by S. E. Smith
Krac’s Firebrand:
Zion Warriors Book 2
By S. E. Smith
Acknowledgments
I would like to thank my husband Steve for believing in me and being proud enough of me to give me the courage to follow my dream. I would also like to give a special thank you to my sister and best friend Linda, who not only encouraged me to write but who also read the manuscript. Also to my other friends who believe in me: Julie, Jackie, Lisa, Sally, Elizabeth (Beth) and Narelle. The girls that keep me going!
—S. E. Smith
Science Fiction Romance
KRAC’S FIREBRAND: ZION WARRIORS BOOK 2
Copyright © 2014 by S. E. Smith
First E-Book Published March 2014
Cover Design by Melody Simmons
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED: This literary work may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, including electronic or photographic reproduction, in whole or in part, without express written permission from the author.
All characters, places, and events in this book are fictitious or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, actual events, locales, or organizations are strictly coincidental.
Synopsis
Section K Replication Alluthan Clone, or Krac as he was now called, had one focus in his life; protecting the descendants of the Freedom Five who ruled Earth’s council. Rescued by members of the family from a secret facility, he pledged to do what he could to always keep them safe. Things become personal when insurgents target a special member of the Freedom Five, Gracie Jones-Jefe and her family. When Violet Jefe is kidnapped, he swears to do everything he can to bring the precocious little girl, who is the image of her mother, home safely and kill those who took her without mercy.
Captain “Skeeter” Lulu Belle Mann lives a life of freedom drifting from Spaceport to Spaceport in her short haul freighter looking for unusual treasures to add to her collection of mismatched prizes. On the Pyrus Space Station, she finds two treasures she has to have! One is the new navigation module she desperately needs and the other is a curly haired little girl with big green eyes that melts her heart. Never one to be denied what she really wants, Skeeter buys the first and steals the second.
When sources lead Krac to the Lulu Belle, he finds more than he expects - a woman who fires his blood almost as much as she draws it. Krac’s hands and life are suddenly full to overflowing. He has to capture the woman who is driving him crazy, protect little Violet, and keep them all alive long enough to deliver one home and the other to his bed.
There is more than Violet in danger, though. Someone has targeted Skeeter and the Lulu Belle and they are just as deadly as Krac. Can he protect the feisty firebrand that has captured his heart or will he lose the only thing he has ever cared about to another of his kind?
Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Chapter 1
Only a sliver of the moon shone, casting a faint light in the early morning hours. It gave the assassins who moved in the shadows an extra advantage, not that they needed it. They were here on a mission and before the night was over a large number of people would be dead if they had their way.
That had been an argument the two men moving through the isolated encampment had earlier before deciding it was the only way to deter another attack on those they were trying to protect. While one wanted to get in and get out, the other wanted to send a clear message before he left. No one messed with the descendants of the Freedom Five and lived, no one.
The guard never saw the two menacing figures that moved in the darkness behind him. One shadow separated from the other. A moment later, the guard dropped to the floor, dead. In the blink of an eye, the shadow had disappeared again.
The focus of their mission was close, both could feel it. They were there to retrieve a member of the ruling family of Earth that had been kidnapped. Anastasia Miller was the direct descendent of Chance and Violet Miller.
Chance had been one of the original members of the Freedom Five, a rebel group that had fought against the Alluthans, an alien race that used up the resources of a world before moving on. His wife, Violet, had been the sister of Gracie Jones, the lone female of the group. Gracie had given up everything she knew in order to save Earth from the aliens who had captured her family and sent her into hiding. She had broken the computer language of the Alluthans. In the end, she sacrificed herself to save the Earth. That sacrifice earned her the title of being the Mother of Freedom back on Earth.
Gracie had used one of the Alluthan’s own supply ships to travel to the Alluthan Mothership where she uploaded a virus she had programmed. The virus disabled the shields protecting the alien invaders and shut down the links to their power and communications systems around the globe.
With the shields, power and communications destroyed, the remaining rebel forces on Earth attacked with everything they had, defeating the suddenly defenseless Alluthan armies. Gracie had also programmed the Mothership to self-destruct. Everything was going according to plan until the Mothership turned toward the Earth, following Gracie as she desperately tried to return home.
Gracie realized that an impact by an object as large as the Mothership could destroy the Earth. Understanding there was no other way, she turned the supply ship in a desperate attempt to lead the Mothership away before it exploded. What she had not expected, or known until three years later, was that the explosion during the transition into hyperspace had not only destroyed the Mothership, it had thrown her over eight hundred years into the future. She was rescued by Grand Admiral Kordon Jefe’s warship, the Conqueror, when signals from the damaged supply ship matched those of an unknown species that was attacking the outer colonies of the Confederation. Kordon had been tasked with finding the cause and eliminating it. Instead, he had found Gracie.
