Daegon: Alien Warlord's Conquest (Scifi Alien-Human Military Romance) (12 page)

"That's where the civilians are," he growled. "He truly wants to wipe out Poural."

Z
oey listened
to Daegon explain with a terrible sense of dread.

I really am leading an interesting life, aren't I? In the past week, I've been kidnapped and almost executed, kidnapped again and almost drowned. And now he tells me it's about to get bad.

Under normal circumstances, Zoey thought she would have been a little more upset about everything that had happened, but Daegon's presence changed everything. For one, she discovered she no longer had the fear of dying. Even standing there, with a Corgan warlord holding her hostage, she hadn't doubted for a second that Daegon would save her.

There was something eternally comforting about him, so at odds with his menacing figure.

He was looking at her now, the hard lines of his face taut. The ink running over his skin only accentuated that image, giving her a glimpse of why men ran from him in battle. She'd even seen the Yemalan back away when Daegon got truly furious.

His explanation ended with, "I'm sending you away."

Again.

Gods be damned, can’t he get it through his thick skull?
Zoey thought.
I'm not going to run away and leave him to his fate.

“For a man who claims to love me, you sure seem to hate my presence.”

Apparently she'd said that last part out loud, because Daegon seemed to struggle between amusement and annoyance.

"Don't even joke about it," he said. "This is war. It's no place for –"

"Women?" Zoey offered.

Daegon glared, but he didn't seem able to muster any anger towards her, although Zoey knew she was being unreasonable to his eyes.

"That has nothing to do with this," the warlord snarled. "I have many female warriors. I mean civilians."

"It's a good thing I'm not a civilian then," Zoey replied happily.

It was very odd, to be happy at such a time. She was cold and injured, having almost died, and frankly, horrified by the events surrounding her. And absolutely unwilling to be sent away from the battlefield once more, no matter what Daegon said.

"You're incorrigible," the warlord said, but his blue eyes were warm when he looked at her.

"Yes, I imagine that was why I was chosen for this job," Zoey replied. "Now where is The Chieftain, so I could inform the Union forces?"

Daegon looked like he still had plenty to say about her being there, but time was pressing and the situation was more than urgent. They left Loxer Garden behind as fast as they could and Daegon led Zoey to the first fighter capable of getting better transmission than the simple comm link on his wrist.

He waited, consulting with his warriors, while Zoey relayed the news to Captain Eruit. She could feel the disgust the Palian captain felt emanate even through the speaker. Going after defenseless civilians was the worst thing for Palians who barely believed in violence at all. They had a complicated relationship with wars in general, Zoey knew – perfectly capable of them but always looking for a way to avoid the worst.

"Be careful," she warned the Union forces. "There will be all kinds of Corgans there. Do not shoot Daegon's clan or the one who was stationed here. Only Arboc."

She then let a Corgan officer called Yarl take over. The warrior seemed a little disgruntled at having to talk to the Union, but one look from Daegon silenced any protests he might have had in mind. Zoey listened to him start to explain how to differentiate between men and fighters and clans, hoping that it would be enough. There was no need to add friendly fire to the list of atrocities going on.

Finally, confident that the Corgans were working together with the Union at last, Zoey left them to handle the war. She knew Daegon was right, after all. She had no place on Poural at that hour, but something had changed in her during the past week. Like a spirit released within her body that she hadn't known to be there.

It was that newfound desire to do more than her part that had driven her to lie to Daegon, and now she was cooking up an even more dangerous plan.

Carefully, Zoey considered the option of telling him. She discarded that idea almost immediately.

No. He'd never let me go, but no one else could get close enough to Arboc. It has to be me. Besides, none of them have bothered to learn a word of Yemalan.

Back on Terra, every book and every article she'd ever read on love had put the truth pretty plainly. There was only so much lying and cheating you could do in a relationship before it went downhill, fast.

Spirits of the Corgan, if you can hear me,
Zoey called in her mind.
Let me get away with this one last time and then I never have to lie to him again.

