Freelancing: The Earthborn, #0

By Adair Hart

Freelancing in galactic space is hazardous to your health, unless you’re Blake Brown, a four-hundred-plus-year-old vampire exiled from Earth. After serving as an intelligence agent in the Fredorian Rangers for twenty years, he has his sights set on trying out the mercenary bounty system with his abductee brother, Seth Williams.

It’s one thing to find a bounty or contract they can attempt with so little to their name. Fulfilling it is another. Starting off small, they take a simple contract to retrieve a stolen ship. The problem is the thief is Alcarez, a mad cyborg with a small army.

Finding Alcarez will be an issue, but doing so with minimal equipment comes with its own set of concerns. Despite these challenges, Blake and Seth will show the freelancing community what Earthborn can do.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Quantum Edge Publishing
• Release date: Jan 21, 2018
• ISBN: 9781386322337

Book preview

Contents

Title

Copyright Page

01

02

03

04

05

06

07

08

Note from the Author

About the Author

Acknowledgments

Books

Title

Copyright © 2018 Adair Hart

All rights are reserved to the author. No part of this ebook may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.

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

Editing done by Laura Petrella

Cover done by Tom Edwards

Interior design done by Colleen Sheehan

Proofread done by Alexa

Published by Quantum Edge Publishing

www.AdairHart.com

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Chapter One

A stream of bullets flew by Blake Brown’s head as he slipped behind a steel pillar in a large underground transportation hub. The Trag mercenaries that had him pinned down wanted him dead, the result of sabotaging their illegal cargo in an unmarked warehouse. Notifying local law enforcement about where to pick it up just pissed off the Trags even more.

Give up already, Fredorian, said one of the mercs.

"I’m fucking Earthborn, asshole," said Blake as he squatted and turned his head off to the side. Looking around, he saw the dead civilians that had been caught in the cross fire. It was not something he had intended to happen, but the Trags were ruthless and did not care who got in their way. He pulled a small optical reconnaissance device off his belt and tossed it forward. After a moment, the heads-up display in his helmet showed three mercs ducking in and out between the pillars. When one of them tried to cross, Blake peeked out and took aim. One trigger press later and the merc was on the ground, pumped full of metal. Blake pulled back into cover.

Shit! He got Gaaulst, said one of the mercs.

Blake ducked as the dinging sound of bullets hitting the pillar filled the air.

You can’t live forever, said another merc.

I don’t need to, just longer than you, said Blake. He contemplated his options. Rushing out with his chameleon shield active was not possible since the Trags had sensors for that. They came prepared to hunt him, something he would need to investigate if he survived this.

Another option was bouncing a grenade off the wall at them. There was the possibility they could scramble out of the way, or have highly rated kinetic shielding. The third option was out of the question. If he had stronger kinetic shielding, he could just run out and lay waste to them. That was the trade-off of having a suit with chameleon versus heavy kinetic shielding. As he was deciding, his HUD showed one of the mercs peeping out.

The merc shot a grenade toward Blake.

Using his vampire reflexes, Blake angled himself and kicked the grenade back.

It hit the ground in front of the nearest merc’s pillar and exploded, causing the ceiling to cave in.

Blake moved out of the way when his pillar fell toward him. He hugged it close as the pillar hit the wall, creating a small space under it. A part of the ceiling landed on the pillar and then slid to the sides at an angle. The rest of the ceiling piled up around him, trapping him inside.

After a moment, all was silent.

He closed his eyes and focused. His vampire senses could detect their heartbeats, and the sound of their footsteps was loud, even with the cracking sounds of the rubble around him. A pain shot up his arm as he realized it had been hit by debris. In all the excitement, it had not even registered. Now it did.

With his free arm, he grabbed a blood vial out of his belt pocket. Drinking it caused the familiar fire-in-the-blood feeling he had come to rely upon. His active healing kicked in, and his eyes turned a dim blue. He emitted a low growl as strength coursed through him. This was not the worst situation he had ever been in.

You think he’s dead? asked one of the mercs.

No idea. Should probably blow the whole damn place up just to make sure. They say Blake Brown is unkillable, but I think … we’re about to prove everyone wrong.

Blake focused his senses on their positions and placed his hands on the slab facing toward the mercs. With an intense focus, he pushed.

The slab launched forward and hit one of the mercs, pinning him to the ground as it landed.

Blake lurched forward and pulled out his dual energy blades.

With one quick slice, the other startled merc screamed as his arm, from the elbow down, fell to the ground. Another slice silenced him as his head flew off his body.

Blake turned his gaze toward the merc on the ground who was struggling to get out from under the slab. As Blake approached, he checked out his black, light armor to see if there was any damage. After verifying it was in good shape, he thought about how he had gotten to this point. Ten mercs had originally jumped him in the warehouse. These three were the only ones who survived to chase him. How they knew he would be there was a mystery. They probably expected him to use his dual energy blades, which was fair. It was one of his more well-known tactics. Too bad for them he was also well versed in ranged weaponry.

With his enhanced vampire senses, he could smell that the merc had crapped his armor. Trags smelled like shit in general, but when they let loose, it was hard to ignore that smell. He shook his head. Trags. Seven-foot-tall beige-skinned humanoids with bumpy skin, floppy ears, and heavy ridges on their heads. They were tough physically, but not the brightest. He had been dealing with them for most of his career. If they were involved, their contractor was short on cash.

He retracted his helmet into his neck guard, exposing his pale skin. A cool breeze swept across his face. He rolled his head back and forth while cracking his neck and then ran a hand along the shaved sides of his scalp. Although the helmet provided good defense and enhanced awareness, having it off and using his pure vampiric senses was sometimes better, depending on the situation. He squeezed the back of his neck and then brushed his hand through the short jet-black hair that stood up on the top of his head. As he squatted next to the merc, he shook a finger and said, I bet you’re wondering … is Blake Brown going to drink me dry?

The merc struggled to breathe as his eyes fluttered.

Oh … don’t worry. Your blood is like drinking mud water. Works in a pinch, but not something any self-respecting vampire would touch, said Blake. With a pat on the merc’s