Here's a sneaky peaky at Chapter 1 of Shards of Power - tentatively set for release sometime this Spring. Yes. For realsies.

The Ranger’s hull screamed like a banshee in heat as Trinity yanked the controls, diving through the storm’s guts. Lightning crackled, blinding her for a split second.

“Hold the fuck on!” she bellowed, her knuckles white on the stick.

The ship lurched, and Trinity’s stomach did a backflip.

Shit, shit, shit.

This was gonna be close.

Real close.

The kind of close that’d make your asshole pucker tight enough to crush diamonds.

Behind her, Merek’s turret roared to life. “Eat it, you cock-sucking bounty fuckers!”

At least someone was having fun.

The radar pinged. Some dumbass flyboy thought he could get cute.

“We got company!” Trinity yelled, jerking the Ranger hard to port.

Merek’s reply was a hail of laser fire that lit up the storm like the galaxy’s angriest fireworks show. The bounty hunter’s ship erupted into a fireball, debris peppering the Ranger’s hull.

“Woohoo! Did you see that shit? Hey. How much the big ones worth?” Merek howled, his voice crackling over the comms. “Five points! Fifty. Fifty fucking hundred.”

Trinity rolled her eyes. “Focus, dumbass! We ain’t out of this clusterfuck yet!”

Goddamn testosterone-fueled maniac, she thought.

But hell, if anyone was gonna keep their asses alive in this shitstorm, it was Merek the Mad.

The cockpit exploded into screeching alarms and flashing red lights as another blast rocked the ship.

“Fuck me sideways!” She snarled, wrestling with the controls. “Shields are toast!”

Merek’s gruff voice crackled through the comm. “Then fly better, sweetheart!”

Trinity’s jaw clenched so hard she thought her teeth might crack. “How about you shove that turret up your ass and spin. Sideways, ninety degrees asshole!” she muttered, yanking the Ranger into a barrel roll.

The ship groaned in protest, and Trinity silently prayed to whatever cosmic entity might be listening. “Come on, baby. Hold together.”

A flicker of movement caught her eye. Void sat cross-legged on the floor, that creepy-ass shard pulsing in his hands like a radioactive heartbeat. His eyes were closed, face hidden in the shadows of his hood.

“It’s coming,” he intoned, voice low and eerily calm.

Trinity spared him a glance, her patience wearing thinner than the Ranger’s hull. “If ‘it’ is an idea that’ll save our asses, spit it out. Otherwise, shut the fuck up!”

Another blast rocked the ship. This day just keeps getting better and better.

“Hey boss!” Trinity said through the comms.

“Six O’Clock. Hard to port! Fly now. Talk later.”

“We’re gonna need to renegotiate my contract. Think I need some hazard pay.”

“Since when do I fucking pay you? Nine O’Clock. Barrel Roll this bitch!”

Trinity gritted her teeth and yanked the controls, sending the Ranger into a corkscrew. The g-forces slammed her back into her seat as the ship spun wildly.

“Fuck you and your cheap ass!” she shouted back at Merek. “I want a raise or I’m ejecting your sorry butt into space!”

Another explosion rocked the ship. Trinity’s head smacked against the console, stars bursting behind her eyes.

“Shit!” she hissed, tasting blood. “We’re leaking atmo in the cargo hold!”

Merek’s turret blazed, taking out two more pursuers in a spectacular fireball. “Seal it off! We ain’t got time for this crap!”

Trinity’s fingers flew over the controls, shutting bulkheads and rerouting power. The Ranger shuddered, limping through the storm like a three-legged dog.

“How many of these fuckers are there?” she growled.

A massive cruiser materialized through the clouds ahead, blocking their escape route. Its weapons powered up with an ominous hum.

“Oh, you gotta be shitting me,” Trinity groaned.

A shrieking missile streaked past, so close Trinity could’ve reached out and touched the damn thing. The heat seared the Ranger’s wing, and she swore she heard metal scream.

“Shit!” Trinity yanked the controls hard left, g-force slamming her back. Her stomach lurched, threatening to spill its contents. “One more hit and we’re fucking scrap!”

Merek’s snarl crackled through the comm. “Not if I have anything to say about it!” The turret spun with a whine, his fingers dancing over the triggers.

