Vexing Voss:Coletti Warlords 03(27)

Almost as if he had heard me, Zye bellowed with fury, whipped out a pistol, and fired.

Agony seared through every cell in my body as the stun beam hit me. Was  that me screaming? God, I hoped not. Voss would freak. I fought to stay  conscious.

Zye shook me viciously. "Do you take me for a fool? Do you?"

Did the idiot actually think I was capable of answering him? My stomach  clenched as I realized I had lost my link with Voss and Zarek.

"The Battle Commander cannot save you."

Tears of pain leaked down my cheeks. Zye was a dead man walking.

The murderous medic shoved a scanner at my face. "I can outthink,  outfight, outmaneuver them. This little device tells me when Zarek or  Voss are trying to contact you."

Power flowed into me, and the agony faded away. When I didn't get  stunned again, I figured his swell scanner didn't work as well as he  thought.

Zye touched the control console, and we came out of warp drive. A glittering pink planet filled the view screen.                       
       
           



       

Joroco, a barren desert wasteland occupied by a few hardy souls who  mined Sipan, and home of the icky Scorm. Trying to find Malik's hidden  base would be a difficult, time-consuming task.

Lucky for us, dickhead was taking me right to it. All I had to do was  send up a smoke signal, and my honey bunny would come riding to the  rescue. Easy. Right?

The ship dropped lower and lower. Ahead of us, gaunt, wind-tortured  peaks of red stone rose from the seemingly endless ocean of coral sand.  With the tap of an icon, a landing bay appeared in the massive wall.

Color me impressed.

Firing the landing thrusters, Zye brought the fighter to a stop next to a long line of Tai-Kok marauders.

With my psychic abilities still on the fritz, sending up a smoke signal might be a little harder than I thought.

"Dinnertime." Zye chortled, unfastening my harness.

God, how I wanted to smack that sick smile off his face.

Zye tossed me over his shoulder and teleported.

We appeared in a corridor dotted with cells. Each held a half-starved  Gorum. If the energy barriers failed, we'd be dinner. Zye opened the  closest door and tossed me inside.

I did a fast tuck and roll, somersaulted to my feet, and blasted Zye's mind with everything I had.

His head snapped back, but he didn't go down.

Crap. I hit him again.

With a roar, he lunged at me and grabbed my arm.

I twisted, used Zye's forward momentum against him, and hurled him over my shoulder, right into an energy barrier.

Zap! It sparked brightly. Bolts of crackling red danced over Zye's  violently convulsing body. A high-pitched scream broke from him, and he  fell to the floor, his battle suit smoking nicely.

My powers might be on the fritz, but I could still kick his sorry ass. "The only one on the dinner menu is you, asshole."

A Gorum squalled and threw himself at the energy barrier. His hunger was a living thing.

"Bebo still lives," I told him.

His body quivering badly, the yellow eyestalks swiveled to stare at me.

Peeling off my tunic and armor, I turned and showed him the tattoo.

"He lives," came a hoarse whisper in my mind.

"You bet your ass he does, and I think Bebo could use some help killing  the ones who betrayed your people to the Tai-Kok, don't you?"

"Desh and Balram have much to answer for."

"The Tai-Kok and Rodan are my enemies too." I showed him my memories of  the attack on Phoenix. The incinerated ruins of our cities, a schoolyard  filled with the gutted corpses of children. "They slaughter our  children without mercy. It has to stop."

His rage flooded my mind. "They kept Rani alive long enough for her to watch as they ate her unborn children."

"These monsters need to die. Will you help me kill them?"

"Release me, and none will live."

"Sounds like a plan. You eat the Tai-Kok while I blow Malik's precious base to kingdom come."

"You are truly the Battle Commander's mate."

I touched my band. Surprise. Even the Gorum knew what it meant. "If we don't fight, we die."

"They are now the hunted."

"I like the way your mind works." I quickly dressed and kicked Zye. "Wanna snack?"

"Very much."

"What's your name?"

"Raj."

"Okay, Raj, let's go kill some Tai-Kok." Grabbing Zye's laser pistol, I turned off the energy grid.

There was a blur of movement, and Zye disappeared down Raj's gullet.

