by Voxley, Vi
"Wait," she said, hurrying along with him, barely keeping up with his purposeful strides. "The council already distrusts you because you killed the Clayors. Can't you take them alive? We should—"
The second explosion ripped through the hangar walls, blowing a hole where the doors had been. For a moment, the noise was even worse than the first explosion, but then Aria no longer heard anything. All she was aware of was a crushing, colossal pressure threatening to pull her apart.
Everything was flying past her, drawn out of the hangar by a terrible force. Farther on, Ilotra's safety doors were sealing the hangar off from the rest of the fortress, but it wasn't fast enough for everyone. Aria saw people sucked out of the corridors straight into the cold, merciless emptiness of space. Along with all of the oxygen.
She was saved by Ryden, again. Still.
The general and his warriors were once again proving that they were not killed so easily. The long, impossibly strong Brion battle spears were planted into the floor, providing them with something to hold onto. They stood, defiant, against the raging mess around them, some magnetic force in their boots locking them to the ground.
All of that went through Aria's head in a matter of seconds. Then the pressure got to be too much. She couldn't hold her breath any longer, couldn't...
I don't want to die.
I don't want to die.
Through searing light and tears in her eyes, Aria felt the general turning her in his arms to face him. She thought the man was going to kiss her, but instead he blew on her lips. Aria couldn't feel it, of course, but some animal instinct in her understood, remembered her studies. She opened her mouth and breathed out. Ryden immediately covered her mouth with his hand. The searing burning sensation eased up, but not entirely. The pain was getting worse by the second.
The lack of oxygen would kill her soon, she knew. No human could survive in space for more than half a minute, and then only if they were really lucky.
In her last seconds, Aria was left looking at Ryden still holding onto her as though he might save her. She was mesmerized by his eyes, deep and dark green, shining with the will to survive.
She barely registered the lights of the fighter craft when it opened its doors above them. Another pull wrecked her body, but this time Ryden and his warriors dislodged their spears and boots and the whole group of them were sucked into the fighter. The doors closed with agonizing slowness for someone deprived of oxygen, and then Aria was lying on the floor, heaving in air with desperate, painful gasps.
Her entire body felt like it was on fire, and she was shaking from head to toe. Around her, the warriors were holding it together better, but she saw they weren't unaffected either. Ryden was standing above her with obvious worry in his eyes this time, as unflappable as the tide, seemingly completely at ease with almost meeting his match in the cold vacuum of space.
His voice was rough when he said:
"Slowly. You're safe now."
Aria wanted to say a few words about apparent safety, but all she could think of was:
"You... you s-saved my life again."
"I'm a Brion," the general said, with a smirk on his lips despite almost dying. "It is my duty."
Aww, that's kinda sweet. Maybe they're not so bad.
"To protect those who are weaker."
"Hey," Aria protested, before the soreness of her tongue stopped her for a moment. "That was a nice moment there we were having. Don't ruin it."
She knew she was being way too flippant with the general, but after two instances of him saving her life in the span of five minutes, Aria felt like they were on familiar terms.
He seemed to think so too, because instead of chastising her, the general merely smirked again, before he turned serious.
"Take us down," he ordered the pilot. "As close to the central hub as possible."
The fighter moved sharply to adjust course, sending Aria sliding across the floor to knock herself against the wall.
Graceful as always, she thought.
"Where are we going?" she asked, wondering if her voice would ever be the same again.
It felt like she'd aged years in the last half an hour. She'd have to see a doctor soon to make sure she had no permanent damage from the experience. Now that she had a moment to think about things, Aria stupidly realized how she had nearly killed herself. Holding your breath in space was an instinct, after all, even if it was fatal. The vacuum would have killed her in only a few more moments.
"We are going to the council," said the general. "And then we will hunt the Clayors down. We are going to make the ones responsible for what has happened pay for it."
"You don't know—" she tried once more when the fighter docked in another hangar and the doors slid open to let them out in a safe part of Ilotra.
"I do. It was the Clayors," Ryden said, marching on. "And I'll make them regret the day they ever brought my wrath upon them. Only cowards fight their wars without seeing their enemy eye to eye. I'll teach them a lesson in seeing death coming."
She didn't doubt him, not one bit. That was the problem. She couldn't allow him to roam around the fortress, killing whoever he thought deserved to die. Men like that never knew where to stop.
"General," she tried, "this is not how it's done."
"It is for the Brions," was his curt reply.
Aria felt the attraction she still undeniably felt drain away at the reappearance of his pompous superiority. The man was a very capable warrior, clearly, but that didn't mean he could walk into Ilotra and act like his word was law. The law was the law!
"Hey," she tried again, taking ahold of his arm.
That turned out to be a mistake. She thought she heard shocked murmurs from the other Brions when the general turned so fast Aria gasped in surprise. All at once, she found herself pressed against the wall with a very hot and very mad Brion general closer to her than any man had been in a while.
She wanted to be mad herself, Aria really did. It felt like the most rational reaction. She tried to force fury to the forefront, but instead a soft moan escaped her lips. Never too religious, Aria found herself praying that Ryden hadn't heard that. Seeing the look on his face, she doubted she was that lucky.
