Solvarg Pursues The Moon: A HORNETS short story

By Tami Veldura

Arai is a Hornet, a member of a special-ops team sent in to deal with tricky problems on dangerous planets. When a research project gets loose in the jungle and threatens the researchers, the Hornets are called in to save the day. But the lead researcher didn’t make the call and the outpost defenses nearly kill Aria on arrival. There are secrets in this jungle base that might be fatal.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Tami Veldura
• Release date: Sep 5, 2022
• ISBN: 9781941319376

Tami Veldura

Tami Veldura is a writer, reader, artist and dreamer. She resides in sunny California and aspires to quit her day job and write full-time. Her stories are predominantly gay romance in a collection of subgenres spanning fantasy, science fiction, steampunk, paranormal, bdsm, and contemporary.She also publishes adventure steampunk, fantasy, and science fiction stories suitible for all ages as S. T. Lynn .

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Book Description

Arai is a Hornet, a member of a special-ops team sent in to deal with tricky problems on dangerous planets. When a research project gets loose in the jungle and threatens the researchers, the Hornets are called in to save the day. But the lead researcher didn’t make the call and the outpost defenses nearly kill Aria on arrival. There are secrets in this jungle base that might be fatal.

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Solvarg Pursues The Moon

Sardines. The Hornets had been packed into a drop pod like smoked fish, bathed in oil, and squished until the air was gone and all sense with it. And unlike a breaching pod that could be retracted and re-used, this slug of metal was meant to be lost. Violently.

Arai hung in straps against the wall, her feet dangling now that the gravity of the planet had a hold of them. The pod shuddered, screaming downward at a velocity she didn’t want to think about. Her armored hands gripped the harness over her chest, crossed at the wrist, and she counted her unsteady breaths with her eyes squeezed so tight she saw lights.

Turbulence rattled the pod like a maraca. Arai and nine other Hornets the seeds inside.

Her stomach flipped.

Anti-nausea meds coursed through her veins alongside the pre-flight cocktail. Arai wasn’t sure if that made things worse. She didn’t throw up in her helmet, but she wanted to.

She counted her breaths.

The pod shook.

Her HUD beeped for her attention. Arai squinted one eye open enough to get a glimpse of her team. Six people hung on the outer edge of the pod, four hung on the center pillar. All of them bulky with new power armor. It shined on the edges. New car smell. Arai could touch three without unstrapping. She wasn’t sure who they were. The old armor at least had identifying damage, like boat-strike on whales. The pod vibrated, and it didn’t match the stability her eyes saw. Her stomach rolled.

She licked her lips. Close my visor, she whispered.

The helmet snapped shut. Arai risked another glimpse and saw only darkness behind the glow of her HUD.

She took a deeper breath.

The HUD beeped again, and she focused. Paracitica Jin’s name was listed on the left, the rest of the Hornets below him in turn. Arai saw her name in the middle of the pack, above her twin brother, Seo. He was probably grinning like a loon, enjoying every minute of this insane approach. On the right Arai had a list of bullet types and counts. They were stored in rows along her back and the armor could pull whatever she wanted on demand directly into her Armash, like a living armory. It got a little creepy if she thought about it too closely.

The alert hung in the middle of her view, amber and bright. Impact: 20 seconds.

The situation, as it tended to be when the Hornets were called, wasn’t entirely clear. Jin had played the recording for them all, the call for help that sounded