Danielle Ackley-McPhail
Seven tales of conflict set among the stars, driven by the very roots of mankind’s Earth-bound strife. Yet even in the face of the vast void of space, these brave souls fight to hold on to their humanity. Dawns a New Day - A seemingly innocuous artifact all but destroys the technological world. It is up to one uncommon girl to lead the way out of the darkness. The Steady Drone of Silence - An engineer at a remote testing facility makes a cold, hard discovery. Will he and his team survive to correct his miscalculation? Travellin’ Show - Ever doomed to wander, the Romani take to the stars to build a new life, only to discover society’s prejudices have followed. When one of their own goes missing, the lines between justice and vengeance blur. Casualties of War - The lone survivor of a deadly battle, a young conscript despairs that no one will find him before he falls to the scavengers. Only a trophy taken from a fallen soldier renews his hope he will come out of this alive. The Devil’s Own Luck - A stowaway on a star freighter discovers those chasing him are the least of his worries as the ship he has hidden on is hijacked by pirates. No Man Left Behind - Missing and presumed dead, a soldier captured by the opposition is forced to use his demolition skill to set a trap for his own team. New Discoveries - Conflicts increase between unaltered colonists and gene-mods on the colony planet Fremont. A young girl, raised to distrust those altered, learns that differences say less about a person than their choices. 3