JaydeRussell

Fugitive - Chapter 7

Chapter 7 - Hoping for the Best

Samira

“This is a stupid plan,” I muttered, for perhaps the 80th time. This sort of subterfuge was exactly the sort of thing Sora was good at, not me. I’ve always been terrible at lying, and it didn't matter how many hours they spent cleaning me up. There was no way anybody was going to believe that I was a navigator for a corporate executive.

“Sami, stop fidgeting, you’ll do fine,” Sora’s disembodied voice came from behind me....

Fugitive - Chapter 6

Chapter 6 - Blazing Dragons

Thea

I laughed through the coughing fit as I handed the vaporizer back to La’akea. The dragon was in her human form with dark sun-touched skin, silver hair and faintly glowing eyes the color of aged copper. She had a big body that seemed to be designed specifically to give the perfect hug, I had met her type before. They were the best type.

We were sitting together on a picnic blanket enjoying some sandwiches that she had magic’d together an...

Fugitive - Chapter 5

Chapter 5 - Preparing for the Worst

Sora

“You don’t have to eat it if you don’t want to,” I said. “We can always ask the captain to cook us something.”

Sami blanched at that thought, but continued to poke at her food in silence. I didn’t consider myself to be a terrible cook, but I was nowhere near as good as Thea. Besides, my food was still leagues above what Bryce created when allowed in the kitchen. At least what I cooked was still technically food.

...

Fugitive - Chapter 4

Chapter 4 - Forced Direction

Bryce

I finished the incantation, and there was a bright flash of blinding light. When I opened my eyes again I saw a small yellow rubber duck with horns sitting in the middle of the summoning circle.

“Well, at least this one has devil horns,” Sora commented. “That’s an improvement, right?”

I kicked the duck across the cargo-bay floor into the growing pile of bath toys before joining Sora and Samira sitting on the steps. “All ...

Fugitive - Chapter 3

Chapter 3 - The Devil Went Down to… Somewhere

Thea

“-her… fucking shit, not again.”

I was standing alone in the middle of a pretty fancy looking office. There was a desk on the far side of the room, and two large windows. One to my right and one behind me. The other two walls were taken up entirely by tall bookshelves filled with brightly colored books.

The summoning circle was painted with pink paint on wooden floor boards surrounding me, but there was no bi...

Patreon chapter change - repost

Hey all, sorry for the re-announcement, but I wanted to separate this from the book 2 prologue, to make the prologue easier to find for the people who don't care about this sort of housekeeping thing.

First of which, y'all rock. I can't thank you enough for supporting me and I'm constantly amazed when somebody enjoys my writing enough to give me actual real-life money dollars to continue it.

So from the bottom of my heart, thank you. Your support literally means the world to me. 2022-07-15 20:33:18 +0000 UTC View Post

Fugitive - Chapter 2

Chapter 2 - Some Assembly Inquired

Samira

“You seriously couldn’t steal any instructions with this stupid thing?” I asked for probably the 18th time in the last 8 hours. I was in the med-lab with Sora, and we were trying to put together one of the manufacturing pods they had stolen from the doll factory.

The whole thing was crazy complicated, and while I could understand most of the mechanical parts easily enough, the bioware pieces were another story entirely. It wa...

Fugitive - Chapter 1

Chapter 1 - Factory Requisition

Bryce

“Hey, Thea? Would you mind explaining why a quarter of the station just depressurized?” I continued to type at the terminal while I ignored the sirens and flashing lights. Sections of the station were flashing red on my heads-up display, including the elevator that I needed to get back to the shuttle.

We were in an old Omni-Tech doll factory. It was supposed to have been shut down due to lack of funding. Turns out ‘lack of fundin...

Book 1 update and poll!

Hey all!

So, the first book goes out to the editor tomorrow (!!!!) and I've just heard back from Thea, my cover artist (no relation), about getting the print and audiobook covers finished up once I have the final word count. That'll hopefully be sometime in early August. I've also talked to her about getting the book 2 cover started, but I don't have an ETA yet.

I can't talk to a narrater until I have the editing done... So, again no ETA on an audiobook yet, but it's on the horizo...

Fugitive - Prologue

Prologue - Divine Exposition

Kai

“This always feels so wrong,” I smiled as I stepped over a couple of humans who were getting to know each other extremely well.

Walking through one of Chorus’s temples was always perilous. The entanglement of mortal limbs created a kind of sexy obstacle course and the psychotropic incense made for an extra hazy atmosphere. A single misplaced step, and you’d find yourself as the guest of honor in a surprise orgy.

“There’s n...

A Guide to Becoming a Pirate Queen - ch. 45

Chapter 45 - Parting Ways

Thea

Rajak’s stupid bald head rolled onto the floor, and I let out a sigh of relief. We’d actually done it. He was dead.

Nikko and two other pack members, whose names I couldn’t remember, were on the ground. They were still breathing and from what I knew about shifters, that meant they would probably live.

Lysc and Daria surprised me the most. They were both heavily wounded and had to sit down in order to dress their w...

A Guide to Becoming a Pirate Queen - ch. 44

Chapter 44 - The Lord’s Chamber

Bryce

The four heavily armored guards near the throne opened fire on our group and Rajak lifted a hand in the air with a palm facing outwards. Dozens of azure spears manifested, floating in the air around the djinn.

