The Futility of Intent — Mike Wyant

Lieutenant Dee Terganon will wipe out the last bastions of demons on Laconia even if it kills her--and it might. The strange, dark power that's replaced her Hunter Fire comes with new patches of yellow, scaly skin and black nails ripping through the quick… just like the beasts she hunts. On the other side of the galaxy, the planet Shiva lays cracked open like an egg, ripe for mining. Ceriat and Eleni, searching for a new home far from the turmoil, make the last faster-than-light jump across the galaxy. But instead of arriving at Earth as planned, they drop out of FTL to find Laconia in utter chaos. Hundreds of ships have all appeared in the same space, and as they collide and battle, Ceriat and his crew 'escape' to the surface in a ball of flame, their plans for a new home scrapped until the FTL failure that dropped them here is fixed. Meanwhile, seated on a throne of corpses on Laconia's moon, the genetically modified demon, Argus One, watches the chaos with its eyeless face. And laughs.