First Watch: A Watcher Bay Adventure (12 page)

“There’s never a good way to learn something this devastating. Who? Who took your place?”

When Morgan spoke, her voice was quiet. “Ana.”

Levra’s head spun. Somewhere deep down she was not surprised. He’d seemed distant—not himself—since she’d lost contact with him on the Altius 11 mission. Every now and then she’d see glimpses of the old Gunnar, and she’d dared to hope his mood swings were a normal part of his transition back into his life.

Her heart pounded in her chest as she thought of confronting her husband about Morgan’s accusations. First his betrayal of the Ddaerans and now his betrayal of her, and their love. Her emotions balanced on the edge of a knife, one side in devastating grief, the other side white hot with righteous anger.

“Thank you for your honesty, Morgan.”

“Levra?” Morgan touched her shoulder gently. “Remember to distract him long enough for my troops to disable the other transports. Don’t wait longer than five minutes or they’ll be on to us.”

Levra stormed through camp toward Gunnar’s office, planning her scathing inquisition on the way. She was glad the plan worked out room for her to have five minutes to confront her cheating bastard of a husband.

When she entered the command area, she was armed with accusations and a plan. She barged in, her courage fueled by her anger. She was ready to accuse him of kidnapping Vildana and the other Ddaerans of Glanmorr. What she saw when she crossed the threshold sucked the wind out of her would-be accusations and replaced them with a whole new storm of emotions.

Damn. She didn’t want to deal with this today.

Gunnar was in front of her. With Ana. And the two were quite comfortable with each other. Levra watched with growing disgust as her husband fondled the the blonde officer’s breasts. This was the woman who had smiled at her and been sickly sweet to Enric.

Morgan was right
. She had told Levra the truth; even though Levra’s instincts warned her every time those two were together, she was still stunned. Today was a day of revelations about her dearly beloved Gunnar.

Gunnar and Ana were so involved in their make-out session Levra had to clear her throat to get Gunnar’s attention. When he turned and saw her, his face paled.

Good
, she thought.
At least he has the sense to be embarrassed
. “Levra, I can explain—”

“Save it. You disgust me. But that’s an issue for a different day. You should know the Ddaerans have been returned to their homes, their warriors are on alert, and it’s time for you to pack up your crew of mad scientists and get the hell out of here. Enric and I will stay here at Glanmorr.”

By now, the startled look on Gunnar’s face was replaced with an intimidating stare. He looked relieved as he stared defiantly at her. He held eye contact as he reached down and took Ana’s hand into his.

“You don’t get to order me around, Levra. I’m the commanding officer here. The Outpost is mine. Watcher Bay is mine. The Ddaerans are
mine
. What I say goes. You can’t have the girl—or any of the Ddaerans. This is the whole mission. When the ship arrives, you’ll be sent back to New Seattle. I’m a reasonable man, after all.” He chuckled gleefully and she knew for sure he was insane. Her husband was gone. lost forever in deep space.

“They are already gone, Gunnar. Didn’t you hear me? Of course you didn’t hear me. You haven’t heard a word I’ve said—not really—for years. Go ahead, check your monitor. They are gone. Already on their way back to the village. All of the Ddaerans.”

Levra took a moment to check the timer on her watch. She had thirty more seconds to delay Gunnar.

Gunnar clicked on the monitor, as she watched in amusement. Anger traveled across his face. If she wasn’t so completely disgusted by the man she once loved, she’d have laughed. Ana’s face twisted in a rage and Levra laughed out loud. Served the arrogant whore right.

Gunnar continued taunting. “You have know idea what you are up against. I’ll get them back. Their primitive warriors don’t stand a chance against our technology. Your precious Ddaerans will pay for this, Levra.”

“There is more to war than advanced tech, Gunnar. Don’t be so sure.”