After the war, researchers spent centuries studying the aliens that had invaded their world. They eventually discovered the Alluthans could not naturally reproduce. Instead, they used a cloning system with organic material covering a rare metal skeletal system that flexed and grew depending on the information it was given. Implants were inserted into the brains of the young that developed. Each were linked and controlled through nanotechnology.
The Alluthans had captured humans and experimented on them as a desperate attempt to replace the organic material that made up their outer body. Additional findings suggested they were also experimenting with human tissue as a means for cloning additional Alluthans as their own DNA was corrupted. It was later learned that a few human researchers continued the experiments despite it being illegal to use the few Alluthans that had been captured and neutralized before they could terminate themselves.
Now, there was a new threat to Earth, this time from within. A small group of reformists, led by an unknown leader, was trying to take control of Earth by controlling or destroying the descendants of the Freedom Five who made up the majority of the counc
il that governed the Earth.
What those who threatened them did not know was that the descendants had a very powerful and deadly adversary on their side. An adversary who would do anything to keep them safe. An adversary that was made from the monsters of their past.
*.*.*
Section K Replication Alluthan Clone, or Krac as he was now called, slipped back into the shadows. He paused for a brief second so he could connect with the electronic console that operated the doors. Laying his hand on the panel, he focused as he connected to the computer systems inside the encampment. Within seconds, he had taken control of it and located the information they needed.
“I found her,” Krac murmured to his companion. “She is being held two floors down, last room on the left.”
“You know you freak me out whenever you do that, don’t you?” The other male replied under his breath. “I don’t think I’ll ever get used to it.”
Krac ignored the softly spoken remark. “There are eight guards between here and there. Four on the first floor. One by the doors, two in a small room to the left and one at the other end leading to the second floor. There are four additional men on the same floor as Anastasia. One at the foot of the stairs and two standing outside the room where she is being held. There is one male in the room with her. You take out the one at the foot of the stairs. I will dispense with the two by the door. When I unlock the door to her cell, I will take out the male while you release her. According to the information I have downloaded, we have less than eight minutes before additional forces arrive,” Krac said calmly.
“Shit! We better get moving. Just don’t fuck this up,” Rorrak Jefe muttered harshly. “We need the female alive. She holds the vote that can change the rest of the Earth councils’ minds. If she dies, the descendants of the Freedom Five will lose their majority on the council.”
“She will not die,” Krac responded emotionlessly. “Follow me.”
*.*.*
Rorrak bit back a curse. He knew the huge gray bastard would do everything in his power to save Anastasia Miller. She had been the one to save Krac in the first place. Rorrak hadn’t had the pleasure of meeting this particular council member yet, but he had heard stories of the ‘steely bitch’ that was known to cut through the long list of bureaucracy to get what she wanted done.
Rorrak knew very little about Krac’s relationship with the council other than he was a deadly adversary when any of them were threatened. He had crossed paths with him on occasion over the past several years. Both of them had worked undercover to solve the disappearance of shipments of weapons, research scientists, and most recently, the systematic attacks on the Earth’s council.
He knew Krac was only partially human, had been developed in a secret lab and that he owed his life to Anastasia Miller. One thing he did know for sure about the hybrid clone was that he was deadly in any situation. Right now, Rorrak was thankful for that as it would have been impossible to get the councilwoman out alive otherwise.
He paused at the top of the stairway leading down, waiting for the signal from Krac. He nodded once when Krac glanced at him. A shiver of apprehension went down his spine when he saw the two curved blades in the other man’s hands.
Yes, Rorrak thought with a cynical curve to his lips. If I have to go into a fight, I’d rather have Krac’s cold, emotionless back covering mine than face the heartless bastard.
*.*.*
Krac ignored Rorrak and focused on the mission. In truth, he could care less what the Zion Warrior thought or did. He would have preferred to come alone. It was only because of Anastasia’s family’s wish that the Zion agent accompany him that he had allowed the man on the special starship Anastasia had commissioned for him.
It didn’t hurt that he was also very familiar with the Jefe family. Rorrak’s older brother, Kordon, was now a lead councilman on Zion and was mated to Gracie Jones, a living member of the original Freedom Five. He had been skeptical of the claim that Gracie was the Gracie Jones until he abducted her during a previous mission. If being in her presences hadn’t convinced him, the DNA scan he did proved she was a direct relation to Anastasia.
Krac felt the strange wave of heat that always washed through him when he thought of Gracie. He had kidnapped the unusual human female a little over three years before in an attempt to draw out the leader of the reformists. At the time, Anastasia thought that Altren Proctor might have been the one trying to assassinate other members of the council, specifically those who could claim a bloodline to the Freedom Five.
