by Voxley, Vi
When Ryden leaned forward to capture her lips, Aria gave in.
So did the ceiling, when a missile struck home right on top of the command center.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Ryden
Aria was shaking with fury beside him, looking at the destroyed control center with sorrow and horror.
It was quite a miracle they were still alive. The outer wall far above their heads had held, but the ceiling of the control center itself had been weakened by the bombardment. A huge plate had been dislodged and crashed down upon the room.
There were hands protruding from under the wreckage. Ryden saw Aria's eyes fixed upon them and gently turned her away.
He'd managed to save them, but only barely. At the last possible second, he'd heard the ceiling shift. There had been no thinking, no contemplation. The shield on his wrist wouldn't have held against such an impact, not this time. At best it would have broken his arm, at worst it wouldn't have been able to cover them both. So he did the only thing he could. He'd lifted Aria into his arms and thrown them both out of harm's way.
Yes, it had been a miracle, but that was not what was bothering him.
"That wasn't a Clayor bomb," he growled angrily.
Aria stared at him, a puzzled look on her face, but Ryden was already opening his com link.
"Why are the Koliar shooting at Ilotra?" he demanded so sharply Aria winced.
"We don't know, General," the bridge replied, the confusion plain in the officer's voice. "Commander Stavor won't answer any of our messages. The last communication from him said that he was coming down to Ilotra. The flagship is taking aim again, sir."
Ryden cursed in Brionese. He knew Stavor, or at least he knew of men like him. They weren't traitors, but they were simple, and simple men were easy prey for the hive mind. If his suspicions were true, the worst had happened. At least the Koliar ships didn't have weapons as great as the Conqueror did.
He considered letting his own flagship deal with Stavor, but decided against it. The Conqueror was busy shooting down every Clayor ship that stood in its way. Ilotra would just have to take the Koliar ship's rage until he could find Stavor and put an end to it.
"Locate Stavor," he ordered.
So the hive mind had taken another victim. That was troubling. Ryden had expected better from Stavor, but it showed the Host's desperation. News was pouring in from all over the galaxy. Slowly but surely the Union with the Brions on the front line were putting an end to the Clayors' attack.
It wasn't exactly good news. The hive mind knew it only had one chance to win and no more. To make it realize it was ultimately futile was only to make it reckless. That meant people would die and Ilotra would pay the price for the hive mind's failure. Ryden swore he wouldn't let it happen. Ilotra would suffer no more under the hands of the Clayors.
The bridge reported back with Stavor's location. Ryden confirmed it and closed the link. He would go and deal with the Koliar warlord, but before that he had to make sure Aria was safe.
"It is time," he said with a tinge of regret.
The emotion seemed reflected in Aria's eyes. Ryden cursed all the Clayors for ruining the moment he'd had with the beautiful Terran. He'd felt like she was finally giving him what he'd wanted from the moment he'd laid eyes on her, but war didn't offer many opportunities to be comfortably alone with Aria.
"Must I?" she asked, hope echoing in her voice.
"You will be safe there," Ryden promised. "You saw what happened here. The upper levels of Ilotra are under attack. I can't allow you to stay. If something happened to you—"
Aria's features softened at that. She looked like she was about to argue against going, clearly reluctant to leave, but she merely nodded.
"I'll see you again," she said, but the sadness in her voice made it sound like a plea.
Her words played in his mind as Ryden set out to bring his rogue ally around.
***
Stavor was clearly not trying to hide from him. Like the Host before, the Koliar warlord was waiting for him to walk into the trap.
Ryden was fine with that. He would take an honest fight over simply overseeing the war from the control room any day.
He met Stavor in a great, tall walkway with a group of bodyguards around him. The Koliar gave him a fake grin that banished any doubt Ryden had had from his mind. The Host had taken Stavor. That meant two equally important things. One was that he had to bring Stavor back to reason, or kill him before he did any meaningful damage to Ilotra.
