Alien Sentinel’s Mate by Mina Carter

14

“Tell me more about these automated defenses,” Risyn ordered.

He kept his expression neutral as the Cabal portal swallowed them up whole, even though every survival instinct he had was screaming at the same time his threat subroutines were sounding alarms. Letting a potentially mad AI who was modeled from the emperor’s sister—draanth, one that still thought it was the emperor’s sister—take them through technology that was decades old and unmaintained was ill advised at best and utter suicide at worst.

Standing in front of the command chair on the bridge of a smaller raider, he watched the view through the main screen with interest. Streams of blue and turquoise streaked past them in spiraling loops.

Despite himself, he was intrigued. It was some form of portal or space folding technology, which was something his species had not yet been able to perfect. So to see it work in decades-old, abandoned technology was disconcerting to say the least. If they’d had tech of this caliber when the plague had hit, claiming all their females, maybe they could have done something to stop it.

Not that he thought space folding was the answer, but the medical technology and the body printing facilities on the base were like nothing he’d ever seen. His expression hardened. The Cabal obviously had advanced medical technology that they hadn’t shared with the rest of the empire. He would track it down. Make the AI give up all the secrets that had almost died with the Cabal.

“They’re planetary environmental control and defense systems.”

The AI sparked into existence on the bridge next to him. He slid her a sideways glance, not at all sure that bringing it on board was a good idea. He did not like having something potentially homicidal in his ship’s systems. He and all his warriors were uplinked to the ship, so it was like giving killware direct access to their heads—an insane risk, even if the killware in question had promised to behave itself.

“Why do I get the feeling there’s more to it than that?” he asked, keeping his voice mild to contain his fury. He didn’t like being blackmailed by anyone, much less a bunch of data bytes with attitude.

“Because you’re not an idiot. There’s always more to it than that,” Miisan said waspishly.

He had to admit, her creator did a first-class job with her. Like Berrick had mentioned about the M’rln… creature, he had to remind himself that this one had not been born biological but was instead a complex web of coding and behavioral subroutines.

“Do enlighten us,” he drawled dryly. If the catty construct wanted to sling attitude, he could throw it right back.

Miisan watched the shimmering lines of the portal along with him. He hadn’t expected to see the inside of the wormhole. The reports from the K’Vass who had been picked up by it before said it was instantaneous. Perhaps this was a longer distance jump… or perhaps the AI was just showing off.

“The Cabal had contingencies for many scenarios,” she said, folding her arms in an eerily similar manner to the emperor. Even her expression was a carbon copy. “I… didn’t realize that Quveth had planetary defenses set up before I sent Seren and Gracie back there.”

He tilted his head to the side, not sure what the issue was. “Planetary defenses are commonplace. I fail to see the concern?”

Most Lathar systems and planets had some form of defense. A lot were rudimentary, especially in the inner systems where any threat had to travel a long way behind “enemy” lines to attack. The outer systems that were more at risk were more heavily defended, but even then it depended on what the threat was. It ranged from automated defense and warning systems for planets near pirate-held territory right through to the lone wolf hunter ships that patrolled the borders of Krin space. Manned by highly experienced and dangerous warriors prepared to die to prevent a Krin incursion, any clan who had the honor of a hunter captain listed in their line was automatically elevated.

She shook her head, meeting his curious look. He’d never seen an AI look so worried. “Not this type. It’s not designed to protect the planet from incursion. It’s designed to stop whatever is on the planet from getting off.”

That made no sense. He frowned, running his hand through his hair as the portal dropped them back into normal space with a lurch. “Why would that be installed on Quveth?”

Then it hit him. It was a Vorr planet. The old myths couldn’t be true, surely?

“The Vorrtan…”

She nodded, her lips compressed. “The Cabal had measures in place in case the bloodline mutated and expressed as Vorrtan again. I think the portal opening triggered the old system.” She rubbed at her wrist with the fingers of the other hand as she looked back at the view screen again.

“If it has, it’s about to wipe out all life on the surface.”

* * *

The next morningonly two people—a grizzled older man with white hair, poking at a large pot over the fire, and Tarveth—sat at the fire that blazed in the middle of the long hall when she emerged from the khaaitan’s quarters. The little boy’s face lit up as he saw her, and he ran over.

“Hey there, sunshine.”

She smiled as he slid his hand into hers. He smiled back, gripping her hand tighter. For a child, he had a strong grip, and this close up, she could see he had fangs, heavier on the bottom like Cade’s were. They weren’t like normal Lathar. That was for sure. Seren had mentioned mutation. Was that what had happened here?

