The Girl from the Stars Series Boxed Set

by Cheree Alsop

  “Warden Day!” she heard Zanden call out.

  Fighting to draw a breath, Liora raised her head. Four more Ketulans entered the hangar. She pushed up to her feet.

  “How many knives do you carry now?” Tariq asked, his voice breathless.

  He held out the knife he had given her and the one from the SS Kratos’ armory. When she took them, he put a foot on the destroyed Ketulan and pulled her third knife free. She shoved it into the sheath at her wrist.

  “Not enough, apparently,” she said.

  A glance showed the still form of the Ketulan that had attacked Tariq lying near the Nine.

  Ahead of them, two hangar crew members struggled against the claws of a merciless Ketulan. It had torn the fingers from one Terrarian, and the Folian at her side was fighting with a pipe and a wrench.

  “I’ll distract it,” Tariq said. He ran around the front.

  Liora wondered how he planned to get the machine’s attention when the body of the Ketulan she had already slain slammed into the attacker’s side. It spun with its claws out, ready to dismember Tariq. He backed up quickly.

  Liora ran behind the Ketulan and slid underneath it on her knees. She shoved her knives into the two power cells. The Ketulan shuddered. Liora dove out of the way just before it hit the ground with a resounding thud.

  Tariq helped Liora rip her knives free.

  “What are these things?”

  “Ketulans,” she shouted over the sound of fighting around the hangar. “They must have followed us back. If we don’t stop them all, they’ll be back up again in no time.” She pointed to the big Ketulan she had brought down. Two others were already busy putting it back together.

  “Zanden, catch!”

  Creeden ran up to one of the smaller Ketulans and hit it on the side with a pipe hard enough to send it flying across the hangar. Tanlia stood ready with a pair of knives. Zanden caught the Ketulan in his gloved hands and Tanlia shoved her knives into the underside of the machine. The Ketulan stopped moving. Zanden let it go and it dropped to the ground.

  “Head’s up!” Creeden shouted.

  He hit the second Ketulan to the same place as the first. Zanden and Tanlia dispatched it as quickly as they had the other.

  “Not bad,” Tariq commented.

  “That’s why they’re my team,” Liora said.

  “Alright, Warden Day, Killer of Ketulans and Annihilator of, well, whatever you annihilate,” Creeden said, “Let’s show these metal heads who’s in charge.”

  The others jogged over. Kray looked exhausted but enthusiastic with a smear of grease on her cheek and her knives out. Gunsa jumped from foot to foot with a grin that revealed the gap between his two front teeth.

  “Let’s do this, boss!”

  Liora nodded and gave directions as they jogged up the hanger toward the fighting. “Kray, Gunsa, head to the entrance and take down any others that try to enter. Zanden, Tanlia, follow us with the batter routine to take down the smaller ones. Creeden, you’re on bat duty. Leave us the big ones that don’t fly when you hit them. Where’s Waylan?”

  “I sent him to get his leg fixed,” Zanden replied. “He won’t be of any use to us if he drops dead.”

  “Good call,” she told him. “He’s probably had his fill of Ketulans anyways.”

  “I have, too,” Tanlia said. “Let’s remind them that they don’t belong in this part of the Macrocosm.”

  “They don’t belong in any part,” Creeden shot back.

  “You got that right,” Zanden replied.

  They rounded the corner and found three small Ketulans dismantling one of the Nines.

  “Batter up!” Liora said.

  “Got it covered,” Creeden told her.

  Tariq and Liora ran past the Nine and slowed.

  “What is that?” Tariq asked. “Have you ever seen one so big?”

  Liora shook her head. The Ketulan in the middle of the hangar towered above the starships. There hadn’t been one that big attacking the Hyperion. Liora wondered where it had come from.

  “Maybe they were biding their time,” she said.

  She and Tariq circled where the monstrous machine clawed at a ship whose make was already indecipherable. Three crew members lay torn apart beneath it and another cowered before the Ketulan’s claws.

  “Maybe they were waiting to see where you would go,” Tariq replied.

