Rogue Instinct

by Elin Wyn

  “What?” The man pushed himself to his feet, protesting.

  Idiot.

  Xavis flicked a finger, and I sprang to the front of the chair to grab the beaten hustler by the front of his jacket. I lifted him off the floor and shook him until his head snapped back.

  He pushed feebly against my grip.

  “I wouldn’t try it,” I growled, and he froze.

  I’m not sure what it is about my voice. On the ship, with my brothers, no one had a problem with it. In all the training vids we watched, I never thought I sounded that different. But here, on this worthless rock at the fringe of the Empire, all I had to do was speak, and the humans cowered.

  Weak.

  Prey.

  I snarled, and the acrid scent of urine assaulted me. The fucker had wet himself. Apparently, he hadn’t liked the points of my teeth, either.

  “I suggest you comply, little man. What choice do you have?”

  He stared at me, face pale beneath the marks of the beating, but finally nodded. It wasn’t much of a motivational speech, but it was the truth. No one on Neurea had a lot of choices.

  “I think you can release him now, Davien.” The smug tone of Xavis’s voice told me he’d gotten what he wanted. He hadn’t had to send a usually reliable worker to the Wastes, and he’d picked up extra leverage at the same time.

  I lowered the man back to his feet. His legs buckled, but he scrambled away from me on hands and knees. Idiot. I wasn’t the worst monster in the room.

  The rest of the negotiations were predictably short and one-sided. The hustler left, and the business in the room resumed its quiet drone.

  “I’ve decided.” Xavis’s voice cracked like a whip as he floated back to the top of the dais. “An example must be made.”

  I waited below for orders.

  “Find Kara Shimshi. Bring her to me.”

  Despite my better instincts, I grinned.

  The hunt was on.

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  Vrehx: Conquered World Book One

  Vrehx

  Streaks of plasma lit the blackness as a squadron of Valorni fighters swooped in dizzying spirals, blasting at the massive Xathi ship that filled the screens of the Vengeance.

  We were so close it was the size of a planet. Like two steel ziggurats smashed and welded together. Not practical for space flight, but efficient enough to tear through several worlds.

  Designed to intimidate.

  Designed to destroy.

  And we were going to stop it.

  We crept closer, waiting. I sucked in my breath, geared for the inevitable.

  I gritted my teeth as the bridge shook, and Karzin let out an undignified whoop from his station on the far curve of the bridge. The purple stripes on his shoulders rippled, and his excited eyes darted back and forth as if cheering on his favorite sport.

  Barbarian. His crude Valorni traits got on my last nerve—not that he gave a rat’s ass. Like the lot of them, he had no empathy for others. He barely listened to commands and forget anyone who didn’t at least match his rank.

  “You green motherfuckers aren’t supposed to be hitting us, just laying cover for our approach,” I snarled. “They can remember that much, can’t they?”

  They had only begun venturing into space when we took them into the alliance, but surely they weren’t that stupid.

  I hoped not.

  “Fuck you,” the Valorni drawled. The stretched-out sounds of his abominable accent were like bristles to my red Skotan scales. “Not their fault we’re cloaked all to hell.”

  What an asshole. Valorni couldn’t even be bothered to speak accurately. Their drawl made it nearly impossible to understand them, and they had idiotic slang for everything.

  “They were informed of our flight path before the battle.” The lights of Sk’lar’s implants flickered in the dim light of the bridge. “It should have been simple for them to avoid it.”

  I smiled just a little, glad I wasn’t the only one with some common sense. Sk’lar wasn’t much better than Karzin, but he was more tolerable. My biggest problem was his implants.

  His artificial augmentation was just creepy and wrong. You could see them light up in biohazard green against his shiny black skin. He looked like a fucking motherboard.

  The strike team leaders were chosen for their specific talents and leadership, but Sk’lar’s was not stealth outside the ship.

  Karzin made it a point to butt heads with all of us. That usually distracted the rest of us from being at each other’s throats.

  Maybe that was his intention. Whatever. He was an asshole.

  Karzin shrugged off the K’ver’s barely concealed criticism. “Not gonna matter in a few minutes, is it?”

  The sarcasm warranted him a disapproving side-eye from Sk’lar, which he ignored. I hated to admit it, but the jackass was right. In a few minutes, we would probably all be dead.

  “Gentlemen,” Rouhr’s quiet word from the command station silenced the chatter, “are you prepared?”

  The scar that ran down the left side of his face rippled as he clenched his jaw. He was annoyed.

  Of course, we were prepared.

  We shut up anyway. Rouhr was very diplomatic. That’s why he was in charge.

  We straightened ourselves and regained our concentration.

  Tension and anger clogged the air, but there was no fear. Fear had died when our families did, when our worlds had burned under the Xathi attacks.

  Around the half circle, each of us activated the new weapons panels, the long seconds drawing out as they lit up and hummed. Every battle had this moment—the waiting before the storm.

  But this would be different.

  We owned the storm.

  “Let’s blow a hole in those bastards,” I growled, eyes fixed on the sickly green hull, thinking of the swarms inside.

