by Leslie Chase
I slid my hand between her legs and touched the wetness there.
My control stretched to breaking point, I reached for the ties to her outfit. As I touched them, glowing lights formed around us, shimmering and dissolving the cell. Megan stiffened on my lap, her eyes opening wide as we melted away into hyperspace.
“What the fu—”
15
Megan
The light show faded and we were back in the real world, me lying across Dhannar’s lap, his hand raised above my stinging ass. Without the metal bed supporting him we fell, landing in a confused heap. From across the room I heard a startled noise, halfway between a laugh and a gasp.
Not the deep, horrid sound of a scroogian. A very human sound.
My head snapped up to see Gwen staring at the two of us, a hand covering her mouth as she tried not to dissolve into giggles. My face, already flushed, burned bright red as I leaped up from Dhannar’s lap.
He, of course, laughed. I straightened my skirt and glared at him as he shook, eyes twinkling.
“Not. Helping.”
He waved a hand helplessly, so I spun to confront Gwen. “What’s going on?”
“I’m trying to save you,” she said, getting control of herself with a visible effort. Looking anywhere but at the pair of us, she continued. “All the scroogians are gathering for their big party, the Commander will distribute the spoils at midnight, so no one wants to miss it. I took the chance to slip away and got up here. Figured it was worth the risk of using the teleporter to get you out of your cell.”
Given that we’d been hours away from an agonizing death, I agreed. My embarrassment faded fast, replaced by a desperate hope. We might still make it out of this alive.
“All I need to do now is work out how to beam you down to the planet,” Gwen continued, looking at the controls again. “Then I get back to the party and as long as no one’s noticed I’m missing, your escape is a mystery.”
I wondered if it would be that simple. If the teleporter logged its use Gwen would be in trouble. Or they might blame her because it was easy — the scroogians weren’t that keen on due process.
“Come with us,” I blurted out. Gwen shook her head.
“Can’t. Someone needs to stay here to operate the controls,” she said. “We can’t all escape, and I’m safer than the two of you.”
Was everyone going to insist on sacrificing themselves for me? I drew a breath to argue, but Dhannar’s hand landed on my shoulder. I looked round into his eyes.
Oh fuck, he’s got an idea. The reasonable part of my mind panicked at that. Clever ideas only led to trouble.
“Don’t send me to the surface,” he said slowly, as though he was still sorting out his plan while he talked. Gwen frowned.
“You have to get out of here,” she said, but Dhannar shook his head, a grin forming. I felt something clicking into place in his mind and his excitement bled into me.
“There’s nowhere to run down there,” he said. “If we flee, the scroogians will catch us eventually, or take out their frustration on the other humans. But up here I can finish what I started and finish the scroogians too.”
The smile looked way too predatory for a man who turned into a reindeer, but I knew mine looked the same. If there was even a chance…
“What are you planning?” I asked, raising my hands when he looked at me. “Hey, hey, I’m not arguing this time. I just want you to walk me through it.”
He relented, nodding. “Send me into the cargo bay. They’ll have everything together, including my cargo. I’ll take it back, escape, and distribute it to the colonists.”
He made it sound so plausible. Easy, even. But I knew it wouldn’t be that simple. “All the scroogians will be there too. All of them.”
“It’s a party. They will be drunk, and I will take them by surprise.” He waved off my objection. “Dealing with them will be easy.”
Okay, Dhannar had a knack for making the impossible sound downright reasonable. I added that to my mental list of his impressive traits that were also infuriating.
But… he was right that we had nowhere to run once we hit the ground. Even if we found and stole another rover, where would we go? I’d set out without a plan before, and that had brought us right back here. Not that I minded the company I’d found on the way but trying it again wouldn’t help.
“Fine,” I said, sighing and bowing to the inevitable. “Sure, we’ll go attack the scroogians in their lair.”
“Oh no, I’m not risking you again,” Dhannar said. “I have put you in too much danger already, beloved. You will go to the surface and I’ll find you when I’m done.”
