“I will wait for you outside,” Dane told me, the smug grin still lingering on his face. He left the room, politely closing the door behind him.
When Celine and I were left alone again, she glanced at the door. “Don’t people knock?” she asked grumpily.
“Oftentimes, yes,” I said seriously. “But Montemba is hosting two important people from another kingdom, and they have been here nearly a week already. I imagine it is time to meet with them.”
She nodded, but I could still see discomfort on her face for being caught in such a precarious position. I leaned forward, took her chin between my fingers, and kissed her lightly. When I pulled back, her grouchiness had melted into a pleased—albeit slightly frustrated—glow.
“I will return,” I told her quietly. Then, after another swift kiss, I departed.
Dane was waiting outside of the dormitory as promised, and that infuriating grin was still very present on his face. I tried not to glare resentfully at him for his interruption, remembering all too clearly how I had done the same to him.
“The tables have certainly turned,” he commented airily as we began to walk.
I grunted. “Are we finally meeting with Sevani and Khrel?” I asked, trying to change tack.
Dane chuckled, knowing full well I wanted to veer the topic away from my intimate moment with Celine and nodded. “I called them here before receiving the approval of the Council. Otherwise, we would have held the meeting the day they arrived,” he explained. “The other Elders were slightly leery, save for Sevani, of course. But they agreed in the end it was for the best that Montemba and Pentaba work closely together for the safety of the colonists.”
When Sevani and Khrel had arrived, we had gone to the Headquarters and briefly discussed the current status of the Novai. There had not been a single communication from the threat since their message came through the transmitter on orientation day, and, while some may have considered that a comfort, I considered it ominous. In my mind, the most dangerous enemy was an unseen one, and the Novai were doing an exceptional job of not being seen. Thankfully, Dane happened to agree with me, and it was for that reason he had summoned the Pentaban Elder and War Chief.
Pentaba hosted two human colonies, both smaller than the Wards of Montemba but still respectable in numbers. It was a swamp kingdom, boggy and waterlogged in most places, which made it difficult to erect entire miniature villages dedicated to the humans, but the two they did manage to build were impressive feats of construction. They were much more like fortresses than the open residential layout of our Wards, which was a parallel for the mindsets of the Pentaban people. Montemba was renowned for its battle prowess, our warriors highly-skilled and relentlessly trained to come out alive on the other side of war. Pentaba was like our sister kingdom, but, rather than focusing on all sides of the battle to produce well-rounded fighters, they focused almost solely on defense. It was my understanding that Sevani had been perfecting shields of various styles for years, and, in the single time I had made Khrel’s acquaintance, the War Chief had gruffly insisted, “The best offense is a strong defense.”
Discovering Dane had summoned them, despite their well-developed protection abilities, was a sobering moment for me. To work with them truly meant we were desperate because the Pentabans had a reputation for being paranoid to the point of detriment. They were known to over-insulate themselves from a threat until they could no longer track its movements and actions, leaving them open to surprise attacks. As a Montemban War Chief, I was uncomfortable enough having heard nothing further from the Novai in two weeks; I could not imagine willingly closing my eyes to the danger.
“I hope you realize Sevani will likely demand we bury ourselves underground or something equally ridiculous,” I said a little bitterly. As hard as I tried not to be, I could not stop myself from feeling slightly insulted that another War Chief had been called to the scene.
“Ordinarily, I would consider Sevani foolish,” Dane replied. “But the Novai’s silence since their initial contact aggravates me. For the safety of the colonists entrusted to us, as well as the safety of our own people, it seemed there was no one better to consult than the defensive experts of Albaterra. If there is a way to keep everyone safe while we attempt to regain control, or at least contact, with our enemies, I believe it to be the right thing to do.”
He was right, of course. It was our duty and obligation to protect the humans who had given up the comfort of their lives on Earth to put down roots on Albaterra and join our people in the quest for a better future. I certainly wanted Celine to be protected, evidenced in my demand for her lockdown. If I had had any family left, I would have done my utmost to ensure their safety as well. Unfortunately, my brother had been my last remaining relative and he had been killed on Earth over a year ago.
