Taunting Krell Read online

  She’d been to alien planets a few times and hadn’t seen anything too scary. Of course, by the time they visited a planet, settlers were already there and the military had been sent out to resolve some unrest between them. This planet hadn’t been colonized. Her gaze drifted back to the men under the shade of the big ship. Krell wasn’t too hard to spot with his tall frame and jet-black hair.

  She nearly made it to him when a loud roar fractured the sounds of male voices as they worked. She halted, turned her head in the direction of the noise, and didn’t see anything at first but trees. Another loud roar sounded, something ominous and deep, near thunderous, and the ground under her feet thumped.

  What the hell? Her hands automatically grabbed the handles of her weapons.

  “Incoming,” a cyborg yelled. “Northeast section. Four annihilators are spotted.”

  Four what? The ground shook again, trembled as if something big had slammed against it, and the volume of the next roar nearly hurt her ears. She turned toward the teams of heavily armed cyborgs as all of them dropped to their bellies and aimed the biggest weapons they carried toward the trees. Backup cyborgs rushed forward with more crates, tore the lids open, yanked out weapons and rushed to lie down next to their fellow crew members.

  Her heart raced and no one seemed to notice her in the chaos that followed. More cyborgs rushed toward the first wave of armed cyborgs, dropping down beside their crew until they formed a long line of men aiming weapons in the same direction.

  The ground shook worse, huge thumps that made her brace her legs, and suddenly two of the trees were ripped apart. Something big just seemed to grab hold of the trunks, uproot them, and they sailed into the air to disappear into the thickly wooded area. The thing that stepped out made her back up.

  “Holy fuck,” she hissed, taking another step back.

  The thing that came into view resembled something between a dinosaur with its massive body, stood two or three stories high, but had a humanoid-shaped torso with large, clawed limbs. The head of the thing was huge, had big black-looking round eyes in a furry face, and as its mouth opened, another roar tore from its vast, gaping jaws. Cyan could have sworn she felt the wind hit her face from that thing’s anger as if it had expelled its breath that far.

  The cyborgs opened fire to hit the ground in front of it. Explosions flashed, the noise earsplitting, and flames shot upward from the ground to form a wall between the creature and them. They missed the thing by a good forty feet.

  Aim higher, she urged them silently. The creature turned and dived out of the way, disappearing into the line of thick trees, and the smoke from the bomb grenades they’d sent at it rose at that point to hide it.

  “Cyan!” Krell grabbed her arm, drawing her attention. “Get inside the Bridden.”

  She gaped up at him. “What was that?”

  “We call them annihilators. Return to the shuttle. The repairs aren’t completed. We need another ten minutes.” He gave her a gentle shove. “Run. I’m ordering it to lift off. It’s too dangerous for you to remain here.”

  “They need to aim higher. They missed it.”

  “We don’t wish to kill them unless we have to.”

  “Are you serious? Did you see that thing? It’s huge and pissed!”

  “They are just attempting to defend their planet.”

  Half of her admired the cyborgs for their compassion but the other half, the military soldier inside her, protested. “Will they stay back?”

  “Doubtful. They’ll come at us from different angles.” He moved his big body enough for her to witness more cyborgs rushing from the Vontage, all carrying heavy-duty weapons, and they lay down to surround the ship and take positions to cover all directions. “Return to the Bridden.” He glanced down at her body and his jaw clenched. “Now.”

  She released her weapons. “We’re not going to blast off and abandon the other ship. Hand me one of those grenade launchers. I can handle them.”

  “It’s not your fight.”

  “Bullshit!” Anger burned. “You’ve got hundreds of cyborgs on that ship, right? It’s crippled and you need to buy it more time for the repairs to be finished. We’re not abandoning them.”

  “I’m not. You’re going on the Bridden and it will lift off to take you to safety.” His hold on her arm tightened. “Move.”

  She twisted hard, grabbed his arm and ended up behind him. Her hand gripped his braid. “Don’t fight with me, Krell. Don’t make me kick your ass in front of your buddies.”

  She quickly released him, her point made, and jumped back. The ground under her shook and a roar came from the woods. She forgot their argument to turn her head in the direction of the sound. Trees split apart and another big beast rushed out. The ground shook noticeably as it ran at them, bigger than the Bridden they’d flown in on once she got a look at the long back of it. It had six legs, a huge torso, and those huge arms attached to a very wide chest. It also looked really angry.

  The cyborgs fired, targeted the ground in front of it, and the ground blew apart in a fiery haze of hell. The thing roared again, more wind hitting her, and now she was certain those things were doing it. It retreated a little but didn’t flee into the trees this time. It held its ground while glaring through the smoke and flames at them.

  “Oh man,” she whispered. “Ballsy or stupid.”

  “They are determined and fearless.” Krell gripped her arm again. “I’m ordering you to return to the Bridden and the pilot is going to lift off the surface. I’ll join you once we’re back in orbit. I need to help but I want you safe, Cyan.”

  “Then stop wasting your time arguing with me.” She jerked out of his hold and ran for the underbelly of the Vontage. A crate of launchers were open, ready, and she headed for them.

  She peered inside at the weapons, spotted some other toys, and grinned when she grabbed the miclo twelve. She hadn’t seen one in years but it had once been her favorite weapon of choice for creating mass havoc. The shell box for it sat at the bottom of the crate under it, and she hoisted them up. She nearly turned into Krell’s big body.

  “Cyan,” he snarled.

  “Do you know what this is?”

  He glanced at it. “No. We acquired some weapons recently from pirates who chose to attack the Vontage. They stole them from humans and we haven’t tested that particular weapon yet, to my knowledge.”

  “Meet my old best friend. It’s not my first choice but it will do. Move.”

  “We don’t want to kill them.”

  “I heard you. Why aren’t you using these? Do you have more? Find them and do something useful besides annoying me.” She darted around him and ran for the line of cyborgs on the ground nearest her. She ignored Krell yelling her name.

  She found a hole and dived between the cyborgs. The unforgiving ground made her wince when she landed on her belly. It was rough, hard and uncomfortable. She ignored the shocked cyborgs next to her as she set up the miclo’s legs to make it a ground weapon and opened up the shell box, loading it quickly.

  “What are you doing?”

  She didn’t glance at the cyborg to her right. “The enemy makes noise. This makes a louder one. Pass the word to cover your ears and do it fast.”

  The creature waited for the smoke and fire to clear before it began advancing. Cyan’s hands shook slightly as she adjusted the sights on the gun and targeted the thing center-mass in the chest. She ignored the trembling ground as the big thing advanced, picking up speed as it ran at them. It would hurt the thing like a son of a bitch but it wouldn’t kill it. She fired, released the weapon once it launched the shell and grabbed her ears.

  “Fire in the hole!” she yelled, hoping the cyborgs heard her.

  She kept her attention on the shell, a white ball the size of a flattened baseball on the back side with a point on the front side to help it fly through the air with accuracy, and her keen eyes tracked it until it hit the beast. The thing staggered back, opened its jaws, and the shell ruptured from the impa