Page 6 of Seized by the Alien Space Warrior (Alien Romance #8)
Chapter Six
A ekon flicked the shuriken at Zavis. The blade spun, fully visible, through the air and lodged in Zavis’s shoulder.
Zavis staggered with the embedded depth of the blade.
“Get him,” he snarled.
Aekon dashed from the bridge, Ava locked in his arms. She uttered a pain-filled whimper when he supported her back with his arm. Goddess forgive him. The female would have been safe had he not given into temptation.
Ixod flooded the corridor after them, their blasters leaving scorch marks on the walls as they tried to hit something they couldn’t see. Aekon gritted his teeth, bolting along the corridor to the landing bay. It wasn’t far. Ava’s weight was slight, but she roused enough to be semi-delirious. She pushed against him, struggling weakly, no doubt disoriented and in pain.
Aekon dashed past an Ixod charging towards him, barely missing the being as he passed before he bolted to the landing bay doors. All Aekon had to do was get onto the Zephyr and they would have no idea he’d even left the ship.
He darted through the doors to find the bay swamped with Ixod. They held poles with red-tipped ends. Detectors. A charge of electricity rippled the air, and bit into his skin. The Zephyr flashed solid as its reflector shields failed, her sleek black lines manifesting without her shields. Ava flickered in his arms before becoming fully visible, along with him. The electric charge from the detectors had also rendered their suits’ invisi-reflectors useless.
“There he is!” An Ixod fired his blaster.
Aekon dashed sideways. The laser left a blackened smoking hole on the wall where his head had been. Aekon darted behind a small shuttle craft. Footfalls pounded towards them. There was no way he could reach the Zephyr. He rammed his wrist comm to the control panel on the side of the craft and the door slid open. He jumped on board and slammed the panel shut. He shoved a blade deep into the electrics, rendering it impossible to open. There was no time for finesse.
Thumps pounded on the outside of the craft as he dashed into the cabin. Muffled shouting sounded from outside. The craft was only small. A two seater. A transport shuttle. Not made for intergalactic flight.
From the viewscreen, Ixod surrounded them, opening fire on the shuttle. The smell of burnt plastic filtered through the air system. They were trying to fry the electronics to disable the craft.
Aekon placed Ava into the co-pilot’s seat. She uttered a sound of pain as he fastened the harness over her dislocated shoulder. He crumpled into the pilot’s seat, slamming his fist on the controls that would start the engines. The craft vibrated as the engines came to life. The flight panel lit up in front of him. He slid the thruster forward, not waiting for the engines to warm up.
The craft hovered unsteadily fighting the disequilibrium of cold thrusters and the ignition of the power coil. He didn’t care if he destroyed the engine. The craft only had to get them out of here. He only hoped they hadn’t entered the wormhole yet. This craft was nothing like the Zephyr, and even being in that craft was a risk through a wormhole. Although it would get them back to Grion89, they wouldn’t stand a chance in the wormhole in something like this.
He ploughed the craft through the Ixod, hopefully killing a few as the craft slid towards the exit gates of the landing bay. The huge doors began to close, closing in from either side of the hanger. Aekon gritted his teeth and thrust the little craft forward. This was going to be close. An all or nothing deal, but if they were caught, death would be a kindness.
He flipped the craft on its side, gravity taking him with it. His thighs burned as he kept himself in the pilot’s chair, every muscle screaming as he fought to keep the craft under control. A deep groan shook the craft as a wing tip scoured the floor as they dashed towards the exit. He gritted his teeth as the controls shook violently in his hands.
The small craft shot through the doors and into the freedom of open space. He opened the thrusters for an extra surge of speed. Something hard slammed into them from behind. Aekon’s head jolted forward with the impact. A boom thumped through the frame. The lights over the panel flashed and the control stick went lose in his hands as they spiralled out of control.
Ava screamed, a terrified sound that pierced right through his gut. Aekon eased the thrusters on either side of the craft in an attempt to stop the uncontrolled spin. It slowed their sickening tumble, but then the vast darkness of Quadrant one morphed into lights streams as the GeoPass wormhole sucked them in alongside the Ixod ship, pulling them out of time and into subspace as they passed the gates.
