Taken by Space Pirates: A SciFi Alien Romance (Bound to the Alien Book 2) (5 page)

Days slipped into each other, with Mavit bringing me meals and regular pain injections. I welcomed the sleep, it kept me from dwelling on Sam's skin against my scales and the unexpected strength in him when he lifted me. All my life I'd been the overly large female my father disapproved of. I wasn't lithe or delicate like my mother. But Sam had still lifted me like it was nothing.

I dreamed of him slipping into the cell, taking me over and over again. I woke up with his name on my lips and a dark shadow in the doorway. For a moment, my heart soared, he was here! But Mavit stepped through, banishing my dream. I slipped out of the bed and greeted her. Something was different, and I sniffed the air. I could smell Sam on her, she'd just seen him. But the acrid scent of fear oozed out of her pores.

"What's wrong?"

She looked startled and set the regular tray down. "How did you…? Oh, that's right, smells." She handed a package to me. "It's really fucking bad news and I'm trying to be cool, but I'm terrified."

I opened it, revealing an armored shipsuit. Confusion must have danced across my face. "Am I supposed to wear this?"

She sat down and stared at her hands for several long minutes. "I wasn't sure if I should do this, say anything, but yeah, put it on, now. Hurry."

I listened and stripped in record time. The fabric molded to every inch of me. My brother would have had an absolute fit to see me not only in pants but in gear that left nothing to the imagination. Yastlama would just laugh and give me another set of knives. He'd been the one to teach me in secret, just in case, he said.

I scarfed the waiting food down when she finally spoke. "So, Reivers, you know what they are?"

"Uh, yeah, boogeymen of the Known Universe. Swoop in, leave no survivors, disappear."

"Well, they are actively scanning this system. We're hiding, but they either know we are here or they are just hoping to get lucky. If they know, we're fucked. If they are just checking it out, we stand a good chance of getting away."

My blood ran ice cold, and I spit out my mouthful of food. No way could I finish eating. They were terrifying, and we didn't even know what they looked like. They blew their ships up rather than be taken captive.

"If they come...what do we do?"

Half her mouth crooked up into an almost smile. "We fight as best we can, before they murder us all. Or whatever they do with their captives."

"Are you going to leave me in here?" Stuck in this box, no weapons, no defense, waiting for the end to come.

She slapped her hand on the table suddenly. "No way. I'm not going to do that to you, to anybody. We all go down together."

I nodded at her. "I would rather go down fighting." A blaring klaxon echoed through the room. Seemed like Sam was going to find out what happened to his sister after all.

Mavit swore and jumped up. "That's the proximity alarm. Whatever is gonna happen, it’s happening now. Let's go." She grabbed my hand and pulled me after her into the hallway. "We're going to the security room on this deck, then heading to the cargo bay. Maybe we can get the fuck out of here before all hell breaks loose."

We collided with the First Mate in front of an open door. Beyond her, I could see people strapping on weapons. Her eyes narrowed to dark slits, and she growled at me. "The fuck is she doing here? I told you what to do."

Mavit squared off against her superior officer, half hissing. "What you wanted wasn't okay. We need everyone if we have any chance of surviving. You know what happens if we fail."

Ardal pointed a finger at me and snapped, "Fine, let's see if the pampered princess can keep up. If you make a peep, I will put a beam in the back of your head."

We walked into the room and Ardal headed to the depleted weapon rack, tossing the last of the blasters at Mavit. There was a rack full of blades, and a stunning set of long keris blades caught my eye. I pulled them down and tested their balance. Perfect. The armored suit had attachment points for the carriers, and I helped myself to a few other smaller blades for my hips and boots.

Ardal smirked at me. "Sorry, not enough blasters. Try not to bleed to death on those things."

I looked through her at the hallway and turned to Mavit. "Grab some blades too, we don't know what they are, and blades are good in tight spaces."

Mavit looked surprised and then grabbed a few. She said, "You seem like you know what you’re doing with the blades. You move like you've held them before."

I let my voice carry into the room. "Yeah, I'm pampered and all, but I still learned how to protect myself. And I like bladework, it's like dancing."

