Dead Calm (The Devil and the Dark)

A mission turned deadly, and no hope of rescue.

Captain Hollis Ives and the Verity have been assigned to a blockade on an enemy shipping route on the fringes of Level-controlled space. It’s supposed to be a simple mission, but Hollis has been hearing rumours in the ranks—Rosette ships that have been shot down rather than surrender, whispers of a secret Rosette plan against the Level. When the Verity is attacked on route in a place where no enemy ships should be, Hollis discovers there may be something behind the rumours after all—and whatever it is, she and the Verity are in the centre of it.

Pirate-turned-naval-officer Silas Hunt knows damn well how precarious his position in the navy is. It’s a badly kept secret that he was involved in a mutiny, and rumours about his insubordinate talk are already filtering back to the Admiralty. So when Ives offers him his first naval command—bringing a captured enemy ship back to the Level—he knows it’s his best chance to redeem himself in the eyes of Naval High Command. But the ship is damaged and the ship’s captured crew sullen and defiant, and they outnumber Silas’s crew three to one. And with no working comm system and far from assistance, Silas soon realizes that the important question isn’t whether he can carry out his first command honourably. It’s whether he and his sailors will survive it at all.

Treasure Island meets Master and Commander with a science-fiction twist in R.M. Olson’s thrilling series, The Devil and the Dark.