The Girl from the Stars Series Boxed Set

by Cheree Alsop

The top of the highest mountain had been leveled and a dome with a glass room glowed from within. One of the many angled panels shone brighter than the rest as if it had been newly repaired and was yet to be coated in the sulfur scum that dulled the luminosity of the others.

  Tariq pointed at the main screen. “Korgutan, aim for that dome.”

  Korgutan nodded, but didn’t speak as he steered the ship haphazardly around the spikes of a reaching mountain and up toward the dome. Liora gripped Tariq’s arm tightly and he held her steady, his gaze on the structure that had haunted his mind ever since he broke the orbs and rid the Macrocosm of the Nameless Ones.

  “We’re going down,” Korgutan announced.

  “Brace for impact,” the green creature called into the intercom.

  The ship caught on the rocky outcropping of a ledge, tore through several reaching spikes, and spun without response to the warriors who fought to steady its freefall. They were jolted when it hit the side of the massive mountain, careened against a nearby cliff, and slammed to a halt within the saddle of a jutting ridge that rose below the dome.

  Lights blinked on and off in the control room. The monitors showed only static. Korgutan’s attempts to bring the screens back to life made them go dark entirely.

  “The Ketulans will be coming,” Liora said. “Get weapons and leave the ship. You have to take them out by striking the power cells underneath them. Clear the path for us. We need to reach the dome.”

  “Yes, Warden,” Korgutan replied.

  She and Tariq followed the warriors down the dark hallway.

  “There’s a secondary exit at the base of the ship,” Korgutan told them. “It’ll be our best bet for getting off this rock.”

  Members of the army met them at every corridor and fell in with the rest.

  “Lead the way,” Tariq told him.

  Liora was stopped in the corridor by a young woman with light yellow skin. She held up a canvas bag.

  “I made you a bomb, Warden.”

  Liora took the offered bag. “How did you make a bomb?” she asked.

  The woman’s gaze was solemn. “Let’s just say that where I grew up, knowing how to make weapons out of ordinary materials was essential. This bomb, when detonated, will be strong enough to wipe out an area the size of the control room of this ship. All you have to do is smash the containers together.”

  “Thank you,” Liora told her. “I hope we don’t have to use it, but it’s good to be prepared.”

  She moved to follow Tariq, but the woman grabbed her arm.

  “Warden, please be careful. The bomb I made you is highly explosive. Don’t allow the chemicals to mix unless you want to cause severe damage and death to all around the bag.”

  Her warning sent a whisper of adrenaline through Liora’s body. She was getting tired of dealing with finicky explosives. The thing that bothered her was from what she knew of the inhabitants of the dome, the bomb might be entirely necessary.

  “Thank you,” she replied. “I’ll take care.”

  The sounds of Ketulans working their way in from the outside echoed loudly within the corridors. The warriors followed Liora and Tariq down. Weapons passed along the rows. Liora caught glimpses of short swords, knives, and other blades. Apparently the Cherum hadn’t seen a need for firearms aboard their ship, either. The weapons would work with the Ketulans, but Liora wondered what else they would find within the walls above.

  Chapter 11

  Ketulans swarmed the warriors as soon as they reached the ridge. They were sitting tarlons just waiting to be picked off. Liora debated whether to command them to retreat, but the ship would be torn apart just like her Nine had been. Their only hope was to reach the dome, yet there wasn’t enough time. The warriors raised their weapons above their heads. Light glinted off the blades of the Ketulans.

  “Remember. Aim for the power cells beneath them,” Liora shouted.

  Four Ketulans veered from the others and flew toward Liora and Tariq. Liora drew her knives. She braced for the pain she knew their blades would bring.

  The Ketulans exploded only feet from Liora. The Nines flew by overhead, their bullets cutting through the air with the buzz of a thousand swarthans. Ketulans careened away from the army as they were peppered with gunfire.

  Pilot Zanden grinned when he flew past and put his fingers to his brow in salute.

  Adrenaline surged through Liora.

  “To the dome!” she commanded.