Tough luck for me. Of course he has that sharp warrior hearing on top of everything else.
"That was very foolish," the general said, but his voice was surprisingly soft.
If Aria had trusted her hearing after the explosion had nearly destroyed her eardrums, she would have thought that Ryden sounded husky.
"Never try to stop me from fighting a righteous battle. That hasn't ended well for anyone."
Aria didn't trust her voice to answer, so she merely nodded.
"I will not allow those bastards to blow up Ilotra, because you people think they need to confess first," he said then.
There was no mistaking that it was an order. Aria wasn't strictly speaking under his command, but once again she thought of how futile it was to argue with a Brion.
"Very well," she said, feeling defeated. "Don't expect the council to love you for it."
The general gave her a weird look.
"Love," he said, a hint of disappointment in his voice. "I don't fight my wars to be loved. I fight battles that are just and I win. It does not matter to me what others think. Especially those who do not see what needs to be done."
With that, he turned and walked away, leaving Aria to follow in painful silence, wondering if that comment was directed at her.
CHAPTER EIGHT
Ryden
The council was in session, as he'd predicted. No doubt they were trying to find out who was to blame for the explosions, or what kind of punishment to instill upon him for escaping. He couldn't imagine how they presumed to do either.
The sessions of the full council, composed of all the ambassadors of the Galactic Union, took place in a grand hall called the Galaya Hall. Ryden figured it was better if he let himself in. The guards at the door took one look at him before thinkin
g better of trying to block his path. Ryden frowned. A Brion warrior would never have done that, even if facing a far superior opponent.
It was painfully, obviously clear that Ilotra wasn't prepared for an attack of any kind.
As he entered, Ryden noticed that he seemed to bring mute, grudging silence everywhere he went.
Finally, the same man who had spoken to him before in the atrium opened his mouth again.
"You—" was the only word he got to say, before Ryden interrupted.
"Spare me," he growled, coming closer. "I will not listen to your baseless accusations. We are in the middle of a war. The time for negotiations is over."
"We could have avoided that war," another council member protested.
"No," Ryden stated.
It grated on his nerves to say that, to repeat himself. That had been what he'd anticipated when he went to the Brion senators. On Briolina, no one would have questioned his word. They knew he wouldn't speak without being sure and would trust him to be right. This council was different. It was in their nature to suspect lies and foul play, when no Brion ever lied. Except maybe their own ambassadors. Ryden could make them out in the midst of the council members. They remained silent.
Figures. They've been here too long. They've forgotten what it means to be a Brion.
"Yes," another ambassador said. "Because you killed the envoys, General. Now we really have no chance of negotiating a peaceful end to this conflict. This is another example of Brion—"
"Silence," Ryden bellowed, letting the easy authority slip into his voice.
His voice carried to every corner of the Galaya Hall. Even guards who were supposed to have stopped him from entering held themselves straighter, standing at attention. Standing beside him, Aria flinched.
"I will hear no more of this," he said. "I will only say this once. The Galactic Union called the Brions, because we were needed. That was the right thing to do. The Clayors are on the offensive for an unknown reason. We are the only ones with the might to stand up to them.
"I'm fully aware that not all of you approve of our methods, but that is not my problem. We fight wars. That is why I'm here and I will do my duty no matter what you have to say about it. I'm standing here as proof that your own security is clearly not up to the task. If you want to live, stay out of my way."
He paused to emphasize the last part of his short speech.
"And finally, in case some of you weren't aware of this, I want to clear up the confusion. The Clayors are a hive mind. There was never any chance to negotiate. It was trick and you fell for it."
"That is a myth, General," a voice dared to interrupt him.
"Thank you for voicing the opinion of the ignorant," Ryden said. "There is an unpleasant truth to all this. The nature of the Clayors isn't widely known, but it is known. The Brion ambassadors at least would know. Which leads me to assume that someone here kept a part of the council in the dark on purpose to let the Clayors in.
"I ask now, did you all know they were here? Before you gathered here for this meeting? Ilotra is vast; it wouldn't have been difficult to hide their presence from those who'd have known. I certainly didn't see the Brions there in the atrium. Nor the Palians."
A grim silence was his only answer. The Brion ambassadors gave him solemn nods.
"That means one thing above all else," Ryden growled. "The Clayors have allies on Ilotra. That is how far you've let things get out of hand. While my fellow generals work to destroy the Clayor armies, I will do my duty here, as I was asked. That means that from this moment, this fortress is under my command. And I swear I will find the traitors and deal them the same fate I brought to the Clayors. Is that understood?"
The council was silent. Aria was looking at him, a small smile perched on her lips for some reason.
Finally an ambassador dared to speak up. He was a Palian, a species renowned for their wisdom. His unblinking eyes didn't move from Ryden.
"I understand your concern, General," he said slowly. "What concerns me is whether you will cede control of Ilotra back to us when this threat is eliminated?"
Ryden bared his teeth in a vicious smile.
"I assure you, Ambassador," he said. "If Brions wanted to take Ilotra, we would have already. I presumed you knew this. You keep saying we can't play nice, but this is nice. Me telling you instead of taking control without as much as a word is as nice as we get."
