by L H Whitlock
A rod slammed into her side, knocking her onto her controls. Before she was able to turn around and face her attacker, she was thrown to the ground. Landing on her elbows she rolled out of the way just in time to avoid a kick. Instinctively she grabbed the attacker’s foot, sending him toppling to the ground.
Golan hissed as he fell beside her. His thin form looked as though it would easily break, his thin hair hung over his face in wavy gray and red streaks. Lily jumped onto his chest. Holding him down, she unleashed a frenzy of punches on his bony, ugly face.
A fist tangled in her hair and threw her off Golan. She slammed into the wall, her back taking the brunt of the fall. Twisting so she could pull herself to her feet, she faced her new attacker, Gustavo, with yellow eyes.
Gustavo drew a gun and shot. The bullets clanged off an invisible shield. Looking over she saw Gloria, engaging in a fist fight with a giant K’lor, her palms basking in a golden glow.
“Hurry,” Gloria yelled, her voice strained. “He’s trying to possess me! I don’t know how much longer I can hold back.”
Lily scurried to her feet, leapt at Gustavo, and tackled him to the floor. Twisting his arm behind his back, she knelt on him, and reached for a loose wire to tie around his wrists.
Her shirt tightened around her as a fist knotted in the material and yanked her off and threw her onto her back. Golan cackled, though she didn’t place what he found so humorous until strong hands wrapped around her neck and the intimately familiar, wickedly handsome face of her attacker came into view. His face twisted in a heart-breaking hatred and his eyes glowing a sickly yellow.
Ulrick sat on her waist, rendering her struggles useless. She kicked and bucked her hips to no avail. She gripped Ulrick’s hands, sucking in a desperate wheezy breath.
Her palms heated as she slowly gathered her energy. Blackness edged her vision, her lungs burned, and her breath came out in strained gasps. She focused on Golan. He was distracted with Brock at the moment. Brock ducked behind a control board, shooting at Golan with his machine gun.
Golan used Gloria’s shield to momentarily protect himself then shot at Brock.
A small ball of energy formed, it felt oddly hot in her palm, or maybe her body was colder than normal. With all the energy she could muster, she threw the ball at Golan. It hit his thigh. He screamed and gripped his wound.
Ulrick yanked his hands away and pulled himself off her. “A’ Kilini. No,” he gasped, gathering her into his arms. “I am so sorry.”
Lily’s eyes rolled into the back of her head. Ulrick shook her and hugged her to his chest. “A ’Kilini, please,” he begged.
She coughed, desperate for air. She blinked the static out of her eyes and looked up at Ulrick. “I’m okay,” she croaked out.
The tips of Ulrick’s fingers grazed over the bruises forming on her neck, then, with a growl, he placed her gently on the floor and stormed over to Golan.
A bullet bounced off the floor next to her. One of Golan’s few remaining bodyguards rushed her, aiming a missile. She dove and the control board next to her erupted in flame. Using the wall to help her up, Lily drew her E-gun, laced the bullets with her energy, and shot. The bullet ripped through the K’lor’s chest, splattering the wall with blood.
Another K’lor lunged at her. Pivoting, she avoided his punch, but he followed with a right roundhouse. She ducked then swiped his leg out from under him. He fell to his back, his gun sliding across the metal. She shot him in the forehead.
The room was a wreck. Red lights flashed and a thirty percent warning droned on and on. Control boards lay in tethers, exposed wires sparked, and bodies littered the floor, swimming in their own blood.
Gustavo fought a possessed Gloria, who was surprisingly agile. Brock and Ulrick surrounded Golan taking turns being possessed. Brock’s eyes shone yellow at the moment. Ulrick avoided him and swung at Golan. Golan lost concentration and broke his hold on Brock. Brock transformed his mechanical arm into his machine gun and laid a round of bullets into Golan. They pinged against Gloria’s shield.
“Gustavo,” Lily yelled. “Knock her out, Golan’s using her shield.”
Gustavo lunged at Gloria, striking her with the butt of his gun. He caught the golden-haired warrior as she slumped to the ground and buckled her into a nearby seat.
