Page 129 of Decadence

“Silence them,” Ikriss said coldly as he glanced up at the tower. A little human resistance was nothing to worry about. The Syndicate fools would all be dead soon, and Ikriss and his crew would be long gone, the human females safely in their possession.

His comm buzzed.

“I’m in,” Kail informed him, and Ikriss wasn’t surprised in the least that their temanjin had already infiltrated so far. “I’ve reached the place where the captives are being held. It’s a holding room on the highest floor. Several of them have sustained superficial injuries from beatings, but none of them are in a particularly bad way. It looks like they’re preparing to move them to another location; off-planet, probably. They’re probably waiting for a vessel to arrive from outside Earth’s orbit. But that’s not going to happen.”

“No,” Ikriss replied, shaking his head at the apparent stupidity of these humans. Did they not understand that there would be no more rogue ships? Ephrenian, Kordolian, human…

Their surveillance net would intercept them all, whether the human Federation liked it or not.

A strange niggling sensation settled at the base of his skull.

All around him, the soldiers of the Syndicate fell; bodies thudding, guns clattering to the hard ground as life was stolen away by Callidum blades and lethal shots of plasma.

For Ikriss’s warriors, this was a repeat of the past, a dance they fell into all too easily; superior Kordolian technology and power dominating the weaker species.

It almost felt too easy.

“We’re coming up,” Ikriss snapped, moving quickly through the warm, stifling night; past blood-stained pavement and lifeless human forms. The Second Division fell in behind him; silent, lethal, and perfectly in their element. It was quiet again. Even the barking creatures had gone silent. “Do not make a move until the safety of the human captives is absolutely guaranteed,” he said softly into his comm. “We will only attack when we are certain that we can take all of them out at once—without harming a single hair on the head of any female. And if you encounter the one called Eva, you are to notify me immediately. She is mine.” More specifically, she belonged to Sienna, but anything that his mate claimed as hers was also his.

“Don’t worry, I’m not moving until you get here,” Kail replied, his voice low and dangerous. “There are six that we need to take out here, and at least two dozen more on your way up. It might be easier to ambush them when they are on the move.”

“Let’s go,” Ikriss ordered, making signals with his hands in Eluti, the silent hand-language of the Kordolian military.

His squadron split into two groups.

Ikriss took the front entrance with three warriors—Gryke, Tarin, and Ruk. Lukin and the rest of his six went for the back.

As he reached a wide glass door at the front of the complex, Ikriss drew his longsword.

Absurdly, the doors slid open, and their unit stalked into a wide, cavernous entrance that reminded Ikriss a little of the opulent Jentian stone foyers that he’d seen installed in the ships of various wealthy pirate-traders—after he’d seized them.

Not a single guard rushed out to defend the tower.

They were all dead.

There were indeed humans on this floor. He could hear their murmurings; their clumsy footfalls.

But they were in hiding.

Cowering.

Ikriss ignored the humans as his men scoped the floor.

As much as they wanted to be, the humans were not a threat, and the only thing he cared about was getting to the females as quickly as possible.

Before all the hells broke loose.

Ruk made a signal with his hands. Over here. Access point.

Sword raised in one hand, plasma gun in the other, Ikriss brought up the rear as his men filed into a narrow stairwell. In contrast with the polished exterior, the stairwell was old and poorly maintained, with rusting metal railings and water leaking down the walls.

“Incoming,” Tarin warned.

A massive burst of fire roared down the stairwell, covering them in searing, licking flames.

Ikriss raised his gun through the fire; through the heat, aiming for a flicker of movement that he felt more than saw.

There.

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