Dmitri paced, his hands linked behind his back. "What are their other weaknesses? Arrogance? Lack of creativity? Single-mindedness? How can we use these against them?"
"Nikolai has always coveted Tanya… the Earth commander. His desire makes him weak," Sacha said, no trace of emotion clouding his voice.
Just as it made himself weak, Dmitri finished the sentence silently, scowling.
Had he led them back to Earth on a fool’s journey merely to find his own soul mate? Maybe the pull hadn’t been Earth’s bountiful treasures. Three-hundred years apart from his lifemate had driven him insane with lust and longing. Obviously, for he had endangered his family more than he had thought of their ultimate welfare, returning to Earth.
"We’re here now." Sacha clapped Dmitri’s shoulder with commiseration. "And we all wanted to return so you can lift that burden off your shoulders and stop being a martyr."
Homesick vampires. Pathetic, the lot of them.
Maybe it would serve them right to be defeated by their enemies, human or Carpathian.
Nature had always eliminated the weak and their harsh journey had zapped their strength.
Weak? Only if he didn’t snap out of his depression. Self-doubt wouldn’t help his family or the humans. He had to focus and make hard, command decisions.
"Tanya could be used to lure Nikolai…."
Sacha’s horrifying words echoed Dmitri’s maudlin thoughts. But to use Tanya--Zanna--that way was unthinkable.
But what would happen to her if Nikolai wasn’t stopped?
He had no choice. But she wouldn’t cooperate willingly. That she had made crystal clear.
Chapter Four
Pacing her private chambers, Zanna fumed.
How dare the vampire hijack her, violate her dreams!
Or was it just a very realistic dream?
Myth warned they could astral project. But if that was the case, couldn’t they have used mind control to stay on Earth? To defeat their enemies?
Logic dictated they couldn’t control thoughts or else they would have dominated the world since their dawn.
Still, they were an insidious lot, with powers beyond her comprehension. Powers that made her cringe. Just what other powers had they collected and honed during their exile?
How were they to defeat beings that could astral project through time?
She called her advisors into an emergency session Standing tall she tried to project an image of cool command despite the raging inferno in her gullet. Every sound made her jump for she expected vampires to appear out of nowhere. How had her ancestors coped with this feeling of powerlessness? More than likely, most generations had been oblivious to the threat. Most people had thought vampires to be legend. They explained away the obvious signs until the latter half of the twenty-first century when the vampires had made themselves known.
And then Earth’s government hadn’t officially recognized their existence until the twenty-second century when they’d been declared enemies of the planet and driven off-world.
A frown tugged at her lips. How could she rationalize her former selves’ acceptance? And could she, should she, take the blame for any destruction the beasts had inflicted?
A practical woman, Zanna pushed thought of blame aside. Blame was counterproductive to the mission at hand. Her goal had to be the safety of present-day Earth and its future. Laying blame on her former selves served no practical purpose and would only serve to cloud present issues and make her less effective in the here and now.
Leaning heavily on the long oval table, she made eye contact with each of her chiefs. Her neck ached fiercely and she longed to assuage the pain but she couldn’t allow herself that luxury. Soon as their powwow concluded, she’d seek medicinal relief. "We face a very serious threat, more so than you may realize. We need options. How can we defeat such invulnerable enemies?"
Ananta, the ship’s science officer and the first officer, tilted back in her chair and narrowed her eyes. "What facts do we know about vampires? And have they evolved during the centuries they’ve been off-world? We can’t discount that they’ve continued to evolve physically and technologically."
Zanna held back a scowl. "They can project into our subconscious and time travel."
"How can we possibly defeat such powerful enemies?" Ananta cursed softly under her breath as she punched data into her hand-held projector.
‘Eden Project’ flashed through Zanna’s mind and she shoved it away, praying it would never be necessary all the while she feared there would be no alternative. No one else seemed to want to speak the words either, lest they open Pandora’s Box.
