Eryx is part of a team of scientists charged with monitoring and protecting relocated animals on a privately owned planet. When sensors indicate poachers, Eryx leaves base to confront them, only to lose his way in a sudden snow. After trudging to a nearby observation station for shelter, he comes across an unexpected intruder.<br><br>Smuggler Leander flies an old, sometimes unreliable ship. When the engine starts to fail, he attempts to set down on the nearest planet where he’s stashed supplies, but his descent turns into a crash, and he’s forced to take shelter wherever he can.<br><br>The two can’t possibly trust each other, but storm projections show they’ll be stuck together for days. Worse, the poachers aren’t letting a little inclement weather stop them, and they’re armed and ready to kill. Can Leander and Eryx put aside their differences and save the animals -- and themselves -- before something disastrous happens?

Under Snow and Stars

“You’re the nicest thing to look at in here.”


“Oh, fuck you,” said Eryx, and got to his feet. He wanted to try adjusting communications again.


The metal table made his back sore, and even with the lights dimmed, Leander didn’t have much to focus on other than the throb of his headache. And the man who’d captured him.


He stood on the other side of the room at the moment, using a wall pad to run diagnostics. Something at the base was broken. Leander watched the man shrug off his coat and set it aside, scowling as results scrolled across the screen. Apart from the physical discomfort, Leander was a little more comfortable mentally. He’d been around a lot of shady, dangerous people and this man didn’t ping as “security” to him—just the “Some Guy working for Some Company” Leander had been hoping he was. Earlier, he’d set down his gun while tying Leander to a table, which screamed inexperience.


Chapter 7