by Gail Koger
The black market on the other hand, was a bustling labyrinth of stalls selling everything from weapons to food to exotic creatures and half-starved slaves. The jabber of a dozen languages filled the air as the vendors hawked their wares.
I shuddered as a Rodan dragged off two crying women. “Can’t we help them?”
“We interfere and we join them. Then who would search for Adam?” Ivan’s face was tight with anger.
“I’m going to find a way to destroy this place.”
Loki laughed. “Many have tried and failed.”
“I won’t.” I looked around. “Where are we going?”
“To get a Datol and some information,” Ivan stated.
“Datol?”
Loki’s hand dropped to his weapon as a fat, hairy humanoid with horns looked us over. “Our version of beer.” He ushered me into a plasticrete building.
I blinked as my eyes adjusted to the dimly lit shithole. Filthy tables were packed with an assortment of intoxicated aliens. The furry bartender was enclosed in a huge iron cage filled with bottles of booze. To get a drink, a customer slipped a credit chip through the grill.
A nude female painted up like an Earth clown and wearing a purple wig did a weird hippity-hop table dance that made her four breasts bounce wildly. The patrons hooted and pounded the table.
Ivan booted a drunk off a table and sat down. I took the chair next to him. A cold finger of alarm skittered down my back as the hairy goat guy entered the bar. His gaze fixed on us. “I think we have a problem.”
“Yagga’s are always a problem. He probably knows you are a female,” Loki snarled.
“Should I be concerned?”
Ivan placed his laser pistol on the table and stroked it. “Yaggas are addicted to sex and their three penises secret a substance that causes fatal convulsions in most females. Since few last more than two days, they must constantly replace the ones they kill.”
Merda! “Have they ever thought of getting a blow-up doll or a robot?”
“The female’s screams and convulsions add to their pleasure,” Loki said.
“Those degenerate bastards need to die.”
Ivan nodded. “I agree.”
The Yagga took the table next to us and tapped on his comm-link. Was he calling for reinforcements, scanning me or both? “Is he desperate enough to take you two on?”
“No. Yagga’s are cowards and poor fighters.” Loki replied.
Ivan added, “They let others do their fighting.”
“Aren’t you a tiny bit worried that he’s called for his thugs?”
“No.” Loki walked over to the caged bar and said something to the bartender.
Ivan hooted as the dancer jumped on our table and shook her breasts in his face.
I rolled my eyes.
Pepe peeked his head out. “What she do?”
“It’s called table dancing. It’s a guy thing.” I pinched Ivan’s hand to get his attention. “Why haven’t the Yaggas killed her?”
“She’s a Tiktik. They eat their mates.” Ivan stuffed a credit chip in her G-string. “She’s too talented of a dancer for anyone to kill and butcher.”
“Why does she smell like rotted meat?”
“Chuff, chuff,” Ivan said, and the dancer jumped to another table. “Water is a scarce commodity here. No one bathes.”
That explained the stench.
Loki came back with three bottles of Datol. He handed me one and took a seat. “There is an old freighter on pad twelve that fits our requirements.”
Ivan smiled and chugged his Datol.
Guess I could try their beer. It was cold. Ick. The bottle was covered with a greasy substance. On second thought, it might not be a good idea. “Do they sell water?”
Loki snorted. “Water is two hundred credits per bottle. Datol is five credits.”
“Is it safe to drink?”
“Nothing on this world is safe,” Ivan said.
An extremely dirty Bjarke male with one long oily braid stormed into the bar. His armor was crusted with God knows what. He stopped in front of our table. “I want the female.”
I pulled my laser pistol.
Pepe growled.
Loki and Ivan totally ignored him.
Everyone in the bar retreated to the far side of the room. Totally oblivious, the dancer kept on gyrating.
“Give me the female or I will take her from you,” he bellowed.
I’d like to see him try. On a private link I asked Loki, “Who is he?”
Rage flashed across Loki’s face. “Halvor the Betrayer. Our father.”
Holy Mary Mother of God. This was about to get nasty.
