Feral Series IV: Feral Fallout (23 page)

Hell, even Flonn had arched eyebrows. Something was up with him having an expression that had nothing to do with sex. “Flonn, what is going on?"

He slid his broad palm across my lower back and shoved the door inward. “Come now,
huv'ria
. Everything is going to be fine."

"Easy for you to say. You've kept everything you've eaten down.” I plowed into the wafting warm air scented with savory meat.

My gut roiled.

"I'm in trouble, boys."

Solvun chuckled. “Keep her moving. We'll argue. Fight. And she'll get hauled off by some ignorant fools."

What? Nobody informed me of this plan. Like I could handle anything puking my guts out with the room spinning. “Stupid. Stupid. You fools.” I couldn't do anything to protect myself.

M'yote thrust an arm beneath mine and yanked my ribs into his. “Even if they get you off somewhere, Theone, they can't get your clothes off. You're safe."

Unless they ram their cocks down my throat. “You're not very worldly are you?” From what I recall of strange beings during our trips down here to eat, I had no intention of having oral sex with anything wielding bug eyes or other strange anatomy. Even the red devil looking humanoids offered nothing appealing.

My knees turned into rubber noodles.

M'yote's smile didn't turn down noting his understanding of my insulting metaphor. He seemed content with keeping me on my feet and guiding me to a seat. His hands gloved.

Like I didn't need a little medicinal blue skin stroking mine. “This is madness,” I managed, sealing my eyes tight. It was just plain easier to rest my forehead on my crossed wrists on the table.

"I'm right here, Theone,” M'yote said.

Screw him. Whose bright idea required I sit here while they eat?

Something crashed.

Residual rattling indicated the destroyed object had contained dishes or forks.

"Gods-damn you, you fucking !Dakos machine!"

No, Solvun. My mouthy King was after Flonn again. I tried to lift my head. Tried to look the direction where a few loud thumps originated. But my head swooned. Lights smeared. “What is it, M'yote?"

"My Gods-be-damned brother can't keep his comments to himself. No doubt. He's trying to beat the life out of Flonn. But can't even touch the large cyborg."

"Pull your damned sword on me, !Dakos. Give me all you've got,” Solvun growled a taunt.

What would happen if one of them died? “No!” I tried to shove off the metal table.

Gravity pulled my useless muscles and joints back to the hard table's surface.

One of them would die. And killed by each other. My mates! And then where will I be? “Make them stop, M'yote.” Shit. I can't even see. Kill me instead. End this madness.

"Let them work this out of Solvun's blood. He harbors a need to fight Flonn. Until it's been fed, he'll cause problems among our clan."

But what about if one kills the other and the !Dakos retaliate? “Won't the guards come?"

"We'll see. I can't believe the guards wouldn't intervene. A !Dakos warrior's mass can really tear up a structure given he falls into objects."

A thunderous boom crashed.

The crowd groaned.

"Even walls—blessed Goddess. They're going to kill someone,” M'yote blurted. “And all these fools aren't giving them much room for accidentally killing innocent bystanders. Some planet will demand blood compensation for the death of its political official!"

A grunt and a bang sent more metallic objects rattling across the stone floor.

"Well, I hope you don't mind if they're covered in bruises and scabs for awhile, Theone. Your other mates are definitely morons."

My mates! “Do something, M'yote, before I have to do it myself."

"Very well. Stay here.” He patted my shoulder and rose.

Okay. I could wait. Sit. Try not to listen.

A loud thump started a resonating din.

Someone grabbed me beneath my armpits.

"M'yote!"

The whirling world shifted. Hands held me off the floor.

"Take her. Quickly,” Some male said with little accent.

"No!” Where were my mates? Killing each other. “Flonn!” I tried to shake free of all the hands grabbing me.

The loudest roar tore through the mess hall.

My !Dakos warrior
. “Flonn!” I tried to crane my neck to see his huge form. But all I could see was a smear of whirling lighting.

The whole room was in motion.

Humming. Bodies crunching into others. Into me.

Groping hands came and went.

"Get off me!” I kicked, futilely.

So, damned many perverts. And to think they would help save their home worlds. Not if I ratted on them. The bastards. Give me a chance. They could all rot in this sinking ship. “You Gods-damned shark fodder. Get your fucking hands off me."

