“There’s been a mistake!” I called out to the two guards. “I just want to go home. I’m not armed!”
The guard who’d yelled at me appeared to be shocked. “Show yourself, female.”
Slowly, I rose to my full height and stepped out from behind the chair with my hands up in the air so they wouldn’t think I was trying to hide anything. “Don’t shoot! My name is Paige Spencer. I’m from Earth. There’s been a mistake. I’m not supposed to be here. I just want to go home.”
The guard who’d turned off the alarm settled his rifle on his shoulder and kept it pointed at me. He stood behind the first guard, who’d lowered his weapon and held his hand up, palm out, as he tried to coax me into moving closer. “We’re not going to hurt you, female. Come forward and we will take you to the general.”
“Can your general send me home?” I took a step forward, my entire body shaking with relief. They weren’t scary looking, ten-foot tall, green monsters. They looked like the other aliens I’d met, big, muscular, and gorgeous. Not quite Atlan big, but close.
“He is the only one here who can authorize your transport.”
“Okay. Good, because I want to go home.” I took another step.
The guard standing closest to the door fired his weapon and a stream of bright white light flew through the air. I ducked behind the chair and the control panel behind me burst into flames.
“What the fuck are you—” The first guard yelled.
The second fired again. “The intruder pulled a weapon. She is a threat!” He fired a third blast as I screamed and leaped behind the control station, out of his line of sight. His shot hit a panel in another set of large doors, shattering a large glass section closest to the floor.
Shit! So much for them being friendly.
“Cease fire!”
“The intruder is running!” Another blast hit the glass—or whatever the stuff was—behind me, widening the opening until it was big enough for me to crawl through, if I had to.
“Cease fire! That’s an order!”
“I am under direct order of the queen to secure this transport station against intruders.” He fired again, his heavy boots hitting the floor as he moved closer. I was running out of time.
The edge of the control panel exploded above my head. He wasn’t stopping. He was going to kill me!
“Shit, shit, shit!” I eyed the newly created opening in the wall behind me. I could make it. I had to make it. “I can do this. I can do this.” Muttering my new mantra, I ran for the opening. From the corner of my eye, I saw the first guard tackle the second just as he fired his rifle. The blast whizzed past my head, the sound like singed meat in a hot pan. I dove through the hole.
I rolled onto my hands and knees. Scrambled to my feet. I was in a long, dark hallway. Right or left? Did it matter?
I ran toward the dark end until I came to a door with a standard looking lever. I pushed on the lever, grateful when the door swung open to reveal a large office complete with an oversized black desk with three chairs facing it as well as a meeting table on the opposite side of the room that seated ten people. There were no decorations or personal items that I could see. Maybe this was an extra room, and no one would bother me for a while.
I closed the door behind me as quietly as possible and pushed a button that I hoped was the door’s lock. Seconds later, the two guards’ voices sounded from the other side of the door, still arguing.
Apparently, one of them still wanted to kill me.
I backed away from the door and looked around for a place to hide. There was nothing except the desk. Luckily, the front facing piece went all the way down to the floor.
I darted behind it and crawled underneath, pulling the large chair back into place behind me.
My breath came out of me in loud, ragged gasps that I fought like hell to control. One of the guards jiggled the door handle and I clamped my hand over my mouth and held my breath until they moved on.
What the hell was I going to do now?
I settled my forehead on my knees and waited. I huddled under the desk for what was probably ten or fifteen minutes, but it felt like an eternity. The door opened, the alarm once again blaring in the outer corridor.
“Someone turn off that fucking alarm. And get Faolan and Peadair in here. I want to know what the fuck is going on.”
“Yes, General.”
The door clicked closed and I drew myself into as small a ball as possible as the general pulled the chair back and sat down.
Oh, my god.
