Warriors of Risnar 4

by Tracy St. John

  Selena decided if they were concerned, she should be too. “What do you guys think it means?”

  Both men were silent for a few seconds. At last, Arga said, “Perhaps the planned invasion of Earth has more to do than mere resources. I wonder if the Monsuda aren’t dying off? And they believe Earth is their final chance for survival?”

  “We’ll know more when we hit the other hives. It would be more than fine with me if our enemy was on the path to extinction.” Kren’s lips wrinkled in a snarl.

  Selena thought of the loathsome queen and shuddered. “Good riddance.”

  “You can say that again.”

  Selena snickered. “Kren, you’re starting to talk like an Earthling.”

  “You women are a terrible influence.” He tipped an ear.

  “That’s all the encouragement I need to teach Arga a few dirty limericks.”

  They chuckled. Arga grabbed her and pulled her against his side. “Let’s finish this up. We’ve got a lot of work ahead of us yet.”

  * * * *

  Once the hive was confirmed cleared of living Monsuda and operational drones, Risnarish scientists and medical personnel staged their own invasion of the hive. With the situation well in hand, Selena and Arga snuck outside to take a breather. They stood at the foot of the mountain that reared high above, its snow-capped peak glittering. After the dull gray interior of the underground complex, Selena was more than happy to enjoy sunlight on her face. She closed her eyes against the golden rays, soaking in the little bit of warmth that won through the overall coolness of the day.

  Arga’s solidity brushed close and firmed against her side. When his arm slipped around her waist, she opened her eyes and smiled up at him. He grinned back.

  “At the risk of sounding too sentimental, you truly are a beautiful woman.”

  “You don’t think I appreciate sentiment? Oh, I get it. Big warrior Arga is uncomfortable with mushiness.” She poked his chest. “Come on, tough guy. Tell me I’m your everything. The very air you breathe, the reason the sun rises in the morning, the wind beneath your wings.”

  His chuckle rumbled her bones. “I might need a little more time before I can manage that. I’ll admit to having fallen in love with you. As hard I tried not to, you’re impossible not to adore.”

  Her heart picked up its pace. Flustered, she couldn’t keep from making light of it. “My gosh. The L-word. Are you okay with it?”

  “I’m very okay with it.” He smirked, as if recognizing how his announcement had rattled her.

  Don’t be an idiot, Baumer. If he can put it out there, so can you. “Are you okay if I tell you I’m in love with you too?”

  “As long as you don’t get yourself kidnapped or killed in the next billion years or so, I think I can handle it.”

  “I’ll do my best. Though I’m not sure the universe is prepared for my immortality. An eternity of me is a lot to ask your fellow Risnarish to put up with.”

  He kissed her, long and deep, curling her toes inside her boots. Selena immersed herself in the sense of belonging and security he offered.

  When the kiss ended, she returned to the bantering that had little teasing behind it. “It almost sounds as if you wouldn’t mind me sticking around?”

  “Unless you wish to be responsible for me becoming a hermit and cutting myself off from all chances of loss.”

  “Jeez, no pressure.”

  He abruptly became serious. “Please don’t return to Earth. I can’t imagine my life without you.”

  “Lucky for you, I can’t either.” It was her turn to put aside silliness. It was a significant moment, deserving sincerity. “I would love to stay with you, for the rest of our lives.”

  “Are you absolutely certain about that?”

  Selena and Arga started as Notlin stepped close. The head of the Assembly regarded them with an air of solemn concern.

  Holy shit, when did she get here? She wasn’t supposed to have anything to do with the attack.

  Arga returned the elder’s hand-to-hearts greeting, his expression betraying his confusion. “From my spirit to yours, Elder Notlin. Did you need me for something?”

  “Not really, except that you lead your days in peace.” Her slight smile was gentle, if resigned. “I had a feeling this would happen. Risnarish men and Earthling women cannot seem to help their attraction to each other.”

