Leanne couldn’t help it; she cringed as she saw Resek striding towards her. When he got close enough for her to make out his expression, she could see that he was furious. Of course he was furious. She’d tried to escape again.

Resek didn’t speak to her, but if looks could kill, she would have been in trouble. Well, worse trouble than she was in now. And the trouble she was in now seemed quite extensive.

“You have my gratitude.” Resek spoke stiffly to Edil. Edil just looked relieved that Resek wasn’t blaming him for Leanne’s escape. He hovered nervously, maybe wondering if his sideline smuggling business was about to be trashed. But Resek wasn’t interested in Edil anymore. Maybe he was turning a blind eye to reward Edil for doing the right thing.

Resek’s hand clenched Leanne’s upper arm, and he started dragging her away. His grip was just short of painful. But there was no way to twist away. Despite the fact that he was obviously making an effort not to hurt her, Leanne was terrified.

“Resek…”

He didn’t pause, or even so much as look at her. She could still see he was quietly seething, and the worst thing was that she understood. He needed her to help save his people. If she’d been in his position, she’d probably be just as angry. Though if she’d been in his position, she probably would have drawn the line at kidnapping people.

Leanne kept her mouth shut, deciding she’d better let him be the one to break the silence. He didn’t until they were all the way back home. Then, he pushed her onto the couch in the lounge and stalked out. He was back a minute later with what looked like a high-tech projector.

He fiddled around with the flat screen that was as close to a television as the Wescra had. When he spoke, his voice shook with anger.

“I have perhaps not done enough to show you the stakes of this war. I thought you understood what we were fighting for. Your actions today have shown me that I am wrong. What you have seen so far is but the tip of the iceberg of what the Greli can do, of what they have done. I hoped to spare you this, but it seems it is now necessary for you to see it.”

“Resek, I had to try. You know that. This isn’t my world. I want to go home.”

He turned to look at her. “I don’t understand you, Leanne.” He spoke softly. “I had thought you were happier here now. I thought you’d stay with me.”

Leanne was shocked to see a flicker of hurt cross his face. Resek wasn’t just angry that she’d put his stupid war in jeopardy. He was hurt, wounded that she’d left him. She forced down the wave of guilt. She wasn’t going to stop fighting just to spare his feelings.

The pain disappeared so quickly from his face that for a moment, Leanne wasn’t sure she’d really seen it. Resek turned away from her, breathing hard. Leanne didn’t know how it made her feel that he was clearly starting to care for her as a person, not just as a battle strategy.

Her thoughts were confused as she turned to the screen. Images started flashing across it. At first, she didn’t realize what she was seeing. Finally, the shapes and colors began to make sense. Leanne tried to avert her eyes, but they stayed glued to the screen, widening in horror.

The first thing she saw was a village of Wescra, consisting of mostly women and children. Some of the women were doing the washing, and the children ran around playing. It was a peaceful scene.

A shadow fell from above, and the villagers looked up to see a Greli warship. They scattered, screaming. Leanne expected soldiers to be sent down at any moment to massacre the helpless Wescra.

It didn’t happen as she expected. No one came down from the ship. Instead, a faint hissing sounded, and she could just make out a pale blue gas coming from nozzles in the ship’s underside. It floated down to the village, looking almost pretty.

Then the people started screaming. Everywhere, they were falling to their knees, their hands over their throats. They were choking. Even as she watched, one of the women started coughing up blood. She shook in horror, wanting to look away, but unable to.

She expected it to last only seconds. Again, it didn’t happen as she thought it would. The ship flew away, leaving the villagers to die. It wasn’t the quick death Leanne had imagined. It was horrific and drawn out. There was blood everywhere, and children were screaming in agony. Their mothers tried to comfort them, to no avail.

Their bodies contorted into gruesome shapes as they were wracked with the effects of the gas. There was a little timer on the bottom right corner of the screen. It had passed the hour mark before the Wescra finally started dying.

“The Greli use brutality to discourage resistance.” Resek stood behind her. “It worked in some places. Fearing what would happen if they fought, they gave in and became slaves.”

Leanne was going to be sick. She fought to keep her mouth shut as her stomach heaved. The screen didn’t care about her distress. It kept going.

There were scenes of torture, of gruesome murders, of things Leanne didn’t even know how to describe. She was sure they would haunt her nightmares for years.

Leanne leaned over the edge of the couch and threw up. The video just kept playing, and eventually, there was nothing left in her stomach.

“They filmed it all, you know.” Resek was still behind her. Leanne didn’t know how his voice could be so steady. “They distributed the videos so that all Wescra would see them, see the price of resistance.”

Leanne tried to get up. She couldn’t watch this anymore. Resek’s glare held her in place.

“The least you can do for the people you would abandon is watch their final moments.”

