Claimed for the Alien Bride Lottery by Margo Collins (the little red hen read aloud txt) 📗

For now, though, I needed to focus on how this attack had happened.

“Someone get me a suit,” I said. “I’m headed over to the Hordeship to see if I can figure out how they got past all our scans.”

“Are you sure?” Drais turned a startled gaze toward me. “We have technicians who can do that for you.”

I didn’t know how to explain to him that everything about this had come to me by instinct. I hadn’t been able to explain to General Clovad how I knew that the Alveron were planning something. And now, I couldn’t explain why I knew that I had to be there in person to figure out their new technology.

I simply shook my head. “This is something I have to do myself.”

“Yes sir.” The officer thumped a salute on his chest, and I acknowledged it with a nod.

Down in the fighter bay, I fastened the closures on my suit. Technically, the Alveron Horde needed the same oxygen-nitrogen mix we did. But if their ship had gone dead, there was no guarantee I could survive without a suit. Not to mention the possibility that the Horde had left behind something designed to hurt any Khanavai who showed up later.

“Are you certain you don’t want to take an entire team over, sir?” the technician who strapped me into the fighter jet asked.

“Not yet. After I do an initial survey, I’ll open it up for your team. You’ll get your chance, don’t worry.”

The tech grinned at me, then closed the canopy. It had been a while since I’d been in one of the jets but flying was always like coming home.

As I made my way to the Hordeship, the silence of space stretched out around me, echoing with the nothingness in between the far-flung stars.

This is what it would feel like to be entirely alone forever.

But with Mia in my life, that would never happen.

Shaking off the thought, I maneuvered through the oddly shaped entrance to the Hordeship’s flight bay, docking my ship and engaging the magnetic locks.

The Horde, unlike humans and Khanavai, functioned with a base-eight system, and that extended itself out to the whole ship.

Octagons everywhere.

Humans had called it a honeycomb the first time they had seen it, and the name stuck with me. Apparently, it had something to do with a food-producing bug on Earth.

Human eating practices were strange.

For an instant, I wondered if Mia liked honey, or if the thought of bug goop made her stomach turn the way it did mine.

I shook off the thought, forcing myself to focus on the job at hand.

The ship itself seemed dead. As I walked across the bay, the magnetic soles of my boots clicked in odd echoing noises around me.

I wondered if the Horde believed in ghosts.

If they did, the ship would be full of them.

Chapter Fifteen

Mia

I ran into trouble halfway to Medical. The attack on the station had sent everything in the central area flying—people, tables, plates, chairs. Humans and Khanavai were staggering to their feet, some of them with wounds, others simply looking dazed and confused.

I paused to help a human male to his feet. He cried out when I touched his shoulder.

“You’re hurt,” I said. “Come on—I’m headed toward the medbay. Let’s see if we can get you some help.”

Inside Medical, it was pure chaos. Med techs called out to one another as they tried to triage a steady stream of patients.

I glanced around, looking for Amelia, hoping to find a friendly face—or even a familiar one.

A Khanavai male stopped in front of me, scanning me with a handheld device. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing—I’m fine. This man has a hurt shoulder, broken or dislocated or something.”

“If you’re not hurt, you need to go back to your quarters,” the tech said brusquely.

“What can I do to help?” I asked.

He gave me a narrow-eyed stare. “Do you know how to read a med scan?”

“Just the basics—first-aid kind of stuff.” I shrugged. The kinds of things I had learned as a parent, though I didn’t say that part out loud.

“That’ll work.” He handed me the device he was carrying. “Do a general scan of each patient—you know how to do that?”

I nodded.

“The scan should tell you if someone needs immediate help or if they can wait. If they can wait, send them to the seating area over there.” He pointed off to our left. “Emergencies, send to intake. I’ll send a tech trainee to get those people in for help as soon as possible.”

“And what about the guy I came in with?”

“Mid-level cases. He won’t die in the next fifteen minutes—or even an hour or two—so he can wait. As soon as we have room for anyone else, we’ll get to those cases.”

Okay. I could do this. It was straightforward enough—the kind of decisions I made every time Josiah fell down and skinned his knee.

Another shudder went through the station, the walls around us creaking. The tech reached out a hand to steady me. “Thank you,” he said. “We appreciate the help.”

And then he was gone, and I was left with the stream of frightened, hurting people as they made their way to the medbay.

When Cav and Zont came racing into Medical carrying an injured Vos, with Amelia barking out orders and Natalie making sure they were followed, I knew that was my moment.

While everyone focused on the Games Director, no one paid any attention to me. I slipped away to the storeroom in the back, where I’d seen medtechs gathering supplies all night.

The station had stopped shuddering from weapon blasts. This fight was almost over—I had to hurry if I was going to take this opportunity to get replacement translation-trackers.

I had just realized that all the cabinets were closed with the same kind of wristcom locks everything on the station used when one of the med techs entered the room.

“What are you doing here?” A purple Khanavai male demanded.

I cast about frantically for something to say. “I’m looking for an arm