Alien need, p.15
Alien Need, page 15
Dhomhes came over. "Safest place on Kantenan to be."
"How do you figure?" Stron asked.
"No one would dare put a bomb in a Kantenan refinery. It would blow up half the planet. The unrefined citricite requires exceptional care because of its volatile nature before it's refined. No matter how desperate they are to get rid of the Galactic Alliance presence, they won't attack them there."
"You seem very certain."
Dhomhes raised his dark eyebrow. "Never been more certain. They won't let anything happen to them. I promise. I know the refinery works. My father is Protector of the New Kingdom. His entire place in the Coalition is to protect and speak for the refinery and their workers."
"And make sure the citricite continues to be produced," Stron said.
"I promise you, no one on the Coalition wants the profits to stop. So, the refineries are the safest place on Kantenan right now."
He had a point.
Khalzin wasn't crazy about the idea for the same reasons Dhomhes believed it was safe--the dangerous nature of citricite. It could easily be blown up and kill plenty of humanoids. Kantenan or otherwise.
But they had minimal options. The Coalition kept the planet closed from incoming or outgoing transports for the time being.
The three of them stepped aboard the ship and in the passenger area of the transport. His eyes went straight to Janae, who was sitting with Adryel in a seat near the rear. Another female was sitting with them, and she leaned over and whispered something to Adryel.
Kantenan guards were around the perimeter of the passenger area, and the Galactic Alliance passengers were seated. Most all the seats were filled, though there was a strong feeling of unease on the ship. Too many whispers about this change.
They attempted to keep this move as quiet as possible, telling the fewest people possible to make it happen.
Dhomhes and Stron headed forward to the front of the ship, and Khalzin stayed in the back.
He was looking over a datapad for a moment when Janae appeared in front of him.
"I figured it out," she said.
"Figured what out?" he asked.
"The picture. The hologram. The one that had me as the number one target."
He guided her away, out of hearing of anyone around. "What are you talking about?"
"I didn't say anything at first because I thought it was nothing. It just seemed odd, that image. I couldn't figure out what about it seemed wrong."
"I remember you turning it and flipping it." It had merely been a hologram of her. He didn't see anything unusual about it. Consumed by rage that someone would put a bounty on her head had taken over his focus. "What did you see?"
"Where it was taken," she said.
He blinked. "What do you mean?" He pulled it up from his files on the datapad. "What did you--Hell!"
He saw it as soon as she showed it to him. And he felt like a fool for not seeing it himself. It was right there, in front of him. She had on the same dress she wore the day they were at Terra North.
"It's your bedroom, Khalzin."
He nodded.
"The only time I was in your bedroom--"
"Was when you were caring for me after I was hurt."
He met her gaze.
"Your mother took that hologram," she said.
He nodded. "Come on."
He turned to walk off the transport.
"Where are we going?" Janae asked.
"To end this."
18
Janae followed Khalzin back to the transport vehicle they'd taken to the landing platform, the same one they'd been in when they flew to Terra North. Khalzin got in the back this time, and a guard was in the front. He'd spoken to the guard about what was happening, and point-blank asked him where his loyalties stood.
The guard, Janae learned was named Aster, had said his loyalties remained with Khalzin and Janae since Janae was his mate.
Aster glanced at her. "I will keep you both safe."
"I appreciate that. Thank you," she said.
He nodded and got them both in the transport.
She still wasn't sure she trusted him, but that came from living on the streets, and whenever guards watched her, it was because they didn't trust her, not because they were going to protect or help her.
And regardless of what Khalzin told her, she was pretty sure his mother would rip her apart. But regardless, she was not about to let Khalzin go alone to this. If he succeeded or failed, she needed to be there and see it for her own eyes.
Or die with him.
Janae's hand trembled. Because that's what was going to happen. They were going to succeed or fail. Live or die.
Finally, stakes she understood far too well.
He touched her hand, his fingers lacing with hers, and squeezed.
"What are we going to do?"
"Stop my mother and the Coalition."
She blinked. "Oh, is that all? I thought this would be hard."
He smirked as he went to work on his datapad. What he was doing, she couldn't really tell, except that he was attempting to reach out to someone.
"What is that," she asked, gesturing to the datapad.
"Gathering my notes. One needs evidence if they're going to accuse someone of treason. Even if it is one's mother."
She shook her head. "I'm sorry."
"If she is responsible for this, then she must answer for it. Threatening ambassadors is not permitted. Even if one is a member of the Coalition."
"How are we going to get to her?"
He glanced at the guard. "I have my methods."
Janae nodded. Not that she understood, but she trusted him. They would get this taken care of and sorted as soon as possible. She knew it. They would figure it out.
She felt a weird buzzing against her chest.
It was the communicator around her neck. "Oh, this thing does work!" she pulled it out of the top of her dress. It hadn't done anything since she got it and had only been wearing it like a piece of jewelry since she got it.
