Cindrac Read online

  “We can go,” Lanie said with a nod at Dar. “I’m pretty good with these.”

  “Yeah, she is,” Linq agreed. “Let’s do this!”

  Cin turned to Lanie. “Put your armor back on and ask your nanites to turn you invisible.”

  Lanie did as he asked and couldn’t be happier when she could no longer see her arms and legs. “That’s so damn cool. I feel like a superhero.”

  “It has that effect on you,” Gabe chuckled in agreement before he disappeared next.

  “Stay beside me, no matter what.” Cin waited until she agreed before dissolving the portal to his cabin in Tennessee and then erected a new one back to Raider’s Moon.

  “We’re going right inside the spaceport in the same spot as the last time,” Cin warned. “Be ready!”

  Lanie was going to ask about Bob when Cin pulled her to the portal. He looked down at her with his beautiful white eyes and smiled as he took her hand in his own.

  “Invisible. Stay with me.” Cin waited until Lanie disappeared again before he jumped through the portal with her beside him.

  They’d barely missed running into two raider guards, and Cin quickly pulled them out of the way before moving the disc so the others wouldn’t hit the roaming patrols. When he knew everyone was through, Cin was just closing the portal when Bob jumped out beside him.

  Lanie gasped when she saw the cat and nearly choked when Bob disappeared. She was dying to ask Cin what happened to the kitty but was surprised to see a shimmering halo where the cat stood waiting.

  The same aura was around the other invisible warriors, and Lanie could only assume part of her new armor system allowed her to see them.

  It answered any questions Lanie had about whether Bob was also nanite enhanced since normal animals couldn’t just turn invisible. Lanie could only assume the cat’s intelligence must be heightened as well, and that was what enabled him to help her escape the Mulvors.

  Cin interrupted Lanie’s thoughts by directing everyone around the raiders and into the large spaceport. As expected, the Mulvor ship that had abducted Lanie was back where it was the last time. Now, it was patrolled by a ring of heavily armed guards.

  “I hate to interrupt our lack of an actual plan,” the Madean said in a voice dripping with sarcasm. “But if you’ll hide behind something for just a moment, I will help clear the room.”

  Osin chuckled. “Be our guest, Madean.”

  Lanie allowed Cin to pull her behind a ship, and she ducked down beside him. Peering out from their hiding spot, Lanie wondered what the Madean was going to do when she saw several raiders fall to the floor with gaping wounds.

  Panic started to go up among the raiders as half a dozen more screamed out in pain with various injuries that were heavily bleeding. Within seconds, every raider in the room had their weapons drawn and looked around the spaceport for the unseen enemy.

  Lanie was never sure what caused someone to take the first shot, but that was all it took for the cacophony of weapons fire that started and nearly deafened her. She was stunned and grateful when her nanites covered her ears enough to muffle the sound echoing around them.

  “Cease fire!” Someone shouted from the doorway of the spaceport docking bay. The raiders repeated the order until the shooting stopped.

  Lanie wasn’t surprised when Cin took that opportunity to lead them around the dead and injured raiders to the Mulvor ship. When they reached the cargo bay, Cin gently pushed Lanie to kneel by the side of the craft. The moment she did, Cin ran up the ramp and quickly killed the two guards blocking the entrance.

  Whisper-like footsteps could be heard running up the ramp into the ship's cargo bay, and Lanie followed. She didn’t get far before Cin took her hand and squeezed it gently to let her know it was him.

  “How about I plant some bombs in this baby, and we can get out of here?” Gabe whispered.

  “You plant bombs,” Dar agreed. “I need to record all of this for LAW and see if we can figure out where the hell they got this stuff to begin with.”

  “Tanq and I will keep watch while you guys do what you have to do,” Linq suggested when he saw the raiders start checking their downed men all over the spaceport.

  “We’ll help Dar,” Adamo said, speaking for the elves.

  Cin squeezed Lanie’s hand. “We need to work with Gabe to plant bombs because our nanites can make them.”

  “Let’s do this quick, warriors,” the Madean warned. “They will begin wondering what started the shooting anytime now, and they will figure out we’re here.”

