Chapter Six

He had seen Avel many times from afar but had never been close enough for the male to recognize him, but he wasn’t sure about Amira. He needed to find her and get her out of there.

“Who are you?”

“He’s a born that wanted to brag to his friends that he met a Thalian.”

“Is that why you think we are here? So, that the born can tell others they met the enemy and lived. He should have been killed immediately. We all know what Corso would say and do.”

They all went still Corso was the alpha. He loved taking his anger out on his crew.

“Relax he will not be here tonight but do not invite any more of the born in. Where’s his female?”

“She’s in the facility.”

“You’re wondering how I knew you had a female with you? My males would only invite another male in if he had something worth stealing.”

The males laughed and bumped shoulders.

“LiCar go wait for the infertile. I wouldn’t want her to get lost. This concerns you?”

“No, she knows her away around a facility.”

*~*~*~*

It was at times like these that she wished her curvaceous form was a little less curvaceous. She was hanging off the ceiling pulling herself up. Jumping up was out of the question the floor was built to set off a silent alarm if she just jumped straight up. One deep breath and she pulled herself up until she was able to slowly lower herself to the floor.

It had taken her too much time to access the room above the facility now she needed to hurry. She quickly walked to the door with her shoes held in her hand. There was a Thalian walking down the hall, she ducked back inside and waited until his footsteps faded.

She left the room and headed up two flights taking the emergency evacuation stairs to the next floor. There were three rooms along the long hallway. Two looked like they were heavily guarded with intelilocks. She bypassed them and went for the one that was heat coded.

It would take the longest to break. The Thalians skin temperature was One point two degrees higher than hers if she was dealing with a normal Thalian. She stopped to think about Lazzar his kiss making her flush even as her skin temperature increased. Thoughts of his hands on her made her want to let out a soft moan. She shifted her thoughts not wanting to get to warm. Deep breath, she placed her hand on the lock. It began to unravel itself while she turned back to thoughts of Lazzar’s kiss making sure her skin stayed at the perfect temperature. Finally, the lock clicked, and she was able to slip inside.

Sitting in the middle of the room was a small device that would allow her back-door access to their systems. Most overlooked it because it seemed to do nothing. Her fingers moved across the device quickly inputting codes that it had taken her rotations to learn. She captured the information as it flowed out before she tried a different method to see if she could make it more comprehensible.

She stored the information and headed toward the door before she stopped as the sound of footsteps reached her ears making her heart beat a little faster as she controlled her breathing. All it would take was one touch on the door for them to know the room had been compromised.

“Where are you going?”

“I wanted to get another look at our orders.”

“Why?”

“I get the feeling that I am missing something that should be obvious.”

“You’re over thinking this. You can look in the morning, today we celebrate our first real victory in this war.”

“You might be right, I can look tomorrow.”

The footsteps faded, and she let out the breath she was holding. She slipped out the door and took the precious time she needed to re-engage the lock before she hurried back to the escape route. There was a knock on the door to the facility.

“What do you want?”

“Your taking so long I wanted to make sure you were still in there.”

“Where did you think I was going?” She was replacing the light boards in the ceiling before she climbed all the way down.

“Are you done?”

“Almost an infertile must always look her best for her male.” She checked her reflection and when she was satisfied she unlocked the door.

“You locked the door.”

“I’m here with all males. If you were me would you have locked the door?”

He shook his head. “If I were as beautiful as you I would invite all the males inside to worship at my feet.”

“Spoken like a true male, but I already have one, and he has issues when I invite other males to worship at my feet.”

“I can get rid of him for you.”

“Thanks, but I’ve decided to keep him, at least for a while.”

“I understand.”

They walked back into the main room. She came face to face with Avel. Would he remember her?

“This is my female.” Lazzar took her arm and tucked her into his side half shielding her face.

“It is nice to meet you. Have we met before?”

“Do you visit Kur’ik Minor often?”

“This is the first chance I’ve had to visit your beautiful planet.”

“Then we haven’t met before.”

“You look familiar, but there is no way I would forget a body like yours.”

“Thank you, you flatter me.”

“We need to be leaving thank you for allowing us to look around.”

“Stay I’m sure your beautiful female will enjoy it here.”

Lazzar looked down at her before his hand swept over her face.

“Not this time she is tired. Even though she is infertile there are still times she seems to become extremely tired I think it's best I get her to our pavilion.”

He moved slowly to the door allowing the males to gaze on her form.

“Thank you.” They slipped out the door heading for the first narrow alley they could find.

She looked up at him, but he placed a finger in front of his lips. They walked quickly back to their room without seeing another Kur’ik or Thalain on the road.

A knock at the door had Arkel opening it with his weapon in hand.

“You made it back.” Kelsaire ran to her hugging her tight.

“I had no plans to leave you alone.” She hugged her close for a moment before letting go.

“What did you find?”

“Nothing that makes sense.”

“I have the communication fixed with the ship.”

“Arkel to battalion one, over.

