Pursued: A Sci-Fi Alien Warrior Romance (Raider Warlords of the Vandar Book 4)

by Tana Stone

  They clicked their heels and moved off, still in defensive formation. Svar and the remaining two raiders stayed with me to breach the command deck, and we moved swiftly and wordlessly toward our target. After raiding countless Zagrath vessels, their layout was as familiar to me as the schematics of my own warbird. It helped that the ships were simplistic and consistent in design. All of their freighters were alike, as were all their cruisers.

  We took out a small complement of soldiers as we got closer to the command deck, leaving them sprawled on the floor with their useless blasters still in their hands. It was almost too easy, I thought, as we paused outside the sealed doors leading to the command deck. Although we were breathing heavy and our axes were slippery with enemy blood, the ship had not been prepared for an attack and the soldiers had seemed barely able to defend themselves.

  “The enemy forces are less and less of a challenge,” Svar said, giving voice to my thoughts.

  “Perhaps they cannot train them as fast as we can kill them,” I said, although the ease of our mission stole some of the glory.

  I motioned for two raiders to pry open the doors, then we all rushed onto the bridge, shields high in preparation for a final stand from the enemy crew. When there was no volley of blaster fire, I lowered my shield to study the command deck officers.

  There were only two Zagrath males in crisp smoke-blue uniforms, both of them so fresh-faced I was surprised to see they had stubble on their cheeks. One sat at a console and was clearly the pilot, and the other stood with his shoulders thrown back and his chin jutting up. If he was the captain, he was the youngest one I’d ever seen.

  Svar emitted a disgusted groan, dropping his battle axe to his side. “You are the ship’s senior officers?”

  The captain who was little more than a boy lifted his chin higher. “I am Captain Jernen.”

  I glanced at Svar, whose brow was furrowed, then back at the imperial captain. “How long have you been captain?”

  He hesitated. “I was promoted just before this mission.”

  Fear tingled at the back of my neck as I approached the captain. I towered over the shaking Zagrath, the blood of his fellow soldiers dripping from the curve of my blade onto his black boots. “Tell me, Captain, are we your mission?”

  His gaze snapped to mine too quickly. It was all the answer I needed. This single imperial ship with its crew of untrained fighters and green officers was a trap. I wasn’t sure how, but the gnawing in my gut told me it had to do with Alana. And I’d left her alone on my ship.

  I turned and ran off the enemy command deck.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Alana

  I had to get away from the Vandar guard so I could go hunting for the imperial spy. They were either on board or they would be soon. I could feel it.

  I pounded on the door to the Raas’ quarters again. The door swished open, and the guard faced me with his hands on his hips. His broad chest muscles were flexed as he stared me down, one hand shifting to the top of his battle axe. “What?”

  I debated how to approach him. Should I try to convince him that the horde was in trouble? That probably wouldn’t fly since all the raiders on board still believed I was a victim of the empire. Convincing him I knew what I was talking about because I was actually an imperial spy would not go well for me.

  “I need to talk to the Raas,” I said. “Is he back yet?”

  The guard narrowed his gaze at me. “You will see him when he returns to his quarters. Not before.”

  I huffed out a breath. Why were all Vandar males so infuriatingly stubborn? “Listen,” I said, attempting to make my voice more persuasive. “It’s about the raiding mission. I have a bad feeling that—“

  “The Vandar conduct raiding missions on imperial ships all the time.” He gave me a patronizing look. “It’s the mission of our hordes.”

  “Yes, but—“ I started to argue with him but then his face went slack, and he dropped to his knees.

  I jumped out of the way as his huge body slammed onto the steel floor with an echoing thud. It only took me a moment to see the blade sticking out of his back and to dodge quickly at the flash of movement to one side.

  I spun, scanning the open air corridor and assuming a battle stance.

  “So, you haven’t forgotten who you are.” The deadly voice slid down my spine as he stepped out of the shadows.

