Tiny and Fierce

by Margo Bond Collins

“Time for that energy boost?” Alder asked. I couldn’t turn my head to look at him, but he sounded even weaker than before.

  “Better give it a try,” Morpheus said when I didn’t answer Alder.

  “Will do,” the fae prince whispered.

  “Decelerate and move to Basilisk,” I instructed Blue.

  “Deceleration in five, four, three, two . . .”

  Adrenaline raced through my veins as she flipped our rockets to burn in reverse, slowing us down. The friction of our changing inertia sent more flames arcing through the atmosphere. To anyone on the outside, it probably looked like we were completely burning up on entry—but I had arranged to liberate several panels from a delivery some time ago—armor that helped protect Blue’s hull against fire. The panels had fallen off the back of a delivery ship, basically. And I had installed them on Blue.

  With a dizzying twist, Blue went into a controlled spiral downward and came up facing the other direction—toward the empress’s pursuing battleship.

  “Target locked,” Blue announced.

  “Give me a few…more…seconds.”

  Now that we were hanging motionless in the sky, I could turn to watch Alder. Sweat beaded along his hairline, dripping down the sides of his now-ashen face. His hand still trembled, but this time blue lightning sparked around them. His voice shook with effort when he asked, “Where do you need this to go?”

  I hesitated for a fraction of a second.

  Fuck it. These are my crew. My men. And more than that.

  “EMP cannons.”

  All three of my crewmen whipped around to look at me. Well, Evik tilted his head back and forth to watch me through all his eye-facets, which amounted to the same thing.

  “You put electromagnetic pulse cannons on an AI-controlled ship?” Morpheus asked incredulously.

  I ignored him. Experiments back on Old Earth a long time ago had suggested that AIs tended to go power-mad when given too much autonomy.

  That would never happen to Blue, for reasons I wasn’t about to admit to my group. Not yet, anyway.

  “Can you funnel your power to Blue’s weapons?” I asked Alder quietly.

  “Yes.”

  “Blue, fire when ready.”

  Alder’s hands glowed brighter, the flickers of electrical power coalescing, then slamming out of him in such a bright flash that I had to close my eyes.

  Even from inside the ship, we could hear the blast of those cannons thundering across the sky. When I opened my eyes, the entire bridge had taken on a blue glow. I turned to the viewscreen to watch as the EM pulse hit the empress’s ship.

  “Holy starfucked shitballs,” Alder breathed. “That was intense.” Then he sank back against his jumpseat and closed his eyes.

  “I don’t think that ship will be going anywhere for a while.” I watched the battlecruiser come to a complete halt, then drop out of the sky. “Or ever,” I amended, as it hit the ground and burst into flames.

  I inhaled deeply. “Take us in, Blue.”

  “There’s no guarantee they’re going to let us refuel here,” Morpheus muttered as Blue settled onto the landing pad outside the immigration office building we’d been directed to. The local officials had kept their weapons trained on us all the way there.

  “No, but at least the empress’s ship is no longer a problem.” I took a quick glance around the cabin. “Everyone okay?”

  All three males murmured affirmatives, though I couldn’t help noticing how awful Alder looked.

  “Blue, go silent—we don’t want any trouble over the EMP cannons,” I instructed her.

  “Got it, captain.”

  I began unstrapping from my seat. “Evik, go check on our passengers. Get them ready to disembark. Let me know if there are any injuries.”

  Yes, captain.

  Even through his translator, I could hear an undertone of … what? Admiration? Love? Something deep, and honest.

  I started to give Alder an order, then took another look at him. “Morpheus, take Alder to the medbay and see what’s going on with him while I negotiate to get these women refugee status. It’s probably better that you two are out of sight, anyway. Evik could be any Chilchek in the galaxy if he’s spotted by authorities. You two are...more distinct.”

  He nodded without comment and, with a scrape of his wings, bent down to pick up his companion.

  I didn’t like the fact that Alder didn’t complain about being carried by the larger male.

