Broken Episode One Read Online Free Page A

Mimi.”
    “Don’t worry, I will be.”
    “And if you have time, give the GNS a call. I kind
of promised Yop that he would have first dibs on any stories you
come across.”
    “Really?”
    “Yep. So if you do come across something worthy,
give him a call.”
    “… Okay,” she conceded, figuring
she had to honor her dad’s deal.
    “Alright then, you have a good one. Get to work. Now
is there anything you need? How about a new recording ball? I
reckon it’s finally time you replace that old piece of junk.”
    “Don’t call him that,” her voice became
piercing.
    “It’s a recording ball, Mimi, it’s not alive.”
    “It’s my friend,” she said bluntly.
    Her dad opened his mouth, but whatever he wanted to
say quickly died on his lips as he shook his head instead.
    Though Mimi wasn’t a mind reader, she could guess
what her dad wanted to point out. It was time for her to get some
real friends. So what if everyone at the Academy had turned against
her, there were still other sentient beings in this galaxy. It was
time to give up the safety net that was Klutzo and find some real
people to spend her time with.
    Thankfully her dad held his tongue. She didn’t want
to face those facts right now, because despite the fact she always
put on a smile, she wasn’t completely over the accident and never
would be.
    “Alright then, Mimi Chester, you get back to work. I
need to get onto our finance department to tell them to cease all
imports to the Hagar province.”
    She smiled. Her dad would already know what was
happening on Hagar, as would his finance department. He was clearly
trying to make her feel useful. He always did that. And it kept her
going. So she offered him another warm smile and ended the
recording.
    Though she resisted it, she was kind of excited
about what he’d told her. Even though she categorically couldn’t
accept a job her father had found for her, just the possibility the
galactic service would want first dibs on any proper story she
found was a cause for hope. It made her turn around, head over to
Klutzo, and grab him up.
    It was time to get back to work.
    ...
    Even though Mimi was just a buzz kill, and hadn’t
technically sold one of her stories yet, she still had the right to
attend any official Academy press event. Sometimes they were crisis
updates, and sometimes they were thinly veiled attempts at
propaganda. Okay, not propaganda. Mimi knew the Academy did an
incredible job of training the forces that kept the Coalition safe.
But she had learnt a lot of business principles from her dad, and
she recognized a great PR machine when she saw one. The Academy’s
press wing was just that. When there wasn’t any real news to
report, they would fill the wires with back rubs instead. And what
were back rubs? A bit of good old-fashioned hero worship.
    The Academy was big on heroes. From the up and
coming in the E club, to their favorite captains and admirals, the
Academy was never shy of praising its best and brightest.
    And who was its new golden boy?
    Special Commander Joshua Cook.
    Unlike previous heroes, however, Cook wasn’t your
classic goody two shoes. The information on his past was sketchy,
but by all accounts he’d taken an unusual route into the Academy.
One that included profiteering, smuggling, and being a gun for
hire.
    Nobody talked about this though, and to be fair, the
information Mimi had on Joshua wasn’t solid. It was enough,
however, to suggest that the man had a past. One that seemed at
odds with his label as a hero.
    Well right now as Mimi made her way into the press
wing in the Academy command building, she mulled over those facts.
Because this briefing would be about him. Apparently he’d just
returned from some super-secret super-important mission that had
saved innumerable Coalition lives. While the Academy couldn’t
expand on the exact details of his mission, they weren’t gonna miss
another opportunity for some positive PR. They were going to parade
him in