I open the door and let Corin lead the way out. Casin is right behind him, then the others.
Just as we round the last corner, at least ten cats block our way to the portal, snarling over their downed brethren. Now they’re angry. This battle is going to be much, much worse.
“Swords!” I barely get the word out before they’re on us, hissing and spitting. As I stab the first cat, my thoughts go to Ande. At least she’s safe.
But as I hear the screaming of the scientists and the cursing of the warriors, I realize there’s no way we’re going to get out that portal. Cats are climbing up the walls and jumping from the ceiling on top of us. Their yowling has a fury I’ve never heard before. It echoes off the walls, sending shivers down my spine. I can barely see the others through the nightmare of fangs, claws, and fur.
I glimpse the door to the portal through the battle. So close, and yet so far.
I hope that malworm works, because there’s no way we’re getting out of this alive.
6
Ande’ie
I’m frantically looking for something to open the cuff on my wrist, checking under the chair, under the console, and in every space I can reach.
“The moment I get free, he’s going to regret it.” Anger makes my hands tremble.
His one mistake was in leaving my other hand free.
In a hidden drawer that pulls out, I find a small thin tool of some sort. I try to insert it into the space that looks like it’s for a key, but I don’t feel anything. Realizing there’s no chance at unlocking the cuff, I follow the short chain to where Juordin has attached the other side to the steering handle of the craft. My eyes narrow as I study it.
Maybe if I can’t get the cuff off my wrist, I can get the other cuff off the handle.
I’ll still have to drag the damned handcuffs around, but I might have a chance at freedom. I look more closely at the handle, and I realize I can press the two buttons on either side. I press them, and the handle loosens. Suddenly, my anger is gone.
What if you take it all the way off and it doesn’t go back on? You could be taking away Juordin’s ability to steer by hand.
I curse. But there’s a niggling feeling in the back of my mind that Juordin needs me. Now that I know how to get free, it’s impossible for me to wait here.
I hope this works. I press the buttons again and pull the handle upward. It comes off easily in my hand.
The cuff slides off the base of the handle, and I push the handle back down onto the pole it came off. It clicks, and seems to be on tight.
I reach behind my seat and grab my swords. My anger gone, I’m now starting to worry about how Juordin and his team are faring against the cats. I have a suspicion it will be just like the caves…only worse.
I hope Casin and Corin are good with swords.
I follow his earlier instructions, heading down the hall toward the cargo bay.
“I wonder if Juordin has a backup plan. You know, in case the malworm fails.” I know I’m talking to myself, and I don’t care.
But then Solim sticks his head out of his room, still humming. “Did you say something?”
“Nope,” I try to smile reassuringly. “Everything’s fine.”
He eyes the cuff on my wrist for a moment and I think he might try to stop me, then he shrugs and goes back into his room.
Once in the cargo bay, I search through the weapons cabinets, finding a bag of explosive devices. “What do we have here? I bet these could do some damage.”
Those explosives remind me of something. The half planet exploding, self-destruct bomb. If the malworm doesn’t work, we could get them out through good old firepower.
I run to the room with the bomb, opening the door Corin showed me. But it’s attached. I don’t have time to waste. “Please don’t explode,” I ask it very nicely, pulling it out of its hiding spot. I disconnect the two wires, red first, bending them up on either side of it so they don’t touch.
I really wish I could get this damn cuff off my wrist.
I run back to the cargo bay, holding the small bomb carefully. I press buttons along the wall, opening weapons storage, food storage, and finally, space suits. There are a few in every size, small to very large. I pull out one of the smaller ones. “Sorry, Juordin, but I believe this suit is just my size.”
I throw it on as fast as I can, stuffing the cuff up the sleeve and putting the small bomb in a bag, which I sling on my back. Once I have my helmet fastened, I grab my swords and head for the exit. I open the inner door, closing it behind me, and press the red button. A hiss tells me something is happening.
Red is working well for me today.
I open the lever on the outer door, finding a cord connected from the outside of our ship to the outside of the Ardak ship. Following it, I come to a round entrance. There doesn’t appear to be any means of opening it…only three small grooves. I follow one with my finger.
Nails. I think to myself wryly. Think like a cat, and you can get in.
I take out my two swords, but they’re too big to fit in the grooves. Suddenly, the portal opens from the inside. I bring my swords up, but it’s only Redonim, the scientist. He looks awful, covered in blood. He tries to talk, but I can’t hear him. He grabs my arm and hits a button on the black square panel near my wrist.
Immediately I hear yowling, screaming and cursing, and my heart begins to beat uncontrollably fast.
He grabs my arm and I hear his voice in my helmet. “Don’t go in there.”
I shake him off. “I have to.” On second thought, I draw my sword. “I’m going to let you live, even though you’re a coward. But if you take off with the Helios, I will kill every cat on board this mother ship except one, and we will chase you down and let the cat devour you.”
He looks at me as if I’m crazy. Maybe I am. “I mean it,” I reiterate. Maybe I should just kill him now. But I can see in his eyes he’s too cowardly to take off with the ship. He may not even be able to pilot it.
