Page 142 of Scorching the Alien Empire
Her words spill out in an anxious ramble, hands trembling, eyes darting frantically. Then, suddenly, her gaze snaps back to mine.
A radiant smile blooms across her face—a sunrise over molten lava. “But you came back to me. Yay!” She claps her hands together. “Beep, beep, let’s go already.” She raises her arms expectantly.
Everything about her is intoxicating. Her beauty. Her whimsy. Her fragility. It pulls me in, and my hands almost move toward her on instinct.
Almost.
I stop myself. No. She shamed me. Had she been more competent, Drexios and I would have emerged from that metal netherworld alone. Abandoned.
“Well?” she presses, arms still raised. “Don’t leave me hanging like a freaking zombie here.” Her lips twist into an annoyed pout. “Really, Dracoth?” Her arms drop to her sides. “You’re doing your Mr. Frowny Face routine—”
“Inside.” I cut her off, snapping the order with a sharp gesture toward the shielded area where the Klendathian females huddle. Their gazes remain vacant, downcast, untouched by the chaos surrounding them.
“To the shuttles. Now.”
“Ugh. So rude,” she huffs, throwing her hands in the air. But she obeys.
A gap forms in her silvery barriers, a shimmering slit just large enough for her to step through before sealing behind her.
“We’ll have a talk about this later, you and I,” she threatens, the sound muffled and echoing like her head’s stuck in a bowl—a bowl moving toward the shuttles.
Above, a shorthair ship erupts into blue flames, the back portion ripping apart, spilling molten arcweave into the void. The atmosphere beyond swallows the explosion in silence, a cruel, soundless spectacle.
I watch, my jaw clenched as the unfortunate occupants are torn from the wreckage, their bodies thrashing, fighting against an enemy they cannot see. But the void does not bargain. It does not spare. Their struggles fade, their forms going still.
More Seeker drones pour in.
Thousands of them, a mechanical plague, blotting out the void.
The shuttles rumble to life, engines primed, their twin-mounted cannons whining as they acquire targets. The cracking zaps echo out, blasts shimmering as they breach the atmospheric barrier, catching some drones, narrowly missing others. Shields detonate in bright flashes, bursting apart before molten slop erupts from shattered drone cores.
“Quickly!” I bellow, my voice a storm above the chaos.
I catch movement in the distance. Shadows, massive and looming, blotting out the stars.
Voidbanes. Dozens of them.
Their dark, angular forms close the distance, inexorable as the abyss itself.
My arc blaster spits molten death into the swarm above, joining the warriors in a blazing defiance against the inevitable.
Shorthair ships dart and weave, supporting each other, but even they are being overwhelmed. The drones hunt like hydraliths—one distracts while the others flank, striking from the sides in coordinated, calculated patterns.
Already, dozens of our vessels are bleeding molten arcweave, their thick armor barely withstanding the onslaught.
Then, the void erupts with blinding light.
I turn away, shielding my vision as the dazzling explosion forces every warrior to momentarily falter.
When the flare fades, the Voidbane above us is nothing more than shattered slabs of blackened metal, drifting like an obsidian tombstone. A miniature supernova where its Elerium engines once burned.
A triumphant cheer rises through my warriors, the sound rippling across the battlefield. But victory is short-lived. A Seeker swarm retaliates, a relentless barrage of plasma screaming toward us.
“Shields!” I roar, raising my own, though my arm aches, muscles trembling as my shield locks into place. We brace as the oncoming salvo streaks toward us. Our backs press against the shuttles—our only means of escape.
Princesa and the females are nearly there, their hurried steps carrying them closer to salvation. But my focus remains ahead, locked on the incoming barrage of blistering blue plasma.
The first wave slams into us, a thunderous impact like an aurodon stampede. Sparks cascade in a blinding spray, shields flaring under the force. The kinetic shock sends some warriors sprawling.