  They waited for the go ahead to surge through over the squadrons like locusts.

  Nothing had been able to penetrate a Xathi hiveship before. They just plowed through and destroyed whatever they wanted, the swarms mopping up whatever the hiveship missed.

  The Valorni, as annoying as they were, were inducted into the alliance for one reason. The Sugavians had worked with K’ver scientists using codialite, a mineral from the Valorni homeworld, to make one last attempt.

  Just enough had been mined for this last-ditch effort—an experimental weapon that had a shot at penetrating that hull. It was rare, and we were on the losing end of this fight. We only had one shot.

  We’d better make it count.

  Every Skotan, K’ver, and Valorni warrior on the Vengeance had volunteered in the knowledge that it was a one-way trip. If this worked, the three strike teams below would board the Xathi and battle until there was nothing left.

  If it didn’t, we’d all die—just sooner.

  Either way, the recorder satellites would beam the results of the experiment back to the scientists and engineers. We’d succeed, or they’d build a better weapon next time. That was the most important part of the mission, and we all understood how expendable we were.

  The three of us locked focus on our stations as we crept closer.

  “We are now in firing range, Captain,” Sk’lar reported.

  “Fire at will,” was the only response.

  Karzin sent the signal to the Valorni ships, and I started a slow count.

  One.

  His comrades had fought stupidly but bravely. There was no discernable pattern to the attack.

  I was worried more would take friendly fire than would hit the Xathi, but they somehow made sense of the chaos, dodging fire from their comrades. If any survived the battle, they deserved to escape.

  Two.

  More likely the crazy bastards would follow us into the breach, but they’d earned the choice.

  Three.

  I activated the launch panel and braced, eyes fixed on the monitors. The adrenaline rushed through me in anticipation of the blow.

  Not
hing.

  Not a bang or a pop or a whine. Just the hum of the engines, and the wall of the Xathi ship growing larger on the screens.

  The anticipation deflated as I looked at the panel in confusion. The damn thing was experimental, but it should at least fire. The engineers weren’t brain-dead.

  With a snarl, I slapped it again.

  And then the universe turned inside out.

  Jeneva

  I was in my element.

  I was where I belonged.

  Completely alone in the silence, except for the gigantic bipedal tree creature with an affinity for spewing poison.

  Home sweet home.

  A glob of the foul stuff hissed as it ate away the earth beneath me. It was only inches from my boot, but I didn’t flinch or try to move out of the way.

  A rapid movement around a sorvuc was far more dangerous than its projectile poison. Its damn branches were covered in tiny neural fibers, capable of detecting incredibly small movements. The fibers were illuminated purple.

  The sorvuc searched for me.

  Under different circumstances, I would have found it beautiful, but at that moment, it was just a pain in my ass.

  The humidity made my short hair damp and scratchy. It clung to the curve of my neck. I longed to brush it away, but a movement like that would be a death sentence.

  The luminescent purple faded away to a tranquil pink. I realized I was holding my breath.

  Slowly, so slowly, I crept closer to the wide trunk of the sorvuc. I had already made an incision in its trunk. That’s what pissed it off in the first place.

  A necessary risk, but I only needed a few more drops of the thick scarlet fluid that seeped from the incision. The right person would pay a small fortune for its sap—or is it blood? Hell if I know.

  As I slid my vial into place, ready to collect the liquid the sale of which would keep me comfortable for months, shouts erupted from somewhere nearby.

  Damn it.

  The sorvuc shrieked, its neural fibers flaring purple once again. It pivoted, razor-sharp leaves dangerously close to me. I rolled away, camouflaging my own movements in its rustling.

  The hulking creature lumbered off in the direction the shouts came from—sort of. Its neural fibers must have picked up the sound vibrations, but with so many trees, it would have been difficult for the creature to determine the exact direction.

  It’s a good thing sorvuc had those fibers. They were as deaf as, well, a tree—at least, the sort of trees our ancestors brought over on their generation ship. But those trees sure as hell didn’t fling poison or walk.

  Walking plants were something the dense forest of Ankau had in excess. Even so, I’d take a hostile tree giant over people any day. At least they left me in peace.

  Another round of shouts echoed through the trees. I clenched my teeth.

  Speaking of peace.

  I moved quickly and quietly through the dense forest, mindful not to disturb any of the thick vines that crisscrossed the forest floor. It was difficult to tell which ones were looking for a snack.

  I spied a small herd of luurizi grazing between the roots of the docile Lenaus trees.

  Their coats of lilac, sage, and pearl shimmered when they caught the mottled light bleeding through the canopy. Their silvery horns shone like jewels. It was easy to forget how deadly they were.

  I was sure they could smell me.

  Ordinarily, they would attack the moment they sensed an intruder. But this particular herd had become accustomed to my scent after so many years. It was an uneasy truce, but I still knew better than to take my eye off them.

  Another bout of shouting brought me back to the present. It was louder this time. And stupider.

  Clearly, whoever it was had a death wish, which was fine. I’d just prefer to be farther away when it happened.

