Briannas Prophecy Read Free Page A

getting back into space, he stepped into the sonic shower. “Clean.” Groaning with pleasure, Niklas put his hands on the opposite wall, leaning across the width of the small room. Delighted to feel the dirt dissolving to nothingness, he reveled in the fact that the next thing he smelled would not be the body odor of the person at the next table. His entire body tingled as the dirt lifted from his pores, leaving a sensation not unlike gentle hands softly skimming up and down his bare body.
    After his shower, Niklas dressed in a flight suit. He wanted to leave this planet as soon as possible. Resetting the magnetic locks, he strode toward the bridge, nodding to the people he passed and acknowledging their gestures of respect with a smile. He bumped into Cholo, the chief engineer.
    “Ornos has been sabotaging the engines as well, Highness. We found broken engine parts, along with new in his rooms. He has been undermining us the entire time.”
    Niklas shook his head. Would they never remember to call him by his given name or even Captain? “Is the engine repaired?” He needed to know. They couldn’t afford to stay here much longer. Time was running out.
    “Oh yes, Sir! We are about to bring them back online any minute. The repairs took no time at all when we found the good parts in Ornos’s quarters.”
    Niklas laid a hand on his shoulder and gave him an encouraging smile. “Very good, Cholo, I knew we could all count on you.” He left Cholo smiling proudly in the corridor.
    The large bridge held several consoles. Niklas sat in the seat at a security console and brought up the star maps. Looking toward the star system called the milk of the Goddess, he found one inhabitable planet.
    He checked the information. It was old but most likely still accurate—after all, the first fourteen planets hadn’t changed much over the last hundred years. Why should this one be any different? He punched the codes to get subliminal programs and set the disks aside.
    Niklas looked around the bridge. Everyone was at his or her stations. Reba, the communications engineer, sat with her back to him, headphones against her ears, listening for who only knew what. Occasionally she would reach across her console to adjust the frequency of the long-range radio.
    Rodel, his pilot, sat at the flight controls. He’d had a rough night by the looks of it. He was about to fall asleep. Rodel looked toward Minra with bloodshot eyes. She was running a diagnostic program. He caught her attention and winked. Minra smiled and blushed.
    Niklas bit back a smile. There was no guessing at what they’d been up to last night. He leaned back, watching the large viewscreen and admired the beauty of an endless expanse of space. Stars streamed by, lengthened by the sub-light speed. Niklas had three weeks before they reached the planet. It wasn’t a lot of time. He snatched up the subliminal disks and headed for his quarters. He had a lot of work to do.
    It would take the next few weeks to make sure he was ready to go to the surface as soon as they arrived at the planet. Niklas knew he was running out of time and had very little to waste. He devoured disc after disc, listening to the music while he showered, while he ate, dressed, worked and slept. He lived and breathed the Earth languages—all of them. When he arrived, he would be ready to go to the surface to search for his bride.
    He had been so caught up in his effort to learn the languages that he was mildly surprised to find the time had passed so quickly, and they were entering an orbit around the planet.
    “Raise the shields and engage the veiling device! Radar and sensor devices are present. Change our trajectory. Rodel, put us behind the moon. I hope they didn’t see us.”
    Niklas glanced toward the security officer who reacted so quickly to their dilemma. “We’d better hope they didn’t see us, Hale. They appear to be advanced enough to put up a fight. And since they haven’t been contacted in