Coletti Warlords: Vexing Voss (22 page)

Raj tightened his grip and slithered off.
“You cannot help him if we are captured too.”

Twisting around I watched as a glittering blue transporter beam illuminated the area, and then they were gone. Sick horror knotted my stomach. Malik had them.

“We will get your mate back, Zoey.”

“You’re damned right we will.”

Bedan scrambled out of the rocks.
“Monsters come.”

A feral smile curved my mouth when I sensed two Tai-Kok warriors heading our way.
“Let’s go kill some monsters.”

“Why would Malik only send two warriors to capture you?”

My gut tightened.
“He wouldn’t. It’s a trap.”

“Exactly. Go back to the command center, Bedan, and warn the others.”

“Me tell.”
He vanished.

My radar screamed a warning. A second later a large Coletti warrior slammed into me, knocking me off Raj. I hit the hot sand with three hundred pounds of muscle on top of me.

“You can’t leave yet. Malik has plans for you.”

“Gosh, I hate to disappoint but—”

The warrior suddenly started shrieking and rolled off me.

Raj stung him again and again and again until a bluish foam spewed from his mouth. The warrior gave a final twitch and died.

A brilliant red beam seared across Raj’s back. Squalling in agonized fury, he collapsed on the ground and twitched spasmodically.

Kneeling next to him, I patted him anxiously.
“How badly are you hurt?”

“Stun beam. Not a direct hit,”
Raj moaned.

“Can you teleport?”

“Not yet.”

My radar went to Defcon 1. Multiple bad guys were heading our way.
“Malik’s definitely catching on. He sent an entire squad of his goons for us.”

“Stall them.”

A tad bit sarcastically, I retorted,
“Sure. How hard can that be?”

“If we are to escape, you cannot allow them to use the stun ray on me again.”

“Gotcha. Keep their attention on me.”
I pulled a thermite grenade from the pouch on my weapons belt.
“This should do the trick.”

“Have you lost your mind?”

“No. I’m just really pissed off. No one hurts my guys and gets away with it.”

Twelve heavily armed Coletti warriors appeared in front of me.

I smiled real pretty and said in perfect High Coletti, “Greetings, clanless cowards. You took my man, and I want him back.”

Baring their fangs, they all growled fiercely like a pack of feral dogs.

Wonder if they had had their rabies shots?

The growling became more aggressive.

Nope, mad as hatters. Guess it was up to me to put them down.

An older warrior with a smashed-in nose barked, “Drop your weapons, female.”

“Damn, that was my line.” I held up the grenade. “Drop
your
weapons, or I’ll pull the pin.”

The old guy eyed the grenade warily. “You will die too.”

With a shrug, I answered, “And your point is?”

A tentacle slithered around my ankle.
“I am ready.”

“Can you handle a short jump to that ridge over there?”

“Yes.”

Holding out his hand, the old guy commanded, “Give me the grenade, and I will let you live.”

Not the brightest bulb in the pack, are you, buddy?
“Okay.” I pulled the pin and tossed it to him. “Catch.”

The moron caught it, and horror flared in his eyes.

“Yeah, it makes a really big boom.”

The tentacle yanked me on top of Raj, and we fell into the vortex.

The swirling hell spat us out behind a spiny ridge of crimson rock.

Raj shoved me under a rocky ledge that formed a small cave and crowded in after me.

A thunderous explosion rent the air, and the ground shook violently.

I watched in amazement as a hurricane of sand blew past, and massive boulders fell from the sky.
“Gotta say that worked out better than I hoped.”

His eyestalks swiveled around to glare at me.
“You are truly insane.”

“You act like that’s a bad thing.”

Chunks of sand sharks rained down, splattering the sand with bloody entrails.

“How have you survived this long?”

“I’m really lucky,”
I answered, stroking his rubbery hide soothingly.

“Luck eventually runs out.”

“Have you been talking with Voss?”

“He needs to lock you up.”

“Wouldn’t work. Trouble always finds me.”

“So it seems.”
A tentacle petted my hair.
“You are a very unusual female.”

“Not in my family. I’m the normal one.”

“Normal! You?”

“Yep. Scary, huh?”

“Very.”

A metal sensor array slammed into the gruesome remains of the sand sharks.
“Well, lookie at that. The blast took out Malik’s sensors and transporter array.”

