Page 15 of Game on Askole

“You did not win the challenge, lady warrior.”Tihar’s armor reappeared like magic, and I didn’t like the determined glint in his yellow eyes.

“Arrgh! You’re an alien. I’m a human. Our parts won’t fit.”

“You think only Colettis can alter DNA?”

Horror rocketed through me. Oh, dear God. Me with black scaly skin and fangs? How did I stop this madness? Could I? One way or another, I would be converted, and when that happened, I would no longer be human. I turned to Voss. “Can Tihar modify my DNA?”

“Yes, but he won’t. His father, the High Commander, will not allow it,” the Battle Commander responded. He grasped me around the waist and teleported.

“Fear not, little warrior, I will come for you.”

With Tihar’s promise still ringing in my head, Voss and I were abruptly standing in a demolished sick bay. A Coletti wearing a medic’s red jumpsuit was sprawled on the floor and appeared to be unconscious.

A scanner whizzed by my head and hit the wall with a loud crash.

Whoa! Aunt Tess had Rho in a headlock and was doing her level best to choke him out.

The Battle Commander tightened his grip until I had trouble breathing.

Samantha ducked Rho’s attempt to grab her and jabbed him in the hand with a pressure injector filled with a sedative. The big Coletti swayed unsteadily on his feet.

Voss pulled his laser pistol and calmly stunned Sam. She collapsed to the floor as violent muscle spasms contorted her body.

Rho fell backward on top of Aunt Tess. Her arms and legs wriggling frantically under his heavy weight. “Help!”

Bastard!I summoned every ounce of psychic power I had and hurled it at Voss.

The Battle Commander grunted and shook his head as if to clear it. “With the proper training, your psychic battle skills will be adequate.”

Adequate? I’d give him adequate. I threw another mental punch.

Voss blocked my blow easily. “The Jones clan’s battle with us is over. You have been defeated.”

“As John Paul Jones once said, ‘I have not yet begun to fight.’”

The Battle Commander’s voice was low and dangerous. “Once we reach Tanith, you will be mated to Lothel, and you become his problem.”

“I think Tihar will have something to say about that,” I blustered.

“The Overlord will never permit that.” Voss picked the pressure injector off the floor and thrust it against my neck. “Now you join your clan in the stasis chambers.”

Everything went black.

Chapter Three

A kaleidoscope of images and sounds whirled through my mind. A terrible battle raged. The blackness of space was filled with ribbons of dazzling red energy beams. I flinched as brilliant billows of yellow and orange flames erupted around disintegrating spaceships. Our warriors were losing the fight to save Tanith.

The enemy’s battle cruisers unleashed a hail of bombs on our world. Cannon-like blasts ripped apart the night. Sun-bright holocausts raged across the continents. Wails of the dying filled my head as the Coletti citizens were engulfed by the ravenous flames. When the barrage ended, charred metal superstructures of the once-vibrant cities rose eerily from an endless ocean of radiation-blasted sand. Few had survived the attack. Devastating loss, rage, and the need for vengeance churned in my gut.

“Awake,” a female voice commanded.

My eyes popped open, and I jerked upright. The room spun dizzily around me. A petite woman with long silver hair and pointy ears stood next to me. Who was she? Where was I? Why was I handcuffed to a metal table? Good God, what was that awful smell?

“I am Detja, you are on Tanith, Voss thought the handcuffs were necessary, and you reek of skunk,” she answered as she removed the EEG bio-sensors pads from my temples.

Memories came flooding back. Central Command’s betrayal and my capture. My gaze fixed on Detja. She was the Overlord’s deadly mate. Rumor had it her powers equaled his. “What’s with the history lesson?”

“It is important you learn about your new home. Our past. Our culture. What your role will be. You also need to understand: the Overlord does whatever is necessary to protect the Coletti clans from harm.”

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