by Robin Lovett
The Ssedez are a cohesive species. We are all one family. They have likely been praying during the hundred years since Tiortan died for me to find love again, once my grieving period has passed.
Pvotton shouts, “Gahnin!” He points toward the sky. An enormous shadow, above the clouds, has shrouded the sun.
“The Hades,” I murmur. As if the name weren’t ominous enough, Assura’s shock and terror at seeing the ship’s outline is. She is not one scared easily. By her face, I can surmise that the ship brings with it all the evil we fear most from the Ten Systems.
One of the Fellamana shouts their word for, “Go!” They each grab the enormous packs they brought with them from town and dash from the jungle toward the human camp.
I grab one by the arm as she passes. “What are you doing?”
“You’ll see,” she says with a smile and runs after the others, faster than any of my warriors can run.
“How did we miss that they can move so fast?” Pvotton asks.
“I do not know. But we’re going to find out what they’re doing.”
We chase after them, all the Ssedez. The human blasters cannot hurt us. We stayed in the jungle only to keep from causing panic among them. They do not trust us yet, even if their General Nemona mated our commander. The last time most of them saw a Ssedez was when we attacked their ship.
The time for polite diplomacy is over. The Ten Systems is here.
The Fellamana spread out. One stops at the corner of the camp and starts to unload his pack. The others continue to circle the outskirts of the camp.
I grasp another Fellamana by the shoulder. “Tell me what’s going on. Now.”
He doesn’t look up from a glass globe he pulls from his pack. Inside, it is a glowing static burst of blue and red lasers.
“What is that?” Pvotton demands.
“We don’t have time,” the Fellamana snaps. “Get everyone inside the camp. Anyone outside it when we turn on the shield will be lost.”
“Shield?”
“Yes!” He pushes us toward the camp. “Now quit distracting me.” He stands and whistles a high-pitched melody that echoes through the field.
It’s answered by one Fellamana a distance away, and then another.
“Come on,” I say to Pvotton. “Whatever they’re doing, we cannot help.” Finding Assura is the best directive now.
My warriors follow me into the camp. The humans are distracted, staring at the sky, their faces touched with horror. The shape of the Hades above the cloud cover is becoming clearer, bigger, closer.
Someone shouts, “Battle ready!” The words are relayed across the camp, and the humans spring into action. Among their voices, I hear Assura’s. I have become so attuned to hers. I turn toward the sound, dodging around humans disappearing into their shelters and reappearing dressed in armor and carrying weapons.
Those will be useful only if the Hades actually lands and doesn’t decide to destroy us from the air.
I see her, her hair shining in the sun, her body hugged by the white suit from the Fellamana, a sharp contrast to the humans in their gray uniforms or black shellskin armor.
“Assura!” I call out.
She turns and recognizes me. With a motion for her friends to follow, she runs to meet me.
The words rush out of me as soon as she’s near. “The Fellamana say they have—”
“Koviye says they’re setting up—”
He appears between us. “Just wait. It’ll be fine.”
Assura and I glance at the sky. Only the barest hint of clouds protect us from the Ten Systems ship.
“The waiting is over, Koviye,” I say, loud enough over the noise of the humans arming themselves. The Ssedez are at my back, all of us strapped with knife holsters across our chests in case hand-to-hand combat is necessary. “If you have something planned, now’s the time.”
“Jenie.” He turns to the woman standing beside Assura. She’s striking, with light brown hair swept up onto her head, proud features, and a bearing that is so determined, she must be their acting leader while General Nemona is away.
“Is everyone inside the camp?” Koviye asks her.
A stripe of worry crosses her face. She glances at Assura. “I don’t think the scavenging group has returned from the Origin wreckage.” She looks at the sky. “But there is no time.”
“Can we still exit once the shields are up?” Assura asks Koviye.
“Yes, but reentering will be a risk for all of us.” His face is grave.
“The shield isn’t big enough to cover the wreckage of the Origin?” Jenie asks Koviye.
