ReEmergent -Guardians of Vesturon [4] (7 page)

“
I’m sorry too, but for now I feel I’m doing more for humanity by picking off the Xanthian guard ships. I can’t be here on Vesturon knowing Saylan is here and she doesn’t want me near her. Killing Xanthians helps me deal.”

“
I understand. I wasn’t going to mention this, but you look like some kind of a renegade. No wonder she’s afraid of you.”

Xarrid stopped and stared at Rayn for a long, uncomfortable moment. “I’ll keep that in mind if I ever get the opportunity to see her again.”

“
I didn’t mean...”

Xarrid held out his hand, palm facing outward, and said, “No, you’re right. I don’t even bother to look at myself in the mirror anymore because it all is meaningless to me. But I’m sure I’m a sight. I don’t know why I didn’t think of it before.” He rubbed the back of his neck and then tilted his head backward, in a futile attempt to ease the tenseness in his muscles.

“
Xarrid, things will work out for you and Saylan. I know they will.”

Xarrid looked at him and shook his head. “I’m through with living on hopes, Rayn. I have to do something concrete for now. That’s why I’ve joined up with Jurek for the time being. I have to do something worthwhile and what I’m doing makes me feel like I’m putting a dent in the Xanthian advance. I’m not sure if it is, but we are cutting off their supplies and diverting them to those that need them more.”

“
Don’t…”

Xarrid bristled. “I told you, I have to...”

“
No! You misunderstand me. Don’t give up hope Xarrid. Saylan loves you still. She just has to uncover those memories. They’re there somewhere, buried in her mind. The Xanthians couldn’t take them from her. Please don’t give up. If you give up hope, you give up everything.”

It may have been the tone of his voice, or perhaps it was the intensity and the way it reverberated throughout Xarrid’s body. But whatever the reason, Xarrid looked at Rayn and nodded. He bowed his head and suddenly he felt Rayn’s hand on his shoulder.

“
I know you’ve been through so much over the last year, but I also know in my heart that she will be worth the fight Xarrid.”

Xarrid squeezed his eyes shut for a moment. “You’re right. I need to hear it sometimes though. I forget from time to time. Knowing she’s here and doesn’t want me is difficult to bear, so I tend to avoid it altogether. Look, I need to go, but thanks Rayn. It means a lot to me, you know.”

Rayn nodded and said, “Be safe out there. Xanthian prisons are not the best places to be.”

“
I’ll keep that in mind, brother. Give Maddie a hug for me and give Mother my love.” He turned and strode out of the room.

Sharra docked her Star Fighter and exited the spacecraft. She quickly made her way to the conference room for her meeting with her brothers Rayn, Rykerian and Tesslar. She wondered what the urgency was but their message was firm on her required presence.

When she entered the room, she quickly scanned the conference table to take note of who was present. Everyone she would have expected to be there was seated, except for Xarrid of course.

“
So what is the cause for this meeting?”

“
We have reason to suspect the Xanthians will move to take over Earth as their main base now that the human population has been severely diminished.”

Sharra gave him a withering look. “Rayn, I find it unbelievably ridiculous that you are now just accepting this idea. I have said this all along, as I know Xarrid has as well.” She thrummed her fingers on the table in annoyance. Her knee began to wiggle in unison with her fingers.

“
Sharra, please try to remain calm. I know what you’ve told me but we needed proof.”

She flew to her feet and the chair skidded backwards across the floor. “Proof? What kinds of proof? I have sent you surveillance vids taken from my Star Fighter. We’ve sent images captured over the last six months of the Xanthians and how they’ve been sending supplies. Xarrid has been intercepting cargo ships loaded with supplies intended for Xanthian use. What more do you need? I am beginning to think your brain has suffered some kind of lapse. You have completely dissociated yourself from reality. That stunt you pulled when you removed the Guardians from Earth was appalling. I’m not sure I know you anymore.”

“
Sharra...” Rykerian began.

