by Eden Ember
The shadows hid me while I watched. I couldn’t bust out amid four Kwobus. Retreating into the alley, I whispered into my comm.
“Elgan, Xyru, I have found the Terrans,” I informed them.
“Where, Captain? They let us out, and we are trying to get back into the building. Where are you?” Elgan asked.
I gave him my coordinates and called for two more of the crew from the ship as back up. Until they arrived, I stood back and with wonder as Allegra tried bargaining with the creeps. A smile crept upon my lips as my chest swelled with pride. My Terran. The Kwobus couldn’t understand her, nor could she understand them. She bargained with her body, knowing why they had captured her. Jealousy pounded over me as I wanted to march forward and stop her from offering herself to them like that. But then again she had a keen responsibility for her crew and she would sacrifice herself for them. A Terran with integrity. I had to make her mine. Never had I been so attracted to another female. The exotic Terran pulled at my heart in a way that shocked me.
A large super-bore blaster came up and pointed right at the Terrans. My lone appearance would just cause them to kill the five weak females as well as me. I held my breath as Allegra tried to entice them to take her as their own slave. No! If they took her up on the offer, it would spare her life and the lives of her crew. It also brought on a bubbling rage deep within me. It was something so primal that I swayed. Finally, my crew arrived, well armored and carrying heavy weapons. They helped me into my armor as well. We held the giant machine blasters with cross-slit points at the end, ready to slice their throats and spill their ebony blood onto Arenthia soil.
We edged forward as the Kwobus leader refused Allegra’s attempts and shoved her back. He lifted the blaster at her, too quickly. Their murderous attempt only stopped momentarily by my presence as I lurched forward to stand between the blaster and Allegra.
“No, you shall not have her nor harm her,” I shouted in their gurgle so they’d completely understand. It all happened so quickly.
The Kwobus slowly lifted the super-bore and pointed it at my chest, ready to deal the death blow to me, blasting me into the ethers of eternity without a body.
“Alas, victory as the universe hands me not only these escaped exotics, but my biggest nemesis right here. I shall kill you all. Thank you for saving us the trouble of hunting you down later,” the Kwobus leader spatted his terroristic words.
My teeth ground as my eyes narrowed. “You will not walk away from here alive, scum,” I promised.
The Kwobus lifted the super-bore right at me, his finger sliding back and releasing the safety hold. The next moment his finger will release the charge and it will be all over for me. But I rested in grand assurance that my crew would step forth and avenge my death and save the Terrans. I was ready to make the sacrifice. I stood tall, but Allegra screeched as she jumped in front of me, just as the Kwobus released the super-bore charge. I felt nothing as Allegra slumped before me, having received the full force of the blast. Anger spewed from every pore of my body as I lurched for the scum with everything I had.
Blind anger shook me as I growled the barbarian war cry of my people. Elgan and Xyru and the others stepped out answering as we lifted our blasters and released the full intensity onto the four Kwobus. If they had others nearby waiting to pounce, we’d die for their sheer numbers on Arenthia right now. But this far out of range, no other being stepped forward as I delivered a blast that narrowly missed the goon that hit Allegra. Prodding forth, the razor tip of my blade sliced easily into his thick neck and black blood bubbled forth, dripping to the Arenthian ground in large streams.
“This is for Razko,” I shouted as I jabbed him again in his side. “And this is for Allegra.” I squeezed the trigger and delivered the death blast, which sent the giant being tumbling backwards. He fell effortlessly. The other three hammered with my crew as they followed my lead and pounced on them with the sharp tips and blasting lasers, slicing through their thick exterior armor and meeting with flesh that tore open. Xyru’s giant lay at his feet, disemboweled. The Terrans shrieked as they cowered away, giving us room to finish the job. I turned and helped bring down the remaining two. They fell, dead to Arenthia as the plumes of blackened dirt covered their gushing wounds. One final spat from me, and I nodded.
“Everyone okay?” I asked my crew.
Three grunts of yes came back as we checked to make certain. And one last check to make doubly sure the scum were dead before turning back to the group of Terrans huddled behind us, whimpering and crying. I swallowed hard as I realized Allegra had sacrificed herself for me and for her crew.
