by Leia Gray
Rescued By The Alien Warrior
Leia Gray
Copyright © 2018 by Leia Gray
All Rights Reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review. Any characters, locations, events, or businesses are totally parts of the author’s imagination and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
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Leia Gray’s Secret Squad of Sci-Fi Lovers
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Contents
1. Liana
2. Darvok
3. Liana
4. Darvok
5. Liana
6. Darvok
7. Liana
8. Darvok
9. Liana
10. Darvok
11. Liana
12. Darvok
13. Liana
14. Darvok
15. Liana
16. Darvok
17. Liana
18. Darvok
19. Liana
20. Darvok
21. Liana
22. Liana
23. Darvok
24. Liana
25. Liana
26. Darvok
27. Darvok
Epilogue
Leia Gray’s Secret Squad of Sci-Fi Lovers
1
Liana
I need to get off this rock.
That idea plays out in my mind over and over as I take the shuttle toward the registration center. The world speeds by around me—a blur of gray and brown, discarded people and their growing piles of clothes, trash, whatever they can get their hands on.
No one ever said living here was glamorous. Out here on the Mirosi Rim, as the locals call it, things are even more dire. But as I watch the world fall away, I keep my intention clear, my determination firm. The thrusters roar in my ears and my planet, my home, grows smaller and smaller until it’s only a speck in the distance.
I’m going to leave this place and make something of myself, no matter what it takes.
I’m going to become Miss Avia.
The shuttle groans to a stop at the rest station on a small moon. A sign flashes “Welcome to Ylla” at me in tired neon. It’s one of the few stops on the way to Avia Prime, and makes its money from docking and refueling the ships that pass. If it wasn’t for shuttles like this one, this place probably wouldn’t even be inhabited.
Steam hisses from the sides of the vehicle when it slides into the dock, and I waste no time grabbing my bag and getting out of my seat. My legs ache something awful, and to be honest, I’m a little spacesick. Never been so far from home before, and the ride wasn’t exactly smooth. An automated voice tells us to return to the shuttle in twenty minutes and not to stray too far, then the steel-paneled door slides open.
I step out onto the alien landscape, shielding my eyes against the harsh sunlight. It’s a far cry from home, but at least they’ve regulated the oxygen content so we can still breathe. The ground is an orange-red dust that kicks up in clouds as I move. The other contestants crowd around me and pay no attention to their surroundings. One knocks into my shoulder as she bustles by and offers no apology when I nearly tumble into the dirt. Their group is too busy babbling about the gift shop and the trinkets they’ll send back to their families.
Right, families. That thing I don’t have. Not anymore.
I straighten my back and square my shoulders, determined not to let the old feelings get the best of me. I’m here for one reason: to win the Miss Avia pageant and get the hell out. Even though I wouldn’t mind a little friendly connection with the other girls, I remind myself I’m not here to make friends. I’m here to win, and the less distractions from that, the better. Raising my own spirits, as always, I follow the crowd into the cramped stop-shop.
Welcome to Ylla, a flickering neon sign flashes at me when I step through the doorway. Just like the one outside the station. Garish, if you ask me. I busy myself looking at the rows and rows of lustrous gifts and rare artifacts, each claiming to do something more fantastic than the last.
Feather of Judgment -- never be lied to again!
Ring of Radiance -- enhance your natural beauty!
Stone of Sight -- see into the darkness!
Bravery Gem -- steel your spirits!
I’ll take one of each please, I think to myself with an amused smile. I doubt they actually do anything more than look pretty, but the other girls are fawning over them just the same. It’s too bad I can’t pick up a souvenir, though—I’ve got to watch my credit balance, unlike some of the other contestants. I spent a large portion of my remaining savings on my entry fee to the pageant, and if I’m going to make it through to the final rounds, I need to be as frugal as possible.
I sigh and slink back to the shuttle empty-handed, digging the portable e-comm out of my bag when I sink back into my seat. I lean my head against the window and pull up the latest episode of Omicron Quest, my favorite space opera series. I prop my feet up on the back of the seat in front of me and slouch down, letting the swell of the theme song filter out everything else.
Space battles, handsome rogues, interstellar love...why can’t I have a life like that?
I must have drifted off to sleep at some point because next thing I know, the automated voice echoes through the cabin once more.
“Now arriving: Rianos Space Station.”
I look out the window, and what I see doesn’t look like what I expected at all.
Rianos. I mouth the word as I gather my things. It rings a bell, but I can’t tell from where.
I turn in my seat and speak up to one of the other women. “I thought the next stop was Avia Prime.” She doesn’t look up from her e-comm. I keep staring and she finally glances up.
“I dunno; probably need gas or something. It’s a long way, you know.”
