by Elin Wyn
Axtin
Conquered World: Book Two
Elin Wyn
Contents
1. Leena
2. Axtin
3. Leena
4. Axtin
5. Leena
6. Axtin
7. Leena
8. Axtin
9. Leena
10. Axtin
11. Leena
12. Axtin
13. Leena
14. Axtin
15. Leena
16. Axtin
17. Leena
18. Axtin
19. Leena
20. Axtin
21. Leena
22. Axtin
23. Leena
24. Axtin
25. Leena
26. Axtin
27. Leena
28. Axtin
29. Leena
30. Axtin
Epilogue: Leena
Letter from Elin
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About the Author
Also by Elin Wyn
1
Leena
“You can’t be serious!”
I clenched and unclenched my hands to stop them from shaking. It was all I could do to keep my voice even. I could feel my nails digging into my palm.
“Try to think about it logically, Leena,” Mariella suggested. Her usually musical voice was grating. My temper flared and snapped, but I reeled it in.
“I’m the only one on this entire fucking ship capable of thinking logically,” I spat. “You’re insane for thinking you’re safer on this ticking time bomb of a ship.”
Why couldn’t she understand? Technically, now that the Vengeance had a sustainable power source and the cloaking device was working, the Xathi couldn’t see it. Nevertheless, I wouldn’t call that safe because we still knew next to nothing about the aliens we’d been living alongside.
“I’m alive because Tu’ver brought me here,” Mariella said. I scoffed.
“Who knows why he really brought you here? He could have intended to use you as a hostage…or a concubine,” I sneered. I had to believe that Mariella was being willfully ignorant of the danger she was putting herself in, and me by extension.
“That’s an ugly thing to say,” she remarked with a bite in her mild voice.
She turned away from me to look at a false window with a holographic projection of a garden. Her dark wavy hair fell across her cheek.
“The longer we spend on this ship, the less time we have to find a cure,” I said.
Mariella didn’t look at me. She didn’t speak. I stood for a moment, and let the familiar feeling of helplessness wash over me.
I rejected it, shoving it deep down inside me. If she wanted to act like a child, fine. I had other things to do, anyway.
I left the room without saying another word.
Earlier that morning, I’d been told that the captain of the Vengeance, General Rouhr, wanted to meet with me. I couldn’t imagine why.
I didn’t think he knew who I was. I certainly didn’t know who he was. I’d kept my contact with the aliens at a minimum since I arrived on this ship, unlike Mariella and the other woman, Jeneva.
Mariella preferred to spend her time looking at imaginary gardens and talking to Tu’ver. Jeneva was actually with one of the red ones now. If they wanted to risk their lives like that, who was I to stop them?
Sure as hell didn’t mean I trusted any of them.
I strode through the sliding metal doors of one of the com rooms. General Rouhr, a rugged-looking Skotan with a scar running down the left side of his face, greeted me with a nod. My gaze flickered to the others in the room.
I was surprised to see Jeneva there. She smiled at me. I didn’t smile back.
When I first met her, she was prickly and unfriendly. I didn’t fully understand what had changed about her.
The Skotan she’d become enamored with sat next to her. I believed his name was Vrehx. He was the only one on the ship I didn’t mind, and he had the good sense not to bother me.
My gaze settled on the hulking form of a green Valorni. Jagged purple bands stretched over his broad shoulders and along his thick arms.
Oh, hell.
This creature was a living, breathing personification of a migraine. Axtin was brash, thickheaded, and impulsive—everything I hated. What the hell could he possibly be doing here?
“Ms. Dewitt, thank you for coming,” General Rouhr said.
It was strange hearing him speak in my language. The ear transmitter, one of the things they’d given us when we’d first arrived, had somehow taught the aliens our language.
Once I learned I could understand them without the transmitter, I insisted they remove it. I didn’t like the idea of alien tech crawling around in my brain—and it literally did crawl. I’d never forget the horrible way it felt when it was first inserted into my ear canal.
Mariella and Jeneva had elected to leave theirs in. Because of this, they knew considerably more of the alien’s tongue than I did. I’d also made a point to avoid as much contact as possible, so there’s that.
“Will this take long?” I asked tightly.
“Why? You’ve got somewhere else to be?” Axtin smirked. I didn’t even dignify his response with a glare.
“I’ll be as brief as possible,” the general said with an understanding nod. “We’ve received a message from Duvest, the last city that was hit by the Xathi.”
I remembered. It was a devastating attack. Duvest was the manufacturing capital of the planet, and many labs relied on the equipment produced there.
“It seems,” he continued, “that there is a group of people working to develop a weapon against the Xathi—some kind of a scent bomb, as I understand it. However, they have run into some problems developing the formula. I’ve recommended you to them.”
