A scream tore the captain from her thoughts. She looked toward the sound to see Worgen standing in front of one of her crewmen. The shocked expression on the man's face was in eerie contrast to the passiveness on Worgen's. The spear in the general's hand was bloody. In the next moment, the man slumped to the ground and the bay descended into panic.
Lana pulled a gun from her hip, aiming it at the general. The crooked smile greeted her again as she fired, the shots bouncing from the armor without even scratching the surface. A Brion warrior was at her side in the next second, the sharp blade of his spear on her throat. The captain dropped the gun when she felt blood trickling down her neck. Lana thought she'd die, but the expression on Worgen's face was almost approving and the warrior backed away.
"Search the ship," he ordered calmly. "Gather all the human females and others. Kill the men."
Over the noise that followed, Lana heard the general add, before retreating to his fighter:
"Spare the Palians."
Then there was only blood and screams and death.
***
The Brions left no man alive in their wake, except for the Palians. Lana had tried to fight after the general had left, but neither she nor her crew were warriors like their enemies. Running did no good and neither did fighting. The Brions went through the ship with merciless vigor and Lana was left to listen to the screams of the dying. Their futile resistance did nothing, and in the end deadly silence reigned over the carnage.
Lana swore she'd do anything in her powers to stop Worgen.
Only with every day that passed, the task seemed more impossible. The captain refused to listen to Fraly when the man asked her to leave the cleaning up to others. Lana told him straight out that they were her crew and she'd see the death herself. Only that—helping to carry the corpses and clean up the blood—showed her exactly how outmatched they had been. There was no one aboard the Raptor who could stand against even one Brion warrior, not to even speak of the entire Abysmal and Worgen himself.
Gritting her teeth, Lana ordered the Raptor to obey and sail where the Abysmal went, hoping that an opportunity to fight back would present itself. In the meantime, she could gather valuable information and look for a way to deliver it to the union . The Brion patrols still aboard her ship had broken the comm links, along with any means of getting in touch with the rest of the galaxy.
Lana was also busy trying to avoid the general. Every few days, she was called to the warship to meet Worgen. To her absolute relief, the general didn't touch her.
It quickly became clear to Lana that what he liked about her was her spirit. And the girl from the pod had been right about that as well. The mad, dark general wanted to become even more powerful through her. Lana didn't want to give him any advantages. So from then on, she swallowed her pride and was as quiet and timid as she could possibly make herself. If Worgen noticed that trick, he said nothing. He simply kept her around while every day a new ship fell to the trap of the escape pod.#p#分页标题#e#
The small fleet around the Abysmal grew, but as much as Lana tried to contact the others, there was no one who had even an inkling on how to fight the Brions. They had to rely on smaller vessels traveling between the ships now, carrying their messages due to the broken comm links, and it made conversations hard and cryptic. Eventually Lana gave up on them.
Sheep, she thought. Sheep lining up for the slaughter. What do you think he'll do to us once he figures out we're of no use?
Already there were rumors that Worgen had started to kill those he deemed unfit to be his bride. Lana had no idea if that was true or not, but it made her all the more intent to keep her own crew safe, at least what was left of it.
Begrudgingly, she had to admit that there wasn't much she could do. Brion units patrolled her ship day and night, keeping an eye on her and looking for any signs of trouble.
The only comfort to Lana came from the fact they hadn't found the hidden women yet.
***
Every time, it got worse.
And by worse, Lana thought grimly, more and more dangerous, both for her and her crew. She was playing with fire, going to see the hidden women herself, when she knew that she was under constant surveillance.
That bothered her, but it didn't change the facts. She was their captain, and her responsibility to them didn't go away when it was uncomfortable or threatening.
Lana hated the sneaking, though.
Creeping around like a thief on her own ship, it wasn't only weird, it was humiliating.