I force a breath out my nose. Some help she was. When I peer out the window, I’m met with a set of deep-set amber eyes. They draw me in as soon as I see them, latching onto me like a parasite that won’t let go. And the man those eyes are attached to? Well, he’s just the icing on the cake.
He stands impossibly large, shirtless, and with a military style crew cut. He sports a tribal-looking tattoo over his shoulders and muscular back, but I can’t tell from where. Oh, and one more thing:
He’s purple.
His skin glows a reddish-violet color that I’ve never seen before. It only accentuates his toned body and tribal tattoos. But it’s those steely eyes that keep drawing me in, like a moth to a flame.
I’ve never seen a man like him before. But that’s when I realize: he’s not a man.
My first real alien. I stare in awe, but just then, the shuttle creaks back into motion and we’re off once more, gliding through the sky. My space warrior is gone.
2
Darvok
Several Hours Before
I’ve got to find that bastard. Got to make him pay. My very honor depends on it.
I catch the scent again. Krevith is close. I set off at a run, my heart beating faster in my chest. He won’t get away from me this time.
The smell gets strongest at a lounge near the shuttle station, but he’s nowhere in sight. I sniff around like a bloodhound, trying to figure ou
t the source. When I find it coming off a discarded bottle in the trash, I nearly knock the bin over in my frustration.
I grit my teeth and let out a litany of curses. Dammit, he’s been a bitch to track. Flames of ire flare through my veins like lava. Every time I think I’ve got him, he slips out of my fingers. My powers must be weakening. I thought I was tracking him, but instead I found just an old cup he’d drank out of. It let me know that he’d been through here, but it didn’t do me much good if I couldn’t catch him in the flesh.
I let out a sigh and rub my forehead. I’ve been running for what feels like ages, fueled by revenge and the need for justice. I’ll never forgive Krevith for what he did to me and my people, and I’m not returning home without his head on a pike. To return to my people empty-handed would be the ultimate form of dishonor. So I keep running, keep tracking him. I’ve gone too far to quit now.
Having exhausted all my personal resources, I realize there’s only one thing left to do: ask for help. As much as I despise the idea, I’m coming up empty. And my heritage as a Rathian provides some interesting spiritual perks.
I have to reach out to the Tia, the spiritual ancestors that watch over all Rathians. They were priests in a past life, before passing over to the spirit realm. Now they watch over us all from above. If they can’t help me, no one can.
I reach into my bag and pull out the last of my Agrith leaves. Small green heart-shaped leaves that, when chewed, produce a psychedelic effect that helps the user connect with the spirit realm. I’m more of a fighter, really. Didn’t spend my whole life following the Tia like the Vetha-Kor faction does. But it’s this or nothing.
They say it’s not good to eat too much Agrith at one time. The side effects of an overdose can be pretty dire, and some people even get addicted to the stuff. I’ve seen far too many Vetha-Kor fall prey to the temptation in their insatiable quest for knowledge, and I have no desire to join them.
But things are looking pretty bad, and I need all the help I can get. If I can leave my body, for even a few moments, and speak to the spirits directly? It’s worth it.
I chew the leaves one at a time, allowing the sap to pass under my tongue, where it’s absorbed.
The warm, heady fog descends over me almost at once. My vision blurs and shifts until my eyes droop closed and I give myself over.
This isn’t my first rodeo with Agrith leaves, but it hits me faster and harder than ever before. I’m falling through a vacuum, screaming soundlessly into the void. My consciousness floats away from my body and I can see myself falling, an unnerving sensation in itself. The ground rushes up to meet me, and right as I’m about to crash, it all fades away.
Then I’m in the Sea of Spirits.
It’s not unlike being aboard a ship made for water on a seafaring planet. The world rolls around me and I hear the sounds of waves crashing to the shore. My body is no more, only my consciousness exists. I’m floating on a cloud made of impossible softness, drifting through everything and nothing all at once.
This is the realm of the Tia.
Words and images flicker in and out of my mind. I reach out with my consciousness, trying to find an answer. Trying to find the Tia.
After what seems like an eternity of silence, an ethereal voice speaks up. In the same instant though, my hopes for guidance are dashed. The Tia have only one thing to say to me today:
“Wake up.”
I snap awake, gasping for breath. A cold sheen of sweat covers my face, my neck, my whole body. My clothes stick to me and my face sticks to the cold metal desk below me.
I blink a few times and the room comes into focus. Where the hell am I?
A voice in the back of my mind taunts me.
Told you not to go too crazy on the Agrith leaves. You never know what can happen. You might’ve lost Krevith’s trail for good this time.
I growl and swat the thoughts away, taking in my surroundings.
