Defiance (7 page)

“Of course, although I wouldn’t
mind making him bleed before you tear his heart out.”

That brought a grim smile to
Laith’s
mouth. They were about to enter the engineering
section when movement up ahead had him grabbing
Laith’s
arm. They heard drunken laughter ahead and moved cautiously forward. Then there
was a loud rumble and a high pitched scream. They activated their armor
clothing, letting their skin turn black to blend into the shadows.
Laith
brought his blaster up, and David did the same. They
waited, tense, counted to three and entered the holding room. He barely
registered the fact that
Jordan
was on the ground, looking terrified, before shooting the
Xyran
guard. David killed the second.

He saw a third body in the doorway
of a storage closet.

“David?
Laith
?”
Jordan’s quivering
voice grabbed his attention, and he moved toward her. Without thought, he
scooped her up in his arms and hugged her tightly.

“
Sh
,” he
murmured as he rocked her. “I’ve got you. You’re safe now.”

“I’m so sorry for running away.”

He pulled back and stared down at
her. “You will be punished.”

She bit her lip.
“Another
spanking?”

“Hey,
Jordan
,” David called out. He had
turned off the air compressor and looked from the dead
Xyran
guard toward her. “You turned an air compressor into a gun?”

She nodded.

“That’s fucking hot that you knew
how to do that.”

She grinned. “Why is your skin
black?”

“Camouflage,”
Laith
replied.

“Thank you for rescuing me. You
might have been somewhat correct that escape was slightly futile.”

David’s eyebrows shot up. “What did
I just hear? Jordan
Kuper
admitting she was wrong?”

Her chin jutted up. “I didn’t say I
was wrong. I just said you might be somewhat correct. There’s a difference.”

He folded his arms. There came a
little snicker behind him, and he and
Laith
glanced
at each before bending a little to see into the storage closet.

“Who else is in there?” David
raised his blaster.

“No!”
Jordan
cried and hurried forward,
placing her body between David’s weapon and someone in the shadows.

“Is that a child?” he asked.

“She’s been kidnapped, like me,
only I promised we’d take her back to her parents.”

Laith
frowned. “Why would you promise something like that?”

“Oh no, don’t start being an
asshole again.”

Laith
bent
down to look at the little girl. “Which tribe do you belong to?”

The child shifted a little and peeked
at him. He jerked to his feet, pointing.

“She is
Alphan
,”
he whispered.

The girl shrieked and wrapped her
arms around
Jordan
.

“Damn it,
Laith
,
you scared her.”
Jordan
turned and hugged the girl, who was shaking. “
It’s
okay,
Rell
. He’s a good
Xyran
.”

“
Jordan
, where did she come from?” David
asked.

“She was in the room with me. I can’t
leave her behind. Do you know how to get to her planet so we can find her
family?”

“She is
Alphan
,”
Laith
repeated himself, as if that explained
everything.

“Yes, you said that. So?”

“We can’t go to
Alphan
space. There is probably a massive manhunt for her.”

“Oh, so you know who she is?”

He shook his head. “It does not
matter who she is, it’s how
rare
she
is.”

“What do you mean?”

“Many years ago Planet Alpha was
struck with fertility problems,” David explained. “
Which is
the reason they made a treaty with Earth.
Females to
mate with in exchange for sanctuary.
Alphan
children are extremely rare, but the fact that you found a
female
Alphan
child, well, Kath could name
his price for her on the
Targin
Market.”

“Her abduction might even reignite
the war,”
Laith
said grimly.

“We have to go,
Laith
,”
David urged. “Kath’s raiders are going to figure out quickly that both of them
are gone. We need to leave this station.”

Laith
shook his head. “If Kath is here—”

“It doesn’t matter if Kath is
here,” David interrupted. “He is not important right now. Look at the girl. Look
at
Jordan
.
If you ever wanted to escape your sins start with them, right now.”

Laith’s
dark eyes flickered over to them. The anger inside clawed his gut, demanding to
be released. His need for vengeance was a bitter knot in his throat. But … he
felt himself nodding in agreement.

“She’s coming with us,”
Jordan
said. “She
can’t stay here with those barbarians.”

“Agreed,” David said. “Now, come
on. Hide her as best as you can.”

****

They had made it back to the hanger
and
Jordan
thought they were in the free and clear, but when
Xyrans
began scattering in all directions she knew they were in trouble.

“Get down!”
Laith
yelled and pushed her toward a tower of storage containers. Now, normally she’d
be the first person rushing toward the fight, but she couldn’t since she had
Rell
and all her protective instincts rushed to the
surface. Which surprised her because she’d never really considered herself as a
motherly type person. But knowing this little girl depended on her changed her
perspective on a lot of things. Jordan held her blaster close because if any person
besides
Laith
or David came around the corner, she
was going to shoot them to kingdom come.

It was two against how many? She heard
blaster shots and grunts as fists hit flesh. What if David and
Laith
lost? The thought made her stomach drop sickeningly because
somehow they’d morphed from asshole captors to … what? What did they mean to
her now?
Jordan
shook her head to clear it. Right then was so not the time to become
introspective.

Bottom line was she didn’t want
them to die, and not because they were the lesser of two evils. She had to make
a choice.

She bent down until she looked
Rell
in the eyes. “I need you to stay here.”

Rell
shook her head forcefully. “No. Please. Don’t leave me.”

Jordan
felt torn in two and she bit
her lip. “I need to help David and
Laith
. The good
Xyran
and the human, remember?”

