“Yes.”
“Oh, thank you! Thank you so much! How do I reach you? What do I do?”
“Nothing. We will bring your pod aboard our ship as soon as we reach you.” She barely managed to sputter one last thank you before he snarled, “End communication.”
A brief moment passed.
“The Gathendien ship has ended communication and can no longer hear you,” Evie announced.
Simone smiled. “Excellent. Those dumb bastards have no idea what they’re unleashing on their ship.”
“What are they unleashing?“ Evie asked.
She rose. “Me.”
By the time the Gathendiens locked what Evie called an acquisition beam on the pod, Simone was ready. The lights flickered out as Evie had warned, and Evie ceased responding.
Simone’s heart thudded with anticipation. Adrenaline flooded her veins and quickened her pulse. Her long, dark hair floated up as the pod’s gravity failed. But the seat’s harness kept her from joining it.
When the pod entered the Gathendien docking bay, her hair flopped back down as the ship’s artificial gravity became her own, and her body sank deeper into the seat.
She swiftly unlatched the seatbelts, rose, and grabbed her katanas’ harness. Plunging her arms through the loops, she rounded the chair and let the long, sheathed weapons settle against her back. The daggers she always carried with her—even on the Kandovar—already waited in sheaths on her thighs. She glanced at the white spacesuit that hung nearby but had already decided it would encumber her movements too much. Plus, she shouldn’t need it. The docking bay should provide adequate atmosphere and pressurization.
Simone drew in a long, slow, calming breath and released it. Feet braced apart, she faced the pod’s hatch, which was positioned high on the wall in front of her. Her toes wiggled inside her combat boots. She flexed her fingers and rotated her shoulders, not to loosen her muscles but because she was eager to dive into battle.
These bastards had killed Valok.
They’d killed every Lasaran and Yona who had failed to leave the ship before it exploded.
They’d killed some or all of the Lasaran and Yona pilots who had tried desperately to defend the Kandovar in their fighter craft.
And they might have killed her fellow Immortal Guardians if her friends hadn’t had time to reach escape pods. Maybe some of the gifted ones, too, if the reptilian bastards had captured their pods.
“This is for them,” she murmured.
The pod shook as a loud thunk sounded.
“All of them.“ Every drop of blood spilled would be repaid with ten.
Light shone down into the pod like a spotlight as the hatch opened and slid to one side.
Simone backed into the shadows.
Seconds later, a bulky figure appeared at the entrance and blocked most of the light, allowing her to blend better into the darkness.
Though he couldn’t spot her, she could see him very well.
He was big. And definitely Gathendien.
Dark green hide that looked as tough as an alligator’s stretched across a bald head and down to broad shoulders, at which point it thickened, forming ridges that wound down two thickly muscled arms.
She suspected those ridges served well as armor to protect him. But on the inside of those arms, she spied thinner skin of a golden color that appeared far more vulnerable. The same golden skin adorned powerful pecs, rippling abs, and his face. As far as she could tell, he had no protruding ears, just small holes that must allow him to hear. Two pale green eyes equipped with pupils like a snake’s, a subtle nose, and thin lips merely added to his reptilian appearance.
Aim for the gold, she thought with satisfaction, cataloging every single weakness.
Those slitted eyes narrowed as he peered into the pod. “I don’t see it.”
It? Really?
Once more, Simone affected a helpless voice. “Are you… are you the man I spoke with?”
“No.” Though gruff, his voice didn’t match the one she’d heard earlier.
“But you’re here to rescue me? You’re a friend of the Lasarans?”
“Yes. We are allies with the Lasarans.”
Bullshit. “Thank goodness,” she breathed.
“Exit the pod,” he ordered.
She palmed a dagger and faked a sniffle. “I can’t. I was injured when the Yona threw me in here. Can you help me, please? I don’t think I can make it up the ladder on my own.”
Irritation flashed across his countenance before he glanced down to one side.
“Do it,” the voice that had spoken over the comms ordered.
Sighing with what resembled human exasperation, the hulking Gathendien warrior squeezed through the entrance and jumped down into the pod.
Simone cut his throat the second he landed, then eased his thrashing body to the floor. She would’ve preferred to wait and strike after assessing the numbers she would face outside but assumed they would question her helplessness as soon as they spotted the swords strapped to her back.
“Oh,” she blurted with feigned dismay for the benefit of her audience as the thrashing died down. “Did I step on your tail? I’m so sorry.” Sheathing her dagger, she stepped over the bastard and headed for the wall beneath the opening. It took mere moments to scale the rungs that led up to the hatch. “Don’t let go,” she implored, as if the disgruntled dead guy were helping her, then poked her head up.
The pod rested in a sizable docking bay that housed a couple of transports and a few gray fighter craft. The big bay door slid shut behind her. On the opposite wall, the entrance to the rest of the ship remained open, indicating their belief that she posed no threat.
She dropped her gaze. Below, roughly two dozen Gathendien soldiers waited all in a row. A Gathendien who was riddled with scars and boasted an air of command stood in front of them, his arms crossed over a barrel chest. All were heavily armed.
The leader scowled up at her.
“Are you the man I spoke to?” she asked tremulously, trying hard to look frightened even as rage engulfed her.
“Yes,” he barked and motioned to a staircase that looked as though they’d wheeled it up to the pod’s opening. “Exit the pod.”
The staircase looked so incongruously low-tech—like something you’d see at a cash-strapped airport back on Earth—that she wanted to laugh.
Instead, she stretched a hand toward it before letting her shoulders slump. “I can’t reach it. Would you move it closer, please?”
If a green lizardman could turn red with anger, this guy would’ve.
At first, she thought he’d refuse. Then he made an abrupt motion with one clawed hand.
One of the soldiers behind him hustled forward and pushed the staircase up against the pod’s side with a clunk.
“Thank you.” Simone offered them a tremulous smile and slowly rose into the entrance, making every movement appear as tentative and shaky as possible. She even looked down into the pod and said, “Don’t let me fall.”
Careful to keep her front facing the warriors below, she hoped the hair she’d left loose would adequately conceal the hilts of her katanas until she stood on the lip of the hatch.
So far, so good.
“Thank you so much for helping me.” She gave the leader a nervous smile.
The commander’s gaze drifted from her face to her shoulder as she placed one booted foot on the top step of the staircase. His eyes narrowed. Uncrossing and lowering his bulging arms, he barked, “Gongra!” Was that the name of the soldier she’d killed?