My heart sunk as I beheld Jules holding Allegra. Her eyes met with mine as she smiled weakly. I rushed to her and knelt before the Terran. Beautiful eyes took me in as she smiled.
“Did you make it through okay?” she asked.
I shook my head and glanced down; I had come through unscathed except for a few bruises in the scuffle. Behind me the lot of Kwobus lay dead, and before me, the one whom I wanted so desperately to save spilled her bright red blood, mixing with the jangle of deep ebony blood on Arenthia. No, not again. Razko nearly died on me and I feared a Terran couldn’t receive Aaran blood.
“You’re injured,” I said as I took hold of her gingerly. She groaned as I lifted her into my arms. Blood poured from a high chest wound, but thankfully it looked as if it missed her major organs, at least if Terrans were anything like Aarans. Allegra grimaced as her shoulder moved.
“I’ll be fine, as long as I know that you and my crew are fine,” she said as she looked over at her friends.
“I told you, Leg, we’re fine,” Jules replied.
I nodded to my crew. We rushed around the alley and to the back of the building where we had our scuttles parked and awaiting us. With great care, I secured Allegra behind me onto the cargo box. It wasn’t exactly comfortable, but it would get her to the Torq Runner where Zeker could help her.
Thankfully, each of my crew could safely carry a Terran with them back to the ship. Each one was secured onto the cargo boxes and each wrapped her arms around my crew. Only Allegra weakly struggled to sit behind me.
“Can you put your arms around me?” I asked. Her fragile arms encircled around my waist as I powered the scuttle and we took off.
Allegra barely held on to me as I drove as fast as the scuttle would take us. I worried dreadfully that Zeker wouldn’t be able to help her since she’s a different species from us. He received his medical license from the Garstar Galactic Medical School learning how to treat the species in our own Cantor System. Terrans were not a part of it originally, but surely, there’s not that much difference.
The scuttle slowed as Allegra’s hands fell from my waist. She slumped behind me, barely breathing as the wound bled, her crimson blood staining my top. “Allegra, you need to hold on to me,” I said as I gently aroused her. She sleepily gazed in my direction and gave me a small nod. Shock set in on her and I pulled the strap from the cargo bag and secured it around her wrists.
Elgan came speeding back, Jules on his back. “She’s not?” Jules said with her eyes wide.
“She’s alive, but barely. I need to secure her better,” I said as I adjusted the straps and settled back on the scuttle and pulled her arms around me, the straps latched securely to my vest. We took off as fast as I could drive the scuttle hoping to save her life.
Finally, the ship came into view at the hangar. I’d been so concerned about Allegra that I hadn’t thought to look behind us. The Kwobus lay dead in the streets of Arenthia, and I wasn’t sure they knew the Terrans had come in with us. If they didn’t before, they did now since they caught us trying to break into the auction house. We quickly docked with the Torq Runner and Zeker took Allegra immediately to the med bay.
Chapter 9
ALLEGRA
Fuzzy dull images peered down at me, the lights too bright as I shut my eyes and allowed the throes of blackness to comfort me. It would be so easy to let go, to move on and
float into another existence. I couldn’t remember where I was or what had happened. Not even my name appeared in my mind. I just was. Or I wasn’t. A deep rumble coaxed me and called to me. What was the voice saying? What was my name? The voice kept on, a reverberating rumble, the stroke of a soft touch, the jarring of a prick. Ah, blackness again; I didn’t like the harshness of consciousness. Too painful, too bright, too loud. Something kept prodding at me, talking to me, but they mumbled the words that I couldn’t understand. I thought I shook my head, telling them, whoever they were, no. I just wanted to sleep.
A soft whimper, a touch I’d felt before. High pitched this time, a plea for my life. What of it? I was rather okay with the floating in darkness, the existence of just being in a quiet, restful place, no name, no expectations. The buzzing and hissing wouldn’t leave me alone. Maybe it’s a bug of some sort, flopping around my head. Where am I? Who am I? I really can’t remember.
