Teeth & Claws_A Paranormal Space Opera Adventure

by Michael-Scott Earle

  “We don’t have a choice,” I said. “I can’t wait around a year for Aasne to get through her tests, and fighting six deadly valkyries sounds risky. Eve, Zea, and I used Persephone’s foldingdrive once before. It does feel kind of shitty, but so does getting destroyed by the Draugr. Nikki, are you ready?”

  “Yes, Adam,” the blonde woman replied.

  “Engage,” I said, and then Nikki moved her hand over her controls.

  “Engaging foldingdrive,” she said, but her words seemed to last forever.

  I was caught in her voice. It spun around me like a tight blanket and filled my ears like bathwater. It was the “v” sound echoing like a held note of a song and I had to shake my head a few times to get the ringing to stop.

  “Fucking weird,” I said, and my voice echoed in my head half a dozen times.

  Then I saw that I was alone on the bridge.

  The chairs where Madalena, Sivaha, and Nikki sat were empty, and Persephone’s screen was blank. Were we still in foldingdrive? Had I passed out in my chair? I doubted the latter, mostly because Nikki almost never left her seat at the front of the bridge.

  “She might have gone to sleep or train,” I said, and my voice buzzed around my brain like an angry wasp stuck in my skull.

  I stood and felt my head spin for a few moments as the blood struggled to reach my brain. I was tired and nervous at the same time as if I’d stayed up for three days in a row and was only surviving off a coffee infusion.

  I walked around the side of the officer’s chairs and looked toward the holographic map display and gunner’s stations. The map was flickering the image of a planet, but it was as if the system was short-circuiting, and the sphere only appeared for half a moment before disappearing.

  The gunner’s stations were empty except for Kuroda’s chair. The muscular man was staring at his blank screen with intense interest, and I staggered a bit as I walked to his side.

  “They aren’t existing as us. We are creatures of the stars and are a few steps closer to the light.” His words sounded strange, as if he spoke them when he inhaled.

  “Where is everyone?” I asked, but he didn’t answer me immediately.

  “It is a space between time. Things are clearer to me now, but also shadowed by fate.” He was suddenly looking at me.

  “We are still in foldingdrive?” I asked. “Last time I went through this I just woke up on the other side.”

  “Time and distance are the same. What happens when the distance is reduced to zero? Do we touch creation? Perhaps your woman was correct to fear this technology.”

  “But we are both awake and speaking with each other?” I asked as the man faded in and out of my vision. “Does that mean the drive is not working?”

  “I don’t think we are here,” he said as he finally faced me. “There is no time, so we are just memories. Energy that is lost in the universe. The enemies you seek want access to this realm. Then they can consume not only life, but the memories of it. Then they will truly be the creators and the destroyers.”

  “How can we be speaking if there is no time?” My head cleared suddenly, and I realized that Kuroda was actually answering my questions before I asked them.

  Yet I was asking them, anyway. The words were just coming out of my mouth.

  “I will stay here and contemplate our situation further,” he said. “We might not remember this when we wake. If we ever wake. Perhaps this part of us stays here, and the other parts of us continue on into the mortal world.”

  “I’m going to keep looking for anyone else,” I said as I turned away from the dragon-man. I was finding it hard to believe that we were the only people present on Persephone, but Kuroda and I were both shifters, so it was possible our alien conditions meant that we could kind of communicate during this strange trip.

  It was a bit hard to put one foot in front of the other. Every time my leg moved it seemed to have a variable mass, and my shoulders kept leaning into the walls. It was like I was drunk, only it felt like I was wading through an ocean undertow.

  I reached the elevator, but the button to open the door didn’t work, so I turned toward the hallway that led to my suite. It felt like I walked down the corridor for a few hours without the door getting any closer, but then I turned back around toward the elevator, and the door to my suite was suddenly in front of my face.

  I stumbled into my room and saw Persephone sitting on my bed.

  Her black wings were opened up to their full length and seemed to take up all the space along the walls. Her platinum-colored hair lazily drifted away from her as if a light breeze was blowing toward her beautiful face. Her red eyes burned with a passionate intensity, and her pale skin seemed to glow like it was a moon reflecting the sun. She normally wore black lace lingerie, but she was naked now, and the sight of her breasts, nipples, thighs, and legs caused me to growl with desire.

