Apolo came here as a reminder of what could easily be done to his people. They had to be constantly
better
than the humans to simply to keep the status quo. He didn’t want this for his enemy. On Sephia, everything had been so clear, black and white. But here, dozens of solar systems away, Apolo began to see things differently.
Gray.
In the Noble War, the sides were clear. Race was all that mattered. Yet, as a child, Apolo’s closest friend had been a Sephian. As the war continued, it seemed like they fought merely for the sake of fighting, to end one another. His people had been triumphant, and the Draeken fled. And the Sephians pursued them, intending to end the Draeken as though they were evil. It was time Apolo acknowledged the truth. Draeken weren’t evil, no more than Sephians were. There were evil individuals, not races. Apolo had become guilty of the same charges he’d made against the Draeken. He refused to continue the charade.
Starting now.
The door opened. The human soldier — and member of Sienna’s trinity — was nearly carrying the female Draeken. Her wings were banded. No obvious wounds showed on her body, but then again, many of the more painful tests looked completely innocuous to outsiders.
Apolo stepped forward. “Let me help.”
The Draeken grumbled, but he ignored her. When Jax gave him a small nod, he lifted her arm and took on as much of her weight that Jax would allow. Apolo was careful to not overstep Jax’s lines when it came to Talla Kohlm, the Draeken prisoner to who he was assigned.
“Roden is here,” Apolo said as they moved slowly down the hall.
Talla jerked, but said nothing.
“He is not a prisoner,” Apolo continued. “He came for our help. He said that Hillas is dead.”
She closed her eyes, lowered her head, and sighed. “It’s started.”
In the com center on Hillas’s Earthside base, Nalea watched the screen spanning the wall in front of her. Her “father” stood at her side. The room, with its whirring machines, brought a cold tang to the air, amping up her restlessness.
Otas pointed at the screen. “Isolate that range and zoom in.”
The com beeped, and Nalea’s nerves gave a jolt. The past fifteen days of playing along with Otas while dodging his attempts at getting her alone had proved exhausting. She’d been careful to not displease him, but it was only a matter of time. He was paranoid, convinced Roden would make his bid for power soon. And, as an imposter, he wasn’t confident the Draeken people would side with him over a war hero. Not that she’d disagree. The man simply lacked his predecessor’s greatness.
His scientists back on the core ship were working day and night to upgrade the power cells. But core ships were built with nothing in excess. They were a monument of technology, but required all power cells for full functionality. Luckily, upgrading power cells was a tediously manual modification and the only reason why Otas couldn’t flee to a ship, let alone put up a force barrier around the base. Even with men working Earthside on power chips for his base, he didn’t have enough firepower yet to cover an escape, not with the Sephians and humans surrounding them with heavy artillery.
This Hillas was also paranoid that his ranks had been infiltrated by traitors, that his secret would come out before he was ready. Nalea kept her eye out for Kreed, but he’d made no attempts to engage her.
“There,” Otas said.
The video on the screen froze and enlarged. Two com-tecs sat at stations, tapping away on their screens as they analyzed the latest video feed. At first it seemed the normal amount of movement outside the base, given that they’d been under surveillance by this planet’s indigenous race for a couple weeks now. The humans moved in more heavy equipment and troops every day. Patrols flew over every hour.
Soon, an impenetrable fortress would surround the base. But, Otas continued to gamble that he could modify enough power chips on the base in time to throw up a force barrier. Exactly where the ship — or ships — were currently located, Nalea didn’t know yet. The Grand Lord’s twin trusted no one.
“Move the frame forward by three. What is that,” the man at her side said, and the image changed slightly. It’d been nearly ten minutes since the blip appeared and disappeared, and they’d yet to decipher the images. The thing was, blips simply didn’t happen with Draeken technology. Their technology was far superior to both human and Sephian equipment. The split-second blip they’d picked up could have been a bird or a fleet, but it hadn’t appeared again. Whoever — or whatever — was heading toward the base was using Draeken stealth abilities to bypass radar sensors.
Roden.
