Zenith Point (The Sector Fleet, Book 4) Read online

  Table of Contents

  Prologue

  Epilogue

  About the Author

  Free Download

  Also By Nicola Claire

  Description

  Sector Fleet Advertisement

  But We Were Not Alone

  I Want Answers, People

  Drink

  Was This The Start Of A Revolution?

  Yeah, Of Course It Is

  It’s Just Business

  Walkies!

  Our Time Will Come

  Green Means Good, Right?

  Every Action Has An Equal And Opposite Reaction

  This Was Wrong

  Damn

  I Wasn’t Sure What To Make Of That

  Good Question

  Swing Hard And Aim Low

  Hello, Boys

  At Least The Steak Knives Finally Make Sense

  That’s Enough

  Walk With Me, Ms Price

  Welcome To Zenith

  I Would Show No Weakness

  Too Late

  It Doesn’t Work That Way, Adi

  No One Said A Thing

  Bring Out Your Dead

  You’ve Found Me

  Humans Are So Useless

  Fuck You!

  No Matter What, We Were In This Together

  This Had Supernova Written All Over It

  Let’s Do This

  She Could See Right Through Me

  That’s The First Time You’ve Not Called Me Captain

  It’s Quite The Paradox

  We’re On Our Own

  All Civilians Resisting Arrest Will be Terminated

  It Was Time To Get Even

  For A Chance, I’d Keep Fighting

  What Was There To Say?

  Not On My Watch

  And Nothing More

  Eyes Open

  I See Something

  I Can Stop Him

  I Could Do That

  Zenith Point

  The Sector Fleet Book Four

  Nicola Claire

  Copyright © 2018, Nicola Claire

  All Rights Reserved

  © 2018 Cover Art by Cora Graphics

  © Shutterstock.com

  This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places and incidents are products of the writer's imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locales or organisations is entirely coincidental.

  All rights are reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission from the author.

  ISBN: 978-0-473-43287-4

  Created with Vellum

  Contents

  About the Author

  Free Download

  Also By Nicola Claire

  Description

  Sector Fleet Advertisement

  Prologue

  1. But We Were Not Alone

  2. I Want Answers, People

  3. Drink

  4. Was This The Start Of A Revolution?

  5. Yeah, Of Course It Is

  6. It’s Just Business

  7. Walkies!

  8. Our Time Will Come

  9. Green Means Good, Right?

  10. Every Action Has An Equal And Opposite Reaction

  11. This Was Wrong

  12. Damn

  13. I Wasn’t Sure What To Make Of That

  14. Good Question

  15. Swing Hard And Aim Low

  16. Hello, Boys

  17. At Least The Steak Knives Finally Make Sense

  18. That’s Enough

  19. Walk With Me, Ms Price

  20. Welcome To Zenith

  21. I Would Show No Weakness

  22. Too Late

  23. It Doesn’t Work That Way, Adi

  24. No One Said A Thing

  25. Bring Out Your Dead

  26. You’ve Found Me

  27. Humans Are So Useless

  28. Fuck You!

  29. No Matter What, We Were In This Together

  30. This Had Supernova Written All Over It

  31. Let’s Do This

  32. She Could See Right Through Me

  33. That’s The First Time You’ve Not Called Me Captain

  34. It’s Quite The Paradox

  35. We’re On Our Own

  36. All Civilians Resisting Arrest Will be Terminated

  37. It Was Time To Get Even

  38. For A Chance, I’d Keep Fighting

  39. What Was There To Say?

  40. Not On My Watch

  41. And Nothing More

  42. Eyes Open

  43. I See Something

  44. I Can Stop Him

  45. I Could Do That

  46. Yes, Sir

  47. Badass

  48. Tremblay Out

  49. I Can Live With That

  50. Welcome Home

  51. I’ve Got You

  Epilogue

  Review Request

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  About the Author

  Nicola Claire lives in beautiful Taupo, New Zealand with her husband and two young boys.

  She's tried her hand at being a paramedic, bank teller and medical sales representative, (not all necessarily in that order), but her love of writing keeps calling her back.

  She has a passion for all things suspenseful, spiced up with a good dollop of romance, as long as they include strong characters - alpha males and capable females - and worlds which although make-believe are really quite believable in the end.

  There's nothing better than getting caught up in a compelling, intriguing and romantic book.

  When she's not writing or reading, she's out on her family boat at Lake Taupo, teaching her young boys to fish, showing them the beauty that surrounds them in nature and catching some delicious trout for dinner.

  Creating rich worlds with dynamic characters and unexpected twists that shock and awe has been pure bliss for this author. And just as well, because there's a lot more story yet to tell...

  For more information:

  www.nicolaclairebooks.com

  [email protected]

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  Starter Library

  Also By Nicola Claire

  Kindred Series

  Kindred

  Blood Life Seeker

  Forbidden Drink

  Giver of Light

  Dancing Dragon

  Shadow's Light

  Entwined With The Dark

  Kiss Of The Dragon

  Dreaming Of A Blood Red Christmas (Novella)

  Mixed Blessing Mystery Series

  Mixed Blessing

  Dark Shadow (Coming Soon)

  Sweet Seduction Series

  Sweet Seduction Sacrifice

  Sweet Seduction Serenade

  Sweet Seduction Shadow

  Sweet Seduction Surrender

  Sweet Seduction Shield

  Sweet Seduction Sabotage

  Sweet Seduction Stripped

  Sweet Seduction Secrets

  Sweet Seduction Sayonara

  Elemental Awakening Series

  The Tempting Touch Of Fire

  The Soothing Scent Of Earth

  The Chilling Change Of Air

  The Tantalising Taste Of Water

  The Eternal Edge Of Aethe
r (Novella)

