Cassie’s Troubles by Liza O'Connor
Blurb
The SkyRyders are no longer the best skilled fliers in the
sky, and MAC is determined to rectify the situation by breeding better fliers.
However, the introduction of an exceptional flier into the project brings an underlying
cancer to light. Convinced the Corp removed a maneuver so a female could pass
the flight exam, the male cadets in the Academy revolt. Sensing chaos and
mutiny at the Fort, the enemy cartel gathers a force to annihilate the entire
West Coast forces.
Excerpt
Twelve months later, Cassie glared at the grey walls of
General Adams’ waiting room. Of all the betrayals in her life, this was the
hardest slam, and because of her twenty-year contract she signed, she didn’t
see how she’d get out of it.
What angered her most was she hadn’t even seen it coming.
Yet, she should have. The signs were there. She had noticed the absence of
women captains, yet she let her captains distract her with lectures to focus on
herself: “Apply yourself and you’ll go far.”
Well, she applied herself, and look where it got her, in
some Ryder’s version of a medieval harem. She had flown herself right into the
Corp’s dirty secret that no female recruit ever heard about.
Dare to exceed and the Corp turns you into a breeding cow to
make future fliers.
“Cadet Brown, the general will see you now,” the male admin
announced.
Cassie stood up and tugged at the ridiculous short skirt she
wore. She longed for her fly-suit.
General Adams surprised her. He was both younger and
better-looking than the general at Dix, and the expression on his face, she had
never seen on a general’s face before. He looked at her with an expression of
kindness. It still didn’t change her resolution not to be part of this breeding
program. She had not signed up for harem duty.
“Sit down, Cadet Brown,” the general ordered.
Cassie sat in the chair on the other side of his desk and
tugged at her skirt.
He smiled at her sympathetically. “It’s just a uniform,
cadet. I find all this braid about the neck quite irritating, myself.”
“If you want to trade uniforms, sir, I’m game,” she replied.
He gave her a slight smile and walked around the desk.
Leaning against its edge, he studied her. “You aren’t particularly pleased with
your new assignment.”
“No, sir, I’m not,” she replied curtly.
“I remember when I first became general here. My supply
chain was an absolute disaster. Everyone I put in the job hated it. Each flier
I tried to put in the role was worse than the one before. Finally, a wise old
general suggested I appoint someone to the job who actually liked logistics. I
did, and I’ve never had a supply problem again.”
“That is a very inspiring story, sir.”
“What did you find inspiring about it, Cassie?”
The change in his voice and the use of her first name in
such a familiar manner threw her off-guard for a moment, but she rallied.
“It inspires me to
inform you I find my new assignment insulting and belittling, and I will be
extraordinarily bad at it.”
The general laughed softly. “Everyone feels that way at
first. Come back in six months and if you still hate it, I’ll get you
transferred into a regular Corp unit.”
“Six months?”
“A cadet as determined as you—you can survive anything for
six months, can’t you?”
“Yes, sir.”
“You’re not still a virgin, correct?”
Cassie felt her cheeks warm. “No, sir.”
“Generally speaking, did you enjoy your sexual experiences?”
Cassie was certain she was now beet red. “Yes, sir, they
were okay.”
“Well, I hope you will find them better than okay during
your six months. After all you should get some reward for sticking it out. You
were explained the rules of engagement?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Could you tell me what they are, so I can be certain you’ve
understood them all?”
“There are to be twenty-four men on my list. I am to couple
with no less than two a day until the medic certifies I’m pregnant. No one can
force me or take me if I’m not properly stimulated. However, I must allow the
men the right to touch me so that I can be stimulated. I think that was all.”
Cassie finished through clenched teeth.
“You seem angry now,” he observed.
“I am. I get angry every time I think about this ‘job.’ You
know, back before the Terror Wars, women had equal rights. Now, we’ve fallen
back to medieval ways. I joined the Corp, so I wouldn’t be sold into a marriage
with a man I didn’t even know, so I could breed him children. And yet the Corp
expects me to do the same damn thing, except now I’ll have twenty-four damn men
to please!”
“Now you see, there is a difference. The Corp doesn’t expect
you to please twenty-four men. It expects twenty-four men to please you. You
have the upper hand, Cadet Brown. You get to select the twenty-four men you
want on your list. You get to decide when and where you want your pleasure. You
are the one in control, because you are part of the Corp’s most important
project.”
Cassie stared at him in disbelief.
“I can see you don’t believe me yet, but I give you my word,
if you sincerely try to do this job, then in six months, you can have a
transfer if you want out.”
“In six months, I could be pregnant,” she muttered.
“If you are, once the child is carried to term, you will
receive a promotion of one rank and a transfer.”
Cassie was shocked. A promotion—that would be worth six
months of torture in itself. “I’ll try it for six months, sir.”
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About the
Author
Liza O’Connor lives in Denville, NJ with
her dog Jess. They hike in fabulous woods every day, rain or shine, sleet or
snow. Having an adventurous nature, she learned to fly small Cessnas in NJ,
hang-glide in New Zealand, kayak in Pennsylvania, ski in New York, scuba dive
with great white sharks in Australia, dig up dinosaur bones in Montana, skydive
in Indiana, and raft a class four river in Tasmania. She’s an avid gardener,
amateur photographer, and dabbler in watercolors and graphic arts. Yet
throughout her entire life, her first love has and always will be writing
novels.
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