by D. R. Rosier
He knew he should be paying attention to what they were saying about the scans so he stopped his wandering mind and focused on what was going on…
Ariella said, “It doesn’t look like an offensive trap. Those twenty four ships are stuffed with Elvii and Orlii. It looks like they are going to hide behind them. Of course it’s going to work too. We will have to take more risks to disable instead of destroying those ships.”
Larissa nodded. “I agree, we can’t sacrifice all those innocent lives. The odds are a little better though I think, twenty four to fifteen. Let’s just go kick their ass!”
Ariella sighed, “See this ship here? They have their weapons charged and pointed at a city on the surface.”
Gwen said thoughtfully, “We have ground defenses in the warehouse, can you teleport me and a couple of shield generators to the city, without them noticing?”
Ariella shrugged. “Maybe, but if they detect the transport they might just fire on the city before you can set up. I’m not willing to risk that. We might have a better chance with an attack from cloak, taking the ship.”
Bill shook his head and said, “Wait. It’s too easy, what if they have cloaked ships around that one? After all it’s the only one focused on the planet, it’s wearing a big kick me sign right now. It’s what I would do, make you see the obvious trap, then, when you disarm it I would spring the real one. I could be wrong. Maybe they are that stupid, or desperate?”
Ariella widened her scans to other dimensions looking for any indication of a cloaked ship. This was something only the Dravii could do but she usually didn’t bother because it took so much energy, but thanks to the last few days she had some to burn. There were quite a few dimensions and it took a while, but she finally found what bill suspected.
Ariella said, “I found them, good call, but we can defeat the trap easily now that we know they are there. Just like when I am cloaked they will be especially vulnerable to energy weapons. I have their location and can easily disable them with just my secondary beams at the same time I disable the lure ship. I don’t know if they have hostages too, so we won’t take the chance.
“I think what we will do is sneak in close to the planet, and take them out as our other ships attack head on. It will be dangerous, but I don’t want another ship to take shots at the planet.”
Everyone agreed with Ariella so she sent orders to the ships and they moved into attack position, her taking those three ships will be the signal to attack. They all held their breaths as they snuck through the enemy lines and slipped between the enemy ship and the planet. In theory they were undetectable, but they were also quite vulnerable.
A short time later Ariella popped into normal space and disabled those three ships all at once. She watched as their fourteen ships uncloaked, two of their ships per enemy ship coming in at different vectors. That would ensure the enemy couldn’t move their vulnerable side to a safe position.
Only the ship with a disabling shot in the two ship teams fired. That left sixteen ships left to fight. The numbers were close to even, but the enemy was shooting back and intent to destroy. They didn’t have that option.
Ariella drew four ships. The last twelve went after the rest of their fleet. She took a pounding, protecting the planet, but she was able to disable those four ships before her energy got to low. She watched the fierce battle going on not sure if she should try to help, or stay to protect the planet.
She decided to protect the planet, losing a ship would hurt, but losing millions of Elvii on the surface was not an option. She wasn’t willing to gamble on that many lives. Still it upset her each time one of their ships was destroyed. She was conflicted about the decision.
The battle lasted twenty minutes, in the end they lost four ships, but every one of the enemy was disabled.
She sighed, “We need to get those cores offline, then I can get those Elvii back to the planet. I am tempted to blow them to dust after, but then maybe a miserably long life will serve better. Give them enough time to regret their actions.”
She teleported squads of soldiers over directly from the other ten ships to the enemy’s. When she sent them to one of the ships she felt a strange but familiar energy, though she couldn’t recall where she had felt it before. It was very subtle. She wouldn’t be able to detect it if the ship was still fully powered and even now she couldn’t lock onto it yet. Even with the core idling and at close range she could hardly detect it.
Ship by ship she teleported the Elvii and Orlii back to the planet when the cores went offline. When the ship with the strange energy signature had its core powered down she teleported him aboard ship, to a locked room.
She could tell it was an Angilli, but that was all, something wasn’t right about him but she couldn’t figure it out. She decided that it could keep though, until after the battle was finished. Then, she sensed the strangest thing. The energy signature parted from the Angilli, who collapsed. She wasn’t sure if the room would hold it, but it didn’t try to escape the room, it sunk down into the deck plate, into her body.
She panicked as she felt its malevolence. It was attacking her mind, clearly trying to take over control of her body and suppress her will. And it was winning, handily. She couldn’t read whatever it was at all, just instinctively knew it meant her harm. She fought desperately with will power, but the creature was also made of energy and that gave her an idea. She surrounded and trapped it with her own, then ejected the energy into space and moved away.
She was terrified, if she hadn’t had the energy to fight back on that level, she knew she would have lost that fight for control of her body. What the hell is that thing?
She said to the crew, “Hey, come and take a look at this.”
They all came over as she focused her scanners on the strange energy signature and explained what just happened. They watched as over thirty minutes or so, it slowly lost cohesion and dissipated.
