Daegon: Alien Warlord's Conquest (Scifi Alien-Human Military Romance) Page 10

  Daegon agreed.

  He would have added the reluctance to shed the blood of Corgans to it. Many of the warriors that Arboc led were young and impressionable. With time, they would see the error of their ways, but Daegon didn't know if they would get the opportunity to learn.

  "And the worst?" he snarled, feeling as the day continually went downhill.

  Now Captain Tuval glared, but not at him. The rage, the untamed hate burning in his eyes said much of what was to come.

  "The Yemalan are hungry," he hissed. "They've never had a chance this good. A whole clan fighting with him. It's not just one war band, lord. We thought the other ships were meant to provide cover, but that wasn't it. They are here. They are all here."

  He could hear Zoey's gasp, but Daegon didn't react. Captain Tuval had promised three bad things, and while he could handle the first two, the last one really was something. All of the Yemalan armies gathered in one place, that was an opponent even he wasn't sure he could take.

  It didn't matter, but it changed the possible outcome considerably. That morning, Daegon's biggest concern had been Zoey. Now he wasn't sure if any of the people he'd brought with him on the Wraith would survive.

  "Prepare to launch fighters and drop ships," he ordered.

  Captain Tuval nodded, a grin on his lips. Daegon knew that look. It said the other warrior thought he was a dead man walking, but that he intended to take as many enemies with him as he could. Soon, Daegon would attempt to do the same.

  He wondered if the traitor had the courage to face him. Nadar Brenger had been right – Arboc wasn't the type to die over pride, that was why he'd never challenged the chieftain himself. It was very likely that Daegon might die without ever meeting the man who'd orchestrated all of it.

  The warlord refused to let that happen. If this was to be the end of his clan, he would take the traitor down with him. To save all the Corgans, and to save Zoey.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Zoey

  "They are all here."

  With no other reference to go by, Zoey merely stared at the two warriors. Captain Tuval's face was strained and furious, while Daegon's expression hadn't changed at all. He remained as stoic as he always was, except with Zoey.

  She waited for him to respond, to say that it was ridiculous. How could one entire species gather around a single world? In the next second, the irony of that coming from a Terran hit her, but it didn't make anything better.

  When Daegon ordered the clan to ready for descent to the surface, she truly panicked. They meant to go through with it. Even after it had turned out that the mission was nothing short of suicide.

  "This is all the better for us," Daegon told the bridge crew. "If the Yemalan witness their defeat here, perhaps we will have less incidents in the future."

  Zoey couldn't believe her ears. He was still talking like there was a way for them to win. The traitor Corgan clan alone was a lot to handle, but the Yemalan made the matter absurd. If the ground forces weren't able to help or had already died, they faced a crushing defeat.

  Her mind was spinning with the implications. Daegon had told her about his conversation with the chieftain. She knew that everything balanced on the tip of a knife now. There were so many questions in her head, but on the other hand, she was aware the Corgans had none.

  Daegon wouldn't back down, even if the entire galaxy were against him. And she didn't really want him to, because that would have meant that the enemy had won.

  She wanted Daegon to succeed, and to agree with the chieftain about the Union. All of it seemed more impossible by the moment.

  "Lord," Captain Tuval called from further away. "Union patrols."

  The look on Daegon's face could almost have been called surprise. The warlord frowned, giving Zoey an odd look, but she was as taken aback as he was.

  "How far?" Daegon asked, growling. "If we need to deal with them as well..."

  As soon as he'd said that, a plan revealed itself to Zoey. A painful shot went through her heart and she felt her life shaking under her feet. There was a way for her to help, but Daegon would not agree. Nor approve.

  She had to try, at the very least. How very Corgan of her – doing what needed to be done, even if she had no support.

  "They must be looking for me," she said quickly, wondering if it was really true. "I'm high-ranked enough to warrant that. Palians have ships that could have caught up with us."

  Daegon looked suspicious for a second, but then nodded slowly.