Looming images of nasty beings rushed into my head. The stench, the horror. A weapon pointed at me. Fear, gripping, paralyzing fear that my life would end just like that. The nightmare wouldn’t release me, I struggled to get away from it. I missed the tranquil shadows, the horror beat at me. I screamed, I threw my arms out, fighting, crying, the terror. Wake up, dammit!
Sheer pain embraced me, squeezed me, my chest felt like an elephant sat upon it. Every breath took monumental effort. Was I groaning so loudly that I only heard myself? Hot embers touched my shoulder, the ache so deep. Would I ever be the same? Each breath came with excruciating pain and effort. I didn’t have the strength for this. Oh, sleep, mercifully take me again and keep me from feeling this. But it didn’t. Wakefulness crashed over me, still my lids were too heavy to lift. Something sharp pierced my left arm, my right arm throbbed. Rank liquid passed between my lips as enormous hands held up my head.
“Swallow,” they commanded. Too weak to fight, I obeyed. Anything to stop it.
Did the nasty beings have me? My mind betrayed me, the reason I’m floating in this state was beyond my comprehension. Am I dead? Am I alive? My name is what? I struggled as consciousness pulled me into the direction of the pain. No. I don’t like the pain. In the darkness of my subconscious I relaxed, the pain gone. But something kept pulling at me to come back, to wake up. No. I didn’t want that. Here, I felt nothing; I saw nothing, I just am. There I couldn’t breathe, my body hurt, my arm, my shoulder. It’s too much. Too much.
“Please,” a voice says. The inaudible rumbling voice, soothing to my ears, but also pulled me to the pain which I refused to face.
Did I open my mouth and say no? I tried. I’m paralyzed, caught between worlds. Every breath I took brought more awareness. Someone begged me. Who owned that voice? I couldn’t take the pain, yet the begging voice struck me with such desperation, I tried to wake up.
“Please, Allegra, don’t leave me. Wake up,” said the voice.
Allegra? Was that me? Maybe it is. Fuzzy memories swam at the edge of my consciousness. Someone hurt me, maybe?
“Allegra, come on. Open those pretty eyes,” the deep voice coaxed.
Shivers ran down my arms, good shivers. The voice enticed me, beckoned me to come back. A voice I enjoyed. With noble effort, my heavy eyelids fluttered open. A face peered into mine, close enough that I could see the flecks of sapphire dancing in the otherwise lightest blue eyes I’ve ever seen. Beautiful eyes, I could lose myself in them.
“There you are,” he said.
Gandrox. Gandrox! “Gandrox,” I said weakly. It took a lot of effort just to say his name. Memories swam back to the surface. “Are we? Am I okay? My crew?” I struggled to sit up, I needed to check on them.
“Whoa, you’re not getting up,” Gandrox said as he gently pushed me back onto the pillow.
“My,” I said and had to swallow. “My crew. Are they safe?”
“They are fine. A few minor scrapes. Zeker fixed them up just fine. You’re the one that took the greatest hit. What were you thinking by jumping in front of me when the Kwobus shot his weapon?”
I shook my head. “Those nasty things were Kwobus? What happened?” The hum of the spaceship reached my ears. “Where am I?”
Gandrox smiled as he relaxed onto the stool by my bed. “On the Torq Runner.”
“My crew too?”
“Of course. We came back to Arenthia to rescue the lot of you. Silly Terran, jumping between me and the Kwobus. The shot meant for me, but you took it. It pierced through your chest and shoulder.”
I grimaced at the pain. “Oh, that’s why I’m hurting so much,” I said.
Worry lines etched across Gandrox’s face. I swooned dizzily as an immense wave of nausea hit. “We are taking you to Darniner Space Station where one of the best surgeons happens to be. Zeker could only do so much to help you. He stabilized you and you stopped bleeding, but your wounds keep opening up and you’ve run a high fever. The other Terrans tell us it is too high for a Terran. The surgeons on Caldopt can help you, we hope.” He smiled into my face, but the smile didn’t reach the worry lines around his eyes.
