Page 18 of Stealing Jia

Kaboom! Kaboom!It was like being on a wild carnival ride. I hung on for dear life. Trayon wasn’t going to make it in time.

Pepe whimpered.

“Sssh. It’s okay. I won’t let them hurt you.”Of course, if we had a hull breach, we’d all be dead, and it would be a moot point. C ’est la vie.

The walls creaked and groaned ominously.Clank!More alien gibberish spouted from the speaker.The lights flickered, the gravity field failed, and we were suddenly floating.Cazzo!“I think we are being boarded, Trayon.”

“We are fifteen of your minutes out. Delay them.”

“I can do that.”

Trayon vanished from my mind.

Pepe growled. “Male comes.”

I could sense him too. The rest of his pirate buddies were fighting with Loki and another guy. I air swam over to the control panel, placed my hand on it and fried the system. The energy field vanished.

Heavy magnetic boots thudded down the corridor.

Hmm. Hopefully, his gravity boots would fit me. Air swimming was hard work. I let myself float to the ceiling and pulled my laser pistol.

A warrior with a bubble gum pink goatee and troll hair stormed into the room. He was short, kinda skinny and wearing badly dented body armor. His weird milky green eyes surveyed the room. Huh? His eyelids were tattooed with a symbol of some kind. He checked his scanner and looked up.

I tucked my pistol behind me and waved at him all friendly like.

Pepe wagged his tail.

Pretty in Pink babbled something.

I shrugged. “No speaky alien.”

More babbling and he pointed to the floor.

“Sorry, no comprende.”

The warrior walked up the wall and reached for me. I stunned him. His teeth chattered like castanets and violent muscle spasms had him literally vibrating in his armor.

If looks could kill, I’d be dead. I reached out psychically and did some mental snooping. His name was Yoopew. I grinned. The name fit. He smelled like rotted cheese. Trayon was right. Mister Stinky was from Nal Rishi and he wanted to bag himself a human female to sell. I smirked. Bad decision.

My internal alarm went on alert. Another ship was rapidly approaching. Hopefully, it was Trayon’s, not another pirate coming in for the kill.

Loki ran into the room, grabbed my leg, and towed me away. His boots clunked loudly on the metal floor.

“What’s going on?”

“The Askole have found us.”

It was Trayon’s ship and once he got his claws on me, I would be an alien bride. “How do you plan on outrunning the Askole?”

Loki pulled me into a landing bay.“We cannot outrun them, but we can slow them down.”

“How?”

“When they drop out of warp speed, we blow up our ship.”Loki hauled me into a battered shuttle.

“But… We need a spaceship to find Adam.”

“We will steal another.”Loki belted me into a seat. “Go.”

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