Brielle Ronaldi has devoted her life's work to uncovering the secrets of extraterrestrial life. After her world was turned upside down, Brielle finds herself quickly climbing the ranks of the G.L. Brooks Association. A recent addition to the facilit...
"The best thing would be to split up and take the facility at several different points at once. They'll have to spread out their numbers and it will be easier to wipe them out than it would to take on one big group."
"What makes you believe there will be many enemies inside?"
"Despite popular belief, I'm not an idiot!" The tips of their noses were nearly touching now and Brielle's heart was pounding against her eardrums. "You honestly thought I wouldn't recognize the trees? The foliage? The animals? The fucking 'indigenous species'?! I know what planet I'm on, and I know how these places work! They're gonna have at least fifty to seventy guards patrolling!"
"Perhaps-..." O'kaor began to speak up but Dhadtoudi quickly cut him off with a sharp hissing sound.
She turned her masked gaze back to Brielle and spoke in a low, threatening tone. "We will do it your way. But understand this, Brielle Ronaldi: if anything happens to my clan, I will hold you personally responsible." They stared at one another for a moment before Dhadtoudi walked away with T'ahrou following close behind.
Brielle flipped her the bird and turned to walk in the opposite direction but was met with the looming figure of O'kaor. "What?" He said nothing, only watched the human woman who in turn rolled her eyes and walked around him. "Whatever. I can't believe you actually let that bitch boss you around." She thought they had moved past the stuck-up aggression that Dhadtoudi was once again bringing to the surface, but now she realized that no matter how adamantly the taller woman wanted to deny it, at the end of the day she was still human.
The rain poured down as Brielle traversed the darkened woods, seeing only by the illumination brought on by the lightning as she had long since given up on her mask. She carried the object in her hand and debated throwing it away altogether, but Dhadtoudi would have her head if she left their tech behind.
"FREEZE!" Her body stiffened and her heart raced at the sound of a deep, masculine voice, and suddenly her vision was overtaken by several bright lights. "DON'T MOVE!" Footsteps drew near as one of the beings approached before halting abruptly. "Holy fuck...Ronaldi??"
"Who wants to know?" Malice laced her words still but the other being didn't seem to notice or care. She could barely see them issue the hand signal in the air before the beams of light lowered toward the ground. A moment later her vision began to clear and her grey eyes widened in surprise. "Goldstein?!"
"What the hell are you wearing, Ronaldi?" He gestured at her gladiator style armor that rested atop the fishnet bodysuit and Brielle shrugged. "Did you kill one?"
"One what?"
"One of the predators..! You've got their gear..!"
Brielle rubbed the back of her neck nervously. "It's a long story...but if you're here, is it safe to assume that they activated one of the sister facilities?"
"Goldstein nodded with a proud smile. "Abso-fucking-lutely! After the Brooks Foundation was destroyed, this one was up and running within a week. Come on, let's get you inside and get you briefed."
"I can't." He looked at the woman in confusion now. "Answer me this: did you capture one a little taller than me?"
"If you consider about twelve inches as 'a little taller', then yeah, why?"
"What condition is he in?"
Goldstein grinned as he feigned contemplation, propping the assault rifle against his shoulder as he did so. "It's stable for now." He noticed Brielle's expression fall a bit and he chuckled. "You know how we work, Brielle. Now come on, they could use your help in the labs. Besides...I wanna know how the hell you got their tech!"
"I'm not going with you, Goldstein. I have a job to do. It'll be in your best interest to take your team and leave."
"Fuck that! This is the best chance we've ever had to study these sons of bitches!" He stepped forward until he was mere inches from her face now, his voice taking on a deeper, threatening tone. "If you care so much about the 'condition' of that thing, you'll come with us. Because if you don't, we'll kill you, and then I'll go and kill it myself."
"So you're saying if I come with you to the facility...you'll help me keep him alive?"
"All I'm saying is that if you don't, then that will guarantee its death." ########
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Brielle's footfalls echoed in the hallway as she approached the max-security lab that was protected by four guards, one of which was Goldstein. The soldier turned to greet her with a casual grin but she didn't return the gesture. "Ah, there she is! What's kickin', Ronaldi?"
"Doc Martin wants the two remaining males brought to his lab for examination."
Goldstein's smile faded away. "How the fuck are we supposed to move them?"
"We sedate them like I did at the Brooks Foundation. I'll fill their tanks with the knockout gas, and your team will help me transport them to Doc Martin's." ######## T'ahrou and O'kaor spent the next few hours trying to find a way to break out and get to their gear. They contemplated where it might be hidden and how many enemies they would have to go through to get to it.
They were surprised to see Brielle return, let alone with four armed guards pushing two metal gurneys. "It will only take a minute." She approached the control panel for the containers and typed in a few prompts. "Once the gas gets into their systems, they'll be incapacitated and your guys can bring them out."
The leader of the group watched Brielle closely as she entered the appropriate codes and a gas began to fill the containers. The males looked up at the vents and O'kaor flicked his mandibles to taste the air. He recognized this smell; it was the same as one of the medicines Brielle had used on him at the last facility.
He turned his focus to the woman and narrowed his amber eyes at her before prattling something off to T'ahrou in their native tongue. The larger male growled as he began to pace the length of his own cell while O'kaor simply moved to sit against the wall with his arms folded over his broad chest.
Within moments O'kaor's eyes flirted shut and T'ahrou staggered against the wall closest to Brielle, another trill of clicks slipping from his throat as he fell to his knees and then the floor.
A long, silent moment passed before Brielle disengaged the locking mechanism on both containers. "Make it quick. We need to get them to the lab with the female before they wake up. We need to see how they interact."
