by Gail Koger
I edged closer to Trayon. “Is it supposed to do that?”
“Yes.”
“It’s not going to suck us into some kind of weird black hole, is it?” I shielded my eyes as the light grew brighter and brighter.
“No.” There was a touch of amusement in Trayon’s voice.
“Glad you find me so entertaining.”
Trayon stroked the side of my face. “I love watching your reactions to new experiences.”
“Right. There’s never a dull moment with me around.”
“Exactly.”
Chiara wrapped around my neck. “Their mode of porting is much like mine.”
I nodded. But this twisting funnel of death was so much bigger.
Sariel, Zarek, Zan, Jubal and Dad didn’t seem concerned. They just watched the tornado of doom intently.
I was thirty seconds away from crawling into Trayon’s lap when two monstrous creatures slid out of the blinding golden light. Poof! The vortex vanished.
I blinked in disbelief. The Gorum resembled enormous garden slugs. They had long, white tubular bodies and two eyestalks with bright yellow orbs. Okay, our slugs didn’t have those twisty, wormy growths around their heads. What was even more interesting was the wormy things resembled the rat creature’s protrusions. Was Giovanni trying to clone them too? “Excuse me, but are you missing any of your people?”
The entire bridge crew looked at me in disbelief.
Zarek sighed.
Sariel fixed a disapproving gaze on me.
“Ooops. Sorry, I forgot about protocol,” I said, giving everyone an apologetic smile.
My dad rubbed a hand over his face as if he was trying not to laugh.
The Gorum’s orbs swiveled around to stare at me.
I had to admit the way their eyestalks moved was downright creepy.
“The Gorum are powerful psychics. They can read your mind.” Trayon warned.
I shrugged. “Why not? Everyone else does.”
The larger Gorum glided across the bridge, its eyestalks focused on me. “How do you know we are missing two females?”
“An educated guess. Giovanni and Mallox have been kidnapping different species to create their own army of genetically altered super soldiers.” I shot them a mental picture of the rat creature. “His growths resemble yours.”
Menace suddenly hung in the air, heavy and oppressive. “Show us this creature.”
“Uh, well. I can’t.” I had to say, they had intimidation down to an art form.
“Cannot or will not?”
“Cannot,” Trayon inserted. “Mallox had implanted his creation with explosives and we destroyed it before it could damage the ship.”
A wormy growth lengthened into a tentacle and before I could make a run for it, the slimy thing wrapped around my waist.
“Hey, let go!” I yanked frantically on the gooey flesh.
“No.” The Gorum lifted me until we were eyeball to eyeball. “What are you called?”
“Jia. Put me down. Now!” An energy ball formed above my right hand. “Or I’ll make you.” I hated that my voice quivered.
The Gorum brayed. “That puny thing will not harm me.”
“It won’t?” I shot a sidelong glance at Trayon.
He shook his head. “It would take multiple blasts from a laser cannon to damage him.”
“Oh, your hide is armored. That explains Mallox’s interest.” I dissipated the energy ball and patted the tentacle gingerly. “Can I talk you out of eating me?”
“Are you a Jones?”
“I am.”
The Gorum’s eyestalks swiveled around to look at the Overlord. “Zarek would be very unhappy if I ate you.”
“Jones females are hard to find,” Zarek agreed.
The tentacle lowered me to the floor. “I am Bebo, King of the Gorum.” A tentacle gestured to the smaller Gorum. “This is Raj, Prince of the Outer Worlds.”
Did I shake their tentacles or bow?
“Bow,” Trayon advised.
I curtsied. “It is an honor to meet you.”
Zarek interjected, “How long have your females been missing, Bebo?”
“Two of your months.”
“I offer our help.”
Bebo responded diplomatically, “We accept your offer of help. Tell me about Mallox and Giovanni.”
I tuned out as Zarek answered his questions and checked on the kids. My stomach clenched. Cason was crawling down the corridor with Pepe by his side and Adoz circling overhead. Holy Mother! “Get me to Cason, Chiara.”
