Endangered Species

Caine Riordan and his crew are trapped on a derelict alien ship in uncharted space, with only forty-eight hours before it burns up in the atmosphere of a strange planet. They have to use flimsy, foam-inflating cargo drop pods to reach the surface, where they discover bizarre, carnivorous species and deeply devolved transgen humans. The Ktor may still be here, and the worlds blasted cities have tell-tale signs of their original masters.

Format: Hardback
Length: 400 pages
Publication date: 01 August 2023
Publisher: Baen Books

Caine Riordan has faced numerous crises in his diverse career as a diplomat, soldier, and first contact specialist, but none more challenging than the one he currently faces. He and twelve of his crew find themselves adrift in uncharted space, so far beyond Earth that the starfield is unrecognizable. With the controls and computer destroyed, they have no means to calculate their position or call for rescue. Instead, they are trapped on a derelict alien ship, with only forty-eight hours before its decaying orbit causes it to burn up in the atmosphere of the mysterious planet beneath them.

This silent and forbidding world is characterized by bleak deserts and turbulent seas, devoid of any sign of life and dominated by violent storms. However, since the ship's lander is also useless, their only way to reach the surface is through flimsy, foam-inflating cargo drop pods, never intended for human use, let alone an emergency planet-fall. And even if they survive the fiery plummet from low orbit, they have almost no portable gear with which to survive in the arid alien wilderness.

Yet, those who make it to the surface discover that the dangers they couldn't see from space are by far the most deadly. A variety of bizarre, carnivorous species roam the barren wastes, desperate for food. Their primary competition? Deeply devolved transgen humans, as uncommunicative as they are primitive and ferocious. Even more ominous, the blasted cities on the planet have tell-tale signs that indicate its original masters were none other than humanity's most dangerous foe: the Ktor.

And worst of all, they may still be here.

ISBN-13: 9781982192716