He shrugged. “No matter. At least I don’t have to live a lie anymore. Oh, one thing before you go: warn the Ddaerans I’m coming for them. I will ruin them and you. They’ll regret crossing me. What I’ve started here is nothing compared to what’s coming. It’s actually a relief to not have to pretend to care about those Ddaeran freaks.”

Levra watched horrified as Gunnar, her husband turned stranger, took Ana into his arms and kissed her. When Ana moaned with pleasure, Levra itched to snap the woman’s neck with her bare hands. She didn’t get the chance. Gunnar broke the kiss to speak to Ana but loudly enough for Levra to hear. “Finally, we don’t have to deal with this stupid bitch anymore.”

Levra turned on her heel, fighting back the irrational tears threatening to form and stormed out of the office, calling over her shoulder, “Good riddance, you bastard. Have a good time with that whore.”

Thankful she had worked out a plan with Morgan and the warriors, she raced through the Outpost to the hovercraft where the newly freed Ddaerans waited. She hoped Gunnar wouldn’t follow.

It was time to warn the rest of the village. They had to know what was coming, possibly as soon as tonight.

Levra gave Morgan a quick hug when she caught up to her in the clearing. “Thanks for staying with them.”

Levra looked at the officers who’d been guarding the cages. They were still bound, gagged, and apparently, unconscious.

“They didn’t give you any trouble?” Levra asked.

“No, I told them Commander Shield wanted Vildana brought to his office. Then we tied them up.” Three other crewman stood near Morgan, guarding the the captured crew.

“Go, quickly, Levra. It won’t take long for Gunnar to assemble the crew and storm Glanmorr. You should be prepared for the worst.”

Levra nodded. “He’ll be a minute,” she said picturing him otherwise occupied with Ana the whore. “Only a minute, though.” She gave herself permission to laugh at the joke meant only for her, and then focused her attention back on Morgan.

They’d discussed Gunnar’s likely retaliation when they made the plan in Morgan’s private office to free Vildana and the others. Levra’s detour to confront Gunnar hadn’t been the wisest move for her emotional well being, but she needed to cause a distraction. It had felt good to let him know what a terrible person she thought he was, to finally speak up after all these years of bottled emotions.

Alarm bells sounded throughout the compound.

“Time to go, Levra.”

Levra nodded, “You got it. I’ll let the villagers know what’s coming. What about you? You can’t stay here. He knows you helped me. Come with me.”

She smiled. “I got it covered. Don’t worry. I’ll be right behind you in the other hovercraft. We disabled all the others. Gunnar and his loyal crew will be forced to travel on foot or take the time to repair the vehicles, so we’ll have a head start. Go Levra. Hurry.”

Levra hugged Morgan fiercely. “Thank you. Thank you so much.”

“Of course, Levra. Warn the Ddaerans right away. He’ll be vicious when he catches up. The delay will only give us a few minutes, assuming we don’t meet any resistance on the way out of here.”

One last nod, and Levra closed the door on the hovercraft and flew toward Glanmorr, determined to save the Ddaerans from her husband.

She found it ironic that only days ago, she’d pinned her hopes for Dwyr on Gunnar. Now she was trying to save another village
from
him.

CHAPTER 15

Watcher Bay Outpost, Rasia, New Eden

Early Morning, October 18, 12 AA

Levra sat in the hovercraft, piloted by a man loyal to Morgan. She stared wordlessly at the dark of the forest, as their vehicle wove in and out of trees, with Vildana in the seat next to the pilot, pointing the way. Vildana would lead them to the village faster than Levra could. Levra had made the trip twice today, but Gunnar and his crew would follow her. There was no time for delays. No doubt about it. He would attack and take what he wanted, but he would have a strategy. It would take him some time to overcome Morgan’s roadblocks, but it wouldn’t stop him.

Levra shivered as she imagined what Gunnar might do to Morgan if she wasn’t able to get away. Her mind’s eye rested on the nauseating image of her husband kissing Ana, and she had to will herself to maintain composure. She could break down later. Not yet, not while Gunnar was plotting his revenge against the Ddaerans. She felt the hot tears making tracks down her dusty face but tried to ignore the emotion threatening to pull her under. She came back to the present when she felt Vildana’s soft hand on her forehead, smoothing her hair.

