Chapter 8
Second-in-Command Pax Curad
Ali had already left my quarters, leaving the bed warm behind her, when I woke up. I felt great, better than I had in years, and stood up right away, almost forgetting to take my Vari-X.
My mind immediately went to the necessities of the day. We had come up with a strategy that somehow seemed feasible, but until Grod showed up ready to betray us, as far as our troops knew, we were here to fight humans and humans alone.
It would take the full and utter betrayal of their leader for the troops to believe that they were better off following me and the humans into a battle of unknown outcomes. The idea of working together with humans unless out of necessity would probably strike them all as bizarre, and I was reluctant to break the news to them.
I dismounted the ship and looked to the sky from the base I had created near the original mine where I had met Ali, and readied myself for the battle ahead.
The alarm bells began to ring much sooner than I had anticipated, and the black ships of the Yorga began to appear one by one in the sky. My blood curdled when I saw three round figures, imposing against the blue of the Earth’s sky. They were not ships. They were large, balloon-like creatures with round, sadistic eyes. The Larex.
Behind the three Larex was the ship that was perhaps the most disturbing of all, but only because I knew that inside that ship was a man I knew and had loved once as a brother. Grod.
“Attention, creatures of Earth,” Grod said, his voice echoing from the ship sinisterly. “We have come to take this planet as our own.”
I could hear the bustling of the humans as they began to come out of their shelters in the Zones, and the electronic charges of superweapons that were prepared to take on any threat.
“But we are not just here on behalf of Earth,” Grod said, his voice smug. “We are also here because we are planning a pretty hostile takeover. And unfortunately, I am going to be the last Verian standing in the universe. And it is all thanks to you, people of Earth, and my own troops for making this possible.”
The eyes of the frightening Larex rolled with pleasure, and the lights of the ships of the Yorga began to shine, locking on targets to attack. Unsurprisingly, I was one of those targets.
“Goodbye, Earth, and all its inhabitants,” Grod said, a shrill giggle echoing over the loudspeakers. “It was fun while it lasted, wasn’t it?”
I immediately went to my control panel and got on the wire to all of my ships. Fortunately, they were all already in position, and still well hidden from the Yorga. But that wasn’t going to be enough. I just hoped against hope that Ali’s weapon and the humans on the ground would be enough to prevent the impending tragedy.
“Fire!” I shouted.
Soon the sky was alight with the blaze of rockets and lasers, and three Yorga ships were engulfed in flames and plummeting toward Earth. I wished we could have done something to prevent damage to the foliage, but I pushed the thought from my mind and took the opportunity to relocate my ship to a vantage point. I refused to let Grod just watch from behind everyone who was doing the actual fighting. My issue was with him. If it weren’t for my selfish brother, I would not be risking my life to simply save the planet. I would be fighting a war for the right to live on that planet.
Deafening explosions echoed in my ear as I made my way up and into the atmosphere of Earth, where Grod was sitting in the captain’s seat of his huge, ugly ship. Sure enough, there were no other Verians in the ship with him, just a small handful of Pelin.
“Surrender, brother,” I demanded through my own speaker. “You will not win this battle.”
“Never!”
The ship I was in was hit by a sudden explosion and careened off to the side. I returned fire, and soon both of our ships were plummeting to the ground. Grod emerged from his wreckage, disoriented and furious, as the Larex circled around the planet, watching the chaos unfold with greedy, disgusting eyes.
“Once again, you have betrayed me, Grod,” I growled, stepping out from my own ship.
All day long I had been feeling stronger than I had in years and years, and I made my way confidently toward my brother, righteous fury brewing in my chest.
I marched up to Grod, who was no longer feeling very sure of himself stuck on the very planet he meant to destroy, and soon we were fighting unlike any fight I had ever experienced before. He had put me down and bullied me for so long that it was all I could do to keep from killing him right then and there. But he was my brother. I would much rather imprison him and make him pay for all he had done.
Unfortunately, there was no way to end this war without casualties. Ship after ship dropped to the ground, some of them Yorga, others of them Verian, with Grod and I brawling on the ground all the while.
Grod finally yelped in pain, surrendering as I whipped him around and broke one of his arms. I shoved him down and stepped on his chest, looking up into the sky in concern. Another wave of Yorga ships had arrived, and they were sending down the foot troops.
“You are going to pay for this, you krocha!” I spat down at Grod, who didn’t respond; he only grunted in pain.
Just when it looked like all would be lost, a brilliant blue light snaked throughout the air. I thought I was seeing things, but it happened again, and soon the whole sky was filled with flashes of blue.
“It’s working!”
Ali’s beautiful voice filled my heart with wonder, and I turned around just in time to see her running toward me, her cheeks ruddy and her eyes sparkling.
“Dean got it to work! We’re going to win this thing after all!”
Human troops were being deployed on the ground, with an advantage of three troops to one Yorga warrior. It seemed to take no time at all before Ali’s weapon began to prove its worth, and ship after ship lost power and crashed down, most imploding before they even reached the ground.
The round eyes of the Larex watched this in disbelief and anger, and they opened their mouths as if to prepare for an attack. Before they had the chance to follow through, however, beams of blue light began to dance around them, and soon they were being electrified beyond recognition.
They seemed to deflate and fluttered to the ground, leaving the sky free of all threats.
I looked down at Ali in disbelief, and she smiled at me, pride and pleasure etched deep in every line of her face. I knew at that moment that I had claimed the right person, and no matter what I would be proud and willing to call her my own.
“What did you think?” she asked me, referencing her weapon.
“I think it was amazing, Yula,” I said, kissing her forehead. “And now that we have finished destroying, I think that it might be time for us to rebuild.”
“What do you mean?” she asked.
“The foundation beneath human and Verian may be cracked, but there is the possibility to heal all wounds. If we can move forward together, perhaps both of our species can learn to coexist and live in harmony, just as we band together to absolve the threat of the Larex and their Yorga warriors.”
Ali smiled, her face more beautiful than I had ever seen it before.
“I don’t think I would like to see anything more than I would like to see our people living in peace and harmony.”
“From here on out, that is exactly what we are going to do,” I said, holding her close and dropping a tender kiss on the lips of my human. “Starting with getting rid of the law that forbids love between species.”
Ali held me close, each of us appreciating each other more and more. Now that the battle was over, our lives could truly begin.
The End(Flip page to read your bonus books!)