“Why?” I demanded. I hadn’t told anyone about my work or my research. I clenched my jaw and squeezed my hands into fists, shoving my temper down.
“Mariella mentioned you studied chemistry,” Vrehx offered. I cursed, low enough that only myself could hear it. Mariella had no right to talk about my life to them.
But despite my anger, the idea of working again sent a jolt of excitement down my spine. I missed being in a lab. I felt more at home there than anywhere else.
Regardless of my distrust of the aliens around me, I did want this war to end. I wanted the Xathi gone.
“Do you have more information?” I asked General Rouhr.
He slid a thin data pad across the table to me. Displayed on the screen was a detailed plan for the bomb and several potential chemical formulas. I could already see a few places where the formulas could be improved.
I wondered what their lab setup was like. The city was hit pretty hard. I doubted they had as much as they needed.
What supplies were available to them? Who was working on this? How did they know for sure that the Xathi are sensitive to smells?
“I can see the crazy wheels turning in her head,” Axtin muttered.
I resisted the urge to throw the data pad at him. He was right, anyway. My mind was whirling, and it felt amazing.
Another thought struck me…
If the people in Duvest were able to send these notes, then they had network access. There was a chance, albeit a small one, that I could recover my own research notes from their lab. And if their lab was as good as I hoped it was, I could remain in Duvest to work on finding a cure.
“I’d be happy to help.” I smiled at General Rouhr. He blinke
d once, the only indication that he was surprised by my quick response.
“Excellent,” he responded. “I’ll send a message back telling them to expect you. Jeneva?”
Jeneva pulled out a map of the region and laid it flat on the table.
“I took the liberty of marking out the quickest and safest way to get there,” she explained. She swiped a hand over the map, and a three-dimensional holograph grid rose up between us. A glowing blue line snaked across the map, marking my theoretical path.
“This way avoids any known animal breeding grounds, environmental instabilities, and other hazards,” Jeneva continued.
Though I didn’t know much about her, I knew she lived in the wilds of the forest alone for an impossibly long time. I had enough good sense to take her word for it when it came to matters of survival.
“That doesn’t look too bad,” I ventured.
Duvest wasn’t as far away as I’d thought it was. If I stuck with Jeneva’s path, I’d be fine.
Besides, I wasn’t completely helpless out in the forest. I’d managed to track down Mariella in the dingy backwater she’d been living in.
Before I could stop myself, I imagined what it might have been like if I hadn’t decided to find her.
Would the aliens have found her? Would she even be alive now? Would I even be alive now?
I forced my mind to go quiet. Making room for those thoughts wouldn’t do me any favors.
Mariella was alive. I was alive. That’s all that mattered.
“I think it’ll take the two of you a little more than a day to get to Duvest,” Jeneva went on, completely unaware of how quickly my heart was beating.
“Two?” I asked, almost missing what Jeneva said.
“You didn’t think we were going to send you out there alone, did you?” Vrehx chimed in, his brow furrowed in what might have been true concern…or maybe he just thought I was stupid. It was hard to tell with him.
“She wouldn’t last an hour out there alone,” Axtin scoffed, folding his arms across his broad chest.
I wasn’t keen on making that trek alone, but now I wanted to show that arrogant prick I could.
“You’re right,” General Rouhr agreed. I bristled before I noticed something like amusement gleaming in his eyes. “That’s why you’ll be going with her.”
“What?” Axtin and I blurted at the same time.
“He’ll get us killed before the Vengeance is even out of sight!” I exclaimed.
That moron sought out a fight whenever he got the chance. He’d lead me right into a den of some awful, poison-spitting monster just for the fun of it.
“I want both of you ready to depart within the hour,” General Rouhr commanded, completely ignoring our protests. “Dismissed.”
2
Axtin
Great. I have to play babysitter. So be it.
My thoughts about this whole thing ranged from joy at being able to do something again and pure hatred at the idea that I was playing bodyguard to this…female.
Srell.
I took the slow way down to the armory, not wanting to give her the satisfaction of thinking that I rushed on her account. I punched in my code and took in a deep breath of that beautiful aroma.
How I wish they’d just let me sleep in here. Why won’t they allow me to keep more than a blaster in my personal quarters? I mean, I understand the need to keep an accurate inventory and all, but dammit, why can’t I keep my toys with me? Huh? What’s so bad about that?
I looked around at what was easily my second favorite room, right behind the training facility.
To my left were the blasters, rifles, Tu’ver’s personal sniper rifles, our ever-dwindling stash of grenades and smoke bombs, and some hand-to-hand weapons. The wall in front of me was where the packs and survival gear were kept.
I went there first, ignoring my little corner to the right. I grabbed two packs and loaded them with rations, ammunition, sleep packs, and med kits. Thinking about how small Leena was, I took more of the ammo and rations, giving myself the heavier pack.
