by Nora Blaze
It’s strange. I always figured I’d have kids one day, but I wasn’t in any hurry to get to it. But when I think about UrTak and how good we would be as parents together, it suddenly seems like something I need to do.
I tap the table beside my bench and am relieved when glass of twomka pops up. I take it and quickly throw it back with a wince.
I’ve always been a whiskey girl and the bite of the alien drink grounds me in a similar way.
PryZor taps his horn. “Maybe you’ll even get to keep these,” he jokes to UrTak.
I glance back and forth between them. “What does that mean?”
UrTak frowns. “Cloning our people is not so easy. To create another KrysOlakn, it requires that we remove both horns from the man who is providing the biological material.”
PryZor finishes his drink and sets the glass down. “That’s why we’ve got to make good use of them on the battlefield while we can. Once you give your horns, you’ve only got a few more trips around the star until you wither away.”
My heart breaks. They have to sacrifice themselves to create new KrysOlakns. And with no other way for their species to reproduce, every one of them must make that choice to sustain their numbers. Suddenly, the empty towns we flew by and the wide, untouched forests of the moon seem different to me.
Their population shrinks. Little by little, their species is disappearing.
A new rage fills me for what the Wehizx have done to them. They’ve not only taken the mates away from these honorable aliens, they took their fathers and grandfathers away, too.
No wonder UrTak was raised at an academy. Whoever he was cloned from would have died a few years after the cloning.
“Enough of that,” he says, gruffly pushing the conversation aside. “It’s the time to prepare for battle, not to talk of it.” He strokes the back of my hair, sending another tremble through my body.
They both turn back to their preparations. UrTak waves his hand, bringing the projection back into the air, and PryZor pulls one of his knives. The blade catches the white light of the spaceship, glinting as he begins to sharpen it on a stone, and I see that there are crystals embedded in the handle.
I turn my eyes to the small round window in the wall. I walk to it and see that already the stars are blurring by. We must be travelling so much faster than I assumed the ship was going and it wrenches my heart when I realize how far I am from Earth.
The Wehizx are holding the women near a place they call the barbarian planets. I shake my head, nearly laughing as I realize how absurd the situation I’ve found myself in has become.
I’m racing toward the horrible aliens that already abducted me once, speeding into a zone of barbarian planets, and strangely, I’m not terrified.
I feel confident.
I feel powerful.
I feel like I’m about to save my sister.
Chapter Fifteen
UrTak
The Comet Striker descends on Asteroid 8PC70. Behind us, three Flash Bombers soar in battle formation. They’re enough to take on the Spiral Fighter our intelligence tells us the Wehizx have positioned to guard their captives, leaving the path open for our ship to board the transport.
My blood pumps and my lucex rises, strengthening with the anticipation of battle. Pride surges through my muscles. I’m not just fulfilling the destiny to my species, I’m fulfilling my destiny to Loretta, too.
Grov aims the laser canon while Mokrov hones in on the asteroid. Beside me, Loretta wears a tight silver jumpsuit, fortified with woven metals for battle. The suits are insufficient protection against much of the Wehizx weaponry, but it’s better than nothing.
The rest will be up to me.
“We have a problem,” Grov growls. I turn to the control deck and see a few red flights, flashing near the asteroid.
“Damn it,” PryZor curses, his face falling.
Three Spiral Fighters have launched from the asteroid. The craft are sleek and small and incredibly difficult to hit. A large silver spiral around the outside of the craft generates energy and deflects blasts. At its core, a small black bullet holds two Wehizx who have trained their entire lives for battle.
“Is it bad?” Loretta asks.
I tighten my jaw. “There are more defensive fighters than we expected, but our guys are good. Don’t worry.”
PryZor shoots me a look, like don’t worry? Are you serious?
But I am serious. There’s no time for worry. There’s only time to fight.
