His Carnal Need (Xylon Warriors 2) (23 page)

“Halah Shirota. I claim salvage on the downed orbiter located several miles to the south in the DustFire Flats. These three from on board are my slaves, as is my right, according to Dome Law.”

He grunted.

“Unfortunately, due to a malfunction of the damaged orbiter, an Egesa Patrol was electrocuted when they attempted to enter the ship.”

“She didn’t have to tell them,” Erik complained in a harsh whisper.

“If she didn’t, they’d track us down after finding the bodies, and kill us, no questions asked,” Dak said from the front. “This way, she controls the situation.”

Growls and grunts came from the other Egesa standing nearby. They hefted their weapons. Leila felt Erik and Kam stiffen. The Egesa Commander stared at them, sitting in the back of the rover. Hatred shone in his eyes.

“We take as prisoners. Our right.”

“Only if they killed your comrades. They didn’t. Like I said, their deaths resulted from a ship malfunction. The electrical system became damaged during flight. Your patrol found them before they fixed the problem. The patrol refused to retreat when warned. For your trouble, you salvage the ship. I have no use for that.”

“Damn, woman,” Erik whispered again. “We’re going to need the ship and our weapons and equipment.”

“We take female. Split salvage. Fair.”

Leila clutched Erik’s hand tighter. Halah’s lies sounded convincing to her, but she didn’t think the Egesa Commander believed her words or even cared.

“Don’t worry,” Erik tried to assure her. “I won’t let them take you.”

“How are you going to stop them?” When he didn’t answer, she knew they were in trouble. Her head pounded so hard she winced. She’d heard horror stories of how the Egesa treated females alien to their own species.

Halah visibly stiffened. Dak and the other guard slowly got out of the rover, their weapons drawn.

“You can get slaves from the slave arena. You don’t need her.”

“As can you, Halah. We take. Torture and fuck in memory of comrades.”

Halah stepped back a little, holding her disruptor at the ready. “No.”

Kam leaned forward. “Twenty or more, against six. And three of us are unarmed. I don’t like the odds.”

“Our weapons have to be in this rover somewhere,” Erik said.

“Little good that does us, since we don’t know where,” Kam replied. “We can’t search for them.”

A smaller Egesa limped up to the Commander and grunted something in their guttural language. He pointed to the display of the vid-cell in his hand.

The Commander nodded. He waved an arm to the troops. “Come! No salvage authority. You lose, Halah. Take female slave,” he ordered his men. “Kill others.”

“No,” Leila moaned, her gaze shifting. His long nails captured her attention. She shuddered. Those claws would easily rip through tender flesh. She searched for some means of escape. But no escape existed.

They were trapped.

Damn it. Halah wondered if Rave had set this up. The woman could capture Leila and rid herself of the rest of them in one swoop. Though she didn’t think Rave would take such a chance. Making deals with the Egesa often backfired, unless made by Marid’s top leaders. Whatever the truth, she wasn’t defeated so easily. As long as everyone kept calm…

Two Egesa grabbed Leila from behind, one by the arm and one by the hair. They pulled her out of the seat, over the low back of the rover.

“Ow! Let go.” She tried to elbow them off her, but their strength far outweighed hers. They growled and pushed her forward. She stumbled, falling to her knees.

Erik and Kam jumped out of the transport.

“No!” Halah warned them. Damn male Warriors. She knew they wouldn’t be able to stay out of the fray.

Erik punched one guard in the jaw, sending him tumbling backward. Kam slugged the other in the stomach, and the Egesa fell like a brick, even though he wore a belly shield. Halah smiled. Impressive.

She motioned Leila back toward their vehicle.

“Fire!” The Egesa Commander ordered.

A pulse beam flew past Halah’s head. “Shit!” She engaged her disruptor and zigzagged toward the rover, dodging their fire.

Everyone dove behind the personal transport as laser, pulse, and disruptor shots flew.

Halah’s guard fell from a shot to his side. He groaned, alive but suffering. Dak fired back, then pulled Bron to safety. “If they hit the tank while it’s leaking, we’re dead. The protective shield won’t be enough to contain the blast. It’ll blow like a bomb.”