Mavit smiled and then looked around the room. She shouted as we felt the deep bass of another ship rubbing against ours. "Line up, stims ready." She had a small medkit in her hand and pressed it against everyone’s arms, including mine. I shuddered as the chemicals flooded into my veins. The fog of the painkillers fled and I felt ready for anything.

We moved into the hallway, a steady jog eating up the miles to the emergency chutes. The whole ship vibrated around us. We didn't know exactly what was happening, but it was easy to imagine the ship being slowly peeled open. We'd all seen vids of the husks left behind.

We made it to the chutes and dropped between decks. The first mate was clearly angry that I'd kept up. Every time she caught a glimpse of me, I could practically hear her teeth grinding together. The stims were keeping us all on edge.

We almost made it to the cargo bay, and for a moment it felt like we were going to make it, get away. We were close enough that I could hear Sam getting people into escape pods.

I heard escape pods blowing out and as the first Reiver troops dropped from the ceiling between us and the cargo bay. We froze. They moved like cockroaches and looked like bugs. Panic threatened to take control, and I dropped into the meditative state Yastlama taught me.

My horror at whatever the Reivers really were was compounded when I realized they weren't giant insects, but each was a different species wrapped in bio-exoskeletons. Their faces were each frozen in a rictus of fear, screaming forever. Whatever they once were, now they were fierce, unstoppable fighters.

We dropped back and blasters exploded all around me, bouncing off their carapaces. Whatever their skeletons where made of, the blasters couldn't penetrate it. I watched how they moved as I pulled my swords off my back. They stood between me and my mate. They didn't stand a chance.

It's just like dancing. I heard Yastlama's voice echo in my head. It looked like the Reiver's exoskeleton had a thin attachment at the neck. I waltzed through the hallway, twisting away from their grabbing tendrils. The crowded conditions rendered their massive claws useless and blasters would take out friend and foe alike.

But the blades sliced through them like a hot knife through butter. The monoblades chacha'ed at their necks, separating the joint to their helmets, exposing their heads. It was surreal to realize they were not one species. 

I could feel Sam getting closer to me, fighting. I forgot all fear, all exhaustion, anything but getting closer to him. I glanced behind me when I realized that Ardal was picking off each one with a perfect sniper round as their helmets popped off.

I felt invincible, until more spider-like creatures dropped from the ceiling behind me. They covered Mavit and Ardal and the rest of the group. A squirt of blood exploded from the center of the scrum as I fell upon it. A massive bladed tendril had gutted one of the men and it was about to slice Ardal in half.

I caught the tentacle in an x of my blades and slammed it against the wall. It shattered, and I flung it away from us. The Reivers suddenly skittered away as Sam led a group of fighters towards us. I had to be in his arms. I needed him, he was my everything in that moment. I stepped towards him as our eyes met and he ran to me. He swept me into his arms, we were both covered in gore, but didn't care.

We only had a heartbeat together, before the Reivers started pressing us again. Before we realized what was happening, a net dropped from above. The spiderlings had retreated, not in defeat but for a new plan. I tried to cut through the strands, but the stickiness trapped my blades.

We fought as long as we could, but they kept coming, an unending force, until they crowded us completely. We couldn't move, their dead bodies crushing ours past enduring.

A low hum moved through us. The very walls vibrated as the sound grew louder and louder. The last thing I remembered was the sound exploding and the room going white.

***

I woke up in a cage. No, not even a cage. I was pressed against a wall with bars trapping me. I couldn't move. I opened my eyes, and could only see darkness. All the adrenaline had drained out of me, and I felt all the weariness of the last few days crash over me.

Comfort flowed into me. It was Sam! He was nearby. He couldn't possibly know what he was doing, but it still buoyed my spirits. I reached out to him and just let the bond flow back and forth.

I didn't know if hours or days were passing by when my prison cracked open. The light blinded me until something covered my head and I was drug out by two beings. They had me firmly by the arms, and we walked endlessly. They didn't hurt me, and they kept me from tripping, but it was frightening.

