Theron Destiny (Brides of Theron) (24 page)

She launched herself at Lars, pounding with every bit of strength she had on his back. But it was no use. She was like a fly irritating a horse. He tried again to shove her away while still keeping hold of his prize. Gracie wasn’t going to let this hateful man take her friend without a fight. Each time he shoved her away she would move back with as much force as she could muster.

Fighting two women at once wasn’t getting him very far. He would have to settle this for once and for all. He released Avery’s arm and slapped her square across the face with a force that could have broken her neck. She fell to the floor in a heap and didn’t move again.

“You are a pest woman! I told you not to touch me again.” He tightly balled up his fist and swung at Gracie. She wasn’t quick enough to dodge it and soon felt the intense pain that radiated on the side of her face when his fist make impact. She went sailing into the opposite wall and slid down until she was face first on the floor. The darkness quickly overcame her but not before she saw Lars bend down and pick up Avery. She struggled to keep her eyes open as she watched large black leather boots walk out of the doorway and turn. She gave in to the darkness as the pain in her head intensified, leaving her limp as she passed out in the hallway.

He finally had what he wanted. The earth female was flung over his shoulder. He hadn’t meant to hit her as hard as he did. He only wanted to stun her so that he could take care of the other woman for being such a pest. Not that he was feeling guilty or anything for knocking her out. He just wanted to save the pain for later. Before he picked her up he had checked to make she that she was still alive. He smiled to himself when he felt the tiny beat of her pulse in her neck. She would have one hell of a headache when she regained consciousness. His first priority after securing Avery was to make his way to the docking bay where Hano was supposed to have the ship ready and waiting for them to escape.

The ship continued to take hits from the Drylons. The deflector shield wouldn’t last forever and was becoming weaker with each pulsar blast. The ship shook and groaned when the enemy beams hit their target. The lights in the corridors were now powered by emergency backup generators making it hard to see in the bare minimum lighting. Frantic crew members ran as they made their way to Gods knows where. Some of them looked stunned and confused. Most did not look at Lars as he made his way past them.

“Do you need help Lars?” A cadet warrior asked as he tried to see who Lars was carrying.

“I got this. One of the earth females was injured when part of the ceiling came down on top of her. I am bringing her to the clinic. Go find out what is happening in the command center and report back to the clinic immediately.” Lars issued the order without stopping. The younger warrior made a mad dash for the stairs that would take him to the command center.

“That should occupy him for a bit.” Lars turned in the opposite direction of the clinic when he saw the warrior take the corridor that took him out of sight. After he was safe from the young warriors prying eyes, he started to jog in order to make up for the lost seconds he spent averting him.

Twisting and turning through the maze of corridors, down flights of stairs and eventually into the docking bay Lars hadn’t run into anymore problems. This was almost too easy. The ship that Hano had commandeered thankfully was the closest ship to the entrance of the bay. No one was paying attention to him as he walked into the chaos of ships taking off and landing.

Hano had the door to the ship open and waiting. The ship gave a small bounce as Lars ran into the ship with his precious cargo. He watched as Lars dropped his prize on the nearest chair and proceeded to strap her in. She was not moving and her head flopped to the side. Hano could see clearly from where he sat that the side of her face was turning an angry red color forming the imprint of a hand.

Once he had the female secured, Lars moved to the front of the ship and took his position next to Hano. “Let’s go.”

Hano eased the ship onto the run way behind another waiting ship. He flipped a few switches as they waited for take-off.

“Did you have any trouble?” Hano never looked directly at Lars but he could see his reflection off the front window of the ship.

Lars shifted in his seat, “A few, but I took care of them.”

“Hang on.” Hano directed the ship on the runway and into position. Within seconds they were flying through space and free of the Theron mother ship. Outside the ship they could see the ensuing battle. The Drylons had positioned themselves directly near the mouth of the worm hole with several large ship surrounded by numerous smaller fighters.  The fighters were the colors of black and red and swarming all over the place. In response to the attack, the Therons were launching their own fighters with the hopes of saving the mother ship and combating the Drylons.

