Threading the Needle

A Hegemon War Story

By: William Zeck

Narrated by: Virtual Voice

Tab survived the war between Leonis and the Hegemon.

Barely.

When a doomed Hegemon commando places a transponder containing critical intelligence in his hands, Tab suddenly possesses information the Alliance desperately needs—and powerful people would kill to obtain.

Unfortunately, he’s stranded on Timboktu.

With no safe way to contact the Alliance and no desire to draw attention to himself, Tab does the only thing he can do: survive.

That leads him to the dangerous world of skim racing.

Flying a racing capsule through Timboktu’s canyons, cave systems, riverbeds, and towering Needle formations pays the bills and keeps him moving. It also turns out he’s exceptionally good at it.

What begins as a temporary solution becomes something more.

A racing team becomes friends.

A tavern called the Driftwell begins to feel like home.

A bartender named Luna makes it harder to imagine leaving.

But the information hidden inside the transponder hasn’t stopped mattering.

Across the sector, Hegemon forces are searching for it. Among them is Amicus Starczar, a scarred veteran whose reputation was forged in war and whose determination borders on legendary.

As the hunt closes in on Timboktu, Tab finds himself caught between the mission he never asked for and the life he’s finally beginning to build.

Because sometimes survival means running.

And sometimes survival means threading the needle.