Vic pursed his lips, his brow furrowing as he thought.
“I believe the Mother Ship is roughly one-fourth the size of Earth’s moon,” he said at last.
“Wow—that’s huge,” Torri exclaimed. “None of the ships we’ve built can hold more than a couple of people.”
“Well, your space-faring technology is very limited,” Vic pointed out. “The Mother Ship has the capacity to hold millions—though it is carrying much less than that at the moment. There are many warriors in the Unmated Males section who are desperately in need of brides.”
Torri thought that if all the Kindred were as sweet and considerate as Vic was, there would be plenty of Earth women who would be eager to sign up to be alien brides.
But just as she was opening her mouth to say so, they flew out of the other end of the wormhole…
And right into the middle of a horde of sleek, black ships.
Forty-Seven
“The Scourge! They’re already here!” Vic tried to take evasive maneuvers, but there were simply too many ships in the way. They surrounded his long-range shuttle like beela gnats clustered around the same fruit.
Suddenly his com-link crackled to life.
“Kindred ship, you are surrounded. Surrender at once.”
The speaker was a male with pearly gray skin and black hair. But the strangest thing about him was his eyes—the irises were red and the whites of his eyes were pure, jet black.
“I have no quarrel with you,” Vic said steadily, staring at the Scourge male. “This is neutral territory.”
“The Kindred always have a quarrel with the Scourge,” the male replied. “You will accompany us to the Fathership at once.”
Then com-link went dark and the black ships surrounding them began to herd Vic’s shuttle towards a larger, darker shape up ahead.
“Oh God, what are we going to do?” Torri’s big brown eyes were wide with fright and Vic didn’t blame her. It must seem like her worst nightmares were coming true.
“Contact the Mother Ship and let them know the Scourge are already here, to start with,” he said steadily. But when he tried his com-link, he found that his transmissions were being jammed.
“What’s the matter? Can’t you get them?” Torri asked anxiously, staring at the dark com-link viewscreen.
Vic didn’t answer—he didn’t want her to lose hope.
“Go and hide in the back,” he instructed her instead. “Get undercover and keep completely quiet. When they force us to land, I’m going to come out fighting.” He could feel his eyes getting hot and a red tint was creeping into his vision as the protective Rage prepared to take over. “I’ll kill as many of them as I can—I swear I won’t let them take you, sweetheart.”
“But—”
“Go hide!” he commanded. “Now! The Fathership is just ahead.” He nodded at the vast black bulk growing in the viewscreen.
Torri unbuckled her harness and rose from her chair, a look of fear and indecision on her lovely face. She hesitated, then put her hand on his shoulder.
“I don’t want to go, Vic,” she whispered in a trembling voice. Leaning over, she kissed him briefly on the lips. “I…I want to stay and fight with you.”
Vic shook his head.
“You haven’t seen the Scourge soldiers. They have no honor—no pity. They are soulless monsters. Please, Torri…” He looked into her eyes, which were filled with worry. “Please just hide yourself away. I can fight much more efficiently if I know you’re safe.”
Biting her lip, she nodded.
“All right. I’ll hide. But what if…”
“Go now—we’re docking!” Vic told her. Indeed, they were entering the docking bay of the Fathership, a huge space filled with the same sleek black ships that had clustered around them since their exit from the wormhole.
“All right—I’ll go!” Torri gave him one last kiss and then ran to the back of the shuttle.
Vic set his ship down and reached for his blaster. He set it to kill and got ready to go.
He might die on this mission, but he was determined to sell his life as dearly as he could and to protect Torri with his last breath.
Forty-Eight
Torri crouched in the back of the long-range shuttle, hiding as well as she could behind the diminutive couch, which was pushed into a corner of the small living area. There really wasn’t anyplace else she could get any kind of cover except the tiny bathroom, and she wasn’t sure how long the lock on its door would hold. So behind the couch seemed to be her best bet.
From where she was crouching, she could see to the front of the shuttle where Vic was working the complicated instruments to get them landed. The minute the ship touched down, he opened the shuttle door. He had a gun in one hand and Torri heard the nearly silent shots like hissing sounds as blasts of blue light exploded from its muzzle.
There were shouts from outside the shuttle and for a moment, she had the hope that maybe Vic could shoot enough of them to get free so they could take off again and fly out of the massive black ship that had swallowed them up. But then a huge, gray-skinned warrior loomed up in the doorway of the shuttle.
Torri’s heart leapt into her throat at the sight of the new adversary.
Oh my God—he has to be nine or ten feet tall!
The huge Scourge warrior was covered from head to toe in black metal armor but strangely, he didn’t seem to have a gun like Vic did. Maybe he was big enough that he didn’t think he needed one, Torri thought.
Vic shot at the Scourge warrior, but the blasts of blue light didn’t seem to have any effect. Either they were bouncing off the huge warrior’s armor or else he just didn’t mind getting shot. It was hard to tell which by his face, which was mostly covered by an enormous black metal helmet, but his red-on-black eyes had a dead, blank expression, as though he didn’t feel anything at all.
Vic shot him once more and then the warrior raised one huge, metal-covered fist and Torri saw an enormous silver spike suddenly pop out from the warrior’s middle knuckle.
It looked like a single, deadly claw but Torri only caught a glimpse of it because the next moment, in a blur of motion, the massive warrior made a lunging, underhanded punch and buried the long spike in Vic’s chest.
“No!” Torri gasped, forgetting she was supposed to be in hiding. She couldn’t take her eyes off the horrible sight in front of her, which now seemed to be happening in slow motion.
She saw the bloody end of the silver spike appear, coming out of Vic’s back and thought, his heart! That’s right where his heart is! Oh God—he stabbed him in the heart!
Then the monstrous Scourge raised his fist high, lifting Vic’s still-jerking body into the air in a sick gesture of triumph. The sleek sliver gun the big Kindred had been using dropped from his limp fingers back onto the seat behind him.
“No!” Torri gasped again and tears began to blur her eyes. At the same time, fury took over her body. She jumped over the couch and barreled forward, screaming wordlessly as she ran.
Scooping up the gun on instinct, she pointed it as the huge warrior and began shooting.