Discovered (A Galactic Battle Series Book 2) Read online

  Alyssa leaned forward. “This is the good stuff.” Her green eyes twinkled, the color striking against her porcelain skin. “The Kaidellen set up Golan’s ambush, of course. Golan never would have found Aray without a hint or two. We sent them the coordinates, that way we could get everyone in the same spot.”

  Brock’s fists tightened and he clasped them together to hide his anger.

  “We knew silly Golan would bring his entire fleet if he knew there was a secret camp of Hilians and that Ulrick was there as well. Golan does seem to hold a nasty grudge.” Alyssa unfolded her legs so the long limbs dangled beneath her. “Once Golan’s fleet had arrived, we TIPed and destroyed them. Finally, we were avenged for our fallen brothers and our home world. Not that it matters anyway, we have a much better one now. Can’t wait for you to see it. You’re gonna love it, it’s like a kingdom compared to that little ship you were living in. There’s—”

  Brock pinched the bridge of his nose. “Alyssa...”

  “Anyway, then we took out Aray. We can’t keep the Hilians around. They are an entire race of warriors. So we got rid of them. We wanted to get rid of the Renegade too, but something happened and they weren’t all there. Guess they were running a rotation late.”

  Brock’s jaw tightened and he forced himself to swallow his anger.

  “Once we get rid of the Renegade that will be the last threat to the plan.”

  That caught Brock’s attention. “And what are these plans?”

  Alyssa sighed and bit her lush bottom lip. “Only those with advancements are given the privilege to be included. So, I don’t know yet.”

  Brock crossed one leg over the other and rested his hand on his ankle. He had to find a way to get clearance to this plan. For once, he was happy he had a cyborg arm.

  5

  “This is ridiculous. You can’t arrest us! We didn’t do anything,” Gloria yelled with a huff while pacing along the iron bars of the cell, dramatically stopping each of her booted feet and clenched her fists at her side.

  Although the blonde bombshell wore the same uniform as the rest of the team, Lily thought it looked ten times better on her than anyone else. Gloria’s golden hair hung in loose curls and her purple eyes were accented with teal eyeshadow and fuchsia lipstick. The space pirates who had arrested them watched her from the other side of the bars, a look of annoyance glazing over their eyes. Lily was sure Gloria was hoping to annoy them to the point that they released her just to maintain their sanity, and that alone was not a bad plan, but Lily was going to go insane long before the pirates did.

  Lily shifted yet again, trying to find a more comfortable position on the damp, grimy stone floor. She leaned against the wall, wincing as a rock lodged itself into her back, and thought about how they got in this mess to begin with.

  Lily and her team had gone to the pirate trading post to get a new ship and supplies. During the battle with Golan, their ship had taken substantial damage and they had decided that it would be easier to get a new one than spend time on all the repairs. And time was the one thing they didn’t have. They needed to find Brock.

  Emotion welled in the base of her throat, threatening to spill her guts as she remembered the Developers’ attack on Aray, the Hilian refugee planet. The image of their attack vaporizing the Hilian ships would forever haunt her. The Developers were not who they said they were, not that she expected anything different—they had always been an elusive, private race—but she never expected them to take out both sides. And why? They had nothing to gain from it, not that she could see.

  She wasn’t sure which was stronger, her worry for her missing friend or her anger at the delay caused by being arrested. They didn’t have much time to find Brock, and it was only a matter of time before the Developers realized he wasn’t one of them. And when they did, Lily was sure death would be the consequence.

  Ulrick sat beside her, his arms crossed over his powerful chest and his back resting against the wall. He was sleeping, of all things. Sleeping. Unbelievable. She fought the urge to nudge him awake, but she couldn’t bring herself to wake him; he looked much too peaceful with a tuft of his thick black hair hanging over his forehead, having come loose from the leather band that tied the rest of his mane out of the way. It was a rare sight, the mighty Ulrick looking peaceful…

  Another voice joined Gloria. “Yous coward bastards. Bullshits.” Alberta, the team’s pilot, glared at the two guards. Her mohawk was spiked up, showcasing her dragon tattoo curved up the shaved side of her head, its black scales striking against her pale skin. The beast ended just before her hairline with its mouth open, baring its teeth in a ferocious roar.