The Headquarters rose into view, its sparkling walls shimmering in my vision and inviting me forward. Sevani and Khrel were waiting beside the extraordinary entrance doors. They were easy to spot even from a distance because their teal skin stood out like a blinding beam of light in Montemba, and the wall of purple aspex behind them drew attention to their color. As we neared, I realized they seemed angry. Sevani’s face, which was oblong and angular, was crumpled in a grimace, and Khrel’s younger but fiercer visage was sharp enough to cut through a slab of meat.
“What has happened?” Dane asked briskly when he was close enough to call out.
Sevani opted not to respond immediately, preferring we closed the gap between them and us before speaking. He held out a thin cylinder I recognized as Dane’s communicative transmitter, but he held it with the tips of two fingers as if it were poisonous.
“They have made contact again,” he said.
18
Celine
If I could’ve brushed my hand over Donna’s face and wiped the teasing smile from her lips, I would’ve. Unfortunately, I couldn’t do a thing about her jibing except wait for her to get tired of it.
She was almost singing with delight. The minute she’d returned from wandering the Ward with Toby, the geeky guy in our dormitory, I broke down and told her what had happened between Lokos and me. She cheered when I told her how I’d basically demanded he cut out the cold shoulder thing, listened rapturously when I explained what he’d said when he finally took his walls down, and grinned at me with such infuriating smugness when I recounted the events on my bed. And then, when I finished the story with the Elder’s intrusion, she burst into raucous laughter that had her doubled-over for several minutes.
“It’s not that funny,” I’d said irritably. “It was embarrassing.”
So overwhelmed by laughter was she that she couldn’t even answer. She merely waved a hand around in the air haphazardly and continued guffawing.
Now, she was sitting on her bed across the room from mine with a sickeningly pompous smirk on her face and a knowing look in her devilish eyes.
“I knew you were only pretending to be Ms. Innocent,” she exclaimed gleefully.
I threw a pillow at her and pulled my legs up, resting my chin on my knees. The burn was still visible, but it no longer hurt to the touch, and it was nice to be able to move without having to think about it or instantly regret it with a jolt of pain. “I never pretended to be anything,” I said with a glare of annoyance. “Not going out with every guy I ever came across wasn’t an act. I just wasn’t interested.”
“Oh, please,” she retorted, still grinning and adding a roll of her eyes for effect. “You’ve known the Chief, what, like two weeks? And you’re already hooking up?”
“You’ve known guys for ten minutes before hooking up!” I cried.
“Yeah, but I openly admit I’m a girl with questionable morals,” she chuckled. “I’m just trying to get you to admit the same thing.”
I scoffed. “I don’t have questionable morals. It just happened.”
“Hey, no judgment,” she said, holding up her hands innocently. “You’ve had the hots for this guy since you met him, whether
you admit it or not.”
I didn’t bother to negate the charge. It was true, and while I had tried to tell myself it was just a physical attraction, I didn't deny the deeper side anymore. When Lokos had left with Dane, I sat on my bed for a while trying to gather control of my feelings, and they were too strong to deny. Yes, of course I was attracted to him. He was built like a Greek god and oozed confidence in everything he said and did. But there was more. Even though I’d hated being stuck inside the dorm for as long as I was, I finally understood his reasoning behind it. He didn’t want anything to happen to me. He was worried I was going to be hurt. Regardless if his way of making sure I was safe was a little over the top or not, the very fact that he was worried for me spoke volumes. Behind the tough, unyielding exterior was a person with great enough compassion for me to take drastic measures if it meant preserving my well-being. Frankly, it was touching.
“There’s something going on,” I said, thinking about how Lokos had been summoned from my room. “He wouldn’t have insisted I stay in the dorm if there wasn’t, and I don’t think Elders usually chase after people. It must have been something pretty serious for that Elder to come get Lokos himself.”
