Aron: A SciFi Alien Romance (Alien Shifter Force)

by Maya Kane

  “At least we all survived.”

  Athena shook her head, aware that she was being the pessimist again. “Kate it just doesn’t make sense. Those laser weapons are more advanced than anything back at our base. Aron weaved like crazy to avoid them.”

  “They’re not equipped to deal with Dreon,” Danni said, looking dreamily at Zalon.

  “They handled Drayon fire pretty well,” Athena said hopelessly. A thought had come into her head and she was finding it very hard to cast it aside as paranoid. But if it wasn’t…

  The consequences were unthinkable.

  It couldn’t be.

  Because she’d already thought of the worst-case scenario. It was something she did before every mission. It helped her to focus and kept panic at bay.

  But her worst-case scenario was nowhere near as terrible as the theory that was now floating around inside her mind and refusing to go away.

  “Where are they, Athena?” Danni whispered.

  Athena shook her head. “I don’t know.”

  That was another thing. Athena had seen the speed at which those ships had reached them. The Drayon were fast, but they couldn’t have outflown those ships—not if they were going at full velocity.

  “What is it?” Danni asked anxiously.

  “I don’t know,” Athena repeated.

  Why? Why would they let us go? We destroyed their base.

  “That’s another thing,” Athena whispered. They’d never had a chance to discuss it before given the surprise nature of the attack—or the non-attack. “Where did those black ships come from? I haven’t seen them before. Have you guys?”

  The others shook their heads. Athena couldn’t help but think it had something to do with the strange pulsating ground. She glanced over at Aron and found him deep in conversation with the other Dreon. She sighed.

  She bet the enemy didn’t have a language barrier to overcome. It was like they were two little factions with Aron and Athena acting as occasional translators.

  They’d never win if they stayed like that.

  “Okay,” Athena said, raising her voice and turning back to her fellow humans. “We needed to change things up. I’m going to suggest to Aron that we all—human and Dreon—sit down in a circle. He and I will act as translators. Just like we did back at the Dreon ship. I know we’re in the field but we need to be methodical if we’re going to have any chance.”

  “Um, Athena?” Kate whispered. Athena heard the fear in her voice and it gripped her heart. Kate was usually the type of person who’d do anything to give the impression that she was fine.

  Athena didn’t say anything. She followed Kate’s glance skyward and immediately froze.

  The time for being methodical had passed.

  32

  The others had seen the black ships in the distance. Athena had been focused on dissecting the charred remains of one of the alien ships—that was why she hadn’t seen them approach until they were too close to ignore.

  But this one?

  She’d been standing there the whole time. One moment everything seemed normal; the next, the sky above them had darkened.

  None of them heard a thing.

  It wasn’t there and suddenly it was.

  The huge, round ship that blocked the light of the sun. The effect was made even more dramatic by the ring of trees that circled them. Athena felt small; like it would be almost effortless for them to end her life.

  Which it would be.

  Except that wasn’t what they wanted—she knew that now.

  They hadn’t killed all of those people in the cities, like Athena and the others had believed.

  No, they’d done something much worse.

  They had taken them.

  Athena took a deep breath, never once taking her eyes off the ship above them. Seen from that angle, it was impossible to tell whether it was the same as the fifteen they had destroyed the previous day.

  “Oh god,” Athena gasped. “Those weren’t bases at all. They were transport ships. That one. Is it the same as the ones we destroyed?”

  The huge hole in the center made her think it was. Because why else would they have two different types of ship with a similar layout?”

  “I don’t know,” Kate hissed. “But we’ve got to do something.”

  Athena translated for Aron.

  He nodded. “We’ve got to try the fire again. It’s the only way.”

  “And our weapons,” Athena said quickly. “Come on. Just like before. We’ll attack until we’ve got nothing left. And just in case anyone still hasn’t got it, they’re not trying to kill us. They want to capture us alive.”

  The others shuddered but there was no time to discuss the alternative to fighting.

  “Come on,” Athena urged. “We destroyed these things before. Let’s take this one.”

  “They’re not taking me alive,” Kate roared as they took off into the air for what felt like the hundredth time that day.

  Athena tried not to let Kate’s terrified expression worry her. They’d just passed each other on another circuit of the ship. This one wasn’t like that last—it was clear it wasn’t fully impervious to the Drayon fire.

  But that was nothing to get excited about.

  Each blast of flames that issued from Aron’s mouth barely left a mark on the outside of the ship. There was only one way that Athena could see and it was incredibly risky.

  The gap in the center.

  It was obviously vulnerable.

  She couldn’t risk firing a grenade in there and having it drop out on top of one of her crew. But she could spray the inside of the damn thing with bullets.

  She swallowed, focusing on training her weapon at the ship. Unlike the black ships, this one was made of what looked like normal metal and had windows scattered sporadically along the hull. Not that it seemed to make much difference—it was as impenetrable as the other one.

  It gave Athena the creeps—the thought that they were in there watching.

