by Bethany Shaw
“I know where we need to go and I might have an idea how to stop the Imanji, but we’re going to need your science officer’s help to do it,” she said as she got up with enough force to pull him up with her.
“Tell me which direction to fly and you can tell me the details in route,” Zephyr said.
She wanted to ask how he’d be able to hear, but she stopped herself. He was an alien bird; he could probably hear things from three blocks away.
Giving him general directions, she closed her eyes and prepared for another flight.
***
Zephyr frowned as something shot out of the ground—a missile. It soared toward him at an alarming speed and it took him a moment to realize it came from the mountain. He darted to the right, but the weapon followed his movements.
Flapping his wings harder he swerved again, but he couldn’t shake the missile.
“What’s going on?” Addison asked, her voice high-pitched with fear. Her hands shot up and clung to his feet.
He peeked down at her. Her eyes were squeezed shut and her face scrunched up. She tightened her grip on his feet with each movement he made.
“Zephyr? Everything okay?” she asked panic filling her voice.
He couldn’t answer her. Not in this form.
The only thing he could do was keep this missile tailing him at bay. Making sure his talons had a firm hold on Addison, he dove down, hoping the weapon wouldn’t follow, but he had no such luck.
Addison screamed, her legs flailed wildly, making it harder to hold onto her.
“Zephyr!”
He grunted as he soared back up toward the sky.
“Oh, shit,” Addison said. “That’s a missile!” She twisted in his grip so she could look over her shoulder.
Zephyr gripped her harder, ensuring he wouldn’t drop her as he spun them around in an effort to evade the approaching weapon, but it continued to follow him. Crud. What was he going to have to do to evade this thing?
“Zephyr, it’s a heat seeking missile,” Addison said as she twisted in his grip to look at it again. He looked as well as the weapon was gaining on him.
A heat-seeking missile. Well that wasn’t good at all.
There was no way to cool his body temperature. Not enough to keep the missile from chasing him. Could he blow it up with a burst of fire? Maybe, but if he failed, or if it detonated to close to them, he and Addison would be in serious trouble. He scanned the ground; finding a street he dipped down as fast as he could. If he set Addison down too quickly he could injure her and he didn’t want anything to happen to her.
Fanning his wings out, he slowed down as much as possible and set her on the ground before shooting back into the air and circling around to make sure she was okay. She stumbled, pitched forward, falling on her hands and knees, but she would survive.
He chirped at her once and then rushed back to the clouds, drawing the missile as far away from her as possible. If anything happened, at least she wouldn’t perish, too.
His mind raced with ideas on how to lose the weapon. He could only fly for so long without being struck by the missile and he was quite certain a hit would kill him.
A black object in the distance caught his eye and he grinned inwardly. It was an Imanji ship—they would not even know what was hitting them.
He pushed himself faster, flying straight for the approaching ship. The weapon whizzed behind him, practically touching his feathers. His wings flapped harder, pushing his already screaming body to move faster.
The Imanji ship was getting closer; he just needed to keep them from seeing his package so they didn’t pull away. At the last minute he would roll to the right and the missile would destroy their ship.
He said a prayer, hoping his idea would work. Even if it didn’t, he’d at least be taking down an enemy ship. If he had to choose a way to go, this would be it.
Zephyr stared at the ship, making contact with the alien inside. A wry grin spread across its face as its weapons bay doors opened. Zephyr chuckled to himself. These idiots were about to get the surprise of their own.
Seconds before colliding with the craft, he zipped to the right. The explosion was loud as the missile and ship collided. Debris from the craft hurtled toward him. He tried to dodge it, but one of the larger pieces struck his wing.
He grunted as pain sliced through his entire extremity. His body catapulted to the ground, spinning and flipping as it fell. Zephyr tried to regain control, but his injured wing refused to move. He was falling and there was no way to catch himself.
Chapter Ten
Addison covered her mouth as horror swept over her. The Imanji ship and missile had collided, but Zephyr had been hit with the aftermath. He was falling in a blazing ball of fire and there was nothing she could do to help him. Once again, all she could do was watch in horror.