I enter the cat ship and shut the round door behind me. There is a small door in front of me and I hold my swords at the ready until a light blinks. I pull it open and spring through.
The hall is packed with cats ripping apart space suits and going for the necks of the warriors with their fangs and claws. I begin to thrust and swing my short swords without thinking, only moving as I’ve been trained for as long as I can remember.
The space suit slows me down a little, but it isn’t long until it begins to shred under the claws of my enemies. Which makes me faster. Thrust, parry, kick to clear the sides and back, thrust upward to get the cat from the ceiling.
Out of the corners of my eyes, I see the others fighting. Corin and Casin are quick and deadly with their swords, almost as good as Juordin. They take down cat after cat.
In the caves I learned beheading is best. It’s messy, but it’s quick, and the cat can’t get away to tell the others. I behead two, then three, then four, stepping over their lifeless bodies and pools of blood. Suddenly, I realize the fifth is fighting Juordin. He sees me at the same time.
“Ande!” he screams, and I can tell he’s at the end of his rope. He beheads the cat with his knife, his face a mask of pure fury. “What the… what are you…” He’s so angry he can’t speak.
I kill four more cats while he kills the last three, and suddenly I realize there are no more cats.
Juordin steps forward and claps a hand on my shoulder. Hard. His eyes are two slits of pure rage. “Status,” he barks into the com.
“Four alive, plus one.” Casin answers.
“The malworm didn’t work.” Helena’s voice comes through the com.
“Six alive.” Casin corrects.
“Where are you?” Corin asks, and there’s movement beside my feet. He helps her push two bodies off her and sit up.
“How do you know?” Juordin asks.
“The ship would have stopped by now. Alarms would be going off again. Somehow, they’ve neutralized it.”
&nbs
p; Everyone is silent for a moment.
“Do we try again or just leave?” Casin asks.
“I have a backup plan.” I take the bag off my back and pull out the bomb.
There is dead silence once more, then everyone acts at once.
“Holy shit! Is that the…” Juordin looks as if he’s going to pass out.
“Whoa!” Corin and Bodrin put up their hands at the same time.
Casin smacks the forehead of his helmet with his hand. “I can’t believe it.”
Juordin narrows his eyes and looks at him.
“Yes, it is!” I yell into the com. “Let’s do whatever we have to with it and get the hell out of here!”
But they all continue to stand there for a moment, meaningful looks passing between them.
“What’s going on?” I demand.
“We don’t have a fuse for that bomb. We can’t just leave it. Someone will have to stay behind and do it manually,” Corin answers.
“I’ll do it,” Juordin, Helena, Corin, and I all answer at the same time.
“Let me do it,” Helena continues, looking at Juordin. “My leg is just about gone. I’d need to amputate it, and we don’t have the equipment on your small spaceship.”
We all look at each other again, then down at her.
“Our malworm didn’t work.” Tears fill her eyes. “Let me make up for that by destroying as many as I can. Who knows—maybe taking down their ship will affect their communications. At the very least, it will take care of who knows how many cats.”
It’s a terrible option. But it’s the only option.
“I’ll stay with her.” Bodrin steps forward, limping. “My suit is shredded and my helmet is gone, anyway. We can barricade ourselves in that small room—try to give you some time to escape before we blow it.”
“Is there any other way?” Juordin asks, rubbing his forehead.
“There might be, if we had more time and more knowledge of the ship,” Helena answers. “But we just don’t. And I’m afraid we’re all running out of time.” She looks down at her leg, a sheen on her forehead.
“Your sacrifice will be remembered. Always,” Juordin says, and I hear the others echo always.
“Casin, Corin, get to the portal,” Juordin orders. “Ande and I will be right behind you.”
Bodrin picks Helena up in his arms and we follow them down the hall and to the right. They open the door and enter the small room, and when it closes behind them, Juordin turns back, pushing me back the direction we came.
As we round the corner to the portal, I can see more cats at the opposite end of the hall.
“Run!” Juordin snarls, and we leap over the dead cat bodies in the hall trying to get to the portal.
I slip in a pool of blood, falling forward.
“Hurry up!” Casin yells, looking between us and the cats.
Juordin picks me up and grips the back of my suit as we run.
But the cats are almost at the portal.
Casin begins to close the door.
“Fuck!” Juordin yells.
He can’t tell Casin to keep it open.
We have to make it before the cats.
Or we die.
We reach the portal just as the first cat does, and at that moment, Casin opens the door with such a speed that the cat crashes into it with a sickening crunch. He and Corin pull us in as Casin slams the door shut behind us. Scratching and yowling at the window tells me the rest of the cats are right outside.
“Hold your breath if your suit is ripped!” Juordin orders.
The hissing and yowling outside the door is deafening. I hold my breath, praying we all make it. Our suits are in tatters.
Then Corin is opening the outer door.
We all climb out, hanging on to the cord and heading for our ship. The trip is short, but I can still feel the blood pounding in my head from holding my breath. I climb the steps.
