by Sonia Nova
Naomi sighed. Was nothing going to go right today?
She had just left Agaria and now she would be evacuated right back. Though, she told herself, it was lucky that the attack had happened while she was on the station. This way she was with the other humans, so she could ensure that they all made it safely to Agaria.
As she finally moved toward an intersection in the corridor, a familiar red face appeared in her field of vision amidst the crowd.
“Mareb!” she shouted, hoping he would hear her despite the masses of panicked people around and the sounds of explosions going off in the distance.
When he didn’t turn, she tried again, shouting louder. This time, he seemed to hear her and turned towards her.
Although he was still far away, Naomi could see the expression on his face, and she grimaced. His eyes looked empty, nearly haunted, and his whole face was pale. If she had thought he had looked bad before, he looked absolutely terrible now.
Earlier that day, he had told her how there was still hope… She now wondered if he’d believed those words even then.
Naomi felt a piercing sadness in her chest. She could hardly imagine what he was feeling. If this was Earth… If Earth was going to war, being bombed by the enemy… She didn’t want to even imagine it.
Tears started to brim in her eyes. A moment later, Mareb disappeared into the crowd as she finally managed to enter the shuttle station.
The corridor had been crowded, but the shuttle station was hardly better. The area was large, which meant there was slightly more room to breathe, but people were rushing around everywhere, blocking each other’s paths.
The ground shook beneath her feet once more, and Naomi almost fell to the floor. This time, the explosion seemed to be closer, and it sent the people around her in a frantic panic, trying to rush to the emergency shuttles even faster.
Shit… They needed to get the moon evacuated as soon as possible.
Naomi hurried to the row of shuttles that were reserved for the human representatives. Some of her team members had already made it there and were buckling up for the journey inside the shuttle. She saw Iris and Cara in the back, their eyes wide in fear. Naomi gave them all an encouraging smile.
“We’ll be okay. Just a few more people and this shuttle will be off.”
She tapped the side of the shuttle and stepped aside. Naomi wasn’t getting on herself just yet. As an Ambassador, it was her duty to stay behind until every single one of her people got on those shuttles. It gave her a sense of purpose for which she was thankful. At least now she had something concrete to do.
She took her position outside the craft, watching as her people beeped their wristbands on the scanners outside the shuttle as they stepped on. Names were crossed out on the screens beside the shuttle as they entered. Naomi gave each human a reassuring smile and greeting. The grateful look in their eyes at her calmness made her feel like something was finally going right.
Soon, the first shuttle was full and it swiftly took off, launching into space toward the planet. Not much later, another one started to fill up. In total, humans had been reserved four shuttles, and before long, the second one was filled as well, taking off for the surface of the planet.
As the third shuttle began to fill up, people were showing up more slowly. There was an occasional person here or there, but the stream of men and women rushing to the shuttle had ceased. Naomi looked around the station. There were still a few people running around, looking for their shuttles, but it hardly made her feel any better.
Cold sweat crawled along her spine as a sense of dread filled her to the core. Where was everyone? Her heart pounded in her chest as the explosions neared the station outside, and her palms sweated in desperation. She wanted to get off this moon. Now.
There was room for her in the shuttle she was waiting next to. If she wanted, she could hop in and start the autopilot that very moment. But that was the last thing she would do. She wanted her people out. All of her people.
Of course, in the Alliance’s eyes, she would be justified in saving herself if the situation escalated, but in her eyes, she was responsible for the humans on Agaria and they should come first.
Minutes ticked by. Naomi tracked the screens every time someone showed up and a name was crossed out. Six people still missing.
Come on, come on.
As the third shuttle took off, Naomi looked up to the sky through the huge glass windows that stretched around the station’s walls and the open ceiling. She watched as shuttle after shuttle left the station and launched into space, flying toward the planet. In the distance, she could see the third shuttle with her people, speeding toward Agaria.
Only one more shuttle left…
Her heart pounded in her chest as explosions shook the ground all around them. On the surface of the moon. In space. From the corner of her eye, she saw a few Alliance battle speeders in the sky as they shot somewhere – likely toward a Krezlian battleship. Naomi shuddered.
She couldn’t help but worry that one stray enemy missile would hit the emergency shuttles on their way to Agaria and that everyone inside would die. The shuttles were sturdy, but a blast in the right place could still destroy them.
It all depended on the Krezlian strategy, and the aliens had been tightlipped during negotiations, so Naomi had no idea what that might be.
Naomi shook her head and turned toward the shuttle beside her again to watch as two more people beeped themselves inside. Four people left…
Her gaze wandered again nervously. For a full minute, no one else came.
Distantly, she could hear the emergency alarm still going off at the station, but the blood pounding in her ears muffled the sound.
She looked toward the far end of the platform, watching as battle speeders took off on the other side of the platform. She thought of her Ezak-X pilot – Arez. Was he out there yet? Would he make it out alive?
She didn’t have long to wonder about the soldier as she finally saw four figures running toward her in the distance – four distinctly human figures. A breath of relief escaped her lungs at the sight. She didn’t know why they were rushing through to the emergency shuttles from the other side of the platform – the wrong direction – but she was exceedingly glad to see them nonetheless.