We’re gonna die, Trinity thought, her heart hammering. We’re gonna die, and it’s gonna be messy, and I never even got to tell Merek he’s got a nice ass.

The cockpit shuddered as Merek’s turret lit up the sky. Lasers tore through space, finding their mark with deadly precision.

Thunder rumbled, as if the universe itself was reveling in the chaos. Trinity allowed herself a small grin. Maybe we’re not totally fucked after all.

“Who’s next, you sorry sacks of shit?”

Trinity rolled her eyes. “Save the victory dance, hotshot. We ain’t out of this mess yet!”

The cruiser’s cannons blazed to life, unleashing a hellstorm of laser fire. Trinity swore and jerked the controls, sending the Ranger into a wild spin.

“Fuck me sideways!” she screamed as a blast scorched past, close enough to singe her eyebrows. “Merek, I need some goddamn cover fire!”

“Working on it, princess!” Merek bellowed back. The turret swiveled, spitting hot death at the cruiser. “Eat shit and die, you cock-gobbling sons of whores!”

Trinity’s fingers danced across the console, rerouting power and praying to whatever cosmic deity might be listening. The Ranger groaned in protest, systems flickering.

“C’mon baby, don’t fail me now,” she muttered.

Void’s voice cut through the chaos, unnervingly calm. “The storm approaches. Embrace the chaos.”

“Shut your cryptic piehole and make yourself useful!” Trinity snapped. “Unless you got a magic wand that’ll get us outta this clusterfuck!”

Void’s eyes snapped open, glowing an unearthly blue. “Now,” he intoned.

The shard in Void’s hands pulsed with sickly green light. The air crackled with energy, making Trinity’s teeth ache.

“Oh shi-“

A bolt of pure energy erupted from the shard, tearing through space like an angry god’s fist. It slammed into the cruiser, ripping through shields and hull like they were made of wet paper.

The massive ship shuddered, then exploded in a blinding fireball that lit up the storm-wracked sky.

“Holy fucking shitballs!” Trinity screamed, yanking the controls to avoid the debris field. The Ranger groaned, systems flickering as they pushed through the shockwave.

Merek’s manic laughter crackled over the comms. “Did you see that? Blew those fuckers straight to hell! Void, you creepy bastard, I could kiss you!”

Trinity’s heart hammered in her chest as she fought to keep the ship steady. “Save the makeout session for later, boys. We ain’t out of this shitstorm yet!”

Radar lit up like a Christmas tree. More bounty hunters, drawn by the explosion like vultures to a carcass.

“Ah, fuck me sideways with a rusty spanner,” Trinity growled. “How many of these assholes did Ryn send?”

Void’s eyes still glowed that eerie blue, his voice unnaturally calm. “The shard requires time to recharge. We must find another way.”

“No shit, Sherlock!” Trinity snapped. “Any other brilliant observations?”

The Ranger shuddered as a lucky shot clipped their starboard engine. Alarms blared, red lights flashing across the console.

“We’re losing power!” Trinity yelled. “

She spotted a jagged canyon looming ahead, a gash in the planet’s surface that screamed ‘death trap.’ Her lips curled into a fierce grin. Fuck it. We’re dead anyway.

“Brace or die, assholes!” she growled, plunging the Ranger into the narrow gorge. The ship’s engines shrieked in protest, metal scraping against rock with a sound that set her teeth on edge.

Merek’s roar of surprise turned into a string of creative curses as his turret slammed against its restraints. “The hell you doing, Trin?!”

“Saving our asses!” she shouted back, her knuckles white on the controls. Come on, baby. Hold together.

Two bounty hunter ships dove in after them, clearly not getting the memo about suicide missions. Trinity’s lips twitched.

Idiots.

Merek’s voice crackled through the comm, tight with concentration. “I got the bastards.”

The Ranger bucked wildly, but Merek’s aim held true. A burst of laser fire, and one of the hunters erupted into a fireball, briefly illuminating the canyon walls.

“Fuck yeah!” Trinity whooped, her heart pounding.

The second hunter clipped the canyon wall. Sparks flew as metal tore, the ship spinning out of control.

“Stay down, you fuckers!” Merek yelled, his voice raw with triumph and adrenaline.

Trinity allowed herself a moment of savage joy.

The canyon walls were closing in.

The storm’s fury began to wane.