“Or you’ll die and I’ll never see you again. No. We’re going together or you’re not going.”
My voice shook, and I almost couldn’t believe what I was saying. From the shocked look on Dhannar’s face, neither could he. Was I really forbidding him from going on this attack?
“You cannot stop me,” he said, recovering. “And I—”
“Stop it, both of you,” Gwen snapped. “For god’s sake, stop bickering. I’m the one running the teleporter, and I don’t have time for this. As soon as those green bastards notice I’m missing, I’m fucked.”
Both of us stared at her, eyes wide. I didn’t remember ever having seen Gwen lose her temper before, but her anger must have been bubbling under the surface and we’d finally pushed it into an explosion.
“I’m not going to try doing this twice, so you’re both going to the same place.” She pointed a finger into Dhannar’s face, then mine. “No arguments, no complaints, just a decision. Cargo bay or ground?”
I looked at Dhannar, he looked at me. I’m sure I looked as embarrassed as he did. Gwen was right, we were wasting precious time and putting her in danger as well as ourselves. Not cool, Megan.
Taking Dhannar’s hand, I nodded to him, accepting his right to choose. If he wanted to flee with me, okay. If he chose the attack, fine. As long as we were together, it would be enough.
“To the cargo bay then,” Dhannar said, squeezing my hand. A smile tugged at his lips. “And I’ll deal with your defiance later, Megan.”
He winked and I giggled, blushing again. I couldn’t help it.
If we live to see a later, he can spank me as much as he likes. I squirmed at the thought, grinning.
“Oh for fuck’s sake,” Gwen muttered, hiding a smile and working the controls. “Can’t you two control yourselves for ten seconds?”
I opened my mouth to reply, but the air had already started to shimmer.
Every time before, the transition had been smooth. This was different. The lights faded, the world lurched under me, and then I was in midair, falling, screaming.
Fortunately, a scroogian broke my fall. The impact sent us both tumbling to the deck, and I had no idea which of us was the most surprised. The green-furred alien’s head bounced off the metal deck and I fell next to him, rolling to my feet.
Behind me, Dhannar landed with perfect precision, lashing out with a punch before his target had a chance to react to our appearance. All around the cargo bay scroogians shouted in surprise and panic, grabbing for their weapons.
One, faster off the mark than the rest, threw himself at Dhannar. Quick as he was, Dhannar was quicker, ducking under the wild slash of the scroogian’s blade. His fist struck the foe hard enough that the crunch echoed and the scroogian tumbled to the deck.
A green-furred hand grabbed at me and I shook off my shock as I twisted aside. Staring at my lover’s fight wouldn’t help. I had my own battle to wage.
The scroogian’s eyes were unfocused and blood ran from his scalp. That didn’t stop him grabbing me, his hand closing on my forearm and pulling me toward him. I struggled, but his strength was too much for me.
Scrabbling at his belt, my free hand closed on the butt of a pistol. The scroogian roared, pulling me closer and closer to his tusked mouth.
My finger found the pistol’s trigger. Closing my eyes, I squeezed.
The alien squealed and bucked, his hand spasming open and sending me flying away. I rolled against the wrecked remains of the rover, panting for breath and shaking my bruised arm.
The agonizer dropped from my shaking hands. Too big and heavy for me to carry, I didn’t bother picking it up. I wouldn’t be much use in a fight and there was no point in pretending.
Not that Dhannar needed my help. A glance in his direction showed me a whirlwind of destruction as he struck and dodged and killed. With surprise on his side, he’d cut a swathe through the scroogians before they had a chance to react.
It wouldn’t last. All they needed was one lucky hit, one blast that caught him somewhere vital. Shots echoed in the hold, blaster beams bright enough to sear lines across my vision.
One struck something explosive in the wall and a gout of flame erupted, the Christmas trees suspended from the ceiling catching fire instantly. The ship lurched under us as damaged systems tried to compensate and failed.
