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  MORDJAN

  Cyborg Warriors Book V

  The Ardak Chronicles

  By Immortal Angel

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either a product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Mordjan

  All rights reserved.

  Published by Fallen Press, Ltd.

  Copyright © 2019

  Editor: AW Editing

  Copyeditor: Anne-Marie Rutella

  Proofreader: Lisa Howard-Fusco

  Cover Designer: Jonathan Melody

  ISBN: 978-1-948243-04-9

  This book is protected under the copyright laws of the United States of America. Any reproduction or other unauthorized use of the material or artwork herein is prohibited without the express written permission of the author.

  Other works by Immortal Angel

  Tovian: A Cyborg Warrior Tale

  Tordan: Cyborg Warriors Book I

  Roihan: Cyborg Warriors Book II

  Simban: Cyborg Warriors Book III

  Valdjan: Cyborg Warriors Book IV

  Mordjan: Cyborg Warriors Book V

  Durstin: Cyborg Warriors Book VI (August 2019)

  Tristin: Cyborg Warriors Book VII (October 2019)

  Zordan: Cyborg Warriors Book VIII (December 2019)

  Sometimes when everything seems lost,

  all you need is hope.

  We all secretly have wings.

  Immortal Angel

  Chapter One

  Mordjan

  M ordjan stood and shot blasts from the ray gun to cover himself and the other cyborgs. “Run, dammit!” he yelled over the frequency. He heard Tordan, Roihan, and the other two cyborgs’ retreating footsteps as they moved to take cover farther down the tunnel.

  What the hell were three Ardaks doing there? The former Ardak base had been abandoned since they’d been defeated – and creepy enough without three Ardaks showing up out of nowhere. But they needed the tech the Ardaks had left behind.

  A few moments later, the gun stopped firing. It had melted. Fuck! Mordjan threw the useless weapon aside and drew his sword, the sound of oncoming Ardak footsteps pounding in his ears. At least he knew the sword would work.

  With any luck, only one of the Ardaks would have followed them down this tunnel.

  Mordjan braced himself, drawing a slow breath, then sprang out as the Ardak reached him. He didn’t bother with a high arc, aiming directly for the center of the Ardak’s chest and thrusting straight into it, just below the chest bone.

  The Ardak yowled as he pulled it free, but kept coming, backing Mordjan down the corridor.

  He tried to reach Mordjan with his sword, but Mordjan kicked it out of his hand.

  “Why do you fight, cyborg?” The Ardak growled in pain. “You will never win.”

  It was times like these that Mordjan wished he couldn’t speak Ardak. But they’d downloaded the language from the files on the ship Aria had stolen from the mountain, and now he had to live with it. “All we want is to live in peace. Freedom.”

  “Then stop hiding the elves. Give us the crystals.” The Ardak groaned before sinking to his knees and pressing a paw against the wound in his chest.

  “Mordjan, get your ass down here,” Tordan ordered from behind him.

  “I can’t.” Footsteps signaled more Ardaks. This time it was definitely two. “More coming. Get out of here.”

  “Don’t be a damned idiot,” Roihan yelled as he barreled down the corridor toward Mordjan.

  Mordjan barely spared the other cyborg a glance before turning his full attention to the new opponents. He went for the one on the left as Roihan clashed with the one on the right. Luckily, the Ardaks were using the red-bladed swords rather than the ray guns.

  “You shouldn’t be here, Roihan!”

  “Why the hell not?”

  “Because I gave you a direct order!”

  There was no way he was going to win this fight, which only became more apparent as the Ardak Mordjan was fighting got past the cyborg’s guard and the tip of his sword flayed Mordjan’s arm from wrist to elbow. The orange-and-white stripes of the Ardak’s fur were suddenly coated with a spray of Mordjan’s blood.

  Mordjan yelled in pain, distantly wishing he had a pain dampener like the other cyborgs.

