by Mikayla Lane
Rebecca looked up at Leif with tears in her eyes.
“He beat him. Gracus tried to defend himself, but he said he couldn’t hurt a hybrid, and he didn’t really fight back.”
Leif turned angry, disgusted eyes to his father.
“You beat him like this even though you knew he wasn’t trying to fight back? Where is your honor?” Leif roared the last as he hefted the Valendran over his shoulder and put him in the vehicle he and Rebecca drove before they’d run into Leif Sr.
True was stunned and she narrowed her eyes at the still jumping Viking and sneered.
“You’re a real bastard. Who needs the Relians when we got soulless assholes like you among us? Dog’ee, keep him occupied while we get Gracus and Rebecca out of here,” True said coldly as Leif Sr.’s eyes widened.
Leif came up beside True and stared at his father a moment.
“You should be ashamed. I know I am,” he said before he led True back to their vehicle and hopped on.
They took off, Rebecca following behind with Gracus as Leif warned Lauren through the Shengari’ that their first casualty of this pathetic war was on his way in.
They entered the old chamber hall and the med techs were waiting along with everyone else to see who was hurt and how bad. Lauren wasn’t the only one to gasp at the sight of the Valendran, his body covered in deepening bruises, bleeding cuts, and scrapes.
“What the hell happened to him?” Lauren asked as she had someone begin the scans and she sent her energy into the man, looking for any immediate life threatening injuries.
True looked at Grai, who was growling low in his throat beside her, and she tried to think of a way to keep the tempers from flaring until Dog’ee ran in and dashed her plans.
“That . . .” Dog’ee said with a hiss as he jumped on the end of Gracus’s bed. He spit a few more times before adding,
“The big man beat him! Even though Gracus say he not want to hurt him and held his hands up! He . . . he . . .”
Leif sighed and looked at the faces around him, knowing this wasn’t going to be good.
“It was my father,” he admitted.
As expected, his own people as well as Grai’s were furious. The action was dishonorable and they never expected the exalted legends to stoop so low. It showed them all how desperate the men were becoming to hold onto their plans.
“They’re unhinged!” someone in the crowd said, while others agreed.
The furor around them was building, and Grai and Leif both knew that things were getting out of control. In an effort to contain the crowd and the calls for similar punishment against the legends, Grai whistled to get their attention.
When it got quiet, Grai spoke.
“No matter what is currently transpiring, we cannot allow our emotions to dictate our actions! I understand your anger. We all do,” Grai said, looking to Leif for support.
When Leif nodded his head, thankful that Grai was taking the lead, Grai continued.
“We may not like what they’re doing right now, but those men are only doing what they think is right for their people. No matter how wrong it may be. As a leader, I have made many decisions that I regret, but seemed like the best option at the time. I will not be a party to any talk of punishment when they are simply doing the best they can,” Grai said, to much grumbling among the hybrids.
“It’s not for us! It’s for them!” one yelled out, with a few others agreeing.
Grai turned dark eyes to the hybrid.
“If it has been only for them, then you’ve never benefitted from their decisions and leadership?” Grai asked, throwing his hands up to encompass the cavern and tunnel systems.
“What about the Valendran? He deserves retribution!” someone called out from the back.
Gracus cleared his throat and raised his hand from the bed he was still lying on as Lauren and the techs worked on his battered body.
“I don’t want any revenge,” Gracus croaked. “Like Grai said, they’re doing what they think is right. Even if I don’t like it. I’d rather see us forget this stupid war and join together to make this world a better place for the humans and hybrids.”
“You just want the females for brood mares!” a small voice yelled out. Grai’s head jerked up to find the speaker, but the woman must have been smaller than the crowd.
True scoffed.
“No, that’s not correct. Of course, there have been births as a result of a few matings, but not everyone wants a child right away and that decision is left up to the mated couple. Hell, Jess and Amun have been mated almost 2 years now, and they haven’t had a child of their own. Instead, they adopted one of our rescued children,” she said, as much for Leif as for the others. When they did complete the inevitable mating, she didn’t want children for a long time.
Grai looked around at the surprised faces, True obviously clearing up another lie they were told.
“The Valendrans have been reuniting the rescued children with their Valendran families. They live above ground in a town with the children so that they can grow and learn their world. No one is kidnapped and forced to Valendra or to breed,” Grai said, hoping to alleviate the original female’s fear.
True grinned.
“Of course, if you want to go visit Valendra, you can. I was just there with my father recently. Incredible planet, but it’s not home. As crazy as this place is, I like it too much to leave it in shambles, but I was never forced to go or pressured to stay once I was there,” she said honestly. It had been a great experience and a wonderful place to visit. It was a trip she planned to make again.
True saw she had the hybrids attention and continued.
“Whatever Fiorn may remember of his home, the Valendran people have changed a lot in order to help and to accommodate our needs since we were discovered here on the planet with the humans,” True said, wanting to clear up a lot of their worries and fears. She knew it would be more believable from another hybrid rather than one of the others.
One of the larger male mountain hybrids stepped forward.