Even worse, he was going to land several miles from her location. It could take her hours on foot to find him, or his body, once he hit the ground.
She kept her eyes on him, mentally noting where he was in correlation to the trees. But she knew he was falling too fast and the impact was going to kill him.
Tears pricked her eyes and she let them fall, trickling down her cheeks as Zephyr hit the ground. A dust cloud filled the air and Addison gasped, filling her aching lungs with air. Her legs gave out and she collapsed onto the pavement. She buried her face in her knees and sobbed. Zephyr is gone.
Consumed with her grief, she didn’t hear the running motor of a truck until it was barreling toward her. She screeched and hopped to her feet. Swiping at her face she sniffled as the truck approached.
The military was here. Of course they were. They’d been the ones to shoot at her and Zephyr in the first place. She narrowed her eyes at the vehicle and its driver.
It slowed to a crawl, coming to a complete stop a few feet away from her. A man jumped out and approached her.
“Are you okay, miss?” he asked.
She gulped and forced herself to nod. They must not know they shot down their ally.
“Did that thing hurt you?” he asked as he reached out to her.
She shook her head. “He’s not a thing,” she said, her voice angry and raw.
The man dropped his hand as he sighed. “Miss, I don’t know how much you know about what’s going on, but that man meant you harm.”
Addison snapped her head up, narrowing her eyes as she glared at the man. Her gaze dipped down to his rank then back to his face. “I know exactly what is going on Lieutenant Alexander. There are two alien races on our planet. The one you shot down just now,” she pointed to the spot where Zephyr had crashed, “was our friend. He saved my life and hundreds of others.” After everything Zephyr had done, it didn’t seem right for him to go down from friendly fire.
The man tilted his head to the side before turning back to the other men behind him. They shrugged at him. The lieutenant rubbed a hand down his face before he spoke, “There are two alien species?”
“Yes. The scary yellow ones, the Imanji, are our enemies. The phoenixes—the fiery birds—they’re our friends and are here to help us,” she said as more tears slid down her face. Her hand reached up to swipe them away as her bottom lip trembled.
No, it wasn’t the military’s fault. They couldn’t have known, but Zephyr’s death was still a tragedy. She barely knew him, but already felt a giant hole in her heart. It was a hole no one would ever be able to repair. In the short time she’d known Zephyr, he’d made a lasting impression.
“Sir,” a man said as he tapped the lieutenant on the shoulder and pointed. “We’ve got incoming.”
Addison turned in the direction he indicated. Her breath caught in her throat. Zephyr flew toward them. One of his wings was mangled, but he was flying—sort of. He was low to the ground almost as if he was hopping off the pavement and bouncing into the air. He was alive. It wasn’t possible. He should be dead, but she wasn’t going to complain. Zephyr was alive.
“Should we take it out?�
� the man asked.
Addison registered the man’s words. “No! Don’t shoot. Please. He’s on our side.” She whirled toward the lieutenant, begging him not to aim at the wounded phoenix.
He regarded her for a long moment.
“Do you know who I am?” she asked. It’d been a long time since she’d used her name to get herself out of trouble. “I’m General Harold Montgomery’s daughter. And you’d better do what I say or the General will have your head.” Everyone knew who her father was. He was one of the top ranked military leaders in the country.
“You’re General Montgomery’s daughter?” the lieutenant asked as he squinted at her.
“Yes. Call him yourself if you need to verify who I am. Tell him you have his daughter, Addison. You don’t want to shoot that man down.” She hoped they listened to her.
“Sargent, get the General on the line and hurry. That thing is nearly here,” the Lieutenant said.
Addison let out a breath and turned back to Zephyr. Somehow he was still managing to make his way toward them. Hopefully, his injuries weren’t too severe, but they could still be life threatening.
