by Voxley, Vi
She wanted to say something, confess at least part of what she felt, but didn't get the chance. Suddenly, the general looked very serious.
"Don't you hear that?" he asked, growling.
Aria listened. Other than the collapse still settling and noises coming from afar, there was nothing.
"No, I—"
"Exactly," Ryden said, turning to look at the hangar. "I don't hear the generator."
Aria took off running toward the sealed-off hangar, where she could see out of the fortress. And there she could see it with her own eyes. There was no shield.
Ilotra was defenseless.
CHAPTER TWENTY
Ryden
The silence was as deafening as the noise.
Every warrior knew that in the heat of battle, there were moments when a man couldn't spare a single second to look around. All that mattered was to keep moving until it was safe to stop.
Ryden knew was that a general had to take that moment even when every second counted.
The valor squares on his neck pulsed furiously, his blood roaring for battle, demanding revenge. The walls of the hangar were red in their glow, flickering, broadcasting his mood to anyone who was watching. His com link was demanding his attention and Aria was standing beside him, speechless. Her beautiful blue eyes were filled with tears—not ones of despair, but of simple sadness at the destruction she was witnessing.
The general could understand, but not relate. It wasn't in his nature to be miserable, to focus on the downside. Every emotion he felt sharpened instead into a cutting, deadly purpose.
Looking around, the general took in what had happened after the Clayor hive mind had tricked them. That was unfortunate, but he valued seeing the Host's abilities more than a few hallways.
It would have been different if Aria had been harmed. Ryden wouldn't have been able to see the upside, the benefit of that. The little Terran's death would have been a real cause for misery and even that was an understatement.
The hangar was a mess. Most of his warriors had returned, but the collapse of the hallways had claimed some lives. The bubble was down, as was the generator's shield. The generator itself was broken beyond repair, meaning that Ilotra's main defense was out of the picture. Almost all of the hallways and structures around the hangar were collapsed. Some were sealed off by the emergency doors, signaling that the outer walls had been breached.
Above his head, the space around Ilotra was teeming with life. Fighters dashed by, smaller ships trying to get out of their way. There were no Clayor ships yet, but Ryden had no doubt about what was causing the confusion.
The hive mind was making its move. The moment it had chosen to reveal its forces hit them at their most vulnerable. Ryden needed a single glance to see the other three fleets were in disarray, missing a united leadership. Even with superior firepower, a confused army was easy pickings for the enemy.
All of that was clear to him in a few seconds. He was feeling calm like in the eye of a storm. He grinned. That was his place, right in the middle of complete chaos.
He turned to his own warriors first, who were quickly making their way back to him after the attack.
"Secure the location," he ordered. "Find out what happened here, whether it was another explosive or something crashed into us."
His men hastened to obey while Ryden opened his com link to the Conqueror.
"Captain Hastien," he said to his second-in-command. "Report."
"General," the warship's bridge responded at once.
Ryden could hear the relief in the man's voice, but the captain knew him better than to descend into sentiment when there wasn't time to waste.
"It's the Clayors. The Union and the allied fleets are engaging. So far the enemy is taking heavy casualties, but they are many. If more come, we might be beaten back. Should the Conqueror move to meet the Clayors, sir?"
"No," Ryden said at once. "Send the flotilla. Ilotra's shield is down. Your only goal is to stop the enemy from reaching the moon. I want that made very clear. The defenses have to hold. The flagship will stay where it is. In the case of any danger, I want it between the enemy and Ilotra."
"Yes, General."
"One more thing. Send word to the allied fleets. The command ships are not to break formation from Ilotra. Tell them to send their smaller vessels, but the main force must stay to protect the fortress."
The bridge gave him an affirmative and the link went silent. Ryden opened it again, this time to Ilotra's own command center.
"The shield is down," he said before the commanding officer could speak. "Ilotra's security patrols and all the personal guards to the ambassadors have only one task now. Evacuate deeper into the fortress, keep the civilians away from the upper levels. Go as deep as you can. Only essential technical crew is to remain."
"Yes, General," the center responded. "Should we join you after the evacuation?"
"No," Ryden said. "You are to stay with the people. Brions will handle the fighting, but you must be prepared to engage the enemy. Make no mistake, they will be here before this day is over."
There. He'd set things in motion now and all he had to do was make sure they proceeded as he'd commanded. Ryden had no illusions about the fight to come. There were a lot of Clayor vessels; some of them were bound to slip through the blockade. Ilotra would come under attack very soon and it was up to him to defend it.
He would find and kill the Host and hope that Ilotra survived until he did. That depended on the people around him. Ryden trusted in himself and his warriors without question, but he doubted Stavor was going to jump to obey his orders like a good boy.
Only after all of that did he turn to Aria, to find the little Terran looking at him wide-eyed. There was a change there, something he couldn't figure out. No fear of him, no recoil, merely... relief?
That was understandable. The Brions were finally given the fight they'd wanted, a chance to prove themselves. She had to be glad they were protecting Ilotra.
