Legion (Xian Warriors Book 1)

by Regine Abel

  My opponent came at me, swiping his bladed pincers in a flurry. I parried then struck back with my arm-scythes while my scorpion tails lunged at his face, sides, and arms, overwhelming him. One of them found its mark through the cracked shell of his thigh. The battle-scarred Kryptid stared in horror at his stiffening leg. Pressing my advantage, I smashed my foot into his kneecap, busting his leg. He collapsed with a shriek. My tails stung him a couple more times while he struggled in vain against the paralysis claiming him.

  “No one threatens my mate,” I hissed at him before kicking his face.

  I could have finished him off but that would have shown a mercy I didn’t possess when it came to Kryptids. My three companions finished off their opponents seconds later, and we rushed down the corridor en route to the docking bay. As per Myriam’s report, only the five Kryptids had boarded the ship. The overconfident arrogance of our enemies stared me in the face as we reached the docking bay to find the connecting door wide open, and unguarded.

  The oppressive, rippling, organic ridges along the dark, arched hallway curved about fifteen meters ahead, with two connecting corridors shooting off on each side. The familiar, slightly musty scent of the liveship made my nose twitch. It reminded me of the insidious, rotten smell of a slightly imbalanced compost pile.

  Our biometric scanners indicated two of our girls were located somewhere on the far left from our current position. Tabitha was in the opposite direction, on a lower floor. We split without any words needed; Chaos and Wrath going after Tabitha, Raven and I going after his own Soulcatcher.

  By the size of the vessel, the high heat, and the humidity level, this was clearly a breeding ship. While we hadn’t encountered any opposition yet, we would likely be overwhelmed soon.

  As if summoned by my thoughts, the humanoid silhouettes of a couple of Kryptid Soldiers turned the corner into the hallway we were treading. With a well-aimed shot, Raven incapacitated the left one by shooting him with a mouth dart similar to the one I had intercepted from the Kryptid attacking Ayana during her test. It shattered part of his chitin armor and partially embedded itself between his ribs. Falling to a knee, he gasped for breath. His companion reached for his com to raise the alarm, but I threw a short knife at him, knocking the device from his hand while we rushed both of them.

  We couldn’t use our guns and blasters onboard a liveship. Any damage to the organic membranes covering the ship’s corridors, electric discharge, or radical shifts in temperature would set off the alarm. We needed to delay that moment as long as possible; ideally until after we had found the girls so the Kryptids didn’t make it even harder to reach them. I shot my own mouth dart at the Soldier still standing. He skillfully caught it in his bladed pincer, but it prevented him from countering my arm-scythe which severed his limb. He opened his mouth to scream but it died in a gurgle as I spit the acid I’d prepared specifically for that outcome. He clawed at his chitin-plated throat while the acid—courtesy of the Xiphin bug we’d been spliced with—destroyed his vocal chords and ate him from within. Raven shoved his arm-scythe through the cracked rib armor of the other Kryptid, cutting his hearts to shreds.

  We didn’t bother trying to hide the corpses. The dark membrane covering the hallway of the liveship greedily absorbed the blood from Raven’s victim. Veiny, white tendrils rose from its surface, reaching for the bodies. The ship would digest the males, using the nutrients to repair, reinforce, and maintain its structure. Unfortunately, the process would be too slow to avoid discovery.

  As we closed in on our destination, our scanner revealed the presence of another Kryptid guard and an Aznarian female in addition to our two girls. Raven and I exchanged a look and a nod. Years of combat together eliminated the need for words in order to understand each other. Like me, the scales around his throat shifted as we both prepared a mouth dart which we fired at the guard as soon as we cleared the corner. We then rushed in to finish him. The women squealed in surprise. No door had blocked off this section of the ship that clearly served as the brig. Seven cells lined the corner walls. Instead of bars, a transparent membrane similar to the bell of a jellyfish sealed in the prisoners. Its flimsy appearance was misleading. Sturdier than the toughest leather, contact with its gelatinous coating would inflict the same painful sting as a jellyfish’s tentacles.