  Selena charged ahead with her uppermost concern. “You asked if I’m sure I want to stay. Would you let me?”

  “It is up to you, as All-Spirit has dictated this moment should occur. But you must know if you live with Arga, it doesn’t necessarily mean you will live on Risnar.” A twinge of sadness injected into her words. Her ears flattened slightly.

  “The climate problems,” Arga said.

  “Once we have finished dealing with the Monsuda, efforts will begin to establish a colony on the planet we discovered at the end of the shadow portal. Should Risnar reach the point where it can no longer support us, we will relocate.”

  Selena considered what the Risnarish woman was saying, though her heart was pounding at the answer Notlin had given to her question. It is up to you.

  She could stay with Arga.

  Selena addressed the current conversation, though her heart clutched greedily at the elder’s response. “You’ve decided to cut off all access between Risnar and Earth anyway, whether you leave this world or not. Right?”

  “Indeed, we have. But as long as we have a direct portal between the planets, there remains the option of sending you home. That will not be the case with this other world. It has no portal to Earth. After a period of time, we would also cut ourselves off from Risnar, in case of the worst scenario.”

  “You mean, in case some members of the Monsuda survive and elude detection.”

  “Yes.”

  It didn’t matter. Selena had made up her mind. Without a second’s hesitation, she said, “I want to be with Arga, no matter where that takes me.”

  “Very well. Welcome to our lives, Selena. May your days be filled with peace and love.” Notlin pressed her slender hand to her chest, bent the tip of an ear, and walked away.

  Arga squeezed Selena tight, laughing with delight. She laughed too, hugging and kissing him in celebration.

  * * * *

  The next couple of months were tense, though beyond taking down the other hives within a few hours’ dartwing flights of Yitrow, Selena was involved in little of the events. She had not trained extensively with the Risnarish as Anneliese Thompson had. With no immediate need for her to plant charges at the targeted hives, she was forced to wait for Arga to return from those forays. On those days, she paced the floor of the war council as reports rolled in, only breathing easy when the successful results were confirmed and Arga reassured her he’d come through without a scratch.

  The Risnarish attacks on the Monsuda went into full effect, with results far better than they’d had the right to expect. As in the hive that had attacked Yitrow, the warriors discovered fewer enemies to fight than had been supposed. A substantial number of hives even lacked the ruling queens. Some hives had been outright abandoned.

  During their testimony to the Assembly following the final hive’s fall, Arga and Nex recounted the information discovered in the Monsuda’s documentation of their waning days. “We’ve uncovered report after report of the queens dying off, food shortages, and technology breaking down with too few resources to keep things running,” Arga said.

  Nex added, “The Monsuda had begun consolidating their larger hives about ten years ago when they realized the situation was nearing critical. All efforts were directed to the invasion and colonization of Earth. The plan was to fool the various militaries into building flying war vessels, using Monsudan specifications. Then the drones were to transport to those installations, claim and activate the vessels, and use them to destroy Earth’s armies. From that point, the Monsuda felt it would be a simple matter to exterminate those humans deemed not suitable for slaves. They would th
en live on Earth as they had on Risnar.”

  “So ends a civilization which achieved superior technological breakthroughs, but did so by raping the world of its resources. Rather than mending their ways, the Monsuda would have continued in that vein on Earth, while destroying its native inhabitants.” Notlin’s voice was soft. Selena imagined the leader of the Assembly experienced some grief on the behalf of the Monsuda. It was as if she mourned the inability to divert the other species from their path of destruction.

  She would have preferred to save them. Talk about a magnanimous heart, after all the Monsuda did to the Risnarish. Selena was impressed with that level of compassion, though she found it impossible to raise the same sentiments. Knowing the Monsuda’s endgame kept Selena from considering benevolence toward them or sympathy that they’d forced the Risnarish to wipe them out. There was only relief that the threat was finished.

