Mission: Blackguard Conspiracy (Mission, Book 5) by V.A. Jeffrey

Release date: January 28, 2016

Subgenre: Space opera

About Mission: Blackguard Conspiracy: 

 

The Dark Energy Project, started by a group of far-thinking engineers, scientists and programmers many years ago has come roaring back like a storm!

Meant to catapult human exploration and civilization out to the farthest reaches of space, it centered around the groundbreaking information on how to build working stargates. Except, the information was stolen and its founders and all other humans attached to the project killed by alien loyalists. Thereafter, it was renamed The Blackguard Project, the linchpin of the entire drama between humans, alien rebels and the alien loyalists. It's a shortcut for the aliens in the approaching Black Fleet who abandoned their dying planet and are heading to the solar system to invade Earth and wipe out humanity.

Bob receives a copy of the Blackguard files by The Boss with a new mission: stop the inaugural activation of the new stargate at the annual Sci-Tech Convention. To most people, this is a momentous year in the history of science and space exploration. However, Bob and his U-net band know that this gate is a Trojan Horse! It must be stopped and the aliens behind this sinister plan exposed, no matter the cost.

Excerpt:

I slipped and felt myself fall, catching myself about twenty feet down, entangling myself in the chains. Sighing and getting my bearings I carefully started making my way down again. Again, I felt something brush past my head and I tried to swat away my winged attacker. Unfortunately, I found that there was now more than one creature fluttering around my head. I got a whiff of a fetid odor, something rotten in the air. I felt something settle on my head and I smacked it with all my might. There was a high pitched squeak and the thing fell, fluttering down the air shaft. As I continued down the stench became more powerful. In fact, it was nearly overwhelming, so much so I wanted to vomit. I soon found the grisly answer to the question in my mind as I stopped climbing and flashed my light beneath me. There was a corpse down below impaled on a pole at the bottom of the shaft. The guy that came through here before me. It had to be. I thought with dismay.  I struggled to gain my bearings again and through the sickening stench, I continued my journey down to the first underground floor when I heard the last thing I wanted to hear. Fear jabbed at me like a spear.

“A jet pack would be real nice right about now!” I said, wanting to kick myself for not bringing one. But jet packs brought a lot of attention. Especially the attention of the authorities.

The noise was the freight cab. Somehow it had dislodged itself and had slid a few feet down while I was still hanging from the chains.

“Hot damn!” It slid another few feet as I began sliding more quickly down the chains. I nearly slipped off and lost my grip from the chains. My hands were growing tired and they were aching. I wrapped my legs around the chains to steady myself, looking up at the dark flat bottom that looked like a massive sledgehammer and would have the same effect should it land on me.

“Why me? Why?” But the smell of putrefaction brought me back to my senses. You're lucky Bob! The first guy that smoothed the way for you to get in here is rotting at the bottom of the shaft!

I hung there for minutes that felt like hours, my arms and hands straining from holding up my body weight. I tried my best to shift my weight to my legs by lodging them and securing my feet against the chains. Hanging there in the odd silence I felt something. As if something invisible shifted. It was a nearly imperceptible sound but it was there. Like some distant, ominous vast force shifting slightly every few seconds. It was hard to describe but it was frightening to me. Like a vast timepiece shifting, ticking. It had to be the gate. Then I heard another metal groan and, this one was much closer.

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About V.A. Jeffrey:

Victoria A. Jeffrey grew up in Portland, Oregon, attended Portland Community College and studied graphic design. She is an author and an avid reader of science fiction, fantasy. She also enjoys reading historical fiction and non-fiction. She has written four collections of poetry and some short stories. She is a content developer for the Middle-Earth Network, the author of the Red World myth-fantasy trilogy. She has two upcoming series for this year, the Mission space opera series and a steampunk science fiction series.

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