In the aftermath of a battle a ship drifts helplessly in space. Is the strange new warship they were fighting still out there? Will it come back for them? Commander Johnson faces a desperate race to get her destroyer back into action and save her crew. "The story hit the ground running and had me on the hungrily flipping page to page. It's well written, has likeable characters, and the good beginning to a possibly great story. I'm looking forward to the next installment!" Rated 4.1 stars on amazon.com and available for Kindle for 99c. http://lrd.to/xZJGd4yPXo

2. Dark.

3. Weightless.

4. Dark and
weightless.

5. That’s not right.

6. There’s been
an accident.

7. “Help.”

9. “HELP!”

11. “CAN ANYONE
HEAR ME?”

13. Alone.

14. Dark, weightless
and alone.

16. The bridge was a mess of confusion. The only
light came from the few working consoles and
the occasional flash of a shorting circuit. A klaxon
howled in the background, almost drowned out
by the rush of fresh air from the vents.

17. Commander Johnson ran through the priorities drilled into
her since she had started Command School. Life support:
Repulse was leaking air and down to emergency power.
Sensors and comms: all external feeds down, internal net
patchy. Weapons: the spinal railgun was useless now that the
reactor was offline and the control system for the plasma
cannon had been overloaded. Propulsion: docking thrusters
only, she couldn’t even jump.

18. Not only were they still alive but it looked like they might
have taken out a Republic hunter killer. She had been sure
they had it but then they’d lost their sensors.
“Get me an external camera. Now.” She coughed on acrid
smoke from burning plastic that still lingered despite the
emergency flush. “Priority over everything bar life support.”

19. "If you liked Alien, you'll love
Independence."
"This is an incredible work ... suspense,
mystery and intrigue."
"Loved every word of it."
"The story hit the ground running and had
me on the hungrily flipping page to page."
"There's more action and intrigue packed
into this story than there is in many full
length novels."
Read it on Kindle:
http://lrd.to/xZJGd4yPXo

20. Artwork from original work “Orion, battle spaceship” by Cronus Caelestis.
Used under the Creative Commons Attribution Share Alike 3.0 Unported
License.
Sound effect “Synthetic Disaster 01” by Amish Robots.
Used under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.