  Later. We have to get these women to safety first.

  Evik went to his quarters for safety before I had Blue open her cargo hold. Just because Chilcheks were hard to tell apart didn’t mean we had to take unnecessary risks. Much to my relief, Nimbus Prime really was willing to take in the refugee women—and rather to my surprise, that was their primary concern, especially after they talked to a few of the women.

  The officials didn’t even seem terribly interested in discussing the EMP I’d used to take down the empress’s ship.

  “There’s no love lost between our government and the Bufo Alvarius Empress,” Captain Vardan, the immigration post’s commander, a tall humanoid with green fur and wide violet eyes, told me. “You saved us the trouble of having to shoot down their ship ourselves.”

  They had taken our refugees—including the dead woman’s body, agreeing to try to track down her family to notify them of her death—and had ignored our aggression against their enemy. Everything looked like it was going well.

  Right up until I tried to begin negotiating for fuel.

  “I’m sorry,” Captain Vardan said. “I’m afraid we can’t let you leave—or even refuel—until we’ve inspected your ship for contraband.”

  I blinked, trying to decide how to answer him. “Of course,” I finally said.

  We walked out of the building and across the oddly spongy landing pad toward Blue.

  I’m heading in with an unwanted guest, I subvocalized to the ship’s AI.

  What should we do? It was the first time she’d communicated with me in several hours. I’d missed her.

  We can’t let him see any of the crewmen.

  But there were signs of the three males all over the ship. The captain would know immediately that there were others aboard. Especially since the women had already told him they’d been quartered in a cargo hold after being saved by all four of us.

  I would not risk having my three males taken prisoner.

  I’m coming in, I finally told her. When he tries to follow, lock him out.

  With pleasure. No one else would have heard the glee in Blue’s tone.

  I still didn’t know how we’d get off the planet—but I was beginning to have an inkling of an idea.

  “It’s bio-locked,” I told Captain Vardan, placing my hand on the outer hull next to the entrance. “I’ll need to enter first—I have security measures in place to keep out intruders.”

  He gave me a skeptical glance but nodded.

  “Now,” I said as I stepped onto the ship. Blue dropped a temporary shield over the entrance and Captain Vardan slammed into it, almost vibrating with the impact. He began cursing and shouting for backup.

  “Close the hatch,” I instructed Blue, “and open a channel throughout the ship.”

  “Done.”

  “Evik, Morpheus, Alder,” I called out. “I need you on the bridge. Now.” I headed there myself. “Any chance we’ve got another EMP blast in us, Blue?”

  “No,” she said sadly. “Our power reserves are dangerously low as is.”

  When my crewmen arrived, I was already pacing, watching the Nimbus Prime officers gathering around us. It wouldn’t be long before they brought in serious weapons—the kind Blue couldn’t withstand.

  All three of them took in the images on the viewscreen.

  Evik released an anxious scent. Are they here to arrest us?

  “Definitely,” Morpheus answered for me. “We’re fucked.”

  I held my hands together in a prayer position and tapped my lips. “I don�
�t think they’ll follow us if we take off.”

  “Yeah, right,” Alder rasped. He didn’t look any better than he had earlier.

  My stomach twisted as I thought. “If I distract them, can the three of you get away out one of the back hatches?”

  “Distract them how?” Morpheus asked suspiciously.

  “I could turn myself in…” My voice trailed off at their expressions—and Evik’s scent.

  We all stood silently for a long moment as the Nimbus Prime officers began rolling a temporary locking mechanism toward the ship.

  “Hey, Blue,” Alder asked, “do you have enough power to take off?”

  “Yes, but not enough to break orbit.”

  “Do it.”

  “What are you thinking?” I asked the fae male.

  “Not sure yet.”

  Morpheus glanced between the two of us as Blue spun up her engine. As she lifted off the landing pad, the officers outside began pointing their weapons at us. Alder moved toward the nav panel and dropped into the seat, murmuring something so quietly that I couldn’t hear it.

