Downfall

Copyright © 2023 by Alexandra Norton 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, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review. Cover designed by MiblArt. Edited by LY Publishing Services. CONTENTS Preface 1. Tez 2. Stag 3. Tez 4. Stag 5. Tez 6. Stag 7. Tez 8. Stag 9. Tez 10. Stag 11. Tez 12. Stag 13. Tez 14. Stag 15. Tez Epilogue PREFACE Downfall is a standalone, steamy enemies-to-lovers novella in the Hearts With Teeth series universe. It isn’t required reading to get into the rest of the series. Instead, it serves as an action (and action ;))-packed introduction to the world and the agents at play within it. Playlist: https://alexandranorton.com/downfall-playlist/ Alexandra CHAPTER 1 TEZ It was like déjà vu, this dance. She’d seen it all before out here, in the liminal space between the station she guarded and the mined-dry planet it orbited. The way the intruder strafed to port, then did a one-eighty rotation to flop onto its dorsal fin for no reason whatsoever was infuriatingly familiar. There was no point in it. She always thought of the intruder as “it” because they were taught to eschew the enemy’s humanity for as long as possible. Of course there was a pilot in that cockpit, but Tez still made herself think of it as an object—a target to either chase away or kill. This one had bothered her frequently enough for “kill” to have become the priority. She was sick and tired of getting interrupted on her breaks to suit up and ward off the pest. But there she was again, charging her weapons from the cockpit of her Raptor after having had her breakfast cut short. Tez rolled her eyes and opened the comms. “Unknown vessel, leave Arvex Station Atlas territory immediately,” she started with the official script. “Or just stay very still, maybe.” She wasn’t expecting a reply. None ever came. She was expecting the volley of laser fire from the intruder, which she dodged with practiced ease. She knew its patterns now, after months of this crap. Tez responded with a burst of fire, and she couldn’t help but let out a whoop as one of her lasers grazed her opponent’s belly. The weirdest part about these recent attacks, aside from the fact that their motive was entirely unclear, was the ships. They looked to be a highly modded Raptor class. Not a known mod any of their systems were able to identify, though. They had giant bulbous appendages on all sides, making them look like they were covered in oversized bubble wrap. Very tempting to pop. They had managed to destroy a couple over the last months, but never this one. This one, not-so-affectionately nicknamed Gnat by Tez and her crewmates, was the worst. Gnats were tiny flying insects on Old Earth, always lingering and difficult to swat. Apparently, they were everywhere. She wondered what had died first when Old Earth was destroyed, the gnats or the humans? In fact, her belly-singing maneuver was the first time any of them had managed to get a hit on this particular craft. There technically wasn’t a way to identify them since the vessels transmitted no call signs, but station AI had learned to tell them apart by their approach and movement patterns. And with how often Tez sparred with this attacker, she didn’t even need the AI to pick it out of the crowd. It favored port, was wobbly on starboard, and had this meandering way of zooming around the station for no obvious purpose. But once intercepted and cornered, drawn out of its obscure flight path, it would react like an Old Earth snake, striking out with incredible precision and speed. Each time this happened, it got on her nerves a little more. She had an unnerving feeling that she was being toyed with. Tez narrowed her eyes, watching the gash in the belly of the beast ahead. Hoping she unbalanced the pilot, Tez fired another burst. No luck—the ship righted itself and swerved expertly out of the way. “You’re getting sloppy,” she droned over the comms channel. She wasn’t supposed to communicate with intruders aside from instructing them to leave. It was a violation. But what were they gonna do, take her off her shift? She was due to be sent back to home base in a week, anyway. She wouldn’t really mind getting caught and being dismissed a bit early, never having to deal with this nuisance again. Breaking a little rule for once in her Hydra Company career felt good, letting her blow off some steam over the nagging grudge she’d been building. Even the thought of such callousness made her stomach twist with discomfort, though. “Damn—no, shit, no, darn it,” she chastised herself for the unintended string of expletives and swerved down as the mystery vessel ahead fired off its own volley of beams. Unlike her Raptor’s weapons, which had been designed to abide by Universal atrocity specs, the intruders’ ships were retrofitted with lasers which did not dissipate at the permitted distance of three to ten miles. They just. Kept. Going. That was why Tez always had to make sure not to position herself between the intruder and the station orbiting Arvex. It likely wouldn’t be a problem; Arvex Station Atlas had shields up at all times. But she’d rather not have it hit more than necessary. Heck, her entire job was to not have it hit at all, after all. Tez prided herself on maintaining her composure under pressure, but this thing was such a pain in her ass. She twitched the yoke up, diving out of the path of another volley, which narrowly missed her own keel. This particular Gnat was hers to swat. She may not have managed to squash it yet, but she was the only one