Page 64 of Legacy for the Alien Warrior

And if there was one thing she had learned about her mate, it was that when it came to protecting what was his, nothing in the universe could stand in his way.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

Thraxar piloted his ship with single-minded focus, his hands moving across the controls with the precision of long practice. The tracking system he’d installed on the stolen vessel pinged steadily on his navigation screen—a bright dot moving away from the planet at maximum burn. His jaw clenched as he pushed his engines harder.

No one took what was his. No one.

The bounty hunter had a lead, but Thraxar knew these lanes better than most. He’d spent years mapping the shortcuts, the gravitational wells, the debris fields that could cut travel time for those brave or desperate enough to use them. Today, he was both.

His tail lashed behind him as he adjusted course toward the third moon’s gravity well. Most pilots avoided the area—the moon’s unstable orbit created unpredictable tidal forces that could tear a ship apart. But Thraxar had threaded this needle before.

“Hold on, little one,” he murmured, though Talia was far beyond hearing him. “I’m coming.”

The ship shuddered as it entered the gravitational field. Warning lights flashed across his console. Thraxar ignoredthem, his black eyes fixed on the trajectory calculations. A miscalculation of even a few degrees would crush his ship like an eggshell.

He felt the precise moment when the gravitational slingshot caught hold—the stomach-dropping lurch as his vessel accelerated to speeds no conventional engine could achieve. The stars blurred outside the viewport. His body pressed hard against the pilot’s seat.

Then, just as suddenly, he was through. The ship stabilized, and the navigation system recalibrated.

He’d cut the bounty hunter’s lead by more than half, and he allowed himself a predatory smile. The hunter was about to become the hunted.

His communications system chirped with an incoming transmission. He accepted it without taking his eyes off the pursuit course.

“Captain.” Elrin’s calm voice filled the cockpit. “I was correct. Talia is Lumiri.”

He frowned. “Lumiri? I thought they were extinct.”

“Nearly. Their homeworld was devastated by civil war fifteen standard years ago. The ruling faction, the Concordat, destroyed most of the resistance forces. There were rumors that the resistance leader’s family escaped offworld, but they were never confirmed.”

“Until now,” he said grimly.

“Be careful, my friend. If she is who I suspect, powerful forces will want her eliminated.”

“They will have to go through me first.”

The transmission ended, and he increased his speed. The dot on his navigation screen grew closer with each passing minute.

Three hours into the pursuit, his sensors detected the bounty hunter’s ship changing course—heading toward anuninhabited moon orbiting a gas giant. Perfect. No witnesses, no interference.

He ran a quick weapons check as he followed the vessel down through the moon’s thin atmosphere. The barren, cratered surface offered few hiding places. His sensors tracked the ship to a narrow canyon where it set down beside what appeared to be an abandoned mining facility.

He landed his own vessel a kilometer away, concealing it behind a ridge of jagged rock. The air was thin but breathable, the gravity slightly less than standard. Both would work to his advantage.

He strapped on his weapons—a plasma pistol at his hip, a vibroblade in his boot, and a pulse rifle slung across his back. He hesitated, then added a neural disruptor to his belt. He wanted the bounty hunter alive long enough to answer questions.

The canyon walls provided good cover as he approached the facility. His enhanced vision picked out the security measures—motion sensors at ground level, a thermal scanner above the main entrance. Amateur work. He disabled them without breaking stride.

The facility’s layout was also simple—a central processing area connected to storage bays and living quarters. Thraxar moved silently through the shadows, his senses alert for any sign of Talia or her captor.

He heard them before he saw them—a child’s frightened whimper, followed by a harsh voice.

“Quiet! One more sound and I’ll sedate you again.”

His blood boiled. He slipped around the corner and saw them—Talia, her translucent ears flattened against her head in terror, crouched in a small holding cell. The bounty hunter stood nearby, checking readings on a portable scanner. He was humanoid, heavily muscled, with cybernetic enhancements visible along his jawline and arms.

He aimed the neural disruptor and fired. The bounty hunter convulsed as the charge hit him, then collapsed to the floor. Talia scrambled back against the wall of her cell, her big eyes wide with fear.

He holstered the disruptor and approached slowly, keeping his movements calm and deliberate.

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