Total pages in book: 57
Estimated words: 51862 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 259(@200wpm)___ 207(@250wpm)___ 173(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 51862 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 259(@200wpm)___ 207(@250wpm)___ 173(@300wpm)
There is a peculiar silence as Emily and I watch the shields go through the final stages of depletion from green to orange to bright red. As it hits the red, a siren starts to blare. I turn it off immediately. If we are going to die this way, we do not need to die while annoyed.
“I am sorry, pet,” I apologize. “I should have done a better job of keeping you safe. You deserve a better owner than me.”
Another small salvo of Wrathelder weaponry and we will be obliterated. The only small mercy here is that our ends will be quick. I will die full of regret, knowing that I failed the woman who matters most to me in the world.
I squeeze Emily close to my chest, holding her tight. I will not let go. We will go into the cold of eternal night together.
Detonations rock the ship. This is the end. It has to be.
Pew!
Pew!
P….
I realize that we are still alive. I also realize that the explosions did not happen on our ship. They happened nearby. Behind us.
A new ship is on the screen. This one bears a very large gunmetal V on the front fuselage. It is a vast behemoth of a thing and I have never laid eyes on it out of the dock. I have traveled on it many, many times, though not recently. My father used to captain it, before he was slain in a Wrathelder plot. He took our family all over the galaxy on adventures and vacations. He made us men on that ship. I made myself a man on that ship too. I lost my virginity in my private berth what feels like a thousand years ago.
I let out a shout of relief and glee, a sound that makes Emily startle in my arms. The relief I feel cannot be overstated. I am absolutely flooded with it. Wrathelder might send ships without weaponry, but our family vessel goes nowhere without a gigaton of fire power. The Voros can destroy a small planet if it sees fit — and Wrathelder know it. They turn tail and flee, leaving Emily and her village and me to continue to limp across space toward safety.
The communicator chimes on. I open a channel. Before I can speak, Arkan starts his lecturing.
“What are you doing, Zain!?”
It’s good to hear my brother’s voice, even if he does sound tense and frustrated. Arkan has always sounded that way when it comes to me. Being the baby of the family means no matter how big or bad you get, big brother always thinks he needs to intervene.
“Stealing Wrathelder’s ship and being blasted out of the sky by the rest of his fleet,” I reply. “At least, until you got here. Should teleport us all aboard, then give chase. They have a full human military detachment in their possession.”
There is a brief sigh, or maybe it is just the hiss of the communicator. “Stand by,” he says. “Do you truly have a hundred humans aboard? Or are my scanners in need of calibration?”
“A hundred and one. One of them is mine. The rest are her village. And one wounded city dweller. She needs attention.”
“You know how to make a scene, Zain,” Arkan says. “Stand by.”
A moment later, I am standing in front of Arkan and Khan, my older brothers. It is so good to see them I could hug them, but for the fact I am still holding Emily in my arms and have no intention whatsoever of letting her go.
“We are trying to manage matters in a sensible fashion, not start a civil war on Euphoria. You are making that very difficult, Zain.”
Arkan keeps his lecture going telepathically. He will not be dissuaded by anything as irrelevant as a family reunion.
“Wrathelder started this war long ago, and we all know it.”
“He’s right,” Kahn says. “I say we hunt them down and we reclaim the fighting human detachment. They cannot be allowed to stay in possession of armed humans.”
They’ve still not acknowledged the human in my arms. How very rude of them.
“This is Emily. She is my pet.”
Emily
I am looking at two more aliens who share a strong family resemblance to Zain. They are more blue in hue, but the facial features are so very similar.
“This is Arkan, my eldest brother,” Zain says, introducing me to the two glowering aliens who do not seem particularly pleased to see us.
I get the feeling, the very strong feeling, that Zain is the black sheep of the family. I never had any siblings but always wanted some. There is so much love in this room, even though it is dressed in fraternal disapproval.
“Nice to meet you, Emily,” Arkan says. He has incredible blue hair which flows almost to his waist, and the long-suffering expression of an eldest sibling. “My pet is here too. I am sure she will be pleased to meet you. Her name is Jennifer.”