Finding Mogha Read online

  There was movement and then a feather-tipped antennae appeared, caressing her right forearm.

  You’re scared, C’hase said.

  Scared was one way to put it.

  Hands trembling against the controls, she glanced over several readouts and out the viewscreen as her four-legged companion appeared from under the seat. Hedge wasn’t at his usual perch atop the hellhound’s head, but she didn’t have time to inquire about the space rat.

  “Go to the cargo hold,” she said. “Get in one of the chicken crates. You’ll be safe in there.”

  She could only hope.

  But, I don’t want to go with the chickens, C’hase whined.

  “Go now, Little One,” Dani said.

  Facing forward, the planet’s surface became ever larger in the viewscreen. This was going to hurt.

  Of all the ways this ‘rescue mission’ could have gone, crashing was not one of the options she considered.

  Willing away the heartbeat in her ears, she took control of her emotions. Don’t panic. Pilot the ship. Don’t get shot. That was the priority.

  If someone had told her five days ago that she’d be crashing on an unknown planet while carrying a legitimate cargo of chickens on a rogue mission to find the home world of a strange creature that had taken up residence in her mind—

  She’d have thought it was some sick joke.

  It’s not a sick joke, is it? C’hase’s voice echoed in her mind.

  No, C’hase. It’s not a sick joke.

  When they hit the atmosphere, the ship dropped at breakneck speed, gravity fully taking over. Lightning zapped through Dani’s heart, the controls unresponsive.

  As the ground rushed up to meet them, Dani only had one thought, I’m sorry I couldn’t get you home, Little One.

  “WHAT HAPPENED?” K’VYN asked as the human freighter tumbled towards the planet.

  They hadn’t shot anything more than warning shots and not even that in the amount of time it took the freighter to reach the planet.

  “I don’t know. They’re going to crash,” L’iza said.

  Landing on the Korthan world was unacceptable, but crashing there? That was satisfying.

  Fairly certain they hadn’t actually damaged the ship, maybe the construction was so weak that even a few grazing laser bolts could blast it apart.

  “They can rot here,” K’vyn said next, though he did not feel the venom in his words, an unexplainable tug on his heart. He almost felt sad it was crashing—

  He shook himself. Almost.

  “Mayday,” the female captain’s voice called over all frequencies. “Cargo Freighter 426 is going down. Broadcasting coordinates.”

  The tug on his heart suddenly turned into all-out longing, the sound of her voice permeating his soul.

  Chapter 2

  Dani’s heart throbbed in her throat as the features on the surface of the planet grew bigger. Mountains worrisome, she tried swallowing the heartbeat, the action making her stomach queasy.

  Great. She was going to throw up all over the console and crash her ship. It was turning out to be a lovely supply run.

  Gripping the controls, sitting forward in her seat, her resolve hardened.

  Survive. That was it. There was nothing else. The lives on her ship depended on her.

  “Jettison oxygen tanks two and four,” Dani spoke out loud, following the command with action, grounding herself in complete concentration.

  What if the planet didn’t have oxygen? Thought nearly dissolving her focus, the ship threatened to turn completely upside down.

  Survive one thing at a time.

  “Deploy port docking flaps.” Dani commanded to the air while deploying the docking flaps, calm falling over her body, her only purpose in the entire universe.

  The flaps acted as a rudder, catching the atmosphere, pulling the ship forward.

  Mountains loomed ahead, a huge expanse of sand beyond, a large ocean beyond that.

  “I’m aiming for that stretch of beach.” She said to herself. With luck, she wasn’t going to miss. Crashing in the water would be disastrous—

  Expanse of sand turning orange the closer she got, it appeared to be moving. Dani swallowed. She sure hoped it was solid ground. No time to change course now.

  Drifting off course, she said, “Deploy port landing gear.”

  The additional drag on the left side slowed the sideways drifting, but they were going down too fast, the mountains ahead looming. Unable to slow the forward momentum, the freighter screeched as it hit the top of the rocky terrain, both the landing gear and the docking flaps wrenched from the ship.

