by Auburn Seal
“I’ll take them as far as I can, and then I’ll return. Morgan bring the other ship. We’ll get everyone to safety. Then when we come back, we can help you with your battle plans. Morgan will be able to anticipate Gunnar’s moves.”
Hopefully, she thought.
She led the way to hovercraft and kept her last thought to herself. Either way, the fight was coming to them.
Levra transported the children and some of the adults as far as she could in the hovercraft.
She pulled Enric close to her and held him fiercely for a long moment. The last few hours had been hectic and she was feeling anxious to be away from her son again. “You stay with Mera, Alena, and Vildana. They are in charge until I get back.”
Levra’s voice broke on those last words, uncertain about her future.
Enric pulled on Alena’s arm to get her attention. Alena touched his hand and listened as he communicated with his thoughts. Levra knew some times he opted for this method of communicating when what he had to say was important or emotional. Levra always appreciated the special insight Alena had into Enric’s mind.
Alena stared at Levra for a moment before she spoke. Levra watched her eyes tear up and steeled herself for her son’s thoughts.
“He wants to know if you will be back. What will happen? Will you die?”
Levra looked at Enric, his eyes welling up with tears.
She nodded, forcing a toughness into her voice. “I’ll be fine, Enric. And I will be back. I won’t let anything bad happen. I promise.” She pulled him close. “Now, help Alena with the younger children and be good.”
Enric nodded and wiped his eyes, catching a tear as it dripped over the rim of his eye. She tousled his hair in what she hoped felt like a casual goodbye to him. Her heart ached at the thought of not seeing him again.
Vildana led them away from the hovercraft and into the thick maze of trees that would offer them cover until they reached the summer village in the mountains. Levra watched them until they were out of sight, cloaked by the forest that would protect her son from harm.
Once they were well on their way up the mountain and on their way to safety at the summer village, Levra considered her promise to Enric. She forced down the bitter taste of her lie. The truth was she didn’t know whether she would be okay or not. But today, for Enric, she would lie. He needed hope.
She scrubbed a traitor tear from her cheek, closed the door on the hovercraft, and sped through the trees back to Glanmorr to prepare to battle her husband. It was time to face her demons.
One of them would prevail today, and it wouldn’t be Gunnar. Not if she had anything to say about it. She had a promise to keep.
CHAPTER 16
Glanmorr, Rasia, New Eden
October 17, 12 AA
The sun rose and began its slow climb above the trees. While she’d been delivering the children, Bria, Veld, and the warriors organized the remaining villagers into battle stations. Levra heard mumbling between the villagers, but she didn’t understand them. She couldn’t communicate well with them, so she stared quietly into the night, straining her ears for a sound that would indicate the Founders were coming.
Levra was exhausted. She hadn’t had a solid night sleep since the first night in Glanmorr, and even that had been short. Last night she’d been at the Outpost and then traveling back to the village to warn them. Now they waited, but she struggled to keep her eyes open.
Then she heard it. The low whine of a hovercraft approaching the village. They’d managed to repair Morgan’s sabotage. Luckily that bought her people some precious time.
The tension hung in the crisp morning air like a taut wire that when pulled too hard would surely snap.
The villagers hid around the courtyard, standing ready to defend their way of life. Levra gazed at the determined looks on the faces of the Ddaerans she could see and worried, for the first time, about her husband’s life. When Morgan first revealed Gunnar’s plan, she’d doubted the ability of the primitive Ddaerans to hold their own in an attack. But as she watched them prepare for battle, as though it was something they did every day, she realized they’d be able to hold their own.
Would she be able to live with herself if her son’s father died today? Was there a way to stop the coming clash?
Maybe she could talk to Gunnar, try to reason with him. There was a time when her husband had as much respect for the Ddaerans as she did. Maybe she could help him find himself again.
If no Ddaerans died here tonight, maybe things could be salvaged.
