by Alyx X
I couldn’t move her yet, but I could go and ensure her room was still clean and dust-free.
Unable to resist the lure of being close to her, I kissed her forehead, half in promise, half in regret. Then I stood and walked silently to the door. I glanced back at her sleeping form as it slid shut, and I didn’t lock it behind me.
For the first time, my mind relaxed as I strode toward the bridge. I wasn’t worried or frustrated, and I didn’t feel like I’d lost my grip on my morals. Everything felt just as it should be.
I sat in front of my comms device and loaded the messages from Satyan. I wanted to reply, but I’d do it by vid message; the same way Satyan had sent his demonstration of the training he wanted me to administer, rather than a live chat where he’d be able to fire questions at me. His icon showed he was online and able to connect, but I wanted to record a message without interruption, turn the ship around, and deliver Piper home.
Three easy steps.
I sighed as I arranged the camera, training it on me, and shuffled in my seat, sinking deeper into the familiar ass-shaped dent. When the red light blinked at me, I began to speak.
“Satyan, there’s been a change in plans.” I needed to get the biggest part of the reason for my vid out there as soon as possible. “This human isn’t suitable for your purposes.” My chest tightened. I’d tried to soften the reverse in my decision, but there was a whole lot more alongside Piper just not being suitable. Her suitability wasn’t the question.
I swallowed before continuing. “I’ll find a way to repay the money you’ve invested, but training a human isn’t something I feel qualified for, and…” I looked directly at the camera. “And I won’t.” I couldn’t leave him any room for doubt, or give him the impression he could change my mind back.
He couldn’t. I was done.
I turned off my comm device, letting out a long sigh. The message had gone, probably already received on Satyan’s computer—maybe even being watched as I sat right here, in my chair—and I wasn’t interested in a conversation with the man. I also didn’t want him chasing me halfway across space to regain what he thought he was owed, so a head start seemed wise.
I slowed the forward motion of the ship and turned on my location systems to input the coordinates that would take me back to Earth, my focus solely on my mission now that my decision had been made.
First, the ship needed turning unless I planned to reverse there, and that wasn’t always the fastest thing to do. Even Dad used to joke about knowing his own mind before we set off, because turning to get back would take longer than the initial journey. It wasn’t quite that bad, but I felt his pain whenever I veered off course. Modern ships moved faster, but I couldn’t bear to part with this old girl. I tapped the edge console, part in affection, part in encouragement. We could do this.
I keyed in the code to start the gyroscopes rotating, because their movement would push the ship around with the least use of power—and the fuel I couldn’t afford to waste.
The ship whined its resistance and I glanced at my status on the screen. I wasn’t expecting any issue with executing the turn because I’d made all of the relevant checks before the long journey. There were no mechanical issues—I couldn’t have taken the chance of a breakdown before I left.
I fired up a thruster in case the ship just needed the extra boost to get started with executing the turn, but we still remained stationary.
“What?” I muttered my confusion and toggled my jets in case I’d left them in an ‘off’ position. The ship didn’t respond. What the fuck is going on?
I sat back down to think just as a loud thudding echoed through the hull. The blood in my veins froze to ice. There weren’t any objects nearby, nothing for me to run into. Nothing that could have prevented us from turning around like this. I swallowed, knowing what the thudding meant: we’d been captured by raiders.
Fear tensed my muscles and panic threatened to cloud my brain, but this was a situation I’d prepared for many times, so I continued to run through the drills Dad had hammered into my brain. Scrapping wasn’t without risk, and we were constantly aware we could be raided by space pirates or other groups looking to take what we had onboard. Some pirates just wanted to move our entire ship somewhere else so they could salvage it for parts.
I hit the emergency button that was designed to send an electric current over the outside of the entire ship to disable anything that had tried to dock with us or lock on using a remote grabber. It should have shocked them and bought me the time to light-speed jump away, but just as I was moving onto the second part of the sequence, the current failed to deploy.
I punched a different switch, strongly locking and reinforcing the exterior doors against intruders, but it clunked emptily without the familiar and reassuring sound of locks falling into place and security screens activating. My heart in my throat, I tried not to think about Piper still in the cargo hold. I’d only just made the decision to return her to her planet, and now there was a good possibility that we wouldn’t make it there.
“What the…?” Words slipped from my mouth into the quiet room like they were overspill from a brain that couldn’t grasp that my systems were failing.
As if on cue, the computer at my console emitted a loud buzz and the lights on the bridge started to flash a warning that the ship’s security system was being overridden.
Piper. I had to protect Piper. Some primal, animalistic part of me knew I needed to protect her. It was strange, but I chose not to unpack it at the moment. Knowing there was little I could do to stop determined pirates from boarding or stealing my ship, I leapt from my seat and rushed out of the door, spilling down the corridors as my legs struggled to keep up with my sprint. Any lingering inebriation from the night before zapped away in the wake of my adrenaline. I needed to reach the server room with the central mainframe for the ship’s computer system. It operated everything, from the security to the airflow, and I needed to stop it being hijacked.
