Another rumble through the ship. Warning lights went off. A hose disconnected from the wall, spewing a shower of cold gas.
Rizzo raced forward. Behind them, the Scarabs tried pulling the same maneuver. Only half of them were able. In such a tight pattern, trying to pull up in time was near impossible. The first few Scarabs struck the destroyer’s shields. The next few that hit, however, made it through the shield, exploding over the ship’s surface.
Riot watched it all happen in her rearview screen. Her heart was racing as fast as the ship, and her chest heaved.
“Rizzo, I take back everything bad I ever said about you,” Riot said. Her eyes never left the rearview screen. “And that’s saying a lot.”
Rizzo looked over his shoulder for the first time since the fight began, giving Riot a rueful grin.
Riot checked the rearview screen on the display in front of her seat. A dozen fires were erupting from the Karnayer destroyer. The numerous Scarabs that still remained did not give chase. They hovered around the injured destroyer. The Scarabs wouldn’t pursue now. Their primary responsibility was keeping the destroyer safe.
“We’re being hailed.” Doctor Miller looked over to Riot with a mix of fear and surprise.
“By who?” Riot asked, still looking at the Karnayer destroyer, as the massive ship slowly turned from the battlefield. “Admiral Tricon calling to pat us on the back?”
“No.” Doctor Miller went pale. “The Karnayer destroyer is hailing us.”
“Oh, interesting.” Riot turned to her monitor. She closed the targeting system in front of her chair. “Put him on the large scree—”
“Corporal Vetash is requesting to be patched into the bridge,” Evonne said interrupting Riot. “His voice pattern would suggest whatever he as to say is urgent.”
“Put him through,” Riot said at once.
“Captain.” Vet sounded out of breath. “We thought we got them all, but Evonne informed us two Karnayer soldiers are still on the ship. My best guess is that they’re headed to the bridge. We’re on our—”
“It’s fine,” Riot said, standing from her chair. She looked at her armor and weapons Wang had brought back from the armory and had left by the command chair. “Let them through.”
10
“Roger that,” Vet said without second-guessing his superior. “Evonne will be able to track them.”
“Understood,” Riot grunted, leaning down. In her right hand, she picked up the heavy war hammer she had become fond of from Ketrick’s world. With her left, she grabbed the Villain Pulse Rifle. “Rizzo, let Evonne autopilot for a minute. We’re about to have company. You’ll take the target one on the left when they breach the door.”
Rizzo pressed a few buttons on the holographic display that had risen from his controlboard. He stood from his console, opening his hands, ready to receive the weapon.
Riot tossed Rizzo the pulse rifle.
The Marine took a stance behind his chair, staring down the sights of the weapon toward the door to the bridge.
“Should I take cover or something?” Doctor Miller looked from Rizzo to Riot. “I’m guessing something dangerous is about to happen. Oh, the Karnayer ship is still hailing us.”
“As Corporal Vetash stated, there are two Karnayer soldiers making their way to the bridge,” Evonne added in. “What would you like me to do about them?”
“Bubbles.” Riot took a stance with her war hammer by the bridge doors. “Patch through the Karnayer ship on the screen. You’ll be fine where you are; Rizzo doesn’t miss.”
Riot stretched her fingers around the blaster staff on her war hammer. In her eyes, the ancient runes on the weapon made it look even more badass. On either side of the blaster staff’s end were physical weapons meant to kill—on one side, a sledgehammer end; on the other, a slightly curved spike that looked more like a giant tooth.
The screen flashed to life on the front of the ship.
Riot adjusted her stance so she could see the screen and the doors to the bridge. The screen showed a seething Karnayer. True to his race, his skin was a light blue, his long, white hair draped behind him and pulled into dreadlocks. A black uniform with buttons down the middle made him look much like the Karnayer Riot had run into on Ketrick’s planet of Hoydren. The way his eyes squinted in a glare, the point of his chin, and the high cheekbones all made Riot think of Remus.
“To whom do I speak?” The Karnayer’s language was translated for Riot thanks to her nanites. “Who are you?”