“Actually, Toby said he’s seen A’li-uud around that are definitely not from Montemba,” Donna mused. “Which is weird, because some of the soldiers I’ve talked to said they’ve never met any A’li-uud except those who live around the Ward.”
“Lokos told me there are two important people from another kingdom here,” I intoned, speaking in a low voice as if telling a secret in a crowded room. “He said they’ve been here a week already and it’s probably time to meet with them.”
“What for?”
I shrugged. “I don’t know. He won’t tell me anything more than that. He insists on making sure I am treated like all the other colonists and only know things when it’s time for everyone to know them.”
“That’s pretty rude,” she said with a frown.
“It’s only fair,” I replied with a shrug.
Donna gave me a look that clearly told me she thought it was anything but fair. “When you hook up with a girl, you can’t treat her like she’s everyone else. He owes you.”
“Owes me for what? For a moment of passion?” I asked incredulously.
She laughed again, and the stupid grin returned to her face. “You’re fooling yourself if you believe it was just a moment of passion,” she said. “Believe me, the fact that you started to get it on and got interrupted will make you only want to do it again more and more until it finally happens. Blue balls are probably the best aphrodisiac there is.”
“Ugh,” I groaned. “I think you were a frat boy in your past life.”
Donna shook her head and said, “Not possible. I can’t do a keg stand to save my life.”
We laughed together at that, and, when our laughter died into a satisfied quiet, we just sat for a moment. Everything seemed to be spinning out of control, and I didn’t know how to stop it. It was crazy enough that I’d just picked up and left my planet to come to Albaterra and work with the human military—which I still had yet to do—but the series of events that followed my impulsive decision were beginning to pile up and block the passages of my mind. I felt like I was slowly losing the ability to process things going on around me or happening to me. My ship got bombed, I almost died in a fire, the brooding War Chief rescued me, I realized I was interested in him, he confined me to my dorm, and we had a huge argument in the middle of a very public space. Now, we had almost had sex, and I was pretty sure that whoever bombed my ship was still lingering in the shadows even though Lokos wouldn’t confirm it. It was too much to handle; it was beginning to blend together into one massive pile of incomprehensible shit that left a dull buzzing in my brain.
Apparently, my mental exhaustion showed on my face because Donna hopped to her feet and went to the door. “Come on,” she said. “Let’s see what Toby’s doing.”
“I don’t want to see what Toby’s doing,” I protested. “It’s awkward.”
She wrinkled her brow at me. “Why is it awkward?”
“Because—” I stopped before revealing what Toby had almost walked in on when Lokos and I were on the couch. Evidently, privacy during intimate moments was a rarity on Albaterra, or at least in the Fifth Ward.
Donna looked at me expectantly, waiting for my response, but I just shook my head. She’d gloated enough for one day. “Fine. Let’s go see what Toby’s doing.”
We descended the stairs together and turned into the common area. It was fairly empty as most people tended to visit each other or bumble about the Ward during the day, so they didn’t feel as caged in after sundown, but there was a carrot-headed man in the corner armchair huddled over a book, and Toby was sitting at one of the several desks lining the southern wall. Papers were spread out before him in a haphazard fashion, and he was scribbling furiously with something that looked like a thin stick of charcoal.
“Hey!” Donna said brightly, coming up behind him. I followed her without saying a word, already feeling awkward. I hadn’t addressed Toby since that day on the couch, and he’d seemed relieved by that. “What are you doing?”
He looked up, his glasses dangling off the end of his nose and his hair noticeably more tousled than usual. “Writing out my will,” he said seriously, shoving his glasses back up into position with a solitary finger.
Donna threw a look at me before commenting, “Morbid.”
He shrugged. “I guess, but those aliens that tried to destroy the Conquest are back, and I want to make sure my stuff gets sent back to my mom,” he explained.