  Liora’s heart slowed. It was entirely possible. Whoever had sent the Ketulans to attack the SS Hyperion had taken Brandis to ensure that she would follow. Maybe these Ketulans had been sent in case she didn’t.

  There was one way to find out.

  “Hey!” she shouted.

  “What are you doing?” Tariq demanded.

  “Head to the lift,” she replied. “Fluid slows them down.”

  She waved her arms to catch the Ketulan’s attention so it would leave the other crew member alone. “I’m Liora Day,” she shouted.

  The Ketulan spun around so fast adrenaline flooded Liora’s body. Her hands tightened on her knives when it neared. Its claws clicked and an additional set appeared from flaps on its sides.

  “As if two claws weren’t enough?” Creeden said, reaching her.

  “You should get out of here,” Liora told him.

  “So should you,” he answered. “I’ve a feeling that one takes a few more power cells to run.”

  “I’ve got your back,” Tanlia said, coming up behind them.

  “And we’ve got yours,” Zanden called from their left.

  Liora fought back a smile. Only her team would choose to face a raging Ketulan instead of running away. She liked them more every moment.

  “As soon as Tariq dumps the water, we attack,” she told them.

  “Uh, Warden, I don’t think that’s water,” Zanden pointed out.

  Tariq hit the spout on the tank above them. Black fluid spilled over the Ketulan. The machine’s claws snapped, sending sparks into the air. The oil caught and flames ran up the sides.

  “Now!” Liora shouted.

  They charged beneath the Ketulan. Power cells littered the bottom of the machine. Knives flashed in the light as the crew worked to destroy them all. The machine jerked back and forth in protest. Fire and oil flew everywhere. Creeden let out a yell when flaming oil fell on his arm.

  “Almost done!” Tanlia said. “I can’t reach the last two.”

  She pointed above her. Liora made out two power cells nestled further inside. She would have to climb to reach them.

  “Boost me up,” she told Zanden.

  Zanden linked his fingers together. Liora stepped into his hand and he tossed her into the air. Liora grabbed onto two destroyed power cells and pulled herself up. The machine was listing heavily to the side and she could feel the heat from the fire ranging around her.

  “Hurry, Liora!” she heard Tariq shout.

  She could see the wrecked remains of several other Ketulans sprawled across the hangar floor. The fact that other machines weren’t busy repairing them was a good sign.

  She reached up into the Ketulan. The fire raging around her was so hot she felt her fingers burning within her gloves as she stabbed the first power cell. The machine spun sharply around and dropped several feet, forcing Liora to hold on so she wasn’t thrown free.

  She pushed up with her feet against the inside of the machine so that she could see the last power source. Liora switched her grip so that the knife blade was down. She shoved up as high as she could reach and slammed the knife sideways into the side of the final fuel cell.

  Sparks flew and the machine gave a whirr of protest before the power cut off. Liora jerked her legs up as the sickening sensation of falling reached her stomach. The Ketulan slammed into the ground, trapping Liora in the small, burning space inside.

  Chapter 2

  Liora ducked when flaming oil fell from above. It splattered on her arms and began to burn. The inside of the machine was so hot she couldn’t breathe. The smell of melting rubber and fried micr
ochips clogged her nose and mouth. The Ketulan was huge. There was no way she could push it off of her. The heat pounding against her skin was so intense it felt like she was boiling from the outside in.

  Liora had survived the harsh singe weather of Ralian and the tornadoes and lighting of the red planet. She refused to die by burning to death beneath a giant machine sent from the vengeful race that held her brother captive.

  Liora put her back against the hot metal above her. She gritted her teeth and pushed as hard as she could. The edge lifted enough to send in a rush of cool, clean air.

  “That’s it!” Zanden called from the outside. “Everyone over here.”

  “Lift!” Tariq commanded.

  Liora pushed from the inside, but it was getting harder to stand. Her thoughts were thick and spots danced in her vision. Between the heat and the fumes, Liora couldn’t concentrate. She fell to her knees gasping. She hoped that those outside would lift the machine just enough that she could get one more breath of the clean air beyond. Her oxygen-starved mind flashed between reality and a memory.

