When Captain Grania O’Ceagan takes her recently-repaired space freighter out for a shakedown run, she and her crew expect an easy trip. Deliver a few passengers and cargo, then reload for the return to Erinnua with a nice profit.
However, a government agency taps her ship for a special delivery to Desolation, an Outer Rim planet way beyond her flight plan. Problem is: she can’t refuse, and the promised payment will more than make up for her losses while her vessel was being repaired. Still, the job has risks and a tight deadline. Plus, the new crate in her hold is top secret, and other people are interested in it, including a PPG agent who boards her ship at Earth’s space station, ostensibly to help protect the shipment.
Crew problems and delays tighten her timeline, but the cost of failure is too high. They must make the delivery on time. Grania doesn’t have any other options.
The sequel novel to O’Ceagan’s Legacy is finally coming out with a release date of June 9th! The eBook version is in presale now on Amazon. Click on the book cover image to go to the presale page.
This contains two separate but connected novels, Errand to Earth and Desolation. I had debated releasing them separately, but decided, they were better together. No waiting for the continuation novel.
Haven’t read the first book? You can get it at Amazon also. Just click this link. O’Ceagan’s Legacy is also available at Kobo, Nook, Apple and other booksellers through this link.
To give you a peek of the new book, I’ve included an excerpt from it below.
Excerpt from Outer Rim:
As the sails dropped and the ship slid as easily as butter into the docking slot, Grania jumped to her feet to get to the station master and check for any anomalies in the space lanes ahead that they would need to avoid or adjust to handle. Likewise, she glimpsed Rory reviewing the reports coming in from the station for other information as well as requests for outbound cargo. Business as usual. It felt great to be back at it.
“We can get a departure slot in three Earth hours,” Rory called out as she went out the door.
Stopping just outside the bridge, she asked, “Think you can load cargo by then?”
“Umm, I have four prospects lined up, so I think so.”
“Take it then.” She grinned as she went to the lower level and down the ramp to the station. At once, she saw a pair of young men with shaggy dark hair who sat on one of the few passenger benches near the port. These might be their other travelers for the trip.
“Hello,” she said as she walked up to them. “I’m the captain of the Mo Chroidhe. Might you be looking for me?”
Both rose to their feet. One was a shade taller than the other, but from their looks, they could be twins. “Ethan Jones,” the shorter one said, offering a nod. “This is my brother, Conan. We’re bound for Earth’s station.”
“Captain O’Ceagan. We’ll be pleased to get you there.” She eyed their luggage—backpacks and four cases of musical instruments. All of it could go in their cabin. Pulling out her comm, she signaled her second. “O’Toole, we have our passengers here and waiting. Would you escort them to their cabin?”
“On my way, Capt’n,” O’Toole’s voice came through.
“I’m just going to check-in. But Mister O’Toole, my second officer, will be here shortly to show you to your quarters for the trip. Welcome aboard, gentlemen.”
As they nodded their thanks, she left them to go about her business. She was not the only ship’s captain checking in with the station master and had to wait for almost twenty mites. The master was a cranky woman who’d clearly crawled out on the wrong side of the bed that morning and hadn’t improved as the day progressed. Her voice was deadpan and irritated as she spoke to the captain ahead of Grania. She braced herself for equal treatment of her questions, but she smiled and greeted the woman pleasantly. “I’m Captain O’Ceagan of the Mo Chroidhe. I’m just paying a courtesy visit and inquiring about anything happening on the space lanes that I should avoid.”
“How would I know?” the master mumbled. “All day, all I get are complaints, questions I can’t answer, and reports of missing cargo.” She squinted at Grania as if she might know her, then shook her head. “Mo Chroidhe. That’s old Paddy’s ship, isn’t it?”
“My granda, yes.”
The woman looked up again. “Oh. How is the old coot? Is he with you?”
She gave her head a shake. “No, he retired and handed the ship over to me. But he’s well and enjoying the land life back home.”
“Ah, that’s too bad. I liked him. Always had a kind word and maybe a bottle of something with a bit of kick.”
“Leprechaun whiskey, I would guess. I might have a bit of it stored on the ship. I can bring you a pot.”
That softened the woman up. “That’s kind of you. I wouldn’t say no to it, but no need to go out of your way.”
“It’s no trouble.” Grania could send Brendan over with it. Sure, this woman would enjoy meeting her handsome young brother.
“Well, thank ye.” Her face split into a smile. Now, as far as I know, there’s no hindrances along the space lanes, no tumblin’ meteor fields or anythin’ like that. Had a comet cross about a week ago, but nothin’ new headin’ this way.”
“Wormhole?” Grania asked with her mind recalling the one from Pelanan Station. It had popped them out into dark space, apparently from a sun flare that caused the tunnel to fluctuate.
“Stable. No variations in two years now. It won’t cause you any trouble.” The station master dropped her eyes to the table behind the counter, and her forehead wrinkled. “Ah, wait a moment. You said you were Captain O’Ceagan, right?”
Grania nodded.
“I have a message here for you. I reckon whoever sent it expected you to stop in. She handed Grania a message tube, which was a confidential message sent by a secure transmission and written into the cylinder, so no one except the sender and recipient could see the contents.
“Odd,” Grania said as she put the tube in her uniform pocket. She’d play it when she was back in her cabin. “Any idea who it’s from?”
“None at all. It’s rare that we get one of those. No indicator of when or where it was sent from, but I see it was logged in here at 0400 hours this morning.” The station master pointed to the line on her log as if Grania might see.
“Destiny doesn’t always unfold the way you think it will.”
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