Marauder Kronos: Scifi Alien Invasion Romance (Mating Wars) (12 page)

“Ramses,” I say. “What the fuck happened?”

“You know the real reason I made all of you come with me?” Ramses asks.

We shake our heads.

“So that no one could say I was crazy or hallucinating when I told this story.”

He moves to the bag, zips it up, and hoists it over his shoulder. “Come on, we need to
run
back to land.”

“You can run?” Malcolm asks.

“I don’t think anyone can carry me,” he says, “Come on!”

We run as fast as we can over the ice. I’m trying to imagine what the hell plan B could possible be. Malcolm launched a rocket up, and it looked powerful enough to propel itself out of Atlantis’s field.

So it must be some type of signal. And now he has us running furiously to solid land.

“Did you just call in a fucking orbital strike, Ramses?” I shout. “That’s not very much keeping the peace, is it? Bombarding a dormant and powerful alien race from space?”

“Just keep running!” Ramses yells from behind.

He’s barely keeping up with us. He must be completely exhausted, but like he said, no one is going to carry him.

With the shoreline in view, something lights up in the sky.

“Go! Go!” Ramses shouts.

I grab hold of Minna and run with a final burst of speed.

When I hit the shoreline, I help her down carefully, and then I collapse into the snow. I’m totally naked, but I guess my superior Marauder genes have adapted.

I look up at the sky as Minna falls down next to me. I take her hand, and we watch the light in the sky rip through the clouds. It gets larger and larger, until it finally slams down into the ice. It’s so hot it melts right through, disappearing down into the sea.

“Ramses you crazy fucker,” I say, awe in my voice. “But what if the missile can’t break through their shields?”

“It’s not a missile,” he says.

“It’s Harmony,” Minna says. “Isn’t it?”

“You idiot!” Ramu shouts. “You shot Harmony onto this planet?”

Ramses laughs. “Now it’s their problem. Let’s hope the solution they come up with solves our Harmony problem too.”

W
e were about
to go to battle. Jerky was back, and the crew of the
Time’s End
was fully prepared to fight.

And then the virus hit.

The Atlanteans must have decided that the extra bit of effort to send the Virus out to the other planets was worth it, and the virus hit Earth first. Harmony’s brain was fried, and then the virus spread quickly through her entire fleet. All smaller aspects and hidden backups of her were infected within days--the virus broadcasting itself through comms channels and all other types of vectors that humans or Marauders would have never thought a computer virus could go.

We did have to fight--for a while at least. Kronos knew the war was almost over, and he made sure to not risk
The Time’s End
or its crew more than absolutely necessary. The Earth forces--terrified of their A.I. overlord--fought against the Earth-Venus-Privateer coalition for a few days after Harmony gave her last order, but when they realized she was really gone, they threw down their weapons and disarmed their ships.

Full surrender.

Even better, that got us out of our one-year contract, which meant we were rich and didn’t have to take anyone’s orders.

The only compromise I had to make was agreeing to continue working on human biosuit research, but they let me do it remotely from the
Time’s End
. And they let me keep Jerky too, if I promised not to use him for piracy.

Ramu and Delphie got married first--they did it on a whim, and me and Kronos were the only ones who were even there. Ramses and Malcolm were busy cleaning up Harmony’s mess and didn’t have time to attend a wedding--and I doubt Delphie or Ramu really wanted either of the two asshole peacekeepers there anyway.

“You ready?” Delphie asks me.

It’s my wedding now, and as cute and sudden as Delphie’s was, mine is going to be bigger. My parents and cousins and almost everyone I ever knew is here on Mars.

“You’re really going to marry a pirate?” My mom asks me, securing my hair with an extra pin.

“Privateer,” I say, smiling.

“Don’t mince words with me,” she snaps.

“We’re retiring,” I say. “Only legitimate jobs from here on out. And even when he was a pirate...he was a pirate with heart.”

My mom clicks her tongue in her mouth “What does that even mean?”

“Once you get to know Kronos, you’ll see what it means.”

“How am I going to get to know him with you two flying around on that awful ship? You have all that money, why not just get a nice house on Mars, and I can help you with the kids.”

“Mom,” I say, looking her square in the eyes. “Can you please just be happy for me?”

“I am,” she says. “I just never thought my baby would be marrying a half-alien pirate.”

“Alright, Mom,” I say. “Once we have a kid, I promise we’ll come back here. Even a pirate has to settle down sometime.”