Chapter 14
Peyton
I guessed it was okay the Dahk finally found a little humor in our differences. It was a little sneaky how they sprung Mantu on us, but totally fair after we freaked over every little thing on Home World. Isin really surprised me with his deviousness, though. He was the one to set up the meeting, and found it all very entertaining, though he said he had a similar reaction when meeting one for the first time. So, I felt a little better.
And it definitely managed to shock me enough I stopped freaking out about everything else. It took a while for Isin and Yilt to admit they never really intended for Frederick to pal around with Mantu. Instead, a heetbull was brought into the castle. They were much smaller, just a tad bit taller than my goat, and so adorable. They had no fur, and only two eyes, and four legs. They looked a lot like cows―if cows were dark purple and had claws.
Colt immediately asked about them, wondering about hunting and how they prepared them for meals. Yilt suggested he show him with Bobo, and the old man stormed off to Yilt’s amusement.
I was told Tahk’s meeting went on all the rest of that night and halfway through the next day. But finally, Uthyf hunted me down with good news. The Council would grant them permission to intervene.
“Really?” I asked him, still unable to believe it.
“Yes.” He smiled a little. I had just left having tea with the Queen and Myrna. It was actually very civil, and I found out Myrna had been asking a lot of the Dahk that had been to Earth about humans, so she had a lot to talk about with the Queen. I barely had to utter a word. I just listened, and surprisingly found out a lot about the King. Uthyf was not Queen Josyd’s son. His mother, Pyrdaya, had died during childbirth a few years ago. It was her second child, a girl. Both mother and daughter had died of complications the Dahk had rarely seen. The cause was still unknown.
“What did he have to give them?” I was so grateful, but I still worried what they would have demanded of the Dahk.
Uthyf scowled and slouched against the table in his office.
Haytu shook his head, “Do not think of it, daughter.”
“It’s bad isn’t it?” I couldn’t let it go so easily. I would feel terrible if the Dahk suffered for the humans when they didn’t have to. If we didn’t have such an ignorant government, they wouldn’t have had to give them anything.
“Their request is not for anything of the Dahk.” Uthyf scrubbed his face. “They have plans for the humans.” He watched me wearily.
“What plans?” I choked. Horrifying things flew through my mind.
Haytu clutched my shoulder and went to speak, but Uthyf spoke over him. “The humans will need to swear fealty to the Council.”
“How are they going to do that if they won’t even talk to you guys?”
“An emissary will be dispatched to Earth. They will have no choice.”
“Okay, so if they do, what does that mean? What exactly does swear fealty entail?”
“That they will come to the aid of the Council or that of any they order. Their advances will be aided by the Council, in this way the humans will prosper.” That didn’t sound too bad. It worked similarly on Earth, but without space travel and alien war tactics. And if the invasion taught us anything it was that we were completely unprepared to defend our own planet. We needed help and knowledge. “But they will no longer own their planet. It will belong to the Council to do with as they wish.” Okay, that was pretty bad.
“What will they do with it?” I did not like the look on Uthyf’s face. He seemed regretful.
“Enslave humans at the very least. Mine the planet most likely. Tahk did not anticipate the Council wanting anything from the humans. But they have had time to discuss the possibilities of adding your species to those of others with nothing else to offer.”
“What!? But you guys said they wouldn’t even let you attack each other on our planet, and now they want to enslave us? How are we supposed to prosper under them and come to their aid if they just enslave us?”
“The Council has their own agendas, and unfortunately very few species have been able to remain on the Council. My brother was not even able to keep his seat, and they have become corrupt. Not as they once were. It seems the Juldo may have swayed them in some way. I do not know the specifics, but it seems some of the humans will be given tasks they cannot refuse without deadly consequences.”
I gaped in shock. “So that’s it? You guys save us, just so the rest of the galaxy can tear us apart?”
“I will not let that happen,” Uthyf swore.
I laughed grimly. “You didn’t even think this was a possibility. How could you stop them?”
Haytu hushed me and grabbed my still sore shoulders gently. “First we must save the humans from the Vitat, then we tackle the new threat.”
“Oh yeah? What do you guys get out of it?” I glared at them both. “I understand Tahk wanting to save us, he’s sort of biased, and apparently the Vitat are so easily defeated according to him, but now you're going to declare war on the Galactic Council? Why? You have to have a reason.”
Haytu sighed and looked to the King.
“You are aware of our difficulties in procreation.” Yeah, consorts sort of cleared any confusion up, but I kept the snark to myself. “You have proven that humans are a viable mate for us.”
Oh, I got it now. “You need us to repopulate your species.” The words burned on my tongue.
