Page 43 of Fire Forged

“He’s got everything under control,” Mom said, but her voice quavered.Then she paled; the tablet almost tumbled from her hands.“They shot my Aldur.”

Matir leaped across to confirm this on her tablet.

Now was Britt’s chance.With him distracted, she opened the door and bolted, sidling along the side of the shuttle far from the common.

“Stop, Lady Britta, I beg you.”Matir rushed after her, while casting glances ahead and behind them.

She ignored him, ducking between crates to listen for approaching footsteps.None came.

When Matir lunged for her, as if he had every intention of throwing her over his shoulder, she jabbed him with the muzzle of the gun.Right in his ribs.He grunted and staggered back, clutching his side.“This is foolhardy.You will only endanger yourself and the supreme commander.I also have my orders,” he snapped.

“You’re wasting precious moments.”She slid over the crate.“Then come with me.Take down the one with a cape.Do something other than waste my time.”She snuck through the door that had been sealed shut just yesterday, not even waiting to see if Matir followed.Along the short passage, she plastered herself to the wall, clasping the heavy gun and trying to keep her breathing quiet.

A peek locked her tongue in place.On the floor at Nerx’s knees was his braid.Already his hair, now past his shoulder blades, darted out like knife points, as if in attack-mode.Then in slow motion, he lunged forward, a massive greatsword in hand, and swung, slicing the closest soldiers in half.

Blinking at the spilled guts and blue blood, she swallowed the bile pooling at the back of her throat.It was now or never.She strode into the common, hefting the gun.

Nerx’s eyes widened.Fear contorted his expression.It was too late to rethink her life choices, so she shot twice.From hours of testing Stay Alive’s demo weapons, her aim was true.When she spun her arm to stun the man who’d cut Nerx’s hair, fire exploded in agonizing white heat in her side.She stumbled back when Matir ran past her, his gun extended.He shot once sending the purple dude flying.He sprawled on his back even as Nerx charged her.

“What did I say?”he roared at her.“And you, Sub-Commander?Willingly endangering my Dar Eth.I will have your hair for this.”

She dismissed his anger while running an admiring gaze over him.The sword hung at his side as if it weighed nothing.Muscles bulged in his arm though.“He tried to stop me.”She skimmed her fingers down his bicep, her touching not softening his scowl.

Mom scampered past to reach Aldur.

“Is he—?”Britt called, not taking her focus from Nerx.He’d swung that greatsword like an ancient warrior.

“He’s breathing,” Mom cried out, joy claiming her face even as her tears flowed.

“Matir, get Aldur in the med-E.D.We will discuss your disobedience later.”Nerx caught Britt’s free hand, then dragged her to the communications room.The door opened before they arrived.

“Edon, prepare to get us to the asteroid belt but do not hide.I want you to fly along its field, weaving between its largest debris.I do not want to find out firsthand what that ship’s canons can do.”

“Acknowledged, Supreme Commander.”He stared at Nerx’s hair, then spun on his seat to hit the many buttons on the console.

Nerx tapped his forearm, summoning holographics.“Sena, get down here.And you, my silly, brave Dar Eth, may have helped me start a war with an unknown race.”

On the black screens was a scary-looking ship, like an ice pick with bits plastered to its pretty-blue sides.Gigantic tubes shaped like canons were easy to spot amid the flickering lights.Something cinched her chest.Had she really started a war with…that?

“Unknown?When they look Etterian?And to hell with war, Nerx.They attacked first when they shot Aldur and…y’know.”She gestured to his head.

He barked a laugh that was by no means warm.“For Aldur, I would kill them again.For my hair… It is but a slight.”

“I thought it mattered to you.Next time, I’ll let them shave your stupid head.”She huffed and slid the gun onto a nearby table.“And what did you expect me to do?Watch you die?”

His nose twitched, then he dropped his sword and yanked a black box out of a pants pocket.“I scent your blood,ensa.”

“Oh.”That’s right.She’d been shot.Only now did the incessant pulsating pain register.She cupped her side and blinked at the red staining her palm.“They’ve ruined the silk,” she muttered.

“Supreme Commander,” Sena said from the doorway.

“Toss the dead into their shuttle except those stunned—lock them in an unallocated quarters in the barracks but make sure they know how the rehydrator works.We need them alive.And see if you can set their shuttle to return to its bay.Failing that, we need to jettison it off the scimitar and explode it.I can deny any involvement as the ‘inferior’ race.”He grimaced at her when Sena left.“Your garment is not conducive to healing,ensa.I must remove it.”

“Ninety-eight percent,” Ziot said.

Nerx grunted, then hoisted Britt into his arms, one hand under her knees, the other above her wound.

“I can walk.”Although, she was grateful.For some strange reason, her knees were weak.

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