Out of the Embers of Hell: Book III in the Coalition/Orthodoxy Universe

The alliance between the human-dominated Coalition and the Hahtooshan Orthodoxy was born of convenience and mutual enemies, certainly not the result of trust or affection. But too many lost family and loved ones in the long enmity between the Coalition and the Orthodoxy with the Hahtooshans having survived for tens of thousands of years as the galaxy’s top mercenaries. Convenience takes a back seat to unsettled scores and long-standing prejudices as opponents on both sides try to sabotage the fragile truce, with Khusaaq, the mercenary officer who forced the alliance as their prime target. Now, as the Hahtooshans bring their doomsday fleet to bear on Poonda Five, a non-aligned planet caught in the middle, and the shocking identity of the prime saboteur is revealed, a new, and far more treacherous plot is exposed, one that could not only end the alliance, but throw the Orthodoxy into civil war.

Khusaaq's human wife, Coalition Ensign Sirin Corsali could be forgiven if she thinks she's been through enough already. But a deadly company of renegade humans and aliens have once again captured Sirin... along with a teenage Hahtooshan, Qar'qaah, who also happens to be Khusaaq's closest relative and reluctant protégé. They plan to sell their captives to Cisne, who intends to use both Sirin and Qar'qaah to trap Khusaaq into violating the very alliance he created. With Qar'qaah suffering from major radiation exposure, followed by systematic torture and rape (especially troubling to a teen whose identity was tied to his ritual celibacy), prospects for getting a lot of help from him appear slim--especially since he thinks that everyone around him may be a hallucination. Once Qar'qaah learns Sirin is Khusaaq's wife, he may offer even less help--because the two Hahtooshans may be genetically close but emotionally they're a galaxy apart.