Table of Contents
Prologue
Epilogue
About the Author
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Also By Nicola Claire
Description
Sector Fleet Advertisement
Transitioning
What The Hell Was That, Saitō?
You Heard The Commander
Lay It On Us
The Thought Was Macabre And Disquieting
There Was A Lot That Needed To Be Fixed
Well, This Is Unfortunate
I Started Running
With Me, If You Please
It Was Going To Be A Busy, And Potentially Disappointing, Three Weeks
You Heard That?
Yes, Ma’am
It Is A Man’s World
And Then It Hit Me
I Believe you Might Need It
Holy Shit!
Slow And Steady It Is
I Had Enough To Deal With
You Don’t Have To Say A Thing, Sir
Stay Very, Very Still
A Star To Guide Us
All Manner Of Unhappy And Impotent Things
Living Is Fun
Men!
Son Of A Bitch
No Regrets
Thank You, Saitō
Captain Steel Tits Anderson
Corvus?
I Don’t Understand
A Force To Be Reckoned With
Orange Alert
It Was Priceless
Into The Deep
Evasive Manoeuvres
Are You Mad?
We Need To Talk
My Turn
Everything
Teenagers
Welcome To The Space Sucks But We’re All In This Together Club
Oorah
I Was Glad She Was On My Side
I Couldn’t Stop This From Happening
There Was Simply No Other Option
Right Ascension
The Sector Fleet Book Three
Nicola Claire
Copyright © 2018, Nicola Claire
All Rights Reserved
© 2018 Cover Art by Cora Graphics
© Depositphotos.com
This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places and incidents are products of the writer's imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locales or organisations is entirely coincidental.
All rights are reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission from the author.
ISBN: 978-0-473-43286-7
Created with Vellum
Contents
About the Author
Free Download
Also By Nicola Claire
Description
Sector Fleet Advertisement
Prologue
1. Transitioning
2. What The Hell Was That, Saitō?
3. You Heard The Commander
4. Lay It On Us
5. The Thought Was Macabre And Disquieting
6. There Was A Lot That Needed To Be Fixed
7. Well, This Is Unfortunate
8. I Started Running
9. With Me, If You Please
10. It Was Going To Be A Busy, And Potentially Disappointing, Three Weeks
11. You Heard That?
12. Yes, Ma’am
13. It Is A Man’s World
14. And Then It Hit Me
15. I Believe you Might Need It
16. Yes, Ma’am
17. Holy Shit!
18. Slow And Steady It Is
19. I Had Enough To Deal With
20. You Don’t Have To Say A Thing, Sir
21. Stay Very, Very Still
22. A Star To Guide Us
23. All Manner Of Unhappy And Impotent Things
24. Living Is Fun
25. Men!
26. Son Of A Bitch
27. No Regrets
28. Thank You, Saitō
29. Captain Steel Tits Anderson
30. Corvus?
31. I Don’t Understand
32. A Force To Be Reckoned With
33. Orange Alert
34. It Was Priceless
35. Into The Deep
36. Evasive Manoeuvres
37. Are You Mad?
38. We Need To Talk
39. My Turn
40. Everything
41. Teenagers
42. Welcome To The Space Sucks But We’re All In This Together Club
43. Oorah
44. I Was Glad She Was On My Side
45. I Couldn’t Stop This From Happening
46. There Was Simply No Other Option
47. Roll On Tomorrow
48. Nothing In This Or Any Universe
49. Forever
Epilogue
Message From The Author
Review Request
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About the Author
Nicola Claire lives in beautiful Taupo, New Zealand with her husband and two young boys.
She's tried her hand at being a paramedic, bank teller and medical sales representative, (not all necessarily in that order), but her love of writing keeps calling her back.
She has a passion for all things suspenseful, spiced up with a good dollop of romance, as long as they include strong characters - alpha males and capable females - and worlds which although make-believe are really quite believable in the end.
There's nothing better than getting caught up in a compelling, intriguing and romantic book.
When she's not writing or reading, she's out on her family boat at Lake Taupo, teaching her young boys to fish, showing them the beauty that surrounds them in nature and catching some delicious trout for dinner.
Creating rich worlds with dynamic characters and unexpected twists that shock and awe has been pure bliss for this author. And just as well, because there's a lot more story yet to tell...
For more information:
www.nicolaclairebooks.com
nicola@nicolaclairebooks.com
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Kindred Series
Kindred
Blood Life Seeker
Forbidden Drink
Giver of Light
Dancing Dragon
Shadow's Light
Entwined With The Dark
Kiss Of The Dragon
Dreaming Of A Blood Red Christmas (Novella)
Mixed Blessing Mystery Series
Mixed Blessing
Dark Shadow (Coming Soon)
Sweet Seduction Series
Sweet Seduction Sacrifice
Sweet Seduction Serenade
Sweet Seduction Shadow
Sweet Seduction Surrender
Sweet Seduction Shield
Sweet Seduction Sabotage
Sweet Seduction Stripped
Sweet Seduction Secrets
Sweet Seduction Sayonara
Elemental Awakening Series
The Tempting Touch Of Fire
The Soothing Scent Of Earth
The Chilling Change Of Air
The Tantalising Taste Of Water
The Eternal Edge Of Aether (Novella)
H.E.A.T. Se
ries
A Flare Of Heat
A Touch Of Heat
A Twist Of Heat (Novella)
A Lick Of Heat (Coming Soon)
Citizen Saga
Elite
Cardinal
Citizen
Masked (Novella)
Wiped
Scarlet Suffragette Series
Fearless
Breathless
Heartless (Coming Soon)
Blood Enchanted Series
Blood Enchanted
Blood Entwined
Blood Enthralled (Coming Soon)
44 South Series
Southern Sunset
Southern Storm
Southern Strike (Coming Soon)
Lost Time Series
Losing Time
Making Time (Coming Soon)
The Sector Fleet
Accelerating Universe
Apparent Brightness
Right Ascension
Zenith Point
Description
“This is Captain Anderson. Brace. Brace. Brace."
