Kirk cleared his throat. “I think we better
get things moving and save some of the questions for later. I can take care of
the virus-serum preps with Dr. Abdera, Jaeda, if you want to start working on a
delivery system with Officer Koll. Maybe you can answer some of his questions
at the same time.”
Jaeda nodded. “I’ll get you a full report
too, Kirk. Is that acceptable to everyone?” she asked, looking at Torque and
Leila.
Torque grumbled. He was damn tired of his
questions being put off. He would find the answers he needed. Sooner or later.
“Give us a minute.” He turned toward Leila and pulled her away from the other
two. He reached into his jacket. “Here. Take the vid-cell. If you feel like
things are going down wrong and you’re in danger, contact Halah to get you out
of here.”
She shook her head. “You’ll need that to
stay in contact with the other warriors once they check in.”
“Apparently Jaeda has contact, so I’ll use
her device. This one won’t be compatible with what they’re using anyway.
Brianna is safe with Sam. I’d feel better if you had a way off this planet if
needed. Take it.”
“Fine.” Leila took the device. “But I’m not
going anywhere without the rest of you.”
Torque turned back toward Jaeda and Kirk.
“We’re ready.” He watched Kirk escort Leila out of the room. After they left,
the air filled with tension and it was almost too quiet.
Jaeda finally broke the silence. “I’ll take
you to our artillery section. You can work with our top man on the virus
delivery system. Once the on-planet warriors connect with me—the group in this
area, that is—I’ll arrange a meeting. The leader will know how to pass the
information along to the other substation heads. With any luck, we’ll be able
to coordinate everything quickly before the Egesa get a hold that’s too tight
to break.”
Torque simply nodded, though he found it
damn hard to hold his tongue. Now was not the time to confront her. He had
plans to put into motion. But soon…
* * * * *
Leila sat with Kirk in a small room off the
facility’s main med-lab. She’d told the staff what she would need to duplicate
the serum and thankfully they’d had the correct equipment. She’d also had a
sample of her own blood and DNA sent to their disease center for testing.
Before they progressed any further, she needed to test what they had on a human
host—a host without an ounce of alien blood. “Why does Sam call you Tee?”
“It’s from back when I was a captain in the
Air Force before I decided to get out and work as a civilian contractor for the
military instead. Captain Kirk Logan…”
She didn’t understand and it must have
shown on her face.
“Captain Kirk. James T.”
“Was he some renown military officer? A
hero perhaps?”
Kirk chuckled. “Yeah. I supposed he was.”
“Then the nickname is a good one. One of
respect.”
He simply nodded but looked at her warily
as she rolled up his sleeve. “You didn’t test this on Briggs?”
“We couldn’t. He had to go through the
initiation rite for us to get his altered sperm. His chemical makeup has now
changed, so we need a new subject for the test.”
“Initiation rite? Sperm?”
“It’s complicated. The serum wouldn’t have
any effect on him. And we didn’t have any other purebred humans around at the
time to test it on.” She hesitated. “You are purebred, right? No alien DNA?”
“As far as I know.”
She nodded. “Good.”
“If this doesn’t work, then what? Is Earth screwed?”
“Screwed?”
“In trouble,” he explained.
“I won’t lie to you. Earth may be screwed,
as you say, regardless. But this will give your planet and people a fighting
chance.”
“If for some reason the serum doesn’t work,
it’s not going to kill me, is it? Worst case scenario.”
She chuckled. “No. If it doesn’t work,
you’ll just have Sam’s sperm floating around inside you.”
Kirk scrunched up his face. “Not a nice
visual. I’m going to pretend I didn’t hear that.” He watched her prepare the
shot. “Do you think we can really manufacture a delivery system for a virus and
arm the world’s militaries with the weapons before we’re wiped out or enslaved
by the Egesa?”
“The alternative is what? Give up?
Surrender? Don’t even try?”
“Some people have been talking about
nuclear retaliation. Complete destruction, except for a select few that would
be hidden underground.”
