I swallowed hard. “Right. So suppose Keene wasn’t able to make it to his meeting with his fixer tonight, where do you think his proxy might go to make things square? I mean, Keene wouldn’t want things left hanging.”
Penn gave me a long look, then set down the mug he was polishing. He walked along the bar until he was directly opposite me, and leaned in as much as he could with the high counter between us. “You’re telling me that Keene’s dead?”
“Yes,” I said, wincing. “Someone tipped off the mark, and it all went to hell quick. I only made it out because Keene saved my life.”
“Fixer will find out that his team’s dead soon enough. Might not be wise to be the one to deliver the news, seeing as you just joined the dearly departed.” Penn gave me a piercing look. “A more cynical man might find it hard to believe in the coincidence.”
I took a deep breath, and fished the case out of my jacket pocket, placing it on the counter between us but not taking my hand off the box. “I’m not interested in being a dead messenger, Penn. I didn’t turn on my teammates- they were my “in” if nothing else. Now it’s going to be damn near impossible for me to find work as a merc. I know how bad this looks.” I gave him a weary half-smile. “I just want to do right by the guy that gave me a chance. Figure mission failure shouldn’t be the last thing said about Keene.”
Penn lifted his thick eyebrows. “Really? That’s the package?”
“It is,” I confirmed. “One twenty-first century baseball, signed. This is the ball that broke the Curse of the Billy Goat.”
Penn gave me a thin grin, made only slightly terrifying by his prominent tusks. “Well, consider your job done, girl. You did good. I’ll look into who backstabbed my team, and they’ll be taken care of.” He stretched a hand out over the counter, indicating that I should push the box over to him.
“You?” I sputtered. “You’re Keene’s fixer?”
Penn grinned. “Girl, I’m the fixer for everyone in this bar. Why do you think they all hang around here? I guarantee you it isn’t for the synthesized beer.” He put his other hand up on the counter, and beneath his thick, hairy fingers I could see the slim, crystalline shape of a credstick. I pushed the box toward him, and he lifted his hand so that I could take the credstick. “Why don’t you come see me in a few days,” he said. “I’ll have another job for you. Maybe I can spread the word around and make sure the other mercs don’t treat you like a bad omen.” The hand with the black case disappeared beneath the counter and returned with an unmarked bottle of beer. “For tonight, drinks are on me.”
“Thanks,” I said, accepting the bottle and taking a long pull of the watery beer. It was a lot better than nothing, and a hell of a lot better than being shot. When I saw the number displayed in the crystal of the credstick, I nearly spit out my beer. I regained control of myself and turned back to Penn, who had turned away to refill another customer’s mug. “Um… wow,” was all I could manage.
Penn snorted. “Welcome to the game, Red.”
I looked back down at the credstick, then pocketed it. Welcome to the game, indeed.
...
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Ashley Hunt gained her Philosophy degree in Denver, Colorado at The University of Colorado. She made Denver her permanent home when she married her college sweetheart. Married six years the couple has a five-year-old daughter and a yellow Labrador named Oodles. Living in the shadow of Gray’s Peak proves to be inspirational to Ashley as she sits at her desk in her home office where she writes her Sci-Fi Romance stories and can merely look out the window to renew her creativity. She strives to make stories with beautiful scenery and intriguing plots. Heroes with great strengths, physical and mental, she pairs with strong heroines who test their limits. In the end, finding deep, passionate love. The way she thinks every relationship should be. Read more at
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Glossary Alien Cube
Important Terms
Alyce: a 300-years old Phadh which translates at around the age of 21 in human years. A young adult still searching for her place in the Phadh ecosystem, Alyce is vastly interested in politics and it’s thinking of taking over her father’s place in the Phadh hierarchy sometime in the future.
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Android: anthropomorphic robots that exist solely to assist and obey humans. However, most Chroniclers use a custom build off those androids with advanced artificial intelligence capabilities and endless catalogs of information called K.G.A, or else, Known Galaxy Archives.
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Arlen: Member of the Organization, also known as Nebula. Being deaf gives him a superb ability to hide his presence, making him a gifted assassin the likes that the Organization has never seen.
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Asimov's Laws: A set of Three Robotic Laws introduced by the great writer Isaac Asimov. The rules state that:
1. A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.
2. A robot must obey the orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.
3. A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law
Every Android, assistant and generally any artificial intelligence supported system follows those three laws.
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Blank Spot: The outcome of the last Intergalactic War was a “spot” in the Known Universe Map that no one could access or populate. It has come to be known as the Blank Spot.
