Alien General's Fated: SciFi Alien Romance (Brion Brides) (10 page)

Aria

 

For the longest time, Aria saw nothing.

There was only darkness after the kidnappers blindfolded her. The attack had been so sudden she hadn't even had the chance to cry out and call for someone before she was gagged. Aria had tried to struggle and fight back, but found it to be impossible. Strong, merciless hands had gripped her, hurting without care. It was clear her well-being wasn't a priority. The realization should have terrified Aria, but it only brought stubborn determination. She was not going to be some weeping maiden. She was an ambassador of the Galactic Union, and rescue missions were bound to be swift. All she had to do was hold on until then.

Then she only struggled to find out as much as she could about her attackers. Thrashing around, she finally came to the conclusion that the ones who had broken into her quarters... were Clayors. Judging by the voices she heard and the way they dragged her along, they were considerably taller than her.

Which meant Clayor champions. Still on Ilotra. It made her blood run cold.

Thinking of Ilotra's safety before my own. There is something wrong with me.

Despite the horrible situation she was in, Aria almost laughed, realizing that none of it would have happened if she hadn't sent Ryden away. It had been the right call, Aria knew that, but the general would never have let them take her. In fact, she was sure he was going to tear her captors to pieces once he caught them.

After what seemed like an eternity, they finally stopped. Time to learn why she was there. So far the enemy hadn't hurt her, but there had to be a reason why they needed her, right? Aria saw no benefit in deluding herself into thinking she was safe.

The blindfold stayed, but the gag was removed from her mouth. Aria coughed.

"Let me go," she said then, as soon as her vocal chords obeyed her again. "The punishment for abducting an ambassador is extreme. I haven't seen you yet, I don't know who you are, so if you just cooperate—"

"
Terran
," a voice very close to her said, the hissing edge marking the speaker as a Clayor. "After all we've done and all we're about to do, taking you is the
least
of our concerns."

True. Also not comforting at all.

Aria thought of the explosions, of the war declaration and the incoming armies. The enemy had no fear of dirtying their hands, they'd shown that.

They probably wouldn't hesitate to kill her if she was no longer useful to them either. That was not a pleasant thought, but Aria refused to let fear take her.

"What do you want from me?" she asked.

It was better if she knew from the start. Aria figured then she could plan how to delay them. She didn't trust Ilotra's security to find her. They hadn't been able to locate the champions so far. It would be a miracle if they did now. She was on her own, but she was far from helpless.

Ryden
, she thought then, the general's name jumping into her mind.

Aria shook her head clear. A man like that couldn't be relied upon to help, to
save
anyone. He was a killer; his job was to end lives, not preserve them. She doubted her disappearance was a priority issue, considering Ilotra's other problems. The enemy was right about that, at least.

 

"We want you to help us," the Clayor was saying.

Ha-ha. No.

"You seem to have everything under control," she said carefully. "You've managed to elude our security."

The Clayor laughed.

"That is not the problem," it said. "This moon is not run efficiently."

Tell me about it
, Aria agreed silently.

"The Brions concern us a lot more. We didn't know there would be an army here. We are not pleased."

Good. Serves you right.

Out loud, Aria said, "They haven't found you either."

There was movement near her, a shifting of something
huge
, coming toward her suddenly. Aria took an involuntary step back. The creature came closer, whatever it was. Aria's mind was working frantically, trying to understand how something so big could not be found already. It felt like the world was closing in on her. The presence she sensed was enormous, but that wasn't the most frightening thing about it. It seemed to press down on her mind, overwhelming all her senses, making her
thoughts
feel claustrophobic. With the last vestiges of her self-control, Aria only just barely managed not to scream.

A voice so deep she barely made out words said:

"They're not really looking."

Aria didn't respond. She couldn't utter a single word, nor move. Cold sweat ran down her back, her entire body felt paralyzed, frozen by someone else's will. While her body was unable to move a finger, her mind was similarly fixed in place, focused on the horrifying presence near her.

Then, as swiftly as it had appeared, it was gone. Aria was left trembling. She could barely stand, her entire being seemingly drained of energy.

The Clayor from before continued.

"We believe they are not...
motivated
to root us out," the enemy explained. "It's not how they do things. Their nature rebels at the idea of tedious searching with no leads. They wish we'd come out into the open and face them honestly. Naturally we won't do that. Instead, we wish to give them the incentive they need to come look for us, seriously this time."

Shaken, Aria made herself nod. It was better she didn't provoke them until she had a better understanding of what they intended.

"I don't understand. What does that have to do with me?" she asked warily.

The Clayors around her laughed. It was a peculiar sound, a vibrating chorus of amused chortling. It was clear there was a joke somewhere and she wasn't in on it.

"
You
are the incentive," the enemy said then. "The Brions will turn this moon upside down to find you."

 

***

 

The darkness came to an end in a tiny room barely large enough for her to lie down. As soon as they took her blindfold away, Aria rounded on her captors with the intention to identify them later.

The Clayor handling her was the leader of the "peace delegation." Aria
knew
it wasn't him; she'd seen him die with her own eyes, but the similarity was uncanny. He was a practically an identical copy, but she wondered if the term
clone
suited the situation better.

The Clayor was grinning, clearly aware of her surprise. Aria frowned, realizing they were doing this to her on purpose to freak her out. She refused to give them that satisfaction. Ignoring the mind games, she tried to note anything that could be useful to her, but found very little. The hive mind was cleverer than she'd thought, it seemed. The enemy worked meticulously, carefully, with a clear tactic in mind, never wavering from the path it had chosen.

It knew facing Brions would mean its death, so it hid. That made sense, a lot of it in fact. She had hoped that the war was a simple affair of misplaced anger or boredom.
That
the GU could handle. There were plenty of species out there who needed to vent from time to time.