I smiled back and reached up weakly with my right hand and brushed it across his chiseled jaw. The effort proved too much, for the blackness I’d been swimming in lapped at my consciousness. He lurched forward, saying my name, but the hissing in my ears covered it as I slipped into the quietness of the moment.
The bumping woke me. “Allegra, hang on, please,” came the deep voice. Yes, Gandrox.
I opened my eyes to him sitting beside me, his large hand holding mine while he worriedly peered into my face. The door swooshed shut, Gandrox’s voice left. I met with the eyes of Zeker. He wore a gray lab coat and looked at my wound, his face not showing an ounce of hope. He prodded something into my shoulder; the pain excruciating. I gasped and then the darkness engulfed me again, mercifully. I didn’t want to be awake; it hurt too much. I felt like hurling, but couldn’t find the strength to sit up. Hands were on me, moving my face, the sound of Gandrox in my ears. Darkness again.
Time passes silently when one is unconscious. A dull ache throbbed in my temple, too weak to do anything about it except to open my eyes. Gandrox’s serious expression startled me. Jules stood beside him, peering down at me and shaking her head. She stepped forward.
“Allegra, please, you’ve got to fight this,” she said as she ran a soft cool cloth on my forehead. Suddenly a heat wave hit, my body pounded with pain, my throat dry.
“Drink,” I whispered.
Zeker stepped up, grim faced, and held a fat rounded cup to my lips with what looked like a double straw. I parted my parched lips and took a sip, the cool refreshing water slid down my throat. I took another sip and smiled. “Good.”
“What’s going on?” I whispered to Gandrox.
“Allegra, you have an infection. Your fever’s spiking. We’re trying to stabilize you and we’re heading to a space station with excellent medics who can hopefully help you.” Gandrox leaned in, but suddenly the alarms blared as the ship lurched.
Zeker came to me on the other side, while Jules settled in Gandrox’s chair. The alarms continued as the ship lurched. Another shudder and then we swooshed in what I recognized as hyper-speed.
“What happened?” I asked Jules.
She glanced around at parts of the room that I couldn’t see before turning back to me. “I’m not sure. Those Kwobus have been pursuing us, though.”
“Indeed. We’ve entered hyper-speed, so perhaps we’ll lose the lot,” Zeker added.
Breathing hurt and my body ached aside from the wounds. Zeker fussed over me, his thick brow lifting as he peered into my face and shone a light into my eyes. “Infection, raging,” he said.
“Is that why I feel horrible?”
“That would be. We need to get you to the space station quickly. I’m not sure how long you can go without proper medical care,” he said.
I slipped back into sleep and woke up when the same voice that brought me out of my darkness spoke again.
“Allegra, ple
ase hang on. We’re going to the space station as fast as we can,” Gandrox said.
My eyes fluttered open as I beheld him looking at me with the same worried strain he had before. “Why are you so worried?” My throat burned.
“Because you’re gravely ill. We must get you help,” Gandrox said.
“You’re getting me there,” I said.
The alarms blared again, and Gandrox’s eyes closed as he turned. “Deal with it, hyper-speed and lose them,” he said into his comm cuff.
“I thought you were a barbarian? Don’t run from them, turn and fight,” I said and coughed. The pain shot through my body.
He lurched at me with a cloth, wiping up whatever it was I had spewed from my mouth. I thought I saw blood.
“You’re too ill. You need a surgeon,” he said.
“What if they follow us to the space station? What if they kidnap me again? Or worse, what if they harm you?” I peered up into his drawn face and he smiled.
“Listen to you, you’re so ill and yet you’re worried for me. I’m the reason you are in this condition. We’ll make it there,” he promised.
Another shudder through the ship and the alarms sounded again. “It doesn’t seem like it. Turn around and fight. Get rid of them first, then take me. Gandrox, go. I won’t croak on you,” I told him.
His brow knit together. “Croak?”
I laughed, then the pain stopped it. “It means die,” I said.
“I have to try. Allegra, I’m holding you to it, do not die!”
His words haunted me after he rushed away and left me with Zeker alone. Fatigue embattled me to the point that I couldn’t stay awake. The last thing I heard was Zeker pleading with me to stay conscious. But I didn’t listen.