Page 51 of My Alien Bughead
“Three more landing pods got through.”
Three more. With anywhere between five and twelve mercenaries per pod, the docks are about to become a full-on battlefield.
A tremor vibrates through the walls, followed by Omni’s whoop over the comm. “WOW! These are some seriously powerful grenades! Why don’t we use these all of the time?”
“Because we usually don’t have a ton of crylonite to lace them with,” I reply. “Be careful with those things. If you blast a hole in the outer wall, you’ll all end up dead.”
“Yeah, yeah, I know. I’d considered it as a last resort tactic but these fuckers are all wearing breathers, anyway.”
I frown. “They are? That’s odd.” Breathers are only good for fighting in places with low or toxic atmosphere. They’re usually discarded as soon as the atmosphere is breathable and stable because they get in the way and it’s more difficult to both breathe and see through them. The mercenaries don’t have any reason to use them here.
“Yep, odd as fuck. I guess they like the extra challenge.”
“Or they’re expecting life support to fail any minute,” I add absently. But how could life support fail? The environmental controls are on the inner side of the station, far from the docks. If the mercs ever make it there, they will have broken through the station’s defenses and there would be no need to vent the atmosphere anymore. But if they had someone on the inside…
“Lucía? You caught the saboteur, right?” My tension eases a little when she nods. “And you’re sure there wasn’t more than one? Or…” I look around the people, watching me with wide eyes. I hate to ask, but I have to. “Could someone here be helping them?”
Lucía scowls. “No! You think someone on the base is a QuantumTech spy? I don’t believe that. Besides, why would they send over that Karetelan we caught if they already had someone on the inside?”
“True. But still…” I can’t shake the feeling that we’re missing something. “There’s no way the enemies can reach theenvironmentals from the docks, right? No secret side tunnels or something?”
“No. That part of the station is only accessible from the main level. The entrance is near the train station.”
The train station. The tunnel that leads to the smelter. The smelter that is directly connected to the ore storage, where the harvesters deposit their ore after collecting it from outside of the station, which means it’s exposed from the outside. Shit. “Lyri? Did any of the landing pods head in a different direction? Like, not for the docks but for the other side of the asteroid instead?”
There’s a moment of silence. I can hear my pounding heart. It hurts. Not fucking good.
“Yes,” Lyriana replies. “There’s a lot of interference, but the scanners picked up one landing pod heading in a different direction. We thought its propulsion was damaged.”
“They’re going for the environmental controls,” I shout, jumping to my feet. Barely catching myself against the wall as my vision darkens, I command, “Requesting urgent backup at the train station.”
“We’re headed there now,” Zarkan says. “Stay where you are, D’Aakh. Understood?”
I scoff. That’s not happening. I’m much closer to the control room. They might not make it there in time and then everyone on the station will die. Including Lucía and I promised her she would be safe. “Stay here,” I tell her.
“No fucking way. You stay here. I got this.”
“You what?! Lucía!” She doesn’t respond, sprinting off through the tunnel without so much as a glance back at me. “Dammit!” I stumble after her as fast as I can, one hand clutching my aching chest. “Lucía! Wait!”
Chapter 30
Lucía
I don’t know whatpossessed me to sprint toward danger. I’m normally a rather cautious woman without any particular death wish. Yet, here I am, running towards what might very well be my death. These stupidly heroic Voidstalkers are a bad influence.
It’s not like I could let D’Aakh go instead. His heart wouldn’t make it and I have too many plans for him should we survive this to just let him die now. Most of them involve sex but a few are centered around cuddling and talking and just being together. After the sex, of course.
I have it bad and I don’t even care. He’s mine, and he’s not dying on my watch. Hence, it has to be me running straight toward the danger.
I have a plan. It’s not a good plan but it is a plan and, hopefully, it won’t involve me dying. It would be a shame to save D’Aakh’s life just to lose mine in the process.
Slowing down as I exit the old tunnels, I approach the main area of the station.
It’s quiet, unnaturally so. Everyone is either at the docks fighting the invaders, or hidden down in the tunnels. The station’s center has turned into a ghost town.
Making my way toward the train station, I hope I have enough time. For the hundredth time since I took off running, I reach for the rectangular object in my pocket, just checking it’s still there. Without it, there is no plan.
I still have it. Good.