Like Brions.

It was an unpleasant surprise to find
that the hive mind had a plan, a real purpose.

While Aria didn't believe for a moment that
she
was the incentive the enemy imagined she was, there was no denying that the hive mind knew exactly how to handle its opponents. The Brions were too predictable in their fury, their codes and principles known to the galaxy.

The hive mind was playing them without a mistake so far.

Her guard left Aria alone without giving her anything to use against them. He was a perfectly normal Clayor, with its stretched body swaying like a slender tree in the wind. The big, lidless eyes gave her the creeps like all of his species did. All the Clayors wore a tight black bodysuit that looked like soft plastic, so common for them some thought it was fused to their bodies.

Only their bald heads were uncovered, showing their pale bluish skin. They wore sharp ceremonial knives on their belts, long enough to be swords in her hands.

Aria watched the tall champion go. It was a pity he'd seen her surprise. The hive mind wanted everyone on Ilotra to behave irrationally, to be controlled by their emotions so it could take advantage of the mayhem, but she refused to give in to that. If she had to die, she'd do it without giving the Clayors the satisfaction of seeing her panic.

She would remain calm, come up with a plan, and escape.

Aria looked around her. She knew Ilotra well, but the room was too tiny and bereft of anything that could give her a telltale hint. Different sectors of the moon were marked with symbols and patterns to help the residents and guests navigate the gigantic fortress, but the hive mind had—of course—removed all of that.

There was no way for Aria to tell where she was. She had been in their hands for so long that she could be anywhere on the moon by now, including right next to her own quarters.

It put a bit of a damper on her mood, but Aria recovered quickly. She had time to think now.

Apparently my entire function is to be bait.

Aria found that incredibly insulting, but her self-esteem wasn't the big problem. The fact the hive mind had no appreciation for her real talents was a huge advantage for her.

That left the
actual
issue. If Ryden didn't immediately jump to her rescue, it wouldn't take long for the Clayors to figure their captive was unnecessary to them. Before that happened, Aria had to figure out a way to survive that unfortunate discovery.

Aria was focused on surviving and escaping, she totally was. But the idea she had been trying to hold back finally surfaced.

The hive mind thinks he'll tear this moon apart to find you.

It was absurd, that's what it was. Aria knew the general found her attractive enough to screw, but she doubted he'd risk losing ground in the war to find her. If she was his fated
gesha
, then it would be different, of course. If Aria was his fated, the man wouldn't rest for a second before he'd found her, and everyone in his way would be dead.

She firmly forced the idea away, disappointed with herself to still think of him, but the doubt refused to go. The hive mind was incredibly smart; it had to be with millions of brains to think with. If it thought to trap Ryden with her, then might there be...

No
, she told herself resolutely.
Whatever the hive mind thinks, whatever Ryden thinks, nothing can happen there. I do not want... I would not allow it. That butcher is not the man for me.

 

***

 

Days passed without Aria seeing another living soul. The wall-mounted console delivered her food and took the dishes away again. That told her... practically nothing. Almost all of the habitable rooms on Ilotra had the console installed in them.

Aria busied herself trying to come up with a plan. Every day she spent there raised the risk of the hive mind deciding to get rid of her. And since it was clear no one was coming for her, Aria had to fend for herself.

This is good, actually
, she assured herself.
I can talk to our enemy. If I had anything to say, anything at all to throw the hive mind off the course...

And finally it came to her.

Getting the hive mind's attention proved to be more difficult than she'd thought, however. Banging on the door didn't help. Neither did shouting. By that point Aria wondered if she was being guarded at all, and when all evidence started pointing toward a resounding
no
, she was sincerely upset.

Sure, Aria knew she wasn't a physical threat like Ryden—who probably needed entire units to be reined in—but no one? That was insulting.

Finally she had to send tiny messages through the console, slipping them in with her dishes. After a long while, the door opened to reveal another Clayor. Aria had already given up trying to differentiate between them. All she knew was that the hive mind was listening, looking at her through the eyes of the proxy.

"Am I talking to the hive mind?" she asked.

The Clayor inclined its head, looking down at her.

Aria took a deep breath. If she was caught with the lie, the hive mind wouldn't trust her again and she'd probably die there in the cell when she outlived her usefulness.

Those odds could be better, but I have no choice. Time to channel the inner damsel in distress.

"I don't know what you plan to do with me once this is done," she began, "but I do not want to die."

The Clayor said nothing. The hive mind seemed to be listening. Aria gritted her teeth, hating that she was in the dark about what was going on. She was negotiating blindly.

"I know how to disable the shield," she said.

There, a flash in the enemy's eyes. Suddenly he looked a lot more alert and present. Aria felt herself come under close scrutiny. She did her best to hide the lie from her eyes, hide the fact she'd never take down Ilotra's main defense for the enemy.

But letting the hive mind think it could have a use for her seemed like a solid tactic. Aria wanted to convince it she was scared for her life, desperate to do anything to save herself.

There was, of course, a big risk that it would backfire horribly. If she was actually tasked to do it and refused, there would be nothing to save her. Aria was taking the chance that the shield generator as well as the control room would be heavily guarded.

The hive mind seemed to consider her.

"You were the one who raised the shield around the generator," the Clayor said.

"Yes," she said. "I can lower it again too."

The Clayor was silent for several moments. His eyes moved around in the room, fixing on nothing that Aria could see.

She held her breath. If she was completely honest with herself, Aria had no idea how she might escape from the clutches of the enemy if they already had access to the shield. She was neither dumb nor unskilled, but Aria was no escape artist either. If her plan didn't work, she would more than likely die.