Making sure I didn’t forget anything, I turned to my corner.
Oh, the memories and toys!
I’m not like Tu’ver. I don’t have built-in augmentations like his people do. But I did like the idea of being augmented when necessary.
Wonder if I need any of them now…
I spent a few minutes trying to decide if I needed my augments or not, then decided to just grab weapons and go. I grabbed my three blasters, strapping one to my left hip, one to my right hip, and the other behind my back. Then I grabbed my rifle, double-checking it and leaning it against the packs, and then I reached for my pride and joy.
She was a work of art, handmade over hundreds of hours, thousands of tiny changes to make her just right, and dozens upon dozens of designs and alloy combinations to get the weight exactly the way it was.
I loved my hammer. It was massive, even I needed both hands to wield her. She had cost me a fortune just finding the right metals that were both lightweight and super strong.
Her handle was wrapped in a combination of Tyit leather and a Skotan fabric, giving me a super tight grip no matter how sweaty or bloody my hands get. She was the perfect close-range weapon against the Xathi. I could crack one of those bastards open with a single swing.
I put on the special harness I had made for her, then strapped her to my back.
I need to name you one of these days, I thought as I grabbed a sonic-net and a thigh-pack of grenades.
I made sure to double-check everything again just to make sure before I headed down to the cargo bay we were using to leave the ship.
There she was, waiting impatiently for me. When she saw me, she gave me this hurry up look, then stomped over towards the bay door, ignoring her sister as she passed by her.
Hmm, not that I care, but I wonder why she’s ignoring her now after she was so insistent on staying with her before.
I caught up to her, handing her pack to her as I walked by to open the door.
We walked out, the door closed behind us, and we headed out. It was excruciating walking in silence—I couldn’t stand it.
“Why didn’t you say goodbye to your sister?” I asked, trying to break the ice.
Oh, the look she flashed me. If we could weaponize that look, the war with the Xathi would be over faster than we could process the idea.
“What does it matter to you?” she answered, obviously annoyed.
I could surmise that I had angered the female. “Honestly? It doesn’t. I was just trying to make small talk.”
“Well, you failed…miserably.” You think? “Not that it’s any of your business, but there’s no point in saying goodbye to someone you’re going to see again anyway.”
“Okay,” I said, putting my hands up to show that I was harmless. She stormed on ahead, leaving me to catch up. As I caught up to her, she looked me up and down, making me wonder if she was sizing me up for approval or not.
“So, why aren’t you wearing that…that…disguise thing that you people have?”
“I don’t need it.”
“What the hell do you mean that you don’t need it?”
I flashed her my sweetest smile and tried to put on a nonchalant face. “The whole planet is covered in different life forms, and your kind need to get used to the idea. That’s why I don’t need it. Besides, the people of…”
I tried to remember the name of the city we were going to. I was a little embarrassed by the fact that I couldn’t remember the place. I was never good with names.
“Duvest,” she said in a very mocking tone.
“Yeah. The people of Duvest already know about us anyway, so there’s even less need to use it there.”
I watched as she thought about this, then she shrugged and turned her back to me and started walking.
Hmm, not bad.
I shook my head, bit back a smile, and followed after her. We had barely been walking twenty minutes when she became a major p
ain in my rumpus.
She was stomping around, or at least it looked like she was stomping. She didn’t bother being cautious of where she was walking, seemingly snapping every single twig, branch, and stick that was on the entire forest trail.
I was cringing at every snap, every crack, and every curse coming from ahead of me. Enough was enough. I had to say something.
“Excuse me… Um…excuse me? Miss no-sense-of-danger-or-understanding-the-need-for-quiet? Can we not step on every single branch in the forest or make an unreasonable amount of noise? Everything on your planet wants to kill everything else, and now the Xathi are here as well. So if you don’t mind, I’d really like to not have to fight everything there is at every step.”
I should have realized the mistake I made as soon as I started speaking, but I didn’t.
“Excuse the shit out of me?” Her voice started to get a little higher with each word. “You’ve been on this rock only a short time, whereas I’ve been here my whole damn life. Don’t you dare presume to tell me when I should and shouldn’t be careful. Right now, we’re nowhere near the dangerous parts of the forest. And as for your damn Xathi, that’s what you’re here for, isn’t it?”
Srell, this woman was an aggravation, but she had a spirit that fit my people. She would have been a fine Valorni.
“Well? Isn’t that why you’re here? To be my bodyguard and fight off the monsters?” she asked.
“Yes. Yes, I am. Now, as your bodyguard, I suggest walking a bit quieter, a bit nicer, and maybe keeping an eye out around you for anything. With us and the Xathi here, this might not be a safe part of the forest anymore,” I retorted.