Again, Donna looked at me, but I was the one who spoke up this time.
“What?” I asked sharply, stepping closer to him. He looked me directly in the eyes for the first time since our initial encounter, and a flash of sheepishness crossed his face. I didn’t address it. “What do you mean, they’re back?”
“I was finishing up at the Seeding Lab this morning—I’m a botanist, you know—and I heard that rude General talking to one of the A’li-uud who aren’t from here. They said that whoever bombed our ship when we were landing sent another message. They sounded pretty worried.” He turned back to the desk as Donna and I exchanged alarmed glances. “I figured I’d better get my final wishes down on paper before we’re all blown to smithereens or something.”
19
Lokos
The military ops room was still quite dark, but an urn had been placed in the open hole in the center of the round table with a ball of fire the size of a small boulder burning atop it, allowing me to see the construct of the space better. The table was smooth to the touch, its surface very cool, and the walls were a deep navy hue that made the skin of the Pentabans appear greener rather than bluer. Dane, Silah, Sevani, Khrel, and I were seated with equal intervals of space between our chairs, allowing us to see everyone else around the table at any given time with the aid of the flickering flames.
Sevani held the transmitter aloft, the indigo light pouring from it to mingle into a bronze hue with the orange glow of the flames. He clicked a button, and a loud screech scored through the room. I saw the indigo again become a series of dots and lines as the recorded message played.
“You are no match for us. We have spent centuries training while you have gone about your peaceful lives.” The screech became even louder, piercing my ears so violently it felt as if the blood vessels within would burst. “You have thirty days to find a new home and evacuate. We are coming.”
The transmitter fell silent, leaving only a thick, harsh throbbing in my ears. Sevani clicked the device again, and the indigo light disappeared. He looked at Dane.
“If there were any doubts that it is the Novai targeting us, I hope they are banished now.”
Dane nodded in grave agreement. “The Novai are the only race we know of who would go to such lengths to take over Albaterra,” he muttered.
I saw Silah glancing between the two Elders in confusion, and he
asked, “Why would they be determined to occupy Albaterra?”
It was Khrel who answered. “The Novai lost their planet many years ago to a rogue asteroid. It was somewhere in the Curlon belt, but we never verified its exact location because it was destroyed before we ever knew of them. From our research, they were an aggressive, warmongering race even before they were homeless, but at least they were contained. When the asteroid struck, it decimated a large percentage of their population and left them a primarily male species of warriors. They managed to wrangle the survivors and reach the nearest habitable planet to accumulate necessities for survival and travel, and they have been ambushing planet after planet ever since in search of one to rival what they once had.”
“Everywhere they go, they feel their wrath,” Sevani chimed in darkly. “They take whatever resources they need, kidnap females to breed with to prevent racial extinction, and oftentimes destroy whatever is in their path out of sheer vindictiveness.”
Most of this information was not new to me, but hearing it aloud gave it a new weight that left me feeling extremely unsettled.
“In all probability, they have been scouting Albaterra for months, maybe longer,” Sevani finished.
“We would have discovered them,” Silah interjected. “Our technology identified the humans when they entered the galaxy and came too near to Albaterra.”
“The Novai are much more advanced than the humans, technologically speaking,” Khrel explained. “It makes it easy for them to sneak up on the planets they target and ambush them without meeting any opposing force. Oftentimes, their ships are completely undetectable until it is too late. It is likely the only reason they were able to enter our atmosphere to attack the Conquest without our knowledge.”
Dane was very quiet, his eyes pinned to the ball of fire in the center of the table. The orange glow cast upon his pale face revealed a mask of tense concern, and I could see a muscle in his jaw twitching. It was evident he was attempting to find a loophole or a way to prevent the Novai from descending upon Albaterra, but we had little option other than to do as they bid and leave. His stare was helpless, and the helplessness was met with warrior-like anger.
Lokos: A Scifi Alien Romance: Albaterra Mates Book 4 Page 8
