Chapter 17
Chapter Seventeen
Illan reeled. A deafening roar consumed his mind, even as every breath he managed was too thin for him to survive on. My homeworld? But why?
“Explain,” he whispered, his cheeks flushed.
“The cannon emits an energy pulse that corrupts biological cellular processes, causing vague illnesses, and because it is tuned to a planet’s resonance, it slowly drives the molten core into chaotic oscillation.”
“What?” he rasped. “Are you saying the Maloidians were behind the destruction of Durn?” He sank to his knees. “All my people…dying.”
“How can a weapon do this to a planet? It’s small in comparison.” Ziamee gripping his shoulder went a long way to calming his erratic heartbeat.
She had a right to ask; something he would’ve done had the reality of it not shocked him. They’d seen the device…cannon. She’d even called it a weapon. The evidence was hard to refute…and believe.
“They hit a city at a time. Then what seemed unnecessary, every town and outstation.” Brac activated the display vids, flicking from image to image, showing the streets of Durn’s cities lined with bodies. Sheets of data scrolled past, no doubt filled with instructions and casualties.
“It explains why we called it Nevid, the Unseen. We didn’t know where the plague was coming from, the cause behind it. Just the symptoms.” Illan gritted his teeth. “We thought it was our compromised immune systems.”
“Etteria is allied with Maloid.” Brac touched the nearest vid. “With your permission, I would like to share this with my king.”
Illan nodded, his cheeks damp. “He will send his finest lima kuu to investigate this facility. I…” He squeezed Ziamee’s forearm. “We need…all the help we can get.” He offered Brac a weak smile. “Thank you. I can imagine it was a difficult task to convey such terrible revelations.”
“I would expect you to act the same.” Brac’s expression darkened.
“I agree. They were behind it and other events. But for how long, Illan? Your world was destroyed so long ago, and yet, the Maloidians are still here.” He glanced at Ziamee.
“Evidence states that they knew of you and your family, as well. Why they did not bother you might be due to their lack of transportation. Records show that they barely used their shuttle, with their findings indicating that it was untrustworthy. Failing that, to reach you would take weeks of hiking.”
“Small mercies,” she said. “My father can start sifting through the data while King Xeus sends his greatest teachers.”
Illan twisted to meet her gaze. “You have forgiven him?”
She frowned. “No, but this’s bigger than our familial issues.”
Illan grunted. “Ulta, port the male to the path.”
“Done,” Ulta said. “I have adjusted the climate within the facility. Let me know if you would like it warmer or cooler. Should I port Lady Faerar when the med-E.D. releases her?”
“Please,” Ziamee said, running her hands along Illan’s shoulders. “I’ll fetch my father.”
Illan listened to her disappearing footsteps. He climbed to his feet, wiped the tears off his cheeks, and approached the console. “Show me everything you have learned so far.”
Brac skimmed over his findings. “The dates when the high-energy pulse was fired. It can travel interplanetary distances without a physical carrier. It emits a complex field that disrupts cellular processes in native life. Symptoms appear like a plague, but they are purely a physical interaction, not a microbe.”
Illan’s attention snagged on the thousands of dates when they’d decimated cities.
Brac continued. “The same resonance interacts with the planet’s core dynamics—molten convection, magnetic field, or mantle oscillations: causing tremors, volcanoes, and eventual planetary destabilization.”
“Resonance? Like a humming?” Illan frowned, recalling the mention of a faint singing minutes before the plague struck.
“Yes, it is possible.”
“So those archival articles on how we drained our core to fuel a cure were incorrect.” All this time wasted on nonsense.
“I believe so,” Brac said. “I transferred all the data to these cubes.” He gathered them in his hand and dumped them in Illan’s. “Including…images, Illan. Be aware, they are alarming.”
“What is this?” Xeus’s face appeared on the display vids.
“My king,” Brac said. “It is what we have discovered—”
“I understand that, Brac,” he said, “But Maloid? Truth?” His disbelief crossed the great divide of space between Vora and Etteria.
“To think they deceived us so well. I have tasked battleships to form a barrier around Vora. No one is landing without our knowledge. Kanzo has sent lima kuu for your Seba. Additional lima kuu are en route to assess this development. I have instructed them to align our archives with what your facility reveals. I want conclusive findings before I start an outright war with Maloid.” Sadness darkened his ice-blue eyes for a moment.
“I pray to the Maker that you are wrong, Brac, for many Maloidians will die.”
