Stealing Jia (Coletti Warlord Series Book 13)

by Gail Koger

  The baby Rodan latched onto Pepe.

  “Pepe is not a chew toy.” I gave Cason his bone and plucked the evil twins off my head. “You’re staying here too.”

  “No. We go. We bite. They die,” LeeLee said.

  LooLoo added, “Protect Momma Jia and Chiara.”

  Their web balls did come in handy, but I couldn’t take babies into combat. “No. It’s not safe.”

  LooLoo protested, “We warriors.”

  “I know you are. If the Rodan get on this ship, Trayon will need your help. Okay?”

  “Kay.” The Tabors said in unison.

  Plus, I knew if anything happened to them, Bey would eat me. I put the baby Tabors in the crib.

  Adoz chirped at me.

  “He wants to go with us,” Chiara translated. “We can use his dragon fire.”

  “An excellent idea. You’ll be my secret weapon Adoz.” With a pleased chirrup, Adoz landed on my shoulder. I took a deep breath. I could do this. If I didn’t stop the Rodan, we’d all die, and I wasn’t going to let that happen. “As the Americans like to say: Are you ready to kick some Rodan ass?”

  Chiara raised her head and her startling blue eyes met mine. “The Rodan destroyed my home, ate my friends, and hurt my family. I will do whatever it takes to stop them.”

  “Me too. Those monsters have slaughtered millions and it’s time they were held accountable.” Drawing on Trayon’s knowledge of Rodan ships, I projected the image of their engine room to Chiara. “If we port in behind that instrument panel, I can place the thermite grenades there, and after I set the timers we move onto the next ship. Is that doable for you?”

  “Yes.” Chiara coiled around my waist. “Are you ready?”

  Cradling Adoz, I touched the controls on my gauntlet and the helmet formed around my head. “Let’s do this.”

  A gray whirlwind erupted around us. Thirty seconds of falling down an endless black void and poof! We were in the Rodan ship’s engine room. Lucky for us, the room was empty. You’d think with a major space battle raging, there would be someone manning engineering.

  “Whee! That fun,” LeeLee exclaimed as she skittered up my helmet’s ears.

  Cazzo! Bey was going to kill me. “Where’s LooLoo?”

  “She guard Cason.”

  I could only hope. Setting the timers on three thermite grenades, I placed them on the floor and smiled. This was going to work and Trayon would never even know I was gone.

  “Why are you on a Rodan ship Jia?”

  I stiffened at the menace in Trayon’s voice. “I’m going to blow it up.”

  “And if one of our missiles destroys it first?”

  “It’s a chance I’m willing to take. Your shields aren’t going to hold much longer.”

  “Return to the ship now,” Trayon commanded. In the background I could hear the computer warning, “Shields down to fifty percent.”

  “You’re running out of time and I’m your last hope.” I broke the link. “Next ship Chiara.”

  A spinning vortex engulfed us. After what seemed to be an eternity, the vortex spat us out in front of two pint-sized Rodan soldiers. Merda!

  For a long moment, they stared at us in surprise, then bellowed a bunch of hisses, clacks, yawps, and grunts.

  With the warp drive a few feet away, I didn’t dare use my power balls or my laser pistol. The last thing I wanted to do was blow up the ship with us on it. “No speaky Rodan.”

  “I think they want to know how we got in here,” Chiara said.

  “Like I would tell them.” The idiots still hadn’t pulled their weapons. I guess my armor wasn’t as scary as I thought.

  In Galactic Basic mind speak, the bigger soldier snapped, “Surrender or die.”

  “No. You surrender and die,” I automatically responded in Galactic Basic.

  “I will enjoy eating your brains.”

  “And I’ll enjoy killing you and your buddies.”

  Adoz took flight as the Rodan soldiers finally reached for their laser pistols.

  “Web their faces LeeLee.”

  Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat.

  The blinded Rodan soldiers bellowed in fury and tried to rip the webbing off.

  I drew my firearm and switch to the stun setting. “Hit them again LeeLee.”

  Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat. Splat.

  The smaller soldier’s hands were glued to his face. He made wheezing noises as he fought to break free of the sticky strands.

