The signal was released, and it felt like an eternity as they waited for confirmation. At last, it bounced back.
“That’s it,” Veta said. “Let’s start there.”
Right about then, an alarm went off.
Wrathin spun and hit the controls. “Incoming.”
Veta dropped into the second seat. “Of course there is. Friendly?”
A blaster bolt zipped by.
“No. Terran fighters.”
Veta shook her head. “Of course. Let’s take care of this,” she said as she powered up weapons. “Then let’s get down to that moon and find whoever you found on Sol-5.”
“Execute,” he said.
16
The Charro shoved Kian up the stairs and back outside. Like early evening, the surroundings had a silvery gray cast from the eclipse. Not total darkness, but enough that it did not feel like daylight.
It would have been interesting to observe, in any other circumstance. Something he might have wanted to show Freya, for her amusement.
If they were not being captured.
In the distance, two small shuttles—Terran by their design— sat in launch mode, lights on and ready to take off, lending the ships a menacing glow in the half-dark.
“Working for the Terrans?” Kian muttered to the Charro that had him.
“Highest bidder, mate. You cyborgs should know that—you remember everything, right?” The Charro’s tail wrapped tighter around him, pressing against his chest and constricting his breath.
Kian took a breath, fighting their restraining method. Their tails were tough, and even as he attempted to break free, he could not pierce the skin. A second Charro added his tale to the restraints, and now both squeezed the breath from him.
Pressure increasing. Constriction of airways likely.
He tried to move his hands, to use the gauntlets and produce some knives, but they were unable to function.
He glanced at Freya.
The Terran hauling her out of the underground was not gentle. He rubbed all over her, touching her feminine places. Freya cried out over each attempted assault, while the others merely laughed and encouraged him.
“She’s just the Lady in Waiting. Nothing special.”
“Don’t those come from the hierarchy?”
The Terran grabbed her hair. “Not this one. She’s a commoner. Worked her way into the castle, using whatever means necessary.”
“How dare you!” Freya cried.
The man mauled her again. “Do I lie?”
She looked down, her shoulders falling. “I am a commoner.”
“So it doesn’t matter what we do to her.” The Terran gestured to Kian. “First, we have to remove him, though. He’s programmed to protect her.”
“Let’s just overload him then.”
Kian’s anger boiled inside him. Stronger than anything he’d felt before. For anyone. It flowed through his veins, charging his systems in a way he’d not ever experienced. The strength and the fury fueled him, and power built under his skin.
