Space Witch: A Paranormal Space Opera Adventure (Star Justice Book 2) Page 8

  They still want us to pilot through Alloprize’s blockade. Cynthia wants the rhodium.

  “Alright,” I said as I set my rifle on the ramp. Then I pulled out my revolver and pistol and sent them next to the longer weapon.

  Eve stepped around the corner and laid her rifle and pistol down. Then she stood next to me with her arms in the air.

  The eight soldiers rushed up the ramp and shoved their guns in my face. I felt hands grab me on the shoulder, turn me around and push me against the interior wall of the shuttle. Hands slid over my armor, but the men found no more weapons, and they jerked me around so that they could shove the barrels of their rifles in my face.

  The monster who lived in my soul almost took control.

  Then I saw one of the men sliding his hands all over Eve’s body, and my vision started to turn red.

  Be calm, my Adam. We will get through this. Just wait until we are in space, then you can tear the screams from their throats and feast upon their terror.

  Eve’s promises paused my rage, and I tried to wrestle the change threatening to rip through my muscles.

  “What’s wrong with him?” one of the men asked.

  “My friend has a calm disposition, and is not used to being threatened, please remove your gun barrels from his face, or he will faint,” Eve said.

  “He’ll faint? Ha!” Cynthia said as she stepped on the ramp of our craft.

  “He’s the only one that can fly the shuttle,” Eve said.

  “I doubt that, but I agree that my boys shouldn’t be shoving their weapons in his face.”

  The men pulled their guns away, and I felt the beast in my soul calm a small amount. I still felt as if I was going to lose control and change forms, but I didn’t feel as if I would also lose my mind in the process.

  “Make the drop off and return with my rhodium, try anything stupid, and you’ll be killed. Do as I ask, and you’ll live. Any questions?” the woman stared at me with her glowing robot eye.

  “Nope,” I growled.

  “No,” Eve said after the cyborg looked at her.

  “Good. Safe travels, y’all.” Cynthia laughed and then stepped out of the shuttle. I heard her footsteps descend the ramp and then one of the men raised his gun barrel to my chest.

  “Get the shuttle off the ground and pick up the containers,” he ordered.

  “Got it,” I said as I nodded to Eve.

  We both moved to the pilot seats, and the armed men stood behind us. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw one of the men pointing his rifle at the back of Eve’s head, and I had to focus my vision forward so that I wouldn’t lose control of my rage. These fuckers were threatening my woman. I would kill all of them. I’d tear them apart with my claws and chew on their bones with my teeth. Their screams would fill my ears like a--

  Please, Adam, I am fine. Let us leave this place with the delivery for the Children of Rah. We will deal with these men soon.

  I grunted and wrapped my shaking hands around the controls of the shuttle. Then we were in the air, and the arms of the craft were wrapped tightly around the storage crates. I pushed the shuttle into space with a corkscrew flight path, and three other fighter craft joined our flight out of the atmosphere. They were manned vehicles, but the designs looked old, and the wings seemed to have been put together with pieces that didn’t quite fit correctly.

  “Nice ship,” one of the men said when we left the moon’s atmosphere and began our short trip toward Persephone.

  “Thank you. We like her,” Eve said.

  “I kinda like you. When we get on board, what do you say we--”

  “I will need to stand to reach a control that opens the cargo hold,” Eve said as she pointed to the top buttons of the shuttle.

  Now is your time, Adam. I will stun them.

  “Sure babe, you can stand up and sit down as much as you want. Especially if you are doing it on my di--”

  Eve rose out of her chair as the man spoke, and then she spun to face them all.

  Her eyes glowed as red as a solar flare, and the same color fire ran down her arms to form in her opened hands.

  The beast wasn’t distracted by the magic flowing out of the vampire woman though. The beast just wanted to kill.

  The beast got his wish.

  The men screamed as a shock wave emerged from Eve. It was part sound, part fire, and part kinetic energy. I pushed my feet up against the dash in front of me and then threw my legs straight to launch me out of my chair. I spun in the air while I flew back, and I landed against the closest gunman’s chest.

