Chapter 4
Ivar
I’m sitting in a horribly pieced together technological monstrosity.
The best ship we’ve got, if we want this mission to be a success. Simply put, it has to be a success. The last two have been failures, and we only have one more ship left after this. It’s fine for raiding, but it won’t get us into one of the Intergalactic Alliance’s refugee centers.
My brothers are with me. Erik and Sigurd. We’re currently hovering over our planet, Midgard, doing the final preparations before we engage the hyperdrive and zoom across space faster than any Viking has ever gone before.
“Are we sure this thing will even get us there?” I mutter, looking around at my brothers. “There are already two warnings on Erik’s screen.”
“The ship will get us there,” Erik says, confidence or foolishness in his tone, I’m not sure which. “But what matters is that we won’t be tracked. The Intergalactic Alliance will not find out we were the ones who raided the refugee center.”
“Fuck the Intergalactic Alliance,” Sigurd growls. “They left us to die out here. They deserve to have their little perfect system shattered.”
“And you’re sure what we’re risking everything for is worth it?” I question, checking a few readings and grimacing, because they’re not great. “These… humans. They are viable mates?”
“Yes, brother,” Sigurd insists. “I checked Erik’s research myself. Now stop fucking around. If we’re going to do this, let’s do this.”
“May Thor’s hammer bless us,” I say, slamming my hand on the button that engages the hyperdrive.
The ship begins to shake as it accelerates. All three of us have to find something to hang onto so we’re not thrown out of our seats. Stars turn into a blur, then the hyperjump portal appears.
“We’re not going to make it!” Erik yells, all the confidence and foolishness gone from his voice. “We just lost some power to the engine and we’re losing speed!”
“Fuck, fuck!” I yell, then I slam my hand on a button to bring the emergency engines online. “Five seconds until the emergency engines engage!”
“If we hit that hyperjump at this speed, we’re dead!” Erik says.
“Three seconds,” Sigurd says flatly. “Nothing to worry about.”
I watch the clock, and right before we hit the hyperjump portal, our speed increases.
Instead of the ship coming apart, it sails through the hyperjump, and then we emerge on the other side.
But we’re not done yet. We have a weak hyperdrive and it will take a number of jumps to get to the refugee center.
“Ship is still stable,” Erik says. “Once the hyperdrive has time to vent and recharge, we can make the next jump.”
“I sure as fuck hope it holds up long enough to get us there and back,” I grumble, uncertain about our chances considering how rough the first jump was.
“I’m more worried about what else we could run into out here right now,” Sigurd mutters. “But the cloaking system is holding.”
The hyperdrive vents and slowly recharges.
As soon as we have enough power, I open another portal.
The ship shakes, but it’s still in one piece when we emerge from the portal.
It’s a slow process, but we don’t run into trouble, and we finally emerge from the last portal, not far from the refugee center.
“We made it!” Erik roars, like he wasn’t panicking the entire time. “Just like I said.”
“Mm,” Sigurd says, glancing at our brother.
“We’re here. That doesn’t mean we’ve made it to our destination,” I say, gesturing to the refugee center. “We’re cloaked, but our systems are all fucked up. We need to land this ship as soon as possible.”
The refugee center looks like all the others.
A big black metal cube, floating in space.
But this one is different from most of them.
It’s not near any of the threats the Intergalactic Alliance usually worries about.
That means they don’t have many soldiers protecting it.
It’s so isolated, they wouldn’t normally have to worry about guarding it.
“No warships. Nothing on the scanner at all,” Sigurd rumbles. “They might as well have left the front door wide open for us.”
Our first failed mission to secure suitable mates involved raiding a refugee center. We thought we could handle it, but we quickly found ourselves in trouble and had to flee. We barely made it back to our planet, and our ship sustained so much damage we had to abandon it before it crashed.
“Good, we stick to the plan,” Erik says. “We won’t make the same mistakes we made last time.”
“We just have to land the ship,” I muse, slowly creeping toward the refugee center at a speed slow enough not to trigger their scanners as long as our cloaking device stays online.
“Once we’re on board, we’re good. There should be mostly scientists and social workers at this refugee center.
It’s mainly a training facility. They won’t put up much of a fight. ”
“Doesn’t matter if they do,” Sigurd snaps. “They still die.”
