Jonathan Moeller Novel Excerpt Tuesday: SILENT ORDER: IRON HAND
It’s time for Jonathan Moeller Novel Excerpt Tuesday! This week we have an excerpt from my first science fiction novel, SILENT ORDER: IRON HAND.
The SILENT ORDER series was mostly inspired by classic PC games from the 90s – Wing Commander, Privateer, Master of Orion, and so forth. I am also willing to admit that I watched Star Wars Episodes VII and VIII and thought I could do a better job of writing a science fiction story without spending $500 million in the process. 🙂
By fortunate coincidence, SILENT ORDER: IRON HAND is free today (March 5th, 2019) at Amazon US, Amazon UK, Amazon Canada, Amazon Germany, Amazon Australia, and Kindle Unlimited. The omnibus edition containing the first three SILENT ORDER novels is also available for USD $0.99 at Amazon US, Amazon UK, Amazon Germany, Amazon Australia, and Kindle Unlimited.
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March expected the corridor to be deserted.
He did not expect three men to be waiting for him.
All three looked tough and dangerous and stood as if they knew how to handle themselves in a fight. The three men wore the jumpsuits of cargo handlers, an unfamiliar logo on their arms, likely the corporation the Kingdom of Calaskar had hired to manage the freighter traffic through the station.
The man in the center did not look like a cargo handler.
He had the lean, tight build of a competent fighter, and a thick scar went down the left side of his face, turning his lip into a permanent sneer. Unlike the others, he wore a brown coat over his cargo handler’s jumpsuit, one hand resting in his hip pocket. All three men moved to block the corridor, and the man in the center offered a friendly smile, though the scar ruined the effect.
“Welcome, Captain,” said the man in the brown coat.
A mugging? No, that wasn’t it. An isolated part of the station was perfect for a mugging, but frankly, anyone coming through this corridor wouldn’t have anything worth stealing.
Which meant they were waiting for him, specifically.
“Hi,” said March, coming to a stop a meter away from them. “Suppose you’re the welcoming committee, right?”
The scarred man grinned. “That’s right, I am. Why don’t you come with us? We’ll take you to the hospitality kiosk.”
“Nah,” said March. “Think I’ll find my own way if you don’t mind. Stretch my legs after all that flying.”
The scarred man kept grinning. “I think you’ll want to come with us.” He produced a small black plasma pistol from inside his pocket, leveling the emitter at March’s chest. “I think you’ll want to come with us right now.”
The other two men laughed.
They stopped laughing when March moved.
His left hand shot out and seized the end of the pistol. The servos in his cybernetic arm made no sound, but he felt their vibration as they engaged. March closed his fist and crushed the pistol before the scarred man could pull the trigger. The scarred man yelped and jerked his hand back…
-JM