Grai's Game (First Wave) (2 page)

“Why? Why? Why?” Balduen punctuated every word by slamming Grai’s body back and forth on the ground, his head cracking sharply a few times on the black pavement. And still he didn’t fight or defend himself.

“Because I deserve it.” Grai huffed out, still trying to catch his breath as Balduen panted heavily above him.

“What kind of game is this? Do you think I’m going to believe for a moment that you’ve suddenly had a change of heart? That you give a damn what you put my mate through?” Balduen growled through his gritted teeth, his rage taking hold, he lashed out one last time.

The cracking sound that followed his fist connecting with Grai’s face silenced
everyone who had been watching. They stood nervously looking to Ivint to see if he wanted them to intervene before Balduen killed the Relian.

Balduen looked down at the unconscious man and shook him gently one last time to see if he was truly passed out. When he still didn’t move Balduen stood
angrily and walked back into the warehouse. All eyes followed his progress to the door until he disappeared inside.

“Damn
, I’m glad we didn’t have to try to stop him.” Jax said, breathing out a shaky sigh of relief.

“I’m not sure I would have.” Reven admitted. He nodded to Niklosi and
Tarvok and watched while each grabbed one of Grai’s arms and dragged him into the warehouse.

“I know I wouldn’t have.” Banatar added, shaking his head
at Balduen.

“He showed honor, even with the beast bonding.”
One of their men pointed out.

“Yes, it seems that his bonding has certainly had no negative impact on him.” Ivint said wonderingly as he followed the others back into the warehouse.

They hadn’t gotten far inside when the door slammed open behind them.

“Hey! Hey man, it’s not necessary to be rough like that! I told you I’d come willingly. Damn…” Ivint, Reven
, Banatar and Jax stared in surprise at the young man being dragged inside the door by Lt. David Jacobs. Gibly trailed behind the two men with a confident swish to his sleek, black tail.

“
Gibly saw him. We caught him half a block away. He was on the roof with this…” David handed what looked like a comm to Reven.

“Man, you’re High Councilor Ivint Torenson aren’t you? It’s so nice to meet you! Glad you were able to survive that assassination attempt. Bad business that… so where did you take
my brother?” David yanked the kid back from Ivint when he tried to move forward with his hand held out as if to shake the High Councilor’s. The boy just turned around and glared at him.

“Who the hell are you?” Reven demanded
, stepping aggressively towards the boy.

“Oh man! I’m
sorry; you'd think I was raised by wolves with manners like that huh! Grai would smack me for that.” Traze laughed, until he realized no one was laughing with him.

“Yeah, you guys are a real tough crowd you know that? Anyway, I’m Traze
T’Alq. I’m Grai’s baby brother.” Traze said with a beaming smile, again trying to hold his hand out before David slapped him in the back of the head.

“Keep your hands to yourself.” David grunted at him, looking to Ivint as to what to do with the boy.

Ivint stared in surprise at the young man in front of him. Almost as tall as David, Ivint judged him to be around six-foot four. His dark-brown eyes, swirled with a black color that made them appear mostly black. A sure sign that he was fully beast bonded. His dark-brown hair was cropped in a fashion that allowed the waves to fall haphazardly around his boyish face.

If
the boy was to be believed, they now had two of the Relian leader’s sons in their custody. What the hell was going on, Ivint wondered.

“Look, since you took my brother out of commission for a few
, how about you take me to Risk, and I can explain to you what Grai was going to explain. B-T-W, what did you do with him?” Traze asked, trying to look around the figures in the hallway to see where they took Grai.

“What is a B
-T-W?” Ivint asked curiously, looking around his men for an answer and seeing only blank stares.

“Man, it would really help if you got Risk.” Traze
said, shaking his head as if disappointed in the group of people around him.

“It means ‘by the way’. It’s
short-speak for texting or chatting on human electronic devices.” Risk explained, moving past the others in the hallway to reach the young Relian.

“Risk! Man
, am I glad to see you!” Traze said stepping forward to greet him.

“
If I had to explain the explanation to them this would take way too long!” Traze said with relief, but turned to glare at David when he yanked him away from Risk.

“I said
to keep your hands to yourself, or I’ll handcuff you.” David said threateningly to the kid.

