Hothar's Folly

by Gail Koger

  Chapter Nine

  The main deck was littered with webbed mercenaries, shattered glass and a few bloody body parts. Ewww. Every muscle in my body went on alert when I noticed all the bullet holes riddling the bridge, jacuzzi and wet bar. Lots of bad guys with lots of high-powered weapons, giving me the perfect opportunity to field test my new armor. Was it inappropriate to do a happy dance? Probably.

  There was no sign of Bambi or the old geezer or his babes. Knowing Hothar, he would have stashed them somewhere safe. Speaking of my honey bunny, I could feel his immense satisfaction as he beat the hell out of Tad’s hired muscle. Having a mate that enjoyed his job was a prerequisite for a successful relationship. Or so Uncle Saul said.

  Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! A deadly volley of shots punched holes in the metal awning.

  “I’m gonna kill you, you motherfucking spider,” Bambi screamed.

  Crap! Where was our favorite neighborhood spider? One glance at my nifty heads-up display and I found Bey ping-ponging from the communications mast to the railing to the awning on thin strands of webbing in a desperate attempt to keep from being shot.

  Bang! Bang! Click. Click. About time the idiotic bartender ran out of ammo. I frowned when I noticed Bambi had a slew of weapons stuck to her web-draped body. How fast could she pry them loose?

  “You’re dead. Do you hear me? Dead!” She hurled her empty pistol at Bey. It bounced harmlessly off a wall.

  Should I tell her, the “spider” was a telepathic Tabor and didn’t speak English? Nah. Where was the fun in that?

  The crazy bitch tugged frantically at an Uzi glued to her chest. The gun discharged. Bzzzzzzzz. Bzzzzzzzz. Bzzzzzzzz. Bzzzzzzzz. Bzzzzzzzz. Bzzzzzzzz. Bullets flew wildly.

  “Drop the Uzi,” I mentally commanded Bambi.

  Bzzzzzzzz. Bzzzzzzzz. Bzzzzzzzz. Bzzzzzzzz. Bzzzzzzzz. Bzzzzzzzz. Hot lead sprayed in every direction. “I can’t. I can’t. It’s glued to my hand and my finger is jammed on the trigger,” Bambi cried and turned toward me.

  Bzzzzzzzz. Bzzzzzzzz. Bzzzzzzzz. Bzzzzzzzz. Bzzzzzzzz. Bzzzzzzzz.

  “Duck and cover!” I shouted at Bey as slugs pinged off my armor.

  “Easy for you to say.” Bey swung around the ship like a web-slinging hero on acid. Enough was enough. I threw Bambi overboard. I sure hoped she could swim with all that spider web shit stuck to her.

  “Help! Help!” Bambi shrieked, thrashing around in the ocean.

  Guess that was a no. I flung a lifejacket at her. “You okay, Bey?”

  “My injuries are minor, but I am feeling a bit peckish. I will eat her for dinner,” Bey replied gruffly.

  Peckish? Kaylee said Tabors liked using our slang words. I checked the suit’s medical scanner. Yup. Bey had a couple of small graze wounds across his back. “Ah, before you suck Bambi dry, you might want to check with Zarek first. He’ll probably want to interrogate her.”

  “A valid point.”

  “Why didn’t you just bite the bitch?”

  “Too many mercenaries shooting at me,” Bey snapped.

  “Hmmm. Then why didn’t you web ball them all?”

  Bey countered, “How many cocooned mercenaries do you see?”

  “A bunch.”

  “I do not have an inexhaustible supply of webbing.”

  “I didn’t think spiders could run out of silk.” Color me surprised.

  Bey corrected me, “I am not a spider. I am Tabor.”

  “Right. My bad.” Someone was in a bit of a snit. “How long will it take you to make more?”

  “Not long. Hothar is pursuing the leader of this band of fools.”

  “I’ll go see if he needs any help. Where’s the old guy and the other women?”

  “Below deck in something called a panic room.”

  “Gotcha.” The tracking scanner showed Hothar and the remaining bad guys duking it out on the helipad. Where the heck was Tad? On the infra-red screen, a figure caught my attention. Ah, there he was. The sticky-fingered thief was busy stuffing the stolen paintings inside the helicopter.