  “Aw, it must be getting tough to breathe. Maybe you should pray to whatever God you worship and ask for forgiveness for all the lifeforms you’ve slaughtered,” I said coldly.

  With a muffled roar, the soldiers lunged for me.

  Cazzo! In my desperate attempt to get out of their way, I tripped over a size fifteen boot and did a face plant on the deck. My pistol slid across the floor.

  “Me bite.” LeeLee jumped on the smaller soldier’s arm and bit him repeatedly. His limbs twitched once, and he toppled over.

  I swung my legs in scissor kick and sent the bigger soldier crashing into the wall. On my hands and knees, I made a mad scramble for my pistol.

  Gasping for air, the remaining soldier managed to pull his weapon and fired wildly.

  Sizzling red bolts whizzed over my head. I flinched as several gaping holes appeared in the interior walls. A Rodan soldier in a bloody green jumpsuit ran into the room. Zap! A beam hit him in the chest, and his body disintegrated into a million fireflies. Was he the chief engineer? I really hoped so.

  Chiara grumbled angrily, “He will kill us all.”

  “I thought he’d pass out by now.” I peered under a console. Where was my gun?

  LeeLee skittered up. “What lookin’ for?”

  “My pistol.” I flinched as two energy beams seared across my armor. Cazzo! Enough was enough. “Burn his gun Adoz.”

  Adoz spat gouts of fire.

  The flames incinerated the soldier’s hand and pistol. His shrieks were muted by the webbing.

  I quickly checked LeeLee over. “Are you hurt?”

  “Me kay.” LeeLee nuzzled my fingers. “This fun.”

  Fun wasn’t quite the word I’d use. I stuck her on my head. “Chiara?”

  “I am uninjured. I see your pistol.” Chiara wriggled under the console and pushed it out with her nose.

  Thank God. I grabbed my weapon and stunned the Rodan. “Shut the hell up.”

  “These events were unexpected,” Chiara said as she slithered around my waist.

  I blew out a long breath as I climbed to my feet. “Combat always throws you a few curves.” Adoz landed on my shoulder.

  “Pretty lights,” LeeLee cooed.

  I stared at the control console in horror. It was full of warning lights. I examined the readouts. One of the laser beams must have damaged the nacelle coils and the warp drive was overloading. When it blew, everything within 3.5 parsecs would be vaporized and we had about… “Merda! Take us to Trayon.” I stuffed LeeLee and Adoz into a side pocket.

  Slurppp! It was like going from zero to warp drive in ten seconds flat. The horrific, twisting funnel of energy rocketed us across a weird black void and dumped us on the bridge of Trayon’s battle cruiser. “Get us out of here.”

  Trayon erupted out of the command chair. “What is wrong?”

  “The warp drive on the Rodan ship we just left is going to explode in about seven minutes.”

  “Hard about 180 degrees. Go to warp twelve and notify Zarek,” Trayon ordered.

  The navigations officer quickly obeyed.

  The Rodan Commander appeared the view screen. “Running won’t save you.”

  Chiara hissed at him.

  I gave him the one finger salute. “Maybe not but it doesn’t matter, you’re all dead aliens walking.”

  Trayon quickly disconnected the vid feed. “Explain your actions.”

  On another screen I noticed Zarek’s warbird was streaking after us. “I left three thermite grenades on that middle ship.” I glanced
down at the timer on my gauntlet. “They will blow in three, two, one.” I turned my attention to the ship’s main view screen. The Rodan battle cruiser vanished in a nimbus of white-hot gases and debris. Machinery and pieces of the hull slammed into the other ships.

  “The explosion took down their shields and severely damaged three of the ships,” the navigations officer advised.

  Which was why they weren’t chasing after us. I did a little happy dance.

  Trayon’s furious yellow eyes fixed on me and he berated me mentally, “Have you lost all sense? Even I would not board an enemy vessel alone.”

  Adoz’s and LeeLee’s heads poked out of my pocket. I placed them on my shoulder. “I wasn’t alone, and you can yell at me later.” I turned to the main view screen. “That warp drive is about to go boom.” And it did.

