It only took us two hours to make it to the Xathi ship, but that was two hours that the Xathi had Leena and the others. Two hours for them to have done whatever it is that they do to their prisoners. I needed to get in there.

But Vrehx held me back. “Look at the ship, do you see any openings?”

I took a look.

The thing made the Vengeance look small, and we were one of the bigger ships in the fleet. A bit awkward, I couldn’t figure out how the thing maneuvered when in flight; the Xathi ship was—when not broken—essentially two pyramids on top of one another.

When we were pulled through the rift, the top half of their ziggurat had broken off, leaving the bottom half—still a pretty big portion—to fall through and crash onto the planet.

The crash destroyed roughly half of Nyheim. Even now, weeks after our arrival, there was still some smoke rising into the air from parts of the city. From what the females told us, Nyheim had been the cultural, social, and economic center of the planet.

Now there was a massive gash in the ground for several miles, ending in the center of the city, the entire east and south sides obliterated. The rest of the city was in ruins.

The Xathi had been thorough in their search. It was unlikely any humans survived at all.

As for the ship itself, there were several points of entry, but each of those were guarded by at least a dozen Xathi soldiers, their blue shells vibrant against the gray of the ship. The black-shelled hunters roamed the city and walked patrol around the ship. Even some of the green-shelled farm-bugs worked some of the land just outside the crash site.

Too many Xathi to go in headfirst.

“Okay, you’re right. We need to be smart about this. But we can’t take too long, or they’ll have already killed everyone.”

“If they haven’t been extinguished already,” Takar remarked.

I snarled at him and he quickly held up a hand in apology.

“Easy, boys. Put the fangs away,” Karzin cut in. He stared both of us down until we looked away. “Vrehx, this is your boy, your mission. Thoughts?”

Vrehx stayed quiet for several minutes. We knew he was thinking things through, but why did it have to take so long?

I was just about to lose my mind when he spoke.

“Okay. The current openings are no good to us, too heavily guarded. So, we need to make our own door.”

I perked up a bit. I did enjoy watching things go boom.

“Our only problem once we’re inside is that we don’t know where the humans are being held. Too big an area to search within a reasonable time.”

“I can help with that,” Tu’ver said.

We all looked at him in anticipation.

“I will use my disguise holo and get captured. When they take me to the others, I will broadcast our position. Then you come and rescue us all.”

He was insanely calm, and that unnerved me to no end. He was willing to let himself be captured, and he’d have to do it unarmed, and he was as calm as he would be choosing his morning meal.

“That might work,” Karzin admitted. “And while he’s in there, we’ll set some charges around the ship to make our way in.”

“I’ll get the charges,” I said, but Vrehx held up a finger and tilted his head.

“I’ve got a better idea. Tu’ver, do what you need, leave your weapons with us. Only take what you’re confident you can hide on your person without being detected. We’re going to need a distraction to let whoever is setting the charges have time to set them.” He looked at me and smiled. “You want to be a distraction?”

I smiled back. “Oh, yeah. You know I do.”

“Then we’re the distraction. You want in on this, Karzin?”

The older Valorni shook his head. “As much as I would love to kill some bugs, I’ve got a slightly better idea. The brothers love to fight, as does Sylor. Take those three to create your distraction. The rest of us will set the charges and come back around to bail your asses out when things get too out of hand.”

With a smile on his face, Vrehx nodded. “That will do. How long to set the charges?”

“We won’t go around the whole ship. It’s too big, too much debris, too many hunters. We’ll concentrate on this side we can see, so…two minutes?”

“Do it. Sakev, Dax, make sure his back doesn’t get torn up and those charges don’t end up in Xathi control.” The two nodded and left with Karzin. Rokul, Takar, and Sylor came over, each of them serious.

“Thoughts?” It took a second to realize Vrehx was asking me.

“You know me…I’ve always loved a head-on collision.”

“That you have. Fine, let’s get over there,” he said, pointing off to our right where the trees thinned out. “We’ll come out over there and try to draw as many of the Xathi over as we can. No one dies, that’s an order.”

“Sir!” was the universal response.

We headed over towards where Vrehx had pointed.

“Listen, Axtin,” Vrehx said to me, drawing me to one side. “I apologize for having doubted you and your feelings. No, I’m not the only one ‘allowed’ to have a human and I was wrong to make you feel that way. You’re right, if this was Jeneva, I would have been the first to rush in.”

“Apology accepted,” I said with a toothy grin. “To borrow a phrase from Jeneva, she certainly took that stick out of your ass.”

“What?”

“She’s been good for you. It means that you’re not as rigid as you used to be. It’s almost like you’re one of us now.”

“She has been good for me, and you deserve the same. I’m sorry to have made you feel otherwise.”

