Dekkir (Galaxy Alien Warriors #1)(3)
“I’ll do my best.”
“Just one more thing before you take over the controls again. Do you remember the emergency medical vial I gave you before you left?”
I reached up into the collar of my pale-gray flight suit, my fingertips finding the narrow steel pendant. “Yes, Doctor, I have it with me. What’s in the vial, anyway?”
“It’s nanite medicine of my own design. If you find yourself falling dangerously ill or are seriously injured, I want you to take the contents of that pendant. It will likely save your life, so keep it close.”
“Of course, Doctor.” I’ll just have to make sure none of the locals get too curious about it.
“Good. Now, you should be getting wing deployment within about thirty seconds.”
“Got it.” I grabbed for the steering column grips as they popped out automatically. Outside, the wings spread panel by panel to either side of the cockpit. “Okay, deployment’s going clean, but I’m wondering about my velocity right now. It seems a little high.”
“All right, let’s have a look.” A pause. When he spoke again, the tiniest note of tension had entered his voice. “You’re considerably over the maximum speed for a safe landing. It looks like entry calculations were off.”
“Oh, thanks, Norcross, you passive-aggressive pig. Okay. Looks like he expects me to work for a clean landing. How do we correct?”
“Increase the fuel to the braking jets to maximum. It will burn through your reserves, but we can always send another dropship.”
“Done.” I started flipping switches. “Let me know if my speed gets down enough, or else I’ll have to pull up and circle back.” The forest flashed past beneath me, and I fought hard to keep the dropship’s nose up.
“You’re in for a bumpy ride. Tighten your crash harness and get ready for it.”
“Right.” I adjusted my harness. The dropship shook from the efforts of the braking jets as it skimmed above the surface of an algae-greened lake. “I’m coming up on your landing beacon. Can I stop in time?”
“No. Looks like you’d best pull up and circle back.”
I opened my mouth to reply, when I saw a massive green shape uncoil from the tree line ahead of me. The only thing I could think of was an octopus tentacle—except it was the size of a building. It reached for the dropship.
And I let out a quickly cut-off scream as the impact knocked me out.
CHAPTER 2 / DEKKIR
I was waiting near the drop site when I smelled the familiar stench of beastvines coming out of dormancy and saw one’s enormous green hunting tendril shoot skyward from its hiding place in the trees. The heavy thud that followed set my hackles on end. I bolted in that direction, knowing my guest was in deep trouble. Get there fast, Dekkir, or you’ll be burying the new human instead of greeting her.
I had reservations about receiving another human guest, but my father, the high chieftain, had insisted on it. He claimed it was important for me as the future ruler to understand these aliens who inhabited one of our moons now. I knew he had a point, so I stepped forward. Now I regretted it.
I had no idea what power allowed the humans to live on our moon or allowed them to fly around in those metal crafts. However, I knew their devices could not be infallible. The sound of the collision and the ensuing crash of the vine and its metal prey to the forest floor only confirmed that.
Beastvines didn’t move very often, since it took a tremendous amount of energy for them to shift their gigantic bulk. When they did, it was a well-timed ambush, usually taking out some large land beast or as many as an entire flock of avians at once. Their skin and leaves were very sticky, helping them keep hold of whatever they slammed into. Unfortunately, that meant my visitor was probably trapped by the vine, no matter how wounded it was. If I did not get to her quickly, either the vine would crush the ship or scavengers would arrive and tear into it. Either way, she would die.
Spear in hand, I bounded over deadfalls and dashed through a shallow stream on my way to the crash site. I could smell the wounded beastvine up ahead, as easy to follow as a flaming beacon.
I hadn’t even run more than a minute before I saw part of the damaged vine sprawled out before me. The rotten green stink of it filled my nostrils, and I gagged as I hurried toward its far end.
In over a century as my father’s war chief, I had faced many crises. Battles between villages, plagues, floods, hundreds of predator attacks. I had met all these challenges with distinction. I did not intend to do any less for this stranger, even if she were from a completely alien race. It was a matter of honor and pride as well.
Finally, I saw the gleam of crumpled metal up ahead and slowed down to take in the wreckage. The craft was very small compared to the one the doctor had used. It looked barely larger than a two-man handcart. The rear portion had ruptured, spilling a tangle of strange tubes and blocky instruments down the length of the vine, where it leaned against the splintered trunk of a massive tree. A sharp scent cut through the beastvine stink, and I saw amber liquid drizzling from the vehicle’s rear.
Collapsing the shaft of my spear to a short grip, I dug the blade into the side of the tree, pulling myself upward and then using the deep notches it left as footholds. Eventually, I reached some of the remaining branches and pulled myself onto them. Above me, I could see through the windows of the strange craft; I felt a surge of relief as I noticed someone moving around inside. The impact had shattered some of the windows, allowing me to hear the person talking as she tried to salvage what she could from that small chamber. I listened closely. The alien female was speaking fluent Lyran. I’d learned from the doctor that their strange human technology automatically deciphered their speech to Lyran and my words to their alien tongue.