Page 6 of Alien Viking's Plunder

It was not a human man, Josie determined as she backed off fast, extending her baton to its full, two-feet length. He was too big for that. But he looked like an ancient warrior, with a horned helmet and animal skins around his shoulders. He had an immense sword in his hand, long, braided hair, and a scraggly beard. Colorful tattoos filled the parts of his skin that Josie could see.

“Stop right there!” Josie yelled, managing to keep her voice steady.

The man stood on the deck, looking around and blinking against the light. When he saw Josie, a grin spread on his face.

“Dablideh morro ikvel,”he growled in a deep voice as he came closer. “Komit.”

Josie backed off, but not too far. “Intruders in the Astronomy section,” she reported through the comms, making her voice flat to keep it from trembling. “Not from Earth.”

The man was still grinning at her, having to still bend at the neck because of the low ceiling. He faked a pounce, but Josie didn’t move, just lifted her baton in warning.

The man chuckled. “Ikesah letskrem to.”He feinted to one side, then pounced for real.

Josie’s training kicked in, as did her special enhancement. She acted automatically, watching the opponent move as if in slow motion. Taking up a better position, she stepped to the side and crouched down while holding the baton at an angle that would keep it ready.

The alien’s hand missed her completely. He stumbled as his knees hit a padded part of her uniform, lost his balance, and crashed forwards over Josie’s back. At the same time she straightened to add speed and force to his fall, ramming the tip of the baton into a place on the alien’s body she suspected would hurt.

The crash when the giant alien hit the bulkhead with a hardthudshook the whole station. He must have weighed five hundred pounds, Josie guessed as she spun around, ready for more.

Her assailant turned around on the floor, clutching his hands to his upper stomach where Josie had stuck the baton, deep in behind his ribcage. Gasping for air, he stared at her with wide, shocked eyes.

“One intruder down,” Josie said quickly into the comms. “I could really use some backup here!”

There was no reply.

“Dispatch, this is Fourteen,” she tried again. But nobody responded. There wasn’t even static.

Two more men came out of the hole in the wall, grinning and laughing loudly as they spotted her.

Josie turned to run, but the enemy she had taken down was partly blocking the exit, coughing and gasping. She put her foot on his shoulder and pushed with all her might, making him roll away.

As she was about to sprint out, someone grabbed her from behind and spun her around.

This alien wasn’t as huge as the first, but still a good seven feet tall.

With one arm still free, Josie punched him on the chin. She was glad she was wearing gloves with hard pads over the knuckles, or she might have broken her own hand.

The man wasn’t too impressed by it and fumbled around for her wrist.

Josie grabbed his beard and yanked at it with her full weight.

The man roared in pain and let go of her, giving her the split second she needed to swing her baton and connect it with the side of his neck, right under the ear.

Her assailant grunted as his knees gave under him, slowly sagging to the ground until he was sitting on the deck with his legs splayed out, looking at her with unfocused eyes.

The third man stood in the middle of the deck with his hand on his hips, a bemused smile on his face. He slowly lifted a massive hand and pointed at her with a big finger.

“Doar enshi keli raker,”he rumbled, making Josie’s chest tremble. His eyes were the most vivid blue she had ever seen, and his hair was a chaos of gold and silver. Like the two others, he had two pointy horns, but Josie could see no helmet. It was as if they grew straight out of his head.

“Dito darvis teikvem diherjame,”he chuckled.

He made no move to attack, so Josie ran to the exit and got out of the room.

“Dispatch!” she yelled into the comms. “Come in!”

There was still no reply. But there was a lot going on in the station — she could feel the deck shake, and there were faint noises that she didn’t like at all. There were voices, screaming and yelling and even bassy laughter.

Suddenly the corridor went dark as the sunny, full-spectrum light was replaced by the pale, ghostly glow of the emergency lighting.

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