Page 28 of Doom Averted

I counted heads, relieved to notice that everyone was present, even Kitan and Chloe, and neither looked injured. The overload had happened in the engine room only, and Eoin was made of strong stuff, I’d have to check with the Doc, but I was certain his ability to store metals in his skin had protected him from heart damage.

With my arm tightly around Arianna’s shoulders, I wasn’t the only male present holding onto their mate. Ziame’s tail was around Abigail’s middle, and Kitan had Chloe plastered to the wall behind his back. I spotted Thorin jostling with Camila as if he wanted to take a protective stance but she wasn’t letting him. Even the Doc was standing in front of Noa as if he was ready to fight, his fists tight balls in front of him. I hadn’t witnessed it, but to rescue Noa, the Doc had once brawled his way through several dozen men, I didn’t doubt he’d fight if it came down to it.

The only sound in the room was that of shuffling feet, the low rumbling growls coming from Fierce and his hound Snarl, and the babbling of Tori’s baby Novalee. Then we heard the thud of boots in the hallway. I knew the sound so intimately, that I had no doubt it was the synchronized walking of a squad of Kertinillian soldiers. Those military-issued boots just had that specific ring to them, I’d heard that noise for years aboard the Balista.

Arianna shivered against my side and my protective urges surged, I wanted to hold her tighter, hide her behind my back even. The thought struck me that if Allignon saw me holding her, he’d use her as leverage, aim a gun at Arianna’s head and I’d build that engine for him in a flash, there was no doubt about that. I just really didn’t want the bastard to have the technology. I was done helping the Kertinal Empire expand.

Then she looked up at me and those soft brown eyes, the gold little flecks… That looked pierced me, I didn’t have the strength to push her away, not after we’d just reconciled. The booted steps halted and I saw the barrel of a gun lead around the corner. “Stand down, we’re just here for Ertague, no fighting and nobody gets hurt,” General Allignon announced loudly.

They filed into the room when nobody made a sound except for Novalee who started giggling. I could tell that the first two soldiers stepping into the room were intimidated by my gladiator brothers, then confused. They weren’t expecting all these women or a baby. “I’m pregnant, that doesn’t mean I can’t take care of myself!” Noa suddenly exclaimed and everyone turned to look at her and the Doc.

She was pregnant? No wonder Luka was acting so protectively, even Aderians got a little obsessed with their mate’s safety when they were pregnant. Noa had the good sense to look a little abashed that she’d spoken so loudly, she ducked her head and pressed it against Luka’s spine, hiding her face which was turning an interesting shade of red.

“What a mess Ertague,” Allignon drawled when he followed his soldiers into the room, safely hidden behind their armored backs and laser-rifles. I’d always thought he was a coward, looked like that hadn’t changed.

“It’s a mess because you fucking blew up our engine,” I snarled at my former commanding officer. I wanted to leap forward and punch him in the face and only those dangerous guns pointing at my friends were stopping me. Eoin was injured because of him, Arianna and I hadn’t been able to talk, or celebrate our now official relationship. I was sick and tired of this bastard chasing me so he could force me to build him an engine to use as a career advancement. I didn’t owe him anything, especially not since he’d known where I was yet he’d left me to rot in those gladiator stables for a year.

Allignon wasn’t the tallest of Kertinals but his horns were long and sharp, capped with silver at the tips and shiny bands around the bottom. His coloring was a deep maroon with black, the lines that marked his skin large and wide compared to the finer purple stripes that crossed my body. I could tell that he’d gained a little weight around the middle in the years since I’d last seen him, but he still looked like a warrior, he hadn’t stopped training.

“Come now, I don’t believe that, have you lost your touch? Did I come all this way for nothing?” he drawled back, feeling safe behind his soldiers. This was typical, I’d made him chase me so now he was going to try and humiliate me in front of his men. He didn’t like that we’d cost him well over a month at this point, making him chase us through an entire dead zone, almost all the way to the neutral Yengar Spacestation.

“Yes!” Arianna shouted, “He’s lost his touch, we’re barely scraping by. Too many blows to the head in the arena, you see.” She reached up to pat my forehead, “Right, baby? If not for my help, you wouldn’t be able to tell an Allen wrench from a Socket wrench.” I knew she was lying, trying to make up a story that might leave them alone but I felt offended down to my very core. Especially, because I had no fucking clue what kind of wrenches she was talking about. I did like the bit about making it Allignon’s own damn fault for leaving me in the arena.

The male snarled, his maroon eyes flashing, though he kept control of the bio-luminescence of his skin. The soldiers on either side of them shifted away as if they were worried he’d snap at them. “Little liar, you’ve proven the existence of the engine by the sheer fact that you outran us. My men are searching the engine room now, we’ll find what you built. Then you’re going to build it again.”

