Crossed Paths - A Tale of the Dread Remora. Tales of the Scattered Earth, #3

The Tales of the Scattered Earth:Once, long ago, there was one Earth. It was said that many deities gazed down upon it protectively, and there was balance between them all. Then something went wrong. The balance shifted-toward darkness. Earth was shattered, her people destroyed, her remains scattered far and wide. But the gods survived the cataclysm. They scattered as well, each pursuing a fragment of their former domain.
And, when they overtook those shards, the gods drew upon what power remained to them to restore their worshippers to life. These new followers rose from dust and imperfect memory, for the gods too had been injured. Each claimed a new home, and a new life, and each thought itself-at least at first-to be the only Earth. All memory of their former world was lost, except vague memories of the gods who gave them new life.
Then, one day, a single great event drew all their eyes to the stars-and beyond. And each of them felt a yearning. Something in them desired to be whole again, or at least to understand. These are their stories. These are The Tales of the Scattered Earth. Crossed Paths: Despite its guise as a space pirate the Dread Remora is still a ship of Her Majesty's Royal Navy, so when Captain Nate Demming and his crew discover a brutally savaged ship they are appalled.
When a second ship appears and attacks, Demming assumes these must be the predators, and retaliates. The events that unfold lead to new discoveries for the Dread Remora, including some potential allies-and a ferocious new enemy. The novella Crossed Paths is the second tale of the Dread Remora, following the full-length novel The Birth of the Dread Remora. The Dread Remora series is part of the epic Scattered Earth Saga-There is a new Full-length Dread Remora novel available now! The Honor of the Dread Remora, and the second book in the Tales of the Scattered Earth, The Second Veil - by David Niall Wilson, Which introduces another Earth, and the crew of the Airship Tangent, is also available.
Author Keith R. A. DeCandido brings us the Olodumare Hegomony in his novel Guilt in Innocence. Watch for more from these autohrs, as well as a brand new world and novel from award-winning author Melissa Scott in the summer of 2014.