  The three females backed away from us, fear and confusion marking their faces. Our Soulcatchers were grouped in one cell at the far back, with the Aznarian by herself two cells down.

  Raven stood close to the membrane and made eye contact with Soulcatcher. “It’s me, Sonia, with Legion. Stay back while we break through this thing.”

  Our girls took in our appearance with both shock and disbelief. Aside from Tabitha and Myriam, neither of these girls had seen us in our battle form. Very few Soulcatchers had.

  “Raven! I thought you’d died!” Sonia said, taking a couple of steps forward before catching herself.

  I mentally reached out to Chaos.

  “Be ready for the alarm. How’s your progress?”

  “Go ahead. Things are bad. There’s a full Swarm nest between us and Tabitha. Wish us luck.”

  I severed the connection, willing my acid glands to go into overdrive.

  “Where’s Xenon?” Bridget asked, pulling Sonia back by the hand.

  Spitting our venom at the membrane spared Raven and me from answering. The acrid scent of the membrane melting stung my nose. The rumbling groan of the ship soon buried the sizzling sound of the melting tissue. It had been inevitable. Soon the Swarm would descend upon us. Turning to the Aznarian, I approached her cell. She slithered away, pressing herself against the back wall.

  “I’m a friend of Blujek’s, here to rescue the humans. If you come with us, I’ll make sure you are safely returned to Jaylon.”

  Without waiting for her response, I spit acid at her cell’s membrane. Her reptilian features looked even more panicked as her only protection unraveled before her. She cast a glance over my shoulder, the vertical slit of her yellow eyes widening. I looked back just as Raven helped the girls jump over the sizzling remains of their cell’s membrane.

  “I need to carry you out or the acid will hurt you,” I told the Aznarian. She remained frozen in fear, trembling against the wall. That suited me just fine as I slipped one arm beneath her snake tail and another behind her back, careful not to sting her with my arm spurs. I carried her over the threshold then put her down. “Let’s go!” I shouted after both Raven and I handed our guns to the Soulcatchers.

  I took the lead, activating the energy shield from my high-tech military armband with the women chasing after me. Thankfully, the Aznarian followed, still looking dazed and panicked, her body swaying from side to side as she slithered down the hallway at impressive speed, keeping up with us. Raven took the rear, pursued by the pounding sound of Kryptids closing in on us.

  Luckily, only a handful showed up in front of us. Between my arm-scythes and the girls shooting at our attackers, we mowed them down with little difficulty, with my energy shield still at 70%. But as we closed in on the docking bay, my greatest fear came true; the liveship’s doors had closed.

  “Raven, get the door!” I shouted before switching places with him to deal with the incoming enemies.

  As I braced for battle, Chaos’ mind touched mine.

  “We can’t save Tabitha. There are too many. We’re setting up charges to blow this place up. You have one hour. Get out!”

  “Acknowledged.”

  My hearts broke for him. He cared deeply for Tabitha. She had been a little sister to both of us for years now, but we also knew what fate awaited her; she would choose death over it.

  The upside of liveships was the absence of security locks to hack. You only needed to know which nerve to sever and its location to force any door open. The girls shooting, and my mouth darts slowed or incapacitated enough of our attackers that my arm-scythe, venom, and scorpion tails could handle the few that actually reached us. But the focused fire of the Kry
ptids that stayed at the back of the hallway was quickly depleting my shield.

  A loud groan and a tremor followed the wet sound of flesh flopping to the ground as Raven hacked away at the ship’s nerves and tendons.

  “Aznar protect us,” the Aznarian’s sibilant voice repeated in a loop.

  “Myriam, have you regained control of the docking bay doors of the Striker?”

  “Yes.”

  “Be ready to close it on my command. We’re coming in hot.”

  “Understood.”

  With my shield down to 20%, my blood froze when the Kryptid Soldiers, instead of pressing their advantage, suddenly pulled back. Moments later, the clicking sounds of the Swarm resonated in the distance, increasing in volume at an alarming rate. Turning to the door, I helped Raven slash through the last thick and sinewy tendons of the liveship, finally getting the doors to open. We poured into the Striker, almost tumbling over each other.