“How old are you?” Ivint asked, looking curiously at the young Relian, guessing him to be little more than a child.

“I’m one hundred and twenty-one! I can legally drink! Woo hoo! Speaking of… I really wouldn’t mind one right now. You guys are a little more intimidating in person than on video. Know what I mean?” Traze grinned at the bewildered faces of the Valendrans and hybrids in the hallway.

Ivint shook his head at the
boy; he'd been correct in assuming he was little more than a child by Valendran standards. What the hell was going on? There was no way even Kalai would be reckless enough to hand them two of his sons, least of all his youngest who was little more than a child.

“Man, I know what you’re thinking. I wouldn’t trust me either. But if you
let Risk take my comm; he can show you. It’s not what you think.” Traze told them with a serious look on his face, all trace of humor gone.

“Bring him to the conference room.” Ivint ordered before turning around and heading down the hallway.

“He looks pretty tough in that breastplate. Jess could make the most amazing things. How is she? Hey! How’s Dare? She’s kind of got my nephew in her…” Traze never got to finish what he was going to say before Risk let fly with a blow to the face that dropped him to the floor.

“Can’t say I regret not having to listen to him. He doesn’t shut the hell up.
He chattered non-stop on the way here.” David said grabbing one of the boys’ arms and nodding at Risk to grab the other one.

“Yes, he had much to say. About nothing.” Gibly added with an irritated sigh.

“Get him to the conference room. You can brief us on what, if anything, the boy had to say that may be of use to us. It may explain to us what is going on.” Reven ordered, shaking his head at the unconscious young man. If the kid wasn’t the enemy, he’d actually be amused by him.

Chapter Two

Traze was just coming around when they reached the conference room door. Damn, he’d have to remember not to mention Dare around Risk again. Obviously, it was still a touchy subject for him; Traze thought.

“I can stand now. Guess I deserved that one huh? Sorry man… I didn’t think before I spoke that time. I’ll try not to do that again.” Traze gave Risk a sheepish grin
as, he and David helped him to stand, before David smacked him in the back hard enough to propel him through the doorway of the room.

Traze stumbled for a moment, then righted himself quickly. Looking around at the screens all over the room he walked over to one and looked almost… surprised, Ivint thought as he watched the boy closely.

“Man, Koda did an awesome job didn’t he?” Traze said with a huge grin as he pointed to the battle cruiser and Relian warships that were currently surrounding the Valendran vessels.

When everyone just looked at him blankly, some with anger, Traze stopped smiling. He’d gotten caught, which
wasn’t in Grai’s plans at all. And with Grai currently unavailable, he knew it was going to be up to him to try to salvage this.

“Look guys… and ladies. I know this is all a surprise to
you, and you’re confused. Please, Risk, if you just look through my comm, I can explain everything to you. We don’t have much time before my brother Dagog, and the council realizes what is going on.” Traze said, speaking mostly to Risk and ignoring everyone else in the room.

Risk stared at the young man, studying his body language and
attempting to figure out if the kid was trying to get him to spring a trap using his comm.

Walking over to David Jacobs, Risk held out his hand for the Relian’s comm. Ignoring the whispered ‘Yes!’
the boy uttered, he studied the device curiously.

Traze leaned forward to point to the icon Risk needed to hit.
“If you just start… hey!” He jerked back quickly when David smacked him in the back of the head again.

“What did I say?” David asked the boy angrily.

“Keep my hands to myself! I know! I was just going to try to be helpful! Damn… I thought Grai was paranoid… oh yeah… ok sorry about that. I know; I know; we're the reason you’re so paranoid. You’re right. I know. We know. Trust me… yeah stupid thing to say…” Traze began muttering before he was cut off.

“I can knock him back out again, Sir.” David offered helpfully, looking exasperated by the boy’s
bizarre half-speak chattiness.

Ivint just shook his head and continued to study the curious boy for a moment, gathering his thoughts, while Risk continued to study the boy’s comm.

“Why are you here?” Reven asked bluntly.

“Well… I wasn’t supposed to get caught. I was supposed to upload the data from my comm to the system Risk set up and then meet my brother later.” Traze answered as he watched Risk begin opening programs on his device.

“Yeah, don’t mess with that one. Go to the other one.” Traze offered when Risk was getting ready to open the wrong program first. That was better saved for when Grai got here.

