A shadow blocked out the moon a moment later. Riot looked up, not believing what her eyes were seeing for the hundredth time since she landed on Hoydren. She could see them now—two dragons the size of school buses screaming across the sky. One was blue, the other black.
“Rizzo, get those guns up—now!” Riot screamed into her comm. “Vet, we’re going to need as much firepower as we can muster. Break out the big guns.”
“Roger,” Vet yelled over the comm.
Roger, Rizzo wrote over her heads-up display.
Riot caught sight of Remus for the first time since the battle had begun. Things had happened so fast, she’d forgotten she’d even lost track of him. The elf-like alien waved his hands into the air like he was summoning some kind of magic spell over the dragons.
As one, the dragons hovered over the battle scene. Their presence alone caused panic, as well as their massive wings blowing huge gusts of wind at the Trilords on both sides of the engagement. The hovering beasts were close enough for Riot to make out long braces around their necks, ones that glowed a faint green and pulsated up and down.
The same faint ebony color grew in Remus’ hands as he ushered the dragons down. Whether it was mind control, magic, or some kind of alien tech Riot didn’t understand, the dragons seemed to register the commands. Like a pair of comets, they dropped from the sky, one toward the ship, the other toward Riot.
30
The blue dragon dove for the ship. Its mouth, which was large enough to swallow a man, dropped open. Fire gushed out and shot toward the ship as Rizzo angled up the forward guns and let the oversized serpent have it.
The first few rounds struck the underside of its belly, making the creature roar in pain before it broke off its flight. Riot, on the other hand, wasn’t so lucky.
The black dragon came for her. The green light pulsated up and down, its steel chain collar like a manic light show. Riot still covered the injured Kila and Hemming fifty yards from the ship, but it might as well have been a mile. Already those Savages who remained were providing what fire they could as they ran to help, but no one was outrunning a dragon.
I can’t believe I’m doing this, Riot thought as she aimed her weapon at the approaching black dragon and opened fire. She walked to meet her death. Come and get it. If you thought this would be easy, you’ve never met a Marine!
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Riot aimed down the weapon’s shaft. Lifting the end of the heavy weapon was harder than she’d anticipated, and her muscles screamed with a burning pain as she hefted the weapon once more.
The dragon opened its gigantic maw, revealing rows of wicked-looking teeth. A dull, red glow crept up its mouth. Riot landed two shot to its neck and another to the inside of the monster’s mouth. The two shots that hit the dragon’s golden collar glanced off. The one shot that made it into its mouth just pissed it off even more.
BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!
The amazing sounds of heavy weapons added their power to Riot’s smaller caliber blaster. Riot glanced to her right as the red blaster fire from the ship, as well as Vet on the Vulcan SP101, slammed into the black dragon’s side. The beast roared in pain before breaking off its attack just a few yards from Riot’s position.
Riot didn’t wait to ask questions. Instead, she sprinted to where Vet kneeled beside the open end of the ship. She lifted Rizzo’s Vulcan and tore into the night sky. Between her effort and the firepower from the ship, the dragons were kept at bay, swirling and avoiding the fire. It was only a matter of time before they would come in for their next attack.
“Vet, did you bring the A9?” Riot asked. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a group of Savage Trilords assisting Kila and Hemming into the ship. “We need to bring that magic-using elf-mother down. He’s the one controlling the dragons.”
“Just inside.” Vet didn’t take his eyes off the sky. “It’s locked and loaded.”
Riot ran up the open cargo ramp to the massive bay that, at the moment, was being used as a place to store the wounded. More than half of Kila’s soldiers were either dead or down for the count.
There was nothing Riot could do about that now, but she could try to end the killing. Riot grabbed the Fire Breath A9. The three rocket tubes made it look like a trinity of RPGs all strapped together. The weapon was heavier than she remembered, but Riot ignored the strain and forced it up onto her left shoulder.