In the midst of all the things he had to keep an eye on, Ryden only found one issue troubling. He hesitated, looking at Aria, so beautiful and so fragile. He knew there was strength in her, but she wasn't a warrior.
"Ambassador," he said. "You might be safer with the others down on Ilotra's lower levels."
Aria shook her head at once.
"I will not go," she protested. "I've already spent days without knowing what was going on. I want to be here. I want to help. Don't send me away, General."
That answer both gladdened and concerned him. Ryden nodded, conceding.
"Very well," he said. "But I urge you to stay near my warriors at all times. And when the enemy arrives, you must hide."
Aria nodded, but the general could see the hesitation in her. Not fear; on the contrary. He suspected she would not run from the danger, but instead still attempt to do her part. If it were a Brion showing those qualities, he'd have been proud to command someone so brave. Aria's willingness to put herself in danger, however, only made him more intent to never let her out of his sight.
He pointed to the generator.
"Is there no backup to that?" he asked.
"No," Aria said, sighing. "Nothing nearly powerful enough. I kept telling them they needed one, but it was said to be useless. We'd never had a real threat."
"Redirecting power?"
Aria looked out of the hole in the hangar wall, up into the space above them where they could see ships moving out to battle the enemy.
"Not in time to be useful," she said quietly. "It would take weeks. Weeks under normal circumstances, with a trained crew."
"Very well," Ryden said calmly.
Aria turned to him, frowning a bit. "You took that very well."
The general looked at her, standing there feeling bad for not being able to generate power to shield an entire moon. He noticed his voice softened around her, taking on a reaffirming tone.
"I do not ask for miracles," he said. "If it can't be done, I will find another way
to protect Ilotra."
She regarded him, an unbelieving yet confident look in her eyes. As if she was willing him to give her the faith she lacked.
"How?" Aria asked, smiling hopelessly. "The bubble is gone."
"Yes," he said. "It does not mean we've lost."
"Only that it will be a thousand times more difficult to win."
Ryden grinned.
"Yes," he confirmed.
A small smile played on Aria's lips. "You are happy for that," she said. "This is what you wanted."
The general didn't miss the note of concern in her voice.
"It is. It is finally a battle I know how to fight. This is how I'll win."
"I believe you."
There was a spark of mischief in her eyes. Ryden found himself radiating to that, to the inner light that kept burning even in the worst circumstances. The beautiful Terran with the perfect body and a matching mind. He longed to have her as his own. She called to him, called with a passion, but not with the fated bond. He didn't understand it. Brions were brought up to believe their gods didn't make mistakes. The general had never doubted them, but Aria made him question their wisdom.
"You remind me of a Terran general," Aria said as his warriors returned and led them to a secure walkway. "He was fighting a battle and it wasn't going that well. So he sent a message to the others. It said: 'My center is giving way, my right is retreating, situation excellent, I am attacking.' It sounds like you, General."
Ryden turned to her, his eyes alight. Normally he didn't appreciate being compared to mere humans, but that man sounded like someone he'd have wanted to meet.
"I like him," he growled.
"I figured you might," Aria said.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Aria
It was the war, messing with her head. It had to be.
There was no other explanation, Aria thought, to her behaving so irrationally. In the mere week she'd known Ryden, she kept jumping from hating everything he stood for to admiring him at the same time.
Not to mention jumping in his bed.
Yes, now there was the fucking involved too.
Great going, approved her mind. Right in the middle of an intergalactic conflict, you find a way to create personal drama.
Aria scowled at that voice in her head. It was an annoying part of her that was usually right. The rational, easily contemplative part that right now was telling her to stop thinking of Ryden as a man and start helping him save Ilotra.
Easier said than done.
The general hadn't left her side since the collapsing hallway. Aria wondered if he'd felt the terrible threat of dying as keenly as she had. Honestly, she doubted it. Brions didn't consider dying an option until it was literally happening to them right at the moment. Through all of it, Ryden had assured her that they'd be fine, that he'd save them both.
Aria would have given a lot to know if he'd said it simply to make their last moments alive easier or if he'd really been that confident in the face of tons of rocks.
The latter, she thought. Don't they say Brions are capable of delaying death simply by refusing to die?
That brought a small smile to her lips. It was an ancient anecdote about the Brions, one that she wouldn't necessarily repeat to just anyone. They tended to take it as an insult to their abilities, saying there was no honor in simply surviving.
They really were a unique species, Aria concluded. Nothing about them was normal or rational, everything was over the top, but it worked. Apparently it also worked on her, because there she was, hopelessly attracted to Ryden despite still being plagued by doubts about his intentions. They were disappearing like snow in the sun, though. From the moment the general had set his foot on Ilotra, Aria had waited for the disaster, but it didn't come. She definitely wouldn't have done everything exactly the same, but not the opposite either.
His words before had changed something, that was for sure. Did the general mean it? Would he really endanger his flagship to protect Ilotra? Aria couldn't believe it. The Brions protected the flagships almost as much as their home planet Briolina. The Union's council actually thought they could no longer produce the ships, that the technology to replace them was lost.
