Mission: A Venus Affair (Mission, Book 6) by V.A. Jeffrey

Release date: November 9, 2016

Subgenre: Space opera

About Mission: A Venus Affair

 

 Bob and his family are going on a much-needed vacation towards the hottest destination in the solar system: Vepaja City, Venus! But as soon as they reach Venus someone from his past makes an inconvenient request: make a secret deal that promises to benefit Bob, U-net and the Boss. Who is this mysterious character? Does this person really care about helping him or is there a darker agenda? Is this side mission really in Bob's best interest? If he agrees to the deal U-net could reap an advantage in the coming war. But is this mission legitimate or is it a trap?

Excerpt:

 

I glanced around nervously. The gazelle was long gone. As I turned I heard a terrifying sound that explained why the gazelle had been fleeing in the first place. A creature, about nearly as tall as me, and lizard-like, darted through the brush toward me. Through the swirling wall of butterflies I saw the brown and green blur grow more distinct. Its upper hide was brown and its underbelly green as dark jade and it had green and shimmering gold markings on its face. It was a raptor.

With my heart in my throat I jumped on my speeder bike and tried to escape only for the creature to leap up and come down right on top of me, biting at my head. One of its teeth slashed my scalp but the force of the creature’s weight was so powerful and its speed so great that it knocked me from the speeder and went tumbling over the speeder and down what had remained hidden to me until now – an unseen cliff into a narrow ravine below, housing a hidden river. The creature nearly took me with it. I glanced over the edge.

Now dangerously close to hanging over the cliff I grabbed hold of some green vines, climbing up the cliff. The bike was tangled in the vines right underneath me, with my leg caught up in the vines as well. The lizard was hanging onto the bike, its sharp and deadly toe talons scraping off the metal from the speeder into curly spirals that flew off and floated down. Whipping its long snake-like tail in agitation it roared and bared its teeth, looking very much like a hungry and very irritated velociraptor I’d seen in one of my son’s books.

Reaching for my pistol I shot it twice as it quickly reoriented itself right side up, getting ready to position itself to rip a chunk out of my leg. All the shifting and moving caused the bike to slide and fall on top of the beast and they both dislodged from the carpet of vines and plunged into the blue-black waters of the river below. I quickly fastened my pistol back to my belt, fearing I would fumble and lose it forever. I felt my own sweaty arms and hands slide down and the smaller vines snapped under my weight and then I, too, fell into the waters of the hidden river below.

 

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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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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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Mission: Harbeasts of Mars (Book 4 of Mission) by V.A. Jeffrey

Release date: June 6, 2015

 Subgenre: Science fiction, Space Opera

About Mission: Harbeasts of Mars:

Crash landing!

After a rowdy victory celebration after the battle of Europa, Bob goes for a stargazing trip in the desert and wrecks his speeder. Stranded, he soon finds he isn't alone. Harbeasts, the savage, fearsome, genetically engineered predators that roam the Martian deserts are hot on his trail!

With no water or food, limited air supply, no working vehicle, and the nearest way-station days away, Bob finds himself in a dogged fight for survival. Unfortunately, he also finds that the harbeasts aren't the only predators out to get him.

Excerpt:

 

She landed several yards away from me on a small, rocky plateau. She growled, her teeth and terrible looking fangs bared. Saliva dripped from her mouth. Her eyes were now orange slits as she gathered her haunches ready to pounce. I could see the powerful muscles in her forelegs rippling through the skin armor and fur. I grabbed my rifle and looked around desperately for a hiding place. I had only a few more shots before the rifle would be rendered useless.

