Read Naero's War: The Citation Series 2: The High Crusade for Free Online

try to strangle me in your sleep.”
    More laughter followed. His mates helped walk Barrett to the infirmary.
    This was Thirdday, what the landers used to call Tuesday, after some ancient god or goddess or some such. Every day of the standard week, the Marines did something special at night, if they weren’t on duty.
    Every Thirdday was food night, and Company 36 made special dishes or shared special treats with their mates. It got pretty wild, along with the regular crap of gambling, bitching, posturing and trash talk, sparring, and couples pairing off and sneaking away for monkey love.
    The next day, Fourthday, the old Wednesday from the past, was strangely enough: reading and Book Day, Chime Fox’s fave day.
    First, 36 began to settle down and study their sitreps for Ptolemy-5. There’d be an initial briefing before they geared up and dropped.
    Later that day, the gravity went off for a bit during their reading time. Naero thought it was very humorous, and took vids of her and nearly a hundred of her new chums with some of Chime Fox’s paperbacks, floating about and bouncing around, reading and turning pages. She seemed to have a little bit of everything.
    “Wanna meet my second cousin Jonny in Squad 4?” Chime asked. “I’m the older cousin, by several months. I’m sure he’d like to meet a hot little dish like you, Allen.”
    Miranda-Naero sighed and frowned. She remembered seeing Jonny in action during the battle. “I’m willing to meet anyone, but I don’t need you pimping me out to your Clan there, Chime.”
    Chime laughed. “Don’t be that way. Jonny’s a sweet guy–unlike most of these goons, and he’s a great Marine. You’ll like him. Come on.”
    Miranda-Naero shrugged, and Chime led her over to Squad 4.
    Someone whistled when they floated over into view. That was Terrence Decker, ripped, 1.91 meters or bigger, and short blue hair on top like a coarse brush, blue eyes and bold-ass naked, reading a murder mystery. “Oh, man. Lookee here, Jon-Jon. Your hot cousin’s here to screw my brains out…again.”
    A guy who looked a little like pretty Chime frowned and droned, “That shouldn’t take long, Decker. Imagine her surprise.” Jon Fox was average size, medium brown hair, well-built and in perfect shape, with soft green eyes. He was reading a historical romance by the cover, possibly even a regency.
    Decker either didn’t get the jibe or ignored it. “Ooh, lookee-lookee. My lucky day. She brought a cute friend. It’s the hot little rook. Looks like a threesome ta me!”
    Chime burst out laughing. “In your dreams, you troglodyte. Put some man-clothes on and go hump a dead mammoth or something. But you stay away from me and my new gungirl galpal, Decker, or we will both kick your balls to mush. You haven’t seen her fight. I have. We got a regular Cyclone among us.”
    “Ooh, I like it rough.”
    “Hey! Decker,” Jonny Fox suddenly warned, with an edge to his voice. “Chime’s my Clan and my blood, so just frost your dumb ass.”
    Decker grinned. “Sure thing, Jonny. Later, honeydolls.”
    Jonny smiled at Miranda-Naero. “Don’t mind him; he can’t help it.”
    “Mental defective?” Naero asked.
    Jonny chuckled. “No…he’s just a dick. Get’s stupid when purty girls are around and too much blood rushes to that tight little head of his.”
    Chime and Miranda Naero tried not to giggle a that one.
    Miranda-Naero glanced at his book “Regency, huh?”
    “What can I say. Those fancy clothes are a turn on, and I’m a sucker for happy endings. What do you have? Hard boiled detective, huh?”
    “Yeah…the butler did it.”
    He halted. “Isn’t that more of a whodunit or a cozy? And what the hell was a butler, anyway?”
    “All right,” Miranda-Naero said. “Then it’s the smoking hot dame with legs that won’t quit. Oh, and a butler was a kind of house servant.”
    “There, that’s more like it. And thanks for the info.”
    Chime just stood by, watching and listening