Setting the weapon made her wince in pain, though. The blow she had taken to the opposite shoulder screamed with a burning fire that penetrated to her bones.
Time for pain later, Riot reminded herself as she made her way back outside to the left of the ship. Vet had gone down to a kneeling position. The Vulcan in his hands spewed a light show of red blaster fire through the night sky.
The dragons flew just out of range from the red bolts coming from Vet and Rizzo, who pumped round after round at them, keeping them at bay. When blaster fire did hit, the dragons veered off or roared in annoyance.
“I don’t think our weapons are piercing their scales,” Vet grunted as Riot took a knee next to him. “Their skin is too thick, even for the ship’s guns.”
“Roger that.” Riot aimed the weapon through the heads-up display of her helmet. Frantically, she searched the battlefield for Remus. “I think they’re being controlled somehow. We just have to cut the head off the snake.”
Yellow fire from the Brutes was still being exchanged with the few Savages who remained. What was keeping Riot’s much smaller force from being overwhelmed at the moment was the fear the Brutes had for the dragons.
The Brutes looked frightened as they gazed up into the sky. Not one of them dared charge Riot’s position for fear they would get caught up in the collateral damage.
“Where are you, you son of an oxenheim?” Riot grinned to herself. “Hello.”
Riot caught sight of Remus’ tall figure at the rear of the Brute force. He was swirling his green hands, maneuvering the dragons through the air. Riot locked onto her target, her finger hovering over the trigger of the Fire Breath A9.
As if sensing what was about to happen, Remus broke off his control of the dragons and looked directly at Riot.
“Good night, you elf-looking son of a—” Riot pulled the trigger.
SHHH!
The Fire Breath sounded like a loud whoosh as a red beam exited one end of the three barrels.
Whether it was pure dumb luck, or Remus somehow brought the pair of Brutes in front of him with his magic tech, two unlucky Brute soldiers stepped in the way of the rocket at the last minute.
An explosion rocked the ground as the rocket made contact with flesh and bone. Smoke poured from the A9’s mouth. Riot used her heads-up display to check to see if she had hit her target.
Something that sounded like a horn echoed over the battlefield, blasting a long, single note.
Her heads-up display told her Remus was still alive. A tall, white outline, along with dozens of the bulkier Brutes, fled into the jungle. The dragons overhead disappeared. Riot aimed the Fire Breath at the retreating figures, but they disappeared into the jungle before Riot could fire another shot.
31
“How is he?” Riot asked Wang, who was checking the vitals on the Savage prince. “Did he make it?”
“Yep.” Wang nodded down at his sleeping patient. “The Syndicate has another type of nanite capable of repairing the body at extreme speeds. It’s something I’ve been wanting to try on us. Now that it looks like it works, I’d like to inject the squad with them. Imagine that. Won’t work on old injuries, but it has the ability to heal almost as fast as you’re wounded.”
“Sounds like something a superhero would have.” Riot wiped a hand over her sweaty face and grimaced again. Now that the adrenaline was ebbing, it was harder and harder to ignore her shoulder. “How long until he’s awake?”
“Infection is clearing as we speak, and his body is healing now with the aid of the nanites. He could wake up at any moment. I think by morning, he should
be able to walk.” Wang zeroed in on Riot’s wounded shoulder. “Want me to take a look at that?”
Riot was so tired, she almost said yes, but groans coming from the rest of the med bay reminded her there were others who could use Wang’s help. He and Deborah were the only two with medical training. Vet and Rizzo would help where they could, but they were just following instructions from the other two.
Riot pulled back the curtain from the small section of the med bay they had set up for Ketrick. The rest of the room was a mess, with all the beds filled by Savages. No one had come out of the conflict unharmed. Five of Kila’s Savages were dead, while everyone else was wounded, including Kila herself.
“No, go help Deborah and the others.” Riot placed her helmet at her feet. “I can take care of my own shoulder.”