Through the immense panels, she saw the Brion warship looming over the Raptor. There was no night and day in space, but Lana felt like the Abysmal brought darkness with it, cast a shadow over everything it touched. The Brions had searched every inch of her ship, but apparently their scans hadn't picked up the hidden women. Lana thanked God that the Abysmal didn't seem to have the technology to uncover the shields that helped cover the body heat. After all, her ship hadn't picked up the warship before it was too late. They both had weaknesses, then.
She was nearing the cargo bay which provided the access to where the women were hiding when the walls of her ship started talking to her.
In a deep and calm voice that sent shivers down her spine, the darkness said: "I wouldn't do that if I were you."
Lana froze on the spot.
Not more than five feet ahead of her, there was an alcove, nothing more than a little corner. She'd assumed it was empty, but a figure stepped forward from the shadows, detaching itself from the cover of it. If she hadn't seen it happen with her own eyes, Lana would have thought it impossible. There was simply no room to hide, no convenient background to blend into.
Yet in the place where a moment ago there had been nothing, now stood a man.
Lana's heart skipped a beat.
She'd seen many Brion warriors in the past weeks, more than her share. More than she would have liked, of course, but this one... He was nothing like them.
Instead of the cold, silent emptiness that the captain had seen in the looks of General Worgen's men, this new one observed her with flashing, burning green eyes. Like a furnace, they raged with life, but Lana had no doubt he was capable of dealing out death as he saw fit. The warrior was even taller than Worgen, carrying confidence around him like a cloak.
He was standing before her, seemingly relaxed, but Lana felt more overpowered than when she'd had a blade at her throat. The warrior's wide shoulders and powerful arms, his immense bulk, and the stance that spoke of years of training were the obvious reasons for that. But it was the devious, curious smile on his lips that intimidated her the most. He watched her from under the dark strands of his black hair, two long braids falling over his eyes.
He terrified Lana, but not only that. The shiver that he'd sent down her spine had definitely not been a negative sensation. It was much more like a searing surge of lust at the sight of such a man.
The captain shook it off. For weeks, she'd resisted all Worgen's attempts to claim her, as brutal and uncaring as they were. She would not lust over this guy, even when one look from him did more than all of the horrible general's attempts. He was an enemy and no amount of hotness changed that.
"You are going to see your crew," the warrior said, his voice like a caress. "That is not wise."
Lana didn't answer. No matter how the guy had discovered her secret, she would not admit to it until no other options remained.
The man smirked, taking a step closer to her. Lana's breath caught, and she would have dearly wished to believe it was out of fear.#p#分页标题#e#
"You should turn back, Captain," the man said, tilting his head a little to look at her.
"This is my ship," Lana said, noticing with irritation how her voice shook a bit. "Until your general decides to lock me up, I'll go where I want to."
The warrior looked at the Abysmal floating beside them, giving it a dark look.
"My general?" he asked. "I don't think so."
That pulled Lana's attention away from his perfect body, where it had reluctantly stayed for a long moment.
Careful, she thought. Could he be an ally?
"I didn't think you Brions rebelled against your generals," she said carefully.
"We don't," the warrior said, turning his blazing eyes back to her. "Unless we mean to succeed them."
CHAPTER FOUR
Corden
Finding the Abysmal had been easier than he'd thought.
Another man in his place would have taken it as the positive surprise that it was, but that was not in Corden's nature. He didn't accept simple answers without knowing the question.
And the question was: if he could track the Abysmal, could it track him? More precisely, did Worgen know he was being followed?
To be safe, he hid the Claw in the shadow of Chloris, an irradiated planet nearby. The general hoped that the levels of radiation would hide the signature of his ship's warp core. He had no idea whether the Abysmal was able to differentiate between them. All he had to go by was that most of the species in the galaxy couldn't, but the Brion ships could.
The Abysmal was a different story, however. Corden was willing to admit he had no idea what he was up against, because everything he knew about it came from a storybook. All right, he had a few ideas and there was the matter of the Palians, giving him a few advantages on everybody else, but that wasn't much.
He went over everything he had gathered meticulously before leaving the Claw. The look of surprise on Soren's face had been rewarding, if nothing else. His captain was a smart man, but apparently even he had never suspected.