Gladiator: A Scifi Alien Romance (Galactic Gladiators Book 1) Read online

  Harper snorted. “You can try.” It was good to see some life back in Regan’s blue eyes.

  As Harper strode out into the corridor, she ran a hand through her dark hair, tension slowly melting out of her shoulders. She really needed a beer. She tilted her neck one way and then the other, hearing the bones pop.

  Just another day at the office. The image of Regan drifting away from the space station burst in her head. Harper released a breath. She was okay. Regan was safe and alive. That was all that mattered.

  With a shake of her head, Harper headed toward the Security Center. She needed to debrief with the captain and clock off. Then she could get out of her spacesuit and take the one-minute shower that they were all allotted.

  That was the one thing she missed about Earth. Long, hot showers.

  And swimming. She’d been a swimmer all her life and there were days she missed slicing through the water.

  She walked along a long corridor, meeting a few people—mainly scientists. She reached a spot where there was a long bank of windows that afforded a lovely view of Jupiter, and space beyond it.

  Stingy showers and unscheduled spacewalks aside, Harper had zero regrets about coming out into space. There’d been nothing left for her on Earth, and to her surprise, she’d made friends here on Fortuna.

  As she stared out into the black, mesmerized by the twinkle of stars, she caught a small flash of light in the distance. She paused, frowning. What the hell was that?

  She stared hard at the spot where she’d seen the flash. Nothing there but the pretty sprinkle of stars. Harper shook her head. Fatigue was playing tricks on her. It had to have just been a weird trick of the lights reflecting off the glass.

  Pushing the strange sighting away, she continued on to the Security Center.

  Chapter Two

  Harper was almost at the Security Center when she heard the click of heels on the metal grate floor behind her. She barely suppressed a grimace and took a deep, bolstering breath. Great, just great.

  “Lieutenant Adams,” said the clipped, icy voice. “I want a report on what happened, and I want it now.”

  Harper turned and faced Fortuna Station’s civilian commander.

  Madeline Cochran had been hired by the billion-dollar company that owned Fortuna. The corporate head honcho took uptight to a new level.

  Harper eyed the woman’s perfect, dark bob that hit bluntly at her jaw, and her sleek, dark-blue suit.

  Who the hell packed a power suit for space? “I don’t know all the details yet, Ms. Cochran. You’ll need to talk to Captain Santos. But whatever the scientists were working on in the module got out of control. It caused the door to blow. Dr. Forrest was expelled from the module, but I retrieved her and brought her back in.”

  Madeline gave a sharp nod. “I heard the damage is severe.”

  Harper ignored her. “Everyone else is okay.”

  The woman tilted her head. “I already knew that, Lieutenant. Maintenance is down there now?”

  “Yes.”

  “The board won’t like this. Anything that goes wrong up here is broadcast all around Earth. Stock prices fall.”

  Harper didn’t give a toss about stock prices, and decided it was best not to comment.

  Madeline straightened. “I’d prefer we didn’t have any more situations like this.”

  Harper pressed her tongue to her teeth. “You and me both.”

  Madeline sniffed. “Tell your captain that I’d like a report on my desk by morning, with recommendations on how we can avoid any future situations like this again. And possible ideas for reinforcing the seals on all exterior doors.”

  There went her plans to relax with a beer. “You’re the boss.”

  “Yes, I am.” Madeline strode away.

  With relief, Harper slapped her hand against the electronic door lock on the Security Center doors. After it read her palm print, it beeped, and the doors opened.

  “Evening, ladies,” she called out.

  The two men seated at the large control screens both turned around and simultaneously rolled their eyes at her.

  “Here’s the hero of the hour,” a big, African-American man named Jackson said, smiling at her.

  “Heard you’ve been busy rescuing wayward scientists.” This was from the small, wiry Keane.

  Harper went over to the control screen to log off shift. “Well, you know how it is. I can’t just sit around here playing computer games all day, like some people.”

  The security team members were all tight. She liked Jackson and Keane. They’d both been cops before they’d joined the Space Marines.