“What’s the fucks you bullshitting arounds for? Get him off my ship!” Alberta’s thick accent rang through the comm.
Lily sprinted toward Ulrick and Brock.
“How did you even get on this ship you snake?” Brock grunted as he ducked under Golan’s attack.
“I have many more loyalties then you do, Ulrick.” Golan hung onto the ends of his words making his sentence take longer than Lily felt was necessary.
Forming a ball of energy, she threw it at Golan, it struck, launching him into the floor-length window. Ulrick grabbed him by the neck and punched him in the face repeatedly. Blood spewed from his mouth, coating Ulrick’s shirt.
“I would love to throw this piece of trash out,” Ulrick snarled.
“There release hatch in next room,” Alberta supplied through the comm.
With a sideways smirk, Ulrick dragged Golan’s limp body across the room and tossed him inside the airlock.
Ulrick wiped his hands on his shirt. “Do it,” he instructed Alberta.
“Bombs,” Alberta said and opened the hatch.
Golan was ripped from the room and thrown into the void of space, the latch closing after him.
“Dammit Alberta, that’s the worst comeback line ever. Don’t you remember what I taught you?” Brock shook his head, but a smile crept over his bearded face.
“Betters then shit you comes up with. Now get back to work, ship getting destroyed,” Alberta ordered.
Lily ran to what was left of a control panel, grabbed her magnifiers, and gazed through. Golan’s ships were in range and in full offense. Some of their bullets missed the Hilian ships, miscalculating their hidden location, others struck against the shields.
“Alberta, open up communication with Golan’s troops. Tell them that we killed their leader and to stand down,” Lily instructed.
After several minutes Alberta responded. “They don’t gives shit. They have second in command, Golan’s son who is calling for ‘justice’, or somes craps like that.”
“Well, damn,” Lily muttered. Ships from both sides erupted into chunks of metal. Safety pods dropped from the bottoms of destroyed ships, fleeing the battle.
“Shield at ten percent,” Alberta announced her voice barely audible over the numerous alerts. As though Alberta read her mind, she turned off the warning, but the red warning lights continued pulsing throughout the room.
Lily grabbed the weapon controls and launched a missile at Golan’s army. She laughed to herself as she struck one and watched the debris burn in Aray’s atmosphere. It would suffer no damage, its magnetic field too strong.
Each of her teammates were at their weapon controls and firing away. The moment they thought they were making progress another flank of enemy ships appeared.
“We don’t have enough ships,” Gloria said, firing with surprising accuracy. She had woken up sometime during the battle with Golan. Every now and then she glared at Gustavo, who mouthed a ‘sorry’ in her direction.
“I know, just keep fighting. Hopefully the Renegade shows early. Ah fuck, I’m runnin’ out of power,” Brock announced.
A sphere formed on the opposite side of Aray, distorting space, a mismatched constellation shining in its center. A black ship emerged, large, bleak and alien, slicing through space like a knife. It was larger than Aray by a good portion, pointed on both ends and slightly bowed in the center.
“Uh…” Gloria said stopping her attack so she could watch the grand entrance.
“Who the fuck is that?” Brock stepped closer to the window as though that would help him get a better view.
“Voen, tell everyone cease fire, we need radio silence. Don’t alert whoever this is to our posit
ion,” Ulrick instructed.
No response came through.
“Voen. Can you hear me?”
“Lord Ulrick.” Bru’s voice came through the RAB. “Voen is gone he…vanished along with another Hilian.”
“Voen is gone? Who was the Hilian?” Ulrick asked.
“He was a technician named Alt. He disappeared right in front of us.” Bru’s voice was etched with panic.
“What the hell?” Lily asked, moving away from her gun. “Okay, no one shoot anything or move.”
“Did you hear that Bru? Send word,” Ulrick demanded.
“What about Voen?”
“Bru, don’t worry about Voen right now, worry about saving our people’s lives.”
“Alberta, is our camo working?” Lily asked.
“Ya,” Alberta replied.
A panel on the alien ship opened, emitting a bright white light. A symbol on the side shone in the light for a moment, a cluster of swords encircling a multi-ringed planet with three swirling letters going up the center. The crest of the Developers.
