Like last time, dark looks spotlighted him as though they didn’t want to be here. Hells, he didn’t want to be here. But if they didn’t make a move on Hillas-slash-Otas when they had a shot, they’d never get one again once he got to a core ship. Or, worse, once the first core ship converted its power cells, it would be on its way to Earth. Neither choice was acceptable, both were preventable.
He sat there, letting the
merr
surge through his veins. It was an unnatural adrenaline, burning and raw, but if it wasn’t for the
merr
, he’d be on his back right now, and Otas would have no one to prevent him from escaping to a core ship. Nalea had been right. A large percentage of
merr
users died with the first injection. Their hearts simply couldn’t handle the extreme rush. Hells, he thought he was going to die the first time he took it. But he knew how much
merr
his body could take, had always been careful, and the drug had saved him in more than one sticky situation.
But he would never use
merr
once Nalea was safe from Otas and free of the disjunctor. He’d made the vow before he’d taken the injection today when he awoke to find Nalea at his bedside. He wanted many, many more mornings of waking with her next to him.
Merr
was no longer worth the risk.
He could handle all the scowls except the glares originating from his
tahren
whom he made sure was seated next to him, so he could brush against her every now and then with a wing tip or knee. And each time he did so, she huffed and pushed him away, scowling all the more. He sighed. Her moods changed too frequently and without provocation. He struggled to identify what set her off to no avail. So he remained caught within her hostile glare.
Fortunately, with his ship, this flight was much faster than last time. It took only a few more minutes before Roden’s fleet of eight ships touched down outside Hillas’s Earthside base. There’d been no need to hide their presence this time. No, Roden wanted Otas to know that his time was coming to an end. He looked outside to see the human and Sephian garrison around the base in full motion. Several trucks were already driving up to his ships.
Nalea stood at his side, and Roden came to his feet, turning to face her. “You’re with me.”
She barked out a laugh as she slid on a pair of dark glasses. “I don’t trust you enough to
not
be near you.” She turned, and walked off the ship, leaving him frowning in her wake.
Instead of following Nalea like he wanted, he went to Gix in the cockpit. She was still at the controls, already scanning for the frequency the force barrier ran on. He placed a hand on her shoulder, and she turned around. “Yes, my lord?”
“You doing all right?” he asked. “With all the —
changes
taking place lately?”
She watched him for a moment. “I know you have our people’s best interests at heart, and that’s all that matters. If you needed another identity to do that, it’s not my place to judge.”
He patted her shoulder. “You’re a good guardsman and an honorable Draeken, Gix. Any male would be honored to earn your attentions.”
She smiled, her cheeks turning a rosy blush, before turning back to the controls.
He left her to her work. After all, if she or any of the other ship captains weren’t successful, this mission would be very brief.
There’d never been a Draeken civil war before, likely because his people had no religion to cause hate, or perhaps because they’d enough technology and wealth to bring comfort to all citizens. Regardless, because of Draeken contentedness, no countermeasures had ever been built into their technology. Roden had access to the same technology and systems that Hillas had. A risk Roden had noticed long ago, and counted on it. But he also was certain that Otas was feverishly working on less
universal
technology.
In this case, the force barrier surrounding a small section of the base ran at a specific range of frequencies. If a large blaster could be calibrated to just the right frequency, its sound could penetrate the wall of energy that cocooned Hillas’s com center from the rest of the world. With that sound, dismantling codes could ride in and shut down the barrier, and even the best com-tec couldn’t prevent it.
With Roden’s ships running at full power, they had the strength necessary to take down the force barrier. “Gix, keep running through the energy frequencies, but don’t take down the force field until my signal.”
She nodded without looking up. “Yes, my lord.”
With that, he double-checked his weapons and left the ship. Already, the hum of the force barrier vibrated within his teeth. The afternoon sun was bright and hot. All the Sephians wore blackened wraparound dark glasses, so dark that no Draeken or human could see anything through them. But the Sephians had no natural optic defenses against a sun as they evolved on a planet with only moons.