“Yes, Mother Jia.” A gray whirlwind erupted around us. Ten seconds of falling down an endless black hole and poof! We appeared in the hallway. Scooping Cason up, I quickly checked him over and hugged him in relief. Thank God he was okay.
“What is our son doing in the hallway unsupervised?” Trayon demanded.
“Good question. What happened Pepe?”
“Warrior came. Hurt Bey. He try take Cason. Me bite. Cason bite. Adoz blow fire. LeeLee and LooLoo chase away. We follow to help,” Pepe replied.
“My brave little warriors. I’m so proud of you.”
“What did the warrior look like Pepe?” Trayon asked.
Pepe cocked his head. “Like you.”
“Can you picture him in your mind?” Had we found our traitor?
“Me try.”
The fuzzy image of an Askole formed in my mind. He had an over-abundance of tentacles. Just like Rakk.
“Rakk,” Trayon snarled and the link severed.
I hurried into our quarters. Foamy white suds covered everything. “Bey?”
“Bey.” Cason pointed.
Chirping loudly, Adoz hovered over eight furry legs protruding from the bubbles.
I tapped my gauntlet. A bright blue light rolled over the room. The suds vanished. Bey was imitating a dead spider again. “Where does it hurt?”
“Everywhere.” His body trembled violently. “Are the children safe?”
I tapped the medical alert on my gauntlet and summoned Soval. “Cason, Adoz and Pepe are, but I don’t know about the twins.”
“Find them. They are but children.”
Extremely dangerous children. “I will, but I think Rakk is the one who should be worried.”
“Go.”
“I summoned the medic for you,” I said.
“Go. Save them.”
“I’m going. I’m going.”
“Rakk and the twins are in the mess hall. Do you want me to port us?” Chiara asked.
The mess hall was fast becoming the Bermuda Triangle of the ship. “No, we might port into the middle of a blood worm battle or worse.” I sprinted down the hallway with Pepe and Adoz following me. “LeeLee and LooLoo I want you to get away from the bad Askole.”
“No, he hurt Bey. Try take Cason,” the twins said in unison.
“Father Trayon will punish Rakk for hurting him, but I don’t want you to get hurt.”
“We no hurt. Him is.”
Pulling my laser pistol, I stepped cautiously into the mess hall, and my jaw dropped. A web wrapped Rakk lay on the floor and his body seemed to be shrinking. Merda! LeeLee and LooLoo had their fangs buried in his neck. “Are you eating him?”
LooLoo quickly removed her fangs. “We hungry.”
“Him taste good,” LeeLee giggled and took another slurp.
Ugh. “Never eat people until you check with Father Trayon. You never know where they’ve been.” I frowned. That came out wrong.
“Yes, Momma Jia,” The twins said dutifully.
I linked with Bey, “The twins are safe, but it looks like they’ve been sucking out Rakk’s inners.”
“Children can consume someone his size in a day.”
“What?”
Trayon zoomed in, came to a dead stop, and grinned. “Well done children.”
“Help me,” Rakk moaned.
I sneered. “Not a chance.”
“I should have killed you, but he wants you and the spawn alive,” Rak
k mumbled.
Trayon’s tentacles squirmed wildly. “Who wants Jia alive?”
“The human.”
“Is this the human?” I flashed him a picture of Giovanni.
Several spasms shook Rakk. “Yes. He… He said… You destroy… His lab.”
“I can’t take credit for that, but I did catch his wig on fire.”
Trayon laughed. “How did that happen?”
“The idiot made the mistake of attacking me and he accidently fell into some candles. It wasn’t my fault his wig was so flammable it burned the restaurant down.”
Adoz landed on my shoulder and held out a small metal disk.
I took it from him. “What’s this?”
“It’s a miniature encryption drive.” Trayon held his gauntlet over it and watched as information scrolled across his screen. “He downloaded all the security protocols, and he has the codes to disable our shields and weapons systems.”
Cazzo! Was Rakk working alone or did he have a partner? “What did Zarek learn from his mind meld with Cuylen?”
Trayon growled deep in his chest. “Nothing. He was found dead in his cell.”
“And I bet Rakk had just been there.”
“He had.”