  Both men made dismissive groans at her.

  Harper couldn’t help but grin. She spotted the captain and Blaine on the other side of the room by the lockers, hanging up their spacesuits.

  Sam lifted her head. “You got Dr. Forrest to the infirmary?”

  Harper nodded and hung up her helmet on the wall among the neat rows of security spacesuits. She started to unfasten her suit. “Also ran into Ms. Cochran. She wants a report by morning.”

  Sam’s face didn’t change but Harper got the impression her captain was mentally rolling her eyes. “I’ll take care of it.”

  Blaine shoved a hand through his dark hair. “I need a beer. Anyone keen to join me at the station bar?”

  “Oh, yeah.” Harper pushed the top of her suit down.

  Sam smiled. “I’m off duty now, too, so count me in. I’m buying.”

  From the computer console, Jackson called out, “Yes, heroes shouldn’t buy their own drinks.” He winked at Harper.

  She shot him the finger. “Drop it.”

  Sam turned, her face turning serious. “One other thing, Harper. The ship from Earth will be here in a few hours.”

  Harper tried not to stiffen. “Yes?”

  Her boss’ lips tightened. “You’ve been on base for nearly eighteen months. Saw you weren’t down to head out this trip.”

  “Nope.”

  “You hit the two-year mark, and they’ll force you to go back for some downtime,” Sam said.

  “I know.” Harper would worry about that when she hit the limit. She had plenty of money stashed away, and a neat, tidy little condo in San Diego. She could take a vacation, or just stay at home.

  Home. San Diego had never felt like home. It was just convenient to the base. Hell, she wasn’t really sure where home was. Maybe it was because she had no one to go home for.

  A vacation, then. But the idea of doing nothing but sitting around and sunning herself on the beach gave her the hives.

  “What the hell is that?”

  The shock in Keane’s voice made Harper turn. At the same moment, alarms started blaring throughout the Security Center. The lights dimmed and turned red.

  Red alert.

  Harper rushed forward, Sam and Blaine by her side. They stared out the main window of the Security Center. It gave a clear view of the main body of the space station, the planet, and the black of space beyond.

  But now, something massive was blotting out part of the space beside Jupiter.

  It was some sort of…spaceship.

  And it wasn’t from Earth.

  The vessel was a long, cigar shape and covered in enormous spikes. It was black—a deep, unforgiving black that seemed to absorb light. Harper thought she could make out some windows lit with an orange glow from within.

  “Alien ship,” Keane cried. He tapped wildly at his keyboard and screen.

  “Hail it,” Sam ordered. “Play them the prerecorded message that says who we are.”

  With shaking hands, Keane did just that. Jackson was standing, frozen, staring out the window. Blaine was cursing softly, body tense.

  “Jackson, open station comms and tell everyone to stay calm,” Harper kept her tone sharp and no-nonsense. “We’re not sure what we’re dealing with yet. We don’t need people panicking.”

  The big man jerked and raced for his computer.

  “They’re not responding to ha
ils.” Then Keane straightened and looked up. “Their technology is too far advanced for me to be sure, but I believe they have weapons locked on us.”

  Hell. Harper’s muscles were tight as a rock. She had a really bad feeling about this. “We need to bring our weapons online.”

  “Do it,” Sam said.

  But looking at that ship, Harper knew it wasn’t going to be enough. The space station only had basic defensive capabilities.

  They had hundreds of innocent people on the station. And no way to protect them.

  She stared at the alien ship. The scientists had always gotten excited, talking about the idea of making first contact. But no one had prepared them for this.

  “What’s that?” Blaine pointed.

  Harper strode to the glass and pressed a hand to its cool surface. There was a rain of small objects spraying out of the large ship.

  Her chest constricted. They were smaller ships. Headed their way.

  “They’re firing!” Keane shouted.

  There was a flash of light, and then the space station shuddered. Another alarm started screaming, joining the cacophony of sound. Harper gripped the back of Keane’s chair to stay on her feet.