“Good morning,” she called out to the older man. He grunted in welcome, still stirring. Before she could ask him where the others were, the sound of cheers and clashes of metal outside the open hall doors reached her ears.

Tarveth tugged on her hand and led her out of the hall through the small village clustered around the long hall like chicks around a mother hen toward the training ground. They wandered up to the wall, the alien boy climbing it like a squirrel to perch on the top. She smiled at him as she leaned on it to watch the men beyond.

The markings on the ground were almost the same as the ones on the Latharian ships, indicating that either the same system was used throughout the empire, or that the system was so old it had come from the time before the empire had formed. She pondered that as she watched.

The Lathar—well she supposed she should call them the Vorr—were split up into smaller groups, each with what she assumed was a senior warrior in charge. Seren was over on the other side of the field with his group, and it was easy to see these were the best-trained group. Even though they were all farmers, rather than the imperial warriors she was used to, they all appeared combat capable.

The implication of that hit her hard. If all Lathar worlds were like this, the Terran systems had no chance at all against them. Not with Brad-average slobbing on his couch with a cold one and a rehydrated, nuked TV dinner.

“Hey! Didn’t expect you this early,” Cade said with a broad grin as he trotted up to the wall. He reached out and ruffled Tarveth’s mop of hair, which got him an adorable little growl in response. “Seren said you were having a lie in.”

“Oh, I’m one of those irritating early birds,” she said with an easy smile. She wasn’t, but years living in barracks had changed her body clock, which meant she was awake but not happy about it until she’d had enough caffeine to jumpstart a narcoleptic elephant.

He grinned, leaning back on the wall with his elbows splayed. “This should be fun then. Seren’s a grumpy draanthic in the mornings. We generally have to throw him in the ring until he’s hit enough things to talk like a civilized person.”

She chuckled. “I noticed he’s not exactly Mr. Personable in the mornings.”

“Ain’t that the truth?”

They watched the combat raging in the nearest ring, wincing as one of the combatants slipped up and got absolutely pummeled. His opponent didn’t let him recover from his mistake. As they turned and circled each other, she recognized the farmers from yesterday, their third, Vaix, watching grim faced from the side of the circle.

Cade hissed through his teeth. “If I’ve told Tecc once to watch that guard on his left, I’ve told him a million times. Iaanto is going to take him apart if he doesn’t get it together.”

She slid him a sideways glance. He hadn’t been with any of the groups when she’d arrived. “You’re one of the trainers?”

“Me?” he shook his head. “Liaanas, no. None of them will step into the ring with me. I just offer advice from time to time.”

“Why not?” Something else was going on here—something she was missing. Something important. “Is it this Vorr thing, like with Seren?”

That would make sense since they were brothers. But the Vorr seemed to accept Seren, hanging on his every word as he moved between the groups and stopped to demonstrate a move or a combat combination. She couldn’t help watching. She saw the concealed care in the way he trained his people, listening to them and then offering advice.

He was a good man… and he would make a good father. A sudden image of him with two small boys filled her mind. They had her hair and his eyes, watching him intently as he crouched to explain something to them. She sucked a hard breath in, the scene so real and immediate her heart ached with it. Another “knowing.”

Cade and Tarveth were both watching her when she came back to reality, an odd look in their eyes.

“What?” she asked, a small laugh in her voice.

“You’re a seer.” Cade’s voice was filled with wonder. “What did you see?”

She barked a laugh. “Don’t be daft. I was just daydreaming. That’s all.”

He shook his head. “No, no you weren’t. Your scent changed and held the future. What you saw will come to pass.”

She opened her mouth to argue that he didn’t know jack, but his attention wasn’t on her anymore. It was on something behind her. Frowning, she turned and her jaw dropped.

“What the hell?”

Dark clouds swelled in the sky over the forests on the horizon, but not the dark clouds of a storm or squall. They were greenish black and pulsed with malevolence, scarlet slashes of lightning streaking over their surface like some alien monster intent on destroying them all. One look and she knew that whatever it was, it wasn’t natural. Not even for an alien planet. And it was coming in fast. Too fast.

“Cade?” she asked, edging toward him as rain started to fall in big, fat, heavy droplets that splashed onto her skin. Tarveth huddled closer, throwing his little arms around her neck. “What the fuck is that?”

“No idea,” the young Lathar murmured, already vaulting over the wall as he raised his voice to yell. “Seren! Incoming!”

“Yeah, I see it,”Seren called back, already heading across the training ground with the rest of the clan at his heels. He vaulted the wall, a thread of unease slithering down his spine as he looked up at the clouds rolling in.

Quvethwas known for violent storms, but it was too early. Storm season wasn’t until later in the year, after the last harvests at the earliest.