  With the malignant race destroyed, the time had arrived for her to do what she’d journeyed to Risnar for. It was now up to Selena to ensure Earth had no entrée to the planet on the other side of the portal—in case some pocket of undiscovered Monsuda existed despite all Risnarish efforts to discover and eradicate them.

  Destruction of Earthside portal accesses was for Risnar’s sake too. Past human explorations had never gone well for native races they’d discovered.

  Chapter Twenty

  In the Yitrow hive, Selena and Tidem performed their final checks on the explosives and the double-hulled encasements. They’d attached the lethal packages to the two collection pods on the portal access’s launch pad. All across Risnar, other teams were doing the same. Earth’s ability to reach her distant neighbor was about to be severed.

  Selena finished her last run of diagnostics. She met Tidem’s gaze and returned his nod. They were ready.

  They stepped down from the pad and headed for their assigned spots at the control panel where Nex waited. He would control the pods’ flights while Selena and Tidem oversaw the explosives and triggering mechanisms.

  Several feet behind the computer panel, the Assembly, other elders, and guests of high standing waited and watched. Arga gave Selena a bolstering smile as she took her duty station, and she returned it with a thumbs-up.

  Nex called out the latest report as she and Tidem readied. “All hives confirm the message to evacuate the Earthside portal accesses was sent as of one hour ago.”

  “Here’s hoping they paid attention,” Thompson muttered to the blond woman standing between her and Kren. Jeannie Gardner, a slim woman who’d insisted on taking Selena’s measurements for new winter clothes—apparently, she was a seamstress—blew out a nervous breath. Kren gave her a comforting hug.

  The message to Earth had been recorded by Thompson after she and Selena had put their heads together on how to word a warning that the various militaries might heed. In it, Thompson reassured the targets that though the Monsuda had been planning to take over Earth, the threat against their planet had been eradicated. The message went on to inform those sites that to ensure Earth’s protection, the portal accesses on the premises were scheduled for imminent annihilation.

  “You are advised to evacuate immediately. The Risnarish offer our hopes that you will live in peace for all your days, with assurances that our planet will trouble you no more.”

  Selena hoped the right people would pay attention.

  Nex spoke again. “Now getting confirmations from the other hives that they are on schedule to deploy access destruction modules. We are ready, Elder Notlin.”

  Selena quelled a laugh at the terminology Tidem had come up with for the explosives: access destruction modules. Risnar was not so different from Earth when it came to pretty names for ugly weapons.

  “It would be nice if the blasts were strong enough to destroy the death ships the military was constructing on behalf of the Monsuda.” Thompson sounded wistful.

  “We’ll hope for that, but the failsafe shutter mechanisms in the portal chambers will most likely keep it from happening. Without the final necessary components that our enemies withheld from the Earthlings, it may be all right.” Tidem offered her a reassuring smile.

  Nex, their coordinator for the attack on the Earthside portals, spoke up. “Time to deployment, one minute. Activating monitors.”

  As Selena readied for her part in the final act against the Monsudan invasion, two large viewscreens appeared on either side of the portal ring. They showed nearly identical shots of those at the control panels and the group behind them. The images were transmitted from the collection pods, which had been outfitted to display the attempt to shut down Earth’s route to Risnar.

  Selena’s gaze was drawn to Arga, behind her and to her left. He stood with a group of other warriors, prepared in case unforeseen danger threatened the mission. Selena herself stood at the front of the transmissions, with Tidem between her and Nex at the panel. Everyone looked set for their work. She hoped they were.

  She stole a glance over her shoulder at the real Arga. He waved the tip of his ear at her, making her smile. Another quick check of the video feed told her Notlin was watching them. Selena hurriedly focused her attention on her command keys.

  “Time. All readouts check. All sites confirm they are standing by. I’m sending the all-clear for simultaneous launches.” Nex’s twenty fingers flew over the keys at his station. Selena tried not to be jealous that not only could he have that many digits, but he could use them accurately. She should ask Arga if he could successfully work that many fingers at once when they next—

  Focus, Baumer. You’ve got a job to do.

