Voss invaded my mind. "Enough. Warriors do not shriek."
"Wanna bet? That Benedict Arnold injected me with some kind of drug. I can't move. I can't fight. I thought you were dead," I wailed.
"I'm not that easy to kill. The Drakash only temporarily blocked our link. Your father and Malik are unaware of our mating or that my blood now runs through your veins. It will quickly neutralize the drug," the Battle Commander answered. His mental hand stroked my back soothingly. "Now be silent and let me listen to them."
"Yes, sir." I clung to his comforting presence.
Honking incessantly, Spike walked over to Hothar and took his laser pistol. Drool splashed my face as he leaned over and studied me for a long moment.
"I know she looks like a man. It's a disguise," my loving father snapped.
The pirate groped my chest and quacked.
I shuddered in disgust and tightened my hold on Voss.
A menacing growl filled my head. "Once I am done with them, they will beg for death."
"Works for me."
My father painfully ripped off my mustache and goatee. "It's a disguise, you fucking moron. She's the Siren Malik wants."
Who was the fucking moron here?
Spike honked another question.
My father yanked up my shirt and hissed in anger. "You bitch, that armor cost me two million credits. I should have slit your throat when you were born."
Love you too, Daddy.
The general rolled up my armor and used a knife to cut off the elastic bandage I had bound my breasts with. "See? It's like I told you. It's a disguise."
Cold, slightly slimy hands pinched my nipples and kept squeezing my breasts until I wanted to hurl. "Please tell me you've got a plan."
"I always have a plan, but for this one to work, we must merge and become as one," Voss answered a tad arrogantly.
"Okay, that pirate's lookin' a mite hungry. Let's get to it."
"You must embrace me, my power, and my memories."
"What do I do?"
"Open yourself to me."
The minute I did, his power flooded into me, filling me. Whoa, what a rush. A vortex that held millions of images and memories suddenly spun through my head. I reeled as every bone, every muscle in my body screamed in protest. "Stop! It's too much, too much."
Voss forced his own inner calmness and rationality on my mind like a warm, comforting blanket. "My power is yours, my memories are yours. I am yours for all eternity."
"Aw, that's so sweet."
"A warlord is never sweet," Voss grumbled, somewhat embarrassed.
"I am yours for all eternity too, sweetie," I promised. A fleeting second later, our minds fused together, and we became as one. Everything abruptly clicked into place. His memories became mine. His power became mine.
"I want you to tell Malik I got the bitch for him, and I want my payment!" my father shouted at the pirate.
With a furious honk, Spike stepped over to the control console and hit a button.
Malik's badly battered image formed in midair. "You want to be paid for destroying my base? For getting over two hundred of my men killed?"
The general blanched. "No! It wasn't my fault. Zoey's responsible."
His gaze venomous, Malik asked, "You could not control one tiny female?"
"Zoey's a sneaky bitch just like her mother. She brought the Battle Commander here."
"No. You did that when you destroyed the Alliance cruiser."
Anger swept through us. He had murdered our friend Captain Rio and his men.
"I had no choice," the general whined. "They were tracking our ships."
"You have disobeyed my orders for the last time," Malik snapped and gestured to the pirates. "He's yours to do with as you wish."
"No!" The general pulled his laser pistol like a quick-draw artist. Sizzling laser beams shot out and struck all three pirates. Their mouths opened in silent screams, and for a brief second their bodies radiated a fiery red, and then they were gone. Vaporized.
We were surprised at his accuracy.
Malik laughed unpleasantly. "You are trapped."
Our father ran over to the transporter controls and typed in a coordinate. "No, I'm not. I have another buyer eager to use my daughter's gifts."
The power to the transporter control died suddenly.
Someone on the bridge must be listening in.
"You killed Anhui's mate. Expect no mercy from her. She will eat you slowly, piece by bloody piece, until you beg for death," Malik advised.
The color drained from my father's face. "You can't do that. You need me. Drake and Burns are fools. Besides, I'm the only one who knows where the shipments are."
"Oh, you will tell me anything I want to know to stop the pain." Malik's eyes were cold with menace.
"Never," the general spat. Putting the laser pistol under his chin, he pulled the trigger.
Voss and I watched in angry disbelief as his headless body hit the floor with a thump. The coward had denied us our vengeance.
The doors slid open, and a female Tai-Kok stormed in. Her head spikes formed a Mohawk, and two metal horns protruded from her forehead. She honked furiously into a translator, and a mechanical voice asked, "Who killed my mate?"
"The headless one. The general decided suicide was an easier death than being eaten alive."
Her furious gaze fell on us.
There was a hard note of command in Malik's voice. "Touch my female or the Coletti and you die. Do you understand me, Anhui?"
"Yes, my lord."
"Good. Lock them up." Malik's image vanished.
Anhui honked the Tai-Kok equivalence of "fuck you" and reached for us.
As one, Voss and I destroyed her mind and then turned our rage on the monsters manning the ship.
Hothar groaned and tried to sit up. He blinked and stared at the wormy things swarming onto the platform. "By the Goddess! Are those Scorm?"
"Yes." Our voice was deep and commanding.
He shot to his feet and would have fallen if we hadn't steadied him. "Easy, young one."
"Voss?" The look on Hothar's face was one of stunned disbelief.
"We have merged to rescue you from the Tai-Kok."
"The Tai-Kok?" Hothar surveyed the transporter room, and his gaze fell on the general's Scorm-covered form. "Your father was working with the butchers?"
"He was."
Hothar eyed the headless body. "He died too easily."
We agreed. "The general had no honor."
"Where did all these Scorm come from?"
"An excellent question, Hothar. We think a visit to Joroco will reveal another Tai-Kok base." We quickly obliterated the crawling worms with the general's laser.
Scooping Anhui's laser off the floor, the young Coletti bounded for the doors like an eager puppy.
"Hothar," we snapped.
He skidded to a stop. "Yes, Battle Commander?"
"Have you scanned the corridor for Tai-Kok or Scorm?"
His face fell. "No, Commander."
"The ship is infested with hungry vermin," we growled.
"My apologies, Commander. It won't happen again."
"Scan the ship until you locate the engine room, and teleport there."
"Yes, Commander." His face scrunched in fierce concentration, Hothar suddenly smiled and teleported.
We joined him in the engine room. "Download their navigational logs and all ship-to-ship communications to our warbird."
He gave a short bow, clamped his right fist to his chest, and said smartly, "It shall be done, Commander."
Amusement and love swept through our mind. Hothar was so young and untried. We stepped over to the warp-drive control console and overloaded the coils.
"Commander, I have located a shuttle without any Scorm," Hothar announced proudly, flashing us the image.
"Well done." We teleported to the shuttle.
Chapter Eight
A blinding white explosion filled the view screens as the Tai-Kok ship disintegrated into a cloud of vaporized metal. Shock waves buffeted our shuttle. A quick glance at the control console confirmed we had sustained no damage.
Voss left my mind, and the cold emptiness of being utterly alone suddenly spread like acid inside me. "Don't go!"
"I'm still here, little one, but the merge is no longer necessary. You are safe. Stay on the course I laid in, and we will rendezvous in sixty of your minutes."
"Okay." I fought down the almost indescribable sense of loss. "That was … intense and kinda freaky."
"I agree. Your thought processes are quite unique."
Was that a slam? An evil smile curved my mouth. "Just think, all your knowledge is now mine. Pretty awesome, huh?"
There was a long pause, and I caught a fleeting sense of horror from our link before Voss responded, "That is an unforeseen side effect of the merge."