Halah grumbled under her breath. She didn’t want to do this, but had known it a possibility once Dak told her of the approaching Egesa. “Challenge!” she shouted.

“What are you doing?” Dak whispered harshly.

“The only thing that’s going to get us out of here alive.” With a little luck. Well, more like a lot of luck.

The firing stopped.

Halah stood up, her weapon raised harmlessly in the air. Her heart pounded an uneven beat in her chest.

Kam grabbed at her.

She kicked him away. “Stay out of it.” Was he trying to protect her or get them all fried? Anger toward the Warriors battled with a strange sense of compassion deep inside her.

“You challenge for female?” the Egesa Commander asked.

“Yes, I challenge.” She forced her voice to come out strong and steady, even though that’s not how she felt.

“What’s happening?” Leila whispered.

“Halah is going to fight the Commander for ownership of you,” Dak told her. “If he accepts the challenge, that is.”

“Why should he?” Kam asked. “He’s got us outgunned. This is crazy.”

“They live for hand-to-hand challenges. It’s a point of honor.”

“Even against a female?” Erik asked.

“The Egesa don’t discriminate.”

“Drop weapon,” the Commander ordered.

Halah dropped her disruptor. She walked around the rover to face the Commander. She needed to push her position and try to gain the best advantage for victory. “If I win, we go in peace.”

“If I win, we take female, and kill rest. Including you.”

Sweat formed on Halah’s brow. His terms lacked acceptability, to say the least. “If you win, you take female, and let us go.” If Leila needed to be sacrificed, she’d figure out some other way to accommodate Rave and still convince the others to give her the information she sought. If
she
died, Josella would be all alone. That wasn’t an option.

“You challenged me. I decide. My rules. We fight now. No weapons. No shields.”

From his stance and the look on his face, she knew he wasn’t going to change his mind. Reluctantly, she nodded her acceptance of his terms. No other choice existed for her now.

“She can’t win without using her electrical powers,” Kam said to Dak.

“Don’t be so sure.”

“Is this a death challenge?” Erik asked.

“It can be,” Dak replied. “Or until one of them surrenders.”

“Shut up,” Halah warned, turning her head toward them. “You’re distracting me with your chatter.” She needed to remain focused.

Halah removed her jacket and power supply, while the Egesa Commander removed his armor and laid down his weapons. If he lost, to maintain whatever honor he had left, he would keep his word. So would his troops. Combat was the only type of action the Egesa honored—or at least the Egesa who served as Marid Soldiers.

The Commander stood larger and stronger than the average Egesa. He wouldn’t be easily defeated.

Without her electrical surge powers, she was going to take a beating.

After many years of handling electrical currents, her body always retained some residual power, even without her power pack. If she used the power though, the other Egesa would kill her. The power probably wouldn’t be enough to faze the Commander anyhow. The skin of the Egesa wore like tough animal hide. She needed to fight this challenge using only her hand-to-hand combat training.

A win would get her one step closer to finding Josella, and knowing that would hopefully give her enough strength to defeat the Commander. If she didn’t win, they would all die, and Leila would endure a lifetime, however short, of horror at the hands of these creatures. As a woman, she felt at least some compassion for the Healer.

“We begin,” the Commander announced.

Slowly, they circled each other. Halah looked for an opening. Egesa weren’t very agile. She had that advantage.

The Commander lunged forward with more speed than she expected from him and grabbed her around the neck. His fingers tightened, gradually and with purpose.

Halah’s windpipe immediately became compromised.

“Let me go,” she heard Kam say, as she gasped for air. He sounded far off, though she knew they all watched from just behind the rover.

She brought her arms up sharply on the inside of the Egesa’s, trying to break his hold. His fingers didn’t budge. She pounded her boot down on his. No reaction. Purposely, she went limp, collapsing in his grip.

Her body weight, though slight, put him off balance. They both went down, and she flipped him over her head, forcing his release.

Rubbing her throat and coughing, she scrambled to her feet. The Commander rolled to the side and pushed himself upright. She wouldn’t underestimate him again.

While he still seemed a bit dazed, she kicked out at his stomach—a sensitive area, more so without his armor. He howled and stumbled backward. If she wanted to defeat him, she needed to do it fast. He’d have more endurance and could easily outlast her. She twirled and kicked his jaw, a direct hit.

