by Gail Koger
Bui stared back. “Don’t know. No like.”
“Zzzz. Kho. Kho. Zzzz.”
What the heck was that? It sounded like a wild animal in distress. I turned my head. Nope. Ziyad was sprawled next to me, snoring. Loudly. “Zzzz. Kho. Kho. Zzzz.”
“You sleep long time. Get. Up.”
“Okay. Okay.” Bossy little thing. The second I sat up, the room spun dizzily, and I slumped back against the floor.
“Up. Yakeee.”
“I’m trying.”
“Zzzz. Kho. Kho. Zzzz.”
“Ziyad! Wake up.” I kicked her foot.
She rolled over and kept on snoring. “Zzzz. Kho. Kho. Zzzz.”
I pushed myself upright and waited until the room stopped spinning. Huh? We were locked in an empty armory. I linked with Wulf. “I hate to bother you, but I think we’ve been kidnapped.”
Wulf’s mind embraced me like I was the most precious thing in the galaxy. “Are you hurt?”
I took inventory. All my parts seemed to be working, and I still had my boot knives. “Other than a killer headache, I’m fine.”
“Is Ziyad or Bui hurt?”
“Ziyad’s still unconscious, but Bui is okay.”
“Do you know where you are?”
Wulf’s concern and impotent fury set off my alarm bells. “No. Don’t you?”
“There is some kind of energy field blocking us from tracking you. Are you wearing a Visio crystal?”
I looked down. A string of Visio crystals was wound around my right wrist. “I am. It doesn’t seem to be affecting our mate bond.”
“Not any longer, thank the Goddess.”
I wanted so badly to kiss, cuddle, and soothe Wulf. I had scared him badly. For a brief time, the chemicals they had gassed us with had blocked our mental bond, and he had thought I was dead. I removed the crystals and threw them in the corner of the room. “Any better?”
“Yes.” Through our link, I watched Wulf check his tracking scanner. “You are on an Askole shuttle, which is docking with a Tai-Kok Class Five destroyer, a small but heavily armed ship. My calculations show its probable course is the Durung asteroid belt.”
A jolt of raw panic twisted my stomach. “Oh Goddess! I’m a prisoner on a Tai-Kok ship!”
Wulf brushed a calming hand over my mind. “They will not eat you.”
“You sure about that?” My worst fear had come true.
“We intercepted a coded message. They are taking you to Malik. You will reach his base on Viktor before we can intercept the ship. Being the clever females you are, I know you will find a way to free yourselves.”
Now he had faith in us?
Ziyad suddenly shot to her feet. “What happened? Where are we?”
“We were kidnapped, and we are on a Tai-Kok destroyer.”
“What?” Her tentacles shot straight up in horror. “How did that happen?”
“Good question. You have an answer, honeybun?” Okay, I was being a bitch, but I had one hell of a good reason.
An annoyed growl rumbled in my head. “There was a security breach. Your kidnappers killed the Askole sentries guarding Sariel’s shuttle and stole it.”
“Sneaking us out right under everyone’s noses.”
“Yes.”
“If we hadn’t been excluded from the war council, we wouldn’t be prisoners on a Tai-Kok ship now, would we?”
“No. I should have listened to you. I failed to protect you from our enemies.”
Whoa! Was that an apology? Things must have gotten really hairy for him to be this antsy. “Shit happens, my love.”
My honeybun sighed. “Shit happens quite often around the two of you.”
What could I say? He was right.
“Those bastards!” Ziyad clamped a hand over her left arm and yelled, “They took my communication bracelet.”
“Yeah, but we still have the holographic armbands, our shield rings, and my boot knives.”
I could feel Wulf’s smug satisfaction. “You are not unarmed or helpless.”
“Us? Helpless? The Tai-Kok are going to be in for one hell of a surprise.”
“With your mouth, you shouldn’t have any problem getting them to shoot you,” Quinn quipped.
“I’m feeling the love, cousin.”
Quinn gave me a mental hug. “You’re growing on me, peewee. Don’t get dead.”
“That is the idea.” Peewee? I might be a little on the short side, but I wasn’t a runt.
Ziyad started tapping frantically on her holographic control panel. “I can make it appear as if the room is empty.”
