I pump up my accelerant to replace what I’ve used up in getting here and release several large volumes of smoke as I make my way through the living quarters, where I was dumped by the automated systems, back towards the bridge.
Something comes fast from my left, and I let rip with a sheet of white flame which should stop anything which isn’t metal.
It keeps coming, so I lift my star-pulsar, and once it is within two arms’ lengths, I fire.
The bot, or at least half of it, rolls to a halt at my feet. It is of a construction I’ve not seen before. I crouch down and toy with the innards, those which are not melted. A memory is sparked somewhere in my head, but as swiftly as it is there, it is gone, and I am grasping at it like I would grasp at smoke.
But it’s gone. I’m left without knowing and with the deep desire to know more.
“Ah. The Sarkarnii.” A voice comes through the ship wide system. It is not one of my crew members. “I have your mate, if you would like to come to the bridge to discuss matters.”
The red I see is not normal, but then no one has ever dared to take Rosalie from me, not like this, not on my own ship. Deep within there is a cracking, of something clawing to get out. The same something we’ve worked so hard to contain.
Kursarkarnii.
It has been so long since I took anything to repress it. The recent shift will have used up anything left in my system, and the mating mix is only making things worse.
Something has my mate.
Something has Rosalie.
Something has to die.
All around me, the walls seem to melt away, and I’m moving through the ship as if it doesn’t exist.
Until I get to her. She is clutched in the grip of yet another bot, one which is playing at being a flesh and blood creature. Her body is limp, draped over one of his arms, and in the other is a pulsar.
Like a pulsar is going to do anything to me. He has my mate, and he will not have her.
No one has her but me.
“Give,” I snarl, my fangs far too long for my mouth. “Mine.”
“And you are feral. Good,” the bot croons. “This will make things so much easier.”
“Not. For. You,” I force out.
My desires are simple. Get my mate. Kill this thing.
“Such a vicious thing,” the bot says. “I like it. I like it a lot.” It turns its head to one side and studies me with electronic eyes. “But what about your crew? They are becoming like you too.”
“Will have both.”
“And what if you cannot?”
“I will.”
I leap at the creature. My shift is inevitable. Snapping its head off and grabbing my mate, I pull her into my chest as I whirl around to deal with the other bot, the one hovering behind me. A snap of my tail does for it in the same way as the previous bot.
With some considerable difficulty, I force myself to shift back to my biped form, holding my mate in my arms as I roar out my anger and my need for her to be here, with me.
Before I lose my mind completely.
ROSALIE
“She’s awake!”
My head is pounding, and I groan, thinking there’s a good chance I’m going to throw up. Opening my eyes only makes things worse, the light way too bright.