  Hot Lips was outnumbered ten to one, but did that stop him? Hell no. He kicked one attacker in the stomach, sending him flying into his buddy. A little telekinetic shove and they joined Bambi in the water. I lobbed a couple of life preservers at them.

  Another soldier of fortune charged Hothar with a Samurai sword. Hothar ducked the swinging blade. The mercenary next to him didn’t.

  I grimaced as the sword sliced through the mercenary’s neck like it was tissue paper. Thunk! His head hit the deck and rolled across the floor.

  A commando wearing a spiffy camouflage uniform tripped over it. Arms flailing, he struggled to regain his balance.

  Splat! A web ball knocked him over the railing. Bey was back in the fight.

  “Where did you find the armor?” Hothar chopped one mercenary in the throat, punched another and dodged a laser bolt.

  I tossed the idiot shooting at my honey bunny in the ocean. “In the girl’s closet. Pretty cool, huh?”

  “That armor was stolen from the Askole High Commander.”

  Dang, and I was wearing it. The one thing you never wanted to do was make an Askole warrior angry. They usually ripped your head off first and asked questions later. “No worries. We’ll just take it back to Zarek’s warbird and let Sariel know it has been recovered. He might even give us a reward.”

  “Doubtful. The minute you activated the suit, you triggered its tracking device.” Hothar disarmed a mercenary coming at him with a hunting knife and followed up with a palm strike to his chin. The bad guy bounced off the helicopter.

  I caught him and pitched him overboard. Time to end this heist before we were neck deep in Askole warriors. I took control of the pilot’s mind. “Shut the helicopter down, take the keys and jump overboard.”

  The engine died. Twenty seconds later, the pilot climbed out of the chopper and dove over the side of the ship.

  Tad shrieked like a spoiled child. “Who did that? Who did that?”

  I waved at him and said in my best ditzy blonde voice, “It was me. Twinkles. Psychic to the stars and mistress of manipulation.”

  “Do you have a death wish Casey?” Hothar’s tone was a mixture of aggravation and anger.

  “Nope. I have this awesome Askole armor to protect me.”

  “Armor you do not know how to use properly.”

  “A minor detail.”

  “Kill that damned Coletti,” Tad shouted, pointing at Hothar. “I’ll take care of the bitch.”

  Me? A bitch? I grinned. You bet your ass I was, and proud of it.

  The last mercenary standing jumped on Hothar’s back and did his best to choke out my guy. At the same time, the sticky-fingered jerk pulled his laser pistol and fired.

  Oh crap! Before I could even move, the red bolt hit me dead center in the chest, knocking me back a step. To my amazement instead of turning into a zillion fireflies, the armor had dissipated the energy. I was so keeping this suit.

  Hothar broke the mercenary’s neck and stalked toward us.

  “You stupid bitch! That’s my armor,” Tad shouted, his face red with rage.

  “Finders, keepers and if you wanted it so badly, why did you shoot me?”

  “To see if the suit worked. Now give it to me, you little whore.”

  Now he had done gone and pissed me off. “You want it, take it from me.”

  “I have a black belt in karate.” Tad, the moron, yelled as he stomped across the helipad.

  What part of indestructible armor didn’t he get? “So, what? I have a level nine black belt and this awesome suit. You want to punch it, feel free.”

  “Take off the armor and I’ll let you live.”

  I burst out laughing. “You’re too funny. If I did that, you’d shoot my ass.”

  “You have my word as a gentleman, that won’t happen.” Tad was oblivious to the fact that Hothar was standing right behind him.

  I laughed harde
r. “A gentleman? You’re nothing but a pimp and a murderous thief.”

  “The last person who defied me is buried in a shallow grave,” Tad snarled.

  “Gee, is that supposed to scare me? Because I know for a fact that the only one dying is you.”

  Tad snorted. “You’re going to kill me?”

  “Nope. He is.” I pointed at Hothar.

  Tad spun around.

  Hothar punched him in the face.

  There was a nasty cracking noise as Tad’s nose broke. His eyes rolled back, and he toppled over like a pole-axed steer.

  “I told you to stay below deck,” Hothar grumbled.