They suddenly released me, and I lifted my hands to my face, freeing myself from the fabric bag they'd covered me with. I flinched against the light, which suddenly dimmed. I glanced around the room. It looked like a conference room, with a large table in the middle, surrounded by chairs. There was a carafe and glasses sitting on the table. I walked over, my thirst suddenly overpowering.

I poured the vitae and took a tentative sip. I sank into one of the chairs, realizing how badly I ached from standing in my cage. My mind reached out for Sam, wanting to badly to feel his warmth. To my shock, I could feel nothing. My heart beat wildly, I should have felt it if he died, not this nothing.

And then suddenly he was back and I slumped in relief. It was short-lived as the door opened. I stared at the dark hole. My throat was drier than ever and I started to shake. Would this be a Reiver? But in through the door walked a familiar face.

My father.

I scrambled out of the chair and stumbled backwards to the wall. He was dead. I saw Tlavi kill him myself.

The man who wore my father's face just stood there with a disappointed look on his face. He shook his head and said, "Really Thearaugqua, I would have expected you to have some manners, despite how disgraceful you are behaving."

He kept a calm demeanor, but he spat his next words at me. "Really? Bonding with a filthy human of all things. I'm rather put out that all my hard work of molding you into the model Madrelir female has been for naught. At least you aren't a whore yet, like your mother, spreading your legs for all comers."

He wasn't dead. I still couldn't wrap my head around the man in front of me. My heart pounded and my mouth went dry. Fear blossomed in my chest. I started shaking and slid down the wall into a tiny ball. The realization that he was going to hurt me again paralyzed me. In my mind's eye, I saw the pictures of what he'd done to the girls he'd taken in my place, what I knew he wanted to do to me now.

I grabbed a hold of the bond I had with Sam. I wanted his warmth while I slit my own throat. I wasn't going to be taken again. That golden warmth wrapped around me as I pressed my talon into the rapidly pulsing artery in my neck.

Stop.

I froze, I didn't understand. It was like Sam was whispering in my ear. All I could see was my father advancing on me, his hand on his belt buckle.

It's not real.

The whisper in my ear grew stronger and I embraced the bond. The room got brighter and brighter as I fell into Sam's voice. I blinked and went from the conference room to a dark room, pressed into the wall by several hands.

This time when I was released, I fell into a ball on the floor, surrounded by the crew who backed off when they saw my eyes open. Mavit help me sit up and I burst into confused tears.

She let me lean against her and she said, "They get into your head. Your deepest fears."

I looked up at her, her eyes were shadowed. I whispered, "It was so real. How did you get out?"

She shrugged, "It felt like a dream to me, very unreal. Seems like you were the most susceptible. The rest of the crew saw right through it." She patted my hand. "You scared the shit out of us when your talon popped out and you pressed it against your throat."

"Yeah, well, there are some things you take any escape rather than going through." I felt her nod.

Her hand squeezed mine and she said, "Yeah, I get it."

I finally looked around the room. There were only ten of us. "Is this all of us?"

Sam's voice came from behind me. "They divided us up. It's not looking good for us though."

I wanted to get up, run to him, and throw my arms around him.

Ardal came up to me and stared down at me for a long moment, finally extending her hand and helping me stand up. "Thanks for the save. The blades were a good idea."

"I wish it had been enough."

She laughed, harsh but amused. "Honey, there have never been survivors left behind. I've seen the vids of the bodies left. Mostly people get massacred. That we lived long enough to worry what they are going to do with us? Kind of a miracle."

We all sat in silence. There wasn't anything we could do but wait, endlessly wait.

Every so often, a slot would open in the wall, and nutriloaf and vitae packs would tumble into the room. Based on our bellies, it seemed like they only fed us once a day.

I sat in the corner and watched the camaraderie of the group. Sam would wander through them. I felt like the outsider I was. Despite having fought with them and for them, I was still dangerous.

I started doing the warm-ups Yastlama had taught me. I didn't want to get weak as the days passed. Mavit and Ardal did them with me.

It had to be at least a week with boredom and hunger our only constants. We were fed enough to stay alive, but not much more.

Finally on the tenth day, the door opened. We sprang into action, pressing into the walls. A small robot rolled in and sat there while a flat voice said, "Follow it."