Page 46 of Stealing Jia

LooLoo protested,“We warriors.”

“I know you are. If the Rodan get on this ship, Trayon will need your help. Okay?”

“Kay.”The Tabors said in unison.

Plus, I knew if anything happened to them, Bey would eat me. I put the baby Tabors in the crib.

Adoz chirped at me.

“He wants to go with us,” Chiara translated. “We can use his dragon fire.”

“An excellent idea. You’ll be my secret weapon Adoz.”With a pleased chirrup,Adoz landed on my shoulder. I took a deep breath. I could do this. If I didn’t stop the Rodan, we’d all die, and I wasn’t going to let that happen. “As the Americans like to say: Are you ready to kick some Rodan ass?”

Chiara raised her head and her startling blue eyes met mine. “The Rodan destroyed my home, ate my friends, and hurt my family. I will do whatever it takes to stop them.”

“Me too. Those monsters have slaughtered millions and it’s time they were held accountable.”Drawing on Trayon’s knowledge of Rodan ships, I projected the image of their engine room to Chiara. “If we port in behind that instrument panel, I can place the thermite grenades there, and after I set the timers we move onto the next ship. Is that doable for you?”

“Yes.”Chiara coiled around my waist.“Are you ready?”

Cradling Adoz, I touched the controls on my gauntlet and the helmet formed around my head. “Let’s do this.”

A gray whirlwind erupted around us. Thirty seconds of falling down an endless black void and poof! We were in the Rodan ship’s engine room. Lucky for us, the room was empty. You’d think with a major space battle raging, there would be someone manning engineering.

“Whee! That fun,” LeeLee exclaimed as she skittered up my helmet’s ears.

Cazzo! Bey was going to kill me. “Where’s LooLoo?”

“She guard Cason.”

I could only hope. Setting the timers on three thermite grenades, I placed them on the floor and smiled. This was going to work and Trayon would never even know I was gone.

“Why are you on a Rodan ship Jia?”

I stiffened at the menace in Trayon’s voice. “I’m going to blow it up.”

“And if one of our missiles destroys it first?”

“It’s a chance I’m willing to take. Your shields aren’t going to hold much longer.”

“Return to the ship now,”Trayon commanded. In the background I could hear the computer warning, “Shields down to fifty percent.”

“You’re running out of time and I’m your last hope.” I broke the link.“Next ship Chiara.”

A spinning vortex engulfed us. After what seemed to be an eternity, the vortex spat us out in front of two pint-sized Rodan soldiers. Merda!

For a long moment, they stared at us in surprise, then bellowed a bunch of hisses, clacks, yawps, and grunts.

With the warp drive a few feet away, I didn’t dare use my power balls or my laser pistol. The last thing I wanted to do was blow up the ship with us on it. “No speaky Rodan.”

“I think they want to know how we got in here,”Chiara said.

“Like I would tell them.”The idiots still hadn’t pulled their weapons. I guess my armor wasn’t as scary as I thought.

In Galactic Basic mind speak, the bigger soldier snapped,“Surrender or die.”

“No. You surrender and die,” I automatically responded in Galactic Basic.

“I will enjoy eating your brains.”

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