  One of the guards grinned, showing a row of yellow, decaying teeth and stepped forward. His purple skin peeked out from beneath black pinstriped pants and a tan vest. He had it only half zipped, showing a tuft of orange chest hair.

  “Alberta...” he grinned. “Long time no see. How’s my ship?”

  Alberta pressed herself against the bars and sneered. “Alfo, you know ship’s crap.”

  “Alberta, you better hope that’s just your translator malfunctioning again.”

  Alfo’s female companion stepped forward to address Alberta. The woman was much easier on the eyes than Alfo and had ivory skin, pitch-black hair that was shaved on one side, and thigh-high boots that nearly reached the bottom of her blue shorts. “Alberta, give us back our ship and we’ll release the warrant.”

  “Wait a minute.” Lily pulled herself up to join Alberta at the steel bars. The lady pirate gave her a once over, but Lily ignored her. “Are you telling me that we weren’t arrested because of Ulrick, but because of a warrant?”

  “Of course,” the pirate-woman responded. “Alberta has fifteen outstanding warrants.”

  “Some I innocent,” Alberta responded with a shrug.

  Lily crossed her arms and glared at Alberta, then, turning back to the pirate, asked, “So…you don’t care about Ulrick? And you’re not turning us in?”

  “As far as we’re concerned, we never saw Ulrick. We don’t want part of that.”

  “He have no warrant?” Alberta asked.

  “Oh, there’s a bounty out for him all right, but it’s only a few million pieces. Not nearly enough.”

  “A few million…” Alberta bit her lip in thought.

  “That’s a pretty good price. Who put out the bounty? If it’s Golan, there won’t be an award,” Lily remarked.

  “It’s not Golan, not sure who the buyer is. They were rather secretive, seemed shady.”

  “But doing business with pirate is good practice?” Alberta asked with a raise of her eyebrow.

  “Oh come on Allie, be serious!” Gloria tossed her golden blonde hair over her shoulders. “You’re not turning Ulrick in for the bounty.”

  Alberta shrugged. “We get right back.”

  Gloria rolled her eyes. “This isn’t funny. You yelled at us for an hour about how I caused us to get stopped and now, we find out it’s because of you! Not even Ulrick! I think you owe me an apology.”

  “You do cause! Yous flirt with pirates. You crazies!” Alberta threw up her hands. “You cause too much attention. Never notice me if don’t cause attention.”

  “I do not! I was trying to be polite,” Gloria defended.

  Gustavo stepped forward to Gloria’s defense. “Alberta. She was not doing anything.”

  Alberta rolled her eyes. “Oh comes on. She flirts with everyones.”

  “Alberta, that was mean,” Lily scolded.

  “Can you two stop arguing,” Ulrick said from his place still seated against the wall.

  “Oh hush up. We have been getting questionable looks ever since we landed because of you. All because Lily couldn’t control her hormones.” Gloria crossed her arms; a scowl distorted her teal eyebrows.

  A growl rumbled in Ulrick’s chest. He swiftly pulled himself to his feet and marched in Gloria’s direction.

  Lily swallowed the lump in her throat and intercepted Ulrick’s pat
h, gently placing a hand on his powerful chest. She knew Gloria was just mad but the truth of the statement stung; she knew the risk she posed to her team when she fell in love with Ulrick. He was known widely for Harvesting planets and being Golan’s strong arm. Only a few knew his real story, and not many would be interested in giving him a chance to explain. She looked into Ulrick’s midnight-blue eyes and watched them soften. If only people could see that everything he had done was for the greater good: to help destroy a force that no one else could. Even though he had never personally Harvested planets himself, he allowed it and had even helped it happen. In Ulrick’s eyes that made him just as guilty as the people who were running the actual weapon. He would live with that guilt forever. Taking her hand, Ulrick placed a soft kiss on her knuckles. Her stomach fluttered, as it always did when she was around him.