“Any idea what it is?” he asked Cade, tucking a hand under Gracie’s arm as they began to run for the settlement. The air was growing more oppressive by the second, almost like it was charged with electricity. “Have there been any weather pattern changes recently?”

Cade shook his head as they hurried across the field to the settlement. The sky above them darkened, the rain changing from fat droplets to knife-like slices of water that drove in sideways. They were soaked to the skin within seconds, the howl of the wind and the crack of thunder overhead drowning out Cade’s reply.

Gripping Gracie’s hand tightly, he pulled her behind him to shield her and Tarveth, held protectively in her arms as she ran. The fact that she would protect the little half-breed boy who wasn’t hers, or even the same species, gave him pause. She was his mate andwore his mark on her neck. So why was she lying about who she was? It gnawed at his soul. Who was she really?

He couldn’t concentrate on that right now, not as they fought their way back through the village. The wind whipped into a gale, causing the doors and windows on the buildings they passed to slam. His concern mounted, the adrenaline rolling through his body priming him for battle. None were rated for storms of this size, the damage beginning to show as the group raced through the crude streets. General detritus, roofing materials and loose panels of fencing torn free by the winds sailed through the air, forcing them to dodge and weave.

“Close in!” Seren bellowed, pitching his voice to carry over the howl of the storm.

Instantly, the group tightened, the bigger Vorr on the outside to protect the smaller among them. Cade shouldered his way to Seren’s side, his frame broader and more solid than it had been on the training ground.

The storm responded, the sky above them splitting as it unleashed lightning to rain down on them. Scarlet bolts slammed into the ground around them, exploding anything they touched. A scream behind them told him at least one of the group had been hit. If they were touching when that happened…

“Split and run!” he roared. They needed to put distance between each other and get to safety before this storm killed them all. They’d have to risk being hit by the debris kicked up by the gale force winds that roared around them. It was safer than electrocuting each other through touch.

Turning, he grabbed Gracie’s arm as she slipped in the muddy quagmire the village streets had become. She gasped, her expression twisted in pain, but she kept going and regained her feet as they ran. Tarveth remained safely in her arms. He tried to reach for the boy, but she shook her head, strands of wet red hair whipping across her face.

“No time,” she yelled, her voice only just audible above the storm. “Go!”

He nodded and they thundered toward the open door of the hall, where Pentar struggled to hold it open. Cade made it there first, relieving the old-timer and hustling him inside as he used his Vorrtan strength to hold the door against the storm.

Seren hit the steps at a run, hustling Gracie and Tarveth up ahead of him as he tried to use his bigger body to shield them against the lightning. Another scream behind them tore the air, and his jaw tightened.

His people were dying out here and he had no clue why. He’d grown up here and he’d never seen a storm this bad. Pausing for breath just by the door, he looked out at the sky as the rest of the clan streamed in. The sky was evil and unnatural, roiling with malevolent intention. He felt its attention, his gaze latching on to Tecc, one of the stragglers at the back of the group. He’d sustained an injury in a harvesting accident a few years ago, and his limp was more pronounced at a run.

“Tecc, run!” he bellowed, surging forward to try and help his clansman. A hard arm snaked around his neck and chest, and he struggled against it, every instinct he had telling him he needed to help.

“You can’t do anything for him,” Cade yelled in his ear over the storm, effort in his voice as he struggled to hold on to Seren and the door at the same time.

“Oh gods,” Seren gasped, horror rolling through him as the sky split and a bolt of red death streaked toward Tecc. It was like time slowed down. Tecc looked up, his expression clearing to a terrible calm.

Seren forced himself to keep his eyes open as the bolt hit, bearing witness to his kinsman’s death. Tecc stopped mid-stride, his back arched and arms splayed widely as he lit up for a split second. Seren’s jaw tightened as Tecc burned up, a bright blaze in the middle of the square before the long hall.

“Tecc! Noooooooo!”

Vaix appeared behind him. Cade let go to grab the grieving male as he surged forward, trying to get to his brother. Vaix howled in anguish, and it took both Seren and his brother to hold him back, shoving him backward into the hall as he fought to get past them and into Iaanto’s hold, the third in their little family pack. He looked past them in horror as Vaix collapsed into his arms.

“Close the doors,” Seren said, his voice calm as the last of the stragglers made it through. They could do nothing for the fallen at the moment. They had to help the living.

“Take him through to my quarters,” he said to Iaanto, his hand on the big Vorr’s shoulder. For a moment Iaanto looked at him blankly with tears on his cheeks, but then he nodded, turning to half carry Vaix out of the hall.