  “Five minutes,” Cin ordered everyone before he pulled Lanie down a hallway leading back to the prison cells she’d escaped from earlier.

  Lanie suppressed a shiver of fear at the memory of being inside the place and was thrilled to be a part of making sure this ship couldn’t take another human from Earth.

  “How do I make the bombs?” Lanie asked, wanting to help.

  Cin surprised her by placing a gentle hand against her cheek Seconds later, the information on what to do was running through her mind. Lanie’s ability to comprehend the strange components and begin creating the bombs with her nanites was something she vowed to ponder later when they weren’t literally in the middle of a den of killers.

  Though Lanie wasn’t able to create the explosive devices as quickly as Cin could, she was incredibly proud of the four she had made and was elated when they were heading back into the cargo hold.

  They just reached the door to the cargo area when an alarm blared wildly around the spaceport. Cin gently squeezed Lanie’s hand in warning before breaking into a run. By the time they were inside the hold, raiders were pouring up the ramp.

  Looking around for the tell-tale shimmer of the others, Lanie saw they were huddling behind the make-shift barricade she’d made after her escape from the cage. Cin was already leading them there when dozens of raiders began searching the cargo near the ramp.

  As if sensing something was off, Cin stopped and turned to the ramp just when a huge barbarian looking man entered the ship. The man’s dark, piercing eyes searched the dim interior like he knew where they were hiding.

  “Don’t move an inch,” Cin whispered.

  Suppressing a shiver of dread, Lanie held her breath, wondering if the strange barbarian with the long bushy beard really could see them or sense their presence. Her theory was proven correct only seconds later.

  “Stay vigilant and watch where you shoot!” the barbarian warned. “There’s magic and more afoot in here!”

  Cin waited until the man turned to talk to another raider before urging Lanie to run. They reached the barrier with the others, and Lanie was surprised to see everyone hiding inside the container.

  “Can the Seer detect your portal?” Dar asked the moment they were close enough to hear him.

  “Oh, yeah,” Cin admitted with a huff of frustration.

  Linq and Tanq allowed themselves to reappear in front of everyone and grinned. Lanie wasn’t sure what they were smiling about since it sounded like they were getting ready to battle when the brothers moved to the back of the container.

  They returned, holding up the soft skins that Lanie and Bob had laid on before their rescue.

  “We can wait them out then!” Linq handed a skin to Adamo, who shed his invisibility, took the skin, and wrapped himself in it.

  Everyone else did the same, and Cin wrapped one around Lanie then pulled her close to his side. “This will last only until they reach this container. Where’s Kace?”

  Everyone looked around for the Madean, but he was nowhere in sight.

  “Fuck!” Cin snapped.

  Cindrac ran outside the container in time to watch the Seer and several other raiders get hit with a mechanical boom that fell on them from above. Looking up, Cin saw the Madean sprinting along the catwalk that ran over the ships in the docking bay of the spaceport.

  “Fuck!” Cin groaned when the raiders started shooting upwards.

  Not even trying to hide anymore, Cin
covered himself in armor and started firing at the raiders, drawing the heat from the Madean. The other warriors, including Lanie, quickly came out of the container and joined him.

  Unfortunately, the Madean’s efforts were in vain because half a dozen more Seers ran into the cargo bay. Between the warrior’s weapons fire and the Seer’s, the raider’s knew where they were hiding and trying to flank them.

  “We’ll hold them off while you guys go through the portal!” Tanq called out before leaving his hiding spot with his weapons firing. His brother Linq followed.

  “I believe a message is in order,” Adamo’s eyes flashed in anger before he and the other elves stepped out and began firing arrows on the raiders and seers.

  “I’m with you on that.” Dar quickly joined everyone.

  Lanie shed her invisibility, grinned apologetically at Cin, and checked her armor. She stepped out and fired her weapons at the raiders. Figuring it was a good a time as any to try out her cool new technology, Lanie shot with one hand and tried creating a bomb with her other.