The light surged forward, vaporizing a portion of Golan’s fleet. The Developers repeated this multiple times, completely demolishing the attacking force, leaving no remnants, not even a grain of dust, behind.
“Holy…” Lily couldn’t pull her eyes away from the massive warship.
Gustavo was the first to celebrate. Jumping to his feet, he wrapped his arms around Gloria, lifted her into the air and kissed her.
“I did not know they had that ship. They…they destroyed Golan’s entire fleet!” Ulrick uttered.
“Well I’ll be damned,” Brock laughed.
Alberta opened the lines so the Hilian ships were in open communication. Sounds of celebration rang through the comm. Lily’s heart soared and she allowed herself to shout along with the others. They were finally free of Golan. She would no longer have to be a commander. She could live a normal life. Have a small house, a child. A child, she looked at Ulrick and laughed. They would certainly be terrible parents.
Then everything fell apart.
42
Sometime during the celebration the Developer’s ship opened another panel, emitting a bright red light. The light surged, swallowing Aray. The atmosphere webbed with the jagged fingers of a brilliant planet-consuming aurora then the panels making up Aray’s surface drifted apart. The Harvested Synthnic clung to what was once the planet’s core for several moments before dissipating into space.
Buildings lifted from the panels and drifted idly into space to forever wander as cold reminders of the artificial world.
Lily’s breath was heavy and a lump in her throat prevented her from screaming. How could the Developers so easily destroy their creation? Lily turned to follow the path of a metal tree, the branches twisted into distorted limbs no longer holding the beautiful holographic pictures. Was it the same tree that Ulrick and she had sat under?
Utter silence filled the comm. Alberta swung the ship out of the path of a large panel. Lily, caught in her thoughts, hardly noticed the movement at all.
Ulrick braced against the window, his face ashen and eyes heavy. Lily wanted to wrap him in an embrace, but what would she say?
Before she could go to Ulrick, Bru’s announcement came through the comm. “Ulrick, more Hilians are disappearing.”
“Explain.” Ulrick’s voice sounded raw.
“They are de-materializing,” Bru said. “But they are not doing it themselves.”
“Master Ulrick, they are not true Hilians,” a woman’s voice interjected.
“Is this Lenix? What do you mean?” Ulrick crossed his arms over his chest. The grief that had previously haunted his eyes was replaced with the heat of fury.
“Yes. Before Blaj de-materialized he tore off a portion of his face, revealing the metal skeleton of a Developer,” Lenix responded.
A Panel on the Developers ship slid open, casting a white glow over the void of space. They attached, the beam striking three Hilian ships, disintegrating them.
“They’re attacking us!” Gloria wailed, clenching her fingers in her hair and dropping her elbows to the control panel.
“Prepare to TIP,” Alberta yelled through the comm.
“Can they follow us?” Gustavo asked.
“Ok, everyone listen,” Ulrick instructed the Hilian fleet. “We need to TIP. Do not set a location. Just allow it to take you randomly. If we set coordinates they may be able to track us. I am sure they have a much more advanced system then the one they provided us. Once through, stay dark for two galactic standard rotations. You will receive further instructions at that time.”
“Yes Commander.” A hint of panic was detectable in the male Hilian’s voice.
“Ulrick, I have the women and children. Be safe, my friend,” Mickaal said, his voice heavy.
“Thank you, Mickaal, keep them safe. Listen everyone, we must do this at the same time. When we open the TIP we will be giving away our locations. Does everyone understand?”
A chorus of ‘yes sirs’ came through the comm.
“Alberta, how quickly can we do this?” Lily asked.
“Two moments.” Alberta was all business.
“You get that?” Ulrick asked.
“Yes sir, we TIP in two,” a female Hilian confirmed.
“Oh god, I can’t believe this is happening,” Gloria mumbled.
“What the fuck!” Brock, who was standing across the room, yelled, his body fading in and out. “They’re taking me!”
Lily sprinted across the room.
“Lily, no!” Brock demanded. “Don’t you fucking dare!”
