The sobbing grew louder, and Clayton turned to see a young woman sitting several rows back being dragged out of her seat and into the aisle.
“Hey!” The man sitting beside her lunged to intervene.
A bright green laser flashed out from the soldier’s rifle and dropped him to the deck with a thud.
The woman screamed piteously and scrambled over to him. “Peter!” She began shaking him by his shoulders, but he didn’t stir. “Peter!”
“He’s dead!” the Chimera who’d shot him said. “Get up!” And it dragged her up by her hair. She rose to her feet with another scream, and rounded on the alien with her fists, her eyes streaming with tears.
Clayton began pushing through the crowd to intervene.
And then a second flash of light silenced the woman, too, and her body landed beside the man who’d tried to help her.
Everyone in the cabin froze. The Chimeras looked around, red eyes hard and glaring. “The Kyra do not suffer defiance!” the one who’d shot those two said, its eyes and rifle tracking over the group. “Learn this lesson, and learn it well, or you will not last long in the Federation. These two died for it, but there are fates worse than death. Remember that.”
Clayton gritted his teeth and balled his fists, but Samara pulled him back into line.
No one else gave the Chimeras any trouble on the way out. The lines snaked smoothly through the ship, down the ramps to Level One, and then down the boarding ramp to a welcome party of at least twenty more Chimeran soldiers. They took over from the ones on board.
“It’s time for processing!” the leader said, his voice booming across the massive landing platform, amplified by unseen means. “You will do exactly as I say, and we will get through this without any casualties! Nod if you understand!”
Heads bobbed.
“Good! Make a line and follow me! Single file!”
People trailed after the Chimera, and the others fanned out, keeping wary eyes on the group. A warm breeze whipped across the rooftop, but it did nothing to warm the ice in Clayton’s heart.
He looked up at the cloudy sky and saw a massive shadow cruising slowly through those clouds. The nose of it poked through a few seconds later. It was another Kyra destroyer, just like Keera’s flagship. Maybe the very same.
She’d lulled him into a false sense of security, blinded him with joy by bringing Samara back.
“Clay... we have to move,” she whispered.
“Move, Dakka!”
He took a deep breath to steady himself and brought his eyes down to the Chimera who’d spoken. Demonic eyes glared back and its rifle tracked slowly up. Clayton pasted a smile on his face, and started after the long, trudging line of people busy walking across the landing platform.
“What’s a Dakka?” Clayton asked as he walked by the Chimera who was still aiming its rifle at him.
A flash of sharp teeth appeared, black lips curving into a smile. “It’s a small two-legged creature on Kyros. It lives in the sewers.”
“Sewer rat,” Clayton clarified. “Not so bad, then.”
The alien hybrid hissed, its rifle tracking him as he walked by, but it didn’t shoot.
“You need to be more careful,” Samara whispered sharply to him once they were out of earshot.
He nodded agreeably, but in the privacy of his head, he vowed that if there were any way to resist the Kyra, he would.
The war and the invasion might be over, but the rebellion had just begun.
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OTHER BOOKS BY JASPER SCOTT
Suggested reading order
Occupied Earth
First Encounter (The Prequel Story)
Occupied Earth (Book 1)
(Coming February 2020)
Scott Standalones
No sequels, no cliffhangers
Under Darkness
Into the Unknown
In Time for Revenge
Rogue Star
Rogue Star: Frozen Earth
Rogue Star (Book 2): New Worlds
Broken Worlds
Broken Worlds: The Awakening (Book 1)
Broken Worlds: The Revenants (Book 2)
Broken Worlds: Civil War (Book 3)
New Frontiers Series (Loosely-tied, Standalone Prequels to Dark Space)
Excelsior (Book 1)
Mindscape (Book 2)
Exodus (Book 3)
Dark Space Series
Dark Space
Dark Space 2: The Invisible War
Dark Space 3: Origin
Dark Space 4: Revenge
Dark Space 5: Avilon
Dark Space 6: Armageddon
Dark Space Universe Series (Standalone Follow-up Trilogy to Dark Space)
Dark Space Universe (Book 1)
Dark Space Universe: The Enemy Within (Book 2)
Dark Space Universe: The Last Stand (Book 3)
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Jasper Scott is a USA Today best-selling author of more than 20 sci-fi novels. With over a million books sold, Jasper's work has been translated into various languages and published around the world.
Jasper writes fast-paced stories with unexpected twists and flawed characters. He was born and raised in Canada by South African parents, with a British cultural heritage on his mother's side and German on his father's, to which he has added Latin culture with his wonderful wife. He now lives in an exotic locale with his wife, their two kids, and two Chihuahuas.
First Encounter Page 24