But things, especially battles, rarely went according to plan. And her husband was essentially a stranger to her now. She didn’t know if she could still reach him.
Gunnar’s men burst into the village as she’d expected them to. Gunnar wasn’t among them. He was hiding.
Coward, she thought viciously. What was he up to?
All the villagers were watching her, waiting for her signal.
Then she saw him, in the back of the group, with Ana marching next to him.
Levra wished for any sort of useful weapon. She’d love to kill Ana on the spot. She’d had enough of the smug blonde who had no problem claiming someone else’s husband for her own.
Wow. Just wow. What nerve he had. He sent his crew in to be butchered while commanding from the rear.
What a horrible excuse for a man.
Levra pointed Gunnar’s location out to Veld, who stood next to her. He then passed on the word to the archers who had been lying in wait by touching the Ddaeran on his left and pressing his thoughts into his skin. That man did the same thing to his neighbor, and before she could process the gravity of this skill, she saw the signal pass along the perimeter of the armed Ddaerans. In only moments, they’d passed vital information to all the warriors. Silently. It was tremendous. She knew in that moment that the Founders, even with superior technology and weapons, would find a well-prepared enemy in this battle. She crossed her fingers for a good outcome.
Levra stepped out into the open, her hands held high toward the sky, and spoke loudly to Gunnar, who was positioned behind the three rows of crewman who stood between them.
“Gunnar, please. There must be way to stop this. I don’t want anyone to get hurt. I don’t think you do, either. Not really.”
“Surely even someone as ignorant as you could have figured out by now I’ve changed. What we had is gone. The man you married isn’t here anymore. Standing in his place is someone who can’t even bear the sight of you. Surrender the Ddaerans you took from our bunker, or we will take them back. I can be reasonable. You give me back the five I acquired, or everyone here in this village dies. Now. Five lives in exchange for the rest of you. A fair exchange.”
Levra snorted, blinded by her fury. “Never.”
Gunnar’s eyes turned even colder than Levra thought possible and he yelled an order. “Now. Kill the bitch.”
Before Levra could process what was happening, one of the crew stepped forward in his shiny silver uniform, drew his plasma weapon, and fired at Levra. She saw the light exit the barrel of the weapon, understood she would die in the moment it connected with her chest, and then finally the sound of the weapon being fired caught up with the rest of her senses. Just as the bright light reached Levra’s chest, the beam bent upward shooting harmlessly into the morning sky.
Incredulous, Levra looked at Bria who stood in a wide stance, her arms outstretched guiding the light.
Bria controlled the direction the matter traveled in. Levra saw it during the ceremony when the woman used her abilities to summon the light from the flames and deflect them around the circle of men who’d lain at each woman’s feet. It had been beautiful, and Levra had never considered a more practical use for it. Now she decided, as she took a breath that shouldn’t have come, that this was a very practical skill, indeed.
In the moment the gun was fired, the Ddaerans that surrounded the village pointed their seemingly inferior bows, arrows nocked at the chests of each crew member.
He looked smug. “I’ll leave when you hand over the Ddaerans. Fire!” he ordered.
All twenty crewmen fired. Some aimed for Levra, some at Bria, and others at Veld. Levra watched as all the plasma beams were stopped mid-air by an unseen force and manipulated by several Ddaerans to change direction. Levra tried to discern which Ddaeran was using their abilities but couldn't tell. That meant Gunnar’s crew couldn’t tell either. Good. The purple light from the plasma guns shot up into the sky, all save one.
Levra watched in horror as Gunnar fired his weapon moments after the coordinated shots fired by the rest of the crew. The Ddaerans were so busy stopping the first volley that this later shot made its way to the intended target with nothing stopping its trajectory.
“Morgan!” Levra screamed.
Bria turned and saw the purple beam, threw up her hand, and with the flick of her wrist, sent the light off course and skyward.
That was close. Too close.
Silence hung loudly in the air as both sides held their breath, waiting for the next move.
