Page 13 of Alien Prince Defender (Space Knights MC #4)

CHAPTER 13

TARAX

" W hat have you heard about the siege? Are we still planning to attack and take over the warship that is hovering above Earth? If so, when is that happening and what is the protocol involved?"

I felt out of the loop and a little disconnected from my fellow Knights. I tried to remind myself that even if we were separated for now, we were all working diligently for the greater good of mankind on Earth.

It felt good to be getting an update from Merrix and Norin through our secure communication line. It was nice to hear their voices and have that assurance that they were safe and alive.

I was sitting up on the roof doing my shift at the lookout point, discussing an update on the situation with them.

I preferred to talk to them while I was up here alone on my lookout shifts, because it gave me extra privacy. I didn't always want the other survivors with me in the bank to hear what we were talking about.

I was also nervous about rumors. There would be nothing worse than false information getting spread about the status of the world. I wanted to make sure I had all the facts straight before I informed everyone else in our group about what was going on — and that included Grace. There was no point in creating a panic situation.

It wasn't like I was deliberately hiding anything from Grace, but why put her through unnecessary worry for nothing?

"The Knights that are still in space are preparing for that overthrow as we speak," Merrix informed. "It is my understanding that they are going for the heart of the warship — as you already know — where the A.I. is located."

I took a deep breath and glanced out over the edge of the building. It was a clear night. The sky was pink and gray, just after dusk. Soon a blanket of darkness would cloak itself over the ruined city, and that was when we had to be the most alert.

"It's not going to be easy to take that thing down," I mentioned.

"No, it's not, but the good news is, the attacks from the androids might stop occurring on Earth once the team of Knights hits the warship."

"Why is that?" I asked.

"The A.I. is going to want to keep all its reserves once it realizes it's the target," Merrix explained.

"Right." I nodded and glanced down at the ground several stories below. "That makes sense. It's going to do whatever it can to protect itself."

"That's right," Merrix agreed. "And in order to protect itself, it's going to need whatever remaining androids it has left on its warship, and maybe the Earth can get a break."

"We sure need a break down here," Norin said grimly.

"Godspeed to them all," I said with a sigh. "Those Knights in space have their work cut out for them."

" All of us have the same challenges we're going to have to face," Norin reminded me. "We all play an integral part to cleaning up the damage from this massive raid."

"That's true," I said, feeling a pang of tension in my stomach that twisted into an uncomfortable knot.

I missed my twin brother. I couldn't wait until we had the opportunity to reunite, but I knew he was doing the best he could to keep his group of survivors alive and safe, just as I was.

Down on the streets below, the aftermath of the android attacks had left the entire city in shambles. It looked like an Earthquake, a tornado, a hurricane, and an atomic bomb had all gone off simultaneously.

I had never seen any of those things happen in my lifetime, but I'd heard about them all and knew that they were all natural disasters — aside from the atomic bomb — which I also knew was a manmade radioactive weapon used in a war hundreds of years ago.

I was sort of a history buff, and human culture fascinated me. It was quiet down there on the city streets. No one was out walking around. The silence was almost deafening.

The streets were empty and still. It was certainly a haunting scene that left shivers jogging up and down my spine.

It was like a crime scene everywhere you looked. It reminded me of my own home planet of Telanis. Resources were scarce there too, because we too were under constant attack and torment by a corrupted monarchy.

The Spacing Guild took advantage of their power over the king and his debts, but in the end, it was the commoners who suffered the most. The ripple effect of the attacks was still tremoring through the entire city of Chicago, much like they did on a constant basis back home.

The devastation was soul crushing. You couldn't look out the window without seeing the debris and gaping craters in the asphalt, cars flipped over, dust settling over any and every inanimate object.

You couldn't ignore or avoid any of it.

People were hungry. They were confused and angry. It could make for a lethal type of combination. Pressures and tensions were mounting. Soon, I feared that the human race would be pitted against each other just in order to survive because they would feel that they had no other option other than every man for himself.

I had seen these types of problems evolve in the past, but I would do my best to keep our own group as united as possible.

"The odds seem bleak right now, but I know we can get through this together," Norin mentioned after a few moments of silence between the three of us.

He was trying to inspire us to think ahead to the future. I didn't have any problem with that, but we still couldn't afford to let our guards down.

"There is the twin brother I know and love so much," I said, appeasing him. "Always looking for the positive outcome in any situation."

"There is a lot of clean up to do," Merrix said as if the mere thought exhausted him.

"At least we don't have to worry about any more of those fuckers raining down from the sky," I said.

Merrix chuckled at the irony. "No, the A.I. will keep its reserves for itself…the fucking selfish monster."

"The Knights ambushing the warship have their work cut out for them," Norin said somberly.

"I'm confident they can handle it," Merrix said, making me wish I could tap into some of his positivity.

Of course, I wanted to believe that we weren't all doomed, but how could I really think otherwise whenever I looked around?

I didn't voice my fears to Merrix and Norin. Not here on this roof, not over the communication lines. We all could use a little boost in morale. Our spirts were down but not crushed.

I knew these communication lines were relatively safe and secure, but I didn't want to risk talking too deep about our plans and hopes for the future.

We couldn't show any signs of weakness or vulnerability in front of these wretched robots, wherever they might lurk in the shadows. Unfortunately, there were still going to be plenty of them to deal with here on Earth.

"We'll be able to reunite as soon as all this is over," Norin said optimistically.

I scoffed. "When will that be?"