  A blinding flash was followed by brilliant billows of yellow and orange flames erupting from the disintegrating spacecraft. The searing inferno engulfed the other Rodan ships and they disappeared in the growing debris field.

  Shock waves from the explosions violently shook our ship.

  I hung onto the command chair and grinned in delight. “And Cason’s biological father is no more.”

  “He was the Rodan commander who attacked my home,” Chiara announced.

  What were the odds? I stroked her head. “You have avenged your people.”

  “But they are still dead,” Chiara said sadly.

  And there was nothing I could do to change that fact. “Sorry cara.”

  Bey jumped on my chest and bared his fangs. “You took a youngling into battle!”

  “Not on purpose.” I tried to pry him off my armor, but it was like he was glued on.

  LeeLee skittered down to him. “Momma Jia not know. She need me.”

  “Yes, I did. Your web balls saved the day.” I stroked her silky fur.

  Adoz chirped.

  “And your fire was exactly what we needed.”

  Adoz preened.

  Trayon’s tentacles squirmed wildly around his face. “How many soldiers did you encounter?”

  “Only two.”

  “Can you explain how you overloaded the Rodan ship’s warp drive?” The anger in Trayon’s eyes was a little frightening.

  Merda. He would have to ask that.

  “We did not. The idiot Rodan did,” Chiara answered.

  “How?”

  “They shooted at us,” LeeLee exclaimed.

  I suppressed a groan. “I guess the moron forgot that discharging a laser pistol in engineering was a really bad idea.”

  Trayon stared at the scorch marks on my battle suit.

  “With the webbing wrapped around his face, he was firing blindly,” I added hurriedly.

  Trayon leaned down until his nose touched mine. “I am your mate. The next time you come up with another foolish idea, you will present it to me first. Is that clear?”

  Foolish? “My plan worked, and besides, I didn’t want to bother you while you were busy fighting off the Rodan.”

  “It does not matter what I am doing. You will not leave this ship without my approval. The Rodan could have captured all of you. Psychic brains are a delicacy to them.”

  “I know that, but they didn’t come close to capturing us.”

  “Only by the grace of the Goddess,” Trayon growled, sitting back down in the command chair. “Get off my mate Bey.”

  “Where is LooLoo?” Bey demanded as he dropped to the floor.

  “She’s guarding Cason.”

  “Another Jones is the last thing this universe needs,” Bey grumbled.

  LeeLee hopped onto Bey’s back. “Me hungry.”

  “You are always hungry.” He crawled away with LeeLee riding him like a big dog.

  Zarek appeared on the main view screen and in perfect Askole said, “You need to curb your mate’s reckless streak before it gets her killed.”

  “My reckless streak just saved your ass,” I retorted.

  The Overlord’s gaze fixed on me. “Did it?”

  Trayon’s hand clamped around the back of my neck. “Not another word.”

  “Yes, tesoro.” I knew he wasn’t happy with my spur of the moment decision, but I had been winging it for most of my life.

  Trayon turned his attention to Zarek. “My mate’s actions destroyed seven battle cruisers the Rodan can ill afford to lose. High Commander Sariel has located their base on a moon circling Denebola.”

  I stared at Trayon in surprise. Not only had he stood up for me, but he had adopted Cason, one of his sworn enemy to please me. At that moment, I knew I loved him.

  “My fleet of warbirds has arrived at Proxima Centauri,” Zarek said. The vid link broke.

  The communications officer stated, “Damage reports are coming in, Commander.”

  Trayon nodded. “Launch a drone to check for survivors.”

  “Launching now.”

  “What can I do to help?”

  Trayon gently massaged my stiff neck. “I need fresh eyes on the surveillance vid our drones took of the Rodan base and Denebola. I am sending it to the command console in our quarters.”

  “You’ve got it.” I gave him a quick kiss on the cheek and left. I prayed the kids hadn’t gotten into the bloodworms again.

  Chapter Ten

  I hurried into our quarters and blew out a breath of relief. Not a blood worm or a Tabor anywhere. I would miss the kids. Bey not so much. A laugh broke from me when I looked in the crib. The little guys were both chewing on the Izix bone.

  “Momma!” Cason held up his arms.

  Pepe jumped up and down. “You back.”

