Book description
In the time immediately following the destruction of the Death Star and
the years between the Battle of Yavin and the foundation of the Rebel
Base on Hoth, the Empire's grip on the galaxy has become an unyielding
fist of retribution. Pressed into action by Emperor Palpatine, Imperial
forces have stepped up efforts to hunt down and imprison Rebel
sympathizers, shipping them off to newly formed detainment moons via
huge prison barges. By necessity these barges are floating chambers of
degradation and vice, notoriously unreliable spacecraft staffed by
Imperial corrections officers whose cruelty rivals that of the inmates.
The Imperial Prison Barge
Virtue
is hauling its load of prisoners, criminals and murderers, human and
non-human, across the galaxy, when it breaks down in deep space. Soon
after, the ship's warden discovers a derelict Star Destroyer, seemingly
abandoned, and sends a boarding party to scavenge parts to repair the
Virtue. Half of them don't come back. The ones that do are infected with
a virus so deadly that within hours, it has wiped out ninety-nine
percent of the barge's population. But for the handful of survivors --
two brothers, the Virtue
's female chief medical officer, and a sadistic captain of the guards,
along with a certain rogue smuggler and his Wookiee sidekick - the true
horror is just begun. Because those inmates and guards who died of the
virus don't stay dead...and when they come back, they're extremely
hungry. Against their better judgment, the survivors take refuge aboard
the massive creaking emptiness of the Destroyer, only to discover that
its original population has not disappeared at all -- and that they've
been waiting for them.
Joe Schreiber was born in Michigan but spent
his formative years in Alaska, Wyoming and northern
California. Until recently, he has never lived in the same address
for longer than a year. Before settling
in Hershey he lived in New York, Boston, Martha's Vineyard, Chicago,
Los Angeles, Portland (OR), and Philadelphia. Becoming a parent forced
him to consider a career with more reliable income, and he
got a job as an MRI tech at Hershey Medical Center. Joe is married
and has two children.
