Imperial Recruit (Book 2 of The Imperial Marines Saga) Read online

  Imperial Recruit

  Book Two of The Imperial Marines Saga

  Terry Mixon

  Contents

  Imperial Recruit

  Also by Terry Mixon

  Acknowledgments

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Chapter 37

  Chapter 38

  Chapter 39

  Chapter 40

  Chapter 41

  Chapter 42

  Chapter 43

  Chapter 44

  Also by Terry Mixon

  About Terry

  Imperial Recruit

  Book Two in The Imperial Marines Saga

  by

  Terry Mixon

  Andrea Tolliver—a genetically designed human from the Singularity—has finally earned a spot in the Imperial Marines. If she makes it through training, she’ll earn citizenship.

  If not—well, best not to think about that.

  With ruthless enemies willing to do anything to stop her, she’ll need all the help she can get to survive. Even with friends working from the shadows to keep her safe, will that be enough to keep her alive?

  Imperial Recruit

  Copyright © 2021 by Terry Mixon

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including information storage and/or retrieval systems, or dissemination of any electronic version, without the prior written consent of the publisher, except by a reviewer, who may quote brief passages in a review, and except where permitted by law.

  This is a work of fiction. All names, characters, places, and incidents are the products of the author’s imagination, or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Published by Yowling Cat Press ®

  Digital edition date: 3/18/2021

  Print ISBN: 978-1947376656

  Large Print ISBN: 978-1947376663

  Cover art - image copyrights as follows:

  algolonline (Caroline Rosa Nicolette Atkinson)

  Donna Mixon

  Cover design and composition by Donna Mixon

  Print edition design and layout by Terry Mixon

  Also by Terry Mixon

  You can always find the most up to date listing of Terry’s titles on his Amazon Author Page.

  Note: the links below (ebook only, obviously) redirect you to my website where you can click a button to go to Amazon. This allows me to participate in Amazon’s associates program and earn a little more. Sorry for any inconvenience.

  The Empire of Bones Saga

  Empire of Bones

  Veil of Shadows

  Command Decisions

  Ghosts of Empire

  Paying the Price

  Recon in Force

  Behind Enemy Lines

  The Terra Gambit

  Hidden Enemies

  Race to Terra

  Ruined Terra

  Victory on Terra

  When Luck Runs Out

  The Imperial Marines Saga

  Spoils of War

  Imperial Recruit

  The Humanity Unlimited Saga

  Liberty Station

  Freedom Express

  Tree of Liberty

  Blood of Patriots

  Single Novels

  Scorched Earth

  Storm Divers

  The Vigilante Series with Glynn Stewart

  Heart of Vengeance

  Oath of Vengeance

  Bound By Law

  Bound By Honor

  Bound By Blood

  Box Sets

  The Empire of Bones Saga Volume 1

  The Empire of Bones Saga Volume 2

  The Empire of Bones Saga Volume 3

  Humanity Unlimited Publisher’s Pack 1

  Want to get updates from Terry about new books and other general nonsense going on in his life? He promises there will be cats. Go to TerryMixon.com/Mailing-List and sign up.

  Dedication

  This book would not be possible without the love and support of my beautiful wife. Donna, I love you more than life itself.

  Acknowledgments

  I want to thank the folks that support me on Patreon. You got to read this book as I was writing it and that kept me working. You have my deepest thanks.

  In particular, I want to thank those patrons that supported me at the $10 level:

  Bryan Barnes

  Tony Craven

  Dave Dolan

  David Goldstein

  Eugene Humbert

  Christian A. Michelsen

  John Page

  Keith Ramsey

  Carl Rumbolo

  Dale Thompson

  Raymond Wang

  Clark Williams

  Finally, I want to thank my readers for putting up with me. You guys are great.

  1

  “Andrea! Hurry up, or you’re going to miss breakfast! And don’t slide down the banister!”

  Andrea had just reached the top of the stairs when her guardian, Grace Tolliver, called out from the kitchen, so she hopped up onto the polished wooden banister and slid adroitly down it. Her guardian had scolded her about that far more times than she could count, warning that she’d fall off and break her neck, but she knew her balance was more than good enough to make it. Besides, she loved the rush.

  And she needed all the positive energy she could get today.

  She landed on her feet with almost no skid and slowed to a more sedate pace as she walked into the kitchen. The large house had several dining rooms, including one capable of seating more than a hundred people, but the kitchen was where they ate as a family when there were no guests.