Halvor the Betrayer pulled a blood encrusted sword. “Is she worth dying for?”
“I see Dingle is still your master,” Ivan spat.
Halvor pointed his sword at Ivan. “You will show me the proper respect.”
“You deserve none.” Ivan erupted to his feet. “You would have sold Yakira to that monster.”
“It was my right,” Halvor screamed.
I slid out of my chair. Someone was off his meds.
Loki stood up. “She was your daughter.”
“Not by blood.”
Disgust and fury burning in his eyes, Ivan spit in his face, “Quod mox ut nondum gradatim. I renounce you again.”
“As do I,” Loki growled.
An evil smile curved Halvor’s mouth. “Vengeance will be mine. You will all die horribly.”
I quickly scanned the room. Six rather large goons were creeping up behind us and they had brought their Rodan buddies with them. “We’ve got company.” I flashed them an image of Halvor’s friends.
A muscle ticked in Loki’s jaw. “Prepare to die, father.”
Everyone in the bar fled, leaving Loki, Ivan and me facing off with Halvor the Betrayer and his chums.
Halvor laughed. “You are surrounded. Get on your knees and beg for your lives. Now!”
My temper flared to life. “Shut the hell up.” I stunned him.
The father of the year crashed to the floor as his arms and legs spasmed violently.
“Duck,” Ivan commanded.
I hit the floor. An instant later a knife whizzed by and impaled a support beam. “I thought the idiots wanted me alive?”
“Dingle won’t care what kind of shape you are in. If you die, they can sell your flesh for a hundred thousand credits,” Ivan replied.
Cazzo! I rolled under the table and flipped my pistol from stun to laser mode.
Dropping down on his knees, the Yagga reached for me. “Mine.”
“Not in this lifetime or the next.” I shot him and watched as he disintegrated into a million fireflies. I might not be good with a sword, but they didn’t call me Deadeye for nothing.
A naked Yagga crawled towards me with a laser pistol in one hand. His three hairy penises dangled between his legs. “C’mer me pretty. You smell like a virgin.”
I kicked the pistol out of his hand. “Sic’em Pepe.”
In the blink of an eye, Pepe had latched onto his penises. Grrr. Grrr. Grrr.
The Yagga shrieked blue bloody murder as he tried to pull Pepe off his man parts.
Grrr. Grrr. Grrr. Chomp.
The Yagga let out a high-pitched squeal.
“You’re such a good…” A Rodan seized my cloak and dragged me out from under the table. “Hey! Let go! Having trouble… Breathing here.” I fumbled with the clasp.
Loki beheaded the Rodan.
Hot yellowish blood splattered my face. Ugh. That was just nasty. I wiped the icky stuff off.
A Yagga charged me like a rutting bull. I danced out of the way and threw my cloak over his head. “No, means no.” As he struggled to free himself, I snatched a bottle off the table and whacked him with it. A jubilant smile curved my mouth when he crumpled to the floor.
Loki dodged a flying table. “Jia! Stay behind me.” A chair whooshed by his head.
Not a good idea. Too many flying objects. I backed away.<
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A savage joy on his face, Ivan hacked his way through the remaining Rodan warriors.
I had to admit the brothers were good fighters.
Halvor the Betrayer erupted to his feet and backhanded me, knocking me over a table. The room spun around me. Not only were those funny little black spots back, but it felt like he had broken my jaw.
Energy suddenly poured into me and Trayon’s growly voice commanded, “Get up. You will not die today.”
The pain in my jaw vanished and I could see again. “I wasn’t planning on dying, but Halvor the Betrayer isn’t long for this world.”
“He will not live to see the dawn.”
“You’ve got that right.”
Halvor wrapped his arm around my waist and hauled me out the door. “You are my ticket off this hellhole.”
“No. I’m not.” I pressed my hands against his arm and lit him up.
He jerked back, convulsed violently, and dropped to the ground. Smoke rose from his blackened hair. Halvor’s hate-filled eyes locked on me. “Kill. You.”