“I’m sorry. It’s only big enough for the camp.”
Assura exchanges a look with Jenie. “I will go after the ones at the wreckage.”
Jenie inhales to protest, but Assura gives a stern shake of her head. “Don’t fight me. It’s best.”
Jenie inhales deeply and nods to Koviye. “Set the shields.”
Koviye whistles the open-ended melody the other Fellamana used, then finishes with an extra vibrant tone.
A low hum sounds all around us. Everyone looks up to see where it’s coming from, and a silvery sheen covers us. A dome forms in the sky above our heads. We can see through it, but it’s as though looking at the sky through water.
“Is it soundproof?” I ask, in awe.
“It makes everything within it undetectable,” Koviye says. “Not by sound or sight. To anyone around us, we are now invisible.”
“What about from the air?” I press.
“We’re untraceable from any direction.”
“You’re certain the Ten Systems technology and weapons won’t penetrate it?” Assura asks.
Koviye turns toward her. “They didn’t detect our still-functioning satellite. If they had, they would’ve destroyed it. The weapons we don’t know for sure yet, but the shield has been engineered to withstand what Ten Systems weapons we know of.”
There’s a chance this may work.
“Still, we must be ready.” Jenie turns to her lieutenants. “All soldiers armored and armed form a perimeter inside the dome.”
They exit to execute her order.
Jenie grasps Assura’s face in her hands. “Be safe.” She presses a delicate kiss to Assura’s lips. “Come back to me.”
A stun shakes down my limbs. It’s such an intimate moment. There’s obviously love between them. It sends a shock through my chest. My heart feels like it’s been locked in a vise.
Assura caresses Jenie’s cheek in return. “I always do.”
It hurts, watching the closeness between them.
I expected Assura had a lover among her humans, yes, but not a mate. I never thought to ask, and now, because of me, because of the desidre, the damn Fellamana Sex Games, and my own unwelcome lust, Assura has been unfaithful.
I have been so preoccupied with my own betrayal of my mourning, I did not think about her relationship attachments. Her heart belongs to another.
I force myself to breathe past the ache in my chest. I must keep my head clear of these inconvenient emotions. We have work to do. “The Ssedez will accompany you.” It is a gesture of goodwill to seek amends for causing the Origin’s crash in the first place.
Jenie gives me a brutal glare. “You are still enemies in my eyes.”
Assura turns to me. “Which is why coming with me is a good idea.”
That she can look at me at all in front of Jenie speaks to her fortitude and professionalism. I only hope my expression is as stoic. I am not supposed to care about her or her relationships. But I do. Knowing she has a mate is one more reason to never touch her again.
Chapter Fifteen
ASSURA
The look on Gahnin’s face is…pale? Can gold be pale?
It reveals some sort of shock. And I have no idea why. So I ignore it.
Koviye gives me a glass device that fits in the palm of my hand. “Stand outside the shield with this, and you’ll be able to get back inside. But be careful; we’ll
all be vulnerable at the moment you reenter.”
“We will. Let’s go.” I turn and jog toward the camp’s weapons shelter. There, I stock up on extra blasters, explosives, and knives, collecting enough to supply the soldiers down at the Origin wreckage. We have no idea how many weapons they took with them.
I’m glad Gahnin volunteered the Ssedez. It’s almost like he read my thoughts. It’s the perfect opportunity for him to prove to Jenie, and me, that the Ssedez can be trusted to fight with us.
I spread the weapons among the Ssedez, and we walk through the Fellamana shield. A strange, cold sensation flows over my skin, followed by a loud pop.
On the other side, Gahnin asks me, “Do you know where the wreckage is?”
“I don’t think it’s hard to find.” I move around to the edge of the camp, and…yeah, I was right.
It doesn’t matter how vital our mission. The surreality of the sight takes our breath away.
“We saw it from the air but…” Gahnin’s awe matches mine.