“Why is your brother here? Who is this Koda and why are his ships surrounding mine?” Ivint asked calmly, getting the boy’s attention
again.

“Grai is here to make a trade, provide assistance and request a truce. Koda is my other
brother; he designed and built the battle cruiser and the warships that are orbiting with yours. I have three brothers. Grai is the oldest, then Koda, then Dagog. I’m the youngest.”

“Oh and Koda is there to lend assistance once you
agree to a truce with Grai.” Traze said looking around the room at the incredulous faces, some of which looked even angrier than before he spoke. Uh-oh, he thought. This was not going well. Not at all.

“So you threaten my people with your aggressive actions and then expect us to surrender to your demands? Have you lost your minds?” Banatar asked sarcastically, unsure what game they were playing this time.

“No, no! It’s not aggressive! Are you people blind? Damn and you guys were supposed to be the smart ones! Geez…” Traze said dramatically, looking around the room.

“Look… would you fucking stop that shit you’re starting to piss me off now!” Traze yelled at David when he yanked him back into the chair to stop him from walking to the screens around the room.

“Sir…” David began but went silent when Ivint raised his hand.

Traze turned and gave David a smug look before walking slowly to the first screen, unsure if someone else would grab him and stop him. He was really getting tired of being pushed and smacked around.

“Now look! What do you see?” Traze asked, looking around the room curiously to see if any of them would spot the obvious.

Everyone was silent as they stared at the screens, trying to figure out what the annoying boy was expecting them to see other than the Relian forces surrounding their own.

“Wait…” Jax said standing up from her seat at the table and walking over to the screens showing the safe house locations.

“What is it, Jax?” Ivint asked, wondering what the intelligent warrior had seen that they might have missed.

“They are facing the wrong way! All of them are facing the wrong way… what the hell?” Jax asked the boy in surprise.

“And the female figured it out first!” Traze said laughingly, before David gave him another threatening look. He calmed himself before the quick handed man decided to smack him again.

“Yes they are. As I said, we’re going to provide assistance as well. With the shit storm that’s coming we’re all going to need the help
.” Traze told them seriously.

“What the hell is going on? I want answers, no more of this
deception.” Ivint demanded, looking at the screens and seeing that Jax was correct. The Relian troops, including the ships, were not facing his people. They faced away, as if guarding them from something else that they couldn’t see.

“Risk can show you better than I can explain it. Or go get Grai. He can do this better than I can.” Traze told him, frustrated that he had to be the one to
try to explain all of Grai’s crazy schemes. He wasn’t sure he knew all of it himself.

“Try.” Reven growled.

“Fine, fine. We don’t have much time. If the clocks on your screens are right, we have about one hour before the fur starts flying anyway.” Traze said with a sigh before sitting back down.

*****

Dread pulled back from the male yet again. This time not because of the pain and fear, but because he felt the disturbance in the Shengari’. Looking up at his brother for confirmation, he nodded his head and stood.

“He has arrived. You no longer need to fear. His brother is currently in need of our assistance to explain the situation to the Valendran leader. There is not much time.”

“I will come back later and see if there is anything I can do for him. More information will help me, and the Relian will be awake by then to answer my questions. Stay with him until I return.” Dread told the fearful doctor.

“When they find out what I’ve done, I’ll most likely be imprisoned.
However, until they come for me. I will stay with him. You have my word.” Maggie said, moving to the bedside and fluffing the pillows. Keeping her head down so they wouldn’t see her tears, Maggie stayed busy until she heard the door close behind them.

Dread and Viper ran down the hallways and slid into the conf
erence room as Traze began to speak.

“Man am I glad to see you guys! Kind of cool to have someone else on the local Shengari’ phone list besides me, Grai and Koda! Well, now we have Balduen and Dare too…” Traze added before ducking the fist Risk threw at him when he mentioned his sister’s name.

“Dude! I meant nothing by that! Damn! Would you people stop being so damn violent? You’re making me feel like I’m on my father’s ship!” Traze uttered in exasperation, his hands fluttering angrily in the air.

“High Councilor, if I may be of assistance?” Dread interjected before the irritating man-child got smacked again.

“Dread… what can you do to help?” Ivint asked breathing out a frustrated sigh.

