The Royal Scam

Book 1 of The Martian Alliance

Release Date Saturday, 10/01/2011

$2.99

Things aren’t what they seem to be when Princess Olivia of Andromeda jumps aboard a spaceship to escape a loveless marriage.

Join the crew of the Hummingbird as they take on the rich, famous and sleazy of the galaxy. They're also on a long-term secret mission, so it's a good thing they're the best con artists, spacers, and roughnecks in the Milky Way, because they need all their skills to pull off this particular Royal Scam.

The ship blasted off amid a lot of shouting from the flight controllers.

Their concerns and orders were ignored. We had to avoid several small, planet flyers, but we did so with ease.

“We’ve hit escape velocity,” the birdman said. The ship shuddered as it shoved its way through Andromeda’s atmosphere.

“And here’s the Royal Armada, right on cue,” the captain muttered.

The captain tuned the radio to the universal communicator link, so we could hear what was being said from the command decks of the other ships. Ships from Andromeda and Diamante were trying to surround us without harming the ship, because I was on board.

“Don’t hurt them,” I said urgently. “They’re only doing their jobs.”

The captain shot me a dirty look over his shoulder. “Oh, of course not.” He turned back, muttering under his breath, while he calibrated coordinates, flipped switches, and pushed buttons to ready us for the leap into hyperspace.

Good spacers were part engineer, part astrophysicist, part pilot, with speed, dexterity and good reflexes. Great ones knew how to pull it all together and go with their gut reactions. They also made it look simple. I knew the calculations were complex, and if the wrong switch was flipped or the right button pushed too early or late, we’d all be space dust. The captain was barely looking at what he was doing, other than the computer calibrations.

He grunted with satisfaction. “Maneuvering into position to jump.”

“Almost ready,” the serene woman said.

“Need to wait,” the birdman said. “We need the right option.”

“Running out of time,” the captain said calmly, as he locked coordinates.

“Unidentified ship, we demand you return Princess Olivia to Andromeda immediately, by decree of King Oliver of Andromeda and Prince Ignatius of Diamante.” King Oliver was speaking from the planet.

I leaned over and hit the communications button. “I’m sorry, father. I love you and mother very much but —”

“Now,” the serene woman whispered.

“Agreed and ready,” the birdman said, just as softly.

A shot headed straight towards us from a Diamante ship. There was no way any ship would escape this direct a hit. I screamed, as loudly as I could, but I could still hear people shouting on the other ships. The captain hit a button and everything went quiet.

Word Count: 8,100
Author: Gini Koch
Website: Gini Koch
Heat Level: 2
ISBN: 978-1-61937-008-1
Cover Artist: Kelly Shorten
Editor: Celina Summers

A Buckeye Girl Reads

Reviewer: Colette

Rating: 5.0

Review: Title: The Royal Scam Author: Gini Koch Genre: Science Fiction Series: The Martian Alliance 1 Publisher: Musa Publishing Number of Pages- EBook, 8100 words Source:…