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Bryp (Rank 5 Species): The last ranked species of the Known Galaxy Alliance, the Bryp are human-like creatures that are living under a collective hive hierarchy where everyone’s opinion matters. They’re are stuck in the Rank 5 of the Alliance for many decades since it’s exponentially difficult for the Bryp to make a decision or change their set ways.
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Caso: An underground, human settlement on Xioria. Colonized in the early days of the Space Boom, Caso is also one of the most neglected and overpopulated settlements in the galaxy, making it a famous location for thugs and thieves to hide.
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Chronicler: After Humanity’s Space Boom, the need for a broader definition including historians, archaeologists, and the ancient chroniclers arose. Nowadays, Chronicler is some part of all the above sciences, but mostly centering around the advancement of Humanity’s Expanded Empire of the Known Galaxy through uncovering ancient alien relics.
Chroniclers are divided into many different majors, almost always falling under one of three bigger departments. The Magnum Problema, The Sentibus in Libro, and The Nova Inventio. Magnum Problema is by far the most underappreciated since most humans tend to look for easier jobs through the other two departments.
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City Forests: Primordial Earth is now covered by overgrown and mostly mutated forests that evolved to envelop whole cities, turning them into the so-called city forests. They are dangerous, exotic places that most people don’t even dare to visit. Except Primordial Earth, Origins Mars and Ancient Venus are both other planets with signs of early city plantation.
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Class 5 events: Class 5 events, or incidents, are used to describe the need of red tape and bureaucracy surrounding them. Class 1 incidents are impossible, with Class 5 being plausible but certainly not easy. Everything not categorized under the Class system is called Classless and is perfectly achievable through the Chronicler’s usual means.
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Colossi: When an Elder Phadh gets old enough, they return to their home planet, Zeania, to turn into C
olossi—giant trees that connect to the global, empathetic field surrounding their planet.
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Cryogenic Preservation: Ultra hibernation method that aids hyper-travel trips. It is also used for recovery.
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Cryogenic System Support: While on Cryogenic Preservation, the Cryogenic System Support is the thing keeping the subject alive while also archiving the passing of ages and important cosmic events.
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Cryptic Technology: A Nusae-inspired technology that enables robots and handy tools to morph into different kinds of forms to better suit their purpose.
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Detir: Detir is an aquatic creature that shares his home planet with the Pots. See Pots for further explanation.
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Doctor Dale Cross: A blond, blue-eyed human working in Yaerus' Global Hospital. Doctor Cross is intelligent and charismatic even though he sometimes seems to be hiding more than he tells.
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Ecli Star: The New Human Sun, Ecli, is the central star of the Yaerus system, or else called Ecli Constellation. It’s the central star that’s about the same size of the old Sun.
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Eladia: Young, female human, a relatively inexperienced Chronicler that aims to solve the Great Mystery, or take an important towards the right way. Black, long hair that she keeps caught in a ponytail, dark brown eyes that shine when angry, and an average build body complete her appearance.
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Esuh of the Two Faces: or simply Esuh, they are a lost species of symbiotic, humanoid organisms that are hosting a parasite that enhances their abilities. There are no mentions of them in the K.G.A.
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First Kinds: see Originators
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Five Great Species: Including humans, the Known Galaxy territory is divided into Five main species. Right now, humans are in the Third place, making them a strong adversary to complete for the Second place. Some say that in the next election, the humans will also be able to match the First place, although it is a far-fetched dream that no human should chase.
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Great Embassy: A building every world capital has, its purpose being to house the many leaders that visit the planets for negotiations. Mosa’s Great Embassy is one of the biggest and most beautiful in the Known Galaxy.
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Great Mystery: The Great Mystery is one of the main departments of the Chronicler’s science. The Great Mystery is the vanish of a highly-advanced alien species called Nusae and all of their structures. Little to none of their relics remain to the galaxy, and some Chroniclers still chase them in hopes of finding out more about the Nusae.
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Grid: Using advanced, light-amplified data rays, androids and Chroniclers can connect to the net through the Grid. Until now, there's no place in the entire galaxy that the Grid can't reach.
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Humanity’s Expanded Empire of Known Galaxy: Pretty much what the name suggests. The Space Boom ended up with humanity becoming a considerable force in the galaxy. The Expanded Empire of Known Galaxy is an alliance through every humanity’s colony that helps maintain and govern the expanded human empire.
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Humanity's Space Boom: It started in the late 22nd Century and continues until today, three hundred later. Humanity managed to colonize a great part of the galaxy and is now considered one of the most powerful empires around. The Space Boom is coming to an end with the United Empires getting ready to vote a new regulation about how many planets can be an empire own.
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Humans (Rank 3 Species): The third-ranked species in the Great Species Rank, humans are dead set on getting to the second position in less than three years. Being one of the shortest living species in the galaxy, humans are overly ambitious, alarming the surrounding species.