Our Flash Bombers accelerate and unleash their powerful blasts. The dark void of space fills with red and blue energy rays and explosions as the battle begins. Immediately, the Comet Striker lurches as Mokrov dodges one blast and then another, sending Loretta sprawling into my arms.
I catch her weight. With her warmth against my body I indulge in a quick but deep kiss.
The field before us erupts in chaos. Spiral Fighters dart around our Flash Bombers, who manage to evade their rapid blasts while timed energy bombs send percussive waves through our ship. It’s total anarchy. I have no clue which side will prevail in the dog fights, but with Loretta pressed close, I know that’s not my concern at this moment.
“Go,” I tell Mokrov. “Full speed to the asteroid.”
He looks at me over his shoulder and raises a furry brow. “Without defensive cover?”
“Don’t you think you can dodge a few Spiral Fighters?”
Grov chuckles, then sends a volley from the cannon, disrupting and weakening the defensive field on one of the enemy ships. “Hell yeah he can. Go for it, Mokrov.”
Loretta gasps as we lurch forward. Even I have to grab the wall to steady myself as Mokrov darts and dives toward the asteroid with blasts flying by the windows. A huge explosion rocks through space and when I look in the rear monitor I see a Spiral Fighter, spinning and disintegrating.
“Go, go, go!” PryZor yells, laughing loudly.
Grov easily blasts the few defensive features on the transport as we approach. Mokrov lands the Comet Striker on top of the large white ship and activates our boarding tunnel. A powerful motor shoots the tube through the exterior and the second it’s still, a spray of chemicals hardens, providing a new barrier to the deathly void as the Wehizx craft heals itself.
As we planned, Grov holds guard at the ship while the rest of our squad deploys. PryZor and I charge to the front, weapons drawn, while Mokrov holds back to provide cover, watch our backs, and guide Loretta along once the path is clear. From Loretta’s memories and our last attack, we have a good idea where the women are. Along the way, we throw down energy shields, blocking every corridor where our sworn enemies or the cyborg monstrosities might emerge.
Green emergency lights flash, casting long shadows over the grimy metal walls. The Wehizx like things musty and moldy, like in their original homes in the dirty tunnels beneath their moon.
My heart pounds. We don’t know how their teleportation devices work, so even though I hope the energy shields would disrupt any signals, an attack could still come at any time.
And I definitely don’t look forward to fighting their cyborgs again. Last time, our weapons bounced off their hard shells like rain off a rocky cliff.
We burst into the laboratory where I first found Loretta. Their gestation tanks are absent but one Wehizx hovers in the room, screeching his wretched voice into a device.
“Launch now!” he screams. “Launch now! Now!”
PryZor fires first. A volley of lasers deflect off the mollusqia that grows on the Wehizx’s body, barely disturbing him. I sidearm one of my knives as I dive behind a table but the Wehizx floats higher and the knife barely misses his exposed neck, and instead clips another mollusqia before clanging to the metal floor.
My lucex rises, the powerful current tingling beneath my skin and reminding me of what I fight for. A sudden rapid fire of energy beams explodes against the wall. Instead of waiting out the blast, PryZor and I both heave the tables we’re using as cover toward the Wehizx and charge forward.
The distraction is enough to let me throw the disgusting creature to the ground and slice my knife through the mollusqia to carve his stomach open.
We always could beat them in straight combat. The KrysOlakns can be proud that this is as true today as it was for our ancestors.
As PryZor opens the floor to the holding cells I sprint back to check on Loretta. Mokrov has torn the head off of a Wehizx and Loretta stands there with the gun I had provided. We didn’t have time for proper training but I can’t help but chuckle when I see on the dead Wehizx that she clearly shot before Mokrov finished the job.
“Come on,” I say, resisting the urge to take her in my arms again. Her determination moves me, and it doesn’t help that her breasts and hips are full in the skintight silver suit as I watch the rise and fall of her quick breath.
She looks like a fighter, and nothing could light my desire more.
