I’m very, very pleased – and proud to announce that Sentinel, the long-awaited fourth book in Galaxii is now available on Amazon in eBook, paperback and hardcover format! 
I’m sure some of my readers who’ve enjoyed the other three books in the series have wondered for some time when the next title was going to arrive, and I must apologize for the delay! Without further ado, let me introduce you to Sentinel and the characters of this new story arc!
A little more about the book:
The starship Munray is an old ship, crewed by a lot of malingering, negative, troublesome embarrassments to the Imperial Terran Space Fleet – in fact, even assignment to the Munray itself is viewed as something of a punishment; a place where the fleet’s ‘problem-children’ go to disappear, a manifestation of the truism “out of sight, out of mind”. The trouble is, even under those circumstances, the Munray and her crew have been a thorn in the side of those who have to answer for them – being chiefly, one Vice Admiral Beens. The Admiral has become most displeased with the erstwhile master of the Munray, one Captain Wynne Polluk.
Polluk, sensing an ignoble end to his foundered Space Fleet career, has put in for a Section 80 in order to leave the Space Fleet on his own terms, leaving the Munray at the quayside of the space dock orbiting the Terran colony of Tremaine. He’s done so with a self-satisfied smirk on his face, warmed by the knowledge that Lt Commander Shaw, the enigmatic Chief Entech, has taken it upon himself to field-strip both warp engines, rendering the ailing starship immobile and about as dysfunctional as its crew.
Unfortunately for Captain Polluk, things do not go exactly according to plan. Admiral Beens is nothing if not strict and partial to exacting a little retribution on the part of the Service, and has blocked Polluks exit strategy. He has a rather ironic fate in store for the enterprising Captain Polluk – one which should give a new and chilling meaning to the idiom “flying a desk”. In the meantime, the Munray remains stuck in port, her crew on extended shore leave, one step away from being AWOL, and growing less useful by the day. It was time to reach for a new broom.
Enter Captain Sonia La Belle. Unlike all her recent predecessors, and the crew of the Munray, Sonia has a perfect record. After a brief stint commanding a battlespringer – a small patrol vessel, she has spent the last four years working in Space Fleet’s Special Operations office on Tremaine. She’s been aching to be given command of a starship, and feels her skills are wasted sitting at a desk. Beens offers her a deal that will make her dreams come true… or at least, so it seems until she meets her new command. Beens explains her assignment: Whip the Munray and her crew into shape and get her back out into space again – and gives her six months to do it.
Sonia takes the bull by the horns, and begins to fight against the ingrained culture of malingering and negativity amongst the crew. It’s a long hard fight to win their trust, but it’s something she is well prepared for. She makes inroads by gaining the confidence of the ship’s officers and department heads, and offers the crew clean slates and a fresh start. Much to the surprise of Admiral Beens, the I.S.S. Munray resumes its regular patrol route between local colonies, and Sonia and her crew begin to settle into a comfortable routine.
In the meantime, a pair of fugitives have escaped from a maximum security prison in deep space, but just as Kobarr was no ordinary prison, these escaped cons are no ordinary fugitives. They are two of the more notorious Corsair figures captured after the fall of Meradinis, and their goal is not just escape, but vengeance! The form of their vengeance against the Terrans for the collapse of the center of space piracy – the destruction of Earth! Unfortunately, the pair have laid their hands on exactly the right sort of tool to do the job.
Through a sequence of rather unique and ironic circumstances, it will be up to Captain Sonia La Belle and the shady characters crewing the Munray to stop them!
The back cover blurb:
The starship I.S.S. Munray is a ship crewed by a lot of ill-disciplined misfits barely one step away from another court-martial – and the Captain’s the worst of the lot! When the opportunity presents itself for Vice-Admiral Beens to rid himself of the troublesome, malingering Wynne Polluk, he jumps at the chance to introduce a new broom, in the form of one Sonia La Belle.
In order to meet the deadline, she must deal with all the obstacles in her path; an old rundown ship whose engines lie disassembled, an uncooperative senior staff, and negative hopeless crewmembers who’d probably be more at home in the stockade than running a starship! The Munray and her crew resume their life of routine space patrol – which is soon interrupted when the ship is diverted to pursue a pair of dangerous fugitives who’ve escaped from a max-security facility – one that was supposed to be escape-proof! This turns out to be an exercise which will push ship and crew – and the Captain – to their limits!
Can they overcome all the obstacles they face, track down the Corsair fugitives, and do so in time to prevent the destruction of Earth?
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