  H.E.A.T. Series

  A Flare Of Heat

  A Touch Of Heat

  A Twist Of Heat (Novella)

  A Lick Of Heat (Coming Soon)

  Citizen Saga

  Elite

  Cardinal

  Citizen

  Masked (Novella)

  Wiped

  Scarlet Suffragette Series

  Fearless

  Breathless

  Heartless (Coming Soon)

  Blood Enchanted Series

  Blood Enchanted

  Blood Entwined

  Blood Enthralled (Coming Soon)

  44 South Series

  Southern Sunset

  Southern Storm

  Southern Strike (Coming Soon)

  Lost Time Series

  Losing Time

  Making Time (Coming Soon)

  The Sector Fleet

  Accelerating Universe

  Apparent Brightness

  Right Ascension

  Zenith Point

  Description

  "You can be scared of something, even terrified, and still have the courage to do what’s required. I would not let my fear rule me. I would do what I had to do to put this right."

  As the leaseholder’s daughter, Adriana Price holds a position of importance onboard the AUS Aquila. But not everything is as it seems.

  Death and danger have followed her from Old Earth, and Adi soon finds herself facing threats from every which way onboard the spaceship.

  Teaming up with the dashing and heroic Captain Hugo Tremblay, Adi finds a strength inside that defies the devastation and horror closing in from all directions.

  Courage and chivalry explode like supernovas, but can the civilian and captain truly win against an out of control, lethal artificial intelligence?

  And can any of them hope to survive the treacherous voyage to New Earth unscathed?

  When humanity reaches for the stars in a race for survival, only the most daring amongst them will succeed.

  Zenith Point:

  The point on the celestial sphere that is directly above the observer. Holding a balloon overhead places the balloon at your zenith. Although celestial objects appear to rise and set as they move across the sky, they rarely reach the zenith point.

  Space Telescope Science Institute

  Prologue

 

  all programmes nominal

 

  all locks engaged

 

  air filtration functional

 

  core temperature within allowed parameters

 

  one thousand one hundred ninety-six

 

  fleet-wide communications operational

 

  passenger located

 

  channel open

  good morning adi

  Good morning, Aquila. What’s the plan for today?

  i have found a book you might like in the library

 

  engine check

  main boost thrust operating at 97.354%

  engineering advised

  power diverted to main boost thrust

  anomaly found

  anomaly corrected

  system diagnostic running

  Oh, great. Is it a classic?

  the great gatsby

  by f scott fitzgerald

  it is set in the jazz age

  your favourite music genre

  Sounds good. Send it to my pad.

  book sent

  Thanks, Aquila. I’ll tell you what I think of it.

  i liked the roaring twenties

  it looks like they were fun

 

  locating origin

  origin located

  deck a

  mayoral office

  security advised

  Times were simpler then.

  read the book

  not so simple after all

  Right. Got it. I’m reading.

  have fun adi

  Thanks, Aquila. You have a fun day too.

 

  location search

  location found

  mayoral office

  recording

 

  alarm suspended

  recording

 

 

 

  privacy setting documented

 

 

  check location

  air filtration system

  divert core systems to air filtration

 

  air filtration non functional

  power diverted to air filtration system

  origin fault located

  correcting

 

  air filtration functional

 

  privacy setting deleted

  no evidence of weapons discharge

  security stood down

  documentation erased

 

 

 

 

  One

  But We Were Not Alone

  Adi

  A wet, slobbery tongue to the face was not the nicest way to be woken. But it beat any of the alternatives.

  “Argh, Ratbag,” I moaned. “Leave me alone.”

  I rolled over and stuffed my head under the pillow.

  Ratbag whined.

  Then yipped.

  I pulled the pillow down and glared at him.

  “Bad dog,” I hissed.

  His tongue lolled out, and he cocked his head to the side, giving me one of his signature I’m-too-cute-not-to-love looks.

  I snorted. “OK,” I said, “you’re forgiven.”

  The lights in the room had already lightened to daytime settings, so I had obviously overslept. That’ll teach me for reading into the wee hours. I pushed the covers off and sat up, scrubbing my face.

  “Any sign of movement in the creature’s lair?” I asked.

  Ratbag simply let out an enthusiastic yip.

  “Not that we’d hear it behind bulkheads if there were,” I grumbled, getting up and staggering to my ensuite bathroom. Ratbag followed. He follows me everywhere.

  He hadn’t done that back on Earth, but something about being onboard a spaceship and having to do his business on a three-foot by three-foot piece of artificial grass that wicked away all evidence of said business left Ratbag feeling out of sorts.

  I couldn’t blame him. I’d been feeling out of sorts since we’d boarded Aquila too.

  I brushed my teeth and did my business, while Ratbag stared balefully at his ‘grass’.

  “Go on,” I said. “Don’t be a baby.”

  The three-minute shower wasn’t nearly long enough to do my hair properly. I’d considered cutting it to make things easier. But we’d had to give up so much to be here, giving up that seemed a little too much to contemplate just yet. Soon, I told myself. I would do it. I hated having dirty hair. But I also hated the thought of how my father would react when he saw I’d cut it.

  Courage wasn’t my strongest character trait.

  I snorted and tied my hair up in a messy bun, then stepped under the pitifully too short shower spray.

  Exactly three minutes later I was out, my blonde hair starting to frizz slightly. I dragged a brush through it and then added some precious product. It wasn’t up to my father’s exacting standards, but that was half the fun of it. I blinked at my reflection in the mirror. Seeing my mother’s eyes and hair, and my father’s too long chin.

  I tilted it one way and then the other. Those were my mother’s eyes, weren’t they? I was starting to forget her. I made short work of my mak
eup. Just enough to please my father and then selected a casual outfit out of my wardrobe.