Cover revealed for Book 2!

Coming Soon!

Choose the gender and names!

We're playing a fun baby game here on Barrier! The upcoming "Purpose of Pain" will reveal that Sky Legend, SD 32's Chief Control Officer, is pregnant. But wait! Not only is she expecting, she has two buns in the oven! And Barrier fans get to decide the gender and names of these new additions.

<-- Look in the side bar to the left. Vote in that poll and then send your name choices to pamelacaves@rocketmail.com. Stay tuned to the Barrier blog to find out the results later!

*Update: We're sorry but this poll has been closed and the results will be revealed in the upcoming 3rd installment to the Barrier series. Thank you for checking in!

Sabina Doubek

Sabina Doubek is a Velarian currently serving as the second-in-command on SSD 32.

History:

Sabina grew up on a small colony on Crast, sister planet to Vela. Growing up, her mother taught her to be very goal oriented. Sabina found an interest in martial arts and weaponry at an early age and worked her way into the United Alliance, first serving in Security in various assignments.  She then transferred to SSD 32 when she was assigned as the major weapons officer on Assault Squad 13.

An injury (see Ethics vs. Duty) to her spinal cord left her unable to continue on that career path. She was subsequently promoted to the position of General Tain's assistant and second-in-command of SSD 32.

Physical Characteristics:

Sabina is a dark-skinned humanoid with slight reptilian characteristics.  As is standard with Velarians, her body seems a little elongated compared to humans.  She also sports a ridge of scales along her forehead and nose. She has long, thick black hair and striking green eyes.

Personality:

Sabina is often blunt and crass.  She holds people at arms length though not through any emotional issues; it is simply how she is.  She's highly stubborn, too, and often insists she's right, even if proven wrong. She has little tolerance for nonsense and is generally critical of others. Though she is considered a mostly negative person, she is a quick thinker and loyal.

See Barrier: The Purpose of Pain for a story featuring Sabina Doubek. Visit this link to find this title and more.

Second "Barrier" ebook scheduled for release!

Barrier: The Purpose of Pain, will be released late 2012 by Fiction Lake Publishing.  In this second story for the series, sixteen year-old Lenya McKay is told that both her parents were killed when their vehicle imploded. She refuses to accept it, though, and goes off in search for them with the help of new Squad 13 weapon's officer, Corporal Zhoven Spiridon. Instead, they find something they could never have suspected; enemy infiltration. Growing up takes a sudden leap when she is Zhoven's only hope for survival against an unpredictable and brutal enemy.

Stay tuned for more Barrier news and posts leading up to the release!

"Barrier: Ethics vs. Duty" - Now Available!

 Assault Squad 13 has been sent to Dryza to help a colony they believe might be under attack from the Snarls. Rasa and Triana have been paired to search abandoned mining tunnels.

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It had also been over two hours of silence. Aside from a brief order telling me to glance around a dead end corner, Rasa said nothing. She always walked around generally stoic anyway but now I kept imagining her behavior as something that was personal against me. Sabina was her friend, quite possibly her only friend, and dealing with her loss couldn't be easy out here. That was assuming she felt anything. I'm not quite certain how Decanites really deal with death.

Aside from the silence, Rasa's orders were a little strange. Instead of allowing me to partner in the search, she was often a step ahead. I wanted to say something to her but my stomach was already in knots. So instead of talking about it, I decided to just take the initiative. I stepped beside of her, intent on covering the alternate side of a T-junction we were coming to.

"Get back to where you were, Sergeant."

"With all due respect, you can't cover everything yourself."

"How did you cover Doubek?"

"What?"

She didn't sound angry and that's what threw me off guard. "I asked how you covered Doubek. I do not believe you misunderstood me."

Thinking your crew feels you are responsible for the death of your own is nothing compared to actually hearing it out of their mouths. Even though I was afraid they thought badly of me, I never believed any of them would really blame me. The emotional stab to my heart was horrible.

"I had no choice. I had to go ahead. They ordered me to restore power."

"And did you succeed?"

"What do you mean?"

"Did you succeed in restoring power?"

"You know the answer to that." My stomach flopped.

She came within centimeters from my face. She had a mild pasty smell to her. I tried not to breathe in her scent as I stared at her eyes. They weren't actually all white as I'd previously thought. There was a slight cream color in the middle, so slight that it was almost unnoticeable... well, at least not noticeable unless you were close enough to feel her hot breath on your nose. If I ended up throwing up on her at this distance, I think I'd just resign.

Her tone sharpened. "You were useless. You neither helped your partner nor did you accomplish your other objective. Now your partner is dead. Do not expect me to have faith that you have my back if we get into an incident with the enemy."

She moved away and continued the search while I stood there like an idiot with tears welling in my eyes. I wanted to cry, I really did, but I didn't want her to see me cry. It wasn't that my feelings were hurt (although that was part of it), it was that I was angry. And when I get angry, for some stupid reason, I tend to cry. The only purpose that serves, other than humiliating me, is to further fuel my antagonist. I held back to my original position and hung my head to hide the temperature change in my face. Sometimes I have a hard time remembering that not everyone can see like I can.