Hano steered the ship in the direction opposite the fighting. No one was following them and the bursts of lights coming from the fighting slowly faded behind them into the grips of space. They had actually made it out of there alive. Now all he had to do was set a course for whatever planet Lars had in mind.

“What course should I set?” Hano waited for Lars’ instructions.

“I have already set a course for UV-49. It shouldn’t take us more than a couple of hours to get there. The Drylons have reactivated a base they had set up there. That’s where I agreed to meet Gatton after they finish off Zeb and his crew.”

Hano gazed out the window then shifted in his seat so that he could see the Earth female clearly. She was still out cold. He was starting feel a bit sorry for the female. There was no telling what Lars had in store for her. He swallowed as he continued to look at her for longer than he should have. She didn’t ask for this. None of the earth females asked for any of this. The Therons had just needed mates in order to help their race survive, but look what it had done to Lars and now him.

Lars didn’t want a mate. He was too full of hatred in order to care for someone. Hano had had high hopes of finding his mate on the remote planet Earth when they had first arrived, but now those hopes were nothing but a memory. After the Commander found out about his participation in the kidnapping of his mate, he would most certainly be exiled or worse, put to death.

“Is there something of interest to you back there?” Lars harsh voice startled Hano out of his day dream.

“Nope, just making sure the package was still secure.”

Lars had a look of pure disgust on his face, “I didn’t think so.”

Hano turned his attention back to the ship’s console and checked their flight plan. “Why don’t you grab a little shut eye? It will be awhile before we reach our destination. I will wake you when we are in range.”

Lars unstrapped himself and groaned as he stretched in his seat, “Don’t mind if I do. If she stirs wake me, otherwise wake me when we are near UV-49.” He leaned back in the seat and stretched one black clad leg up onto the front panel of the ship. He shifted around a bit, finding a comfortable position. Within minutes a muted snore could be heard coming from the massive warrior.

A small moan emanated from the rear seats. Hano looked to the back of the ship and saw that the female was stirring. He moved out of his seat and rummaged in the bag that he had brought with him. He took out a bottle of water and a silver tube. He walked over to the female who was now quietly watching him through one eye. The other eye had swollen shut along with the rest of the side of her face. He grasped her chin in between his thumb and index finger and gently tilted her head up. He saw the lone tear that had escaped her battered face and watched as it trailed down her cheek.

“I am sorry for all of this.” He stared into her face. He raised the silver tube to her mouth, “This will help ease the pain and allow you to sleep more comfortably.” He brought closer to her mouth but she refused to open it. “Please. Take this.”  She still refused to open her mouth but when she did it wasn’t to take what he offered.

“Why?” It was no more than a whisper. Hano wasn’t even certain he had heard her correctly.

“Why?” He repeated. Another tear had escaped from her good eye while the swollen eye was damp with moisture. “I can’t answer that.” He took a deep breath and searched her face. “I should not have allowed Lars to do this to you. I should have gone to the commander immediately. It is too late for that now. Please, take this and I will do my best to send a message to the Commander, even if it costs me my life. My life is worth nothing now.”

Avery finally opened her mouth wide enough for Hano to slip the tube into her mouth and pop a pill from its container. She patiently waited for him to open the water bottle and raise it to her lips. The cool water felt wonderful against her parched throat. She drank her fill while he continued to hold the bottle. Once she had enough, Hano recapped the bottle and returned to his seat without another word.

She couldn’t see clearly what Hano was doing but she could see that next to him sat Lars. He wasn’t moving so she assumed that he was asleep. She strained to see what Hano was doing.  Whatever medicine he gave her was quickly taking effect. She fought to keep her eye open but it soon became too heavy. She let the darkness overtake her again. Her last conscious thought was that of Zeb and her unborn baby.    