  The warriors took off up the red rock ridge. The scent of sulfur and heavy metals assailed Liora’s nostrils. She wondered briefly if the atmosphere was toxic, but there weren’t any space suits available. She wished Officer O’Tule was there to give her a status report on the planet, then changed her mind. It wouldn’t make a difference and would probably only add to the direness of their situation.

  Massive doors loomed above them when they reached the glass dome. Tariq shot at the glass on either side, but the bullet ricocheted away without causing any damage.

  “You there,” Liora called to two huge Gauls in her army. “What are your names?”

  They ambled forward.

  The first peered at her, his small eyes bright. “We don’t have names.”

  Liora looked at the female Gaul next to him. They both appeared battle worn but ready to fight. Shifting her gaze to the warriors behind them, she saw the same determined expressions on the faces that watched her. Overhead, the screaming cries of the Nines racing through the sky after the Ketulans were broken by the peppered sounds of gunfire.

  “You have names,” she said, looking back at the Gauls. “You are soldiers from your home, brave, strong, and individual.”

  She glanced at the other members of her army. There were hundreds of them. They faced the unknown, but did so with tight grips on their weapons and resolve in their eyes. Gauls stood beside humans, Venticans waited beside Calypsans, and members of other races she didn’t know looked ready to fight at her command. They were a young army christened by their battle with the Cherum that had created them. Whatever waited behind the massive doors of the dome that towered high above would meet a fight worthy of the term.

  “Remember who you are,” she told them. “Remember your names. We fight as brothers and sisters.” She gave the Gauls an expectant look.

  “Kran,” the male said.

  “Vea,” the female told Liora. A smile touched the Gaul’s face. It was as if saying her name gave the Gaul her identify back.

  “Kran, Vea,” Liora repeated. “Knock down the doors.”

  Kran smiled, showing his flat teeth. “With pleasure.”

  Both Gauls lowered their horned heads and ran at the dome. When they struck, the massive doors cracked inward but still stood. The Gauls backed up and ran again.

  “Ketulans!” one of the warriors shouted.

  Liora looked up to see a dozen of them bearing down on the army. Behind her, a resounding crash signaled that the doors were open.

  “Korgutan, take six warriors and stop the Ketulans. We don’t need them coming at us from behind.”

  The orange-haired humanoid put a fist to his heart in answer to Liora’s command.

  “The rest of you, watch your backs, defend your comrades, and don’t stop fighting. I don’t know what we’re about to face, but we’ll get through it together,” Liora shouted.

  She ran into the dome with Tariq at her side. The rest of the warriors filed into the dark expanse.

  The floor was rough as if made of the same hardened rock as the ridge. Liora didn’t know why the light from outside didn’t penetrate the glass above them, but nothing filtered through. Tariq switched on his gun light, illuminating a dark, empty cavern. The army slowed. A glance up showed massive black stalactites reaching down from the ceiling above. Stalagmites filled the floor except for a small path toward the opposite end where Tariq’s light failed to touch.

  The sounds of Korgutan and the others fighting the Ketulans echoed inside. Liora’s senses thrummed and she looked from
side to side as they made their way through the giant pillars. Her instincts crawled with the sensation of danger. There was no doubt in her mind that the innocuous room was anything but that.

  A subtle sound caught her ear. Liora stared into the darkness on her right side, willing her eyes to focus. It had sounded like a drip of water falling from the ceiling above to hit a stalagmite below, yet it was louder, more full, as though the substance that fell wasn’t pure liquid.

  As if in answer to her thoughts, darkness massed at the top of the closest stalagmite. Another drip sounded, then another. The substance pooled and straightened, forming into creatures Liora had never seen before. They were small, reaching to just below her waist, with a multitude of arms that ended in spikes. The one closest to her met her gaze with huge yellow eyes that reflected golden in Tariq’s light. It opened its mouth and the upper half of its head hinged back so that its jaws could form a complete circle of serrated teeth.

  “Ready your weapons!” Tariq called out.

