Sunday Morning Coffee and Lit

Good Sunday morning! 

I'm starting a new thing where each Sunday morning I'm going to post an excerpt from my novel. I hope you enjoy it! 

Captain Ziqna ran headlong into several members of the crew as he huffed down the hall toward the holding cells. Even though the majority of the crew onboard The Avenger was Gathung, a smattering of humans and other species served on board. As part of the mission of the Cathari Alliance, diversity among the various crafts of the fleet ranked among the top priorities when choosing who or what to fill each of the many roles with. The Avenger was no exception.

What the Captain and his superiors did not realize was that among the various races of the crew, three members, two Gathung and one human, were strategically placed in the ranks. These crew members did not work toward fulfilling the Cathari Alliance's objectives. In fact, the mission of The Avenger itself did not align with the long term plans of the Alliance. Earth and Gathung'l were working together on a top secret security project that they would prefer their Cathari colleagues to not know about. Zika Uku was a spy, placed onboard by the D'lai Authority. He had been ordered to watch and report back to D’lai leadership on events onboard The Avenger. As part of his association with the D'lai, he understood what the power loss earlier meant, being privy to some top secret intelligence on how the D'lai interact with other civilizations. Zika had one fatal flaw, however. He was a bit of a coward. A coward afraid of being caught.

Zika Uku also happened to be a criminal -- at least in the eyes of the D'lai. The D'lai took criminality to extreme heights. If a being had parents, grandparents, cousins, etc. who offended the D'lai, every member of that family would be branded a criminal. Zika's grandfather fought in the resistance and been executed by the D'lai. They used this to recruit Zika and press him into service. In fact, while the D'lai left Gathung'l, they still very much operated on the planet. Many Gathung became trapped by this and served The D'lai Authority.