The light dimmed.
Bodies thudded to the floor.
Silently signaling his men, he moved forward. At the intersection, he swung right while Liden swung left. Two men accompanied Dagon. Two accompanied Liden. The rest remained in the intersection to keep an eye on the corridor and cover their backs.
At a glance, Dagon counted eight Gathendiens down on this side. “Keep an eye out for the Earthling and the Purveli,” he reminded his men softly. “They weren’t in the labs.” And they were the only reason he had used a Bex-7 stunner instead of an e-grenade. He didn’t want to inadvertently kill the very people he sought to rescue.
Blasterfire erupted in the primary corridor.
“More coming to meet us,” Efren muttered behind him.
Just as Dagon started to turn back the way he had come, three Gathendiens lumbered around the far corner. Dagon fired his O-rifle in short, sharp bursts.
Liden did the same.
A hand grabbed Dagon’s ankle and yanked.
Swearing, he stumbled but kept his feet beneath him. A Gathendien who had escaped being stunned (probably by ducking behind one of his fellow soldiers) clambered to his feet.
Still firing his rifle at the end of the corridor, Dagon straightened his free arm and flicked his wrist. The armor protecting it elongated into a chain that slipped down through his fingers. A heavy metal ball formed on the end, sharp spikes rising on its surface. Seconds later, Dagon swung.
The flail caught the Gathendien in the chest, its spikes long enough to penetrate armor and pierce flesh. The Gathendien roared in fury and pain. Dagon tugged on the chain. Light flared from the spiked ball, delivering an incapacitating jolt of energy.
The Gathendien’s voice cut off midshout. His body jerked and stiffened. Dagon used the reprieve to aim better at the enemies at the end of the hallway.
With Liden’s help, they eliminated all of them.
Keeping his rifle at the ready, Dagon released the chain. The light dimmed. The spikes retreated into the ball. Then the Gathendien’s eyes rolled back in his head as he sank to the floor, unconscious.
A twitch of Dagon’s wrist retracted the flail into his vambrace. After confirming all his opponents were down and that Ava and Jak’ri were not among them, Dagon rejoined the others at the intersection. “Any signs of the prisoners?”
Efren shook his head. “All Gathendien.”
Nodding, Dagon led his men farther into the ship, taking out enemies along the way, determined to reach Eliana as quickly as he could while eliminating Gathendien foes. The number of soldiers they continued to encounter stunned him. Was this the ship that had destroyed the Kandovar? Were the Gathendiens preparing to launch an all-out war with the Lasarans? Or was whatever research the scientists conducted aboard the Cebaun so important that the Gathendiens wished to guard it heavily to prevent it from ending up in Alliance hands?
“Commander Dagon,” a voice said over the comm. “Kewan reporting. We’ve secured the bridge.”
“Excellent. See if you can locate Ava and Jak’ri. Eliana said they weren’t in the labs.”
“Yes, sir.”
No one knew alien tech like the young technology officer. If any record of the two prisoners existed—anything that might indicate where they were now, if they were alive or dead, what experiments had been performed on them—Kewan would find it.
The red dot indicating Eliana’s position grew closer. It also stopped more and more often as she came up against Gathendiens who were either running from Dagon’s men, seeking to protect the labs, or trying to abandon ship. With both hangars secured, the Gathendiens’ only means of escape were the few pods the ship boasted.
Dagon quickened his pace. The longer it took him to find Eliana, the more fear for her safety grew. All it would take was one lucky shot with a blaster…
Every group of Gathendiens he encountered infuriated him more as urgency drove him onward at a fast clip. He wanted to break into a run but couldn’t risk his men’s safety by acting rashly.
Kewan swore suddenly.
“Report, Kewan,” Dagon ordered as he fired at two more Gathendiens and swung his flail at a third.
“I haven’t found the prisoners yet, but I’ve located Eliana,” he said, his voice tight with tension. “She’s injured. And she’s about to— Drek!”
Eliana heard Kewan yammering on about something to Dagon but didn’t digest his words quickly enough. She had searched this whole side of the ship and still hadn’t found Ava. They must be moving her, trying to get away with her, or—
She raced around the next corner. Her eyes widened.
A dozen huge Gathendiens faced her.
“Oh shit.”
The three in front fired their weapons, which looked big enough to take out a freaking fighter craft. Sheesh! Was it even safe to fire those on a ship?
Still racing forward, she dropped low and slid toward them feet-first like a baseball player. Bright blasts shot past above her, so close she could feel the heat before her boots slammed into those of two of the Gathendiens, sweeping them off their feet. Caught in a tangle of limbs, she dodged tails while she swung her shoto swords at anyone she could reach.
“Eliana?” Dagon called over the comm.
A Gathendien kicked her in the side as she scrambled to her feet. “Oomph! Little busy,” she gritted and ducked a tail sporting shiny spikes. She thought it unlikely that these soldiers were hovering near the escape pods without reason. So either they were helping some of their men abscond with the prisoners or they intended to leave themselves.
Well, not on her watch.
“Efren, Liden, with me,” Dagon ordered grimly over the comm.
In recent years, vampires had outnumbered Eliana many times. But few of them had been trained soldiers and none of them had borne skin that was difficult to penetrate with a blade. Or had a tail that could strike like a battering ram, yank her off her feet, or impale her.
With Eliana in their middle, the Gathendiens couldn’t fire their weapons without shooting each other. They must not feel threatened enough by the tiny human in their midst to risk it, because they all holstered their blasters and drew blades.
Triumph filled her. That she was comfortable with.
That was how most of the vampires back home had attacked her.
Fighting with every ounce of her superior speed, Eliana got in multiple slashes for every one of theirs, spinning and kicking, disarming some, stabbing others. One Gathendien fell. Then a second. And a third.
A tail slammed into her hip, the spikes wrapped around it puncturing her suit and piercing her flesh. Swearing, she spun, swung, and sliced with all her might. The Gathendien who had landed the strike howled and stumbled backward, minus his tail. But the damn spikes stayed embedded in her flesh, the heavy tail tugging on it every time she moved.
She had to duck half a dozen more slashes and get in a couple of her own before she could yank the spikes out. A Gathendien tackled her, taking her to the floor amid the still forms of those she had defeated. That thick skin must weigh more, because he was heavy as hell. Grunting as the big bastard tried to squash her, she worked her legs up between them, planted both feet in his gut, and shoved hard.
The Gathendien’s eyes widened as he flew up, hit the ceiling, and burst right through it onto the next level.
Apparently the ceilings on this ship weren’t metal like those on the Ranasura.