by Voxley, Vi
"What happened?" she asked.
Sota looked pale, his features clouded with concern.
"The Clayors have left their system and are moving on the Union's worlds everywhere," he said. "They've declared open war on us."
Aria breathed out, straightening herself and nodded solemnly. "We expected them to do that, didn't we? I spoke to the Palians only a few days ago, they informed me the border patrols around the hive planets are reporting activity."
"Yes," Sota agreed. "The aggression itself isn't a surprise."
"What is then?" Aria asked.
The man glared, but the frustration wasn't aimed at her.
"The numbers. Either Palians can't count, which is unlikely, or those bastards somehow tricked us. They're everywhere, Aria. We estimated the might of their armies to be well within the limits of our capabilities. It turns out we're ridiculously outmatched."
"What do they even want?" Aria asked, looking over her small replica of the Union's domain. "They have worlds to spare."
"We're not sure," Sota admitted. "Slaves, possibly. Our harvest worlds. To destroy us and rule free. Who knows? They haven't given any demands yet."
"So what did the council decide?" Aria asked, with no small amount of bitterness.
She was still feeling very sore at not being allowed to the council's main sessions. They let her participate in smaller councils, more to do with her field of expertise—which was great—but her pride was wounded. She couldn’t wait for the trial period to be over and done with, but at this rate there would be no Galactic Union to work for when the time came.
"You're not going to like this," Sota said. "So I warn you in advance, this is not negotiable."
That says it all. Damn those fools!
"You called them," she stated simply.
"We had no other choice," Sota said, restlessly pacing around the room, his hands clasped behind his back like he was prone to do when upset. "Brions are the only ones with firepower to match the Clayors. And they want to do this. War is what they do. I don't think we could hold them back if we tried. What is wrong with them finally being useful? Defending the Union borders? It's why we allowed them in the Union in the first place."
Something dark snapped to attention in Aria. She didn't like the Brions. They were a militaristic, bloody species with a temper to match. Recently they showed willingness to purge their reputation, but they had yet to win her trust. That did not mean she agreed with Sota.
The Union was created for the purpose of uniting all the species in the known universe under one leadership, so they could all benefit from it. Everyone was to be treated equally as a member, like all the rest.
Sota implying that Brions were taken into the fold merely for the purpose of protection clawed on her sense of justice. As much as she distrusted them, Aria refused to see a whole species as cannon fodder for times when the Union found itself in trouble.
"They're untrustworthy," she finally said, but in her heart Aria knew there was little point in arguing.
"We'll hold them to their word," Sota said. "This is their chance to prove they've learned from the past."
That was also true.
"Very well," Aria said, turning away. "Let them do as they wish. But I don't want anything to do with them."
"That is not possible, I'm afraid," Sota said.
What?
"The council has chosen you as our representative," the other ambassador went on to explain. "Before you yell at me, we have reasons. You speak Brionese. You have knowledge of Ilotra and its defenses—you even helped design a few.
"And, if I might add, we need a person who won't back down from confrontation, and I know you won't. We really think you could be of great help to the general."
No. Just, no.
"A general," Aria said finally.
"Yes," Sota sighed. "We asked the Brions to send us an adviser. They seem to think Ilotra itself will come under attack, so they dispatched one of their generals."
"And you want me to talk to him. Aid him."
"Basically, yes. And keep an eye on him. As you said, we can't trust them."
"He's a Brion. If I disagree with him, he'll bite my head off," Aria protested, her insides twisting.
"I sincerely doubt that."
"Comforting."
"I mean it," Sota said, a little sharply. "They are barbaric, but they have a code. Brions take pride in hard-fought victories. That's why they're almost glad for this. No offense, but I don't think any of them want your head in their trophy room."
"They have trophy rooms."
"Yes, they're a big part of their—"
"I know what they are, Sota," Aria said tiredly. "I was saying that as a general comment about why this whole thing is such a colossally bad idea."
The other ambassador nodded, giving her a thin smile.
"Amusing, as always. But we are in a bad place. Do as we ask of you, Aria, and when this is all done, we'll welcome you into our fold properly with open arms. Do this and we'll grant you the rights of a full-fledged ambassador."
CHAPTER THREE
Ryden
The voices fell silent as he approached.
Ryden was not surprised in the slightest. In fact, it was the only pleasing thing about the whole affair. At least the bastards had the grace and wit to be scared out of their minds of him. That was good. It would save him the trouble of explaining later when he was standing over their useless, bloodless corpses.
He hadn't fought so hard to get to where he was so they could undo it all in one moment.
The task they were appointing to him was not what he'd had in mind for his first act as a general. It needed to be something flashy and glorious instead of what they wanted him to do. The senators thought he would simply roll over and obey because he was young, and in their minds that meant untested.
Ryden scowled. They should have known better, the High Senator at least. Eleya had been a general. After three duels to the death, she surely remembered that in the ranks of the Brion armies, no one got promoted. They took the position they wanted or paid for their mistake with their lives.
No officer in the armies was untested. It meant...
