JaydeRussell

Operative - Ch. 23

Hey all!

Real quick announcement, Book 2, Fugitive, is now available for preorder!

You can find it here.

I've also just commissioned the cover for book 3. I'm expecting to see it mid-late July.
2023-06-06 06:00:03 +0000 UTC View Post

Operative - Ch. 22

Chapter 22 - Making Things Right

Samira

“Alright, now check each of the lines one last time. If they’re still clear, then come back down and we can start installing the core,” I shouted up to Aurora, before taking a step back to let her down off the reactor.

“Where did...

Operative - Ch. 21

Chapter 21 - Emergency Departure

Thea

Bryce continued to chant in the background while the other six of us, plus Sanya, were gathered together in the hall outside our room.

“You sure you want to come with us?” I asked Leila, who was the one standing closest to me. “I’m...

Operative - Ch. 20

Content Warning: threats of forced suicide

Chapter 20 - Contract Requirements

Bryce

“I don’t understand.” Sakeem frowned as he brought a data-pad over to me. The curly-haired human was smart, he just wasn’t quite getting it.

“Alright, look, these columns are yo...

Operative - Ch. 19

Chapter 19 - Waking Reunion

Ithnaa

“Hey, hottie, how’re you feeling?” A soft voice brushed away the haze of sleep, and I opened my eyes with a tired smile.

“Sora, you’re still alive. That’s good.” My throat was dry, and it was weirdly hard to think...

Operative - Ch. 18

Chapter 18 - Damage Control

Anali

“What the fuck was that?” I asked Zen after the silence got to be too much. “Why was she even here?”

“I warned you to stay away. You should have listened.”

“You told me to be scarce for a few days, not that the bitch who’...

Operative - Ch. 17

Chapter 17 - Lowering the Bar

Suriel

“Grab a seat Anali, I’ll let--” Thea stood up onto the chair she had been sitting in and grabbed the half-elf’s neck before slamming her head into the bartop in one fluid motion. Morgan just stared at the scene with her mouth half-open wh...

Operative - Ch. 16

Chapter 16 - Rendezvous

Bryce

I shambled to the end of the oversized bed and fell forward, landing face first into the sheets. Thea laughed before doing the same. I pulled her into an awkward hug and let out a quiet groan.

“You okay, princess? You seem more tired than usual....

Chapter 16 delays...

Hey all!

I wanted to give you a quick update to let you know that chapter 16 probably won't be out until tomorrow night.

I wrote it out, but then decided that I wanted to move that part of the story to a later chapter for pacing reasons. That means I have an extra chapter sitting in ...

Operative - Ch. 15

Chapter 15 - Debriefing

Sora

“Hey, Sami, you ready to head back? We’re going to miss the deadline if we don’t leave soon.” I had to lean over at an awkward angle to look under the bulkhead where Sami was working. She managed to shove herself so far in there that I could only...

Operative - Ch. 14

Chapter 14 - A Show of Force

Thea

“You banished four of my guards. Explain yourself,” Captain Aoyama demanded, and Zen visibly tensed despite trying his best to keep his cool.

Apparently, he had only just realized what us standing there actually meant for the people guardi...

Operative - Ch. 13

Chapter 13 - Zen

Bryce

I spent the next half-hour or so checking Thea’s meridians for damage, and as far as I could tell, there wasn't any. In fact, they looked far healthier than they had just a week before when I finished rebuilding them. That was obviously a good...

Operative - Ch. 12

Chapter 12 - Transit

Thea

“Why does being told to do what we were already planning on doing make me not want to do it anymore?” I asked Bryce as we left Penn’s Pretty Prick.

“Because you have a problem with authority,” she pointed out as we came to a stop a few meter...

Operative - Ch. 11

Chapter 11 - Penn’s Pretty Prick

Bryce

I quickly adjusted the contract with Suriel to provide him with twenty percent of my mana. It was a lot, especially considering that I hadn’t adjusted the amount that Leila was receiving. Which meant, with Thea’s pact taking thirty-five p...

Billing update!

I don't want to catch anybody off guard, so! Here's a quick reminder that payments are scheduled to unpause tomorrow.

In other news, RoyalRoad chapters will begin posting again tomorrow morning along with chapter 11 being released on here later tonight. 

