There was a chirp and then Rema’s deep voice answered from my link. “Yes, Nin At’ens?”
I grinned at the fancy title and rubbed my hands together. “There was a red alien at the officers’ meeting, he was medium height, creepy black eyes. Disrespectful and resent—”
“His name is Serail. He’s the first flight officer in the forward attack wing,” Rema said, cutting me off and letting me know Red was indeed their problem child.
I nodded even if he couldn’t see me. “Thank you, Rema. I’m going to hunt him. I think he might try something before we transition.”
“I’d tell you to be careful, but then one such as you has no need of it,” he said. His voice deepened when he thought he was being funny.
“I sure don’t, but I’ll call if I end up needing help,” I said.
“You do that, Rijitera. Try not to get blood everywhere,” he said.
The link clicked, signifying he’d cut the connection. I laughed and touched my wrist link to pull up the map of the ship. “Show me first flight officer Serail.”
The yellow line flowed across the map until it stopped at a mess hall all the way across the ship. It said Mess Hall 68 on it and I repeated the mess hall name out loud so the link would connect to the portal and take me there.
The portal closed silently, opening again a few seconds later, and I moved into the corridor. The smell hit me before the noise of the hallway. Strange smells that mixed in the same way a perfume shop did, making it near overwhelming to me. I sneezed a couple times to clear my nose, but no dice.
There were aliens everywhere, walking along the hall and in and out of rooms. Some carried tablets and others were just going about their business. It was weird to be around so many beings when we’d been stranded on a planet and then sequestered to Ohem’s quarters for most of the last two days. Or was it three days? God, I couldn’t keep track of time in space. It was messing me up.
I walked like I knew what I was doing and acted like I belonged on the ship. Which I did. It was my territory now, since it was my mate’s pride and joy. No one glanced at me or ran away screaming, so I moved along until the hall ended at a tall archway into a large dining facility. There were so many types of aliens and I made an effort to avoid staring at the freakier ones, but it was a losing battle.
There was an octopus just sitting at a table holding a mug in one of its tentacles, drinking coffee. This is my life now. I was on an acid trip from hell and the way out was blocked by a big, shiny, black sex god that kept me chained to him with his magic cock.
I scanned the area for one red, totally fucked alien scumbag and spotted him in the middle of the room surrounded by a gaggle of equally fucked friends. I walked and sat three tables from him and tilted my head to listen in on his conversation. I willed the background noise of so many aliens talking and eating at once to silence in my mind and narrowed in on his voice.
“He brought a Rijitera aboard this ship! Rakis will never allow it to stand! Now he says some nonsense about standing against the Unity? I’m telling you, he isn’t fit for command. The whore female has clouded his mind. He’s weak enough to be captured by Vrax, and now he has married a beast.”
A whore. How original. It was almost as disappointing as that green button on the shark ship. I was going to rip his spine out of his body and use it to pick my teeth. I’d had plans to do this discreetly and save the ‘warning the rest of the crew’ to Ohem, but there was a large group of people around Red. They were listening and not doing anything. It was making me twitchy. It was disrespectful to my mate.
Maybe everyone counted on my General being an honorable male. They’d probably figured they’d get a prison sentence or just kicked off his ship. Like with any military, there were probably loss of rank or pay cuts, too. Getting kicked out with a dishonorable back home was almost like having a felony on your record.
Ohem would follow protocol and the rules like a good General. It just wasn’t much of a deterrent when you had what was essentially the president telling you he’d have your back if you wanted to mutiny. Ohem instilled respect in his people, but you know what worked better than respect to keep people in line? Fear.
Rakis could whisper in their ears all he wanted, but if they had something they feared more than him? Well. Things just wouldn’t go his way, now would they?
“I’ve contacted Rakis about the General’s plans. We just have to sit and wait. The Unity fleet will be here to take care of the matter and capture the Rijiteran. They offered us a bonus for the alert,” he said, smug as all hell.
That rat motherfucker.
A few aliens around me stood and drifted off to the exits. I’d noticed the dining room slowly clearing out. Were some were leaving to go report to Ohem or Rema? Or was this just getting back to work movements? Either way, I’d made up my mind. It was still plenty full enough to make my point. Now, some, like Callie, would tell me that this wouldn’t help my cause. That they were already weary of me and I should toe the line and be a good little soldier and an upstanding citizen to earn their trust. Screw that. I was a Rijitera; we didn’t need your trust or goodwill.
This was a war. You either were with us or you were against us. And those that were against us were going to die. It was my mate and my pack. If you weren’t pack, then you werefood.I only hoped Ohem wouldn’t be fiery mad at me later. I wasn’t planning on harming any of the lazy, no good, non-reporting bystanders. Just scaring them for life a little.
I stood and sauntered over to Red’s table, elbowing past a couple of his buddies. The rest parted like the red sea. Dead Red stared me down without a care in the world, his black eyes cold and stupid. The type of stupid who thought he couldn’t be touched because of his rank and the friends surrounding him. The reassurance that his boss was coming to back him up. He was probably giddy that I’d foolishly walked right into his hands.
He just needed the corny villain hand rubbing and it could be a scene from a terrible movie. Bet they’d get an extra nice bonus if they subdued me before Rakis could get here. Idiots. Guess they hadn’t been good students in history.
I pressed my palms against the top of the table and leaned forward. “You’re going to die here today, that can’t be avoided. I have a reputation to maintain, after all. But I’ll make it quick if you tell me how many are in your little gang and when Rakis will be here. Who else does he have in his little circle jerk? You know, that kind of thing,” I said to him, surgery sweet and smiling.
His friends laughed, and he scoffed at me and stood, leaning forward to get into my face. “You’re alone, Rijitera. You’re going to cooperate and come along quietly like a good female or we’ll beat you bloody and drag you to the shuttle unconscious. The choice is yours,” he said, his arms crossing over his chest.
Rookie mistake. Always leave your hands loose and ready. He’d also put his face right in front of mine. It was the bigger mistake. Did he think Rema wouldn’t fight him? Or any of the other officers or crew? He was overconfident, and it was enough to make me wonder just what else was going down on this ship. Or was he really that stupid? How many did he have on his and Rakis’s side? I’d have to find out the hard way then. It was my favorite!
I shifted and sank my fangs into his face. He screamed and his friends squealed like little pigs while trying to pull me off him. I shook them off, readjusted my bite, and pulled. His face tore off his skull. I let him drop onto the table and slide to the floor. He was clutching his face, screaming, and rolling around on the floor. He wouldn’t be going anywhere anytime soon.
One of Red’s buddies shot me with something and I turned fast, slashing my claws at the one nearest to me, spilling bowels onto the floor. Screams echoed off the walls, and I howled out a hunting song, moving through the crowd of his buddies, claws flashing. There were screams and crying from the bystanders bearing witness mixing with the dying sounds of Red’s comrades. Some bystanders ran for the exit but most cowered under tables and against walls, too frozen in fear to run. More of Red’s friends joined the fight, firing weird pistols at me that burned my skin for a few moments before healing. I danced around, tearing an arm off here and a leg off over there. Blood sprayed the black floors of the dining hall and all over the gray stone tables, splattering the terrified crew members hiding under them. I wrapped my hand around the leg of Red, who was trying to crawl out into the hall and dragged him through the pooling blood, shoved my claws into his back to sever his spine and left him there, paralyzed and screaming.