And the other was that the Host was nearby. The Host's mind games wouldn't have been possible if it didn't somehow witness its victim. That was the reason it needed to control others sometimes.
He could take control, but he couldn't take knowledge. Unlike its own kind, the hive mind didn't see through the eyes of the victim. It didn't hear or think with its mind. It was merely in control. That was why it had to use Sota to do its bidding instead of stealing the knowledge from his mind.
The hive mind was mighty, but it wasn't all-powerful.
Though it might as well be if it can take control over a warrior like Stavor, Ryden thought, slowly walking closer with the spear already in his hand.
Later he'd have to find out if there was a reason why the Terran ambassador and Stavor fell when others didn't. Did it have something to do with their simplicity? One-track minds were easier to manipulate, Ryden figured.
"I know this isn't you, Stavor," he said, coming closer. "But if you don't throw the Host out of your mind, you leave me with no other choice but to kill you."
Stavor laughed, but even that motion didn't seem to be his own. Now that Ryden knew who he was dealing with, the little signs were more obvious to him. The hive mind enjoyed laughing at him, trying to make Ryden believe it was winning. It was not. All it was doing was delaying its end.
"As for the rest of you," Ryden told the other Koliars. "You should know your commander better. Ordering the attack on Ilotra isn't like him. Signal the flagship to stop."
"You will do no such thing," Stavor hissed.
Ryden saw the other Koliars exchange looks, uncertain. He guessed they agreed with him, but a part of him had to admire their ridiculous loyalty. In the many armies that roamed the galaxy, discipline and obedience was everything. Even if your commander was clearly not in control of himself.
All they did was edge away when Stavor ordered them to. Ryden wasn't surprised, he was simply disappointed. So the warlord had chosen the hard way to end it.
"You need to fight it," he said again.
"The only one I need to fight is you, traitor," Stavor hissed, drawing his sword. "You have gone too far. I will make you pay for it."
Keeping his eyes on the poisoned blade, Ryden wondered if it was difficult for the hive mind to stoke the irrational anger in Stavor. The Koliar was known for his temper and it was showing now, raging against Ryden's decision to not let the council stand in his way of defending Ilotra. He doubted it was a problem for the hive mind to urge that part of Stavor on, to make him truly believe it was his own idea. It also left the question of whether Sota had been the same, and if he had, what repercussions might that bring to him.
The Koliar was letting him come closer, but Ryden wasn't about to fall for that trick. Every child on Briolina knew not to approach a Koliar. Never a good idea to get too close to that poisoned sharp edge of their sword, ready to feed the deadly substance right into a man's bloodstream.
"Stavor," Ryden said, crouching low, keeping the spear between him and the Koliar's sword. "Fight it. The Host is in your head. Are you going to let it beat you?"
That seemed to be the right choice, because the growl that left the warlord's lips was most certainly all Stavor. Only in the next second, the fake smile was back and the Host was in control again.
Ryden had no particular wish to kill Stavor. He would have, if it was necessary, but it felt fundamentally wrong to kill someone who was trapped inside their own body. His opponent wasn't choosing
to die, only to fight him.
Then Stavor grinned and said: "In my head? I don't think so. It's you that's so easy to bait. Do you think sending your little whore to the lower levels would keep her safe? Where do you think the Clayors have been hiding the whole time?"
Then the Koliar attacked, but Ryden no longer saw anything but red before his eyes.
Aria.
Stavor came at him, raising his wide sword above his head. He was as big as Ryden himself, with bulk to put behind his first blow. Ryden dodged it easily, catching the next on his spear's edge. Stavor pushed against him, baring his teeth in an angry snarl.
Whatever poison was on that blade, Ryden thought he could smell it even when it wasn't on him. The smell was foul, rotten, like something was left to die nearby. He didn't doubt for a second that the effects were even worse. If one blow even grazed his skin Ryden knew he'd be out of the fight. Very probably dead as well.