  "I believe she is right," he said. "I'd thought it was odd that the Union took her absence so calmly."

  Desperate to be able to help, Zoey went on, asking for the one thing she absolutely didn't want to do, "Let me go to them."

  She saw something dark flash behind Daegon's eyes, but didn't address it. The bridge of his warship was not a place to start a relationship drama, even if Zoey ached to tell him she wasn't really leaving.

  Instead, taking the second best option, she explained, "They are here for me, right? So surely they'd protect me. The traitor and the Yemalan want you, not the Union. The Wraith will be a target, but –"

  "The patrol could keep its distance, yes," Daegon cut in, nodding.

  His posture was still tense, but Zoey's lie had seemed to work. She felt her heart beat fast, hoping he wouldn’t see her true intentions until it was too late.

  Then. Then he'll probably hate me.

  The possibility was too horrible to consider, but Zoey said nothing, waiting. The alternative was so much worse, after all. If she did nothing, if she didn't even try to help, Daegon and his warriors would be slaughtered. There was no guarantee they wouldn't be even if she managed to convince the Union to help, but it would be proactive at least. Far better than sitting on Daegon's bed, caged and blind to his fate.

  "Have transport prepared for her," the warlord finally ordered.

  While Captain Tuval rushed to obey him, Zoey could see deep regret in his fierce blue eyes. She knew it hurt him to send her away, but he thought he was sending her to safety. Or at least whatever passed for that in the mess they were in.

  Her pain over cheating him like that was much worse. Without a word, she walked by his side to one of the bays, where a small ship was waiting for her.

  Daegon was almost like a different person, so utterly far from the man who had kissed her not so long ago. The promises of love they'd shared, the warmth, it seemed light-years away.

  "I've sent a message to the patrol," Daegon said. "They know the shuttle is carrying you. I trust that they will let you board."

  "Thank you," she replied, feeling her throat close up.

  That was it. No way for her to know how he was doing until they met again. She reached out, and he closed his arms around her in an embrace. Zoey felt like it was a final goodbye, forcing herself not to say anything of the sort. If that really was the last time they ever saw each other, she wanted Daegon to remember her smiling and happy.

  "I will come back," she promised, hearing the way her voice shook a bit. "I promise."

  Daegon smiled, grinning like a true Corgan warlord.

  "In this life or the next," he said. "We will be together again."

  Zoey didn't think she could reply to that without her voice giving her away, so she smiled and stepped into the shuttle. The doors closed after her and the last she saw of Daegon was the warlord watching them take off.

  * * *

  Her biggest fear had been that the shuttle would be shot down, either by the enemy or the Union patrol. To her surprise, neither did, and Zoey landed safely on the deck of a large Union carrier.

  Approaching, she'd seen the gathered ships. It wasn't an army, nothing close to it, but they were warships, all of them. She saw fighters and gunships and the main vessel, the Defiant, which was definitely a force to be reckoned with.

  It could change the outcome of the war on Poural.

  The Corgan ship left as soon as it had delivered her, reminding Zoey of the way the Union ship h
ad dropped her off on the Wraith when she’d first met Daegon. Like that time, she was left standing alone on the deck until an officer approached her. The man saluted her – she outranked even the captain of the ship due to being a Union representative.

  He had a weird expression on his face, however, and it took a moment for Zoey to realize that it was because of her clothes.

  She had to suppress a guilty chuckle. Truly, she had to have been a sight to see. Donned in a Corgan uniform, equipped with alien guns and with a Yemalan glove as the cherry on top.

  "Miss Swann," the man said. "It is good to see you alive and unharmed. We have been tracking you for days, but the Wraith has managed to shake us until now. Odd, for a Corgan ship. Come now, we must hurry."

  He started to walk away and Zoey followed him. The markings on his uniform said that the man was a lieutenant. That was all fine and dandy for him, but she needed the ship's captain.

