Alien Guardian's Baby (Scifi Alien Romance) (Zoran Warriors) Read Online Free PDF Page A

armory.”
    Vukota was right – this was a trap. Perhaps I should have trusted him and let the Mongoose drift through space… but then I never would have met Isabella. Vukota will call me a fool for arming her and leaving her in my private quarters, but I have a niggling feeling at the back of my scalp that she’s important. More than even she knows. That symbol on the inside of her wrist was strangely familiar, but I can’t quite place it. It’s on the tip of my tongue.
    But I don’t have the luxury of thinking about that now. We’re being boarded, and my weapon systems are down. If the invaders take either the bridge or the engine room, the ship is lost. The Prymetas will gain access to all the secrets the Zoran military has to offer: As a flagship, the Eternity’s database contains information on all our operations, all our ships’ layouts, all our weaknesses.
    That can’t happen. No Zoran ship has ever, ever been successfully boarded.
    I don’t plan to be the first general to bear that shame.
    “Can you reach the engine room?”
    “Already on my way,” Vukota answers.
    “The ships are boarding us, sir,” Sern says. “And I’m reading more on the way as well. Wait, I’m getting a transmission! Patching it through, sir.”
    A large, silver-haired ape comes into view. He’s wearing tattered leather armor, and a necklace of teeth hangs around his neck. A large scar runs across his left eye. He snarls, baring his large fangs, before growling something unintelligible.
    A moment later, the auto-translator relays his message.
    “Surrender, Zoran. The mighty Flaming Fang has brought you to your knees. Surrender, and I might let you live.”
    Sern turns back to me. “Do you want to respond, sir?”
    I shake my head, my jaw clenched shut. “No.”
    I pull my axe from its holster. If any ape is planning on taking the bridge, they’ll have to do it over my dead body.

7
    Isa
    T he sound of gunfire creeps closer and closer, and I have my finger resting on the trigger of the silver gun. My palms are sweaty, and my heart feels like it’s beating inside my throat.
    Suddenly, the metal doors slide open, and I squeeze the trigger as fast as I can. A bright, white light shoots forth, the power of the blast sending me tumbling backwards.
    “Do I look like an ape to you?!”
    I look up to see Drax towering over me. He is dripping with blood, his armor covered in bite and scratch marks, his chest heaving. The shot I fired bounced off his chest like it was nothing.
    “Wh-what do you mean?” I ask. “What’s going on?”
    To answer my question, a Silverback runs around the corner on its hands and feet and tries to pounce on Drax from behind. In one quick motion Drax turns and plants his frost-colored axe in the beast’s forehead. It slumps to the ground, dead.
    “We’ve been boarded,” Drax says. “We have to evacuate.”
    The door closes behind him, and he strides over to the bed.
    “Evacuate? How?” I ask. I can’t believe what I’m hearing. The Eternity is the flagship of the Zoran military, right? How could it possibly be lost?
    Drax reaches for his nightstand and hits a switch I didn’t know was there. Suddenly, the round bed rises up with a whirr, exposing a metal cylinder with a hatch on it. The bed is built on an escape pod!
    “Like this,” Drax says, opening the hatch. “Come.”
    The entire ship shakes from another loud explosion, this one even closer than the last. I hop into the shuttle, and Drax closes the hatch behind me.
    His fingers go up to his earpiece. “Vukota, I’m in position.”
    I could hear Vukota’s strained, out-of-breath voice even from where I’m sitting.
    “You got it, Drax. It’s been an honor serving beside you, sir.”
    “Likewise, Vukota. Likewise. Drax out.”
    Drax pulls the earpiece out and throws it so hard on the floor it shatters. He hits a red button next to the hatch, and the pod starts to rumble. A female, mechanical voice starts counting down.
    “Ten