Knowing that didn't bring fear, not for a moment. Instead it brought clarity and purpose, like battles always did for him. There was a goal and the only thing that mattered was working toward it. Right now, that goal was to bring Stavor down without harming him more than he had to. Stavor was an ally and he would have been useful to him, so Ryden was intent not to kill the man unless he absolutely had to.
It seemed the hive mind was willing to make that sacrifice much more easily.
Fighting someone who wasn't in control of themselves was a new experience for Ryden, one that didn't sit well with him. With Clayors, it was different. They'd never had a will of their own, or any real self-image to speak of. Stavor had more in his little finger. It made the fight uncomfortable, both for Ryden's body and his mind. He didn't struggle against the Koliar. The warlord's actions were unpredictable because it wasn't really Stavor he was fighting, but it wasn't the Host either.
In a way, it was both, competing to make the decisions in Stavor's head and Ryden had no way of knowing which came out on top. It was troublesome, because the sheer concept of mind control disgusted him. The Clayors were born to be a hive mind. But Stavor was a warrior and something like that being done to him grated on Ryden's nerves.
That was the reason he simply knocked Stavor's feet from under him, instead of cutting them off. The warlord went down, groaning.
He was up in the next second, of course, the deadly blade swinging by Ryden’s face so closely that Ryden felt the steel's coldness on his skin. He had to bend back at an awkward angle to avoid the blade, but he couldn't risk touching the sword, not even for a second.
And Stavor was good. The hive mind was calling forth all of the warlord's skills, and Ryden knew for a fact that the man had experience fighting Brions. The way he moved under and out of the reach of his battle spear proved that. At another time, Ryden would have been glad for the opportunity to fight with someone who knew how to fight him, but that wasn't the best moment.
Every second he spent tied up meant that the Host was still alive and that Stavor's fleet was adding to the attacks on Ilotra. Reminding himself of that, Ryden pushed mercy aside.
The fight had turned into a game of guessing. The hive mind couldn't predict every trick, and Stavor wasn't about to surrender himself without a fight. It left him a broken doll at the hands of the Host, but Ryden saw how difficult it was to control him. All the controls were right, but the Host didn't find the best solutions to the abilities he was given.
Their weapons clashed together and the room was bathed in the light of Ryden's valor squares, but time was of the essence. Not only did Ryden need Stavor to have his mind clear again, he needed to make sure he hadn't sent Aria to danger.
Why was it that every time he tried to keep her safe, she only ended up in worse danger? Of course it could only have been the hive mind trying to mess with his head again, but Ryden found he couldn't take that risk. Something inside him called for Aria, needing to know she was safe.
And Stavor was standing in his way, quite literally.
Aria! he thought.
Ryden took a step back and allowed Stavor to get a good look at him. The valor squares had stopped pulsing his emotions, appearing to signal he had none at all. But Stavor knew better, Ryden could see that. All it meant was that he would no longer give any quarter. To his credit, the Koliar didn't back away. He gave a wide swing with the sword and then stood at the ready, waiting for him. He had all the time in the world, while Ryden had none.
They both stood motionless for a long second, sizing each other up. Then Ryden charged, bringing the spear on guard with one smooth flick of his hand. Stavor caught the first blow, but not the second. He stumbled back, but shook his head clear. The warlord aimed to grab ahold of the spear, but with a twirl, it was out of his reach.
Instead, Ryden took a quick step and did the one thing he'd been taught never to do. He caught Stavor's left arm, the one holding the sword. Grinning, suddenly certain of his victory, the warlord pushed down, trying to push the blade through Ryden's armguard. It was a danger the general was willing to accept, even if certain death was inches from his body.
He took it gladly because it pushed Stavor off balance. Ryden let him come, closer and closer, giving him a taste of the win, before he rolled away with a furious blow to the warlord's stomach.
He slid away so close to the Koliar blade that for a second, Ryden thought he'd gotten hit, but when seconds passed and his heart kept beating, he knew he'd escaped.