It feels good to be caugh...

Operative - Ch. 10

Chapter 10 - Fae Problems

Sanya

“Sora, what do you want me to do?” I asked them again as Bryce, or uh, Captain Bryce, finished giving out orders and people started to stand up. Normally, calling a ship’s captain ‘captain’ wasn’t the thing to do on Paradise unless you wer...

Operative - Ch. 09

Chapter 09 - Back Together

Sora

“But you have to admit, she has good bones.” The dwarf smiled up at me as he swelled with what had to be false pride. “Get a half decent mechanic working on her, and she’ll last you the rest of your life.”

“Yeah, because you’ll die...

Operative - Ch. 08

Chapter 08 - Dinner Conversation

Samira

“Sami!” Thea shot up out of the booth to give me a crushing hug, which I returned as best as I could. She somehow felt even stronger than before, and even though she obviously wasn’t trying to hurt me, I was still finding it difficult to...

Operative - Ch. 07

Chapter 07 - Making Friends with Threats

Thea

“Shit,” I cursed under my breath as I split my attention between the trio of pirates and the twins. Aurora was gritting her teeth and obviously pissed, but Leila was the one I was really worried about. She was just standing there in ...

Operative - Ch 06

Chapter 06 - Paradise

Bryce

“That’s not what I asked, Captain Virra. I need to know who knows you, not who you are. You can’t land here unless someone vouches for you.”

We were sitting just outside of Paradise, trying to negotiate a place to land. The station, if it co...

Operative - Chapter 05

Chapter 05 - Contact

Thea

“No, Thea, you cheat. I’m not playing with you anymore,” Leila complained as she continued to stare at the data-pad Bryce had lent her, and I just rolled my eyes. We’d been stuck on the tiny shuttle for the last three days, and still had two more da...

Operative - chapter 02 re-write

I've updated chapter 2 to save Thea's heels.

In actuality, I didn't like removing the contents of Thea's ring so soon after revealing how much money was inside it. It felt like a bit of a reverse deus ex machina--a diabolus ex machina, if you will--despite it not originally being intended...

Update!

Okay, so I just finished editing Fugitive and I'm planning to start on new Operative chapters tomorrow.

I've been doing some plot farming, and I think I'm going to rewrite Chapter 02 - Stranded....

Story delays, personal life, and other reasons I suck at Patreon

Hey all!

I'm sure you've noticed that A Guide to Becoming a Pirate Queen is currently 3 chapters behind, and that's been something of an unfortunate trend with my writing on Patreon. 

I've been doing something of a mental retrospective after finishing the last book and I'm hones...

Operative - Ch. 04

Chapter 04 - Escape, Part 2

Sora

I left the vault as I adjusted the leather satchel on my shoulder. It was a bit dated, and definitely not my usual style, but I made it work. Besides, it wasn’t like I was bringing it along for the fashion. I just needed some way to ...

Operative - Ch. 03

Chapter 03 - Escape, Part 1

Samira

“Okay, are you ready?” Sora asked, and I nodded hesitantly. So they uncapped a small vial of smelling salts under Krom’s nose. The orc struggled against the overly tight restraints as he cursed and tried to move his head away from the vial. 2023-02-08 05:28:26 +0000 UTC View Post

Operative - Ch. 02

Chapter 02 - Stranded

Bryce, three days prior

I stepped through the portal and took in the dimly lit room around me, or rather, what was left of it. Whoever took Sora and Samira had ransacked the place. The sheets were torn off the bed, and the only thing left of the art was the bus...

Operative - Ch. 01

Okay! So, I did a little bit of editing for the last 2 chapters, as recommended by a few amazing readers.

Chapter - 62 - I dropped the scene on the ship, instead ending the book with the crew ente...

Quick Update

A few of my Amazon-centric readers have reminded me that while Patron and RoyalRoad won't have to wait all that long for book 3, they're probably going to have to wait months... SO, I've decided the revisit the end of the last chapter to make it less... evil?

Which is taking me a bit to re...

Fugitive - Epilogue

Epilogue - An Offer You Can’t Refuse

Sora

“There we go. They should be coming around now.” A feminine voice spoke, and I felt the familiar cooling sensation of an IV forcing something into my arm. “In fact, they can probably already hear you.”

The feel...