“There aren’t any good
Xyrans
,”
Rell
whispered, holding
tightly onto her.

“I guess for you there aren’t. But,
sweetheart, if David and
Laith
don’t win this fight we’ll
be taken again. I have to help them.”

She
wanted
to help them, be by their side as they fought for their
lives. But the situation was taken out of her hands as the sounds of the fight
abruptly died.
Jordan
’s
heart jumped, and not in a pleasant way. She held up her finger to her mouth in
a silent gesture for
Rell
to stay quiet.
Rell
nodded and shrank into a little ball in the corner.
Jordan
brought
the blaster up and waited, determined
Rell
wouldn’t
be taken again.

This type of fear was something she
was used to, but she pushed it down. Every day in the camp she lived in fear
that her true identity would be found out. It was the main reason she trained
so much with Mr. Meier, sometimes pushing her body until it collapsed. Right
now, standing between whatever bad guys were coming and the little girl
depending on her, she realized those lessons had prepared her for a lot more in
life. Namely, to stare down death if need be.

“
Jordan
!”
Laith
called out, and she sagged in relief.

She rushed from behind the hiding
spot and saw
Laith
holding tightly to a wounded David.
Around them lay the bodies of four
Xyrans
in uniform,
and before her eyes she saw their skin turn an ugly dark grey. Purple blood was
everywhere. Ignoring the obvious battle that just happened, she ran up to
Laith
, dropping the blaster to check David. Her heart
stuttered when she saw his purplish blood covering one side.

“Is he..?”

“I’m not dead,” David said through
clenched teeth. “Just hurts like a motherfucker.”

“We need to get to the ship,”
Laith
told her.

Jordan
nodded and hurried to get
Rell
.

The people on Station Three began
to come out from hiding now that the battle seemed to be over, but
Jordan
ignored
them. She could only imagine how ragtag they looked as they limped their way to
the dock that held their ship. The old
Xyran
she had kneed
when she ran earlier waited for them. When he saw her he instinctively covered
his groin area. She wanted to apologize, but there wasn’t any time. Jordan saw
his surprised look at
Rell
, but she pulled the little
girl along until she reached the small cell she’d occupied earlier.

“You can keep the door open, but I
need you to hide in here until we’re safe, okay?”

Rell
nodded and crawled under the bed. Jordan handed her a pillow and blanket, and,
feeling better that
Rell
was safe, she turned and
hurried back to David’s side.

“I’ve got him,” she told
Laith
as she slipped her arms around David. “Get us the
hell out of here.”

Laith
nodded and let her take over as he said something to the other
Xyran
. The older man shook his head, and a moment later, he
left the ship. As
Jordan
led David to the quarters, she felt the inertial dampeners kick on as the
engines flared to life. She took a moment to close her eyes and breathe in
relief, knowing they were all alive and safe.

****

Commander Kath looked at his dead
men. He was having a difficult time controlling his emotions and keeping his
skin an even color. The last thing he wanted to do was alert everyone just how
close he was to erupting.

“Who did this?” he asked the people
around him. “If information isn’t forthcoming, I will punish all of you.”

A commotion drew his attention, and
he saw some station workers bringing forth an old
Xyran
mechanic.

“This one helped them escape.”

Kath slowly walked toward the
struggling
Xyran
. He grabbed his jaw and squeezed,
causing him to squirm painfully. “I recognize you. You sabotaged my ship. If
you tell me who these traitors are, I will spare your life.”

The mechanic spat in his face. Without
flinching, Kath brought out his
nano
-blade and
plunged it into the big belly of the mechanic. The old
Xyran
collapsed in death. Kath pulled his blade free and glared at the station
worker. “Get me his itinerary.”

Chapter Eight

David passed out.
Jordan
found a
first aid kit in the bathroom, and although some of the stuff she didn’t
understand, she proceeded to use her rudimentary knowledge of first aid to clean
and bandage the wound. She couldn’t find a pair of scissors, so she had to peel
his clothes off. He wore some type of body armor that fit him like a second
skin, and she had the devil of a time taking it off his big body.

Under the coat was a long sleeve
black shirt. A burnt hole ripped through his side, but upon closer inspection,
she saw that it wasn’t anything serious. A blaster shot had ripped through the
area under his arm, near his armpit, cauterizing as it went along. No doubt the
energy exchange was what knocked him out. She carefully washed the wound,
applied cream and taped a surgical pad on it before tucking the sheet around him.

She left the bedroom to check on
Rell
, and found the little girl sound asleep on the floor,
wrapped in a blanket. Poor little thing, this was probably the first decent
sleep she’d had in ages. For a moment,
Jordan
had the overwhelming urge to
cuddle the little girl but didn’t want to disturb her rest. She rose and left
the room, heading to the last person on the ship.

Laith
sat
at his console in the cockpit, looking thoughtful. She wondered what was going
through his mind. She plopped down into the seat next to his.

“Are we heading toward Planet
Alpha?” she asked.

He frowned. “No.”

“Why not?”

“How is David?” he asked instead,
blatantly ignoring her question.

“David is fine. He’s sleeping off
the blaster shot, which only nicked him. But you’re dodging the question.”

He sighed. “What am I supposed to
do with the
Alphan
girl, Jordan?”

“I don’t understand. We take her
home,” she said, enunciating slowly.

He shook his head. “I already told
you, I can’t go into
Alphan
space. They’ll blast us
out of the sky first without asking questions.”