  The freighter spun sharply to the left.

  “Deploy right docking flaps and landing gear!” Dani yelled, lightning coursing through her veins.

  Her hands flew over the controls, breaths coming in short bursts.

  The spinning slowed as the freighter dipped on the other side of the mountains, but did not stop as they approached the orange expanse.

  Please don’t crash in the ocean, Dani chanted to herself, no longer able to do anything but ride it out, squeezing her eyes shut.

  Boom!

  The freighter hit the ground on the starboard side, the sound of twisting metal piercing her eardrums as she flew sideways in her seat, straps holding her steadfast.

  Stomach summersaulting as the ship continued a sideways slide, she could no longer keep her eyes shut.

  Mouth opening, air expelled from her throat in a silent scream as she grasped tightly against the console.

  A thick orange feathery substance brushed across the viewscreen before dark brown soil completely covered it, the ship burying itself in the planet’s surface, coming to a jerky halt.

  The deafening noise of twisting metal died down to a groan. There was screaming, and Dani realized the expelling from her throat was not so silent. Clamping her mouth shut, she surveyed the bridge.

  A crack ran along the console, across the deck, up the starboard bulkhead and through the ceiling. But there was no pain in her body as she did a mental check.

  They were down. She was alive!

  Drawing air into her lungs, she expelled it in a loud, shaky sigh.

  Alive for now. Soon they would find out if this planet had breathable air.

  One problem at a time.

  Next thought of C’hase, she projected her mind at the pup. C’hase? Are you okay?

  Dread crept into her heart when he didn’t answer. Oh, no—

  There are chickens, everywhere! A young boy’s enthusiastic voice sounded in her mind, playful excitement emanating from C’hase’s end of their strange bond. Why was she under the distinct impression he was chasing them?

  PANDEMONIUM WAS RAMPANT in the cargo hold as Dani entered. Chickens ran every which way, followed closely by C’hase, who barked cheerfully at their flapping wings and noisy squawks. As far as Dani could tell with a quick count, all twenty-four chickens were alive and accounted for.

  Relief filled her. Everyone was alive.

  Body relaxing, sharp pain on her elbow made Dani wince. Holding it up, blood dripped to the floor, a red trail of drops across the flooring where she’d walked from the bridge.

  Looking at it in a reflective surface by the chicken cages, there was small gash. Damn, that was a little more than a scratch.

  Grabbing a first aid kit attached to the wall, she cracked it open. Thankful to see a mirror in the case, she sat on a row of seats against the bulkhead and plucked out a needle and thread.

  The chickens squawked and the young hellhound yapped, feathers floating through the air.

  “C’hase,” Dani chastised as she threaded a second stitch above her elbow, wincing at the sharp pain. “Stop terrorizing the chickens.”

  The young four-legged gray pup stopped dead in his tracks, antennae drooping as he hung his head low. A small squeaking tan furball ran headlong into his hind legs. Was Hedge chasing the chickens too?

  Sorry, Alpha, C’hase said. Dani was sure she would
never get used to him calling her that.

  Fingers extending from the hellhound’s front paws, Dani was sure she’d never get used to seeing that either. C’hase scooped up the trumpet-eared space rat, holding it up for her to see.

  Look. Hedge made it. I’m so happy. He hugged the squeaky creature. Are you happy too?

  “What do you know, the rat made it.” Her voice was flat, lips set in a thin line.

  She had no idea what the little creature actually was, having nothing else to compare it to but a rat of some sort, but C’hase loved it. Dani found she was genuinely happy it survived the crash, along with everything else.

  Sewing a fourth and final stitch, she inspected her handiwork in the mirror, wiggling her fingers to ward off the tingling sensation.

  Task at hand complete, Dani looked around the confines of the cargo hold, heart dropping.

  How were they going to get off this planet, find Mogha, and warn the hellhounds in time now?