“Daughter, you are upset. None would be taken against their will, but we must entertain the chances of mating our species. There has never been a viable alternative. We can mate with other species, but we have not successfully bore dahkling with any other than our own.”
“How do you know humans can?” They both looked at me like I was an idiot. “Gryo.” They nodded.
I was going to punch that guy in the throat. He did more than check my girl parts for damage after mating Tahk the first time. Holy cow, I could be pregnant right now. It took everything not to rub my stomach. I clenched my fists instead.
I didn’t know what to say, what to do. I couldn’t stop them. I was one person. Did I even want to? If I refused and they listened, then would they still save us? Nothing was free. I had stupidly thought they went along with Tahk out of respect for him, and because it was the goddamn right thing to do. If he knew about this, I was going to kick him so hard in the nuts.
“Now is not the time to worry over these things. We must first save your species from annihilation.”
Haytu was right. It didn’t matter now. The Vitat were the threat right now. We would have to deal with the Galactic Council after, and apparently a planet full of horny Dahk. “Human women are not going to be cool with you guys having multiple mates,” I warned them severely. “And there is no way all the Dahk females are just going to step aside and let you mate singularly to a human.”
“No, that would bring about a planet-wide panic. We would not do such a thing to our females. But there are other ways for humans to birth dahkling.”
I looked at them in confusion before a light bulb went off. “Insemination.” They looked confused now. “Um, you would fertilize them with instruments?”
“Yes. Volunteers may be fertilized by our healers for Houses that are willing to take on the care of human females. They would be cared for and would be rewarded for their service.”
That didn’t sound too bad. Women all over the place already did that. There were surrogates for as long as I could remember. “Some might agree, but a lot wouldn’t be able to leave their babies. It would be too hard emotionally.”
Haytu looked horrified, “They would not leave their young. They would remain a member of the House and raise them along with the dahkling’s First Father.”
That actually made sense. Dahk males had so many wives, and it seemed they each raised their dahkling on their own. Uthyf called the Queen his First Mother, and he cared about her, but even Tahk was kind of partial to his own mam. They were raised in the same house as all their father’s mates but maybe their mam was their only mom. The others were just a part of their childhood, sort of like aunts. I had a list of things to grill Gryo on, on second thought, I wasn’t talking to Gryo anymore. I would have to ask Tahk when he got back or Yilt. Maybe even Borv could answer. Hell, I had a father-in-law I could ask when I wasn’t pissed at him for conspiring to inseminate humans behind my back.
“We do not wish to enslave the humans,” Uthyf said gravely. “My Dahk may not even accept the humans, in which case it would be too dangerous to have so many brought here. But it is a reason, as you say, to war with the Galactic Council.”
“Can you defeat them? It seems they have a ton of species at their disposal. If you’re so low on numbers, how will you stop them?”
“We have allies.” Haytu seemed offended I suggested they couldn’t take on dozens of species all on their own.
“They would be cool with disobeying the Council?” These guys were so full of contradictions I was amazed they kept them all straight. Don’t save the humans or there will be consequences, on second thought, damn the consequences. You know what? Let’s just totally disobey the Council and declare war.
No, it wasn’t that simple, Tahk made that clear. He was worried about what would be done to his Dahk without straight up approval from the Council.
Uthyf was getting frustrated. “My brother would not have taken the risks I am offering for you now. I would have warred with the Galactic Order the moment my father was assassinated if I had been King.”
Mic drop. I had no idea his father was assassinated, and that he suspected the Galactic Order. Uthyf was totally out for revenge, and he was going to take down the humans with him.
“Do not look so alarmed daughter, King Uthyf has allies and connections King Aryx and Tahk were not aware of.”
“What? Hang on, Tahk doesn’t know about any of this, does he? What did he say when you talked to him exactly?”
“He does not accept their answer and wishes to meet with them again.” Uthyf sounded really frustrated, but I nearly sagged in relief. I knew Tahk couldn’t stop them if they wanted to enslave my species but if he had agreed, I realized I might have been fighting our mating all over again. I shouldn’t have doubted him. He was always on my side.
“Will he change their minds?” It meant everything that he was willing to try.
“It is doubtful.”
“Who are your allies that he doesn’t know about?” I glared at them both. They looked away. They weren’t going to tell me. “He’s gonna be so pissed,” I mumbled to myself.
✽✽✽
A half a day later, Viv, Colt, Hector, Ford, and I had argued the situation amongst ourselves through every angle. No matter how we looked at it, someone was going to interfere with the humans. There was no escaping the galaxy and its many species. Right now, the Dahk were who we trusted the most. At worse, they wanted to hire surrogates, at best, Tahk would work his mojo and have King Uthyf use his skills and allies selflessly. But they were, in fact, the only species that at least had our safety and well-being in mind. Ford was the one who shut us up after we just couldn’t do it ourselves.
