The Crime of Protection - Scifi Alien Cyborg Romance

By Gloria Martin

After almost a year on the run, Avi, a fugitive from a human colony, is caught by a team of cutthroat cyborg bounty hunters to face trial for murder back on the planet of Zethron. Exonyie is the alien commander responsible for escorting Avi back to Zethron for her day in court. At first Avi shies away from her jailer Exonyie, because he is a member of the species she despises and distrusts. However, she slowly begins to warm up to him when she sees firsthand a compassionate side that she thought cyborgs lacked. Exonyie faces a tough moral and emotional dilemma when he learns that Avi's crime was simply taking up arms to protect her family from a rogue authority figure. He must decide if he will bring her back to Zethron safe and sound or defy everything he stands for and help her escape.

A Standalone Short Story with No Cliffhanger! 

• Language: English
• Publisher: American Science Fiction Romance Club
• Release date: Nov 14, 2018
• ISBN: 9781386025009

Book preview

The Crime of Protection

Chapter 1

Avi felt a jolt when the police cruiser attached itself to the top of the spacecraft she had called home for the past year. She had been on the run all that time, and finally, they had caught her. Avi felt her heart pound in her chest, her mouth go dry, and her forehead bead with sweat. She predicted they would promptly storm onto her ship, guns blazing. In her experience, authority figures had a habit of shooting first and asking questions later.

But Avi wasn’t going to give up without a fight; pretty soon she heard the entrance to the ship clang open and the sound of boots clomp onto the floor above her. They would be here very soon. Avi jumped down from the pilot’s seat, grabbed her gun and crouched down behind the first-aid station and waited, gun in hand.

The door overhead burst open and Avi could hear a flood of boots rush into her ship and her belongings being tossed around. She had to force herself to stay put, though she had lived on this ship since the moment she fled Zethron with her life, and she had started to grow fond of it. She didn’t like the fact that they were tossing her things around like garbage, but she had to remind herself that that was the least of her worries at this moment. Any second now, a group of cyborgs would come running into this room and she needed to prepare herself for the worst.

Avi sucked in her breath as the door opened and the sound of boots could be heard entering the room. The cyborgs aggressively tore apart the room, disabling the electricals to prevent booby traps. Then all of a sudden, the voices and the movement stopped. Avi cocked her gun as she waited for someone to call her out, but after a few minutes, she realized that no one was going to. They had all retreated... But why? Weren’t they here, looking for her? Avi let out a sigh of relief, and slid down to the floor. Even though she was safe for this one moment that certainly didn’t mean she was out of the woods. This might be a ploy to get her to crawl out of her hiding place, and she wasn’t going to fall for it. Avi made herself comfortable and decided to wait the night out. She was in the safest part of the ship and knew that staying here would help her chances of surviving capture. This had been her main goal for the past year and there was no giving up on it now.

TWO HOURS EARLIER...

A knock echoed on the outside of Exonyie’s door.

Come in, he groaned.

I’m sorry to disturb you boss, but there’s been some news upstairs. The man spoke quietly.

What is it Zen? Speak up. I can’t hear you. Tell me that we caught her. Tell me that we have finished this endless chase of cat and mouse and can finally return home. Exonyie and his crew, a team of cyborg bounty hunters, had been on this ship for almost a year, chasing a fugitive who had been charged with murder. Their mission was to bring the fugitive back to face trial, but after nearly a year, the search was beginning to seem futile. All of the ships that they had taken over or seized weren’t harboring the fugitive. Exonyie was exhausted and yearned for his own bed and his home planet. Traveling the universe was something that he had always loved doing, but the beauty of his home planet always drew him back, and he had been gone way too long. 

Zen fidgeted. It seemed like he was weighing the news in his head. He was probably afraid of Exonyie’s reaction to the news. Exonyie had been extremely irritable as of late and blew up whenever he had been given any bad news. He knew that his crew was on edge, because their boss was usually a very calm and professional leader. This new attitude had made them fearful of what he might do to them.

It’s okay, Zen. I’m not going to yell at you. What happened? Exonyie asked quietly.

Zen let out a sigh of relief. The ship that we were chasing did harbor a number of fugitives, but she wasn’t among them.

Exonyie groaned in anguish and frustration. I see, he said.

But we did get some useful information, said Zen.

And what was that? Exonyie demanded through clenched teeth. It took all of