Miranda reeled, stunned and shocked by the senseless murders. This was far worse than what she’d feared. She’d observed there were fewer people in the unit, but she’d never expected this; however, it proved her gut instinct had been correct.
But it still didn’t add up. Literally. The lieutenant commander had counted the colonists, one by one. From the state of decomposition, Althea and the others had been dead at roll call, yet they’d been included in the total. How could that be? Dante would never accept anything less than precision and excellence. If he had considered Brack first officer material, then she was. So how had the lieutenant commander screwed up so bad?
No doubt that would be one of Dante’s first questions. He drummed his fingers impatiently while they waited for Lucille Brack and Warren Ochoa. She’d gotten the impression he had expected them to be waiting in the consult room when they’d arrived a few minutes ago.
Miranda also had a strong feeling the tardiness was due to the commander’s inability to locate Ochoa—because he was dead. He’d been one of the first people to go missing.
The viciousness of the murders would be etched on her brain forever, along with the tortures perpetuated on Verde Omega. She prayed Althea had died quickly—but feared the opposite.
Don’t think about that.
She rocked and hugged Sparky’s fuzzy, still body. Upon arriving, he’d acted like a typical dog, investigating the room, sniffing around. She was relieved he’d acted like his normal self, but Dante didn’t need the distractions. So she’d powered him down.
With each passing minute, as Dante’s impatience rose, the more frigid his expression became.
“Captain?” The medical officer’s voice wafted through the commlink. “I have preliminary test results.”
“Proceed.”
“I place the earliest death, Althea Withers’s, at two weeks ago. Two others died a week later, the forth was killed three days ago.”
All before the roll call. Verification they couldn’t have been counted!
Dante’s expression turned stonier. “Go on.”
“A preliminary scan has revealed traces of a foreign protein in the wounds of all four victims.”
“What kind of protein?” he asked.
Miranda picked up Sparky and hugged him, drawing comfort from his solid, fuzzy body. She sniffed and swallowed the lump in her throat. Poor Althea. She had liked her. They’d talked, even laughed, had begun the process of healing together. Althea had acted a little strange the last time she’d seen her—
Her head shot up. How could Althea have been dead for two weeks if Miranda had seen her one week ago when she’d come by the cabin?
“I’m running the protein through the analyzer for confirmation, but I believe it is nonhuman,” the medical officer said.
Dante sucked in an audible breath. “You’re saying, alien?”
“I believe so. The victims’ livers are missing. And there’s something else disturbing. The nature of the wounds suggests they were not inflicted with a bladed object, but by claws.”
Claw marks. Missing livers. Alien protein. The blood drained from Miranda’s face as she flashed to the massacre. “Tyranian,” she whispered.
“What?” Dante’s gaze snapped to her face.
“Tyranians eat the livers of their victims.”
“Son of a bitch!” He leaped to his feet. With the commlink to the medical officer still live, he opened a channel to security. “Threat level red! There’s a Tyranian on board.”
“Holy shit!” the security officer gasped through the mic.
“Find the alien!” Dante ordered. “I want every crewmember armed, and I want security doubled in the colonists’ area.”
Seconds later a siren blasted through the ship. “Threat level red. Threat level red.”
Not again. Please, not again. Miranda’s throat clogged with fear. How could this be happening? How could a Tyranian have gotten onto the ship? A bio scan didn’t just check for contagions, it verified species.
Lieutenant Commander Brack burst in. “Captain, what’s going on?”
“There’s a Tyranian aboard Crimson Hawk. It must have stowed away when we picked up the New Utopians,” Dante said.
Events of the massacre flooded Miranda in a wave. The huge alien ship hovering in the sky. An armada of pods floating to the planet’s surface. The attack. The screams. The bodies. So many bodies. The alien confronting her in the greenhouse. Its nauseating musky odor.
The remembered stench was so real, she could smell traces now.
“Impossible, sir.” Brack shook her head. “I led the rescue team on the ground. I personally ran the bio scan, screening every single passenger before he or she boarded the ship.”
“You also reported all were accounted for after a second scan and a manual head count. At least four of those you had counted were dead at the time. How do you explain that?”
“I can’t, sir. But I promise I’ll find out.”
“Where is Mr. Ochoa?” Dante asked.
“I was unable to locate him.”
Because he was dead. Miranda was certain.
“There could be more than one Tyranian,” Dante said.
The nightmare repeated itself. Her heart raced, and the urge to flee rose up inside. But to where? The horrific truth was that this room right now was the single safest place on the ship. Upon exiting, there would be no haven. Everybody would pose a threat. She wouldn’t be able to trust that Dante was Dante.
“How could something like this happen?” He paced. “How could a Tyranian have slipped onboard?”
“Perhaps the scanners are malfunctioning,” Brack suggested.
“That would explain it,” he said.
Miranda shook her head as terror constricted her throat, making it hard to speak. The captain and the lieutenant commander had no idea what they were up against. Nobody had until the invasion, and they’d seen the Tyranians in action. “T-they shift,” she croaked.
Dante whipped around. “What did you say?”
