Kayelle Allen is here to tell us about Bringer of Chaos, military science fiction, space opera. Part of the Immoral Empires and Fallen Empires story unverse.
The book explores loyalty under pressure, chosen brotherhood, survival and consequence, immortality and mortality, redemption and forgiveness, trust earned through action, and leadership without certainty.
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Blurb:
Friendship was never part of eternity's bargain—until now.
For the first time in his long, barren life, the immortal king Pietas fears the isolation he once accepted as inevitable. Friendship was never part of eternity's bargain—until Six.
Six is mortal. His immortality is temporary, and he refuses to live on anyone else's terms. When it fails, his body will fail with it. No revival. No return. Only a slow, irreversible end.
Pietas has survived exile, betrayal, and endless solitude—but he will not lose his shield brother. Not after what honesty and loyalty have already cost them.
To save Six, Pietas must set aside his pride and work with the enemy who exiled him. Doing so means breaking a vow forged in his darkest hour—a promise of vengeance he has never questioned.
He can preserve a world.
He can secure a future.
But even if it costs everything—
Pietas will not let Six go.
Watch Your Six concludes the Bringer of Chaos storyline that began with Lights Out and follows the evolving relationship between the immortal king Pietas and the former Ghost Corps soldier known as Six.
Set on a world abandoned mid-terraforming, the novel explores loyalty, trust, survival, and the cost of choosing connection over isolation.
Excerpt:
“Joss,” Pietas called.
She stood, clutching the blanket around her. “Yes, my king?”
“How many bodies?”
“Twenty-two.”
“You answered that rather quickly. Are you certain?”
“Yes. I knew you’d want exact figures.”
“Joss... You didn’t touch the bodies, did you?”
She looked away. “There weren’t enough people to help. I had to.”
Six squinted. “That’s gross, but why is that an issue?”
“Joss is a Scripter. When she touches someone, she reads their future. But she can also read their past. Including how they died.”
Joss shuddered. “I picked up more than their deaths. I think they were part of a failed mission, and they were killed for it.”
Six swore under his breath, crossing himself. “Joss, much as I feel for you having to go through that, I gotta ask. Did you get any sense of other ghosts?”
She pulled the blanket up over her head, clasping it beneath her chin. “It’s one reason why I risked traveling at night to get here. They all had two words foremost in their minds. But it makes no sense. I don’t understand why they’d all be thinking same thing when they died. Or why it would be that.”
Unable to determine if the sudden chill was weather-related or his own ability to frost the air, Pietas folded his arms, shivering.
Six gestured toward her. “What words?”
She bit her lower lip, looking over at Pietas with a forlorn expression. “Operation milkweed.”
“Milkweed?” Six repeated. “You’re sure?”
She gave him a droll smile.
“Sorry. Forgot who I was talking to.” Six turned to Pietas. “Does that mean anything to you? Do you understand it? Is this some kind of Ultra thing?”
“Milkweed is a plant. A member of the apocynaceae family. Comparable to family orchidaceae in complexity. The genus is known for over two hundred species.”
“Yo, Ultra.” Six set a hand on his hip. “Real people language, okay?”
“It’s a plant pollinated by many species, but it’s chiefly beneficial to danaus plexippus. For you, Six, that’s the Monarch butterfly.”
The man stared at him, unblinking. “And...? What does that have to do with a bunch of ghosts’ dying breath?”
“At the beginning of her terraforming career, my mother conducted an experiment to see if butterflies would adapt to alien vegetation. Monarch butterflies lay their larvae on milkweed. She posited that if deprived of their favorite plant, they’d adapt. Use another plant.”
“So what happened?”
“She tried three times, but each time all Monarchs died after one generation. Turns out, milkweed is crucial to their survival. No Monarchs were ever used in terraforming another world, because milkweed was deemed nonviable. Unnecessary.”
“Uh huh.” Six rubbed his forehead. “Still don’t see how that relates to these ghosts.”
“She called it Operation Milkweed.”
“Ya know, Pi, sometimes you think you’re explaining, but you’re really not. Lay it all on the table, okay?”
“The point is that if you starve the Monarch and deprive it of its support system, you don’t only kill the Monarch. You wipe out its entire species, once and for all.”
Realization dawned on Six’s face. “And you’re the monarch they want to destroy.”
“Likely.”
“If that’s true, then we need to get busy with these rollers so we can get as many pods out as quick as possible.”
“I agree, Six, but make your point.”
“It’s the reason they landed these units in one place, all crammed together.”
“You think the Ghost Corps intended for these dead ghosts to carry out a mission to destroy us. But Joss said they were killed because they failed. They couldn’t do it.”
“Okay, Pi, but here’s the thing. Counting twenty-two ghosts in the crate, the others that I know died, and include me, you get thirty-six.”
Pietas made a rolling gesture.
“At any one time, there were only ever fifty ghosts. So if we know the location of thirty-six…”
An icy wind dragged its cold fingers up across Pietas’s back. “Then where are the other fourteen?”
About the Author:
Kayelle Allen writes character-driven science fiction and romance featuring larger-than-life characters, complex relationships, and immersive worldbuilding. She is the creator and curator of the interconnected Immortal Empires and Fallen Empires story universe.
A veteran of the U.S. Navy, she brings a lifelong fascination with leadership, loyalty, and survival to stories spanning planets, empires, and millennia.
Author Website:
https://kayelleallen.com/
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