Page 30 of Taming Chaos

Boom! There was a jarring thud, and Seph guessed the container had just landed on a hard surface.

The metallic banging stopped. The shuddering movement stopped. As if fate wanted to be an asshole and throw in a bit of dramatic effect, the lights in the cabin winked out, thrusting them into darkness.

“That’s intentional,” Torin whispered. “They want you confused, disoriented, and afraid.”

Seph shuddered as she imagined the kind of state she would have been in if Torin hadn’t forced his way into her metal prison.

“Don’t worry about a thing.” He sounded supremely confident.

“Let me guess, you can see in the dark too?”

“One of the joys of living on a lightless planet.”

“Of course.” A high-pitched laugh—half amazement, half disbelief—burst from Seph’s lips. As a xenologist, she felt she should know about these sorts of things, but the Kordolians that had settled on Earth were notoriously secretive. Initially, their arrival had caused a dark storm of panic amongst the human population, but as the fickle news cycle churned on, speculation about the threat of invasion had dwindled, and the Kordolians had gone to ground.

There were occasional reports of sightings, but to see a Kordolian in public was extremely rare. Apparently, they only came out at night, like deadly nocturnal unicorns, and even then they were elusive, evading notice with the help of cleverly designed disguises. The drone-a-razzi tabloids were filled with dark, blurry pictures of unconfirmed sightings.

Elusive, dangerous, sexy. No wonder they’d developed cult followings on Earth. There were even these crazy… fan-groups that were obsessed with catching a glimpse of the silver ones.

And now Seph had one all to herself.

Boom. The doors of the crate snapped open, flooding the room with a shaft of blinding white light. Out of instinct, she stepped out of the column and into the shadows, not wanting to be seen by the outsiders.

“Stay right here,” Torin whispered. “Hold your gun in both hands, safety off.”

Seph’s arms were surprisingly steady as she lifted the weapon, steeling herself.

“Good.”

And then he was gone, leaving Seph blinking furiously as unseen enemies gathered before her.

Somehow, she wasn’t as afraid as she should have been. That was probably the Torin Effect. He didn’t seem afraid of anything, so why should she be?

As her vision cleared, revealing a wide dock filled with a seething crowd of aliens, Seph gasped.

Most of the aliens appeared to be those yellow-skinned Bartharrans. Hyper-aggressive, short-tempered, extremely dangerous Bartharrans. With their menacing front tusks, coarse features, and intricate tribal tattoos, they looked savage and powerful. They all wore variants of typical Bartharran armor; suits of a rusty red color that seemed to be made from flexible metal chainmail.

Some of them went bare-chested, proudly displaying their broad, muscular bodies and swirling black tattoos. Long black hair was arranged in a variety of styles; high topknots, twin braids, and dreadlocks seemed to be fashionable. Heavy bone jewelry adorned their necks, and their ears were pierced with an array of long white needle-like decorations. Some of the Bartharrans sported thick beards that were plaited and decorated with shiny metal beads.

Bartharrans were a physically large species. The average height of the males seemed to be around seven foot; they were even taller than Torin, and he was tall.

Oh, crap.

There were hundreds of them. Seph and Torin were massively outnumbered.

She caught sight of Torin—now fully armored, his face hidden beneath his dark helm—striding toward the amassed Bartharrans, twin swords drawn.

What are you doing, warrior?

One man against hundreds? Did he have a secret death-wish, or was he just really, really fucking sure of himself?

Startled murmurs rippled through the group of Bartharrans. Torin shouted something in a guttural language she didn’t understand.

Guns were drawn. Murmurs became shouts. The crowd surged.

Boom!

A bolt of bright blue plasma seared her retinas. The Bartharrans raged forward. Torin became a dark blur, somehow evading the plasma fire, slipping into the chaos like a fine thread through the eye of a needle.

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