Lily caught a glimpse of desperation in Brock’s eyes. She continued to run. She was going to make it. She knew she could make it. Whoever was going to de-materialize Brock was going to take her with him, and they would be fucking sorry.
“Ulrick!” Brock bit out.
Lily reached for Brock but arms wrapped around her and pulled her away from her life-long friend.
Brock crossed his arm over his chest, a universal sign of respect. Then he faded away.
“What? No!” Lily screamed and thrashed against Ulrick. “Let me go. Damn you. I would have made it!” Her nose tingled, but she was too mad to cry.
“Then what, A’ ‘Kilini?” Ulrick’s brows were dropped, his tone soft. “They would have taken you too. He has a chance because he has cyborg enhancement, you don’t. The moment they realize that, you are dead.”
“We will get him back,” Lily growled, “The minute we get a chance.”
“Of course, A ‘Kilini.” Ulrick pulled her into his lap and strapped her into the chair with him.
All around them space distorted with the spheres of the wormholes. They slammed into the TIP before Lily could even process the image.
***
The team didn’t leave the control room for a long time. Alberta joined them after she landed the ship on an asteroid for safe keeping. They drifted unseen on its bleak surface.
Alberta wiped her hands over her face. Her Mohawk lay limp to one side and sweat stained her black shirt. “Fucks, this bullshits.” She cracked her fingers against her thigh.
“Why did they take him? Why did they attack us?” Lily asked, her mind too numb to think.
Ulrick wrapped a blanket around her. “I think they scanned for cyborg enhancements. That’s how they distinguished who the disguised Developers were. I do not know why they betrayed us. For that they will be destroyed.”
“We will get him back,” Lily insisted.
“Of course, A’ Kilini.” Ulrick rubbed her back.
“Where do we look?” Gustavo asked.
Ulrick rubbed his hand over Lily’s arm. “There is a pirate trading post hidden in the dark clouds of the Avier Nebula. The Developers go there to trade technology. Someone there might know where their home world is or have some insight to their actions. It’s our best shot.”
“Ah, Alberta’s old stomping ground.” Lily couldn’t help the weak grin that spr
ead across her face. They sure did have some interesting memories of the trading post. “Allie, you know someone who can help?”
Alberta stretched her hands above her head. “Sures. We can get new ship too. Since you destroy this one.” Alberta looked around at the exposed wires, smashed control boards, and the bodies of Golan’s henchmen that still littered the floor. At the side of the room a Rebi-maid mopped up a pool of drying blood, only to smear it over the floor. “Unbelievables.” Alberta shook her head.
Laughing, Lily looked out the window at the rugged surface of the asteroid, humbled that they were following its journey even if it was only temporarily. It seemed staggering to think that such a small rock held the building blocks of life hidden deep within.
“We go to the Avier Nebula then,” Lily said.
Ulrick leaned in to kiss her forehead. “I love you A’ Kilini.”
Lily glanced up into Ulrick’s dark eyes. “Forever and into the stars.”
Ulrick pulled her tightly against him and it was at that moment Lily knew that no matter what hardships or battles they faced, she would be happy and safe as long as she was by his side. Their markings danced in unison, a celebration of their match.
Thank you for reading. This is my first book and I am blessed to have people give me a chance.
Keep reading for a preview of my next release: The Miners of Zalma.
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The Miners of Zalma:
Oppression
Patience. That’s what you need when robbing a military supply ship. And Clover was the self-proclaimed queen of patience. She knelt on the rooftop of an old, decrepit cement building. For the umpteenth time she checked her blaster. Three bullets left. Besides the firearm, her only defense was the small dagger tucked in her left boot and a slingshot tucked in the right. It made running a little awkward in her oversized brown boots, but it was all she had.
Clover stared at the buildings surrounding the courtyard. Rods stood bare and erect from the crumbled corners, showing off the inner wire casing. Most of the windows had been blown out and spray paint decorated the sides. The bold print said ‘Unite,’ the building next to it had matching red paint that read ‘Conquer.’ At one point the third building read ‘join the fight?’ But Istrance had painted over it as quickly as it went up.