A missile streaked past her viewport, the last desperate shot from the remaining bounty hunter.

“Shit!” Trinity yanked the controls, but it was too late. The missile slammed into the Ranger’s rear with a thunderous boom.

The explosion rocked the ship, sending it into a gut-wrenching spin. Alarms blared as Trinity wrestled with the controls, her muscles straining. Sweat stung her eyes, and she blinked furiously, refusing to let go even for a second to wipe it away.

“Hold together, baby,” she muttered, her voice cracking with desperation. “Come on, you piece of junk, don’t fail me now!”

The ground rushed up to meet them, a sea of sand eager to swallow the Ranger whole. Trinity’s stomach lurched as she fought against the inevitable.

Oh, shit. This is gonna hurt.

Bad.

The Ranger plowed into the dunes. Metal screamed in protest as the ship carved a deep furrow through the sand, kicking up a dust cloud big enough to choke a small moon.

Trinity’s head slammed against the headrest, stars exploding behind her eyes. The ship’s frame groaned ominously, sparks flying from every console as systems overloaded.

When the Ranger finally skidded to a stop, an eerie silence fell, broken only by the hiss of fried circuits and Trinity’s ragged breathing.

“Fuck!” She slammed her fists against the controls, ignoring the pain that shot through her arms. “Goddamn it! I just fixed that fucking thing”

Trinity clawed her way out of the twisted wreckage, her face a mess of grease and blood. “Shit, shit, shit,” she muttered, eyes blazing with a cocktail of rage and frustration.

Merek stumbled out behind her, looking like he’d gone ten rounds with a Kragmar beast. He dragged his rifle.

“Those fuckers better not show their faces,” he growled, spitting a glob of blood onto the sand. “I’ve got some choice words for ‘em. And by words, I mean bullets.”

Trinity snorted. “Save your ammo, big guy. We might need it to hunt lizards for dinner.”

Her eyes darted to the ship’s smoking hull. “If the bounty hunters don’t get us, starvation might.”

Void emerged last, cradling that damn shard like a newborn. His glowing eyes seemed to pulse in time with the crystal’s eerie light.

“The storm was a warning,” he said softly, his voice carrying an otherworldly chill.

Trinity whirled on him, her patience snapping like a frayed cable. “Yeah? Next time, maybe warn us before we almost die!”

She took a menacing step toward Void, fists clenched. “I swear to all the gods, if you don’t start making sense real fucking soon—“

Merek’s hand on her shoulder stopped her. “Easy, Trin. We need him... for now.”

Trinity spun around, taking in the desolate hellscape they’d crashed into. The Wailing Reaches stretched out before them, a blighted wasteland that looked like it had been shit out by the universe itself.

“Well, ain’t this just fucking peachy,” she muttered, kicking at the rust-colored sand. It billowed up in a choking cloud, stinging her eyes and coating her tongue with the taste of decay.

The horizon wavered in the blistering heat, a shimmering mirage of nothing but more goddamn sand.

Jagged rock formations jutted up from the dunes like the broken teeth of some long-dead giant, their surfaces pockmarked and eroded by centuries of punishing winds.

Merek squinted against the glare of three suns hanging low in a sickly green sky. “This place is the asshole of space, alright. Probably smells like it too.”

A gust of wind kicked up, carrying the stench of sulfur and rotting eggs. Trinity gagged, pulling her shirt over her nose.

“Fuck me sideways,” she choked out. “It’s like someone cropdusted an entire planet.”

In the distance, skeletal trees stood like silent sentinels, their twisted branches reaching toward the sky in a desperate plea for mercy.

Nothing grew on them, nothing lived in them.

Just bare, bleached wood, probably petrified by whatever cosmic shitstorm had turned this rock into a goddamn wasteland. Trinity squinted, her eyes watering from the acrid air.

Trinity stomped back to the Ranger’s wreckage, muttering curses that’d make a pirate blush. She yanked open a dented panel, rummaging through the sparking guts of the ship.

Trinity yanked a scorched datapad from the Ranger’s guts, squinting at the flickering screen. “Alright, fucknuggets. Let’s see where this shitstorm dropped us.”

Merek peered over her shoulder, his breath hot on her neck. “Well? Where the hell are we?”

