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    Star Soldier Episode Two: Star Soldier, #2
    Star Soldier Episode Two: Star Soldier, #2
    Star Soldier Episode Two: Star Soldier, #2
    Ebook115 pages1 hour

    Star Soldier Episode Two: Star Soldier, #2

    By Odette C. Bell

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    About this ebook

    Ami is now trapped by the army. There's nothing she can do to escape as they experiment on her. But outside the thick, safe walls of Central Command, the war continues.
    The army has made mistakes, and soon they will pay for them. Ami will be dragged into the center of their mess. And if she can't keep up, she'll be killed.

    ….

    Star Soldier follows a gutsy soldier and her ex fighting to save their world from an alien invasion. If you love your space operas with action, force, and a splash of romance, grab Star Soldier Episode Two today and soar free with an Odette C. Bell series.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherOdette C. Bell
    Release dateAug 16, 2017
    ISBN9781386106210
    Star Soldier Episode Two: Star Soldier, #2

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      Book preview

      Star Soldier Episode Two - Odette C. Bell

      1

      Ami

      It takes me a long time to rouse.

      I have no idea where I am. Worse, I barely have an idea of who I am.

      The strangest dreams keep flitting through my mind, sparking through my consciousness like fireflies in a dark cave.

      I start to see scraps of what’s around me. I feel the cold metal bed beneath me, my fingers twitching along the smooth surface.

      Then I see the lights.

      Powerful. Goddamn powerful. As my eyelids twitch open, my eyes practically roll into the back of my head, and searing pain shoots through my temples. I wince my eyes closed against those harsh, harsh lights.

      … I think… I think I hear somebody on the other side of the room. Voices. Quick, low, excited.

      My lips finally open, and I let out a groan. Low and grating, it makes me realize my throat is as dry as a desert. I practically gag as I swallow, trying to moisten it.

      Finally, things start to come into focus.

      I can hear the voices more clearly now, and the one thing that gets me more than anything else is their low, excited almost frenetic tones.

      Then it’s like a battering ram right into the center of my head.

      Realization pounds into me with all the force of a semi trailer right into my brain.

      I remember the fight. With a Category IV monster. I remember calling on my light sentinel, Xin.

      But worse?

      A thousand times worse?

      I remember Jason.

      She’s finally rousing. Normal readings.

      Is the light connection stable?

      The levels of banta radiation detected along her shoulder blades are within acceptable ranges, someone answers back.

      I let my eyes burst open as wide as they can, the skin around them practically breaking.

      And I see it.

      I’m in a lab.

      There are the harshest lights you can imagine above me, almost the kind of lights you’d use if you were trying to spot a target from a helicopter.

      The lab’s massive. New, too. Even though I can barely shift and I can only see the ceiling and a few consoles out of my peripheral vision, it’s more than enough to alert me to one fact – I’m in the upper echelons of the towers. They’ve taken me to Central Command.

      Of course they’ve taken me to Central Command, a little voice spits in my head – I’m joined. I’ve gone from being one of the lowliest, most irritating grunts in the Security Forces to….

      Heart rate’s elevating, blood pressure, breathing rate, one of the scientists says, voice quick with desperation. Should we medicate?

      Not yet. Wait and see, a man says, and he has a cold, dead, hard voice.

      I press my lips together, muscular twitches traveling hard through my jaw and into my throat.

      Good God, this can’t be happening. Not to me.

      You know all that bullshit I said about knowing that one day I would be the one to put an end to this war?

      Yeah, that was nothing but bravado.

      Despite everything I’ve lost to those monsters, and despite all the hardships I’ve endured, I can’t….

      Blood pressure’s still elevating, heart rate too, one of the scientists points out in an even more worried tone.

      The other guy swears, the word sharp. Prep the syringe, he snaps simply.

      I hear a pneumatic hiss and feel a slight rumble from the bed beneath me, then a robotic arm snaps up just to my side. My pupils dilate as if I’m about to be attacked, but I can’t jerk my head back, and I certainly can’t hope to grab out a hand and stop the robotic arm in place.