“None of it matters now,” he said. “If the bastards back home had just accepted the help and not shot us down, this all could’ve been avoided. The Galactic Council wouldn’t have had the opportunity to enslave us, but it would’ve happened eventually. At least Peyton got her alien good and relaxed and ready to fight for us.”
Viv and I scowled at him. “Don’t look so put out, girl.” Colt glared and huffed, “It’s a damn compliment. You ain’t the first woman to grab a man by his balls, and in this case, those ignorant fools ought to be damn grateful that alien’s fallin’ all over himself to ensure you spread your legs.”
“Now that is inappropriate, Mr. Colt.” Vivian smacked his arm.
They bickered back and forth as we waited for word from the King.
When it finally came, it was not good. Tahk hadn’t deterred them from their new plans, but he did have permission to interfere. He was told to eliminate the Vitat threat and wait for word from the Galactic Council for the next steps. It seemed they were recruiting the Dahk to start their enslavement. I just hoped Uthyf did have a plan, and that it wouldn’t get all the Dahk and humans killed.
Things moved quickly after that. A ship was readied to meet Dahk One, and a negotiator would be sent, not that it was necessary anymore. The Dahk were going to save the humans whether our government liked it or not, but there may be parts of the world that needed Dyadus’s interference so the Dahk didn’t have to harm them to get to the Vitat.
A massive argument between Hector and Vivian ensued as he began packing. She didn’t want him to go, but he felt compelled. She said she would go with him then, and he about flipped his shit. He shouted it wasn’t safe for her, and she argued that it wasn’t for him either and packed anyway. I wanted to shake her at times. Now was not the time to delay. Humans were dying every second, but I understood her distress. Hector was still injured.
I followed them out to the ship being loaded with supplies. It was resting just outside the hangar on the ice. I had bundled up in a new coat but was still freezing. Isin had surprised me by not putting on anything for himself but carrying a doggy coat for Bobo. It was then I realized Colt intended to leave, too.
“Why?” I asked him. “You hate flying.”
“Them aliens destroyed my station. I ain’t lettin’ ‘em go without me.” Then he whistled for Bobo and thumped up the ship ramp. The dog whined and looked back at me and Isin.
“Go on, Bobo, keep an eye on him.” I scratched his ears and let him lick my nose. He whined once more before following his master. Isin looked suspiciously sad. When he saw me looking at him curiously, he scowled and skittered back inside.
Vivian took my attention, then. She was struggling against a stone-faced Yilt as he held her back. I had never seen him so serious. Hector was pleading with her, but she was shaking her head and crying.
He had just turned away when the first blast hit the ice. The world rocked underneath my feet, and I was thrown several feet in the air. I landed hard on my back, gasping from the blow.
Several lights slammed into the ground before the Dahk started shouting and pointing to the air. A silver ship was flying straight down, enormous cannons pointed straight at the castle. Amazingly, every blast bounced right off the castle and skittered in opposite directions. Unfortunately, they were being re-directed at us.
“Juldo!” Borv roared and lifted me. He threw me over his shoulder and ran for the castle. Yilt did the same with Vivian, Hector hot on his heels. Borv didn’t stay running for long, he leaped, avoiding a stray beam of light and flew in the air, his wings spread wide blocking my view of the others.
“Three ships!” Yilt shouted from below us. “One has landed!”
Borv slammed down onto the steps of the castle and shoved me inside. I turned and gaped as hundreds of Dahk flew through the sky. Some spiraled down into the hangar as ships lifted and flew straight to the silver ship that had not stopped firing. Others flew behind the castle where I could hear more booms.
“They’re inside!” Uthyf roared from behind us. I spun just in time to see a mammoth machine swing an axe at my head. Borv threw me to the ground, and I slid, slamming into the wall. Borv was grappling with the machine’s axe when I shook off the impact. I couldn’t tear my eyes off the machine fighting with him. It was shaped like a human. Two arms, two legs, one head and even stood like one. It was more human-like than the Dahk, except it looked like a machine. It had two eyes, but they were mechanical looking, with circles spinning and stalling as it watched Borv block its swings. It had some kind of metal covering nearly its entire body. It looked like mechanics and weapons and armor, but it bulged into its dull red skin like it was a part of its body. Its mouth was wide with thick lips, but it had a set of razor-sharp teeth, glinting like the Dahk’s, but more metal in color and shine.
It’s a terminator, I thought to myself. It looked just like a ripped apart terminator. I half expected to see the giant muscle-man-machine deliver a classic one-liner.