  Sweet agony poured through my muscles as they changed to my other form. It would take me about ten seconds to shift completely, but the pain of my transformation only fueled my anger.

  My collision with the man knocked him down over one of the chairs, but the other seven men had fallen away from Eve. They were either burning from the fire, blinded by her flare, or were stumbling away from the force of her magic. The man I’d hit was actually on fire, but he ignored the flames and tried to push his rifle barrel into my chest.

  My fist came down like a sledgehammer and smashed the front of his skull into a spattered concave shape. He died instantly, and I sprang off his twitching body before any of the other men could turn their weapons in my direction.

  I shoulder checked the man who had spoken to Eve, and he bounced off the bulkhead of the shuttle like a rubber ball. My claws erupted from my fingertips, and they caught him in the neck on his return trajectory. My swing removed his skull from his spine with a spray of blood that spattered across all the nearby surfaces of the shuttle.

  “I’m engaging with our drones!” I heard Z shout through the transponder attached to the front of my armor, but I could do little more than grunt as I darted toward the next victim.

  The man was still blinking his eyes, and I shoved the claws of my bloody left hand into his skull. It cracked open like an eggshell, and my arm tore through the rest of him with the same ease.

  The men started screaming, but Eve’s strange power had managed to fling them back against the rear bulkhead of the shuttle. They were trying to aim their rifles at me, but another spiral of fire flew from over my shoulder and slammed into the man closest to me. He burst into flames immediately, and it spread to the next two closest me as if it was napalm. They forgot about the giant tiger-man barreling at them and began to pat at the flames that were engulfing their limbs.

  I slammed my elbow into the face of the next closest gunman, and his weapon went off. The burst of bullets ricocheted around on the inside of the shuttle like angry bees. The bullets all missed me, but my follow up claw attack didn’t miss the man’s neck, and his smoking blood sprayed across my face.

  My transformation still wasn’t complete, but both of my arms were done with their changes. They were now a good fifty percent larger, and I could see the orange and black striped fur on the back of my hands where the gloves parted from my armored suit.

  The claws were out on both of my hands now and another two slashes ended the lives of two more of the gunmen. This left only two more, but they managed to get their weapons pointed at me. There wasn’t enough space to dodge, and I didn’t want risk to the bullets hitting Eve on the other side of the shuttle, so I gritted my fangs and prepared for the bullets to tear through my armor.

  They didn’t though. It still felt like someone kicked me in the chest, and I had to take a step back to keep my balance, but the new armor I wore held up against the projectiles, and the men let out a final gasp before my clawed fingers closed around their unarmored throats. I made a motion as if I was crushing a pair of oranges, and their spines shattered.

  “Are you okay?” I growled as I turned to Eve.

  The beautiful woman was standing with her back to the cockpit. Her eyes still glowed with red power, and her outstretched hands seemed to drip with hellfire. Behind her, I saw Z’s drones were engaged in a dogfight with the three fighter craft that Cynthia had sent as our escorts.

  �
��Yes, are you?” Eve asked. The glow from her eyes seemed to fade, and the fire in her hands extinguished a few seconds later.

  “Yesss,” I replied as I turned to look at the men. I had expected them to still be on fire or smoking, but the men only looked as if they suffered from the injuries I gave them.

  “Is that magic?” I asked as I turned back to her. “They are not burning.”

  “I don’t know if it is magic. It is my power. They were never on fire. They just believed they were,” she explained. The glow had now completely faded from her eyes.

  I turned to look at the pile of armored bodies. I had felt the heat from the fire, and I had heard their screaming when the flame began to cover them. Smoke had started to fill the shuttle, but now I saw no evidence of burns.

  “Perhaps ‘witchcraft’ would be a better word for what I can do,” Eve said with a short laugh.

  “Witchcraft?” I turned to her again, and I saw one of Cynthia’s ships break into a thousand pieces when Z’s drone hit it with a small plasma burst.

  “In ancient Earth lore, witches were women persecuted for having more intelligence than men. Some of them even had pet cats.” Eve’s face split into the largest grin I’d ever seen her wear.