“Killing the majority of your people and
destroying your planet to get rid of the threat, and allowing only an elite few
to survive, is not the solution.” She wiped a sterile cloth over a spot on his
arm. “This might burn a little. Don’t worry if it does.” Slowly she injected
the serum and hoped for the best. She’d told him that there wouldn’t be a
problem but she actually wasn’t completely sure.
After she pulled out the needle and set it
aside, he looked up at her. “Now what?”
“We give it a few minutes to spread and
take hold.” The wariness in his eyes touched her heart. If this didn’t work,
the humans would have little defense against the Egesa. Without the added
ability to heal quickly, they didn’t stand a chance of surviving. After an
uncomfortable few moments under his scrutiny, she said, “You’re staring at me.”
He cleared his throat and reddened
slightly. “Sorry. I just can’t believe you’re an alien. Xylons are very close
to humans in looks.”
“Humanoids populate the universe, though we
all have our own special uniqueness. We come from a common source, I suspect.
But creatures of all shapes and types, good and bad, also roam the galaxies.
You’ve had contact with off-worlders aboard various supply vessels, right?”
“Just voice contact. It must be exciting to
travel the stars.”
She turned and picked up a scalpel. “It has
its moments.” She turned back and sliced Kirk’s arm.
“Ow! Son of a bitch!” He grabbed her wrist
as blood poured from the wound. “What the fuck are you doing?”
“Relax.” She pulled away from him and
covered the wound with a sterile cloth. “If the serum worked, you’ll start to
heal in a moment. Does it hurt?”
“Hell yes it hurts! You could have warned
me.”
“I didn’t want you to tense up and make it
worse.” She dabbed at the blood. “It’s slowing.”
“Does that mean it’s working?” He looked
down at his arm.
“I don’t know yet. It needs a few more
moments before I can tell. It will stop bleeding first and the wound will
slowly close. It will then still take about an hour or slightly less for a cut
of this type to heal completely.”
“Damn. That’s fast. The military will love
this stuff.”
She set the cloth aside. “The bleeding has
stopped.” She examined the wound and smiled. “It’s working. How do you feel?”
Kirk smiled back. “Wow. It doesn’t even
hurt anymore. How long does a severe case take? Does it work with all types of
injuries? The military is going to want details.”
“I’ll write up a report that we can pass
along with the shots. Now we need to duplicate this stuff and get it sent out
as quickly as possible.”
Kirk’s comm unit buzzed. “Hello. Yes.”
After a moment, he looked up. “It’s the disease center. Pending tests of your
samples, they think they have something we can use.”
* * * * *
Earth’s Orbit
Daegal sat in his quarters, talking to one
of the Egesa Commanders. “What’s our status?”
The creature’s yellow eyes glowed in the
light. His voice, deep and gravelly, filled the room. “Sending the Top
Commander to talks, along with a team of Egesa soldiers worked well. He is
still stable enough to negotiate but unstable enough to scare humans into
compliance. His appearance—his face mask—makes humans fear.”
Daegal nodded. Fantastic news. A few of his
Egesa Commanders knew the full truth about their weakness and need for human
spinal fluid, but only his most trusted. All other Egesa soldiers simply
understood this invasion to be a grab for power and control of a planet that
would provide them with necessary resources, which was also the truth, just not
the whole truth. He’d have this planet enslaved and their futures guaranteed in
no time as long as his brother’s sanity held up. Nobody would be able to stop
them.
“China agreed to terms. And North Korea.
They say they bring other nations to us. Wary of their quickness to capitulate.
Strong armies. Maybe trap.”
“Keep a close eye on them to make sure they
don’t try to double-cross us. What about the western countries and what they
call Europe?”
“Won’t talk. Won’t sacrifice people even
for salvation of own governments and military. What order is next?”
“We start with what we have and get
everything in place. When we’ve got a firm hold, then we’ll take over the
governments of those we’ve negotiated with and destroy their military forces.”
“What of other countries? We cannot destroy
all. We need them.”
“We’ll down their communications systems,
which will throw them into panic. After that, it’ll be easy to send our
soldiers down to enslave them.”
“Their militaries will still be intact.”