  “They’ve taken out our laser array, and we have a breach!”

  “Send out a Mayday to Earth and issue an evacuation,” Sam yelled. She spun and faced Harper and Blaine. “We need to get our people to the escape pods.”

  Harper nodded. She knew they had nowhere to go, but they couldn’t stay here, and the pods had enough provisions to last until ships from Earth could reach them.

  Regan, Rory…Harper thought of her friends, and the other scientists who had to be panicking. All she could do now was help everyone get to the pods.

  Sam had turned to the weapons locker. The captain pressed her palm to a lock and keyed in a code. A second later, the doors opened. Laser weapons—everything from shotguns to pistols—were lined up with precision.

  The captain grabbed a shotgun, her face grim.

  Harper grabbed a laser pistol and checked it. She already had a combat knife strapped to her thigh. She carried it everywhere she went.

  Blaine grabbed a combat rifle.

  “Go!” Sam yelled.

  They spun and slammed out of the Security Center. They split off, running in different directions.

  As Harper sprinted through the corridor, she looked out a window, and saw one of the smaller alien ships zip past. It was triangular in shape, black like the mothership, and covered in similar, wicked spikes.

  Harper rushed to the window. She saw the ship pull up, the nose lifting until the craft was vertical. Then it attached itself to the side of the space station. She gasped, arching her neck to peer as far as she could at the surface of the station. Lots of the ships were attaching themselves.

  She pulled back from the window and kept running. Others were running through the corridor, screaming and crying.

  “Get to the escape pods,” Harper shouted.

  Someone slammed into Harper. She stepped back and saw Madeline Cochran, looking shocked and disheveled. She’d lost her heels and her feet were bare.

  “Lieutenant, what the hell is going on?”

  “Aliens.”

  The station commander’s eyes went wide. Suddenly, there was a loud clang on the exterior wall beside them. A spray of sparks showered the corridor around them.

  A giant, oval patch of metal started to glow, and Harper stared, speechless. With a soft hiss, the metal disintegrated away.

  Two giant aliens climbed inside the space station.

  Harper whipped out her laser pistol. The newcomers towered over her, almost seven feet tall, and they moved upright, on two bulky legs. They had tough, brown skin, and beneath it, she could see the glow of orange veins. A set of black horns swept back off their heads. God, they looked like demons right from hell.

  The closest alien reached out, and swiped up a terrified Madeline with one huge hand, dangling the woman off the ground.

  No. This was Harper’s space station, her people to protect. She aimed and fired.

  The laser bounced harmlessly off the tough skin. The aliens swiveled to look at her, and she saw their faces were dominated by huge, black eyes with no whites. They also had two small tusks coming from their mouths.

  She moved forward and kept firing.

  Suddenly, one of them moved. She’d made the incorrect assumption that he’d be slow, but he moved fast, his huge fist slamming into her pistol.

  Her gun hit the wall with a clang, and before she could process what was happening, a second fist plowed into the side of Harper’s head.

  The blow was stunning. It slammed her against the glass window, dazing her.

  Through the ringing in her head, she watched as the other alien grabbed a fleeing scientist who was running past them. Both aliens started dragging the kicking and screaming women away.

  Hell, no. Harper straightened, pushing aside her pain. She ran, leaped into the air, and landed on the back of the closest alien.

  As the alien let out a deafening roar, she pulled her knife and slammed it into the back of the creature’s neck. It made another ear-splitting cry, dropping the scientist and spinning around.

  “Run!” Harper yelled.

  The female scientist scrambled backward, and then turned and ran.

  Harper yanked her blade out and stabbed again. Orange blood started coming from the wound.

  The alien spun and then slammed himself backward into the wall. He had a distinctive white, puckered scar on his cheek, and right now, he looked pissed. Pain shot through Harper, and she dropped her knife. The alien rammed her again, and this time she lost her grip and fell to the floor.

  Damn. She’d broken some ribs.

