Page 8 of Alien Viking's Plunder

As they fell, Bragr twisted around so she would not be underneath him — he was much bigger, and his weight might crush her.

They crashed to the floor as one, and Bragr quickly grabbed both the female’s wrists. He would prefer to keep that stick away from him, and her other hand away from his beard.

She wriggled and kicked in his arms, but he kept hold of her, enjoying her resistance but surprised at her strength.

“You are a lively one,” he groaned as he slowly got to his feet with the female pulled close with her back to him. “Like a wild vette hatchling.”

She suddenly threw her head backwards, but Bragr was prepared for everything now and narrowly avoided having his nose broken by the back of her head. He lifted the female off her feet and carried her back the way they had come, enjoying the scent and the warmth of her body. She hissed and sprattled and kicked, moving her limbs so fast they were a blur while yelling an unbroken rant of something that had to be terrible curses.

“I would ask you where you learned to fight,” he told her as he carried her, “but I don’t understand anything you say.”

He was able to drag her back to the central area of the orbital station, where the inhabitants of the station were standing around watching, offering no resistance, their bodies slumped. His raiders were returning to their ships with their arms full of loot.

“That’s a fine female, Chief,” one of them said, nodding. “Is she part of your plunder?”

“Myentireplunder, the way it looks now,” Bragr chuckled, having to use a lot of strength to keep the female in check. “She’s keeping me too busy to do much looting.”

“We’ve never taken living plunder before,” the other man said. “But here, it would seem like doing them a favor. Have you ever seen a more lifeless and miserable place to live? Hjalmarheim will seem like a paradise to her.”

Bragr smiled, encouraged. “Very much so, Arn. We will see. She’s coming with me, anyway.”

He shifted his grip on the female and carried her to his ship, passing through the round boarding tunnel that made an airtight connection with the station. Back in familiar surroundings, he quickly carried her to his stateroom and tossed her inside.

“Don’t break anything in here,” he admonished, chuckling at her crestfallen look. “I think you will like where I’ll take you.” He closed the door before she could pounce, then stood for a little while as she kicked and hammered at the door from inside. Her angry shouting was muffled, and the door seemed able to take it.

Bragr grinned and returned to the looting. This was not the richest target he had ever raided, but everything was so easily available, stacked up as if just waiting for Hjalmarheim raiders to come and take it. But there was no rush. They seemed to have the run of the whole place, and the defenders were puny and pitiful.

Except that one female.

Bragr chuckled to himself. She might provide some entertainment on the way back.

His crotch swelled at the thought of it. She was the most female creature he’d ever seen. And still she had flattened two of his best fighters.

He called to one of his warriors. “Siv, is there much left?”

“Not much, Chief,” she replied, carrying a rolled-up piece of fabric. “We got all their stocked-up metals and materials. They don’t have weapons, and their other items are fragile and silly, like toys.”

“Are we leaving the previous owners food enough to survive?”

“As you ordered, Chief. They’ll be fine. They’ll just be poor. We left all their spare parts, and we didn’t loot their personal cabins.” She glanced at the roll over her shoulder. “Well, not much, anyway.”

“Then let’s be on our way. I think for our raid in the fall, we will consider landing on the planet itself. If this station is typical of the inhabitants, then it could be easy pickings.”

“Badly defended riches is something I can learn to like,” the shieldmaiden said as she walked on.

Bragr did a quick final inspection of the station, finding the obviously critical parts still in working order. There was no air leak. The last thing he wanted was to leave thousands of aliens without water or air when he left.

Coming across a straggler, he urged him back to the ships. “No reason to stay here longer than necessary, Sigurdr. It doesn’t smell so nice.”

“Sour smells are very common on stations like this, Chief,” the warrior agreed. “They use the same air again and again, and soon they don’t notice the smell. Makes me happy I live in a place where the wind brings fresh air every moment of the day.”

Bragr slapped his shoulder in agreement. “Indeed we are fortunate! Now let’s get into our ships. We still have a long way home.”

He made sure all his raiders were onboard, then stepped into theKraken.

“Cast off,” he ordered. “Make sure we don’t leave any leaks. These aliens were kind enough to give us everything they had without resistance. Let’s not show our gratitude by killing them.”

“Aye, Captain,” the crew responded, using Bragr’s correct title for aboard ship.

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