Stealing Jia (Coletti Warlords #12) - Gail Koger Page 0,31

everything within 3.5 parsecs would be vaporized and we had about… “Merda! Take us to Trayon.” I stuffed LeeLee and Adoz into a side pocket.

Slurppp! It was like going from zero to warp drive in ten seconds flat. The horrific, twisting funnel of energy rocketed us across a weird black void and dumped us on the bridge of Trayon’s battle cruiser. “Get us out of here.”

Trayon erupted out of the command chair. “What is wrong?”

“The warp drive on the Rodan ship we just left is going to explode in about seven minutes.”

“Hard about 180 degrees. Go to warp twelve and notify Zarek,” Trayon ordered.

The navigations officer quickly obeyed.

The Rodan Commander appeared the view screen. “Running won’t save you.”

Chiara hissed at him.

I gave him the one finger salute. “Maybe not but it doesn’t matter, you’re all dead aliens walking.”

Trayon quickly disconnected the vid feed. “Explain your actions.”

On another screen I noticed Zarek’s warbird was streaking after us. “I left three thermite grenades on that middle ship.” I glanced down at the timer on my gauntlet. “They will blow in three, two, one.” I turned my attention to the ship’s main view screen. The Rodan battle cruiser vanished in a nimbus of white-hot gases and debris. Machinery and pieces of the hull slammed into the other ships.

“The explosion took down their shields and severely damaged three of the ships,” the navigations officer advised.

Which was why they weren’t chasing after us. I did a little happy dance.

Trayon’s furious yellow eyes fixed on me and he berated me mentally, “Have you lost all sense? Even I would not board an enemy vessel alone.”

Adoz’s and LeeLee’s heads poked out of my pocket. I placed them on my shoulder. “I wasn’t alone, and you can yell at me later.” I turned to the main view screen. “That warp drive is about to go boom.” And it did.

A blinding flash was followed by brilliant billows of yellow and orange flames erupting from the disintegrating spacecraft. The searing inferno engulfed the other Rodan ships and they disappeared in the growing debris field.

Shock waves from the explosions violently shook our ship.

I hung onto the command chair and grinned in delight. “And Cason’s biological father is no more.”

“He was the Rodan commander who attacked my home,” Chiara announced.

What were the odds? I stroked her head. “You have avenged your people.”

“But they are still dead,” Chiara said sadly.

And there was nothing I could do to change that fact. “Sorry cara.”

Bey jumped on my chest and bared his fangs. “You took a youngling into battle!”

“Not on purpose.” I tried to pry him off my armor, but it was like he was glued on.

LeeLee skittered down to him. “Momma Jia not know. She need me.”

“Yes, I did. Your web balls saved the day.” I stroked her silky fur.

Adoz chirped.

“And your fire was exactly what we needed.”

Adoz preened.

Trayon’s tentacles squirmed wildly around his face. “How many soldiers did you encounter?”

“Only two.”

“Can you explain how you overloaded the Rodan ship’s warp drive?” The anger in Trayon’s eyes was a little frightening.

Merda. He would have to ask that.

“We did not. The idiot Rodan did,” Chiara answered.

“How?”

“They shooted at us,” LeeLee exclaimed.

I suppressed a groan. “I guess the moron forgot that discharging a laser pistol in engineering was a really bad idea.”

Trayon stared at the scorch marks on my battle suit.

“With the webbing wrapped around his face, he was firing blindly,” I added hurriedly.

Trayon leaned down until his nose touched mine. “I am your mate. The next time you come up with another foolish idea, you will present it to me first. Is that clear?”

Foolish? “My plan worked, and besides, I didn’t want to bother you while you were busy fighting off the Rodan.”

“It does not matter what I am doing. You will not leave this ship without my approval. The Rodan could have captured all of you. Psychic brains are a delicacy to them.”

“I know that, but they didn’t come close to capturing us.”

“Only by the grace of the Goddess,” Trayon growled, sitting back down in the command chair. “Get off my mate Bey.”

“Where is LooLoo?” Bey demanded as he dropped to the floor.

“She’s guarding Cason.”

“Another Jones is the last thing this universe needs,” Bey grumbled.

LeeLee hopped onto Bey’s back. “Me hungry.”

“You are always hungry.” He crawled away with LeeLee riding him like a big dog.

Zarek appeared on the main view screen and in perfect Askole said, “You need to curb your mate’s reckless streak before it gets her killed.”

“My reckless streak just saved your ass,”