Page 3 of Alien Knight Teddy Bear Troubles

Taeger had taken point, the other members of the rescue team fanned out behind him. Momentarily thankful for the ship’s artificial gravity, he knew it was not meant for comfort or safety. Rather, it was to keep the prisoners in prime condition during transport. Compliant. Damage free.Fresh.

They’d watched the Dark Ones devour world after world, while those who could help had been ordered by the Intergalactic Council to stay out of the way. Taeger and his men were Lumerian Knights, their world once bound by the same Council. Lumeria was gone now. Destroyed. Survivors were hunted. He and his men had been on their own all this time. Survived the destruction. They made their own rules now.

They’d spent years preparing. Cultivating trade partners. Some legitimate. Some black market. They would do whatever was necessary to take down their enemies. Unfortunately, this vessel was full of innocents. Of terrified people. And Ion.

Ion should have been safe on Mora Five while he and his teams were on a mission. He’d left good Knights behind. Strong. Capable. Fierce in battle. Now they were most likely gone. Agony, fresh and raw, tore through him until he ruthlessly pushed it down. He had to focus. He couldn’t afford to make a mistake.

The boy was important. To Ion’s people, to Taeger, the boy represented hope for the future. Survival. He’d waited nearly two thousand years to bring the young king out of cryo-sleep. Waited until he thought it was safe enough to do so; waited until he simply couldn’t wait anymore.

To the Dark Ones, Ion was one more piece of meat to be butchered and consumed. Worthless, unless someone had tipped them off to Ion’s existence. Guilt rode him hard. Had they slipped? Had the A’Nua Na-KI discovered one of their secrets? Discovered that the royals had been smuggled off of Lumeria just before the planet had imploded? Had they sent the Dark Ones to Mora Five looking for Ion? Taeger and the others had vowed to protect the young royal, would sacrifice everything to make sure he survived. Everything. They’d accepted their fate the moment they received the distress call from Mora Five and realized Ion had been taken.

The Dark Ones existed to kill. Feast. Nothing else. They were terrifying beyond reason, shifting instantly between one dimension and the next, making it nearly impossible to injure or kill them. Their razor sharp claws, on the other hand, could slice through nearly anything. Dark Ones could tear. Rip. Crush. Or worse, eat them alive.

Taeger’s free hand fisted around a white ring attached to the sling that hung from his shoulder. A Sword of Ohm-Ra. He carried as many as he could, as many as their people had been able to acquire. The Swords of Ohm-Ra were their only hope of victory.

Greig, his second in command on this mission, looked around grimly, gripping his weapon tighter as he murmured, “You sure we can’t blow this place to all hell?”

Taeger answered without glancing back. “There are too many people on board. We do not kill innocents.”

“They may prefer death.” Greig’s response was grim, but true.

“We’ll do what we can,” Taeger replied as he looked around, knowing the likelihood of any of them surviving, let alone other prisoners, was unlikely.

At their backs the walls were like carved stone, the markings on the black surface uniform and repeated. Every eight paces an inset appeared, the sliding doors set back just a few inches from the main walls of the corridor.

Those were the holding cells, one after another. Dozens of them.

Greig lifted his weapon, mounted on his forearm, and aimed at something farther down the corridor. “Incoming!”

“Damned thing’s fast, and I think it can see us,” another warrior added, his calm demeanor never faltering.

The deep, steady voice came from behind Taeger and to his left. Seth. A good man. A fierce fighter.

“Fire!” Taeger ordered, lifting his weapon, blasting the creature as quickly as he could. On either side of him, Seth and Greig did the same. Their job was to slow the Dark Ones down so the warriors behind them could move into position and strike with the Swords of Ohm-Ra, bury the curved blades in the Dark One’s flesh, temporarily anchoring the enemy to this dimension. Only then could they be destroyed.

“It’s not slowing down!” Greig shouted.

“Keep firing,” Taeger ordered grimly as the others fanned out to the sides, ready to close in.

And there were more. Somewhere. Taeger felt the stirring of their minds like dark shadows on his soul.

This one was smiling. Or whatever passed as a smile on its inhuman face. With skin stretched tight, black as the walls but dull, its body absorbed all light and reflected none. The eyes were sunken into a matte black face, its expression unreadable. Bottomless. Predators’ eyes. Rounded pieces of bone protruded from the skin in a vertical arched pattern where eyebrows should have been, the pieces stark white and shocking in the dark. Similar pieces of bone erupted from flesh along the cheeks and around the mouth, down its chest in a macabre display meant to inspire terror.

The creature leaped through the air ahead of them, disappearing, only to reappear a split second later, falling upon them from the other direction. Taeger twisted around, weapon firing repeatedly, but the direct energy was instantly absorbed by some sort of shield wrapped around the Dark One’s body.

One clawed hand, with fingers twice the length of Taeger’s and razor sharp, slashed through the armor of the warrior behind Greig like the suit was made of tissue paper. Lyari’s scream was cut short as the Dark One slashed his throat.

Greig bellowed with rage, firing rapidly at the Dark One. Evil eyes turned toward him as it fed on the downed warrior’s spraying blood, completely unaffected by their weapons as it dragged Lyari’s body back down the corridor. Unaffected. Amused.

Taeger couldn’t allow himself time to grieve the loss of his friend, or he would lose the rest of them. He grabbed Greig and dragged him back, his voice rough with emotion. “Look. Lyari’s already gone. We need to regroup. Figure out how to get through those shields long enough to use the Swords of Ohm-Ra.”

Taeger motioned to his men to gather closer, never taking his eyes from the gruesome creature jealously guarding its kill, Lyari’s lifeless body already unrecognizable. “Our weapons barely slow them down.”

Seth interjected, “Where is the boy?”

“Lower level. Right under us,” Taeger nodded, glancing at the energy signature readout. “He’s not alone.”

“So, as far as possible from our current position,” Greig shouted as he blasted the creature with what should have been a mortal blow.

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