Dark Horizons

by Rae D. Magdon

  Dark Horizon

  By Rae D. Magdon & Michelle Magly

  ©2014 Rae D. Magdon & Michelle Magly

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form other than that which it was purchased and without the express permission of the author or publisher. Please note that piracy of copyrighted materials violate the author’s right and is illegal.

  This e-book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This e-book may not be resold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Editor: R. Lee Fitzsimmons

  Cover Design: Rachel George

  Back of the Book

  Lieutenant Taylor Morgan has never met an ikthian that wasn't trying to kill her, but when she accidentally takes one of the aliens hostage, she finds herself with an entirely new set of responsibilities. Her captive, Maia Kalanis, is no normal ikthian, and the encroaching Dominion is willing to do just about anything to get her back. Her superiors want to use Maia as a bargaining chip, but the more time Taylor spends alone with her, the more conflicted she becomes. Torn between Maia and her duty to her home-world, Taylor must decide where her loyalties lie.

  Acknowledgments

  We would first like to thank Andrea and Tory. Without the support from the people closest to us, this story would not be possible. We also owe thanks to our editor, Lee, for helping make Dark Horizons the best story it could be. To Rachel George, thank you for giving our words a new dimension with the gorgeous cover. And, of course, thank you to all of our fans, who support us, leave comments, send emails, and generally make us feel great about being writers.

  Chapter One

  Bullets whizzed past Taylor Morgan’s head as she ducked for cover behind the nearest rock formation. Shots thudded into the planet’s surface inches behind her, kicking up choking clouds of dust at her heels. She was safe for the moment, but she knew she had to keep moving before the ikthians got any closer. She popped a wasted ammo clip from her gun and jammed in a fresh one, frowning when she noticed that she only had a few rounds left. The ikthian gunners pursuing her did not need to worry about ammo. They had plenty to spare after ripping through her squad.

  "Damn bottom-feeders," she growled, scanning the barren wasteland ahead of her. The narrow canyon had no vegetation and almost no cover, but the winding path of the rocky cliff-face might offer limited protection if she used it correctly.

  "Oof!" Taylor looked up, her eyes widening in surprise as one of her remaining soldiers crouched next to her. It was Jackson, miraculously in one piece aside from the bullet wound in his right shoulder. "Lieutenant Morgan, ma’am!" he said. He raised the muzzle of the gun to his forehead in salute. "Good to see you in one piece."

  "Likewise, Jackson," she panted. "How many ammo clips do you have left?" Jackson opened his mouth to answer, but before he could, the ground beneath them shook with the shockwaves of an explosion. It nearly split their boulder in half. "Shit, they have grenades, too?"

  "And everything else we’d appreciate having right now." Jackson reloaded his own gun and fired a few rounds past the edge of their cover. "I don’t know what happened to the others. One of the fish sent me flying as soon as the action started."

  Taylor swallowed as she went over the body count in her head. Barkes had been the first to go. Plasma shot right through the stomach. The acrid smell of burnt flesh still stung her nose. Smith had died even more painfully, lifted up by a seeker as the alien flooded him with toxins. His screams had been the worst. Everyone else had been picked off in the firefight, and there were still at least four ikthians tracking them. Not good odds.

  "We’re it," she told Jackson reluctantly. "There’s a surface-side shuttle outside this canyon in the evac zone if we can make it. We’ve just gotta duck and weave."

  Jackson glanced down the canyon. "You sure about that, Lieutenant?"

  The sound of gunfire came closer, and a few of the bullets grazed the large rock they crouched behind, scraping sparks from its surface. Taylor knew that the ikthians would waste no time killing them if they hesitated any longer. "What choice do we have?" Taylor darted from her cover and let loose a barrage of fire. She aimed at the silvery silhouettes of the aliens standing at the canyon entrance. Harris jumped up and joined her. The four assailants immediately ducked, and as soon as they dodged to the side, she gave the signal to Jackson. "Move!"