Because Levra was listening for it, she heard the sound of the arrow before she saw it whizzing through the air straight toward Gunnar’s chest. Gunnar must have heard it, too, because at the last second, Levra watched in horror as the former love of her life pulled Ana, his cheating mistress, in front of him, and used her as a human shield.
Time stood still for a moment as the Ddaeran arrow penetrated her chest. Levra watched the bright sunlight shine on Ana’s mouth as it overflowed with blood. Her limp body slid to the ground when Gunnar let go of her. Her lifeless corpse dropped to the dirt in a heap.
“Fire. Fire. Fire,” Gunnar shouted again. He pointed to the sky as the arrows began to appear. His crew responded to his command and pointed their weapons to the sky, searching for the threat as the arrows made their stealthy flight.
Morgan called out from her position among the Ddaerans. “Hold. Hold. Commander Shield is acting out of order. I have orders from General Command.”
The crew simultaneously lowered their weapons, sending Gunnar into a tail spin of rage.
“Shut up, bitch. Don’t listen to her,” Gunnar called out to his crew. “I have the command here.”
As if to protest his words, the arrows began to fall out of the sky, headed for Gunnar. When they were mere inches from his body, they all stopped, held steady in the air by the Ddaerans. If they let go of the arrows, Gunnar would be killed instantly.
Morgan spoke again, addressing the crew. “Commander Shield is under arrest for the illegal and unauthorized attempts to clone the Ddaerans. I have orders from the military demanding his immediate incarceration and return to Abramov headquarters in New Seattle.”
She held up a badge in one hand and an envelope in her other, flanked by her loyal crewmen. They were all members of her undercover team. Morgan addressed the remaining crew that had been either loyal to Gunnar or completely neutral. “This is my ID badge with my military credentials and arrest warrant.”
One of the crew approached Morgan slowly and read the paperwork. He turned to face the crew.
“She’s telling the truth. Commander Shield acted against orders.”
Levra watched with relief as the rest of the crew holstered their weapons. Morgan marched across the clearing and put Gunnar in handcuffs. As soon as he was secured, Morgan nodded at Bria who released the arrows that were frozen in mid-air. Collectively, they harmlessly fell to the Earth.
Morgan continued to address the crew who now stood in a more relaxed position.
“Gunnar Shield is a traitor and a coward. He was working for a covert agency within Abramov Security with the secret mission of torturing, experimenting, and cloning the Ddaerans.”
Levra approached Morgan and spoke, cold determination in her voice. “I’d like a word alone with my husband. Then you can do whatever you want with him.”
Morgan deferred to Levra and Bria stepped forward and motioned toward the chief’s hut.
“That will do. Morgan, bring him to the chief’s hut, please.” Levra didn’t recognize the sound of her own voice. She sounded like the ghost of herself.
Morgan nodded. “I’d like a few words with him myself,” she said, and then turned to face the crew.
“I’ll be assuming command of this post until further notice. You two will stay with me to transport Commander Shield back to post after he is interrogated. The rest of you should return to the Outpost and await new orders. Leave two hovercraft here. Under no circumstances are you to return to this village.”
The crewman who verified the arrest order nodded, saluted, and then led the crew to the hovercrafts they’d flown in on.
Morgan looked at her wrist comm. “Report to command at twelve-hundred hours. Dismissed.” She shoved Gunnar toward Bria and Veld’s residence. Levra watched with dead eyes as she allowed the reality of the moment, of her new life, to settle on her shoulders.
Nothing felt real right now, but she would find out what she needed to know from her husband, and then say goodbye to him. Forever.
CHAPTER 17
Glanmorr, Rasia, New Eden
October 17, 12 AA
Situated inside Bria’s house, Gunnar sat on a wooden chair, held captive by Morgan and her plasma weapon while Levra interrogated him. Adrenaline and white-hot fury kept her awake. One more thing and she could sleep.