This time the rifle did not seem to give her pause at all. I climbed and then leaped up onto a higher plateau, turned and fired. I hit a boulder at the edge of the plateau. Part of it cracked and slid off. The harbeast had nearly cleared the boulder but its hind leg caught on it and it slipped and fell down with the boulder. Even as she fell she twisted with the lethal grace of a cat in mid-air. I watched in fascination as she fell back toward the lower plateau. Again, she leaped in for the kill and had swiped at my weapon, her cruel claws extending out from those powerful, scaly paws, and barely missing the barrel of the rifle. While I'd pressed the trigger to kill the creature, the loss of energy caused the reaction time of the weapon to slow down considerably and what would have killed her had missed. However, the last, singing blast of the rifle threw me back and had blown another large piece from the boulder. I forced myself up and climbed farther, half leaping, half climbing until I reached a small cave. Thankfully, its opening was so small that only one person at a time could get through. It was too small for her to get to me. I sat down with my guns in front of me. The atomic rifle was completely spent of energy and without an extra power supply it was only useful now as a stick or a makeshift bat as a weapon. But I still had my dragon left which I would need to use judiciously. I peered out at the orange sky and the shimmering white sun, now sinking on the horizon. I heard the bone chilling, full-throated roar of the female harbeast outside my hiding place and the answer from her mate farther away. She peered into the mouth of the cave, her eyes like two flames, piercing the safe darkness. And I wondered what to do next.

 

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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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Mission: Attack on Europe by V.A. Jeffrey

Release date: January 29, 2015

Subgenre: Science fiction, space opera

About Mission: Attack on Europa

 

The affair on Langrenus now settled, Bob plans to return home. But an urgent cry for help from an old friend interrupts his homecoming. The Big Boss sends him a fleet of newly built fighter ships, seemingly just in time for this new and unexpected mission. Bob brings along a new ally, enlisting him in his growing little band of U-net agents. The new guy is James Jenkins, a.k.a Diamond Dog, a young, hot-shot pilot with smuggling connections and as soon as they set foot on Mars trouble blows up in their faces.

A new city is being built and there will be a final gathering of the Allied Martian Powers. They’ve been planning their long-awaited and perilous mission – to destroy the loyalist alien military base on Europa. Bob and Diamond bring along much needed help to the cause, more than willing to rally to the side of the Alliance of Martian Powers but Bob finds that things are changing faster than he can keep up with and his experience in Langrenus haunts him in more ways than one. On Mars, alliances between humans and aliens are complex, tenuous things and Bob finds that even relationships with one’s allies can be uneasy.

This is book 3 of the Mission series, following Flight to Mars and Lights of Langrenus. 

Excerpt:

“Gotcha.” I turned on a flashlight, it's light a bright arc, sweeping over the top to the bottom and then I glanced under each of the ships in the train. Will was still at my rear. I bent down to look under one of the ships. A flash of faint blue light flickered across the sky. The aurora was winding across it like a serpent. I turned back and glanced over at the mountainous rock dwellings. They sat like ominous faded shadows against the night sky. That odd feeling again washed over me. I suddenly looked around.

“What is it?” Asked Will.

“I don't know but I think it's best if we get back to the Phoenix until Genevieve gets here,” I said. Will just cocked his head to the side as if he didn't understand. I turned and saw in the light of the flickering auroras what looked like tall shadows approaching. I put my hand to my weapon, glancing at the boarding ramp and made to guide Will back to the Phoenix. Suddenly, I heard whispering voices. I turned around again to see several humanoid people approaching. A couple of them were human. It sounded like one of them was speaking in Hanga. Finally, the man switched to English.

“Nice ships you got here,” he sneered.

“I like the look of these ships too,” said another, a Suwudi.

“I think you'd better leave,” I said slowly. I felt adrenaline release through my body, rushing through every cell. The hairs on my body stood on end and I became very still. My fingers flickered over my laser dragon. I silently primed my gun for fire.

“Don't move, scum, unless you feel like being blasted into a million tiny pieces,” said the first one. “I can see your hand moving. Don't do it.”

“What do you want,” I asked quietly.

“What else? You got some mighty fine ships there. We could use them. We want them.”

“You can't have them.”

“You know we're gonna take them, don't you?” Taunted the first man. The lights in their helmets nearly made them look ghoulish. I couldn't tell if they were another team of sentinels, though I quickly doubted that thought, adventurers or smugglers. Or pirates. I had no idea what they were. Whatever they once were, now they were common thieves. It was the first time I'd encountered this and I could have kicked myself for bringing Diamond into a mess that I hadn't anticipated. I tried to calm the situation by slowly putting my hands in the air but as soon as I opened my mouth to speak again they went for their weapons. In a split second the air was crackling with lasgun fire.

 

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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.

Website | Google+