  Once the device was completed, Lanie threw it as hard as she could and sighed in frustration when it only went about twenty feet in front of her. She wasn’t going to make any more when the first blew up, taking nearly half a dozen raiders with it.

  “Damn, girl,” Linq cackled with laughter. “Make a few for me! I’ll get them to the cargo door.”

  Continuing to fire, Lanie made another small bomb and handed it to Linq. Unfortunately, the device skittered out the door and exploded outside, killing a wave of raiders trying to get inside.

  “So,” Linq shrugged. “We keep trying!”

  Thrilled the bombs were working, Lanie started making another one while Gabe and Cin began creating and throwing their own.

  Niama made her way over to Lanie. “Make one for me.”

  Lanie did as she asked and was shocked when the elven princess attached it to one of her arrows and shot it perfectly between the wall and ceiling above the middle of the cargo bay door. Seconds later, Niama patted Lanie on the back as the entire roof area collapsed into the doorway.

  With reinforcements unable to get in, the raiders trapped inside the cargo bay with Cin and the warriors ran to hide behind whatever they could find. The raiders fired periodically to keep Cin and the others from getting close while Lanie, Cin, and Gabe continued to make bombs to throw on the raider positions.

  It wasn’t long before everyone turned at a hissing sound behind them, and Lanie didn’t have to ask what the sparks were at the ship's wall. The raiders were trying to cut through in multiple places.

  “Let’s end this!” Dar called out. “Half the damn moon is here at the spaceport. It’s perfect.”

  Cin hastily made a portal in the air, and everyone began jumping inside. When they had all gone, including Bob, Cin led Lanie through just as the Mulvor craft started blowing up around them.

  They came out on the street a few blocks away from the spaceport and watched as the entire port exploded, momentarily turning night into day.

  Raiders were running to help those injured by the blast while others were starting to fight the massive fire consuming the spaceport and the ships inside of it. Every available person on the moon was surrounding the blaze, trying to help, and the reality of the situation wasn’t lost on the warriors watching.

  “I’m a man who likes to finish what I begin,” the Madean stated evenly.

  “A message must be sent that sacred and magical relics are off-limits to those involved with the Consortium,” Adamo agreed vehemently.

  Gabe held both hands, palms up, and Lanie knew what he was creating. Grinning in agreement, she started to do the same.

  Cin shook his head at the group and grinned broadly. “You’re all crazy, but I’m with you.”

  Lanie and Gabe handed off the bombs they made to the elemental brothers and elves before creating more. Niama pulled an arrow from what had to be a never-ending quiver and headed towards the burning spaceport.

  “Come, my friends!” Niama turned and gave them a brilliant smile. “Our battle is not yet over.”

  Chapter Eighteen

  Not even halfway to the burning spaceport, the heat hit the group, and each one turned invisible so the Consortium raiders wouldn’t see them. Niama and the elves stayed back while Lanie, Cin, and the others headed closer to the enemy surrounding the port.

  As if on an unspoken command, the elves’ arrows flew through the air, unerringly finding their intended target. The elementals fired their weapons and threw the bombs Lanie, Gabe, and Cin were making as they fired on the raiders.

  It only took moments for the raiders to realize they were under attack, and they turned towards the invisible enemy, trying desperately to figure out where to fire. Unable to see a target, the raiders began shooting wildly in the direction of the approaching warriors.

  Several weapon blasts bounced off Lanie’s chest and leg armor and only strengthened her resolve and confidence in the nanites protecting her. Even Bob had thrown himself into the fray and was running invisibly among the raiders and slicing their Achilles tendons with his nanite enhanced claws.

  No more than ten feet from a line of raiders, Lanie got hit with another weapon’s blast. One of the raiders saw it and rushed forward, grabbing her arm. She was only frightened for a moment before her armor erupted in vicious spikes that impaled the raider’s hand. Lanie shot the man, and her spikes retracted as his dead body hit the ground.

  Dozens of raiders began running away from the spaceport, trying to make it to the homes and businesses back where the warriors had come from, but the elves’ wicked arrows mowed them down before they got far.

