Vanquished

Vanquished Read Free Page A

Book: Vanquished Read Free
Author: Allyson Young
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able to hold back a
concerted attack by herself. And pirates weren’t stupid; they existed in space
where others couldn’t, so they’d developed a way of surviving she couldn’t
pretend to understand. Lots of things she didn’t understand on this trip. Like
why she was really here. What had she been thinking? And should you have stayed on the Home World? Let them find a way to
bring you back into the fold?
    “Are you a soldier?”
    Glancing at Yuri, she nodded,
wondering if he’d somehow read her mind. “Was. Not for
a few months now.”
    “You quit? Do they allow that?”
    “It’s called a discharge, my
friend, and yes, one can quit.” Not the
way you quit, though. She gave her head a quick shake to shove that thought
away and kept her attention on the doors.
    “You look like a soldier still.
You’re fit in ways different than the farmers and the others. And your hair…”
    She involuntarily passed a hand
over her closely shorn locks, so unlike the majority of the other women
aboard—and some of the men. Her hair had grown out a little since she was
discharged and she’d tried to leave it alone, tried to be more feminine, but
old habits die hard. People die hard too,
don’t they? Fuck. She couldn’t let herself think about this crap now.
    “It’s easier to care for,” she
said, wondering why she even bothered to assuage Yuri’s curiosity, except maybe
their dialogue would keep him calm and up to the task.
    “The sonic shower is something
less than desirable,” he agreed, chatting desultorily. Anxiety was apparent in
his stance, and his voice echoed down the long corridor. “There’s actual water
in showers on some ships. Better recycling or something.”
    Their only warning was the slice
of steel against steel as the two blades Neira had forecast pushed through the
narrow crevice of the lift doors. It snapped them both out of their superficial
conversation and she mentally cursed her lack of focus. Stepping up, she
successfully whacked one back inside, and a crack beside her, accompanied by a
muttered profanity, dealt with the other. Yuri blinked her way and the closet
support, now in bad repair, dangled from one hand.
    “Good job.” Her troops wouldn’t
require praise, but he looked overwhelmed.
    “Uh, thanks. I imagined it was a
predator coming close to the barns.”
    Not such a bad analogy, Neira
thought, as she considered his now useless weapon. The substance it was made
from was no match for tempered steel. “You’ll need another rod. You might want
to hurry.”
    Watching him
hustle back to his quarters while she waited for the next foray chiseled away
at her equanimity. She sucked in a deep breath and exhaled fully. When their attackers came
through those doors, barring the miraculous arrival of the Outriders, she’d
acquit herself to the best of her ability…and die trying. A calm resolve
overtook her and she prepared. This was what she’d been seeking, if only she
had admitted it. Not some stifling half-life on a planet nobody else wanted,
but death in battle. Guarding the innocent, even if she wouldn’t be able to
save them either.
     

 
    Chapter Two
     
    Vayne Palldyn bent a look on his
executive officer. “Why is this taking so long?”
    Leric Hastel lifted a shoulder
and barked a question into his mouthpiece, wincing when a retort clearly filled
his ear. He fished the earbud out and turned to Vayne. “They’ve secured the
bridge, the crew quarters and the first deck of passengers. And of course the cargo hold . Some problem on gaining access
to the second deck.”
    “Explain.”
    “I can’t, sir. They won’t say.
They’re clearly agitated.”
    That wouldn’t do. Vayne knew the
second deck held primarily women, the soft, curvy women of that Home
World—Earth—he’d had cause to visit after the conflict. After his kind and the
humans became allies. The place he was no longer welcome to call upon, despite
the détente, because someone had figured out he had ulterior

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