“
Stop it! All of you. You have isolated yourselves on Vesturon and refuse to open your eyes to what’s happening in the universe. We are in a crisis and if we don’t do something soon, we will all find ourselves at the mercy of the Xanthians. Did you know that they are now at the heart of the Universal Super Power? They have the support of that empire? They are gaining more power every day. And you all refuse to acknowledge this. You send my Star Avengers in, thinking we can knock their flight power out, when all we are is nothing but a tiny swarm of gnats against them. For every strike we make against them, they simply replace what was destroyed. They rarely even fight back any more.”

Rayn looked at her and answered, “We know. That’s why we called you here today. Whoever is bankrolling them has unlimited resources. We’ve decided we need to change our strategy and tactics. Jurek’s idea of blockading their supplies seems to make more sense than anything else. Sharra, I’m sorry about how all of this has turned out. I made some poor choices that turned out to be bad decisions. I’m sending some Guardians back to Earth, but I’m sending them under cover. I don’t want to alert the Xanthians of their presence. I want them to keep us abreast of what’s going on down there.”

“
I want to go as part of that team,” Sharra said, interrupting him.

Rayn shook his head. “I don’t think so. I still need you leading the Star Avengers. I want them to team up with Jurek and Xarrid and establish some kind of tactic...study the patterns of the Xanthians. See if we can figure out where these supplies are coming from and how they’re transporting them to Earth. If we cut that line, we cut off their survival rate down there.”

“
Rayn, my second in command is every bit as good as I am. I can be of better service on Earth, as can Maddie.”

She was challenging Rayn and everyone in the room knew it. Rayn clenched his fists and the muscle in his jaw began to twitch. His emerald green eyes turned to ice as he spoke, “Sharra, I would ask that you leave my mate out of this conversation, especially since she is not present and cannot speak for herself.”

Sharra nodded, but added, “Then I think we should put a hold on this until Maddie is here and can join in. She deserves to be involved in this. After all, Earth was her home for the first nineteen years of her life.”

Rayn’s lips thinned before he nodded his agreement. “Then we shall continue this discussion in three hours from now.”

*******

Three hours later they were reconvened in the conference room with Maddie seated at Rayn’s side. He began the discussion again about the change of plans to put a team of Guardians on Earth. That’s when Sharra interjected her thoughts and raised the question of whether Maddie should join the team.

“
As I see it, Maddie has the experience and the knowledge of Earth. I raise my hand to join her and be a part of that team,” Sharra concluded.

Maddie’s eyes quickly moved between Rayn and Sharra. She took a deep breath and plunged into the conversation. “I’d have to agree with Sharra. At the risk of an argument with you later Rayn, she couldn’t be more right in this situation.”

Rayn started to speak, but Maddie halted his speech with the palm of her hand. “You must separate yourself from me as your mate and think of me as a Guardian. You know darn well I’m capable and I understand how overprotective your instincts are, but in this case, the greater good must outweigh those feelings of yours. I’m sorry Rayn, but I vote with Sharra on this.”

Maddie could see Rayn’s displeasure with her decision. The tensing of his shoulders, the tightening of his jaw and the way he fisted his hands around the arms of his chair told her she was in for it later. She didn’t care. She had to stand her ground on this.

The Yarristers all decided that the two females would join the team and head down to Earth as undercover Guardians. Their sole purpose would be to try to learn everything they could about what the Xanthians were doing to gain control of Earth. Then they would report that information back to the Command Center on Vesturon. They would set up surveillance teams revolving around the former city of Atlanta and the old airport where Jurek had located Saylan. That seemed to be where most of the Xanthian activity was taking place so maybe they would get lucky and chance upon some information quickly.

Rayn mechanically gave his orders, biting out his instructions succinctly. When he was finished, he hastily left the room. Everyone noticed but no one commented on it. Maddie’s gut twisted in anticipation of the upcoming discussion she was facing. Not one to back away from anything, she pushed her chair away from the table and bid everyone a good afternoon and headed home.

********

Rayn heard the door to their quarters opening but he didn’t turn to look at her. He stood and stared out at the vast landscape beneath their window.

