Page 125 of Saved By the Alien Hybrid
“How do I shut off this fucking lockdown?” she asked him.
CHAPTER 51
With a groan of pain,Kliath braced a hand against the console and eased himself up to sitting. Black blood dripped steadily from the blow at the back of his head, but she refused to feel guilty about it.
He twisted, tapping a series of buttons from where he sat. A big, red notice came up on the screen.
“It has to be his hand,” Kliath rasped.
She moved to grab Urien’s wrist, but his arm weighed a goddamn ton, and he was too far away. Gritting her teeth, she held him by the fingers and blew his hand off his wrist with two quick shots. Kliath’s grimace mirrored her own. The wounds were instantly cauterized, a small mercy offset by the sickly sweet smell of burning flesh.
Swallowing the urge to gag, she carried the hand over to the console, where she found a familiar square of smooth, black glass. When she pressed it down, the console beeped a warning, and the text on the screen changed.
“Black button,” Kliath said, pointing to the button near the top of the console.
She slapped it, and the red lights cut out, replaced by the soft white lighting when they’d boarded. The blaring alarms fell silent, leaving her ears ringing hard in their stead.
“It’s done.” Kliath sighed, sagging. “There will be a five-minute interval before another lockdown can be initiated.”
“Put the feeds back up,” she said, nudging him with her boot. “I need to see the hangar.”
With a groan, he lifted himself up just long enough to comply. Her eyes flitted across the many feeds, searching for any sign of her people. When they fell on the hangar, relief swelled within her. Nyx was standing at the ramp of one of the ships, along with Ven, waving a swarm of children on board. There was no way of knowing if everyone had made it, but at least they’d succeeded in getting the children to safety. She was watching them seal the ship when Urien’s comm crackled.
“I would thank you to tell me exactly what you think you are doing, Urien,” an imperial voice said. “You cannot imagine the consequences you are about to face. If you are not dead already, pray to the Goddess that she reclaims you before I reach you.”
The line went silent. She shared a look with Kliath, whose features were a mask of dread.
“We did not know,” he blurted. “Not all of us. The recruiter did not mention the… circumstances of this posting. I would never have joined—but once we are here, we cannot leave. You understand, don’t you?”
Her mouth thinned. She wanted to argue with him, tell him that there was always a choice, but she saw Rentir’s shamed expression in her mind as he relayed his sins, and she couldn’t bear to be a hypocrite. She sighed, at least refusing to be responsible for comforting this male over his choices. Turning her attention to her blaster, she checked the rounds she had left.
Kliath blanched, eyes flicking to her blaster, and then his features grew resigned. He bowed his head, clearly ready to accept a final punishment.
“I need you to get up,” she told him.
“Why?”
“Up,” she snapped, yanking at his shoulder.
He staggered to his feet in confusion, glancing back at her as she shoved him toward the door. Understanding dawned on his face as they stepped out into the hall with her hand fisted in the back of his shirt.
“Please, they will not hesitate to shoot me,” he whispered, his eyes darting around the control room, where no one had noticed them yet. They were all preoccupied with shouting at one another as they flitted from console to console. “Don’t do this. I can help you.”
She eyed him hard, the raw anger of having been manhandled by one of his kind still burning bright in her veins. Shoving him, she nodded. “You fuck with me, I’ll put you down the same way I did your boss.”
He bowed his head in acknowledgment, taking a sharp breath before facing the chaos of the bridge. Drawing himself up tall, he stepped out into the fray. She pressed against the wall of the short hall, wary of any sign of betrayal. She couldn’t take the dozen people flitting around in the room, but she would take as many as she could with her on the way down, starting with Kliath.
“Evacuate immediately!” he shouted, waving his arms.
At first, none of the others paid any mind to him. They continued flitting back and forth, shouting to one another in a chaotic tangle of voices and conflicting orders.
“You have to—” Kliath was shoulder-checked hard by a male in a shimmery silver uniform.
Damn it all, this was pointless. She’d given up a hostage for nothing at all. Self-loathing consumed her, at least until Kliath darted to the closest console and slammed his hand down on something that made the entire bridge fill with a deafening shriek of feedback. They all went still; they cringed and covered their ears. Kliath released the button.
“Everyone on the bridge must evacuate immediately!” he boomed in a voice she wouldn’t have guessed he could produce.
“Are you mad? If we abandon our stations, theGidalanwill fall to these creatures! Do you think they will welcome us on their planet as we await rescue from theCeltalair?”