The Origin sits grounded in the valley, thousands of the jungle’s massive trees downed in its path. The devastation to the forest alone is catastrophic. The soil and rock are gouged and reshaped by the impact of the bow as though it were sand.
But the Origin is in one piece.
“Do you think she’s repairable?” Gahnin asks.
“She has to be. She’s all we have.” I find a trail in the hillside that’s formed from the trips to and from the crash site.
Gahnin grasps my arm and turns me around. “Look.”
Behind us, it’s as though the camp isn’t there. Never was there. As though the entire field is nonexistent.
“It’s like the shield warps space, folds it as though it isn’t there, unless you’re inside it,” I say in wonder.
“Fascinating.” Gahnin holds up the little rectangular piece of glass Koviye gave us as we left. “Hopefully, this will get us back in as he says.”
“It better.”
We head to the trail, but then we hear it. The loud boom of a spacecraft, one big enough to fell whole cities, entering the atmosphere. The Hades, gleaming obsidian in the flashing sun, blocks out every cloud in the sky.
This is it.
We may as well stand and watch.
Dargule will either fire from the ship, blowing us all to smithereens, or land, planning to capture and torture us all—or just me.
A weapons door on the underside of the ship opens, and I inhale sharply. A laser cannon, capable of incinerating our entire camp, lowers and points directly at us.
This is it.
I reach for Gahnin’s hand beside me. He returns my grip with fierce pressure and looks at me with something unfathomable in his eyes.
“I’m sorry,” he says. “About what we did to Jenie.”
I’m about to ask him what the hell he’s talking about, when the high-pitched whine of the cannon charging splits the air.
But just as I expect it to shoot, as my brain starts to think about what’s the last thing I want to do before I die—and the thought of kissing Gahnin one more time doesn’t sound so bad—
The cannon point drops straight down and fires at the forest directly below the ship. A mile away from us. In the valley beside the Origin.
“Hallelujah!” I cry and watch the Hades blast a landing pad for itself into the forest floor. “Come on.” I yank Gahnin’s hand toward the trees before I let go and take off down the path with the Ssedez following me.
My excitement for a fight with Dargule churns in my gut. My chance to redeem myself and free the prisoners has arrived.
It doesn’t take long to find the humans who went to the Origin crash site. We stock them with the weapons we brought, and everyone turns back toward camp.
Except me.
Gahnin stops. “Come on. We have to get back.”
“You go. I’ve got things to do.” Dargule is here—for me. No matter how well protected everyone is by the Fellamana invisibility shield, the Hades won’t leave until Dargule gets the revenge he wants.
Me going to him, finishing him off before he can wreak any more damage on this planet than he already has, is the best plan. Besides, the Hades is where my true rescue mission lies.
I don’t need anyone’s help to play the spy and assassin. That’s what I do best.
I put the glass shield opener into Gahnin’s hand. “Go.”
Gahnin’s brows lower and narrow. “Where are you going?”
“To solve the problem. Tell Jenie I’ll return soon. It won’t take long.”
“No, I will not,” he snaps. “Pvotton!” He calls to his warriors heading up the hill.
Pvotton stops and looks back. “Commander?”
“I’m going with Assura to inspect the Hades. Tell General Jenie we will return soon.”
“We must go with you,” Pvotton says. “Otherwise, we cannot get back inside the shield.”
I poke Gahnin in the chest between his knives. “I work alone. That’s how I’m trained. You’ll ruin everything. Go. Back!”
Gahnin examines me, his eyes searching mine. “You are an assassin.”
I cringe. “Among other things.” He’s too close to the truth for me to deny it. It won’t be long before he figures out the rest of my secrets.
He nods and turns to his Ssedez. “Go, Pvotton.” He gives the shield opener to him. Pvotton inhales to protest, but Gahnin talks over him. “That’s an order.” Pvotton nods and leads the Ssedez and humans back toward the camp.
“Don’t be stupid.” I shove him. “You won’t be able to get back in the camp without the glass device from Koviye.”
“Neither will you.”
“I’m not going back until Dargule is off this planet.”