  “One more left! Yeeehaaaa!” Z’s voice came over the transponder.

  I jumped back into the pilot’s chair and aimed the craft around the area of the dogfight and toward the loading bay of Persephone. I didn’t know how many drones we had onboard, but the smaller craft were swarming around Cynthia’s last ship, and I watched the drones shoot it into a thousand pieces of space garbage.

  Then the hold doors were opening, and we landed safely in the storage bay.

  “Dang, I’m really good at this shit. Just like a videogame!” Z shouted through the speaker attached to the front of my armor.

  “Ggggggoood job,” I growled in reply.

  I set down the crates and then landed the craft next to them in the hold. It was the wrong area to park the shuttle, but I didn’t want to waste anymore time flying out and around to the proper launch doors for our smaller craft. There was plenty of room in the cargo hold to store the shuttle for the time being.

  “I’m going to send back the drones. Didn’t lose a single one. Did bump two of them together by accident, but they seem to still be flying okay. That’s something else to add to the long list of crew we need: mechanic. We’ll need one for the engines, one for the shuttle and fighter craft, and one for the drones. Hell, we might need two or three for each if you and I are going to keep flying all these toys.”

  “We’ll work on it,” I said as I exited the shuttle. “For now, we are going to enter the atmosphere, fly to Cynthia’s home, and lay waste to herrrrr.” I couldn’t control my last word, and it ended in a long growl that echoed off the ceiling of Persephone’s hold.

  Not now, Adam.

  Eve’s voice inside of my mind made me pause, and I turned to face her. She was walking only a few feet behind me, so I didn’t understand why she hadn’t spoken out loud.

  It is not our time for retribution. We must not miss our window to help the people who need it. Once we have completed our mission, we will return for Cynthia. We should not use Persephone. There are innocents in her home. Men, women, and children who know nothing of her treatment of us. Using our plasma guns is the easy way to extract vengeance, but it isn’t the just way.

  “I’ve got the drones back inside of their bay. We going to fuck up Cynthia?” Z asked.

  “No, change of plans. We’ll do our mission first, then return,” I said.

  “Aye, Captain. We’ve still got a few hours before we have to leave.”

  “I’ll sleep then.” I’d only been in my half-tiger form for a few minutes, so I didn’t think I would need to sleep for long, but I would need to let my body recover for at least a few hours.

  “Ahhhhh, well, Captain. Here is the thing…” Z’s voice trailed off, and I saw the spider drone next to the shuttle twist to fix its front camera on Eve and me.

  “What?” I asked.

  “I’m not cleaning up the mess you made in the shuttle.” The hacker let out a long laugh.

  “I will clean it, and feed during the process,” Eve said.

  “Oh, I forgot about the whole vampire thing. Silly me,” Z said.

  “I’ll help--”

  “No, rest,” the vampire interrupted me. “Things tend to not go as we plan. I imagine we will need your tiger once more during this mission.”

  The spider tank made a movement with its leg, and it kicked a bucket with a mop toward the ramp of the shuttle. It was a surprisingly accurate movement from the drone, and my foot stepped out to catch the bucket.

  “Wake me before we leave,” I said to the women, and then I forced myself to change back into my human form. It made the walk back to my suite difficult, but I managed to shower all of the blood, guts, and brain matter off my new suit of armor, dry it off with the blowers, and then lie on my bed before sleep took me.

  Chapter 10

  “Captain, we are ready to leave,” Z’s voice came over the speakers in my room. “Can you report to the bridge?”

  The sound of her voice woke me from my dreamless sleep, and I sat up on my bed.

  “Confirmed,” I said as I walked toward the door of my suite.

  I found Z and Eve standing in front of the map projection. The vampire woman’s red eyes glimmered, and she gave me a smile. The expression caused the world around me to lighten a few shades, and I returned her smile. Z wore a sour expression though, and I turned to her.

  “What?” I asked the hacker.

  “What?” she repeated.

  “What is wrong?” I asked.

  “Can you do me a favor? It’s kind of a big deal,” she said with a sigh.

