Page 38 of My Alien Pirate

But the other captain merely laughed. "I think not. She'll fetch a fine price on the Omega markets. Perhaps I'll keep her for myself..."

That was it. With a roar of fury, I launched myself at Vex'kar. My tentacles lashed out, seeking vulnerable points in his armored hide. At the same time, I spat a glob of paralytic toxin at his face praying none sprayed onto Nova.

Vex'kar was fast, but not fast enough. The toxin splattered across his eyes, causing him to screech in pain and loosen his grip on my little alien. She stumbled back, and I saw Grixxa pull her to safety from the corner of my eye.

All around us, chaos erupted. My crew fought with desperate valor against Vex'kar's boarding party. Lyra's cloud-like form crackled with lightning, sending enemy pirates flying. Jorixx had formed his crystalline body into a mass of razor-sharp shards, slicing through armor and flesh alike.

But I had eyes only for Vex'kar. We grappled furiously, a tangle of tentacles and claws. His armor deflected most of my strikes, while his superior strength threatened to overwhelm me.

A lucky swipe of his claw caught me across the chest, drawing a line of burning pain. I reeled back, my vision blurring. Vex'kar pressed his advantage, two of his strong arms wrapping around my throat.

"I'm going to enjoy this," he hissed, tightening his grip.

As spots danced before my eyes, I heard Nova cry out. "Zharrox! The orb!"

Through my darkening vision, I saw her pointing at something.The Celestial Pocket! Of course!

With the last of my strength, I reached out and grabbed the glowing orb by its heavy pedestal. As Vex'kar's grip tightened further, I smashed the delicate sphere against his face.

"Hit the deck!" I screamed at my crew as I dropped to the metal floor with a loud reverberation.

The effect of the orb was immediate and catastrophic. Reality seemed to warp and twist around Vex'kar as the miniature universe contained within the orb was released. He screamed, a sound of utter cosmic terror, as his body began to distort in mind-bending ways.

I recoiled, gasping for air, grabbing hold of anything I could to anchor me as Vex'kar and his crew were pulled into the swirling vortex of space-time. In a flash of impossible geometries and colors that hurt to look at, they vanished.

For a moment, silence reigned on the bridge. Then, with a groan of effort, I pulled myself to my feet. "Report," I croaked.

"Ship enemies…neutralized, Captain," Grixxa responded, her voice shaky with adrenaline. "The Crimson Claw is undocking."

I nodded, wincing at the pain from the slash across my chest. "Set a course away from here, maximum speed. I don't want to be around when-"

My words died in my throat as I realized Nova was no longer on the bridge. "Where is she?" I demanded, panic rising in my chest. "Where's Nova?"

Grixxa's eyes widened in alarm. "She was here just a moment ago, I swear!"

A cold dread settled in my gut. In the chaos of the fight, one of Vex'kar's crew must have slipped away with her. Which meant...

"They took her," I growled, my vision tinging red with rage.

26

Unlikely Compatriots

Astrange feeling seized the hearts in my chest as I saw the Crimson Claw slowly turn away from us. Getting ready to take Nova, my mate, away from me.

"Grixxa, you have the bridge. I'm going after her."

"What? Zharrox, no!" Grixxa protested but I ignored her. I raced through the corridors of my ship, following the trail of destruction left by the retreating pirates. My wounds screamed in protest, but I ignored them. Nothing mattered except getting Nova back.

I reached the airlock just in time to see a pirate shuttle detaching from my ship, no doubt headed back to the Crimson Claw. Shocked, my mind quickly shuffled through possibilities. There was not time to get into my own pod. to follow. Without hesitation, I jumped into my environment suit hanging in front of me and launched myself into space.

The void between ships was a gauntlet of debris and weapons fire. Turning on my blasters, I propelled myself forward,dodging energy blasts and twisted metal. My focus narrowed to a single point - the shuttle carrying Nova away from me. It must have been damaged as well as it was moving at less than half the speed I knew the vehicle could go. That was the only way I was able to gain on it in just my suit.

I had almost caught up to the struggling black shuttle, when alarms blared in my ears and the calm, disembodied voice of our ship AI came into my helmet. "Loss of seal in Area Two. Emergency return to ship activated."

"No! Abort emergency return!" I yelled while typing frantically trying to override the emergency systems, but it was no use. There was no way to cancel an emergency call by the ship itself. I wanted to slam my fists into something in frustration, but there was infuriatingly nothing but space around me.

I could only stare at the other ship get smaller and smaller as I was ingloriously pulled back toward the Stryker in defeat.

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