Rage burned through me and I wanted nothing more than to end him. The greedy bastard had aided the Rodan and for what? Credits? “How did Rakk get Lipas and the creature onboard our ship?”
“We will soon find out,” Trayon promised.
Dad appeared next to me and whistled. “If I hadn’t seen it myself, I’d never believed it.”
“The twins were feeling a bit peckish,” I commented dryly.
“I can see that.”
Zarek teleported in with Sariel. They stared at Rakk for a moment.
“A unique solution,” Sariel commented.
Everyone moved over as the Gorum squeezed into the room.
“Incredible. We had heard Tabor children were deadly,” Bebo said.
I shifted Cason to my hip. “You have no idea of what they can do when properly motivated. Just ask Zarek.”
“They are resourceful,” Zarek conceded.
Loki and Ivan entered the mess hall.
Pepe growled at them.
“Sssh.”
“No like.”
He had a point. Which side were they on? “It’s okay. They’ll behave and if not, they’re on the Tabor’s dinner menu too.”
Loki and Ivan eyed me as if I had suddenly sprouted horns.
I bared my teeth in a semblance of a smile. “But you’re not foolish enough to follow in Rakk’s footsteps, are you?”
“No, my lady, we are not,” Loki answered.
“Good.” I turned my attention to Trayon. “I think being eaten by the Tabors is the appropriate punishment for a traitor.”
“I agree,” Trayon said.
A pitiless smile pulled at Zarek’s mouth. “I need to interrogate him first, then he is theirs.”
“Geepa,” Cason gurgled happily and held out his arms to Trayon.
Trayon took him from me. “My little warrior pursuing the enemy before he can walk.”
“What did you expect? He carries our genes,” Sariel said proudly.
What had brought about Sariel’s sudden change of heart? I picked up Pepe. “I’ll take the kids back to our quarters and let Zarek do what he must.”
“I will escort you,” Dad said.
LeeLee and LooLoo scooted up my body and perched on my head. “You belong Momma Jia?” They said at the same time.
“I do and you all belong to me. You can call me grandpa,” Dad said.
“Grandpa,” the twins crowed.
Pepe jumped on Dad’s leg. “Me belong you?”
“You do and Adoz and Chiara. You’re all my grandchildren.”
Adoz landed on Dad’s shoulder and chirped happily.
How had I gotten so lucky? Not only had Trayon claimed the children, but now my dad had too. My family was awesome.
“We hungry,” LooLoo cried.
“When Zarek is finished talking to Rakk, you may eat him.” Good Lord, I sounded downright ghoulish.
LeeLee and LooLoo bounced up and down on my head. “Hurry Uncle Zarek.”
“I will summon you when I am done,” Zarek replied a little testily.
I interjected, “How about some mealie bugs to hold you over?”
“Kay.” LeeLee peered down at me. “We go now?”
“We go now,” I said.
Trayon handed Cason to my father. “Guard them carefully.”
“With my life.” Dad cradled Cason against his chest.
I snorted. “Relax, I don’t think anyone is stupid enough to attack our children again.”
Cason patted Dad’s chest. “Papa.”
Trayon raised his eyes heavenwards.
“Come on kids, Zarek needs to talk to Rakk.”
Chapter Sixteen
Zarek’s mind meld with Rakk led to a treasure trove of information. Our traitor wasn’t as dumb as he appeared. He wore a modified version of Earth First’s sensors that blocked telepathic abilities. He couldn’t have his fellow warriors eavesdropping on his traitorous thoughts, now could he? In case the monsters turned on him, he had downloaded the locations of every Rodan base, and the codes to disable their shields and weapons systems. The data would be sent to the Bjarke High Command upon his death. Why them? That was the million-credit question. Rakk also inserted a virus into the monster’s mainframe that would shut down life support on every battle cruiser in their fleet. Zarek now had the codes and could trigger the virus any time he wished.
I had to say I was impressed by Rakk’s attention to details. Too bad he was ready to sacrifice billions for a pleasure house on a planet called Paradise.