While I had every faith that Babbit had taken care of stuffing the experimental engine parts further into the warren of cleaning bot tunnels, it still made me nervous. Riho often liked to hoard things, Babbit was no different, I hadn’t managed to find his stash yet, and I’d tried. I was certain Allignon’s goons wouldn’t be able to locate it either.

Nobody said anything, I just stared at the general, waiting for his next move. Was he going to pull me from my friends with physical force, use the threat of violence to make me come with him? All the muscles in my body were tense with anticipation. I wasn’t the only one, I could see that all my brothers were bristled up, ready for an all-out fight. Even Novalee had picked up on the tension, she wasn’t giggling now, she was mimicking Snarl who was standing in front of them by displaying her single tooth.

“Might I suggest a more civilized solution to all of this, Sir?” a voice said, and then another Kertinal stepped into the mess hall. Green streaks striated his skin and horns arched back sharply over his skull, not quite as twisted as my own. His uniform was neat as a pin, boots so shiny he could probably see his reflection in them. I knew him, we all did. Or’tal the spy.

He wasn’t alone when he stepped up beside the General either, another familiar face was just a half step behind the male. He too wore a neat uniform and perfectly shined boots, his figure had previously been a bit thin, lacking in muscle definition from drug use. Now, Uron had started to fill out and the Rummicaron male was starting to look like the dangerous, bulky muscle he’d always had the potential to be.

“Uron!” Aggy called out, “You look so good!” Sunder’s female and Sunder himself had worked closely with the Rummicaron during the rescue of their kids. Sunder had been instrumental in getting the male on the straight and narrow, but it looked like Or’tal had taken him even further under his wing. I didn’t want to like the spymaster but seeing that he’d taken good care of the youth was hard not to count in his favor.

Uron was trying not to acknowledge Aggy or her two kids but I was pretty sure that even Arianna, who’d never seen a Rummicaron before, could tell he was smiling. Rummicaron I was told, look like Earth sharks, they had a lot of teeth, so a grin on them was all sharp pointy bits, not exactly reassuring. That didn’t deter Aggy and Sunder’s kids from smiling and waving at him.

“What are you suggesting, spy,” I said, drawing the focus back to Or’tal. The spymaster standing next to General Allignon made the pompous ass look like a desk jockey, old and worn, and with the demeanor of a spoiled child. He didn’t look like he could be as big a threat as he was to my safety and that of my friends.

Or’tal started to open his mouth to reply, but Allignon raised his hand in a silencing gesture. That made the spymaster frown, he didn’t like being bossed around, and as a spy first class, he didn’t have rank the same way as Allignon’s soldiers did. He wasn’t one of Allignon’s subjects, he was of the spy class, they were a separate Clan altogether, forsaking all family ties.

“No, Da’vi Ertague is coming with me, and so is the girl. Insurance to make sure he does as I want, the rest… Leave them,” the General commanded. Immediately, the first row of soldiers moved towards us, their rifle muzzles pointed at my chest while the second row was aiming at my friends. I didn’t want them to fire on anyone, especially not on the kids so I started to move forward, Arianna still clutched under my arm. Better I keep her close to me as long as they let me, he said she had to come, if I let her go, the soldiers would grab her.

Then Or’tal’s cultured tones cut through the sound of the soldiers moving and their demands for me to hurry up. “This should be settled in a Rite of Dispute,” he announced, turning so that he was speaking directly at the General, almost turning his back on me entirely. “You want him to work for you, he refuses, this is outside of military rank. It becomes a Clan issue, and as such, it needs to be solved in a Rite of Dispute, Sir.” He tagged on that sir after a pause, almost as if he’d forgotten he should say it, it was a clear insult but not one Allignon could address, beautifully done.

A Rite of Dispute was such a simple solution that I could slap myself for not thinking of it. I’d been too focused on the part where Allignon was my former commanding officer and he wanted to draft me for the military. But we were of the same Clan, we could solve our issue this way. It was an extremely beautiful solution.

“Yes, I issue a formal declaration of dispute. I refuse to work for the military or in any capacity for Mor’vi Allignon. This can only be settled one way.” I made sure my voice carried as I made my declaration, this was a sacred kind of rite. Every soldier in this room would respect this, they’d stand down because this was now between me and the General and no one else.

Allignon’s face pulled into an angry snarl, his eyes first boring into Or’tal for daring to defy him in such a manner. This could not be spun any other way but as a stab in the back from the spymaster, but as one would expect from a guy like Or’tal, he appeared extremely unimpressed. Maybe the spymaster had this planned out, likely even, maybe this was exactly what he wanted, to maneuver against Allignon and his ambitions.

“Fine, have it your way. Is there a suitable place to settle this dispute?” He spoke the last word as if it tasted sour in his mouth and I started to grin. Pointing out of the mess hall with a finger and taking pleasure in seeing all heads turn to follow my directions.

“Sure, we have a well-appointed gymnasium, right brothers?” I said, displaying my teeth in an angry grin.

*

Arianna