  Hands were around her throat and she struggled to draw in a breath. Her fingers were small and she was weaker than the one who choked her. She couldn’t get free.

  “Let her go, Vogun.”

  The voice sent a rush of fear down Liora’s spine far greater than the threat of passing out. Vogun’s hands opened and she drew in a ragged breath. Tears leaked from the corners of her eyes when she looked up at Obruo, the Damaclan whose whole life purpose felt like it was to destroy her in the most painful ways possible.

  “Are you crying?” he asked. The disgust in his voice was palpable.

  Vogun and the other Damaclan boys snickered.

  Liora tried to rise. Obruo put a foot on her chest to hold her down. She squirmed, but he wouldn’t release the weight.

  “Tears are weakness,” Obruo said, glaring down at her. “Humans cry. Babies cry. But in any Damaclan old enough to walk, tears are cowardly, weak, and pathetic.”

  He bent over her, increasing the weight on her chest and making it even harder to breathe. Tears from the pain clouded her vision.

  “Until you learn to deny your human emotions, you will never be Damaclan enough to lead.”

  “Y-yes, Chief Obruo,” she said, her voice small and much younger than Liora remembered being.

  “Why are you still crying, then?” he demanded.

  “I-I can’t breathe,” she said.

  Obruo grimaced at the way her voice wavered.

  “You’ll never be a true Damaclan,” he told her.

  The pressure let up when Obruo stepped back. Liora took a deep breath of air.

  “Continue, Vogun.”

  Liora stared up at Obruo. The boy who stood at his side even appeared surprised.

  Obruo met his shocked expression with a flat look.

  “Do I need to tell you again?”

  Vogun shook his head quickly. He knelt beside Liora and, after glancing back up at Obruo, put his hands on her throat once more.

  “Gain control of your emotions, Liora, or they will be the end of you,” Obruo said. He motioned to Vogun.

  The boy’s hands tightened around Liora’s throat. She struggled, but his hands were too strong. Black closed in from the edges of her vision and her head pounded as she fought to take a breath, but Vogun was relentless.

  The last thing Liora saw before she passed out was Obruo standing above her with his arms crossed and the closest thing to a pleased expression on his face Liora had ever seen.

  “Liora!”

  A hand touched her shoulder.

  Liora jerked away as her thoughts warred between the memory and reality. The familiar weight of a knife was in her hand. She brought it up to defend herself.

  A hand caught her wrist.

  “Easy,” Tariq said, his words gentle. His voice was louder when he said, “Give her some space.”

  Liora’s eyes stung from the chemical smoke. She blinked, trying to make sense of what had happened.

  “It’s alright,” Tariq continued in his easy cadence. “You were trapped under the machine. We had some difficulty getting it off.”

  “That thing weighed more than two banta ox strapped onto a haffot.”

  “Quiet, Creed. Give them some room,” Liora heard Kray say.

  She sat up slowly. Tariq’s hand was a steady pressure against her back. She took a calming breath. The fresh air rushed painfully down her raw throat.

  “Next time, we come up with a better plan,” she forced out.

  Tariq cracked a smile.

  “See, I told you we should have made this place Ketulan-proof,” Creeden said.

  “Shut up,” Tanlia replied. “Until today, we didn’t know they still existed.”

  “Apparently, they do,” Zanden said. “And now they know where the home base of the Day merchant fleet is.”

  “That’s a problem,” Creeden said.

  “That’s a big problem,” Kray echoed.

  Liora pushed up from the floor. Tariq caught her arm and helped her rise to her feet. Everyone fell silent.

  “Have they all been stopped?” Liora asked. Standing made her feel a bit more grounded, but her head still swam. She looked around, expecting to see Ketulans dismantling ships and slicing through limbs.

  “We got them all, for now at least,” Gunsa told her. “But there’s no telling if there’s more on the way.”

  Several members of her father’s flight crews walked toward Liora, their expressions expectant as if they awaited her orders. With her father and Devren out helping to bring the damaged Hyperion back to Corian, and Brandis further away than she wanted to think about, the workers looked to her for direction. Liora thought quickly.