But as I skidded to a halt in front of the door to the server room, the sound of marching grew louder, and a squad of Urdruck raiders appeared around the corner. Shit. Black metallic armor covered everything but their eyes, and each clutched a high-end laser gun, with more weapons holstered at their hips. What good was I going to be against that?
One grunted at me, and although my translator chip hadn’t calibrated itself to their language quickly enough, it didn’t take a genius to work out what he was trying to say. I turned and put my hands against the wall above my head. They’d taken over my system, and now they wanted more.
I tensed, expecting the barrel of one of the guns against my head, or worse, the first hit of fire raging through my body as their lasers consumed me. What would become of Piper then? I glanced over my shoulder at the raiders. What would become of her now?
The raider leading the squad stepped forward, his gun still held at the ready in silent threat. “Well, well.”
My translator chip had started working, and I almost wished it hadn’t. Urdrucks were ruthless killers, but they were also fairly well known for their tendency to talk.
“A Tryonian. Who would have thought? You’re almost an endangered species these days. Oh, your poor, dead planet.” He shook his head and I might have believed he felt truly sorry, but I wasn’t sure these things even had a beating heart, let alone the capacity for sympathy.
“He paced a little in the small space, then looked back at me, his eyes gleaming viciously through the gap in his armor. “You really need to look at your encryption technology, you know. You’re sitting here in space, undefended, and your comms are like little beacons of light, alerting everyone in the vicinity of your location. You’re lucky it was us who found you,” he grinned at me, “because I think others might not be so… kind.” He shook his head again. “Never mind. It won’t matter when you’re dead.” He laughed, the sound ugly and raw behind his mouth guard. “We were very happy to intercept your most recent message.”
My muscles
tightened, tension claiming them as I anticipated his next words.
But he tutted instead of speaking. The bastard was getting off on this conversation and spelling everything out for me. My mind raced for a way out of this, coming up blank.
“How careless. You were paid to take and transport the human bitch, but you seem to have…” He stopped and sniffed the air around me. “Yes, you seem to have claimed her yourself instead.”
I stared straight ahead. He didn’t need my confirmation or denial.
“Now, we’ll take your cargo off your hands, and your client can still take his money out of your flesh.” He leaned closer. “You lose, Tryonian.”
The powerful need to protect Piper overwhelmed me, and made a split decision. I rushed forward, grabbing the two closest Urdrucks by their necks and crashing their faces together, denting and fracturing their armor so the shards pierced their faces. Green, foaming blood frothed out across the metal, and their yells of anger and pain filled the small space.
Many aliens underestimated the strength of Tryonians, but we didn’t get to be so old as individuals or as a species without having some hidden talents.
I batted away the hands trying to restrain me and surged forward, the mating instinct taking over my rational thought. I just had to reach Piper.
I almost whipped out my tail, it was handy for controlling and subduing, but I hesitated. It meant more to me now that Piper’s hands had touched it, now that it had touched her skin and probed her pussy. I couldn’t use it as both a means of pleasuring the woman I now believed to be my mate, as well as a weapon against these pirates.
My hesitation cost me. Two raiders grasped my arms at my sides and the leader punched me, his eyes crinkling with what looked like amusement as blood still frothed in thin streams over his armor. “Big mistake, Tryonian.”
My eye throbbed as it started to swell, and I ran my tongue over my lip, probing the split. Yeah, I’d made a mistake. The next time, the tail was coming out.
I stayed quiet as the leader laughed again, but it emerged more like a gurgle this time, and I smiled knowing I had hurt him. The raiders shifted their grip, making room for four of them to drag me down my familiar corridors, which looked different from this angle. My chest tightened as I thought of Piper, alone in the hold where I’d left her.
“Here, here, little human.” The squad leader called, his tone teasing but full of malice. “We’re coming for you.” I struggled in their hold, desperate to protect her.
We were getting closer to where Piper lay sleeping, and my sense of panic rose again, but we passed the hold without even stopping. They didn’t know she was in there. I looked up as they pulled me, seeing that the door stood wide open. Where had she gone?
One of the Urdruck raiders stopped and I could see him working it out. “Hey, there are chains in there.” He jerked his head toward the room. “That’s where he had her.”
They altered their curse and dragged me into the hold with them.
“Where is she?” the leader demanded.
I shrugged. I wouldn’t have told him, but I also didn’t fucking know. I tried to see into the dark corners of the hold, but I didn’t want them to know what I was doing. Anyway, with the door open, Piper could have been anywhere on the ship. I willed her to hide. Just hide. If I killed them or they took me, it didn’t matter. As long as Piper stayed safe.
“We have your Tryonian,” the leader barked, “and we will kill him.” He turned a circle, glancing around. “We’d love to meet you,” he added almost as a polite afterthought, trying to trick her into revealing herself.