  “Rennick.” I uttered the word like a curse. Of all the imperial assassins, why had they sent him?

  The human had dark hair, and a wiry frame that was sheathed completely in black, which made him easy to lose in the dimness of the Vandar ship. His eyes were as black as the rest of him and as cold as an ice planet.

  “How long has it been, Mantis?” He gave me a smile that made me shiver.

  “Since the academy.”

  “Right.” He nodded leisurely, as if we were two schoolmates catching up on old times. The reality was he’d always despised me, especially since I’d bested him at almost everything while we were in training. “That was a long time ago.”

  Not long enough, I thought, my gaze raking over his body. He didn’t appear to be holding a weapon, but when it came to imperial assassins, looks were deceiving, and I suspected he had plenty of weapons attached to him, just carefully hidden.

  “Why are you here, Rennick?” I didn’t actually have any doubt why the empire had sent him, but I did need to buy some time.

  He glanced down at the dead Vandar and then past me into the Raas’ quarters. “To finish the job you could not.”

  “You presume too much.”

  His slippery gaze traveled down the length of me, taking in the Vandar clothes I’d adjusted to fit my smaller body. “I don’t think so. You even look like them.”

  My competitive nature hated the suggestion that he’d been sent in because I had failed at something. I never failed. The truth was, I had never even tried to kill the Raas. Not that I was going to argue that to him.

  “You should go before you blow my cover and ruin my entire mission,” I snapped, my ire that he was encroaching on my mission flaring.

  “You really expect me to believe that you’ve been on the enemy ship and in the warlord’s private chamber for all this time and still haven’t figured out how to slit his throat?” He made tsk-ing noises. “You’ve never lingered over a mission before.”

  “I’m not lingering over this one,” I said. “But this mission requires more time. And I can’t pull it off if you blow my cover.”

  “Your mission is over.” A smile curled his thin lips. “As are you, Mantis. The empire doesn’t tolerate operatives who’ve turned. Or gone soft.”

  My fingers tingled, but I fought the urge to fist them and tip him off. “You think I’ve gone soft?”

  “The Raas lives, which means you couldn’t kill him,” he hissed, flicking a blade out of a pouch on his pants. “A failure I’m here to correct. As soon as I deal with your treachery.” Without another word, he flung the blade at me.

  I ducked, hearing it whiz by my ear and embed in the steel doorframe behind me. Shit. He wasn’t messing around. Spinning, I wrenched the blade from where it had landed and turned back around to see Rennick launching himself at me. I barely had time to twist so that he only caught one side of my body, and when we hit the floor, I arched my back to propel myself into the air and back onto my feet.

  He grunted as he pushed off the floor, muttering Zagrath curses and advancing on me again.

  I readjusted my grip on the blade. “Did you really think it would be so easy?”

  “You were never as good as they thought you were,” he said through gritted teeth. “Or you thought you were.”

  “We’ll see.” My eyes scoured his snug clothing, searching for more weapons he’d tucked away. It would be tricky to kill him with only a single blade, although I’d assassinated targets with much less.

  He rushed at me, reaching one arm behind his back and revealing a set of metal nunchucks. As he concentrated on flipping
them toward me, I reached behind me and grasped a railing, hoisting myself high in the air and whipping my legs around his neck, the leather of my kilt slapping my thighs. I came down hard, bringing him with me, but I didn’t release my legs, tightening them around his neck as he thrashed.

  Rennick struck out with the nunchucks, hitting my legs hard enough for me to gasp and loosen my grip. He jerked away from me, leaping to his feet and coughing as he backed up. I also scampered to my feet, crouching low in anticipation of his next attack. He’d always been good. Not as good as me, but good enough to stay alive this long. And in the world of imperial politics and murder, that was an accomplishment.

  In the distance, heavy footsteps thundered toward us. Part of me hoped it was Bron, and part of me hoped he was far away from the empire’s assassin.

