Unification: Stryker Team, #3

By Frank Carey

When a race that knows only death and destruction takes Gabe Adon hostage, can Kalana and her stryker team save him?

On a remote planet plagued by civil war, a new race that can possess the living and the dead is planning an attack on the League. Kalana leads Stryker Team 1 on a mission to save her friend and finds herself possessed by a handsome elf OffSec agent.

If you like tech-heavy sci-fi, relatable characters, and stories of family and redemption, you'll love this third book in Frank Carey's Stryker Team series. 55 pages.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Frank Carey
• Release date: Apr 26, 2018
• ISBN: 9781386715191

Frank Carey

Frank Carey has been formally writing and publishing works of science fiction since late 2013. Over the years prior, he had dabbled in various forms of writing including haiku poetry, but that all changed when he and his wife, Jo, decided to try their hand at writing and self-publishing. Since then, he has written and published a collection of flash fiction and short stories, two anthologies, a pentalogy, and a trilogy. All his work, to date, has been in the science fiction genre. Most of his stories take place about two centuries in the future when Earth joins the League of Planetary Systems. Many of his protagonists are strong females. He is an inveterate pantser who believes the story will go where the story wants to go. Frank’s background includes degrees in physics and extensive work as a scientific programmer and technologist.

Book preview

CHAPTER ONE

It was quiet in the briefing room; quiet, dark, the perfect temperature for a weary elf captain to take a nap while her nanorobots consumed ethanol fuel as they recharged her two microfusion generators. And nap Space Marine Captain Kalana Grenor did. After days of work, her plan for rescuing her kidnapped friend and fellow stryker, Detective Chief Inspector Gabriel Adon had been approved by the higher-ups. Now, her team mates were gathering personnel and material while she took a well-earned nap. Then the dreams took over.

###

Kalana found herself standing in a field of wild flowers on a planet similar to her home world, Ventos Prime. That's where the similarities ended. She looked up and saw a very overweight dragon fly overhead while puffing  smoke from its nostrils. Why couldn't I have normal dreams? she asked.

Have you looked at your life recently? a familiar voice asked. She turned and saw her late fiancé, Colonel Peter Ventana, standing next to an eight-foot-tall candy cane, his uniform stained with blood from a gaping chest wound.

Kalana hung her head. Can't you stay dead? she asked with all sincerity.

I thought you missed me, he said, a look of hurt clouding his cherubic continence.

If you're here as a way for me to rid myself of guilt over your death, you've failed. You betrayed me, your family, and the corps. A girl can only take so much before moving on.

Sorry, but I did it...

Boss? Wake up!

Kalana opened her eyes and saw Mersa standing over her, her wings giving little nervous flaps. How long have I been out?

The Basili sergeant looked at her chrono. Two hours. I hated to wake you, but we're ready to head out. The major plans to brief Stryker Team One once we're underway.

What about the Boneheads?

They're staying aboard the ship as a reserve force. Command wants a minimum number of our people down on the surface of Degreb to recon the situation before they commit a larger force. Major Williamson and Ambassador Irithyl will be running the briefing.

Kalana got up and shook the sleep out of her hair. Thanks for letting me sleep. Oh, the bots thank you as well.

You're all welcome. Um, Captain? the sergeant said with another nervous twitch of the wings.

Yes, Mersa?

Are you OK for this OP? No one would fault you if you wanted to sit this one out.

Are you asking if watching my fiancé killed a second time has somehow affected my emotional stability?

Yes, ma'am.

Probably, but not rescuing Gabe, retrieving the material that was stolen, and returning everything to the League outweighs all other concerns. I owe Gabe and his family. She smiled at her friend. What is it that Gunny Zon used to say? Shake it off?

Yes, ma'am, a still worried Mersa replied.

Come on, worry wort. Let's get this show on the road.

###

Once the League Warship Zipper was in other-space, Major John Williamson briefed the stryker team on their mission. In attendance were Kalana, Sergeants Mersa, and her Alue counterpart, Trent, and the two genetically engineered life forms, Private Nana Tor and Private Marcus Wen. Like Kalana, Nana and Marcus were cyborgs, known collectively as strykers. Both privates were created in a lab using genetic material from several species including winged Basili, elves, and humans. Both strykers had wings and tails like Basili while possessing the strength of ten humans and IQs near the maximum end of the scale. Like elf twins, the unrelated privates possessed a psychic link which ran 24-hours whether or not they were in physical contact.

A holographic image of Degreb hung in the air over the center of the room. Welcome to Degreb, the major said. A red, flashing dot appeared on its surface. "This is the current location of DCI Adon. Biometric data shows that the inspector is alive, though