Bill said, “Are you okay?”
Ariella replied slowly, “Yes, but worried. I have seen that energy before but can’t remember where. Also if I had been low on energy it’s possible that thing would have taken over my body. It came from the Angilli I detected and brought aboard. Perhaps he will have some insight when he wakes up? Either way it looks like they need a body to inhabit, stuck without a host it died relatively fast.”
They finished the ship boarding actions and started back to Angillia when she noted he was waking up.
She said, “He is waking, his name is Gabe, let’s see what his story is.”
She, Bill, and Larissa went into the room he was in.
Gabe asked in a trembling voice, “Where am I? What’s going on?”
Ariella ignored his questions and asked, “What’s the last thing you remember?”
Gabe looked confused at the question but answered, “The new empress had given orders to outlaw slavery. I was planning to convert my ships to carry other cargo and making plans to convert my company to another footing. I had just started making changes, and I don’t know what happened after that. I woke up here.”
Ariella sighed. “He is telling the truth, more than that, he doesn’t even like slavery. Inherited the family business and was happy to comply when the orders came down from Tiffani.”
Larissa growled, “If you didn’t like slavery why didn’t you change the business before the orders?”
Gabe looked sad suddenly, “It’s not that simple. If I had left a gap in the market someone else would have taken it over. Maybe a lot more ruthless. At least with me in charge of part of it I could ensure that the Elvii I dealt with were not abused and raped.”
He shook his head, “Too little I know, but the best I could do at the time.”
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Ariella stayed to fill him in a little on what went on the past month or so. Bill, Gwen, and Larissa were tired, and a little worked up from the battle. They left the room and went to bed. They would get to sleep, eventually…
Chapter 4
; Tiffani was making an effort not to be a bitch. She knew her short temper had everything to do with her worrying about her mates. When the single ship had come back alone a couple of days ago she had been terrified and thought the worst for a moment. She had calmed down and sent the five relief ships after they reported their progress however.
She had wanted to send more, but knew she needed to trust Ariella. It was hard for her to stand by and wait when her lovers were in danger. It killed her that while she was at home and safe they were fighting. When she got word they were almost back, her body relaxed in a huge sigh of relief. She had not realized how tense her muscles had been.
When they arrived she welcomed them all back with hugs and kisses, she needed the tactile assurance they were all okay. She, Anise and Sylvia listened as they went over what happened. She had never heard of anything happening like that either. She took a long read of Gabe and there was no evidence of anything in his mind for the last two months. Despite his family’s business he appeared to be a good man, with good ideas for trade that would stabilize the economy. She determined to speak to him later about that, it was going to become a serious issue soon as slavery had been big business.
“I haven’t heard of anything like that, but I can search the royal archives. If there has been past contact with these beings it will be recorded there. Gwen, can you help me?”
She and Gwen moved to do that while the others went to relax, she smiled as she felt Bill staring at her ass when she walked out, she would have to find time later to do something about that. She also noted Gabe was doing the same thing, but dismissed the thought.
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Gwen was thoughtful as she searched through the archives for any mention of the entity they had run across. She looked for both entries of a being that was made of energy, and for any historical accounts of possessing spirits. It was slow going and so far she had come up empty, she hoped Tiffani was having better luck.
She had felt Gabe’s devotion to the new empress, he truly did hate what he was doing in the past. It was apparent to her that he had been predisposed to like her as she had freed him from a burden. She also felt his surprise at Tiffani’s youth and beauty, the guy was properly smitten already.
She had also felt the attraction for him from Tiffani, he was attractive after all, and quite obviously would do whatever Tiffani asked of him. She didn’t think that Tiffani was aware of it yet though, she had been full of other feelings at the time. Relief that they were safe, horror at the story of an entity that could possess a body, and occlude their victim’s will and awareness. She was also worried about what this meant for the Empire. Was there more of these beings?
She knew It would occur to Tiffani soon however. There was nothing wrong with that, Tiffani was free to be with who she wills, but she worried about Bill. The love between Tiffani and Bill was deep and intense. She hoped this would not damage it. She had decided not to take that chance and avoid other opportunities with males. She was in love with Bill to distraction and thought it a small sacrifice for the man who saved her life, and allowed her to grow. But she knew Tiffani did not have that option, her duty prevented it.
She felt a surge of grim satisfaction come from Tiffani and knew she must have found something. They continued to search though, unwilling to stop until they had everything they could find. It turned out to be a wasted effort however. They had little information when they left several hours later. They were both exhausted and joined their mates in bed, both falling into a deep sleep.
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Bill woke up early. He looked over at Tiffani and watched her sleep for a moment, she looked so peaceful and beautiful it was hard to look away. He wanted to be with her badly right now, not having a chance when they got home last night. But he knew she worked late into the night and must be exhausted, so he decided he should let her sleep.
