Her Personal B.O.B.: Batteries Not Required, #1

By Josette Reuel and S.E. Isaac

**Time Travel, Cyborg, Reverse Harem Romance**

 

Paisley MacKenna's life was lonely and felt as if she took one step forward only to take ten backward. Friends – or men – weren't something she had time for. Her battery-operated boyfriend gave her what she needed without the entanglements. If only Josh McCormick would take the hint and leave her alone.
However, her life changed the night something crashed into her cornfield. Was it a dream or crop circles gone bad?

Earth's B.O.B. Galactic Taskforce 1st Flight Squadron were six of Earth's best soldiers. Over the years they had meshed into a well-oiled machine. Thought of as the property of the Earth's military, they'd never had a choice about the augmentations that had been done to them.

However, even as cyborgs created so they could continue to fight, they weren't prepared for being sucked through a rift and onto an Earth from a century before they were even born. The officers – Baqir, Orion, and Burhan – were even less prepared for the spirited woman who confronted them when they first stepped from their ship and onto the unfamiliar Earth.

Will Paisley dismiss the events of the night as a fantasy created from using her battery-operated toy before bed or will she discover a new life with her personal B.O.B. who don't require batteries?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Evanlea Publishing
• Release date: May 19, 2020
• ISBN: 9781393196297

Josette Reuel

Josette Reuel has been creating stories since she was a small child. As an avid reader from her earliest memories, Josette enjoys many genres; however, her current passion is anything Romance. Oddly, it wasn't until her forties that her writing became a lot more grown-up. Josette believes in love at first sight, finding romance in the small things, and being open to exploring new things. Josette writes M/F, M/M, menage, and reverse harem Contemporary, Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Dark Romance, and Paranormal Romance of varying degrees of heat.  She believes in realism along with the fantasy and writes her characters with a variety of body types and backgrounds. Her stories often fall within the "Forever Safe" sub-genre with their love at first sight, fated-love themes. https://twitter.com/JosetteReuel www.facebook.com/josette.reuel www.facebook.com/JosetteWritesRomance www.facebook.com/groups/JosetteWritesRomance www.instagram.com/josettesweetnsaucy/ www.bookbub.com/authors/josette-reuel https://booksprout.co/author/1463/josette-reuel

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Her Personal B.O.B.: Batteries Not Required 1

Copyright © 2020 S.E. Isaac & Josette Schaber (as Josette Reuel)

Cover design by Evanlea Publishing

Proofreading and Edits: Evanlea Publishing

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means including information storage and retrieval systems – except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews – without permission in writing from Evanlea Publishing, Josette Schaber, and/or Josette Reuel.

The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious or are used fictitiously. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental and not intended by the author.

This book is sold in print and electronic formats and is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This book, when in electronic format, may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person or use proper retail channels to lend a copy. If you are reading this book in print or electronic format and did not purchase or borrow it through proper channels, then please return it and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

**Disclaimer: Translations were completed using Google Translate and as such have not been verified. Poetic license has been exercised in regard to spelling and removal of language-specific characters to facilitate the flow of the story. The use of these translations is to create a mood within the story. However, in many cases, names and dialog are fictional creations of the author and not meant to be translations of other languages.

Published by Evanlea Publishing

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1st Edition Josette and S.E. writing as Ella Rose & Kate Linn

2nd Edition: December, 2020

Batteries Not Required #1

by Josette Reuel & S.E. Isaac

Paisley MacKenna’s life was lonely and felt as if she took one step forward only to take ten backward. Friends – or men – weren’t something she had time for. Her battery-operated boyfriend gave her what she needed without the entanglements. If only Josh McCormick would take the hint and leave her alone.

However, her life changed the night something crashed into her cornfield. Was it a dream or crop circles gone bad?

Earth’s B.O.B. Galactic Taskforce 1st Flight Squadron were six of Earth’s best soldiers. Over the years they had meshed into a well-oiled machine. Thought of as the property of the Earth’s military, they’d never had a choice about the augmentations that had been done to them.

However, even as cyborgs created so they could continue to fight, they weren’t prepared for being sucked through a rift and onto an Earth from a century before they were even born. The officers – Baqir, Orion, and Burhan – were even less prepared for the spirited woman who confronted them when they first stepped from their ship and onto the unfamiliar Earth.

Will Paisley dismiss the events of the night as a fantasy created from using her battery-operated toy before bed or will she discover a new life with her personal B.O.B. who don’t require batteries?

Chapter 1

Baqir

After forty years in space, it was a relief to finally be going home; if we could even call it that any more. We had been gone forever thanks to countless missions and the fleets’ need for our skill sets.

But, finally, we were heading back to Earth. It just sucked that our craft was a rust bucket that only seemed to move at the speed of a snail.

The ship vibrated, bringing me back to the current situation. The crew attempted to adjust the ship’s trajectory. The ship banged forcefully against something, startling Ook. He jumped off my hand and flew across the room.

The small winged lizard was my constant companion and on most days was more trouble than he was worth. However, he was like family so it only made sense that he came with me as I began my trip home.

As I reclined in the uncomfortable chair, I admired Ook. He was a surprising contrast to the sterile surroundings of space with his rusty shades of brown. He ran around the room playfully. He had been cooped up during the maintenance team’s inspection, so now he was free and the world was his playground.

Ook flapped his wings swiftly and flew around me. He perched on my shoulder, and then nudged me with his scaly snout.

Yeah, I know, I chuckled as I rubbed his nose with my fingertip. He closed his eyes and leaned into my touch. After a few minutes, he had enough of being touched and walked down my arm.