“Warrant Officer Riot, from Earth,” Riot said, readying herself to use the weapon in her hands. “And I don’t want to be raci—speciest, but you look a lot like a Karnayer I’ve run into. Are you related to Remus, or does your whole species look similar? That’s an honest question; I’m not trying to be funny.”
“You!” The Karnayer filling the screen roared in rage. “You are the one that imprisoned my brother Remus!?”
“Wow, small universe, huh?” Riot shook her head with a sigh. “What are the odds of that? We imprisoned your brother, and we crashed your party with the Grovothe. It’s just not your year is it, Sunshine?”
“I will rend your bones. I will extract my vengeance upon you in ways you can’t imagine, Warrant Officer Riot from Earth,” the Karnayer screamed, showing off all his yellowed teeth. “Remember my name well, you stupid human. Alveric from the house of Karn will—”
“Hold on, hold on just a second Alveric,” Riot said, raising a finger to the screen.
“Three seconds until the enemy reaches the bridge,” Evonne said, using the nanites in Riot’s ear. “Two, one.”
The metal bridge doors slid open. A pair of Karnayer soldiers ran inside, their weapon up and ready to fire. They never got the chance.
BOOM! BOOM!
Rizzo’s weapon went off. Two blasts caught the soldier, one in the chest, the other in the helmet. The Karnayer went down in a heap.
At the same time, Riot brought her war hammer down in a wide arc. The tooth end pointed toward the soldier’s head crushed through the top of the helmet worn by the second Karnayer. The soldier wobbled, then fell to the floor. Riot placed a boot on the fallen soldier’s back and wrenched her weapon free. Blue blood spattered her war hammer and the ground around her.
“Okay, Alveric.” Riot turned giving her full attention to the screen in front of her. “You were saying?”
Alveric was so angry, he was shaking. Spittle ran down the left side of the corner of his lips. “I will come for you. I will come with the might of the house of Karn. Mark my words, human, your days are numbered!”
“Bring more soldiers with you next time,” Riot said, hefting her war hammer in both hands. She tossed the heavy end of the weapon up and down. “We’ll be waiting.”
With that, the screen in front of her clicked off.
Rizzo placed his weapon beside his chair and signed with his hands. He was pissed. I thought he was going to shoot steam out of his ears.
“What did we miss?” Ketrick entered the bridge with Wang and Vet in his wake. He stared down at the two dead Karnayer soldiers. “We missed everything by the looks of it.”
Vet and Wang ran to their consoles, still dressed in full black-and-red battle armor.
“The Valkyrie is in a bad place.” Vet scrolled through a list of flashing icons on his holographic screen. “We’ll need to set down somewhere soon for repairs.”
“Grovothe transmission coming through,” Doctor Miller said.
“Put them on screen,” Riot ordered. She dropped her war hammer and resumed her seat in the captain’s chair.
A moment later, the large screen in front of Riot came alive once more. This time, Admiral Tricon’s face appeared. Past the heavy beard he looked like he was about to smile. “Well done, Warrant Officer Riot, to you and your team. I have to say, that was some impressive flying.”
“Our pilot is the best money can’t buy, Admiral,” Riot answered. “We’ll need to set down somewhere for repairs.”
“Of course,” the Admiral said, looking down to check some dials on his own controlboard. “You are invited to board the Dreadnaught. We can use our tractor beam to pull you in, if you’d like. You can repair your ship in our hangar. You’ll have our full assistance, of course. Is everything all right there?”
“Yeah everything’s—” Riot looked over her left shoulder to see Ketrick taking the two dead Karnayers off the bridge. He had one slung over his shoulder, and the other he dragged by the back of its uniform collar.
Ketrick seemed oblivious to the scene he was making and carried on with his work.
“We’re fine.” Riot tuned back to the admiral. “We’d appreciate the help in.”
“Stand by,” Admiral Tricon said before his screen went black.
“What’s the plan?” Wang asked from his seat on Riot’s left.
“We go and make some new friends and get our answers.” Riot drummed her fingers on the armrest of her captain’s chair. “The Karnayer destroyer we just sent packing was captained by Remus’s brother.”
“Remus?” Ketrick asked, reentering the bridge. “The Karnayer who attacked my home world?”
