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    Vira Episode Three: Vira, #3
    Vira Episode Three: Vira, #3
    Vira Episode Three: Vira, #3
    Ebook149 pages2 hours

    Vira Episode Three: Vira, #3

    By Odette C. Bell

    ()

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    About this ebook

    Park has crossed a line – he's turned Vira off. He's destroyed her trust, and there may be no regaining it.
    But something is afoot – something deadly. For the Force itself lurks beneath the surface of the moon, and it's about to rise in full.

    ….

    Vira follows a secret superweapon and her charming handler fighting for peace. If you love your space opera with action, heart, and a splash of romance, grab Vira Episode Three today and soar free with an Odette C. Bell series.

    Vira is the 7th Galactic Coalition Academy series. A sprawling, epic, and exciting sci-fi world where cadets become heroes and hearts are always won, each series can be read separately, so plunge in today.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherOdette C. Bell
    Release dateSep 1, 2017
    ISBN9781386823131
    Vira Episode Three: Vira, #3

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      Book preview

      Vira Episode Three - Odette C. Bell

      1

      Lieutenant Park

      You know how they say there are consequences to every action?

      Yeah, well there would be consequences for this action. Massive ones.

      It took Lieutenant Park a hell of a long time to pluck himself up from Vira’s side. Her body was still. If you didn’t know her like he did, you’d assume she was dead. But she was just turned off.

      Shit. He’d done it. He’d turned her off.

      He kept his head locked up until the sight of that assassin in Force armor was well and truly gone.

      He didn’t have any fear it would come back. Even if it did, it would be the least of his problems now.

      With wide-open eyes, Park ticked his head down and stared at Vira.

      He didn’t regret his decision. He’d done the right thing. But as soon as he flicked the switch that would wake her up once more, he’d have to deal with Hell. Because in one single moment, he’d lost the thing he’d been painstakingly growing for the past several weeks. Vira’s trust.

      Shit. Goddammit, he spat louder as he brought a hand up and punched it into the dirt by Vira’s still form.

      He couldn’t wait any longer, could he?

      Sure enough, as he jerked his head up, he saw ships starting to leave from the research facility.

      He thought quickly. As quickly as he could right now.

      He didn’t have the ability to turn off Vira’s armor. Only she could do that. She needed to do it. Right now.

      So Park didn’t wait any longer. With teeth so clenched, he could’ve chewed right down to the bone, he jammed his thumb into the button that would wake her.

      She snapped up.

      Park bucked back, keeping his finger locked against the button. Take your armor off. Put your swords away. Now. No time to explain. Vira. Please. You have to— he began. He could hear the buzz of the ships overhead. Getting closer. Shit, they were coming in to land soon. They’d see—

      He couldn’t see Vira’s eyes. They were obscured by her armor. He could see her swords, though. They’d dropped several meters to her side.

      He waited for one of two things to happen. For Vira to completely ignore him, or for Vira to pluck up her weapons and treat him as a combatant.

      Park had felt pressure in his life, but it had never been anything like this. This was fear the likes of which the human body wasn’t designed to feel twice.

      Though it felt like an age as he waited for Vira to react, it wasn’t. It happened in less than a second.

      She allowed her swords to retract, and her armor disappeared with a hiss.

      Then she looked over at Park.

      He looked back. She bared her teeth. "Do it again, Lieutenant. Turn me off."

      He didn’t know if it was a dare or a threat. But it didn’t honestly matter. He didn’t have any option.

      I’m so sorry, he said, voice a tortured mess.

      She didn’t reply. He didn’t give her time, either. For the second time in the space of several minutes, Park turned Vira off as if she was just a machine and not a goddamn sentient being.

      She had just enough time to make eye contact with him before she blanked out.

      And that eye contact? It wouldn’t matter whatever happened in the rest of Park’s life. Wouldn’t matter what he achieved. He’d never be able to bring himself back from the brink of this moment. From that look of utter dejection in her eyes. It was the gaze of someone who would never trust you again.

      Park stared at her perfectly still form as the sound of a ship’s engines powered overhead.

      He forced himself to jerk his head up, to look at them. Then, using whatever muscular strength he could scrounge, he shoved a hand into the air and started to wave as if he was signaling them.

      The entire time, his stomach sank. All the way through the bottom of the moon. Through the goddamn galaxy. He felt like a monster.

      Just before that thought could completely undermine him, he clenched his teeth. Because he wasn’t a monster. He’d done what he’d had to. Vira had lost control. She’d gone after a combatant even when in doing so, she’d almost revealed her secret. Vira had always known that if she did, that she would be turned off. So Park… he’d just done what he had to.

      He kept repeating that to himself as the cruiser finally came in to land.

