Total pages in book: 62
Estimated words: 57751 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 289(@200wpm)___ 231(@250wpm)___ 193(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 57751 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 289(@200wpm)___ 231(@250wpm)___ 193(@300wpm)
Read Online Books/Novels: | (Alien Authority #1) Rebellion |
|---|---|
Author/Writer of Book/Novel: | Loki Renard |
| Language: | English |
| Book Information: | |
Authority Rule #1: Never Cross A Kitari Warrior “Ensign Tessil!” Jerri turned around at the sound of her name boomed in rasping, rough tones. That was not a voice that had ever used her name before. She liked the way it sounded. It was an alien. The alien. Commander Atlas had set all the tongues wagging, a Kitari officer serving on a largely human vessel. The fact that the HMS Audacity was still over eighty percent human was a source of shame for the fleet. Technically they were in breach of several intergalactic defense treaties, which required all species of the alliance to be represented on any ship with more than a gigaton of firepower. The Audacity was well above that threshold, but they had difficulty attracting and retaining quality crew. She’d given Atlas about three months when he first came aboard. He was nearing the end of his second month and still going strong, but you never knew when these aliens would crack. Sometimes they seemed fine right up until they stripped down in the mess hall and started hurling pudding at anybody in range. This was her first time seeing him up close. He was tall. Nine feet. About average height for a Kitari, but pretty stunning for a human. He must have a heck of a time bending under all the doors, which she knew for a matter of fact were set at a max of eight feet, five inches. The Audacity had been constructed before the Authority decided that vessels had to be fully accessible for all alliance species. He had a thick mane of dark hair that was tied back behind his head. Technically, regulations stated men’s hair should not be any longer than the nape of the neck, but Kitari customs insisted that warriors never cut their hair, and the Authority respected that. His eyes were perpetually narrowed in a way that made him look suspicious and annoyed most of the time. They were pitch black with deep red pupils. His skin was a copper hue that occasionally flashed gold under certain lights, and had a thickened, roughened texture across the bridge of his nose and his forehead, the backs of his hands. Imagination could only tell her where else. The Kitari world was a hot and dangerous place from all accounts. So was Atlas. A smile established itself on her face. | |
| Books in Series: | Alien Authority Series by Loki Renard |
| Books by Author: | Loki Renard |
Chapter One
Thwip!
A bright bolt shot by Jerri’s left ear. Close. Too close.
She was losing her edge. Hadn’t put enough practice in. This wasn’t good. There would be consequences. Harsh and shameful consequences. Catastrophic consequences.
Jerri darted to the right, only to find herself immediately assailed by three red globes, one of which struck her dead in the midsection. If they’d been real, she would have been gutted by them, but as it was, they splashed into a thousand sparks of light. Frustrating, but not actually deadly.
“Oh, for fuck—”
Big hands took sudden hold of her shoulders, scaring the living hell out of her.
The earpiece on her left ear was plucked out, and a deep voice replaced the bewoop-bwip of the game. “I thought I told you that your holobay privileges have been revoked.”
It was such a calm sentence. Nobody outside the crew of the HMS Audacity would have understood just how pissed off the man saying it was.
Jerri pulled her goggles off and looked ruefully up into the stern features of her superior officer. The burning bullets of the simulation were replaced with a pair of bright blue eyes. Lieutenant Taylor was tall, square-jawed, strong-browed, and the kind of handsome that could make an entire mess swoon. He didn’t usually have any difficulty getting the female crew to do his bidding.
“Sure. I thought you meant for recreational purposes. I’m working.”
“Is that so?” His lips quirked a little. Taylor was not good at being too serious for too long. That didn’t mean he didn’t have authority. She’d seen him whip an insubordinate too hard to fall for the charming half-smirk that might have lulled a less sensible girl into thinking she wasn’t in deep shit right now.
He was six feet six tall. That made him as tall as a lot of the alien species they encountered. And he was built like a tank, or a bull depending on who you asked. Point was, Taylor was solid. The kind of solid you wanted on your side. Not the kind of solid you wanted as an enemy.
“What work is involved in bullet golf?”
“I’m working on trajectory calculations.”
Taylor exhaled impatiently. “That’s an excuse that wouldn’t fly from a first year in the academy. You think it’s going to work with me?”
“First years give excuses like that because they’re the truth. We’re trying to slingshot this boat around six suns without hitting anything too big. I’m playing with holographic balls because it’s better than slamming the ship into a planet. Would you prefer I just took my chances?”
“I’d prefer you ran calculations through the computer like everybody else. Games aren’t a substitute for real life.”
“Calculations only work if the computer is able to accommodate all the variables. We don’t know all the variables. That means we need a little extra ingredient.”
“Oh? And what’s that?”
“Luck.”
“Luck,” he repeated blankly.
“The kind of luck that comes with a lot of practice. Hence, bullet golf.” She gestured with the controller, which still represented the club in her mind and smiled broadly, the sort of smile some women learn to use to get themselves out of everything from parking tickets to murder charges. Taylor liked to think that it didn’t work on him, but it very much did.
“When you speak to me, you address me as sir.”
“Are you sure? Wouldn’t you rather I called you master?”
“Brat,” he growled.
There was more than invisible golf with them in the room. There was history. The kind of history that made everything tense all the time. They’d slept together. Against all protocols, and almost by accident. Day before boarding the Audacity, they’d been in the same bar. Made small talk. Fell into bed. And created a hell of a mess.
Taylor had never officially reported the tryst. Jerri hadn’t told anyone either, and as the days passed into weeks, both of them worked out that the other was capable of keeping their mouth shut. But times like this, private times when nobody else was around, that’s when Jerri liked to have her fun, bringing their dirty little secret just enough into the light to shut down his efforts to give orders.
“Get out of here, before I take a whip to your hide.”