Rimrider by L. A. Kelley : Free on Amazon July 28, 29, 30, 31, Aug 1

Rimrider

Rimrider Adventure Series, Book 1

Amazon Free Days: July 28, July 29, July 30, July 31, August 1

 

A real space pirate fights like a girl.

Teenager Jane Benedict is wakened by her father and ordered to memorize a mysterious code. Within hours Mathias Benedict is dead and Jane and her brother, Will, are wards of United Earth Corporation (UEC). To escape the company’s clutches and uncover the meaning of her father’s last message, Jane leads her brother on a desperate flight from Earth to the galactic rim.

Aboard the Freetrader smuggler ship, Solar Vortex, Jane and Will become tangled in the crew’s fight for liberty. Drawn to their cause, she and Will swear allegiance and join the crew. On a contraband run, Jane saves the life of young smuggler Mac Sawyer and learns her father’s code identifies a UEC cargo shipment.

 On route to a deep space station, the Solar Vortex answers a desperate SOS from a Freetrader ship under attack. Jane, Mac, and Will survive an ambush on the damaged vessel and unearth a deadly threat to the Freetraders and a clue to the location of the shipment. The trail leads to Rimrock and the massive prison complex of Golgotha. Undercover as a spy, Jane stumbles into a conspiracy that can spell doom for the entire Freetrader cause and the extinction of an alien race. Can she escape the prison confines and deliver a warning before it’s too late?

Piracy, intrigue, romance, and a daring rebellion from Earth wait on the planet Rimrock. Will Jane answer the call to adventure and find new purpose on the galactic rim or will death for high treason be her fate?

Excerpt

Jane fired wildly, mentally counting the seconds. Her shots went way out of range. Although none landed anywhere near the catwalk, they drew the sweeper’s immediate attention.

Crackles of lightning ripped through the air as he returned fire. An energy blast hit near her feet, bubbling the metal deck plate. Jane dodged in panic, adrenaline pumping through her veins.

Close—too close. Don’t think! Run! Run! Run! Twenty more seconds…

Jane tore across the bay, darting through smoke, dodging flames. She veered toward the bulkhead aiming for the safety of a storage container. The back of her neck burned as if she could feel the laser sight zero in on her. A beam sliced the dark to her left. Jane sidestepped in a panic. She was in the open…no place left to hide. The sweeper had her in his sights. A red dot centered on the middle of her chest. She looked into the face of death.

“Now, Will!” Jane shouted.

So intent on Jane, the sweeper didn’t notice a dark blob shoot up behind him. Hack’s claws clamped on the device at the sweeper’s feet.

Bllllleeeeeehhhhhh!

Will had raised Hack’s alarm to full volume, and an ear-splitting shriek echoed in the air. Startled, the sweeper spun in a half-circle in time to watch Hack disappear with the unit, diving into the smoky haze of the cargo bay.

Jane rammed the cutter into the holster and sprinted toward the rack of mech suits where Mac hid. Heavy footsteps ran across the catwalk and then pounded down the stairs. With a soft whir and an urgent bleh-bleh, Hack flew over her head and then dropped the device into Jane’s outstretched hands. She grunted with the sudden weight and struggled to hold on. It was much heavier than she expected. Within a few meters, her breath came in ragged gasps as she stumbled across the deck.

Footsteps drew closer as Jane cleared the last of the storage containers. An agonizing ache shot though her side. Her legs moved as if strung by lead weights. Muscles in her arms burned with the effort to carry the device. Dead ahead was the rack of mech suits.

Mac was gone.

Jane glanced around in panic, but he was nowhere to be seen. On trembling legs, she collapsed behind a mech suit and hunkered low, aware her hiding place offered little shelter from attack. Clutching her prize tight to her chest, she gulped lungsful of air. The sweeper jogged into view. He wore a spacer’s coverall with no insignia. A mirrored visor obscured the top half of his face. He instantly spied Jane. She pressed against the wall and drew the cutter from the holster.

Jane butted the muzzle against the device in her lap. “Take another step, and I’ll blast it apart. I swear it.”

The sweeper made no sound of protest. Instead, he raised the rifle. A red dot from the laser sight moved along the deck to Jane’s leg, her chest, and then to her forehead.

L. A. Kelley writes science fiction and fantasy adventures with humor, romance, and a touch of sass. She's Rimrider to the core.