Flight into Darkness

by David Patterson

Stormr, a Federation assassin arrives on Axtrol, the Planet of the Rim to terminate a known terrorist. There, he meets a long-time friend, Rudi Theil, now a resident of Saelti, Axtrol’s city of domes. He finds Rudi in hard times and trying to arrange a charter to take the Danalek expedition to the planet Tnumacod, a rogue world in the Sartor region of the Magellan star cluster.

Although travel to Magellan’s Sartor system is banned under Federation law, Stormr decides to help his old friend and offers his services and his ship for charter. The party, which includes Danalek, Tara his ward, Kryton a blue-skinned Unarisan, and Goran a young student departs Axtrol for Sartor twenty-four hours later.

The morning after the party arrives on Tnumacod, Tara Danalek disappears and while her guardian and Kryton reluctantly continue with the expedition, Stormr accompanied by Rudi and Goran head into a nearby town of Pretlaris.

There they meet local Yezidii warrior priests who inform them the woman they seek is with a tyrannical, psychotic, drug lord who owes his vast wealth to the opiate Kaidish, derived from the Risset grass which is native to their world. The drug lord, in collaboration with two Rigellian rebels plans to swamp the Federation of United Planets with vast quantities of Kaidish laced with a deadly virus, their aim being to annihilate generations of the Federation’s younger population.

While this news is disturbing, even more startling is the revelation that Stormr’s presence on Tnumacod has been engineered by the drug lord who intends to ensure the Federation hunter meets with a slow and painful death.

Hours before the plan gets underway, Stormr and Rudi join with the Yezidii to launch an attack on the enemy base. There Stormr means to confront the man who wants him dead.

359 pages, Kindle Edition

Published June 23, 2018

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