Suddenly the air cooled.

And cleared of food odors.

I blinked away the vertigo, locking my gaze on purple, Bug Eyes. “You're one dead bastard.” I yanked my knee out of some red bastard's hand and started kicking chins and throats.

Adrenaline had a funny way of feeding cells. My hunger vanished with survival mode.

My ass fell on the hard stone floor as the political flotsam and jetsam rushed around me like an oncoming tsunami consuming beach. Bug Eyes was gone though. Where was I? Definitely off the sinking ship. Marooned. Washed ashore. Surrounded by wild natives. Not even the beach was safe on this screwed-up planet.

Someone grabbed my shoulder.

I shoved off the floor and rammed my skull into the guy's chin.

He groaned and sank away.

Red devil maggot. I kicked him in the groin to keep the bastard lying there while I ran and with the flow of the bodies forcing a bottleneck down the corridor through a doorway.

Someone else grabbed me.

Idiot. I rammed an elbow backward.

Hard steel.

Pain resonated down my arm.

So much pain. I couldn't move.

I was lifted, into enormous arms, and stared into the emerald green eyes of my !Dakos warrior. “Are you injured,
huv'ria
?"

"Now that I tried to elbow you, yes.” I rubbed the pulsing funny-bone's residual pain.

"Let's go,” Solvun snarled.

He stood behind my back at Flonn's elbow at eye level with me. M'yote's blue and black form near my boots swinging off Flonn's other side.

We ran. And ran. Okay, I hung on while Flonn ran through corridors riddled with unruly inmates. Through doorways.

Where were we going?

Flonn stepped into a sunlit passageway into shadow between two plain box buildings. My other mates behind us. And then we turned through a metal doorway into a large domed structure.

The hangar.

Flonn didn't stop to chat or discuss particulars. He trotted his thumping huge feet up the gangplank to plop me into the pilot's seat. With a few tucks of my arms, he had me strapped in ready for flight. He kissed my cheek and smiled. “My
huv'ria
needs a safer place to gestate."

Does
oh how sweet
serve any greater function than labeling my !Dakos mate right here and now?

"Quit stalling, Theo. Time's wasting. Any minute some !Dakos contingent could storm in here. Get
The Savior's
ass into space.” Sol fell into the navigator's chair and buckled up.

"Hatch secured,” M'yote called, darting to another seat.

He and Flonn strapped in.

All secure. In seconds,
The Savior's
computer came online, cleared me for command, and launched us toward the stars.

"They'll pursue,” Sol warned. “M'yote says this ship does something special. Let's see."

My thoughts exactly. And all I had to do was lean back and give the orders. “Computer, prepare for hyper-jump."

"Coordinates, Captain Kemble?"

"Seven-jump evasive sequence with ten-second intervals between hyper-jumps. Destination given during intervals. Three seconds on my mark.” I glanced around at the serious faces of my mates. “Hang on.” I turned to rest comfortably for the clattering bone-jarring hops. “Mark.” I always thought that a stupid and obvious signal.

"Hyper-jump evasive sequence activated. In three seconds. Two seconds. One second."

The ship smeared into yellow and orange streams of light with a jolt that could wake the dead. Rattling every cell in my body into a mind-numbing ass-grinding seemingly never-ending burst from one point in space to another. Slide. That's what Goro called it.

The Savior
came to a sudden jarring halt around Flonn. Was a !Dakos fighter materializing outside yet? Were the !Dakos following us? Had Father decided I wasn't capable of completing this mission? Yes, the colony needed success. I could end our current insanity of existence as much as M'yote's hand with my solution through political marriage. By providing a chance to raise children unaffected by !Dakos history. I must succeed.

Save my
huv'ria
. Block translating the data I heard from her commands—not allowing it to stream to the central node. Just in case my thoughts could still connect with others. Knowledge the Council didn't have couldn't hurt my mate.

"First hyper-jump evasive sequence interval. Jump in ten seconds. Nine—"

"Computer, destination alpha sixty-four prime,” Theone ordered.

The string of information meant nothing to me. But might possibly to the Council after they analyzed the database from
The Savior
. I'd have to think of other things when Theone spoke next time.

Solvun caught my eye.

The King had a conspiratorial gaze locked upon me.