  He glanced to the left to see Roihan leap onto the stone wall of the tunnel to get some height and then jump back at the Ardak, his sword arching toward its neck.

  It worked, but not well enough. The Ardak got his sword at just the right angle that Roihan fell on it as he beheaded his opponent.

  “Man down.” Mordjan shouted over the frequency, stepping away from the Ardak who had also been distracted by the scene playing out next to them as he raised his own sword again.

  Only his opponent didn’t raise his sword, because the blast of a ray gun hit him in the side of his head, taking fur and flesh and bone.

  “We can fucking see that,” Tordan said, firing his ray gun three more times into the fallen Ardak until his gun also melted. “We’ll get the tech we came for—you get him to the ship.”

  Roihan was lying on the floor of the tunnel, gasping for breath.

  “His lung’s collapsed.” Tordan noted, as Mordjan picked up Roihan and began to run back up the corridor toward the main entrance.

  “What?” Aria, his mate, shrieked over the frequency.

  “Have the med bay ready. I’ll be there in less than a minute,” Mordjan ordered. “This wouldn’t have happened if you had obeyed me!” he yelled at Roihan as he ran. He knew it was senseless to reiterate the point, but he couldn’t hold back his anger. “You think you can do whatever you want because you’re cyborgs, but it doesn’t work that way. We have a hierarchy and a chain of command! These things exist for a reason!”

  Roihan grunted, which was really more of a half gurgle of blood as he tried to speak, and Mordjan’s anger fizzled.

  “Just hang on, man,” he ordered Roihan silently. “We’ll be there soon.”

  He turned right just before the entrance to the main control room, pulling out a spare ray gun just in case. As it went, they weren’t good backup weapons. They worked for only a couple of shots because he couldn’t get them to work with a different version of a power source. His anger at the ray guns rose the closer he got to the ship. “Damn. Pieces. Of. Ardak. Shit. Fuck!”

  He ran down the steps two at a time, then raced toward Aria’s Ardak ship that was waiting out in front of the deserted base.

  When he reached the ramp that would bring him to the belly of the ship, Aria was waiting, and he gave her a tight look as he passed. Roihan was exhaling blood with every breath, and he knew she could see it. She was next to him the whole way through the ship and as soon as Roihan was in the med bunk, she was pressing an oxygen mask over his mouth and nose while Aielle and Irielle, two of the most skilled elven healers Mordjan had ever met, tried to stabilize him with their magic.

  “What were you thinking?” Aria yelled at him without looking his way, her focus on Roihan, on her mate.

  “We didn’t know there were Ardaks there!” he shot back. “And I told them to leave. Your mate doesn’t listen to orders!”

  “I know he doesn’t,” Aria said softly, brushing the hair back from his face as she punctured his lung with a device. “Look at me, baby. Is that better?”

  Mordjan turned and stalked from the med bay, certain that Roihan would recover. Well, almost certain. Either way, there was nothing he could do. The damn fool hadn’t obeyed a direct order.

  He headed toward his lab, and once inside, he went to one of the drawers and pulled out a roll of medical tape. It wouldn�
��t be pretty, but Aria had other things on her mind besides stitching him up now. After he’d taped the skin closed and put gauze over the top to protect it, he picked up one of the ray guns that was still on the metal bench and hurled it at the wall as hard he could. His lips pulled into a smile that was more of an angry grimace when it fractured into dozens of pieces.

  “Problems?” Tordan’s mild voice came from behind him.

  Mordjan shot him a rude hand gesture.

  “I believe I made that gesture illegal.”

  Mordjan snorted. “You don’t have a prison that large.”

  “Good point.” Tordan chuckled. “Besides, I myself would still like to use it from time to time.”

  Mordjan finally managed to lift his eyes from the destroyed ray gun and turn to his king. “Did you get the computer parts for the Renwyn lab?”

  “We did.” Tordan straightened to his full height, which put them exactly eye to eye. “Care to explain why you’re in here destroying weapons?”