Borv finally ripped the axe free on a snarl, but the machine man didn’t flinch. He calmly lifted a giant gun-looking thing from his side and aimed it at Borv. I shouted in fear, but Borv anticipated the attack and ducked as the laser gun went off. I gaped at the burn mark on the wall behind him. They had freaking laser guns, and all the Dahk had were swords and claws.
The rest of the room penetrated my shock, and I looked around in stunned fear as several muscle-machines fought against the Dahk. Uthyf had two swords as he went toe to toe with one of them. He snarled and slashed at his opponent, slicing through metal and red skin. His sword deflected beaming lasers. He ducked and slashed again. Silver liquid sprayed from the gash along the muscle-machines chest, but it didn’t flinch. It moved like it hadn’t been injured and twirled two mechanical scythes and slashed back. Uthyf blocked and aimed for its head. Severing it in one blow. I gagged as the things silver blood shot up in an arc and looked away. Borv had defeated his opponent and backed me against the wall. He watched several Dahk take on the enemy but refused to leave me unprotected. I looked across the room to see Vivian huddled under a table, and Yilt and Hector fighting side by side against a muscle-machine. Hector had a dagger that he slashed with while Yilt distracted the thing with a sword. Just as it looked from Hector, he lunged for the things arm and stabbed it through the only flesh visible on its arm.
It dropped its laser gun, and Hector lunged for it. “No!” Yilt roared and stabbed the thing through the chest. It staggered back and fell as Yilt shoved past it and to Hector. But Hector already had the gun in his hand.
He lifted it and fitted his hand through the large hole in the handle, immediately aiming for another muscle-machine barreling his way. His face was severe and determined, but he suddenly flinched and howled in pain. His eyes shot to the gun and widened in shock. Yilt ripped the gun free, and Hector fell over screaming in agony.
I stood and without thinking ran for him, but Borv grabbed me and threw me back down. “Don’t move,” he snarled.
“Hector!” I shouted over the chaos and pointed.
Borv looked and shook his head. “It is too late for him.”
“Too late?” I shouted and screamed in fright as a muscle-machine barreled into Borv, knocking him down. The machine stabbed him through the wing with a long metal dagger looking thing, and he howled in fury. He was on his stomach, his wings unprotected. The machine wrenched the dagger free and aimed a gun. I didn’t even stop to think, I just pounced on the machines back and wrapped my legs around its middle and prayed what worked on Nonya worked on these things. I went for the eyes. I dug my nails in but flinched when they bounced off hard metal. Its freaking eyes were metal! But the skin around it wasn’t, so I scratched and clawed, and it howled and backed off Borv.
Borv turned and stared in horror as the machine backed me into the wall. My spine creaked, and I shouted in surprise and pain, my head cracking off the wall. It pulled from the wall and spun in a circle, reaching over its shoulders to grab me. I could barely hang on to the thing. It must have been over seven feet tall! I ducked as its metal hands grappled for my face. Borv shouted and charged it from the side just as the thing grabbed my arm and wrenched me over its shoulder. I went flying through the air and slammed into a table.
I bowed up in agony and cried out. Haytu was shouting my name, and I dazedly searched for him. He was clear across the room, his eyes filled with horror as he fought his way to me.
Uthyf and Yilt fought back to back against three machines, as Haytu and several others finished off the last few machines in the hall. Their swords deflected every laser shot. It was amazing. Borv skidded to a stop beside me, his body covered in silver liquid. I gagged at the oily smell.
He clutched my face and scanned my body frantically. “I think I’m okay,” I groaned and sat up. He growled but helped me prop myself up against the broken table.
My back would have one hell of a bruise, and a few of my cuts had reopened, but looking around at several dead Dahk, I realized how lucky I was. I searched for Viv and had to blink away images from weeks ago after the ship crashed on Earth. She was hovering over Hector again, just like she had that day.
I grabbed Borv’s shoulders and stood, limping over to her.
“What’s wrong with him?” I asked her. He wasn’t bleeding anywhere. He just looked like he was sleeping.
“I don’t know! He just passed out!” Viv shouted.
I knelt beside her and reached for him, but Borv smacked my hand away. “He has been infected.”
“With what?” Viv and I asked together. Borv pointed to Hector's arm, and I gasped. Black lines spread across his hand and up his arm. The hand he used to fire the muscle-machine’s gun.
“He has been infected by the Juldo. Their weapons are designed for only one, and any other who wield it will be infected with the virus.”
“What virus?” I asked him, my stomach dropping. Viv was sobbing.
“Juldo are not born, Pehytohn, they are made.”