Half-Life Empire

<p><strong>From the Dragon Award-nominated author of Astra Academy: One young woman leads a ragtag band of survivors across a fractured post-alien-invasion America.</strong></p><p><br></p><p>Hacker Kita Yamasaki would do anything to escape the post-apocalyptic landscape that was the result of the Forever Winter. But for a normal person the only options are the war-hungry nation-state of Ex Cathedra or the isolationist United California. Fortunately Kita is anything but normal. </p><p> </p><p>When she finds a faded brochure for the BC Oasis-an underground greenhouse capable of sheltering a quarter million people-she jumps at the opportunity even going so far as to steal a fission battery the oasis requires to operate at full capacity. There's just one problem . . . The battery belongs to the ruthless judges of Ex Cathedra.</p><p> </p><p>Now Kita finds herself the target of a deadly chase. In her race to safety she picks up three fellow travelers: Dallas; his mute daughter Crouton; and Bishop a junk hunter. But will they betray her and take the battery for themselves? Is one of them a member of the cultist Iron-Blooded who worship the few remaining alien invaders scattered across Earth's wasteland?</p><p> </p><p>Faced with certain death if they're caught by the judges' power-armored soldiers Kita must put aside her suspicions and make a headlong dash for sanctuary-and the promise of a new life.</p>