I charge back to the front and when I look down the hole I find PryZor exchanging fire with a couple of Wehizx. I toss a laser grenade and leap down to join him. In the blast, we both dispatch one of the enemies and I feel their dying shrieks pass through my body, chilling my bones.
The women are there, all huddled in the corners of their cells. They’re terrified and confused and I realize how right Loretta was about coming along. They’re filthy and it looks like they’re still wearing the Earth clothes they arrived in.
They need my destined to guide them back to safety.
“Marie!” Loretta cries as Mokrov lowers her down through the hole. PryZor dismantles the energy cages as I keep my eyes down the corridor, where I toss another energy shield. Explosions rock the sides of the transport and I grit my teeth, hoping desperately they come from crashing Spiral Fighters.
Maybe we’ve cleared the ship. Maybe they relocated the cyborg when they took the gestation tanks from the laboratory. They only need a small crew to keep the women, at least until they start the horrible process of laying their parasitic young.
Loretta and her sister throw their arms around each other. “It’s going to be okay,” Loretta says loud enough for all the women to hear.
A wave of joy crashes through my body. I’ve reunited her with the other humans, just like she asked of me.
“But there’s no time to waste,” Loretta says, pulling herself from the moment even before I do. “These aliens are good, they’re here to help. They’ll bring us to safety.”
PryZor and Mokrov move the women up through the ceiling while I keep watch and Loretta gives them all quick hugs and encouragement. They’re too shocked to do much but go along but I can see the glimmers of hope returning. When no Wehizx or cyborgs come down the corridor I start to think we’re in the clear.
I throw another energy shield down for good measure and take Loretta in my arms. Mokrov pulls the last woman up and I give the signal to go as I kiss Loretta once more.
“Thank you,” she whispers.
I grunt, grab her around the waist, and leap up to the laboratory. The path is clear as we return to the boarding tunnel and I get another wave of satisfaction as I watch the women disappear into safety.
PryZor has a cocky grin on his face. “Shooting Wehizx,” he chuckles. “Feels so good.”
I snort. I’m ready to toss back a sarcastic comment when a huge thumping noise crashes down the hall.
The cyborg.
Without pausing, I grab Loretta around the waist and lift her up. The tunnel lacks the anti-gravity of the two ships and she floats into safety at the same moment an energy shield flies through the air, dislodged from the doorway where I placed it.
I dive to dodge the shield and land in a crouch. The cyborg is just like I remembered, all green muscles and coiled silver. His technology is unfamiliar enough that I can’t easily assess his abilities or weaknesses.
All I need to do, though, is to get the hell out of there.
The cyborg blurs through the air faster than I imagined possible, and slams me into the wall. Pain ricochets through my body as I shove him back, barely forcing him off as I try to claw my talons into his exposed flesh.
“Loretta,” I gasp. “Just go!” I suck in a desperate breath. “Just close the tunnel and get on the ship!”
I’ll figure myself out. She needs to be safe with her sister now. Otherwise, the whole thing is a failure.
I dodge a punch from the cyborg, which dents the heavy metal wall, then another. With a shove I manage to free myself from his cage and take a better defensive position in the center of the corridor. I have time to blast him with everything my gun has before he plows forward and knocks me back again.
On my knees, I look up at the towering figure. The cyborg must be twice as strong as me and three times as fast. Pain explodes in every part of my body and with every breath my lungs ache against at least two broken ribs.
I spin as I slice my knife across the cyborg’s knees but the blade bounces off. He yanks his fist back and whirring tiny blades extend from his knuckles, poised to tear my flesh.
A blast hits the back of the cyborg’s head, then another. He turns slowly, as confused as I am, although I should have guessed.
Loretta is standing there, stance spread just like I taught her. She unloads every charge in her weapon and the blasts fizzle against the cyborg’s skin.
“Loretta!” I rasp. “Go! You have to go!”
She’s going to get herself killed. Her weapon is no match for this machine.
