Hunted. Grace Goodwin
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killed were not from this base. They were not newly integrated, as this Atlan was. They were old converts, their minds long gone, only shells now, bodies with so many integrations they were all Hive. All enemy. I’d heard that the Hive would pair conquered, reliable soldiers like these two Prillons with the Atlans in a bid to help control their beasts.
With the integrated Prillon warriors down, there was no hope of that. Zan was charging me now, completely out of his mind.
Fuck.
I raised my rifle, took aim. Fired a stun shot.
His head snapped back and he toppled like a felled tree. Racing forward, I checked him for a pulse.
Still breathing. Good. The stun setting had worked, even on a beast.
Pausing to listen, I heard the female cursing under her breath as more footsteps headed our way. Clearly, she could hear them as well. They were probably two corridors back, but we only had a few minutes. Three at the most. And there were more than three this time. A lot more.
And the Atlan was huge but he needed saving. I couldn’t leave him here if there was a chance of him surviving, even if it was on The Colony.
I grabbed the only thing I could manage to wrap one arm around and pulled him by the leg into the transport room. The three transport techs she’d killed were on the floor, dead. Ignored. The female looked up from the control panel, glanced at the Atlan, and frowned.
“He’s a friend.” Zan was an honorable warrior, I would not leave him behind. And none of us would be leaving if that blue bastard made his way down here. “Get us out of here before the Nexus unit arrives. Zan won’t stand a chance against him if he wakes up.”
Her movement stalled. “There is a Nexus unit on this base?”
“Yes.” I wasn’t sure how or why she knew what a Nexus was, as the information was for top level operatives and commanders only, but I was too busy wrangling the beast’s oversized body into position to ask.
“We’ve got bigger problems. Incoming transport and I can’t override the command. It’s too late.”
I dropped Zan’s leg, leaving him stunned and sprawled on the floor. There wasn’t much space to maneuver with him taking up most of the space along with the dead transport techs. I turned to face the transport pad. As she’d warned, the buzzing charge filled the air and vibrations moved through my feet. “Friendly?”
“No. I don’t think so.” She grabbed the weapons from the dead techs, tossed me one. I checked the settings, armed it. Never hurt to have two weapons instead of one. “They’re bringing more Coalition fighters… prisoners, to integrate.”
Readying her own ion pistol and taking a knee, she now had a weapon armed and ready in each hand, like me. She used the control panel as cover. Waited.
“How many?” I asked.
“Seven.”
Fuck. That was a lot, if they were all Hive. “The Hive work in threes. Always. They’re fucking consistent. There wouldn’t be two groups for one prisoner. It’ll be three guards with four prisoners. Happens several times a day. I know.” Unfortunately, I knew all too well.
She nodded but didn’t look my way. I returned my attention to the pad as seven figures appeared.
It was easy to distinguish Hive from Coalition. Easy to aim. Fire. Kill. The three Hive guards, just as I’d expected, hadn’t imagined being ambushed within their own facility. Prisoners didn’t escape. Didn’t fight back.
But I did. So did… she. She took down two of them nearly as quickly as I did one. She was magnificent. Fuck, I didn’t even know her name.
The four Coalition fighters dropped to their knees and lowered their heads in protection. They could do nothing else they’d been trained to do. They had no weapons. They were restrained.
It was over in seconds. The guards dead. The prisoners looked up, took in where they were, what had happened.
“Where the fuck are we?” A Prillon asked, probably noticing it was a Coalition transport pad he’d arrived on.
“Latiri 4. I’ll explain more later. Get the Atlan onto the pad. We’re getting out of here,” she ordered.
She was already ignoring me, expecting me to do as I was told as her fingers flew over the controls. Damn the woman, I wanted her, and I wanted to bend her to my will, conquer her body and soul. This wasn’t the time or place to argue, however. And, she was right.
I took an electronic key from the nearest dead integrated Viken’s hip and motioned for the four prisoners to come to me. They did, without delay, and I released their bonds. The nearest, a fierce looking Prillon warrior the others seemed to defer to, motioned the other three toward the Atlan.
“You have your orders, get this Atlan onto the transport pad.”
The female behind the controls glanced up at the sound of his voice. “Good to see you, Prax. It’s been a long time.”
The Prillon captain, Prax, grinned at her. She grinned back, the expression a new one, and not directed at me. I blinked, trying not to stare. Gods, she was fucking gorgeous. And who was she that this Prillon knew who she was and followed her orders without question? The Prillon wore a captain’s markings on his uniform, and I didn’t doubt his assessment of the situation. The two obviously knew one another, but how?
And did she belong to him? Was she his mate? Had he made a claim on my female?
My female. The thought raced through my head even as I handed the unknown Prillon captain my spare blaster and helped tug the giant Atlan onto the transport pad.
We worked as a team to hoist him up to the platform. Even five strong fighters struggled with the beast. Once we had him where he’d be transported with us, I handed off my weapon to another of the fighters and moved to the female’s side. I took her spare as well, tossed it to a third warrior and lifted the small ion pistol from where she had placed it within reach on top of the control panel.
The warriors settled into a defensive position around the unconscious Atlan and I moved between my female and the open door. I could hear the Hive coming, knew the prisoners would fight to the death, more than happy to shoot any Hive who fucked with us now.
“Can you get us out of here?” I asked her. She had been at the controls for what felt like hours, working those small hands with quick, deft movements.
“Yes. But I’m locking down the entire base first.”
What did she just say?
I turned to face her. “How?”
She didn’t even look at me, speaking instead to the control panel. “Initiate Lockdown Protocol. Command Code…” She rattled off a few words in the home language of Prillon Prime and waited. Something beeped and her shoulders sagged in relief. “They didn’t get into the main system. My command codes still work.”
What just happened? No one could lock down an entire base. It wasn’t conceivable. “That’s impossible.”
“I have Level Two command codes, Hunter. No one will get in or out of this base without my permission. Not anymore.” She glanced at me as she moved away from the control panel, toward the Prillon captain. I retreated from the door, moving closer as much because I didn’t like her being so close to the warrior as because it was time to transport out of this hell.
Level Two command codes?
Level One was Prime Nial himself, leader of the entire Coalition Fleet, ruler of the Coalition of Planets. He controlled everything. If what she said was true, only the Prime himself could override her lockdown of this base.
Battleship commanders, like Commander Karter, only had Level Four codes. Mine were Level Five.
Fuck. Exactly who was she?
“Let’s go.” Captain