Free Alien General's Beloved: SciFi Alien Romance (Brion Brides) by Vi Voxley Page B

felt like before her, he'd lived in a world half-hidden in shadows.
    And she was gone. Taken.
    Theories rushed through Corden's mind. His brief meeting with Worgen had given him much, but it wasn't enough to be sure. Still, most of them seemed to point in one direction. He needed to get off the ship and so did everyone else. The Raptor had just lost its value to Worgen.
    His own fighter stood ready in the same bay, but Corden wasn't going to leave Lana's crew to die helplessly. The general walked over to the command center of the bay and opened a comm link to the entire ship.
    "Everyone is to gather in the port-side bay immediately. No exceptions ."
    He let the authority of a general's voice seep into the message, knowing the crew would obey, as well as the Brions patrolling the ship. One was driven by fear, the other by obedience.
    The first to arrive was a Palian, freezing when he saw Corden. Uncertainty was plain on his face, but Corden had no time for long explanations.
    "I'm a friend of your captain," he said. "Name?"
    "F-Fraly," the man murmured. "A friend?"
    "Yes," the general replied. "Very soon two things are going to happen. Your crew members are going to get here. They need to board any vessel that is space-capable and leave . No questions, no nothing. Tell them to head for the nearest ship. And not to run ! If they go for the ships, they might live. If they try to flee, they'll most certainly die. Tell the escape pods hidden on your exterior to go too."
    The Palian's already-big eyes went even wider.
    "How did you—"
    "Doesn't matter how I know. Everyone needs to be off this ship as soon as possible. Is that clear?"
    "Yes, but—"
    "No time. The other thing. The Brions will be here too. Keep the crew away from them. And stay out of my way."
    "What do you mean?" Fraly asked, but Corden didn't get to answer.
    The first Brion patrol entered the bay and immediately drew their spears. Corden hadn't thought he looked that different to them, but there was something that gave him away. One look was all they needed to know he wasn't one of them.
    Four warriors charged him, paying the Palian no heed. Corden was grateful for that, because the warrior pride that didn't allow for Brions to stop for easy prey when they had a real match. At least that much hadn't changed in the ages that separated them.
    Behind them, more people entered. The crew backed away from the fighting warriors instinctively, which was good. And the Brions all joined the fight, which was also right as he'd hoped.
    He was better than all of them, but they had numbers on their side and more experience between them than Corden could gather in his entire life. He was like wind between a wall of blades, slipping through openings that were barely there.
    With grim silence, the warriors around him kept coming, their spears cutting gashes on his arms and legs, while he cut off theirs. The eerie, unnatural silence of their valor squares only accentuated the pulsing, ferocious red glow of his.
    Corden had considered keeping Worgen's spear as well, but found the other weapon to be unnatural in his hands. It had probably been custom-built for the dark general, ill-fitting in his grip. He'd cast it away instead, feeling like the gesture was much more of an insult than using it in battle.
    The Palian seemed to be doing a fine job with getting the crew moving. It looked like they needed little persuasion to leave the carnage in the bay. Dead warriors lay before Corden's feet, but more came. He kept moving, trying to stay between the Brions and the crew boarding the smaller vessels. Most were nothing more than cargo containers, but they could fly the distance needed. His own fighter stayed untouched, as did the other Brion ships.
    He'd almost finished with them when another fighter arrived and a fresh unit emerged from it. These new ones were different, he could tell that immediately. All of Worgen's men he'd encountered thus far had been almost empty inside, but the new