by Maya Kane
Kate tilted her head. “How do you mean?”
Athena shrugged. “I don’t know. I said it was crazy.” She gestured around them. Now that they were on the ground, there were burned out spaceships as far as the eye could see. “We obviously destroyed them.”
She looked around. There was so much to explore that she had no idea where to start. The Dreon were obviously similarly torn—they stood in a circle looking around at the chaotic scene.
“Hey,” she yelled, rushing over to Aron’s side. “Where should we start?”
He seemed distracted by something, but she ignored that. Athena was done listening to her instincts.
“Well, I’m going to start with this one over here,” she said, gesturing over to the closest large ship. She stopped. “You know what? I’ve just realized this is the one. The one I had to hit twice.”
It seemed a fitting place to start. She rushed over and sized up the outside of the ship. Kate had described doors opening in the base. She looked for any breaks in the structure and couldn’t see any.
Sighing, she moved closer and bent to retrieve her knife from the holster at her ankle. She stood up. Even at her full height, she was completely dwarfed by the ship. They had seemed so much smaller from the air.
Fear rose inside her as she reached out to touch the blackened exterior. She swallowed it back. They had been destroyed—Athena had seen it with her own eyes.
Come on, she told herself. You need to do this. Any clues about their technology will help.
An idea struck her and she walked around the side of the ship until she got to the place where the first grenade had landed. The explosion had torn a hole in the ship. She looked around before bending down to get a closer look.
Athena frowned and stopped fiddling with the control panel she had uncovered in the wall of the ship.
“Athena.”
It sounded like Kate’s voice, but she couldn’t be sure—it was too faint.
She stood and rushed around the perimeter of the ship.
“What’s wrong?” she asked, as soon as she spotted them.
It only felt like minutes since they’d arrived. Surely the others weren’t bored already? And if they were—what did it matter? Piecing together what happened was as much a part of their job as fighting off the enemy. She didn’t care if they were bored—they were going to go through this place until they had examined everything.
“Look,” she sighed, growing irritated at the way they were all just standing there not doing anything. “This is an opportunity. Who knows what sort of technology we’ll discover. Those beams for a start.” She stopped and held her hand up to shield her face. “Guys?”
“Athena.” Kate’s voice was little louder than a whisper.
Athena shook her head. Her friend’s tone made her shiver. She hurried on in Kate’s direction. “What is it? What’s up?”
Kate just shook her head and didn’t say anything.
When she got to within a few paces of the others, Athena’s stomach dropped. Kate looked stricken. At first, Athena thought she was staring at her, but then she realized Kate’s eyes were fixed on something in the sky; something Athena couldn’t see. She looked at the others. They seemed similarly transfixed.
Except for Aron.
He was staring right at Athena, with a look on his face that Athena could immediately interpret.
This was the end.
She wheeled around and all of the breath left her body in a mighty gasp.
29
“Oh holy shit,” Athena hissed, as if keeping her voice down was going to help her avoid detection. “How long has that been there?”
“We just saw it,” Danni whispered.
Athena backed through the group to Aron’s side and reached for his hand. She glanced up at him. There was some small comfort in being beside him and feeling his touch at the end.
Because Athena had no doubt about that: this was the end.
The sky in front of them had turned gray, but this was no ordinary cloud. Thirty, maybe forty ships loomed in the sky, getting closer and closer.
“Please tell me that’s the Dreon rescue squad?” Athena said desperately, squeezing Aron’s hand.
“It’s not,” he said in a low voice. “We called for help but they won’t be here for several days.”
Athena’s heart sank. She doubted they had minutes, let alone days. “Well they’re not earth ships.”
That much was obvious from the shape of them. Unless they were looking at some sort of top-secret experimental craft, those were alien ships.
She sucked in a breath. “Goddamn it. Where did they come from?”
Danni cursed. “Not from the Northwest. We made sure of that.”
“They could have come from anywhere. Canada. China. Russia. We have no idea how fast the fuckers can move or what they want here,” Kate said. She looked up at Redon, but it was clear she was addressing the other humans considering she spoke in English. “Athena you were right. We should never have given up last night.”
“No,” Athena said with feeling. “I wanted to explore that strange place where the ground vibrated. I never thought of going to different countries. You know how long it would have taken us to fly around the world and explore every corner of it? We can’t do this alone.”
“Well it looks like that’s not our biggest problem anymore,” Kate said, kicking the ground in front of her. “God, I wish we’d stayed on Kanaven, no matter how much of a hellhole we thought it was at the time.”
Athena nodded but silently disagreed. Because if she had stayed on Kanaven, she wouldn’t have met Aron.
And that was unthinkable to her now.
She stepped forward and turned to address the group. “We’ve got to do something,” she said in English first. She turned to Aron and continued in Uniton: “I don’t want to lose you—I’ve only just found you. Are you with us? Will you help us attack?”
It was the only way. Otherwise, Athena and the others would be sitting ducks trying to fight ships from the ground.