“Roger that.” Wang left the room and moved to a table where Kila was holding a large gauze pad to her leg. Hemming lay in the bed beside her, moaning.
Riot looked around the small, curtained-off section she now shared with Ketrick. In the cabinets along the wall was an army of bottles and medicines Riot had never seen.
“When did medicine get so complicated?” Riot scanned the shelves for simple hydrogen peroxide and gauze. “Come on, where are you?”
“What are you looking for?”
Riot jolted, looking over to Ketrick, who’d propped himself up onto his elbows. His red eyes were studying Riot like something was funny. His lips parted in a smile, showing off his canines.
“I don’t know why you’re smiling.” Riot grabbed the bottle she had been looking for and a roll of gauze from a bottom shelf. “You almost died. Your leg looked like a dead possum there for a while, and not even a cute one.”
“Who are you?” Ketrick looked around his curtained room. He listened to the noises coming from the rest of the med bay. “Where are we?”
“Oh boy, that is a lot of information to pack into one conversation.” Riot grimaced as she detached the top layer of her crimson liquid armor to gain access to her wound. “We’re from a planet called Earth. We came here seeking allies. When we got here, we met your mother and found you all diseased and sweaty. We brought you back to our ship and healed you. Oh, and on the way back, we ran into your Brute friends and their ally, Remus.”
Riot winced at the pain brought on by removing her dragon skin under armor. It was almost unbearable, one of those deep, aching sensations that, for some unknown reason, brought a laugh to Riot’s lips.
Down to her sports bra, she was able to get a real look at her wound. The blaster shot that had found its way around the liquid armor and through the dragon skin. It looked more like a burn than a gunshot wound. There was a small amount of dried blood around the front of her right shoulder, but it seemed like the wound had cauterized before it had had the chance to do any serious bleeding.
Riot gritted her teeth, ready to pour the disinfectant over her shoulder.
“Here, I can help.” Ketrick swung his legs over the edge of his bed and rose before Riot could stop him. “If this isn’t some lucid dream and what you said is the truth, then we are allies already.”
“Uh, you’re naked, like as in ‘naked as the day you were born,’ naked.” Riot was trying to get over the shock at the Savage being able to get out of bed, let alone walk. “You shouldn’t be walking, either, in all of your nakedness and all.”
“I’ll be fine.” Ketrick limped to Riot’s side, seemingly unabashed at his own nudity. “You need assistance.”
Riot wasn’t really sure what to do in this situation around a naked, six-foot-seven alien with fangs and eyes that glowed red in the darkness. So, she gave him the bottle and motioned to her shoulder.
“Pour it over the wound to kill any infection. I don’t know if this part is still necessary since it looks like the wound was cauterized with the shot, but better safe than sorry.”
“Understood.” Ketrick accepted the square, brown bottle of disinfectant. “I’ll count down to one before I pour.”
“Really?” Riot was having a hard time looking up at his eyes. His body was a rippling mass of muscle beneath a myriad of tattoos and, now that Riot had a closer look, scars. “Do we have to do a coun—”
“Three, two, one,” Ketrick interrupted.
Nothing happened.
Riot had clenched her jaw and waited for the oncoming pain, though nothing had come. She looked up at Ketrick again, her eyes already telling him everything she was about to say.
Ketrick poured the bottle over Riot’s shoulder.
A fiery stinging exploded across Riot’s shoulder, adding to the pain she already felt from the injury. Unbridled anger at having been played with screamed across her mind.
“What are you doing?” Riot tried not to yell. Still, her words came out louder than she’d anticipated. “What kind of countdown was that?”
“I’ve found in these situations, it’s best to take the person by surprise.” Ketrick smiled at her. If he did register her anger, he didn’t show it. Instead, he reached for the gauze clenched in her hand. “Let me dry and wrap it now.”
“You’re testing my patience, Red Eyes,” Riot allowed him to take the gauze from her hand. “How’s the leg?”
