The Voight's Captive E-Book

Nova Edwins

• Herausgeber: Black Umbrella Publishing
• Kategorie: Gesellschafts- und Liebesromane
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 79

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2024

Beschreibung

The minute I board Captain Paterson's spaceship, I know there's going to be trouble. But leaving me with his ship in hostile territory with a cargo hold full of illegal weapons is a new low, even for him. Now four aliens are boarding who don't like humans—and human women even less. It also doesn't help that I'm traveling with dangerous contraband. This is not good. Not good at all . . . Dark reverse harem sci-fi romance with four bossy aliens and a defiant heroine who won't let anyone tell her what to do. Definitely over the top and unrealistic. HEA.

Leseprobe

THE VOIGHT’S CAPTIVE

NOVA EDWINS

A DARK REVERSE HAREM SCI-FI ROMANCE NOVELLA

CONTENTS

The Voight’s Captive

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

About Nova Edwins

THE VOIGHT’S CAPTIVE

The minute I board Captain Paterson's spaceship, I know there's going to be trouble. But leaving me with his ship in hostile territory with a cargo hold full of illegal weapons is a new low, even for him.

Now four aliens are boarding who don't like humans—and human women even less. It also doesn't help that I'm traveling with dangerous contraband. This is not good. Not good at all . . .

Dark reverse harem sci-fi romance with four bossy aliens and a defiant heroine who won't let anyone tell her what to do. Definitely over the top and unrealistic. HEA.

1

"Are you sure I shouldn’t navigate?" I realized I was asking my captain this for the third time even though, strictly speaking, I wasn't even next in rank.

"I don't need your help, Zillah. Can't you make yourself useful somewhere else?" Craig barely looked at me because he had his eyes firmly fixed on the control panel in front of him.

"Yeah, Zillah," Ford's voice echoed. "He doesn't need your help."

"Shut up, Ford." With an annoyed snort, I left the bridge. Make myself useful somewhere else? Like where? We were on a small spaceship with only two cabins, a cargo bay, a tiny escape pod, a galley that doubled as a sick bay, and the bridge. So where was I supposed to go?

And why had I offered to help in the first place? Oh, that's right—because Captain Craig Paterson didn't seem to know what he was doing. To me, it looked like he was navigating our little freighter straight into Voight territory, and I really didn't want to go there. The all-male race was known for their hatred of humans in general, and women in particular. Or at least that's what I had heard. Personally, I had never met a Voight because I was smart enough and scared enough to give them a wide berth.

It also didn't help that the captain's best buddy, Ford, wasn't doing his job. Unless it was his job to make my life hell—in which case he was doing a great job.

I was still trying to figure out exactly when this mission had gotten so out of hand when the door to the bridge closed behind me. Originally, we had been a crew of six people looking forward to a nice payday for transporting a large amount of food to the planet Cleb, which was known for its exquisite cuisine.

But at our last stop at a space station, we had all gotten time off. When I had returned to the ship, only Craig and Ford had been there. The captain had dismissed the rest of the crew.

I was pretty sure they had only kept me because they wanted to fuck me—Ford in particular was hitting on me twenty-four seven.

But that wasn't the worst of it. As a mechanic, I didn't need to be able to navigate; I just fixed anything that broke. However, my last boss had been a bad alcoholic and I had taken over all his duties so we wouldn't die. I hadn't let on, but I was very aware of the fact that Craig had changed our course over the last few days. I didn't know exactly where we were going, but it was no longer Cleb.

The uneasy feeling intensified as I walked to the cramped cabin I had originally shared with Joshua and Sazza, an adorable couple from Terridine. Something was very wrong. It was so painfully obvious.

My hand was already on the door handle when I decided to check out the cargo area instead. A conversation with the stacked boxes there would probably be more exhilarating than any exchange I'd ever had with Ford.

My suspicions were confirmed: I was denied entry despite entering the correct code three times. Craig apparently didn't realize that you couldn't just lock out mechanics. At least not if they were good at their job—and I was one of the best.

