Page 74 of Stealing Jia

“Suicide bomber,”I said.

“Shields are up. Brace for impact,” Trayon announced abruptly. A massive explosion shook the ship.

Chiara flashed the image of a large rat with wormy growths covering its body into my mind.“It has no aura and is heading toward engineering.”

“Good work.”I sent the information to Trayon.

Trayon touched his gauntlet. Klaxons sounded. “Battle stations. All warriors report to your battle stations.”

“Do you know who is attacking the ship?” Commander Zan questioned.

“It was an assassination attempt by Mallox and one of his creations is loose on the ship,”Sariel advised.

“Not for long.” Zarek teleported.

Dad vanished a second later.

Loki exclaimed,“How is this even possible? Your scanners should have detected the explosives and the creature.”

An extremely ugly Farin demanded,“What proof do you have that Lipas had a bomb?”

I looked at him in disbelief.“Oh, I don’t know. The fact he just blew up?”

Trayon bared his fangs. “Jia and Chiara are the reason we still live, Cuylen. You will treat them with the proper respect.”

“I will not show respect to deviant females. They are the ones behind the attacks, not Lipas. Everyone knows Earth females are unnatural,” Cuylen spat.

Were all Farins bigoted asses?“What’s unnatural is your disappointment the ship wasn’t blown to bits. You should be relieved at your good fortune, but you’re not. You got a death wish, or are you a Rodan stooge?”

“You were on duty when the cloaking devices were stolen,”Jubal stated coldly.

Cuylen yanked his weapon out.

In one smooth movement, Trayon drew his pistol, shoved me to the floor and opened fire.

Multiple stun beams hit Cuylen, dropping him face down on the metal deck.

I watched as he seized violently. “I bet Lilkee hired him.”

“She does tend to recruit inept warriors,” Trayon agreed and helped me up.

I clung to him as another explosion rocked the ship. “Looks like the rat creature has been disposed of.”

“We owe much to Chiara,”Sariel said.

“We do.”I stroked her head.“You were awesome.”

Jubal bowed.“Thank you, Lady Chiara. My people are in your debt.”

Chiara raised her head proudly.“I do what I must to protect my family. Until the Rodan are driven from the galaxy, no one is safe.”

“Now we need to find out how were they able to bypass the ship’s security measures,” I said.

Commander Zan added, “And how they are turning our own warriors against us.”

“Greed,”Ivan said.

Sariel tentacles squirmed wildly.“Explain.”

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