The Saltek moved forward, then stopped. Looks of what could have been puzzlement on the beady eyed faces. The shadow in the sky began to move, and all eyes looked up to see the huge landing craft tilt to the left, then spew smoke and fall off to port, slamming into the nearby buildings.
The impact sent shock waves up Tamar's legs, as the building trembled and swayed with multiple explosions from the disintegration ship. All six aliens turn back to Tamar so none of them saw a tiny speck burst out of the thick black smoke and streak towards them until it was too late. Malachi, in a soaring arc, sailed high above them, flared his wings to bring himself to a halt, then dropped like a stone onto the roof. His impact blew a billow of dust, cratered the roof, and left Tamar barely able to breathe. The fact that he had landed between the alien warriors and her position was not lost on Tamar, though.
"You will come no closer to her. I have no wish to kill you, but know this: you have two choices: leave now, or come closer and die." Tamar was shocked. His voice didn't sound at all human. It was like someone had erased someone's humanity and replaced it with an electronic vocabulator. It was dark and menacing, with the smooth cadence of a natural born predator.
Either the aliens didn't understand him, or ignored his warning. After a few seconds of indecision they all charged as one. Five seconds after that, they were all dead.
His shoulders rose and fell with each of his heavy breaths. Tamar stood not ten feet from him and with his back to her, he couldn't see that she was staring at him. She was incredulous. For the first time in her life she was standing almost within arm's reach of someone, yet she felt no fear, not even the faintest misgiving. He had just destroyed a Rougarian drop ship, slaughtered its entire complement of warriors, and now was standing right in front of her. He had so much power, power Tamar was only now beginning to comprehend. Truth be told, she should have been running with everything she had, yet she was standing rooted in place by the one fact she couldn't shake out of her head.
He kept his promise? He kept his promise. This man had told her he wasn't going to let anything happen to her, and he hadn't. For someone who had been treated like a piece of meat her whole life, to find someone who, even once, kept their word, was a big deal.
"We need to move now." Malachi turned and Tamar jumped back. His suit was alive, it writhed, and snaked, with a mind of its own. Then, in a blink of an eye, the apparition was gone and Malachi stood before her, the one she had grown accustom to.
"Why?" she shot back.
"Because that thing managed to get a message off before I could take it out. With everything else I was juggling, my jamming field wasn't strong enough to stop it or scramble it. It's a good bet that whoever is up in those ships knows exactly where we are." Tamar's eyes grew wide.
"You're right, we need to move now.""
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My lord, we have an incoming message from one of our surveillance craft over sector one point three. It's pretty garbled, but enough got through for us to piece it back together. I'm having the communication officer put it on the main viewer." Vapade nodded his head towards the front of the bridge.
After a few seconds, a soft hum could be heard over the quiet bustle of the bridge and the front upper portion of the bridge wall shimmer, then went translucent.
"This is officer Kreck. Our craft has come under attack and our mission has failed. Our one consolation is that we've stumbled upon something of great value to our cause." The screen cut away from the Rougarian pilot and to a look from the craft to the ground. The camera steadied on a tiny figure trying to its best to hide among the debris.
"Is that what I think it is, Captain?" Thargoan was on his feet, his quick steps carrying him towards the image.
"There can be no mistake. That is one of the six genetic carriers which we thought had all been destroyed in our initial invasion. It looks as if one of them survived."
"Capture it, alive. I don't have to remind you what this will mean to the success of this mission and do it now, Captain. I don't care what it takes. I want that thing in our genetics lab before this planet revolves another ten times. Do I make myself clear?"
"As clear as you can be, my Lord. But what of the creature that accompanies it? It destroyed the troop ship that was being used as a scout..."
"I don't care what is with it. That thing is only human, no matter what tech it carries. Destroy it and bring me my prize."
"As you wish, my Lord."
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"So, how are you holding up?"
"As if you care." Tamar shot back. She regretted the outburst as soon as it left her lips.
Why was she so snappish with him? After he'd saved her butt with the drop ship, she'd become even colder to him, and much to her chagrin, he'd taken everything, every back handed comment, every snide remark he'd taken, and given nothing back. That just made her more determined to crack his shell. Tamar knew that no one was this good, no one. He had to be hiding something, and she was going to find it. Some flaw, some hidden evil he was keeping locked away. Well, she'd bring it to the surface, she had to, because she couldn't stand being beside someone who seemed so good, while she was nothing but black inside.