“Great idea.” I looked for a surveillance camera and spotted one over the doorway. “Bui, I need you to web up that camera.”
Splat! Splat! Bui’s web balls completely covered the lens.
“That should get their attention.”
“Give me your right arm,” Ziyad ordered.
I held it out to her, watching as she inputted data into my band.
“We are now one with the wall.”
“Woo hoo. I’ve always wanted to be a wall.” I did a little two-step.
Bui giggled. “You silly.”
“More like suicidal,” Wulf said bad-temperedly.
“Fuck! The gas is still affecting you.” Ziyad’s tone was one of dismay.
Fuck? “Just a teensy bit.”
The door suddenly slid open. Ziyad grabbed my hand and squeezed as two Tai-Kok with multiple head spikes entered our temporary jail.
Every nerve in my body tensed as the Tai-Kok with jagged metal spines sticking out at odd angles around his skull started sniffing like a bloodhound.
Wulf snarled. “He smells the blood on your battle suit.”
“Just our luck; we get a monster with a sensitive nose.” Ziyad and I backed away.
The other Tai-Kok made a snuffling noise and honked.
Spike quacked something. Sniff. Sniff. Sniff.
I was drawing him like a magnet. My back hit the wall.
“Get him to shoot you,” Wulf instructed.
“That, I can do.” I drew my boot knives, dropped my holographic wall image, and screaming like a crazed banshee, charged him.
The Tai-Kok jumped back at my sudden appearance, drew his weapon, and fired.
Crack! My shield flared brightly as a stun beam struck it.
Snap! Pop! Pop! Pop! A crackling red energy storm ricocheted off my shield and engulfed the Tai-Kok. He hit the floor as violent muscle spasms shook his thick body.
The second Tai-Kok stared in stunned disbelief at his writhing friend.
Quinn remarked, “His buddy just got zapped, and all the moron can do is stand there with his finger up his nose?”
“And why did he shoot me with a friggin’ stun beam?”
“Because they want us alive,” Ziyad cried gleefully. “Their mistake.”
“A very big mistake. ’Cause now I get to kill them.” I waved my knives at the remaining Tai-Kok. “Hello? Remember me? The chew toy?”
Vicious quacking noises spewing from his mouth, the Tai-Kok’s pissed-off buddy lunged for me.
I twisted like a cat, avoiding his metal-tipped talons, and hurled a knife. “I’m not three anymore or a helpless chew toy.”
An ear-shattering screech echoed around the room as the Tai-Kok yanked the knife out of his hand. He raised my bloodstained blade.
The wall behind him moved.
Thwack! The knife suddenly flew out of his hand.
“Thanks, Ziyad.”
“My pleasure. Finish him.”
The freaked-out Tai-Kok spun around, looking for his phantom attacker.
“Hey! I’m right here.”
He came at me again.
I ducked under a punch, blocked a second with my bionic arm, pivoted on the balls of my feet, and drove my left foot into his groin.
The Tai-Kok doubled over with a keening wail.
“Stop playing with the monster.” Ziyad materialized, grabbed the convulsing Tai-Kok’s laser pistol, a
nd shot both Tai-Kok. Their bodies disintegrated into a million fireflies when the laser beam struck. No stun setting for her.
I high-fived her. “We rock.”
“Don’t get cocky. You are not out of danger yet,” Wulf grumbled.
“You’re right. Let’s get out of here, Ziyad.”
“Freeze! Don’t move. Stay where you are.” A younger version of Pokham stepped into the room.
Well, that answered the question of who took us.
His hand shaking badly, Junior leveled a laser pistol at us. “Drop your weapons.”
“Gee, Ziyad, do we look that stupid?”
“Nope.”
“Drop your weapons!” Junior’s voice rose to a high-pitched shriek.
I shook my head. “Not until you tell us why you kidnapped us.”
“You murdered my Uncle Elof.” Junior spat, the trembling in his hand increased.
“Me?” I pointed to my chest and gave him my best harmless petka impression. “Kill an Askole warrior? How did I pull off that amazing feat?”
Junior looked a bit puzzled himself. “You beheaded him.”
“Yakira isn’t strong enough or big enough to lop off anyone’s head,” Ziyad pointed out.
