Knight in Shining Alien?: Athrian Warriors Book One (13 page)

He unhooked the baby's systems, transferring them over to a portable pack one system at a time, so as not to stress the baby. When he had completed his task, he found Marthos ready to depart and he helped him back up into the vent. Handing him the precious female child as carefully as possible, he waited for Marthos to get her situated and place his arm out to help him back up.

The return was a little slower as they could only go so far before they needed to bring the baby carefully forward. When they found themselves outside the vent where they had entered, they found that they would need to wait until a contingent of warriors could enter the section with three large eggs on a trolley. Sameth briefly wondered if that was Hailey's children being rolled by, but quickly pushed the thought away. It did not make a difference if they were; according to Sidhawk, there was no way he could save them, yet he paused briefly to mourn the passing of innocents.

Once out of the vent, he waited for Marthos to hand the baby down to him and jumps down. Marthos would take point and do any fighting that was needed while he carried the Princess. He would only intervene if it looked like Marthos was outnumbered or the enemy was about to sound the alarm. They were lucky on the return trip as it went very smoothly. There was one guard outside the launch bay, but he was easily dispatched and hidden.

They were back on board with their Princess securely strapped in and feeding off their electrical systems instead of the portable, so Marthos double clicked their completion and left to begin his next task. Throwing button bombs into all the vehicles and pods out there, while he guarded the baby and waited to start healing Kirrek as soon as the twins returned from rescuing him. Well versed in Krakill torture and Kirrek in particular, he was ready the sec they brought him on board. He sent a prayer to the Goddess that they were having no trouble. He also needed to relay to his commander what he had found.

Heathrick and Shemrick glided along the corridors towards the back of the ship where Jarrek and his team had just escaped. They were not worried about being spotted, as they used their energy as a field around their bodies to bend light and refract back the corridor around them. In effect making them invisible. They had discovered this unique ability by chance while they were children. They had been hiding from their papa, who was bent on tanning their backside for accidentally burning the barn down.

Just as they were trembling in anticipation, for the pain of the strapping they were about to get, certain they were now caught, their poppa had walked right by them. Of course they still got the strapping, but not until later when they went into the house for evening meal, and were snatched by the ear and dragged to the punishment room. They had not found any other warriors or twins who could do the same thing, and had been unsuccessful on teaching others how to.

They did worry that they actually saw no warriors or personnel as they walked the corridors. Something was suspicious. Right before the large cargo area of cages and slave pens, a miniature cargo bay resided. Ten torture rooms, five on each side, made up this must-visit spot on the ship. A must visit spot, as traditionally, Krakill's loved torture. The screams actually got them horny. It helped them produce the necessary chemicals to lay their egg for fertilizing. Sick, right? Sick was seeing them get hard from breaking your bones or cutting into your body, as they knew first hand. It had happened only once, but they gave a brief shudder as they stepped into an Athrian's hell.

Splitting up they each looked inside the small window. Shemrick found one of the warriors who had gone along with Kirrek dead in the first cell he looked in. Quickly stepping inside he wrapped the body in Shashay and pushed a small button on the side. This reduced the warrior to ash and shrunk down to a pouch that he tucked into a pocket on his vest. Continuing his search, Shemrick found Kirrek alive in the next cell and signaled his brother with a short, low whistle. Kirrek looked in bad shape.

Heathrick quickly searched the other windows for occupants, and found something so horrible he let out a low curse. Surprised, Shemrick went over to see what was wrong and sucked in his breath it was so bad.

Whereas Kirrek had been beaten and cut up, this small female had been beaten and carved up and parts of her skin were missing on her breasts, thighs and belly. She was hanging naked, suspended from chains and her own body was killing her slowly. Her body had pulled away from the wall in her exhaustion, her strength had given out and she could no longer keep it upright, causing her arms to be wrenched out of the sockets from her own weight. Her head was slumped forward, the chained collar around her neck cutting off her oxygen, choking her. She would be dead soon if they did not intervene. Heathrick nodded to Shemrick's unasked question, and quickly went inside to release her.

Heathrick was careful to tilt her head back and fold her arms against her breasts. She was so close to death she did not even scream when he released her, or when he folded her arms in front of her. Carefully picking her up as though she was a child, he made sure to carry her tight against his chest. Shemrick went to Kirrek and threw him over his shoulder.

They quickly returned to the shuttle so that Sameth could work on the little human they had found. She would need Sameth a whole lot more than Kirrek. They gave the completion signal right as they stepped onto the ship and closed the doors. They bellowed for Sameth as soon as it became safe to do so, while walking back to the medical compartment set aside for this trip. They both sent a prayer to the Goddess that she would survive while they continued towards Sameth. They had not found the other warrior said to have been with Kirrek, and could only pray for his soul if he was unrecoverable.

Another double click sounded in his ear and brought Jarrek back to the mission at hand. One mission left. Time to get busy. Jarrek paused at end of the corridor, trying to listen for conversation or movement. He wanted to find out which missions had been completed, but did not want to risk speaking in a voice that would carry and get him caught. It was enough to know that his men had succeeded at their missions. Jarrek heard no movement or conversation, so stepped around the corner and continued.

