by Elin Wyn
“We mean no harm. I am Vidia Birch, mayor of Fraga. My allies and I seek an audience with your city leaders. They know who I am.”
One of the city officials, a captain by the look of his uniform, stepped forward.
“I’ll inform them of your arrival at once.” He nodded politely. He turned to one of his men. “Keep your blasters on them. If they try anything, shoot them.”
I wasn’t sure if he meant for me to hear that or not.
“Was this part of your plan?” Rouhr muttered.
“Trust me,” I repeated.
Within ten minutes, the three city leaders of Glymna walked out to greet us. The youngest of the three was a woman ten years my senior named Seraphe. She rushed to hug me.
“Vidia, when we heard the news about Fraga, I was so sure you were dead!” she cried. “Why didn’t you get in touch sooner?”
“I was helping my friend, General Rouhr, get a shelter for displaced citizens up and running.” I tilted my hand towards Rouhr as introduction, not wanting to interrupt Seraphe’s flow. “It’s been a terribly busy time. Even the Urai, such as our brilliant ally Fen, here,” another casual wave, “have been helping”
“Oh, I can imagine!” Seraphe gushed. “I’d expect nothing less of you. Rickon, Vendi, say hello to Vidia!” Seraphe gestured to the two middle-aged men who were looking on. Both men nodded a greeting. I didn’t expect anything more, not at this stage of the game.
“As glad as I am to see you all again,” I continued, “we’re here to ask a rather large favor. May we go somewhere to talk?”
Seraphe agreed, linking her arm through mine. She and I walked ahead, the others trailed behind us.
“I don’t mean to be rude,” Seraphe whispered to me, “but you’ve arrived with some unusual characters.”
“I know their appearance is unexpected, but they’re both good friends who have proved their desire to help us time and time again. I trust them with my life.”
“If you say so.” Seraphe shook her head a little.
We drew attention as we walked through the city carved into the mountain. Seraphe led us to a cluster of plush couches under a broad awning in one of the public squares. It’s likely she chose the location so there would be plenty of witnesses if something went awry.
Once everyone was seated, I started.
“Time is of the essence, so I’ll speak plainly.” I explained hybridism, our plan to cure it, and what we needed from Glymna. I tried to leave out as many horrible details as possible. By the time I was finished, the city leaders looked shocked.
“I appreciate your situation,” Vendi said carefully, “but we cannot agree to take on an unspecified number of people suffering from a condition we aren’t prepared to treat.”
Seraphe agreed with Vendi. “And who is to say assisting you won’t draw the Xathi right to our doorstep? They’ve left us alone so far.”
Rickon only grunted in agreement. He wouldn’t stop glaring at Rouhr.
“There’s a camp of these hybrids not far from your city,” Rouhr warned. “It’s only a matter of time before they come here.”
Seraphe’s eyes widened, and she shot worried glances at her two co-leaders.
“I understand that we’re asking a lot,” I continued. “But we’re prepared to make it worth your while. Fen, our Urai friend, has devised a brilliant sonic barrier designed to repel Xathi and hybrids. In addition to teaching you how to identify hybridism and allowing your people unrestricted access to the cure as a precautionary measure, I’m willing to ask Fen and her team to erect a sonic barrier to protect Glymna.”
“Oh, well. I still don’t know if—” Seraphe started.
I knew this tactic. She was fishing for more.
As sweet as she was, I’d never met a shrewder negotiator.
I cut in before she could say anything else. “Of course, I completely understand.” I rose to my feet. “Come, General. We’ll have to find another solution.”
“Wait!” Seraphe said quickly.
I hid my smile. I’d called her bluff.
“Of course, we’re willing to help. I was only saying I didn’t know how many doctors will be available to learn from you on such short notice. But we can provide accommodations while we get everyone organized.”
“That would be lovely. You’re so kind.”
Rouhr looked between me and Seraphe with a slightly bewildered expression, while Seraphe waved over a city official.
“Please escort our guests to the Glymna Center Inn and inform the innkeeper that they are to have three rooms,” Seraphe instructed. The official nodded and gestured for us to follow him. “I’ll be in touch soon, my dear, with plans and counts. But in the meantime, enjoy yourself!”
I thanked Seraphe, and we went off with the official.
We could have gone back to the Aurora through the rift. But staying in Glymna meant we were easily accessible to Seraphe to answer questions, and our continued presence would make it impossible for the situation to be conveniently forgotten or swept aside.
Politics.
The inn the official brought us to was not the nicest in town, but I didn’t care. The rooms were small and the innkeeper was gruff, but I was too pleased with my success to be bothered by any of it. As soon as I was installed in my room, I immediately went into Rouhr’s.
“See? I told you to trust me.” I sang from his doorway.
“You’re right.” He lifted his hands in surrender. “I apologize for ever doubting you. You’re a master at the political dance.” He stepped closer to me, so close that I could feel the heat coming off his skin. I looked up at him.