  They flew around again. Athena threw her gun to the ground—she was out of ammo now. The only things she had left were the two grenades nestled in her pocket. She eyed the ship’s center again. It felt cowardly to avoid it, but she had nothing now.

  And then something flickered past her and disappeared inside.

  “No,” Athena gasped, craning her neck to see. She looked around. She could see the top of Kate’s head and only two other Drayon. She wasn’t imagining it, she was sure. Someone had gone inside.

  Time seemed to slow down as the humming from the ship intensified. Or was she imagining that? The skin on her neck prickled. It was like she knew what was coming before it even happened.

  A moment later, the dazzling beam shot out from both sides of the ship, scorching a perfect circle in the grass below. Athena gasped, suddenly short of breath like all of the air had been shot away too.

  “Who was that?” she whispered, knowing there was nobody to hear her.

  Whoever it was hadn’t had a chance to attack the interior of the ship before they were vaporized. That much was clear.

  “Wait,” Athena whispered. The beam. Kate’s words came flooding back to her. Something about the beam needing time to recharge.

  That was it. It was their only option. Desperately she tapped Aron’s back, willing him to understand what she needed him to do. There simply hadn’t been time to work out a system of gestures and signals that covered every possible maneuver they might have wanted to do.

  “Aron,” she yelled, knowing it was pointless. “Go to the middle. Now. Please. We don’t have much time.”

  There was no way he could hear her over the roar of Drayon fire and Kate’s weapons. Athena looked around. There was still no sign of Danni. Her heart contracted. She tried to fight back the sorrow and focus her adrenaline on winning this thing, but she couldn’t.

  She tapped his right shoulder as hard as she could, yelling ‘Middle’ over and over. He was still aiming a jet of fire at the ship, but it did nothi
ng except darken the glossy white exterior.

  They were alongside the ship when the sky turned dark again. Athena’s breath caught in her throat, but this time it was just clouds and not another alien invader. Athena closed her eyes as the first droplets began to fall on her face.

  How long until they rounded them all up and hustled them to who knew where? That’s what it felt like—they were insects fighting against a much stronger force they knew nothing about.

  Athena took a deep breath and began to pound on Aron’s back. Her guilt was gone; replaced by a need to survive that was purely primal.

  Too bad that instinct hadn’t given her an infusion of strength. All of the adrenaline of the past few days meant that fear didn’t drive her on anymore. She was weak and exhausted and increasingly disillusioned. With tears in her eyes, she sat back as much as she could without letting go of Aron’s shoulder. There was no point—he couldn’t even feel her, let alone understand what she was trying to tell him.

  Then an incredible thing happened.

  He changed course suddenly and began to descend. Athena was stumped for a couple moments before she realized they were headed straight for the interior.

  “Oh my god,” she murmured, holding on tight. The only way he’d be able to enter was perfectly upright, meaning there was a good chance she could be thrown off his back. She steadied herself, wrapping her legs around him as tight as she could and holding on with one hand.

  She’d need the other one to throw one of the two grenades if an opportunity presented itself.

  And then, just as Aron reached the hole, the beam blasted again.

  33

  The force threw them back through the air. Athena clung on as Aron spun out of control. At first, she wasn’t sure if they’d been hit, but then the realization dawned on her—if they’d been hit she wouldn’t be there.

  “Holy shit,” she whispered. She still clung on to Aron but her hands were shaking uncontrollably. It wouldn’t be long before her muscles seized up and she was forced to let go.

  She looked around. Kate and Redon were facing the other way. The other Dreon were focused on the fight and not on her and Aron.

  Desperately, Athena told herself to get back in control. Aron steadied himself and flew out from beneath the ship. Dread mounted within Athena.

  This was pointless.

  If she’d gotten through to Aron one moment earlier, then they’d have been vaporized along with whoever it was that went in there first.

  She shook her head and stared down at her shaking hands. Was it a trick? Had they delayed the beam before so that the humans might assume that it took a while to charge?

  But why?

  Why vaporize something they wanted to keep alive?

  She glanced at the scorched earth far beneath them on the ground. There was no doubting the destructiveness of that ray.

  “Oh Aron,” she gasped.

  There was no way out. If they turned and fled, the enemy could shoot them in the back. Worse—they’d be powerless to stop themselves from being abducted. But their stand wasn’t having any effect anyway. How long before the enemy just seized them and took them away, as if they were helpless?

  “No, Aron,” she cried. But she made no attempt to tell him he needed to turn around.

  They were trapped. All possible actions would lead to the same thing—entrapment. And now she had no idea when that damn beam would blast again.

  The sky got even darker. Athena sighed and tilted her head back, waiting for the rain. At least it would feel good on her frazzled head, she thought wryly. It might be the last thing she felt.

  But there was no rain—not even a stray drop.

  With a sinking feeling, Athena opened her eyes. Above her, the sky was clear. She could see it through the hole in the second ship that had materialized above her. Her stomach flipped.

  “Aron, move,” she screeched flattening herself against his back as if that would somehow shield her from the destructive beam.

