Page 23 of Saved By the Alien Mercenary

The commotion of Brace and me bursting through the doors into the large entrance hallmadeevery pair of eyes turn our way. The Naga captain here? How had they made it this fast? I was certain they were still days out when I’d spoken to Mitnick. My brain struggled to recall how long ago that was—maybe it had been days...So much had happened since then.

The Naga male turned our way, and I saw relief flicker over his harsh features. “There you are, Brace. Get in the shuttle;I will sort this out.” He waved his hand at the black shuttle parked—surely illegally—in front of the port authority offices. It was then I realized that it wasn’t one Naga, but two. That’s why there were so many coils of black scales and glimmering hints of gold. The second Naga was right behind the captain, a laser rifle cradled in his arms. He looked so much like the captain that I knew they had to be related.

“Bastard stole her child,” Brace snarled as he strode with me across the foyer. He stepped over the coils of his captain’s long tail without hesitation and never paused, even though several guns went up and aimed our way. “They let that happen, right here!” he added, snappinghis teeth in the direction of the officials his captain had been intimidating. Then we burst through the front door and headed directly for the shuttle. Yes, my mind shouted, that shuttle could take us to the location where De’tor said my baby was.

The hatch of the shuttle was open, and males in black armor, customary for theVarakartoomcrew,stood at the entrance. They were exchanging menacing glances with the pair of Rummicaron guards, but when the onewhohad escorted me in saw me, he paled and stepped back, yanking his buddy back with him with a rough shove.

I recognized some of theVarakartoom’s crew from before. The Talac male was in the lead, standing with his arms crossed, his aura menacing and dark. A silver beast the size of a small pony stood at his side—hound-like, with ears like a jackal. A Gracka, native to his homeworld but probably unknown here in the Zeta Quadrant. His gray eyes clashed with mine, and I felt a sweeping pull in my body, my head. My body felt lighter, empty, but also… less sad.

Brace swept pastthe Talac male without a word, nodding at the Sune male and the green Viridara male. Then we were inside the shuttle, and I spotted a pair of Asrai males at the front—pilot and navigator—strapped in and ready to go. There was also a winged male aboard the small shuttle, his red and white feathers taking up far too much space. Everyone was piling in behind us, includingthe long, coiled body of one Naga, but it wasn’t the captain. The hatch shut on the last coil and limb with a quiet thud, and then the shuttle shot into the air.

“Where to, bro?” the pilot Asrai asked in a tone that was more subdued than I expected, though I wasn’t sure why. I thought I’d met him, but my brain was struggling to put names to the faces that surrounded me, overwhelmed, exhausted. Brace was talking, relaying what De’tor had said on his dying breath. My eyes had locked onto the other Asrai, and something twisted in my stomach.

It wasn’t my baby—my baby was gone—but we’d get him back.I knew that;I had to believe that. No, it was unease, because there was something very, very off about that male. Asrai often—nearly always—came in twins or triplets, especially the males. This pair was no different, and very likely telepathically linked.Asrai navigator-pilot pairs were kind of fabled for their insane skills. But the navigator, his mind plugged into the shuttle computers via a thin black cable attached to the nav-port installed in his head, he was not normal.

Vibrating with energy, he didn’t speak, his ghoulish death mask pulled intoan aggressive, macabre grin. Blood had dried inside his ears,and I spotted it at the corners of his eyes too. It was a sign that he’d burned himself out navigating, but nobody told him to stop what he was doing. Nobody seemed willing to get tooclose to the viciously sharp row of teeth he bared at anyone who got tooclose, even his twin. Maybe I hadn’t been mistaken about how far out theVarakartoomstill was, but this navigator had risked frying his mind to get them here, to save us. To save Brace. Now that was loyalty.

My mate sat down in one of the jumpseats that lined the walls of the shuttle, his huge body spilling out of the seat, barely fitting. He pulled me into his lap, cradling me against his chest,hishands stroking along my arm until theyreached my shaking hand. Hegentlypulled the laser pistol I still clutched from my numb fingers, handing it off to someone onhis left without a word.

