Chapter 19: Teach Me

She tripped on the dash to the gate and saw out of the corner of her eyes a blinding light flash over her. She turned around in shock and froze.

A round object and purple metallic vessel had launched from behind the Stonehenge in the darkness of space and was leaping towards the Cheetah fighter now!

The vessel was bigger and scarier than what she had seen in the training lessons before. It was the vessel of the bandit of the Zerg and was driven by the most ferocious bandits in Zerg that were enemies of both humans and its kind.

"Border guards! Border guards!" Zach was shouting loudly. "This is the gunman. I have spotted the vessel of Zerg bandits. Please fire! Please fire!"

Beams of light were flying to the fighter, forming several beautiful arcs in space before Zach managed to get a response from the communication channel.

"Emerald!" Zach forced a gut-wrenching scream!

****

At the last possible instant, the Cheetah Fighter suddenly leaped recklessly into the direction of the stones! Emerald kept walking at a stable speed like she didn't see the approaching Zerg vessel...

Zach "rammed" her successfully into the cabin!

The thick spacesuit had taken in most of the force of the crush, so she was immediately able to get up and sit back in the co-pilot seat. The stones, being hundreds of times bigger than the fighter, start rumbling from the missiles hitting the stones. Zach and Emerald managed to escape them just in time.

Emerald would experience many life-threatening fights in her life, but the one she remembered most vividly would always be her first fight with Zach when they found themselves face-to-face with the Zerg bandits themselves. It was the first time witnessing how terrifying the Zergs are, missiles hitting something, and she got to see the demeanor of the best soldier of the Alliance for the first time.

In this fight, Zach's behavior greatly influenced her for the rest of her career in the air force. She had subconsciously started imitating his relentless combat style, advancing bravely and shooting accurately.

Zach was so focused and agile like he was a completely different person. The Cheetah was like an arrow flying at full speed under Zach's control.

This was more dazzling than any pilot training that Emerald had taken before, making her feel sick even though she had gotten used to flying. But no matter how sick she felt or how bumpy the flight was, she insisted on complying with every order that Zach blurted out.

The bandits of Zerg also felt sick. After Zach threatened them from all directions, the vessel seemed to lose its accuracy, and the missiles they launched hit on the stones. Finally, they crashed into the missiles launched by Zach...

Smoke rose from the purple vessel, and five other Cheetahs rushed to it and surrounded it. The whole fight was less than a minute.

Zach suddenly takes off his helmet and releases a sigh. Zach had turned to his tender self after the aggressive fight, and looking at Emerald, he asked. "Emerald, do you admire me?"

Emerald didn't answer.

"You did a good job, too," Zach helped her take off the helmet and smiled. "I can't believe you can follow my speed without making a single mistake. You are truly the woman to match my..."

"Teach me," Emerald stared at him and interrupted his joke, "Teach me those skills."

Zach sighed and covered his face with his slender and fair fingers. "Fierce Emerald, you're really boring! You had to ruin this romantic moment!"

The Phoenix was the main force in the human army. Captain Harrison Gates commanded his pilots to go to the joint patrol regularly. She finally realized today that this was a wise practice because nothing trained a pilot better than a real, actual fight.

Recalling what just had happened, she realized that the brief but strong flying skills were dimly taking shape in her head. The adrenaline from the event made her want to practice those skills herself and experience the feeling of launching a missile and hitting an enemy by herself.

She was shocked to see the frontier officer coming toward her when she looked up.

In the spacious combat command center, the technicians and commanding officers behind several rows of lightweight computers were all standing up, applauding—Zach and Emerald with admiration.

An adult scorpion was standing beside the human officer. With its dark-grey, hard shell, and sharp barbs, its body seems to be a pile of iron blocks, huge but not cumbersome. And those purple eyes could make the body shiver when glancing directly at you.

"Her Majesty has expressed her gratitude to the human soldiers for shooting down the bandits." The scorpion expressed in a muffled voice.

"Thanks to the Queen." Zach answers.

The scorpion officer stared at Zach for a moment, then said coldly, "Captain, you are very handsome." before he went to the deck with the human officers to extradite the bandits.

Zach and Emerald flew to the Phoenix.

Weighing the little gold nugget in his hand, Zach was laughing with delight, "This is why I like the joint patrol with the Zerg. Look how freaking generous they are."

Emerald touched her own gold, asking, "Can all the Zergs speak human language?"

"Of course not. But since the Queen took over their reign, mainly the military officers and those with high social status started to learn human languages. But the Queen..." Zach looks awkwardly at Emerald, "looks disgusting."

"Disgusting?" Emerald was confused.

"It is rumored that she's half Zerg and half-human," Zach answered. "Her father is human."

Emerald's mouth was wide open in surprise. The image of a woman with a human face and Zerg's body crawling forward emerged in her thoughts. The mere thought of a human body growing multiple feet and compound eyes made her shiver.

What's more, she thought of the last Queen having sex with a man and laying eggs...

"It really is disgusting." Emerald frowned.

"It is said that the man was once an excellent soldier," Zach said with contempt. Now he's the shame of the human race."

The Cheetah flew back to the Phoenix, where it received a warm welcome from all the crew members.