Chapter 23

The scene at the command center was chaos. Wires were falling from the ceiling, smoke was coming out of the wall panel, several crew members were injured but Zeb never took his eyes off the window in front of him. He barked orders to the remaining crew members standing.

“Launch the fighter ships! Ceran, bring the ship around to the left!” He said to his second in command, followed by his inquiry to the ships engineer, “Brylon, how are the shields holding up?”

Brylon was furiously working at the station in front of him. His fingers were flying on the keyboard while monitoring the dozens of small screens that were displayed all around him. Some were flashing red and blaring alarms while others were a steady yellow or green.

“Shields are at half capacity and failing quickly. We need to get out of here! I am not sure how much longer they are going to last. Several areas on the ship have been compromised and are reporting wide spread damage.” He spoke quickly and never took his eyes off the screens.

“I am trying to get us out of here.  They are everywhere! How the hell could they have known where we were? Ceran, fire at will and keep firing until we have nothing left!” Zeb was holding on to the console where Ceran sat as the ship took another hit. “All guns fire, fire, fire!”

Several of the smaller Drylon fighter ships had been destroyed by the frenzied pace of the Theron ship’s retaliatory fire. The larger Drylon ship also took several direct hits and was showing signs of damage. It appeared as if the blasts coming from the Drylon ships slowed in frequency. Maybe with some luck, the Theron fighters had managed to complete their mission to take out energy generators that powered the pulsar beams.

“Commander, there are ships moving in from the rear. We don’t have enough power to fire the pulsar guns on both sides of the ship!” Ceran had stopped everything he was doing. Zeb watched the screen as more ships moved closer to the rear of the ship. It was becoming abundantly clear that they were surrounded and there was no clear way out.

The ships behind them began firing but miraculously none of the shots fired hit the Theron ships. Instead, the shots flew past them and hit the Drylons. Fighter after fighter was destroyed by the unrelenting strike by their unknown saviors.  

Out of the mouth of the worm hole poured hundreds fighter ships. It took Zeb a moment to realize who the fighter ships belonged to.

“Oh my Gods, it’s the Pernmocks!” Zeb smiled with relief when he recognized that it was the Theron’s longtime allies that came to their aid.

The Pernmocks had joined forces with the Therons when the Drylons had declared war against them saving them from complete annihilation from the surprise attack. With the combined efforts of the Therons and Pernmocks, they were able to drive the Drylons back into their sector of the universe. All trade and communications with the Drylons had been stopped and any ship belonging to their race encountered outside of their sector was immediately captured. It had been a while since they had seen any activity from the Drylons and no one expected another surprise attack.

“Theron ship, Theron ship. This is the Pernmock 2347.” A static voice came over the speaker.

The Commander reached for the button that would allow him to reply, “Pernmock 2347 this Theron.”

“Theron who is your commanding officer?” The voice coming through on the other end sounded familiar but with all the static Zeb couldn’t quite place it.

“This is Commander Zeb of the Theron ship.”

“Zeb? Is that you?”

“I know that voice! Kurtz is that you?” Zeb’s face had lit up when he realized who was on the other end. “You couldn’t have showed up at a better time.”

“I can see that my old friend. Why in the hell would you try and take on the Drylons alone, you crazy fool.” Kurtz replied in a half chuckle.

“They were waiting for us when we came out of the worm hole. I don’t know how. I am starting to suspect that someone tipped them off. That is the only way they would know we would be using this hole on our journey home.” Still watching out the window, the firing from the Drylons had virtually ceased and the larger ships were now retreating quickly. The smaller Pernmock ships were in pursuit of the fleeing ships and firing at a rapid speed. The largest of the Pernmock ships had come to a stop a short distance behind the Theron ship.

“Requesting permission to beam aboard. I have a team of medics waiting in the event you need additional medical assistance.” One moment the voice was coming through the speaker and the next six distinct forms very different from the Therons were appearing on the command center.