Mustang

By cindyholbybooks

Captain Shiloh Pike is just trying to make a living picking up salvage with her ship Mustang. While hiding from the Mercs who want to capture her and her crew for the price on their heads, she stumbles across a derelict ship drifting in space. Inside she discovers enough treasure to set her up for life, and a handsome soldier in stasis who is still alive when everyone else aboard is presumed dead. Or are they? Firefly fans will love this novella about Shiloh, Griff, and the crew of Mustang who keeps the snappy dialogue going throughout the story as Shiloh struggles to get them all safely home.

• Language: English
• Publisher: cindyholbybooks
• Release date: Aug 15, 2017
• ISBN: 9781370547357

cindyholbybooks

Cindy Holby is an award winning author who lives in the foothills of NC. Since the beginning of her memories, her biggest desire has been to put words to paper. She’s written several historicals and also writes sci/fi romance and urban fantasy under the name Colby Hodge. Add to that her talent for being able to relate to teens and you have Kassy Tayler, who writes young adult. Cindy lives within the shadow of Pilot Mountain NC with her own romance hero. Together they raised two exceptional sons and share their nest with a long haired doxie named Cody, and two cats, Maddie and Izzy. Kassy Tayler aka Cindy Holby is the author of the highly anticipated young adult series ASHES for Griffin, St. Martins Press.

Book preview

Chapter

1

Shut it down. Shiloh Pike issued the command quietly into her com as she eased the ship into the debris left behind by an ancient asteroid. The gravel field was massive, surrounding a lifeless planet, which made it a great place to hide. She eased back on the thrusters until Mustang floated beneath a rock large enough to conceal the

compact

ship

.

She checked her screen. Yes, the mass of the rock was much bigger than Mustang. She wasn’t about to take a chance if she didn’t have to. Playing it safe was what kept her and her crew alive in a deadly and dangerous business, and that was on a good day. She’d done everything she could for now. As much as she hated to admit it, the rest was out of her hands.

The ship went dark and silent as Handy flipped the main switch in the engine room. Shiloh opened the jammer app on the touch screen and added a prayer that it would work. They were long past due for some new parts, but without a haul there was no need to make port. Her cat, Cisco, jumped into her lap with a questioning look in his bright gold eyes, and Shiloh rubbed the top of his coal-black head. Cisco settled into her lap and yawned sleepily.

Shiloh kept a steady eye on the dashboard. The mercenary’s ship showed up as a green blip hovering over the scattered red ones that represented the debris field. They were scanning, of course; she knew they would. The jammers should send back a dense thud that signaled the same as the hunks of rock around them. If they were lucky, the mercs would think they’d skimmed over the gravel, used the iron-based planet to mess up their sensors and then bugged out on the

other

side

.

If they were lucky.

Making a living on the edge was dangerous and getting more so every day. It had been way too long since a good score, and Shiloh didn’t have the credits to pay off the mercs or the port tariffs. Everyone in space had a hand out, ready and willing to take a cut. It sure did make it hard to earn an honest living, or in the crew of the Mustang’s case, any type of living at all, thus the necessity to hide. She was pretty sure there were some outstanding warrants for her arrest and she was certain there were some on the twins, with the nose they had for trouble. Without credits to bribe the mercs, the twins were as good as gone. Not to mention Doc. Nope, Shiloh didn’t want to go down that

merry

path

.

A light on the panel flashed. A scan had found Mustang. Shiloh quickly switched apps and held her breath, added some begging to her prayer, and hoped once more that the scan bounced back negative. She checked the video feeds and saw the red headed twins, Finn and Fi, short for Fiona, sitting quietly in the turrets. Each one had eyes on the canopy above and fingers on the trigger of their blasters, in case they had to make a run for it. Her uncle and Mustang mechanic, Handy, was positioned next to the switch in the engine room, ready to power the ship back on at a moment’s notice.

The cargo bay monitor was woefully empty except for the chickens that scratched around in the crevices searching for a morsel of feed. Hopefully Doc was sleeping off his latest drunken stupor, which was at times both amusing and annoying. Amusing because he came up with the most random observations. Annoying because he had a bad habit of yelling indiscriminately at people from his past that only he could see. A drunken rant from Doc would have the bounty hunters on them in a hurry. She wasn’t worried about Greta, who cooked and kept the ship passably clean. Greta was an old hand at this. She knew the drill and was likely making her way to the engine room to be close to Handy in case the proverbial shit hit

the

fan

.

Seconds passed that felt like hours. The ship stayed silent as a tomb except for Cisco’s rumbling purr. Shiloh kept her eyes on her panel until a light pecking sound turned her attention to the vid screens. Finn tapped on his screen with the tip of his finger and pointed up with the other. The words bugging out and vapor trail flitted across the top of the vids. Shiloh nodded and held up her hand to signal five more minutes of silence.

Fi made a face and flipped the bird at her twin. A check of the engine room screen showed Handy had received Finn’s text and was now busy wiping down a piece of machinery with a cloth while Greta stood behind him with a frown. The man didn’t have the sense to see that the woman was madly in love with him. Fortunately, Shiloh had the good sense to keep out of it and let them work it out on

their

own

.

Shiloh checked her scanners and saw the green blip moving away. Since they were in the gravitational field of the planet, the Mustang floated in tandem with the debris field away from the mercs. Another green blip showed up on the edge of her screen in the opposite direction of the

merc

ship

.

It sure would be nice to have an extra pair of eyes. Times like this made her curse her luck at losing her co-pilot. Not that she could blame Nance for leaving when he got a better offer; still, it was nice to have someone else around since she couldn’t do everything at once, no matter what she liked to tell herself.

The merc ship was definitely gone. The bounty must not be worth the hassle.

"Did anyone notice another ship when we

came

in

?"

I didn’t, Fi responded.

Me neither, Finn added. "What’s it

look

like

?"

Scanning now, Shiloh replied. "Fi, at your seven,

down

low

."

It’s got to be something good, Finn said. "Coz I’ve got a

hard

-

on

."

You get a hard-on just by breathing, Fi retorted. Got it, she added. "Looks beat to hell.

It’s

big

."

Told you, Finn replied.

Don’t get too excited yet, Shiloh said. "It could already be

picked

over

."

Nah, I’ve got a feeling.

Shiloh checked her screen. "Scan shows it’s intact. No hull breach. And