Fire In The Night

Fire In The Night is the fourth book in the Dark Matter Universe series, though it is regarded as a spin-off of the main books. It follows Collin Williams, Blake Kraniks, and Raza Grey on a mission into the crime-filled lower levels of Aura City on Alpha Prime.

## Description

"Following the Battle of Duna, Collin Williams has returned to life as a hired hero within the streets of Aura City on Alpha Prime. When an unexpected foe threatens to destroy the Intergalactic Alliance Senate Tower and blame an outlaw city, Collin must continue to wear his Dark Matter title and join two of the most unlikely allies."

## Plot

Raza Grey was knocked off a platform walkway high up in the upper levels of Aura City by a flying truck during an Aura City Police Department (ACPD) chase. To her luck, Collin Williams (Dark Matter) had been on top of one of the police cruisers and jumped down after her, catching her and slowing their decent with his claws dug into a metal building. Just as he was about to lose his grip, a different ACPD cruiser arrived and rescued Collin and Raza. Collin ordered the police to regroup with the chase and he tried to jump from the cruiser to the truck, missing and falling onto a rooftop. When Collin descended a nearby elevator, he found himself on a lower level street. Greeted by the Gatekeeper, Collin was informed that a Cephilian by the name of Sereno Jek planned to attack the Intergalactic Alliance (IGA) Senate Tower and blame Undermine City, an outlaw city under the surface of the planet, which would inevitably end in a civil war. Collin agrees to look into things, but offers no guarantee of help.

Collin arrives at the main ACPD precinct, fumed that no one came to help him on the roof. While he and the ACPD Captain Barj Nolcon argued for a moment, IGA Agent Ray Pearson arrived and defused the men. Ray informed the Captain that ACPD was to leave the case alone and that IGA would handle things until further notice, angering Barj. Ray and Collin departed the precinct and discussed the situation with Sereno Jek. At this point, now that two people had brought the name up, Collin was truly interested in locating Jek.

The Agent and mutant arrived at a warehouse in Aura City and investigated it, locating a large number of Jek's men and a Vle captive. While hiding in a duct, Collin and Ray spoke of the former's erratic and rash behavior. Ray told Collin it was time to start thinking about his actions. Collin formulated a plan that involved calling in ACPD, and Ray nodded, stating that he had already done so; ACPD had already surrounded the building. After rescuing the Vle, discovered to have been Raza who had been caught sneaking around, Ray, carrying Raza, and Collin exited the warehouse and met up with ACPD. Collin argued with Ray that he and the Agent could have handled the entire situation alone if Ray hadn't tried to hold the former back in the warehouse. The two parted ways for the night.

Raza, knowing Collin wanted to go after Jek, found her way to Collin's condominium after coming across another mutant, Blake Kraniks. Collin explains to Raza that he and Blake are rivals and cannot work together, stating she'd be better off asking for Blake's help alone. When Raza explains that she needs help specifically to track down Jek, Collin reluctantly agrees to work together with his rival and the three depart back to the lower levels of Alpha Prime, this time going to the deepest level in the city.

After being jumped by a Xerofian named Montau, the trio trekked to a power station on the lowest level at the very edge of the industrial sector of Aura City. Blake and Collin held a brief skirmish as Blake learned that the latter was unable to use his powers at full-force due to Collin exhausting himself during his fight with William Ordazed during the Battle of Duna.

The three finally arrive at the power station and infiltrate the building, eventually locating Sereno Jek. After knocking the mob boss out, the three rush back the way they came, but Blake is forced to stay behind to buy the other two time. Collin ushers a reluctant Raza along and the two descend the fire escape outside the station. After encountering a sniper, the two reach the bottom and Raza is left alone by Collin who insists on going back for Blake. While Collin is successful in retrieving Blake, the two are captured once they are back outside the station as the gang begins using Mutant Power Suppression (MPS) firearm rounds.

Raza is faced with the choice of either staying put or saving Collin and Blake. She locates Collin's combrace and finds a code written on it's side in blood. Once unlocked, a video plays with Blake speaking into the combraces camera. He informs Raza that Collin is severely injured and unable to use his powers (including his healing ability), thus he put a tracker in his pocket and allowed the combrace to track his and Collin's whereabouts. Blake tells Raza

## Notes

* It was announced on December 21st, 2022 that the manuscript for a novella was completed. This confirmed whether LMStudios was working on the book during later months of 2022.
* The working title for the novella was originally Dark Matter: Three's Company.
* Fire In The Night is the first novella to be released in the series.
* The cover art was the first to feature Blake Kraniks, Raza Grey, Agent Ray Pearson, and Sereno Jek in a visual format.