“While he is blind, we must strike.”

“Not a problem. I’ve got another thermite grenade.”

Raj tentacles crawled over me.
“Give it to me.”

I giggled.
“Stop! That tickles.”

He plucked the grenade from the pouch and held it out.
“Is this all of them?”

“Yes.”
I tried to snatch it back, but Raj held it out of reach.

“If anything needs to be blown up, I will do it.”

“Spoilsport.”
I stepped out of the cave and looked around. The thick haze of sand blotted out of the sun. The ground was littered with body parts, pieces of metal, and shattered rocks.

Jaylan’s furious voice suddenly reverberated around my skull.
“Did you set off that thermite grenade?”

“Yeah, I was getting rid of some pesky vermin, why?”

“Malik says he has the Overlord, Voss, Sariel, and Commander Zan. Is that true?”

“It is, but don’t worry, I’ll get them back.”

“You? Alone?”

His sarcastic tone got my hackles up.
“Gee, I think the Gorum are more than adequate backup, Skippy. Plus the explosion took out Malik’s sensors and transporter arrays. He’s sitting blind.”

“You will not engage the enemy until I arrive with my team,”
Jaylan commanded.

Covered in blood, the old Coletti warrior suddenly staggered out of the thick haze. He spotted me, pulled out his big-ass sword and, bellowing a war cry, charged me.

I ducked his swinging sword.
“And if they engage me first?”

“Defend yourself,”
Jaylan snarled.

“
Okeydokey.
” Dodging another sword thrust, I tried to draw my laser pistol. I yanked and yanked and yanked. Swell. The stupid snap was stuck.

The old guy smiled and swung his sword around his head in an intricate dance.

What a show-off. I yanked the baton off my belt and triggered it.

His bloodstained sword flashed toward my throat. Acting on instinct, I brought my baton up and managed to deflect the savage cut.

Jaylan bellowed,
“Use your laser pistol!”

My fingers fumbled with the snap on the holster.
“I’m trying.”

Reversing his swing, Gramps did a spinning, twisting arc.

Whack!
The force of the blow sent me stumbling backward. My eyes widened in horror. The baton had been cut in half. “Oh crap!”

“Laser. Pistol. Now!”
Jaylan shouted.

I tugged wildly at the snap, and it finally gave. Doing my best quick draw, I put Gramps in the crosshairs of my pistol.

Raj zoomed up, grabbed the old guy, and stuffed him down his gaping maw.

“Now you show up.”

Six more of Malik’s goons popped in.

I watched in amazement as Raj’s tentacles suddenly lengthened and whipped out, stinging three Coletti warriors. Writhing in agony, they collapsed to the sand and died.

The other goons sprinted madly for me.

I shot down two of the warriors before the third kicked the pistol out of my hand. Dancing out of his reach, I drew my knife and threw it. To my utter surprise, it hit the goon in the right eye. Having Voss’s battle skills to draw on was awesome.

Blood pouring down his face, the warrior struggled to pull the knife from his eye.

“Get down!
” Hothar yelled in my head.

I hit the dirt, and a second later, laser beams sizzled wildly overhead.
Holy shit!

“Leave the battle area,
” Hothar commanded.

“Don’t you think I’m trying?”
Sweat burning my eyes, I belly-crawled for a boulder, flinching as energy bolts flashed dangerously close.

Enough was enough. Rolling on my back, I opened fire and grinned in satisfaction as I sent three goons to hell. Malik was so going down.

The laser fire stopped abruptly, and I took a quick look around.

Hothar fought with a warrior twice his size.

A pair of kicking feet disappeared down Raj’s maw.

“Help Hothar, Raj!”

The Gorum’s tentacle whipped out, quickly encircling the goon’s neck with one yank, and Raj swallowed him whole.

“I could have taken him,” Hothar protested.

“I know you could, but we’ve got more bad guys coming, and we need to get the hell out of Dodge.”

Wrapping a tentacle around me, Raj tossed me on his back.

“I’ll meet you back at the command center.”

A laser beam missed me by inches.

“Go!” Hothar shouted and teleported.

That hellish vortex opened up, and as we fell into it, I caught a glimpse of four more Coletti warriors running toward us. I had to hand it to Malik; he never gave up, and where in the hell was he getting all those men?