  They ran to the next bend in the pass and ducked out of sight just as the ikthians resumed firing. "See? No problem." Jackson grinned at the understatement. What they both really needed were more grenades and a lot of ammunition, but without supplies, a quick retreat was their only option. Taylor checked her weapon, making sure it was ready to fire if the ikthians came any closer.

  "I think we've got an opening!" Jackson said, popping out from the cover and firing again.

  Taylor followed, and they sprinted for the next curve of the canyon wall. "We just need to keep them out of our line of sight. We’re doing great." Jackson nodded as they moved to retreat farther back. Unfortunately, someone else was already crouched behind the narrow outcropping of rock.

  "Shit," Jackson shouted as he tripped over the huddled body. The ikthian woman cried out and scrambled away from them. Taylor froze at the sight of her. The woman’s silvery skin had blanched to a pale, pasty color, and her deep-blue eyes were wide with fear. Her civilian clothes had torn at her right rib, revealing a jagged cut and clotted, dark blood.

  While Jackson scrambled away from her, he accidentally backed into the line of sight of the enemy gunners. One of them grabbed for him, aiming a gun at his head as its hand clutched his throat. "Jackson," Taylor screamed. She reached out for him, but stopped short. The seeker's hold on Jackson was even more deadly than the gun pointed at his head. If the ikthian sent its toxins through his skin, his entire body would shut down.

  Desperately, Taylor grabbed the wounded ikthian and dragged her up from her hiding spot. She pressed the barrel of the gun into the alien’s temple and held her against her chest as she walked back out into the canyon opening. "Let him go," she ordered. The ikthians probably had no idea what she was saying unless they had translators, but even bottom-feeders could understand what her threat meant.

  "Lieutenant, run," Jackson shouted. "You can’t negotiate with them."

  "Shut up, Jackson. That’s an order." Taylor pulled the ikthian closer and pressed harder with the gun. The four seekers at the opposite end of the canyon lowered their weapons, but the ikthian holding Jackson did not let go. "Let him go, or I space your friend." Her finger moved to the trigger. The ikthian in her arms did not struggle, but her breathing came in labored gasps, and she whimpered whenever Taylor’s hand brushed against her wound. The alien must have lost a lot of blood. She did not even try to use her toxins to escape.

  Taylor’s grasp shook a little. Her new hostage had no weapons or armor. She could tell that she was holding a civilian, some innocent that she had just threatened to blast into oblivion, but it was to save Jackson. This woman was just a bottom-feeder, she told herself. Just a stinking alien. Not worth her time. Her heart pounded with the rush of adrenaline. She had to get off the planet. Had to get Jackson home safe.

  One of the ikthians made a noise, a shriek, and Jackson cried o
ut in agony. Taylor watched, horror-struck and unable to look away as he began to spasm. His skin bubbled, melting and blackening before her eyes as his entire body went rigid. His mouth opened in a final scream before he slumped to the ground, his muscles still twitching.

  Taylor squeezed the grip of her gun tighter. Time to make good on her promise. She just had to pull the trigger. Boom. It would be all over. One less ikthian in the universe. But as much as she wanted to, she could not shoot a civilian, even if she was an alien.

  Taylor's military training took over. The seekers had her outnumbered and outgunned. She needed to run if she didn't want to end up like Jackson. She grabbed the ikthian by the arm, careful not to touch her skin, and dragged her away, out of the canyon and onto the open plain. They sprinted to the waiting shuttle, though Taylor felt the ikthian stumble more than once behind her.

  The pilot sat lounging in his seat, but as soon as he saw Taylor running with an ikthian in tow, he fired up the engines. She could hear the battle cries of the enemy following them and dragged her prisoner along faster. The door to the shuttle slid open just in time, and Taylor flung the prisoner aboard, only catching a glimpse of the ikthians emerging from the canyon as she slammed the door shut. She banged a fist against the pilot’s cockpit. "Get us in the air!" She barely had time to grab onto a handrail before the inertia of take-off pitched her and the prisoner from side to side. Taylor braced herself against one of the benches until the shuddering stopped, keeping a close eye on the ikthian. She slumped onto the floor, too weak to stand.

