Tamed By the Alien Pirate by Celia Kyle Page 0,49

dead.”

“No I’m not,” he says. “Look, I’m wearing a M’Kal mating necklace. My wife is M’Kal. My best man was a Kraaj.”

“Then why do you work for such a racially hostile organization like the Star Crushers?”

The soldier laughs.

“There’s got to be at least a few hundred thousand Star Crushers.”

“But you work with Project Blue Dawn.”

“I don’t know anything about who I work for. I work for me and I do what my captain tells me to do. I don’t ask questions. I don’t disobey. I just follow orders.”

“No matter what those orders could mean for others, yes?”

Licking his lips nervously, he manages to nod.

“And I assume that means you have one of those access lanyards that will allow me use of the lift system as well as ingress throughout the ship?”

With shaking hands, moving very slowly so I don’t get spooked, he withdraws the lanyard from a belt pouch and holds it up for my inspection.

“Excellent. Toss it over here.”

Due to his nervousness, perhaps, he throws it only a few short feet to land between us.

In the split second it takes me to glance at the lanyard lying on the deck plating, he goes for his weapon. But I’m just a little bit faster, or perhaps I have an itchy trigger finger. In either event, he slops into a puddle of gore on the deck plating, mingling with the blood and ooze of his fellows.

Snatching up his lanyard, I carefully step over what’s left of the bodies and onto the lift. My lanyard works like a charm, but which deck is Thrase likely to be upon?

Most likely her lab. I recognize this ship’s schematic design as a Mephisto class Capital War vessel. Three times the size of the Ancestral Queen, with probably five times the artillery. I’m not sure who Solair found to accompany him on his assault—the captain said we were under attack by two vessels—but unless it’s another capital class ship, they’re woefully outgunned.

I ride the lift up to deck four and ready my weapons in case there’s company waiting. As it turns out, there is. The doors recede into the walls and I’m faced with three Star Crusher grunts, who clearly were not expecting to see my gap-toothed smile.

“What the hell is this?” one of them manages to sputter.

“Certain death.”

I melt him with my weak force pistol while opening fire with the spread shot. Another falls to the floor, spurting blood from a gaping hole in his neck.

But the third scrambles for the meager cover of a box-like coolant relay and braces his rifle to return fire. Ducking back into the lift, I reload my weapons as he sends a stream of fire inside the car.

“This is Riggs, I need backup on deck four, the Kilgari is here.”

Fuck.

The sounds of booted feet in the corridor heralds the advent of a barrage of weapons fire. I count at least six different weapons discharging. Not good odds, even with my superior armament.

Grabbing one of the plasma grenades off my bandoleer, I dial it to minimum yield, less than ten feet. We should be far enough inside the hull to avoid a rupture, but it never hurts to be certain.

I poke my shoulder and arm out just enough to toss it and then return to my cover position. A bullet grazes my bicep, and my skin grows wet with blood, but then the plasma grenade explodes with a dull thump.

A metallic aroma akin to dried blood reaches my nostrils at the same time their screams reach my ears. Stepping out of the lift, I see bodies strewn about the corridor, most of them missing limbs. Or heads. Those still writhing about in agony find that their torment is short lived when I melt them into goo with my pistol.

Then it’s a short jog to an x junction, and then a left turn to where Thrase’s lab is located. Using the lanyard, I easily gain access, but when the doors slide open, she’s nowhere to be found.

Damn it. Where is she? They trust her now, I know it, thanks to my “torture.” Maybe… maybe she’s on the uppermost deck where that arrogant sot Dr. Mal likely has quarters. He’d want to be in the safest, most secure place possible.

Racing back to the lift, I ride it to the top deck. When I step out of the doors, I have to creep past the bridge where Soandzo and his men are frantically trying to target the elusive Ancestral Queen. I see her