  “Myriam, now!”

  The doors started closing as the first silhouette of a Swarm Drone entered the far end of the liveship’s corridor.

  “Are the escape pods ready?”

  “It’s touch and go. Their hacker keeps reclaiming control after a few minutes. I have two pods ready right now, working on a third. Head there immediately. I don’t know how long it will last.”

  She didn’t have to say it twice. Loud bangs behind us indicated the Swarm had reached the hatch and were trying to pound their way through it. We raced down the corridors and all but barreled into the escape room. Turning to the girls, I helped the still very frazzled Aznarian enter one of the two pods with a green light on, buckled her security belt, and then set a course for Jaylon.

  “You’ll be safely home soon,” I said before sending her off.

  I’d have to find out from Blujek what made this Aznarian so unique as to be abducted rather than thrown as food in the Breeding Swamps. Bridget entered the second pod and off she went as well. To my surprise, within seconds, all eight remaining pods lit up.

  “The hacker gave up on the pods and is focusing on the docking bay hatch. We’re coming!”

  “Sonia, go!” I said, leaving to Raven the responsibility of sending his Soulcatcher safely back to Jaylon.

  I raced back towards my mate, Raven’s footsteps soon echoing behind me. We met the two women halfway. Despite the makeshift cast around her arm, the blood and gore covering me, and my monstrous appearance, Ayana threw herself into my arms. Careful not to hurt her with the various spikes and defenses on my body, I crushed her lips with a short but desperate kiss, then led her by the hand as we raced back towards the escape room. We’d barely started running when her steps faltered, then she stood still.

  “Wrath…” she whispered.

  She checked the timer on her watch. Although little time remained, the forty-minute timer had not expired.

  “Go!” I said to Myriam, gesturing for her to keep running.

  My mate’s dark brown eyes turned black, even the whites, as Wrath’s soul portaled through her down to his Shell on Jaylon.

  As we resumed our race back to the escape room, the clicking sounds of the Swarm rushing in our direction resonated behind us. My blood curdled as I all but dragged my mate after me. Teeth clenched, she soldiered through the pain in her arm. Her steps faltered again a couple of meters from the room. She nearly face-planted, and I barely managed to catch her. Lifting her in my arms, I carried her inside, knowing Chaos’ body had just died. As I dropped her inside a pod, the timer went off.

  My hearts sank. It would take a few more seconds to awaken his Shell on Khepri now that the one left on Jaylon was no longer viable, seconds we didn’t have.

  “Go, Myriam!” I shouted.

  She nodded, and her pod shot out.

  Raven and I rushed back out of the room to meet the oncoming Swarm, sealing the escape room door behind us. The bugs poured into the corridor like a tsunami. Dark as sin, they resembled giant mouse spiders with the upper body of a praying mantis on steroids. Standing side by side, Raven and I met them head on. The narrow corridor made it easier to hold them off, even though we couldn’t last; not with their numbers and the way they climbed over each other with rabid hunger to get at us.

  “Your Shells are ready, port now!”

  “Raven, port!” I shouted, doubling my efforts to compensate.

  A second later, his body collapsed to the ground, swiftly dragged away by the Swarm.

  “Legion, port! I’ll be right behind you.”

  It felt wrong leaving my mate behind, but there was no other choice. On instinct, I turned to look at her through the reinforced window of the door. She smiled, her hand ready to hit the takeoff button of her pod. I smiled in return despite the stingers spearing my exposed back. I reached for her portal, letting it pull in my soul. As my vision faded, the green light above her pod turned red.

  I tumbled through the endless void for what felt like an eternity before my new Shell closed in all around me, an unwelcomed prison shackling me light-years away from my bonded-mate. As soon as I gained control of my vocal chords, a single, primal scream tore out of me.

  “AYANA!”