The members of the pack reacted quickly. Daria and Rashka ran in opposite directions, moving to flank Rajak, while Lysc sprinted straight towards the incoming fire. Davix, Patches, and Nikko all spread out whil...

A Guide to Becoming a Pirate Queen - ch. 43

Chapter 43 - Breaking and Entering

Bryce

Lysc was pissed. Dezra and Mazi were dead, and Thea was crying over the corpse of their murderer. It wasn’t a good look, and I hadn’t even told her about the bomb yet.

“I can explain in a moment, please just give my nanites some time to heal my throat,” I said. Truthfully, though, I just needed time to come up with some sort of explanation to justify what had just happened.

“Esme thought that Bryce w...

A Guide to Becoming a Pirate Queen - ch. 42

Chapter 42 - Reunion

Thea

I leapt through the air, laughing as I landed on top of a bipedal mech. I punched through the visor to get to the pilot.

But my fist didn’t pass through the clear material, instead a web of cracks spread where it impacted. I cocked my head to the side, unsure of what had just happened. I tried punching the mech again, and the web spread further, but my fist was still resting on the surface of cracked synth-glass.

Realizati...

A Guide to Becoming a Pirate Queen - ch. 41

Chapter 41 - Contact with the Enemy

Bryce

“We’re facing the compound’s main building. The portal room is in Rajak’s office on the third floor,” Sora shouted as the hold’s doors slowly moved. “Expect heavy resistance.”

The doors opened to reveal just over a dozen members of the Syndicate facing away from us while they used the ship as cover. Half of them were unarmed mechanics.

The pack opened fire, and the Syndicate were dead on the g...

A Guide to Becoming a Pirate Queen - ch. 40

Chapter 40 - Infiltration

Bryce

“Is everything okay? You were out there for a while, and where’s Elliot? We’re not picking him up on any of the scanners.” A male voice came over the bridge speakers aboard our new ship. Lysc, Daria, Sora, and I were all gathered around where Rossi was sitting as she called into the Syndicate compound.

Rossi was in rough shape. The already pale elven woman looked like a ghost from blood loss. She was missing her left...

A Guide to Becoming a Pirate Queen - ch. 39

Chapter 39 - Pack Tactics

Rashka

“Holy fucking shit! Boss, how much did you say we’re paying these assholes?” I couldn’t stop laughing.

Boss said these guys would figure something out, but fucking hells, I wasn’t expecting them to… honestly, I still don’t even understand what they just did. But it was fucking cool, and it shut Rossi up, that’s for damn sure.

“Not enough,” boss said. “Message Rossi, tell her we’ll be boarding a...

A Guide to Becoming a Pirate Queen - ch. 38

We're getting into the final stretch for the first book!

---------

Chapter 38 - Mild Piracy

Bryce

“Well, what do you think?” Thea held out her arms to show off her new outfit.

She was wearing clothing similar to what she had worn when she fought Teolix; a pair of dark denim pants with a leather jacket and enchanted combat boots.

It wasn’t really armor. Nothing the armorer we visited had in stock could compare to the durability of Th...

A Guide to Becoming a Pirate Queen - ch. 37

Chapter 37 - Gathering information

Sora

“Is that really him?” I asked the bartender.

“Yep, that’s Accel,” she replied, before setting a colorful drink down in front of me. “Whatever you’re going to do to him, make sure it doesn’t lead back here. Most of my clients are Syndicate and if word gets out that a lieutenant was killed at my bar, then it’s my ass on the line.”

I tagged Accel, and a red outline appeared around his body. The...

A Guide to Becoming a Pirate Queen - ch. 36

Chapter 36 - Investments

Bryce

“Thea, my hair can wait,” I said. “You need to eat or the nanites are going to make you sick.”

We were at the Paragon Bistro on the 18th floor of the building where Dr. Navarro’s office was located. The food was expensive, but tasted just good enough that the price wasn’t worth complaining about.

“You need to stop fidgeting with your ear or it won’t heal properly,” Thea said. “Besides, if I don’t g...

A Guide to Becoming a Pirate Queen - ch. 35

Extra couple of chapters today, just to keep patreon 10 chapters ahead of RoyalRoad :D

--------

Chapter 35 - Upgrades

Thea

“Would you mind grabbing Samira?” Bryce asked. “It looks like she’s still awake and the last time I tried going in the maintenance corridors, she threatened to blow up the ship.”

We were walking through the cargo bay and could hear music coming from Sami’s area.

It was very early in the morning; we had j...

A Guide to Becoming a Pirate Queen - ch. 34

Chapter 34 - What’s in the box

Bryce

I've sat through countless business meetings, negotiated thousands of contracts, and entertained hundreds of potential clients. I have never once imagined that I could actually enjoy myself during one of these meetings.

The wine had been delicious; the food had been nostalgic, and the company was entertaining. After I finally stopped drinking during each of Lysc’s many toasts, I allowed myself to settle into a pleas...

A Guide to Becoming a Pirate Queen - ch. 33

I finished my last editing pass on book 1 :D which means that I'm going to be focusing on book 2 almost exclusively in order to limit the downtime between when I get all of the first book's chapters posted here on Patreon and when I start posting chapters for book 2.

So far it's coming along pretty well, and I'm super excited to share it with everybody! But first, enjoy this glimpse into life as the leader of the Drassun pack.

--------

Chapter 33 - Family Dining 2022-06-20 14:16:23 +0000 UTC View Post