“Much better.” Ketrick wiped off the excess liquid from Riot’s arm and began wrapping the wound. “A little sore, but this medicine you bring from Earth must be powerful. I think I would have died without your help. You must be a fierce warrior, as well.”
“What makes you say that?”
“The scars on your body look as though they have been earned through battle.”
“Oh, yeah. It comes with a life in the Marines.”
“I would hear more of these ‘Marines.’” Ketrick tied the bandage tight over Riot’s wound. “And learn more of you and your people, once we see to the health of the others.”
“Will do, muchacho.” Riot rotated her shoulder, examining the dress job. “Good work on the bandage. Now, let’s get you some clothes before—”
“Oh God, my eye.” Vet had pulled back the white curtain, immediately slapping both hands across his good eye to cover his vision. “I didn’t see anything. Sorry, you two. Master Sergeant, I didn’t mean to—”
“Relax.” Riot pulled the top bed sheet off the table Ketrick had previously occupied and handed him the piece of cloth. “Red Eyes here was just helping me dress my wound. Apparently, nudity isn’t a big deal to our new friends.”
“Oh, it is.” Ketrick accepted the sheet and wrapped it twice around his lower half. “I just wanted to impress the Valkyrie from my dreams.”
Without another word, Ketrick limped past Vet out into the medical bay.
32
“Did he just hit on you?” Vet looked as confused as Riot felt. “Never mind that, did you see the size of his—”
“That’s enough.” Riot grabbed her gear from the floor. “What’s the damage report on the ship?”
“Ship’s in fine working order.” Vet stood straight, understanding it was back to business as usual. “Rizzo and the others are helping to stabilize the rest of the wounded.”
“Good, let’s get them back on their feet and see about being able to fly the ship back to their city. If we leave her here, we’re bound to have the same problem again.”
“I’ll speak to Kila about it.” Vet nodded. “So, we’re just not going to talk about it?”
“Talk about what?’
“Those were dragons we were firing at with our alien blasters. That’s insane.”
“Yeah, it’s pretty crazy, but this is our new normal. And we haven’t been given all the pieces to the puzzle just yet.”
“What are you talking about?” Vet looked sideways at Riot. “You think they’re lying to us?”
“Nope, not lying. We just don’t have all the facts.” Riot walked past Vet out into the packed med bay. “Get working on moving our craft inside their walls. I’m going to help out with the wounded, then have a conversation with the prince.”
With dawn’s light came a lull in the madness. It was decided Vet would go back to Silna with Kila, who insisted she was ready to travel despite her injury. If the pair got into any trouble, Vet could relay the situation to Evonne via his nanites, and Evonne would alert the cavalry.
Vet and Kila left that morning after a brief nap. They would eat their alien MREs on the way. It was just like the freaking Syndicate to introduce them to artificial intelligence, intergalactic travel, and nanites, but leave them eating MREs. The mess hall in the ship was capable of cooking up whatever food they would like, but when it came to traveling on the go, nothing beat a good old MRE breakfast.
Riot was on her way to her room for a shower and then food before the ship would be taken to Silna for their sit-down with the queen. Above all, Riot needed answers. On the top of the list: Who was this Remus, and what did he want? Right behind that question: How was the alien, Karnayer, controlling the dragons?
“I saw you in my fever dreams,” Ketrick said, standing outside Riot’s room, still wearing nothing but his bed sheet from the waist down. He held a white paper bowl in one hand, a plastic spoon in the other. “You looked like a Valkyrie.”
Riot stopped in her tracks. She was too tired to try to figure out what he was doing waiting for her. Half-amused, half-annoyed, she lifted her signature eyebrow.
“A Valkyrie is an angel of death that—”
“I know what a Valkyrie is.” Riot didn’t bother to mask the annoyance in her voice. “What do you want? You’re standing in front of my door. Are you eating oatmeal?”
Bring the Thunder (War Wolves Book 1) Page 12