  “You know there’s only one way off this ship for you,” I said, spitting out the coppery taste of blood in my mouth. “The Vandar will never let you live. If you kill me, the Raas will tear you apart with his bare hands.”

  He cocked his head at me. “If I didn’t know what a cold-blooded killer you are, I might even think you admired these brutes and this Raas of theirs.”

  “I know he’s more of a warrior than you could ever be.”

  Rennick let out a hiss of breath. “You don’t know me.”

  The steel walkways shook beneath my feet as raiders thundered closer. “I know you’re going to die.”

  He chuckled low. “Maybe, but taking you with me will be worth it.” Running at me again, he lashed out with the nunchucks.

  I dove out of the way, but the metal bar slammed across my back. I rolled across the floor, dodging as Rennick brought his weapon down again and again, the sound of metal against metal reverberating loudly. Jumping to my feet, I leaned back against the railing as he squared off against me, his face red and his eyes wild. My body ached where he’d hit me, but I lifted both my legs and punched out, catching him in the chest and sending him staggering back.

  I didn’t wait for him to recover, striding forward and pivoting before landing a roundhouse kick that sent him flipping backward over the waist-high railing. Rennick’s scream pierced the air as he toppled off the walkway, but before I could celebrate, his hand closed over my foot that was closest to the edge.

  As he plummeted down, his weight pulled me with him, dragging me to the edge of the metal walkway. Before going all the way over, I grasped a steel bar and held it with one hand while Rennick held tight to my foot.

  “Like I said,” he panted beneath me, his maniacal smile wide. “I’m not going without you.”

  I shook my foot, but his hand held my ankle like a vise. A loud rumbling of voices surrounded me, but I couldn’t look up. My grip on the bar was slipping. I had to get Rennick off me or I’d fall.

  I realized that my other hand still clutched the blade, so I carefully aimed, then threw it at him. My shaky aim hit him, but only in the shoulder. His smile morphed into a grimace, but he didn’t let go.

  “Nice try, Mantis. Too bad you’re out of options.”

  I felt my resolve slipping as my fingers lost their hold on the bar, then Rennick’s mouth fell open as an axe blade swung down, severing his arm at the elbow and cutting him loose from me. He screamed as he fell back, his arms cartwheeling and his one stump sending a spray of blood through the air.

  I closed my eyes so I wouldn’t get splattered and so I wouldn’t watch myself fall after him, but a thick hand closed over mine just as I started to drop. I opened my eyes and looked up, seeing Raas Bron holding me.

  “You were not out of all your options.”

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Bron

  “I don’t understand, Raas,” Svar said as we rushed onto the raiding ship. “How could us leading a raiding party onto a lone imperial cruiser put our horde ships in danger?”

  I couldn’t explain to him that it wasn’t so much the horde I feared for as the female in my quarters. I’d honed my instincts over a lifetime of raiding and serving as majak, and they were telling me that something wasn’t right.

  “Where is the other ship?” I asked when I saw that only one of our black beaked ships sat in the hangar bay.

  Our pilot swiveled in his chair. “They left with the technology and weapons, Raas.”

  “At your orders,” Svar reminded me.

  I pressed my lips together and nodded. “Get us out of here.”

  “You are sure about leaving the bridge crew alive?” My majak asked as the ramp slammed shut and the engines roared to life.

  “The captain who’d only been promoted for this job?” I ground my teeth together as I thought about the imperial military commanders who’d chosen the inexperienced crew for us to easily defeat and the clueless captain and pilot to sacrifice to our unknowing wrath. “They are nothing but pawns of the empire.” I clenched my hands into fists, thinking of the way the Zagrath had used Alana. “More pawns.”

  Svar did not speak again as we rocketed off the imperial ship and toward our invisible horde ships, detectable only with our specialized sensors. Even though all of my raiders wore the marks of a successful raiding mission—chests streaked with blood and axes dripping with the evidence of our dominance—the ship was not filled with the chants of victory. We stood with our hands gripping the iron bars above us, but our faces were grim.