The room became eerily silent as Traze, Dread and Viper stared at each other for a few minutes, obviously speaking on the
generic Shengari’ path. Dread raised his eyebrow a few times and looked long and hard at Viper before speaking.

“Apparently, if Risk will pull up the files as requested, in
less than an hour you will get to witness the death of Kalai T’Alq and the majority of the Relian council.” Dread said seriously.

The room erupted in denials, anger and shouts as everyone wondered what game the Relian’s were playing with them.
It took several moments for Ivint and Banatar to regain control of the room; Traze wisely kept his mouth shut while they did.

“Risk? Have you found anything
yet?” Ivint asked, not believing the Relian boy.

“I found some strange files, give me a
second, and I’ll get them on the screen.” Risk answered, puzzled by the files on the Relian’s comm and trying to make sense of it. He was surprised at the boy’s intelligence. His comm was a programmer’s dream that he hoped to explore thoroughly.

“Dread? Viper?” Ivint asked, knowing they understood what he was saying.

“Honestly Councilor, everything I have sensed from the boy speaks of truth.” Dread told the Valendran leader, while Viper nodded his assent.

“Those animals don’t know how to tell the truth!” Banatar erupted in anger.

“Banatar! That is not helping. Although I understand your anger, this is not the time for it.” Ivint warned quietly.

“Grai has to be awake by now, can you at least get him up here to see this? It
’s his and Koda’s weapon that is about ready to kill our father…” Traze said with a beaming smile that startled everyone.

“What the hell…” Jax said in surprise as a picture of a large ship came onto one of the
dozen screens around the room.

“Where is that?” Reven asked as soon as he recognized the ship.

“That appears to be the Tragian quadrant. This is a live feed.” Risk told them, shocked that they were actually viewing the main Relian mother ship, in real time.

“They are easily within a day’s striking distance of the planet.” Reven confirmed to Ivint.

“Well they would be, except they are going boom in about fifty-five minutes. Can you at least record this? Grai will want to see this later. If nothing else than for proof that the bastard is dead. That drink I mentioned earlier would be pretty awesome right now to celebrate…” Traze said with a huge grin until David sat him down in a chair and smacked him in the back of his head… again.

“Dude! Seriously! And you think I’m the animal? Geez… here we are killing our dear old daddy
, protecting your people and this is how you treat me? Damn!” Traze grumbled slouching in the chair in the comfortable way he usually did in Grai’s office.

Luckily,
the pose kept the back of his head protected from another smack. He still looked over his shoulder periodically to make sure David, and his quick hands weren’t coming close to him again.

Risk stared at the boy in shock. The things he was finding on the comm were… unbelievable.
Curiosity made him record the video feed of the Relian mother ship. Might need it later, he thought to himself.

“Oh
oh! Can we at least get some popcorn? No? Come on!” Traze complained like a grumpy teen and slumped back in the chair when everyone stopped staring at the Relian ship long enough to glare at him.

“Can we confirm this?” Reven asked, moving over to Risk’s side to look at the boy’s comm and his own.

“I’m tapping into the orbiting pod now. You should see the view from it, on that screen.” Risk pointed to a blank screen to their right. Even though he knew it would work, he was still surprised to see the same ship appear on the screen, from a greater distance away this time.

Gasps and low whistling were the only sounds as everyone stared at the screen. The mother ship was surrounded by at least fifty support vessels.
Most of the ships, including the mother ship, looked to be in terrible condition, like they hadn’t been maintained properly in many years.

Discolorations covered most of the surfaces of the outer
metal; large expanses of the ships were dark as if they had been closed off completely and were no longer functioning. Some of the ships looked as if a minor debris hit would easily rupture the vessel. One even had broken pieces of metal hanging from the underside, as if someone had forgotten to finish repairs.

There was another group of ships, a greater distance from the mother ship,
and although further away it was easy to see that those particular ships were newer and in excellent condition.

Ivint found the whole scene very unusual, more so for the normally efficient and brutal Kalai T’Alq. In all the
years, he’d dealt with the Relian leader; he'd never seen such disarray among his fleet. Even the ships surrounding the mother ship were scattered around it in a random fashion that would do nothing to protect the ship if needed. Looking closer, Ivint could swear some were even unmanned!