The vids flickered back to the data Brac had been sifting through. Illan blinked at them as he slid the cubes into his pockets.
“A war?” Amet asked from the doorway.
“Brac, show him,” Illan said, circling the male to reach Ziamee. He touched her elbow and ushered her to the side. “I am sorry. I do not think we will be leaving Vora soon.”
She gripped and released his upper arm. “That isn’t unexpected news. We have to stay, to figure this out.” She gestured to her father and herself. “My mother, as well.”
“I would love to show you Issneen, but you are correct. Now is not the time.” He drew her into his arms, inhaling her scent like an anchor amidst the insanity that had just been unveiled.
“Stay,” she said. “I’ll ask Ulta to port me to medical. I should be there when Mudya awakens. And maybe, bring Seba planetside.”
Illan tightened his arms, not willing to release her.
“Take these. Leave them with Coll.” He stepped back and dug out the data cubes, taking the time to slide each one into her pants pockets.
When he straightened, he caught her lips with his.
He cupped her cheeks and deepened the kiss, her taste addictive and now at the center of his world.
“Illan?” Brac called.
It broke the kiss Illan had succumbed to. He blinked into Ziamee’s lust-warmed gaze. What slammed into him with each thump of his heart was that he loved her.
“Yes?” he asked, brushing her hair off her ear to trace the shell.
“Your brother is on the comm.”
Illan closed his eyes, the pain crushing his chest in such contrast with what Ziamee invoked.
“Go,” she said. “I will return with my mother.”
He pulled away, trailing his fingers to her chin. “Thank you.”
Only after she was no longer visible did he head to Brac’s side.
“Illan? Tell me what the king says is a lie.” Iddan’s eyes were wide, his cheeks shiny. Cyndi’s pale arm draped his. He would at least have the comfort he needed.
“Etterians do not lie, Iddan. And especially not about something as serious as this.”
“I am en route.” The comm ended.
“Seems like Vora’s going to get a little crowded,” Amet said.
“Indeed.” Illan sighed. “We have a week until my brother and the lima kuu descend. Brac, I have another task for you, if you are up for it?”
“How may I assist?”
“Is there a way to move Oz from the Haile to the Celeeri?”
“What? Why?” Amet asked, his eyes wide, his posture stiff.
“The program means much to Ziamee. If we can secure it, this will please her.”
“He is mine,” Amet snapped.
“Your opinion does not count,” Illan gritted out. “You have proven you lack concern for what has been placed in your care. Ziamee’s happiness matters to me. Its…his safety would ease her worry.”
“It is possible. I shall port over now.” Brac jogged past them and up the stairs, making not a sound.
“You overstep yourself,” Amet said, peering at the text on the display vid.
“You seem to not understand. Ziamee is mine to protect.” Illan met and held her father’s gaze.
“Since when?” he demanded.
“Shall we say since you fell through a hole and left her to fend for herself? Or would you like to go further back to when she was twice wounded under your care? Or should I mention denying her the love of her mother?”
The male fell silent.
“Good, now you understand. Faerar will receive a suitable dhutyani, one that will reveal how much your daughter means to me. And until either female forgives you, neither shall I. You can assist with unraveling what Brac has discovered, or you can return to your truemate’s cave. The choice is yours.”
Considering the issue resolved, Illan turned his attention to how his plans would have to be altered.
He activated his O.D.I. and sent Ulta a few instructions.
Staying in the Haile was a no. He wanted a good bed, a cleansing room, and a common with a replicator and rehydrator.
With the many battleships nearby or en route, they would certainly be able to build a housing structure he and Ziamee could live in for however long this mission took.
One would also need to be created near Faerar’s cave.
“Ulta, scan the surrounding hills for other Sebas. We have to find him a mate.”
“Coll has inserted a tracker, and perhaps the beast can lead us to his kind. Lady Ziamee has taken him planetside, so the information should soon stream in.”
Illan scowled. “I thought she wanted to remain at her mother’s side.”
“When the med-E.D. takes at least a day?” Ulta said. “I will port her back at daybreak, as agreed, and I will monitor her location until then.”
Everything within Illan commanded him to head over to her, that she was in danger. “My thanks, Ulta.” He glared at Amet, fighting the urge to berate him for raising a stubborn daughter.
Instead, he faced a display vid, ready to learn what he could about his lost homeworld and why Maloid had seen fit to destroy it.