  Grace stood at the stove with Saanvi Modi, their matronly cook. Based on the heavenly scents floating through the air, they were frying bacon, one of her favorite foods.

  Her guardian had been an indifferent cook—at best—six years ago, but now even the veteran culinary warrior that ran their kitchen had to grudgingly admit that Grace had mastered breakfast.

  Her other meals could use some work, but they weren’t terrible on the few occasions Saanvi allowed Grace to take the lead with them. Fei, on the other hand, wasn’t allowed to boil water unmonitored.

  She was sure that her guardian’s focus on that one meal came from Andrea’s reverence for it. Pancakes, eggs, bacon, and orange juice had made up the first meal she’d eaten after they’d rescued her from the Singularity, and it still held a power over her that defied words.

  Na Fei and Kayden Harmon already sat at the nook table, sipping coffee and chatting quietly about something. Together with Grace, they formed both a triad of marriage and her own personal guardian council.

>   She took her usual seat beside Fei and poured herself some orange juice.

  “Are you ready?” the dark-haired woman asked with a smile that lit up her face, highlighting her Asian genetics even after generations away from her homeworld and its influences.

  “I’m nervous,” Andrea admitted quietly. “While I hope everything works out the way I want, it could all come crashing down. What do I do if they rule against me?”

  The former marine noncommissioned officer shrugged slightly. “You keep living the way you’re living now. Sadly, things don’t always go the way we’d like. As a backup plan, living in Iron Mountain with us is a fair consolation prize, wouldn’t you say?”

  That was undoubtedly true. Back when she’d been in the crèche, she’d lived under a virtual death sentence. She wondered if the survivors of Keeper’s discipline were free of the relocated crèche and being taught how to rule the Singularity yet.

  That life had once been her destiny—if she’d survived to adulthood—but she was much happier having left it behind. Keeper hadn’t spared any of them the knowledge that two-thirds of the two hundred girls—all genetically identical to the adults of the Andrea Line—would be dead at her hand before they matured.

  Andrea had traded that life for a much freer one in the Terran Empire. The downside was that as a genetically engineered being, she was legally a thing rather than a person. That meant that she had no rights, and if not for Grace’s protection—and that of Duke DeSantis—she’d have spent the last six years in the hands of Imperial Intelligence.

  If, of course, they hadn’t dissected her.

  Now that she’d grown to know the people of the Empire better, she honestly doubted that that had ever been on the table. The insidious idea had been Singularity propaganda. Even so, that didn’t mean that Imperial Intelligence wouldn’t have been happy to lock her up in some secret facility to study her at their leisure.

  If things went well today, she’d finally be recognized as a human being and wouldn’t need to fear that fate any longer. If things went differently, well, she’d have to accept whatever the Empire decreed.

  She dreaded rejection because she wanted to become an Imperial Marine more than anything. She’d seen the platoon that Grace and Fei had led fight to save her and knew that was a goal that she could devote her life to.

  Grace carefully set a tray holding platters of pancakes, eggs, and bacon on the table and took her seat next to Andrea as Saanvi began tidying up the cooking area.

  “Don’t be so nervous,” her guardian said with a smile. “It won’t be bad news.”

  “I think you’re being too optimistic,” Andrea said with a sigh as she began loading down her plate with her favorite foods. She slathered the pancakes with butter and poured a generous helping of syrup across them.

  “I hate you,” Fei said, eyeing the pancakes. “I just gained half a kilo from looking at those things.”

  “Now, now, my dear,” Kayden said, patting the Asian woman’s arm. “Having met you when you were in active service, I can assure you that any padding you’ve added has been integrated into your increasingly gorgeous form in ways that only enhance your exotic beauty.”

  Fei narrowed her eyes at her husband. “Allow me to assure you that there’s no complimentary way to tell a woman that she’s gained weight. I recommend you stop talking before banishing you to the couch starts sounding like a good idea.”

  Kayden grinned unrepentantly. “We have plenty of guest bedrooms, so I think I can avoid the couch. In any case, I made sure that we purchased the very best, and they have no lumps.

  “Still, that was perhaps ill phrased. You’re a beautiful woman, and you’ve always been so. Only now, you have curves.”

  Grace laughed. “You’re not helping yourself, Kayden, but you’re not wrong either. Fei, you’re still as tough as you ever were, but I have to agree with our husband that curves suit you.”

