Valor's Trial

Book excerpt: Bestselling author Tanya Huff’s Confederation series of military science fiction returns with a novel where one woman’s discovery shakes the foundations of the intergalactic alliance itself... Gunnery Sergeant Torin Kerr has had enough of special treatment—and of gaping, skepticism, and whispers of Silsviss or Big Yellow as she passes. She’s glad to be back with her own Sh’quo Company, surrounded by familiar faces and enduring more razzing than awe. Of course, the company is going into battle again, facing death on all sides in a centuries-old war where every attempt at diplomacy fails, and she’s got a brand-new second lieutenant to train. Another glorious day in the Confederation Marine Corps. The battle goes disastrously wrong. And yet somehow Torin wakes up. The Others don’t take prisoners—or so the Confederation has always said. But the dark tunnels and mysterious mechanisms of the warren around her certainly seem like a prison. And there’s more going on than simple confinement. One after another, Torin’s most cherished beliefs are shaken to the core. She’s always been a survivor. But time is running out. If she has to question everything to escape, answers had better start coming fast...