Page 45 of Stealing Jia

“If you destroy our ship, your son will also die,” Trayon responded.

That creep was Cason’s father?

His reptilian eyes full of rage, the Rodan commander roared,“That thing is not my son.”

Hmmm. Had the little missus been sleeping around? That would explain why he gave her to the Yagga. Either way it didn’t look good for us. There were seven Rodan battle cruisers against Zarek’s warbird and our ship. There had to be a way to even the odds. My gaze settled on Chiara. “Can you port us onto a shielded Rodan ship that’s one thousand meters away?”

“I can,” Chiara said.

“Are you sure? I’m not going to lie to you. What I have planned is going be dangerous.”

“I will do what I must to stop them.”

I scooped Pepe up. “Good. Now all I need are some weapons.”I jogged back to our quarters with Adozflying beside me.

The battle cruiser’s laser cannons fired.Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!

Our ship pitched radically as the enemy ships’ torpedoes struck the shields.Kaboom! Kaboom! Kaboom! Kaboom! Kaboom!

I staggered off balance and hit the wall.

“How long can the shields hold?”Chiara asked nervously.

My stomach knotted. “A really good question.”I hurried into our quarters.

Another salvo shook the ship.

With one tap on my gauntlet a panel slid back to reveal all sorts of weapons. I slid a laser pistol into my holster and loaded up on thermite grenades.

Pepe whined.“No like boom booms.”

“Me either.”I put Cason in his crib and hugged Pepe. “I need you to stay and protect Cason. Can you do that for me?”

“Where go?”

“Chiara is going to port me onto the Rodan ships and we’re going to blow them to kingdom come.”

“Me help.”Pepe wrapped his paws around my arm.“No leave me.”

“If the Rodan breach our shields, they will teleport their soldiers onboard. Once they find Cason, they will kill him. I need you to keep him safe.”

“No like.”

“I promise I’ll come back.” I ruffled his fur.“Please. Family looks after each other.”

Pepe licked my face.“Me stay. Guard Cason. No die.”

“Father Trayon gave me this awesome armor that will shield me against laser blasts and other nasty things.” I gave Pepe a big kiss and put him in the crib with Cason.

The baby Rodan latched onto Pepe.

“Pepe is not a chew toy.” I gave Cason his bone and plucked the evil twins off my head. “You’re staying here too.”

“No. We go. We bite. They die,” LeeLee said.

LooLoo added,“Protect Momma Jia and Chiara.”

Their web balls did come in handy, but I couldn’t take babies into combat.“No. It’s not safe.”

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