"Try to think with an open heart and an open mind, dear brother," Norin said. His voice had a certain element of sadness to it. "I can battle my way to you any time."

"I feel like I'm going to be stuck here in this bank hiding out forever," I said.

"You aren't hiding out," Merrix advised. "You are keeping the humans in your group safe, and that is what you have been trained and instructed to do for now. All of you are still alive, so you must be doing something right."

"Thanks," I murmured, staring out at the blackness of the night sky, but my mood still felt sour.

There was no electricity because all the power grids had been knocked out. I didn't know when it would be restored, but I assumed it was probably going to be a long time.

I appreciated Merrix and Norin giving me this pep talk to help me dig myself out of this trap of doom. Perhaps I needed their encouragement more than I initially realized.

"I can fight my way back to you within the next day or so," Norin suggested.

"What?" I shook my head vigorously. "No, Norin. You need to stay where you are, too. It isn't safe to go out there. Grace and I were nearly killed when we were ambushed and assaulted by six enemy androids. All we were trying to do was simply head one or two blocks down the street to a local corner store to get supplies. It turned into this horrible fight to the death, crisis situation in seconds. Those robots are ruthless. They are programmed to destroy anyone and anything that isn't themselves. They consider everything and everyone their enemy that gets in their way."

Norin paused. Merrix didn't add his two cents to the argument. Norin sighed, loud and long. "We will figure out a plan. We need to join forces before it's too late."

"I have to agree with you on that," I said. "Strength in numbers will be easier to tear down the remaining androids — at least in our area of the map. For now, I am going to keep working with Grace and Mike to figure out what to do next while we're still seeking refuge in this bank."

"At least you have humans that will cooperate with you," Merrix advised. "It could be worse."

I glanced over my shoulder at the roof entry door. Speaking of which, Mike and Grace were walking across the rooftop toward me.

"Yeah…" I trailed off, watching them march my way. "You're right about that. I've got to go."

I hung up with Merrix and Norin and stood up to greet Mike and Grace.

"How are things downstairs?" I asked.

Grace pushed her wavy black hair away from her face and exchanged a wary glance with Mike. Mike had an apprehensive look on his face and his large, black eyes looked worried. He was wearing a tight t-shirt with his firefighter station's logo on it. The shirt was skin-tight, accentuating his boulder-like biceps.

"Well…" Mike began, shifting his weight uncomfortably as if he had something to tell me that wasn't to be of popular opinion. "People are stressed and arguing down there a lot more than usual."

"At least they are alive ," Grace mumbled under her breath. She folded her slender arms over her chest and frowned. "For that, at least… they should be grateful."

"Sounds like there's trouble in paradise," I joked to lighten the mood and smiled at Grace.

She stopped frowning and her features relaxed. Her big brown eyes shimmered with amusement.

"Yeah… I suppose you could say that." Grace returned my smile. The olive shade of her cheeks was briefly replaced by a rosy blush.

Mike didn't seem to get the subtle, lighthearted banter between me and Grace — or if he did — he ignored it.

"We need to find a way to divvy up the food before these selfish savages down there eat it all in one night," Mike said as if he believed it was going to be an impossible challenge.

"Maybe we should hide it from them and portion it out ourselves," Grace mentioned with an ironic chuckle.

"You know that won't go over well," Mike said grimly. He stared at the ground. " Especially with David."

"Well, I'm just happy to see that you are finally starting to understand what a massive jerk he is," Grace said.

Mike nodded but sighed with solemnness. "Yeah… I'm coming around to that unfortunate reality. My wife isn't real happy with the way he's been acting either." He looked down, as if ashamed that he'd defended David at all.

Grace met my gaze. "Anyway, we didn't just come up here to talk about the food rations. Although it is still a problem that needs to be worked out."

"What else is going on?" I studied both of them.

"We need to talk about the shifts up here on the roof," Mike said. "And how long each person should stay up here on their watch."

I pondered. "I think between four and six hours is a fair rotation speed."

Grace shivered and rubbed her arms with her hands. "Yeah… especially the night ones. It gets so chilly up here."

Mike nodded and glanced around the enormous rooftop block of concrete we were standing on. "Yeah, and the wind really seems to be picking up tonight."

Grace grinned. "I think we should assign David to rooftop duty tonight since it's so cold. Serves that asshole right."

Mike laughed. It was the first time I'd seen him show much emotion other than anger and frustration. He looked carefree, even if it was only for a fleeting moment. There was kindness reflecting in his dark eyes.

"I say that's the best idea anyone has had yet."

"I have about an hour left in my shift," I said. "I'll stay up here for that time and finish up my allotted time, and then we can tell David he's on duty next. From there, maybe we can congregate as a group and explain to everyone that they really need to ease up on the snacking."

Grace gave me an assertive nod. "I agree one-hundred percent."

"Me too," Mike said. "We can't tolerate weakness in our group, but we also need to stick together. I know it's hard with the kids being part of this. My wife is trying to keep them occupied. We all need to work together. It's a very intricate process to keep things from breaking down. If we have any glitches in the operation, we are bound to fail and crumble and I don't want to see that happen."

I was grateful to have Grace and Mike to vent to. I was happy to see that Mike was finally seeing the light and realized how dire the situation was — and just how important it was that we kept boundaries and rules in place, even if it seemed his realization came about through his wife and Grace.

"Come get me in an hour," I advised them. "From there, we'll have the uncomfortable conversation with the others about the changes that we need to make around here."

It was something that had to be done, whether the people downstairs wanted to hear it or not.