Page 24 of Cops in Space
“Lies!”Anger twisted Vokai’s mouth.“This is unacceptable.”He typed away on his communications bracelet.“I will have the Council revoke your credentials and ban you from Alliance space.”
Kaelen interjected,“We have proof that you hired the Bjarke to steal the starfighter and that you were planning on selling it to the Tai-Kok. What did they promise you? Wealth? Power?”
“We are placing you under arrest for treason and theft,”Dad added, pulling out his cuffs.
Vokai’s hostile gaze rolled over us and he sneered.“The battle is not yet won.”
I glanced around at the bodies littering the floor.“I kinda think it is.”Me and my big mouth. Vokai grabbed me and seconds later a glittering blue light engulfed us.
Kaelen's roar of fury reverberated around my skull.“I will find you.”
Chapter Seven
Family comes in all shapes and sizes…
The glittering blue light vanished, and we were standing on an icy cold platform. The stench of death hung in the air.
Fear skittered up my spine as I mentally scanned the area. We were on a Tai-Kok slaughter ship. How was that even possible? Had Vokai given the monsters the Alliance security codes? Shit! Bet he had.“Kaelen! The Tai-Kok and Rodan have the Alliance security codes. They need to change them,”I hollered on our private link.
His voice a faint whisper, Kaelen replied,“We know. Use Traveler’s belt.”
Our link snapped before I could reply.
Vokai shook me violently. “Who were you talking to?”
“Qa’a. He’s coming for you.”
He backhanded me. “You are lying. I gave the Tai-Kok our state-of-the-art jammers. Nothing can penetrate them. Nothing.”
I swiped at the blood running down my chin. “Qa’a can. How do you sleep at night knowing millions will die because of your actions?” Before he could hit me again, I quickly tapped an icon on my bracelet. An instant later; my helmet closed over my head and locked. The suit’s automated healing sensors kicked in. I sighed in relief as my nose stopped bleeding and the throbbing in my cheek diminished.
And thankfully, I was off the dinner menu for now. Even using a special laser torch, it would take the monsters aboutthree hours to cut my armor off. I should be able to port back to Earth before that happened.
The Minister of War grabbed my laser pistol and shoved me off the platform. “Your armor will not protect you. There is no escape.”
“For you either.” My stomach lurched sickeningly when a Tai-Kok soldier with a metal mohawk stepped out from behind the transporter controls.
Mohawk eyed me and spat a bunch of quacking gibberish.
Pulling a cell phone-sized translator out of his pocket, Vokai studied the screen.
With my strange ability to understand the Tai-Kok language, I knew exactly what he had said. “He wants to know if I am a psychic.”
“You can speak their language,”Vokai demanded in disbelief.
“I can understand it. Speak it? Never tried.”
Raising the translator to his mouth. Vokai said,“The female is a psychic and my gift to you, Commander Zot.”
Mohawk started quacking like Donald Duck on meth. Which translated into: “Excellent. I will inform Commander Sixtus. Psychic brains are a delicacy to the Rodan.”
Damn. Did the Rodan have the Alliance security codes too?
Vokai read the screen and jammed his laser pistol under my chin. “Retract your armor or die.”
A slightly hysterical laugh broke from me.Talk about an oxymoron. If I retracted it, I would be eaten alive, so I would go with being vaporized. What I wanted to know was, how in the hell had Vokai become Minister of War? The man was an idiot.“Did you tell yourfriendsthat I work for the Katanic Supreme Leader? He won’t be happy if anything happens to me.”
“Shut your mouth or you will die painfully.”
