Page 50 of Alien Prince's Fake Bride
I nod. “With the course laid in and the faster-than-light drive engaged, there’s not much more for a pilot to do. And after this display of skill, it would be ridiculous to not give you a full tour of the ship, the one we should have given you last time. If you want.”
Umbra bounces up from the prince’s seat and pushes her sleeve up, revealing her AI. “Can I use Vera to record? She’s charged up.”
“You can record most of it,” I concede. “Just turn her off when I ask you to. The way things are going, soon you will need to teachyour planet’s other pilots how to fly the Khavgren ships we’ll give them.”
She gives me a big grin, energized by the piloting. “I’m sure all the hotshot fighter pilots on Earth will love being instructed by a little second lieutenant.”
“A little second lieutenant who’s bringing them real spaceships,” I add as we leave the control room and walk down the hallway. “If that were one of my officers, I’d say a promotion was in order. By the way, you did well today. The wedding, I mean. Superb acting.”
“I didn’t actually need to act much,” she says. “It all felt so real. And it didn’t last long.”
We step into the elevator. “It was perfect.”
I want to say more, but the things on my mind right now would sound weird to her. And to me.
We make our way through the ship, and I explain the most important things we see along the way.
“We’ll go check on Grast and her squad,” I decide when I’m getting tired of all the technical talk. “I want to know what they have planned if things go wrong.”
“I think if anything goes wrong,” Umbra says, “it will be because of people like Quaestor Preniat.”
“Perhaps. The Emperor has many spies, although I think I know who they are. There are others who are more devious. Oh, these are some of the escape pods.” I point to an outer wall, where twenty big circular hatches gleam dully side by side. “Each takes fifty crewmembers. But they will probably take eighty Earthlings.”
The metallic tang of stale air and spilled lubrication fluids hangs heavy in the cramped corridor.
“Wearea little smaller than Khavgrens,” Umbra ponders, her brow furrowed as she adorably gets up on tiptoes, her breath misting the round window of one of the pods. “Uh… looks like there’s someone in here?”
“I can’t imagine—,” I begin.
With a sharp hiss of depressurization, six of the escape pod hatches fly open, the edges of the portals momentarily rimmed with a frosty vapor before dark shapes writhe and flow out. The air thickens with a musky, alien scent, sharp and predatory.
“Vyrpy!” I roar as adrenaline floods my senses. In one swift, desperate move, I draw Bellatriz. The familiar weight of the sword is a small comfort against the sudden terror.
The sleek, gray monsters are all among us. Their muscular bodies move with a disturbing fluidity. Razor-sharp fangs glint in the dim emergency lights, and their claws, like obsidian shards, click against the metal floor. Some of them are already between me and Umbra, their reptilian eyes fixated on her with chilling hunger.
I hack at them with wild abandon. The impact of the crystal blade on their natural shell sends jolting vibrations up my arm. Sparks fly as Bellatriz glances off their armored hides. But they are agile, unnervingly so, scaling the walls with surprising speed, their multi-jointed limbs finding purchase on invisible crevices. Their electric rods spit crackling blue energy and their long, thin spears, tipped with something that looks sickeningly organic, lash out. One grazes my cheek, leaving a searing trail of heat.
“Mareliux!” The unarmed Umbra is pressed up against the wall, in a knot of at least three Vyrpy that tower over her.
I see the terror widen her eyes, the frantic pulse in her neck.
With a mighty effort, I disregard the searing pain in my side where a claw rakes across my armor and hack and push my way through the writhing mass. The air is thick with their guttural hisses and the metallic tang of their blood. But there are too many of them, and their coordinated attacks are relentless. For every one I cut down, two more take its place. But at least now I can reach Umbra, so I can get her to some semblance of safety.
“Get in!” I roar, my voice raw with fear and urgency as I shove Umbra towards one of the open escape hatches the Vyrpy erupted from.
Her small frame stumbles, then tumbles inside the dark opening.
A Vyrpy tries to dive in after her, its eyes burning with malevolent intent and its elongated limbs scrabbling for purchase on the rim. A lance of agony sears my thigh from behind — one of their damned spears has found its mark. I have to stumble back before I can even think about dragging Umbra’s attacker out of there.
I needn’t have worried. A hard, invisible tug slams into me, centered deep in my chest. My ring flares, not just shining, but blazing with a light so intense I have to look away. The Vyrpy halfway inside the pod comes flying back out as if hurled by a furiousragor. Its body twists unnaturally in mid-air before slamming against the opposite wall with a wet, sickening thud.
Umbra’s Syntrix, I think to myself.
I instinctively kick the hatch shut. The heavy metal door groans as it seals, severing Umbra from the threat. I immediately regret it. The emergency red light above the hatch blinks once, twice, then turns a steady, ominous blue while an alarm wails. A heavy internal metal wall slams down with a resounding clang, and then there’s a tremendous, bone-jarringbangas the pod is ejected into the black void of space with Umbra trapped inside.
The force of the launch sends a shockwave through the deck. And through my mind. TheGladiuxis moving at beyond light speed. The escape pod was never designed for that kind of stress. It was only meant to be used well within a solar system while moving at sublight speeds. I can only imagine the forces tearing at its fragile frame.
I have to get her back. Parrying and thrusting and slashing all the while, my movements fueled by a desperate fury, I throw myself towards another escape pod, the metallic tang of fear and adrenaline coating my tongue. I ignore the throbbing agony in my leg, scramble inside, and slam the hatch shut. It gets eerily quiet before the force of the ejection slams me back against the closed hatch with brutal intensity. I have to fight for every breath. My vision is swimming with black spots. I can barely believe the insane, reckless thing I just did. But the image of Umbra, alone and vulnerable in the unforgiving vacuum, burns behind my eyelids. I have to reach her. I have to.
