In a Dangerous Orbit (Phoenix Adventures) by Anna Hackett Format: eARC
Source: author
Formats available: paperback, ebook
Genres: science fiction romance
Series: Phoenix Adventures #4
Pages: 236
Published by Anna Hackett on May 19, 2026
Purchasing Info: Author's Website, Amazon, Barnes & Noble
Goodreads
From the busy market world of Souk to the high-tech cyborg world of Centax, join these treasure hunts for priceless artifacts of old Earth. In a Dangerous Orbit contains two action-packed novellas in the Phoenix Adventures series.
These novellas were previously published and have been lightly edited.
BENEATH A TROJAN MOON: A woman with a secret she’ll kill to protect.
Fortune teller Relda Dela-Cruz hides in plain sight on the market world of Souk. She never lets anyone too close and protects her deadly secret. But when assailants attack her in pursuit of a powerful artifact, she collides with the city’s handsome new marshal.
War has left former Galactic Special Forces captain Hunt Calder tired and empty, but one look at the beautiful Relda—with her wild curls and lush curves—brings him back to life. When she’s threatened over the mysterious Trojan Moon, he won’t let anything stop him from protecting her. Even Relda herself.
As they face alien attackers and killer droids, Hunt wants all of her—body, mind, and her secret. Even if that secret has the power to destroy not only them, but the planet itself.
ON A CYBORG PLANET: Can he give a beautiful warrior cyborg the pleasure she’s never experienced?
After a vicious coup, cyborg Axton Saros, Prime of the planet of Centax, is trying to rebuild his world. A priceless artifact stolen during the attack is still missing, and he’ll do anything to get it back. Even work with the emotionless, infuriating Centax Security cyborg Commander Xenia Alexander.
Everybody knows CenSecs are deadly and so enhanced that their emotions are dampened to nothing. But Xenia’s been keeping a secret her entire life—her systems don’t function correctly. Working side-by-side with Axton to find the Codex Da Vinci makes every emotion in her flare to life.
As they follow a trail of clues, Axton and Xenia can’t fight their fierce desire. As their hunt takes a deadly turn, their powerful connection might be the only thing that can save Xenia from annihilation.
My Review:
When I first saw this as part of the author’s re-reissue of her Phoenix Adventures series the title did not look familiar. I read – and reviewed – the whole Phoenix Adventures series back when it originally came out and this wasn’t part of it. Or so I thought.
But it was – and it is – and I was delighted to read it again.
When the series was originally published, Beneath a Trojan Moon and On a Cyborg Planet were marvelous – and marvelously short – side stories to the main series and were released separately. Neither of these novellas features the Phoenix Brothers – or the OTHER Phoenix Brothers, but they ARE part of the same world.
Beneath a Trojan Moon takes place on Souk, the planet orbited BY the Phoenix Brothers’ HQ. On a Cyborg Planet is a follow up to the previous book in the series, On a Rogue Planet. It doesn’t feature any of the Phoenix clan, but it does deal with the aftermath of that story – which very much involved the Phoenix Brothers and cousins.
So linked, but not the main action in either case. Still, however, excellent. Because these stories take place in a setting that has already been somewhat established in the three previous books (At Star’s End, In the Devil’s Nebula and On a Rogue Planet) these particular stories concentrate a bit more on the romance part of science fiction romance, but still have plenty of adventure and further fill in the details of this particular ‘verse along with telling a terrific story.
The title of Beneath a Trojan Moon is a bit of a pun. A pun that fortune teller Relda Dela-Cruz takes advantage of as she hides in plain sight on Souk. ‘Trojan Moon’ is a pseudo-moon that occupies a Trojan point of a system. It’s a real thing that exists in astrophysics. The Phoenix Brothers’ base is located on a Trojan moon orbiting the planet Souk. But THE Trojan Moon in the story is an artifact that amplifies psionic power. Relda, one of the few survivors of a nearly extinct psionic race, is the owner AND more importantly the protector of that artifact.
A collector of rare objects, particularly objects related to psionic power, intends to collect both Relda and her Trojan Moon. But her friends, her found family, and most of all the Marshall who enforces the law on Souk, have no intention of letting her be taken. Hunt Calder will do anything to keep Relda safe – even if he has to open what little heart he has left.
The romance is between two people who have closed themselves off for different but equally necessary reasons. And it’s a terrific story because they both realize that it’s already too late, that they’ve already fallen for each other AND made a home for themselves on Souk. A home that this time they’ll fight to keep.
I loved On a Cyborg Planet, both originally and now, because it finished a story that I still wanted more of at the end of On a Rogue Planet. Not that the romance wasn’t complete in that earlier book, and not that Xander and Malin’s HEA wasn’t well earned, but that the thing that brought them together – the coup that nearly destroyed Xander’s planet Centax – didn’t feel as if it had been fully closed. Or rather, that the damage hadn’t been fully recovered from – that THAT process had only just begun.
So this is a story about lingering damage, to a planet, to a people, and to one person in particular, Prime Axton Saros of Centax. Axton was held prisoner when his planet was temporarily occupied by a coup. He was tortured physically and mentally, and he’s still suffering from both the physical damage and PTSD from the whole experience. And he’s neglecting taking care of himself because he feels compelled to continue suffering because he was helpless during the occupation.
So his brother Xander assigns his own second-in-command to take care of his brother one way or another. Xander guesses that Commander Xenia Alexander is both Axton’s weakness AND his strength – if he’ll just let himself see it. And if Xenia can overcome her cyborg conditioning just as Xander has, and let herself feel the emotions she’s been forced to keep hidden to survive. That Axton and Xenia manage to find another missing artifact, a whole lot of deadly traps, and their own HEA made this story exciting in more ways than one!
Escape Rating A: These two stories worked well together for a number of reasons. First, yes, well, they’re both short. Second because they’re side stories, interludes between the main events of the series. But third, and the thing I really loved about both of them, is that both are stories where the female main character is WAY more dangerous – and deadly – than the male. Relda’s psionic powers are capable of destroying an entire planet. Possibly even a solar system. Xenia Alexander is every inch the Centax Security cyborg that Xander was in the previous book. Not that her consort (although technically she’s HIS consort) can’t kick ass and take names with the best of anyone else, but Xenia is a cut above that and he knows that and loves her for it.
I loved this book even more than I did the separate parts the first time around – at least in part because this broke me out of a terrible reading slump and I’m very grateful. I’m also looking forward to the author’s next book, whether that turns out to be the next book in the Unsanctioned series, Worth the Fight, or the next up in this re-release of the Phoenix Adventures, Beyond Galaxy’s Edge. They’re both worth the wait!