"Hello?"
There was a crackle.
Voices.
More crackled.
"--ell--hell--"
"What was that?" Khalzin asked. "Is that your communicator? The one you got from before?"
She nodded. "I didn't ever take it off." She pressed the reply button. "Hello? Are you there?"
More crackles. "Help us! We're down--"
Janae gasped. "Graecey?"
More static and crackles.
Then the communication went dead.
She turned to Khalzin. "They're alive down there! We must go down there and get them! Right away!" She started reaching for the driver to tell him to take her down to the lower levels to find them.
Khalzin grabbed her hands. "Wait. Breathe."
"No, they're my friends. If Graecey is alive, then your friend probably is too. And who knows who else is down there. No, we have to go get them!"
"We will. But it is no good to retrieve them if there is an assassination plot here for them. They're safer where they are for now."
"But!"
"Trust me. We must stop the attacks. Then we will go after them."
She nodded. She didn't like it, but she was going to have to agree to it. He was right. They would have to stop the potential attacks before bringing them into danger.
She tapped the communicator. It crackled once. "Graecey, we'll get you soon. I hope you and whoever else is down there can hear this."
There was no response.
Janae followed Khalzin up to the tall doors. Carved out with illustrations of Kantenans in warrior poses, fighting and looking large and powerful, she couldn't help staring. The doors seemed to go on forever.
He glanced at her. "You don't have to go in here."
She shook her head. "I am not leaving your side. I have this feeling that you will need me just as much as I will need you in there."
They stood before the doors, and they didn't move. Not at first.
"Are they expecting us?" Janae asked.
About that time, the massive doors opened.
The chamber was dark, stone everywhere. She could see the light from the half-moon structure around the room, with a center chair that was higher than the others.
Khalzin took a deep breath and walked in, holding Janae's hand.
As they walked in, she noticed the floor seemed worn smooth in the center between them. They each walked on either side of the smooth row. It was strange, but it felt like they needed to for some reason.
Like they walked their paths.
Outside of the required one.
They had not gotten to the arc of the members when one started shouting.
"What is the meaning of this? How dare you barge into a closed Coalition meeting!" The member had red-brown skin, different from Khalzin's. She didn't know him.
But he sure looked an awful lot like the ones who had attacked them at Terra North.
The male in the center raised his hand. "Gol-Vett Khalzin, this is highly irregular. Your progress in your experiment is being monitored. You do not need to report here."
Khalzin stood tall and looked at the leader. "Speaker Fowles, since you have been monitoring my experiment for the Coalition, you are aware of the difficulties we have faced."
"The attacks on the Galactic Alliance humanoids are unfortunate. But it still does not explain your presence today."
"It does when you see my evidence that the attacks against my mate and other members of the Galactic Alliance emissaries originated from this room."
Objections burst from many of the members.
"Khalzin!" his mother snapped.
He glanced at her.
Janae wanted to shiver at the way they stared at each other. It was one of the coldest things she'd ever seen.
Fowles slammed a stone on his chair. The room quieted down.
"You have something to say to your mother, Khalzin."
He crossed to standing right in front of her seat. "Why? Why would you do it?"
She shook her head. "I don't know what you're speaking of."
"You took holos of my mate and gave them to bounty hunters to attack and kill her. The bids that are out there, on her head, are higher than anyone. From when she was with me. In my room."
"You cannot prove that."
"I can," Khalzin said. He pulled up the hologram of Janae and displayed it in the room. "She is in my bedroom. In the same dress she was wearing when we were attacked. If you look carefully, you can see a small patch of red. That is my foot." He glanced at her. "You should do better with your image adjusting, Mother."
She blinked. "That means nothing. Anyone could have stolen that from me—“
"It has your imprint on it," Khalzin said. "And when I backtracked the logs, I was able to trace it to the familial accounts of you and Oleave."
He glanced at the one with the red-brown coloring that matched the ones who attacked them on Terra North. "I have to admit, I should have recognized your nephews, Oleave when I was beating them to a pulp on Terra North, but I was distracted by the fact that they were trying to kill my mate."
"This is, this is ridiculous," Oleave said.
"Is it?" Fowles asked. "You were very opposed to this concept when it was brought before the Coalition before. It makes sense that you would attempt to sabotage it now."
"I would never. It was all--"
"Do not accuse me of this," his mother said. "Who came to who after--"
"Arrest them both," Fowles said.
The guards collected The Priestess of Light and hauled her out of the chamber.
"No!" Oleave yelled before guards could get to him. And he leaped at Janae. "These off-worlders will ruin us! Destroy our people! They will create mongrels that are not Kantenan and not true by the Light!"
Janae would have screamed, but he covered her mouth when he grabbed her, pulling her against him. He held a blade to her throat, threatening to stab her.
What the hell was the Light? Was it their religion or something? Wasn't his mother the Priestess of the Light or something? Was this a religious thing?
