty, her excitement dies. Something is watching them in that deserted garage, and Rin can't help but feel like the darkness has eyes. She and her friends are soon in far over their heads, fighting to escape the station alive. And only estranged siblings Lieutenant Acoua and Lieutenant Commander Byrone-and the story of what happened two years ago-can save them.