He felt the corners of his lips twitch upward when he marched past the bodyguards.
Not as stupid as I thought.
Apparently the senators did guess that his mood would be sour when he came to accept his new assignment.
Only it wasn't an assignment. It was exile, no matter the words they used to distract from the true purpose.
Rows upon rows of armed-to-the-teeth bodyguards surrounded the great meeting hall where the senators gathered. Ryden didn't spare any of them a look, but they definitely kept an eye on him.
His feelings toward them were complicated. They were Brions like him, the greatest warriors ever born in the galaxy. The valor squares on their necks, pulsing threateningly when he approached, showed that quite a few were accomplished fighters.
It made no difference to him. All it meant was that they could maybe go a few rounds with him before their inevitable defeat.
When he stepped into the meeting hall, all noise ceased completely. All eyes were on him.
General Ryden had assumed his rank very recently. He'd barely finished receiving congratulations when the message from the senators had called him down to the surface of Briolina.
His hands were matted with dried blood. The huge battle spear mounted across his broad back was still colored crimson with it, an idle drop rolling down the blade. When it hit the floor, Ryden was sure every single man and woman in the room heard it. General Hagen had put up a fight after all.
He must have been quite a sight to see. After several moments, not even High Senator Eleya had said a word to break the tense silence. He saw his image on the holoprojectors, broadcasting the meeting to senators who were attending from somewhere else on Briolina, stony-faced and silent as they were.
The man standing in the doorway looked threatening, as he shoul
d. The general observed the gathered senators from under dark, pitch-black strands of hair falling over his flashing green eyes. He was watching his holo-twin do the same, breathing heavily, still worn from the fight. Wide, powerful shoulders hunched, broad chest heaving, dressed in a captain's uniform that he'd never put on again. Even so, he towered over everyone in the hall, a warrior born and raised.
The fight had left him exhausted, but he refused to let it show. No duel for the position of a Brion general was ever easy. If it would have been so, the leadership would have been battled over every other day. And Hagen hadn't even been old, merely older.
He'd expected... well, not praise. Brions assumed that when you were good enough, you didn't need to be told you were. What he'd presumed was acknowledgment of some kind, not a fool's task that no one in his stead would have accepted.
Only a single person in the hall dared to look him straight in the eye. With an amused smirk, Ryden noticed that the woman was the only one not to have a protective shield of bodyguards around her. She was the lone person there he didn't immediately hate. High Senator Eleya had a reputation, and he guessed she would have cut out the tongue of the first person to suggest she needed protection.
She was the one to break the silence, her voice at once cold and menacing.
"General Ryden," she said through gritted teeth. "You have some nerve. You were summoned to appear before us as the new commander of the Conqueror. Not still dripping with the blood of the former general."
Ryden smirked, hearing that. He cracked his neck, standing up straighter, baring his teeth in a feral grin. His voice was hoarse when he spoke, rough from the cut in his throat. It had almost ended his life.
"This is what a general looks like," he said. "Perhaps you have forgotten, High Senator."
Several emotions warred on High Senator Eleya's face. There was the immediate anger, marking her as a born warrior. But there was amusement as well, knowing he spoke the truth. And bitterness at not being able to taste the thrill anymore, the intensity that only came from living on the edge. Being a general was a gift and a curse. It was a prize every warrior fought for, but it quickly turned to ashes in their hands when they had to start fighting to keep their position.
"I don't object to your victory," Eleya said, glaring at him. "I'm merely pointing out you're disrespecting the man you succeeded."
All the while, the other senators were quietly trying to find their seats without drawing attention. Ryden noticed that. It pleased him to see them grovel in fear. As they should, after all the troubles they'd brought upon Briolina. Even Brions thought twice before angering their generals, who were not known for being a forgiving group.
"I am not," Ryden snarled, emotions high from his victory. "I am honoring his legacy by showing the victory was hard won. He was a great commander, a tradition I mean to continue. Which is why this task is a joke. One I demand that you change."
The High Senator's eyes got even colder, if that were possible. She rose from her seat at the center of the room. Eleya was a tall woman, dark-haired and still fit. Unlike the other senators, she had the long line of valor squares going up her lean neck, implanted to speak of her victories and glories. Yet even as a warrior, she had to crane her neck a bit to look Ryden in the eye.
"You demand nothing," she said with emphasis. "You were given a task, General Ryden. You will do your duty."
"It is beneath me," Ryden replied coldly. " I need to be on the front line, in the thick of fighting to show my warriors I'm fit to lead. Not sitting in some war council like a politician!"
Eleya regarded him, her eyes flashing. Ryden knew he'd struck a nerve, but it wasn't his priority to spare her feelings. Even the Galactic Union couldn't summon him like a common serf.
"I'd already decided to send General Hagen," Eleya said, taking hold of her temper. "Since you killed him, you inherit everything he left behind. Including his duties."
"I am not the same man."
"That's why I'm not sending you for the same reasons," the High Senator snapped. "The Galactic Union is under serious threat. After years of bad blood, we finally have a chance to show them what we are capable of. To wage war, like we are born to do. The Union looks to us. But they need someone there to oversee things."
