Alien vs. Alien

expect a huge battle cruiser to be.
    The Z’porrah obviously realized this too, as they started focusing much of their attack on the cruisers.
    Jets appeared again and reengaged with the battle. They’d learned from my flyboys and were focusing their firepower on the tops of the Z’porrah ships. Some of the Feliniad and Canus Majorian ships caught on and followed our fighters, firing where they were.
    A handful of the Z’porrah ships decided to start firing at the ground again. Or, rather, at the supersoldiers. Couldn’t guess whether they’d realized that once a supersoldier was destroyed, a weapon that worked against us was released, or if they just wanted to get rid of our backup, but they were sending a lot of firepower at our sort of living weapons.
    Over a dozen supersoldiers went down, and over a dozen superbeings came out. They started the usual superbeing attacks, flailing at anything near them. Other than two. Two of them noticed us. And headed for us.
    “Time to run?” Christopher asked.
    Three jets disengaged from the big battle and flew low. Their shots were carefully placed, focused solely on the superbeings. “Wait.” I recognized the flying signatures again. “It’s the rest of the flyboys.”
    “What do you mean, the rest?” Jeff asked.
    “Hughes and Walker are . . . down. It . . . doesn’t look good. But Tito’s with them.”
    Jeff took my hand. “They’ll pull through, baby. But I think Christopher’s right, we need to get out of here.” He had a point—one of the superbeings was at the stairs.
    No sooner said than one of the flyboys drilled the superbeing. It exploded. Body parts just missed us. “Awesome! Of course, now we have the lovely smell of fried fugly to add to the rest of the day’s fun sights and sounds.”
    “We also still have a superbeing after us,” Christopher shared. “And more being created every minute.”
    This was true, but the flyboys were the best, and they were undoubtedly upset about Hughes and Walker. My guys didn’t let their friends get shot down and not retaliate to the fullest measure.
    Of course, better safe than sorry. I was about to agree that running away from the next superbeing heading up the stairs was the right choice when something big exploded in the sky.
    Looked up to see a Reptilian ship breaking apart, just like the three Z’porrah ships it had collided with. All of which were directly overhead. Over our heads.

    Yi

CHAPTER 102

    I CRINGED AGAINST JEFF as he pulled me and Jamie both closer in to him, and the debris plummeted out of the sky. But it never reached us.
    The debris floated in the air, a good way above the tops of the buildings. “Is, ah, Jamie doing that?” Christopher asked.
    Tore my eyes away from the sky and looked at my daughter. She didn’t seem to be concentrating. “Not sure, but I don’t think so.”
    Noticed something. The sounds of battle were far, far less. Took a better look at the sky. No one was firing any more.
    Well, no one up high was. There were still fighter jets flying around, but they were focusing on the superbeings.
    “What’s going on?” Jeff asked.
    “No idea. We need to get our guys out of the sky. Once all the superbeings are down.” Tried not to think about the Reptilians on board their downed ship. What if Jareen and Neeraj, my Reptilian Soul Sister and her hubby, had been on board?
    “Already handling,” Chuckie said.
    “Where did you come from this time?”
    “The ground. I walked up the steps while you all were focused on the sky.”
    “Well, can you blame us? Um, what happened?”
    “The Reptilian Sacrifice is what it’s called.”
    I steeled myself. “How many of them died?”
    “None.”
    “Excuse me? Their ship rammed three others and broke apart.”
    “Right, but we’re talking about beings that routinely create spatiotemporal warps as part of their marriage rituals. The Reptilians get into position, sacrifice their ship while taking out several others, then warp over to other enemy ships. It’s amazingly effective, especially on beings they don’t routinely tangle with.”
    “Well, who expects the other guy to sacrifice his entire spaceship?”
    “No one.” Chuckie grinned. “Most races aren’t willing to lose a ship, but the Reptilians make new ships quickly and easily, so it’s a very worthwhile tactic.”
    “So, the fight’s over?” Jeff didn’t sound like he believed it. Couldn’t blame him.
    “Pretty much. The Reptilians have control of