“One and the same,” Riot said. Her mind was working on overdrive to find the connection. “I don’t believe in coincidences. What are we missing here?”
The bridge sat quiet.
As the Valkyrie drifted in space, the Dreadnaught pulled up alongside. A blue cone of light covered their vessel, a tractor beam pulling them in toward the ship.
“What aren’t the Grovothe telling us?” Doctor Miller mused, adjusting her glasses.
“I don’t know, but until we find out, stay ready,” Riot warned. “Our visit might be shorter than we think.”
Slowly, the Valkyrie moved in space, crossing the distance between the two ships until it reached the massive, wide-open bay doors to the Dreadnaught ship. As soon as they entered the bay, they passed through a protective dull blue force field that kept the cold of space in check.
Riot stood along with the others to get a better look at the Dreadnaught’s hangar bay. Dozens of ships, ranging from cruisers like their own, to smaller single-manned fighters sat in rows. Grovothe soldiers scurried across the bay in every direction, preparing for their landing.
A closer look at the Grovothe ships told Riot there were many docking now that had been damaged in the fight with the Karnayers. The smaller fighters with wings slanting down from the main single-manned cockpit were also landing in the hangar bay in various states of damage. A larger Grovothe cruiser with a saucer-like head and three thrusters extending from the back, lay smoking in the hangar bay’s far-right corner.
“Shall I patch in the Grovothe hangar bay?” Evonne asked through the ship’s communication channel. “They are requesting a connection now.”
“Yes,” Riot answered.
“This is Grovothe hangar command,” a gruff female voice spoke into the ship. “We’ll be setting you in a free landing space. Touchdown should be within ten seconds. Admiral Tricon is on his way to welcome you now. Thanks for the assist with the Karnayer destroyer. We could have taken them ourselves, but it was nice not having to.”
“Understood, and you’re welcome?” Riot asked more than stated. She turned to her crew. “Let’s meet them at the cargo bay.”
Riot took the lead, listening to the shuffle of her crew’s boots as they followed behind her.
They’re a proud race, Riot thought. Let’s hope that pride doesn’t get in the way of making allies and agreeing on the enemy we so obviously share.
“And let’s take it easy on the dwarf jokes,” Doctor Miller said, looking over to a whispering Vet and Wang. “These are our allies. Let’s not get off on the wrong foot.”
“I didn’t say anything,” Vet coughed into his hand.
Riot ignored her men’s laughter, climbing the steps down to the cargo hold in the rear of her ship. A Karnayer Scarab stuck in through the wall. Three metal prods had pierced the Valkyrie, then bent outward, allowing the enemy soldiers access to the inside of the cargo bay.
Unlucky for those soldiers, Vikta had made the cargo bay her home. The white dragon was already on her feet as the crew entered the hold. The eviscerated bodies of the Karnayer carpeted the hold, blue blood painting the floors, the walls, and even the ceiling. A dozen scorch marks on the wall of the cargo hold told a story all their own. The Karnayer soldiers had not anticipated that a dragon might be aboard, and evidently had fired in panic, when teeth and claws greeted them.
Vikta swished her long, white tail back and forth when she saw Ketrick enter the room. The horse-sized dragon galloped toward them.
Despite her understanding the dragon wouldn’t hurt her, Riot still shied away. There was just something unnatural about welcoming hundreds of pounds of scales and teeth into your arms. Ketrick, on the other hand, didn’t seem to have an issue with this.
“Ahhh…” the Trilord said, catching Vikta around the neck and rubbing the underside of her jaw. “There she is. Who’s the best fire serpent in the galaxy? You are. Yes, you are.”
Before anyone could comment on the comical scene happening in the cargo bay, a slight shudder ran up the Valkyrie’s frame. They touched down in the Dreadnaught’s hangar.
Slowly the cargo bay’s rear door began to lower. This was it. The Grovothe waited.
11
The cargo door gently lowered to the floor, revealing a line of uniformed Grovothe. The tallest of their order couldn’t have been more than five feet in height. This put them a full head shorter than Riot, and her five-foot-eight-inch frame was nothing to brag about.