  This victory was hollow. We’d killed imperial soldiers, but I suspected they’d been fresh out of training. None of them had showed any battle experience. The kills had been easy and without challenge, and now I was almost sure the entire thing had been a ruse and the Zagrath crew sacrificed for a greater imperial purpose. But what was it exactly?

  The empire was always trying to eliminate us, just as we were fighting to rid the skies of them. But how would this botched raid do that?

  I was running through options in my head when we entered my warbird and touched down, but nothing I could come up with made any sense. I followed my warriors down the ramp, my eyes flicking to the other raiding ships that had arrived before us. Was it the technology we’d taken? Could that have been tracked somehow?

  I strode over the ship. The ramp was down, but the engine still hummed. I poked my head inside and my stomach clenched. The pilot was slumped over his console, blood pooling on the smooth surface.

  Straightening, I turned to Svar. “There is a Zagrath onboard.”

  He flinched, his gaze darting to the side. “Should I sound a red alert, Raas?”

  I shook my head. “I do not want the enemy to know we are aware of his presence just yet.” I locked eyes with each of the warriors from the raiding party. “Fan out throughout the ship and find the intruder.”

  “Do you want them dead or alive, Raas?” One of the raiders asked.

  “I want them stopped.”

  Low growls accompanied snaps of heels as they rushed off to hunt down the enemy.

  I turned to Svar. “You’re with me. If the empire sent a solider onto my ship, they might be after the female.”

  He didn’t ask why the powerful Zagrath empire would concern itself with a single escaped miner, but he was a shrewd Vandar. If the empire had gone to such great lengths for the female, it would be hard to convince him she was who she claimed to me.

  I didn’t have time to think about that as we ran through the ship, racing up swirling staircases and down rattling walkways. Above us, the other warriors from our mission were moving just as quickly through other passageways. The sound of our search echoed within the metal maze.

  But another sound made my steps falter. A female scream. Tvek.

  We were only a few levels away from my quarters, and I pumped my arms by my sides as I ran faster. I leapt from one suspended walkway to another, the hard landing jolting my knees. Svar was close on my heels, the impact of his jump making the floor rattle just as mine had.

  I peered up through the dimness. Even though the warriors moving through the ship sent shadows dancing, I could make out Alana. She was facing off wi
th someone dressed all in black—someone who flicked a weapon as he advanced on her.

  Jumping from a walkway to a staircase landing, I tracked the battle between the two. Alana was fast, but so was the male she was battling. When she jumped into the air and spun, landing a kick in his chest that sent him flying over the railing, I wanted to cheer. Then just as quickly, she was jerked down, and her hands were scrabbling for purchase as she was pulled over the side.

  Svar and I raced up the last staircase as Alana threw a blade that lodged in her attacker’s shoulder. Amazingly, he didn’t let go, and I saw that her grip on the bar was slipping.

  “Nice try, Mantis. Too bad you’re out of options,” the male hanging onto Alana’s foot said, as her fingers uncurled.

  Without saying a word, Svar slashed at the male, cutting off his arm while I grabbed Alana’s hand moments before she dropped.

  She peered up at me in near disbelief as I clutched her small hand in mine.

  I swallowed the emotion that thickened my throat. “You were not out of all your options.”

  Pulling her up, I wrapped my arms around her. “Are you hurt?”

  “Nothing that won’t heal.” She held my gaze. “Thanks for saving me.” Then her eyes slid to Svar, who stood next to me, his bloody axe by his side. “You, too.”

  Svar gave her a silent nod, then addressed me. “Your orders, Raas?”

  “Send warriors to find the intruder’s body and make sure he’s dead.” I cut my gaze to the dark depths the imperial fighter had plunged into. “You have the command deck until I join you there. I need to ensure that Alana is not injured.”

  He tapped his heels in salute, turning and striding off.

  I swept Alana into my arms and walked toward my quarters. “Or should I call you Mantis?”