There lie the body of Mike, one of his former crewmates. His face was a rictus of fright, his eyes wide open in shock.
Nothing moved in the mess, least of all Mike. He scanned the area, then jerked his head to motion them forward, toward the bridge.
They moved quietly up the hall, the Zantharians bringing up the rear walking backward to cover their six. Jeffrey led the charge to the bridge, surprised to see the door standing open. A busted open panel spewed crackling wires.No wonder the door’s open.
Carefully he stepped through the entrance, quickly glancing around. The bridge was quiet, lights blinking red all around him.
“There’s no one here,” Kat said, confirming his assessment.
Jeffrey moved to a recessed panel under the center console and pushed the edge to open it. When the door popped open, he bent down to retrieve what was inside.
His weapon safely in hand, he made sure it was powered up and ready to fire. “All right,” he said. “I want two men with me. The other two will stay here with Lieutenant Yarr to guard the bridge.”
“Guard the bridge?”
Goddammit, why won’t this woman just do what I say? Every command was met with a challenge. Although he looked forward to that sort of challenge in the bedroom, at the moment it was most unwelcome.
“You heard me,” he said, his tone curt. “You’re to stay here and make sure the bridge isn’t compromised while we clear the ship.”
Kat’s face tightened, and he knew she was about to launch into another tirade. “I mean it, Lieutenant,” he growled. “I’ve given you an order. Do we have a problem?”
He could tell that she wanted to argue, but it would cause her to lose face in front of the lower-ranking soldiers. She turned away, throwing herself into a seat in front of the console and ignoring him.
Jeffrey motioned to two of the men to follow him. They stepped back out into the corridor, Jeffrey holding his weapon at the ready.
These fucking Hareema are difficult bastards to pin down.He scanned every surface for any hint of something out of place, out of the ordinary.They could be anything or anyone.
He hoped that they’d retained human form while on theEarhart. It would make them easier to find. But the truth was, they could be imitating any number of creatures or objects.
No time to get discouraged now, he told himself.Concentrate on finding them, bagging them, and getting back to Zanthar in one piece.
His thoughts were never far from the beautiful Kat’Chinna, and they flew back to her now. Jeffrey knew she was pissed at being left behind, but the truth was, he couldn’t risk her being out in the open and vulnerable to Hareema attack. The thought of her helpless at the hands of the enemy made every muscle of his body clench.
Jeffrey knew she was a skilled warrior, had experienced her power several times now. But that didn’t help banish the unease he felt when thinking of her going up against a Hareema. He took a moment to wonder why he cared.
Never before had a woman gotten to him the way Kat did. Sure, he’d always enjoyed female company, had shared many a passionate night with a string of girls back on Earth. But the alien female was like no one he’d ever known, and his feelings for her were already a hundred times stronger than anyone he’d been with before.
It was an uncomfortable feeling, needing to protect someone who didn’t think she needed protecting.
They pushed past the mess and headed toward the cargo bay. The bay was in even worse shape than the mess. Parts were scattered all over the floor, and it took him a moment to realize that it was theFIDOs who were laying at his feet.
Apparently, the Hareema didn’t take too kindly to the defense robots. Jeffrey kicked at a broken display in one of their face units. It looked like all the robots had been destroyed here.
The metallic carnage caused an unsettling chill to run over his body. Although he hadn’t been overly attached to theFIDOs, he couldn’t say he was happy to find the evidence of their demise. They were the best that NASA had to offer in terms of personal defense, and seeing their destruction reminded him that humans were massively outclassed compared to other races in the galaxy.
His team worked together to clear every inch of the cargo bay. They moved storage containers, cleared shelves, and opened every compartment to make certain it was empty.
“There don’t appear to be any Hareema here,” one of the Zantharians stated as he closed a storage compartment behind him.
“That’s just the problem,” Jeffrey replied. “There doesn’t seem to be any here, but how would we know. The box could be a Hareema,” he said, pointing to the one near the Zantharian’s feet. “Or that container there. Anything could be hiding the enemy.”
For a moment, the lieutenant was overwhelmed with anger. The Zantharians had been fighting the Hareema for centuries, and they still had no way to detect whether an object was an agent in disguise. It seemed ridiculous to him that they were left having to search the ship, object by object, and they still couldn’t be certain that no enemy agents were lurking about.
“All right,” he said, gathering his team. “We’ll have to move on to the crew’s quarters and the infirmary.”
As he walked back down the corridor, his hackles rose. It seemed like the enemy was all around him, and he was completely unaware. His thoughts returned to Kat’Chinna, abandoned on the bridge, and he realized that any notion of her being safer there was bullshit. Right now they could be closing in on her and the others.
Jeffrey had to keep his head on straight. He couldn’t keep thinking about the alien female being in danger. But there was no way to get rid of the sick feeling in his gut. Thoughts of her being vulnerable to the enemy made him want to rip the ship apart with his bare hands and destroy it all to make sure the Hareema were eradicated.