The aliens wore dark grey uniforms with dull silver buttons. A mix of male and female Grovothe waited for them on the hangar bay floor. Every male Grovothe had a long, well-groomed beard, some in braids, some grown out, while others wore a combination of the two. Some were bald, and others sported Mohawks, their long hair pulled back behind their heads.
The females were just as stout as the males. Their hair was better kept, most in braids pulled back into ponytails. One red-headed female soldier stepped forward. Her hands were behind her back. Her face was stern, but her voice was not unkind.
“Welcome to the Dreadnaught. My name is Major Rippa Gunna,” Rippa said, extending an arm and waving them down. “The admiral is on his way, but he wanted to make sure you were greeted as allies when you arrived.”
Riot walked down the cargo bay’s ramp, doing her best to smile and put everyone at ease.
“I’m Warrant Officer Riot,” Riot said, motioning to her crew behind her. “This is my crew, Doctor Wang, Corporals Vet and Rizzo, Doctor Miller, and Ketrick.”
Riot reached Rippa and extended a hand.
The short Grovothe woman looked at the hand, and then back at Riot with a raised eyebrow.
“Okay, I guess that’s not a thing here,” Riot said, retracting her hand.
“Why do you travel with a such a primitive species?” Rippa nodded toward Ketrick. “The Trilords don’t have the technology to travel off their own world, let alone be commissioned as soldiers to fight against the Karnayers.”
“Why don’t you speak to my face, child?” Ketrick said, moving forward to stand next to Riot. “You do a lot of talking for someone so small.”
Rippa’s face reddened.
Before she could open her mouth to respond, Vikta poked her head out of the cargo bay.
“Ahhh!” one of the other Grovothe screamed. Those who carried weapons lifted them in panic.
“Whoa, whoa, whoa!” Riot said, putting herself between Vikta and the Grovothe. “We’re all friends here. Vikta’s a gentle dragon once you get to know her.”
“Holster your weapons,” a gruff voice commanded from around the side of the Valkyrie. “Do it now.”
Admiral Tricon rounded the corner with a contingent of Grovothe soldiers carrying weapons on their shoulders. He approached Riot and, standing next to Rippa, nodded with a smirk.
“I can’t wait to hear how you
came to have a space serpent traveling aboard your ship,” the admiral said with a relaxed tone in his voice. “But in the meantime, we have more pressing matters to discuss.”
His sparkling eyes traveled over Riot’s crew, pausing for a moment on Ketrick and Vikta before moving on. He took in the state of the ship, as well as the two Karnayer Scarabs still sticking out of its hull. Their airtight holds on the much larger Valkyrie like tiny leeches on a larger animal.
“We can do this however you’d like,” he said. “I can have my engineers start on repairs to your ship now. We can do it ourselves, or you can have some of your men stay and help. We can begin after you rest or, if you prefer, a different arrangement.”
Admiral Tricon’s willingness to be so accommodating with Riot and her crew took her off guard. This was a man used to giving orders. The fact that he was being so understanding was a relief, and it worried her at the same time. What was it that he wanted from them?
“That’s very kind of you,” Riot said, looking back to Vet and Rizzo. If things did go bad, they would need to leave in a hurry. Plus, she didn’t trust the Grovothe enough yet to let them go poking around in her ship, unsupervised. “Vet, Rizzo, have Evonne link our comms. You two will stay back and help the Grovothe engineers with the repairs.”
“Roger that,” Vet said as if he understood exactly why they were staying back.
Rizzo gave a sharp nod.
“And then there is the matter of your space serpent.” Admiral Tricon looked with hard eyes at Vikta. “My engineers will be able to work a lot faster if they aren’t in fear of being eaten.”
Riot understood. She looked over to Ketrick, then motioned to the large hangar doors that led out into the darkness of space. “Do you think Vikta can stretch her wings for a while? I’m sure if she chooses to rest on top of the Dreadnaught, the Admiral can tell his men not to target the dragon.”
Ketrick looked over to Vikta as the two communicated in a way Riot still didn’t understand.
Click Click Boom (War Wolves Book 2) Page 7