Whoa! I quickly opened the cell door.

Emitting a high-pitched squalling cry, the Gorum whizzed by.

More squalling cries sounded in the corridor, and soon three pitiful-looking Gorum had joined Raj.

My little army was growing.

They looked at me, and their guts rumbled.

Shit! A ravenous army, and I probably looked like a Happy Meal minus the fries.

"She carries the king's mark," Raj announced.

The Gorum suddenly surrounded me.

I froze. Oh dear God. They were so very hungry.

The first one touched Bebo's mark and stung me right through the friggin' armor. "I am Yann."

I fought down a scream. Goddammit, that hurt.

The second one quickly stung me. "I am Vishna."

"I don't need another tattoo, guys, really." I hissed through clenched teeth.                       
       
           



       

"I am called Jiao, and to carry our marks is a great honor." His tentacle slithered over my shoulder.

Holy Mary, mother of God. It was like being stung by a zillion bees. My  knees buckled, and I hit the floor. Please Lord, don't let there be any  more of them.

"Now none but our enemies can harm you," Raj proclaimed.

"Swell." I struggled to my feet. "Will ya go eat those damned Tai-Kok, please? I need to send a smoke signal."

Jiao stroked my hair curiously. "What is this smoke signal?"

"I'm going to set off a big enough explosion that the Battle Commander can see it from space."

"Excellent idea," Jiao said, and they all zoomed away.

I shuddered to think what my back looked like now. Spotting a com-link, I  hurried over to it and typed eagerly into the keypad. It made a rude  noise. Rats, I needed a password.

Okay. How about a map of the complex? I hit the proper icon and crowed  in triumph when an overview of the complex popped up. Cool. The armory  was two levels down.

Panicked honking erupted down the corridor. Music to my ears. Teach you to slaughter our children.

Alarms began to bellow.





Chapter Fourteen

Row after row after row of explosives, weapons, and ammunition filled  the cavernous armory. Oh my God, were those thermite grenades? I opened  the crate and did a little happy dance. There were hundreds of  them-flash bangs, smoke bombs, and deadly garrison killers. So many to  choose from, and too little time to inspect them all. I scooped up a  black grenade reverently. A couple of these puppies would blow this  entire complex to smithereens. Unfortunately, once you pulled the pin,  you had a whole sixty seconds to run like hell. Suicidal I wasn't.

My gaze fell on racks of laser rifles. Whoa! They were top-of-the-line  Asus. Malik must have spent at least ten million credits on them.  Quickly stuffing my pockets with grenades, I dashed over to the rack.

Crap, the lock was state-of-the-art too.

Three icons appeared in my mind.

I tried them, and the lock opened. "Thanks, honey bunny."

Voss gave me a grumpy growl.

Someone was being a cranky butt. I pulled out a rifle and quickly  checked it over. A sigh of relief escaped me. It was fully charged. I  slung it over my shoulder and looked around. Now where were the bombs?

A death's-head symbol popped into my head. "Search for it," Voss commanded.

"Yes, sir. On it, sir." Throwing him a snappy mental salute, I stomped  down the aisles looking for the symbol. Would it have hurt him to ask if  I was okay?

A low rumble of warning echoed in my head. "Do not think me uncaring. I  know every scrape, bruise, or cut you have suffered at Zye's hands, and  he will be punished."

"You're a day late and a dollar short, bucko. Raj ate him."

"Raj?"

"I freed more Gorum. Now I have my own little army."

I could feel Voss's horrified alarm and Zarek's concerned interest as they poured more power into me.

A sigh broke from me at all that lovely energy. My psychic abilities were coming back on line. "Relax, guys, they stung me too."

Zarek asked, "How many did you free?"

"Four so far. They're chowing down on the Tai-Kok while I make the armory go boom."

"Stay away from them. They will not be able to control their hunger yet," Voss ordered.

"I hear ya. For a minute there, they were eyeing me like I was Thanksgiving dinner."

A child's wail echoed across my mind.

"Did ya hear that?"

"Yes, one of Bebo's children survived," Voss answered.

"The poor little thing is probably scared half to death." I reached out  with my mind searching for the source. There. The little guy was hiding  in a crack in the cavern wall.