“Norris’ eyes narrowed as she took in Jace’s distress. “Neither Commander Voor nor Jace Parker is on the list, Flight-Commander.”
Thammah lifted her scarred eyebrow, but said in a measured tone, “They do not need to be, Private. Under Section 3.5.9 of the Human-Alliance Agreement of 1963, all Alliance personnel are allowed access to the Osiris.”
“Jace Parker isn’t Alliance. He’s one of us,” the male soldier to their left said. “That’s Colonel and Captain Parker’s son. And he doesn’t look good.”
“Indeed, he does not. That is why we are taking him to the Osiris,” Thammah stated, her voice going slightly icy. “There are medical facilities there that can help him there.”
Again, Norris’ forehead puckered. “Like we said, we haven’t been made aware of Jace Parker having access to the Osiris, let alone to medical equipment down there. I think I should call--”
Thammah caught her wrist as she reached for her walkie-talkie. “Private, by impeding me you are threatening the agreement between our species. Commander Voor here is the son of the Head Councillor for the Alliance. Blocking him would lead to the very leaders of the Alliance having deep concerns. Not to mention that we have just saved you from a Khul attack. Do you really want to risk that agreement, right now?”
Norris and the male soldier exchanged nervous glances. They were potentially at an impasse. The human weapons could not hurt him or Jace. The shield the suit generated would be strong enough to cover them both from the projectile weapons. The humans were not half as strong or quick as even normal Thaf’ell let alone trained soldiers such as himself and Thammah. And Jace’s eyes were closed again. His breathing was rather labored.
Just as Khoth was going to go back to his Plan A in terms of taking out the soldiers and overriding the security system, Norris and her fellow soldier stepped aside to let them enter the lift.
“We’re just being careful, Flight-Commander,” Norris stated.
Thammah flashed her a smile. “Of course! But you made the right call.”
Thammah ushered Khoth and Jace into the elevator first before joining them. Her iris was scanned. Also, she pressed her palm to another scanner. Finally, she tapped in a code before the lift’s doors whispered shut and they started to descend at a great rate of speed.
Jace let out a soft chuckle. His eyes were still closed, but he was still conscious thankfully. “Those soldiers are so calling my parents right now.”
Thammah nodded as she stated, “Absolutely.” She turned to Khoth and winked at him. “I sincerely hope that you can run as fast as you fly, Commander, because if the humans aren’t waiting for us the moment we get off this lift, they’ll be hot on our trail.”
Khoth lifted his chin. “I will get Jace to Gehenna no matter what the cost.”
The Osiris
Khoth held Jace closer to him as the elevator descended. The alien’s strength was comforting as Jace’s own little remaining strength seemed to bleed out of him by the moment.
In the arms of an alien… that would be a show-stopper of an opening sentence for my book, Jace thought mirthfully.
But he didn’t laugh.
It hurt to laugh.
And Khoth might ask him what he was laughing about, which would put him in an awkward spot. Not as awkward as Thammah’s statement about “probing”. Unlike Khoth, she seemed almost… human. Warmer. Definitely more comfortable with humans and their ways. He had a feeling that Khoth didn’t do comfortable. He reminded Jace of a knight of old while Thammah was more like his father, a maverick.
“If the soldiers are outside of the elevator when we arrive, what’s the plan, Commander?” Thammah asked.
Jace cracked his eyelids open and frowned. What other plan could there be then try to talk themselves out of it or surrender? He did not want anyone hurt. He already knew that his parents were going to freak out at what he had done. Once he found Gehenna though, he had a feeling that everything would be forgiven. At least on an official level. But on a familiar one? He was too old to be grounded, but he was certain his parents would think of some suitable punishment.
But no matter how upset they were or what punishment they doled out, Jace knew he was doing the right thing. Metal Rain had saved everyone from the Khul. From what he had been able to see of it, Khoth’s ship had been on its last legs, smoke pouring from its engines, and--from what his dreams of his own Paladin-class ship had taught him--making very wrong sounds. And there had simply been too many Khul for Khoth to handle on his own. Even though he’d been freaking impressive with his laser rifle and sword.
Khoth’s expression now was still that of a noble knight as he answered, “Jace needs to get to Gehenna. If we have no other choice, we must subdue the humans.”
“Subdue?” Thammah lifted her scarred eyebrow before letting out a whistle. “You do realize that we are breaking every law there is. They can’t send you to a worse post than Earth… at least, it used to be the worst post. But now, I must admit, it is a hotspot of activity. Yet here you are, breaking more rules. So what or who is this Gehenna? Or is it the boy you’re more interested in that’s causing you to suicidally plunge ahead?”
Jace was fascinated to see that Khoth blushed. Not red though, but instead, his coloring grew a darker blue.
“Gehenna is an AI. A Precursor AI,” Khoth replied stiffly.
Thammah’s blue on blue eyes widened. She then spoke in a language that Jace didn’t understand and Khoth replied in it. It was melodic with clicks of the tongue and contrasting soft syllables. He assumed it was the Thaf’ell--that was what Khoth had referred to himself as--language. Or maybe it was the equivalent of Common in space. Jace almost laughed at that, too, but this time he sobered and not because laughing would hurt. There was only one logical reason for them to stop speaking in English, considering how fluent they both were in it, and that was because they must not want him to know what they were saying.
Maybe I shouldn’t have just trusted him so much out of the gate, Jace realized. I didn’t even attempt to talk to my parents about getting down here. Not that they would have agreed to it, but still… I asked the big blue alien to help.
But Gehenna had brought Khoth to him to help. She must have thought that he, of everyone, would bring them together. And with the way Jace’s head pounded and his blood felt like acid in his veins, he really needed to finish their connection. The pain was on another level as it was.