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Humans: Sentient mammals with a low-to-average life span. Their origin planet is Primordial Earth.
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Hydro-recovery Organisms: Some species can use water to enhance their recovery abilities. Esuh, Detir, and Pots are only some of the Hydro-recovery Organisms. However, unlike the mighty Esuh, the Detir and Pots seem to have weakened immune system when away from water for prolonged periods of time. Thus, all Great Embassies should be equipped with pools or water restoration pods for the convenience of the alien ambassadors.
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Institute: The center of all human knowledge on the Galaxy. It is placed on Yaerus, the Capital Planet of Humanity’s Empire.
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Jasih: or Jay, is an Esuh, a symbiote organism. He’s also a Prime Officer, and an Originator, making him a powerful warrior. He’s tall, brawny, with dark hair and platinum silver skin. When his parasite emerges, he’s covered by a dark matter that turns his body ash gray and his hair white. He’s not easy to communicate with, and he’s amnesiac after his crash on Primordial Earth. He was on Cryogenic Preservation for almost one hundred years.
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Juggernaut (Class 5 Spaceships): The biggest class of spaceships, Juggernauts are mainly used for military operations. A Juggernaut is able for total annihilation in grand scale, making their production limited to only a handful per species. The Five Great all own Juggernauts in a descending priority from the top. That means that the Phadh, the Rank 1 Species, own 5 Juggernauts and so on.
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K.G.A (Known Galaxy Archives): After a United Empires regulation, Chroniclers have access to the Known Galaxy Archives, the collected knowledge of any species ever met. It is an invaluable tool for the expansion of human and alien knowledge, as well as a way to communicate and learn more things about each different species.
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Known Galaxy: Not all the Mikly Way galaxy is charted yet, but the places that are fall under the Known Galaxy category. However, some places are charted, but there was the inability to make contact with the local residents or relations to the Five Great Species are hostile. Those regions are called Uncharted.
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Lenora: Jasih’s late wife, the last guardian of the Cube. A wonderful, beautiful woman, one that would do anything to protect her family.
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Magna Bellum of the Delta Period: The Great War of the Fourth Period, probably an important event to Esuh history. Little is known about this event.
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Mist: see Alec.
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Morphing: The process of changing to another form through the use of Cryptic Technology.
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Mosa: The world capital of planet Yaerus and the greatest city that mankind ever built. Perfectly designed, totally dependent on green energy, Mosa has zero air pollution and almost zero crime rate. Mosa is the city that every dream comes true.
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Mr. Terasaka: one of Humanity’s ambassadors. Charismatic, brilliant, and gutsy when he has to, Terasaka will do anything to succeed in his cause.
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Nebula: see Arlen.
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Nusae: Alien Species that suddenly vanished leaving behind almost no evidence of their existence. However, towards the late 21st Century, humans validated the Nusae existence by discovering technology schematics that lead to the development of the secret technology.
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O. Tech: Original Technology, is a slang term Chroniclers use to identify technology not appearing on the K.G.A. It is a great deal for Chroniclers to come up with O. Tech since it usually leads to many years of technological process.
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Ocean: The only female, high ranked member of the Organization, little are know about Ocean. She has vanished for quite some time now, only appearing a year ago to save Eladia and Jay from the incident in the Great Embassy.
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Organizat
ion: Little is known about the Organization. The only thing we know for sure is that it’s an organization that has extended archives about the Nusae and their extinction.
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Originator: Originators are an elite group of selected operatives whose deeds are close to legends. Originators are picked from every species regarding their skills, intelligent and their ability to understand and react to every situation. Originators are an ancient order that originates from the start of the First Empire until now. The name has changed throughout the years, but the customs of the order are older than humanity itself.
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Orihans: An almost-extinct alien species that were hunted for their silky furs and adamant bones. United Empires legislation has forbidden hunting Orihans, but the galaxy is too big a place for the universal laws to apply everywhere. It is estimated that only a depressing one million of them exist in the whole universe, making them a hard and exotic prey.
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Phadh (Rank 1 Species): Enormous, tree-like creatures that live for hundreds of years the Phadh were the ones that ended the Intergalactic War through their use of advanced technology and martial aptitude. Phadh has been the first since the beginning of the Species Rank, making them a potent adversary, politically and military. However, since the last war, the Phadh have limited their appearances since their relatively small population doesn't allow for them to endanger their status.
Alien Romance Box Set: Romantic Suspense: Alien Destiny: Scifi Alien Romance Adventure Romantic Suspence Trilogy (Complete Series Box Set Books 1-3) Page 155
