First Watch: A Watcher Bay Adventure (11 page)

Alena’s translation confirmed her suspicions. “Four others are missing. Some of the villagers remember seeing them leave for the Outpost, but they haven’t been seen since.”

Levra and Bria locked eyes and Levra guessed Bria had likely reached the same conclusion she had. Something was going on at the Outpost, and it involved her husband, his crew, and the residents of Glanmorr.

Bria said something, keeping her eyes locked on Levra. Alena repeated after her.

“There will be five warriors who will accompany you to the Outpost tonight. She said they will be ready to leave in fifteen minutes. Can you be ready?”

“Yes,” Levra said without hesitating, “please assure her we will find the missing villagers, including her daughter. Remind her Vildana saved my son and I owe her family a great debt. I will not rest until Vildana and the others are returned safely.”

Alena translated. Silence hung in the air for a moment as Bria processed Levra’s promise. Then Bria knelt at Levra’s feet, bowed her head, and grasped both of Levra’s hands in hers, kissing them. She placed her fingers flat on her cheek under her eyes and released her hands into the air to point at Levra in a fluid motion.

Alena whispered the words Bria spoke. “She said to tell you the Watch begins and ends with you and Bria, women and guardians of the people. Together, you will Watch until the people are safe. What once was her duty only, she now shares with you.”

Bria continued and Alena translated, this time verbatim. “Together, we will Watch.”

Alena pointed in the direction of the Outpost. Levra joined Bria on her knees and pulled the chief to her, giving her a quick hug as she spoke.

“Yes. The Watch begins.”

CHAPTER 13

Watcher Bay Outpost, Rasia, New Eden

October 16, 12 AA

Levra and her five warrior escorts made their way through the dark to the Outpost. The Ddaerans had exceptional night vision, plus the light from the two moons made the trip from Glanmorr to the Outpost easier than she had anticipated. Once they arrived outside, she’d convinced her Ddaeran warrior escorts to remain outside in the cover of the trees while she went to gather information.

She eased through the semi-darkness, trying to remain cloaked in the shadows as she made her way through the encampment. Nobody seemed to pay her much attention as she threaded her way through the temporary buildings that dotted the landscape. She considered going straight to Gunnar’s private barracks but thought better of it. If he really was responsible for taking Vildana and the others from Glanmorr—and it seemed likely he was—she doubted he would hand them over simply because Levra demanded it. She remembered where Morgan’s office was from this morning’s earlier visit with the first round of Ddaerans.

Whatever was going on here, Levra needed Morgan’s help finding the missing villagers, if they were here. She wasn’t sure why she was clinging to the narrow possibility there was nothing untoward going on here. But she was. Hoping beyond reason Gunnar wasn’t involved in this. Because if he was, everything would change.

She peeked in the doorway and breathed a sigh of relief when she saw Morgan in her office, alone and awake.

“Morgan, I need your help.”

Morgan looked up, surprise showing in her eyes. She smiled at Levra. Morgan stood up and extended her hand, motioning Levra to come inside.

“Come in. What brings you here, Levra?”

“Some of the villagers are missing. None of the others recall seeing them return on the hovercraft. Based on what you have said to me over the last few days, I thought you might be able to help me figure out what’s happening.”

“I thought you might come.” Morgan’s face looked worn, aged somehow. “I’m so glad you did.”

“What is going on? What does Gunnar want with the Ddaerans?”

“I hoped you would heed my warnings. I knew you’d disapprove.”

“Disapprove of what? I don’t really know what’s going on. Vildana is missing. If you are asking if I disapprove of kidnapping innocent Ddaerans and holding them captive, then you are damned right. I came here hoping you would help me.”

“Yes, of course, I’ll help. I hoped you'd come, and we’d be able to work together. There are some things you need to know about your husband.”

Morgan pointed a remote at a video monitor and pressed a button on the remote. The screen clicked on, and an image came into focus.

There were five glass cube-shaped cells. Each one held a Ddaeran. She recognized Vildana immediately. The vague unease that had been growing over the last couple of days turned solid and real in the blink of an eye. Gunnar kidnapped these innocent Ddaerans.

“What—I don’t—What is going on here, Morgan?”

“This image is from a closed circuit monitoring system. We monitor them remotely. There are two crew members in the underground bunker conducting the experiments.”

“Experiments? What kind of experiments?”

“You remember the Jewish holocaust in Nazi Germany back on Earth?”

Levra nodded, very much disliking where this conversation was headed.

Morgan continued. “There are Founders within Abramov’s highest offices who seek to learn every possible detail about the Ddaerans’ gifts. They want to harvest them. They want to remove the abilities from New Eden’s native population and implant them into elite members of the Founding families after they test them out on the clones.”

Levra’s thoughts spun out of control. “Wait, what? I’m sorry, did you say
harvest
their abilities? Clones? What clones? Cloning is illegal. Has always been illegal on New Eden.”

Levra was glad she was sitting down. She felt sick. Her palms were sweaty and the room was starting to tilt.

Morgan nodded. “Exactly. On
New Eden
. That’s what we were doing off-planet.”

“Oh my god. Are you serious? Cloning was his true mission? What they were doing for five years?”

Morgan nodded again, but corrected one thing. “Our mission. It’s what we were involved in.”

“And Gunnar is involved too?”

It was a stupid question. Of course he knew. He was mission commander here at Watcher Bay. It didn’t happen without his authorization.

Morgan nodded. “Unfortunately, yes. There are many on the crew, like me, who infiltrated Abramov’s highest levels in order to uncover what is going on. Most of us have been under deep cover for the entire five years we were in space, if not longer. What you were told—that this was a mission to interact with the Ddaerans and begin the process of building a satellite city—is the public face of the mission. But the private mission is very different.”