The little craft shuddered, the metal groaning. A delicate crack sounded and the viewscreen webbed into fine white lines under the pressure. Aekon thrust the engines to full speed to counteract the speed of the wormhole. They might just be able to get out in time before the craft broke apart if he pressed the engines to maximum capacity. The sharp whine of the engines preceded burning electrics. Wisps of toxic smoke swirled into the cabin, stinging his lungs. The craft shuddered.
A boom echoed through the frame coupled with the flash of blaster fire. Drek ! The Ixod ship was firing on them despite the volatility of the wormhole.
“What’s happening?” Ava’s tense voice sounded through the torture the craft endured.
He couldn’t see her face through the head covering of the suit he’d dressed her in, and he could only imagine the terror on her delicate features.
“I will keep you safe, Ava. Just endure a little more,” he said.
That was a complete lie. He hadn’t kept her safe at all. His need for revenge wasn’t Ava’s fault. He had endangered an innocent.
Guilt compressed into a tight coil in his gut.
The craft shook as they were struck again. Cracks splintered to the edge of the viewscreen, webbing his view of the colourscape of the wormhole. This ship couldn’t take much more damage. He needed to break free of the wormhole if they had any chance of survival.
He tapped a command on his wrist comm. Something he never thought he would do. Never thought he would need to do. Whispering an apology to Idren who had insisted on installing the self-destruct, he keyed in a string of numbers that would mean the end of the Zephyr.
“Hold tight, Ava.”
A flash of light blinded him. The light display of the wormhole rippled, the colours displaced before a sonic boom slammed into them. Aekon was thrown against his harness as the force rattled the craft, the breath knocked from his lungs. He caught sight of the Ixod ship as they spiralled.
The outside of the landing bay had disintegrated and ripples of explosions lit the inside of the Ixod ship with fiery yellows and oranges. The damage inside would be critical. Aekon only hoped it would take out Zavis and every Ixod aboard along with the destruction of the ship.
An enormous crack reverberated throughout the craft as a shard of metal struck the side. The craft careened towards the river of light-stream and shuddered as the beam of space-time scoured the frame. The air heated into a furnace as the sounds of metal disintegrating boomed like cannon fire over the screaming engines. The craft spun so fast, everything was a blur. His stomach turned as his brain rattled against the side of his skull.
Aekon offered a frantic prayer that Ava survive the mess he’d brought to both of them. He cared nothing for his soul, but an innocent shouldn’t suffer because of his stupidity.
The heavy hand of gravity extricated every cell in his body, splintering him apart into a million factures before he snapped back with a sharp tug that stole his breath. They were propelled through the side of the wormhole and towards a massive planet. There was no time to pull from the gravitational force of the planet before their craft encountered the top layer of atmosphere. Forcing his aching limbs to respond, he hauled on the thrusters. The engines protested and the cabin filled with licks of fire.
Alarms blasted to remind him they were in serious trouble, as if he didn’t know. He used every ounce of his strength and skill to manoeuvre the craft past the thick layer of clouds as they spun downwards. The craft shuddered and shook as the atmospheric particles impacted. Booms echoed throughout the cabin, screeching as metal plates came apart, ripping away their outer protective layer. The heat was banished and ice filled the air as internal air pressure leaked and bled out of holes in the frame.
Pinpricks of light below grew larger and brighter, forming a network of roads and buildings between the darkness below them. Aekon aimed for a patch of solid black, pulling back on the control as hard as he could. The engines screamed their protest as the damaged thrusters struggled to work. He wondered how they still powered at all. The ground came towards them fast. Too fast.
He tugged up with every ounce of his remaining strength as the ground rushed to meet them. The nose tilted up as they slammed into the ground. His jaw clacked together and his head snapped forward. Gravel thundered below, tearing away the craft in a battering ram of stones and rock.
The craft slewed to the side. The engines died, their screams cut short, replaced by the thunder of metal against solid rock. The lights of the cabin blinked out, leaving darkness and confusion.
The craft struck something hard. A boom thundered through his skull. His fingers were wrenched from the controls. Metal crumpled as they jerked to a stop.
Complete silence made his ears ring. Stillness pricked his skin. Disbelief stunned his mind.
He fumbled against straining limbs, splaying his palm over Ava’s chest. It lifted with a shallow breath. His eyes fell shut. He fisted his hand over her beating heart and let out a shuddering breath.
She was alive. By the goddess above, she was alive, but for how long? They might have escaped the Ixod, but he had no idea where they’d crashed. He had no idea if their survival was a blessing or if he had just prolonged the timing of their deaths.