Blood of Heroes (The Ember War Saga Book 3) by Richard Fox Read Free Book Online

‘Squeaky’?” Yarrow asked.
    “Who filled new guy’s head full of lies? I bet it was Gunney Cortaro. Tall tales to keep this cherry’s spirits high,” Standish said.
    Steuben unslung his rifle from over his shoulder and checked the battery power. “We thought we came to the wrong planet. The high-pitched noise coming from Standish didn’t match the language files we trained with prior to our mission. Lafayette thought ‘Don’t eat me’ was a traditional human greeting.”
    “I didn’t say exactly… that .” Standish pointed to the escape pod where the engineers were cutting through a hinge. “Look, almost done. Anyone else concerned one of those banshees might be in there? Focus, Marines. We’ve got a job to do.”
    The Marines powered up their rifles and pointed them to the opening the engineers had almost completed.
    “‘Don’t eat me!’” Bailey said in a high-pitched voice. Orozco and Yarrow joined in, repeating the phrase and adding their voices to a chorus.
    “Shut up! All of you!” Standish’s hands shook with rage as he wagged his rifle from side to side.
    A section of the drop pod fell to the deck with a thump. Inside, a Dotok in a body glove shielded a prone figure with its body. The Dotok breathed heavily, brandishing a small knife at the Marines.
    Torni lowered her weapon and raised a hand. “Friend, friend,” she said and raised her visor, exposing her face to the Dotok.
    “Their word is meln, ” Steuben said. He raised his visor and bent over to look into the pod. “ Meln!” he thundered.
    The Dotok started screaming.
    “See, perfectly natural reaction,” Standish said.
    “Steuben, back off,” Torni said, guiding the Karigole aside with a gentle push. Torni waved the Dotok toward her and repeated the only Dotok word she knew. The Dotok hesitated, then lowered its knife. It crawled toward Torni and accepted a hand out of the escape pod. The alien was short, barely reaching Torni’s collarbone. By the curves in its body glove, Torni figured it was a she.
    The Dotok looked over the smiling faces of the Marines and pulled off her helmet. Her hair was wild and mussed, her deep green skin flushed. Torni thought the alien woman’s features were almost Slavic.
    “Torni,” the sergeant said, tapping her chest.
    “Shor,” the Dotok said, repeating the gesture.
    Steuben extended a four-fingered, clawed hand toward Shor. Shor skipped back and cowered behind Torni.
    “Give her some space, Steuben,” Torni said.
    “I wonder if she thinks you just might eat her,” Standish said.
    “Shut up, Standish,” more than one Marine said.
    Torni looked into the pod at the other Dotok, strapped onto a stretcher. Torni raised a knee to crawl inside. A gentle touch on her shoulder pulled her back.
    “Ehtan,” Shor said.
    “Does he need help?” Torni tried to climb in again. Shor pulled her back.
    “Ehtan!”
    “He’s dead,” Steuben said.
    Shor pressed two fingers to her lips.
    Torni nodded to the Dotok and stepped back from the pod.
    “So, what do we do with her?” Orozco asked.
    “Let me ask the lieutenant,” Torni said. “The rest of you get back to loading up our Mule.”
    The flight deck vibrated as a Dotok fighter came through the force field at the aft end of the flight deck. Eagles and Dotok followed in a steady procession.
     
    ****
     
    Durand double checked that her ejection seat was disabled, then opened her canopy. The first day of flight school started with a video of an unfortunate pilot who didn’t make the same precaution, and she’d never forgotten the lesson.
    “Oye, lassie!” MacDougall hooked a ladder against the side of her cockpit. “Who the hell are they?” The crew chief waved a hand at the Dotok fighters that had landed in a scrum in the middle of the flight deck.
    “Guests,” she said. “Try to make them feel welcome.” She removed her helmet and shook out her shoulder length raven-black hair. She climbed down from her fighter and spotted