Heartless

By Erica Hayes

A romantic sci-fi thriller.

Captain Kiera Bo is a valiant resistance fighter, but years of interstellar war have hardened her heart. To win, she must be as inhuman as her enemy: the all-conquering cyborg Dominion. When she's captured by a Dominion battleship, at the mercy of Thaarn, its ruthless half-metal warlord, she expects only torture and death.

But Thaarn—destroyer of worlds, slayer of countless thousands—is no longer the mechanical Dominion killer he once was. With his cyberwire implants failing, he's regaining his lost humanity—and he's driven to atone for the slaughter he's wrought.

When Thaarn offers an unthinkable alliance, Kiera sneers at his 'guilt' for trickery. The Dominion feel no pain, no remorse, no emotion other than rage. But with mutiny brewing among Thaarn's murderous crew—and the fate of an entire resistance colony in her hands—Kiera must face the truth about her own dark crimes, and choose: die with her humanity intact, or win as a monster…

A 20,000 word novella

• Language: English
• Publisher: Erica Hayes
• Release date: Oct 31, 2018
• ISBN: 9781386605591

Erica Hayes

Erica Hayes was a law student, an air force officer, an editorial assistant and a musician, before finally landing her dream job: fantasy and romance writer. She writes dark urban fantasy and paranormal romance, and her books feature tough, smart heroines and colourful heroes with shadowy secrets. She hails from Australia, where she drifts from city to city, leaving a trail of chaos behind her.

Book preview

About Heartless

Captain Kiera Bo is a valiant resistance fighter, but years of interstellar war have hardened her heart. To win, she must be as inhuman as her enemy: the all-conquering cyborg Dominion. When she's captured by a Dominion battleship, at the mercy of Thaarn, its ruthless half-metal warlord, she expects only torture and death.

But Thaarn—destroyer of worlds, slayer of countless thousands—is no longer the mechanical Dominion killer he once was. With his cyberwire implants failing, he's regaining his lost humanity—and he's driven to atone for the slaughter he's wrought.

When Thaarn offers an unthinkable alliance, Kiera sneers at his 'guilt' for trickery. The Dominion feel no pain, no remorse, no emotion other than rage. But with mutiny brewing among Thaarn's murderous crew—and the fate of an entire resistance colony in her hands—Kiera must face the truth about her own dark crimes, and choose: die with her humanity intact, or win as a monster...

Chapter One

Kiera stared across the bridge of the enemy battleship Desolation into the cold electric eye of her captor, and swallowed salty fear.

All Dominion soldiers were big. Selectively bred for strength and agility, only the finest specimens chosen for cybernetic enhancements. But this one—the ship's captain, from his imperious attitude—this monster was seriously massive.

The black armour curving over his torso gleamed in the red combat lights that bathed the battlebridge. Telescopic infrared optics were riveted over his left eye, sleek gunmetal plasma weaponry wired into one strong forearm.

She knew his name. She knew his reputation. And Captain Kiera Bo, brave hero of the Defiance, felt dwarfed. Outgunned. Vulnerable.

She raised her chin, refusing to wince as the tight cuffs bit into her wrists behind her back. Sweat dripped in her cropped hair, only to be parched away in the dry chill. The slotted blackmetal deck cut into her knees through her flight suit.

The tiny pain was ironic, mocking. A warning of worse to come.

Hydraulic joints hissed as he folded his arms, his fingertips glimmering green. He had two out of four metalcore fingers on each hand—muscle and skin grafted to light alloy bone prosthetics with conductive cores, good for steadiness and reloading overheated guns as well as data transfer.

Is this all we got? The captain's voice was deep, cold as space. I'd hoped to capture more alive.

This. He meant her, a human being. Prey.

Bad day at the office? My heart bleeds. Kiera kept her tone light, mocking. But the sight of those monstrous metal grafts on skin made her guts squirm like maggots in a pit.

The battle was done, and neither Dominion nor Defiance could claim victory. The yells and stink on the burning deck of her frigate, Heartless, still echoed in her ears. A last-ditch effort at a decoy had sent her on a desperate solo mission, but Desolation had scooped up her shuttlepod like a toad swallowing a tasty insect.

Still, crippled Heartless had escaped, and Bishop, her second, had a fierce Defiance heart. Not afraid to walk alone. Without her, his crew would go on. Just as the Defiance would go on, until they'd blown the last Dominion ship to cold oblivion or died trying.

She could almost hear Bishop now, the gruff scorn that was his excuse for concern. Worst idea I ever heard, Bo. Damn fool heroes, always think they gotta lead from the front...

Well, here she was. On the twin-deck battlebridge of Desolation, as far into enemy territory as she'd ever been. Black metal everywhere, gleaming with tiny lights and readouts. Nothing like the bridge of her rusted little ship. Glowing green data columns ebbed and flowed in 3D, showing weapons readiness, nav specs, damage reports from the battle. Dominion crewmen on upper and lower decks manipulated virtual displays, ran diagnostics. Jacked their cyberware into black metal panels to effect a neural link with the pulsating red system core that formed the vertical, central backbone of the...

She swallowed. Hive, she'd almost thought. Not ship.

The captain surveyed her flatly. It'll go better for you if you don't talk.

Thanks for the advice, she snapped. Just kill me, Dominion, and get it over with. It'll spare me the sight of your ugly metal face—

Shut your mouth, Defiance. A second metal-clad brute shoved her, sending her sprawling to the deck. She swallowed a wild urge to laugh. Who was this guy: bad cop? A blackglass visor grafted to his face obscured his eyes—likely, he could 'see' an inhuman range of extra-visible wavelengths, from UV through IR and beyond. His long silversteel fingers arced with static. Both hands, off at the wrists and replaced. Greater dexterity and strength, as well as added conductivity for direct information processing. Probably he was a weaponspace jockey or a navtech.

Deliberately, Kiera spat on the deck at his feet and crawled back to her knees. His reddish hair had salt crystals in it. Dried sweat. As if that made him any more human.

This second monster made a crisp salute. All sensors negative, Captain Thaarn. They're gone.

Thaarn. The name hammered cold spikes into Kiera's soul.

The Dominion's finest killer. The Butcher of Hodar, they called him, after a particularly ruthless episode of slaughter. Murderer of civilians, children, the sick and wounded,