  “Eye yahhh…” she whispered. She didn’t stand from my bed. Instead, she held her arms out wide as if to embrace me.

  My steps were suddenly stable, and I crossed the space between us in a half-run. Then her arms were around my shoulders, our lips were joined, and our tongues were exploring each other’s mouths.

  Kissing the strange woman filled an empty place in my soul. It was as if I didn’t realize I was starving until I took a bite of food and then became ravenous. Her mouth delivered raw pleasure into me, and my already addled mind forgot about anything besides experiencing more ecstasy.

  Her hands pulled at my suit, and I helped her pull it off as my mouth moved to her nipple. She gasped when I licked her, and then she moaned when I thrust inside of her.

  I didn’t know if Kuroda had been correct about this just being a memory. The beautiful winged woman’s body felt beyond real to me, and our passion twisted together and ascended until it reached a mind-numbing climax. This could have been a dream since I only seemed to see her in my dreams, but I could feel her smooth skin against me, smell the spice of her hair, and taste the salt on her lips. She was as real as any woman I loved.

  Or maybe I was insane.

  I knew the beast was driving me insane.

  “Eyyyyeee yahhh,” she sighed after we had enjoyed each other for days, or years, or lifetimes, and collapsed on the bed together. Her wings stroked my skin along with her fingers, and her eyes stared deep into mine.

  “Am I dreaming?” I asked as I reached up to touch her cheek.

  “Maaayy lieeefff,” she whispered.

  “Your life?” I asked, and she nodded.

  “You exist in the foldingdrive?” I didn’t quite know what she meant, but I felt like I was in control of this conversation, and I hadn’t been during our previous meetings.

  “Nawww tyyymmmee. Nawww spaaacccc,” she whispered. “Youuu. Meeee. Eyyyeee yahhh.”

  “So this isn’t real?” I asked.

  “Alll reeeeeeel,” she answered, and then she leaned down to kiss me passionately again.

  Her lips caused my mind to spin slowly, and I wrapped my hands around her hips so that I could position her on top of my erection, but my hands closed around empty air, and I opened my eyes with a startled gasp. I was laying on my bed with my uniform still on, and it felt like someone just smacked me upside the head with a sledgehammer.

  “Fuck,” I hissed as I rolled over on my side. One of the massive revolvers dug into my hip, and I grunted again as I swung my boots onto the floor.

  My headache started to fade as soon as I stood, but my limbs felt like they weighed three times as much. My mouth was dry, and my lips were cracked. I was dehydrated, but I didn’t really feel any hunger.

  “Nikki?” I asked as I pressed the button on my transponder. There wasn’t an answer, so I dragged my feet to my bathroom so that I could quickly brush my teeth.

  My headache was completely gone now, and my toothbrush quickly removed the ash taste from my mouth. When I was done, I turned back to my room and saw Madalena laying on my bed. She hadn’t been there a minute before, and I for
ced my heavy feet to walk to the side of my bed so that I could wake her.

  “Hmmm?” she groaned when I laid my hand on her shoulder and began to shake her lightly.

  “I think we are out of the foldingdrive,” I said, and I noticed my voice sounded strange to me. Almost like I didn’t recognize it.

  “Did you carry me here?” she asked as she blinked her eyes and sat up.

  “No, or at least, I don’t remember,” I said. Madalena was wearing her uniform, but the front of her shirt was unbuttoned slightly so that I could see the top curves of her firm breasts. The sight of her skin made my mouth water, and her lips curved up into a smile when she noticed me appraising her body.

  “The foldingdrive might have caused us to move,” she said.

  “I had some sort of dream,” I said. “I walked into my room.”

  “I must have had something similar happen,” she said as she moved to sit up. “We do not know how much time has passed since we came out of the foldingdrive. Others might have had sleepwalking experiences.”

  “Let’s go to the bridge,” I said. Madalena didn’t need my help to stand, but I helped pull her to her feet anyway, and I wrapped my arms around her for a few moments as she leaned against me.

