Enemy Storm by Marcella Burnard

Author:Marcella Burnard [Burnard, Marcella]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: SFR; Science Fiction Romance; Science Fiction; Romance; Futuristic; Military Science Fiction; Aliens; Outer Space; Spies; Kick-Ass Heroine; Enemy to L
Publisher: The Wild Rose Press
Published: 2020-04-20T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty

Holding her breath, Edie slotted into a break in the trees.

Via satellite, she watched the bugs strafe scattered houses. Wood and sod flew. Smoke rose, yanking Edie’s breath from her chest.

At least the residents—even the children—would be in the fields, working the northern hemisphere harvest. She hoped.

“Look,” V’kyrri’s command rang in her skull.

“Just because you don’t have to touch me to talk to me anymore doesn’t mean you have to yell,” she snapped.

“Sorry.” He’d muted his mental presence, but triumph bounced from him to her.

This was a promising development for him.

Yay. Now maybe she could concentrate on saving some lives.

A stream of people poured from the fields, running for the tree line. For protection. The Chekydran ships, intent on destroying the village, hadn’t noticed them.

Edie altered course to intercept.

Two Chekydran fighters broke off the main formation, heading for the fleeing villagers. And Edie.

The Chekydran ships spat plasma; one at t’Achreides-myn, the other at the villagers. Good for Edie. The fighters weren’t strong enough to damage her. Bad for the villagers. They didn’t have shields.

They did have Edie.

Peeling her lips back in a nasty grin, she sighted, and fired.

The ship strafing the villagers bucked and rolled. The nose pitched. It crashed into a kashtef tuber field and exploded.

The villagers didn’t look back. Someone had drilled them.

Suspicion tickled her spine. She rolled t’Achreides-myn back on course.

Chekydran plasma burst against her forward shields.

“Nice shot,” she muttered aloud for V’kyrri’s sake. “A dozen more of those might make it through my screens. Be a pity if someone vaporized you before you could get another shot off.”

She blew the fighter apart in midair.

V’kyrri’s grin turned blood thirsty.

Edie circled the villagers once as they reached the tree line. It wasn’t much protection, but it was protection. The leader of the group paused, waiting for her charges to clear into the forest. She lifted a hand high above her head in a sign that confirmed Edie’s suspicion.

Resistance.

Proper response? Waggling wings her boat did not have. Rolling a few times would have to serve.

Message received and returned: You’re not alone.

She headed for the village.

“What are you doing?” V’kyrri demanded.

“Picking off Chekydran.”

“Let it go. We have to take out that installation.”

“The Chekydran,” she corrected.

He put a hand on her wrist. Heat ran up her arm and straight to her core. t’Achreides-myn swept into the smoldering remains of town. Not a single bug remained. “Cowards.”

“Edie.”

“You think installation all you want,” she said. “I’m going for massive overkill.”

“Good. We’re going to need help,” he said. “Competent help.”

She left the burning village. “Then you don’t want military.”

Circles, dark and bruised-looking under his eyes, V’kyrri stared at her, expression neutral. “Resistance? You want me to bring in former resistance fighters.”

“You specified competent help,” she said. “Fighters who know what it means to sacrifice lives in pursuit of a cause. Not a bunch of teenagers with laser pistols trying to figure out what they want to be when they grow up.”

“What you’re talking about doesn’t exist,” he said.

“You cannot believe the Claugh wiped out the resistance,” she countered.

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