  “No.”

  “Okay, then tell me why the normally unflappable leader of my defense force suddenly has anger problems. Yelling at the warriors. Dismissing ideas. Trying to take on three Ardaks by himself when there were others available.” Tordan eyed him. “And I have the sneaking suspicion he isn’t sleeping, either.”

  Mordjan threw his hands up. “Look. I told him to run for a reason. We can’t even take on three Ardaks without almost losing someone. We’ve only got five days left. The elves can’t get the crystals from the Crystal Cave to work, I can’t get these weapons to work, and most of the people using the labs aren’t even looking for weapons we could actually use to defend ourselves against the Ardaks.”

  “I think you’ll find they are looking for weapons. Aria and Roihan are trying to figure out how to completely block the Ardaks’ control of our chips. We have teams learning the capabilities of the ships, and we have other teams trying to determine where they are most likely to attack us next so we aren’t ambushed.”

  “All of that is well and good, but it would be better to have someone trying to find places to hide. Because you and I both know that when that attack comes, anyone in the line of fire is going to die. Most of our best warriors are dead, and we don’t have the time to get the ones we have left ready to fight. And to top it all off, I can’t get these fucking ray guns to work.”

  Tordan grimaced. “You can’t think like that. You have to have hope, Mordjan. Believe that we can do this. That belief will help you find a way to achieve it.”

  “I don’t know what the hell you expect from me. I’m a warrior, not a miracle worker. And I’m telling you that the force we have is not going to stand up to one ship of Ardaks, much less a fleet of them.”

  “Bullshit!” Tordan’s fist came down on the table, denting it. His voice rose to a thunder. “You are the head of the defense force. Your job is to find a way.”

  “I can’t!” Mordjan roared back. He couldn’t believe he was admitting failure for the first time in his life. The Ardaks were coming, and he couldn’t figure out a solution. Couldn’t figure out how they could possibly stand up against them.

  “Fuck!” Tordan kicked the table and sent it flying across the room. He faced the opposite wall and took a few deep breaths before turning back, his steel-gray eyes burning through Mordjan. “This is completely unacceptable. I can’t have you run the defense force in this state.” He ran his fingers through his hair. “Fine. I have a different assignment for you.”

  Mordjan opened his mouth to reply, but Tordan shot him a look that made him close it again. He had no idea what else Tordan would give him to do. He didn’t know how to do anything except lead the defense force. He clenched his fists, watching as the king took a computer device from his pocket.

  “If you’re not having luck here, maybe you’ll have more luck off-planet.” Tordan handed him the device. “You are officially tasked with finding the resistance that Roihan and Aria discovered. I guess it’s officially called the ARF—the Ardak Resistance Force. You are to acquire whatever technology and assistance you can for Aurora in this war.”

  “You must be joking,” Mordjan growled, looking away. “I’m not a fucking diplomat. Send someone pretty like Simban.”

  Tordan took a step toward Mordjan. His eyes narrowed. “Are you refusing a direct order?”

  Mordjan straightened at that. He’d been in the defense force for two hundred and thirty of his two hundred and fifty years, serving under Tordan’s father, and then under Tordan. It was hard to break that kind of loyalty, that kind of discipline. Even if he really wanted to. “No, sir,” he gritted out.

  Tordan grunted and held the device in his hand a bit higher. “Good. Because I may not have a huge prison, but I’m sure I can find at least one cell.”

  Mordjan raised his eyebrows but refrained from comment. Tordan would have a hell of a time getting him into a cell and an even harder time justifying keeping him in one. The king may have more physical strength, but Mordjan was still the better fighter, which was something he’d proven in the training areas.

  “That device is the one Ouirer gave to Aria before he died. We’ve made several copies of it, and it might be a bargaining tool for dealing with the ARF. We don’t know if they have this information.”

  Mordjan put the device into his pocket, running the other hand through his hair. “Seriously. Why are you sending me to find the ARF?”

