I do.
Ohem’s lips pulled back from his teeth, his arm coming around me to hold me to him in a crushing hug. “Can you see if only my brother, Rakis At’ens, is involved with the soldiers that came here? I want to know how deep the corruption goes.”
Stand by.
I rubbed my cheek against him. “I’m sorry. I don’t know what else to say to make it better, but I love you. Now and always.” Ohem picked me up and sat me on the table. It was warm, which made me nervous, but I met his eyes all the same.
“Thank you, Jack. I will come to terms with this in due time. It is an unpleasant shock. A bitter revelation. I was ashamed that the purge had happened, even when I believed the Rijitera were planet conquering tyrants. Now to learn this?” He shook his head and placed his forehead against mine. “It is almost unbearable. My ancestor was a genocidal coward that didn’t have the bravery to meet his enemy in battle. Using a biological weapon is the highest of dishonors.”
You are mates.
Anu said it like a statement and not a question. Smart cookie.
“Yes. He’s my mate. I was taken by some other aliens from my planet. Drugged and found myself on a ship with some human women. Found the big guy in a glass cage,” I said.
You cannot be drugged. I have run an initial scan on your biology. No substance in the Unity could render you unconscious.
I narrowed my eyes and leaned back away from Ohem. “Well, I was. They were powerful enough to knock me out for a few hours. Disoriented me when I woke up.”
Not possible. Only drugs manufactured by Rijiteran scientists could be potent enough to incapacitate you.
I opened my mouth to argue with her when the screen shimmered back to life again on the table and I hopped off to watch. I backed into Ohem, my back to his front, and sighed when his arms wrapped around me.
Scans indicate the corruption in the Unity government goes back generations. It is spread throughout. Your House is the tip of the spear.
Ohem’s growl was rough with pain. It dissolved into coughing and he sank to his knees, taking me with him. Aga and Rema knelt behind him, on either side, and wrapped their arms around us. We sat that way for a long, long time. Ohem’s quiet crying was the only sound in the room. I cried with him, our tears mixing. His brother and House had conspired to capture him, and now they were trying to kill him. For more territory. More money.
Their own flesh and blood. It was an even greater offense to me than the millions or billions that were going to die over this war. They had betrayed my mate so badly he was weeping in my arms. My strong mate had been brought low. I would kill them all. They were going to pay for this. For everything.
Forgive me for breaking your solace. There is a disturbance on the surface. An enemy craft is bombing your people. There is one of your own in the air fighting back. I know your people are dying from the wasting plague. You do not have long. I may be able to synthesize another vaccine but you will need to destroy the enemy ship so that I may collect samples of the two unknown aliens on board your war craft. I do not have their kind in the Archive. They carry your non-Rijitera form.
My heart lurched with dread at the mention of the enemy craft and then raced in excitement that she could make a cure. Now I was filled with horror. There was only one species that would be unknown to Anu and looked like me. One that had only recently been discovered on a Vrax ship.
Only two people were stupid enough to take a Magpie and come to our rescue.
Callie and Patty were here.
On this planet.
Oh Jesus.
Chapter 25
Allfourofuswere on our feet and running out of the room and down the hall in a desperate attempt to keep both women from getting off that damn ship. I’d witnessed Callie’s in the simulator. She could fuck up the bad guys, no problem, but then they’d land and want to check on us. They’d breathe the air. They’d get sick. The aliens were dropping like flies and they were hard to kill. It would be much faster for humans, nanos or not.
I burst out of the dome building over the Archive and into the gloom of the still cloudy gray skies. There were soldiers running all over the place. They were forming up into units, each surrounding a single cannon operator. The cannons were firing at the scout craft that was raining hell down on us. A few of them were lying still on the ground, not blown to red mist by the rail gun. I noticed their melting skin as I ran past. We were losing them to the wasting plague before the enemy could take them out. Why was it happening so fast?
A small arrow shaped Magpie hurtled past from above me, firing on the larger scout ship with its rail gun. The scout twisted, reversed course, trying to avoid Callie’s ship. The Magpie was on the Scout’s ass, firing both guns in quick succession.
“Are they safe on the ship?” I yelled at Ohem, who ran slightly in front of me.
The cabin is sealed. As long as they do not open the door to the hangar, they will be safe from the virus in the air.
Anu’s voice coming from my link made me miss a step. Ohem and the others met my gaze as we ran abreast of each other. We had identical wary expressions on our faces. While my ancestors trusted their AI with all their precious knowledge, I’d seen the Terminator. I was protective of her on some instinctive level, but she also creeped me out a little. Tapping into our links wasn’t hard for Rema, much less a super AI from a super civilization, so it shouldn’t have come as a surprise.
“Thank you, Anu,” I said, just to be safe. Being polite was always a good choice when dealing with potentially killer computer programs.
I looked back to the sky in time to see the Magpie take the scout out. The enemy’s ship erupted in flames and fell out of the sky, crushing one of the domed tents and sending a blast of heat and debris towards us.