“Arkel, Enzo here. Declyn is on his way. Has Amira and Lazzar reported in?”

“We’re back,” she answered.

“What did you find out?” Declyn’s voice came over the device.

“The Thalians say they were invited to Minor to put down a battalion full of created that went rogue,” Lazzar responded. The born seem to believe this, and the Thalians themselves bragged about it. Although they have plans of their own to take over the planet.”

There was silence before Declyn spoke. “What were you able to find Amira?”

“I found their control room. The evidence available seems to concur with what the patrol and the Thalians told us. I didn’t like what I saw so I decided to back hack the information and trace it to its source. The orders they received didn’t come from the Thalians or the Kur’iks. No matter what pattern I ran I was unable to find the original source, but I did confirm that it didn’t come from the born or the created on either planet.”

“Do you think that one of the other planets has decided to enter this war?”

Arkel reached for Kelsaire and pulled her body close to his.

“No. Each planet, each species has a specific signature. They can bury it, but there is no way they can totally change it. If they tried, it would mean changing their tech which would take more orbits than they would want to invest. It would also mean scratching every advancement to start over again. No planet would compromise their safety by throwing out everything they know down to their basic language to try and develop a signature that would be unknown.”

“Amira, you’re raising the possibility that there is an unknown force in the galaxy that has decided to come out and play.”

“Yes, Alpha. I know that it would seem impossible but what I encountered was more than orbits ahead of anything I’ve ever seen. It suggests interference from a race that is so old it may be extinct.”

“I want everyone back on the ship.”

“What about the born? Who will protect them?”

“Have you seen any credible threat to them?”

“Alpha they were running, scared. The Thalians were running through the streets chasing them.” Kelsaire spoke up. “It’s our job to protect them. It’s what we were created for.”

“Your right Kelsaire and if they need us, we will protect them. Our scanners show that seventy-five percent of the population is in underground bunkers. As the alpha of battalion one, I have been invited down to the bunkers more than once to give my opinion on the effectiveness of them. They serve two purposes, the first to keep the born safe. The second is to allow them to continue with their present lifestyle.

“If anyone were in trouble it would be the created who work and tend the fields and other jobs that keep the planet running. They seem to also be fine. The Thalians are there for one purpose, and that is us.”

“Yes, Alpha.”

She ducked her head and waited for his next words that would reprimand her. No one questioned his authority for a reason.

“Amira send me all the data you were able to collect.”

“Yes, Alpha.”

Kelsaire went to open her mouth, but Amira shook her head while Arkel placed a finger over her lips.

“Lazzar begin reaching out to our people I want them back on the ship as soon as possible.” He cut the trans.

“Why didn’t he reprimand me?”

“There is much about Declyn that you don’t know.” Lazzar began using the communication device to reach others in their battalion.

*~*~*~*

“If you want off the ship say it now.”

“Why is it that you think you should have all the fun and glory?”

“I doubt we’re about to have any of that bring the others up.”

“They’re coming.”

Cole, Xander, and Caden walked into the control center stopping as they looked at the information streaming across the main screen.

“What is that?” Xander took another step towards the screen watching the unknown language flowing over it.

“Have any of you ever seen it before?”

“No.” They all shook their heads in agreement.

“Have you asked Chase?”

“I sent a sample of it to him. He says it's more advanced than anything he has ever come across.”

“Where did it come from?” Caden looked around the room before staring back at the screen.

“The Thalians. It’s the orders they received. Amira back hacked it and found this.”

“I always thought she was highly intelligent.”

“Cole if you want to keep your head don’t let Lazar hear you.”

“Alpha.”

“What should he do, Cole? Kill them because their lives aren’t as simple as the controllers demand our lives be?” Enzo’s voice had a hard edge to it making Cole take a step backward.

Every eye went to Ven who was curled up under one of the console’s asleep. They knew that Enzo and Declyn guarded him zealously. If they had been given a chance, they would have left him planet side to die as the useless prototype he was. Still, with every orbit that passed, he made himself more endearing. They watched over him even when they should have killed him. Anyone who touched him knew they would die a slow lingering death at Enzo’s hands.

Ven bothered them, annoyed them, and scared them. He was the only one ever created in child form, and with blue eyes, they knew it meant something but had no clue what and the alpha and beta weren’t talking. Still, the fact that he lived and thrived called to them, it told them that there was more to life than they were presently accessing.

“Are all of our lives worth the two of them trying to be more than biological beings with the ability to kill?”

Caden and Xander turned to look at Cole. “Yes, all of our lives are worth the risk. I would rather die for a chance of them being together than to keep the Thalians from taking the outer rim of a planet that no one cares about.”

“I agree but the others may not.”

“I won’t be asking the others. Cole, go to the transfer room and try to speed up the process. We need to be away from this planet as soon as possible.”

He nodded and left the room.

“Declyn we have an incoming message.”

Every eye swung to the view screen. No one should be accessing it at this point.