Vildana placed her hands over her heart, and then raised her hand and pointed at Levra’s heart. Then Vildana made a snapping motion with her hands, as though she were holding a stick she had snapped in half.

“He broke your heart,” Vildana said. It wasn’t a question.

Levra understood her words, but the visual representation of her world being snapped in two was powerful.

Levra nodded, another tear slipping down her cheek. “Yes. My heart is broken.” She swallowed her grief, though, and focused on the route of the hovercraft through the dark forest.

She watched Vildana and thought about her amazing gift. She could see the future before it happened. She must have seen them coming the night Enric got hurt. She must have known at some point she would be held captive and that Levra would come to rescue her.

How much in advance could she see something?

She must have also seen Gunnar’s fight with Levra.

How did her power work? Could she only see certain things?

Suck it up, Levra
, she thought.

She wanted to ask Vildana about her abilities, but hesitated due to what she had been through. She’d need to be careful to not press her too much. As soon as she had a minute with Alena, she’d ask more about Vildana’s abilities. For now, she needed to focus on what was in front of them— to somehow survive Gunnar’s pending assault. Once that was done, assuming they could succeed, she’d learn more about the details of their gifts. After all, the details didn’t matter if they didn’t survive Gunnar’s attack.

Vildana spoke, unsolicited. “I can’t see what’s coming yet. When I do, I will tell you.” Vildana practically read her mind. Levra smiled at Vildana, grateful for her.

Levra took strength from the little girl’s tremendous courage.

Levra spoke to the pilot, “Faster, please? If you can.”

He nodded and they picked up speed as they went, daring to travel at high speeds through the thick forest. Levra was fueled by fear for Enric and they raced closer to Glanmorr. She couldn’t let Gunnar beat her to Glanmorr.

When they finally reached the village’s courtyard, Vildana was encircled by her friends and family. Levra watched as Vildana’s mother Bria cried tears of joy as she embraced her daughter once again, but there was no time for a happy homecoming. The wrath of the Founders was about to land on all of them.

With Enric and Alena in tow, Levra approached Veld. Levra embraced Enric, who seemed happy and not all troubled. She knew everything was about to change for her son and for this village.

Levra tapped Veld on the shoulder, interrupting his celebration of his daughter’s return. Levra looked tentatively at Alena who nodded her head, indicating she was ready.

“The men who captured Vildana and the others—they will come back. Soon. This time they will fight. They want to experiment on you, to steal your abilities. They will be here soon. We need to fight them. I don’t see another way. You and your people, those who don’t stay to fight, will need to hide.”

Alena translated her words and then waited while Veld replied.

“What did they want with my daughter?”

Levra shook her head sadly. “Her abilities to heal and see the future. The Founders don’t have these skills. They want to possess them. They want to harvest these abilities from the Ddaeran people and implant them in clones, clones they are creating on another planet in a completely different planetary system.”

Veld nodded. Levra wasn’t sure if he understood everything they were explaining, but he knew there was trouble coming. That much he’d clearly gleaned. There wasn’t time with the language barrier to explain further. Veld seemed to sense this and asked no questions.

“We will fight,” Bria said.

Levra wasn’t certain the Ddaerans understood everything she’d explained, but Bria seemed to at least grasp the imminent danger.

“We need to get as many people to safety as possible.”

She waited as Alena translated again and then Bria spoke.

“We will hide the children. We have a summer village. It is high in the mountains so we don’t usually stay for the winter, but some stay behind to guard. Our people will be safe there. Including you, your son, Alena, and Mera. You are one of us now. We will protect you. You saved Vildana and brought her home to us. You are one of us now.”

Levra blinked at her words. Alena looked expectantly at Levra, waiting to see what she would say.