Free Defying The Alliance (Novokin Alliance Invasion 1) by Bobbi Ross Page B

tea, he chipped the half-empty cup hiding it in a nearby storage bin. He worked extremely hard to stay off the central command's radar. His intention to remain anonymous had worked to his advantage thus far. Nothing good ever came from his Alliance overlords, especially one that high up.
    "Open."
    The large visage of a purple skinned man filled the screen of his bridge. His perfectly coiffed hair, hard angular features and dark soulless eyes belied the façade of his casual attitude. "Commander Liam, so nice to see you again."
    Liam flinched inwardly. While in command of a ship, the crew would refer to him as captain, as was proper with any vessel. However, since being absorbed into the unending glory that was the Novokin Alliance, his rank as a Terran had been reduced from captain to commander. Asmot made sure to remind him of that.
    "Commander there's been a distress call from an important Alliance vessel in your sector. I am having coordinates sent to your navigational system right now. You are to provide assistance and detain the aggressors. I will be there shortly to personally collect the prisoners." That was very curious, the Alliance didn't detain anyone. Their unofficial motto was shoot first, then shoot again.
    "Sir?"
    "Yes Commander, these may be the hostiles you received a priority one communiqué about yesterday. They are considered very important to the Supreme Commander, and as such I’m ordering you to take them into custody until I arrive." Were his ears deceiving him or had a superior officer in the Novokin Alliance just explained his orders? Curiouser and curiouser. Then Captain Asmot leveled his gaze, his narrowing eyes belying his true contempt for the Terran.
    "Is there a problem, Commander?"
    "Of course not Sir. The coordinates and the call number of the vessel are coming through now. I'll be there shortly."
    "See that you are." The image on the screen disappeared leaving only a view of the vast expanse of space in front of his ship.
    What the prak is going on? Liam pushed a hand through the thick waves of his jet black hair. "Set a course for that vessel," he commanded to his helmsman. Who knows what they would find there.

Chapter 5
     
     
    “Are you ready Captain?” Lieutenant Cobbs hollered.
    “Yes, we are. It’s a go,” I uttered after a quick glance around, making sure everyone was in position.
    I covered my ears as the countdown started. Not exactly the most technologically savvy of methods, but with our limited budget three cans of Ursidiand Thermite, extra strength dishwashing detergent lit by a plasma fuse would have to do. Three – two – one.
    BOOM!
    The thick metal door exploded off at its hinges clanging and banging until it came to a screeching halt somewhere deep inside the cargo hold of the Alliance ship we had boarded.
    "That should definitely take the fight out of them. Zero casualties would make me a very happy Captain." I intoned, shooting meaningful glares toward Trex and my lieutenants. Even with my ears plugged up, the noise had still been deafening. I'd be surprised if anyone inside the hold hadn't been rendered completely unconscious from the concussive force of the blast. Yay to the ensign's abnormal penchant for hording cleaning supplies. I’ll never question it again.
    The Alliance ship had been relatively easy enough to subdue. Two well targeted light shots to their main engine, and they were dead in space. Which was very lucky considering my chief engineer’s extremely low estimates on our ship's weapons reserves. How did she put it? 'If the fight went beyond more than three shots at 49% power, we’d have to lean out the windows and throw reconstituted waste pellets at them.' 
    Anya and her newly stocked engineering crew of recently liberated Novokin Alliance slaves were already busy stripping both the lower and upper decks of cargo, circuit boards, power couplings and anything Anya considered "necessary" to get the Razor into fighting shape. I wasn't sure how