Gladiator: A Scifi Alien Romance (Galactic Gladiators Book 1)

by Anna Hackett

  Gladiator

  Anna Hackett

  Gladiator

  Published by Anna Hackett

  Copyright 2016 by Anna Hackett

  Cover by Melody Simmons of eBookindiecovers

  Edits by Tanya Saari

  ISBN: 978-1-925539-05-9

  This book is a work of fiction. All names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, events or places is coincidental. No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form.

  Contents

  What readers are saying about Anna’s Science Fiction Romance

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Sneak Peek – Warrior

  Preview – Hell Squad: Marcus

  Also by Anna Hackett

  About the Author

  What readers are saying about Anna’s Science Fiction Romance

  At Star’s End – One of Library Journal's Best E-Original Romances for 2014

  Return to Dark Earth – One of Library Journal's Best E-Original Books for 2015 and two-time SFR Galaxy Awards winner

  The Phoenix Adventures – SFR Galaxy Award Winner for Most Fun New Series and “Why Isn’t This a Movie?” Series

  Beneath a Trojan Moon – SFR Galaxy Award Winner and RWAus Ella Award Winner

  Hell Squad – Amazon Bestselling Science Fiction Romance Series and SFR Galaxy Award for best Post-Apocalypse for Readers who don’t like Post-Apocalypse

  The Anomaly Series – #1 Amazon Action Adventure Romance Bestseller

  "Like Indiana Jones meets Star Wars. A treasure hunt with a steamy romance." – SFF Dragon, review of Among Galactic Ruins

  "Strap in, enjoy the heat of romance and the daring of this group of space travellers!" – Di, Top 500 Amazon Reviewer, review of At Star’s End

  “High action and adventure surrounding an impossible treasure hunt kept me reading until late in the night.” – Jen, That’s What I’m Talking About, review of Beyond Galaxy’s Edge

  “Action, danger, aliens, romance – yup, it’s another great book from Anna Hackett!” – Book Gannet Reviews, review of Hell Squad: Marcus

  Sign up for my VIP mailing list and get your free box set containing three action-packed romances.

  Click here to get started: www.annahackettbooks.com

  Chapter One

  Just another day at the office.

  Harper Adams pulled herself along the outside of the space station module. She could hear her quiet breathing inside her spacesuit, and she easily pulled her weightless body along the slick, white surface of the module. She stopped to check a security panel, ensuring all the systems were running smoothly.

  Check. Same as it had been yesterday, and the day before that. But Harper never ever let herself forget that they were six hundred million kilometers away from Earth. That meant they were dependent only on themselves. She tapped some buttons on the security panel before closing the reinforced plastic cover. She liked to dot all her Is and cross all her Ts. She never left anything to chance.

  She grabbed the handholds and started pulling herself up over the cylindrical pod to check the panels on the other side. Glancing back behind herself, she caught a beautiful view of the planet below.

  Harper stopped and made herself take it all in. The orange, white, and cream bands of Jupiter could take your breath away. Today, she could even see the famous superstorm of the Great Red Spot. She’d been on the Fortuna Research Station for almost eighteen months. That meant, despite the amazing view, she really didn’t see it anymore.

  She turned her head and looked down the length of the space station. At the end was the giant circular donut that housed the main living quarters and offices. The main ring rotated to provide artificial gravity for the residents. Lying off the center of the ring was the long cylinder of the research facility, and off that cylinder were several modules that housed various scientific labs and storage. At the far end of the station was the docking area for the supply ships that came from Earth every few months.

  “Lieutenant Adams? Have you finished those checks?”

  Harper heard the calm voice of her fellow space marine and boss, Captain Samantha Santos, through the comm system in her helmet.

  “Almost done,” Harper answered.

  “Take a good look at the botany module. The computer’s showing some strange energy spikes, but the scientists in there said everything looks fine. Must be a system malfunction.”

  Which meant the geek squad engineers were going to have to come in and do some maintenance. “On it.”

  Harper swung her body around, and went feet-first down the other side of the module. She knew the rest of the security team—all made up of United Nations Space Marines—would be running similar checks on the other modules across the station. They had a great team to ensure the safety of the hundreds of scientists aboard the station. There was also a dedicated team of engineers that kept the guts of the station running.

  She passed a large, solid window into the module, and could see various scientists floating around benches filled with all kinds of plants. They all wore matching gray jumpsuits accented with bright-blue at the collars, that indicated science team. There was a vast mix of scientists and disciplines aboard—biologists, botanists, chemists, astronomers, physicists, medical experts, and the list went on. All of them were conducting experiments, and some were searching for alien life beyond the edge of the solar system. It seemed like every other week, more probes were being sent out to hunt for radio signals or collect samples.