“We will take care of this, sweet mate. I will bring back your baby, I swear it.” He’d said it before, and I still believed it, so I nodded. A wave of pain and fear began to swell inside my chest, but it swept away abruptly before it could crest and overwhelm me. My eyes shot from Brace to the Talac and his strange silver beast, certain he’d done something, though I didn’t know how.

With the tide of emotions abruptly halted, I felt more rational and stronger. Part of me could even feel a hint of amusement at knowing how boldly Brace had stated I was his mate, right in front of his crewmates. My eyes swept over faces, some of them familiar, like the Sune, Flack. That was the ship’squartermaster, and he’d assigned me my quarters, handed me fresh clothing. They were surprised, but they were smart enough not to say anything. The Viridara smirked,though, looking pleased as he gazed from me to Brace.

“Someone better inform the Captain that Jalima might be there. He’ll want in on the kill,” Brace said darkly, smugly. I saw him glance left and right, piercing every male with a firm stare. He wasn’t hiding now;he wasn’t worried about being a danger to anyone but the crimelord whose mansion we were about to storm.

“Done,” the winged male said almost immediately. “Pulling up schematics of the building now.” He waved a hand,and a drone whizzed up from where it had been locked magnetically to his belt. Hovering in the air,it projected a holographic map against the ceiling. “This appearsto beour best point of incursion. And this is where I think the baby will be held.”

My eyes locked onto the tiny,three-dimensional image—renderedin blue glowing lines—of a room at the back of the large house. That was where my baby was.I began tracing every path, every route to that room, my heart pounding in my chest. That’s where he was, and I’d get him.

The Talac was laying out a plan to everyone inside the shuttle,but I wasn’t paying attention. I’d heard words like“You guard the female and the shuttle,”so I knew they intended to leave me behind once they attacked. No way, I was getting my baby. They couldn’t stop me. He needed me. My fingers twitched, searching for a weapon that wasn’t there. I realized then that I was harboring far more aggressive impulses than Ihadexpected. Motherly instinct, I was certain. They were not going to leave me behind, I’d make sure of it.

The shuttle hummed gently,andtension rose inside it as we got closer. Through the front of the shuttle, viewscreens displayed the landscape:snow and forest,anda sharply rising mountain,all jagged and black-edged.Fields stretched beneath us, crisscrossed bystrange zigzagging lines, barren beneath the otherwise pristine layer of snow. When my eyes landed on the cluster of buildings, my heart rate shot through the roof. That was it, that was where my baby was.

The pilot overshot the buildings, circling high. “They’ll know we’re coming,” he said. “They’re ready for us.” His wordspulled me from my fruitless search of the many windows. Now I spotted the armed vehicle parked out front and the small towers strategically placed around the perimeter. I didn’tneedto see one shift open its domed top and aim a barrel to know that those were defensive turrets. They weren’t so different from the meteor protection lasers mounted on theFinix.

The turret’s laser fire streaked in front of the shuttle;the pilot whooped as if that was fun, and then the small vessel abruptly swerved. I clutched Brace’s fur, my body rebelling against the sudden forces. He held me tight, his arm engulfing me, his big body wedged tight against the too-small seat. Across from me, the silver Gracka bared its sharp teeth, and then it smoothly glided closer despite the rocking of the ship. Its head was in my lap, pressing warmly against my so-very-empty belly.

How long had it been? How long since my tiny boy had to go without me? That warm pressure reminded me too much of what it had felt like to hold him. Hours? A day? My body—my breasts—they ached. The silver Gracka was not the same as the actual beast, which I’d had the fortune of seeing once as someone’s pet. That one had been covered in a thick, luscious pelt,much like Brace was. This creature was smooth as silk, warm like flesh, but at the same time, its skin felt like skin-warmed metal. I stroked my fingers over its head, its ears twitching as I did so, and I felt hollow inside.

