Drifters' Alliance, Book 3
Drifters’ Alliance
Book 3
ELLE CASEY
Being an independent author, I depend entirely on
you
, the reader, to get the word out about my books. If you liked this book, won’t you please leave a review online and recommend it to a friend? The more you spread the word, the more books I can write, and nothing would please me more than to put a new book in your hands every single month!
BOOK DESCRIPTION
Captain Cass and the crew of the DS Anarchy have been accepted into the Alliance, and plans are in the works to move forward as independent yet allied drifters. Unfortunately, the OSG isn’t onboard with their plan, and people high up in the chain of command are determined to bring Cass to heel.
SERIES: This is Book 3 in an ongoing series
GENRE: Science Fiction, Space Opera
AUDIENCE: For older teens and adults
CONTENT WARNING: Colorful language, sexy stuff, and general badassery
Want to read more of my books?
Please ask your friendly librarian to add more Elle Casey books to your library’s collection
!
Want to get an email when my next book is released?
Sign up here:
http://bit.ly/ellecaseynews
OTHER BOOKS BY ELLE CASEY
SCIENCE FICTION
Drifters’ Alliance
(ongoing series)
Winner Takes All
(short story prequel to
Drifters’ Alliance
,
Dark Beyond the Stars Anthology)
CONTEMPORARY URBAN FANTASY
War of the Fae
(10-book series)
*Book 1, The Changelings, is a free ebook at most retailers*
Ten Things You Should Know About Dragons
(short story, The Dragon Chronicles)
My Vampire Summer
Aces High
DYSTOPIAN
Apocalypsis
(4-book series)
ROMANCE
By Degrees
Rebel
Wheels
(3-book series)
Just One Night
(romantic serial)
Just One Week
(romantic serial)
Love in New York
(3-book series)
Shine Not Burn
(2-book series), also available as an Audiobook
Bourbon Street Boys
(3-book series), also available as an Audiobook
Desperate Measures
Mismatched
ROMANTIC SUSPENSE
All the Glory: How Jason Bradley Went from Hero to Zero in Ten Seconds Flat
Don’t Make Me Beautiful
Wrecked
(2-book series), Book 1 also available as an Audiobook
PARANORMAL
Duality
(2-book series)
Dreampath
(short story, The Telepath Chronicles)
Monkey Business
(short story, Blood Iris 2012: A Dark Fantasy Anthology )
Pocket Full of Sunshine
(short story & screenplay)
COPYRIGHT NOTICE
© 2015 Elle Casey, all rights reserved, worldwide.
No part of this ebook may be reproduced, uploaded to the Internet, or copied without author permission.
The author respectfully asks that you please support artistic expression and help promote anti-piracy efforts by
purchasing
a copy of this ebook only at author-authorized online outlets that serve your country.
If you’re viewing this book without having paid for it, you are pirating this creative work.
PIRACY = STEALING
Elle Casey thanks you deeply for your understanding and support.
DEDICATION
For Madzy…
and all the other girls like her,
who bring color to an often monochrome world.
Chapter One
BAEBONG TURNS IN HIS SEAT to watch me bust a move. I haven’t felt this limber in a long time.
Yeah, baby. Must be that sarciossis magic.
The expression on his face is confused, like he’s observing something he doesn’t quite understand. It slows me down.
“What?” I ask, my hands up above my head as my hips swivel around to the left.
He looks over at Jeffers, who I just notice is staring at me with his mouth partway open.
“Is she having a stand-up seizure?” he asks.
My arms drop to my sides, and I quit with the hip swivel action. “Ha, ha, very funny. What’s the matter? Never seen a girl dance before?”
He just shakes his head really slowly side to side. Jeffers joins him.
“Oh, shut up. What do you know about rhythm? Your idea of dancing is snapping your fingers twice and winking.” I walk over to my chair and sit down, ramping up the courage and calm I’ll need to speak with the Alliance again. They’re all waiting on my response after having welcomed us into the fold.
Baebong mumbles, but I hear him loud and clear. “I know when I dance, it doesn’t look like I’m suffering an electrocution.”
Ignoring him, I lean in toward my array and transmit to the entire Alliance at once. “Thanks, everyone, for the warm welcome. We’re really glad to be here with you. So … what’s next?”
“My girls are asking for a meet and greet.” I think it’s Captain Alana speaking, leader of the ship full of women who spend their lives having sex with strangers for money. I gulp, remembering how close I came to joining their ranks once.
The door to the flightdeck slides open and Gus walks through. “What’s going on? What did I miss?” He stops at the back of Baebong’s chair and hangs onto it as he stares out the clearpanel at the other Alliance members.
“That’s fine with us,” I say, not really meaning it.
Meet and greet? Is that whore-talk for having a big, all-in Alliance orgy?
I can suddenly think of fifty things I’d rather do than have a face-to-face with the crew of the DS Osiris.
“She wants a meet and greet,” Baebong says in a loud, slightly hyper whisper.
“Who does?” Gus asks. “Captain Cass?” He looks over his shoulder at me.
I shake my head and wait for him to put it all together.
His eyes light up and he turns his attention to the clearpanel again. “Tell me it’s the whores.” He grabs Baebong’s shoulder and squeezes. “Tell me!”
Baebong twists his arm over to release Gus’s hold on him, shoving him away in the process. “Get off me, man!” He’s still smiling, though. “Yeah, it’s the whores. A meet and greet. With them. And us.”
I roll my eyes. “You guys should probably come up with a different way to describe our new partners. I don’t think they’re going to appreciate being called whores to their faces.”
“Why not?” Gus asks. “That’s what they are, right? Nothing to be ashamed of. I respect all whores.” He nods very earnestly.
“Yeah,” I say, not believing a word of it, “so long as they’re putting out.”
He frowns. “Yeah, well … that’s what they do, right?”
“Not for gingers,” Baebong says, laughing silently.
Gus frowns, his attention back on my lieutenant. “Wait … what? Whores like gingers. Whores love gingers.” His confidence falters. “What are you talking about?”
Baebong shrugs. “Oh, nothin’. Just something I heard once.”
“What? What’d you hear?” Gus is getting more agitated by the second, by something I’m almost sure is completely made up.
“Gus, relax. He’s just messing with you.”
Baebong shakes his head. “No, I’m not. Swear. Some whores aren’t into the gingers. All those freckles … freak ‘em out or something. I’ve heard rumors of other things too …”
“Aw, come on! That’s not true!” Gus looks at his arm and his face falls. “My mother always said our freckles were cute. Girls love freckles.” He holds his arm out at me. “Tell him, Captain. You’re a girl, kind of. You think they’re cute, right?”
“Gus, go back to the engine room.” I work really hard at not smiling, focusing my attention on the clearpanel.
He takes a step toward the door, but his arm is still out so I can see it. “I don’t have that many, you know. That’s good, right? Tam has way more than I do. His connect into one big blob in some spots. Mine don’t, see? All individual. Every last one. I’ve checked, believe me.”
I refuse to look at him anymore. I have to negotiate our position and our future with the Alliance right now, and then I’m going to have to figure out how to execute whatever plans we come up with, so casting judgment on freckled skin is at the very bottom of my priority list.