Defying The Alliance (Novokin Alliance Invasion 1)
caught my scissor kick in mid air, flipping me backwards.
    The somber tone in his voice slapped me with the realization of our desperate predicament. My bruised heart tried to claw its way out of my chest, so I couldn’t feel the hurt anymore. Anger rose deep from my gut pulling me to where it always pulled me, the Novokin Alliance invasion. That first day, and those horrible vid scenes coming in from New Astoria. The devastation, the death. Tears of festering rage started to build as I thought about my family. Caught on the home world during the first praking Novokin attack. And it wasn’t just mine. Countless numbers of planets and outposts in our galaxy ransacked and destroyed in mere seconds by those Novokin butchers. I could barely see, grinding my teeth and shaking so hard trying to keep the tears back -.
    The room flipped upside down.
    I realized what was happening a millisecond before white hot pain exploded in my shoulder where it hit the mat. That was a praking teeth rattler. A far off voice boomed in time with the jarring of my brain.
    "If we're going to practice, you will need to focus on the here and now Captain, lest you wish to be thrown across the room again," he said firmly as his lips curled up in that annoying, lopsided way that made him look sexy as hell and flustered the area south to my belly button. Apparently this was all very funny to him.
    I worked hard to keep a dazed look while I reached up a hand, from my undignified position on the floor, with the hopes of him helping me up. He obliged and leaned down to reach for my hand. Too bad for him.
    I took advantage of the millisecond he was slightly off balance. I locked his wrist then used his own weight against him, pulling him forward. All traces of smugness on his face were replaced with the stark gut-punch of reality. He was going down. I kicked out at his weight bearing leg. The big beautiful golden mountain of a man tumbled over little ole me and smacked face first on the ground, hard.
    "I didn't do all this just to become a criminal. Damn it!" I retorted, breathing heavily from the effort I’d exerted to see his 320 pound of pure muscle ass knocked down a peg, and kissing ground.
    He seemed stunned so I followed him down to the mat, circled behind him and leapt on his back like a monkey. “I used to hunt down and lock up criminals,” I panted. I pushed my knees into his back as I wrapped my arms around his neck. I locked my hands and started to squeeze.
    “Be careful Captain you may strain a muscle there.” Was that mirth in his voice? Was he laughing at me? Skeck, no. I squeezed harder.
    “Maybe honor, and duty mean nothing to you, barbarian, but I took an oath to uphold and enforce the ideals of the Protectorate.” My voice trembled under the strain of my anger and my effort to immobilize my gargantuan opponent.
    He started to move to his hands and knees. Dammit he was getting up. Then one of his arms crumbled under him, listing his body on one side. Oxygen baby. You don't realize how much you need it, until it's gone. There's a reason I'm the Captain. There's a reason I took first place in all the martial arts competitions at the Academy. Size doesn't matter to a grappler. The bigger they are, the harder they –AAAAAHHHH!
    All my muscles went into spasm at once. The jolt of electricity crawled over every inch of my body crippling my nervous system. My grip involuntarily loosened and he started to fall. Before, I had a chance to react, he turned the momentum of his fall into a roll and crushed me like a Greycrunch water bug. So much for air. My arms had the strength of wet spaghetti and when he righted himself, he easily peeled them from around his neck using my thumbs as levers. The only thought going through my head, as I skated unceremoniously to the floor is that this is what must've felt like to exist before I learned to walk.
    The next thing I knew I was face down drooling on the mat, and Trex was on his back next to me,

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