“So, what could we expect if we joined with you? Because of this little mutiny, our future is pretty well fucked,” he said without anger or resentment. Grai judged it to be more curiosity from his energy.
Leif looked at the man and shrugged before gesturing for Grai to answer.
“I’m curious too,” he said.
Grai glared at Leif before turning to address the question.
“Our people are tested on their strengths and weaknesses. Then they are assigned duties based on their skill and what they want to do. Everyone is put in mission rotation as long as you can pass the physical and weapon requirements if you want to. And everyone has a secondary duty in order to cover the things that need to get done,” he said honestly.
“What secondary duty?” a man yelled from the back.
Grai sighed, thinking he didn’t have time for this right now.
“During crop season, all off-duty personnel, including myself, are assigned an hour of work in the fields or town each week. There are various assignments, and we all pull our weight,” he said.
When more questions were being thrown at him, Grai held up his hands and waited until it was quiet.
“Right now, we need to get things under control here! We’re waiting on Traze and Tara. Do we know what tunnel they will come in at?” he asked.
“South,” Leif said.
Grai nodded. “Let’s get all of these vehicles moved into the other tunnels. It’ll only slow them down, but seconds can count. Gibly has his cats stationed farther down the tunnels and will warn us before Fiorn’s forces get to the vehicle barrier,” Grai said, looking up at the towering ceiling of the cavern and turned to Leif.
“Is there access up there? From another level or tunnel?” he asked.
Leif looked up and shook his head.
“Not that I know of. I’ve never been above the floor in this room, which is why we chose it,” he said, following Grai’s train of thought
on their defenses.
“This place has never been used in my lifetime,” another hybrid added.
Grai nodded.
“This is your home, help me figure out our strengths and weaknesses in here so we can prevent anyone from getting hurt,” he said, looking at the expectant faces around him.
*****
Ivint and Reven stood there blinking at the strange hybrid for a moment before Ivint realized what had happened and saw every person in the room had their weapons trained on the stoic Blade.
“Put your weapons down! Now!” Ivint ordered. “He merely showed Reven and me how his gift works.”
Ivint turned to Blade.
“Is that truly what has set Fiorn on this course?” he asked, replaying the events and memories that Blade had placed in his mind.
Blade nodded.
“Yes, it is. Although he has cause to mistrust the humans and his own people, he has taken things too far by endangering us all. I apologize for taking the liberty of reaping it into your mind, but under the time constraints we are facing, it seemed the most expedient course of action,” Blade said.
Reven squeezed his eyes shut for a moment, trying to clear his mind.
“So we have no choice but to wait for his mate to arrive to resolve this?” he asked.
Blade nodded.
“Unfortunately, yes. She is the only one who can get through to him. Especially now that he’s gone this far,” he confessed.
Ivint sighed and opened the comm to Koda’s ships.
“Cloak now!” he ordered and watched as only one line of ships now appeared over the mountain—Fiorn’s.
Ivint growled in frustration as Reven stared at Blade.
“How do we know that what you put in our heads is the truth? You admitted that you can put in the good and the bad. What’s to prevent you from putting in made up lies?” Reven asked, unsure if he’d be able to tell if the unusual hybrid was lying or not.
Blade smiled, his arms crossed casually across his chest as he turned from the screen to look at Reven with a dead stare.
“You don’t know. You are correct that I could have put nothing but lies in your head. I could be lulling you and your commander into trusting me so that it will be easier to overtake and destroy you. It’s called trust. I trusted you by coming in here alone and without aggression. You can choose to trust me, or not,” he said.
Ivint looked at both men with wide eyes while Reven considered the man’s words, unsure what to think as he filtered through the memories and emotions Blade placed in his mind. He began a systematic search, looking for anything that would lead him to believe Blade was deceiving them, but he couldn’t come up with anything that stood out to him.
“What do you think?” Reven asked Ivint through the Shengari’.
Ivint stared at Blade while he answered.
“I don’t know, but we are limited on our choices. Contact our people in the field and make sure they remain on guard around the mountain hybrids.”
“What about Grai?” Reven asked.
Ivint turned back to the screen and sighed.
“I don’t think he ever lets his defenses down. They are probably monitoring the comm, so telling him to be careful is pointless when we have no specifics to give him,” Ivint replied, wondering if they’d made a mistake.
Blade cleared his throat and interrupted their thoughts.
“I’m sure that if you reviewed the comm I gave you, you would find everything you need to help you come to a decision about whether or not to trust me and my people,” Blade said cryptically as he nodded towards the pocket Ivint had put it in.
Ivint and Reven looked at one another for a moment before Ivint pulled it out and looked at it. It was almost identical to the one that they currently used. Obviously, Fiorn had based theirs on the ones he remembered from Valendra.
Reven moved to look at the screen over Ivint’s shoulder.
“The entire plans to the facility are there,” Blade said. “All the codes to get in and disable certain systems, team members and their abilities, and the same for all of our facilities active around the world. Our history, access to our genealogies, anything I have access to as a commander of my unit. Everything you need to cripple us or help us is in your hands.”
