Since I was a child I’ve always been fascinated by the story of the Mary Celeste, a freighter found under sail in the Atlantic Ocean in 1872 with no crew aboard, no lifeboat and no clues as to what happened. The ship was seaworthy and the mystery has been enduring, with many theories ranging from alien abduction to mutiny to a very scholarly discussion of fumes in the cargo hold causing the crew to take to the lifeboat. The captain was known to have had his wife and young daughter on board with him, which deepens the tragedy.
I’ve always wanted to provide my own version of this tale in a science fiction format, set in the far future of course. So STAR CRUISE GHOST SHIP was inspired by the Mary Celeste. It made sense to me to have this begin and end (more or less) on my interstellar cruise liner, the Nebula Zephyr, which comes across the derelict space freighter Mebsuta C and sends a salvage crew over to take the prize to the next port.
Depositphotos Generic Clipper Ship
I enjoyed the challenge of figuring out what elements of the Mary Celeste I could adapt to my scifi story and then expanding from there as the events became my plot and affected my characters in their battle to understand what was going on inside the ship and to survive. I wove in some paranormal-style happenings, with the ghost of a child roaming the corridors that only certain people could see. I tried to achieve a Twilight Zone style of telling the story, with unexplained occurrences and people questioning themselves about reality. (I do provide an explanation by the end.)
Speaking of the characters, I figured it was more than time for Security Officer Jayna Evans to get her own adventure in the Star Cruise series. She’s been in the background in most of the books, standing guard, being part of patrols and rescue missions, but never the Female Main Character with the romance going on. I had to figure out her backstory and motivations and why certain things would happen to her, and how she’d react.
For the Main Male Character I introduced Theo Knox, Sixth Officer on the Nebula Zephyr, who has his own backstory and reasons for caring so desperately about the fate of the Mebsuta C.
You’ve probably seen authors talking about characters who take over the story and tell the author what will and won’t happen? Believe it! Jayna and Theo took charge of this one, and pretty much changed the course of their romance that I had envisioned. I had to rework a few scenes to accommodate the way they wanted the story to go. So now, as the book begins Theo and Jayna are having a no strings attached hot and heavy affair but Theo wants more and Jayna is fighting her deeper attraction to him because of her past.
It’s a romance so of course there’s a Happy Ever After ending!
STAR CRUISE GHOST SHIP by Veronica Scott
After losing his Space Navy career due to an unfortunate accident, Theo Knox is looking for any opportunity to distinguish himself as an officer aboard the luxury cruise liner Nebula Zephyr. When they come upon a derelict freighter, he’s happy to lead a small crew to salvage the ship and bring her to port. But once he’s boarded the little ship questions pile up. What happened to the original crew? Why is the lifeboat still docked? Is the ship haunted? What’s in those mysterious crates in the cargo hold? Security Officer Jayna Evans has complicated feelings about Theo so she’s pleased to be assigned to his salvage crew. She hopes they can work out their future while bringing the derelict to port but the uncanny events aboard the abandoned vessel pile up and she can’t trust anyone, not even Theo. Can Theo and Jayna salvage the ship and their relationship? Will anyone survive a cruise on the Ghost Ship? This 38K word Star Cruise novella is the latest installment in the ongoing, connected series. Have you booked your Star Cruise yet? There is a very brief mention of the loss of a previous pregnancy.
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(The book got a wonderful 5 Star review from the Books of My Heart blog, by the way…)
The excerpt – Theo and Jayna begin exploring the derelict ship:
With Jayna leading the way and the other security officer bringing up the rear, Theo set out into the corridors, following a mental map of the ship’s layout, which he’d committed to memory. The captain’s cabin was down one level, on the way to the surprisingly large cargo compartment on the lower level, at the stern. “I wish we knew more about these people,” Theo said as they walked. He had the pernicious feeling of being watched, although the vidscreens he passed at regular intervals were either dead or full of static. Objectively he believed the ship was empty but he couldn’t shake the expectation of running into someone around any bend of the corridor.
“And where they went.” Jayna added. “And why. Did you notice the lifeboat was stowed? If they weren’t taken by pirates, which the lack of disorder and the presence of cargo indicates, then what in the seven hells happened?”
He wondered the same thing but deliberately took an optimistic tone. “Judging by the undisturbed dust everywhere, whatever took place was a long time ago. Nothing to concern us.”
“Hmmm, wish I was as sure about it as you are.”
At the entrance to the captain’s cabin, Theo stood aside out of Jayna’s way as she and her teammate prepared to open the door, which they did with practiced efficiency, entering the room with weapons hot and ready. “Clear,” she said, which was his signal to enter.
The captain had a suite as it turned out. The first room was a combination bedroom/sitting room and looked as if the residents had merely stepped away. The bed was made but there was an indentation in the blanket as if someone had been sitting on it. An old-fashioned handheld, several books and a messy stack of paper were on the dining table and a stylus lay on the floor next to the chair, which sat crookedly to the side. All the surfaces were covered with dust. Theo picked up the handheld but the power source was long exhausted and he couldn’t even get a flicker from the screen. Setting it on the table, he checked the papers cursorily but didn’t find anything to grab his attention.
“If we get the order to take the ship as a prize, we’ll have time to search for answers later,” he said, “And names.” Ready to leave the cabin, now Theo was eager to check out the cargo hold. Depending on what the Mebsuta C had been carrying the value of this salvage could increase exponentially. Or it could have all gone to dust.
“There was a kid on board,” Jayna said with dismay, from the doorway to the next room.
Hastily he stepped to join her and saw what was indisputably a child’s room, with a small bunk and toys and books scattered across the deck. A brightly colored stuffed, six-legged animal sat forlornly on the bed, leaning on the pillows.
“Angelee,” Jayna said.
“How do you know—?” He spun on his heel to see her pointing at a gaily painted sign hung on the bulkhead, proclaiming the child’s name in flowing Basic, decorated with fantastical creatures. Thinking of his own nieces and nephews, he felt a pang, hoping the girl’s fate hadn’t been a bad one. “Must have been a family business, running freight and maybe a few paying passengers while living aboard.”
Needing to escape the cozy but desolate scene, Theo made his way out of the cabin, entering the bright, sterile corridor with relief. “No more stops. Let’s get to the hold as quickly as we can.”
He appreciated the fact Jayna and her teammate never relaxed their alertness as the trio made their way through the ship, heading toward the hold, which occupied most of the stern. Theo was convinced the ship was empty of anyone but the Nebula Zephyr crew but reminded himself to stay frosty as well. Interstellar space could spring surprises on a person, most of them nasty.
The portal to the hold opened smoothly in response to the controls and the lights came on, although not as brightly as in the outer corridors. Jayna in the lead, they moved into the cavernous area.
“Make a complete circuit,” Theo said. “Just to be sure.”
She veered to the right. The hold was jampacked with containers of all size, stacked tightly. Theo marveled at the sheer amount of freight the long-gone captain had managed to pack into his ship. If he’d reached his original destination, wherever it might have been, he’d have had a successful trip for sure. They walked and walked and it seemed a long time to Theo before Jayna turned again and led them past the rear of the cargo. It was an even longer walk before she could go left and march carefully along a narrow path between the containers and the bulkhead.
“This is impossible,” she said, giving voice to what he was thinking with puzzlement. “There’s no way all this freight fits into the ship we boarded. What the seven hells is going on here?”
Have you booked your Star Cruise yet?