Since I always had my tools with me, I used the universal screwdriver to remove the cover of the control unit. It was child's play to bridge the two cables that regulated the door lock, and I was inside the cargo compartment in no time.

As I walked toward the pallets of cargo, I pulled my miniature crowbar from the deep pocket on my right hip to open one of the rear crates.

I heard my pulse pounding in my ears as I pried the crate open—I was definitely not looking at food, as the manifest had said. The crates were filled to the brim with illegal firearms that were banned in more than forty planetary systems. If we were caught with them—especially in Voight territory—we were as good as dead. We could only hope for a quick death, because the alternative was that the Voight would ship us off to one of the mining asteroids where prisoners had to work so hard that they usually only lasted three months before dying of exhaustion.

No, thanks. I would get out of here. Right now.

I left the cargo hold and removed all evidence that I had ever entered the room by reassembling the control unit and polishing it with my sleeve to remove my fingerprints.

Then I hurried to my cabin, where I hastily gathered my few belongings. My plan was to take the escape pod and look for a new job on one of the amusement planets. I could work as a mechanic maintaining roller coasters at an amusement park or work in one of the assembly line restaurants. I was tired of tolerating drunken, stupid, and inconsiderate captains while trapped aboard a starship with nowhere to go.

If Craig and Ford knew what I had seen, they would kill me and send my body out into space through the garbage disposal system.

I was zipping up my bag when the alarm sirens sounded. The lights in my cabin began to pulse red in a steady rhythm while an automated voice instructed me, "We will now board your ship. You are in Voight territory. Put down all weapons and prepare. We are entering your ship."

Shit. I hoisted the bag over my shoulder and hurried toward the escape pod. This was not how I had imagined my death.

My heart skipped several beats when I noticed that the pod was gone. From here, I could see the abandoned bridge and the glowing display that said the ship was on autopilot.

Craig and Ford had left me for dead. Those fucking assholes!

2

"We are now boarding your ship. You are in Voight territory. Put down all weapons and prepare. We are entering your ship."

The monotonous drone of the machine's voice drove me crazy. My pulse raced and sweat ran down my back. What on earth was I supposed to do now? I could neither flee nor hide.

"Damn it!" I yelled into the empty hallway, trying to relieve at least some of the tension. "I hate you, Craig Paterson!"

Knowing that crying and throwing myself on the floor, screaming in anger, wouldn't help me now, I went to the bridge. There had to be something I could do.

My fingers flew across the display as I searched the system for a way to save my ass. I felt the first glimmer of hope when I saw the codes for the emergency protocol. This was a great idea. In the event that someone on board was mysteriously ill, the protocol could be activated. It would lock all doors and access points so no one could leave or enter the ship while everyone was quarantined inside. It wouldn't solve my problem, but it would buy me time.

My whole body was shaking with fear as I followed the instructions on the display and performed the necessary steps to activate the protocol. The light finally stopped pulsing red and the automated voice fell silent.

Sealing successful.

My pulse calmed a little when I read the words on the screen. Okay, so I wouldn't die within the next five minutes. Now all I had to do was find a way out of the force field that the Voight had surely put around our small freighter so I could get out of here.

Panic still surged through my stomach, but I was able to concentrate better. I typed in "force field," but unfortunately got no results. Then I tried "board enemy ship"—again, nothing.

Taking a deep breath, I lowered myself into the captain's chair. I concentrated on my breathing so the fear wouldn't win, though it certainly would if I didn't find a solution as soon as possible.

The intercom beeped as the Voight warship tried to contact me. "This is Captain Rho of the FAC Voight eight three six four eight five. You are in our territory and are therefore required by interstellar law to grant us access for inspection."

My throat was tight and I had no idea what to do to buy myself more time—except lie.

I couldn't remember ever trembling as badly as in the moment when I reached out and activated the ship's communications system. "You'd better not come aboard. We’re . . . infected with . . . something."

That's great, Zillah. I rolled my eyes. With "something"? Really? That was the best my brain could do under pressure?