  Her Hilian markings danced over her arms, intertwined with the markings that had jumped from his body to hers. She hadn’t realized it when she met him, but the biological Hilian markings only move when you are in the presence of your life mate. She still remembered the intimate blaze that overtook her body when she first met him and ever since. She brushed her fingers over the necklace he had given her. It was filled with chips of rock from all of the worlds he had searched—looking for her—and again, her heart fluttered.

  “Listen, there’s no reason for us to take it out on each other,” Gustavo, the team’s engineer began, only to be interrupted by Alberta and Gloria screaming at each other. He shook his head, ran an irritated hand through his blonde hair, and sat back on the floor.

  “Yous blonde’s dollie. All fault. We lay, we be just fine. But you cause scene.” Alberta poked Gloria in the chest. The multiple piercings in Alberta’s ears flashed with reflected light. Lily nearly rolled her eyes; Alberta’s translation implant seemed to be getting worse, despite their efforts to have it repaired.

  “If you—” Gloria threw a stiff finger into Alberta’s chest. “If you had told us about these warrants, we wouldn’t be in this position at all.”

  “Yous stupid—”

  Gloria cried out and launched at Alberta, grabbed onto her collar, and sent the two women tumbling to the ground.

  “Don’t call me stupid, you—”

  Alberta rolled on top of Gloria and held her down. Gloria cried out and bucked her hips, catching the pilot off guard.

  Alberta fell to the side. Gloria leapt on the other girl’s back and grabbed her hair.

  “Fucks you, blondie.” Alberta twisted and grabbed Gloria’s flailing arms. They gripped onto each other, their legs wrapping around each other’s torsos, until the two were rolling on the damp stone floor.

  Gustavo gave a cat call from his position on the floor, safely out of the line of fire.

  Lily rolled her eyes at him, then turned back to address the women. “That’s enough, you two.” Lily pulled Alberta’s bicep. Alberta tugged her arm away, yanking Lily down.

  “Enough!” Ulrick’s deep voice boomed and the three women looked up to find the warrior standing, his dark eyes stern and brow dipped with agitation.

  Lily got to her feet, a slight blush burning her cheeks. Alberta and Gloria followed her lead and pretended nothing had happened.

  “Now,” Ulrick said, looking at Alberta and Gloria. “You two will behave like civilized beings. I am tired of your foolery.”

  Alberta shrugged and rested a shoulder against the stone wall.

  Gloria pulled out a pocket-sized mirror and dabbed at her lips, ignoring Ulrick.

  Turning from Ulrick, Lily saw that the guards had left sometime during Alberta and Gloria’s fight. “Great. Now we can bust out of here.”

  “Bust out of here?” Gloria questioned.

  “Yes, window bars loose. That’s how got out last time,” Alberta said as she cupped her hands, offering Lily a step.

  “Wait a minute… last time? Lily, please tell me you don’t know anything about this.”

  Lily grinned. “Who do you think helped Alberta steal those ships?”

  Gustavo gave a hearty laugh and Gloria threw her head back in exasperation.

  Alberta hoisted Lily up to the bars. Grabbing hold of one, she wiggled it until the bar came loose. Alberta swayed as she tried to keep Lily upright.

  Gloria cleared her throat and Lily glanced over her shoulder. Ulrick stood with his arms crossed over his broad chest, a playful grin dimpling his cheeks. The cell door was lying on the floor, leaving a gaping hole in the bars.

  Alberta slowly lowered Lily and walked past Ulrick, muttering, “Shows off.”

  Lily went to follow, but Ulrick grabbed her arm as she trotted past. His midnight eyes locked onto hers and he dipped his head to place a soft kiss against her lips. Lily’s knees wobbled and she found herself melting into him.

  “Ah gee, you guys, not here,” Gloria groaned.

  Lily’s cheeks flushed as Ulrick pulled away, his eyes dancing with heated intention. “My apologies, A’kilini. I could not help myself.” A wicked smile played across his face and it took everything in Lily’s power to turn from him and get back on task when all she wanted to do was curl up against his broad chest and soak up his heat.