He did not like the feeling in his gut that warned something was wrong. Where were the personnel? Where were the warriors? Where they off trying to sneak aboard his ship? It was not one of their normal tactics, but something was off, and he could not think of what it could be. Had Varill killed off most of his crew? Since they could manipulate DNA and base pairs, they usually had contingents of warriors frozen to replace any that were killed for stupidity or in battle. This ship almost echoed its state of emptiness. Goddess willing, perhaps they were succeeding in killing them off. He would have to ask Varill, right before he killed him.

Stopping at another corridor, he again paused to listen for movement or conversation and this time heard something moving away from him talking. Peaking his head around the corridor, he watched as two Krakill drug the body of one of his warriors. Looks like they had tortured him away from their usual spot. Why? He could not make out what they were saying, so he began following behind them. He watched to see where they would take him. He hoped that he could rescue his warrior before continuing his mission. He wished he could tell who the warrior was, but from this distance, and his head almost touching the ground was unable to see his face. He watched them drag his warrior into a room along the corridor.

Trying to hurry to the door so he could hear any conversation between them and find out what was going on. What he did hear caused his anger to spike. One Krakill, bitching to the other to hurry up, so he could have a turn made him wonder of what they spoke. Torture? They usually traded off anyway, so what was he speaking of?

Then Jarrek heard, “Shut it. I found the vid, Krukick. I get to go first. You can have the front like I showed you, then we can trade places and you can shove your rod inside his hole. It looked fun and the squishy human in the vid looked as though it was painful and horrifying. Got my rod hard just watching. We can keep him all to ourselves now. I will go back and put in that he died of his wounds and we can do whatever we want with him for as long as he stays alive.” 

His horror growing with each word, Jarrek felt his fury rise. They were talking about raping one of his warriors! Not while he still lived. Hearing his warrior begin to scream and then have it muffled, he knew that they were starting. Well, they would not get much farther. Unsheathing both of his swords, he pushed the activation button with the back of one hand tightfisted around his sword, and went in swinging. They were dead before they knew he had even interrupted them. Too bad. They did not deserve the quick death he gave them.

Going to the table, he touched his warriors exposed shoulder, ducking at the slow fist thrown his way. “'Tis fine warrior, you are free now. How badly are you injured?” Jarrek asked in a voice devoid of emotion. Warriors may give one another relief, but never by force. It was a quick way to get sentenced to death. He would not treat his warrior with anything other than respect, nor remark on what was done. It was for his partner of choice to help him work through any issues that arose.

Jarrek saw no shame in what had been forced upon him. They were dead, and he was avenged. “Your captors are dead on the floor. We need to get out of here before we become discovered. Now I ask you again warrior, how badly are you injured?” Jarrek asked a little more forcefully.

Darthos S'et Valleyark finally heard the question put to him and raised his head. Finding his Commander and Prince standing over him confused him for a moment, while the last several days replayed in his head. Once the replay had finished, he almost whimpered. Struggling to stand and cover himself, he replied, “I am not hurt too badly Commander. They have been working on Cloge the most. I think that they killed him early this morning, as they then came to me with more frequency. The beatings and cuttings are not too bad. I am not new to that torture of theirs. The rapes are something new though. Cloge warned me it was coming. He unfortunately had many visitors hurt him. They have discovered some kind of entertainment vids from the marble planet that has gotten them salivating and curious. Between Cloge, the female, and me I think that they must have all had a turn, until these two grabbed me. Varill's second in command really likes the female, poor woman. I wish that I could have saved her. The screams were worse than anything they did to me. Domu! They have discovered a way to prevent our morph Commander. We must find out how they did it and destroy that information.”

The urgency of that last bit of information made Darthos want to kick himself. He should have started with that first. Unfortunately, he was a little confused from the starvation and dehydration. He was able to redress without the help of his Commanding officer, thank the Goddess, but they needed to find where that information was kept and retrieve it. Now ready, he took the sword that Prince Jarrek held out to him and prayed that he would be able to use it. His body hurt and protested moving. He would never shame himself in front of his Commander and Prince by admitting he was not ready to defend himself.

Jarrek looked at Darthos' stance and could see the pain he was in. Not needing him to kill Varill, he turned to his warrior and said, “I am off to kill Varill. I have teams rescuing my brother and daughter and placing bombs throughout the ship. I am sure they will find Cloge's body and the female if she is still alive. All that I require of you at this time is that you return to the ship and tell Heathrick and Shemrick of your discovery. Perhaps they can find where this information is located and retrieve it before the bombs are set. If not, it will not be a problem for long. We are going to make this ship disappear into little dust motes. No trace will remain to lead others of their race to this sector of space. I know Varill is a greedy cruvek and will not have shared this information with anyone outside this ship. Only if his entire ship and life were about to be exterminated would he bother to share. Then, only because his genetic make-up demands it. So hurry to the launch bay. At the farthest corner in the west, there is one pod and two fighter jets set for repairs. Take this to uncloak Bruthus' new ship, and open the doors.” Handing Darthos the re-cloaking device, Jarrek left him to carry out his orders.