Stavor was doubled over, the sharp edge of the Brion spear having cut a deep gash into his belly. Ryden didn't let up. He slammed the butt of his spear into Stavor's face, sending the warlord tumbling back.
The Koliar bodyguards were now coming closer, but Ryden stopped them with a look.
"If any of you want to join him, be my guest," he growled. "Or you can stand aside and maybe I'll let you have your commander back."
They snarled at him, but left him alone and Ryden looked down upon the fallen warlord.
Aria, the name echoed in his mind. It was becoming so expected he had to consider if that too was the hive mind's trick. Only Ryden knew that it wasn't. It was all him, only him longing to hold the little Terran in his arms once more.
Stavor was coughing on the floor, pressing down hard on his stomach to stop the bleeding. The Host was still there. Ryden could feel its presence.
The Koliar snarled in helpless agony when Ryden lifted his head up with the edge of his spear. He stared down at the other warrior, emphasizing each word so the other would know he was being serious.
"Kick the Host out or I will cut your throat right now," he said calmly.
The bodyguards were protesting again, but Stavor's eyes were cold and hard. Ryden could see the other commander fight for his mind that the Host didn't want to give back. Aria would have felt sympathy, he knew, but all he felt was pity. A warrior with a strong mind shouldn't have been in that position in the first place. He had expected so much better from Stavor.
The blade pressed down on Stavor's throat until blood spilled over its sharp edge. The warlord glared at him with eyes full of hate, but like all the rest, the hate wasn't his own either. With patience he didn't have and time he couldn't spare, Ryden waited, slowly cutting deeper in Stavor's throat until he saw what he'd been waiting for.
A flash of pure, unrestrained anger. One that could only be in the eyes of someone who had woken up from a bad dream, just to find it had really happened.
"Call off your ship," Ryden said curtly.
Stavor glared again, but didn't say a word to him before he'd yelled at his bridge crew for obeying his ludicrous order. The constant noise that had been around him ever since the attack started diminishing a little, Ryden noticed.
At last, Stavor turned back to him.
"About this..." the warlord began.
"There is nothing to say," Ryden replied, looking him straight in the eye. "All that you need to know is that when all of this is done, I will bring you to justice."
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
A
ria
She was waging war.
It wasn't like Ryden, with his own considerable strength and skill, but in her own way, Aria was significantly helping Ilotra battle the enemies. And some of the defenses she'd designed were working very well, better than expected actually.
Aria wanted to be glad they did, but she just felt guilty about rejoicing that she got to use any of them in action. In a perfect world, she'd never have found out.
Ryden had sent her deeper down into Ilotra. On her way, Aria finally saw where all the people who usually filled Ilotra's space were. Down there, crouching and shivering, waiting for it all to be over. It gave her the sense of some kind of a cave somewhere back on Terra where people fled in times of war, sitting together in small groups, praying to live.
Ilotra was no cave. Even down in the moon's surface, there was light and air, but she couldn't deny that the mood was sour. Everyone was looking around, expecting to see a Clayor champion charging their way. The fear wasn't simple paranoia; she heard it had happened in another sector on the other side of Ilotra.
And there was her guilt again. Aria felt quite safe, but it might have had something to do with the ten armed-to-the-teeth Brions standing guard over her. All serious and powerful like Ryden, she doubted they were anything but the best. Officially, they were there to protect the civilians and keep order, but she had a hunch she was their first priority.
So her sense of safety came with a price of guilt, knowing that she was allowed to feel safer at the expense of others.
To not think about that, Aria busied herself with work. Instead of rooms that had been designated for her, she asked herself to be taken straight into the secondary control room. It was smaller and not as well equipped, but it worked.
Now that the Brion technicians were down on Ilotra with her, Aria could delegate tasks and chores that didn't require her immediate attention. In that way, she was free to focus on the important parts, like keeping the weapons firing and reassigning power where it was needed.