Now that he was getting closer, she could tell his one wing was completely broken; it twisted at an awkward angle behind his back and seemed to barely be moving. His good wing was fluttering rapidly and, as she suspected, he was hopping off the ground, taking flight and landing again to get to them.
“Sir, the General is on his way,” the Sergeant said. “He said to stand down unless we are provoked.”
Wait! My dad is here—he is alive! Thank God! She’d had no idea if dropping her father’s name would work or not, but thankfully it had and he was on his way to see her right now.
She closed her eyes and said a prayer. Luck was definitely on her side today. Her dad and Zephyr had both survived impossible odds. She opened her eyes and watched as the phoenix made his final approach.
Lieutenant Alexander gazed toward Zephyr. His hand went to his sidearm, gripping it for a long moment before falling limp to his side.
Addison held her breath as Zephyr closed the gap between them. His legs gave out, causing him to collapse onto his left side, landing in a burning ball of fire a few feet away.
She rushed toward him, aware of the others calling after her to stop.
“Zephyr,” she said as he changed back into a man before her eyes.
Addison fell to her knees and pulled him to her, enveloping him in a tight hug, needing to feel he was there with her.
“I’m so glad you’re safe. I thought you were dead,” she said as he wrapped one arm around her.
“So did I,” he said with a grunt.
She pulled back and met his eyes before assessing the injuries. His arm wasn’t twisted anymore, but a deep red liquid dripped from the sleeve of his jacket, coating his fingers and the ground with the sticky substance.
“You aren’t healing?” she asked as she gingerly touched his arm. “Why aren’t you healing?”
“It will take some time,” he said. “One more change ought to make it better.”
“But you’ll be okay?” she asked biting her lip as she awaited his answer.
“I’ll be all right,” he said. “I should eat then transition again and I’ll be just fine.”
“Thank goodness. I’m so glad you’re okay. How did you survive?” she asked as she reached out to hold his good hand.
“Luck. I was able to slow my descent using my good wing. As I got closer to the ground I aimed for the trees and they helped slow my fall further,” he said while squeezing her hand.
“I saw you hit. There was a dust cloud.”
“Debris from the Imanji ship. Like I said, I got lucky.”
“Thank goodness,” she said as she leaned forward so her forehead was resting against his uninjured shoulder. “I don’t know what I would’ve done if I lost you.”
She let out a relieved breath only to tense up again when she heard the rumble of an engine approaching. Oh crap! She was going to have to introduce Zephyr, her alien lover, to her father, the General.
This wasn’t going to go well. Her father never approved of any of her boyfriends. She doubted he would like Zephyr, considering he had sent her “prim and proper” military ex-boyfriend running for the hills not that long ago. An alien probably wasn’t going to go over well with her father.
She offered Zephyr a smile. Her dad’s opinion mattered, but nothing was going to change the way she felt about the phoenix.
Addison moved so Zephyr’s good arm was slung over her shoulder then slowly, they stood up together in time to see the military convoy stopping.
“Addison?” her father’s voice said as he climbed out of the passenger seat of the lead vehicle.
Zephyr took a step back. “Go,” he said.
Addison didn’t need to be told twice. She ran toward her father’s open arms and let him embrace her in a tight hug. He lifted her off the ground as he squeezed her.
“My little girl, I thought I’d lost you,” he said as he set her back down.
“I thought I’d lost you, too,” she said as she pulled back and met her father’s eyes. “I’m so glad to see you.”
Unshed tears swam in his gaze and he blinked before offering her a grim look. His eyes darted to a spot over her shoulder. “Who is that?”
“Dad,” she said as she drew in a deep breath while looking back at Zephyr. His blue eyes seemed to be glowing even brighter than ever. She gulped as she took her father’s hand and led him toward the phoenix. “This is Zephyr. He saved my life...and he turns into a phoenix. He’s an alien and he and his people are here to help us.”
Her father shifted his gaze to her then back to Zephyr. “Come again?”
“Zephyr is a phoenix. He can turn into a large fiery bird whenever he wants to,” she said as she glanced between her father and Zephyr.