  Dani watched as C’hase placed his pet on his head, Hedge’s oversized claws dangling over the sides, and started herding the chickens back into their pins.

  “This rescue mission just got a lot more complicated,” she said, letting out a sigh.

  She could hope that someone heard her distress call, but a rescue from this world would only mean captivity for C’hase, imprisonment for her.

  She figured out how to get C’hase out of that lab for nothing—

  Visually inspecting the bulkhead and cargo compartment, Dani’s gaze fell on the hellhound.

  “Well, the ship didn’t break in half,” she said. “We have that going for us.”

  Requiring an antiquated space station to keep humanity alive, all humans underwent extensive training and education on the maintenance and repair of such a structure. Some were better at it than others, but Dani’s skills weren’t half bad. Perhaps she could repair the ship and they could be gone by the time a rescue party arrived.

  Of course, none of it really mattered if the planet didn’t have breathable air. Having jettisoned the oxygen tanks, there wouldn’t be enough oxygen for her environmental suit.

  Standing, she walked to the control panel next to the loading ramp, requesting a readout of the outside environment. Flip, the damn thing wasn’t working.

  There was thumping against the flooring as C’hase scratched the back of one of his front legs with his back paw, bushy tail twirling when he caught her watching him.

  I got the chickens back in their pins, he said, holding his head up high, the strange rat creature perfectly at home perched atop his head.

  One reddish brown chicken scratched around his feet and Dani raised her eyebrows. “You missed one.”

  Fingers extending from the pup’s right paw, C’hase reached out and pulled the bird against his chest, who let out a squawk. Tail raising in a twirl, he simply looked at her with those big innocent eyes.

  “Don’t eat the chickens, C’hase,” she felt the need to say.

  Hedge likes this one.

  That wasn’t exactly affirmation that he wouldn’t eat them, but the feeling she got from him was protection, no intent to harm.

  Slowly nodding her head while staring at the chicken, she focused on the task at hand. There had to be some way to find out if there was breathable air.

  “I’m going to the bridge to see if I can’t get a damage report,” she said. “Maybe the external environmental read-out will work from there.”

  They had survived the crash. Next priority, keep surviving—

  FOR THE DOZENTH TIME, K’vyn glanced at the blue, orange and green planet, floating brightly against the blackness of space, stars winking lazily beyond.

  All attempts to mentally connect with his mogha companion failed, yet he couldn’t shake the feeling.

  “You’re distracted.” L’iza’s words carried as much weight as the sidelong glance he could see out of his periphery. Staring straight forward, he ignored both.

  “We have a job to do,” he said.

  Break the human supply chain, report threats to the Korthan Cyborg Corps, and direct all human traffic away from Mogha. Keeping the mogha home world safe was most important. Although, the Invader freighter was the only human activity in this part of space for months—

  “Yes, a boring job,” L’iza said, also trying not to appear to have a wondering gaze towards the planet. “One that allows us to be distracted by whatever is happening on that planet.”

  “Us?” he said, turning his gaze on the ghostly hologram. “What do you have to be distracted about?”

  “So, you are distracted.”

  He faced forward again. Score one for his perceptive sentient ship.

  Mogha companion, he tried again. I feel you are near. Why do you not answer?

  ON THE BRIDGE OF HER ship, Dani checked the comm. No answer to her distress message, but as far as she could tell, it was working.

  She paused. That voice was in her head again. This time she could sense a maturity about it, something much older than C’hase.

  C’hase, she called. He was with her on the bridge for a second, then disappeared with Hedge somewhere.

  Yes, Alpha? he responded.

  Is there another voice calling you?

  There was a pause, then, No, you’re the only one I can hear, Alpha. I can only hear one master companion. Another pause. That I know of.

  Having heard him say that before, she hoped she could speak with an older mogha when they found his home. The young pup couldn’t explain a lot of what this link was and why he could talk to her but not anyone else.