  “Uh oh.”

  “Yeah, might break your brain I’m afraid.” Z smirked a bit. The young woman really was beautiful.

  “What is it?”

  “So, you keep saying ‘confirmed.’ I think it’s like cute, kind of. Okay, not really. It’s just like super military jarhead sounding. Okay, it’s fucking annoying. You know that I love ya, well uhhh, I mean, not ‘love’ love you.” The hacker’s face suddenly turned bright red, and she turned to Eve. “I know you two are, uhh. So I don’t want to make it seem that... Well I’m just--”

  “I know your feelings for Adam. I am fine with them,” Eve shrugged.

  “Okay, first of all, please don’t do that. My thoughts are my thoughts. Second, of all, he’s standing right fucking there. You don’t have to say it out loud. Ugh!” Z turned to me, and her face somehow brightened. “Just stop saying ‘confirmed’! Say ‘yes,’ or ‘aye,’ or ‘you got it,’ or ‘thanks, Z, you are wonderful’.” The blonde woman crossed her arms and looked away from me.

  “I’ll try Z, you are wonderful,” I said with a laugh, and her face blushed the color of a tomato.

  “Also, sexy vampire babe is wrong. I love you like a brother, okay?” Z pointed at Eve.

  “Yes, like a brother. That is what I meant,” the dark woman said with a nod.

  “But when you say it like that, it makes it seem like you are just agreeing with me because you know it isn’t true!” Z huffed.

  “I am confused. Do you want me to tell Adam how you actually feel about him, or that you love him like a brother? I will do as you ask.” Eve tilted her head.

  “He is standing right there! Girl talk needs to happen when we are alone! Ugh! I’m going to go pilot the fucking ship. I should have never opened my damn mouth!” Z moaned and then stomped the five or so meters to the pilot’s chair.

  “Should I say anything?” I whispered to Eve. I didn’t want Z to feel awkward around me.

  “I think you should not say ‘confirmed’ anymore.” The woman smiled slightly, and the movement revealed the points of her fangs.

  “Hey, Captain! We are ready to go, give the word and I’ll engage the hyperdrives,” Z called out.

  “Alright, go for
it,” I replied.

  “Uhhh, you both need to sit down.” Z pointed at the sets behind her.

  Eve and I walked over to the other chairs. I sat in the center captain’s seat, and the vampire climbed into the copilot’s cockpit next to Z.

  “We are sitting,” I said after I buckled the harness over my chest.

  “You need a cool tagline. Something like ‘Z, engage hyperdrives,’ or--”

  “Z, engage hyperdrives,” I interrupted her.

  “Aye, Captain. Engaging hyperdrives in three, two, one. Go!”

  The display of stars shimmered, stretched, and pulled for an instant. The display screen was suddenly filled with a large purple colored gas giant planet, and I felt my body spin for half a moment. The planet took up almost all the real estate of our display screen, except for a rugged moon that we were now flying toward. The moon was about half covered with water, and the parts that weren’t water were purple mountains.

  “I don’t see the other ships. My plan worked. Ha!” Z let out a nervous laugh. “I’m going to enter the atmosphere and fly to the drop off coords. That okay, Captain?”

  “Thanks, Z. You are wonderful,” I said with a smile.

  “Ugh. I’m probably going to get tired of hearing that,” she muttered under her breath as she steered Persephone toward the violet tinted moon.

  The floor started to vibrate, and the screen glowed vermilion at the sides. The sensation only lasted for a dozen seconds, and then we were leaping through the clouds of the moon.

  “We’ll be there in half a minute. I’m sending a signal to Jatal,” Z said.

  “How much time do you think we have until Alloprize can get to us? I asked.

  “I have no idea. If they know we entered the atmosphere, they can just hyperdrive around and send fighters down to us. They can’t really keep us here though. They just have five ships, so we can fly around the planet to a spot where they aren’t, and leave.”

  There was a chime on the display, and Z glanced at Eve.

  “I’ll open it. Please continue to fly, Z,” Eve said as she pressed a few buttons on her terminal.