"Hey, I know I've been setting a pretty fast pace. Sometimes I forget how fast I can move now. I just wanted to know if you need to rest or something?" Tamar exploded.
"Why are you so concerned about me?" She screamed, coming to a complete skidding stop. "I'll have you know I do not need to be coddled. I am not some fair haired waif that needs you looking over me all the time." She turned and sat cross legged on the ground. "I can take care of myself, thank you very much."
"Yeah, you were doing such a good job when we met. I considered letting them have you." Malachi rolled his eyes, walked over to her, and took a position opposite her on the ground. "Look, I have no idea what you've been through, but if this is going to work, you need to stow this attitude of yours. I can't do what I need to do to get you off this rock while I'm worried about you taking off all the time." He dropped his head so that his red eyes looked straight into hers. "Do you want to stay with me or not? Because if you don't, we part ways right here."
Tamar was taken aback by this. He'd been so easy going and nice. Where had this flint come from? The question also made her think. What did she want? Where was she going, and what would she do once she got there? Her life had revolved around running for so long she'd not had time to think about much of anything else.
She'd been acting like a child towards Malachi ever since he'd taken care of her during their encounter with the Rougarian drop ship. Wanting to see just how far she could push him before he'd snap. But in the four days since that encounter, he'd acted just as he'd acted before, infuriatingly so. Now she had to make a decision, and she didn't know what she wanted.
"Could I stay with you for a while?" She asked.
"Sure, stay as long as you like. I'm not going to get us off this rock until they disengage this surveillance field they got set up. While we've been waiting, I've been trying to figure out a place, we can lie low for a while."
He said it without any thought whatsoever about how hard this decision had been for Tamar. And yet he hadn't said anything about it either, as if he'd expected it, but didn't want her to know it. So Tamar decided to drop the issue, she'd told him she wanted to stay, and he'd excepted, end of discussion.
"Hey, did you hear me?" Tamar came out of her thoughts at his question.
"Huh?" She looked at him, a question on her face.
"I was wondering if you knew of any place we could hide out for a few days, maybe a week?"
"You're asking me?" Tamar pointed to her chest.
"Ah, yeah." He responded.
It was Tamar's second time to be put off by this man in as many minutes. He had asked her for her opinion. For most people, this would mean little. Most people are asked questions like this one all the time, but not her. Tamar stared at Malachi as if he had three heads. Never in her life could she remember being asked for her opinion. She'd been given her opinion, nothing more. This was the first time she could remember that someone asked her for what she thought. It took her a few seconds to respond.
"Ther, there are a few deep core drilling mines at the foot of the mountains out west. If we could get to them, we should be able to hide without much trouble."
"That is a very good idea. How deep of mines are we talking here?" Malachi had already pulled the files at the bank vault, but he wasn't going to tell her that.
"Some of them go almost six miles down." Tamar was beginning to enjoy giving him her input, then stopped, her ever present wariness asserting itself. "Why do you ask?" Her voice carried a bite to it.
"Because it's the nice thing to do." Malachi threw up his arms. "Because I want to know what you think. Because I'm getting tired of your answers being two words long." He turned and made his way into the black shadow of a toppled building and disappeared.
Tamar waited for him to reappear, and waited, and then waited some more. He'd always come back before. All she'd had to do was wait. But as the thirty minute mark came and went, she began to think she'd pushed her luck too far this time.
"Malachi, where are you?" She asked, her strides carrying her into the darkness where she'd seen him go. "Oh, come on, I know I can be a pain sometimes, but that doesn't mean I don't like your protection." She stopped and waited for him to respond. Nothing. Now she was getting mad, as stupid and unproductive as that was. She couldn't help it and right then didn't want to. "Where the hell are you?" she screamed.
The crunching of bone and tearing of flesh coming from right behind her caused her reflexes to take over. Leaping into a forward roll she spun and came up ready to defend herself, she need't have bothered. Malachi had a modified Saltek in both hands and was just finishing tearing it in two when she completed her turn.
"I knew that thing was following us." He slapped his hands together and the sheets of gore ran off his suit and onto the ground. "Thanks, by the way."
"For what?" Tamar croaked when she could speak again.
"You make wonderful bait." It took Tamar a few seconds for his words to make it through her adrenaline charged brain, but when they did.
"You used me as BAIT! That thing could have killed me!" She screamed.
"Not while I'm here." Malachi said, then turned to continue towards the north.
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