Krac knew immediately the human male was too weak to have organized the numerous attempts. The former councilman was just greedy. He had paid a handsome sum of credits to Krac to kidnap Gracie. Proctor had hoped to use Gracie to take control of Earth by returning the Mother of Freedom to the planet and claiming her as his mate. That plan failed miserably when another assassin Proctor hired killed the councilman as he, Rorrak and Kordon Jefe closed in on them.
Now, as he moved down the narrow winding staircase after Rorrak, his mind ran through all the information that he had downloaded. He frowned when he came to a file that was encrypted. He made a mental note to come back to it before focusing on the task at hand when they rounded the last section of the stairs.
The guard standing at the bottom turned and glanced over his shoulder. His eyes widened briefly when he realized those coming down the stairs were not part of the security team. His mouth opened, but no sound escaped as Rorrak’s blade found its mark. The man’s eyes dropped to his chest and his hands wound around the sharp blade before he fell to the stone floor.
Krac moved smoothly down the steps and into the side room while Rorrak headed down the long, narrow corridor toward the other guard who was rising up out of the chair he had been sitting in.
*.*.*
“How much longer are we going to be in this hole,” a scarred-faced man sitting at the table grumbled. “We were supposed to have moved out yesterday.”
“The female is being difficult,” the other man replied, sitting back in his seat and studying the tablet in his hand. “Move four spaces to the left, sling blade left to right,” he muttered.
“Damn it,” scarred-face cursed when the character on his tablet disintegrated. “That was my second most powerful beast.”
“You should have seen it coming,” the other man laughed hoarsely, tipping his head back and swallowing deeply from the flask he held in his other hand. “That is one hundred credits you owe me now.”
“He won’t be paying you,” Krac said calmly as he ran his blade across the scarred-faced man’s neck. He ignored the head that fell in the opposite direction of the body as it separated. “I want information and you are going to give it to me before I kill you.”
The thin figure of the male surged from his seat, tossing the flask to one side as he drew a pistol from his waist. His scream of agony was cut short by Krac’s fingers tightening around his throat. The arm with the pistol now lay on the floor.
Krac slowly walked forward, holding the paling male up off the ground until he had him pinned against the far wall. He made sure the male got a good look at him. He wanted the male to know that death had come for him and it was in the form of a creature more dangerous than he had ever seen before.
“Who is your leader?” Krac asked coldly.
“I…,” the male gurgled as his eyes began to dim. “What… are...?”
Krac pulled the male forward before slamming him back against the wall. The sound of the man’s head cracking against the uneven stone echoed loudly in the quietness of the room. The glazed eyes faded to blankness.
“Word of advice, Krac,” Rorrak’s dry voice sounded behind him. “If you want information, you have to leave your informant in one piece and not smash his head first.”
Krac grunted in disgust as he dropped the male to the floor and turned with a glare. “Most species, especially the humans, are too fragile.”
Rorrak looked at the bloody curved blade still clenched in Krac�
�s left hand. He shook his head and chuckled. Not even a Zion warrior would be able to survive such a wound.
“Not all of us are made up of living metal,” Rorrak replied dryly. “We have less than five minutes before more company arrives. I’d like to at least rescue the ‘Princess’ before they arrive.”
Krac nodded. “Is your warship close?”
“Yes,” Rorrak bit out. “But, we will still have a fight on our hands.”
“You keep Anastasia Miller safe,” Krac instructed as he headed toward the door leading down to the second level. “I’ll take care of everything else.”
Rorrak shrugged. “Fine with me. I just hope I don’t have to carry her ass. You know how Earth women are.”
Krac’s eyebrow rose at the comment. Yes, he did know what most human women were like and preferred to avoid them as they were weepy, fragile and weak. He had only met two human females that gave him pause to think that they were not ordinary to the human female species: Gracie Jones and Anastasia Miller. Both of those human females confused him as neither behaved like those he had met while on Earth.
“Just protect her,” Krac replied. “I will kill you if she gets hurt.”
“Well, that changes everything,” Rorrak muttered darkly under his breath as Krac palmed the door panel and disappeared down the second set of stairs. “I guess I’ll just carry her ass then.”
Chapter 2
“Tower, this is the Lulu Belle coming in to repair bay A4,” Captain “Skeeter” Lulu Belle Mann announced cheerfully. “I need clearance of all incoming traffic. Oh, and you’d better put the bumpers out, boys, my thrusters are being a pain in the bunny butt right now. Frog! How are you doing on the repairs, sweetheart?”
“Two minutes, Skeeter! I need at least two more minutes!” The voice behind her frantically yelled.
Skeeter ignored the coarse curses coming over the system from the tower. She was used to them by now. She didn’t know if it was protocol for all Spaceport Towers to use such language. She’d have to ask Bulldog, her adopted father, the next time she talked to him. She was still learning all the technical talk since he let her take over as Captain of the Lulu Belle. So far, it seemed to be the norm at all the Spaceports she had delivered to so far.