  “I am discombobulated,” she said.

  “I was when I first woke up also,” I replied, and she exhaled slowly before pulling away from me.

  We moved across the room to my door, but before we could open it, a groan sounded from behind us. Madalena and I turned to find Sivaha laying sprawled on the bed. She still wore her dress, but the garment looked like it was wrinkled.

  “Did we not see her a moment ago, or did she just appear?” I asked Madalena as I moved back to the bed.

  “She was not there before,” the Prime Valkyrie whispered, and I grabbed Sivaha’s hand as her heavy eyelids blinked open.

  “Where am I?” she groaned.

  “In my room, on my bed,” I said.

  “Ahh, good,” she sighed. “I couldn’t find you, so I went to look for you there.”

  “You remember what happened during the foldingdrive travel?” Madalena asked.

  “I remembered being alone and then looking for our husband. I came to his room, but then I didn’t see him.” Her brown eyes held mine, and a warm smile came to her mouth. “Now I do see him, and my heart is grateful.”

  “I wonder if everyone is coming out at different times?” I said. “When I did this before with Eve and Zea, we all woke up around the same time, but were laying on the floor.”

  “That could be,” Madalena said.

  “Were you two already in the room?” Sivaha asked. “I did not see either of you when I entered.”

  “I woke up first,” I said, “then Madalena appeared on the bed. We were about to leave but then you appeared.”

  “The living souls on Persephone are arriving at different moments,” Madalena said.

  “How is that possible?” Sivaha asked as she rubbed her temples. “Did you both feel hungover?”

  “Yes,” Madalena and I said in unison.

  “It passed after a few minutes,” I continued. “My body also felt slug--”

  “Adam?” Nikki’s voice came through the transponder on my suit, and I pressed the button to respond.

  “I am in my room with the queens,” I said.

  “I just woke up,” the pilot replied. “Persephone’s clock says that seven hours have passed since we engaged the foldingdrive.”

  “Shit,” I growled and wondered where the time had gone. Even if my bout of lovemaking with Persephone was real, it couldn’t have lasted more than an hour or two.

  “Are we near Oskmay?” Madalena asked.

  “Yes,” Nikki replied. “We are orbiting the planet right now.”

  “Any sign of the Sunlight Lute?” I asked. “They should be coming out of warpdrive.”

  “Our math says we still have ten minutes,” Nikki replied.

  “I want a body count,” I said. “Everyone on Persephone needs to be accounted for. Start on the bridge. We are heading there now.”

  I helped Sivaha stand, and the beautiful woman leaned against me for a few steps before she could walk on her own. Then we moved past the elevator and onto the bridge.

  “We are missing Josefinna and Mikhael,” Lux said.

  “Were they on the bridge before?” I asked as I looked at the gunners stations. There were five seats on each side, and Milda, Calisto, Hegeia, Uma, and Waiola were on one side. Kuroda, Rin, Yni, Kalan, and Vikana were on the other.

  “Yes… I think.” Lux actually seemed confused, and she turned to Milda and Calisto. “Weren’t you both in the hold?”

  “I recalled sitting at a gunner station when the foldingdrive was engaged,” Calisto said.

  “I was in the hold,” Milda said.

  “No,” Calisto said as she shook her head at the strawberry blonde woman. “You were sitting next to me. Mikhael and Josefinna were in the hold.”

  Confusion spun through my mind and I tried to remember if I had seen them at the gunner’s stations.

  “I recall the husband and wife were sitting beside each other,” Rin said from across the holographic map.

  “I remember Milda and Calisto,” Hegeia said with a frown.

  “Fuck,” I growled. “Okay, we have other crew on this ship. I want everyone to be accounted for in less than a minute. Milda, get on it.”

  “Yes, my lord,” the woman said as she turned back to her terminal.

  “Adam, the Sunlight Lute has just exited from warpdrive thirty kilometers from us.”

  “Double fuck,” I growled as I returned to the front of the bridge.

  Nikki already had the ship on Persephone’s screen. It was a small vessel that the scanners said measured sixty meters long, but the design was that of an elegant looking gold falcon.