“If my research is accurate, the third level should be mostly abandoned,” Erik grinds out. “We just have to make it there before too many soldiers show up. We can deal with a few of those tentacle-faced freaks, but we can’t fight an entire army of them.”
“I’m happy to fight as many as they send,” Sigurd says.
“If we do this right, we won’t have to,” I say, still creeping toward the refugee center. “Stealth and surprise, just like our ancestors did. Get in, get the loot, get out.”
“That’s what they’ll think,” Erik chuckles. “It’s our way, so there’s no reason for them to think we’re deviating from our usual strategy.”
“Cosmic Influence will blind them, as we discussed,” I say. “The will of the gods will work in our favor. But no matter what happens, we can’t call for Fenrir’s blessing in this fight unless we have no other choice. That will lead the Intergalactic Alliance back to our planet.”
“We’ll do this as warriors, not wolves,” Erik says. “Even if mine is already itching for a fight.”
“Mine too, brother,” I admit. “But if we hope to escape, we have to keep our true identities hidden. Otherwise, this was all for nothing.”
“Not for nothing,” Sigurd argues. “We’re going to find a mate.”
“We’ve suffered too long for it to all be for nothing,” I mumble, moving closer to the cargo bay where we’re planning to dock our ship. “May Thor’s hammer bless us.”
“Cloaking system is still holding,” Erik says. “We’re still moving too slow for their scanners to pick us up. But once we land…”
“We fight,” Sigurd says, reaching for his hammer.
I accelerate once we’re close to the cargo bay. As soon as we pass through the atmosphere shield, an alarm sounds. It’s expected, so none of us panic. I engage the auto-lander, then lower the rear hatch. My shield is on my arm and my axe is in my hand before I rise from my seat.
“The time has come, brothers,” I say, clutching my weapon, feeling my wolf growling beneath my skin, begging to be unleashed.
A few of the purple, tentacle-faced soldiers are already advancing on the ship.
The Intergalactic Alliance uses laser technology for their weapons made from crystals mined after stars go supernova.
The only thing that reflects the lasers is an alloy compound called trillinium.
Our planet isn’t advanced enough to create it, but we raided one that had some to spare, and our shields are coated in it.
“Shield wall!” I call out, ducking behind mine as the tentacle-faced soldiers take their position.
The lasers fire, and as expected, they cause mass chaos when our shields reflect them.
They weren’t expecting that, as obvious by the screams and devastation in the cargo bay as the lasers get reflected into other ships, panels, and the system that controls the atmosphere shield.
We even reflect a few right back at them, which pierces the armor they’re wearing, taking out several of the enemy combatants.
“The atmosphere shield is going down,” Erik announces. “We need to move.”
“Quickest way is straight through them,” Sigurd snarls, rising to his feet. “They won’t be foolish enough to shoot at us again.”
Sparks are flying all over the cargo bay.
There are a few fires. The demonic aliens are more focused on keeping the atmosphere shield up than us.
They’re called Gali’gorath’krians, but most people can’t say it right.
The tentacle-faced soldiers are ready for a fight, but they’ve switched to melee weapons, now that they realize their laser weapons are ineffective.
They’re known as Fraz’melkians, one of the two pillars of the Intergalactic Alliance, along with the Gali’gorath’krians.
Fraz’melkians are trained for combat, just like we are, but they aren’t bred for it like us. They don’t have ancient warrior blood in their veins, or a wolf that gives them enhanced speed and strength, even when we don’t call them to the surface.
There are fewer than a dozen left by the time we engage them in battle.
I spin my axe, cleaving through the tentacles before I decapitate my foe.
Sigurd drives his hammer into a skull and it explodes with viscera and green blood.
Erik is faster than us, especially with the lightweight sword he prefers, and he sends two heads flying with the first swipe.
“Take them down and keep pushing forward!” I call out, launching an attack on the next soldier who turns towards me.
The battle is already won. Bodies are falling all around us. There are more soldiers coming, but it’ll take them time to get here. We’re not worried about them. We’ve got a plan and it’s already working.
“By Thor’s hammer we are victorious!” I call out, raising my bloody axe when the last soldier falls.
“Kill the scientists!” Sigurd yells. “Get their keycards!”