      I can’t move. My whole body feels like concrete.

      But the robotic arm doesn’t move, either. With a glistening hypodermic spray syringe held in its three fingers, the tip hovers perilously close to my neck.

      Readings? the chief scientist – who I’m now appreciating is a man with a voice that sounds like gravel on metal – snaps.

      Relatively steady, the other female scientist points out.

      I push a deep breath into my lungs and hold it there, pressing my lips as tightly closed as I can.

      The last thing I want is to be put under again.

      Because… I don’t think I can put up with any more of those dreams.

      I see flashes of them now. Little bursts of terrifying scenes going off behind my eyes like tiny little bombs.

      They’re so discordant, so mind-bending. I see long dark tunnels streaked with light. I see ghosts. Hundreds of them, thousands of them. All with their warped, distended, terrifying bodies. And more than anything, I see their eyes. Glowing green and bright from that special type of radiation. And when I look into their eyes….

      Heart rate has exceeded acceptable levels, the female scientist points out with a harsh breath. Should I medicate?

      Just hold on, the head scientist rumbles.

      I can still see them, lined up in my consciousness like soldiers who are ready to attack. Those goddamn green eyes. They promise… a history far darker than any I could imagine. And worse – a future far darker still.

      Though I could easily allow myself to be pulled away by the fear of my memories, I do it again – draw in a deep breath, press my lips tightly closed, and hold my inhalation, forcibly letting it still my heart.

      I hear the female scientist let out a breath of relief. Heart rate’s coming down –blood pressure too.

      Good. I’d say our soldier is finally playing ball, the head scientist mutters.

      … So the guy thinks I’m more than a specimen, then?

      They both know I’m conscious, but this is the first time anyone’s spoken of me as if I’m anything more than a collection of worrying medical results.

      Maybe there’s something in that, because it helps me pull my mind off the fear of those ghosts.

      Though I still can’t turn my head properly, I shift my gaze as far to the left as I can. It’s just enough to see that there’s some kind of room on the opposite side of the laboratory. It’s closed off with extremely thick, blast proof glass plating, and is elevated, looking down on me like a marksman from a rise.

      I can just make out the top of some man’s head, and judging by the exact deep timbre of the head scientist’s voice, I assume easily that it’s him.

      That’s right, we’re right here. Now, soldier, you have two options. Calm yourself, or we’ll put you under again. Which one would you prefer?

      Though I haven’t had much to do with people from the upper echelons, I’ve known a few. After all, Melody is engaged to General Cral’s son.

      But I know enough to appreciate that most people from the upper realms don’t talk like this guy.

      He obviously doesn’t have the time to measure his words with kindness.

      Do you remember what happened to you? the guy asks.

      I want to snarl at them both that it took them a long time to start treating me like a human, not a specimen, but I know I can’t waste my breath.

      Hell, I don’t even know if I can speak. And when I open my mouth and try to mumble a word but only a ragged croak comes out, I realize I can’t. So I just nod.

      Good. Saves me from explaining it. You’re joined. To a powerful light sentinel if reports are anything to go by. So this is what’s going to happen next. We’re going to need to keep you in this lockup lab for the next day and a half, just to see that your connection really is stable. Then? That’s up to you. My only job is to ensure that the light sentinel who chose to join you isn’t going to suddenly rip through your body with excess banta radiation and that the connection is stable enough to begin training. The rest is going to come down to you. Now I read your report, he pauses, possibly to check something, Corporal Ming, and it seems you’ve had your fair share of commendations. But before I start clapping, it seems you’ve had more than your fair share of complaints, too. Now, like I said, what happens to you next is completely up to you. The joined program is one of the most rigorous in the Security Forces. And the honor, though his voice is completely steady up to this point, now it cracks, "of being joined, is the greatest that can be bestowed. You now have the option to serve your people in a way you never thought

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