  Liora tightened her grip on her knives as the creature leaped forward.

  Out of the corner of her eye, she saw hundreds of others do the same. A tide of dark, toothed, clawed fiends attacked from the sides of the cave.

  Three hit Liora with the force of the Gauls crashing into the doors. She slammed into the stalagmite closest to her, keeping the teeth and claws at bay with her blades the best that she could. She stabbed at an eye and the jolt of hitting a substance harder than diamond sent a shock up her arm. She used her other hand to block claws swiping for her stomach and attempted to drive her knife into the first creature’s neck, but again her blade was repelled by its armored skin. She bit back a gasp as claws sunk through her Ventican clothing into her arms and legs.

  “Aim for the stomach,” someone yelled.

  Liora realized the strained voice was Tariq’s. She spotted him deeper in the cavern. His gun lay on the ground, its light shining on more of the creatures spilling from the stalagmites. They surrounded him in a circle, their claws clicking on the hard floor and mouths opening for attack. Tariq grabbed one of the creatures by the throat and shoved his blade into its stomach. The fleshy substance gave, bright green blood spilled out, and the creature stopped fighting. He threw it into the others.

  Liora sheathed a knife and grabbed one of her attackers the way Tariq had. She drove her other knife into its stomach. The flesh gave way and her hand sunk into the wound. The fiend stopped fighting immediately and slumped in her hand. She threw it to the side and grabbed the creature attempting to chew through her leg. She ended its life with a quick stab, withdrew her other blade, and dropped to her knees to drive her knives into two more stomachs.

  There was a pile of bodies around her by the time the creatures stopped attacking. The sounds of heavy breathing as the warrior army fought to catch their breaths and regroup was the only thing audible in the cavern.

  “That was exciting,” Tariq said.

  There was a light in his eyes that matched those of the warriors around Liora. Though his arms were streaked with red and a tear across his cheek dripped blood down his skin, there was enjoyment on his face as though slaying the creatures had been more fun than work.

  The expression terrified Liora. Though Tariq was the best shot she had ever seen, and had never held back when killing was necessary, he had never relished it. He was a healer first, the Chief Medical Officer of the S.S. Kratos. He valued life far above Liora, and had taught her to see past her upbringing. She killed for necessity and was good at it, but couldn’t smile in the face of death.

  “Let’s see what’s next.” The anticipation in Tariq’s words when he brushed past Liora clutched at her with dread. Whatever the Cherum had done, they had taken something from him and she didn’t know if he could get it back.

  Tariq’s gun light lit a corridor that branched off of the cavern.

  “Should we go down or continue along our path?” he asked.

  Liora didn’t like the idea of going deeper into the dome, but the thought that Brandis was there somewhere made the decision for her.

  “Let’s go down.”

  She glanced at Tariq as they walked and saw his expression change in the shadows. The anticipation faded and a darker look touched his eyes.

  She gestured to the wounds along his arms. “Do you need bandages?”

  Tariq looked down as if he had just noticed the blood. He shook his head. “They don’t hurt.” He glanced at the warriors behind him, surmising their wounds for the first time. “Should we stop and tend to their injuries?”

  There was a question in his voice and a hint of confusion. He was the one who had always insisted on taking care of those around him. The fact that he wasn’t sure about the right course of action bothered him and showed in his expression.

  “Our injuries don’t hurt,” Korgutan replied.

  Answering nods showed behind him. Their weapons were bloody and expectancy filled their faces. Following Liora had given them what they wanted, battle. They had left more than a few of their warrior brethren on the floor of the cavern next to the bodies of the hinge-jawed creatures. The army would fight until they couldn’t move anymore. She wondered how much longer she could appease them.

  Tariq nodded as if the answer pleased him. “Let’s keep moving.”

  Sounds echoed up from the next corridor before they reached the end of the path. Scratching, sucking sounds set Liora’s teeth on edge. A strange glowing light showed beyond Tariq’s gun. Liora held up a hand and the warriors behind her slowed. She checked her blades and was relieved to find their edges hadn’t been dulled by the encounter with the armor-skinned creatures from the cavern. Liora took a steeling breath and stepped into the glowing cave.

