Page 33 of Devin (Warriors of Etlon #5)

Grena nodded and Val returned the nod. The door slid open to reveal the captain sitting in a chair with his feet propped up on the chair next to him.

He only had the slightest moment for his face to register his alarm before Val aimed and shot him.

Then, the look on his face was sheer annoyance.

He stood without showing any signs of impairment from the weapon.

“Stupid little Terran. Did you really think I’d hand over a weapon that did any damage to me? I’m Adrastian! Poison and most shock weapons have no effect on me.”

Val wasn’t prepared for the fire to burn across her cheek as he backhanded her and then grabbed Grena by the neck. The weapon clattered to the ground as Val was thrown back. Captain Cocak brought both of his hands to Grena’s neck and began to squeeze.

Val grabbed the gun, mainly because it was the only thing she could see that might have any weight and mobility to it.

She made a flying leap and landed on his back.

Val used the weapon and started bashing Cocak’s head.

Unfortunately it was too light weight to do much damage, but it served its purpose.

Cocak released Grena to start pawing at Val.

Grena slunk to the ground and began to hit him in a more vulnerable area.

That really got his attention. He backed away from Grena and flung Val into a wall.

“Bitch!” Once again Val’s head exploded with pain as she sagged down the wall.

Cocak snatched the weapon out of Val’s hand and shot Grena, who immediately passed out.

He trained the weapon on Val, but didn’t immediately pull the trigger.

She saw the look, had seen it several times in the eyes of a drunk or just nasty patron who was about to play really dirty.

“You know that when the Mahdfel find you, they’re not going to throw you into prison. They are going to kill you,” she spat out.

“This is not my fault,” he said, waving the weapon in the air.“This is your husband’s fault. I was supposed to be- It was all going to be simple. I was to deliver the princess, and then bring her right home. And then on the way home, beset by pirates, she’d be whisked away to be their problem.”

“For a modest fee. From the pirates,” Val said. As long as he was talking, he wasn’t considering doing other nasty things.

“These are pirates you don’t say no to. I couldn’t just show up, my cargo hold full of delicacies and no princess. At the very least they would have taken everything I had. At the most, they’d take everything I had and then kill me.”

“So you figured Charlette would take the blame? No one is going to believe she forced you into kidnapping us,” Val said.

“You lack faith in my ability to spin the facts to my advantage.”

“And what happens when we’re rescued and tell the truth about what happened?”

“I will be far, far away on the other side of the galaxy. You see, we Adrastians have the other advantage of looking alike. All other aliens see is our super pigmentation. A few name changes, a ship upgrade, and a new captain rises from the dead!” He raised his arms in emphasis.

They were short stubby things that made him look slightly comical.

An alarm sounded from the console.

The captain let out a gurgly chuckle as he went over and pushed a few buttons on the panel. Val felt a shudder run through the ship.

“And that’s them docking now. How do you want to do this? Conscious, or unconscious?”

It wasn’t much of a choice. If she was out, she couldn’t protect Grena, or guarantee that she’d even wake up at all. They were after a princess, not her and who knew if they were into excess baggage?

The door hissed open and three aliens stepped through the door.

Val had seen an alien or two before, and she’d seen plenty of pictures and vids, but most of them featured Mahdfel, most of which were built like sexy gods, but these were definitely not Mahdfel.

For one, they were much smaller and thinner.

Secondly, their skin was a sort of transparent pink jelly, like an amoeba she’d seen under a microscope.

They still had two arms and two legs, but they were less defined, as if they molded themselves into a shape that resembled the most common appendages.

They weren’t wearing uniforms as much as an agreed upon color scheme of a sort of forest green with a bright blue that Val would have never put together.

It was a bit of a shock to see them, looking so alien, and yet able to have a perfectly normal conversation through the hole in their face that must be a mouth.

“Hello, gentlemen,” Cocak said as gave a little bow and a big black toothy grin. The pirates were not in as congenial a mood.

“What the hell is that?” the tallest one said, pointing toward her.

“That is a bonus prize. Two princesses for the price of one!”

“She’s not Takalian.”

“No, but she’s the daughter of one. That’s why I’m throwing her in to the deal. It’s better to have two. They stay calmer that way. And if one steps out of line, you just threaten the other.”

Amoeba pirate seemed to consider this for a while, then let out a ripple, which Cocak took to be acquiescence.

“Now if you really want a special, I’ve got a third in the hold. Now, she’s not a princess. She’s a Terran. Quite rare out here in this sector.”

“Terrans are trouble. At least that’s what I’ve heard. Backwards, obstinate.”

“But they’ve got very talented mouths, and versatile tongues,” the captain said. Val figured he spoke from experience, and then tried to get the image out of her head of Charlette on her knees giving him a blowjob.

“I don’t know,” Amoeba dithered.

“Considering I’m giving you one for free already, I figured half price was fair.” Charlotte wouldn’t like that at all. Being half the price. “It’s a bargain really, if you consider it. 100 for each. Priceless, once in a lifetime deal.”

