Alien Skin Market by Lizzy Bequin
CHAPTER 30: DAGGOTH
Daggoth’s brain was inflamed with jealousy.
He huddled in the cool, inky blackness of the cargo hold, staring at a small hand-held monitor. The pale glow of the screen lit his face from below, giving his rage-twisted features the appearance of a vengeful ghost hovering in the darkness.
The monitor displayed the view from one of the small drone beetles he had released throughout the ship. This one had infiltrated the ventilation system, and its electronic eye was now directed downward through the air vent in the ceiling of the room where the crew was keeping the alien female. The room was dark, but the drone was equipped with infrared vision, and the scene appeared on Daggoth’s monitor depicted in an eerie greenish glow. A nocturnal bird's-eye view.
The female was not alone. One of the Raksha males was with her. It was the one Daggoth feared the most, the big one, and he was cradling the small alien female protectively in his arms. They were asleep now, but they had not been asleep before. The big Raksha had been doing things to her. Obscene things.
Daggoth had witnessed everything.
He had seen all of it—the grinding, the writhing, the spilling of seed—and it filled him with jealous rage. Even now, his twin hearts thundered in his chest, his blood heated, and his fingers squeezed the hand-held monitor so tightly the image on the screen crazed with distortion.
He took a long, deep breath and relaxed his grip before he broke the device. He reminded himself that the alien female was not his prize. He was here on behalf of his employer, Mistress Nekrona, and he had every intention of turning the alien over to her once the job was done. Would Nekrona be pleased to know her precious alien skin had been drenched and marinated in Raksha semen? No, probably not. But Daggoth would just leave that little detail out of his final report.
He returned his attention to the view screen.
In a way, the presence of the big Raksha in the alien female’s chamber was actually fortuitous. The next step of Daggoth’s plan involved bringing the ship out of the interstices unexpectedly, and the big Raksha’s bulk would protect the female’s body during the violent lurch back into realspace.
But there was another complication now. The shaggy creature was there too. The one the alien female had rescued from the skin market. Only now it was much bigger, as big as the female herself. Daggoth did not relish the thought of fighting that beast, but he would deal with that when the time came.
With a tap of his thumb, he scrolled through the camera views of the other drone beetles scurrying throughout the ship. They were planting small electromagnetic pulse bombs throughout the vessel, in the engine room, in the central corridor, and in the cockpit. When those EMPs activated, all the electronic systems in the vicinity would deactivate and the ship would be paralyzed. Daggoth had considered using more traditional explosives, but there was a danger of killing the female or maiming her precious skin. Besides, when it was all said and done, the EMPs would dispose of the other Raksha just as effectively.
Once all the charges were in place, he recalled the drones back to his position in the cargo hold. Only one was left behind in the cockpit.
Using his handheld monitor, Daggoth directed the final drone up onto the main control panel and interfaced with the navigational computer. Currently, the ship was bound for Rak. The mere thought of his homeworld was like a dagger in his heart. With a bit of work, he managed to break through the computer’s rudimentary security systems, and he redirected to a new destination which he had selected earlier. An isolated main-sequence star with a single orbiting planet. The star was nameless, designated only by a string of numbers on Covenant charts. The planet was uninhabited. Exploratory data confirmed that it had a breathable atmosphere and mild temperatures. It was perfect for Daggoth’s plan.
Once the change of itinerary was complete, Daggoth stowed his handheld device, fastened his satchel around his shoulders, and braced himself between the crates in anticipation of the oncoming drop.