Enjoy this sample from my SFF novel Drayton’s Discoveries by JLNich

          “Hold on to your breakfast, Goron, we’re going to make history with this little maneuver,” Khadia Parker said softly to the nearby Cinthu who, for once, was the stillest figure on the flight deck. Her eyes took in his stiff figure, the frightened stillness about him, and regretted her words. For a scant moment she worried he might really release his breakfast which she carelessly reminded him about. But his eyes met hers and those brown depths held a strength in his look she recognized that first day Herman started questioning him about the crystal tubes. Until then she often thought him a typical nervous Cinthu, but as the questions were asked she studied him and saw a glimmer of that same strength he now displayed. He was just as excited and eager to return to Atax as she, but his insidious fear of the unknown had him rooted in place. He managed a nod toward her. She smiled and winked.

          Looking passed him she let her gaze roam over her flight crew. Everyone was in place and doing exactly what they should. The navigator was checking Nav systems, holding their position in the flight pattern. Second Lieutenant was providing the Comm team with final instructions. First Engineer was busy scanning his ship schematics vid. Second Engineer was aligning the star mapping. And Captain Hooper stood tall in the middle of the flight deck, his solid presence relaxed and reading a tablet.

          Seeing the productivity around her she briefly checked the huge elephant in the room, the star-filled vid screen that projected their ships forward display. It’s complete emptiness of all ship movement in the star-scape, played on her nerves more than anything else. It was almost to the hour and nothing seemed to be happening. She drew in a slightly shaky breath and fought to avoid displaying any hint of color shifting. Letting her gaze returned to her crew she pushed her moment of doubt away, lifting her chin, her skin turning a majestic purple as she took pride in her crew.

         Goran long ago realized he admired Khadia Jodel with her strong principles and transience. The Alteric woman’s ability to fully emote through their skin color probably saved her thousands of verbal negotiations. Right now, he not only recognized her proud stance but felt some of the accomplishment running through his own emotions. They did it! Somehow, he and Khadia Jodel convinced the largest conglomerate collection of species, those representing the entire ISC board, to issue a portal for Atax. His mind was euphoric, practically floating with relief. And Khadia Jodel, outside of her control he assumed, was displaying her skin violet. He truly thought the color befitting.

        From the corner of his eye he saw movement on the vid screen. The smallest craft in their vicinity moved into the air space before them. Khadia clasped her fingers loosely before her as if holding precious viable Yorik eggs, their gold and orange fragile shells gently nestled into a self-contained basket. Goran took a deep breath and saw Khadia look for Captain Hooper. The Captains calm eyes showed extreme confidence. With a quick nod of Khadia Parkers head they were set in motion.

        “Alteric Biv-flight 742-Royal switching comm to Alteric Biv-Commandship 742-Royal, taking flight lead, engage,” the female navigator sitting at her station, announced into the relative quiet of the flight deck. Her voice was smooth and controlled. Goran blinked and tried not to fidget.

        After a few moments of silence, a single sonic pulse flare shot into space by the small ship now standing point before them. The flare torpedoed through the skies leaving a glowing trial in its wake. An instant prior to the flare vanishing, Goran watched four silver anchoring lines detach and follow the glowing projection. Only about 20 meters across in diameter the center of the four anchors held an ominous dark shadow. The anchors began to widen, as did the darkness.
The lack of sparkling stars within the eclipse of space made Gorans stomach flip-flop with anxiety. With barely an inner eye blink, the point ship seemed to be sucked forward into the maw of darkness, and vanished from sight right before their eyes. Only a slight ripple of disturbance on the surface of the blackness noted its passing. And still they widened, the growth of the blackness reached over 50 meters across. Space, the blanket of stars, planets, moons, asteroids, satellites, floating debris, it was all disappearing in front of his eyes.  Goran’s distress was well hidden, he hoped. Nobody else seemed to worry about being swallowed by the Nothing Monster floating out in space.

        Goran suppressed a shudder of fear while he watched twelve fighter craft rapidly penetrate the larger opening behind the pointer ship. When the diameter reached a swollen 100 meters, a huge fleet craft slowly slid into the darkness, its length stretched thin as it entered. Then it was their turn.

        Captain Hooper tapped his navigator on the shoulder and spoke too softly for anyone but the two of them to hear. He leaned over the younger crew member and pressed a large green button. The Alteric Bivapress craft jerked involuntarily as tractor beams pulled them along like a drunken puppeteer, guiding its movements awkwardly. They moved toward the unnatural blackness, their craft speed increasing as they followed the guiding flare. Its bright orange-white burn floated in place as it absorbed copious amounts of magnesium and oxygen, eating away at the internal fuel source in space. Passing the floating flare they moved into the blank reflection of the cut. Phasing through revealed a large, pulsing light ring, banding around the interior of the tunnel, sliding down its length, over and over, widened into glowing, yellow, concentric brightness. Captain Hooper seemed to swallow.

        Goran followed suit. He was suddenly parched. He took a quick moment to touch his ring finger. He hoped his gut was wrong about trouble stirring back on Atax, but Brak’s last comm reported was brief and is tone was stressed. And as he watched the small ship he road on, being moved into position by some remote pilot, barely skimming past huge battle craft and numerous small fighters, he knew trouble when he looked it in the teeth. And he felt danger as if it were a second skin.  He repressed a giggle as his scales shivered. He veered his thoughts as far away as they would roam from the fleeting nervous speculation of thinking this is how the wooden boy must have felt inside the belly of the whale.