After giving them a few more details, Varnog opened the Q&A session. The whole meeting went far more smoothly than the first one to introduce the Dream Walk training. By the time the meeting ended, the fleet was buzzing with pre-battle excitement. All I could think about was that there was a good chance people I loved and cared about wouldn’t survive this war.
Chapter 16
Varnog
Considering the slightly more than twelve-hour trip to Tomeka, we decided to set off that very night. Linette was making a final check of the vessel she and I would use in the morning to go wreck those Beetles. I noted my brother Reklig distractedly doing the same with his own ship while longingly eyeing Madeline. The stunning albino female was busy helping a couple of other Portals like her set up rebirth stations in the empty section of the ship hangar of our frigate. This would allow resuscitated Dragons and Warriors to quickly hop on a ship and get back to battle.
My anger flared at his foolishness.
“I’ll be right back,” I said to my woman before marching over to him.
He sensed a threatening approach moments before I reached him and turned around, ready to defend himself if needed. Recognizing me, his shoulders slightly relaxed, but he frowned at the sight of my angry expression.
“Do I have to go speak to her myself because you don’t have the balls to do it?” I asked without preamble.
Reklig recoiled, his jaw dropping with shock before his anger flared. But I didn’t give him the chance to reply.
“We are going to a war from which many of us may not come back, and you’re wasting what precious time you have being too scared to tell your soulmate how you feel?” I asked in a stern tone.
Reklig flinched, yet his face took on a mulish expression. “It’s not that simple—”
“It is that simple,” I interrupted. “Anyone with eyes can see she’s drawn to you. So, what the fuck is the problem? Worst case scenario, she’ll say no. It’ll hurt, and then you’ll learn to live with it. But most likely, she will share your feelings. Yes, it’s awkward and intimidating, but get over it. Now move.”
Turning on my heels, I started walking away.
“You waited three years,” Reklig reminded me harshly, projecting so that I would hear him.
I stopped and looked at him over my shoulder with a savage expression. “I did because none of you had the balls to call me out on my bullshit sooner. See all the time that was wasted? Go talk to her, or I will.”
Without another word, I walked back to my woman who was looking at me with a bemused expression. The not so subtle glance she cast towards Madeline told me she had guessed what this had all been about.
“Good man,” she said to me approvingly.
Puffing my chest out, I leaned forward and brushed my lips against hers. From the corner of my eye, I saw my brother walk with a determined step towards Madeline. I smiled and gestured at them with a sideways glance to my woman. Linette’s smile broadened seeing them begin to talk, and the lovely blush that settled on the young Portal’s pale skin. Fighting the urge to continue to spy on them, my mate and I turned our attention back to our vessel and the mission ahead.
That evening, we had dinner in the mess hall of our battleship. It was strange for me to be sharing a meal with the leaders of the Vanguard and their mates. It was even stranger for me to accept that I was their equal as the leader of the third division of the Vanguard: the Scelks. The official announcement would be made with great fanfare upon our return to Khepri to celebrate our ultimate victory.
And it was in that capacity as leader that my presence was required in a last-minute meeting right before bed. We huddled in the conference room, shocked to receive the visit of General Daeko and Hulax, the Commander of the Queen’s Guard.
They took seats across from us at the conference table, Chaos and Legion in the center, Bane and I flanking them. Wrath and Rage had also joined us.
“We will keep this brief as we know you need rest before tomorrow,” Daeko said. “However, we would like to request a slight change of plan.”
We exchanged a confused and somewhat worried look.
“We understand your logic that your people should go down the crater first,” Daeko continued in an appeasing tone. “With your resurrection ability, it will reduce the number of potential permanent losses. However, it seems inappropriate that your people should be dying and carrying the brunt of the war on your shoulders when it is foremost our problem to eradicate.”
“We equally share the fallout of Khutu’s actions,” Legion argued. “Therefore, it is equally our problem.”
“True,” Daeko conceded. “However, we are Kryptids, you are not. Their detection technology is less likely to target us. And if we are correct, it may make things easier for us to get down and deactivate the maze so the rest of you can enter.”
“Varnog. Thoughts?” Legion mentally asked me through our group psychic chat.
“He is sincere in his offer,” I said. “They wish to do their share. They are ashamed to be so dependent on us. He especially hates that his first great war as General, he must sit on the sidelines because his survival is essential to the future of his people.”
“But if you are wrong, you will have senselessly wasted the lives of your men,” Chaos countered gently. “Your suggestion has its merits, but they will already know they’re under attack from us killing the Beetles.”
“Which is why we wish to go down even before you begin to surface attack,” Hulax interjected. “We have our small liveships. Some of us had solid grounds to suspect the existence of this base. We can pretend to have escaped after the Queen’s capture so that we’re allowed deeper into the crater and send you back images of what we see. If we’re caught, we will take cyanide.”
He smiled when my companions recoiled. I merely stared stoically, fascinated by the Kryptids views on the value of their individual lives versus the needs of the colony.
“We do not fear death,” Hulax said in a calm voice. “I am already well over seventy-seven years of age, and so are most of the members of my unit. As Soldiers, we have a little over two years left at best. We would rather die in glorious battle rectifying our previous failures, than spending the last few months of our lifespan being a burden on the resources of our homeworld.”
“You are not a burden if you are sharing your wisdom and experience with your younger generations,” I argued.
“It is already done through the Well of Knowledge,” Hulax said in a friendly tone. “This will be an opportunity for you to test how far your psychic females can continue to reach you. What’s the point of having rebirth ability if disruptors make it impossible for anyone to catch you?”
That was the clinching argument. That concern had already been raised by my mate and others regarding their Warriors.
“For this reason, and all others, we insist that the Queen’s Guard and our young Soldiers go first,” Daeko said. “For the young ones birthed here by Queen Rahissa, it will be an opportunity to die with honor instead of simply being put down for being defective.”
A similar anger coursed through my companions upon hearing those words. My conscience said their approach was wrong, but hearing their thoughts put a different spin on it. Although I did not agree with it, I understood the basic belief in survival of the fittest. I also understood that their society did not view individuals as valuable, merely as another cog in the machine. Keeping a defective one out of compassion meant the entire system could crumble. Except they were not a machine.