At the Speed of Mind by Bryan Davis

Book 3 of Astral Alliance

Summary: 

After defeating Camille and Raven Fairbanks and freeing the Starborn children on Gamma Five, Megan Willis suffered a great loss. A transport beam disintegrated her father and sent him to a strange jungle planet called Delta Zero. Megan has to find him at all costs.

Many barriers stand in her way. A great evil is brewing on Delta Zero—a bramble bee mine where enslaved children risk their lives to harvest the bees’ valuable glowsap, following the orders of a mysterious slave master named Omen. Also, an enemy from Megan’s past still lurks, a psychotic villain who will do anything to kill her, including destroying her home planet, thereby murdering billions of innocent people.

The perilous journey ahead will test Megan’s skill and courage beyond anything she has yet endured. Only she and her crewmates can find her father, rescue the children, and save the threatened planet.

Opening Lines: 

Light flashed throughout our ship, the Nebula Nine. Sharp tingles buzzed through my body followed by numbness. Everything around me blurred in the radiance, and nothing moved, as if time itself had halted. Even Perdantus, perched on my shoulder, stayed perfectly motionless, not a feather out of place.