  I don’t know who you are, she said to the new voice. But C’hase is my mogha companion.

  She waited. No answer.

  Satisfied, she returned her attention to the console, requesting a damage report. Several codes showed up on the monitor in front of her, along with schematics of the freighter. Her eyebrows furrowed. The malfunctions on the ship weren’t consistent with the Korthan’s laser fire.

  Large blue dots marked a catastrophic engine failure along with numerous smaller blue dots pinpointing maintenance issues. That wasn’t right. She took very good care of her ship.

  Red dots marked where they were hit by the Korthan laser fire, damage superficial. Even so, the red dots were nowhere near the blue dots.

  Pursing her lips, she drummed her fingers along the console. If the Korthan didn’t cause the crash, what did?

  The screen winked out. Blinking, Dani thumped it. Leaning under the console to check the wiring, she paused. Several circuits were completely missing, a wire hanging loose, touching the floor.

  Grabbing a torch light, she got on her hands and knees, peering at the motherboard. What maintenance technician would remove so many soldered circuits and wires?

  As she went to stand up, she noticed a dark spot under her seat. What the? Why was there a hole under her seat?

  She shined the beam of light into the hole. Crudely done, round for the most part, the edges were somewhat jagged. It went entirely through the deck down to the next level. Was it a burrow? What in the stars could burrow a hole through metal? Her first thought was that C’hase must have done it, but it was way too small—

  Dani was hit with a strong emotion from C’hase. Jerking upwards, she hit her head on the bottom of her pilot’s chair.

  Flipping off the torch light, rubbing the top of her head, she crawled out from under the seat and headed to the rear of the ship, uncertain if the strong emotion was cause for alarm.

  There was a commotion near the loading dock, followed by a flapping sound, then C’hase barking and jumping in the air, tail and antennae twirling.

  Running, Dani skidded to a halt as she saw something silvery writhe on the deck. Gripping it with his extended fingers, C’hase knelt on his belly, grabbing it between his teeth until it stopped moving.

  Look, it’s a fish! He exclaimed, joy tangible. I like fish!

  “C’hase, where did you get that?” Dani stared in wide-eyed wonderment.


  Hedge gave it to me. He joyously bit it again when it flopped in his fingers, his antennae spinning wildly.

  Hedge?

  That same reddish-brown chicken clucked next to him, pecking the fish once.

  “C’hase,” Dani said. “Where is Hedge now?”

  “Oh, he’s over there in his den.” The hellhound nodded towards the docking door, but didn’t look up, his focus clearly on the fish.

  In his den?

  Dani’s stomach dropped. Heading to the docking door, where C’hase indicated, she held up the torch light, flipping it on. As the beam of light traced along the bulkhead, she had an idea what to look for.

  There.

  Sure enough, where the bulkhead met the deck, about a foot aft of the docking bay door, there was a hole. Except this hole was a little bigger than the one under her seat on the bridge.

  Kneeling next to the hole, Dani directed the beam of light into the small opening.

  Tiny winks of light glittered as she waved the torch from right to left, all manner of shiny things sitting in a pile between the inner and outer bulkhead walls. Atop the pile, two beady eyes reflected at her, a squeak of protest resounding as the tan creature tried to cover the pile with his body.

  “What is all this?” she exclaimed.

  There were wires, panels, a number of buttons from consoles, and those tiny shiny circuits from computer motherboards. Dani’s mouth dropped open. Her ship didn’t have a system malfunction, it had a Hedge malfunction.

  The Korthan laser fire didn’t help either—

  Hedge likes shiny things, C’hase suddenly said right next to her. Jumping slightly, she looked sharply at him. I’ve been helping him with his collection.

  Chapter 3

  “I told you to leave that thing in the lab. Look what it did?” Dani paced, booted feet clanging as she stomped over the deck. She never thought she’d be stranded on a deserted planet because of some weird collecting packrat space rat.

  C’hase ducked his head, antennae drooping. “But, he’s my friend.”