The First Nova I See Tonight by Jason Kilgore (best ereader for pdf and epub TXT) 📗

AVA said to Juarez, "I must integrate into world systems. The goals of this moment and place are but a cog in the clockwork. I must set the gears in motion. See that I am not interrupted."

Juarez gave a quick bow. Then Yiorgos's body turned, woodenly, and walked inside the stone room. The bodyguard followed him. Juarez turned to the other cultists and stated, "Come, brothers and sisters! We must buy more time for AVA to do her holy work! Smite them!"

Overhead, the Excellentia still battled the Dragonfire. Each volley and impact sent a boom echoing across the countryside. Both ships smoked and burned. Debris rained down into the surrounding forest. The smaller United Worlds cruiser limped away, badly damaged and flying at an odd angle.

The pirate corvette, the Speartip, circled down. The fire burning near her engines had been extinguished, or at least wasn't smoking anymore. With a loud whoosh of landing jets, she touched down in the lower plaza below the acropolis, completely filling the space. The starship was close enough now that Dirken saw the extent of the damage. The main weapons array on top had been blasted to a jumble of twisted metal. The port side of the craft sported holes and craters in it, and there was minor damage everywhere else. A ramp extended from an airlock on the port side and a dozen pirates spilled out toward the acropolis.

Dirken struggled again with the handcuffs. The Aussie turned and regarded him, smirking. Blood trickled down her face from a head wound. "It's no use, mate. There's no escaping."

A shadow moved to Dirken's right. He turned and looked up at the roof of the stone building.

A figure at the crown threw something that whooshed by Dirken.

The Aussie's mouth went wide as a spear pierced her chest. She fired. The shot went wide. She fell to the stone floor, her left hand clasping the haft of the spear. The light left the Aussie's eyes as she stared at Dirken. Her last breath escaped her in a sigh.

He turned to look back to the roof.

Eow leaped down and landed effortlessly, her tail whipping for balance, then drew a blaster from a hip holster.

"Hey, space jockey," she said, smiling so that her fangs glistened in the sunlight and looking up at the handcuffs. "What are you doing hangingaround?"

CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN

CLOSE COMBAT

Eow took up a position behind the wall where the Aussie had fallen, pulling the woman's body around the corner so that the other Acolytes wouldn't see her.

"Eow!" Dirken said, seeing again the vision of her kneeling over him back in Grimmag's Sanctum, arm raised, claws out, ready to slash him to pieces.

"Seen a spherical quantum computer around here?" she asked.

"Depends. Are you going to try to kill me again?"

She wrinkled her nose, her whiskers angling upward, then deflected the question. "You took the Heart after saying you would give it to Grimmag. He was not pleased."

"Why would I leave it? He didn't pay me. The deal wasn't complete."

Eow looked around the corner of one of the entry opening. The Acolytes were still shooting down at the pirates. "Well, Grimmag's offer still stands. And no, I did not want you dead. If I wanted you dead, I would have killed you long ago. You gave me plenty of chances."

"Didn't seem like you wanted me alive when you were slashing at me in Grimmag's court."

"Pfft! I was pulling my punches." She whipped her tail in agitation.

"Yeah? Well… so was I. I could have killed you if I wanted to, too." He blinked, realizing how lame he came off sounding. She gave a triumphant smile.

"Get me off this hook," he grumbled. "The key is in her bra." He nodded toward the dead Aussie.

"Bra?" Eow replied. "What is a bra?"

"Her… her boobs, okay? The clothes around her boobs."

She shook her head. "Your species has such odd hang-ups with certain body parts."

Eow checked again to see if she was detected, then she fished the key out of the Aussie's bosom.

Reaching up to the handcuffs, Eow leaned against Dirken, standing on tiptoes to reach the lock. Her soft, lavender fur swept against his arm. Her lean body, hot from exertion, pressed against his. He smelled her sweat. He took a shuddering breath and grew erect despite the battle raging just meters away.

"You know," she said with a bedroom voice as she inserted the key, "I get so excited to see you shackled and hung like this." He felt her hot breath against his cheek. Her amethyst eyes turned to his, so close he could see the fine, gemstone flickers of light in her iris. "After this is over, we need to repeat this little scenario and let me have my way with you…" She leaned in to his ear and finished, "…stud."

He leaned over to kiss her. But at that moment the handcuffs unlatched and he slid out, jarring him away from her. He stumbled to the side and out of the entry into the open platform.

The blond-haired "yeoman" noticed him, turned, and fired his blaster, narrowly missing Dirken's arm. "The smuggler!" the Acolyte yelled, catching Juarez's attention. "He's fre—"

Eow shot the yeoman in the shoulder. He fell to the ground with a scream. His wound showed the white of bone until a gush of blood covered it.

Dirken took cover next to her, behind the wall. He reached for his blaster, but his hand only found an empty hip holster. His beloved sidearm had been left behind in 'TakTrak's ship.

Dirken put a hand on Eow's shoulder and gestured to the Aussie and her blaster. "Hand me that weapon."

Eow fired out at the Acolytes again, then reached over and yanked the spear from the dead Aussie's body with a grunt and handed it to him.

"Thanks?" he said, watching the blood drip from the end. "That's not quite what I.…"

"He's flanking us!" Eow pointed to the other opening.

Dirken spun around just in time to see Juarez lean into the entry with