He finds himself admiring her spirit, but according to her warrant, she’s a criminal. But Ankari Markovich is trouble from the start, nearly eluding his elite forces, then fighting and tricking his people left and right. If she can’t figure out a way to escape before she’s delivered to the lord’s home world, she could be forced into a life of indentured servitude-or worse.Ĭaptain Viktor Mandrake doesn’t usually take on piddling bounty hunting gigs, but when his intelligence officer informs him of a criminal on a nearby planet, he decides it wouldn’t hurt to take a shuttle down to collect the woman. The captain might be handsome, but he’s intent on turning her over to some finance lord who has, for reasons unknown, put a bounty on her head, a ridiculously large one at that. Unfortunately, she has no sooner collected her samples than she’s captured by a band of brawny mercenaries. But Ankari Markovich needs a few archaeological samples for her latest business venture, a venture that might prove lucrative enough to move her family off the impoverished planet where she grew up.

Skulking around in the ruins on a planet swarming with treasure hunters, slavers, and bounty hunters isn’t good for one’s health. Mercenary Courage is the fifth novel in the Mandrake Company science fiction romance series and is a sequel to Mercenary Instinct. Worse, no matter what happens, he risks losing Ankari forever. If Viktor and Ankari can’t find a way off the station before the Fleet ships arrive, Viktor may never escape. Fortunately, he has Ankari with him, but unfortunately, Ankari’s family has been pointing out all of the reasons why she shouldn’t be flying around on a mercenary vessel. Normally, Viktor would collect his people and depart, but a mysterious disease has resulted in a quarantine, leaving him stuck on the station with no access to his ship or his crew. As a mercenary, confronting the Fleet isn’t wise (it’s not wise for anyone else, either). Entrepreneur, schemer, and leaser of his company’s one and only pink shuttlecraft, she has become the woman he loves and wants to keep at his side.īut as soon as Viktor sets foot on the space station Midway 5, it becomes clear that the Galactic Conglomeration Fleet wants him arrested for past grievances. After a grueling battle that cost him dearly, mercenary captain Viktor Mandrake wants nothing more than to get his ship repaired, let his men have leave, and spend time relaxing with Ankari.

Mercenary Instinct by Ruby Lionsdrake