Poof! I appeared on the portal.
Dad started for me.
Nausea rose in my throat. Yanking off my helmet. I charged past him and vomited into the nearest trash can. “Oh, God. Oh, God. So many people. I couldn’t save them. I couldn’t save them.” I puked until I was shaking violently.
Dad rubbed my back. “You gave them a quick death, and those monsters will never hurt anyone again.”
“Can you describe the interior of the ship?” General Jones asked.
I dry heaved. “A slaughterhouse with gutted corpses hanging everywhere.”
“Incoming traveler. Incoming traveler,”the computerized voice announced.
I rolled my eyes. Uncle Ben insisted on calling portal users travelers.
Jake Jones appeared on the portal. Ripping off his helmet, he staggered over to my trash can and vomited repeatedly. “Those fucking bastards. The ship’s hold was full of slaughtered children.”
“Children?” A murderous fury flashed across the general’s face.
His voice a broken whisper, Jake replied, “Yes, and babies. So many babies.”
“Babies,” Dad repeated in shocked horror.
“The Tai-Kok don’t consider us intelligent beings. We are food to be harvested. Nothing more. They will not show any mercy,” I interjected.
His lips drawn back in a feral snarl, Jake growled, “I won’t stop until every one of those monsters is dead.”
Uncle Ben held out two bottles of water and some wet wipes. “The monsters picked the wrong people to mess with. We need to find their home world and blow it to hell.”
“Amen.” I took a bottle of water and looked around. “Where’s Major Dodd?”
General Jones pulled out his satellite phone and punched a button. “What’s the status of the ship in New York, Quinn?” He frowned. “How long ago did it blow? Copy.”
“He didn’t make it, did he?” Dad spat.
The general shook his head.
Why did I have the sudden urge to examine the portal and my surroundings? Shit! Shit! Shit!“Get out of my head.”
Kaelen shot back,“Not until I know how you got through our shields.”
“We are not a threat to your empire. We don’t have spaceships that can travel across the galaxy. Go away!”I threw a mental punch.
He blocked it easily.“Not until I know how the portal works.”
“And I told you, I don’t know.”
General Jones stiffened and he was suddenly in my head too.“I’m General Saul Jones and you are?”
“Battle Commander Kaelen. I serve the Coletti Overlord.”
Jake shot to his feet and joined the party in my head.“What do you want?”
“Lexi breached the shields on my warbird, and you will tell me how she was able to accomplish that feat,”Kaelen snarled.
“Like hell!”Jake hit Kaelan with a burst of telekinetic power.
The battle commander returned the favor, and Jake hit the wall hard.