Nalea shook the thought away the moment it hit her. It was futile hope thinking he’d come, even if it was just to finish the rebellion he started. And he would most definitely not come for her. Otas had been right about one thing; Roden had used her. If she didn’t know better, with the way Roden had looked at her, she could’ve sworn he cared. He was the best actor she’d ever seen. When the bond took hold, she’d felt emotion from him. It had been deep and hot, and she’d been clearly mistaken. Her fingers brushed against the metal around her neck. Warmed by her skin, she’d grown accustomed to its constant hum. The one thing that kept her sane. And made her Otas’s slave.
Some how, she’d find a way to kill Hillas one last time before she died. Everything had seemed so much easier before, with Roden. His strength and confidence had suffused her. Now, her spirit felt empty, her mind dulled, and she felt completely on her own. Whomever that blip betrayed had Draeken support, but it couldn’t have been from Roden. He was likely enjoying himself with a flight around his new Earthside base Otas had been trying relentlessly to find.
Her gaze dropped to the tattooed wings of the two com-tecs seated before her. Each pair was decorated with family crests that denoted honored lineages. One pair displayed names and scenes from battles he’d participated in. Neither pair of tattooed wings were nearly as complete as Roden’s. His tattoos spanned the surface as a proud display of a life truly lived. She’d wanted to stare at those wings for hours, to better understand the man, but she never had. Her pride had cautioned her to not allow him to get close.
A lot of good that did.
Now, it was a regret that she didn’t take in all the stories waiting to be told on those wings when she’d had her chance.
The wings blocked the com-tecs from her view. One of the men Nalea had met for the first time this week. He was young, barely a man, too young to fight during much of the war. Their numbers were so low that guardsmen were now performing multiple duties now. The other com-tec in front of she’d met in battle back on Sephia and again on Earth when the Draeken attacked her base last year. She thought she’d killed him both times. As she stared at the screen, she wondered what else she’d been wrong about.
“I broke the encryption,” the younger man said.
The blip returned, this time as a group of blips filling the screen. Details on each ship being added as the computer deciphered the images. At least a dozen rotor transports and another dozen Sephian and Draeken ships were closing in fast. Whoever had slipped the blocking encryption program past their defenses knew exactly what they were doing. An invasion was coming, and it was already nearly upon them. It had Roden’s signature all over it.
“Immediate full lockdown. And be quick about it,” Otas said, his voice shriller than usual. An alarm sounded. He lifted his wrist-com. “Status of the upgrade?”
“Working on it,”
a voice replied curtly through his wrist-com.
“Work faster!” He then stepped to the wall and tapped several buttons. When he spoke, his voice echoed through the speakers in the room. “The base is under attack. Expect Sephian, human … and Draeken aggressors. Do not show mercy as they will show you none.”
He waved curtly at her. “We must hurry. It’s time for your announcement.”
Nalea nodded but he’d already stepped past her. Her breath quickened as she scanned the area around her. Searched for anything that could be used as a weapon. Her eyes fell on a blaster holstered at Elng’s hip, the guardsman at the door. She glanced up to find Elng watching her suspiciously.
She swallowed, lifted her chin, and walked past him to follow Otas into the hallway. Elng couldn’t have been sure she’d eyed his weapon with her dark glasses on, which meant he didn’t have enough evidence to take to Otas. She strolled confidently behind the Grand Lord imposter as he walked brusquely to the next door down the hall. He entered his office, immediately sat down, and a panel on the wall lit up, displaying the impending attack.
She waited until the door shut behind her before speaking. “You could escape in the chaos.”
He eyed her. “Draeken never flee.”
Your people fled Sephia.
Hills motioned to her side. “Stand in front of the wall there.”
She obeyed like the good little daughter as she mentally went through ways she could incapacitate a neurotic man who’d only to reach his wrist to kill her.
The floor rocked, sending her off balance, and she grabbed the desk. The panel went blank.
“No!” Otas punched at the screen. “Only a direct hit to our coms schema could cause it to go offline. It seems Roden prefers us to be blind and deaf.”
A bolt of excitement shot through her.
Roden!