Poural wasn't a holy world, but she hoped that some spirits were present, at least. Then she set her plan in motion.

Warriors were all the same.

They were thinking of traditional weapons, of unit dispositions and fighter formations. Zoey grinned to hear Yarl directing the Union troops with glee in the background. She supposed bossing them around was a great thrill for the Corgans. But they all thought the same – clash two armies together and see who comes out the winner. It might have been either.

Only while they contemplated that, there were people caught in the middle and countless men were about to die in the process of figuring out who was stronger.

Zoey hoped she'd found a way to make do with less bloodshed, but the plan was not without dangers. In fact, she was consciously considering letting herself be kidnapped for the third time.

But this time, on my terms.

First, she needed a Union ship and just a bit of time. Zoey had always had a knack for languages, but Yemalan was one of the most difficult she'd ever encountered. Palians would have said that every species was unique and deserving of life, but honestly, Zoey thought they sounded like people on Terra when they were coughing up something.

Daegon was so obviously relieved by her promise to leave that she felt a physical tinge of pain over lying to him all over again. The warlord immediately ordered Yarl to call a transport for her, going so far as to threatening the pilot to take her to safety on the pain of death. Zoey cursed his over-protectiveness under her breath, seeing the way the Union pilot nearly crawled out of his skin to nod.

That did
not
bode well for her.

"You don't have to do that," she told him, smiling in a way she hoped was disarming. "For the time being, you're allies. No need to throw your weight around, I can handle myself."

Daegon grinned, clearly amused by the Union pilot's reaction.

Roughly, he growled, "You heard the lady. Take her where she says."

Since that was considerably better, Zoey leaned out of the ship to kiss him. It was both a goodbye and a way to silence him before he could say anything to dissuade her. She nearly whimpered out of pleasure when his arms closed around her, pulling her into his embrace gently. Zoey thought she would have to kiss him so much more when the chaos was finally over.

Around them, the war continued. She knew that Daegon would be heading for the temple as soon as she was gone. As it happened, they were going in the same direction. Before she could somehow give herself away, Zoey smiled and shut the doors of the ship.

"First, take me away from the battle, somewhere we won’t be shot at," she ordered.

As the pilot took them up and away, he sent her a weird look.

"Was
that
the good kind of Corgan you were talking about, Miss Swann?" he asked. "He’s –"

"He is very intimidating, yes," Zoey interrupted, already accessing the Union's mainframe through the fighter's systems.

She knew where the files that she needed were. After all, she'd installed the data herself, thinking she might need it. And now the time had come.

"I should take you to the
Defiant
," the pilot offered, but Zoey shook her head, already reading about pronunciation and grammar.

"No," she said. "Just take us down somewhere quiet. And don't disturb me."

Apparently she was considerably less frightening than Daegon – no wonder – since the pilot wouldn't let up.

"You'd be safer with the rest of the –" he began, but Zoey cut in with a fierce glare.

"Hush now. Remember what the scary man said. Shut up and let me read," she said, enjoying the look of petrified fear on the pilot's face.

He obeyed this time, not one word following her reminder of Daegon. Zoey went back to her work.

A
fter an undetermined period of time
, feeling both like an instant and forever at the same time, she got up from her seat and walked around in the fighter. The Union had a wide array of them and the one they'd sent to fetch her was large enough to move around in a bit.

As the pilot observed her preparations suspiciously, Zoey wondered what Daegon was doing. She had no doubt in her mind that the warlord had had the fighter tracked, but there wasn't anything suspicious about her actions so far. For all intents and purposes, she'd parked herself out of active battle and that was all Daegon had asked for. So no complaints from him.

Maybe he thought it was odd she didn't go further, but it seemed he was getting used to her never going far.

Zoey smiled to herself quietly. Thinking about him made her all the more anxious to get going, but she would only get one chance, if that. She knew that she could have been better prepared, but time was running out. Every second that she spent there, people might have been – and probably were – dying.