Val had no idea if a hundred was good or bad to judge for herself, and she had no idea of the currency or the rate.

“I’ve got a better idea,” Amoeba pirate said. Without any warning, he pulled out a weapon and shot Cocak in the head. Black blood and particulates splattered all over the console. He was definitely not immune to that weapon, and he was definitely dead.

These pirates were not fucking around. Amoeba called into his communicator. “Done. Hook up the back and clean out the hold. Make it quick. I don’t trust the asshole not to have made a back up plan. Probably got a daily lockdown code.” He motioned to his underlings. “Grab them.”

With that, Val found herself being escorted from the ship through a small tunnel and into a much larger ship.

If Cocak’s ship was the size of a large yacht, this was a cruise ship.

There were people everywhere, and not just more amoebas.

Every color and shape seemed to be represented in the rainbow crew.

They marched through a large common area. One yellow alien with long pink tentacled hair took a long sniff and made a face. She obviously didn’t like what she smelled, but she made no comment other than to glare at the passing group.

Val tried to make a mental note of the layout, and count the number of people she saw. By the time they made it to the holding area, she’d counted at least 53 pirates. It would take an army to break them out of this ship. That’s if they had a way to find them. Space was a very big place.

The amoeba pirates seemed glad to dump Grena in a cell, and without asking, Val followed and sat on the floor next to her prone companion. They either didn’t mind, or couldn’t be bothered to separate them. The pirates erected the force fence and went about their business.

In short order, the two were alone. Val prodded her face. Her eye was beginning to swell up and her headache was going into migraine territory. Grena stirred beside her. She sat up suddenly and looked around.

“We’re on a pirate ship. Cocak planned to sell you on the way home all along. He’s dead. They killed him,” Val summed up.

“Thank goodness for small miracles. What about the bitch?”

“Still locked in a cargo container as far as I know. This place is huge. I’d guess a hundred or so crew.”

“What kind of crew?”

“All kinds, colors. The leader seems to be like a walking jellyfish. You can see through his skin. And he’s got blobby arms and legs,” Val said, waving her arms in response.

“I do not know what a gelatin fish looks like, but he sounds like a Georgun. They are a generally unpleasant race that looks down upon most other species as they don’t have an actual skeleton.

They are the worst dinner companions. You can see right through their digestive tract and watch their stomachs digest every squishy morsel.

Quite disturbing if you do ask me,” Grena said, shuddering.

“But if they have a diverse crew, then it sounds like they are more tolerant, and well organized,” she continued.

“It means money talks, and they have relative safety in numbers. A ship this size isn’t worth going after unless you have a battleship, which is a resource that the Mahdfel don’t usually spend on anything other than the Suhlik. ”

“What does that mean for us?” Val asked.

“It means that my father will pay the ransom, and we should be reasonably safe until then, if not held in the most luxurious of accommodations. I shall try to rectify that soon. And get you a med bay treatment. Is your face supposed to turn purple? It’s not flattering.”

Val shook her head, and then regretted it. She almost wished she’d chosen unconscious now.

“I think I need to lie down for a while,” she said. Grena patted her on the shoulder and then stood. She approached a panel on the far wall. After a moment of study, she pushed a few buttons and a cot slid out from the wall.

“We should probably sleep in shifts. Just for a precautionary measure,” Grena said.

Val lay down and drifted quickly off to sleep. When she woke up, they were not alone. The pink alien with the yellow hair was there, staring. Wait, hadn’t she been yellow with pink hair before? Val honestly couldn’t remember.

Grena stood and brought all her regalness to bear.

“I am Grena, Daughter of Portuso, Supreme Commander of Takalia, Lady of the Rings of Eternal Light, and Torchbearer of the High Council. I demand to know the reason for my detainment, and evoke the rights granted by the Great Charter of the Krigallias System to speak with my father.”

“I am Bright, and you,” she said, pointing to Val, ”smell of Etlonian, the Clan of Athen to be precise.”

“She is of the Clan of Kavendish. He has been given his own command. My son, her husband, shall soon be a warlord as well. Very powerful.” Val doubted that, but if it made her less disposable, she was all for hyping her reputation.

“Now about speaking to my father, and perhaps an upgrade in my accommodations. That thing over there only dispenses nutrinuggets. I require-”

“You will receive nothing.” Bright held up her hands in front of her face and a black scroll of text appeared on her forearms. Unfortunately, it was written in a language that Val didn’t understand. Her arms faded back to pink and Bright left without another word.

“That is a neat trick,” Grena whispered.

“What did it say?”

“Scrubs. Is there a warrior called Scrubs?”

Val recalled the Mahdfel that had scanned her and dismissed her before moving on to the next pregnant mate.

“The doctor. That’s what they call him.”

“I believe we have just met his mother.”

“Is that all it said?”

“No. It said, ‘Be ready.’”