  “Open communications with them,” I said as I sat in my chair and focused on the planet Oskmay. It would have looked like a typical Earth-like water planet, except I could see that each land mass had long longitude lines of volcanoes sporadically emerging from the crust.

  “They have ignored our communication and are moving toward Oskmay,” Nikki said.

  “Try again,” I said as I fought against my frustration.

  “Yes, Adam,” Nikki replied.

  “Milda! Have you found them?” I shouted over my shoulder.

  “No, Adam!” she hissed. “Everyone else on board is accounted for.”

  “We need to go after Aasne,” Sivaha hissed. “If they make it to Oskmay, we will run out of options.”

  “What happens if we move Persephone without Mikhael and Josefinna?” I asked Madalena.

  “I am unsure,” she sighed.

  “They are fifty-five kilometers away from us now,” Nikki updated. “It appears their thrusters are at max power. We have half a minute to catch them with our thrusters, or two minutes before they enter Oskmay’s atmosphere, we can use your hyperdrives before then.”

  “They will appear on Persephone once they exit the foldingdrive,” Sivaha said. “We can’t let Aasne get away.”

  “Nikki, they haven’t answered?” I asked.

  “No, Adam.” The blonde woman shook her head.

  “Milda?” I asked over my shoulder.

  “No sign of them!” the woman called back.

  “We are running out of time,” Sivaha said. “Their ship is lightly armored, and a single shot at the rear can disable it.”

  “Lux,” I asked over my shoulder again. “Can a fighter drone catch up to them?”

  “No,” the valkryie said.

  “Okay,” I sighed and then turned back to Madalena. Her eyes were normally cold and emotionless, but I could see the conflict there now. I didn’t know how long Mikhael and Josefinna had been part of the Prime Valkyrie’s crew, but I enjoyed both of their company, and the thought of them materializing in the void of space because we had moved Persephone made my stomach sour.

  But my mission was t
o defend the galaxy from the Draugr, and I needed to unite the Nordar to have a chance. If I didn’t catch up with Aasne’s ship, then I might have to fight these six powerful Valkyries. I was confident in my abilities, but that didn’t mean I couldn’t get unlucky.

  “I need a hyperdrive plot to intercept them,” I said.

  “I have completed it.” Sivaha’s words surprised me since I didn’t know that she knew how to plot a course, or that she could do it so quickly.

  “Nikki, we are going to wait until the last possible five seconds.”

  “Yes, Adam,” she said. “That is forty-five seconds from now.”

  “Calisto,” I said as I turned over my shoulder. “You get one shot to take out its engines without destroying it.”

  “Yes, Adam,” the Valkyrie said as she grabbed her controls.

  “It will probably be shielded,” Madalena said.

  “Yes, Prime Valkyrie,” Calisto said calmly.

  “Attention Mikhael Elbert and Josefinna Dravka. Please confirm your presence.” Milda’s voice boomed across our bridge speakers.

  “Thirty seconds,” Nikki said, and her voice was colored with worry.

  “Mikhael and Josefinna, please communicate via your transponders immediately,” Milda said.

  “Come on,” I growled as I watched Aasne’s ship speed away from us. The thought of leaving behind my two crew members turned my stomach to ice, and even though I knew it was the wrong decision, I almost told Nikki to cancel my order.

  “Fifteen seconds,” Nikki said.

  “Mikael and Josefinna. Report via your transponders immediately!” Milda was growling into the speakers now, and it felt like the bridge was a pool of tension.

  “We are in the hold!” Josefinna’s voice suddenly came through the transponders, and my heart leapt into my throat.

  “Nikki!” I shouted.

  “Engaging hyperdrive,” she said, and then Persephone’s screen shifted for half a second. We popped out and the blue oceans of Oskmay filled the screen.

  Then a plasma ball spun through the void toward the back of the Sunlight Lute.

  The globe of angry red energy had the perfect amount of lead to hit the fleeing ship, but before it could connect, a streak of plasma fire from Persephone’s lighter cannons hit it, and the ball exploded and expanded to ten times its size and the energy shield around the small corvette shattered. Then the engines started to smoke.