“
You’re angry with me, aren’t you?”

“
No, anger isn’t exactly the emotion I am experiencing right now,” he answered without looking at her.

“
Then what Rayn?”

He spun around and was at her side in a millisecond. “The thought of not having you by my side every day...the thought of not having you next to me in our bed at night...the thought of the merest possibility of you being in danger...those are my emotions right now and I’m raw with them Maddie.”

She cupped his face with her hands and saw the depths of feeling, saw his soul reflected in his eyes. She traced his lips with her thumbs and swallowed the knot in her throat before she could speak. “Do you not think I feel the same way? I can hardly bear the thought of being away from you for an hour much less months. I’m shattered by it all. But we are Guardians Rayn. It’s what we must do...what we have vowed to do. I love you more than my own life, but you above everyone know what our duties are. Please don’t make this more difficult than it already is.” She took one of his hands and placed it over her heart. “This will always be yours, my love.”

He twisted his other hand within her hair and brought his mouth down on hers in a crushing kiss that left her breathless. Without lifting his head or breaking the kiss, he had her in the bed, against his body, showing her how deeply he loved her for the remainder of the night.

********

Sharra left the meeting and wandered back to her Star Fighter. She wanted to gather some things she’d left behind and then she intended to notify her second in command of her intentions to put him in charge. Her arms were laden with her items and her mind was adrift from her confrontation with Rayn when the toe of her boot caught on a crack in the pavement. Her bag flew in the air out of her grasp, along with her jacket, a shirt she had intended to stuff in her bag and her music device. She hit the ground, knees first, followed by her hands and then her chin. Eventually she came to rest and turned over to sit and assess the damage when she noticed a pair of shiny black boots in front of her.

“
Are you okay?” a deep voice asked.

“
Um, I think so. I should have been paying attention to where I was going,” she said in frustration as she inspected the damage to her knees.

A hand appeared in front of her, “May I?”

She grasped it and felt a slight tingle that raced up her arm and down her spine. Then she looked at the owner of said hand and caught her breath as the most perfect face came into focus before her. Mocha-colored hair with eyes to match, and a mouth with a full pouty lower lip that Sharra longed to touch, made everything around them fade into a dim blur. Never one to be at a loss for words, Sharra now couldn’t find a single thing to say, except for, “Uh huh.” Then the worst imaginable thing happened. Her cheeks burned with the fires of embarrassment. She knew without a doubt she was blushing, most likely from head to toe. No doubt her face was the color of the reddest tomato ever grown in the universe.

Vesturions always talked about “a connection” that took place between each other when they found their soul mates. That’s the first thing that popped into Sharra’s mind when she looked into the stranger’s eyes. Tearing her eyes away from his was one of the most difficult things she’d ever done in her life.

He cleared his throat and said in a husky voice, “I’d like to introduce myself. I am Zander Thar.”

Still tongue tied and embarrassed, Sharra barely eked out, “It’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance.” Still holding tightly to his hand she suddenly found herself beaming at him.

He sucked in his breath at the sight of that for Sharra was undeniably beautiful. Her hair was the color of midnight and when the light caught it just so, one could see blue tints dancing upon its strands. Tall and statuesque, she looked like an angel with her porcelain skin, perfect features and eyes that would warm the most cold hearted person alive. Cobalt blue and so intense in their hue, he imagined he’d be able to see them in the darkest of nights. But it was her radiant smile that nearly brought him to his knees that day.

Silence descended between them for a few moments as they gazed at each other, finding no need for words.

Zander then cleared his throat and asked, “Whom do I have the pleasure of meeting this day?”

“
Oh sweet Deity! Forgive me!” she exclaimed as she thumped herself on the forehead. “I’m Sharra Yarrister. I don’t know what’s come over me. My manners aren’t usually this deplorable!”

Zander laughed a bit and answered, “It’s quite all right. Are you okay then? After your fall I mean? It looked like you hit your hands and knees pretty hard and I think you may have scratched your chin.” He reached out and gently ran his thumb over the scrape on her chin, careful not to cause her further injury.