by Luna Hunter
I glance down at my control panel, but nothing is lighting up. Nothing is telling me we’re about to die out here.
“Good. Come back i—”
The connection suddenly cuts out.
“Control?” I ask. “Control? Come in, control?”
My lips are dry and I try to keep the panic from breaking into my voice. This was supposed to be a standard mission. Take the new ship for a spin and head back to Earth. Back in time for dinner.
The com crackles back to life.
“Cookie Bandit?” a deep voice says. It’s strangely familiar, yet I can’t quite place it — but it doesn’t sound one bit like Control. “What kind of name is that,” the voice curses under his breath. “What kind of two-bit show is NASA running here?”
“Yes?” I ask, raising my eyebrows at Geoff. He shrugs and shakes his head.
“This is General Bowers. I need you to take that pod in. That is a direct order.”
General Bowers?! That’s the highest ranking officer of the entire armed forces. Only the President outranks him. Why would he be on the line?
“Do you copy, Snow? Do you copy?”
“Sir, yes sir,” Geoff cuts in on the line. “We read you loud and clear.”
I shake my head at Geoff and disable my com.
“I’m the one in charge here,” I say. “Don’t make calls on my behalf!”
“You’re not in charge, you’re a pilot, like me,” he counters. “That’s General fucking Bowers on the line.”
“We have no idea what that thing was! It could be dangerous!”
“Whatever it is, the army wants it.”
“I’m not in the army,” I say. Not anymore.
Geoff laughs. “That doesn’t change a damn thing. Now, I don’t intend to spend the rest of my life in jail for treason, so I suggest you turn this ship around.”
“They wouldn’t dare.”
“Do you really want to find out?”
I curse under my breath.
And turn the ship around.
The big, metal pod hangs still in the air. Ominously. It’s about ten feet high and covered in strange marking, something akin to hieroglyphs. I’ve got a real bad feeling about this…
I open the cargo bay doors and maneuver the ship so that the metal device slides into the belly of our ship.
“This is Cookie Bandit, coming in. Package is secured. Over.”
“Good,” Bowers answers. “Return to base, there will be a team waiting for you. In the meantime, go down and see what you can learn.”
“Sir?” I ask. He can’t be serious. I’m not touching some alien artifact.
“That’s an order. I want to know if that thing is North-Korean. If they’ve got warp-technology, than we’ve got no other option than to declare a preemptive war. Time is of the essence. Go!”
“You heard the man,” Geoff says. “I’ll fly her home, you go and see whatever that thing is.”
“What? No! You go!”
“He specifically gave you the order, didn’t he?”
I can’t believe this.
I woke up this morning with my only plans beings taking my (okay, my neighbor’s) cute labrador puppy out for a nice long walk — and now I have to check out some alien technology to see if we should declare nuclear war on the North-Koreans?!
This day can’t get any worse.
With every fiber of my body fighting against me, I head down into the belly of the ship. The walkway down towards the cargo bay is long and dark and I’ve never felt quite so alone. There’s something just not quite right about all of this.
The giant metal pod looms up in front of me.
It’s even bigger than I thought. Big and gray, covered in strange markings, this thing looks decidedly alien.
Except aliens don’t exist. Of course.
Suddenly, the pod opens with a loud hiss.
What I see makes my heart jump into my throat.
There’s a gorgeous man inside of the metal pod. Seven feet tall, if not more, with bronzed, olive skin. He’s wearing metal armor, like some kind of ancient warrior, with a red cape hanging over his broad shoulders.
I know one thing: This man is not North-Korean.
I’m not sure he’s even human.
As strange as it sounds, he looks more like some semi-divine being. A perfect specimen if there ever was one.
Impossible, of course.
Aliens aren’t real.
That’s the one thing I’m sure of.
Aliens aren’t real.
And then his eyes open, his powerful gaze landing right on me, and suddenly I’m not so sure of anything anymore, except for the fact that my core is burning with the heat of a thousand suns…
Click here to continue reading NERO!
Also by Luna Hunter
Zoran Warriors
Alien General’s Baby
Alien Warrior’s Baby
Alien Soldier’s Baby
Alien Guardian’s Baby
Galactic Mates
Thabo
Fenrir
Bojan
Novak
Dusan
Zivan
Vukan
Drakan
Barbarian Brides
The Zoran’s Bride
The Zoran’s Mate
The Zoran’s Baby
The Zoran’s Fated
The Zoran’s Touch
Cosmic Champions
Nero
Romulus
Celestial Mates
The Alien Prince’s Captive
About the Author
Hi! I’m Luna, and I love my SFR jam-packed with love and action. You know that already ‘cause you made it this far!
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Warmest regards,
Luna.