They were here. They would make it.
But just as the thought crossed her mind, before the four last humans even managed to run to the right side of the station… That’s when it hit them.
A sudden blast of fire struck the ground right outside the station, burning the dry plant life of the moon and shattering the large glass windows in a huge explosion that vibrated through her body.
Naomi ducked to the floor, sliding beneath the last shuttle, shielding herself from the glass and debris that flew around on the platform.
Her ears rung and her vision blacked out. The whole explosion seemed to last for a small eternity, but slowly, she realized the worst of it was over and things were still again. She carefully stood, steadying herself against the shuttle.
For a long moment all she could see was stars. The ringing in her ears refused to stop, but little by little, her eyes started to be able to focus again.
But what she saw… What she saw nearly stopped her heart.
The glass walls of the shuttle station were gone. Shattered on the floor. The whole station was in shambles and outside… A Krezlian mothership was preparing to land.
CHAPTER 9
AREZ
Fucking Krezlians… He’d said that a time or two in his life. Probably a billion. But that didn’t mean he meant it any less. Fucking Krezlians.
Arez had only barely made it back to the shuttle station after picking up his gear. He’d been just about to hop into his speeder when all hell broke loose around him. Glass shattered on the other side of the platform as a ball of fire hit the ground and an enormous Krezlian mothership attempted to land – attempted, because the Alliance pilots were hardly giving it a free pass.
Bu
t while the Alliance troops were doing their best to avoid hitting the station, the Krezlian mothership had no qualms about hitting anything. The ship forced itself onto the surface of the moon, past the Alliance troops. It sped down at a high speed, brushing against the mountain range in the distance and destroying the plants and trees outside.
The ground shook as it crashed onto the grass floor of the moon, right outside the station. It landed with a loud rumble, burning a scorched path in its wake, and still, it kept coming. People screamed inside the station as they saw it, rushing away from the broken windows as the massive spaceship continued its approach.
Arez’s stomach sank as he watched the ship move closer and closer, unable to do anything as the complete disaster unfolded before his eyes. The spaceship ripped apart the metal beams holding the station together, destroying nearly half of the platform in the process, until finally, it stopped. But not before it was already halfway inside the station – inside the very area where the emergency shuttles were.
Shit…
Arez quickly jumped down from his speeder, thinking he was more likely to be needed on the surface now. Adrenaline pulsed in his veins and his heart pounded in his chest. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw some of the other soldiers rushing to the other end of the station too.
He launched himself onto the middle platform that was reserved for cruisers, trade ships, and the passenger crafts he’d piloted just earlier that day. He ran toward the area where the emergency shuttles were. Fragments of glass and metal were shattered everywhere around him, and people lay on the ground – some covered in debris and others simply knocked off their feet due to the impact. Some breathing and others not.
Fortunately, most of the shuttles had already taken off to the surface of the planet, and only a few people had remained at the station. But still, it was too many. Too many injured, too many dead. And all he had been able to do was watch as the mothership crashed down.
Arez cursed himself. He hated the feeling of helplessness. But he cursed the Krezlians even more. They had been the ones to cause this after all. Anger boiled in his veins and he increased his speed, running toward the mothership with his gun in hand, ready to blast those fuckers into pieces as soon as they made the mistake of stepping out of their ship.
But before he was close enough, before he was even on the emergency platform, a hatch opened on the bottom of the ship. His eyes narrowed as a large group of Krezlian soldiers marched out of the craft. They immediately started to shoot the nearest soldiers and guards who had jumped in to the civilians’ rescue.
A stray shot flew in Arez’s direction as well, and he quickly ducked under an emergency shuttle, rolling on the glass-covered floor to move out of its path. Fucking hell…
Shards of glass pierced his skin, but he hardly cared. He peeked out from behind the shuttle. The Krezlians shot down two Alliance soldiers and then approached a female who they had been covering as she tried to escape.
The female he himself had been talking to only moments ago in the canteen. The Earth Ambassador he had been forced to shuttle around.
Naomi.
His eyes widened in horror and his heart nearly stopped in his chest as he recognized her. All time seemed to freeze around him and he wasn’t sure he was even breathing. The Krezlians reached out for the female and he immediately regretted leaving her in the canteen.
Arez didn’t have long to dwell on that mistake though. One of the Krezlian soldiers wrapped his scaly arms around Naomi’s waist, and Arez saw red. A low growl emerged from the bottom of his stomach and before he even realized what he was doing, he launched himself at the Krezlians.
He had no plan whatsoever as he rushed at the scaly lizards. His body simply moved of its own volition, on pure instinct without a rational thought. One minute he was behind the broken emergency shuttle, taking cover from the Krezlian plasma shots, and the next thing he knew, he had leaped down to the lowest platform, with his gun ready in his hands.
All he knew was that he had to do something. To help her.
He jumped right in the middle of the Krezlians, shooting at them in a mad rage. He shot the ones farther away already mid-jump, and knocked another one out as he landed.