Apolo walked out of the base to meet him. Roden’s jaw tightened and he kept walking forward. Apolo met him halfway, turned, and stayed in step by his side. “The Kreed I knew never lied before.”
“If this is about Nalea, I don’t regret my actions.”
Apolo grabbed Roden’s arm and pulled him to a stop. “Tell me you’re still Kreed and not Roden.”
“I am,” he replied simply before pulling away. It was the truth, mostly. While he was first and foremost Kreed, Roden had done enough wrong in his life that his soul was forever marred. Sometimes he had a hard time remembering who Kreed Zylk was. That he’d lied to his friend — more than once — put him in a sour mood.
He could hear the other man still at his back, the sounds of gravel crunching under heavy boots. “We’ll talk about that later.”
“I’m sure we will,” Roden muttered under his breath before continuing toward the large, broken-down door to the base. A few dozen squads were all set, checking their weapons. A gold-skinned figure stood just outside the door, keeping her distance from the others. A hint of relief soothed his amped nerves at having Nalea in his line of sight. She was beautiful in the sun, the light glimmering off her skin not covered by black fatigues and bomb vest.
“Sommers apprised me of the plan on your way over,” Apolo said, spoiling Roden’s view.
“Good,” Roden answered. “We brought another one hundred and thirty troops to add to the ones already here. Once we’re in position at every entrance, I’ll signal my ship to take out the force barrier.”
“Good,” Apolo said right back. “But we’ll have to move quickly before the imposter can get to an escape shuttle.”
Roden nodded. “That’s why you’re with me. We’re going straight for Otas, and I want someone I can trust at my side. And guaranteed he’s going to be heavily protected. Oh, and Apolo?”
“Yes?”
“Make sure everyone has their weapons on ‘stun’ this time. I’ll personally break the neck of anyone who intentionally kills a Draeken.”
Apolo’s eyes narrowed. After a moment, he gave a tight nod. “I’m not used to taking orders from a Draeken.”
“And I’m not used to giving orders to a Sephian.”
Apolo smirked. “Bullshit. You’ve always been bossy.”
With that, Roden grinned and grabbed Apolo’s forearm, then patting him on his back. “It’s damn good to see you, Apolo.”
His friend repeated the gesture. “Likewise.”
Feeling a bit more at peace with the world, Roden turned to find Nalea giving him a frown, or perhaps more correctly, her usual expression. He strolled up to her, being sure to invade her personal space. He placed a hand on the wall, nearly pulled it away for the pulsating hum of the barrier within the base.
“What?” she asked.
“As soon as Otas sees you, we’ll have to move fast. I’m counting on the fact that he’s smart enough to not hit the detonator. Still, I don’t want him to get twitchy fingers.”
She swallowed and nodded tightly. “Just in case, this vest should protect everyone around me, as long as they keep a distance.”
“It’s not them I’m worried about.” He brushed a loose hair from her cheek. Then he brushed past her, to walk into the middle of the squads. “Apolo says that you’re all ready for this. Any questions?”
Not a one. These were absolute professionals.
“Good,” Roden said. “Some gentle reminders then. This is a grab-and-go,
not
a mission to kill anyone with wings. Be sure to have your blasters set to ‘stun’.” He turned and saw Nalea watching him from her place at the wall. “Oh, and if the imposter dies, Nalea dies.”
“You’re a bastard,” one of the Sephians muttered.
Roden’s brows raised, his voice flat. “It’s not me. I won’t kill her.” He pointed to Nalea’s pendant hidden by her vest. She shirked back, but Roden held her with his gaze. “Guess you didn’t hear. Our dear Nalea is wearing a neck-charge, courtesy of Otas Olnek, that’s primed to detonate if anything happens to him.”
“Are we safe?” a voice asked from the squad on his left.
“Safe enough,” Apolo said, stopping at Roden’s side. “The vest she’s wearing should protect everyone around her.”
“
Should
?” another asked.
“No one’s quite sure how much explosive is packed into it,” Roden said, gritting his teeth.
“Can we cut it off?” a human soldier called out.
“Not unless you want it to self-destruct.” Apolo sighed. “Aside from the detonation device, it’s a simple chain, easy enough to remove, but the charge is weaved within the metal.”