Hell’s tornado spat us out at the command center. The Gorum stood side by side with the Askole, Coletti, and Alliance warriors.

Aw. The guys were bonding.

His body coiled with fury, Jaylan appeared in front of me. “You are not fit for combat.”

“Am too.”

Jaylan gave a derisive snort. “How were they captured?”

I quickly filled him in. “We need to strike before Malik gets his sensors back on line.”

“Malik says if we try to breach his compound, he’ll kill them,” Jaylan snarled.

A cold thread of dread snaked up my back. “What does he want?”

Impotent fury darkened Jaylan’s eyes. “A ship and safe passage out of the solar system.”

“Malik will kill Zarek no matter what he promises, and he’ll try to turn Voss feral,” I said.

“He will try, but he will not succeed,” Hothar stated with certainty.

“Which will piss off Malik even more.” Sliding off Raj, I walked over to the command consoles and studied the schematics of Malik’s base. “I can get in.”

A cute elf wearing an Alliance uniform asked, “How?”

“I’m small enough to fit in the air shaft, and with a bio jammer they won’t know I’m there until it’s too late.”

Everyone crowded around the consoles, and a dozen gazes settled on me.

“It might work,” the elf said.

“Oh, it’ll work, and Malik won’t know what hit him.”

The elf grinned. “If you’re anything like Kaylee, Malik’s base will be a pile of rubble very shortly.”

“Exactly.” I extended a hand. “You’ve got to be Captain Jubal. Kaylee’s told me so much about you.”

“I am.” He shook my hand. “It is a great honor to meet you.”

“The pleasure’s all mine.”

Jaylan growled, “We don’t have time for these pleasantries.”

A faint whisper sounded in my mind.
“Zoey.”

“Zarek!”
I recoiled at the agony tearing through him. Oh my God! Malik was torturing him mercilessly.

“Need. Power.”

“Yes, sir. Hang in there, sir, we’ve got a plan to free you.”

“Need it… Now.”

“Yes, sir.”
I turned to Jaylan. “Zarek has managed to link with me, and he needs power.”

Jaylan rudely burst into my head.
“My lord?”

The Overlord latched on to his mind and started draining Jaylan’s psychic energy.

Letting out a guttural groan, Jaylan collapsed to his knees.

Oh shit! Zarek was draining him dry.
“Stop! You’re killing him.”

“Mine,”
the Overlord hissed, all predator.

“Are you going to let Malik turn you feral? The Overlord I know is stronger than that. If you kill Jaylan, that murdering bastard wins.”
I gave him a hard mental smack.
“Let him go!”

The Overlord wrapped himself around my mind.
“No one strikes me and lives.”

My temper flared to life.
“Fine. You want to kill the one person who can free you? Go for it.”
I shoved a torrent of energy at Zarek.
“Suck me dry, and you’ll be the one facing Kalafat, not Malik.”

Hothar suddenly linked with us.
“Don’t kill her, my lord. Take my power instead.”

The Gorum joined with us, and Raj announced,
“We freely give you our energy.”

Dozens of minds suddenly crowded into my head, and an amazing amount of psychic energy flowed into Zarek.

The Overlord abruptly broke the flow of power.
“I thank you for your gift. It will not be forgotten.”
On a private link, he added,
“You command an amazing amount of loyalty.”

“They’re my friends, and they know I would die for them.”

“Indeed you would. We will discuss your actions later.”

Great. He was gonna turn me into a vacant-eyed breeder.
“How badly is Voss hurt?”

“He needs blood. We bore the brunt of Malik’s fury.”

“Malik’s a dead man,”
I spat.

“On that we agreed.”
Pain blasted through Zarek’s body, and the link snapped.

The energy backlash struck my mind, and the next thing I knew I was sprawled across Hothar’s lap.

He patted my face. “Zoey? Wake up, Zoey.”

I blinked up at him. “I’m back. How is Jaylan?”

“I’ll live,” Jaylan snapped, jumping to his feet.

“Help me up, Hothar.”

Wrapping an arm around me, Hothar rose to his feet, pulling me with him.

When the dizziness faded away, I looked Jaylan over. His face was the color of parchment, and he had trouble standing. “Anybody want to donate some blood to Skippy before he falls flat on his face?”