Page 35 of Guardian’s Destiny (Space Guardian’s Mate #3)

VRAAX

I kept a close eye on Craygh and Moddekdum as we left the shelter of the ruin. Farther down, I caught a glimpse of Sloane as she made her way down the hangars, cleverly pretending to belong there, when she reached a point where she would be spotted. From afar and in the dark, she could have been mistaken for a very tall Ohrur. Satisfied that she was safe for the moment, I waved my two charges on. Craygh was probably trying to win back my favor as he prodded Moddekdum forward, and I wasn't about to take that illusion from him. He was more useful that way.

The two Ohrurs had no problems walking toward the spaceship, whereas I had to keep to the shadows and low to the ground. My height was a dead giveaway that I didn't belong here. That was until I noticed another Space Guardian getting off the ship. That's when I adopted Sloane's method. My uniform was ripped and dirty in parts, but I hoped the darkness would conceal most of the damage.

I nodded at the Space Guardian, who nodded back at me without a second glance. He looked a lot younger than I remembered being when I first started… When I tried to pinpoint my age at the time, the usual headache set in, and I gave up. It wasn't important right now. We were about to unravel all the Ohrurs' secrets; my questions could wait a little bit longer.

The cargo bay inside wasn't very big and empty. Two drones were cleaning already spotless areas, while a third was busy moving three single crates from one space to another.

We walked into the hallway that led to the quarters and bridge. I opened the first room and ushered the Ohrurs inside to keep out of the way while I methodically checked the other rooms. There were no differences between any of them, clean, nearly sterile.

On the bridge, I encountered two Space Guardians; both were busy readying the ship for takeoff.

"You have no business here," one said when he looked up after the doors opened.

"Change of plans," I announced, firing my blaster, set to stun at the first.

But before I could take down the second, a third attacked me from the right. Stupid rookie mistake , I grunted as my head made impact with the wall. I should have checked my surroundings better, but I was still rattled by the damn Arkhevari and thinking of Sloane.

My fist connected with my attacker’s chin, knocking him back. The second Space Guardian pulled his blaster, and I pulled the one I had pushed off me back to use him as a shield before the beam of the blaster hit him, turning his body into dead weight.

The one firing at me pushed the alarm button before I managed to get out from underneath the unconscious, heavy form. Frygg.

Wedged in between the body and the wall, I was having a difficult time getting free while the alarm setter scaled the captain's chair. His blaster was still raised; he had a perfect shot, but he didn't use it. Instead, he pulled the lifeless body off me, his face set into a grim expression before he kicked me in the kidneys, making me see stars.

There was something off about the male; the gleam in his eyes promised pain as he raised his foot to stomp it down on my stomach. I ignored the pain in my kidney and grabbed his foot, catching him off-balance. He hopped on one leg for a moment before I jerked him by the ankle, and he went down.

I scrambled forward, climbing up on his body while he tried to buck me off. His fists landed on my face, hit my already broken nose, and I saw stars again as pain exploded in the center of my face.

Still, I was able to grab his wrist before he could land another hit. Kneeing him in the groin didn't seem to affect him much. What the hell?

His other hand, holding the blaster, came forward, hitting me in the side of my head with the weapon, while his other hand fought against my grip. This male was much stronger than any opponent I had ever fought before, and I had fought many, even other Space Guardians. I remembered my little altercation with Tharaax; we had been evenly matched, whereas this male seemed to be made from steel. It didn't make any sense, mainly because he was several years younger than me, still in or barely out of training.

Another hit against my head reminded me that I didn't have time to contemplate these things right now. If I didn't give it my all, this Space Guardian might get the better of me.

I let go of his wrist and jumped up, a move he hadn't expected but was quick to react to as he aimed the blaster at me. I kicked it out of his hand, not even looking at where it landed, too busy trying to keep the frygging bastard down. A kick against his head stunned him momentarily, long enough for me to lunge for the other unconscious Space Guardian and relieve him of his blaster. When I turned to shoot, my opponent was on his feet, and with a wild look in his eyes, he lunged for me, uncaring of the blaster in my hand. I had no choice but to fire it, clueless if it was set to stun or kill.

It was set to kill, as it turned out.

Heavily breathing, I leaned against the back of the chair, trying to catch my breath while the alarms still blared, bringing me back to my senses.

Two Space Guardians stormed onto the bridge. "Hold it right there."

"They attacked me. They were going to take the ship," I said, raising my hands, still holding the blaster.

"Drop your weapon," the second shouted.

"Check the ship and see if there are more of them. Now!" I distracted them with my most commanding voice. I had never given orders to others before; it wasn't in my job description. Space Guardians operated alone, not like an army. But I had learned a thing or two from Sloane, and what do you know, the two stared at me as if ready to obey. Their momentary hesitation was all I needed. I brought the blaster around and shot them both.

