Hell, yeah, she did. They were testing an experimental wormhole drive technology. They definitely needed it right.
Especially when it was based on alien technology.
Over a year ago, the Fortuna Science Space Station orbiting Jupiter had been attacked by an alien ship.
It’d been a hell of a shocker of a first contact. Mal remembered watching the news and reports in horror. The space station had been ruined, and most of the scientists and station staff killed. A lucky few—or unlucky, depending how you looked at it—were abducted by alien slavers. The aliens had used a transient wormhole to travel to Earth’s solar system, and they’d used it to leave again. Back to the other side of the galaxy.
As Earth had set about salvaging the destroyed space station, those who were taken were assumed lost.
Until they’d made contact with Earth using micro-wormhole technology to send messages back.
The survivors had contacted their loved ones. They’d been taken in, and were now living on the other side of the galaxy on a desert planet called Carthago.
Mal shook her head. Those poor people. They had no way home, and were now making a life on an alien planet. The good news was that they also sent advanced technology specs back to Earth.
Nynatech had won the bid to develop the new wormhole drive. The goal was a new, faster method of space travel.
The big test was today, and it should create a wormhole large enough for their ship. The plan was for her and Poppy to travel through it to Jupiter in the blink of an eye.
She was looking forward to seeing the new space station being built. The Resilience Station was currently under construction.
“Okay, Mal,” Poppy said. “I think we’re ready.”
“Think?”
The scientist took a deep breath. “No, it’s ready.”
“You okay, Poppy?”
“Yes. Just excited. We’re making history here, Mal.”
“We sure are. Ready to see Jupiter?”
“Absolutely,” Poppy replied.
Mal touched the comm. “Control, we’re ready to conduct the test.”
“Acknowledged, Hotshot One,” Simmons said.
She rolled her eyes.
“Hotshot One?” Poppy said. “That’s the best he could do?”
“Simmons isn’t known for his sparkling wit.”
“I can hear you,” Simmons said dryly.
“I know,” Mal said.
Simmons ran her through the pre-test checklist. Mal checked everything three times. She might like to take a few risks sometimes, but not with technology that was about to fling her seven hundred million kilometers through space.
“Control, we’re ready when you are.” She switched to the internal comm. “Poppy, you strapped in?”
“I’m ready.”
But Mal heard the woman’s nerves in her voice. Mal released her own breath. “Initiating flight test.”
The ship’s regular engines fired, and the ship shot forward.
Mal loved this little baby—she was a sleek, sexy beauty.
“Countdown to wormhole drive initiation.” Here we go. “Three. Two. One.” Mal touched the controls.
The ship launched forward at blinding speed. Sparks of blue light washed over the front of the fuselage, then everything around them turned to a streaming, blue glow. She was thrown back in her seat.
“It’s working!” Poppy cried.
“Data is coming through, Hotshot One,” Simmons said. “We need…get…by—”
“You’re breaking up, Control,” Mal said.
Suddenly, the ship was tossed sideways.
What the fuck? Mal was thrown hard to the side, her harness digging into her shoulder.
Poppy screamed.
They started spinning over and over. Pops of blinding light speared into Mal’s eyes. Gritting her teeth together, she pushed forward. All the controls were flickering.
No, dammit. “Control, abort. Abort!”
She shoved her hand on the emergency stop. There was a violent jerk, and the ship spun again.
The blue glow stopped, but the ship was still flying out of control. Everything was vibrating.
“Mal!”
“Hold on, Poppy.” She gritted her teeth so hard she tasted blood. She fought for some control. Nothing was responding.
Mal looked up and gasped. There was a huge planet ahead—dark blue and green. Beyond it was a giant red star.
It wasn’t Jupiter.
It wasn’t any planet she knew.
The ship was caught by the planet’s gravitational pull. Alarms blared.
“Poppy, we’re going to crash land. Hold on and brace!”
“Mal, the star maps… They don’t match anything. Where are we?”
Only Poppy would be checking star maps in the middle of crashing.
“Brace!” Mal yelled.
They hit the atmosphere. The ship shook. Mal ground her teeth, and finally got some response out of the controls. She tried desperately to slow them down.
The next thing she knew, a rocky landscape spread out below them, dotted with sharp rock formations.
Hell. They were coming down too fast.
“Poppy!”
Boom.
There was a huge explosion. For a second, Mal was aware of things breaking, crunching, and tearing apart.
Everything was spinning. She heard screaming and realized it was her own.
Something hit her head, and then there was only merciful darkness.
Chapter Two
He slashed one of his swords down in a wide arc, catching the alien creature in the shoulder. It reared up on its back legs and snarled.
The hexid was a huge creature that walked upright on its two muscular back legs, but often ran on all fours. Its body was hairless, covered in taut, almost transparent skin that revealed its organs underneath. Its wide shoulders were hunched, its powerful, overlong arms ended in three sharp claws, and its jaw held fangs designed to rip and tear.
The smell of rot, decay, and its fetid breath hit him. It was an abomination. And he didn’t want it on his planet.
Overlord Rhain Zhalto Sarkany swung both his swords. The bleeding hexid dodged, its powerful body flexing.
No. Rhain slashed. First sword, then his second. The hexid fell.
All around him, his elite fighters battled more hexids. They swung swords and axes; some were armed with crossbows.
He would not lose more people.
Not to this evil sent by his father.
He saw a large hexid leap up and take down one of his fighters.
No.
Rhain whirled. He pulled on the power he felt all around him from the magnetic field of the planet. His species had evolved to utilize it.
Power filled his veins, his cells. It thrummed through him, his skin glowing with a faint, red sheen. It charged his two swords and red lights lit up along the specially crafted blades.
With a growl, he leaped high, the energy lifting him into the air.
He reached the hexid and brought his glowing blades down.
The creature released its prey and snarled, but Rhain’s dual swords bit deep.
The hexid snapped its fangs. Rhain dodged and sliced his blade along the creature’s leather-like skin.
Innards spilled out, putrid and black. He saw several bits of metallic tech amongst the organic matter. The work of the Zhylaw: a species known to use biotechnology for terrible purposes.
He fought back a sneer.
He cut again and the hexid collapsed.