A quick search surrendered the item she had been looking for. Zoey turned it on and said a few words in Yemalan. The device played her clumsy words back clearly enough.

"Are you ill?" the pilot asked, hearing that.

Zoey chuckled. It truly was a beautiful language, wasn't it?

"I'm fine," she said, sitting in the co-pilot's seat. "Now take me to The Chieftain. It's supposed to be a huge temple. Bring up the Poural maps."

"I only have initial readings," the pilot said, frowning. "This is a Corgan world, we haven't mapped it yet."

"Good things come to those who ask," Zoey replied, looking at him. "We are allies.
Ask them
."

"Ask who? The Corgans?"

"If you are too afraid, I'm sure the
Defiant
already has. Get it from them."

It was very obvious to Zoey that every word out of her mouth was making her increasingly unsympathetic to the man, but that was not her problem. There was no time to waste on pleasantries. She waited while he called up the coordinates to the temple and the fighter rose again.

Zoey gripped her seat, not looking forward to the next part of her plan at all. There were about a billion ways it could go wrong, so she figured it was better not to think about any of them.

As they got closer, she finally saw The Chieftain. Zoey was pretty certain her mouth dropped open. Mara James had described the Citadel back on Gaiya as a huge fortress carved inside a mountain, but at least it still
looked
like a mountain.

She would have taken The Chieftain for a statue. A huge, towering, mountain-sized statue. Higher than any peak on Terra for sure. It was shaped like a Corgan warrior, unsurprisingly, a tough-looking man wielding two swords. It was so gigantic that when they flew closer, Zoey started to lose the scope of the thing.

That was where the people of Poural were hiding. She could see enemy ships and fighters bombarding the figure, but so far that had resulted in little more than some rocks bouncing down its sides.

Of course, the rocks looked little until she saw them land and crush entire ships.

This is so over my pay grade
, she thought, knowing the pilot more likely echoed her sentiments.

Zoey looked around, searching for a place to land. It had to be visible and it had to give her initial cover. She instantly ruled out any places where she saw Daegon's warriors. They would have snatched her before she ever reached the enemy.

It wouldn't be long until Daegon figured out what she was up to.

Now or never
.

"Land there," she ordered, preparing for the protests to come.

"Are you insane?" the pilot demanded, right on cue. "It's right in the middle of those damned Yemalan. Do you want us both to die?"

"Land," Zoey ordered. "And leave. You don't have to deal with me ever again."

The pilot was still suspicious, clearly reluctant to go where she was pointing. The place she'd chosen was high up on the temple, nothing more than a little balcony above one of the swords. But it had Yemalan guards and no Corgans nearby. It fit.

"He will kill me if I leave you here," the pilot said.

Zoey had expected that.

"Probably," she allowed, and the Yemalan glove flared to life in her hand. "The only thing is, I will do worse if you don't put this thing down,
now
."

At a later time
, Zoey thought as the fighter aimed for the place she'd chosen.
I really have to bring this up with the Union. It's amazing how you can speed up negotiations if you're holding a deadly weapon. I wonder if anyone's considered that?

"Open the doors," she ordered when the ship touched down on the temple.

They were up so high she seriously hoped the thin air wouldn't knock her out before she got any words out. Not to mention she needed the Yemalan to hear her.

"And stay away from the bad man until I'm back," she called to the pilot over the wind rushing in her ears as the doors slid open.

"What if you don't –?" the man yelled.

Thanks for the "good luck", I suppose.

"There is no saving you then," Zoey replied with a grin and stepped out of the fighter.

It took off almost immediately. She wondered what it was about her that made ships so intent on leaveing her behind as fast as they could. This time, she blamed the approaching Yemalan unit that made the whole affair pointedly less funny.

She waited until she judged them to be within hearing range. The place she'd chosen was so windy Zoey had to hold on to a ledge not to let a gust of wind blow her over the edge.