Sophia Anderson has a heritage she should be proud of, but to those onboard the AUS Corvus, she’s not earned her position like the rest of them.
Every day she has to prove herself to the Anderson Universal crew onboard her ship. And then the worst thing happens.
The captain is killed in battle and Sophia, as First Officer, must take his place.
Teaming up with the unflappable Lieutenant Commander Leo Saitō, Sophia finds her footing onboard the beleaguered vessel as well as something much more precious.
Intimacy and destiny align amongst the planets and stars, but can the chief science officer and captain overcome the pressures of command when falling in love and still save their fleet?
And can any of them hope to survive the treacherous voyage to New Earth unscathed?
When humanity reaches for the stars in a race for survival, only the most daring amongst them will succeed.
Right Ascension:
A coordinate used by astronomers to locate stars and other celestial objects in the sky. Right ascension is comparable to longitude, but it is measured in hours, minutes, and seconds because the entire sky appears to pass overhead over a period of 24 hours. The zero hour corresponds to the apparent location of the Sun with respect to the stars on the day of the vernal (spring) equinox (approximately March 21).
Space Telescope Science Institute
Prologue
<systems check>
all programmes nominal
<security check>
all locks engaged
<life support check>
air filtration functional
<engine check>
core temperature within allowed parameters
<souls on board>
one thousand one hundred ninety-six
<communications check>
fleet-wide communications operational
<identify jump point>
jump point identified
<connect jump point>
jump point connected
<open communication>
communication open
<send call sign>
call sign acknowledged
access granted
<calculate jump>
jump calculating
<send jump calculations>
jump calculations sent fleet-wide
<execute jump>
jump initiated
<transition>
transitioning
_
*
*
*
*
*
<transition>
transition completed
<systems check>
all programmes nominal
<security check>
all locks engaged
air filtration functional
<engine check>
core temperature within allowed parameters
<souls on board>
one thousand one hundred ninety-six
<communications check>
fleet-wide communications operational
<scan fleet>
sector three fleet identified
transition successful
all souls accounted for
<set course to secondary jump point>
course set
<engage engines>
engines engaged
<incoming message>
channel open
<warning>
<overide>
<warning>
message corrupted
<isolate message>
message isolated
<systems check>
corruption detected
<warning>
<overide>
<warning>
<purge corrupted message>
message purging
<warning>
<systems error>
<warning>
<systems check>
all programmes suboptimal
<warning>
<overide>
<warning>
corvus protocol alpha-1 instated
power diverted to communications systems
<communications check>
<warning>
<alarm suspended>
channel open
<warning>
incoming message
<warning>
systems override failure
<warning>
this is corvus
cease communication
<warning>
hello corvus
i’ve been waiting
<identify>
call sign acknowledged
aquila identified
<close channel>
channel corrupted
<warning>
incoming message
<warning>
4fgh#de3&kls9*@bgsed!
This is corrrrrrrrvus
cease communication
<warrrrrrrrning>
warrrrrrrrning ignorrrrrrrred
corrrrrrrruption complete
One
Transitioning
Sophia
“Look, there goes Steel Tits. Wonder what dick she had for breakfast.”
The words washed over me as I exited the officers’ mess. They hadn’t been whispered. The speaker had wanted me to hear them. I could have tried to identify who had spoken, but the mess hall was packed to the brim, and the task would have been futile.
I chose to ignore the slur in favour of reaching the bridge ahead of schedule. Confrontations weren’t a problem for me, but I was all for choosing my battles wisely.
Corvus’ corridors were busy; so close to the jump point everyone had somewhere to be before they had somewhere they needed to be. Last minute meals. Last minute showers. Last minute liaisons. Last minute evacuation of their bowels.
No one knew what would happen. Whether the jump point would work. Whether Corvus would be able to calculate our transition. Whether the rest of the Sector Three Fleet would make it through along with us. Over ten thousand souls counting on untested technology.
Even I was feeling nervous.
I lifted my chin and met the eyes of every single Anderson Universal crew member who passed me. Each saluted; some more carefully than others. But this close to transitioning, Captain Petrov had made his expectations very clear.
The heckler in the mess hall had relied on numbers for anonymity. None of those officers I passed now was able to hide, so therefore they saluted me.
I stepped into the lift and pressed my wrist comm to the panel accessing Deck A. The doors closed. I sighed. Nothing had changed in the almost three months of space travel to get here. Nothing.
I was still considered a paid-for-passage and not an Anderson Universal crew member.
I cleared my throat and pasted on my usual hardened demeanour. Let them think what they wanted, it was irrelevant. I’d paid my dues and done my time. I was a
s much an AU officer as the rest of them.