  The sucking sounds stopped immediately. Liora’s gaze traveled from one pulsing blue mound to the next. A strange, mossy substance covered the ground. It felt spongy beneath her feet, a sharp contrast to the red rock floor of the sloped hallway they had left.

  “What are those?” Korgutan asked quietly from her right side.

  The moss moved. A hand slipped through and drooped toward the ground. Liora’s heart skipped a beat.

  “Brandis?” she called.

  She ran across the moss to the mound. The substance was tough. It took her a few heart-wrenching seconds to cut the mass back far enough to clear the head and shoulders of the person beneath. Tariq dropped to his knees beside her and helped.

  The moss was rough on the outside, but beneath, long strands wrapped around the body, attaching anywhere the skin was exposed. Streaks of greenish-blue ran up the pale skin toward the heart. His chest rose shallowly.

  “It’s not Brandis,” Tariq told Liora when he was able to clear the head from the moss.

  “Get him out,” Liora told the warriors.

  She and Tariq rushed to the next one. A few seconds later, they cleared the moss from a Belanite woman who had been drained completely. Her sunken orange-scaled cheeks and skeletal figure showed in Liora’s mind when she closed her eyes.

  Fear for Brandis made her move from one mound to the next in the huge cavern. She cut through to faces and moved on, barely taking the time to check if they were alive and call the warriors over before hurrying to the next. There were hundreds of mounds and most contained races Liora had never seen before. She found more dead than alive.

  Liora was beginning to think she wouldn’t find Brandis at all when she cut through the moss of the second-to-last mound.

  “Brandis,” she breathed.

  His face was pale and eyes barely fluttered at the sound of her voice. The streaks of greenish-blue had just started along his skin as though he hadn’t been there long.

  “Tariq!” she called over her shoulder.

  He was there before she finished saying his name. Tariq worked quickly, clearing the strands away with quick swipes of his blade. By the time the rest of the moss had been cut away, Brandis’ color had returned somewhat. He mumbled and turned his head from side to side. Li
ora put her hand to his cheek.

  “Brandis, it’s alright,” she told him. She quickly removed more of the strands connected to his skin. As she did so, she pushed energy at him, willing him to respond.

  His eyes opened, shut, and opened again. The dark brown gaze, so similar to hers, focused on her face. His eyebrows pulled together.

  “Liora?”

  “I’m here,” she replied, smiling with relief. “We’re going to get you out of this place.”

  His gaze shifted to the mound Tariq had moved to.

  “M-Malie,” he said.

  “I’ve got her,” Tariq replied.

  Liora watched him carefully cut through the moss. The delicate features of a small young woman were revealed. Her skin had a faint greenish tint and there were light blue scales around her eyes and cheeks. When Tariq cleared the clinging strands away, she took a shuddering breath and her head tipped toward Brandis.

  He sat up, showing more strength than Liora thought he had. She helped him move to the woman’s side. He touched her cheek gently with the back of his hand.

  “Malie, I told you my sister would come for us.”

  Her eyes fluttered open. The huge light blue irises took a moment to focus. When they did, the sight of Brandis above her calmed her rapid breathing.

  “Brandis.” She said his name with a strange lilt to her voice.

  Liora guessed her native language was Tanli by the sound of her vowels. The fingers Malie put on her cheek to cover Brandis’ had webbing between them of the kind Liora had seen from inhabitants of water dominant planets.

  “I’m getting you out of here,” Brandis said.

  He slipped his hands beneath her back and legs and tried to stand up, but his strength gave out. Liora and Tariq caught them both. Liora took the young woman into her own arms. It surprised her how light Malie was.

  “I’ve got her, Brandis. Conserve your strength. I have a feeling we’re not done here,” Liora told her brother.

  Brandis leaned against Tariq for support. When Liora glanced at him, she saw that his attention was on the far end of the cavern. Liora turned just as the first scream tore through the air.