What was even more impressive was the traitorous bastard had discovered who was aiding the Rodan. Everyone was shocked when it turned out to be Xabiere, the Commander of the Coletti eastern sector. His hatred of the hybrids had driven him to fund the Legionnaires and feed the Rodan classified intelligence. The assassins he hired to kill Zarek botched it so badly, Xabiere gave the Rodan the location of Zarek’s warbird. He figured the odds were in his favor. Seven battle cruisers against Zarek’s warbird was a win-win situation. But he didn’t factor in Trayon’s ship or me and Chiara. He was beyond furious when he learned Zarek still lived.
The fact that Xabiere was over ninety-two million miles away didn’t stop Zarek from destroying his mind and those who had aided him. The man was scarily powerful, but thank the Lord, he had a soft spot for children.
It took Rakk four hours to die and I couldn’t bring myself to care. Was his death horrific? Without a doubt, but his actions would have destroyed civilization as we knew it.
The battle plan to take the Rodan base and free the prisoners was a simple one. Sariel and Commander Zan would use the codes Rakk had stolen to take down the Rodan defenses, and life support systems. Jubal and his fighter pilots would engage the Rodan Marauders. At the same time, the Gorum would port in with an assault team to rescue the prisoners. Trayon and Zarek were part of that team.
There was only one problem with their plan. I wasn’t included. I stepped in front of Trayon when he tried to leave. “I’m going with you. Adam knows me. He’ll listen to me. If he’s becoming something other, I know I can control him.”
“No. I will not take you into a battle zone,” Trayon stated flatly.
I glared at him. “Earth was a battle zone for over eight years, and I survived.”
“You are not yet Askole and will only slow me down.”
“But…” Trayon’s mouth closed over mine and he kissed me senseless.
Chiara stuck her head between us and hissed. “Are you eating Mother Jia?”
A laugh escaped Trayon “No, I am kissing her.”
“What is the purpose of kissing?”
“It’s a way we show our affection,” I answered and pressed my lips to her scaly head.
Pepe chimed in, “Me no get
kissing.”
Adoz chirped mournfully.
The twins scurried up to my chest. “We like kisses.”
To my utter surprise, Trayon gave all the kids a smooch. “You are a blessing from the Goddess.”
“Ax. Pappa.” Cason cooed.
Trayon hugged him tightly. “You are a worthy son.”
Aw. My intimidating Askole was a big softy. “I love you all very much, but I need to talk to Father Trayon. Alone.”
“Yes, Mother Jia. Come children,” Chiara said.
The kids followed her into the bedroom.
Chiara had blossomed from a frightened child into a confident warrior. I grabbed Trayon’s arm before he could zoom away. “Adam has never seen an Askole before, he will attack you. Me, he won’t.”
“The Adam you know, and love, might not exist anymore.”
I hated it, but Trayon had a valid point. “If he still lives, bring him back to me.”
“You have my promise.” Trayon brushed his lip over mine. “Once you are fully Askole, I will be proud to have you fight at my side.”
“Deal. The minute you find Adam…”
“I will tell you,” Trayon inserted.
“Annihilate those bastards.”
Trayon gave me his toothy smile. “I will bring you Giovanni’s head.”
“Oh. Gosh. That’s not really necessary.”
“As you wish.” Trayon zoomed away.
The Rodan base fell within an hour. I mentally tagged along as the assault team hit the lab. Nothing remained except a mountain of rotting body parts. Mallox, Giovanni, and the prisoners were nowhere to be found.
A stomach-churning wave of fear hit me. Was Adam dead? No! I would know if he had died, wouldn’t I? With every ounce of power I had, I reached out to Adam. For a moment, I connected with him. His thoughts were alien. Savage. Instead of hands, he had talons. His gut ached from hunger. A hysterical woman was shoved into his cell. Nausea clogged my throat when he began tearing at her flesh. The woman’s screams seemed to go on forever.
“Enough,” Trayon commanded and severed the link.
I made a broken, gasping sound. Once again, I had failed Adam. My loving brother was gone and in his place was a lab created monstrosity.
“None of this is your fault,” Trayon interjected. “We will find Adam and the others. If they are beyond our help, they will be humanely put down.”