“What kind of lowlife sells his daughter to a Yagga? Don’t you get it? Family is everything.”
“Worthless.” Letting out a shuddering breath, Halvor stopped moving.
Was he dead? I took his pulse. He was. I knew I should feel bad for taking his life, but I couldn’t bring myself to care. Halvor was more of a monster than the Yagga.
“Do not mourn him. He was a traitor to his people, and he betrayed his own family,” Trayon said.
Exhaling a long breath, I took Halvor’s laser pistol. “True.” I hated killing, but when the Tai-Kok came to our world I had no choice. The war changed me, and I had done what was necessary to survive.
Phantom lips brushed my cheek. “Hide until I come for you.” The link severed.
Hide? I looked around. Where? Everyone was staring at me like I was the last chocolate bar on this hellhole.
Pepe trotted up and spat out what was left of the Yagga’s male parts. “Taste nasty.”
“I can imagine.”
Two heavily armed thugs ran toward me, yelling something in a language I didn’t understand.
“No habla alien.” I pulled a stun grenade off my belt, threw it at them and raced in the opposite direction. “Run Pepe.” I took refuge behind the remains of a wall with Pepe huddled at my feet.
An ear-shattering boom was followed by a blinding flash of light.
Pepe whined. “No like big bang.”
“Me either.” I rubbed my ringing ears and blinked rapidly to clear my vision. I grinned. The thugs were face down in the dirt. My grin died when more thugs poured out of a building. They weren’t kidding when they said females were valuable. Time to up the ante. I pointed to a large plasticrete barrier. “Get behind that Pepe. I’m going to make more big bangs.”
Pepe scampered away.
I yanked out two thermite grenades. “Wanna play catch?” I yelled. The thugs took one look at the grenades and fled.
“Where did you get those?” Loki yelled, running toward me.
“I stole them. Better take cover.”
“Are you mad?”
“Mad as a Hatter.” I set the timers.
Loki and Ivan sprinted for the plasticrete barrier.
“And I’m really tired of men thinking they own me.” I tossed one grenade in a shabby warehouse, the other in a bunker with an open door and bolted. I cringed as a laser beam sizzled past me. Another inch and I would have been headless. Diving over the plasticrete barrier, I landed on top of Loki and accidently kneed him in the groin. “Ooops. Sorry.”
“I doubt that.” With a grunt, Loki pushed me off. “How many more grenades do you have?”
“A couple or three.” I covered Pepe’s ears as he snuggled against me. “There’s going to be loud scary noises, but you’re safe with me.”
Loki snorted.
All hell broke loose as the warehouse and bunker blew with thunderous cracking booms. The ground shuddered and shook as blazing shrapnel flew in every direction and set buildings on fire. Thick black smoke blotted out the sun.
I flinched when a flying door crashed down beside us. “Wonder what kind of explosives were in that bunker?”
“My guess would be thermite grenades, warheads and some air defense missiles,” Ivan replied.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! More explosions rocked the area. Careening shards of flaming plasticrete pelted the marketplace. Whoosh! The flames spread rapidly through the stalls. The vendors ran for their lives. The smell of burning plasticrete was nauseating.
A volley of laser beams exploded around us, pinning us down. “Where’s the cavalry when you need it?”
Loki returned fire. “Threll’s air defenses have never been breached.”
“Give me the thermite grenades you have left,” Loki ordered.
I pulled two off my belt and handed them to him. “You got a plan?”
“I do. We blow the underground fuel storage tanks.” Loki took out two thugs climbing onto the roof of the building next to us.
Ivan smiled. “Which will also destroy their laser canons, missile systems and shields generator.”
“Great idea. How do we get access to the fuel depot?”
“We have to go through them,” Loki answered.
I took a quick look. Merda! There had to be at least twenty heavily armed goons. It was a suicide mission. We needed a distraction. My gaze fell on Pepe and I flashed him an image of the thugs. “I need you to be really sneaky and drop this grenade. “I held it up. “In that building behind those men over there and run like crazy back to me. Can you do that?”
“Me can.”