  Once they broke free of the planet’s orbit, Taylor dug through the cabin’s emergency supplies and found a suppressant collar. If the ikthian tried to use her toxins or pheromones, it would deliver a painful, debilitating shock. It was a barbaric tactic, but necessary if Taylor expected to survive the shuttle ride home. She approached the prisoner slowly, just in case she tried to escape. The ikthian shrank away from her, but did not attempt to harm her. Taylor knelt over her and grabbed her by the shoulder. "Hold still, and don't even think about poisoning me, or I’ll find a worse way to chain you up," she growled. Even though this one had not tried to attack her, ikthians had just slaughtered her entire squad. She was all out of sympathy for them.

  The alien said something in her own language, a series of melodious vowel movements, but still did not allow Taylor to put the collar on her. She probably knew it would hurt her if she tried to use her abilities. This time, the ikthian gestured to her wound, and then the collar.

  "You want medicine?" Taylor asked. The ikthian nodded. She reached under the nearby passenger seat for a first aid kit and opened it up next to them. When her captive reached for the supplies, she pulled them out of reach. "Collar first."

  Finally, the ikthian dipped her head and allowed her to put the collar on. As soon as it was locked in place, Taylor pulled a syringe full of narcotics out of the kit. It was rated for use on seven different bipedal species, according to the naledai who had supplied them with it. Before the ikthian could object, she injected her captive with the drug and watched her go under. The pupils of her eyes widened for a moment, almost eclipsing the blue before her eyelids fluttered shut.

  Taylor smoothed out the blot of blood on the ikthian’s neck where the syringe had punctured her. Faint creases in the silver skin showed where gills used to be on the previously aquatic creatures. Evolution had reduced them to cartilage. Taylor frowned as she set the needle aside and dug up some gauze. Up close, she had to admit that the alien looked very much like a human woman. Sometimes, it amazed her that such deadly creatures could look so much like the people they slaughtered.

  Chapter Two

  Taylor glanced back at the prisoner for the fifth time during the shuttle ride back to Earth. Upon being searched, the ikthian had possessed no identification, and none of their admittedly limited databases had turned up ID scans of her fingerprints or retinas. For all Taylor knew, she could be a common civilian, or an invaluable asset to the Dominion.

  "Final approach to Earth," the pilot said. "Brace for impact."

  Taylor grabbed the railing as the shuttle entered the atmosphere and started shaking. The cabin bucked, and she used the opportunity to steal another glance at the prisoner. Her face did not betray any of her emotions, if ikthians even expressed them like humans did. Instead, she stared at the opposite wall with her head held high. The sharp angle of her jaw and high cheekbones gave her a look of grace. No traces of pain or grogginess remained. The sedative had worn off long ago, and Taylor had already numbed and bandaged her wound. Perhaps she was in denial of her capture, or perhaps she did not consider the humans a true threat. She did not even attempt to tamper with the energy suppressor around her neck.

  With a sigh, Taylor forced herself to look away from the ikthian again. This one lacked the usual markings so many members of her species sported, although the spiked front of her crest faded from silver to purple at the edges. She wondered for a brief moment if the color shift occurred naturally, or was tattooed on. Humanity knew fairly little about the ikthians, aside from the fact that most other sentient races functioned as little more than slaves to their empire. Earth remained one of the last resistance groups, along with a handful of naledai colonies, and that was only because Earth was far away from Korithia, the ikthian home planet.

