Rachel Recker, writing as Rachel Aukes, is a bestselling author known for gritty science fiction and chilling horror that explore humanity at the edge. She's written over forty novels, including 100 Days in Deadland—a zombie apocalypse retelling of Dante's Inferno that was named a "Best of the Year" pick by Suspense Magazine—and The Lazarus Key, a high-octane sci-fi thriller featured by The Big Thrill magazine. One of Wattpad's first Stars, her stories have reached over eight million readers around the world. A licensed pilot, former technology executive, and lifelong comic book collector, she hikes state parks with her dog and a notebook in hand.

Black Sheep by Rachel Aukes

•Amazon Top 10 Bestseller (overall store)
•Wattpad Star
•Suspense Magazine's Best of the Year pick (100 Days in Deadland)
•USA Today Recommended Read (Stealing Fate)
•RWA award-winner (Stealing Fate)

An alien ship. Stolen colonists. Throttle really needs a vacation…

Fifteen years into a twenty-year voyage, war vet Captain Throttle Reyne is ready for a break from glitches, malfunctions, and babysitting a thousand colonists in cryo-sleep.

But when her colony ship breaks down in the middle of nowhere, Throttle and her crew must leave the colonists behind to search for help. They find a derelict ship that's not only missing a crew but is perfect for their needs. It's the discovery of a lifetime. One problem. While they're away, someone steals their ship—colonists and all.

Now Throttle must chase the thieves into a lawless star system ruled by pirates and gang lords, where anything—and anyone—can be sold. They play dirty. But Throttle and her crew? They play dirtier.

CURATOR'S NOTE

•If you haven't already discovered the work of this space opera superstar, this is your chance. Rachel is an expert at weaving together far-flung settings, complex yet relatable characters, and breathtaking action in ways that will keep you glued to the page. As part of the Flight of the Javelin series, this book tells the story of a colony ship captain who must take drastic measures to rescue her hibernating colonists from the forces of darkness at the outer rim of the galaxy. Once you jump into this epic adventure, you'll be dying to read the next book, and the one after that, and so on. Rachel knows just how to get readers fired up and propel them at warp speed through the kind of storytelling that brings universes of high-stakes thrills to dynamic, unforgettable life. – Robert Jeschonek

 

REVIEWS

  • "The action is non-stop and the world building is excellent."

    – NetGalley

  • "A real twist in the role of the heroine."

    – Amazon customer

  • "It was BRILLIANT!!!!"

    – Amazon customer
 

BOOK PREVIEW

Excerpt

"Who would've thought muscles could hurt so much from working in low grav?" Nolin mused.

"Imagine how badly they'd hurt if we were working in full one-g," Throttle said as she locked her wheelchair at her station on the Gabriela's bridge. She'd left her braces in her quarters to give her leg a chance to heal. She'd been surprised when she stripped off her gear to find that the gash from working on the last ship emergency had gone down to the bone. Medical glue sealed the wound, but it would still take a few days for a scar to form fully.

The perpetually tan-skinned navigator cracked his back. "I wouldn't have to be a gymnast working in one-g. Only my normal muscles would be tired. I have aches in places I've never had aches before."

"You should spend more time in low-g then," she said. "It's great for flexibility."

"If you say so." His back went straight. "Whoa, that's weird."

"What's weird?"

"Did you change our flight path?" Nolin asked.

"Of course not," she replied, frowning. "Why do you ask?"

Nolin's fingers flew over his panel as he ran through screens. "The angle of the solar sails has changed. Our flight path is two-six-four-two point zero-eight-six-one."

She cocked her head. "That sounds about right."

"It's not. Our flight path's off by two degrees. We were on a two-six-four-two point zero-eight-five-nine heading. I remember because 859 was the year I graduated from the Academy."

"Check the nav history," she said.

He didn't respond for several long moments. "I don't get it. The history shows nothing since we had to adjust for that one asteroid."

"You just woke from your cryo-sleep cycle a couple days ago. Are you sure you're not confused?"

"No way. I don't have sleeper's fog. I clearly remember our flight path. It's not something I'd forget," he said.

"I believe you," she said before thinking for several seconds. "If you're sure our course has changed, correct it back to the original, and we'll dig deeper."

"I'm sure," he said without a hint of doubt. He took a deep breath. "Readjusting our course now."

Throttle watched the numbers change on her screen.

"Okay. We're back on course. Chalk another one up to the Ghost."

Her screen flashed and the bridge alarm sounded. She ran her hands over the screen, but it was unresponsive. "I've lost control over here. You?"

"Same!"

Throttle unlocked her chair and wheeled over to a tech station to find the screen locked there as well. She entered her override code. Nothing happened. She returned to her screen and tried various commands, including hitting the screen with her fist. Even that didn't work.

"What's happening up there? I just got locked out of all my systems," Eddy's voice came through her wrist-comm.

"We're having the same problem," Throttle replied and then opened the comm channel to include Aubree. "I'm going to try a reboot. Get ready to go dark."

Throttle reached under her panel and opened a small compartment to reveal a keypad. She entered in her six-digit command code. The screens blinked but remained on. The frozen systems failed to reboot.

"It's not working," Nolin said.

"I know, I know," Throttle said.

The screens went blank before a message displayed:

FULL SYSTEM FAILURE IMMINANT.

ESTIMATED TIME BEFORE COMPLETE SYSTEM SHUT-DOWN: 47 MINUTES.

INITIATE EVACUATION PROCEDURES.

Throttle's jaw slackened.

"Is that what I think it is?" Nolin asked quietly.

She swallowed back the heavy tar-like pitch forming in her gut. "Yeah. It's a cat fail." A catastrophic failure was the two words every captain feared. If a ship had a cat fail, that meant critical systems had failed, and there was no fix, no reboot, no coming back. Remaining systems would inevitably shut down—it was just a matter of time. The electromagnetic system would no longer generate gravity. The air filtration system would no longer process breathable air. But everyone on board the Gabriela wouldn't suffocate. They'd freeze to death long before that.

Throttle knew the Gabriela had never been built for a twenty-year mission when she signed on as its captain. The cargo hauler was meant for supply runs across a single star system, skipping dock service for a year at longest. She supposed she should've been impressed that the ship had made it three quarters of its mission before giving out.

Over the past fifteen years, she'd played out this scenario a thousand times in her head, with a thousand different ways of dealing with it, but everything had led to the same outcome. There was no way to save the 480 colonists in cryo-sleep on board her ship.

The nearest habitable planet was six light years away. The transport ships would travel no more than one hundredth of a light year before burning out. She'd have to wake the colonists in order to get them onto the transports. But then she'd be waking them only to have them die awake and in pain in the frigid cold.

Her throat tightened. As captain of the Gabriela, she bore the responsibility of her passengers and crew. The thought of leaving behind 480 people to certain death shattered her heart. But there was nothing that could be done for them… for any of them.

The flight crew was awake. She could at least give them a semblance of hope, even though the situation was hopeless. She inhaled deeply before tapping her wrist-comm. "Flight crew, to the bridge. We have to abandon ship."