"Why then don’t they travel back in time and infiltrate society when no one will know? Or at least when no one can challenge them?" Jabesh, the chief security officer, doodled on a piece of paper as he peered closely at her.
"Good questions." All ones that had been echoing through Zanna’s mind. Ones she had stupidly proposed to the vampire leader, handing him the solution to his dilemma and an even greater nightmare to hers. "As we don’t want them going into our past and changing history--possibly destroying the world as we know it--we should pray they don’t take that course."
"How could we stop them?" Ananta swiveled in her chair and flexed her knuckles.
"Annihilate them, now. Quick and dirty." Fury flaring in his eyes, Jabesh banged his fist on the table and jumped to his feet.
"Which will make us as bad as them?" Ananta asked dryly, squaring her bony shoulders. "You, as diplomacy chief, should be most aware of that."
A deep scowl marred Jabesh’s too-pretty face as he glared at the science officer loftily.
Ananta’s assertion echoed Zanna’s own sentiments. The time spent with the Lion had only confused matters. He’d surprised her on many levels. He didn’t fit into the monster mold she’d always envisioned.
Jabesh paced, clenching and unclenching his fists at his side. "They’re attacking us. They’re predators. We’re nothing more than cattle to them, to be dined on at their leisure. These aren’t diplomatic equals. They’re monsters. Since when do we care about annihilator’s feelings?" He slid a sly, challenging glance Zanna’s way. "With all due respect, Captain, you’re running scared which is no way to approach this mission and lead the crew."
Zanna bristled. First the vampire and now her own officers challenged her. Standing tall, she looked the impertinent challenger square in the eye, refusing to cower in the face of his malicious accusations.
"Only fools feel no fear when faced with life and death situations. But it won’t paralyze me. Fear sharpens our senses, kicks in our self-protective instincts. Or have we become machines?" She aimed her attack at the security chief who had a lot to learn to perform his job effectively, it seemed. "We’ll do what’s necessary to save mankind. Perhaps the best route is diplomacy."
The Lion’s brand of diplomacy?
Shudders skipped down her spine at the unbidden thought. Hardly.
Yet she couldn’t erase the images taunting her. He would have her believe he was a compassionate, altruistic vampire.
And worm holes were stable. She bit back an unladylike snort.
"I’m not scared." Jabesh drew himself up to his full height and puffed out his chest, still a good two inches shorter than herself, if scrappier.
Point proved.
"I always suspected you got your post through nepotism. Now I know it. We’ll see how long you retain it."
Mutiny!
"You’re out of line, Commander. Any more insubordination and you’ll find yourself on report so fast your head will spin." She couldn’t afford insurrection now. Only a strong, unified force stood a chance against such lethal enemies.
"There seems to be two vampire fleets. The ships are of different configurations. One is definitely larger and in better repair than the other." Ananta narrowed her eyes.
Two to be precise, or at least that’s what her source had revealed to her. One far smaller than the other. But she wasn’t ready
to reveal that she had inside information. Knowledge was power.
"So which faction is deadlier?" Jabesh strolled to the window and gazed into the sky, squinting.
"Probably the larger one," Ananta said dryly.
"Vampires are vampires. We don’t want either faction anywhere in our quadrant of the galaxy. We should have annihilated the lot of them instead of banning them. It’d have been simpler and a permanent solution." Jabesh paced the floor and stopped in front of a window where the rays of the setting sun cast an eerie glow over him.
Ananta scrunched her nose. "Don’t you think our ancestors would have if they could have?"
"We’re talking about beings that can astral project into our dreams. Travel through time." A monstrous headache threatened Zanna but she fought to keep it at bay. She just had to hold on a few minutes longer. She could maintain. She had to.
Jabesh punched the wall and whirled around. He snarled. "So, are you suggesting we give up? Let them take over without resistance since we can’t prevail? Do you want to hazard any guesses to what their terms would be?"