  “You also said if I found some body armor, I could help. I did, and here I am.” Prickles stormed up my back. Shit. More bad guys?

  Hothar stiffened. “Wazzock’s piss.”

  We were suddenly surrounded by Askole warriors. They resembled seven-foot-tall medieval knights with black-horned helmets and plated armor suits.

  Where in the hell had they come from? I hadn’t seen any glittering blue transporter beams. Their ebony armor seemed to absorb the light until all I saw was their glowing yellow eyes. What an awesome effect. Did my suit do that too?”

  “Do not move a muscle,” Hothar warned.

  I could sense the hostility emanating from Askole warriors. “Not moving. Don’t worry, they can’t hurt me as long as I’m wearing this suit.”

  “They have the ability to override the armor’s command systems.”

  “Say what?” Snikt. Schlik. Schlik. Schlik. Schlik. Schlik. Within seconds my wonderful armor had retracted until there was nothing left but the belt. I flinched when a very sharp sword was suddenly pressed against my neck. There was a stinging sensation as the blade cut into me. Shit! “Don’t I get a trial?”

  “You were found in possession of the armor. The punishment for theft is death,” a deep voice rumbled in my head and I could feel the warmth of my blood as it ran down my chest.

  Bellowing a terrifying war cry, Hothar teleported and all hell broke loose.

  The sword at my throat vanished and I was abruptly flying across the deck. I turned my forward momentum into a diving roll and somersaulted to my feet.

  The Askole warriors attacking Hothar moved so fast all I could see were black blurs. Hot Lips popped in and out in a deadly dance; ducking, dodging and evading their deadly talons.

  I frantically punched the red control gem on my belt, but nothing happened. They had deactivated the suit. I could feel Hothar’s power level dropping even further. This was one battle Hothar couldn’t win. The Askole warriors were lightning fast and tremendously strong.

  Bey spat web ball after web ball at the Askole warriors, but every one of them missed.

  Drawing on every ounce of energy I had left, I dropped my shields, and an instant before I unleashed my telekinetic shock wave, Uncle Saul roared, “Don’t do it!”

  “But they’re hurting Hothar.” I fought to control the power surging through me.

  “Stand down Casey. Now! The Overlord will deal with the situation,” Uncle Saul exclaimed as he mentally enforced his command.

  “Yes, sir.” I quickly raised my shields.

  Tremendous power roiled across the ship and Zarek commanded, “Cease fighting!”

  Everyone stopped moving. They reminded me of toy soldiers frozen in mid-strike.

  I looked up. Zarek, Uncle Saul and Sariel, the Askole High Commander, stood on the upper deck in full battle armor. I sagged against the wet bar in utter relief. About friggin’ time.

  “Put your weapons away,” Sariel instructed.

  The Askole warriors quickly obeyed.

  Zarek added, “You too, Hothar.”

  “They tried to kill Casey.”

  “Yeah, before we even had a chance to explain we had just found the stupid armor,” I added.

  “The mole deliberately created this confrontation in an attempt to shatter our alliance,” Uncle Saul said.

  Horror knotted my stomach. It had almost worked too. Killing a Coletti warrior’s mate would have been considered an act of war. “How did they know we were on this ship? It wasn’t a planned stop, and we were out of contact with you and Central Command.”

  “They tagged you with a tracker,” Zarek stated.

  “What?” I stared down at my body. “Where is it? I’ll cut it out.”

  “That will not be necessary.” Zarek tapped his warrior’s bracelet and a sharp, needle-like pain flared in my shoulder. “It has been rendered inert.”

  “Thank you, sir.” I racked my brains, trying to figure out when I had been microchipped like a dog.

  “To escalate the situation even further, my command center received a message from General Jones’s office stating the thief was a known operative of Earth First and was selling our armor to a Rodan representative. You activated the suit’s tracking system a short time later,” Sariel said as he walked down the stairs. He stopped in front of me. “Give me the belt.”

  I quickly took it off and handed it to him. “Gotta say your armor is amazing, I took a direct hit from a laser pistol and there isn’t even a burn mark. I mean, wow.

  “Be quiet Casey,” Zarek commanded.

  “Yes, sir. Sorry, sir.”

  Zarek turned to Hothar. “You have my gratitude for finding our prototype.”

