A Brand New Patch of Sky

By Yolande Kleinn

Starship pilot Mitch Kato doesn't make a habit of pining for the impossible. He's always kept tight hold on the inconvenient feelings he harbors for his captain, Solomon Finn. But when a close scrape grounds Sol's ship and threatens to scatter the crew, Mitch finds himself making an unexpected promise. As he and Sol consider a different trajectory, Mitch wonders if their longstanding friendship might be the beginning of something more.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Yolande Kleinn
• Release date: Feb 6, 2020
• ISBN: 9781946316127

Yolande Kleinn

Yolande Kleinn may be a shameless dreamer and a stubborn optimist, but she is also a proud purveyor of romance and hijinx. Excitable, fastidious and a little eclectic, she spends every spare moment writing the stories she wants to read. If she can drag other people into the pool along with her, then so much the better.

Book preview

A Brand New Patch of Sky

by Yolande Kleinn

––––––––

He found the saloon a crowded, noisy place, with dirty floorboards and low ceilings. There were just as many horses hitched out front as there were maglev bikes lining the side alley, and the clientele ranged from locals—ranch hands, dock workers, miners—to dusty travelers with tired faces. This far past the Carris Cluster even the folk just passing through were mostly human, though still easy to spot from the way they kept to themselves amid an otherwise boisterous throng.

Mitch Kato scanned the early evening crowd, threading his way between spirited saloon patrons. Though the crowd carried a jovial air, Mitch was glad for the gun holstered beneath his vest. His reed-thin frame was far from imposing, and he'd tripped over too many bar fights to ever feel comfortable unarmed in a place like this.

He was halfway across the room when he caught sight of Solomon Finn. Even from behind there was no mistaking the black hair clipped short, patches of silver spreading at the temples. Sol had taken a stool at the bar—not his usual preference, but considering the busy saloon it might have been his only option—and sat slouched forward, arms crossed on the bar top and dejection in every line of his posture.

Tired strain weighed down Sol's shoulders; his crew's recent close call was written all over him.

The fact no one had died wasn't apt to comfort a man like Solomon Finn. He wouldn't take credit for successfully protecting his twelve-man crew when