Ivan stared down at Pepe. “Just might work.”
Setting the timer, I held out the grenade. “Go fast like the wind.”
Pepe gently took it in his mouth and scampered up the wall to the roof.
I mouthed silently; Oh Lord I pray for your protection as we fight for our lives. Protect us from trouble wherever we go. Taking a deep breath, I popped up, fired at the goons, and smiled at the flurry of fireflies. Four down and another sixteen to go. I dropped back down as their buddies unleashed a barrage of energy beams. It was a good thing plasticrete absorbed laser blasts or we’d be very dead.
Loki gave me a funny look. “Are you sure you are not a Jones?”
“Don’t know. I’m an orphan and I haven’t a clue who my parents were.” I glanced down at the timer on my comm-link. “Be quick like a bunny Pepe.”
A shuttle landed as Pepe shot out of the building.
“Don’t let them see you,” I cautioned.
“Me won’t.” Pepe darted around it.
The shuttle’s landing ramp lowered, and more goons poured out.
In my mind’s eye I could see Pepe running across the roof. “Good boy.”
Pepe skittered down the wall and jumped into my lap. “Me fast like the wind.”
Kablooey! The building disintegrated, raining large chunks of debris down on the shuttle and the goons.
“Stay put,” Ivan commanded and took off running. Loki was right on his heels.
I watched them disappear in the smoke. If this didn’t work… I twitched as a funny tingling sensation crawled through my mind. What in the hell?
“You are a very clever female and a deadly warrior. Everyone will envy me,” Trayon said proudly.
Arrrgh! It was like talking to a wall. “Do you really think mental osmosis works? Well, it doesn’t. Leave me the hell alone.”
“You are my mate Jia. You cannot change what is.”
“No! You don’t get it. I don’t want or need a male in my life.”
“You wish to find Adam and kill Giovanni, do you not?”
He had me there. “I do.”
“You need me to accomplish that.” Trayon stroked my mind.
Hot coils of bliss twisted inside me. Merda. Did that feel good.
Ghostly hands caressed my body. “I can also teach you the pleasures of the flesh.”
Shock rolled over me. Cazzo! I was in the middle of a war zone and fighting for my life and he was seducing me. Life had taught me males of any species, couldn’t be trusted, but my girlie parts weren’t listening. Drawing on every ounce of will power I had, I snapped, “People are trying to kill us, or did that slip your mind?”
“It has not. The Bjarke have planted the thermite grenades. Once the shields are down, you and your furry friend will be transported aboard my ship,” Trayon rumbled.
“Were you planning on leaving Loki and Ivan behind?”
“No. They will be turned over to Zarek.”
A bone-jarring jolt rocked the earth. Kaboom! The fuel tanks abruptly ignited, and a fireball belched blazing shrapnel, bodies, and pieces of machinery high into the air.
Thwap! Bap-bap! Thop! I dodged the falling debris. Could this day get any worse?
Pepe growled menacingly.
A Yagga staggered out of the smoke, a laser pistol in one hand. “You! You did this.”
“I can’t take all the credit. I had help.”
The buildings began to shake violently.
“Cazzo! Earthquake.”
“No like.” Pepe gripped my jeans.
Instead of fleeing, the Yagga yelled, “Do you know who I am?”
“A rapist and murderer.”
“I am Dingle. I own this world.”
“Not anymore.”
“You have destroyed everything I built. Now you die!” Dingle abruptly grabbed his head and began to scream.
“Are you doing that Trayon?”
“No. Zarek has arrived,” Trayon groused.
Oh goodie.
The ground heaved and an enormous crater suddenly appeared. Buildings toppled into it.
Cold fear skittered up my spine. Not good. I picked up Pepe. “Are those shields down yet?”
Kaboom! Flames roared from the crater.
Little bodies unexpectedly clung to me.
“What? Who?”
“No leave us. No leave us.” A glittering blue light surrounded me. I caught a fleeting glimpse of a fireball rolling toward us and poof! I was standing on an icy cold transporter platform and Trayon was staring at me in astonishment.