Anger flamed to life inside her. "Of course not! I’m just pointing out why our ancestors couldn’t vanquish them. They weren’t half as technologically advanced as we are."
Jabesh leaned heavily on the table and glared at her. "Perhaps they’re controlling your mind. Perhaps you should be relieved of command."
Always ravenous for power, especially her command, the security officer’s feelings didn’t come as a shock to her. But to use such a desperate situation to mount insurrection was unconscionable. Disgust welling in her, she glared back. "They could project into any of our minds--yours as easily as mine."
Ananta massaged the back of her neck. "The question is, how do we block them?"
Ah, a volunteer… Zanna turned to her second-in-command who would have been her first choice for the job anyway, her anger dissipating. "I’m putting you in charge of finding that solution."
"Can a being astral project into someone’s mind when they’re awake? Or only when dreaming?"
"We don’t know enough to answer that. There’s so many questions we need answers to. Such as how can they survive sunlight, especially in space? Do their ships filter it out or have they evolved that much in several hundred years?"
"Animals evolve."
"Humans haven’t. Not physiologically." Zanna had always been a proponent of genetic engineering. It wasn’t enough in her opinion to improve weaponry and technology. Improving the soldiers should be of paramount importance. But her opinion was unpopular for too many of her opponents felt that was God’s job. She felt that a medieval concept as God had allowed them to use medicine for healing. She had always asserted that their enemies held to no such high morals, and one would eventually prove too powerful to defeat. Not that she’d expected it to happen in the twenty-fifth century--until the vampires had returned.
"To effectively fight our enemies, we need fuller knowledge. We’re fighting blind." Ananta slammed the table with her fist and the sound reverberated throughout the room.
Why had the council not foreseen this eventuality? Or had they? She couldn’t wait to question them, to watch their expressions when she challenged them. Were they so lacking in insight? Or were they that secretive not to warn their military commanders? Even her mother?
"We need a spy." Jabesh’s forehead scrunched up. "But how?"
Zanna knew how, only she couldn’t divulge that information or they would know she’d had personal dealings with the vampires. Well, only with one vampire. Still, Jabesh would grab any advantage to steal command and heaven help them if he did.
Her forehead puckered as she sank deep into thought. No. She’d have to fly solo, get close to The Lion so she could glean their secrets and discover their Achilles heel without her officers’ knowledge.
Pure fire. Backdraft would surely be deadly if she landed in its path.
Staring into space, mesmerized by the myriad of twinkling stars, she pondered alternatives. Only one seemed plausible.
Sure and certain death for all mankind. Not merely temporal death, but eternal damnation.
Wasn’t she risking that walking into The Lion’s arms? But what was her life in comparison to all mankind? The sacrifice may have to be made.
Hadn’t she vowed to give her life in service to her country and to her planet, for the protection of innocent civilians?
Yes… but she hadn’t pledged her eternal soul.
Was it asking too much? Would it be better to self-destruct to protect their eternal kingdom? They might have to stop thinking on a temporal level.
"Commander?" Ananta’s face wavered in front of her. "Are you okay?"
A few feet away, Jabesh snorted. "The vampires have probably taken over her mind. She should be relieved of command."
Zanna snapped and she whirled around to face off against him. "If that day ever comes, not that today’s the day, you won’t be the one to take my place."
The fool man got up in her face, waves of anger rolling off him. "When that hour comes, you won’t have any say in the matter."
"Is that a threat, Commander? Insubordination is a court-martial offense." She clicked her fingers high in the air above her head, calling the guards to attention. When they snapped to attention and flanked her, she had to suppress a superior grin. "I can have you locked up in the brig indefinitely."
Hatred glinted in her enemy’s eyes. And most surely threat. He took a step back and clicked his boot heels sharply. "Merely an observation, Captain. For the good of our crew--and all of mankind."
She inhaled deeply, relieved he wasn’t going to push the matter today. "Believe me, Commander. The welfare of mankind is uppermost in my mind."
