Meridian Warriors: Xander and Des Read online

  “The Hopis have been scanning the water surface again. We are still able to keep them from pinging us; however, this time I detected the scan from a ship. They have sent either more scouts out, or they have finally decided this is where we are. Either way, we are going to have to deal with it,” Rosul said and then Casius picked up where he left off.

  “There are five men on the surface who need to either be allowed to come back, or will have to go into hiding. They have enough money to last for quite a while, but I don’t feel comfortable leaving them out there without support. We are going to have to shut down communications, the Hopis can detect it,” Casius said and Xander nodded.

  Xander knew their men would be fine with money, they had amassed a great deal of it over the years, and when they were on the surface, the men all had their own bankcards and accounts. The only problem with that was they could be traced.

  “What else?” the leader asked and looked around the table.

  “The weather, we have been tracking two storms which could cause a problem with the men returning. A decision needs to be made in the next few hours. I think the air is unstable enough to make the storms unpredictable. They may swing together and cause a hurricane. We are watching them closely,” Rosul said and looked at Des.

  Des sighed and put his hand over his face. “Where is the ship now—the one scanning for us?”

  “A hundred miles to the north. We could have the men here before they come by for another pass. It may be best for our people to shift and swim quickly also, because it may be a long time before we are able to. We have supplies, of course, allowing us to remain in the city for years,” Casius said.

  “We need to call the men back quickly, we can all swim for an hour, and then the city will be locked down. Des, please put out the announcement to the people, and let’s get a move on. I don’t want anyone out there longer than necessary with the way the Hopis seem to be so determined to get to us. We are going to have to spend time engineering a plan, one that will cloak us even if we are on the surface. Until now we have not needed it, but we are going to have to be more careful until we can get help,” Xander said and stood. “Any questions? We will meet back here tomorrow for our next meeting, be ready with ideas to throw around.”

  ***

  Xander sighed when the men all left the meeting room. Des sent out the message and then turned to his mate. “We need to do the same—if we are stuck in the city for a while, our shifter side will become restless, even if Rosul could work his magic and make us a larger lake eventually, one that did not attach to the ocean.”

  “You are right, let’s see where the men are coming from and meet them as they come in, I want to make sure everyone arrives safely,” Xander said and they walked together to the communication center. The building was three levels and held all of the technology they developed and brought with them.

  Screens from their original ship were in the entryway, used to track the locations of all of their men. They paused and looked briefly at the location of their men. They were all on the Florida coast, which was lucky for them since they were close.

  “We need everyone to gather at the entrance, I want to make sure we have weapons when we go out. Plus, wristbands for everyone leaving,” Xander said and they walked to the main room where Rosul was already gathering up the boxes that stored the bracelets.

  “Already on it, sir, we have bracelets for everyone,” Rosul said and then they began to walk together, each of them gathering boxes to hand out. They had small transport vehicles in the city because of the ground being sand and not firm, more like souped up golf carts.

  Des jumped into the driver’s seat and waited for the others to get in. He saw a lot of the men already traveling to the lake where they could exit to the ocean. By the time they arrived, all of the men who were not on the surface were there and waiting patiently.

  “Warriors!” called Xander, and the men turned and bowed.

  Xander hated that, he hated them thinking he was better than they were. He wasn’t, he wanted to be known as a fair ruler. Their species had an elongated life span; it was not unheard of for one of them to live a thousand years.

  Des stood next to him and looked at their men. “We are calling for a lockdown in the next few hours, so we are giving you all a chance to shift and swim. The Hopis are scanning for us; they are now on the ocean top. Meaning we are going to have to play it safe for a while.”

  There was a mumble of aggression, the Hopis were after all Warriors, and they hated the Hopis. They only hoped that soon they would find a way to defeat the Hopis and possibly breed with humans.

  So far, that had not been able to be figured out, since the Meridian had a special DNA strand that was not compatible with humans. They had done enough research to know if they impregnated a human female, she would die during the birth and the child would not survive. The men had come to terms with the fact they would never be fathers. It was sad, but they did have hopes that Warrior Rave would be able to help try to fix this. He was a doctor and scientist; they had three doctors that took turns working on the hospital floor.

  “I know,” Xander said and held up his hands. “But we have to think about the possibility if we don’t have a plan, we could end up hurting the humans. So far we have avoided this, but we don’t want to take the chance that we could somehow cause an incident that would begin the destruction of this planet, we know the Hopis will do it if they feel threatened, right now they have no clue where we are, they are just searching. Therefore, we will remain in the city until such time that we can have a plan of action. This time, I want to make sure we can win this fight, we need to make a stand, this is our land, our home now, and nothing will take us from here.”

