Driok
“Are we in orbit?”
“We’re behind another moon, shields on to avoid detection,” Dalox says. “Probably why you didn’t notice us.”
“Probably why my scanners were struggling in picking up Sarkarnii life forces on the surface,” I growl at him. “And where the nev did you get a portal from?”
“You’re not the only one picking up the best tech the galaxy has to offer,” Dalox says. “Or is slippery enough to pass off their older items on another warlord.” He gives me a long, searching look.
“Dante wanted a ship and he got it,” I growl. “I had no use for it.”
Dalox chokes out a laugh, and a wildness appears in his eyes, the sort of wildness I’ve seen all too often in Dante’s.
It has always made me wonder about the two of them. Especially as Dalox has always protected Dante. I’ve done my best to provoke an answer, but as yet, I haven’t had one.
But as I might have been incorrectly name a butcher, Dalox has a past which is far darker than anyone else knows.
“Why are you here? And why are my crew still captive?” I snarl at the senior warlord.
“Because it suits my purposes,” Dalox responds. “They are in stasis, and the Ulep have made no effort to move them to another location.”
I growl deep in the back of my throat.
“The Ulep are mine. If they have taken my mate, then they will pay for their disrespect.”
“I doubt they’ll have taken her,” Dalox rasps. “She is of no consequence to them. We, on the other hand, are.”
“Because I have a means to defeat them,” I growl. “Providing I get the final component for the starnet.”
Dalox cocks his head on one side and contemplates me. “Starnet?”
Looks like there’s something the great Dalox doesn’t know.
“I’ve already installed one around Vorostor. All the ships we use to come and go have transponders aboard which will allow access through without any contact needed.”
“So, that’s the reason you’ve been swapping ships.” Dalox grins at me, a smile too full of teeth.
“It might have been.” I glare at him. “Or it might not. Perhaps I’ve simply been adjusting your ships when you were elsewhere.”
“Given how badly you did at infiltrating just now, I doubt it very much,” Dalox replies. “But regardless, tell me about the starnet.”
“It’ll keep the Ulep out of this galaxy and give us a chance to see if we can find a working wormhole.” I respond.
“How are they related?” Dalox rumbles, throwing himself down in the main pilot seat as his warriors melt into the background.
“The Ulep, as far as I can tell, have been harnessing the power generated by a junior wormhole, in order to power their ships and tech. This instantly shuts the nevving things down and the reason we’ve never been able to find one big enough to use to get back to our galaxy.”
Dalox rubs at his chin and contemplates me.
“And you think, once the Ulep are out of the galaxy, we’ll get a working wormhole?”
“It’s my belief.”
“And how are we getting the Ulep out of the galaxy?”
“Bait,” I growl. “The ship they took from me was to be the bait to get them far enough away I could initiate the starnet and they would not be able to return.”
Dalox rumbles a growl around his chest.
“You are an interesting warrior, Driok,” he says. “It would appear I may have underestimated you.”
“Whilst being underestimated isn’t my aim, not being predictable is.”
“I would agree.” He tips his head back, regarding me with the strangest of gazes. “And not a butcher either.”
“That depends on who you ask.” I give Dalox the benefit of all my fangs.
He might have been our fleet admiral once, but the secretive old nevver only remains in that position because he fights dirty.
I will not cross him, not while my mate is missing and my crew in the hands of the Ulep.
“I have located the human female, Lord Dalox,” one of his crew says from the other side of his bridge.
I am there before Dalox can say anything, shouldering the warrior to one side. “Why are there two signals?” I growl
“Perhaps there are two females,” Dalox says, sauntering over to me and staring down at the scanner. “I presume you only had one.”
“Maggie,” I say, under my breath. “I’m coming for you.”
I lift my head and glare at Dalox.
“I don’t know why you’re here, Dalox, or what you’re doing, but I’m going back to get my mate, my crew, and my ship, along with completing my mission to deal with the Ulep once and for all.”
“Without bloodshed?” Dalox cocks his head on one side.
“I have no desire to shed any more blood than necessary. And, in any event, the chances of eliminating the Ulep, given their physiology, is unlikely.”
“Shame. A battle is better when the enemy is dead.” Dalox growls darkly.
“Battle or no, I am going for my mate. You can do what you wish.” I send the co-ordinates to my comm and stride back towards the portal.
“I came because I was promised a battle,” Dalox replies. “And I will have one.”
I feel all of my body tense up. Once again, I want to shift, but I don’t want Dalox’s fangs in my throat, because it won’t do Maggie any good at all.
“Who promised you a battle?”
“The Paralnyi who contacted me on your behalf, Driok.”
I whirl around.
“What?”
“He said he had a message from you. He provided these co-ordinates and said to wait for your arrival.”
“And you came?”
Dalox inspects his claws, which have something covering them I’d rather not think too much about. He sticks one in between his teeth and gazes at me.
“Why not? My warriors haven’t had a good fight for a long time, and I guessed, correctly, it seems. You were in trouble which would require the best of the best.”
He flings himself back into his command seat, hooking one leg over the arm and his tail unfurling in a riot of scales and spines through a hole in the rear.
If I’ve got Dalox on my side, the chances of something, or in fact everyone, dying has drastically increased.
And any plan I had has disappeared over the horizon, to be buried in the dust of the nevving planetoid beneath us.