  Two huge scaled feet stepped in front of Harper. She heard some guttural grunts and clicks, which she assumed were the aliens’ language. Then the alien grabbed her laser pistol and knife. It dropped them right in front of her face and then stepped on them. There was a crunch of metal.

  Then the alien grabbed her by the back of her spacesuit and started dragging her forward. Harper twisted and fought, jamming the heels of her boots into the ground.

  But the damn alien was strong and just kept towing her like a sack of potatoes.

  Then it dragged her through the hole they’d cut in the wall and into its ship.

  She was tossed on the floor at the back of the ship. Madeline was already there, sobbing quietly.

  Harper pushed up. “Let us go!”

  Her captor swung a fist, hitting Harper with another blow to the head. She hit the floor, giant black blotches dancing in front of her eyes.

  She couldn’t lose consciousness. She had to stay alert. She had to help.

  When she managed to look up and focus, she saw the alien was holding a small metallic device in its hand. It touched something and glowing orange bars appeared, surrounding her and the station commander inside a makeshift prison.

  “I’m afraid,” Madeline said.

  Harper was, too, but she wasn’t giving in to it. She got one foot beneath her and stood. The alien with the controller smiled, or at least she thought the movement of his ugly mouth was a smile. The twist of his lips made his scar pucker even more.

  The giant alien pressed another button on the device. This time, a puff of something blue filled the cell. Harper instantly held her breath.

  Beside her, Madeline fell in a sprawl on the floor. Harper felt her lungs start to burn. This was bad. Really bad. She sent her nastiest glare at her alien captor.

  His mouth moved again into that creepy smirk.

  The pain in her chest was burning now. Dizziness hit her, and she felt the alien watching and waiting. No, she couldn’t draw a breath.

  But even Harper wasn’t strong enough to fight nature. Her oxygen-deprived lungs won the battle, and she gasped in air.

  The blue chemical tasted sweet on her tongue. As she fell to the floor, the last thing she saw was her alien captor settling
in behind the ship’s controls.

  Then Harper’s eyelids closed, and there was nothing.

  Chapter Three

  Raiden Tiago spun his short sword and swung it up against the giant axe coming straight toward him.

  He ducked and swiveled. His sturdy and very sharp sword easily sliced through the axe handle, sending the axe head to the sand at his feet.

  “Curse you to the sand, Raiden. That’s the third axe you’ve ruined this week.”

  Raiden turned, lowering his sword. “That should encourage you to move faster, Thorin.”

  His friend, a tall mountain of a man, crossed his massive arms and grunted. “They call you the greatest gladiator in the Kor Magna Arena. I wouldn’t want to show you up in front of your fans.”

  Raiden snorted. He couldn’t care less about the cheering fans.

  He turned and stared across the small training arena. It was an oval shape, with tiers of seats ringing it. They were currently all empty. On the other side of the arena, his fellow gladiator, Kace, was training some new gladiators with laser nets.

  Raiden’s senses expanded and he could sense both Kace and Thorin’s essences. All Aurelians had this ability, to feel what a person was like. To Raiden, Thorin was strength and power, but Raiden also sensed something darker lurking in his friend. Kace was bright and strong and straight.

  Suddenly, there was the roar of a spaceship overhead. Raiden looked up and saw the massive, spike-covered Thraxian ship heading toward the spaceport. The menacing ship reminded Raiden of the achna beasts that had once lived in the forests of his homeworld.

  “Fresh blood,” Thorin said.

  Raiden grunted again, his gut tightening. The Drak-cursed Thraxians were always busy enslaving people or destroying people’s lives. He changed his focus to the high walls of the main arena, which towered beyond the walls of the training arena.

  Those walls weren’t the tallest thing on the desert world of Carthago, but they were the oldest and had the most influence. Tonight, the arena’s seats would be filled with screaming fans from all around the galaxy. There was a rhythm to life here on this distant, outer rim planet, and it all revolved around the arena. Gladiators came and went, rose and fell, all on the strength of their sword arm in the arena.