Page 70 of Lost in Barbarian Space

God, the woman was damned strong. Honor began to wonder if Alara had some sort of cyborg enhancements under her clothes. They rolled again and knocked into something. Honor glanced up and saw it was an icy, narrow stalagmite, spiking up from the ground.

She grabbed it, wrenched, and the long piece of ice came free in her hand.

It wasn’t her stun-staff, but it would do the job. She rolled away and bounced to her feet. Alara wasted no time getting off the ground, but Honor didn’t let her recover. She smacked the ice staff against Alara. The pirate woman fell backward with a cry.

Honor followed, spinning the stalagmite like she would her staff. She adjusted for the weight and slick feel of it.

“You got nowhere to go, girly.”

“Hear that?” She nodded toward the din of fighting inside the ship. “That’s the sound of your droid and your people getting the shit beaten out of them. I think I have a good chance of taking you down and stopping you from pilfering what isn’t yours.”

“You really think people want to look at all this stuff? To see it gathering dust in some fucking Institute museum? No one cares.”

“Yes, they do. I do. The warriors of this planet do, and this is their moon, their history, their space. I know you can’t understand that, and I don’t expect you to, but I’m going to stop you from taking a single piece of treasure out of here.”

“All right, girly, let’s do it. I know more about fighting than you’ve ever learned.”

They charged at each other.

Honor took a hard blow to the gut that knocked all the air out of her. She spun, trying to avoid Alara’s next hit.

She swung out with her ice staff.

She hit Alara’s arm, and there was a loud cracking sound. The pirate leader stumbled back, clutching her arm.

“Shit, you broke it!”

Honor kept fighting her way closer. Suddenly, Alara pulled something from her pocket, and Honor froze.

The trip here with Lala had taught her to recognize all kinds of explosives, especially Lala’s signature one.

Lastite. Highly, highly volatile.

Suddenly, laser fire peppered the wall behind them. Chunks of ice flew in all directions.

Honor dove, sliding on her stomach across the ice. As she turned, she spotted the syndroid coming out of the ship. A narrow plume of smoke was floating behind it, and it listed slightly to one side. It fired again, and she scrambled backward.

A large body barreled out of the ship, jumped, and slammed into the droid. Colm and the droid smashed into the ground. He got the droid beneath him, gripped it with both his hands, and then pulled, tearing the droid to shreds.

Honor jumped up and sprinted toward Alara. She slammed a hard fist into the woman’s face. The pirate leader fell backward, her arms windmilling, and the lastite explosive fell from her hand. Honor dove, catching the explosive before it hit the ground.

Alara hit the ice, her head making contact with a sickening crack. She didn’t move.

Honor sat up, letting out a shaky breath. She tucked the lastite carefully into her pocket. A present for Lala. Then she hurried toward her warrior. “Colm, are you okay?”

He got to his feet. The wild look was back on his face, his eyes molten gold. He was breathing fast. Too fast.

Then, behind him, she saw a few bedraggled pirates coming out of the ship, weapons up.

“Kill them,” someone shouted.

Honor’s chest constricted. She was moving, but she already knew she wasn’t going to be fast enough. And Colm was no match for lasers.

Shouts echoed around them, accompanied by the whine of laser weapons.

Colm tackled her, taking her to the ground and covering her with his body. It took her a second to realize that the lasers and shouts weren’t coming from the ship.

They were coming from the cavern below.