  Since humans had perfected large solar sails as a way to safely and quickly propel spacecraft, getting around the solar system had become a lot easier. With radiation pressure exerted by sunlight onto the mirrored sails, they could travel from Earth to Fortuna Station orbiting Jupiter in just a few months. And many of the scientists aboard the station were looking beyond the solar system, planning manned expeditions farther and farther away. Harper wasn’t sure they were quite ready for that.

  She quickly checked the adjacent control panel. Among all the green lights, she spotted one that was blinking red, and she frowned. They definitely had a problem with the locking system on the exterior door at the end of the module. She activated the small propulsion pack on her spacesuit, and circled around the module. She slowed down as she passed the large, round exterior door at the end of the cylindrical module.

  It was all locked into place and looked secure.

  As she moved back to the module, she grabbed a handhold and then tapped the small tablet attached to the forearm of her suit. She keyed in a request for maintenance to come and check it.

  She looked up and realized she was right near another window. Through the reinforced glass, a pretty, curvy blonde woman looked up and spotted Harper. She smiled and waved. Harper couldn’t help but smile and lifted her gloved hand in greeting.

  Dr. Regan Forrest was a botanist and a few years younger than Harper. The young woman was so open
and friendly, and had befriended Harper from her first day on the station. Harper had never had a lot of friends—mainly because she’d been too busy raising her younger sister and working. She’d never had time for girly nights out or gossip.

  But Regan was friendly, smart, and had the heart of a steamroller under her pretty exterior. Harper always had trouble saying no to her. Maybe the woman reminded her a little of Brianna. At the thought of her sister, something twisted painfully in Harper’s chest.

  Regan floated over to the window and held up a small tablet. She’d typed in some words.

  Cards tonight?

  Harper had been teaching Regan how to play poker. The woman was terrible at it, and Harper beat her all the time. But Regan never gave up.

  Harper nodded and held up two fingers to indicate a couple of hours. She was off-shift shortly, and then she had a sparring match with Regan’s cousin, Rory—one of the station engineers—in the gym. Aurora “Call me Rory or I’ll hit you” Fraser had been trained in mixed martial arts, and Harper found the female engineer a hell of a sparring partner. Rory was teaching Harper some martial arts moves and Harper was showing the woman some basic sword moves. Since she was little, Harper had been a keen fencer.

  Regan grinned back and nodded. Then the woman’s wide smile disappeared. She spun around, and through the glass Harper could see the other scientists all looking around, concerned. One scientist was spinning around, green plants floating in the air around him, along with fat droplets of water and some other green fluid. He’d clearly screwed up and let his experiment get free.

  “Lieutenant Adams?” The captain’s voice came through her helmet again. “Harper?”

  There was a sense of urgency that made Harper’s belly tighten. “Go ahead, Captain.”

  “We have an alarm sounding in the botany module. The computer says there is a risk of decompression.”

  Dammit. “I just checked the security panels. The locking mechanism on the exterior door is showing red. I did a visual inspection and it’s closed up tight.”

  “Okay, we talked with the scientist in charge. Looks like one of her team let something loose in there. It isn’t dangerous, but it must be messing with the alarm sensors. System’s locked them all in there.” She made an annoyed sound. “Idiots will have to stay there until engineering can get down there and free them.”

  Harper studied the room through the glass again. Some of the green liquid had floated over to another bench that contained various frothing cylinders on it. A second later, the cylinders shattered, their contents bubbling upward.

  The scientists all moved to the back exit of the module, banging on the locked door. Damn. They were trapped.

  Harper met Regan’s gaze. Her friend’s face was pale, and wisps of her blonde hair had escaped her ponytail, floating around her face.

  “Captain,” Harper said. “Something’s wrong. The experiments have overflowed their containment.” She could see the scientists were all coughing.

  “Engineering is on the way,” the captain said.

  Harper pushed herself off, flying over the surface of the module. She reached the control panel and saw that several other lights had turned red. They needed to get this under control and they needed to do it now.

  “Harper!” The captain’s panicked voice. “Decompression in progress!”

  What the hell? The module jerked beneath Harper. She looked up and saw the exterior door blow off, flying away from the station.

  Her heart stopped. That meant all the scientists were exposed to the vacuum of space.

  Fuck. Harper pushed off again, sending herself flying toward the end of the module. She put her arms by her sides to help increase her speed. Through the window, she saw that most of the scientists had grabbed on to whatever they could hold on to. A few were pulling emergency breathers over their heads.

  She reached the end of the pod and saw the damage. There was torn metal where the door had been ripped off. Inside the door, she knew there would be a temporary repair kit containing a sheet of high-tech nano fabric that could be stretched across the opening to reestablish pressure. But it needed to be put in place manually. Harper reached for the latch to release the repair kit.

  Suddenly, a slim body shot out of the pod, her arms and legs kicking. Her mouth was wide open in a silent scream.

  Regan. Harper didn’t let herself think. She turned, pushed off and fired her propulsion system, arrowing after her friend.

