Truehearts & The Escape From Pirate Moon by Jake Macklem (ebook audio reader TXT) 📕

“Don’t bother. I recognized your Ka-te-Zi moves. Very pretty. And I’m about to kill you—so, it really doesn’t matter. I’m just amazed any of you survived the ambush. But don’t worry, I’ll send you to see your sisters.”

Is she shit-talking me? That’s my thing! “Can we just get back to killing each other?” Ace asked. “You’re boring the shit out of me.”

“Fine.” T’toli made a mocking sad face with an overly exaggerated frown then snapped her jaws, trying to bite Ace’s face.

“Hey!” She jerked her head out of the way. “Not the face, hussy!” There is no advantage!

T’toli leaned back and planted both feet on Ace and pushed—the cat-woman flipped in place and landed as Ace stumbled back. How did she do that? Then T’toli launched into a series of kicks, a happy smile on her face like a child at play as she tested Ace’s defenses.

Is she toying with me? Even as Ace’s arms absorbed most of the force, every kick took a toll and she lost ground. I’m gonna lose this fight. T’toli moved with unnatural speed, seemingly able to balance on the air, and finally planted a full-forced kick in Ace’s chest. The hussy is just better than me. She fell to the deck, sliding into the wall, and cracked her head.

Ace pushed herself up against the wall, grimacing and forcing her lungs to work. T’toli casually strolled over as Ace spit out a mouthful of blood. “You were what the captain was scared of?” T’toli stopped with cocky arrogance, legs wide.

There’s my advantage. Ace gave a blood-covered toothy grin. “Well… I’m not alone.”

T’toli’s eyes widened just before Cam slammed the butt of his rifle into the back of her head and she fell to the ground, unconscious.

“What took you so long?” Ace asked, using the wall to stand.

“You know, I’m not sure.” Cam held out his bloodied right hand with only three digits and a thumb. “I just can’t put my finger on it.”

Ace blinked and asked, “Did you plan that the whole way here?”

Cam chuckled. “I got lots of ‘em.”

Laser beams and plasma blasts exploded all around them. Cam dove for cover. Ace turned and found T’toli, already recovered, standing in her path. “Let’s finish this STAR!” She hissed.

  29: Remy

Getha finished bandaging Remy’s stump. The nanoshot had stopped the bleeding and started the healing process. A juicer shot had taken the edge off and made his vision a little blurry. Nothing I can’t handle.

“Getha… my pistol.” Remy held his left hand out. The Zontra looked around the bench until he saw the weapon—disturbingly, right next to the captain, well within reach.

“Here you go, Capt’n.” Getha placed it in Remy’s open hand and blinked his large black eyes. “What are we gonna do?”

The second phase of the juicer kicked in. With his pain dulled to nothing, heightened reflexes and reaction time, and a medically induced increase in aggressive behavior—Remy shouted with rage and adrenaline. “We’re going to the bridge and we are leaving! We’ll come back with an army!” He stood and charged out the doorway, Getha followed him.

Exiting the armory, they saw the redhead using the wall to stand up. The angel of death is hurt!

A human was with her. The sniper. Is he a cowboy? They seemed to be laughing while showing her his hand. They’re laughing at me! In a flash of black rage, he leveled his plasma pistol and opened fire while he walked across the loading bay toward the lift.

The Zontra followed, firing his laser. “Not going to the bridge?”

The sniper spun, covering his head as he dove for cover behind the vehicle strut supports. Torn, deciding who deserved his wrath more, Ace or the sniper, Remy froze in his anger. They both need to die! From the corner of his eye, Remy saw Ace. She was trying to cut off their route to the lift, but T’toli leaped in front of her, blocking her path. That’s a good kitty! Finish the tart.

He saw the sniper peek out. He took my hand! “T’toli has her. Kill the cowboy!” Remy screamed as he lined up his shot.

“The what?” Getha asked, confused.

“The one with the funny hat!” Remy’s next plasma blast hit a strut, melting a large hole in the metal. Orange globs landed and sizzled on the deck. “We’ll flank him. You go that way.”

Getha acknowledged the order and gripped his pistol in two hands. Walking in the other direction, Remy kept his pistol leveled and ready to fire. I’m coming for you!

  30: Cam

Cam dove behind the transport strut as the plasma blast hit. Barely dodging the molten metal, he stopped where was as laser beams cut off his path. He saw the pirate captain motioning the Zontra to flank. A laser and a plasma pistol against my rifle? Don’t like those odds.

Tucking against cover, he chanced a peek at Ace. She was on her back, looking dazed, and the O’rix was getting ready to bash her skull with a kick. Damn it, Red! Didn’t you learn you couldn’t take her? I don’t know if any Sol can take an O’rix one-on-one. A laser beam sparked on the edge of the strut, drawing Cam back to his own danger. Then he saw hope on the deck just two meters away and smiled. I’m coming home, Gwen!

Cam’s rifle appeared from around the strut and the pirate captain’s eyes narrowed as he fired one shot after the other. The Zontra redirected his aim, shooting at the rifle. Both the captain and Zontra stopped with surprise when they saw the rifle falling to the deck, no one holding it.

Cam rushed out from the other side of the strut scooping up a laser pistol in his left hand. Diving fully