Page 6 of Badari Medic

As she made a run for their next temporary hiding place, she mulled over what he’d said. She hadn’t realized Brent was specifically assigned to protect her—she’d thought he was simply another soldier on the overall mission. She probably ought to be annoyed with Gabe, treating her like someone special instead of just another soldier, but on the other hand, here she was on the run and at risk of being captured. So maybe her pack’s enforcer had been right. Despite what Brent had said, she was wrong to have pushed so hard to be allowed on a combat mission and put others at risk by her mere presence. She played a meaningful role in the valley at the hospital and if she ever got safely back there, she’d be content doing her job there, helping the human doctors and the Badari healers.

Those in the flyer appeared to have a good fix on them and no matter what Brent and Raeblin tried in the way of evasion, the Khagrish came closer and closer. Brent was good but the enemy’s scanners were inexorable.

Raeblin was running through the brush hot on Brent’s heels when the flyer swooped out of the sun, flew right over them and fired a stunner blast. She was instantly paralyzed, unable to doanything to protect herself as she went head over heels on the ground, skidding to a halt with all kinds of minor abrasions. Unable to even turn her head, she heard Brent fall as well and then his breathing somewhere close at hand. She could tell from the sounds the flyer was landing and then harsh Khagrish voices sounded as the occupants filed out to examine their captives.

“A woman,” said one guard in mild disgust as he stood over her, flipping her over with the toe of his boot.

If she’d had any control at all over her body, she would have torn hum limb from limb and thoroughly enjoyed the violence.

The Khagrishi walked away to rejoin his comrades, who Raeblin gathered were clustered beside Brent.

“Your scanners must be miscalibrated,” one man said with a snap of command in his voice. “This man is human. We’ve been chasing a pair of worthless humans all this time.”

“The scanner is correct,” another Khagrishi argued as if offended by the remark about the scanning tech.

“There have only been two targets in range since they fled the lab complex under fire,” the first voice said with disgust. “No Badari here.”

As the men argued, Raeblin’s nervous system sparked and tingled as her body recovered from the stun ray. She was able to quirk her fingers ever so slightly and extend her talons. What would the enemy decide to do with them if they were so worthless? A lead weight settled in her gut as the tone of the discussion changed.

“Well ifheisn’t a Badari,” said the leader slowly, as if a stunning realization was taking root in his head, “Then she must be.”

“There aren’t any Badari females,” a third voice protested. “Never have been. The scanner is off, end of story. Wouldn’t be the first piece of equipment to be suboptimal on this planet.”

She heard footsteps approaching her and braced herself. All three Khagrish loomed over her and she glared at them with defiance, keeping her fangs and talons retracted. No need to confirm their guesses.

One squatted beside her, turning her face this way and that with a strong grip. “There was a rumor, dating to a time before any of us, that creating females was possible.” He forced her jaw open as she fumed and struggled internally, unable to move much more than fingers and toes. Touching the tip of her fangs with his gloved hand, he laughed out loud. “I don’t know where she came from or how she was created but we’ve got ourselves a rare prize today.” He rose, dusting his hands off while Raeblin gagged and fought angry tears. “Scan her for DNA identification.”

One of the other soldiers ran a device over her body, intent on the readout he was getting. “Badari all right. Pure stock, no codes, no designation.”

“A fucking miracle then,” the leader said with raised eyebrows. “And all ours. Worth going off the grid to hunt this one down for sure.”

“I think we should examine the goods more closely,” the third man said, leering and appraising Raeblin in a way that made her hackles rise and her inner predator snarl. “Can’t tell much with a combat uniform on her. I think we should do a closer examination, don’t you?” His expression was a leer which made her blood run cold.

No this couldn’t be happening…

After the initialhit from the stunner, Brett crumpled to the ground as helpless as any human would be. His mind was a whirlwind of anger at being caught and fear for Raeblin but he locked the emotion down immediately and switched toexecuting a mental protocol he’d been given when he was a test subject in a top secret government experiment. Oh yeah, these Khagrish bastards were going to be sorry they’d ever come to Ushandirr. Just give him a chance and pray no one put force cuffs on him before he got the damn implant to work.

His pulse rifle had remained relatively close to his body when he fell thanks to his iron clad discipline and the Khagrish hadn’t bothered to remove it when they gathered around him to debate the veracity of their scanners. When three of them clustered next to Raeblin, the fourth man lingered as if to guard Brent but he was distracted by what the others were doing.

A wave of cold fire burned through Brent’s body as the implant finally activated, throwing off the effects of the stunner from his nervous system in a three second burst of energy nearly as painful as being shot with a blaster would have been but then he was free to move. Taking in a deep breath, Brent rolled over, grabbed his last resort weapon from his boot and drilled the inattentive guard. Moving faster than most humans could manage, he twisted his upper torso and shot the three Khagrish standing over Raeblin. Two died instantly, falling on top of her helpless body but the third was only winged and shot back.

Scorching pain scored his side but Brent was already returning fire and the third soldier screamed and fell. With an enormous effort, he got to his feet and staggered to Raeblin, dragging the two corpses off her as fast as he could and then pulling her upright. “Are you hurt?”

She stared at him, eyes wide and golden and tried to form words. Brent hugged her close, having done a rapid visual scan and not seen any obvious injuries. Tears leaked from her eyes and she was trembling. “I know,” he said in a soothing voice. “It’s okay, you’re going to be ok. Can you move at all?”

Her nod was tremulous and slight but he was encouraged. “I’m going to carry you to a relatively safe spot close by. As soonas you can move, if I’m not back, I want you to promise me you’ll run. I’ll catch up if I can but you have got to be well away from here.”

Brent read disagreement in her eyes and as he picked her up, he said, “I need your word as a Badari. This is too important to argue with me. You saw where those bastards went mentally as soon as they realized what they had—it’ll be a thousand times worse if the scientists ever get you in a lab.”

Raeblin closed her eyes and a tear leaked out. He tightened his arms around her. “Fuck, I’m going to give the damn Alphas a piece of my mind when we get to the valley. You never should have been risked out here away from the valley. I know you wanted to serve, sweetheart, and you’re a good soldier—a terrific medic—but the dangers are simply too real.”

Raeblin weighed more than a human woman but Brent had trained to carry full grown Special Forces soldiers if necessary and he had no trouble with the task. He was jacked on adrenaline from killing the Khagrish, which also helped. Placing her carefully on the dirt next to a tumble of boulders, he assessed her with a quick glance and couldn’t refrain from kissing her on the forehead. “I’m going to get your medkit and rifle, so you have them. Sit tight and don’t worry, okay?”

This time her nod was more crisp and he was relieved strength was flowing through her. The stun blast was clearly wearing off. Moving fast, he did as he’d promised and brought her the items, propping the rifle on the rock within her reach. He squatted next to her, one hand on her arm. “I’m going to do a recon of the flyer, see if there’s anyone left there. We might have a ride home, which would be fantastic, right?”

“Yes,” she managed to enunciate. “Be careful.”

“Always,” he said, amused. Patting her shoulder, he rose and moved away through the forest. Brent hated to leave her there alone and defenseless but the clock was ticking in his head.Sooner or later the Khagrish would send out another patrol to check on the fate of this one and he and Raeblin had to be long gone, one way or the other.

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