“Yes, but without communication, they’ll be
ineffective. Continue to monitor them and make sure they’re not organizing
anything that we can’t counter. We need to move quickly and not give them too
much time. What’s the status of locating the Xylon Warriors substations on the
planet?”
“All abandoned except for a few found early
on. Do not know where they have gone. Warriors we captured are not talking.
Suspect recent attacks on troops of slave masters being led by them. Lost more
soldiers than likely from a human attack.”
“Keep looking, and if those warriors won’t
respond to our pain masters’ inquiries, kill them.”
* * * * *
Planet Earth, State of Colorado, U.S.A.
Underground Tracking Facility
When her door buzzed, Jaeda looked up from
the computer screen in her quarters. “Come.” She pressed the Open button. The
door slid aside and Torque Koll filled the entrance. Her heart pounded crazily
against her ribs. When she had first seen him in the holding room, she’d
thought she was imagining things, but it was definitely him. The man she’d been
dreaming about.
He stepped inside and the door slid closed
behind him. The room suddenly felt way too small for the both of them. Jaeda
stood from her desk. “What are you doing here? How’d you even find me?”
“I asked. I’m done coordinating with the
artillery personnel. I thought this was simply a research facility but you’ve
got full weapons capabilities.”
“We’ve got a lot of capabilities here.” She
put her hands on her hips. “So security just let you wander around by
yourself?”
“I’m in uniform. I don’t think they quite know
what they’re supposed to do around me. We’re all on the same side, right?”
She glanced at her computer. “I haven’t
received a report yet.”
“It’s coming. A special dual-purpose casing
is going to be used that will fit your existing weapons—the ones most commonly
used by Earth’s militaries. The manufacturing has already begun and they’ll be
shipped as completed. The plans are going out to all facilities capable of
producing the ammunition to speed production. Now, tell me about this exchange
involving you and Briggs?”
She cocked an eyebrow. “I assumed you
already knew the details.”
“I’d like to hear it from you.”
Somehow he made it sound as if he was
testing her. She bristled at the thought. “We’re on the eve of destruction here
and that’s what you’re interested in?”
“Unless you want to fuck.”
Stunned, she simply stared at him. Had he
really just said that? She felt as if she couldn’t breathe and she had no idea
what to say. Normally if a soldier or any subordinate looked at her crosswise
or said something inappropriate, she’d bust his butt. But then Torque wasn’t
under her, though the thought definitely held appeal. She gave herself a mental
shake. He had her completely off kilter. “Excuse me?”
He smiled. “Don’t pretend the thought
hasn’t crossed your mind.”
“How about I throw you into confinement,
Officer Koll?” She turned and pressed a comm button.
Before she could connect, Torque was behind
her. He pulled her hand away. “It’s Commander Koll.”
She turned quickly and found herself in his
arms. “Let me go.”
“You know I’m not going to hurt you.”
“I don’t know anything,” she said, her
voice lowering.
“Is that so? I have a feeling you know
everything. Everything about this exchange, about Xylon, maybe even about me.
Until everyone checks in, we have time, as long as the Egesa don’t infiltrate
this facility.” He leaned close and whispered in her ear, “So you can talk or
we can fuck. Your choice.” He pulled back and let her go.
She stumbled slightly against the desk
behind her before she steadied herself. Torque was every bit as commanding and
sexy as he’d been in her dreams. Tall, muscular, dark hair and eyes. The
insignia on his uniform caught her eye. Laszlo? She should have noticed that
before now. What the hell was going on? And how much should she reveal? She’d
tread lightly. “The exchange was simply a sharing of cultures and knowledge to
help forge an alliance for the future.”
“Bullshit.”
She frowned. “Is that really so hard to
believe? If it weren’t for the exchange, we wouldn’t have been able to put any
of this plan together. You’d have come here not having any connections and
nobody here would trust you. Sure, we’ve had a supply agreement for years with
various planets that the public wasn’t aware of other than accidentally
sighting some UFOs here and there. But once the Egesa showed up, it would have
been all bets off without some higher-up vouching for the warriors and sorting
out the good guys from the bad. And frankly, from your attitude, you might not
have come down on the ally side.” She clamped her mouth shut. Damn. She hadn’t
meant to go on and on.