Her father studied him for a long moment through narrowed eyes. “He looks different than the others.”
“He is different,” Addison said. “There are two different alien races here. The Imanji, the yellow ones, are the ones who are killing everyone. The phoenixes are here to help us. Zephyr and his team saved me and the students I was with. Holly has them aboard his spaceship, The Retribution,” she said as she held her father’s gaze. The General had to believe Zephyr and the other phoenixes were not a threat.
“You look just like us...except for your eyes. Those are definitely not human. Who are you?” her father asked as he glared.
“Captain Zephyr Cree, commander of the warship Retribution, Sir.”
“Warship? I thought you said he had a spaceship.”
Addison lifted her brows. Was there a difference? Her father turned back to Zephyr sizing him up.
“My daughter says you saved her life.”
Zephyr inclined his head as he slapped his arms against his side in what she thought might be his people’s way of saluting. “I did, Sir. My people are here to help.”
“Why?” her dad asked.
“I’m more than happy to explain, but I suggest we get to cover. The Imanji will come to investigate their destroyed ship. We don’t want to be out in the open when that happens.”
Her father regarded him for a long moment before turning on his heel. “Follow me.”
Addison let out a breath and resumed her position to help Zephyr toward the vehicles. All things considered, that hadn’t gone as bad as she’d feared it would.
***
Zephyr hadn’t expected the military base to be inside the mountain. It was a good hiding spot, one he didn’t think the Imanji would ever locate unless the humans gave it away. Buried this far beneath the rock, even their advanced sensors probably wouldn’t pick up the life signs of the humans inside. Too bad the creatures were determined to destroy the planet. They could mount a real offense in a place like this, assuming the humans would agree to work with his people.
The human soldiers had corralled him into the base keeping their weapons trained on him
throughout the whole journey. They’d accompanied him, the General, and Addison into a briefing room where they all sat around a long oval table. A man wearing a suit had joined them and he seemed to be the one in charge, possibly the President Addison had described to him. The man’s presence caused the guards to increase security around Zephyr as if they expected him to attack at a moment’s notice; their hands rested on their guns ready to draw at his first error.
He couldn’t blame them after what the Imanji were doing. Countless lives had been lost in the attacks. He only hoped the military leaders believed him and his story. Their two species needed to work together if they would have any hope of saving more lives and implementing Addison’s plan with the missiles.
Zephyr sat back in his chair waiting for the general and the President to finish speaking in hushed tones. He’d told the humans everything he knew about the Imanji’s strategy and defenses. Addison mentioned his people’s use of shields and the possibility of a joint attack and working together against the Imanji with the use of the nuclear warheads at this facilities disposal. It was up to the humans to discuss their next course of action.
The two men had been talking for several moments. Even with his superior hearing, he could only make out the occasional word.
The General cleared his throat and sat back down in his chair, as did the other man.
“How many warships do you have in orbit around our planet and how can we help you take down our common enemy?” the General asked.
Zephyr cleared his throat and let out a breath looking to Addison then back to the men at the table. “I’m afraid you’ve misunderstood. My warship is the only one in orbit, and there aren’t anymore coming. The Retribution’s mission is to rescue as many refugees from the planet as we can and return them to my home world, Delphi. It’s the Imanji who have multiple ships—at least one for each of your continents. They have three types of ships: their large ships for interstellar travel are just outside Earth’s atmosphere, the small fighter ships destroy military bases and any other defenses, and the third are the ships carrying the machines that kill and store their victims’ life forces. The Retribution is a fantastic ship, but she can’t take on that many enemy ships by herself. In order for this to work, we need a united effort. Addison’s plan is sound. My warship will come closer to the Earth hovering just high enough to keep from getting sucked into the planet’s gravitational pull. We’ll adjust our shields to encompass the planet after you and your world leaders have set off your missiles. Everything inside the shield will be protected. If we’re going to follow this plan through, we need to act now so my lead science officer can make the adjustments to the shields.”