High above them, the Conqueror loomed over the moon-fortress. Its master was standing right beside Aria, almost elbow-to-elbow with her, seemingly unwilling to let her move away from him. He had been giving commands for a full ten minutes now, trying to hold the situation under control.
And he was doing it. Aria had no idea how, but so far Ilotra remained relatively untouched, even without the shield.
That brought her back to the thing that had been bothering her ever since seeing the broken generator.
"General," she said carefully, knowing better than to interrupt him.
She had to wait a minute until Ryden could spare the second to look toward her, his stormy green eyes warning that her words better be important.
Aria chose to cut straight to the point.
"Someone dropped the shield for the Host," she said.
Ryden's expression changed at once. Before, he'd looked on edge, tense with holding Ilotra's defenses together by sheer force of character. Aria had heard the Koliar commander Stavor barking his discontent at him. Ryden had coldly told the warlord to obey his commands or come and voice his concerns in person. Stavor hadn't.
But hearing her words, the general turned furious. Aria almost backed away, even if she knew for a fact she wasn't in danger. Not from Ryden, at least.
"You are sure?" the general snarled.
"Yes," Aria nodded. "It makes sense. If the Host knew how to disable the generator's shield, it would have done so three days ago. I would have been useless to it then. It didn't know and it couldn't breach it on its own. It had to be someone else."
"The traitor," Ryden grit through his teeth.
The general turned to the officer by the control console. "Were the cameras still functional in the hangar during the last attack?"
The officer hastened to obey, bringing up images. Aria saw Ryden watching the playback grimly, seeing him duel the Host, then disappearing from sight. In a glimpse, Aria even saw herself, retreating away from the battle. She bit her lip in regret. If she'd have stayed, maybe she could have stopped whoever had betrayed Ilotra. Bitterly, she shook her head. Aria didn't need anyone telling her she didn't have the might to stop...
Another figure appeared before the camera, hidden beneath a hood. Ryden bent closer to see better, but it was almost impossible to make out the identity of the person who walked straight to the generator's console. And dropped the shield. They all saw him escaping before Ryden and Aria returned, and they saw the Host leaving too.
"Too small to be a Clayor," the officer said. "Too small for most of the species here."
Aria couldn't say a word. She simply stood, dumbfounded, staring at the monitors long after there was anything of significance to see. Ryden examined her, his powerful bulk towering over her suddenly.
"Tell me," he said quietly, with menace.
Aria looked up into his merciless, cold eyes. She swallowed back the shame she felt, but the looming guilt didn't go down that easily. She knew quite well what the general had in store for the traitors. All she could think of was whether he'd add her to the list.
"I know it was a human," Ryden said, his voice dark and threatening. "And you know who it was. I can see that plain as day. Tell me now, while I'm still prepared to believe you had nothing to do with this."
"You'll kill h... them."
"Him, yes."
Aria glared. "If you know who it is, why do you need me to say it? I don't want to deal a death sentence like this, I don't..."
Ryden cut her off smoothly.
"I understand you want to protect your fellow human, Ambassador. That is all the understanding I'm willing to give."
The look in his eyes told Aria quite clearly he wasn't joking. She thought of the man who had first welcomed her to Ilotra. She didn't deny sh
e had no warm feelings toward him, but Aria had seen Ryden in action. It was not a death she wished upon anyone.
Only, Ryden was right. The traitor in their midst had possibly killed them all. He deserved it.
The traitor. A human.
Ryden's eyes were burning, warning her to speak before it was too late.
"Ambassador Sota," Aria said, forcing her voice to be strong.
Ryden didn't react in any way she'd predicted. The general didn't growl in fury, nor did he nod knowingly. He simply looked at her, his gaze holding her frozen in place.
"You must be certain," was all he said.
"I am," Aria replied quietly. "Please don't make him suffer."
Ryden tilted his head, a sneer on his lips. His stance was threatening, a creature of violence held at bay only by force of will.
"Why?" he asked, growling. "He betrayed Ilotra, you, everyone here. He deserves to die."
"Maybe," Aria shot back. "But it can be quick. Painless."
The look Ryden gave her was almost hurt, if she could believe he was capable of the emotion.
"That he does not deserve."
"I can't stop you," Aria said defiantly. "All I can do is voice my plea."
A small growl escaped Ryden's throat. The general was suddenly so close to her she could feel his broad chest rise and fall against her gown.
"Your plea is heard," he said, his voice so low and deep Aria barely heard the words through the growl.
Then he turned and walked away from her, leaving Aria struggling to find words that could stop him.
"It will still be death," she called after him, desperation marring her voice.
Ryden stopped and looked back at her. Aria backed away under the intensity of his gaze, but she refused to give in. For some reason, she needed him to show mercy. So far Aria had approved of the general's doings, compromising her own beliefs about freedom and order. She had stood by as Ryden killed dozens of enemies, but all of them were warriors. They had weapons in hand.