Somewhere in the middle of my self loathing, a small dot of heat caught my attention along the route of the opposite side of the T-junction. There was a slight noise coming from that direction that I couldn't identify.

My misgivings temporarily forgotten, I asked, "Sergeant Rasa, do you hear that?

"No."

"There is something down there."

She appeared at my side and shined her light down the tunnel. "I see nothing."

"I see the heat coming off of it."

"The enemy?"

"No. It's too small. It's probably an animal."

"Unlikely," she said as she cautiously led the way. "There isn't a water or food source this far in. If it is an animal, it is displaced. We will need to return it to the outside."

"Agreed." I hadn't been aware that she was so compassionate.

On average, a Roen's hearing is better than a Decanite. Rasa was just starting to hear the noise.

"It sounds like a baby," I commented.

"What kind of baby?"

"A humanoid baby," I mused. Really, what other kind of baby would I be talking about? "Haven't you ever heard a baby cry?"

"Once, standing in a transport line. The damn thing was oozing mucus from its nostrils, salivating at the mouth, and would not stop bellowing. Alien babies are annoying and disgusting."

I couldn't help but laugh.

"I do not see what you find amusing."

"You don't have babies on Decan?"

"Our hatchlings are sent to centers for transition. They do not rejoin their parental units until they are pre-pubescent."

"Wow."

While we walked, the crying grew louder. There was no mistaking that it was a humanoid baby.

"There is someone else down there. Do you see the heat signature?"

"No, I just see the baby's. Are you sure it's a person?"

"Yes."

I saw what she was talking about only a minute later as my flashlight hit the back of a UA uniform. Someone was lying on the ground on their side with their back to us.

When we reached them, Rasa checked the body while I picked up the crying infant. It was covered in a standard issue United Alliance thermal blanket. The skin tint was orange. But it wasn't Human or Jeviet. Its nose was flattened, almost bird-like and its thin red hair was soft down.

I calmed the little one down by talking to it softly and bouncing slightly. "I don't recognize this species. There's avian and humanoid characteristics."

"This officer is Major Idel Joshen, currently assigned to HQ, special tactics division. Looks like a level 5 pellet discharge."

I wondered if Rasa was thinking the same thing I was. This whole scenario made no sense. What the hell was a special tactics officer doing out here with an infant? But we weren't allowed to speculate. We knew that if we were to talk about it, conspiracy theories might start rumors and rumors were dangerous in our line of work.

Rasa marked the location, took a video, and picked the body up as if it weighed no more than a suitcase. The baby started to fall asleep, soothed by the movement of my walk. It watched me with the most striking pair of green eyes I'd ever seen and I couldn't help but stroke its head and smile.

"Avoid attachment, Sergeant," Rasa ordered.

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You can purchase Barrier: Duty vs. Ethics on Smashwords (several formats available), Amazon, Barnes and Noble, or search for it on your favorite site!


Want to see more work by Pamela Caves? Visit her site at www.PamelaCaves.com.

Triana Kreeler

Triana Kreeler is a half Human, half Roen hybrid, currently serving as Engineer on Assault Squad 13 on SSD 32.

History:

Her mother is in sales in a company that markets personal interstellar vehicles on Roen. Her father is a visual media producer on Earth. Triana did a lot of back and forth travel between Roen and Earth growing up as her parents were never really together or married. Triana says they were great parents and great friends with each other, though. She always felt loved and well treated by both but she never really felt at home on either planet.

Her source of sanity growing up, she says, can be attributed to her best friend, Alex Ashler, who also serves on Assault Squad 13 on SSD 32 as the communications officer.

She joined the UA military once out of college and was accepted into the military's technical division after her academy training. While she's done well with her career thus far, the way to gain rank and notability, she knew, was to serve on the front so she took combat training and was placed on SSD 32.

Physical Characteristics

Triana is average height and weight. Her most notable features are her brown hair (typical of Humans) and purple eye color (typical of Roens), which gets her noticed (often negatively) when she spends time on either planet.

Personality

Triana describes herself as socially inept and not much for provocation or directness. Although her job often demands she perform with an amount of crass, she finds confrontation unsettling to the point she often becomes physically ill. While she may be just a competent officer, she's a genius at what she does. She's often unaware of her own brilliance in her field.

See the first Barrier title, Ethics vs. Duty for a story featuring Triana Kreeler. Visit this link to find this title and more.

Roen

Race

The Roens are a humanoid race. They resemble Humans but there are a few key differences. Eye and hair color is of a broader variety and their hair consists of fine down, which reveals some avian characteristics in their lineage.

One attribute they possess is that their visual ability is a bit different than a Human's. Roens are able to see temperature differentials and certain wavelengths that Humans typically cannot see.

Planet

Roen is very similar to Earth, in composition, environment, history, political structure, etc. Roen was thrown into the war between the UA and the Xarle when the United Alliance got wind of a pending attack on the non-space faring planet. The UA provided support to Roen and as a result, the Xarle decided not to pursue the attack. Millions of Roen lives were saved as a result. Roen became integrated into the UA soon after.

Cover revealed for Book 1!

Science Fiction Space Adventure Coming soon to Fiction Lake!