  “I told you I would be.” I picked them up. “Who’s hungry?”

  “Me.” Pepe wiggled excitedly. “Want hamburger.”

  “Bloos. Bloos.”

  Adoz chirped.

  “He wants Bahmi fish again,” Chiara translated.

  “He’s got it. Do want anything Chiara?”

  “No. Shani only eat once a week.”

  “Huh? I didn’t know that.” I programmed all the meals and set the bowls on the floor. If the kids made a mess, the cleaning bots would deal with it. I just wish I had known about them sooner.

  Getting myself a glass of Merlot to calm my still ragged nerves, I walked over to Trayon’s sleek platinum command console and typed in his password. Color me impressed. He could run the entire ship from here. Until our mind meld, I hadn’t known Trayon was number three in the Askole hierarchy. Which did explain Zarek’s polite behavior. He wasn’t about to do anything to destroy his four hundred-year-old treaty with the Askole.

  I scanned the information scrolling across the screens. Deck three and five had minor hull damage. A laser cannon had overheated and needed to be serviced. Whoa! In the firefight they had launched over two hundred missiles.

  Chiara slithered onto the desk. “What does Father Trayon want us to look for?”

  “Anything out of the ordinary.” I brought up the drone footage.

  The charcoal gray moon was covered with dead volcanoes, impact craters and old lava flows. The heavily shielded Rodan military base sat in the middle of a large basin. Their air defenses included laser cannons, and missile batteries. A squadron of Marauders constantly patrolled Denebola and the moon base.

  Denebola’s icy gray waters were littered with large areas of floating green goop and a few funky looking icebergs. There were no islands or landmasses. The only lifeforms that showed up on the scanners were odd looking fish with protrusions over their bodies and orange leaf-like algae growing on the ocean floor.

  I studied the recordings. “What are the Rodan protecting on Denebola? Do you think it’s Giovanni’s lab or something else?”

  “Something else. After we were captured, the Rodan soldiers put us younglings in small cages, and brought us to the Commander’s quarters to be eaten. He was talking with one of their scientists on the vid screen about something called Eugleanophyta. He said Denebola must be protected at all costs. Once they had harve
sted enough of the algae, they would rule the galaxy.”

  “Eugleanophyta?” I searched my new memories. The algae only grew in extremely cold water and it was worth its weight in gold. Once it was dried and ground into a powder, it reversed the effects of aging. Epsilon was the only known planet in the galaxy where Eugleanophyta could be found and that algae was yellow not orange.

  I frowned in concern when shudders suddenly rocked Chiara’s body. “Easy. You’re safe now. The Rodan commander is dead. He’ll never hurt another living soul.”

  “He ate my nest mates.”

  “But he didn’t eat you.”

  Chiara let out a sad little hiss. I was so afraid I lost control of my bowels. The commander wouldn’t touch me because of the smell. I was forced to lay in my own waste and watch my nest mates die. I can still hear their screams. Without the proper death ritual, their souls cannot move on to the next world.”

  Holy Mother. I cradled Chiara against my chest. “I’m so sorry. No child should have to witness that. You need to understand that you’ve done nothing to be ashamed of. Focus on avenging your nest mates and stopping those monsters from hurting others.” I instinctively made the sign of the cross and prayed, “Into your hands, O Lord, we humbly entrust Chiara’s nest mates. Give us your grace to mourn the dead. Grant the younglings eternal peace forever and ever. Amen.”

  Chiara rubbed her head against my face. “I appreciate your words of comfort, but I cannot get the images of their deaths out of my head.”

  I flinched as the horrific memories of bloated corpses littering the streets of Rome abruptly flashed across my mind. The only thing that had helped our grief was the memorial mass. I wiped at the tears rolling down my cheeks. “Tell me what you need to do a proper death ritual and we’ll hold one.”

  “You will?”

  “Of course. We’re family, and rituals are important for my people too.”

  Trayon was suddenly in my head. “What is wrong?”

  “Bad memories. Really bad memories. I promised Chiara a proper death ritual for her nest mates, and I think I know what the Rodan are protecting on Denebola.”

  The door swished open and in zoomed Trayon.