  She didn’t need a reminder as the portal abruptly came to life. Golden fire raged on the other side of the ring. It didn’t matter that she’d seen it before, both in hundreds of simulations and in person. It was still an astounding sight.

  She didn’t have more than an instant to indulge in the awe. The first pod lifted from its berth and entered the ring. The flames swallowed it. Selena stopped watching it and the video it sent back to concentrate on her telemetry readings. This was her saucer, its payload her concern. She was aware of the second pod making its exit, but its trigger and detonator were Tidem’s affair. The destinations were Nex’s to worry with, though she knew both pods raced to sites in the United States.

  “I’m showing positive course and speed on both pods,” Nex announced.

  “Confirmed.” Selena reminded herself to breathe.

  “Confirmed.” Tidem sounded as tense as she felt.

  The minutes until she had to trigger the bomb’s delivery passed too fast and too slow. It was weird to experience both sensations at the same instant, but Selena had felt that way before, out in the field with the EOD. She maintained her focus, her whole world reduced to the measurements before her.

  The room was strangely quiet. Her heartbeat was louder than anything else as she watched the diagnostics display the rotation of the pod, its climbing speed, time until delivery, and the deterioration of the protective covering surrounding the explosive.

  “I have faster than expected diminishment of Module One’s outer shell. Still within acceptable parameters,” she reported.

  “Understood. We’re at thirty seconds until your launch.”

  Selena scowled a moment later. “The diminishment effect is cumulative. Approaching threshold to premature detonation.”

  “Twenty seconds. Status?”

  “I think it’ll make it, but we’ll be cutting it close.” Her stomach flipped. The secondary protective covering had been exposed early. It was being torn away too quickly.

  “Ten seconds until first launch. Selena?”

  “Confirmed.” Hold on, baby, just a little longer. “Launch in five…four…three…two…one. Trigger has been pulled. Module One deployed, clean launch. Time to destination in forty seconds. Readings show it could be exposed well before then.” Too damned close to the saucer. Now Selena had to hope that not only would the explosive make it to the Earthside portal access, but that the pod w
ould be far enough away to survive the blast.

  She had her doubts.

  “Twenty seconds until second launch. Status on Module Two, Tidem?”

  “Readings good. Protective coverings still within parameters. All indications are for successful sendoff.”

  “Ten seconds until second launch.”

  “Confirmed. Delivery in five…four…three…two…one. Trigger has been pulled. Module Two deployed, clean launch. Time to destination in forty seconds.”

  Selena heard them as if from a great distance. All her attention riveted on her own numbers. The protective covering was too damned close to critical, but she kept calm. It was too late to voice her frustrations now. “Delivery on Module One in ten seconds. Secondary hull is gone, detonation by exposure imminent. Timed detonation in five, four—we have a premature ignition at three seconds. Repeat, premature ignition on Module One at three seconds, due to exposure to the portal.”

  “Shield your eyes, the visual is going to be bright.” Nex’s voice betrayed no more excitement than hers.

  The video feed on the left, coming from Selena’s pod, suddenly went blinding white. She kept her gaze on her instrumentation through eyes slit against the glare.

  The decay rate of the double hull protecting the explosive had always been the weakest point of the plan. It wasn’t a surprise and certainly no slight on her expertise—but if the job ended in a failure, she’d take it personally anyway.

  Nex had one bit of good news. “Pod One seems intact. All flight instrumentation reads normal. It has begun its return journey to the hive. Do you have anything to report, Selena?”

  The numbers were clearing before her dazzled gaze. “No confirmation on any of the readings as of yet. The pod’s scanners may have been knocked offline due to the proximity of the blast. However, where the detonation occurred was within theoretical range to destroy the portal access.”