"Don't lecture me on war," Ryden growled. "I know what is needed and what is not. I see no merit in going. We belong in the battle."
"This is a big war," Eleya said, barely concealed venom tinting her words. He was trying her patience and Ryden had no desire to stop doing so. "There are many factions and many battlefields. It needs a coordinator. No one knows war like Brions do. You said it yourself."
"I did," Ryden said. "It doesn't mean I volunteered for the job."
"It's a good thing then that I don't have to ask for your opinion in the matter."
Ryden moved so fast none of the other senators even saw him charging. The muted, shocked gasps of surprise and outrage only echoed after the dust had settled. Their bodyguards came closer, but Eleya waved them off. She was awkwardly bent backward over her senatorial seat, Ryden's spear inches from her throat. Her own was lying on the ground, knocked out of her grip.
There was no fear in her eyes. Ryden understood that much. Brion generals didn't listen to anyone who cowered from them, and Eleya knew this as well as he did.
"I think you find that you do," he hissed at the High Senator. "I will not watch this war happening on a holoprojector because you think I can be manipulated."
Eleya scowled at him, quite a feat for someone inches away from dying in a very unpleasant way.
"Do you honestly think I'm sending you because I'm petty?" she asked furiously. "I'm sending you because I think you are needed there."
"There is nothing to do," Ryden said. "It is a job for an administrator, not a warrior. I will go where my skills are truly needed. The council of the Galactic Union isn't it."
"It is," Eleya said, trying to control her breathing. "The Clayors have made threats against the council itself. If you would have let me explain, I would have said so. It's not just the planning, General. I'm sending you to defend Ilotra."
That... that was something else. Unsure if he was being toyed with, Ryden pulled back. Eleya sat up, rubbing her scratched throat, coughing. Some of the other senators had fled, but that was to be expected. The bodyguards were still there, though, ready to try to take him into custody at any moment if told to do so.
Eleya ordered them to stay put. Ryden knew that after being on the verge of civil war, Eleya was doing her best not to let another quarrel between senators and generals to break out. Ryden himself would have gladly welcomed the attempt, even if he was tired from his duel. A Brion warrior never missed the chance to hone their skills, and frankly, he doubted he’d get more than a light warm-up from those assembled if things got that far.
It was also the reason the name Ilotra changed things.
The fortress of Ilotra was the home of the GU's main council. It was a construction unlike any other in the galaxy. Initially a companion to the gigantic gas planet Ilo, several hundred years after its discovery it had transformed completely. The fortress now covered the companion moon entirely, forming a half-artificial, half-celestial symbiosis. It was immense, serving as a central point to politics, trade, and everything else that the Galactic Union controlled.
No serious attempt had ever been made to attack a fully operational Ilotra, but the way Ryden saw it, the Clayors were just mad enough to try. And possibly mad enough to succeed. His kind of enemy.
It wasn't in the nature of Brions to be the defending side, but that was a different matter completely.
"Why me?" he asked, relaxing his body like a big cat after pouncing, like attacking the High Senator was something that he took little to no notice of.
"Again, you're not happy," she shot back at him, glaring, supporting herself on her seat.
Happiness serves no purpose, he thought dryly.
That may have been a justified comment, t
hough, Ryden figured. Perhaps he had overreacted in his disappointed fury. All generals wanted to immediately distinguish themselves. How else would they assert authority over thousands of bloodthirsty killers in their new command? To hear he was to babysit a bunch of bureaucrats had tested his temper.
"Interested, this time," he said, hoping Eleya didn't need more to see he was being truthful.
Luckily, the High Senator wasn't one to hold a grudge. Luckily for her, that was, if one were to ask Ryden.
"I think you can do it," she said. "We need someone on Ilotra who can whip those lazy bastards into shape. Someone who can immediately react to new dangers. I trust you to be able to do that, to defend the whole moon."
"You flatter me," Ryden growled. "I asked for a real answer."
"I do," Eleya admitted. "Doesn't mean I don't believe it. I'm giving you a chance to prove yourself beyond anyone's expectations. And you have the support of your fellow generals."
That was surprising. Ryden had only been a general for an hour, counting the time clearing the senate room of the rats and the men barely worthy of being called Brion. When did Eleya have a chance to consult the others? But of course news like that traveled at the speed of light.
"Really," he said, disbelief muddling his words and a wry smirk playing on his lips. "I doubt Faren or Diego Grothan would be thrilled to leave all the glory to someone else."
The High Senator grinned at him, smiling like only Brion warriors did.
"I assure you," she said. "Those were their exact words. 'That arrogant prick will do it,' General Faren said, 'or we will achieve a decisive victory cleaning up his incompetence.' Diego Grothan merely laughed."
Ryden nodded, recognizing the attitudes of the two most feared Brion generals immediately. He didn't feel bad; on the contrary, it might have seemed morbid, but Brions took life simply and rationally. In their stead, he would have said much the same. Coming from the only two men he could say he begrudgingly respected, simple recognition was high praise.