“My grandfather said she murdered Elof to save you, the abomination!” Junior’s wormy little tentacles wiggled madly.
“The only abomination I see is you.” His tentacles were freaky weird. The result of inbreeding, or maybe it was some kind of medical condition?
He cast a wild-eyed glance around the room. “Where are my Tai-Kok guards?”
“Dead,” Ziyad answered him cheerfully.
“What? How?”
Ziyad picked at her teeth. “I ate them.”
“You…you…you…”
“Ate them,” I finished for him. “Ziyad was really hungry, and she even devoured the bones.”
“That’s not possible. Askoles don’t eat people,” Junior squeaked.
“She’s half Rodan, and you know how those abominations are, right? They’re always munching on someone.”
Ziyad grinned, exposing a mouth full of serrated teeth.
“Drop your weapons!” The stench of urine filled the room.
I stared at the growing puddle on the floor. Goddess, he had peed his pants. “Not a chance. You drop yours.”
“Boo!” Ziyad cried, waving her arms around.
“Eeeep!” Pokham Junior leaped backward, slipped in his urine, and almost fell. “You have to do what I say. I am a male. You are females. You have to obey me. You have to.”
“True. We are females, but obey you?” Ziyad laughed like he had just told a wonderful joke. “Is he for real?”
“If you don’t, I will…I will kill you,” Pokham Junior sputtered.
What a doofus. “Go ahead and try.”
A confused expression on his face, Junior shifted from foot to foot. “You want me to shoot you?”
“Yes, we do,” I said as if talking to a not too bright toddler. On my private link with Wulf and Ziyad, I chortled. “He’s definitely not the mastermind.”
“Find out who is,” Wulf ordered.
Ziyad scratched the side of her face with the laser pistol. “Would it help if I shot at you first? You could always claim self-defense.”
“Self-defense?” Junior wagged his pistol. “Are you mad?”
“We kinda are.” I gave him my version of Wulf’s frightening sociopath’s face.
“Please. Please, drop your weapons.”
I raised my eyes heavenward. “No. No and no. We want you to shoot us. Remember?”
“Can’t. He would get mad. We need you alive. I’m supposed to take you to Malik’s base on Viktor.”
The always persistent Ziyad prodded, “Who would get mad?”
“My cousin, Koram.”
Wulf’s rage exploded through my consciousness, and I felt him linking with Zarek. “It’s Koram, Sariel’s head of security.”
The second Zarek unleashed his terrible power on Koram’s mind, I broke the link with a shudder of horror. Goddess, that was the stuff of nightmares. I hoped Sariel didn’t get too upset about his security chief’s brains being turned to mush.
“Please tell me we’re done playing with this fool?” The look in Ziyad’s eyes was downright scary.
“We are. Blind him, Bui.”
Splat! Junior shrieked and started shooting.
Crack! Crack! Our shields flared brightly as the laser beams struck.
Snap! Zap! Junior’s ashes drifted across the floor.
I stuffed my knives back in my boots and grabbed Junior’s pistol. “Malik needs to hire better henchmen.”
“I don’t think that’s going to happen now. Him being broke and all.” The air around Ziyad wavered, and the spiny head Tai-Kok stood there. “Let’s go kill some monsters.”
“Where’s my disguise?”
She tapped on my bracelet’s controls, and Zelrine reappeared. I groaned. “Why her?”
“She’s one of Malik’s minions and quite eye catching.”
True, while the Tai-Kok were busy gawking at Zelrine’s gargantuan boobs and hanging junk, we could kill them. How many Tai-Koks do we have to kill?”
I mentally scanned the area. “About sixty.”
“Is that all? Not much of a challenge.”
“When is the last time you ate, Ziyad?” Lothel asked abruptly.
“Ah. He does love you.”
Ziyad gave me the one-finger salute. “I’m fine,” she assured Lothel. Her declaration was spoiled when her stomach growled loudly.
“No, Lothel’s right; you do need food. Like now.”
“I’m not eating Tai-Kok.” Her Spike disguise vanished. “It’s bad enough I have to wear their image.”
“You are on Sariel’s private shuttle,” Wulf said. “I know for a fact he keeps it stocked with dried Bovidae.”