“They shift.” She slid her fingers under Sparky’s collar, fumbling for his power switch. Her hands shook so much, she couldn’t find it. Sparky had saved her on Verde Omega. With aliens on board, she wanted him active. “The aliens can transform themselves and assume the shape of other species,” she said.
“Absurd and impossible.” Brack crossed her arms.
After the invasion had begun, the colonists quickly and tragically had learned they couldn’t trust each other—because their neighbor, their friend, their spouse, their child might not be human. Unable to unite in force, they couldn’t mount a defense. Dividing and conquering, the Tyranians systematically defeated the colonists who’d survived the initial onslaught.
Miranda had fled and hidden in the greenhouse with a fellow colonist she’d known very well—only to watch in horror as he shifted into a Tyranian.
The commander shook her head vehemently. “There is no data to support your claim.”
“I’ve seen it!” Miranda finally found Sparky’s power switch and depressed it.
With a little jerk, the dog animated.
A snarl erupted from his throat, and he launched at Brack, clamping onto her forearm as she threw up her hands to protect her throat.
“No! Sparky stop!” Miranda sprang up as Dante charged from across the room.
Bam! Bam! Bam! Brack bashed the K9-500 against the wall, but the bot hung on, growling ferociously.
A spreading green stain darkened the lieutenant commander’s sleeve. Miranda’s gaze flew upwards to meet rheumy red eyes.
Dante thumped his commlink. “Security! Code 14! Consult! Stat!”
It all happened so fast.
Lucille Brack’s forehead and cheeks undulated as if something crawled beneath her skin. Then her flesh peeled away to reveal a scaly, fanged Tyranian.
It hissed and slammed the dog against the wall so hard it dented the mental and dislodged the bot. Legs crumpled, Sparky fell to the floor where he continued to snap even though he’d been crippled.
The alien charged. Dante shoved Miranda out of the way. She landed next to a disabled, but snarling Sparky. A red streak slashed across Dante’s chest as he took the blow intended for her. The alien whirled, swiping with its talons, growling and gnashing its teeth.
“Run, Miranda! Get out!” Dante dodged, but a long barb raked across his shoulder. He landed a powerful kick in the alien’s abdomen, throwing it backwards into the door.
Exit blocked. She wasn’t going to get out that way.
The alien sprang at Dante. Two more swipes shredded his shirt and the flesh underneath. He aimed a punch at the creature’s throat, but it jerked out of the way, and the blow grazed off its skin. It roared and sank its razor teeth into Dante’s left shoulder while clawing at him.
He beat at the alien’s scull. It reared its head back, but before it could bite again, he drove his fist into its eye. The orb exploded, spraying green mucous. The Tyranian shrieked.
Sparky snarled, trying to rise on legs folded up like accordions.
Enraged, the alien struck out with a powerful blow that caught Dante in the chest. He flew across the room and crashed into the wall. He slumped onto the floor.
“Dante! Dante! Get up, please!” she begged.
But he wasn’t moving. The Tyranian advanced on Miranda. Green fluid seeped from the busted eye socket. The other eye glowed red. Disgusting breath and body odor fouled the air.
She screamed. So did the alien as the dog clamped his jaws around its ankle. Miranda scrambled away, but the alien came after her, dragging the bot.
Miranda fell against the wall. Tears streamed down her face.
The Tyranian raised his clawed hand preparing to deliver a killing blow.
A uniformed forearm hooked around the Tyranian’s throat. The good eye bulged, and then its neck popped as Dante snapped it. The alien went limp, and Dante tossed the body to the floor.
Blood covered his torso, and his uniform hung in tatters, revealing angry, gaping wounds, but he gathered Miranda’s shuddering form against his bleeding chest.
“It’s okay, now. It’s okay.” He rubbed her back.
She buried her face against his wet, sticky shirt and cried. “I th-thought you were d-d-dead.”
He stroked her hair. “I’m a cyborg. I’m too stubborn to die.”
“You’re hurt bad,” she said.
“Not so bad,” he denied.
Keeping his good arm around her, he reached for the commlink with his injured one. She felt him wince. He tapped it. “Security! Where the hell—”
“Here, captain!” A petty officer bounded into the room with a security team.
Medical appeared next, swarming over her and Dante, who issued orders and shook off the doctor’s attentions.
His furry muzzle stained green with alien blood, Sparky continued to gnaw on the alien’s ankle. They had to deactivate him to get him to let go.
“Take her to sick bay. Make sure she’s okay.” Dante handed Miranda off to the medical officer. “Put two bodyguards on her until we’re certain the ship is safe.” He looked at Sparky. “The K9-500 was damaged in the attack. Get an AI repair tech on it, stat.”
“What about you?” Miranda asked. “You’re injured!”
“I don’t have time for treatment. I have a ship to secure. My nanos will heal me.”
“You should let me take a look at you,” the doctor said.
“Not now. And that’s an order.”
They started to lead her away. She hated to go, didn’t want to leave him, but she had to. He had to see to the safety of the crew, passengers, and the ship, and she would only get in the way.
“Miranda?”
She met his gaze, dark and serious.
“We’ll talk later. I promise,” he said.