"Let me go," she cried out against his hand and attempted to do something to break his grip on her. Stomp on his foot. Something.
Nothing seemed to work.
The guards came forward, ready to tear him apart.
Maybe.
Janae wasn't sure. They were armed, but no one moved.
Khalzin stared at her. "You need to stand down, Oleave. This is over. How did you think this was going to end?"
"You have no right, just because you wanted to try something, to eradicate our way of life!” Oleave snarled back. "Now we have to remove the off-worlders. Erase them from our planet and start again. Like the Light."
"That is not what the Light dictates," Khalzin said. "You cannot justify killing a living humanoid because she's not from here."
Another member of the Coalition spoke, one that Janae hadn't seen speak up to this point. "The problem with that is that she's Kantenan, at least partly. So, if you killed her, you would be murdering a Kantenan. And that would condemn you to the Dark."
Everyone stopped, including Janae, and stared at this new speaker. What was this guy talking about?
"Baron of Information Aukrae, what do you speak of?" Speaker Fowles said.
"While everyone was conversing, as my habit, I scanned the Gol-Vett and his mate when they came in. My scans revealed that the Gol-Vett's mate carries the Kantenan genome. She is very much one of us. If Oleave kills her, it is intentional murder of a Kantenan, and that would destroy his opportunity to live in the Light."
"You are lying!" Oleave snarled.
"I show my scans to you and anyone else who wishes to dispute them." He held up his datapad and ran his hand over it, sliding the data to everyone in the room.
Oleave's grip loosened.
Not much.
But enough.
Janae slammed into him with everything she had. Elbow. Foot stomp. Head slam.
It was just enough that she could break away.
She ran straight for Khalzin, and the guards took custody of Oleave.
Khalzin turned back to the speaker.
"You certainly bring the drama, don't you, boy?" Fowles said.
Khalzin nodded. "I always gave my parents headaches."
"I have no doubt."
19
"I heard from Stron," Khalzin said as he sat down on his chair back in their apartment. "Everyone is situated at the refineries, and the workers there are very confident they can keep the Galactic Alliance people secure while there until this gets cleaned up."
Janae sat down next to him. "You don't think this is over."
"Not by a lot. These things have many veins that need to be found and secured. I am sorry you're wrapped up in the middle of it. But we shall keep you safe."
She glanced around the room. "I know. And thanks to Aster, too," she said.
He nodded. "Aster was happy to contact the other guards and let them know what was about to happen so that we could make this work."
"I still find it crazy that I have some semblance of Kantenan genome in me." She shook her head. "I would have never known."
"Maybe that's why your Harvin's Skin has not gotten worse than it has. Kantenans are naturally immune to it, I believe."
"Of course, you are," she said and shook her head.
His holograms alerted him that there was an incoming transmission.
He opened it and expected to see Stron again.
It wasn't.
It was Baron of Information Aukrae.
"Baron, what do I owe the pleasure?" Khalzin asked. "Though I think I might owe you my life after today in the Coalition. You likely saved my mate with your words today."
He waved his hand. "I merely wished to congratulate you and your mate for your accomplishments."
Khalzin blinked. "For finding treachery in the Coalition? I suppose that can be found any time, depending on the issue."
Aukrae smirked. "You're not incorrect. I was thinking more of what the two of you have done."
Khalzin shook his head. "I don't gather your meaning."
"Please check the data I scanned. Closely."
The Baron signed off.
"What is he going on about?" Khalzin asked.
"No idea," Janae said.
He pulled up the data. He hadn't bothered looking at it in the council chamber because it seemed a moot point at the time. But the Baron appeared to think it was vital for him to see right now.
He read down the scan report.
* * *
Kantenan genome. Present in womb.
Female is with child.
* * *
He froze.
"Janae? What does that say?"
She read the scan.
And gasped.
"I'm pregnant?"
She shook her head. "It's only been days! How in the stars?"
He wrapped his arms around her. "Does it matter? You carry my child!"
They kissed.
And nothing felt more right in the galaxy.
EPILOGUE
Xaul walked into the cell chamber and glanced at his wife, the Priestess of Light.
"Interesting place you find yourself," he said. He pulled out a datapad and laid it on the table between the two of them. It emitted a dampening field to block any recordings or transmissions.
She raised her eyebrow. "As you can imagine, this is not how I expected everything to go."
He shrugged. "I told you not to use Oleave. He is convinced of his correctness and cannot see the greater good of Kantenan."
"I am still stunned that our son has caused so much trouble with this."
"As am I," he said. "Do you think that female has anything to do with his decisions today?"
"It is youth, most likely. If she's his mate, then he is within his right to defend her and her people as he sees fit."
"She's pregnant," Xaul said. "I saw the Baron's data. What are we going to do about this, Wyleigh? If he can have a child with an off-worlder, then we will lose our position."
"I know. We shall have to see what happens to this female. Janae. There has to be something about her and the others that we can exploit."