Should have done more maintenance, fuckers, I thought as alarms filled the air. Panicked shouts from the scroogians followed, some of them scattering for their fliers, others running from the hold. To get to their stations or to reach the escape pods? It didn’t matter; wherever they fled to, they were out of the fight.
Not enough ran to end the battle, though. Most stayed to fight Dhannar, though with less wild shooting. But the damage was done — the ship bucked and shuddered, tilting at an uncomfortable angle. If we didn’t get out soon, the fight would bring the ship down and us with it.
So do something, I shouted at myself. Standing here watching the battle won’t help anything. Snapping myself out of my fugue, I looked for a way to help Dhannar.
The rover sat, wrecked and useless, beside the parked fliers at the side of the hold. Looking at it from the outside, I saw just how much damage my wild ride had done. Half the tires had burst, the suspension was trashed, the windshield cracked. Some optimistic scroogian had replaced the crimson bow, though I doubted it would bring him the Commander’s favor.
The door was still open, and I sighed with relief as I looked inside. Dhannar’s packages were still strapped into the back seat. The red parcels were covered in golden glitter and the scroogians wouldn’t dare touch it until after midnight.
We might still succeed. But we needed to act fast.
Someone screamed behind me and I spun to see Dhannar swinging a scroogian into the way of a blaster bolt. The alien exploded and I winced at the sight. Not from sympathy with the scroogian, but at how close that had come to hitting Dhannar. The Commander had organized his men, and their weight of numbers would tell soon.
Unfortunately, the fighting was between me and the damaged cargo hatch. Carrying the cheer through that maze of plasma shots would be suicide. I needed a clever plan. Or, if I couldn’t manage clever, crazy.
Something no one would see coming.
I looked at one of the scroogian fliers, frowned, and then smiled. This was definitely not a smart idea, but it was better than nothing.
I gave the controls a quick try, unsurprised when they didn’t respond. But there were straps, probably intended for the pilot and passengers to secure themselves in flight… it might work.
Grabbing hold of the packages, I moved them from the rover to the flier. Despite their weight, they weren’t hard to shift — almost as though the containers themselves gave me strength.
Across the hold, Dhannar roared. The deep, powerful sound made me shiver and freeze for a moment even though I wasn’t his target. It hit the scroogians harder. Paralyzed for a vital second, they didn’t react as Dhannar shifted and charged, his antlers throwing scroogian warriors into the walls.
A blaster bolt seared the air over him, too close for comfort, and I knew that we’d run out of time. If we tried to win the fight here, we’d die. From the way the deck shook under my feet, I guessed we wouldn’t need the scroogians to kill us. The ship might come apart under our feet at any moment.
We had to leave.
“Dhannar,” I shouted, hoping my voice would reach him over the sounds of battle.
I needn’t have worried. His head snapped round to look at me instantly and I realized that he’d have heard me anywhere. Nothing would keep him from my side.
“Dhannar,” I called again, pointing to the flier. “I’ve got the cargo, we can go.”
He launched himself in my direction, head down, antlers knocking obstacles aside. Blaster fire crackled and the ship shook with another explosion, throwing me off my feet.
I struggled back up as Dhannar reached my side, looking at me. The question in his eyes was clear — how were we going to pilot the flier? The gene lock kept us locked out of the controls.
I grinned at him and flipped the straps around his neck, hoping my idea would work. On the bright side, if it didn’t it would be a spectacular death.
“Go,” I shouted. “Get us out of here.”
For a moment, he didn’t move. Then blaster fire burned a hole in the rover beside my head and Dhannar reared, spun, and raced for the open hatch.
The straps went taut and, with a jerk that nearly threw me clear, the flier dragged behind him. I ducked down, firing blindly to spoil the scroogians’ aim as we crossed the deck and then we launched through the busted hatch and out.
