“Hirsen,” she whispered. “I should have killed him.”
Maybe she still could. Maybe she would. Who was there to stop her? She had seen how these soldiers looked at her. Fear and horror, both flattering coming from ones with so many guns. They thought her a caged predator, safely tucked away until they needed her.
For what, she wasn’t sure. Hirsen had said they’d give her parades, money, whatever she wanted.
She wanted her gangers back.
Lotti paced around the bed, staining the carpet with drops of blood. A static holo of a star map beckoned to her from across the room. The soldier who brought her here had explained it was a map of all the Edge’s Star Systems.
So many, and she didn’t recognize most of the names. Elus Star System was near the bottom, spear-heading a group of Systems known as Backwater Worlds.
That’s where we’re headed, Isabella, the man had said. You’ll be safe there. Late forties, easily twice her size, shoulders so wide he may have been an ox in another life. The way the other soldiers reacted to his presence reminded her of her gangers, only better dressed, but with none of the style. The man, Clarke, looked at her the way some of her foster parents had looked at her at the start of their short-lived association. The ones who hoped they’d do a good job raising a troubled teenager, but were nervous after reading her file.
That had been a long time ago. Lotti didn’t like to dwell in the past. Angst was not in the gangers’ creed. It was one thing to take a breather to recover after she got her ass kicked, it would be another entirely to languish in this gray room forever.
Loyalty was the keystone of the gangers’ creed. The duty to do good to her people. To move forward, and prosper, whatever it took. It was gangers against everyone else because everyone else didn’t give a shit if a ganger lived or died.
Lotti gave a shit. Her family was gone. She was the only one who remained, and she’d make sure the rest of the world never forgot. For that, she required action.
She’d either kill Hirsen, or she wouldn’t. She would either run away from the EIF with as much money as she could get her hands on…or she wouldn’t.
But what she wanted most of all was on that star map. The Systems Alliance was chock full with people like the enforcers and AlSec. Joseph Clarke said they were still hunting for her. For the first time in her life, Lotti could fight back.
She could’ve an entire fleet. Wasn’t that better than a thousand hovercycles?
Nerd had called her a space princess before he died. Lotti had been queen of the gangers. To her, princess status was a demotion.
The Edge had so many stars. Maybe, hiding in those Star Systems, she’d find her boys and girls again, waiting for the call of their queen. She’d build her gangers again. Stronger, this time, much stronger. And when the time came to charge against their enemies…this time, her gangers would win.
“I’ll make it spectacular, my boys. That’s a promise.”
The star map beckoned to her.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Thank you for reading Edge of Conquest. It was the hardest book I’ve written so far, but also extremely rewarding. Clarke, Hirsen, and Lotti’s fight for the Edge will continue in the Restoration Armada series. If you want to read them as soon as possible, consider leaving a review of Edge of Conquest. A couple sentences are enough to help get the book into the hands of readers that will enjoy it (and to keep me fed so I can write better and faster).
If you want to contact me, you can do so in author@hugohuesca.com or in my site hugohuesca.com
Any corrections on Edge of Conquest math (travel times, non-oryza related physics, etc) are greatly appreciated and I’ll add you to the Acknowledgments of the next book.
Until next time!
-Hugo Huesca
ALSO BY HUGO HUESCA
RUNE UNIVERSE
Space Opera meets Cyberpunk in this action-packed thriller.
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Table of Contents
Dedication
Copyright
Table of Contents
1. Chapter One
2. Chapter Two
3. Chapter Three
4. Chapter Four
5. Chapter Five
6. Chapter Six
7. Chapter Seven
8. Chapter Eight
9. Chapter Nine
10. Chapter Ten
11. Chapter Eleven
12. Chapter Twelve
13. Chapter Thirteen
14. Chapter Fourteen
15. Chapter Fifteen
16. Chapter Sixteen
17. Chapter Seventeen
18. Chapter Eighteen
19. Chapter Nineteen
20. Chapter Twenty
21. Chapter Twenty-One
22. Chapter Twenty-Two
23. Chapter Twenty-Three
24. Chapter Twenty-Four
25. Chapter Twenty-Five
26. Chapter Twenty-Six
27. Chapter Twenty-Seven
28. Chapter Twenty-Eight
29. Chapter Twenty-Nine
30. Chapter Thirty
31. Chapter Thirty-One
32. Chapter Thirty-Two
33. Chapter Thirty-Three
34. Chapter Thirty-Four
Acknowledgments
Also by Hugo Huesca