Dekkir (Galaxy Alien Warriors #1)(43)
“I’m looking for it,” she started as she scrambled around the creek shallows beneath the dropship.
Norcross shouted in outrage, his voice slurred by bloody lips and loose teeth, and kicked me hard in the thigh. His hands lashed out and dug against my face, gouging at my eyes. I reared back, prepared to punch him in the face again, and suddenly, I heard Grace’s voice in my head. Stop!
What? I raised my head to look at her, and she nodded at me.
Play along. Just trust me. She winked with a strangely mischievous little smile. I wondered why it looked familiar.
Norcross clawed at something in the shadows, just catching it with his fingertips, and abruptly, he had the pistol in his hand. He trained it on Grace again, and I froze.
“That’s better,” he chuckled as he pushed his way up, wriggling free of my grip like a lizard and jumping to his feet. Blood streamed down his face, but he simply grinned. “Now get into the damn ship.”
We climbed inside, Grace sliding into the pilot’s seat and me sitting down beside her. The copilot’s seat was tiny under me, cramped. The padding was inadequate. Norcross clambered in after us and slammed the hatch shut, making the egg-shaped compartment feel even more claustrophobic.
“Now. Let’s get out of here.” He gestured with the point of the gun, and Grace started flipping switches, her back completely to him.
She was smiling.
I didn’t realize why until I glanced behind me for a second. I noticed a shock of blond hair and a silver jumpsuit and realized Tabirus was sitting behind me.
Norcross laughed. “I almost had to call you out to help me subdue this one, Stirling. He’s a real wild animal.”
“You have no idea,” I broke in dryly.
“Quiet, you,” Tabirus snapped and winked at me with the eye farthest from Norcross, a tiny curl to his lips. “Adults are talking.”
He says he wants us with him so we can infiltrate the base. He has a plan for when we get there. Just play along for now.
I fought a smile. Well, that’s different.
I sat stoically, faking silent indignation as the engines cycled up with a whir. I was going to fly high tonight, higher than Keer could take me, all the way up to that place on the moon where the humans dwelled and schemed under domes. And when Grace, Tabirus, and I got there, we were going to give the humans at Earth Command Base the surprise of their lives.
CHAPTER 18 / GRACE
I had never imagined in my life that I would be brought before my commanding officer in manacles. They chafed my wrists as a pair of guards led me down the hallway toward the commander’s office. I felt sick. Dekkir had been separated from me, taken away to be imprisoned somewhere else. My only hope was that the spy who had gone with them, the Lyran Ancient the Earth base members knew only as Dr. Stirling, really did have a plan to help Dekkir and me escape.
I had known from the beginning there would be consequences to siding with the Lyrans against the corrupt war Earth Command was attempting to impose on them. I’d known from the beginning there would be consequences to binding myself for life to Dekkir, future leader of the planet. But it didn’t make it any easier for me to take that long walk down the hall, led roughly between two guards who glared at me with a mix of anger, suspicion, and fear. I knew I had done the right thing, but now I had to explain myself under hostile circumstances, and I didn’t know if I could manage it.
My whole family had served the Earth military for generations. I myself had looked forward to becoming one of their premier science officers. And certainly, I had started out well. I had been tapped to assist the chief science officer on the Earth base on Lyra’s third moon, gathering information about the society of aliens who lived on the surface. At that time, I had no idea of the secret plot to take over Lyra. Nor did I have any idea the entire time, the man whom I worked under, the chief science officer himself, John Stirling, was in fact an infiltrator from the aliens and thousands of years old.
I couldn’t help but feel cold waves of fear as we neared the doorway of Base Commander Aaron Wickman’s office. The boot steps behind me were half the cause. The guards were none too kind with me, assuming I was a traitor. Technically, I was. But I knew if the people of Earth had known about Command’s plan for Lyra and its people, they would not have gone along with it. Earth’s leaders were supposed to be representatives of the will of the people. But they weren’t anymore. Especially not out here, in a far corner of space, where they were trying to start a resource war that would leave as many Lyrans as they could manage dead.
I heard a faint chuckle behind me as I walked, and the hairs on the back of my neck prickled. My mission commander, second in command at the base and one of the most terrifyingly sociopathic men I had ever met, Lieutenant Damon Norcross, gloated as he followed me toward the room. This was all wonderful fun for him, as he had a petty, ridiculous personal grudge against me. Quite simply, he had wanted me in his bed from the moment he met me and had pursued me with grotesque ‘flirtation’ and threats of consequences if I did not smile and spread my legs. I hadn’t. And as a direct result of that, he had nearly gotten me killed three times since I had started my mission. I knew he was enjoying watching me as a captive. I wondered if there was any way I could get out from under his control. Perhaps the base commander would be willing to do something if I gave him a strong enough dose of the truth.
The guards stopped me before I reached the door, and Norcross stepped past me, knocking on it.