  The men clapped and then Rosul began to hand out their latest weapon. The wrist bracelet doubled as a shield and a laser; it would not kill humans, only the Hopis, because that is what it was programmed to do. The vermin of the Galaxy were going to be surprised this time. They thought they could just hunt them down and kill them because of their small numbers, but that was not the case. They would fight for themselves and the people who lived on this planet.

  By the time they were all ready to go, the men from the surface called in, they were leaving the land and entering the ocean. They were to meet with them in an hour. Xander looked at his men and nodded. One by one, they entered the lake and dove under to find the tunnel that would lead them to the open ocean where they could swim freely.

  Chapter Four

  Alex frowned at the clouds in the sky. They were not what she was expecting. Lightening was beginning to light the sky, and she could hear the shift in the winds. “Hey, Gabs, did the storms shift, it looks more like we are heading into them than skirting them.”

  Gabby climbed into the cabin and frowned. “I think they may have, we should turn around and head back for another day or two, we could dock somewhere else so no one would be able to find you still.”

  Sam joined them on the deck and said, “The water looks to be growing rough, we need to make up our mind and soon.”

  “Fine, let’s head back, we can go into another harbor, can one of you call and get it arranged. I will turn us around,” Alex said glumly and began to turn the wheel. She felt the tingle of disappointment of having to head back to land, since she was looking forward to sailing aimlessly for a few weeks and clearing her head.

  “Shit,” Alex swore loudly when she saw the flash of bright light. “Girls, we have a problem.”

  Gabby and Sam began to check all of the instruments and calling out what was fine, and what apparently had been zapped by the lightening that just struck the boat.

  “Satellite is out, and radio,” Gabby called.

  “We still have a course plotter, and the navigation, although it is blinking in and out,” Sam said.

  Alex held the wheel firmly as the waves began to get larger. “Fuck a duck, we need to get out of here, this storm came on quickly.”

  The girls swore and
began to do their assigned duties on the ship when there was a storm. They lowered the sails all the way and roped them off while they fought the winds on the deck. Alex watched them closely, making sure she held the course steady as the girls were on the deck. When they came back in, they began to make sure everything in the lower cabins was secure.

  Alex saw the waves begin to get larger and larger, she had been in plenty of storms, but this one looked as if it was going to be a bad one. “Fuck, ladies, I think we are in a bit of trouble,” Alex yelled.

  The twins scrambled to grab the life vests for all of them. “This came on so fast, shit, at least we are not in port, the boat would be ruined,” Gabby said and looked out the window at the sky. “I think we are going to need these.”

  Sam looked worriedly at her sister and best friend. “We are going to have to ride this out.”

  For an hour, Alex fought the wheel until she became exhausted, then Sam took over. They switched turns when their arms became so tired they were cramping. Alex and Sam saw the flaps of the sail come lose and decided to go and make sure it was tied back down, if they lost a sail they would be screwed when the storm stopped.

  Gabby held the wheel, and called for them to be careful.

  Sam and Alex both called back, “We will. Watch the waves and let us know.”

  They had an intercom for the deck, not that they would be able to hear it with the wind, but there was always the possibility they would need to try. The rain hit Alex in the face the moment she stepped out on the deck. Shit, it was like fucking little pebbles, the rain stung when it hit. She pulled up her slicker’s hood and made sure it was tied so it would actually stay up. Sam did the same and then they finally stepped out onto the open deck.

  “Shit,” Sam yelled and reached out a hand to steady herself. Yep, the wind totally sucked. She was really getting worried about the storm. They were headed back to dock in Florida, and they sent out the warning beacon as they were required to. The dock master was aware they were having problems and were on their way in.

  “Sam, we have to get this tied off, the brace looks like it is cracking,” Alex yelled and her friend nodded.

  Each of them took a side and began wrapping the rope around the large pole. Several times they had to take a break and kneel down on the deck to catch their breath.

  While they were securing the sail, they could see other knots coming undone. Sam and Alex worked in quiet as they fought the wind and rain that were trying to slash at them—it was frightening.

  Alex paused and turned her head; she thought she heard Gabby yelling into the intercom. She could not see the Captain’s Cabin, the rain and wind prevented it. Shit, there was something wrong, she could feel it.

  Sam turned and Alex saw the look of horror come across her face as she reached for Alex just when the wave overtook the deck—Alex and Sam with it. They were thrown to the side, Alex felt something hit her in the shoulder, and the pain was instantaneous. She looked around and saw Sam laying only feet from her, curled into a ball, trying to protect herself.

  Alex crawled to her friend, as she held her arm, which felt like her shoulder was dislocated. “Sam, Sam, are you okay?”