  "We should leave at once," the lieutenant went on. "No Union vessel has been so far into Corgan territories. We are only here since the chieftain's wife somehow got the bastards not to shoot at us when we came after you."

  Mara, Zoey thought. Saving the day again. She's a Terran too. I wonder if she sent help on purpose.

  Thinking that made her instantly feel better. Mara James had been a Union pilot and knew that the ships were capable of waging war. More so, she probably had a hunch about how bad things were and how terrible the Corgans were at asking for help.

  It was good then that Zoey had no intention of asking anyone.

  "That is excellent," she said in her best ambassador voice, smooth but firm. "But I'm afraid we're not going anywhere. Take me to the captain."

  The lieutenant's face showed his shock very plainly.

  "Miss Swann," he began. "We are in enemy territory. This is not the time nor the place to stop. We were called to Gaiya soon after your abduction and given strict orders to retrieve you. That is our primary concern."

  "Wonderful," Zoey said, marching on past him to where she knew the bridge to be. "Allow me to correct some things for you, if I may."

  The lieutenant scrambled after her, a look of disapproval on his face, but Zoey didn't care. She would be seeing that expression a lot in the coming days and weeks, if she was lucky enough to survive the next hours.

  "First of all, we are not in enemy territory," she said. "Corgans have declared no war against the Union and we haven't done so either. As the chief negotiator in this case, I'm pretty sure of that. Secondly, I thank you. You have successfully retrieved me, but I wasn't abducted. I was saved by Lord Daegon and now it's my turn to save him. Or help, at least."

  Understanding dawned on the man's face at last.

  "You want to get involved with whatever is going on there," he said, unable to hide his anger. "On that planet."

  "Yes," Zoey said, "and I will."

  "That is Corgan business," the lieutenant protested.

  "It is ours too now," Zoey snapped back. "We are here. We see what's going on. I know what's about to happen. The chance to be ignorant has passed."

  The man glared at her, but Zoey had stared death in the eyes, and a lieutenant's wrath was nothing compared to that.

  "They are not Union members," the man emphasized. "We have no obligation to help."

  Zoey stopped so suddenly that he nearly ran into her. Turning, she could see the man back away from her as she nearly shook with rage.

  "Yes," she said. "And if everyone in the Union was like you, why would anyone ever join?"

  She turned her back to him without waiting for a response and didn't stop until she reached the bridge. After a moment of explaining and realizing that she was the person they'd come after, the guards admitted her.

  Moment of truth.

  Zoey knew that it wasn't the cowardly, annoyed lieutenant she needed to convince. Everything depended on who the captain of the patrol was.

  The command throne towered before her and Zoey felt her heart soar when it turned and revealed a tall, thin man with large, lidless eyes and very pale skin. A Palian.

  Before she could say anything, ask for any favors or play rank on him, the captain spoke, "I am Captain Eruit. I'm glad to see you in good health, Miss Swann. Now, brief me on the situation. This looks like a real headache from here."

  Zoey felt hope for the first time in too many days.

  "You will help?" she asked. "No questions asked?"

  "I had plenty of questions," the captain replied calmly. "But you already answered all of them. I watched you on the monitors. And I agree. If we want someone to trust us enough to join the Union, we must prove ourselves worthy."

  Zoey smiled, unable to put her gratitude into words. Luck, it seemed, was finally on her side – it had given her a Palian captain. Unlike other species in the Union, she thought, the nurturing, peaceful race was one of those that didn't actively ruin their collective reputation.

  "Alright," she began. "So there are good Corgans and bad Corgans..."

  * * *

  A few hours later, fed and briefed and armored, Zoey sat in a rocking ship on her way to Poural. The conflict there had started even as she was talking to the Defiant's captain. It had pained her to delay, but Captain Eruit was right. If they really wanted to help, they needed to be prepared.

  She told the captains of the patrol group everything she could think of, sparing no detail but her private time with Daegon. In the end, she was satisfied that they knew as much as she did.