He crouched next to my head and I bared my teeth at him. “We’re all going to fuck her and make you watch.” No! I couldn’t let that happen. I struggled even more, my anger swelling at his threat. The leader just laughed.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you, too, but nobody gets to watch me being fucked unless I invite them!” Piper yelled the words as she sprang from the shadows and thrust a long pole through the raider closest to her. He’d backed a little too close to the deepest shadow, and she had seized her chance. My heart swelled in both pride and worry. My warrior human was not one to be taken lightly, and I knew that she could handle herself, though I worried that she was overconfident. She was still naked, eyes wild as she took in the remaining pirates.
The leader whipped around at her outburst, his eyes hardening as he beheld her. Piper removed her pole from where she’d impaled the raider against the floor. Despite the obvious danger, and despite her naked form, she looked fearsome.
“Anybody else?” she asked, as she spun it in her hand, almost taunting the raiders. “I’m feeling pretty strong right now, and I’m betting I can take you.” She pointed right at the leader with her improvised weapon, a challenge clear in her eyes. I looked up to see him lower his brows, a small vicious smile stretching across his face. It seemed like this fucker was happy to accept her challenge. He was the type who would enjoy breaking a warrior female such as Piper. I gulped, again pulling against the hands that held me back. I needed to help her!
As I yanked, a raider ran toward her with a battle cry, and I stuck a leg out, tripping him. With a quick roll to my feet, I moved and stomped on his face. The room erupted in battle cries and the clang of the raiders’ armor as they moved. Sparing Piper a quick glance to ensure she had control of her situation, I entered the fray. This shit was on.
13
Piper
I managed to restrain my surprise after I plunged the pole I’d ripped from the wall of my little jail cell right through a guy. I played it cool, even, but when another dude ran for me, his arms flailing and yelling like a chidder was on his ass, and I kicked him almost clean through the wall, I hesitated. Where had that come from?
I met Lyx’s gaze and he grinned and shrugged, but I narrowed my eyes. He knew something he hadn’t told me. I’d learned often enough on my hunts that there was a difference between feeling strong and actually being strong. Like some days, even when I felt at my best, my body just didn’t have that extra ounce of energy when I dug deep. Today, I was nothing but energy, and I kinda liked it. Did it have something to do with being in space? Something to do with the food Lyx had been providing me? Something related to that damned tail of his?
I tugged one of the chain restraints from the wall and draped it around my neck. It would probably come in useful.
Except… What the fuck? I was taking on grown men and winning. I glanced at the doorway as one of the black-clad invaders slipped through.
“Lyx!” I yelled and pointed.
He saw the guy and charged after him, and then we were one long train of bodies chasing each other and shouting curses. My speed matched theirs, and I was able to overtake one of the invaders, tripping him before smashing the heel of my foot into his face. I watched in horror as it crumpled to a pulp of black fragments and green froth that stretched as I lifted my foot. Yuck.
I wriggled my toes as the goo dripped from them. Naked, I was still naked, taking on a band of what seemed to be space pirates. What has my life become? Though I was accustomed to nudity in my life, even the desert savages didn’t parade their bodies around like this. I shook the discomfort off. I was free, I was strong, and I was going to fight. Now was not the time to be worried about modesty. Plus, I had a large link scarf. I was cool enough despite my swinging boobs.
The ship tilted, moving slowly to one side, and I took off again, sprinting down corridors I barely recognized as I followed the sounds of crashing and yelling. While I’d been dealing with the two invaders, Lyx had run out of the room to deal with what I assumed was the rest of the party. I had to help him.
Eventually, I reached the room with the huge glass window. I steeled myself. I couldn’t afford to be distracted by the vastness of space or what I was doing up here all over again.
When I burst through the door Lyx was trying to wrestle an invader away from the desk with all of his screens. I recognized that this was a control room, now t
hat I wasn’t delirious from pain and drugs. Another invader was on his back.
I didn’t know how these black armor-clad men had boarded Lyx’s ship, but I was now certain that they were pirates. We had dealt with pirates in the desert. They had often taken out whole tribes for whatever belongings they could carry away. Sometimes they got very little, other times they got vehicles and other supplies to sell on the black market. I hated them, whether they plundered Earthen tribes or lone space ships.
Everyone was moving too fast, but even I could see Lyx and I were outnumbered. I had the upper hand, though, because no one had seen me yet. I quietly removed the chain from around my neck as I waited for an opening. I didn’t need a way to kill me already in place when I joined this fight.
As I held the heavy links in my hand, I glanced around the room again. I still had the element of surprise, and I crept up behind the pirate at Lyx’s back and whipped the chain fast and hard across his shoulders, giving an almighty tug. He dropped to the floor, his head bouncing off a desk edge on the way there. He had plenty of armor, but shit, his brains were probably pulverized from that hit. What is going on with me?
Lyx glanced at me. “Be careful of these guys.” His eyes were urgent and his tone low. I nodded.
He reached again for the one in his chair, wrapping his forearm under the guy’s chin and yanking upward. The invader’s neck stretched and popped, and Lyx tumbled him on top of the body I’d just decommissioned.