“What happened? During the five years you were gone? I think you at least owe me that. What happened to you?”
He stared at her, his dark eyes glinting with anger. “For starters, I stopped loving you.”
His admission felt like a punch to the throat, even though she’d figured out that much by now.
“Tell me something I don’t know, Gunnar. What’s going on with the clones?”
“Like I’m gonna tell you that! You always were naive, baby.”
She slapped him hard across the face. “Don’t call me that. You don’t get to call me baby. Not now. Not after this.”
Morgan spoke up. “Why don’t you let me ask the hard questions? You can sit back and watch him suffer. That should be nice for you for a change?”
Levra smiled at her new friend. “Yes, that sounds like a fine idea.”
Morgan’s first question caught Levra off-guard. “Why do I have a gap in my memory, Gunnar? What happened on that ship?”
He stared at the wall, looking past Morgan. She continued her questioning, unfazed by the traitorous prisoner’s silence.
Levra filled the silence with her own questions for Morgan.
“What memory gaps do you have, Morgan?”
“There are two years missing from my memory. We arrived at the planet Tortia, in the Altius system. Our public mission was to collect samples of plant life and soil so we could bring them back to New Eden for study. The private mission was to experiment with cloning technology. Our job was to infiltrate and uncover the illegal cloning ring. We needed to know how far they were in their progress. Anyway, I remember arriving on Tortia, and then I woke up two years later. I remember nearly everything before and after those two years, although some of the past eludes me.”
“And you think Gunnar knows what happened during those two years?”
“Something happened to him. They’ve done something to his memory and to his personality.”
“Yeah, I gathered that when this animal came home in my husband’s place. Were they experimenting with mind control?”
“One of the other officers was working on implanting memories but as far as I know they didn’t get anywhere with that. They couldn’t make it work without making the patient susceptible to lots of other mental issues. But that was before my memory gap.”
Morgan turned back to Gunnar and holstered her wea
pon. “Did they perfect the memory implantation during those two years I can’t remember?”
Gunnar stared at her. No sound came out of his mouth.
Levra wasn’t sure if it was the smug look on his face or the straight-up refusal to cooperate, but she lost her patience and and began to yell.
“You son of a bitch. Tell me about the Ddaerans. What do you want with them?”
He spat in her face, and Levra raised her hand to slap him. When her hand made contact with his face, something broke inside her. She felt rage course through her, a blind fury for all she’d lost, all she didn’t understand. Anger for feeling helpless. She clenched her fists by her side and stood up, staring at Gunnar, forcing herself to remember to breathe.
Morgan stepped in between them and spoke to Gunnar. “I’m sure you are familiar with the phrase ‘hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.’ You might reconsider your stubborn silence.”
Instead of answering her, he stood up, lunged forward and put Morgan in a headlock with his still-cuffed hands and began choking her. Levra watched as Morgan gasped for air. For a split second she thought she could anticipate the sound of Gunnar snapping Morgan’s neck.
Levra charged Gunnar without another moment's hesitation and when her hand brushed against Morgan’s holstered weapon, she pulled it and jumped back out of the fray, out of Gunnar’s reach.
She pointed it at Gunnar, forcing her hands to steadily grip the gun. “Let her go, Gunnar. Now.”
He grinned at Levra, an evil projecting from his eyes she had never seen. She caught her breath, realizing the truth in that moment. Her husband was well and truly gone.
Whatever happened to him on that ship, her husband was gone. All that remained of him was the mocking shell of the man who stood here in front of her. There was not even the tiniest glimpse of the soul of the man she’d once loved. Still loved. She would always love that man. But he died when this one was born.
The truth of her new reality settled in, squeezing her like Gunnar squeezed the life out of Morgan in front of her. Morgan’s face began to turn blue, her eyes bulging under his fatal grip, and Levra was out of time. Gunnar was dead, but Morgan didn’t need to die. Levra could do something about that. She’d have to do it now.