“I guess you learned your lesson, huh?” I tried to joke, but my voice came out too soft.
“Yes.” Rouhr said, the smile fading from his lips as his eyes searched mine.
“I’m learning lots of lessons from you, Vidia.” His calloused hand gently stroked my cheek, thumb grazing tantalizingly close to my lips.
Then he stepped away, the moment broken.
“I’m looking forward to the next one.”
9
Rouhr
Dreaming about Vidia’s silken skin under my hands, I woke up the next morning feeling more refreshed than I had in the past ten years.
That touch at my doorway could have turned into something else, sparked a fire that would have burned for hours... but we both knew it couldn’t be an option.
I hadn’t planned on touching her, coming so close to kissing her, though I’d be lying if I said I hadn’t wanted to for a while now.
But when she came to my doorway, glowing in the wake of her victory, I couldn’t resist her.
Neither Fen nor I had been invited to yesterday’s discussion. I assume Seraphe and the others had concerns about us that they would’ve preferred us not to hear.
It didn’t bother me, however. They’d need time to get used to having aliens as part of their world, and besides, I’d brought enough reports that needed my attention to last me well into the night.
Once duty was finished, I’d lain awake, mind filled for once with issues other than strategy and tactics.
War and survival.
Vidia filled my thoughts, and I didn’t know what to do next.
Once I became a general, I dedicated myself completely to the service. I spent nearly all of my time in space with my crew. I always told myself I’d make time to find a mate later.
The years flew by and before I knew it, I was past my prime and still submerged in battle after battle.
A mate was out of the question for me.
But now, suddenly, somehow, Vidia was in my life.
I didn’t know the first thing about courting a mate, not anymore.
Certainly not a human woman.
I pulled on my uniform, and pulled up the next batch of endless reports and requisitions needing my attention.
Duty came first. Duty would always come first.
By the time I’d burned through the reports, the small room had be
come confining. Summoned or not, I needed to stretch my legs.
At the main level of the inn, the owner sat on a stool behind a small desk. He appeared to be going over his finances. It occurred to me that we were given these rooms free of charge.
This wasn’t a large inn. Losing three rooms must have put a damper on his income.
“Excuse me.” I stepped up to the desk slowly, not wanting to startle him.
Remarkably, he appeared unfazed by my appearance. He looked at me with the eyes of a man who has seen and done much in his life.
“Hm?” he grunted.
“Have you seen the human woman in my party?” I asked.
“She’s in a meeting,” he replied.
I thought about tracking Vidia down and joining her. However, I had thought Vidia would’ve included me if it benefitted the political dance she was orchestrating. If she didn’t invite me, I knew she had a good reason.
“I see. What about the other woman?” I asked.
“The blue one with the strange eyes? She went towards the city gates,” he explained.
Fen must’ve started her work on the sonic barrier, as restless at being cooped up as I was.
“Thank you,” I said, but hesitated before leaving. I turned back to the innkeeper. “Write up a list of expenses for the rooms and your services. Just because the city leaders are trying to keep me on their good side, it doesn’t mean you have to lose money.”
The innkeeper looked at me with surprise for a moment before plugging a list of expenses into a datapad. I took the datapad and forwarded the information to the console in my office before handing it back to the innkeeper.
“I’ll have it sent to you,” I explained. “We appreciate your hospitality.” If nothing else, his indifference was preferable to the hostility I’d expected.
The innkeeper simply nodded, and went back to his work as I left.
No one stopped me as I walked through the cavernous city, though the strange looks followed me until I stepped outside the city gates.
Fen was working farther down the slope of the mountain. I jogged down to her.
“Trying to figure out how to set up the barrier?” I asked.
The land was flat and soft where the Aurora was docked. It was easy to set up the pikes that harnessed the power of the rift and emitted the sonic frequency. The mountains here were an entirely different matter.
Fen pressed her palm to the speech pad strapped to her hip.
“It will not be easy with so much solid rock,” she said. “But for today, I can place a few pikes across the main path leading to the city gates. I believe the mountains have given these humans an advantage over the Xathi.”
“I’ve always known the Xathi to claim their victory by overwhelming their target,” I added. “With a single narrow entrance, it’d be far more difficult for the Xathi to do that.”
“And the city is almost completely concealed within the mountain. They would be forced to go in blind, and they do not like doing so,” Fen concluded.
“I wonder if the Xathi know how much wealth can be found within the city,” I mused. “There isn’t much in the sense of natural resources, but Glymna has one of the most impressive libraries on the planet.”
“The Xathi have never been ones for libraries,” Fen replied. She drew a mark in the gravelly slope with her foot, marking where a sonic pike would go. “They prefer to turn lesser species and their innovations into raw materials to fuel their own technology. It’s only if they believe a species has superior technology that they will integrate it into their own.”
“Did they absorb that from your people?” I asked.
Fen gave me what might be a resentful look.