  “We need to send out a squadron to alert us if there are sightings,” Liora told them. “We can’t be caught unaware again. I need Senior Commandant Day to be contacted. Notify me as soon as he is available. Also, we need to get these ships repaired, refueled, and resupplied. We’re heading out after Brandis as soon as they’re ready.”

  “Yes, Warden Day,” Gunsa said with a fist to his heart in salute.

  Liora shook her head. “You don’t have to do that.”

  “Attention, Warden Day’s Warriors,” Creeden called out.

  Zanden, Kray, Creeden and the others snapped to attention and held their hands to their hearts in salute. The other workers from the hangar gave hesitant salutes as well.

  “You guys are ridiculous,” Liora told her crew.

  Zanden cracked a smile and the others laughed. They broke off to carry out Liora’s orders.

  “Following in your father’s footsteps,” Tariq said.

  Liora shook her head. “With him and Brandis gone, somebody has to step in before this planet falls apart. It’s not really my place—”

  “Of course it’s your place,” Tariq said, cutting her off. “This is your home, Liora. Truly.” He gave a sweep of his hand to indicate Corian. “This is where you belong.”

  His words didn’t ring true to her the way she felt like they should.

  “Corian is my father’s planet. As kind as they’ve been, I don’t belong to any of this.” She picked up a Ketulan claw from the scraps on the ground and studied it. “But after all they’ve done, the best I can do is defend it and bring Brandis home.”

  Liora gripped the claw so hard the metal bit into her hand. If they hurt him or worse, she didn’t know what she would do. He had traveled the Macrocosm to find her and bring her home. She had to make sure he was safe and she wouldn’t rest until he was back at Corian.

  Tariq opened her fingers and removed the claw from her hand.

  “We’ll find him,” he told her. “We won’t give up until he’s here where he’s supposed to be.”

  Liora made herself ask the question that burned in her thoughts.

  “What if they’ve killed him?”

  Tariq’s gaze was calm and steadying as he watched her.

  “We won’t stop
until we know for sure. I promise you that.”

  Liora nodded. She stooped to pick up several more pieces of the Ketulan. A man with a hovering waste crate rushed over.

  “Warden Day, you don’t need to do that,” he said. He quickly scooped up the pieces and dumped them into the crate, then zoomed to the next pile.

  Tariq cracked a smile. “They are efficient.”

  The sound of TDV Nines flying down the tunnel caught their attention. Relief filled Liora at the sight of Devren and Hyrin. Their ships were beat up, but the pilots appeared unscathed. She and Tariq jogged over to where the ships landed.

  “About time you got here,” Tariq said when the hatch opened on Obsidian’s Wrath.

  “Tariq!” Devren shouted. He jumped from the hatch opening to the ground and caught his friend up in a tight hug. “It’s good to see you.”

  Tariq chuckled and hugged him back. “Same to you. I thought you were having too much fun killing Ketulans to come back here, though we had our fair share of metal death machines.”

  Devren stepped back and looked around the hangar. “You did, didn’t you?”

  Liora nodded. “They must have followed us. I have a crew on watch in case more show up.”

  “I’m sure they will,” Devren replied. “We’ve been fighting them off the Hyperion long after the pirates ran.”

  “Pirates?” Tariq said. He looked at Liora. “You didn’t mention pirates.”

  “There hasn’t been time to talk about it,” Liora told him. “But that’s where Brandis was. The Hyperion got attacked by pirates and Ketulans, and the Ketulans took him so I would follow.”

  “So you would follow?” Devren asked. “What makes you say that?”

  “It’s a long story,” Liora replied. “We need to get going. The Nines are being repaired and as soon as they’re done, I’m heading after Brandis.”

  “I’m going, too,” Tariq said.

  “Count me in,” Hyrin told them.

  “Me, too,” Devren echoed, “But first, we need to contact Senior Commandant Day. Your father asked us to reach him as soon as we made it to Corian.”

  “I have people trying to contact him. We should go to my father’s office,” Liora said. “I know the fastest way.”

  She crossed to a wall and put her hand on the reader. Within minutes, the bald, cheerful human who had been assigned to Liora as her personal escort in Corian rode down the winding tunnel on a hovercraft.