Page 25

As I straightened my limbs and lifted off the large basin, the humans recoiled, tripping over the implements Snryx immediately coiled around their legs. Their shouts of alarm were extremely gratifying despite the gravity of our situation.

Slipping out from beneath me, Natalie straightened proudly beside me, backing into my shoulder so I could defend her with both claws and fangs if necessary. “Gentlemen.”

The two strangers gaped at her, completely rattled.

Snyder startled at my movement, and then slowly backed away toward the door.

He understood exactly how much danger they were in now, though perhaps he hoped Snryx was still incapacitated.

I’d never known our medic to have a perverse sense of humor, but he allowed the human to stumble back all the way to the door before wrapping an implement around his throat.

“For the record, EMPs don’t incapacitate dyni,” Snryx said dryly.

Truth—without giving away too much of the truth. A normal squad might very well have been incapacitated—because they relied heavily on the grid to function. They needed each other desperately to function as a cohesive unit.

We’d already experienced individual exploration and trials when Axxol broke the squad.

We’d survived the silence after losing the grid temporarily.

We’d separated and learned new ways to function independently.

Even without the bonus of now having a mate, our squad was stronger because of our individual abilities that had been developed in those initial days on Earth alone.

For the most part, I was fully functioning already except for the grid.

I didn’t have specialized engineering like jumps, echolocation, or heat-sensing vision which might have gone offline.

Which only made me worry for my squad mates’ wellbeing. Most likely, they were engaged now with the attacking squad, outnumbered with a youngling to protect and no grid.

“Who are you working with?” Natalie demanded.

Evidently she stared directly at Snyder, who blanched under her scrutiny and disdain.

“We don’t have time for introductions,” the other human replied, though the man in military uniform gave him a narrowed look. “Unless you’d like to deal directly with Draco Sirius Command, you’ll come with us.”

“I’m not going anywhere.”

“Look, miss?—”

She snapped her head to glare at the military man. “If you want to live, you’ll go back to your ship located approximately five kilometers off the coast from Livingston and never come back here again.”

The man’s eyes widened. “How could you know that?” He jerked around to glare at Snyder. “You betrayed us.”

“No, never,” Snyder babbled. “Like I told you, they can tap into anything electronic. The CPT must have tracked you somehow. I warned you the text was a mistake.”

Military man turned his attention back to Natalie. “Do you also know the hurricane is no natural storm? It’s an alien using winds to hide its approach. If we don’t get out of here, it’ll take you before DSC’s monsters can kill you.”

I didn’t have to sample the man to detect several inconsistencies if not outright lies in his language. I didn’t believe DSC wanted Natalie dead. Not yet. There were several potential species who might risk antagonizing DSC but not many. Would any of them be found here on Earth?

DSC had more important uses for her and our youngling before they’d terminate them.

Besides, they could’ve obliterated this planet into dust from the beginning.

Certainly, they had the ability to destroy everything in this solar system in countless different ways.

If they didn’t want to answer the syndicate’s questions about why this particular planet had been destroyed, they’d simply trigger its star into a supernova core collapse.

Earth’s Sun contained billions of billions of tons of hydrogen, plenty of fuel for the star to continue burning for billions of years.

Unless a Sirian crystal of appropriate size was accidentally on purpose deployed into its core.

During nuclear fusion, the crystal’s piezoelectricity could convert all of that energy into?—

Natalie’s fingers wrapped around my dangling tongue. Frozen, I focused on her body language, trying to decipher what she wished of me.

“You said there’s an alien approaching in the hurricane,” she said.

“That’s very interesting. I never would’ve believed such a thing until I saw dinosaur super soldiers.

I suppose if dinosaurs can walk the jungles again, and giant space whales can be swimming into Earth’s atmosphere this very second, then there could be something in the ocean, too. ”

The Balaenoptera were so close? How fascinating. None of my references had documented a pod’s speed at such a rate. Perhaps the mrions they carried were enhancing their natural capabilities like they improved ours.

“Don’t you fucking get it?” Military man’s face was turning red. Not from rage—but the lack of oxygen to his brain thanks to Snryx’s tightening implement. “You can’t kill us. You need us.”

“Oh? Why’s that?”

“Even Sirians are afraid of the Kore.”

I scanned my databanks for references to Kore but didn’t find any known species of that name.

Perhaps it was Earth slang? Rizan would know.

DSC had few enemies. Their technology ensured their supremacy throughout the known universe.

However, they’d been expending all their resources toward exterminating Myrm, and we had most recently been suppressing rebels in the shipping lanes.

Unrest in the Hercules-Corona Borealis quadrant was on the rise.

“Good.” Natalie leaned close enough to my tongue that I felt the passing of her breath on my flesh. My tongue swelled, distending even longer. Drool pooled around her bare feet, though she didn’t seem to mind. “The enemy of my enemy is my friend.”

Then she sank her teeth into my tongue.