“Brace and I will escort her. My symbiont will be her shadow,”the voice said abruptly, a snap likeawhip in the tense air as the shuttle spun left with force. I was pressed into Brace, wedged between him and the head of the silver beast. My head shot up as the pressure faded and the shuttle lowered gentlyto the ground behind a thicket of trees. That wasn’t what he’d said earlier. I distinctly remembered someone being ordered to guard me and the shuttle.

Brace growled,speaking upfor the first time,as if hedidnot agree with his superior officer’s plans. I wasn’t quite sure if it worked like that on a mercenary ship, but I had the impression that everyone knew that Talac was in charge when the captain wasn’t around. “No, she’s not even dressed! She has no shoes!” I glanced abruptly down at my bare legs, sticking out from beneath the edge of the medical gown they’dputme in when I gave birth. I shuddered, repressing the memory almost immediately, it came too close to remembering how De’tor had taken my boy, and I couldn’t face that.

“That’s not an issue,” the Talac snapped back. While I appreciated his change of plans, nothing would stop me from going into that house to find my child. But going barefoot in the snow was a bit of a problem. I’d lose my toes before I reached the entrance, and my body was already weak and exhausted after going through labor—part of it while I hiked through deep snow at night.

“It is. My female will not lose any of her tiny toes,” Brace snapped back. His hand shot down to stroke along my leg, cupping both my feet. It wasn’t until he did so that I realized how cold they were. The rest of my body was kept warm by his, curled in his arm as I was, and cradled in his lap. Not so for my feet. I wriggled them against his palm, and my toes felt stiff and bruised.

“My symbiont will take care of it,” the Talac answered. “We’re here. Spread out, follow the plan.” He tapped the collar of his suit, and a helmet unfurled, dark, the visor opaque. He turned to the hatch, the other males all following his lead, guns cradled in their arms, their helmets sliding into place over serious, focused expressions.

Brace didn’t have armor like theirs. All he wore was a loincloth, that hardly seemed fair in a fight. The pilot passed us, winking jauntily just before his helmet snicked shut. I shifted, ready to get up and follow after the males thumping down the gangplank in practiced formation. Brace held me firm;he didn’t want to let me go. I twisted against him, the strange Gracka still with his head against my belly. I felt a little trapped, but I understood his worry. “Let me go, Brace. He needs me, you know this is best.”

I eyed the snow beyond the hatch. Only one black-armored male remained outside the door;the others had all scattered, vanished. If that was the Talac, then he was my only ally in this, but he did not open his mouth. I shoved against Brace’s arm, and he finally let me go. My legs were wobbly as I stood, but Brace kept one hand on my hip to steady me, while the silver Gracka flowed back,still keepinghis snout against my abdomen. “Let’s go. Give me my gun back.”

There was a flash of something—not quite light, not quite a glimmer. It shimmered in the eyes of the silver beast, and then the most bizarre thing happened. Those eyes were not quite eyes, as they were the exact shade of silver as the rest of him. It felt like I fell into them when I looked,though, as if the shiny silver surface was a mirror. Then it began to melt, not just its head, but all of its body,too. It would have been horrifying if it wasn’t oddly beautiful at the same time. Silver liquid flowed and spread, sliding around my belly, my hips, up my chest, and down my legs.

Brace hissed, and I heard him growl words in fury above my head somewhere, his towering shape hunched around me. The Talac answered, but my ears were rushing, as if filled with water. I didn’t hear any words—just garbled noise. Silver flowed as high as my throat, and a part of my brain feared the worst: that it was going to keep rising and smother me. It didn’t. And when it curled around my bare toes too, I understood. The symbiont would take care of me—that’s what the Talac said. It had reshaped itself into a suit of armor, boots warmer than anything I’d ever worn, because they werealive.

Not all of the Gracka had covered me; it was too big a beast for that. What remained of the silver creature began to reshape, settling into something smaller and slinky. A Riho. A coveted pet in the Zeta Quadrant. The Riho were like a cross between an otter and a kitten: adorable, very clever, and a tiny bit dangerous. This one flashed extra-sharp teeth and swished the tip of its tail, where fluffy silver fur hid a poisoned barb.

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