Dekkir (Galaxy Alien Warriors #1)(38)

“I’ll try.” She took several deep breaths and tried to focus again. “I can feel what Tabirus and Neyilla are doing. I’m afraid if I look too closely, I’ll mess it up somehow.”

I chuckled. “You worry too much. You would have a difficult time doing that when, from what I gather, they are far more advanced in experience than you are.”

“All right,” she mumbled in reply and then tensed. “They’re nearing landfall.”

“Keep watching. We need to find out how many survive this so the jungle forces may be warned. Any humans who find a hole in our outer defenses must be confronted here.”

She panted softly, eyes screwed shut. In the distance, the sparkling motes grew ever larger. They were streaking toward the jungle, barely slowing yet. I was reminded of her own precipitous landing, which had come to an abrupt end when a beastvine had grabbed her dropship from the air. Back then, I had not yet realized what she was to me, but I had felt a surge of panic I realized now had not been my own.

“They’re coming,” she whispered. “He’s convinced most of the pilots that your father and yourself are hiding in the jungle in that area.”

“Good.” I watched as the shining dropships headed for the jungle canopy. A few moments later, the lead ones penetrated it, and a heartbeat later, I heard a ground-shaking explosion.

“Ohh!” she cried out, fresh tears suddenly tracking down her cheeks. “Oh, the panic, the panic, they’re so scared.” She buried her face in her hands, and I suddenly realized she had felt the deaths of the fallen humans. “They’re gone . . .”

“No.” I shook her gently by the shoulder with one hand and then cupped her face with the other. “No, don’t get entangled with them. Come back. Draw back to me and to the living.”

She sobbed, her skin alarmingly cold under my hands. “I trained with those guys in my self-defense classes. Some of them were just teenagers—”

I shook her firmly. “Stop. Come back. Do not dwell on them. The living need you! I need you.”

She nodded convulsively, and I sensed her struggling. Tabirus, I thought as I radiated love and support toward her. Neyilla. Help me.

I heard their voices overlaid in my head briefly even as my broadcast left my temples stinging. I was no telepath, but fortunately, they were monitoring us all. Dekkir, we cannot . . . You must bring her back! The survivors are emerging. They wear power armor. Most survived. Most are uninjured. They are gathering their forces in the jungle, and we must act!

I pulled Grace into my arms and hugged her tight. “Come back, love. Come back.”

Slowly, she did, her shaking easing off and the warmth slowly returning to her skin. “There are still . . . many. So many. Seventy, eighty . . .”

I nodded and sighed. “Tell Neyilla to coordinate the jungle teams. We will try and lead them into an ambush.”

She swallowed. “Okay. Okay.” She squinted for a few moments and then nodded. “The lead warrior is making contact—”

A thud and a flash of light from the jungle startled me; Grace flinched. “They’re shooting! The warriors have no armor against pulse rifles. Bodies falling—it burns . . .” Her tears started flowing again. “This is crazy. So craz—”

“How do they fare?” I shook her again lightly, and her eyes flew open but stared sightlessly.

“Neyilla says some of the men are leading about twenty of them off into the jungle. Norcross ordered them to stop, but these are impulsive and angry about the crash.” She started trembling. “If they go too near the hives—”

“The warriors will die, too. I understand that. Darling, so do they. This is acceptable risk to them. Lose one’s own life, save the world.”

“Oh God, they’re doing it. They’re doing it . . . no. No, please, don’t go near there!”

More flashes and thuds of pulse rifles going off, this time in rapid succession. Suddenly, several dozen gigantic wasp shapes, almost black, rose above the tree line and then dove back downward, stingers first. I couldn’t see the siege, but from the horror twisting Grace’s features and making her sob, she could feel it.

“Too many. The bugs . . . the warriors . . . they’re being overwhelmed. They pick off a few, but not so many. They can’t get through that armor!”

I frowned. “Tell Neyilla I want her and her seers to find a way to convince them to take off their armor.”

“It will only work on some,” she warned. “Norcross—”

“It will have to do,” I replied quietly. “It will at least thin them out.”

“O-okay.” She wiped her own cheek this time and just focused. “She says it’s possible. They’re working on it now.” But a moment later, she stiffened and started weakly clawing at the front of her tunic. “Hot . . . Oh God, so hot . . .”

“Not you,” I chided, snapping my finger an inch from her ear. She flinched slightly and then opened her eyes, which offered only that terrifyingly empty look again. I tugged at her hair lightly. “No, darling girl, no. Come back to me.”

“I’m sorry,” she gasped. “I can’t just ignore their suffering. I know they are the enemy now. But they’re also young men who have barely gotten to live yet.” She drew a shuddering breath to steady herself.