Juordin closes the outer door, and a few moments later, we’re all sucking in fresh oxygen.
“Let’s not do that again,” Casin says, but Juordin is already running past him, sprinting down the hall to the command center.
I’m right behind him in case he needs me. We have to get away as fast as possible.
He throws himself into the captain’s chair, his fingers flying across the blinking lights on the glass in front of him. He presses the button that usually makes us go…
…but nothing happens.
My heart stops.
“Fuck!” We shout at the same time.
I didn’t think of a plan C.
To be continued…
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About the Author
Immortal Angel has lived a hundred lifetimes all in one. She's a mother, a sister, a daughter, a wife, and a best friend. She's traveled the real world, enjoying what our three-dimensional reality has to offer. She's hiked the stairs inside the Eiffel Tower. She's watched a Shakespearean play in a grassy clearing outside of Cambridge, and she's ridden a ferry to Ireland. In Australia, she cuddled koalas, in China, she cuddled pandas, and in the Middle East, she cuddled camels. And every time she opened a book, she entered a world beyond this one, one where the only limits are the imagination.
So many lifetimes of adventures have inspired her to reach beyond this planet to the stars above and to worlds rooted in fantasy. Her romances in space are meant to take her readers on their own adventures, imagining new and exciting place. With hot men. And maybe a few sexy aliens too.
You can follow Immortal Angel on Facebook, Twitter @Immortal__Angel, or her blog here.
Preview:
To Kiss A Warrior (An Alien Rogue Romance – Part One)
Chapter One
The private spacecraft touched down in the ship yard with a familiar groan. Hannah swung her booted feet off the oversized chair in front of her, and pressed her palms against the window. A few people outside had turned to stare.
Her dad just had to travel in style! Yeah, the small craft moved faster and smoother than most, but just the sight of it would tell everyone that someone uncommonly wealthy and powerful travelled inside.
Which was exactly the opposite of what she wanted.
At least mother hadn’t come. The woman had been a sobbing mess. The academy was already like a ghost, its memories haunting her mother with every step. Seeing her daughter there… Hannah couldn’t even imagine how badly that would’ve ended.
But how to deal with her father?
She leaned back in her chair and regarded him. Here goes nothing!
“It might be better if you waited in the ship,” she suggested in her least argumentative voice.
Her father lowered his computer interface, one brow raised in annoyance. “Do you think I travelled with you all the way here simply to-- how did you put it? Wait in the ship?”
Disappointment flared. A true parent would’ve understood that an adult child deserved independence. Even on one of the most important days of her life, it was ‘the commander’ escorting her to the academy, not her father. She should’ve known the moment he’d donned his deep blue uniform, perfectly starched and pressed as always.
You did know, her brain insisted, but the ache in her heart said she’d hoped she was wrong.
“Please?” she forced a smile.
He raised his interface once more, so only his neatly trimmed, steel-gray hair peeked over the top of it. “I pulled more strings than you can possibly imagine to allow you to attend The Starflight Academy under your mother’s maiden name. Even though I consider it an insult to my family. I will not act as your chauffeur, too.”
Hannah took a deep breath, fighting the urge to explode. “There isn’t much point in all of that if we enter the school together- now, is there?” she challenged.
He glared over the top of his computer. “If I had
it my way, you’d either be attending the academy with guards at your side, around the clock, or I’d simply assign you a position on my ship. And before you interrupt me, yes, I do admire your desire to follow in my footsteps. After all your training already, I think it requires a certain kind of person to be willing to attend this challenging of a program, simply because your drive to never settle for less.” He paused. “That’s a Stowe family trait I might add.”
His praise, even wrapped in anger, stunned her. Perhaps he was starting to think of how much he was going to miss her when she was gone. Regardless about how much he mumbled about his ‘rebellious’ child.
“BUT,” he added, squashing her hopes with one word. “I also think your ego is outweighing your intelligence. Being my child is dangerous. The fact that you want to pretend otherwise doesn’t make the truth of your situation any different. By going here, you are putting yourself and me at risk.”
It took her a second to answer. And when she did, her words came out dangerously calm. “One day I’m going to be the captain of a class ten ship, and there is nothing in the world anyone can do to stop me.”
Her father didn’t respond. His gaze was already back on his screen.
Frustrated, she tapped her fingers on her leg, feeling precious seconds ticking away. She needed to change his mind before it was too late. She was twenty-one god-damn years old, she didn’t need her daddy to drop her off, and she certainly didn’t need the Fleet Admiral ruining any chance she had at a normal academy experience.
“We both know why I don’t want to be connected to you here.” The idea of living in her father’s shadow forever made her feel as if the walls were closing in around her. “But you’ve got to admit, the less people who know I’m your daughter, the safer I’ll be.”
There was a moment of silence. “This topic is closed.” Then, after a moment, he added. “We both know how gravely you want to be free of me, but remember, your people still need you. Whenever I call, your service to us will come above all else.”
Alien Insertion: An Alien Warrior Romance (The Tuorin Legacy Book 4) Page 4