Even if she had to destroy mankind on the temporal realm to save them? Would that make her a saint? Or a crazy demon?
The decision wasn’t hers to make. The High Council of Earth had to be brought in on a decision of this magnitude.
But before they could make informed choices, they needed hard facts. She had the best chance of acquiring them as she’d had personal contact.
But The Lion would be suspicious if she did an about face and changed her demeanor. Of course he was a man, at least he used to be, and men succumbed to feminine wiles. They had rivers of testosterone flowing through them, burning to erupt.
If only her feminine wiles weren’t so rusty and underdeveloped, suppressed by the weight of her obligation. Even as a child she’d lived in a militaristic environment, the daughter of a high-ranking military officer. She’d never had time or patience for frilly, feminine pursuits, preferring ammunitions training and military strategy. While other girls her age had been learning social graces, ballet and playing softball, she’d become a marksman on the range and practicing military drills on the flight line.
"Captain?" Ananta yanked her back again. "How do you wish us to proceed?"
Zanna sank into her chair at the head of the table. "I want all of you to brainstorm at least ten options, no matter how farfetched, and bring them to the table tomorrow. Get a good night’s rest and we’ll reconvene at ten-hundred hours tomorrow."
Jabesh folded his arms across his chest and rocked back on his heels. "What? And let the vampires astral project into our dreams? That’s inviting them to destroy us. Or perhaps that’s what you want?"
Annoyance threatened Zanna’s composure. She’d put in to have Jabesh transferred at the earliest opportunity, kicking herself for not having done it long ago. "We’ll have to chance it. As humans, we can’t survive without rest. Our minds grow stale and our bodies weary."
"The doctor could give us something to keep us awake--at least key personnel, until the threat is eliminated. Unless of course, you’re anxious to rendezvous with the enemy?"
She swore silently but was careful to mask her expression.
He was much too close to the truth, if 180 degrees off on her motivation. "And what if we’re not victorious in a day? A week? A month? How long can
the doctor keep us awake by artificial means without killing us? We’re animals, not machines."
"Then I propose we each have a guard standing by as we sleep. At all times."
"Manpower will be stretched…."
"Do I detect hesitance? Perhaps you’re eager to let the vampires overtake you?"
All gazes bored down heavily upon her. She had no choice. "Very well. For key personnel. Mr. Jabesh, as head of security, set up a schedule to begin immediately." As if a human guard could protect her inside her dreams? But it suited her purpose not to voice that thought. She’d beat Jabesh at his distasteful game. "No one leaves this room without escort. Each of us will be accompanied by two guards at all times until the vampires have been vanquished or driven out of our space."
Apparently placated, Jabesh nodded. But he still stood stiffly, watching her closely. "Driving them off-world will only allow them time to regroup to attack again."
Several of her officers nodded emphatically and a buzz arose amongst them. She required more data, more ammo, before she could present her recommendations to the council. They weren’t out in deep space where they were autonomous. This matter had to be decided by the ruling factions of Earth, not a handful of commanders and lieutenants. Or even one captain.
Was she trying to play God?
Hardly.
Her mind buzzed. She got paid the big bucks for making the life and death decisions. She had to trust herself. If only she didn’t harbor an ocean of doubts.
But how many leaders ever truly knew if they were making the best decision? Only history could judge with any accuracy and even that was clouded by the historian’s perspective.
Since when was she so introspective? So wishy-washy? She was in danger of losing her edge.
All because of The Lion….
She slammed down hard on the unwelcome thought. The Lion was merely her portal into the vampire’s insight--nothing more or less. Even if she was his reincarnated lover, that was lifetimes ago….
* * * *
Finally! Dmitri had been waiting impatiently for Tanya--Zanna--to fall asleep. They had much to accomplish in a short amount of time. The Carpathians could strike at any time. He had to wonder why they hadn’t yet. Were they afraid of something? Or so cocky they felt assured of victory even if they waited?
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