  Not all of them were thrilled about the prospect of dying for the Corgans, but most of them were Palians. Their unwillingness to let innocent people suffer reminded her of Corgans, with their reluctance to back away from a fight for what was right. So similar, and yet worlds apart.

  Zoey still didn't know why she'd made them take her to the surface. Theoretically, she could have watched it all unfold with Captain Eruit on the Defiant. However, Zoey assumed that the Corgans wouldn't take the Union's interference well, even if they did come to help.

  She needed to find Daegon and tell him, or one of his officers, at least. They'd messaged the Wraith immediately, of course, but it was practically impossible to relay it down to Poural.

  Captain Tuval had tersely replied that the surface was already a battlefield. He didn't seem too happy when Zoey explained that the Union was there to provide support, but the Corgans didn't outright refuse them either.

  That was a bad sign if there ever was any. If nothing else, it told Zoey how badly they needed aid.

  And now she was about to go to the one place Daegon had told her to stay away from. Zoey waited for the landing, trying hard not to think of the warlord. It hurt too much, to know he would have been furious had he known what she was up to.

  At least the messages broadcast over the drop ship were optimistic. It seemed that Daegon's clan had mostly figured out the Union wasn't attacking them but their now mutual enemy. Zoey hoped that the rest would go as smoothly. Ideally, the two would work together to bring Arboc and the Yemalan down, but in real life things were never that easy.

  The landing happened with such a lurch she felt her hasty lunch coming up. Stumbling, Zoey stepped onto Poural's ground for the first time.

  Her guards didn't even have the opportunity to warn her, not to mention save themselves. Like a storm, a single figure with gleaming blades cut them down where they stood. Zoey raised her gun and shot, but the enemy dodged faster than she could see, and in the next moment, she found her legs kicked out from under her.

  Looking up, she saw hateful eyes staring down at her. And a telltale scorched mark on the warrior's neck.

  Fantastic, she thought. Of all the places to land, I manage to nearly drop on the villain. Forgive me, Daegon. There is nowhere for me to run.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Daegon

  He saw the Union ships coming at once.

  A part of him was furious with Zoey for not doing what she’d been told. Another, much stronger part, was very impressed and a little
amused. His beautiful little Terran had more spirit and more wit than he'd given her credit for. As he watched the Union fighters join his and the drop ships falling from the sky to boost his forces, the warlord knew that Zoey had never intended to stay away.

  Captain Tuval confirmed that when the comm link flared to life again. It had been out for hours, the interference from so many ships cutting the communications between the ground forces and the Wraith.

  Zoey had come back and she had brought the Union.

  Daegon was standing on the ruins of what had been a huge tower, now lying before his feet in rubble. He was listening to his comm link crackle and spit, cursing the ancient technology. The Union bastards, he knew, wouldn't have that kind of problem. They had all the species in the known galaxy to come together and figure out the solutions to stuff like that.

  He couldn't deny there were some plus-sides to being a member. And if one considered the fighters providing air support against the hordes upon hordes of Yemalan troops, perhaps more than a few.

  The comm link was in complete chaos. Daegon was very close to simply turning it off and making his way through the battle the old-fashioned way. His elite warriors were close by, scouting for survivors. The chieftain's guards were still nowhere to be seen, but there were signs that they'd resisted. Here and there Daegon could see hastily scribbled notes and something even more important – considering how few civilians he saw, it was obvious that the guards had worked hard to evacuate everyone.

  Daegon didn't know where or he would have sent reinforcements. That was one of the reasons why he kept the comm link open. All kinds of messages reached him. Some were from his warriors, but he wasn't worried about them. They were able to handle whatever the enemy threw at them.

  Then there were those of the Yemalan and the traitors. These were fewer, but here and there, Daegon caught a hint. And even more rarely, the Poural people and the guards, talking about the invasion. That he was most interested in, keen on finding where they hid and making sure the enemy didn't reach the survivors first.