  “Could we go back to talking about me before this conversation gets filled with all kinds of gross lovey-dovey noises?” Andrea mock complained. “I have to be able to keep breakfast down if I’m going to survive the day. You wouldn’t want me to pass out, would you?”

  “Everything will be fine,” Grace said in the tongue, the language of the Singularity. She was completely and flawlessly fluent now, a far cry from the truly execrable accent she’d had six years ago. Andrea and Kayden had seen to that.

  It wasn’t necessary, since Andrea had been quick to pick up Imperial Standard, but it was a caring gesture that was just like her guardian.

  “Thank you,” Andrea said, reaching over to squeeze the woman’s hand.

  As they dug into their food, Andrea hoped that the extra calories she was taking in might one day lead to some of those curves that her mentor was developing, but she knew exactly what she’d look like as an adult.

  The Andrea Line—of which she was a genetic member, though they thought her dead—didn’t have any genetic randomization. She’d been raised by a woman that had epitomized what she’d look like as an adult.

  At the age of eighteen, she was almost as tall as Keeper had been and had filled out just about as much. A few more years and she’d see Keeper in her mirror every morning, right down to the stylized bird-of-prey tattoos on her forehead and cheeks.

  Frankly, she was almost to that point already, and that was the stuff of nightmares. Still, it wasn’t like she had a choice in the matter. Some things in life simply had to be accepted.

  Once they’d made it to the Empire, they’d tried to have her tattoos removed, but that had proven unexpectedly challenging. They were somehow imprinted into her skin at a genetic level. Once burned away—which had been almost as painful as getting them in the first place—they’d returned over the next several months.

  No, for good or ill, she’d never be rid of her connections to the Andrea Line or the Singularity.

  The four of them ate with cheerful jabs and commentary about what was going on around the manor house, and that relaxed her. Maybe she was wrong to worry. Perhaps her concerns would turn out to have been misplaced.

  She might as well hope so, since she couldn’t affect the outcome of today’s events. Today was the day she’d become human in the eyes of the Empire, or she’d be consigned to remain a thing.

  Fei’s unease grew stronger the closer they got to the capital city. She’d been a combat marine for almost two decades before her retirement and knew what it felt like when she was walking into an ambush.

  Grace—frighteningly enough—was the optimist of their triad. Kayden had a more realistic view of the universe and considered everything with a jaundiced eye.

  She was the pessimist. If something could go wrong, Fei knew that it would, and thus it needed to be planned for.

  Unfortunately, there was very little they could do to mitigate anything about this situation, and she was worried. Civilians frowned on people fighting their way out of social ambushes with flechettes and plasma grenades.

  Unlike some of the vehicles that she’d traveled in over the years, their air car was spacious and comfortable. Decadent, even. Kayden was flying them in with Andrea up front as the unofficial copilot.

  Well, in actuality, he was letting the girl—the young woman—fly the air car, and her attention was locked on the instruments and their surroundings. There wasn’t any mechanism for Andrea to earn a license, though she was good enough to do so. Still, she could always use more seasoning.

  That left Fei and Grace sitting in the spacious rear, where they could talk. Thus far, the conversation had been about trivial things, but Grace seemed to have sensed Fei’s darkening mood.

  “What’s the matter?” her wife asked softly.

  She’d pitched her voice low enough that Andrea probably wouldn’t be able to hear her, though the girl’s hearing was just as enhanced as the rest of her. If she truly focused her attention on what was going on behind her, she’d hear enough of their conversation to understand what they were talking about.
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  That wouldn’t do.

  Fei activated the privacy screen over where she and Grace sat. The sonic dampening field was very subtle, and Andrea would hopefully miss it since she was so focused on flying. Truthfully, she could’ve initiated an implant call and avoided any chance of her girl overhearing them, but Grace needed to hear her actual voice this time.

  “It feels like we’re walking into an ambush,” Fei said. “All my instincts tell me that an enemy is waiting for us at the Ducal Palace.”

  Grace raised an eyebrow. “I trust your instincts far too much to pooh-pooh the idea, but I don’t think anybody’s going to be shooting at us. That said, you’re right that there are other kinds of… unpleasantness that could be sprung upon us. What are you thinking?”

  Her wife’s voice had changed. It might’ve been six years since they’d served as active-duty marines, but the woman beside her once again sounded like the officer in command of a marine combat platoon, and she’d just requested a briefing from her senior NCO.

  Fei approved. While things certainly might not be that grim, it never hurt to be prepared for surprises.