  6

  Brock once again followed Alyssa and the alluring sway of her hips. Despite his good view, his nerves had his stomach tied in knots. They were on their way to the main hall where the debriefing would take place. The peppiness in Alyssa’s step and her feisty mouth had been replaced with a bland personality. He found himself missing her sass, but at least she wasn’t insulting him. He had to admit, that was a nice improvement.

  “Okay,” she said, glancing over her shoulder. “Remember what I told you: act calm, neutral, and never touch anyone.” Releasing a breath she added, “Oh, and try to land on your feet this time.”

  That was the only warning he got before the floor opened up. Stifling a curse, he braced himself for impact and stuck the landing like a motherfucking dancer. He would have bowed for applause, but he looked up and realized that they were not in another hallway, but a vast cathedral.

  All around him stood Developers in different stages of perfection. Below him were layers upon layers of platforms, each holding hundreds of Developers. Above him were countless walkways lined with the cyborgs’ shiny faces. His heart raced and palms grew sweaty. He resisted the urge to wipe them on his legs and instead clasped his hands behind his back, mimicking the stance of the others in the room.

  Alyssa moved quickly and silently. She kept her hands fisted at her sides and steps flat. Even her energy was different. She was no longer upbeat and talkative, but instead cool, relaxed, and confident. The Developers refused to look at Alyssa, as though her un-advanced body was an unsightly disturbance. Alyssa stopped when she came to a glass ramp with stainless steel railings. Her gaze flicked to him but it offered no clues as to what she was thinking.

  Many of the Developers eyed him suspiciously. Drips of sweat ran down his spine. It was hot, stuffy, and way too packed for his taste. The lights dimmed and the already silent room became unbearably so. Brock held his breath, afraid that if he released it he would be discovered.

  The clang of footsteps signaled the entrance of whoever they were gathered to see. A single spotlight shined down on a free-moving glass platform. The light shimmered over the image of the man—no, machine—who Brock could only assume was the Kaidillan.

  7

  Brock’s spine stiffened as the Kaidillan gazed over the room, the cold, blue glow of his eyes penetrating every surface. He was engineered to magnificence, designed with a meticulousness that could only be the touch of god. Chrome plates fitted over each other in sloped formations created the appearance of smooth, bulging muscles. Gold-dusted gears covered his joints, neck, and exposed abdomen. They turned with the precision of divine timing. Some gears were as large as Brock’s palm, others as small as a coin, all moving together. Whether they had purpose or not was unclear.

  Silver tubes lined his forearms, biceps, and thighs like a
rtificial tendons. Screwed into the smooth metal and gears were diamond-tipped bolts. Though he had no lips he seemed to smile, showing teeth notched from white and silver steel. His brows, designed using a braiding of metal, resembled his own but held no expression.

  The energy shifted and a chant sounded through the room, a mixture of organic tones and computer-modified pitches.

  Though Brock didn’t know the words, he found them flowing through his lips with ease. His mind fogged over, leaving him dazed and confused. He couldn’t make out all the words, but it was clear that the Developers were pledging their allegiance to their leader. His skin tingled as the rhythm of the chant vibrated through him, elevating his enchantment until the metal figure was the most magnificent, gracious, and powerful being he had ever seen.

  “My followers.” The machine’s words were soft, but Brock heard each one with clarity.

  The platform floated past. Brock’s heart skipped as the desire to be noticed and praised filled him. The hair on his arms stood up despite the skin-tight suit he wore, and a chill worked its way down his spine.

  “We’ve made great progress, but there’s still much to do. Aray is gone. Golan is gone.” The Kaidillan paused and clasped his hands behind his back before continuing. “Now we must rid ourselves of the Renegade and the remaining Hilians. This will wipe out the last remaining threat in our prophecy.”

  Brock would have sworn the man’s eyes appeared sad. But a second look proved that they were just cold, blue lights.

  “We have dispatched droids to the locations of many of the Renegade’s ships. We have located Ulrick in the Avier nebula. I have sent troops to acquire him, but the nebula is large and this could take some time.”

  Fear choked Brock. He knew exactly where his team was: at the pirate trading post. They must be looking for a ship and Alberta’s old stomping ground was the perfect place.