“Hold your horses, asshole. I’m working on it.” Trinity’s fingers danced across the screen, pulling up the decrypted coordinates from the transmitter. “According to this... We’re in the ass-end of nowhere.”

“Real fucking helpful, Trin,” Merek growled.

Void drifted closer, his eyes still glowing that creepy-ass blue. “The coordinates speak of ancient power. We are where we need to be.”

Trinity rolled her eyes so hard she thought they might pop out of her skull. “Oh, fantastic. We’re exactly where Captain Cryptic wants us to be. In the middle of Buttfuck, Nowhere.”

Merek snorted. “Those coordinates better be right, or I swear I’ll shove that shard so far up your ass you’ll be coughing up crystals.”

“The coordinates are correct,” Void intoned, unfazed by the threat. “The shard pulses with recognition.”

Trinity squinted at the datapad again. “Wait a fucking second. These numbers don’t make sense. We can’t be in the Wailing Reaches. That’s clear on the other side of the sector!”

Merek’s face darkened. “You saying you fucked up the decryption, princess?”

“Fuck you, Merek. My decryption is solid.” Trinity jabbed a finger at the screen. “Look at this shit. According to the nav system, we’re smack in the middle of the Crimson Nebula. But unless that nebula decided to take a vacation and turn into a sand-blasted hellhole, something’s seriously wrong.”

Void’s eyes pulsed brighter. “The veil between worlds grows thin. Reality shifts like sand in the wind.”

“Oh, for fuck’s sake,” Trinity groaned. “Can you say one goddamn thing that isn’t a fortune cookie?”

Merek scratched his beard, squinting at the horizon. “Maybe the coordinates were a trap. Ryn’s not exactly known for playing fair.”

Trinity snorted. “No shit, Sherlock. But even Ryn can’t move an entire fucking nebula.”

She kicked at the sand in frustration, sending up another choking cloud. “This doesn’t make any sense. We followed the coordinates to the letter. We should be neck-deep in cosmic dust, not ass-deep in sand dunes.”

Void’s voice cut through their bickering. “The shard knows. It calls to its brethren.”

Trinity whirled on him, patience finally snapping. “Alright, you cryptic bastard. Start making sense or I swear I’ll shove that shard so far up your ass you’ll be shitting rainbows!”

Void’s eyes flashed, the shard pulsing in sync. “The ancient ones scattered the shards across realities, tearing the fabric of space-time. What once was whole now lies fragmented, each piece a doorway to another world.”

“Oh, for fuck’s sake,” Merek growled. “You’re saying we jumped universes or some shit?”

Trinity’s mind reeled. “That’s impossible. We’d need more power than a supernova to punch through reality.”

Void lifted the shard, its eerie light casting strange shadows across the dunes. “The shards hold power beyond mortal comprehension. They are keys to doors you cannot see, pathways through the void between worlds.”

“Well, ain’t that just fucking peachy,” Trinity spat. “So we’re not just lost, we’re lost in the wrong goddamn universe?”

A distant rumble shook the ground, sending ripples across the sand. Trinity stumbled, catching herself on the Ranger’s scorched hull.

“The fuck was that?” Merek snarled, hefting his rifle.

Void’s eyes widened, a flicker of something like fear crossing his face. “It comes. The guardian awakens.”

The sand began to shift, grains cascading down invisible slopes. A massive shape rose from the dunes, dwarfing their crashed ship.

“Holy shit-snacking fuck nuggets,” Trinity breathed.

A colossal worm erupted from the sand, its segmented body easily the size of a cruiser. Rows of crystalline teeth lined a maw big enough to swallow the Ranger whole. Its hide shimmered with an iridescent sheen, pulsing with the same eerie light as Void’s shard.

Merek opened fire, his rifle’s plasma bolts sizzling harmlessly against the creature’s hide. “Die, you overgrown maggot!”

The worm let out a deafening screech that shook Trinity to her bones. Sand whipped into a frenzy around them as the monster dove, its massive body creating a tsunami of grit and rock.

“Run, you idiots!” Trinity screamed, grabbing Merek’s arm and yanking him toward a cluster of jagged rocks.

They sprinted across the dunes, feet sinking with every step. Trinity’s lungs burned, the acrid air searing her throat. Behind them, the worm’s bulk shifted the very landscape, an ocean of sand ready to swallow them whole.