  But apparently, Blue could. “Of course, Prince Alder Faeweather, Regulus the Sixteenth.”

  “Now,” Alder said, his voice far too calm.

  I disliked not understanding what was happening on my own ship. But even more than that, I hated Alder’s new attitude—resigned, quiet, physically weak.

  But we were in trouble.

  We needed a Hail Mary.

  Evik realized what Alder was about to do before Morpheus and I did, and he lunged toward the fae prince—but he was too late.

  Alder slammed both hands palm-down onto the panel and his blue magick flashed through the ship, even brighter than it had been before. Unlike the last time, though, his glow didn’t fade after that first burst. Instead, he began glowing brighter, a nearly blinding blue light so intense shining from him that it was almost white.

  With a lurch, Blue accelerated, throwing the three of us still standing against the back wall of the bridge. My head cracked against metal, and stars danced in my vision.

  Morpheus pushed himself off the wall and hovered in the air, his wings beating so hard I feared they might break. He kept himself aloft long enough to strap in first me, and then Evik, and then he slowly made his way toward the still-bright form of Alder.

  “Stop, Alder!” he called out, shielding his eyes with one arm and reaching out to his brother-in-arms with the other. “You’ll drain yourself dry.”

  “Almost there.” Alder’s voice had gone thin and reedy.

  We broke atmosphere and Blue’s gravity drive kicked in, dragging Morpheus back to the floor. Still, he fought to reach his friend.

  “Stay back,” Alder whispered, holding out one hand, his power pushing Morpheus away from him even as the winged man tried to walk toward him, his feet sliding in place as he pushed against Alder’s magick.

  I fought against the dizziness and darkness attempting to cloud my vision and began struggling out of the restraints. My fingers fumbled with the familiar buckles and nausea roiled my stomach.

  Finally, I wrestled myself out of the straps and launched myself toward Alder.

  But I was too late, just as Evik—who was now right behind me, having freed himself from the restraints, as well—had been.

  Even as I reached out to pull Alder away from the nav panel, more magick exploded from him, throwing all of us back again and burning an afterimage of Alder’s figure into my retinas—a dark form huddled in on itself in the center of an enormous blast of light.

  I tried to blink it away, only to find myself in comparative darkness.

  Alder’s light was gone.

  There was nothing to stop me from reaching him now.

  But there was nothing to reach.

  Not really.

  Just a limp, unbreathing form.

  Tears welled up in my eyes as Morpheus gathered up Alder’s body and let out a wail of misery. From behind me, Evik’s jointed limbs wrapped around me to gather me close, offering comfort—even though we both knew there was none to be found. The smells pouring from the Chilchek were bitterly sweet, a garden of roses tainted with the scent of the ocean. Floral notes, saltiness, and mourning. They felt right together, flowing hand-in-hand to grieve our loved one.

  Because Alder was our loved one now.

  We stood frozen in a tableau of misery as Blue shot off into the darkness of space.

  And then, with a gasp, Alder began choking and trying to sit up in Morpheus’s arms.

  “I did it.” His voice scraped out from his throat, as if he’d been screaming. “That should be enough to get us out of here.”

  Epilogue: Blue

  Lise, I said to my captain via our private channel, speaking more familiarly to her than I would in a public setting. There is a new bulletin out on the coms.

  She sighed, staring in at Alder’s body, held in stasis in a medbay cryochamber. “Where are we on the list now?”

  You and your crewmen are now in the top five of the Galaxy’s Most Wanted.

  With a curse, she stood. “How far are we from Alder’s home planet?”

  We should be there in three days, given our current trajectory.

  “And we have enough power to reach it?”

  More than enough.

  She turned to face Alder’s unmoving body once again. “What the hells were you thinking, draining yourself like that?”

  The first time she had spoken to Alder after he had been placed in cryo, I had reminded her that he could not hear her. But she explained that physical creatures often liked to speak to the ill, even when they could not be heard. So I did not remind her again.

