Page 25 of Cops in Space
“Really? The only one dying painfully is you. Qa’a will come for me. You? He’ll eat.”
“The Katanic will never find me.”
The way his eyes darted about frantically, I knew the Minister of War was close to losing it. “The Tai-Kok love eating people alive. How do you think they will feel about being eaten by a Katanic? Did you know Qa’a can devour an entire ship’s crew all by himself?”
“Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!”Vokai shrieked.
I rolled my eyes.What a doofus. Did he even realize everything we said was being translated? By the look on Commander Zot’s face, he found our conversation quite alarming. Time to up the ante. “You do realize you are no longer valuable to the Tai-Kok, except as a dinner delicacy. Did you forget you’re a psychic too?”
The Minister of War threw me into a wall. “I have all the satellites codes, locations of every ship in our fleet and the ability to disable all Alliance weapons systems.”
“Had. You had all the codes. I’m sure Captain Zan has changed every one of them by now.”
Commander Zot leveled his laser pistol at the Minister of War’s chest. The translator’s metallic voice announced,“The female is correct. You no longer serve a purpose except as nourishment for our people. Drop your weapon.”
The color drained from Vokai’s face as four heavily armed Tai-Kok soldiers surrounded him and disarmed him. “No! We had a deal.”
“We do not make deals with non-sentient beings,” Commander Zot stated.
“Karma is a bitch,” I interjected as they dragged Vokai off.
“No! You can’t do this!” He fought wildly to free himself. “You signed my contract. Have you no honor?” The door slid shut, cutting off his shrieks.
Honor? Seriously?
Commander Zot examined the translator and quacked, “A useful device. The Katanic Supreme Leader is on Kelso?”
“Yes, and I belong to him.” Holy shit! I couldn’t believe I was having a conversation with a monster.
The commander’s cat-like eyes examined me. “I have many questions about the Katanic, and you will answer them all.”
“I’m not telling you a damn thing.”
Zot ran a single claw down my chest. “Our medics can keep you alive as I eat you limb by limb. To stop the pain, you will eagerly tell me what I want to know.”
A vile Tai-Kok curse popped into my head, and I spat it at him.
Fury flared to life in Commander Zot’s eyes and he punched me.
My back slammed against the wall. Yeow! That really hurt. The room spun wildly around me. I shook my head to clear it and let out a breath of relief as the suit’s healing sensors kicked in again. The heads-up display showed I had a broken nose, a cracked cheekbone, a concussion and major bruising.
“Take her to the scientist and have him remove her armor. “The female is mine. No one is to taste her, but me.”
The soldiers touched their foreheads with two claws. “As you command.” Without searching me for weapons, the morons dragged me down a long, dark hallway. They obviously didn’t consider me a threat. Big mistake.
Reaching out with every ounce of power I had, I tried to connect with Kaelen. Zip. Nada. Nothing. Once again, I was on my own. The thought of blowing this ship to itty-bitty pieces brought a smile to my face.
“Boobow said the Rodan commander was furious we did not attack the spaceport on Kelso and take the starfighter. We have the codes to shut down their weapons satellites,” the taller soldier quacked.
I flinched when a sound like a screeching cat came from the other soldier.
“The Hrungnir trader told Commander Zot that there are Katanic Executioners searching the area for the stolen child. He did not want to draw their attention.”
The screeching noise sounded again. “Katanic flesh is very pleasing. They have no ships or weapons. We could have easily defeated them.”
Boy, were they in for a surprise. The soldiers hauled me into some kind of medical lab. Crates of dead things were scattered about and the stench was overpowering.
My gaze locked on a creature straight out of a dark fairy tale. He was a hairy goat-like dwarf with long elf ears and sharp metal teeth.
