Scout's Honour

By Peter Laurent

A novella continuing the story of The Covert Academy...
Jayson Georgiou is a playboy pilot with little ambition beyond his own pleasure, safe within the shelter of the Academy and its students.
After Sarah and Joshua’s daring adventure into the heart of the Colonnade, Jayson and his assigned crew are ordered on a suspicious supply-run mission, deep into a Confederate drone production city. There Jayson uncovers a new threat to the Academy, challenging his allegiance.
Yet Jayson has a mysterious past driving him to chase after his illusion of security, desperate to hold on to it, until it is too late to turn back...

• Language: English
• Publisher: Peter Laurent
• Release date: Oct 9, 2013
• ISBN: 9781301808878

Peter Laurent

Author Peter Laurent was born and raised in Auckland, New Zealand. He studied 3D animation in Auckland, then worked full-time in Mount Maunganui. Peter then formed his own company, Indiana Games Limited, and has been freelancing art and animation back in Auckland ever since. “The Covert Academy” is his first novel, borne of a passion for creative storytelling.

Book preview

The Covert Academy: Scout’s Honour

By Peter Laurent

Copyright 2013 Peter Laurent

Cover image by Peter Laurent

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

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Acknowledgements

To everyone who wrote a review or contacted me in some way, and to those who said that they couldn’t wait for the next one. Thank you!

Connect with the Author

Twitter:

http://www.twitter.com/petes117

Facebook:

http://www.facebook.com/thecovertacademy

Goodreads Writing Blog:

http://www.goodreads.com/petes117

3D Art Blog:

http://www.indianagames.co.nz

Preface

This is a short novella designed to bridge the first novel of The Covert Academy trilogy with its sequel, which I am aiming to publish in late 2013.

The timeline of this story starts around two thirds of the way through the first book and ends at the start of the second.

I wrote it because I thought it would be interesting to see other events that occurred outside of the main characters’ journey in the same universe, as well a couple that occurred inside but from another character’s perspective. Think of this as the lost chapter that didn’t fit into the narrative structure of either the first or second book.

I recommend reading The Covert Academy first to get an extra sense of context. However there are only minor spoilers in Scout’s Honour if you wish to get a taste of the main course.

I hope you enjoy it!

-Peter

In the Academy hangar…

The engine idled with a deep throaty rumble. It was opposite to the sound the Confederates made with their troop transports and drones. They were all so quiet and crafty. The vibrations of this ship, the Machaera, would often send a tingle of excitement through the crew. But the students, assigned shipboard duty this week, had left to grab a meal at the Academy diner.

The carnal power of the Machaera was often put to another use - getting Jayson laid.

He’d hit the jackpot when he’d been asked to serve as a pilot for the Academy. Seniors, like Sarah, recruited new students from whatever hopeless circumstance the fallout of the war had delivered them. Then it was Jayson’s job to fly them to the Academy in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. The girls that he picked up didn’t seem to mind either; they were attracted to him like moths to a flame. Some things never changed.

Richard had once said that Jayson acted as if he were a pent-up college senior let loose in a high school with a motorbike and a leather jacket. He figured Richard watched too many movies but he could tell he was jealous. Jayson too might have found it sleazy, if he didn’t enjoy himself so much. He would drop the girls off with the promise of seeing them during the course of their studies at the Academy.

One such young lady surprised him while he was asleep in the bunk behind his ship’s cockpit.

‘I’m here on official business, of course...’ she purred as she playfully brushed something against him. Her shirt. She walked away and left it on his head. Jayson was awake and out of his bunk in a flash.

Shit, what was her name?

The girl wandered down to the cockpit and he followed, captivated by her athletic figure swaying in a hypnotic rhythm. Sixteen, maybe seventeen years old, long blonde hair... Jayson tried to contain himself, and his excitement. The girl fiddled with the ship’s dials and levers until the engine revved up under her touch.

‘Oh I think it likes me, Jayson,’ she giggled, spinning around. He leaned down to let her reach as she put her arms around his neck. She brushed her fingers through his wavy mop of jet-black hair, but her eyes lingered on the ship’s controls.

‘Call me Captain Georgiou.’

‘Ooh Captain... You know, with a girl like me at your side, we could go anywhere, do anything, and take whatever we wanted eh? Be… privateers,’ she gasped at her own rebelliousness.

‘Roam the seven seas, pillaging and plundering...’ Jayson indulged her with a serious expression as he pretended to consider the idea. It was a fantasy. First pirates, what next? Who was this girl? That accent... He thought back through a blur of trips, and one in particular to Canada. It’s possible she was one of the ragged street urchins he’d picked up there. She looked so different after a few weeks of proper sleep, food and muscle building.

Just enjoy yourself, the voice in Jayson’s head told him. He had the energy of a man in his early twenties, was well-fed but stayed naturally lean and trim. His olive skin and disinterested attitude was a hit with the ladies. So why not enjoy myself while I can? He grinned devilishly and pushed his hips toward the girl. She had her arms pressed against the console behind her.

‘I always get what I want, my salty sea-wench…’ he said, and she giggled again, ‘Jess…?’ he guessed. ‘Jen?’

‘It’s Julie.’ Her smile fell