  The elementals, Madean, and Gabe were right in the middle of the raiders, fighting with swords and other weapons in close combat. Cin fought next to Lanie, refusing to leave her side and keeping track of her physical and nanite status.

  Suddenly, Dar’s voice was heard to Cin’s left, and he looked at where the giant was fighting in the middle of a group of raiders.

  “Sir?” Dar asked aloud. “Yes, I’m aware of a major disturbance on Raider’s Moon. I’m kind of in the middle of something right now, but I’ll be happy to brief you shortly.”

  There was a short pause before Dar said, “Of course, Sir. I’ll have answers for you. I would recommend sending one of Renegade Prime’s elite teams to the moon.”

  Another pause. “Yes, Sir. Right now. We should be finished before they get here. I’ll talk to you then.”

  Cin laughed and called out, “Sounds like you’re going to have some explaining to do, my friend!”

  “I can’t help that I had to seize the advantage while I could!” Dar called back with a laugh and impaled a raider on his sword. “LAW’s been trying to get you guys to help us against the Consortium for centuries! They’ll understand why I didn’t make you wait while I got their permission to join the fun.”

  More raiders started to see the hopelessness of the situation and tried to flee or dropped their weapons. Most of them laid on the ground with their hands on the back of their heads in surrender.

  Lanie was surprised to see the elementals, Gabe, and the Madean pick up the dropped weapons and throw them far out of the reach of the raiders before moving back into the fighting. The surrendered enemy was left untouched.

  Figuring they were doing the honorable thing and allowing the raiders the chance to give up, Lanie did the same with the weapons of those she passed that appeared to be surrendering the fight. Against an invisible and invincible enemy, the rest of the raiders didn’t stand a chance and soon fell in battle or gave up.

  The elves rejoined the other warriors, and Lanie watched in awe as they manifested some form of shimmering rope to tie around the wrists and ankles of those who’d surrendered. The elementals, the Madean, and Gabe were removing the weapons from the fallen and checking vital signs.

  Dar pulled out his comm. “Sir? Now would be a good time for your teams to land.”

  The giant
looked around at the line of enemies that had surrendered. “You’re going to need one of the larger prison ships as well. There’s at least thirty or forty for trial.”

  Everyone waited to see what else he would say when Dar paused and looked around at the dead bodies and burning spaceport.

  “Yeah, I’d say the scene is about as secure as you can get,” Dar assured whoever was on the other side of the conversation.

  Lanie’s eyes were drawn to dozens of lights descending from the sky above them and her mouth opened in awe at the sight of the UFOs beginning to land in any available spot they could find. Soldiers clad in matching black leather outfits, armed to the teeth, and carrying wicked-looking rifles poured out of the ships and headed toward them.

  Lanie automatically looked around for Cin, saw him heading towards her, and moved to stand by his side as the LAW officers surrounded them. She couldn’t help but notice that the newcomers openly stared at Cin and his warriors while they went about securing the surrendered raiders.

  Everyone rejoined Lanie and Cin, looking warily at the soldiers assembled around them until a large, burly man moved through the parting LAW officers. His eyes widened at the sight of the bodies and the burning spaceport before he saw Dar standing near Cin. The guy made a beeline for the giant and stopped in front of him.

  The outpost Commander of Renegade Prime, Ramek M’Lakmer, smiled broadly at the elves, elementals, Madean, Gabe, and Cindrac, seemingly speechless.

  An awkward silence hung over the group until Dar cleared his throat and started to introduce everyone. Commander M’Lakmer pulled his shoulders back and stepped forward.

  “Thank you, Major Vacanow, but I am well aware of who our guests are,” Commander M’Lakmer smiled at each of the warriors until he reached Lanie. “Except you. You are, my lady warrior?”

  “Lanie Fulbright, this is Commander Ramek M’Lakmer,” Cin introduced the two.

  “Lanie was the reason we were here,” Niama admitted, startling the Commander. “She was kidnapped from Earth and not only killed all but the pilot on the Mulvor ship, Lanie had dispatched dozens of Raiders. She was in an active standoff in the spaceport when we arrived.”