He was infinitely distracting, and if Arin were the impulsive sort, she might have been tempted to stare. As it was, she satisfied herself with a quick little glance at his ripped body, meeting his eyes before he got even the smallest inkling of what was on her mind.
Damnit, Arin, not now!
She couldn’t afford to get distracted right now. “What do you want, Rykal?”
“I need some human assistance,” he said in a low voice. “We have a minor emergency.”
“Have you contained the Xargek?”
“For now,” he said. “We killed a few, but the others have retreated into space. There are at least three mature ones left. They will regroup and attack again. It’s only a matter of time. In the meantime, we’re losing oxygen.”
“Hull breach?”
“Yes.”
“And you need someone to fix it?”
“Yes.”
“We might be able to isolate the area and shut it off.” Arin thought fast. “Get me navigation,” she said, activating her comm.
“Sergeant Varga?” She recognized the voice of one of the navigators; she remembered his face, but she’d forgotten his name.
“Have you detected a pressure leak in any of the lower decks?”
“Yeah. In the refueling pod. We tried to isolate it, but the damn doors were jammed; they wouldn’t close.”
“They’re not jammed anymore,” Rykal said, a cryptic expression crossing his face. “We removed the offending object.”
Arin raised an eyebrow at him in curiosity, but didn’t press the issue. “Are your people out of there?” she asked.
“Yeah.”
“Try again, Navigator,” Arin ordered. “Shut the area off.”
“Yes, Ma’am.” There was a murmur of voices in the background. The navigator let out a surprised snort, then a pause. “Huh. It worked this time. Airlock doors are closed. The pressure leak’s been confined to the refueling pod.”
“Thank you, Navigator.” She turned to Rykal. “There you are. Fixed. Now what are you going to do about the remaining Xargek? They’ll keep attacking, won’t they?”
“They’re not stupid. They’ll search for an easier entry point. They’ll try to take us by surprise. This is a big freighter, Arin. There’s only so much area we can cover at one time. The plan’s changed. It’s time to force the hand of your leaders, Sergeant. Tell them they can send in rescue crews. We won’t harm the hostages, as long as they don’t impede our passage to Earth.”
For some reason, she believed him. The Kordolians could be savage, but they seemed to take keeping their word seriously. But these things were never simple. “So what’s the catch?”
“We’re coming to Earth whether they like it or not. If they want to shoot us down, they can say goodbye to any chance of ridding their planet of Xargek. Oh, and as you know, three of my comrades have already made it to Earth. I’m assuming your people have no idea where they are right now. Cross us, attack us, shoot at us, try to kill us, and they will rain hell on your people. And don’t even get me started about what will happen when our general gets back.” Rykal smiled, but his eyes were hard.
Arin blinked. “Why didn’t you just say all that in the first place?”
“We wanted to give the humans enough time to understand the situation, and we wanted them to feel they werenegotiating on even terms. I am sure that by now they’ve tried to contain the Xargek and failed. Now, they understand what they’re up against.” Rykal’s expression became distant. “Whenever we turn up unannounced, civilizations tend to try and throw everything they have at us. It usually doesn’t end well.”
Arin struggled to read him. The smile crossing his face didn’t touch his eyes. His attitude towards her people was a mixture of indifference and pragmatism, combined with a certain arrogance.
We’re here now, and we can do whatever the fuck we want.
That was how Kordolians treated the rest of the Nine Galaxies. It was starting to piss her off. “So you’ve just been hanging out up here while people on Earth have been dying?” The Xargek had already claimed dozens of lives. They’d emerged in the sandy deserts of North Africa, and no one had been able to discover where they were hiding.
Rykal gave her a long, hard look. “Perhaps you should ask your leaders those questions instead. We’ve made our intentions clear. We were ready to kill them from the start. We’re just waiting for an official invitation. I’m actually surprised it’s taken them this long. You humans seem to be capable of great indifference towards your own kind. In evolutionary terms, that’s a failing.”
Touché.