Two chairs, a bed, a chrome-plated desk. Standard rental room fare. But how did I get here? Last thing I remembered, I was standing outside the shuttle station, desperate for an escape, fiddling with the sacred ore around my neck…
Oh no. My hand shoots to my neck automatically. Bare.
It’s gone.
The Imala ore, the one thing I carry with me everywhere, is gone.
That piece of stone is the one thing tying me to the Tia and to my home of Rathia. The one thing that could help me find Krevith and bring him down, and some stupid-ass looter thought he could take it off me for a couple credits, probably spend it at a holo lounge? What an idiot.
I check my Agrith stores. I’m fresh out. Whistling out a breath through my nose, I snap the bag closed and mumble another series of curses under my breath. Why have the spirits forsaken me this way? Every time I’ve reached out to them of late, they give me some kind of cryptic answer, or no answer at all.
Wake up, they told me. Haha, very funny. Thanks for the warning, assholes.
I can barely breathe through my rage. My blood heats up, so much that I feel feverish and dizzy at the same time.
My ore. My necklace.
It’s from my home planet of Rathia and I need it more than words can say. I wear it to ensure that the guiding spirits watch over me this far from home. I’m not much of a spiritual man, not like the Vetha-Kor anyway, but I know better than to toy with fate.
The loss leaves me raw. It feels like I’ve been scraped across concrete, my skin’s been peeled away, and my very soul is on display for all to see. It’s the only thing I have left of my home world, and now it’s gone, too.
They’ve messed with the wrong alien.
I’m going to find them. I’m going to get it back. I have to.
My eyes take on a faint glow as my spirit reaches out to find it, lighting the world around me in a hazy golden halo. I’m fully immersed in hunter mode now, and nothing will stand between me and my prey.
It’s hard to describe how I found the ore, how I can sense it. It was just a feeling. Like some kind of magnetism is throwing me back toward the stone. Back toward the stone’s master. Me.
The feeling becomes stronger, like a radar, the closer I get. Soon, I’m in front of Kailan’s Holo-Karaoke bar. A sign flickers in pale neon and I already hear raucous shouts from inside, crashes and yells… Not the kind of place I want to deal with right now. But some asshole in there has my ore, so there’s nothing I can do about it.
I push through the door and sweep my eyes across the crowd. Immediately, I lay my eyes on him. Yes. That’s the one. A slightly portly man sits at the bar, drinking an iridescent cocktail. He’s bald. with a bushy black beard. A scar runs across one eyelid down his face, leaving the skin there sagging.
I waste no time.
My warrior drive goes into full blast and I grab the man by the shirt collar, lifting him up. His legs dangle off the floor helplessly as he gasps and claws at his shirt.
“What do you want?” he wheezes through a crushed windpipe.
“What did you do with it?” I growl, squeezing him harder. “The ore. That you stole from me. Yeah, I know about it.” The man’s beady eyes flicked around. A couple of patrons were staring at us, but they didn’t seem like they were going to do anything about it. Guess it was that kind of bar.
“I said,” narrowing my eyes at him, “where is the ore?” I say the words slowly, carefully, to make sure he understands them. His type aren’t so bright sometimes. Ask me how I know.
The man squeaks and flails about and finally some words come out. “Just let me down! I’ll tell you everything.”
I growl again and release my hold, my eyes still boring into him. “Alright. Speak.”
The man starts stammering and stumbling over his words. He wrings his hands. “I’m sorry, sir. I don’t have it anymore. I sold it.”
“You what?” I roar, grabbing him again.
The man whimpers and bloodlust overtakes me. I could kill this man right now. But I think he’s more use to me alive. “Tell me w
ho you sold it to. Now.”
“A man by the name of Wilson. He deals in minerals. Said he’d never seen anything like it before.”
I drop the man unceremoniously and head off toward the door. A new lead? Time to get to work.
I follow the energy of the ore further until I reach a shuttle, but this isn’t some criminal chain gang shuttle like I thought it would be. It’s a shuttle full of giggling girls. Well, all except for one.
A silent female stares out the window with a forlorn expression on her face. She looks so out of place compared to the other women there, and instantly I wonder what her story is. As the shuttle departs, I can’t help but notice the look of her eyes, the slight curve of her jaw, the cutest little nose I’ve ever seen, and an expression that haunts me.
She’s stunning. More so than any of those other women. What is she doing there? She’s more beautiful than all of them combined. I never really believed in love or fated mates or anything, but if one did exist?
Well, she’d be close.
But that’s all thoughts for another day, I figure. Right now, I’ve got to find the ore. I’ve got to track down Krevith and bring him to justice. The shuttle’s leaving, and the scent with it. That’s where my trail starts.
Even as I recommit myself to my mission and the fires of vengeance burn through me, I have to consider the hand of fate in all of this. What does that woman have to do with anything? Why did she stare at me like that?