  The trees gave way to a small clearing. Two women, who I can only assume are the shouting morons, stood inches away from each other, their faces red with anger. They didn’t notice my intrusion.

  “You’re not even trying anymore!” One woman, blonde and petite, hissed at the other. Her voice was tight, like she was trying to stay in control.

  Sharp would have been the only way to describe her—sharp cheekbones, sharp chin, and sharp shoulders. Even her mouth was a sharp slash across her face.

  I winced at her words, a headache throbbing at my temples. I almost wished something would come along and kill them.

  “What more do you want me to do?” The other woman, dark-haired and softer than the other, answered wearily. “If I had known you were going to bring this up, I never would have agreed to meet you!”

  Though they were different in coloring, they had the same nose and face shape. I guessed they were sisters—not that I cared.

  “What other reason would there be to meet up?” the blonde snapped, her gray-green eyes narrowing. “What else do we have anymore?”

  There was more poison in those words than there was in a fully grown sorvuc.

  “I hate to interrupt,” I said, startling both women.

  I wanted to sound as annoyed as I felt, but my voice was brittle and raspy with disuse. I couldn’t even remember the last time I had spoken aloud.

  “But you really should shut up,” I continued.

  The blonde pivoted to face me. I was at least a head taller than her, but she somehow seemed bigger than she actually was. And the glare on her face would have made a narrisiri hesitate.

  “This is none of your business,” she said through clenched teeth.

  “Nope, it isn’t. I don’t want to know about it. I don’t care about it. But you really should find somewhere else to finish your screaming match,” I replied.

  “Do you think we’re idiots? We have a howler with us,” the blonde smugly fished a small black device from her pocket.

  I hated those damn things. They emitted a high-pitched sound above the threshold of human hearing. It was meant to repel the creatures that stalked the forest, but I always thought it was a scam.

  First of all, the people living in the cities and towns hardly knew anything about the creatures that lived out here in the forest. Second, how would anyone know for a fact that a howler was working? No one could hear it.

  “Yes, I do think you’re idiots if you think that carrying a howler into the middle of aramirion territory during nesting season is a good idea,” I snapped, fighting the urge to give the blonde a smug smile. “If they can hear that thing, you’re screwed.”

  The dark-haired woman paled as she put her hand on the blonde’s shoulder. The blonde stiffened at her touch.

  “Leena, is that true?” the dark-haired woman whispered. Her eyes, the same color as the blonde’s, nervously scanned the surrounding forest.

  “How the hell would I know, Mariella? You’re the one who moved all the way out to the middle of freaking nowhere!” the blonde, Leena, grumbled.

  I turned to leave. Obviously, they had no intention of listening to me. Perhaps the dark-haired one, Mariella, might have seen reason, but Leena had some sort of chip on her shoulder—a chip the size of a damn ravine.

  Fine. Whatever. They were adults.

  I’d tried my best to warn them. It’s not my fault if they chose not to listen to me.

  What would I know, right? I’ve only been living out here for fifteen years. They would come to their senses and leave, or they would keep at it until one beast or another silenced them.

  Either way, I got my forest and my silence back.

  I could still feel their flurries of emotion as I marched through the undergrowth. If I was going to find another sorvuc to fill my vial, I needed to concentrate, but I couldn’t do that with the feelings of two idiots in my head. I should turn back, try even harder to get them to leave.

  A horrible screech unlike anything I had ever heard tore through the air. The sheer force of it drove me to my knees.

  I tried to protect my ears with my hands, but it was useless. My vision blurred, stars danced
behind my eyelids. I could practically feel my brain thrashing, desperate to escape that terrible sound.

  Those idiots either did something to their howler, or the damn thing was malfunctioning. That had to be it.

  As soon as I could get back on my feet, I staggered back to the clearing where I’d left the arguing pair. I would tear their stupid howler apart with my bare hands if I had to—anything to stop the noise.

  “What the hell did you do?” I yelled.

  Again, they didn’t notice me when I entered the clearing, but, this time, they weren’t distracted by an argument.

  They stood side by side, looking up at the sky. Their faces were pale and their mouths were open in terror and confusion. I followed their gaze.

  A jagged scar of pitch marred the once pristine stretch of endless blue.

  The sky, my sky, had been torn open.

  There was a beat of silence as if the whole planet had drawn in a collective breath of shock.

  Then the forest erupted into chaos.

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  About the Author

  I love old movies – To Catch a Thief, Notorious, All About Eve — and anything with Katherine Hepburn in it. Clever, elegant people doing clever, elegant things.

  I’m a hopeless romantic.

  And I love science fiction and the promise of space.

  So it makes perfect sense to me to try to merge all of those loves into a new science fiction world, where dashing heroes and lovely ladies have adventures, get into trouble, and find their true love in the stars!

  Copyright © 2019 by Elin Wyn

  All rights reserved. These books or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the Author except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  This book is a work of fiction. Any similarity between the characters and situations within its pages and places or persons, living or dead, is unintentional and co-incidental.