Page 33 of Alien Knight Teddy Bear Troubles

Her heart beat.

Paused.

She was not going to make it back to Taeger. She was not going back to Earth.

She was dead. Right here. Right now.

So be it.

She lined up a missile and made sure to lock onto the ship that had fired at her. She’d taken down one of their fighters. The least she could do was take another one of the bastards with her.

Her missile and the enemy’s passed one another in space, flying in opposite directions.

Cassie placed her hands flat on her control panel and braced for impact, her pulse racing back to life at double speed. Time moving faster. Faster. Alarms sounded in her ship. The navigation system beeped. The weapons system pinged as the enemy ship tried to outrun the death she’d sent for them. She grinned as the missile followed their every move. Implacable. Unavoidable. Just like the one bearing down on her.

She filled her mind with Taeger. His kiss. His touch. The way he’d looked at her as he took her that last time. She loved him. That was enough.

Closing her eyes she knew it was over. The missile was so close she could have reached through the hull to touch it.

Then…silence.

Cassie blinked in confusion as the tip of the missile pierced her hull but did not explode. She watched it zoom past her, just over her head, and out the back off her ship like it was some kind of ghost.

Or she was.

Was she dead? Was this some kind of afterlife joke?

Her hands were still flat on the control panel as the enemy ship outside exploded on her view screen, her own missile not missing its target.

She glanced down to confirm, checking her instruments. The missile that had been coming for her was still moving through space, going farther and farther from her, as if her ship didn’t exist at all.

“What the hell?”

Sound came crashing in on her as she lifted her gaze to take control of the ship once more.

Her hands. Her skin.

She was sparkling. Everywhere. Like her entire body had been dipped in holographic nail polish. Rainbows of light reflected from her bare skin like she was wearing a million tiny prisms, each one creating its own microscopic rainbow of light.

Taeger’s words filled her mind.

‘The maju paste has a unique effect on the females of your race. Dagan’s queen, Sasha, as well as several other human females have transformed…’

Was that what was happening to her as well? She’d used Maju paste for weeks. She’d drunk their healing water. Was she turning into some kind of alien with magical powers? Was she going totransforminto something else? Like this Sasha woman on Earth Taeger had told her about?

Had she just made herself and her entire ship invisible? Or see through? Was she dead? Was she a ghost right now? Was she a wizard like the women she’d been half joking about?

Did it matter, if she could still blow up enemy ships?

No. It didn’t matter one bit. Dead or alive, she could still help Taeger and the others survive.

The ship shuddered as she stared at her hand, holding it up in front of her face and staring at her wiggling fingers. Everything was sparkling oddly. Skin. Fingernails. Even the tiny hairs on the backs of her fingers. She felt like a fairy princess.

Except she wasn’t dancing in daffodils, she was in outer space. And she didn’t have wings on her back, she was flying a ship that was still under attack.

“Shit.”

Some kind of light beam hit her ship and it shuddered again, the energy meter dipping for a few seconds as just one of at least two dozen dark beams made contact. She could see the odd energy beams, like black lasers, as most missed her.

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