Riding the Mist (Harsh Galaxy Book 2)

A Harsh Galaxy Space Adventure

Captain Henry Dazenhaus and the crew of the Mintaka Mist need a fresh start. After saving half their crew from enslavement, Henry finds himself arrested, fined, and banned from Proxima Station, the only home port they had left.

Their search for work takes them to the Eridanus sector, where a promising contract with the Galactic Explorations Consortium offers a chance to haul supplies between remote stations and rebuild their lives. But Eridanus is home to five feline races, and outsiders are not always welcome.

As pirates close in, corporate espionage threatens the mission, and the feared Jotun Filli emerges from the shadows, the crew of the Mintaka Mist is pushed to its limits. Fast-paced, tense, and full of danger, Riding the Mist continues Stephen Drake’s Harsh Galaxy series with another thrilling journey through an unforgiving universe.

Start reading Riding the Mist today and return to the harsh edges of the galaxy.

Excerpt from the book

The Mintaka Mist, though old and outdated, was big for a light destroyer when I captured her. After our trip to the Valhalla, and being refurbished, its designation should have been pushed up to a heavy destroyer, at least, maybe even a small cruiser.

The Mintaka Mist also carried a small frigate, the Black Star, a Lyran cargo and crew carrier, the Misty, and four top-of-the-line Valkyrie-class fighter craft.

Crew-wise, the Mist has ten Valkyrie, one human, and a saucy, but matchlessly effective, in my opinion, AI that was a clone of the Black Star’s AI.

The Black Star has a crew of four Valkyrie and an AI. It carries my private yacht, the Sho Lan Ru, and two of the same Valkyrie-class fighter craft.

Weapons? The Mintaka Mist has four plasma cannons and four Point-Defense-Cannon batteries—a coilgun/railgun hybrid of two sizes. The Valkyrie fighters have three plasma cannons each, slightly less potent than the Mist’s. The Black Star has two plasma cannons, comparable to those of the fighters, and two batteries of coilgun PDCs.

Shields? Both the Mist and the Black Star have shields that, when at full power, make the ships nearly impossible to target, rendering them almost invisible to scanners. The smaller vessels inherit the shield frequency of the bigger ships.

Gravity generators? Both the Mist and the Black Star had gravity generators that allowed for five different and independent zones of gravity per ship. The Sho Lan Ru had its own gravity generator, but only one zone for the entire ship.

Atmosphere Retention Fields? Yup. Both ships got ‘em, and there is still that new spaceship smell.

Bella and I decided that after the shake-down of the Mist, it would be a good time to visit Proxima Station. Just before the Mist was upgraded, Hilda, our head engineer, Gamora, our medical officer, Gilda, damage control, and Inga, also on damage control, made the trip to Proxima for supplies and some R&R. Bella and I didn’t go because of my injuries.

This trip had me, Bella—first tactical, Aurora—our communications officer, Kali—second tactical, Skyla and Kayla—fighter pilots from the Black Star, and Lizza—Black Star tactical officer, aboard the Black Star as we headed to Proxima Station.

I was in command, Aurora was crewing the communications station, Lizza was on tactical, Kalli was on engineering, Aurora was on environmental, and Skyla and Kayla were on damage control for the trip. This trip was a first-time experience for everyone but me.

By way of preparation for this trip, all of the Valkyrie had to have a human-sounding last name. True, the Reptilians that operated Proxima Station were unfamiliar with human naming conventions, but they were aware that humans had last names. To be as accurate as possible, I suggested they use Wuotansdaughter as their last name. They liked it, and the AI created all the documents.