Roden looked over the crowd. “Since Otas has disjunctors on this base, he also has the means to nullify the detonator. I’ve programmed an image of a nullifier into all of your wrist-coms. Be sure to memorize it. Should you come across one, get it to Nalea or me as soon as possible.”
All heads tilted down, looking at their wrist-coms.
“Unfortunately,” Roden continued. “Any nullifier is probably in the com center, which is on the other side of the force barrier. So when we find this guy, if you see him go for a black band on his wrist, disable him immediately. I’d like to incapacitate Otas without a single loss of life.”
Roden turned once more to Nalea who was shooting him a glare of death. “They need to focus on Otas,” she hissed. “I’m not the primary here.”
He nudged closer, allowing her no room for escape. His next words he whispered in her ear. “You’re more important than Otas or Hillas or anyone.”
When she gave him
that
look, he added. “I’m not joking. And we’ll get it off you today, I give you my word.”
She huffed, and started to curse and mumble under her breath. What Roden heard sounded something like “How are you so sure I want it off?”
He held a hand over his heart. “You wound me, Lea.” He walked away with feigned nonchalance, while inside he seethed with the knowledge that when this was all done, Nalea could walk right out of his life, and there wasn’t a damned thing he could do about it.
Adrenaline rolled beneath Nalea’s skin. She gripped her gun while she waited. Ahead, two human soldiers scanned what lay around the next corner in the hallway. The one on the left motioned the squad forward, and again they moved. With every step and with every turn, the hum grew louder. It now vibrated through her bones. Their squad had done the same routine down seven hallways so far and had yet to come across any resistance. It seemed that any Draeken not on the other side of the barrier had fled into the surrounding wilderness.
She turned a corner and stopped cold. Half of her squad stood before her, all standing and watching the glowing wall before them. Her heart raced as she stood outside the door she recognized. The main entrance to the com center, just outside the force field.
Roden stood next to her, punching codes and snapping commands into his wrist-com. She checked her wrist-com. Red lights — each representing another squad in the base — turned green one by one as they reached their assigned placement at a position outside the circular com center.
Once all the lights turned green, Nalea glanced up, locking eyes with Roden. “Ready for this?” he asked.
Every single one of her muscles tensed. She nodded.
Before she realized his intent, he grabbed her by the neck and kissed her. It was hard and fast and spoke of emotions she knew he couldn’t possibly possess. Thank the gods for the disjunctor so that the truth of his emotions would remain hidden from her. She yanked away with shock and scowled.
His wicked grin transformed into all business the next instant. “
Leghat
,” he announced into his wrist-com.
Show time.
At first, nothing happened. Then, the glow staggered, and the humming became jagged. The floor trembled with vibrations, until everything stilled. The silence became near unbearable.
“Wync,” Roden commanded, and the Draeken soldier ran forward with a large torch. A thick purple laser shot forth, and the metal bars blocking the door began to melt. Seconds later — which felt like minutes later — the last of the metal bars fell to the floor with a clang. Wync backed up, still holding the torch.
“Squad Alpha ready,” Apolo announced on his wrist-com.
“Charlie ready.”
“Echo ready.”
Roden waited until all squads checked in before he announced, “Engage.”
Everyone cleared the area in direct line of the door.
Wync started the torch again, this time at a centralized spot on the door. Slowly, light shone through from the other side.
Once a small hole had been burned through, Wync took a rushed step back, while Apolo pulled out two chaos charges. A light lit up on each one, and he tossed them through the hole in the heavily damaged door. An ear-ringing cacophony of noise and blinding white light bled into the hallway from the charge. Vertigo hit Nalea, but it was nothing compared to what those inside the room felt, especially since chaos charges were being tossed in simultaneously by all of the other squads at each door to the com center.
As the sounds and lights muted, Roden nodded to two humans, who brought forward a door-punch. It only took one solid hit for the already weakened metal door to collapse inward. They tossed the punch to the side, and jumped out of the way so the rest of their squad to enter. Nalea followed her
tahren
in, with Apolo right behind.