“Apologies,” I said quickly. “I didn’t intend to give offense. I’d been at war with the Xathi for a long time, and I still know so little about them. You can imagine how frustrating that is.”
Fen’s expression softened.
“Of course,” she nodded. “The Urai are an ancient race. We’ve had the time to advance our technology beyond that of many species. We were also aware of the few other races that possessed a similar level of technology. I believe the Xathi incorporated that information from us.”
Fen pulled the Gateway from the pack she wore. She opened a small rift.
On the other side, I could see two Urai waiting with sonic pikes. They passed one through the rift to her.
“Let me help,” I insisted, offering to take the pike from her.
Fen was stronger than the average human female, but not stronger than a Skotan.
I held the pike with the pointed end directly above the center of the mark Fen had made with her foot. I lifted the pike straight up and slammed it down into the ground. When I released it, it stood straight up on its own.
“Well done,” Fen nodded.
We placed four more pikes across the expanse of the pathway leading up to the city gates.
“What next?” I asked.
The pikes around the Aurora emitted a faint blue light. The ones we’d just placed were dull.
“I will open a rift to power the sonic pikes,” Fen explained.
She first closed the rift she’d used to get the pikes, then she slowly and carefully opened another, much larger, rift high above the city.
“Why does the rift have to be there?” I asked. “Couldn’t you draw power from the rift that was already open?”
“A rift that small does not create enough energy to power the sonic pikes,” Fen explained. “A large rift opening into deep space can. And, as you know, thousands of energy bursts and cosmic explosions happen in space constantly. That also boosts the energy we can draw from. And it’s up so high, so no one down here will be able to get through it by accident.”
“But aren’t we using the original rift for power right now?” I asked. “Can’t that power be harnessed here?”
Fen paused for a moment, as if deciding how to answer in words a non-scientist would understand.
“We harness power from the original rift to provide a steady and stable source of power for the Aurora, which is stationary and can be monitored at all times,” she said. “But any number of things could go wrong by adding another energy utilization. While conceivable, it is much more efficient for now to use a separate rift, and does not risk interfering with the repairs of the Aurora.”
I nodded. I could understand the logic behind the thinking. In the heat of battle, simplicity and consistency were far more prized than complex wonders that required many moving pieces.
“Aren’t you worried about something coming through it?” I asked.
“It’s a larger rift, yes. But not so large that something as big as a Xathi ship could come through. A rift that big would be unstable, just like the one you fell through was, before we were able to harness the power for the Aurora.”
“I’d still like this rift monitored,” I replied. “Even a slim chance of anything coming through is too big of a chance.”
“Of course,” Fen nodded. “I will alert you of any inconsistencies with this rift.”
“Is it possible that, if the Aurora were to fly again, we could simply travel through our original rift?” I asked, my mind wandering.
“I would not advise it, General,” Fen said promptly. “While it is stable enough to provide power, the stability is borne out of a cautious equilibrium. Traversing the original rift now in a ship would be highly risky.”
“What could happen?” I asked.
“At worst case, the rift could close before a ship had completely travelled through it, thereby destroying both the vessel and the rift.”
I paused for a moment, lost in that thought. There was something there. I just needed to file it away and ruminate on it later.
We watched the new rift for a few minutes to make sure it was stable.
After I was satisfied, I excused myself to find Vidia. I figured she was finished with her meeting by now. I wanted to check in and see how she was.
And
somehow, my morning wasn’t complete until I saw her.
I found her in a large conference hall carved entirely from stone deep inside the mountain.
She was speaking to about fifty people. I assumed they were the doctors of Glymna. The city leaders were present as well.
“As I said before,” Vidia was saying, “we will provide the cure in the form of a pill for everyone within the city to take as a means of preventive treatment, as well as continuous treatment for those exposed to the airborne form. You all know the known early signs of hybridism, the most common being headaches and patches of scaly skin at the base of the skull. If there are no questions, then I’ve told you everything you need to know to help your fellow humans.”
There was a smattering of polite applause. A handful of doctors approached Vidia before they left, either to compliment her or ask a question.
I stepped up beside her as the crowd eased away.
“Rouhr,” she smiled up at me. “I didn’t see you come in. How long were you listening?”
“I only just got here.” I smiled back. “Fen and I have done what we can for now in terms of defenses. How are things on your end?”
“I think I’ve given them as much preparation as possible,” she shrugged. “There are several rooms like this that are being converted into additional hospital wards. They should be ready by the time we bring people here.”
“Excellent,” I nodded. “I think we should return to the Aurora to prepare the first air strike.”
“Cure strike,” Vidia corrected.
I gave her a confused look.
“It’s what I’ve started calling them. It’s more palatable, less violent, than air strike.”
“If that’s what you want, it will be called a cure strike.”
We walked back through the city gates to rejoin Fen.
“Are we departing?” she asked.
“If you’re ready,” I replied.
She nodded and used the Gateway to open a rift back to the Aurora.
Vidia grabbed my hand before she entered the rift.