He grabbed her boot and flung her to the ground.

She landed with a hard thud, and the air rushed out of her. “Ohh…” Her ribs felt bruised, though she didn’t think any broke.

“Die, bitch.” He raised his stud-soled boot to stomp on her face.

“Roll!” someone yelled.

She rolled into him, against his other leg. He fell like a boulder onto his stomach. She scrambled onto his back and held on. She couldn’t choke him. His neck was thicker than her thigh. She needed to take a different path. With all her strength, she gouged at his eyes.

Growling, he got to his feet and tried to shake her off. She held tight with her legs hooked around his waist.

When she punctured his sockets, he wailed and clawed at her legs. Her pants ripped, and his long nails contacted bare skin.

Halah screamed. She bit her lip to stop her cries. She couldn’t let him know he’d hurt her. She pressed her fingers harder into his eyes. He flailed back and forth, ripping at her hands. Her skin tore under his attack, sending waves of agony through her.

Finally, she had to let go. She fell to the ground, dislocating her shoulder when she hit. Blinding pain shot through her. She feared she wouldn’t be able to get back up. And even if she did, her fighting ability would be severely limited. Still, she refused to surrender.

The Commander whirled toward her, his eyes gone.

Halah couldn’t do anything but stare at the black, empty sockets.

He took a step forward and fell flat on his face.

Waiting for movement, Halah held her breath. When she saw none, she relaxed, not completely, but enough to think more clearly. She forced herself to her feet, staggering more than a little. She held her injured arm and tried to ignore the blood covering her body. Her own blood. Breathing heavily, but steadily, she raised her boot to rest on the Commander’s back. “I claim victory,” she said to the troops.

The other Egesa backed off. Reluctance showed in their eyes, however they honored the challenge.

Halah limped over to grab her jacket, power supply, and disruptor with her good arm. “Get in the rover,” she told everyone.

Kam tried to help her in.

She shrugged him off. “Don’t make me look weak. Get us out of here, Dak.”

After they settled in their seats, Dak gunned the rover. They sped through the mountain pass and topped the next hill, putting distance between themselves and the Egesa. The rest of the way to The Dome lay flat and should be quickly covered, even with a tank leak.

“Thank you,” Leila said from the back.

“Yeah. Sure.” What was she supposed to say? Halah never felt comfortable with gratitude. They hit a bump, and the jostling almost caused her to pass out.

“You’re hurt, Halah,” Erik told her. “Let Leila tend to you.”

“With what? She doesn’t have any equipment.” Halah glanced at Bron, unconscious beside her. He didn’t look good. No blood stained his clothing. He must have been hit by one of the new pulse-beam weapons, which caused internal injuries without any external signs of damage. “Now shut up and let me be.”

A hand touched her good shoulder. She jerked, then relaxed when she realized who’d touched her and why. Kam. The Warrior way after a fight. A show of solidarity and a good job. Uncomfortable with the gesture, she shrugged him off.

“At least let Leila reset your shoulder, Halah,” Kam said.

Dak stopped the rover. “He’s right.”

“Damn it! Fine,” Halah ground out. “Anything to shut all of you up.” She couldn’t take the pain much longer anyway. “Do it. Quickly.”

* * * * *

Torque entered the Command Center and approached Braden. Finally, good news. “Pitch checked in. He and our sisters have Josella secured. The orbiter sustained some damage, but should be in full working order within twenty-four hours or less. There’s a storm in the area. They’ll need to wait it out and flush their external systems before they take off. I told them to stay put on the Sand Moon until we issue the all clear.”

“How dangerous will it be there for them?”

Torque let out a heavy breath. His stint on the Sand Moon, when he’d been banished from Xylon for refusing to become a Dispenser, among other things, had burned a permanent memory of violence and pain on his psyche. “It’s not a stroll through Xylon Square, but they should be all right for the short term.

While the storm is raging, none of the gangs will attack. The crew is well-trained and well-supplied. With three armed Warriors together, if they do encounter trouble, they’re at least equipped for defense.

They’ll check in with us every few hours so we know their status, and so they know ours.”

“Any additional information on military movements from The Dome?”