  “Security Team to the botany module,” she yelled through her comm system. “Security Team to botany module. We have decompression. One scientist has been expelled. I’m going after her. I need someone that can help calm the others and get the module sealed again.”

  “Acknowledged, Lieutenant,” Captain Santos answered. “I’m on my way.”

  Harper focused on reaching Regan. She was gaining on her. She saw that the woman had lost consciousness. She also knew that Regan had only a couple of minutes to survive out here. Harper let her training take over. She tapped the propulsion system controls, trying for more speed, as she maneuvered her way toward Regan.

  As she got close, Harper reached out and wrapped her arm around the scientist. “I’ve got you.”

  Harper turned, at the same time clipping a safety line to the loops on Regan’s jumpsuit. Then, she touched the controls and propelled them straight back towards the module. She kept her friend pulled tightly toward her chest. Hold on, Regan.

  She was so still. It reminded Harper of holding Brianna’s dead body in her arms. Harper’s jaw tightened. She wouldn’t let Regan die out here. The woman had dreamed of working in space, and worked her entire career to get here, even defying her family. Harper wasn’t going to fail her.

  As the module got closer, she saw that the security team had arrived. She saw the captain’s long, muscled body as she and another man put up the nano fabric.

  “Incoming. Keep the door open.”

  “Can’t keep it open much longer, Adams,” the captain replied. “Make it snappy.”

  Harper adjusted her course, and, a second later, she shot through the door with Regan in her arms. Behind her, the captain and another huge security marine, Lieutenant Blaine Strong, pulled the stretchy fabric across the opening.

  “Decompression contained,” the computer intoned.

  Harper released a breath. On the panel beside the door, she saw the lights turning green. The nano fabric wouldn’t hold forever, but it would do until they got everyone out of here, and then got a maintenance team in here to fix the door.

  “Oxygen levels at required levels,” the computer said again.

  “Good work, Lieutenant.” Captain Sam Santos floated over. She was a tall woman with a strong face and brown hair she kept pulled back in a tight ponytail. She had curves she kept ruthlessly toned, and golden skin she always said was thanks to her Puerto Rican heritage.

  “Thanks, Captain.” Harper ripped her helmet off and looked down at Regan.

  Her blonde hair was a wild tangle, her face was pale and marked by what everyone who worked in space called space hickeys—bruises caused by the skin’s small blood vessels bursting when exposed to the vacuum of space. Please be okay.

  “Here.” Blaine appeared, holding a portable breather. The big man was an excellent marine. He was about six foot five with broad shoulders that stretched his spacesuit to the limit. She knew he was a few inches over the height limit for space operations, but he was a damn good marine, which must have gone in his favor. He had dark skin thanks to his African-American father and his handsome face made him popular with the station’s single ladies, but mostly he worked and hung out with the other marines.

  “Thanks.” Harper slipped the clear mask over Regan’s mouth.

  “Nice work out there.” Blaine patted her shoulder. “She’s alive because of you.”

  Suddenly, Regan jerked, pulling in a hard breath.

  “You’re okay.” Harper gripped Regan’s shoulder. “Take it easy.”

&nb
sp; Regan looked around the module, dazed and panicky. Harper watched as Regan caught sight of the fabric stretched across the end of the module, and all the plants floating around inside.

  “God,” Regan said with a raspy gasp, her breath fogging up the dome of the breather. She shook her head, her gaze moving to Harper. “Thanks, Harper.”

  “Any time.” Harper squeezed her friend’s shoulder. “It’s what I’m here for.”

  Regan managed a wan smile. “No, it’s just you. You didn’t have to fly out into space to rescue me. I’m grateful.”

  “Come on. We need to get you to the infirmary so they can check you out. Maybe put some cream on your hickeys.”

  “Hickeys?” Regan touched her face and groaned. “Oh, no. I’m going to get a ribbing.”

  “And you didn’t even get them the pleasurable way.”

  A faint blush touched Regan’s cheeks. “That’s right. If I had, at least the ribbing would have been worth it.”

  With a relieved laugh, Harper looked over at her captain. “I’m going to get Regan to the infirmary.”

  The other woman nodded. “Good. We’ll meet you back at the Security Center.”

  With a nod, Harper pushed off, keeping one arm around Regan, and they floated into the main part of the science facility. Soon, they moved through the entrance into the central hub of the space station. As the artificial gravity hit, Harper’s boots thudded onto the floor. Beside her, Regan almost collapsed.

  Harper took most of the woman’s weight and helped her down the corridor. They pushed into the infirmary.

  A gray-haired, barrel-chested man rushed over. “Decided to take an unscheduled spacewalk, Dr. Forrest?”

  Regan smiled weakly. “Yes. Without a spacesuit.”

  The doctor made a tsking sound and then took her from Harper. “We’ll get her all patched up.”

  Harper nodded. “I’ll come and check on you later.”

  Regan grabbed her hand. “We have a blackjack game scheduled. I’m planning to win back all those chocolates you won off me.”