  “I did not locate the suit. Casey, my mate, did,” Hothar replied with a strong emphasis on the mate part.

  Sariel pushed an emblem on his gauntlet. His helmet shrank away, revealing an alien nightmare. His long tentacles knotted and unknotted around his black snakelike features. “Your offspring, General, has much in common with Kaylee and Sarah.”

  “They were raised together,” Uncle Saul said as he surveyed the wreckage. “You made a mess.”

  “Me? Why do you always think I’m responsible for this shit? Talk to Hothar and Bey.”

  A small web ball splattered over my hand, gluing it to the wet bar and Bey groused, “The mercenaries are responsible for the damage.”

  I shrugged. “They did come onboard with guns blazing.”

  “Bey and I simply defended the ship and its passengers,” Hothar declared.

  Zarek raised a brow. “By throwing them in the water?”

  “That magnetic storm drained Hothar’s powers.” My already iffy temper flared to life and I bared my teeth in a predator’s snarl. “Did you think I would stand idly by and let him get hurt?”

  A faint smile touched Zarek’s mouth. “No, I did not.”

  I tried to free my hand from the sticky spider silk. “Got any of Shrek’s pam spray Uncle Saul?”

  “I never travel without it.”

  “The spray is not necessary. It would be my honor to free you.” With one razor sharp talon, Sariel cut away the webbing. “You decided to use my armor after the battle started?”

  “Yes, sir.” I rubbed at the pieces of webbing still stuck to my left hand.

  Uncle Saul stuffed a chocolate bar in my right hand. “Do you know who took Sariel’s armor, Casey?”

  “Paul Gabaldon, the owner of this boat, might know.” I ripped the paper off the candy bar and took a big bite. God, that hit the spot.

  “Where is this Paul Gabaldon?” I didn’t like the way Sariel’s tentacles were squirming. It meant he was madder than hell, and when an Askole got angry, people died.

  “He is hiding in the panic room with his females,” Hothar answered, snagging the rest of my chocolate bar.

  Before I could punch him, Uncle Saul handed me another one. I shoved the entire thing in my mouth, wrapper and all.

  Hothar gave me his best sad puppy dog eyes. “Mates share everything.”

  “Not working.” Chocolate was the only thing standing between me and a killing spree. My uncle understood the joys of PMS. Hothar didn’t. Yet.

  Sariel bared some evil-looking fangs. “Show me this panic room.”

  “This way.” Hastily eatin
g his chocolate, Hothar stepped through the shattered remains of the door. Sariel, Zarek, Bey and the Askole warriors followed him.

  This should be interesting. I took one step and a strand of webbing dangling from the wet bar snagged my hand. Dang. Not again. I yanked and tugged.

  “Hold on.” Uncle Saul sprayed my hand with Shrek’s famous spider pam and the webbing dissolved like magic.

  “Thanks.” I started after Hothar.

  Uncle Saul grabbed my arm. “Hold on a minute, young lady. I want to look at your throat. That’s a nasty cut and it’s still bleeding.” Presto! Out came his prized healing wand.

  I was beginning to think he slept with it. A sigh of relief broke from me as a healing warmth bathed my neck.

  “There. Good as new and what’s with the swimsuit?”

  “I got kidnapped by a fake Coletti,” I muttered around the candy bar.

  “I can’t understand a word you’re saying. Take that candy out of your mouth.”

  I spat the candy bar out and said, “A fake Coletti kidnapped me from sick bay and this was better than wearing that see-through medical jumper.”

  “Where is this “fake” Coletti?”

  “Dead.” I tore the paper off the candy bar. “Bey bit him.”

  “Show me the encounter,” Uncle Saul instructed.

  I linked minds with my uncle and recalled the series of events; including finding the quantum logic belt and fleeing as the magnetic field destabilized.

  “I told you no shenanigans,” Uncle Saul all but thundered.

  Holy crap! I thought I had blocked those memories. I crammed the candy bar back in my mouth and mumbled incoherently.”

  “Nice try,” Uncle Saul growled mentally.

  “It was only a couple of kisses.”

  A couple of kisses, my ass. Hothar had his hands all over you and you had psychic sex.”