“I wish you’d reconsider, Commander,” I said, feeling saddened at their upcoming departure. “We can’t change the past, well, the future for you guys.”
“I understand your concern,” he said, “but it seems you’ve already changed our past. None of us could live with ourselves should we not try and defend our home.”
“If you saw what I had in the museum…”
“Perhaps. But should we still fail, you have ten of my finest male and female Kibnali to see to the rebuilding of our race. That is more than enough to sprout a new empire, gods willing.”
I sighed heavily and fell back into my chair. There was no arguing it. Not now, at least.
“You could still come with us, as long as we’re talking about decisions,” he said. “The tech you have could be capitalized before the war swings out of our control.”
I shook my head. “I can’t,” I said as I threw a glance to Jack. He gave an approving nod but said nothing. He and I had already had our talk. “I’ve made a promise I have to keep.”
“You are as noble as you are fierce,” he said with a chuckle. “My apologies for ever doubting you.”
I smiled at the compliment. “No worries.”
“Then this where we say farewell,” he said.
Before he could say anything else, the unease that had been building in my heart the last couple hours gave birth to a magnificent idea. “Wait,” I said, quickly bringing up a list of Kibnali worlds deep in their empire. I wanted one that wouldn’t be decimated too quickly, but not so close that we’d instantly be blown apart if we showed up out of the blue. “The planet Nuro, do you know it?”
Ito smiled. “There’s not a Kibnali alive who doesn’t. Famous throughout the Empire for its rich spices and unparalleled shipyards. Not to mention it is the birthplace of warrior-poet Nakamu Se.”
“Perfect,” I said, tapping the screen to drill the planet’s name into my memory. “Tell your Empress that we’ll be there in thirty years, on the nose.”
“It has no nose,” he said, brow dropping.
I laughed and shook my head. “Figure of speech where I come from. I mean we’ll be there exactly thirty years from now.”
“Because?”
“To check in,” I said. “That’ll be long enough for you guys to see if the war is winnable, but hopefully not so long we can’t at least do something if things haven’t changed from my view. Should be easy to pop on over there no matter where or when we are once we’re zipping through the webway network like old pros.”
Ito gave a slight bow. “You are an honor to your species. Empress will look forward to meeting you, especially after she hears of all your exploits.”
“Be sure to remind her to tell everyone else not to blast us out of the sky when we show up,” I said. “I’d appreciate that.”
“Of course,” he said. He then touched the top of his head and bowed once more. “May Inaja bless you with good fortune.”
I repeated the gesture. “May her luck be your luck.”
Once the call ended, Jack spoke. “Thanks. I’ll be honest, I had my reservations you’d hold up your end of our deal.”
I grinned. “Well, your brother is the cute one of you two. Is he seeing anyone?”
“Ha. Ha. Very funny.”
My smile faded, and I raised an eyebrow.
“You are joking, right?”
I turned back to the nav panel. “Daphne, did you get us a lead on another webway?”
“Affirmative,” she said. “Sending you the most promising location now.”
“Awesome sauce. Plot us a course, then. Second star to the right. Straight on till morning.”
“It’s actually fifth star to our eight o’clock low.”
“Whatever,” I said, laughing.
Jack cleared his throat. “Dakota?”
“Yes?”
“You were joking…right?”
I shrugged, slipped on some headphones that were piping in my favorite tunes, and sank back in my chair. Maybe I’d give him an answer in a few hours.
Maybe.
Thank you for reading!
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It’ll also motivate me to continue Dakota’s story!
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Oh yeah, want a sneak peek at Book IV? Keep turning pages!
One Step Behind
(Dakota Adams Book IV)
Dear Little Miss Doppelganger,
I know you think you’re clever, stealing my life and my best friend.
And you might’ve succeeded if I’d died after you marooned me.
But guess what? I found a way off this godforsaken world, and now I’m coming for you.
There’s no where or when I can’t reach. So, if you value your existence, I suggest you leave my ship, friends, and family alone this instant. I promise if you do, that’ll be the end of it.
I’d rather be plotting my next dig while sipping root beer anyway.
But if you insist on pretending to be me…
Well, all bets are off, and most important of all, I’ll make sure you never get a Viking funeral.
Love,
The Real Dakota Adams
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Acknowledgments
As always, I have the usual crew to thank: My wife for putting up with a lot of bad writing over the years, my wonderful editor Crystal for turning slop into something decent, Katrina for proofing it one last time, and my kids for giving me endless ideas on what’s fun and adventurous.
I’m also forever grateful to Katherine Littrell who breathed wonderful life into the characters and gave Dakota the voice she needs.
Of course, none of this would be possible without all my brilliant readers, new and old; so here’s to hoping you enjoyed this book two and are off to see what book three has in store.
About the Author
When not writing, Galen Surlak-Ramsey has been known to throw himself out of an airplane, teach others how to throw themselves out of an airplane, take pictures of the deep space, and wrangle his four children somewhere in Southwest Florida.
He also manages to pay the bills as a chaplain for a local hospice.
Be sure to drop by his website https://galensurlak.com/and sign up for his newsletter for free goodies, contests, and plenty of other fun stuff.
About the Publisher
(and other stuff)
Now that you’re done…
Come visit the Tiny Fox Press website by clicking HERE to check out our entire library!
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Table of Contents
Chapter One: Welcome to Kumet
Chapter Two: Transport
Chapter Three: Physical
Chapter Four: Casino
Chapter Five: Experiments
Chapter Six: The Dance
Chapter Seven: Improv
Chapter Eight: Yet Another Lab
Chapter Nine: Meltdown
Chapter Ten: MOAR™ Portals
Chapter Eleven: The Return
Chapter Twelve: The Drop
Chapter Thirteen: Welcome Back
Chapter Fourteen: A Nice Little Dip
Chapter Fifteen: Rendezvous
Chapter Sixteen: Bottoms Up
Chapter Seventeen: Detox
Chapter Eighteen: A New Ship
Chapter Nineteen: Interview with AO
Chapter Twenty: Original Sin
Chapter Twenty-One: The Ninth Floor
Chapter Twenty-Two: The Exhibit of Bad Art
Chapter Twenty-Three: A New Old Friend
Chapter Twenty-Four: Pickin
g Up
Chapter Twenty-Five: Yseri & The Empress
Chapter Twenty-Six: To Orbit
Chapter Twenty-Seven: Naval Battle
Chapter Twenty-Eight: Boarding Party
Chapter Twenty-Nine: Running Amok in Muck
Chapter Thirty: Another Twenty Credits
Chapter Thirty-One: Fin
So Close to Home Page 27