“Of course,” he said, pushing through the little group and standing in front of her. “I’m with you to the end. We don’t have much time.”
Athena nodded gravely. “We don’t.” And then she thought of something else with a pang. “We’ve got no weapons; not like yesterday.” She reached into her spacesuit. It was stupid in hindsight, but they thought they were going to check out the base they’d destroyed. She had her knife and pistol. And the submachine gun strapped to her back. The heavier weapons were back on the Uhalor III—it had taken so long to strap them in place each time the Dreon shifted that they had decided it would slow them down.
Kate pulled out her own weapons and checked them. “We have two choices,” she said quickly. “Fight or run like cowards. Either way…” she trailed off, but nobody missed the meaning of her words.
“I’d rather die a hero,” Athena said.
She looked back. The unidentified ships were closer now—only seconds until they landed. Or attacked. It was time to go. But Athena had something she wanted to do first.
She reached for Aron’s hands and pulled him closer to her. She had to stand on tiptoes to kiss him. Even then it was strain until he realized what she was doing and lifted her up. She wrapped her legs around his hips and felt the hardness of him pushing against her. Desire and impatience seared through her. She wanted this to be over so she could be with him—and not just for a stolen couple of seconds here and there.
“Don’t look so sad,” he murmured, stroking her hair away from her face. “We’ll beat them.”
She didn’t share his confidence, but she smiled. How could she not when she was wrapped up in his arms like that?
“Come on,” Athena called when she had finally—and reluctantly—torn herself away from Aron. “Climb on and keep your weapons close at hand.”
She waited for Aron to transform and climbed onto his back. There was no time to fasten on the harnesses. Besides, safety was the least of thei
r concerns now. She climbed onto his back and gripped his shoulders, at the spot he had told her she could cling to without restricting his movements.
He threw himself into the sky. Athena clung on, fascinated despite the gravity of the situation. It felt so different without the harness and the thick, restrictive space suit.
They soared through the sky and Athena remembered his last words. He had winked and told her he had a secret weapon that might just put the odds in their favor. She hoped it was good: they needed all the help they could get.
30
As they swooped through the air, Athena realized she had underestimated the size of the enemy crafts. They were huge—almost as large as the Pelagon. And that had been an intergalactic transporter, before those bastards caused the malfunction that led to its destruction.
They were huge and iridescent, like nothing she had ever seen before. She had a fleeting feeling of optimism—after all, how did they know that these ships belonged to the enemy?
That thought died as soon as the enemy opened fire.
Athena gasped as the first laser beam shot past them. From then on, she was only able to focus on one thing: clinging to Aron as tightly as she could as he ducked and dived to stay out of the firing line. She was amazed he was managing to do so—forty ships with ten targets meant she didn’t fancy their chances of survival.
She didn’t dare look down or behind her, even though she desperately wanted to check on Kate, Danni and the other Drayon. They were her unit now—they had stood by her against these enemies when her own unit had stood down like cowards. She’d be devastated if anything happened to any one of them.
She shifted her weight and clung to Aron’s shoulder with one hand. Her grip was so tight she felt sure her knuckles had turned white—she didn’t have time to look. She reached for her pistol.
Athena wasn’t the strongest or the bravest fighter, but she did have one advantage that would stand to her now. She was known in the unit for the deadly accuracy of her shots.
She took aim at the nearest ship, now so close that there was no place to hide from its weapons. Her arm shook. The surface of the ship was completely uniform and it seemed to spin in both directions with no obvious pattern. She had no idea where to aim; what shot would do the most damage or any damage at all. Desperately, she just fired. Her bullets bounced off the metal, leaving no trace whatsoever on the shiny surface.
“Oh no,” Athena groaned. She wished they’d been able to take some of the laser rifles from the base because bullets seemed to have no effect.
She slid the pistol back into her jacket and took the machine gun from the harness on her back. She knew it would have minimal effect, but she needed to try. It made a similar impression on the enemy ship. There was no point in her even attempting to fire a grenade—there was no target. She stared at the ship, hovering ahead.
There was no way they could take these guys down with the weapons they had—hers hadn’t even damaged the enemy ship. But that was their only choice. They hadn’t had time or reason to strap the heavier weapons to the unaccompanied Drayon—and that seemed like the only thing that might have kept them alive.
This was suicide, she realized.
Then Aron growled underneath her. He stopped weaving and ducking. Panic consumed Athena. At first, she thought he was wounded. She leaned forward and explored his tough skin with her fingers, desperately hoping he wasn’t hurt.
It was the determination of his flight path that finally reassured her he was okay. Instead of zigzagging, he made straight for the first alien ship. Out of the corner of her eye, and with growing astonishment, Athena saw he wasn’t the only one. The other Drayon were flying straight for the ships.
Athena screamed as the air around her erupted into flames. Her first instinct was to cover her face, but she managed to keep a hold of Aron, knowing somewhere deep down that to let go would be to plummet to her death. Her face froze in silent horror. It was only seconds later when she didn’t feel anything that she realized. The fire hadn’t been aimed at them.