Dhannar’s hooves struck the air and he ran on, leaving a sparkling trail behind him. The flier bucked as it left the hold, and for a moment I feared I’d been wrong. That without a scroogian at the controls it would fall like a stone.
Then the repulsers caught up, the flier steadying under my feet. I couldn’t hold back a whoop as the freezing air hit my face and we soared.
The flier rolled right and I shifted my weight to compensate, clutching the unresponsive controls. Above us the stars shone bright, and both moons were high in the sky.
Below, the snow-covered town of Nicholasville glittered in the moonlight. Dhannar turned, banking and descending, leaving golden hoof prints in the sky behind him.
A blaster bolt slashed through the space I’d been in a moment earlier and I looked back. The warship shuddered, flames flickering inside it, but more fliers followed us into the sky and they weren’t playing around. I ducked down, making myself as small a target as possible, cowering as more scroogians fired on us.
Screw this, I thought. Shooting from one flier to another would be hard for a trained warrior, and I had no way to shoot back. But we didn’t have to shoot the scroogians to win.
The flier jinked this way and that as I tore at the first of the bright red packages, pulling it open and getting a face full of the scent of Christmas. Pine trees and mince pies, Christmas pudding and candles. Calm and joy.
Golden flakes glittered inside, and I dug deep, throwing handfuls into the freezing air to rain down on the colony below. It sparkled in the moonlight as it drifted down and I watched, hypnotized by the beauty of the sight.
Drawn out of their homes by the explosions, by the fire in the sky, colonists stared up at us. Working fast, I grabbed handful after handful of the precious flakes and scattered them as far as I could.
“Ho, ho, ho,” I shouted at the top of my voice, unable to resist the moment.
Nicholasville’s oldest living colonists, Mr. and Mrs. Augustus, blinked as they looked up at the sky. Surely that couldn’t be real? A reindeer pulling a sled passed in front of Selene, and golden dust drifted down on the chill wind.
Mr. Augustus took a deep breath and smiled, a warm feeling awakening in his heart. Slipping an arm around his wife’s shoulders, he drew her close and kissed her cheek.
Real or not, it felt like Christmas in a way that he couldn’t define. The two of them snuggled close to watch, forgetting about the alien invasion for one night.
Eleanor Massey hadn’t slept in days. Not since the aliens had taken her daughter and refused to even explain why. Her husband had retreated into his work, but the horror never left Eleanor’s mind.
When the explosion rocked
the hovering warship, Eleanor’s heart froze, and she dashed outside to see what was happening. Was that it? Was Gwen dead? The ship still hung above the colony but now flames and smoke emerged from gaps in the hull.
Pulling her dressing gown tight around her but otherwise ignoring the cold, she tried to make sense of what was happening. Gold flakes mixed with the snow covering the garden, but she had no eyes for that. Nor did she care about the flying sleigh passing over the colony.
All she had eyes for was the girl clinging to herself and pulling her way out of a scroogian escape pod. Even in the dark she recognized her daughter.
“Gwen,” she shouted, running toward her. Gwen staggered to meet her, battered by the emergency landing but unharmed. She met Eleanor halfway and they flung their arms around each other, laughing.
“Mom,” Gwen said, not even trying to fight back tears. “Merry Christmas.”
Jackson Nicholas woke with a start, not sure what brought him out of his sleep but resenting it. Rolling out of bed, he pulled the curtains wide and looked out at the alien warship. Smoke and flames billowed from its open cargo hatch.
But that wasn’t what caught his attention. It was the colonists gathering outside, coming together and talking, embracing. Blinking sleep out of his eyes, he pulled on a pair of jeans and went out to see what was going on.
The scroogians didn’t allow public gatherings, and fear tugged at his heart. He’d already lost his prize rover to the invaders, and he didn’t want any more trouble. But the invaders had other things on their minds tonight.
Jackson hopped over the fence to join the nearest gathering of people, shouting a happy greeting and being met with a hug. Golden flecks drifted down through the crisp night air.
Overhead, he heard the jingling of bells.