But she quickly tamped it out. Why he’d come for her after half of a moon’s cycle had passed didn’t make sense. If he came for her, it would’ve been two weeks ago.
“Your announcement will come later. But, do not fear, Nalea. We’ll kill him. Together.”
She stood there, saying nothing as a chill climbed her spine. Though she told herself dozens of times every day that she never wanted to see Roden again, she’d also no desire to see him dead. On the contrary, the idea terrified her.
It was then she noticed the leftover dinner plate and utensils. A small chunk of charred meat with gravy remained. Resting across on the plate was a fork and a steak knife. She took a step forward.
Otas was saying something, and Nalea looked up.
“But they’re not ready,”
a voice replied through his wrist-com.
“They have to be ready, or else we’re dead,” he shrilled.
Nalea watched him carefully. “The power cells could explode if they’re not functioning right.”
“They’ll work,” he said, shaking his head. “They’re just delaying.” He continued to type on the blank screen as though the schema would come back online.
She edged closer to the desk. Heaving a sigh, he looked up exasperated. Then he glanced down at his desk, looked back up at her and grabbed his wrist. “Don’t even think it.”
Nalea glanced from the knife to him, and then cocked her head. “Afraid I may try to slit your throat?”
You should be.
He held up his wrist, with the black controller strapped around it. “Even if you managed to kill me, my pulse stops and you die. That is, if I don’t kill you first. Just the press of one button is all it takes.”
She took a step closer, and put her hand over the knife. His breathing hitched. Then she held it out, palm open, to him. As long as Otas was at the helm, the Draeken would be far easier to defeat than if Roden were Grand Lord. “And lose my shot at killing Roden Zyll?” She smiled. “Not a chance.”
The Super Stallion helicopter was loaded with soldiers ready for war. Sephians, with their golden skin. Humans, who looked like petite, wingless Draeken. Roden and his soldiers. All wore black. Kilts had been exchanged for battle gear with pockets for extra weapons.
He’d been a bit surprised when the humans and Sephians agreed to the terms of his proposed mission, with only minor changes to his initial plans. Of course, he’d made it near impossible to refuse. It was simple. First, entice them with the prototype he’d snatched during his escape. Second, give them the opportunity to take down the Grand Lord for good, while keeping Roden within their reach. The humans and Sephians had been playing it too conservative. Watching Hillas’s Earthside base but taking no action, unsure what awaited them on the inside, only gave Otas a chance to fortify his position.
Roden had given them all the answers they needed for an assault. Of course, they were assuming they could control Roden, and therefore his people. He’d been careful to do nothing to give them cause to think otherwise.
When it came down to it, Roden wouldn’t allow his people to be massacred. The humans already knew the location of Hillas’s Earthbase courtesy of Apolo’s scout. It was only a matter of time before Otas had working power cells or the humans got antsy and moved in. Both would result in unnecessary deaths. And so Roden had laid out a plan for them to invade the base with minimum loss of life.
This way, everyone got something they wanted. The Sephians felt like they were making headway in eliminating the Draeken ‘threat.’ The humans were about to gain unlimited access to undreamed of technology. Roden was fine with that. Both perceptions were necessary for the end game.
Everyone figured Roden’s stake in the game was to replace Hillas. They also assumed they could either control him or assassinate him.
How foolish of them.
“He’s a wild card. I don’t like him here.”
Roden glanced up at the sound of the voice to see two human soldiers watching him. He snapped his teeth at them. They scowled. One turned away while the dark-skin continued to watch him.
Roden liked the soldier immediately. Strong and loyal, the one called Ace would make an honorable guardsman. His gaze took in the assembly of soldiers sitting around him. Most avoided eye contact. One gold-skin in particular watched him, his narrowed eyes filled with skepticism. The man looked exhausted, but his eyes were as sharp as ever. Chills furrowed in Roden’s body.
He sees too much.
He lifted his chin ever so slightly. “Being separated from your
tahren
doesn’t look like it suits you, Apolo. How’s Krysea? I suppose serving as the grand leader of Sephia keeps her from the little things, like sending support to Earth for her own
tahren.
”