  "This is shuttle Grizzly Alpha-071, requesting permission to dock at San Diego Military Defense Grid." The pilot's chatter drew Taylor out of her thoughts. She looked down at her gun and scuffed armor, trying to decide if she looked presentable enough. After the clusterfuck her mission had become, she was lucky to be seeing Earth again. No one else on her squad would, and in exchange, one very unfortunate ikthian would become the Coalition’s newest prisoner. Taylor almost felt sorry for the woman.

  Alien, she corrected herself. Even though they looked similar to humans, ikthians were far from it. She could only imagine what interrogation techniques the Coalition would employ. Taylor did not always approve of the more inhumane methods they used, but there was little to complain about if it saved human lives. They were currently fighting an extremely one-sided war. Any and every advantage was needed.

  "Permission granted. Over."

  Taylor sighed. In another minute, they would land, and she would be forced to give a full report to her superiors. Worse still, she would have to give her condolences to the family members of her dead squadmates. The Coalition had a form letter she could use if she wanted, but somehow, that felt too impersonal. After watching the men she had fought with being torn apart by the bottom-feeders, the least she could do was type a few paragraphs. Her superiors would argue that a captured ikthian would be valuable enough to make their deaths worthwhile, but Taylor was not so sure. Every time she closed her eyes, she just saw blood.

  The prisoner jumped slightly as the shuttle came in for a rough landing. Taylor holstered her pistol and reached to unclip her safety harness. When they shuddered to a stop, Taylor stood up and motioned for her prisoner to do the same. Although her hands were cuffed and she wore the collar, the ikthian was not restrained otherwise. So far, the ikthian's body language had been the exact opposite of aggressive. She had obeyed the few brief, wordless commands Taylor had given her without any sign of resistance.

  The shuttle doors opened to reveal the pristine military base located just outside San Diego. Commander Michael Roberts, her superior officer and mentor, waited with an entourage of troops to escort them off the landing pad. Taylor saluted, and the company of soldiers saluted back before Roberts nodded for at-ease. "Lieutenant," he greeted as Taylor and the ikthian stepped off the shuttle. "Welcome back." He eyed the prisoner with suspicion. "Congratulations on a successful mission, Taylor. And I offer my condolences for your squad."

  Taylor nodded. Perhaps it was just the shock of losing her squad, but the congratulations sounded hollow. "It was an honor to serve with them, Sir." She knew Roberts detested the high number of casualties they were taking in this war, but she knew he deteste
d becoming a slave to the Dominion even more. He had been one of the first soldiers to work successfully with naledai operatives on counterattack initiatives.

  Roberts signaled two guards to step forward. They each took one of the prisoner's arms and led her off the landing strip. Both Roberts and Taylor watched them take her away before turning back to one another. "Come with me. We have some things to discuss."

  Instead of following the two guards to the prison, Taylor and Roberts headed toward the main base, a much larger complex of interconnected buildings. "Is there a problem, Sir?"

  The captain glanced at the soldiers accompanying them. "Let's save this chat for my office." Without any further comments, the two finished their walk to the main base, where the escort parted ways with them. They made the rest of the quick trip in silence, and Roberts did not speak until the door was firmly shut behind them. He slumped into his chair with a groan, allowing his fatigue to show on his face, but Taylor remained standing. "To be honest, we're amazed you came back alive at all."

  "Do you mean this was a suicide mission, Sir?"

  Roberts offered Taylor the chair across from him, but she chose to remain standing. "I mean that this was ordinary reconnaissance until the ikthians showed up. We thought you all were dead. It's a miracle you managed to stumble into that noncombatant, and a miracle she was valuable enough for them to stop shooting."

  Taylor shifted her weight from her left foot to her right. She felt awkward standing before her commanding officer without Jackson and the rest of her squad. The final moments of his life kept replaying in her head. His screams. The way the poison had torn him apart. She thought about the ikthian, too. She could still feel the alien clutched in her arms, could still feel the heart that beat too fast in fear, and could still see the wide, pleading eyes staring at her. "About that, Sir. What will the upper brass do with an ikthian prisoner?"