She didn’t want to see any more, but Resek was obviously determined to have her watch this. She was sure he could find some way to force her if she resisted. Then she’d only succeed in making him even angrier. She tried to tell herself that watching was giving her a tactical advantage rather than just making her sick.

On and on the recordings played. One scene after another, each seemingly more horrific than the last. Leanne lost track of the times she leaned over the side of the couch, retching, with nothing for her body to bring up. Her eyes were almost swollen shut from crying.

She didn’t know how much time had passed before Resek finally turned off the screen. From the angle of the light, she knew it had to be hours, at least.

“Why?” Her voice was a whisper, but he heard her. “Why would they do this?”

Resek sighed and sat down next to her. “For some people, the lust to rule makes them crazy. For a lot of the Greli soldiers, they are just following orders. War is all they know. Maybe, if things had been different, they would have been farmers or carpenters. They choose to follow leaders who turn them into remorseless killers because it’s easy, easier than starting a civil war. This is the life they know.”

“A civil war would be better than this.” Leanne’s eyes were still fixed on the screen, even though it was now blank. “A quick, painless removal of crazy leaders, not this torture, this madness.”

Resek nodded. “You’re probably right. The Greli aren’t using their capacity to think, though, and that’s where everything goes so wrong. The leaders are mad, but without the soldiers, they could not have this war. This war isn’t caused by hatred or even a quest for power. It’s caused by people blindly following, absolving themselves of their responsibility to think for themselves, to stand up for what’s right and fight against what’s wrong.”

“They need to be destroyed.” Perhaps a day ago, those words would have surprised Leanne, coming from her own lips. Not now. Maybe the Greli had been good people once, but no more. Now, they had degenerated into nothing more than rabid dogs that needed to be put down.

“Alright. I’ll help you. I’ll help you end this war willingly, and stop trying to escape. On one condition. You tell me my part in this. Tell me why I’m so special.”

Resek leaned back, looking wearier than Leanne had ever seen him. “You may not like what I have to say.”

“I want to know. Why me? Why my friends?”

Resek began speaking, staring off into space, as though not really seeing the room before him. “Our scientists chose Earth from a variety of possible planets because of the strength and resilience of your species. Though we needed you, it was decided that it would be immoral to steal humans away from their lives.”

Leanne gasped. “Then why did you do it?”

“Because your lives were never your own.” Resek's voice was grim. “They selected five children, all girls. All stillborn. Our scientists gave them life again, implanting genetic code to make them perfect mates for the Wescra Commanders they were destined for. They were then returned to their mothers. It was a gift from us – a chance to grow up with your own people, rather than spend your childhoods in a place where war was everywhere.

“While you were sitting on your parents’ laps, listening to them tell stories, I was standing over the dead body of my father. While your mother sang you to sleep, mine was sleeping under the stars, too far away for me to even get her body for a proper burial. While you laughed, I cried. While you played, I learned to kill. While you try to run away, I defend my people.

“You never should have lived, Leanne. We gave you this life, and we gave you twenty-three years of peace. Now, your debt has come due. You were born for this.”

Leanne couldn’t speak. Her whole mind was spinning in shock. It was one thing to know she’d been taken, and her life would never be her own again. To know that her life had never been hers, that she’d been living on borrowed time her whole life, was too huge to comprehend.

“I shouldn’t have told you.” Resek sighed. “I wasn’t supposed to. They said you wouldn’t be able to handle it.”

“I want my life to be my own.” Leanne whispered, her voice choked with tears.

“I know. Believe me, I wish it was. If I could, I would take you away from all of this right now.”

He couldn’t, though. He didn’t say it, but Leanne knew now. She understood. She was literally born for this. The Wescra had given her life when she had none. They’d given her a second chance. There was only one thing she could ask.

“When this is over, if I live through it, could you take me home? Back to Earth?” Leanne didn’t know what kind of life she could have, after living through a war. How could she ever get past the memories of death and horror? It was her only chance, a slim hope to hold onto, that she could go back to a normal life when this mad war was done.

She doubted it would be allowed. In fact, she could see from Resek’s eyes that it wasn’t. He’d probably be arrested for trying to return her with all of her knowledge of his people. His eyes were intense and slightly more liquid than usual as he stared at her.

“Yes.” He had hesitated, his voice hoarse and strained. “Yes, that I can promise you. If we both survive, when our part is done, I will take you back.”

Leanne couldn’t stop the tears running down her cheeks. She was hurting too much to fight anymore. She leaned in, and Resek mimicked her motion unconsciously until their shoulders were touching.

He didn’t say anything. He didn’t need to. He knew the pain she was feeling now; he’d known it for his whole life. Leanne realized she was shaking.

Resek wrapped his arms around her, pulling her into his chest. Leanne sobbed, allowing him, for once, to comfort her.