  “Have Evik and Morpheus join me on the bridge, please,” she said to me. “You should join the conversation, too, as it concerns you as much as it does us.”

  This was unlikely to be a sexual liaison, then. She and Evik had joined one another once more, just after they had placed Alder in stasis for the trip to his homeworld. For comfort, Lise had said. Whatever that meant.

  My emotions were still new, and I did not understand all of them. But I knew I gained comfort from information. Data. Facts.

  Perhaps someday I would better understand the odd, primal needs of born entities. But not yet.

  On the bridge, Lise turned to face the other two beings. Despite being significantly larger than she, they both obeyed her orders—as did I.

  “Blue tells me that Alder’s return to his homeworld may be problematic,” she began.

  “He’s supposed to marry some princess,” Morpheus agreed. “That’s why he left in the first place.”

  He says she is not his ‘type,’ Evik added. Though I do not know what that means, as she is a mammal.

  “So our plan is to get him there, make sure he heals, and then get him away again, right?”

  The two males gazed at Lise for a long time before finally assenting.

  “I would like to discuss what to do after that,” she continued. “As you know, both the Bufo Alvarius Empress and Nimbus Prime have warrants out for our arrest. The empress is offering a sizable reward, too. That means every bounty ship in all the galaxies will be on our trail.”

  “Lovely,” Morpheus muttered.

  “I don’t think we’ll be safe until we take her down completely. So I’ve been thinking—the best way to do that would be to dismantle her slave trade. Make her reward useless. Bounty hunters follow the money. If the money’s gone, so is that threat. And then… well, we’ll figure out dealing with the UG later.”

  Do away with the slave trade completely? Evik’s mandibles clicked, a sign I had learned from Lise indicated anxiety.

  “Yes. Wipe it out entirely. It’s immoral and disgusting—and more immediately important to us, destroying it will leave her financially devastated.”

  “Alder will love this plan.” If I read Morpheus’s tone correctly, it was irritated.

  Lise smiled. “I’m hoping it will encourage him to get better quickly.”<
br />
  Evik clicked a few more times before saying, I agree. We should do this.

  “Morpheus?” Lise asked softly when the winged man didn’t clarify if he agreed with the plan.

  “Shit. Yes. Fine. Let’s take on the most powerful ruler in the galaxy, just the four of us. Why not?” He shrugged his great metal wings, sending colors spiraling against my alloy walls.

  I liked the rainbow effect, an odd sensation for me. To like something, purely for aesthetic reasons. Lise had focused on… practical reasons, moral reasons, even emotional reasons when enhancing my AI. I supposed the beauty of things to my multi-faceted vision could be entangled with the emotions I was still navigating.

  “Five of us, actually. Blue?” Lise turned to glance up at my speaker, though she knew my consciousness did not reside there.

  “You’re asking the AI?” This time, Morpheus sounded surprised.

  “I am. Blue, are you willing to go into battle against the empress?”

  “Can we attempt to free her planetary AI, as well?”

  Lise’s eyes widened, but she nodded thoughtfully. “I guess the AI is a slave, too, isn’t she?”

  “She is.”

  “Then yes, we will attempt to free her, too.”

  An emotion I identified as satisfaction ran through all my circuits. “I am willing.”

  Lise tapped against my bridge wall, then reached out to take the two other creatures’ appendages in her hands, her eyes shining. “Good. Let’s go save our friend. And then…we’ll save the rest of the galaxy, too.”

  If you enjoyed this story, be sure to leave a review! You can also preorder Theirs by Destiny, the second book in the Her Alien Crew series, to find out what happens to Lise, Evik, Morpheus, Alder, and Blue when they get to Alder’s homeworld!

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  About Margo Bond Collins

  USA Today, Wall Street Journal, and New York Times bestselling author Margo Bond Collins is a former college English professor who, tired of explaining the difference between “hanged” and “hung,” turned to writing romance novels instead. Sometimes her heroines kill monsters, sometimes they kiss aliens. But they always aim for the heart.