      Park had been in some pretty chaotic situations before. Hello, he’d been one of the only soldiers on the ground during the entire Circle Trader Incident. He knew what happened when people seemingly had the rug pulled out from under their feet. When a peaceful environment turned into a violent one in a manner of seconds. And he could see it now in the haunted gazes of the research facility staff as the cruiser landed and two crew jumped off. Only one was a member of the Coalition Army, and she was holding up a heckuva lot better than the archaeologist beside her.

      Both, however, were armed.

      The Coalition officer took a hard step toward him. What the hell happened, sir? We have reports of an all-out war in the tunnels. She suddenly jerked her head to the side and locked her gaze on Vira. The only thing Park wanted to do was shift around and block Vira from view, protect her somehow, but he squared off his jaw and took a hard breath. Both members of the Artaxan Royal Family have been… assassinated, he said, practically choking on the word. He didn’t elaborate.

      The woman looked at him, her eyes wide. By who? What happened? And what the hell did we pick up heading into orbit? The research scanners couldn’t make heads nor tails of it.

      Park stiffened. He didn’t say a word. His gaze cut toward Vira again. … What did you pick up on the scanners? he asked, hoping like hell his voice didn’t betray his fear.

      The woman shrugged as she brought up a hand and tried to eke out the tension climbing across her brow. Some kind of weapon, we think. A guy in armor, possibly. The energy signature was… she trailed off and shook her head.

      I saw it too, he forced himself to answer, his voice a choked gurgle as his throat constricted to the point of a pin. It was a guy in armor. I’ve never seen anything like it, though. He killed the Princess, Park said, never letting his gaze deviate from the Lieutenant. I didn’t see anyone else.

      He watched her with every single ounce of training he had.

      He needed to see every micro movement of her face. Needed to judge the look in her eyes.

      Park had to know if the research facility’s sensors had picked up more than one combatant.

      He didn’t let his gaze dart toward Vira, even though he had to try with all his might to stop himself.

      The Lieutenant gave another tense shrug. We only picked up that guy too, sir. But what kind of armor was it? Her voice shook.

      Park forced himself to let out a breath. He didn’t make it loud; he didn’t allow his chest to shift out obviously.

      Either the Lieutenant was a very good actor, or she wasn’t lying. The research facility scanners had only picked up one combatant.

      So… there was hope for now.

      But who knows how long it would last.

      Because God knows what the Apollo in orbit had picked up.

      Shit.

      The more Park set his mind to this, the more he realized how screwed they were.

      The Lieutenant kept a hand locked on her mouth for several seconds until her training won out and she took a hard breath. She also swiveled her gaze down to Vira. Is she okay?

      Park forced a nod. She was just knocked out. By the guy in armor. But… the Prince and Princess are dead.

      You—

      You don’t need to ask if I’m sure. They’ve been… mutilated, he said after a long pause.

      The Lieutenant blanched.

      The guy next to her looked as if he wanted to throw up. Though you usually got hardened scientists on digs like this, you needed to be more than hardened to deal with whatever the hell was happening right now. It seemed like the Coalition was falling to pieces right in their very hands.

      Which meant Park had to do something.

      He straightened his back and nodded toward the open hatch of the cruiser in front of him. You got any security staff in there?

      Just us. We’re on our way— he began.

      You don’t need to do a recon. I already told you what happened. You’re going to turn your vessel around and get us back to the research facility, he ordered.

      The Lieutenant looked at him, exasperated. We need to go down to the tunnels to figure out –

      I already told you what happened. We have to evacuate the tunnels, block them off, and concentrate on figuring out where that hell that asshole in the armor went to. I shouldn’t need to remind you that he just personally assassinated two diplomatic members of a sovereign state. One of the most powerful sovereign states in the Coalition, he added for effect.

      The woman blanched.

      She didn’t say another word as she stepped carefully to the side, allowing Park to shift past.

      With the kind of sinking feeling in his stomach he couldn’t truly describe, he got down to one knee and hefted Vira up. Just before he did, he wondered if it would even be possible. Who knew how much she weighed, after all. She wasn’t a standard human. And considering the raw power she had on board, she could easily be as heavy as a cruiser.

      But she wasn’t heavy. She was deceptively light.

      It was the easiest thing in the world to pick her up and hold her in his arms.

      And yet, at the same time, it was the hardest goddamn thing he would ever do.

      She was completely motionless.

      He… he understood why the Admiral had put that kill switch in Vira’s head. Of course he understood. If it hadn’t been there, this situation would have ended differently. But holding her completely unresponsive form was putting this ethical problem into stark contrast once more. Vira was technically one of the most powerful creatures in all of the Coalition, and yet, at the same time, she was weak enough that you could remotely turn her off and pluck her up as if she weighed nothing more than a sack of clothes.

      It didn’t seem right. Because it wasn’t right.

      But

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