But Azrim doesn’t show.
I jump up, catch the hatch’s ledge, and pull myself up to see him touching his earcom and running back onto our ship. I switch my com back on and try to call him.
“Gold, Silver, do you copy?”
But all I get is static. The ramp closes, and I think he’s been called with a different problem.
I reluctantly drop below again, pull the hatch shut, and follow the others through the sealscreen of the thruster chamber and inside pressurized space again.
Davarok lifts his hands.Where is he?
I shrug and motion to my earcom then signal that he took the ship.
Kren slumps, mouthinggreat.
Corzin is the only one who survived the last mission. He motions with his fingers, telling us how many combatants he saw when they entered. He suggests we change our attack plan. We were supposed to have three teams of two, but I am alone. Again.
I motion for them to take their planned routes. Carnas disagrees and suggests I come with them.
But I shake my head. Their teams are supposed to clear the port and starboard sides. We don’t want to blow their ship to the abyss because there are undoubtedly innocent prisoners aboard, the ones they’ve been collecting from Mindor and other worlds. We need to clear combatants and free the innocents. Then we need to find away to ensure the Nebs never come back.
My teams reluctantly leave to clear their areas.
I blow out a breath and calm my surging pulse.
Slipping into the officer’s quarters isn’t easy. Extending my claws, I rake open the controls and the door auto locks, just the way I expect.
I crawl up and into the maintenance access and drop down on the other side of the door. I silently peek into each room, take out the officers as quietly as I can. Then I move to the next.
I leave the residences in a bloody pool. When I enter the royal chamber, I find it eerily empty. The deeper I ease into it, the more I feel like I’m walking into a trap.
A thump behind me makes me turn around.
The tall, shoulder-heavy Myndrous stalks toward me with a red augmented eye and metal hands from the elbow down. He stops when another lands behind me.
“There’s no point in fighting,” someone says. I turn around to see a Nebulous commander standing in light gray armor with a cloak down his back. “You have not won because you are up against the Vulturous faction of our empire. We are far more skilled, more augmented, and powerful than you can imagine.”
I covertly aim my gun in his direction and fire. His body collapses. “Now it’s just you two and me.”
Two more Myndrous step out from behind the black pillars in the room.
“Okay, four.” I shrug.
The Myndrous I face clenches his fists, making claws protrude from his augmented knuckles. I fire him. He’s fast and darts away, but my gun is faster, and knocks him over a table, stealing his last breath. Another charges and smashes into me. I slam into a wall, bounce off, and catch myself on my feet.
Another Myndrous bounds toward me. I throw myself aside and fire back at him as he crashes through my recent position.
Two down, two to go. But when the second careens into me again, I’m ready. I pull light from the room, and let it out a blast wave that throws him off of me.
I smash through a stack of empty crates, slide to a stop, and force myself to get to my feet. More Myndrous stalk into the room. There are far more than I can fight alone.
I gasp, trying to catch my breath and stay calm.
Shit…
A hand grabs my shoulder. I slap a hand to his, fling him over me, and fracture his chest with a single pressure pulse.
A faint blur of light smashes into me. A hulking Myndrous lumbers up to me as my body is bound in light.