I bent my elbow and pressed it firmly into the armrest. Ook crawled up my arm to my fingers. His long tail wrapped around my wrist and then he dangled care-free upside down. I was used to him using my arm as a playset.

The vibrations of the ship were worsening. The ship jolted back and forth making my stomach slosh. My eyes closed, and I began to steady my breathing.

What the hell were those incompetents hitting?

When the shaking didn’t decrease, I opened my eyes and growled. Ook looked at me briefly with his head cocked to the side and then went back to playing on my arm.

Seriously, what the– I gritted my teeth as I watched sparks rain down from the electronic relays in the ceiling.

Commander? Blared over the com.

Yes, I asked, holding back my annoyance.

You better get up here.

Feck, fine, I’m coming.

I jumped to my feet and looked at Ook, who was making his way up my arm. He perched on my shoulder, and his slender tail wrapped loosely around my neck for balance. A deep sigh escaped me as the door slid open and I walked down the corridor to the bridge. All I had wanted was a few hours to relax and pretend that everything was normal.

At the entrance to the bridge, I punched in the code for entry and the door slid open with a squeal. This ship was falling apart, but that’s what happened when you stole an old piece of junk.

Scanning the stations, I noted that all personnel were already on deck. As I approached, Syler vacated the captain’s chair and took his own seat at tactical. Opening the compartment on my forearm, I pulled out the cable and plugged it into the computer port on the armrest. My electronically enhanced brain began processing the data that my men had already logged on the event. Even so, I preferred the human method of communication. Being a cyborg didn’t make me any less human – to Hell with what the government was now sending out as propaganda.

Report, I boomed.

Unknown rift ahead and as we approach the turbulence becomes worse. It’s going to shake the damn ship apart. Kiel shared from his seat by the scanner’s control board.

Speir swung around in his seat at navigation. And, before you ask, no, we cannot turn away.

Orion simply reclined at his post. Weapons would not assist us at this point. There was nothing physical to hit. The rift ahead of us registered as gases and space. Nothing more, and nothing less. However, the ship handled as if it was caught in a tractor beam and heading directly for the center of the swirling vertical column of gasses.

Recommendations? I demanded.

Bend over and kiss our butts goodbye, Burhan quipped.

Everyone on the bridge groaned at the annoying jokester. It might be true, but who wanted to think about it… besides we were cyborgs, we couldn’t die that easily. The nanobots coursing through our veins would heal us. Because of that, there was no point in trying to say good-bye. Thanks to accidents while serving the greater good in the military and other service positions, the government had saved us and given us new life. Part human and part circuit boards and metal.

Can it, Burhan, I growled. Anyone besides Burhan have any recommendations?

All scenarios have been run. We don’t have any recommendations, Commander, Spier glanced at me and then back out at the chaos ahead of us.

The rift we were being pulled into was unlike any I had ever seen or heard of. Most rifts were large in scale and popped up on navigation and tactical radars. This one hadn’t. One minute it wasn’t there and the next minute it was. It appeared to be a spontaneous combustion of space, time, and anomalies.

What do you think is on the other side of the rift? Kiel asked weakly. His eyes were glued outside at the approaching rift.

Could be a black hole, Spier replied.

Or another galaxy, Syler’s words were a cross between a question and a statement. He looked at me as though hoping I would either agree with him or answer the half-ass question.

Have you sent out a distress signal? I asked Kiel. He looked at me and nodded.

Multiple times, Commander, he sighed.

Send out another one, I ordered. Kiel gave a firm nod and then worked his magic on the comms board.

He signaled for me to speak.

This is Commander Baqir. I am the commander of Earth’s B.O.B. Galactic Taskforce’s 1st Flight Squadron. Our ship, Starship-2369, is in distress and we’re being pulled in by a rift. Are there any ships in the area, who can assist our crew?

After I finished my message, Kiel released a comms button. We all waited for a response. Nothing but silence. An irritating silence that made my blood boil and circuits nearly explode.

Where the hell were the other two squadrons? They had left only a few hours behind us. They should be within range to answer our damn distress call.

I signaled to Kiel. He pressed the comms button.

Leave comms open, Kiel nodded in response. This is Commander Baqir. I am the commander of Earth’s B.O.B. Galactic Taskforce’s 1st Flight Squadron. Our ship, Starship-2369, is in distress and we’re being pulled in by a rift. Are there any ships in the area, who can assist our crew? I growled.

We heard you the first time, you ugly bastard, a familiar voice replied with a chuckle. It was Commander Botrus of B.O.B. Galactic Taskforce’s 2nd Flight Squadron.

Where the fuck have you been? I snapped.

Don’t get your panties in a wad, he laughed. You just now came on our radar.

We’re trapped in a rift.

Known source? Commander Botrus’s 1st Lieutenant interrupted.

You are always interrupting someone, Commander Botrus groaned. Anyway, we can try teleporting you off that sorry ass thing you call a ship.

Would have taken your ship, but we were in a bit of a hurry and grabbed the nearest ship, asshole, I seethed.

We had been on our last mission. Was supposed to be a simple recovery mission of a black box out of a crashed Earth ship. A simple recovery mission turned into lasers being fired at us, and at least fifty pissed off Yamdars chasing after us. Apparently, sneaking into the Yamdar government’s restricted area was still frowned upon.

It was Ook, who got us busted. He had leaped off my shoulder and landed onto the Earth ship’s console. Music came blaring out of the ship’s internal comms notifying everyone within three lightyears that we were there. Couldn’t even blame Ook. I didn’t even expect the crashed ship to have any life to it, especially not their star-entertainment radio.

Not our fault you decided to listen to music in the middle of a covert mission, Commander Botrus laughed. He couldn’t see me, but I was definitely rolling my eyes.

Our ship