With the cyborg distracted I jump and kick myself off the wall. My lucex surges and I feel my strength growing. He turns right at the moment I drive my knife underneath one of his metal bicep plates. It’s not enough to do real damage but I sever something and he stumbles backward slightly. I take the chance to kick him in the chest with everything I have, knocking him into the wall, then sprint forward.
I grab Loretta in my arms, the sensation of her touch powerful moments after I thought she was going to end up a casualty of the cyborg. Without looking I leap straight up into the boarding tunnel. I can’t defeat this new enemy in combat, but I can escape him.
I hit the top of the tunnel. At first I just think it’s closed but then I realize.
The ship isn’t there. It’s gone.
“You said to go,” Loretta whispers. She has tears in her eyes and I realize she’s trembling in my arms. “I jumped back down at the last minute.”
Something explodes outside the ship. I fight panic as I hear the cyborg moving again, its heavy body pounding against the metal walls.
There has to be a plan, I think. There has to be a way to save Loretta. The stars would not bring me my destined for it to end like this.
My lucex pulses as the cyborg appears at the bottom of the tunnel. I blast my fully charged gun down at him, to little effect.
A dark cloud suddenly fills the void of space behind us as the roar of an engine drowns out all other sounds. A second later, the ship shakes with the force of an earthquake. I hear Loretta screaming into the thundering noise.
A massive piece of twisted, wrenched metal blasts down the corridor, knocking the cyborg out of our view.
Everything spins and violently lurches. The stars fly by outside the tunnel and finally I catch sight of a broken Spiral Bomber. Debris from the ship has crashed into the side of the asteroid, destroying half of the Wehizx transport and sending the rock spiraling out of its trajectory in shattered pieces.
Loretta and I collapse against the wall. The centrifugal force of the spinning holds us together as she heaves against my chest.
“Hold on!” I holler, hugging her as tight as I can and pressing my hands around her head to protect her. The boarding tunnel is built to last through just about anything we could imagine but the crashed Flash Bomber is burning with an explosive fire that surprises me.
“Hold on!” I yell again. “I’ve got you, Loretta! I’m here.”
Chapter Sixteen
Loretta
I wake with an aching body. I feel like I’ve been tossed around in a washing machin
e for the past week. Groggy and confused, I open my eyes and struggle to my feet.
I’m on a beach with two red suns shining in the sky. As the cool waves lap the green-tinted sand at my feet I look out over the crash site. The Wehizx ship is cracked in two with each end as far apart as a football field, the tangled metal half-covered by water. Between them, near the shore, I can see a Flash Bomber, steaming and burning with small blue flames.
UrTak is standing in the wreckage, digging through the Flash Bomber. The water comes up to his waist and as I watch he pulls components out and shoves them in his bag.
I realize he must have dragged me to the shore. He must have saved me somehow, although I can’t imagine how anyone would survive this crash.
“UrTak!” I yell.
He sees me and trudges his way through the water. As he approaches, I turn and look at the land behind me.
What must have been the asteroid now appears as towering chunks of rock, embedded in a thick forest. If it weren’t for the paths the asteroid cleared I wouldn’t have been able to see through the dense red trees, which sprout up suddenly where the sand ends. Deep, guttural squawks sound out as a flurry of motion shakes the trees around the smoking rocks.
“Loretta,” UrTak says, appearing behind me. His purple skin is battered and torn and I see congealed blood on countless cuts. White bandages are wrapped tightly around the worst of it and one of his pant legs is totally shredded, exposing his thick thighs to the warm, humid air.
“Let me see you,” he says and steps back. I look down at myself and only then realize that my battle suit is equally torn, hanging on me in dirty tatters.
I also realize that I’m similarly bloodied and bruised. The pain hits me like someone dropped an anvil on my head and I stumble forward with a groan.
UrTak catches me. “Easy there,” he says. “You’re okay.”