I had killed many people in my life, and all of them had deserved it, but I wasn't sure about these three. I swallowed the unfamiliar emotion of guilt down and hastened to the captain's chair to turn and call off the alarm. A quick glimpse through the screen showed the arrival of several more Space Guardians.

A thousand Space Guardians patrolling the universe sounded like a lot, but now, I began to wonder at how many were in the private employ of the Ohrurs. Tharaax told us that there had been at least twenty Space Guardians at Possedion's place. At least fourteen had been on my tail on Ohrur. I hadn't seen many at Moddekdum's place, but several of them had accompanied the Arkhevari, so unless the Ohrurs had lied to us about this too, there seemed to be a disproportional number of Space Guardians on Ohrur.

For the second time, I counseled myself that there wasn't any time to contemplate this now; I needed to get the approaching Space Guardians off my back. I ran down the hallway back to the cargo bay and waved my arms to the incoming group.

"It's under control. Several individuals tried to take over the bridge, but I got it handled." I yelled even before they were close enough.

Their steps slowed.

"I've got it," I repeated in my most arrogant voice, waiving them off. From the corners of my eyes, I tried to take in the rest of the airfield, to see if any more Space Guardians were approaching. It seemed like the entire airfield had frozen in the middle of what they were doing. Probably not used to any kind of incidents.

"This was the ship bringing the Arkhevari," one of the Space Guardians said.

I willed Sloane wherever she was to stay there until I could get rid of these nosey bastards.

"That's none of your business," I informed him like I would have any other person during any other mission I had been assigned to. We didn't stick our noses in the others’ business. Ever.

One of them held up his comm, showing something on it to the Space Guardian I had been talking to. Frygg, I wondered if they had already put my picture out there. They would know who had flown my ship.

My hand reached for the blaster by my hip when a group approaching caught my attention. Frygg! I glared at Sloane, who was supporting two women, one human and one Pandraxian. The cursed Arkhevari was carrying another, while several more followed them, holding on to each other. The Arkhevari was glowing in a golden light.

Don't reach for the blaster , a strange voice in my head announced. Instinctively, I knew it was the Arkhevari, and I glared at him, willing him to get out of my head.

"Are you Vraax Zeljed?" the Space Guardian asked me, not even acknowledging the strange group walking straight up the ramp now.

"He is not," Zapharos said, staring from one Space Guardian to the other.

"He's got it under control." The same Space Guardian informed the others. "We are not needed here."

I stared at their backs when they turned and retreated.

"What in the Black Abyss's name was that?" I demanded when I followed the group into the cargo bay.

"What the hell, Zapharos. You have fucking mind control?" Sloane looked about ready to plant her fist into his face, and I cheered her on to do so.

"You should get us out of here," Zapharos advised.

"Stay out of my head," I demanded as I walked to bridge, of my own free will. I was sure of it. No strange voices had entered my head. It was the sensible thing to do, given our circumstances.

"I'm not done with you," I heard Sloane yell as she followed me to the bridge.

"What can I do?" she asked stepping over the bodies of the Space Guardians I had killed.

I wanted to pull her into my arms, kiss her, assure myself that she was alright, unharmed and in one piece, but the damn Arkhevari was right, we needed to get out of here.

"Sit. Just knowing you're safe is help enough," I told her while I took my seat. I checked to make sure the cargo bay door was closed and my passengers seated. I didn't care about the Ohrurs; I actually relished the thought of them getting a little tumbled around in their room.

Normally, that wasn't a problem; take-offs were usually smooth, and the ships were designed to keep the passengers comfortable, but I wasn't planning on a regular takeoff. We were getting out of here like an unstoppable asteroid.

"Hold on," I advised Sloane as I overrode the automatic take-off procedure to manual. Nose up, I brought the ship to full speed before we even breached the atmosphere, not giving the Ohrurs a chance to shoot at or intercept us. I counted fully on any other ships having been set to auto and their computers picking us up in time to get out of our way. Otherwise, we would end in a big boom.

"Several ships approaching," Zapharos’s voice startled me. I hadn't heard the bastard come in or the doors open. He was giving me some serious goosebumps, and not in a good way.

"I don't see… you're right." Several Space Guardian fighters appeared on my spectral grid. How had he known that?

I ordered the ship to go into hyperspeed as soon as possible, activated the forcefield and deployed several decoys. Then I closed the viewing shield and flew our ship straight for the sun.

"You're going to get us cooked," Sloane warned.

"Excellent avoidance maneuver," Zapharos praised, sending more shivers down my spine. I really didn't like that male. Despite that, his compliment felt good. As much as I didn't want it to, it stroked my ego.

The Space Guardians would still see us on their spectral grid, but it took a lot of training to fly these ships only using the grid and not the viewing screen. I counted on their inexperience to avoid them for as long as it took before the ship made it into hyperspeed. Once there, I stopped us one more time to rid ourselves of the bodies of the Space Guardians I had killed. I should have felt a tremendous amount of guilt over this, but there had been something very strange about them that occupied my mind more than any guilt.