“If you knew, if others knew, why did nobody try to stop this?”

Morgan’s laugh was hollow. “I absolutely plan on stopping Gunnar and the people within Abramov who want to use the Ddaeran people in this way.”

“Tell me what exactly is happening.” Levra glanced at the monitor again. The caged Ddaerans looked like they were sleeping, curled up in a fetal position on the floor.

Her stomach curdled at the sight. These peaceful people were not animals to cage. What had she done? What had she helped Gunnar do?

Morgan continued. “Abramov agents scouted this village years ago. This mission was set in motion way before your husband ever went to space. Up until now, we’ve only been watching them from a distance. We had high-flying drones watching them and, of course, this Outpost was built while we were in space working on the cloning portion of the mission. The cloning had to be perfected before we could infiltrate their village. Plus, they needed to fine-tune the research on harvesting abilities. It’s still not perfect, but those who control this operation felt it was good enough to get started. They are very comfortable taking risks with Ddaeran lives.”

Levra felt her stomach twist again in horror at the thought of the gentle Ddaerans being tortured and experimented on.

“What do we do? How do we stop them?”

“Like I said, I’m glad you came.”

She sat down next to Levra and rolled out a paper map of the Outpost. Levra was astonished at the sheer size of the underground facilities. What she was seeing on the monitor, five Ddaerans under lock and key, was clearly only the beginning.

“I’ve got a plan. And there’s a lot more you need to know about your husband.”

“I have a small number of Ddaeran warriors standing by, waiting inside the tree line. They are waiting for word from me, ready to attack, if necessary, to get their people back.”

“Good. If we plan on getting everyone out tonight, we’ll need their help. And we shouldn’t risk leaving anyone behind. There is no telling what Gunnar will do with them.”

“Levra, I’ll distract the guards long enough for you to free the Ddaerans from the cells. They are guarded with an electric force field. We’ll need to make sure the force field is off before you try to open the cages.”

They worked out the details of the rescue, including how Levra would bring the warriors. She hoped they were truly warriors in every sense of the word. She was uncertain what would happen if Gunnar caught them. Hopefully, they really could—and would—fight.

Morgan continued. “Once the prisoners are safe, you’ll take one of the hovercrafts and get them back to the village.”

Levra’s mind worked to compartmentalize everything she was thinking. She wanted to confront Gunnar. Now. But she needed to get the Ddaerans to safety first. She would deal with Gunnar, the cloning, the torture, all of it, once the Ddaerans were safe.

Levra followed Morgan into the underground bunker where the Ddaerans were being held. She was instructed how to turn off the electric field guarding the cells. Morgan went in first, securing the guards’ attention.

She approached three uniformed guards and spoke with authority. “Soldiers. Commander Shield has ordered a security check. Please take me to the lab. There are reports of a breech in the DNA protocol.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

Morgan followed the guards into the next room and signaled to Levra behind her back. Now was the time.

Levra scurried in and found the control panel to shut down the electric field. After only a second of searching, she located the round button with the image of a lightning bolt. She shivered as she recalled the lightning that nearly cost her son’s life. Pushing the traumatic event from her mind, she pressed the button. The force field turned off. Then she ran into the next quadrant where the cells were.

She opened Vildana’s first and then the others, motioning them to follow her. Once they were safely outside, Levra turned the electric field back on. If the guards looked at the control panel they wouldn’t know anything was wrong. Only if someone turned on a monitor or walked into the secured quadrant would anyone realize the prisoners had been rescued.

Levra slipped through the darkness with the freed Ddaerans behind her and waited for Morgan to meet them by the hovercrafts.

Vildana and the other Ddaerans hugged Levra. Vildana spoke. “Thank you so much.”

"My pleasure, Vildana. It's the least I could do for you.”

Morgan showed up then. “All good?”

Levra nodded. “Yep. Only one thing I have left to do. You got these guys for a moment? I won’t be long.”

Morgan nodded. “You sure about this?”

Levra looked at Vildana, seeing the trauma of the last few hours in her eyes, and nodded at Morgan. “Never been more sure of anything in my life.”

CHAPTER 14

Watcher Bay Outpost, Rasia, New Eden

Early Morning, 17 October, 12 AA

“He doesn’t like to be disturbed. He’ll likely be very angry.”

“I’m angrier,” Levra spat out. But it wasn’t the whole truth. She was in shock more than anything. It was difficult for her to picture her husband as the man Morgan referred to. Now that the Ddaerans were freed, she had to know answers to the questions stirring in her mind.
How could he do this?
He knew of her love for the Ddaeran people.
How could he make her part of this? How could he bring his child into this? And Vildana?
She had saved Enric. The more she thought it through, the hotter her temper burned.

“Thank you, Morgan. I am in your debt.”

“It’s my pleasure. I’ve been on Gunnar’s bad side for a while. When I first met you in prep for this mission, I couldn’t figure how someone like you, someone who loves the Ddaerans, could be with someone like him. I’m guessing there are some things you don’t know about him.”

Her words were so forceful, Levra paused. “May I ask why you don’t get along? Something more than what is going on here with the Ddaerans?”

Morgan took a deep breath before she answered. “He was very forward with the female officers and crew. He made a pass at me soon after we came out of cryo-sleep in deep space.”

Levra’s mouth dropped. “What? My husband hit on you when you were out?”

“I refused his advances and eventually he took no for an answer, but not very gracefully. We were years away from home, and my options were limited. There was a brief time when I thought I might have no choice but to go along with him—he was my senior officer—but he eventually turned his attention to someone else and left me alone. I’m sorry, Levra. This isn’t the greatest way to find out your husband has fidelity issues.”