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    Defect
    Defect
    Defect
    Ebook56 pages31 minutes

    Defect

    By Kristine Kathryn Rusch

    3/5

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    About this ebook

    Assassin Halina Layla Orlinskaya no longer kills for her country. She has fled to a space station in the NetherRealm. And now a space yacht has arrived, a space yacht filled with corpses, including her husband’s. Only her twelve-year-old son Misha has survived. And he has a message for her...

    This story marks the first appearance of Misha, the hero of Assassins in Love, which Rusch wrote under the pen name Kris DeLake.

    Kris DeLake is one of writer Kristine Kathryn Rusch’s many pen names. In addition to writing as Kris DeLake in romance, Rusch also writes romance as Kristine Grayson (who specializes in paranormals) and Kristine Dexter (who prefers romantic suspense). In mystery, Rusch writes as the Edgar- and Shamus-nominated Kris Nelscott. In science fiction and fantasy, Rusch is known by her real name. She’s a bestselling double Hugo winner in science fiction. To find out more about her work, including her popular nonfiction blog, go to www.kristinekathrynrusch.com.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherWMG Publishing
    Release dateJun 13, 2013
    ISBN9781301993543
    Defect
    Author

    Kristine Kathryn Rusch

    USA Today bestselling author Kristine Kathryn Rusch writes in almost every genre. Generally, she uses her real name (Rusch) for most of her writing. Under that name, she publishes bestselling science fiction and fantasy, award-winning mysteries, acclaimed mainstream fiction, controversial nonfiction, and the occasional romance. Her novels have made bestseller lists around the world and her short fiction has appeared in eighteen best of the year collections. She has won more than twenty-five awards for her fiction, including the Hugo, Le Prix Imaginales, the Asimov’s Readers Choice award, and the Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine Readers Choice Award. Publications from The Chicago Tribune to Booklist have included her Kris Nelscott mystery novels in their top-ten-best mystery novels of the year. The Nelscott books have received nominations for almost every award in the mystery field, including the best novel Edgar Award, and the Shamus Award. She writes goofy romance novels as award-winner Kristine Grayson, romantic suspense as Kristine Dexter, and futuristic sf as Kris DeLake.  She also edits. Beginning with work at the innovative publishing company, Pulphouse, followed by her award-winning tenure at The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, she took fifteen years off before returning to editing with the original anthology series Fiction River, published by WMG Publishing. She acts as series editor with her husband, writer Dean Wesley Smith, and edits at least two anthologies in the series per year on her own. To keep up with everything she does, go to kriswrites.com and sign up for her newsletter. To track her many pen names and series, see their individual websites (krisnelscott.com, kristinegrayson.com, krisdelake.com, retrievalartist.com, divingintothewreck.com). She lives and occasionally sleeps in Oregon.

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      Book preview

      Defect - Kristine Kathryn Rusch

      Defect

      Kris DeLake

      writing as Kristine Kathryn Rusch

      Copyright Information

      Defect

      Copyright © 2013 by Kristine Kathryn Rusch

      First published in The New Space Opera 2, edited by Gardner Dozois and Jonathan Strahan, Eos, 2009

      Published by WMG Publishing

      Cover and Layout copyright © 2013 by WMG Publishing

      Cover design by Allyson Longueira/WMG Publishing

      Cover art copyright © LunaMarina/Dreamstime

      Smashwords Edition

      This book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. All rights reserved. This is a work of fiction. All characters and events portrayed in this book are fictional, and any resemblance to real people or incidents is purely coincidental. This book, or parts thereof, may not be reproduced in any form without permission.

      Defect

      Kris DeLake

      writing as

      Kristine Kathryn Rusch

      She walked into the docking ring, wearing an all black tunic over black pants, outlined with silver trim. The suit looked like half the governmental clothing in the galaxy which, she knew, made it impossible to tell exactly where she was from.

      She would use the clothes, her demeanor, and her old identification chip, which was still active, to get into the ship.

      The docking ring circled the entire starbase. She had entered through doors 65-66. She hadn’t been in this part before, but she only knew that because of the numbers. Otherwise, everything looked the same.

      The docking ring was wide. The walking platform threaded its way through the ring. Arching above and below it was the ring itself, all black cable and gray siding.

      Most starbases used see-through material on their rings, so that everything remained visible—the ships, the space beyond, even the planets of the nearby systems, which generally looked small enough to cup in a single hand.

      Here though, everything was hidden. This starbase didn’t even have an official name, although its docking registry called it Starbase Alpha, one of half a dozen Starbase Alphas she had visited during her career.

      The old-timers called this starbase the NetherRealm, which was much more appropriate. The NetherRealm existed between the Nechev System and the Kazen System. Both systems had fought over the NetherRealm in the past, both systems had owned it once, and both systems found that they couldn’t defend it.

      Finally, they negotiated their coordinates to leave a small slice of space to the NetherRealm and considered the battle lost.

      As long as she was here, she would be safe.

      At least, that was the theory. It was, as yet, untested.

      The walking platform branched to each docking site. Unlike other starbases where the docking ring doors led directly into the ship, the docking ring doors here recessed into the gray sides. A ring of sickly yellow lights were the only indication that a berth was occupied.

      It had taken her two days to locate the ship. To get the docking codes and the entry passes, she had to violate a personal covenant. At least the docking agent’s hair wasn’t as greasy as it looked, but his skin smelled of garlic. She had actually had to spend money for a water shower to get the stench off herself.

      She shuddered at the memory, then she made herself focus. She squared her shoulders, adjusted her tunic, and strode purposely across the walking platform, heading for Berth 66-CE.

      Her heels clicked on the platform. Two human guards stepped out of their guardhouses, built into the side of the ring, and watched her.

      At least sixteen robotic heads moved from the arches, watching her as well.

      She resisted the urge to smile. Who was it—her first instructor André? Or Dmitry?—who used to say, it is always best to smile when you’re on camera; then they know you know that you’re being watched.

      She didn’t care if they knew. They were going to catch her. She

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