Reven looked at him with narrowed eyes.
“Help you? How?”
Blade turned to look at Reven, his carefully trained expression never changing.
“We wish to stay on the planet and work with your teams to protect the humans and fight the Relians,” Blade said.
“Why can’t you do that now?” Ivint asked.
Blade looked at the Valendran Commander.
“Everything we have and do revolves only around crash retrieval and basically cleaning up after everyone who comes here—including all of you. We’ve gone behind you after many missions and picked through the wreckage and removed things that the human military could find later and use,” he said.
He continued when he saw Reven and Ivint’s confused expressions.
“You have a few people trying to do what a thousand of us have been doing for hundreds of years: hide from the humans. And you’re not really good at it. You’re so sloppy that the military has been right behind you every step of the way. It takes more than a cloaked ship and some fake credentials to avoid being discovered,” Blade said with a flat expression before realizing they still weren’t getting it.
Blade ran a hand through his hair and put his hands loosely on his hips.
“We’re geared to keep us hidden; you’re geared for missions. We want to share personnel and resources. Let your tech people work with ours, the ones who want to keep doing it, and let our other people who want to fight, fight. Train us on your weapons and tactics. Let us help, and we’ll help you keep all of us from being discovered by the humans,” Blade explained.
Ivint and the others looked at him in open-mouthed surprise.
“You just want to join forces? Become part of the Earth Alliance?” he asked in surprise. Of everything he thought the man would say, this wasn’t it.
Blade nodded.
“This is our home. The humans are our people as much as the Valendrans, and we want to help them. Our abilities are being wasted, and most of us have no desire to be taken to another world where we live by ourselves and create Fiorn’s idea of a super world. We don’t believe it’s why we were put here,” he admitted, shrugging his shoulders.
Reven shook his head, startled by the man’s admission, but more so by the real man that he was allowing them to see as he leaned back against the table with his hands relaxed on his hips. And he was allowing his emotions to bleed through his energy.
Reven was a little surprised to feel the longing in Blade when he spoke about his people going on missions and he couldn’t help but think what an asset the guy would be in the field with his abilities. Blade was the perfect interrogator.
“How many of your people feel that way?” Ivint asked, wondering just how many of Fiorn’s people were part of this mini mutiny.
Blade surprised them all with his deep chuckle. “About 97 percent of us. I think even the DF wants that too,” he said with a half grin.
Reven was taken aback.
“Wait . . . so when you said that your people were helping, you meant all but 3 percent?” he asked, needing to verify it.
Blade snorted.
“Since the second Fiorn declared this little war, our personnel at all locations have been arriving here at the Folly to help, or have been assisting your few techs in keeping the pics and vids off the news networks. You guys really suck at working with the human technology,” he said with a chuckle.
Chapter Eleven
Countdown Clock to Human Discovery
14:00 Hours
This is WFWZ radio news. The evacuation of the area around Burnt Tree Ridge continues.
While there have been no reported injuries, a few residents claim to have seen UFOs.
Watch out for those
clouds and the dust, ladies and gentlemen! Get caught in one of those dust devils and you may feel like you’ve been anal probed! Now back to the music!
Grai looked down at Tricia and smiled as she put on a brave face for him. “You are the most amazing woman on this, or any other world,” he said softly, trying not to wake his sleeping son.
Tricia chuckled then squeezed his hand as another contraction gripped her. Lauren smiled at the obviously happy and loving couple.
“I’m going to give you a blocker now, it’s perfectly safe for the baby, but it will block your pain and help you to push,” she said, excited to have the baby arrive safely.
Ten minutes later, Grai was trying to see his baby daughter through the tears in his eyes as Lauren cut her umbilical cord. The applause around the cavern was deafening as Lauren placed the infant in her mother’s waiting arms.
Grai looked up at the doctor and asked through the Shengari’, “Are they ok?”
Lauren grinned at the worried new father. “They are perfect. Your daughter is perfectly healthy despite her early arrival,” Lauren said aloud, to the relief of both parents.
Grai smiled and leaned down to look at his new daughter and was surprised to see a pair of dark eyes looking at him from under thick, dark lashes. Her tiny head was capped with a small shock of dark, curly hair and Grai was stunned at how beautiful she was.
Tricia looked up at him with a watery smile and said, “She’s so beautiful, honey.”
Grai’s heart skipped a beat at his two beautiful children laying with their equally beautiful mother and he vowed that he would get them all out of here safe. He wanted his daughter to see the beauty of the world she was born into.
“The three of you are the most beautiful thing I have ever seen,” Grai said as he leaned down to kiss the foreheads of his family. The soft skin of his baby daughter was last and he lingered for a moment as he drew her scent into his lungs, to ensure he could find her anywhere, before standing.
Tricia held her daughter gently as she smiled at Grai. “I know, you have things to take care of to keep us safe. Go . . . we’re more than ok. And think of what we’re going to name our daughter. We never did settle on a name,” she said, trying to make it easier for him to leave them, knowing it was tearing him up.