“Let’s check the cockpit.”
“I like Bovidae.” Ziyad was practically drooling as she sprinted down the corridor.
Bovidae was an antelope-type critter bred for their succulent meat. Their steaks were to die for.
“Me hungry,” Bui whined.
“Do you see any bugs, sweetie?”
“Me. Look.” She scampered off.
“Don’t go too far.”
“‘Kay.”
By the time I arrived in the cockpit, Ziyad had eaten her way through three packages of the dried meat. “Did you save me any?”
She handed me a piece. “Thanks.” I took a bite and promptly spit it out. Yuck! It tasted like dried poop.
Bui dragged over two blue critters with antennas. She held up one. “Me share.”
“Thanks, but I’ll pass. I’ve lost my appetite.”
“Sure?” Bui made a slurping sound. “Good.”
“Positive.” I searched the storage unit for something to drink. I needed to get the awful taste out of my mouth. I found a bottle of Askole ale and took a swig. My eyes crossed, and I struggled to breathe. It felt like I had drunk liquid fire. “Goddess.” I coughed up a lung. “Oh…Goddess. That’s… That’s…”
“The good stuff.” Ziyad took the bottle away from me and consumed it.
“Only if you like the taste of drain cleaner.” My voice was a hoarse croak.
Chapter Eighteen
Beep. Bap. Thop. The ship’s warning alarm blared loudly. A mixture of guttural grunts, groans, and chittering clucks then sounded from the Sariel’s shuttle command console.
I hit the Askole’s detection module and whistled. “We’ve got a Marauder doing warp 7 on a collision course with this destroyer.”
Ziyad checked the long-range scanner. “It’s being pursued by a Chi-Rho pirate vessel.”
“You copy, Wulf?”
“Yes. Get me the life readings on the Marauder’s pilot.”
I quickly did a sensor scan of the ship. “He’s injured but alive. Goddess! The pilot is Coletti. You don’t think it’s him, do you?”
“It is
Malik,” Wulf said grimly.
A raspy laugh escaped me. “I bet he tried to pay the Chi-Rho for their services and found out he was dead broke. Whoops!”
“That would seriously piss off the Chi-Rho,” Quinn added.
Lothel responded happily, “We are getting reports that Malik’s base on Viktor was destroyed.”
The ship’s warning system spit out a cackling err noise.
“The Chi-Rho have launched a torpedo,” Ziyad warned.
“You think the Tai-Kok ship’s shields can take a direct hit?”
“I sure hope so, or we’re gonna die with them.” Ziyad’s fingers flew over the command console. “Malik’s Marauder has severe damage to the left wing, and that engine is losing power.”
“My question is: does he have the strength to teleport aboard the Tai-Kok ship?”
“He does,” Wulf answered.
“Oh, goodie.”
Ziyad let out a huff of relief. “The Tai-Kok captain is finally taking evasive maneuvers and has fired off two Aphid missiles.”
The torpedo hit Malik’s Marauder. It vanished in a nimbus of white-hot gases and debris.
“The pirates have launched another torpedo,” Ziyad advised. “And the Tai-Kok have returned the favor.”
Quinn intoned sarcastically, “They really want Malik dead. Wonder why?”
“He probably raped the pirate captain’s sister or wife,” I retorted.
The Aphid missiles locked on the Chi-Rho vessel. The pirates’ attempts to outrun the rockets failed spectacularly. Billows of yellow and orange flames erupted from the disintegrating spacecraft.
The last missile struck the Chi-Rho’s torpedo five hundred yards from the Tai-Kok destroyer. The ship pitched radically.
“That was a little too close,” Ziyad complained.
Wulf mocked, “The Tai-Kok captain does not have the skills of a Coletti youngling.”
“The moron probably got a battlefield promotion and hasn’t a friggin’ clue what to do.” I checked the sensors. “Malik teleported safely to the bridge of this ship. Where he will now get the good news we are his prisoners.”
“If I can disguise our life signs, they will have to hunt for us.” Ziyad started taking the control console apart. “Buy me some time. I need to scavenge some parts to build a bio-jammer.”
“Okay. I can run around in my Zelrine disguise and see how many Tai-Kok I can get to shoot me. That should keep them busy for a bit.”