“And I apologize for pushing you around and yelling at you. It was wrong to make you feel like a weakling,” I said, as the old camaraderie of warriors returned.

He was about to say something when he saw me turn away, hiding a smile. “Ass.”

I stifled a laugh, wouldn’t do to announce our position to the Xathi yet. Then our earpieces crackled as Tu’ver’s voice came on. He was being captured, broadcasting it to us.

“Easy, yeh frakin’ buggahs.” He was imitating some of the native slang. “I said ‘easy.’ No need fo pushin’.” Several seconds passed before we heard him again. His voice was low, like he was whispering. “Infiltration complete. In elevator. Up.”

Another few seconds passed. “Five levels. Now is good.”

“You heard him, time for a distraction.” I stood up, walked out of the trees, and howled at the Xathi.

As the others came out behind me, the Xathi perked up, chittered amongst themselves, and then approached. Of the nearly three dozen soldiers and hunters roaming outside, only seven remained behind.

“Five against twenty-six. Five apiece with one to spare. It has been a good fight, friends,” Rokul said as he brought his rifle to his shoulder.

“That it has, my brother. May we extinguish as many of our enemies as we can,” Takar added.

“Oh, just shut up and kill the srell.”

I guess Sylor was tired of the brothers being philosophical all the time. I nodded at Sylor, took out a grenade, flipped the pin, and threw. Sylor howled as he took aim, shooting the grenade before it hit the ground.

The explosion blew apart three Xathi and sent several others flying. Sylor and I let out twin howls and charged, both of us shooting on the run. Vrehx and the brothers were a few paces behind, providing controlled fire.

I found myself laughing as I put away my blaster and reached back for my hammer. The two berserkers were leading the charge. It was going to be fun fighting side-by-side with Sylor.

We crashed into the Xathi with force, my hammer clearing a path as it left Xathi arms, legs, and chunks lying on the ground. Sylor was to my right, jumping and flipping around, his blasters firing away. Vrehx let out a howl as he slid under a hunter, his knife extended upward, slicing through the underbelly.

I could see the brothers methodically firing away with their rifles, shooting anything that tried to get behind us.

A hunter managed to slice my arm, but I barely noticed as I kicked it in the chest. It fell against a soldier, impaling itself on the soldier’s mandible. As it tried to shake the hunter off, I swung once. As the Xathi’s ribcage shattered under my hammer, blood spewed from its mouth.

Sylor screamed.

I turned to see him surrounded, his blasters flipped in his hands. He was using them as makeshift hammers. Vrehx was fighting two on his own, the brothers were firing away, so it was up to me.

I yelled an ancient Valorni battle cry and rushed in. I arrived as one of the soldiers bit down on Sylor’s leg, making him howl in pain. I hurtled into the fray, kicking one in the head as I flew over. My hammer clipped the one that bit Sylor and ricocheted out of my hands.

It was enough to get the Xathi to let go, and I quickly grabbed its head and twisted, its neck snapping loudly.

I grabbed my blasters and stood over Sylor, firing away at the Xathi. He grabbed a grenade from my hip pack and tossed it just outside the circle. We threw ourselves to the ground just as the “thwump” of the grenade blew a hole in the ground. I got back to my feet and fired at the Xathi that were disoriented.

I took a quick look around. Of the twenty-six that first attacked us, half were dead or injured, but Vrehx was engaged in hand-to-hand, the brothers were now forced into close-quarters combat, and Sylor and I still had five or six surrounding us.

I was breathing hard, Sylor was bleeding and barely able to stand, and my hammer was too far away.

Our distraction might prove to be my last charge.

I clicked on the comm to Tu’ver. “Thank you, my friend, for helping me try to save Leena. Just get her out safely is all I ask.”

I clicked the comm off and reloaded.

The Xathi took two steps towards us, then the explosions roared through the air, turning their attention away from us. Karzin and the others had finally done their part. Sylor, bum leg and all, and I didn’t waste the opportunity.

We attacked.

The others came rushing over, controlling their fire to make sure they didn’t hit us. It was close, though. Just as I was about to kick one, its head exploded from a rifle shot.

I looked up and Dax saluted me before taking aim and firing again.

The seven bugs that had stayed behind to guard the entrances had joined the fight, but three grenades blew them to pieces. I could hear the brothers laughing.

The nine of us took down the remaining Xathi. Vrehx took care of Sylor’s leg with some med-foam and a wrap, the rest of us reloaded our weapons.

I got my hammer back.

A silent moment passed between us as we looked at one another. The Xathi knew we were here, and they wouldn’t let us in quietly.

I looked at all of them, then turned and headed towards the ship.

I wasn’t leaving without Leena.