  CHAPTER 11

  Ayana

  Something had gone wrong. The moment Legion began to portal out, his mind broadcast a violent mix of fear and horror, and then he was gone. As soon as he went through, I reached for the release button of my pod only to find myself locked out. Panicked, I frantically tapped the button which kept buzzing with a fail sound. My heart pounded in my throat, making it hard to breathe. Stepping out of my pod, I looked up at the status lights above the other six remaining emergency transports, all of them red.

  Legion’s mind reached for me, but I was too numb to answer, hypnotized by the nightmarish vision of the Swarm clawing at the door. A small crack had already appeared in the reinforced window of the door. It looked too small for them to fit through, but I couldn’t count on them not being able to squeeze into tight places like cats did.

  “Computer, activate the escape pods,” I said in a last, desperate hurrah.

  “Negative. You do not have the security clearance to issue that order.”

  A choked sob wracked my body. I stumbled back into one of the open pods and frantically tapped on the control panel in vain.

  “My love…”

  “Legion, I’m scared. I can’t leave, and they’re about to break through.”

  “I’m right here with you, my love. I’m not leaving you. Stay with me. Be with me.”

  I didn’t quite understood what he meant, but since our bonding, mind-speak often showed me images or flashes of his thoughts. Through them, I gleaned that he had wanted to send Wrath to my rescue since Jaylon, where I had sent him, was only a couple of hours’ flight away from my location. Unfortunately, Chaos had set up explosive charges in the Kryptid vessel. Unless they had found them, which was doubtful, we had less than half-an-hour left before they went off. There would be no rescuing me or Tabitha.

  Another sob escaped me as a large crack, shaped like a lightning bolt, appeared on the window.

  “Ayana, stay with me. Be with me.”

  Forcing myself to block the pounding sound of my impending death, I focused on the beloved voice of my mate. The escape room faded away and I found myself on a beach, my bare feet sinking into warm, white sand licked by the lukewarm water of a rainbow river. The sky shimmered above us, almost like the Northern Lights but only with shades of white and green. The giant ghost of a moon hung low above us.

  Legion’s strong arms wrapped around my midsection left exposed by the black string bikini I was wearing. I leaned back against his naked chest and purred as he gently kissed the bonding bite on my neck.

  “Where are we?” I asked in a soft voice, as if afraid to disturb the magical peacefulness of the place.

  “Wyngenia, a primitive planet two parsecs from Khepri. Isn’t it beautiful?”

  “Breathtaking.”

  Legion made me turn around to face him. I
rested my hands on his waist, right above the black swimming trunks he wore as his sole garment. He caressed my cheek and studied my face as if trying to memorize my features.

  “My beautiful mate,” he said, running his thumb over my bottom lip. “The first time my mind touched yours, I knew you were the one. Even light-years away, your soul had called to mine. I’d never seen such a mesmerizing aura. Getting to know you only confirmed what my hearts and soul had known from the beginning. You are the kindest, most compassionate woman I’ve ever known. You’ve made me laugh and shown me a playful side of myself I never knew I even possessed. You made me experience a level of happiness I didn’t believe possible.”

  “Oh Legion,” I said through a painfully tight throat. “I’ve dreamt of you since the first time I saw you on those recruitment adverts. You were so out of my league, I still can’t believe you chose me. I love you so much it hurts.”

  “Oh, my love, I was never out of your league. You have exceeded everything I could have ever dreamed of. Before your first test was even over, I knew one day I’d bring you here. This is where I wanted us to officially bond. I figured it made a beautiful setting if you also wanted a traditional human wedding. You are everything to me, my Ayana.”

  I wrapped my arms around him and pressed my chest against his. He lowered his head and claimed my mouth in a slow, deep kiss that expressed the depth of his feelings for me, and I responded in kind. The clear notes of a soft ballad rose around us. We slowly swayed to it, lost in each other’s eyes, kissing and whispering sweet nothings. I wanted to stay like this forever, cocooned in Legion’s love, sheltered from the pain and horror of the real world.

  A dissonant, shrill note pierced through the enchanting daydream—or mind-walk as Legion called them. I ignored it and dug my nails into my mate’s strong back. This was a good place to die, happy and cherished, surrounded by the loving arms of my soulmate. The screeching note resounded again, longer and more persistent.