Inoculated

By Scott Michael Decker

Orphaned twenty-four years before in an ambassadorial mission gone awry, and reared on a muddy planet at the galactic edge by the dominant species, giant paramecia known as Kziznvxrfn, Lydia observes with inoculated indifference as the nearby Gaean Empire crowns its new, ugly Empress. On a visit to nearby Theogony, she and her father Xsirh are stopped by Imperial Infection Control, their ship is inspected, and her father is detained. Their infection clearances have been revoked due to outbreaks of disease on nearby worlds. While she attempts to get him released, the detention center is surrounded by agents from the Imperial Bureau of Suspicion and Lydia is detained too. The lead agent, Doukas, finds that sending his captives back to the Gaean Capitol is stymied by the coronation itself, all travel prohibited. A contingent of Kziznvxrfn impersonating Imperial Secret Service agents purloins Lydia and Xsirh from Imperial custody and smuggles them back to the Kziznvxrfn homeworld. As the new Empress is crowned, her father's mate Ezra attempts to stop the coronation, his investigation of Lydia's heritage having turned up information that indicates she is far more than an ambassador's daughter. En route home, Lydia discovers they're dissident Kziznvxrfn bent on inciting Homo sapiens to war. She commandeers the vessel and turns them in to the Supreme Leader, who tells her some of the information discovered by Ezra. Returning home, Lydia is recaptured by IBS Agent Doukas and taken to Lucina IX while Imperial forces gather in the skies above Kziznvxrz. Doukas is injured in orbit above Lucina IX. Lydia takes him directly to the hospital on Lucina IX and turns herself in to the authorities, determined to stop the attack on her homeworld. The IBS Commander at the Lucina IX outpost, Colonel Melanctha Remes, decides to take Lydia to Gaea herself, the young woman reminding the Colonel of a childhood friend. Multiple attempts are made to intercept their ship en route to Gaea. The Colonel increasingly suspicious, Lydia tries to discover why her fellow Homo sapiens are going to such great efforts to keep her from getting to Gaea. As mysteries about Lydia's birth and early childhood continue to mount, disease descends on planet after planet, each with one thing in common—Lydia has visited each one of them. The mystery of Lydia's heritage deepens after they arrive on Gaea. As they retrace Ezra's steps, the contagion begins to spread across the Empire, and Lydia is accused of being its Typhoid Mary. Going into hiding takes her deep into the underground of New Athens, where the secrets of her past are buried. Lydia begins to gather the support necessary to combat the evil forces that have pursued her since the coronation, forces that appear to originate from the palace itself.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Scott Michael Decker
• Release date: Apr 29, 2015
• ISBN: 9781941911211