Jury

By Viola Grace

Bex has been training female fighters for years. She can craft any woman into a champion, but then, they are taken from her.

Her techniques catch the attention of the male side of the arena, and she is pressed into service training a man who is a champion that no longer has enthusiasm for the fight.

Ajaru has fought for years and enjoys his status as champion, but he wants more. He wants a life, a wife, a child, a home and normality. His lack of ambition to climb the champion ranks has gotten the attention of the fight master and he is assigned to a new trainer. Bex.

• Language: English
• Publisher: eXtasy Books Inc
• Release date: Apr 3, 2014
• ISBN: 9781771118804

Viola Grace

Viola Grace (aka Zenina Masters) is a Canadian sci-fi/paranormal romance writer with ambitions to keep writing for the rest of her life. She specializes in short stories because the thrill of discovery, of all those firsts, is what keeps her writing.An artist who enjoys a story that catches you up, whirls you around and sets you down with a smile on your face is all she endeavours to be. She prefers to leave the drama to those who are better suited to it, she always goes for the cheap laugh.

Book preview

Bex trains the best fighters in the arena, but when she is handed over to a champion, she has to fix a man who isn’t broken.

Bex has been training female fighters for years. She can craft any woman into a champion, but then, they are taken from her.

Her techniques catch the attention of the male side of the arena, and she is pressed into service training a man who is a champion that no longer has enthusiasm for the fight.

Ajaru has fought for years and enjoys his status as champion, but he wants more. He wants a life, a wife, a child, a home and normality. His lack of ambition to climb the champion ranks has gotten the attention of the fight master and he is assigned to a new trainer. Bex.

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

Jury

Copyright © 2014 Viola Grace

ISBN: 978-1-77111-881-1

Cover art by Martine Jardin

All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher.

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Smashwords Edition

Jury

A Terran Times Tale

By

Viola Grace

Chapter One

Bex watched the match from behind the scenes, analyzing Crowly’s moves and making notes. A trainer could only do so much good before the trainee had to fly on their own.

Crowly took a few brutal slices to the forearms, but since she had four spares, it only made her angrier.

A roar of disbelief from the crowd celebrated Crowly’s win. Six month earlier, Crowly had been a chronic loser that only won when she was unable to control her emotions. Now, she was a calculating fighter that used her speed as an advantage and who showed off excellent gymnastic skills in the ring. She was a fighter worth watching.

Trainer Kalfo came to watch the match with her. You have done wonders with her.

It has taken a great deal of effort. She is stubborn.

I hear you have a meeting with the matron. Kalfo spoke softly.

Bex nodded. I do. Now, in fact.

She turned away from her fighter being finally cheered in the arena and headed for the offices. The matron was not a patient woman; in fact, Bex had a lot of doubts about her being female at all.

Lithe and nearly featureless, the matron of the Garlov Arena sat behind her desk.

Your skills as a trainer have gained notice. Over the last three years, all eight of your charges have made it into the top-ten rankings. Those kind of results get noticed.

Thank you, Matron.

Oh, it wasn’t me who noticed. The men’s side has a champion who has recently begun to slip in the rankings. They have tried everything, but he just won’t budge. You are an option that they haven’t tried yet.

Bex was confused. Matron?

You are going to be assigned to work with the champion, so gather your things. The transfer is immediate. Go.

Bex blinked. But Crowly needs more work. She was still dropping her shoulder during the first half.

Her next trainer is on the way up from the lower league. It will be a learning experience for both of them. Crowly became champion with this win, so it will be up to her to keep that title.

Bex leaned forward. But—

But nothing. You are reassigned. Now go and pack. The transfer guard will be there within the hour. The matron returned her attention to the computer in front of her.

Bex was dismissed.

She sat in her room with her two bags next to her. This was the one part of being in the imperium that she hated. Her life was never in her own hands, but it was what she had chosen. In leaving earth, she had agreed to go where the Alliance felt she would best serve the purposes of her species. The first two thousand Volunteers were fodder for testing to destruction.

The trade of a hundred humans into Nyal space had been a quiet exchange, but Bex had to admit that she felt at home in the confines of the arena. She had met dozens of species, seen hundreds more, but she had the wall of organization to back herself against.

With an anchor point behind her, Bex knew what the rules were and how to use them to her advantage. Unfortunately, those rules also kept her obeying the organization that she was now part of. If they wanted her to switch to the men’s side, she would go.

The chime at the door brought her mind out of its trip through the logic of why she should go along peacefully. It was a