Calculating my actions. Measuring my intent. What kind of king would he be otherwise? A worthy mate for my
huv'ria
. Solvun will know this to be true some day.

"Three seconds. Two seconds."

The King turned back to face to vast expanse of black space.

The ship jerked into blinding yellow and orange light smeared like a strange rainbow of temperature-less heat in the hyperspace of inter-dimensional travel. I could only stare at my
huv'ria's
hair pulled back into a thick quivering tail. And wait. See what would come of this escape. Would Father send a fighter to follow in reconnaissance? Or to seize whatever they could find?

The rush of immeasurable energy slammed still as quickly as it began.

The computer chimed in. “Second hyper-jump evasive sequence interval. Jump in ten seconds. Nine—"

"Computer, destination two Seta slingshot X-foil gamma seventeen,” Theone ordered.

Code. Equally encrypted. Excellent. The !Dakos pursuing us will have a difficult time placing the terms to a location.

Theone smiled at us. “Hold on, boys. This one is going to hurt. Slingshots are the worst.” She turned back to the swath of star-spangled darkness beyond the hull.

And that was no misjudgment.

The ship hooked us left then right like a slingshot through a blue hyperspace tunnel etched from some sort of electro-magnetic radiation. I'd never seen anything of the sort even though young !Dakos warriors are taught to travel inter-dimensionally by the age of eighty for survival purposes. But my Theone was full of surprises. So time to just enjoy the view. Wherever we landed.

With a painful crash and four dying jumps,
The Savior
skipped to a standstill off a red planet's atmosphere.

The computer chimed in. “Third hyper-jump evasive sequence interval. Jump in ten seconds. Nine—"

"Computer, destination one-one-niner smooth and steady,” Theone ordered and peered around at each of us. “Everyone okay?"

Nobody answered with more than a nod.

"Well, this next hop's a breeze. I could lay a baby on the floor and never think twice.” She smiled.

"Three seconds. Two seconds. One second."

And we were away.

The computer immediately noted its status. “Fourth hyper-jump evasive sequence interval. Jump in ten seconds. Nine—"

"Computer, destination forty-three slingshot X-foil gamma Treklos,” Theone ordered. “We'll lose anyone and everyone this time. Hang on, gentlemen."

Formal address? Solvun had yet to prove he could behave as such. Especially after he tried to spear me through in the mess hall. We were only acting. Yet, Solvun's enthusiasm revealed his heart was in the hand-to-hand combat. Well, a dignified warrior would keep his opinions to himself.

"Three seconds. Two seconds. One second."

The ship groaned.

Dead.

"Computer, systems report,” Theone shot up at attention.

"Electrical systems malfunction."

"Okay,” Theone popped free of her safety belt and rose. “Stay in your seats. Just in a case someone sneaks up on us.” She smiled, stuffing something in her waistband, reaching for a silver ladder to her left, climbing two rungs, grabbing the edge of a large metal panel. She pulled. Groaned. And heaved. The muscles in her bare arms bulging.

Yet, the metal held fast. “I can assist you,” I offered.

The metal sheet popped free.

"Got it. Sit tight. I know what the problem is."

"That same little issue we had outside Treusch's atmosphere?” M'yote asked.

Why did I feel like he referred to something other than the obvious?

"Yes.” She thrust her shoulders into a shadowy space and plucked the tool from her waistband, apparently at ease with working among the wires and circuits. “Looks like the !Dakos jacked with my ship while I was in detention,” she snarled. “They couldn't have just left well enough alone, eh?"

M'yote and Solvun eyed me with suspicion.

"Undoubtedly,” Solvun muttered. “Can it be fixed?"

She jammed the metal panel back into place and hopped down. “Oh yes. I just need to ensure the wires had been connected correctly.” She shot me a smile. “After all, this is top-secret covert technology. I'm the only person aboard trained to repair and operate The Savior.” She plopped onto her ass on the floor, facing me, leaning back under the console, worming around her pilot's chair. “Well, here we go, boys."

"Hyper-jump in three second—"

"Shit!” Theone spat, flinching to life, her boots kicking to crawl out from beneath the console.

The ship rammed into another smudge of golden hyperspace light, throwing Theone into the base of her seat. She grabbed onto the bars at the base, eyes wider than anything I'd ever seen.