Page 61 of Her Alien Cyborgs
He’d left the table with the rest of his group but had stopped not far from where Hezza and her group stood. Most of his officers continued toward the door, but not the lieutenant commander. She stood by Barrios, whispering to him with one hand on his arm.
Interesting. There was something between the first officer and her commander that should not exist between two beings in their positions.
“Do you see what I see?” Phaedra asked.
“l do. That might explain why the first officer of theBright Arrowwas able to commandeer someone else’s ship to come after us.”
The room emptied relatively quickly. Even the other Vardarians grudgingly departed, herded out a side door by more of the empress’s guards.
“Colonel Barrios, I asked you to leave.” Tyran glowered at the smaller male.
“I have the right to stay! I am the task force of the group that freed the cyborgs and the duly appointed representative of the Interstellar Armed Forces. These two were removed from my custody, and that woman is wanted for questioning for hacking the IAF military software.”
Phaedra looked intrigued. “I didn’t hear about this. What did you do?”
“Nothing. He’s chasing the wrong comet if he thinks I had anything to do with it. I’m a simple cargo jockey.”
“It was you,” Heath spoke this time. “Or was it these alien weapons with you?”
Hezza stared the officer down. “How many times do I have to tell you, Kalan and Fyr’enth are not alien weapons. They’re not weapons at all. They’re living beings!”
Hezza watched as Heath transformed from a polished officer into a frothing madwoman.
“Liar!” the woman shrieked. “Betrayer! You are sleeping with humanity’s enemy! They are a threat to humanity. We must resist before it’s too late.”
The colonel gawped at his first officer. “Rosalyn? What are you doing?”
“Don’t you understand? This is what I told you about. This is the moment. We have to fight back and reclaim this galaxy for humanity.”
Everyone in the room was watching the drama play out as if they’d bought tickets for this show. Hezza was distracted too, but then she saw it. The same cold-eyed look Heath had worn when she’d called her mates alien weapons the first time.
She reacted blindly, convinced that something terrible was about to happen.
Kalan and Fyr’enth must have seen the same thing she did because they both flared their wings, using them as shields to screen the others.
Only, she wasn’t there anymore. She was running straight for Heath, determined to stop her from hurting someone she cared about.
Barrios grabbed at Heath, shouting incoherently as he tried to break her grip on her sidearm.
“Rosalyn, stop this! Stop!” Barrios shouted.
She kept going, fear for her mates pushing her just as hard as the nanotech in her body.
The weapon discharged, sending a sizzling blast of energy that zipped by Hezza’s shoulder. Less than a second later, a flash of light passed her again, this time coming from behind. A rebound? Or had the shot been deflected by one of her mahoyen’s wings. It slammed into Barrios’s leg. He screamed and went down hard, leaving Heath standing alone.
Hezza dropped her shoulder and hit her in the midsection. They both crashed to the deck, but Hezza was on top, which gave her the advantage.
So did the nanotech.
She used both to push herself to her knees.
Heath tried shove her off and failed. “Bitch. You don’t understand. If the empress died, they’d leave us alone!”
Hezza briefly considered explaining to the woman how wrong she was. But what would be the point?
“This is for calling my mates weapons,” she snapped and then punched Heath square in the face.
Her hand went numb as she connected with Heath’s nose. Something cracked, but she couldn’t tell which of them was the source of the noise.
