A brutal abduction. A merciless interstellar plot. Can Calandra and Xttra fight deceit and assassins to reveal the dreadful truth? The scars that Calandra Menankar carries go well beyond her amputated arm. After surviving a disastrous first contact with Earth, she wants nothing more than to avoid space travel and enjoy a quiet life with her husband. But her dreams shatter when her soulmate disappears at the hands of unknown assailants. Master pilot Xttra Oogan is haunted by the deaths of his former crew. So he leaps at the chance to purge his guilt when the Stellar Guard dispatches him to capture a dangerous thief and saboteur. But when he discovers a diabolical frame-up while in pursuit of stolen top-secret technology, he's abducted and dragged back to the nightmarish blue planet. With no idea what became of her beloved, Calandra's determination to uncover hidden agendas puts her in an enemy's crosshairs. And to find his way home and save his people, Xttra's only hope of survival may be to forge new alliances with old foes. ... Will they bring down a galaxy-spanning scheme before their lives are scattered to the stars? Dark Metamorphosis is the second book in the explosive Alien People Chronicles science fiction series. If you like dogged heroes, deep-state plots, and ruthless enemies, then you'll love John Coon's thrill ride.