The Krezlians seemed to have been taken by surprise by his appearance, and he used that surprise to his advantage. He kicked the one holding Naomi in his leg, not daring to point his gun at the creature in case he used Naomi as a shield. Unfortunately, his kick didn’t do much. More and more Krezlians rushed out of their ship and inside the station.
Soon, he was surrounded by them, but to his fortune, Alliance soldiers were also rushing to the scene. For some reason, the Krezlians were avoiding using their weapons against them – or at least, against the Ezak-X – no doubt wanting them alive. But when he realized the humans were being given the same courtesy, Arez frowned.
If the Krezlians only wanted his kind back, it didn’t make sense that the first person they had grabbed after landing had been human. He knew a human female had been captured during the attack on the Ka’elea a moon’s turn ago, but she had just been collateral, hadn’t she? So why would the lizards go for a human female now too?
It didn’t make sense. Unless they thought capturing a female would send the rest of his kind fighting back? Which, actually, it had accomplished.
A full-blown fight had now erupted around Arez as the Alliance troops tried to eliminate the Krezlians. The Krezlians fought back, shooting at the Ekrin and Ghelian soldiers, but only trying to subdue his fellow Ezak-X. With most Alliance troops airborne, the Krezlians had an upper hand in the fight, and the lizard holding Naomi clearly knew that.
He grinned widely, aware of the leverage he had gained by holding a hostage, and Arez’s blood boiled at his arrogance. He wanted nothing more than to knock that smirk off his ugly face and rip the male to pieces – preferably blast his insides out with his gun – but he knew he couldn’t do that. As long as the lizard held Naomi, it was simply too risky.
Naomi looked up at him with fear in her eyes. She was struggling against the Krezlian’s hold, and the sight of her, in the hands of his worst enemy, made Arez’s heart constrict. Fear gripped him in a way he’d never felt before, and when the Krezlian started to pull her back toward their ship, Arez snapped.
He rushed at the Krezlian, as fast as he could, and kicked the bastard in his knee – this time hard enough to break it. It cracked with a loud pop, and the Krezlian howled in agony, falling down onto the ground. His grip on Naomi loosened for a moment, and Arez swiftly pulled her out of his arms. He didn’t have time to get her away though, because the Krezlian writhing on the floor grabbed him by his ankle, managing to pull him down as well.
Arez tumbled hard onto the ground, just as Naomi scrambled up. The Krezlian beside him made a reach for his gun, which he had dropped in the action, but Arez wasn’t about to let him take it. He grabbed the male by his arm and held on tight, preventing him from moving closer to the weapon.
When the Krezlian refused to give up, Arez bit him in his bicep. The blood and reptilian flesh tasted disgusting in his mouth, but there was no way he was going to let the lizard have the gun.
Out of the corner of his eye, Arez saw as Naomi disappeared from his side, running away from the skirmish. Two other Krezlians approached him from the other direction, with their guns raised toward him. He quickly tried to pin down the Krezlian on the floor, to at least take him out of the fight.
He grunted in satisfaction when he felt the bones in the lizard’s arm snap. The male howled once more. Grabbing the soldier by his neck, Arez held him immobile for a moment, before he cracked the Krezlian’s skull on the floor.
Blood splattered everywhere around him, and he gripped the lizard’s dead body by his leg, using it as a weapon as he flung it toward the two approaching Krezlians. The body thumped against one of the soldiers, but the other one avoided the hit. Before Arez managed to get up from the floor, three others rushed toward him.
As Arez glan
ced at them, trying to figure out his next move since he was sorely outnumbered, the Krezlian he had missed suddenly jumped at him, cracking his head on the floor just as he had done with the other Krezlian a moment before.
Pain erupted inside his head, radiating throughout his entire body, to the tips of his fingers and his toes. His skull was made of a harder material than the reptile’s, and the blow was hardly lethal, but it did mess with his head. Arez saw stars for a long moment and his vision threatened to black out.
By the time his eyesight returned to him, he found himself surrounded by a group of Krezlians – each of them pointing their guns straight at his chest.
Fuck…
Three Krezlian soldiers grabbed him by his arms, and he knew it was game over. Blood dripped down on his face from the wound and his vision spun. He could hardly focus his gaze, but as the lizards started to drag him back toward their ship, he saw a fleck of orange hair in the distance.
Naomi.
He watched as she ran away from the center of the fight, dashing toward an emergency shuttle. One of the Krezlians punched him in the face again, and his vision blacked out once more. But before he completely lost consciousness, he saw as the fleck of orange disappeared inside a shuttle… and the shuttle took off.
A slow smile curved his lips at the sight. At least, she would be safe…
Then, everything went black.
CHAPTER 10
NAOMI
“They have the moon.”
Naomi closed her eyes in despair as the news penetrated her mind. The past hours had been such a blur, and with those four simple words, any remaining hope came crashing down.
This… This was what they had been fearing. Their worst nightmare come true, times a hundred.
Most of the planetary representatives had been successfully evacuated out of Eifan, and they were currently in the capital of Agaria, on the surface of the planet. All of the human teams had made it down safely, most without injury, but she knew not everyone had been so lucky.
