Taken (Warriors of Karal Book 3) by Harmony Raines Page A

screen. Everything was functioning as it should be, the beacons were safely stowed, and now all they had to do was follow the straightforward course to the planet.
    The other mission had come here through another wormhole, so Malik made sure the computer was gathering every piece of information it could about this route. He released Chrissi, and said, “Maybe you could make some tole.”
    “Of course,” she said, and slipped off his lap. He hated her leaving him, but he had to get this right. His mission was to help her species, and he didn’t want to mess it up. She was a distraction, and one that would have to wait. Once they were on the planet he aimed to make sure she knew she was his and that he would worship her body as her species once worshiped the moon.
    “Here,” she said when she returned.
    “Thank you,” he said, taking a cup from her. “Sit. Any minute now we will be able to see the planet.”
    “Really, so soon?” she asked and sat down, holding her cup of tole while never taking her eyes off the horizon.
    “There, to the right,” he said, pointing. He kept his eye on the screen, and on the window, matching up the images. “That is the planet they have called Lilith.”
    “Lilith, that’s a pretty name,” Chrissi said.
    It might be a pretty name, but as he watched the planet get bigger, he occasionally cast a glance at Chrissi. He knew that he would never see anything more beautiful than her. And his eagerness to reach the planet matched hers, but for very different reasons.
     
     

Chapter Nineteen – Chrissi
     
    Strapped into her seat, she watched eagerly as they entered the atmosphere and the sky cleared to reveal a green planet below. There were grassy plains, and even from up in the clouds, they could see herds of some kind of animals walking across the grasslands.
    “Well, if there are live animals here, then I hope the air is good,” she said, hoping she wouldn’t be let down again.
    “The readings we have match those from the previous mission. The planet looks stable. I think we will be safe enough to go out and walk around,” Malik said, guiding the ship down to land by a large lake. “The main readings we need are about water quality. It seems the other mission left in a hurry. So we need samples, and then we can explore.”
    “That sounds easy enough,” she said, trying to contain her excitement. A whole planet to explore, just her and Malik. “Are we going now?”
    “Yes, although I have some more data coming in from the other mission,” he said.
    “Can’t it wait for a few hours? Let’s go out and enjoy what daylight there is left,” she said, looking up at the sky. “It will be dark in a couple of hours, we might be better to be back in here then. Until we know what predators are out there.”
    “You are sounding more like a deep space explorer every day.” He continued to stare at the screen. “Although this may be important.”
    “I am learning from a master, or should I say a warrior. My training wasn't anywhere near as thorough as yours, but I’m getting there. Maybe you could let me fly all the way home,” she said.
    “That might not go down too well with the Council. But if we get all the samples they need, they won't complain. Not much anyway.” Her excitement seemed to have penetrated his hard exterior, and there were flashes of colours across the backs of his hands.
    “Is it important?” she asked.
    “Maybe, there are some scrambled messages, it looks as if they encountered other ships,” he said.
    “You mean other aliens?” Chrissi asked.
    “Yes. There was some kind of rescue. That’s why they left the planet so early. There are some images of the ships,” he said, and then moved to press a button that brought the computer to life. “Computer, scan area. Wide range. Any unknown vessels?”
    “Scanning,” the computer said.
    “We’ll leave the computer running. It will alert us if there is a problem,” he said, when the voice told