  Her friend groaned and rolled over. Alex could see the bruising on her friend’s face and knew Sam had taken a direct hit in the face. Damn it, they needed to get back inside. She turned to look up at the window of the Captain’s Cabin, she mouthed, “Help,” to Gabby. There was no way she would be able to get Sam inside with her arm.

  Gabby could set the wheel on auto for a few minutes—she would bet they were already off course anyway. The wind had been tossing them around a lot. Alex turned back to tend to Sam, she was bleeding from the temple and her face was pale. When Alex tried to talk to her, Sam didn’t seem to make sense, or she was not hearing correctly. She kept saying there was a man in the ocean playing. It seemed to take hours until she saw the flash of yellow coming out of the cabin—the rain slicker was a beacon of hope to Alex when she saw it.

  ***

  One by one, the men went through the tunnel. Xander and Des were the last ones as usual when the entire group went out. Des went first, and then Xander followed. As they walked into the water, Des could feel the tingle of the water as it flowed around his legs, his Meridian blood begged to change, but Des kept ahold of the magic as it pushed against him. They could hold off the shift as long as they needed to, but it felt like it had been forever since they shifted, it felt good.

  When his chest was covered with water, Des took a deep breath and dove under the water—it only took moments—the Meridian blood flowed through him like fire. He felt the webbing between his fingers develop first, then using them, he pushed his way to where the tunnel was. Right now, until he shifted, he was on autopilot. It didn’t take long though to complete the shift. He kicked his legs one last time and felt them close together as began to form his tail. On the sides of his neck, two slits appeared on either side and he sucked in his breath.

  Des felt the water rush into his lungs and then his Meridian blood took the oxygen from it and pushed it back out. Des smiled when he felt the scales and tail appear to replace his legs and feet. Now he was cooking. With the flick of his tail, he shot through the tunnel. He could see the barrier Rosul created as a doorway. It was a large entry so they could bring what they needed down with them and through the entrance. Sometimes it took five to six men to bring necessities in the waterproof containers they developed.

  Sucking in a breath again, he pushed his way through the doorway. He could feel the coldness flow over him, the technology making sure his blood allowed him to pass. It took seconds to pass through the barrier—it was not really a pleasant experience.

  Then he was free, flipping his tail he moved forward to where the rest of the men waited. Des smiled and nodded as he looked around. When they came to Earth, the salt water was different from their home world. It took a while for them to get used to it. One of the differences was their tails.

  The first time they shifted, they had been shocked. It took their historian years to figure out why some men had the colors they had. Des and Xander both had gold tails, with red on their tips. The men on the Council held silver tails with blue on their tips. Then it went through a series of other colors, red and yellow, blue and green. Finally, they were able to determine that for some reason the salt water was able to pick up something in the Meridian blood that showed their ranking. All were Warriors, and as far as Xander was concerned, it didn’t matter to him, they were only fifty strong. However, it did explain a few things.

  When Xander appeared, Des laughed when he pointed up. They could tell the surface was swirling and moving fast, there was a storm above, they all loved a good storm. It was fun to play in the waves, diving and surfing them. If there was a strong storm, the boats would be gone, and they would be free to swim.

  With a flurry of excitement, the men pushed their way to the surface, Xander and Des smiled and followed, but swam further toward where they would be meeting the men who were coming home. When they surfaced, both men laughed at the storm surging around them.

  “Wow, hurricane?” Des said and looked at the large waves.

  “Yep, first of the year, let’s go,” Xander said and dove back under the water.

  They swam together a few more miles to see how far the storm reached—it was a large one. Xander looked up and stared at the clouds, the rain pelted them as they surfaced again.

  “Two storms combined and this is gonna be a big one, I hope the humans are tracking this, it looks like it is going to hit Florida,” Xander murmured.

  Over the decades, they studied the weather patterns and could tell when a storm was going to be bad or not. This one was to be a huge ass one by the looks of it. Xander turned to look at Des and frowned. “Behind you,” he yelled and then jumped as a large wave crashed around them. Xander saw the edge of the boat right when he yelled. Hell, Des was right in the path of the boat.

  Xander grabbed his mate and they
rode the wave as it crested. They saw two women being tossed around on the deck but could do nothing to stop it. Slowly, they sunk back down so they were level with the base of the boat, and Des looked at him.

  “Shit, that was close,” Des said.

  “Did you get a look at those women? I bet they were hurt,” Xander said and looked up. Something was pulling him to find out about the women—it was weird.

  “Let’s wait and see where the hell they are going,” Des said and then pushed himself back. “We don’t want to reveal ourselves unless they really are in trouble. How would we explain us being in the middle of the ocean?”

  “Fine,” Xander said and followed his mate.

  “Look at these waves, they are going to have problems, we will watch them closely,” Des said.