Dekkir (Galaxy Alien Warriors #1)(27)
“What was it like then?” She watched me intently, her brown-bronze eyes full of curiosity.
“War was constant. Famines, epidemics, overcrowding in every fort. The air was difficult to breathe, and the poisons in land and water made many of our offspring born . . . wrong.” I rubbed my face, the uncomfortable subject dispelling the sweet lassitude that had lain over me before.
“That does sound like what Earth is facing. It’s one of the reasons we came here looking for a trade agreement. We’re running out of critical resources. The moon, Mars, and the asteroid belt . . . they’re all mined out. When I left, they were estimating pollution levels would surpass what atmosphere scrubbers can handle within two decades.” She shivered, and I rubbed her back soothingly.
“If that is so, would it not be in their best interests to avoid all conflict with us?” I frowned. So many decisions made by her superiors at Earth Command seemed to be tactically nonsensical.
“You would think so. But it depends. I don’t know if it’s Earth Command or someone in his or her hierarchy acting on their own. I don’t know their motives or their plans. That’s why Dr. Stirling—Tabirus—may be our only hope of getting answers.”
I nodded, rubbing her back still. She was finally starting to relax again. “You trust him, and so does Neyilla. I shall try to as well. But I hope we hear good news from him soon.”
“Me, too.” Her brows drew together. “How did Lyra go from the kind of environmental mess Earth is currently into this? If Earth could do the same . . .”
“Neyilla will be better at explaining the science behind it than I would. Let us ask once your lesson is done.”
We managed to get some rest, and I woke to rain pattering on the edges of the round windows. A Glow Beetle the size of my fist sat on the edge of one of them, drinking rainwater with its proboscis while it shed yellow-green light around it. I watched it rest there until the rain thinned out, and it lifted off heavily to fly out of sight. Glow Beetles were peaceful creatures; their presence was considered a blessing. Turning my gaze back to my new mate, I hoped that would be true here as well.
I let Grace sleep while I washed and dressed, leaving off the armor in favor of a soft under-tunic and drawstring leggings. I grinned a little. The armor wasn’t needed in this place, which was guarded by Neyilla’s three enormous trained Grogs and her own powers. Besides . . . it got awfully inconvenient to take off when things between my mate and me heated up. Which, to my delight, was nearly every waking moment Grace and I were alone.
We broke our fast in the communal dining hall on fruit, a loaf of bread, and pale slabs of river eel. The caravan workers who had brought us to Neyilla’s hostel chattered and laughed at the tables around us; the caravan master, my friend and former lover Elorie, exchanged waves with me before going back to chatting up the bronze-haired guard she had designs on lately. They all looked restless, bored; I heard a few talking about their eagerness to get back to traveling. Fortunately, they would not be waiting long.
Tomorrow, my father, the High Chieftain Dorin, would undergo a last few physical tests and return with the caravan to Highfort to resume his duties. He still refused to eat with us, as his illness had left him with a touchy stomach, and he would not humiliate himself by losing his meal in front of others. I, for one, was just glad he was alive, but aside from saying that to him once, I could not express it. My father was not exactly demonstrative.
Grace tasted a little of everything, a bit gingerly. Some of our food had turned out to be far too spicy for her. I just stopped and watched her sometimes, forgetting my own food to do so, a little smile playing on my lips.
She had finally tried the eel and was happily munching on a bite of it when she blinked and her eyes widened. She set her fork down and turned to look at me. “It’s Tabirus. He’s found something.”
I set down my fork as well. “What is it?”
She stared off into space. “He was reading Commander Wickman’s mind . . . and he found something. He says it’s nothing good.”
I reached over and folded her tiny hand in my own, feeling her trembling as she sat there receiving the message. Her face went ashen, horror creeping across her features.
“The commander . . . drinks. A lot. Tabirus could never read his mind when he was drunk. He just caught him sober for a teleconference with Earth Command headquarters and ‘listened in.’” A long pause, and then she pressed her free hand over her mouth, and her trembling intensified. A glaze of tears brightened her eyes. “Oh God.”
“Grace, speak to me. I cannot help you if I do not know what is going on.” I had been war chief of this world for many decades. I was a man of action. If there was one feeling I despised the most out of all of them, it was helplessness.
Her eyes held misery and horror as she looked up at me. “We need to talk to Neyilla and your father right away. Earth Command has ordered them to look for an excuse to go to war with Lyra and take it over. They want to strip-mine this world. Take everything. By any amount of force that’s necessary.”
CHAPTER 11 / GRACE
I sat numbly in my seat in Neyilla’s practice room, staring off into space. My only tie to reality right now was Dekkir, who kept gently rubbing my back as I struggled against a breakdown. I have been used. This entire time, Earth Command was using me. Not just me, but everyone at the base. We’re all sacrifices to greed and political expediency.