  Tordan sighed and rubbed his forehead. “Because finding the ARF might be the most important task we have to do right now. They may have weapons, technology, resources we don’t know about that can help defend us against the Ardaks. The next attack is coming in five days, so time is precious. We’ll stop at Renwyn for a few hours, then you can meet your partner at the ship at dawn.” Tordan turned to leave, but when he reached the door, he glanced back over his shoulder. “And, Mordjan, while you’re searching for the resistance, I need you to decide just what you’re willing to give to keep our people safe. Stop blaming yourself for the things we had no control over. The Ardaks weren’t your fault, and there wasn’t anything we could have done to prevent what happened. But there is a hell of a lot we can do now, and we need you. I need you. I never thought I’d say this, but you need to find your hope again.”

  Mordjan looked away because he didn’t have an answer for that. After Tordan had gone, he put away the useless weapons. Tordan didn’t understand that, ultimately, it was Mordjan who was responsible for the welfare of their people. Mordjan who would lead their forces against the enemy, who would defend them. And he didn’t have the resources to do that.

  The ship landed at Renwyn a half hour later, and he made his way to the cyborg barracks where all the single men were residing. He used to be fearless, the type of commander Tordan was looking for. That man had been nothing but naive and foolish, which were two things Mordjan wasn’t any longer.

  The Ardaks had the numbers, the technology, and the weapons to decimate them in hours, and he couldn’t think of a way to fight that. And he wasn’t certain that the ARF had the resources to fight it, either. He guessed he would find out.

  He found his bunk, grabbed his pack, and put a change of clothing in it before pulling the wooden box from beneath the bed. Sighing, he opened it. His armor was neatly folded and placed inside. He systematically lifted each piece and shook it before donning it. By the time he slid the thick broadsword home between his shoulder blades, he was ready for his mission.

  If the ARF was used to dealing with diplomats, too bad. They were going to get Mordjan the warrior, and he wasn’t in the mood for diplomacy. They needed a way to beat these Ardaks—one that was a lot better than hope. If Tordan thought they had such a way, then Mordjan was determined to find out what it was and bring it back.

  He took the device Tordan had given him from his pocket and put in into one of the leather pouches in his armor.

  Finding the resistance might be the most important task we have now.

  Tordan didn’t
know how right he was, even if he was sending the wrong man to do it.

  Mordjan picked up his pack and made for the door. It would take him twenty minutes to make his way back to the ship.

  Tordan was his cousin, and Mordjan loved him like a brother, but if he weren’t the king, Mordjan would kick his ass.

  Chapter Two

  Fayelle

  A voice from behind her made Fayelle spring upright.

  “I thought I might find you out here.”

  She turned quickly, dropping her head into a bow. “Queen Aielle! What are you doing here at this time of night?”

  “Not sleeping,” the queen of Renwyn remarked dryly. With a sigh, she sat on the fallen log beside Fayelle.

  Fayelle really didn’t know what to say or do in the presence of a ruler. Technically, Aielle wasn’t her queen, but she was still a queen and Fayelle knew she should act accordingly. Only, she didn’t know what accordingly was. She didn’t particularly like King Elsifan, so she had just avoided royalty when she was in Garthurian, which was a difficult task considering the small mountain village of elves was isolated from the rest of Auroa.

  Since she didn’t know the protocol, Fayelle sat quietly as they stared out through the trees in the back garden of the Renwyn castle in silence, watching the changing sparkles of the moon on the sea far below. There were only a few reasons why the queen would seek her out, but something told Fayelle the queen was worried about the crystals.

  “We’ve tried everything we can,” Fayelle said. “The crystals from the Crystal Cave do not want to activate.”

  “I know.” Aielle’s tone was calm. “There is still something missing—something to activate them.”

  “I don’t understand. I always thought magic was the strongest force in the universe. And yet we can’t get the crystals to work.”