  To her immense relief, he bolted out of there, to the relative safety of the underside of the ship. Athena didn’t understand it and she had no time to even try. All she knew was as long as they were in the firing line of that beam, there was a good chance of them being vaporized.

  “Kate,” she roared. “There’s another. We need to get away. This is hopeless.”

  But her words were lost in the wind. Kate disappeared around the side of the other ship and none of the other Drayon paid any notice to her screams.

  This was it.

  This was the end.

  And that was before the third alien ship appeared. By that point, Athena felt like a spectator—they all were. The humans were out of ammo and the Drayon were obviously growing tired, if the vastly reduced volume of flames was any indicator.

  Each time, Athena had been watching for them and still she hadn’t seen them approach. They’d just appeared. It gave her little hope when it came to their getaway.

  She had seen only one way to find a solution, and doing it had almost killed her spirit.

  She had leaped off Aron’s back and onto Redon’s so she could confer with Kate. Doing so had almost killed her too—she misjudged the distance and it had taken all of Kate’s strength to pull her up.

  Breathless, she sat facing Kate, clinging on for dear life to Redon.

  “They just came from nowhere.”

  Kate nodded. “I know. I’m all out of rounds. You?”

  “Same.” Athena swallowed. “And ideas. What do we do?”

  To her horror, Kate just shrugged. Kate had an answer for everything, but it seemed that even she was stumped by this.

  “We can’t just give up?” Athena said, tears welling in her eyes. She looked around for Aron and was distressed to see no trace of him.

  “Of course not,” Kate said sadly. “We don’t even have that option. They’ll fry us if we try.”

  “They’re not trying to fry us,” Athena said. “They’re trying to take us.”

  “Why the beam then?”

  “I don’t know,” Athena shrugged. “Maybe they don’t want the Dreon?”

  “Why us?” Kate said, eyes widening.

  Athena shuddered. “Danni. I saw someone disappear inside and not long after that the beam was fired.” She swallowed. It was saying those awful words aloud had left a bad taste in her mouth.

  “I just saw her. She’s fine,” Kate said, looking perplexed.

  Athena could have jumped down and kissed the ground—if she hadn’t been high up in the air. “Oh thank goodness. Shit, I was so sure she was gone.”

  A now-familiar shadow crossed Kate’s face. Neither of them even bothered to look up.

  “I don’t think it’s time for celebration just yet,” Kate hissed as she frantically urged Redon to get out of the way.

  Athena held on tight, her hold even more precarious than it had been on Aron. She felt a pang of loneliness for him. It was foolish, she knew. There was no rule that said they were safer together. She supposed if she had to die, she wanted to be with him until the end. She looked around but couldn’t see him.

  “Come on,” Kate whispered as if she’d read Athena’s mind. “Let’s find him. You guys should be together.”

  Athena shook her head half-heartedly. “We need to figure out what to do.”

  “There’s nothing more we can do,” Kate said, patting her arm. Another alien ship had appeared close by.

  34

  “No,” Athena said, shaking her head. Her heart thumped and her mind still raced. She felt like she was on a knife edge between losing her mind and staying sane. Not that it mattered.

  “It’s okay,” Kate whispered, holding her hand. “Now, we’re going to pass him any moment. I want you to be ready to jump.”

  Athena nodded, barely paying attention. The crazy thing was she had a fear of heights before all of this started. Now she was too distracted to even think about how small everything on the ground looked from this height.

 
; Aron flew around the side of the ship. Her heart contracted with sadness at the sight of the thin beam of fire that issued from his mouth. It was barely having any effect on the enemy’s ship now. Kate held her arm to steady her as she came up on her hunkers and prepared to jump onto his back as he passed.

  Three.

  Two.

  One.

  A deafening roar filled the air at the exact moment that Athena leaped. She flailed through the air, aware that Aron had changed course but not knowing exactly where he was.

  And then she was falling, falling, falling. She reached out blindly, but there was nothing for her to grasp on to. They were in the middle of the air. There was nothing between her and the ground, which she was rapidly approaching. Her mind raced in fits and starts, unable to process what was happening.

  That noise.

  What was it?

  Why did Aron fly away?

  She closed her eyes and readied herself. Anything was better than being held captive by those invisible monsters, but she didn’t relish falling to her death from a height. Her heart was in her mouth. Surely it was over by now? The wind whizzed around her. She told her eyes to open, but fear kept them closed.

  And then she was catapulting in the opposite direction. She became aware of Aron’s claws clasped around her. She looked up in astonishment. His attention was focused straight ahead, not on her.

  You saved me, she thought, shaking her head. How was it even possible to feel so happy at a time like this?

  Aron wheeled around, becoming level with one of the alien ships again. It was then that Athena saw them for the first time.

  Several grayish black ships, which were extraordinarily similar to the ones from earlier.

  Oh god, she thought. She glanced around. Nobody was firing anymore. The Drayon were out of steam and now the enemies had brought reinforcements. The rat-tat-tat sound of automatic weapons filled the air. Athena threw her head back. It had started to rain again. Maybe the invaders had just given up on trying to capture them and decided it was easiest to shoot them all down.