It had come from Aron.
She stared at him in shock, blinking. He wheeled around with the same focus and Athena found herself feet from the ship again. This time she saw the green flames shoot from his mouth and engulf the ship.
“Holy shit,” she whispered in equal parts fear and awe.
She had never seen anything like it in her time with the UEF. Surely they were safe now, with these fierce creatures at their side?
She stole a glance at the alien ship and her heart sank. It had lost some of its sheen, but it remained in the air, as did all of the others. The Drayon fire had barely damaged to the surface.
Athena’s breath caught in her throat.
Was this the end?
She was about to reach for Aron; to cling to him until all the lights were snuffed out. But her instincts told her to stop—to fight. She clutched her weapon in her hands and took a deep breath. She stared at the enemy ship in front of them, blocking out the sight of the other ships that loomed behind it.
Why weren’t they shooting? They had laser weapons but now they had Athena and the others all but cornered. Why not shoot them and be done with it?
You’re wasting time, Athena told herself. There’s no sense in analyzing their behavior if you won’t live to see another day.
She narrowed her eyes and stared at the ship. It was impossible to visualize where the shots had come from. She couldn’t remember seeing an entry hatch or any other openings. It was as if they’d shot through the walls of the ship itself. But that was impossible. She’d watched her own bullets glance off the thing. The only way that could have happened was if the whole ship was made from some sort of permeable substance.
It couldn’t be.
Athena knew first-hand that UEF scientists had been working for years to harness those properties. They had never succeeded. How had these enemies managed to…?
Stop it, she told herself. Don’t speculate. Destroy these bastards and bring home a sample of their liquid metal. That’ll give the commander something to smile about.
She steadied her arm and began to fire indiscriminately. It was pointless. She reached into her jacket and pulled out a grenade, reasoning that she might as well see how it affected them. She glanced around to make sure none of her team was too close.
Then she pulled out the pin and lobbed the grenade at the shimmering metal ship.
31
Nothing happened. Well, nothing except for an entirely pointless explosion. Athena shook her head and tapped Aron’s shoulder, signaling him to return to the meeting point. Not that there was anything to discuss. It was clear as day: they were screwed.
Grenades couldn’t do it. Dreon guns couldn’t either and nor could the Drayon secret weapon, the green flames that erupted from within them.
But the strangest thing?
The enemy hadn’t fired back, even though Athena and the others had hit them with everything they had.
They had gone beyond making a stand—this was suicide. Athena reached down and ran her nails along Aron’s side, wincing as she did so. But she had no other choice. It was the signal they’d agreed to use if they needed to evacuate.
As soon as he began to change direction, she threw her head back and wailed. She looked around. Danni and Kate were staring at her.
Good.
They needed to get out of there. Now.
She jerked her arm in the direction of the meeting place and they took off after her.
“What the fuck?” Kate hissed.
“I don’t know,” Athena said, shaking her head. “This makes no sense. They could have wiped us off the face of the planet if they wanted to.”
Danni was staring warily up into the sky. “How long? How long until they find us?”
“That’s the thing,” Athena said, throwing her hands up. “Why not shoot us out of the sky when they had a chance? Nothing worked against them. Not even the Drayon fire.”
“I don
’t understand what happened out there,” said a deep voice behind her.
Athena spun around and came face-to-face with Aron. He wore the same look as he always did after shifting. He looked exhausted and dizzy.
“That was amazing,” she said, aware she sounded like a teenager meeting her idol. She didn’t care. “Why didn’t you tell us you could breathe fire?”
He shrugged. “Wouldn’t it have scared you?”
“I guess,” she said slowly. “But as a weapon it’s damn impressive.”
He grimaced. “Except when we’re up against these creatures. Who are they? I’ve never seen anything withstand Drayon fire before.”
“I don’t know,” Athena said thoughtfully. “And their ships. I’ve never seen a metal like that. It repelled our bullets but it allowed theirs through. There was no weak spot on those ships. I looked all over. They’re seamless. They spun three sixty degrees and I didn’t see one door or vulnerability.”
“And they didn’t attack us.”
Athena nodded. The same thought was plaguing her mind. She knew there had to be an explanation for it, but it was lost on her. It made no sense. “They attacked with the lasers and then stopped.”
“What are you guys talking about?” Kate interrupted.
Athena shook her head apologetically. She didn’t usually enjoy speaking Uniton but it was the only common language she and Aron had. She had found herself dreaming in Uniton in recent nights.
“We’re just talking about the ships,” she said with a shiver. “Did you see any weakness in them? I couldn’t see a gap for their bullets to pass through.”
Kate nodded. “I know. I fired and my bullets just bounced off. I saw you throw a grenade?”
Athena closed her eyes at the memory of the high-power Dreon grenade just bouncing off the ship like it was a child’s toy and not a deadly weapon. “Yeah. Nothing would subdue them.”
Kate shrugged and forced a smile. Athena knew she was trying to keep a brave face, but she recognized that smile. Kate only grimaced like that when things were looking really bad.