He pulled on some comfortable pants and a shirt and walked out the back entrance for his morning jog. The weather had been getting cooler and the air felt crisp and cool this morning, maybe high fifties as he ran his circuit around the castle. He guessed he had run something like five miles when he came back in and showered.
His mates weren’t around so he hunted down breakfast and tracked them down after getting a cup of coffee. Apparently there was a meeting in a few minutes.
Bill took another sip of coffee. He was a little worried about the entity, but Ariella had fought him off handily. Plus as far as he knew there were no more heavy forces out there resisting the new anti-slavery laws. It seemed they were down to light resistance, sending normal ships out in an almost police action.
He bowed his head and moaned softly, Gwen’s hands and fingers on his neck and shoulders was a little distracting. Her massages were amazing. However when Tiffani started the briefing he looked up and paid attention, he wasn’t worried, but he was curious what she found last night.
Tiffani said, “Gwen and I didn’t find much, and the little we did find was from a hundred thousand years ago.”
She frowned and continued in a cautious tone, “What we found doesn’t look good though. They never discovered their race name back then but refer to them as Evil Spirits, though they note it was in fact some type of being made of pure energy. As you found out, they cannot exist away from their world without a host body to live in.
“Apparently they invaded the Empire, jumping from body to body into people with more authority. No one knew who was or wasn’t possessed, it was a nightmare and no one could be trusted. Only the Dravii were able to detect the energy and know if someone was possessed, and then only when they were close. The archive does note that the energy beings were defeated. Somehow. But there was nothing else regarding their defeat except that it happened.”
Tiffani sighed in frustration and continued, “The only other information is to contact the Dravii if they ever showed up again. For some reason knowledge was suppressed about this war and how they won. I can’t imagine why but… If they are invading again we are in trouble. There are no elder or ancient Dravii left, outside of Ariella who wasn’t born until twenty five thousand years ago.”
Bill could tell she was really mad about the archive being edited like that. It was also concerning, the Dravii must have assumed they would be around for the next one. And why wouldn’t they? As the most powerful and generally peaceful race they couldn’t have seen the betrayals and their destruction coming.
He watched as Ariella’s face transformed into a look of horror.
Ariella said with certainty in her voice, “They are invading. Worse than that, they started two thousand years ago, at least. I just remembered where I felt that energy signature before.”
She turned to Tiffani and continued, “There was one in the Dravii that enslaved your family line, and who ultimately betrayed my race. I am sure of it. But that means… The Dravii betrayers… Were not really Dravii anymore. I believe destroying my race, or most of it, was their first goal. Now no one knows how to defeat them. Tiffani is right. I am the oldest left and born seventy five millennia after that war.
“The question is what will they do next, and how can we rediscover the solution that they found so long ago?”
Bill was starting to take it a little more seriously, now that the pieces were on the table it was obvious there was a second invasion coming, in fact, was already here.
Bill said, “Well we have one advantage they didn’t have back then. We know for sure that a solution exists. At the very least that gives us hope.”
He watched as they all nodded, Gabe stepped in at that point, being invited to the meeting for his point of view.
Gabe said thoughtfully, “I don’t think they really cared about the slavery of the Elvii one way or another. It was probably just a way to destabilize things a little more before they moved in. Plus, it is a way to start the war while still trying to conceal their presence under the guise of a civil war power struggle. Tiffani taking over and outlawing slavery actually gave
them a way to sneak in. A reasonable reason for the leaders they possess to attack the government.”
There was no proof of that of course, but as Bill thought it over it did fit all the facts. He thought there was more to it than that though, he couldn’t put his finger on what though. As he thought all this through he saw Tiffani and Gabe exchanging glances. The kind they used to share in the beginning. His stomach twisted but he pushed it down, refusing to even think about it right now.
Not when they were all probably reading him in one way or another, outside of Larissa that is.
She felt Gwen squeeze his leg and look over at him in concern, which of course, backfired, not making him feel better at all. Because now he was sure there was something going on there and felt worse. He kept his stone face, no sign of his emotions touched his face, but of course that was worthless in this company. The very human emotions of jealousy and anger twisted his stomach, then shame filled him as he knew he didn’t own her, didn’t have the right to the feelings.
That was not how things were done out here, it was an alien concept, a human concept. Something he knew very well, since he had six lovers right now after all.
He got up and left before his thoughts made it worse. He felt embarrassed and ashamed. He knew, or if he was honest about it, thought, that he could handle it. He might even get used to and accept it someday. Take some joy knowing his mate’s life was a little fuller with another mate, and a child. After all, that wouldn’t take anything away from him and Tiffani. It would just further enrich her life. In the same way that Gwen and the others were enriching his, while taking nothing away from Tiffani and himself.
But that didn’t mean it would be easy. That didn’t mean he wouldn’t feel the pain of it. His Tiffani, his golden goddess, with another man. The thought turned his stomach. Maybe not yet, but he could see the way the wind was blowing after all. He loved her so much and knew she loved him. He cringed again as he knew his thoughts must have hurt her.