“Neither am I.”
There’s nothing I can do. I can’t force him to leave. The best I could hope is to somehow lose him. Or, I could insult his honor.
I glare at him. “Are you doing this for some ‘save the girl’ bullshit?”
He can’t meet my eyes. He looks everywhere but me—the ground, the sky, the trees. The loud roar of the Hades landing rends the air, but all I see is Gahnin, being awkward.
I start to laugh. “Right. Go back. I’ll take care of myself.” I turn away.
He grasps my shoulder to stop me. “Assura, I’m coming with you.” There’s a thick authority in his voice, the kind no one would disobey. Except me.
I face him, astonished. “I’m just another human, remember? I don’t matter.”
The sincerity on his face is so harsh it’s blinding. “I want revenge against the Ten Systems as badly as you do. You cannot take this chance away from me.”
Of course. They killed his mate. “Now, that’s a reason I can’t refuse.”
The ground shakes with the impact of the Hades landing. I glance back at the ship, now seamless with the forest on the horizon. Dargule is here: my worst enemy, whom I didn’t get to kill; my prisoners, whom I never set free.
I get another chance to make this right. And this time, I have to succeed.
If anyone deserves to accompany me on my mission—Gahnin’s right—it’s him.
A sinking feeling weighs down my stomach. He’s going to find out about the Ssedez Dargule has held captive for a hundred years. There is no doubt I will lose Gahnin when he learns it. But he deserves to know the truth. We have to get inside the ship.
“I’m in charge,” I snap. “I know the ship. I know the crew. I know how the Ten Systems operate.”
“Agreed.”
“I have a strategy. You do as I command. I will not let you jeopardize this mission. People’s lives are at stake.” I don’t say that it’s more than the lives of the rebellion; it’s the prisoners on board the Hades, too.
His expression darkens, and he glares at me as if I’ve said something insulting. His paleness from before when he saw me with Jenie is gone.
Is that what it was? Me kissing her confused him? Whatever. I don’t give a shit. I can’t.<
br />
“I’ll watch your back. We’re partners,” he says stiffly, as though it’s the most diplomatic thing he’s ever agreed to.
“You can come. But if I tell you to fall back, to leave, you’ll do it.”
“Not if your safety is compromised. We are a team. You aren’t in this alone.” I don’t want to give in, on principle, but he’s right. I don’t want to do this by myself.
I hold out my hand. “Humans shake on agreements.”
He grabs my hand in a firm grip.
I smile. “Let’s get our revenge.”
Sneaking up on the Hades isn’t the hard part. It’s getting inside.
We crouch behind a barricade of ashes from the trees burned by the Hades’s laser gun, and we wait. They have to open the ship’s door sometime. Gods know how long it will take, though.
“Do you think they know about the desidre?” Gahnin says, keeping his voice low.
“Jenie said our medics figured out an antidote from the Origin’s medical supplies pretty fast, so my guess is the Hades crew has analyzed the atmosphere and made one, too.”
“How do you know?”
I shrug, trying to ignore the anxiety I feel at being this close to my old ship. “We’ll know if they come out and start dry humping each other.”
He raises his brows. “Really? Jokes? Now?”
Better humor than fear. “It’s not like you even know how to laugh, so what does it matter?”
His mouth thins into a line. “I know how to laugh.”
“Really? When?”
“I…” He pauses, thinking. “I laugh sometimes.”
“No, you don’t.” I’m almost ready to. He’s so defensive.
He glares at me. “You have known me four days. Two of which you were unconscious.”
“You have no laugh lines.”
“Ssedez do not get wrinkles.”
Well, that’s convenient. “How old are you, anyway?” The Ssedez aboard the Hades when I left it was a prisoner left over from the genocide war a hundred years ago, so he had to have been at least—
“One hundred and twenty-two,” he says. “By the Ten Systems measurement.”
Gods. I gulp hard. I must have misheard. That can’t be right. “How old were you when your mate died?”