He had nothing else to say to them, so he turned and left the Galaya Hall, stunned silence reigning in his wake.
It wouldn't end well, he knew that. If he had more time, Ryden would have dealt with the situation differently, but the messages his fellow generals were sending him were concerning. The Clayors were coming and they were coming fast. There was no mistaking their direction.
Ilotra was defenseless, not because it lacked the weapons to hold back a full-on attack, but because it severely misjudged the danger.
He knew the Elders had decreed that they should mend their relations with the Union, as well as he was aware of how badly his actions depended on that. But there was no time to coddle Ilotra, nor to teach it to fend for itself. It would die in flames long before that. No, Ryden was left with only one choice. He'd have to act out the image the galaxy had of them anyway. He didn't have time to negotiate with the council, only to intimidate them.
He'd save their lives, but Ryden was under no illusions. There was no gratitude coming.
Not that it mattered. He was Brion. Doing what was right and winning the war before him were rewards of their own.
The general had passed through several halls already when Aria caught up with him. He stopped when he honestly wouldn't have stopped for anyone else on the entire moon.
She was panting from rushing after him. Somehow, it made her even sexier to the general, watching as her chest rose and fell, and the way her pink lips were parted. He couldn't stop imagining his cock between those pretty lips, those blue eyes staring up at him as she sucked him. Ryden knew he wouldn't leave Ilotra without tasting her.
"I'm sorry, General," she said. "That was pretty amazing."
He wasn't sure what she was talking about. Noticing that, Aria elaborated.
"The way you spoke to the council. I liked it. If everyone who has a seat there spoke like that, we would get so much more done."
A smirk tugged at his lips. He liked her spirit as much as he was attracted to her body, which was saying a lot for a man like him. The urge, the temptation to take her back to her rooms was great, but a Brion warrior always finished his battles first. He had to make sure the fortress was ready before he could allow himself to take a well-deserved and appetizing break.
"I have urgent duties to attend to," he said simply.
Her face dropped like she'd been slapped. He wondered what he'd said to cause her pretty face to twitch like that, but just in case she didn't understand his meaning, he added:
"Will you accompany me to the command center? I need someone with knowledge of the fortress and its defenses, and I prefer your company to those lying bastards."
And like that, her face was lit up by a true, sincere smile, fixing whatever he’d broken before. She nodded.
"Very well. But we're not all that bad you know, General."
Ryden gave her a look.
"You might not be, but this is a war. You will do as I say or we could all die," he said, his words dull as if he were reciting something so painfully obvious that it shouldn’t even be uttered.
When Aria's eyes went wide again and the smile fell from her lips, he wondered if losing her smile was the price he had to pay for saving Ilotra.
CHAPTER NINE
Aria
The general's presence was exhilarating. Aria found herself taken by his rough charm, even if she still thought he was kind of a prick and a large part of her was expending effort on trying to keep her head clear. Everything he was terrified her, but there was something about the simple way of his being. For better or worse, he was the most honest m
an she'd ever met. She had to believe he was the right man for Ilotra.
Aria accompanied him to the command center as he'd asked, still holding Sota's words in her mind. Although so far she'd failed in her duties spectacularly. She'd let him kill the Clayors, get arrested by Ilotra's security, and finally—perhaps most importantly—she'd stood by wordlessly as he took over the whole fortress.
Pretty much the whole package. Yet she couldn't fight the nagging feeling that the general was right. Aria hadn't spent that long on Ilotra and she was already tired of all the scheming taking place behind the scenes. Ryden was a breath of fresh air on the moon. She welcomed it. The trouble was, she knew the danger such freedom posed. It was the exact reason she mistrusted the Brions, because when you were that powerful, you truly answered to no one. The Palians had been right. Ryden took the fortress and Aria didn't doubt he'd protect it too, but what then? They were relying on his good will to carry on from there.
Yet that was the hand they were dealt.
Aria was willing to admit she hadn't wanted the general on Ilotra, but now that he was there, she wanted to help him. Protecting Ilotra was her first priority, as it seemed to be his. Their methods merely needed... some compromises. In vain, she tried to remember what the word was in Brionese. In the meantime, her distraction was worrying her a bit. It was safe to say she had trouble focusing on what she had to do and what she wanted to do.
To make things worse, her body had a very compelling argument about it being perfectly easy to keep an eye on the general in her bed. Two eyes, very much on him. And even a Brion general couldn't cause too much trouble in a bedroom, could he? At least not trouble that started wars.
Jokingly, Aria considered the method of distraction and then firmly set it down as fantasy material for later. She had a job to do first.
The crew manning Ilotra's command center was possibly even less thrilled about Ryden than she was, though. When Ryden and Aria entered, it was obvious that the crew had been informed of their upcoming visit.
A man in a GU's captain uniform came to greet Ryden, an unmistakable look of dread on his face. Aria wanted to assure him that Ryden was only dangerous to their enemies, but she wasn't entirely sure. Maybe it was just her that he seemed to want to keep alive. For what purpose, she wondered.
