Captive Surrender Read Free Page B

One of them Maurra immediately recognized as the graghole who’d thrown the hoochie suit at her.
    “Eblee.” One that she didn’t identify stepped forward until he was close enough to touch the wall of her cell. “Eblee immidoo.”
    “Fuck you and your immidoo.”
    The lead Kronner gave her an irritated look. He opened his hand to show her a flattish dull green device about the size of her thumbnail.
    “Immidoo karak.”
    Obviously the object was for her. What did they want her to do with it? Swallow it? Shove it up her ass?
    The wall of her cell began to waver. At the same time, the other two Kronners raised their neuron rays, both set to green. Whatever they had planned for her and that immidoo, they were prepared for her to resist.
    Damn right, I’m going to resist. Two one-hundredths of a second, guys. I need less than two one-hundredths of a second. How fast are you with those ray pods? She backed up to the rear wall of her cell. Without her gun to centralize her psionic powers, she’d have to make do with trying to bracket them by hand. She could feel the familiar tingle growing on her forehead. The wall ceased wavering. Almost open.
    Yeah. You just think you know how to handle a JoJo.
    Maurra opened her hands, palms facing the opening in her cell, and threw her power at the three Kronners in a wide arc. The psionic force enveloped them in a nice pale blue color, and the Kronners slid unconscious to the floor as soon as it touched them.
    She ran for the opening as soon as she fired. She barely saw the fourth Kronner before the neuron ray hit her. It was like running full-tilt into the solid hull of a ship. Her body went rigid, and she fell unconscious next to the comatose Kronners.

Chapter Four
     
    Her head felt like something was digging its digits into her brain. It was quickly becoming a major headache, and she never got a headache unless something was interfering with her power.
    She tried to send out a mental probe to see if there were any Kronners still aound. A flash of dark, intense pain ripped through her spine and up to her neck, where it threatened to fry her brain. She screamed and rolled over, clutching her head in agony. Now she knew what an immidoo was.
    Tears coated her cheeks. She was crying. Those fucking Kronners had made her cry, and she had a sneaking suspicion it wouldn’t be the last time. They enjoyed seeing her squirm.
    Someone needs to take a squadron of Klasil bombs and just wipe out the whole fucking planet.
    Nice idea, but it did nothing to stop the residual prickling inside her skull. Maurra swiped the tears from her face. As long as she remained calm, the pain stayed tolerable. Barely.
    After six minutes she was finally able to sit up and open her eyes. All of the walls of her cell were transparent. She could see the Ellinod. He sat in the middle of his floor, gazing at her with those sea-green eyes. The creature looked ready to chew through the walls of his cells if he was forced to. “I wondered how long it would take you to wake up,” he said in that soft, gravelly voice.
    She stared, and the creature nodded.
    “They put translators on us.” He pointed to his back. “Mine doesn’t hurt like yours does, but I think that’s because I’m not a psion.”
    She could hear him speaking in his own tongue, no more than a whisper beneath the interpreter speaking directly into her inner ear.
    “I think it’s programmed to hurt only when I try to use my power.” Pausing, she checked to make sure she hadn’t made a liar out of herself. When no jolt of pain exploded in her head, she gave a slight nod. “Safan, right? Did I understand you earlier?”
    He nodded slowly. “My name is Safan.”
    “Why are you here? I can understand why I got caught up.”
    If she didn’t know any better, she would have sworn she saw a twinkle in his eyes.
    “Why do you believe you were taken prisoner, Maurra?” He smiled at her.
    “I came to your rescue.” She had been reaching behind her,