Page 28 of The Alien Warrior's Vow

“What?” Korben gawked.

“Eema managed to move faster than the blink of my eye in the suit today,” Lans explained. Turning to Chozo, he finished through gritted teeth, “but she grew weak immediately. It was very dangerous.”

The Heronas shrank back. “Oh. I did not know that part.”

“Lans, that’s incredible.”

“I warned her against using that technique today. She needs more practice.”

“And yet, it gives me peace to know they can speed away if they are in grave danger.”

Lans licked his lips. “Let us hope it does not come to that.”

“Were you not training Eema for the worst?” Chozo asked.

“Yes.” Lans dipped his head. “But I do not wish for her to need that training.”

Sunlight crept into the room, first bathing their boots and then their legs and finally their faces. The three of them stood still for a moment.

Lans wished he could chase the sun away, but it stubbornly dawned without his permission.

Clanks of metal echoed in the distance.

“What is that?” Chozo asked, twisting his neck.

Lans spoke without hesitation. “Eema is baking.”

He had been living with her for longer than anyone else. The female had a strange habit of making scrumptious desserts when she was stressed. Despite having to work with meager ingredients and their alien tools, Eema found ways to make all kinds of delicious meals.

Determined female.

She would come back safely.

She had to.

Lans headed out of the room with Korben and Chozo on his heels. The others were also gathered.

Whenever they were together it was usually loud, raucous and chaotic, but the mood was incredibly subdued. Even the chatty human, Leel, clamped her lips shut and said not a word.

He stared into Eema’s eyes. The stunning green and blue—reminiscent of the planet from which she came—pulled him in like a magnet. Lans’s arms throbbed, needing to hold her close.

Instead, he nodded at her. “We have no time to sit and eat.”

“I know.” She lifted her chin. “It’s for when we get back.”

When we get back.

The room shifted uneasily.

Reality spoke of a much harsher end. The females destroying the force field from the inside was only the first part of the plan. They would storm the colony next. It would, undoubtedly, emerge in a clash between the two species.

The Plutonians were fierce in battle with centuries of training and experience. They had a cause to unite them and a future to protect.

But so did the Heronas.

Their enemies fought to find a cure for their disease. They had far more dangerous and experimental weapons. Though the Plutonians could take them in hand-to-hand combat, they could not compete in the areas of weaponry.

Not everyone would return alive.