Page 34 of Found By the Alien Warrior

He pointed to the unconscious guard at his feet. “He told me. Right before I knocked him out. Let’s go.”

Raze took the back. I walked in the middle while Aurik led our little party of three through the quiet hall of the main floor. Beyond the silence, I heard Gornoc’s voice, harsh and metallic, echo from a couple doors down.

“Sounds like somebody isn’t happy about those cameras.” Raze patted himself on the back for his handiwork.

The surveillance room was before us, a gateway to the next leg of our plan. Gornoc was still talking to himself and cursing, trying to figure out what went wrong.

Aurik motioned for quiet while approaching the door. The dull thuds of Gornoc pounding on his keyboard filtered through. Aurik tensed, ready to burst in.

“You, stop.” Two guards appeared across the hall. Raze ran after them, but Aurik’s attempted sneak attack on Gornoc was effectively ruined.

Gornoc hitched forward in our direction, in what looked like a movement in preparation to spring at me and Aurik. My scared reflexes took over. I felt my arms move on their own accord, my fingers squeeze the tight trigger of the tranquilizer.

Gornoc plopped to the ground, his metal limbs clanking like spilled pots and pans. I stared in disbelief at the yellow vial sticking out of his neck.

“Sonya, you got him.”

“I...guess I did.” I held the tranquilizer to my side as I entered the surveillance room with Aurik. “I didn’t want you to break a sweat before your main event.”

The air inside the surveillance room was stale, crackling with electricity from the static feed of the disabled camera monitors.

Gornoc, slumped over, even while sedated, tried to claw at his bionic arm with sluggish movements. My lucky tranquilizer shot became questionable as I realized I may have made our task harder.

"Will he even be able to tell us where the codes are now?" I peeked around Aurik’s shoulder to look closer at Gornoc.

"No need for him to speak," Raze entered the room after handing the guards outside. “It’s all right there.” He pointed at the panel that Gornoc feebly grappled.

Aurik pried open the compartment with a click. Inside, small, square metal keys glinted, their angular lines speaking a language of power and secrets. “Got the one for the holding pen.” He lifted it out. “But any of these could activate the ship's locator."

He handed the rest to me. I stared at all the little odd-shaped alien keys, with their symbolic swoops and swirls. "Great, it's like choosing the right wire to cut but with no color coding.” Tension tightened my shoulders.

"Raze will go with you. He knows the symbols."

"From Gornoc's homeworld." Raze came forward to stand beside me. "We'll handle it."

I shot a look to Aurik. “You’re going to the holding pen by yourself? With those fighters and guards?" My concern for his life went through the roof. "Your job is harder. You need Raze's help."

"She does have a point,” Raze agreed with me. “Everyone in that pen may not want to fight on our side, Aurik."

“We didn’t choose to play Korga’s game, but we have to take risks to end it.” Aurik’s voice carried a weight of resignation. "Just... keep her safe."

"Nothing will happen to Sonya," Raze vowed.

Aurik fastened his penetrating blue eyes on me. "Get the locator up and running. Then lock yourself in the control room until I come back for you.”

"Promise me," she pleads, gripping my arm with a strength born of desperation. "Promise me you won't try to be a hero. There are others here who can help us."

"There’s nothing heroic about what I plan to do to Korga. But I’ll return to you.”

Before he turned to go down to the holding pen, the last image that I saw was of his determined face.

My fingers curled around the cold metallic keys, each one a possible ticket to freedom.

"Sonya, go." Raze formed a barricade between me and more guards beginning to swarm in the hall.

My shoes pounded against the grated floor as I sprinted toward the control room, every heartbeat a drum roll in my chest that echoed the stakes we were up against. “Raze,” I called back, “if we get out of this, Aurik and I owe you a drink.”

He let out a grunt that could have been a laugh or a growl – with him, it was hard to tell – as his fists collided with the first guard.

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