Page 12 of Scars & Starlight (Of Blood and Conquest #1)
TARA
“ S tacy is fine, Tara,” our medic slash minister Patricia says as we sit down at the round table.
This is where all the big decisions for our camp are made.
“But we cremated Micah along with the two other soldiers we lost yesterday. Bob and Peter,” she adds when I turn my head sharply at her words.
I knew Bob and Peter, of course, but they were both a lot older than I am and kept to that crowd mostly. Still, I feel a moment of guilt for not feeling sadder over their loss just because we weren’t close.
“I’m sorry,” I tell her. I look at Kairen, who sat down next to me, seemingly unperturbed that seven base elders are dissecting him with their eyes.
How the tables have turned. I address my family of circumstance.
“The Avaren have told me more about the Ghorvek’s crimes than I wanted to know.
But they’re here to stop them. Kill every last one of them. ”
“How did these Ghorvek find us?” Doctor Feldman addresses Kairen respectfully. “For that matter, how did you?”
“Doctor Feldman is an astrophysicist,” I tell the prince. A freaking prince! “He was at Caltech when the invasion happened, and no one knows more about space than he does.”
The scientist’s cheeks color slightly, and he shakes his head. “I’m sure what I know is but a raindrop in the ocean of knowledge our friend here has.”
“Flatterer,” Patty murmurs, nudging her boyfriend. They both lost their spouses in those first weeks four years ago, and found a second chance here in this new world.
Kairen gives them a warm smile before addressing my little guy. “Kiko, please tell them about the QEA. In simplistic terms, so everyone understands.”
The robot bounces on his long legs before hopping onto the table, scaring a few of the elders.
“Certainly, Commander.” Kiko faces my fellow humans.
“The QEA – or quantum entanglement array – is a method of travel we inherited from the Creators. These particles of perfectly entangled pairs were seeded when the universe was still very young and not as spread out as it is now. It is thanks to that that space-traveling species bypass the limitations of trans-universal travel, such as time distortion. The particles are embedded into the framework of spacetime, scattered across space. When ships like the Sovereign travel, they do not move in the traditional sense. Rather, they dematerialize at the molecular level using nanite disassembly. Matter is translated into quantum information and transmitted to the paired particle in the array. There, the original atomic structure is reassembled with exact fidelity. Essentially, objects teleport across space instantaneously and without relativistic time dilation.”
I stare at the image Kiko brings up, his peepers once more acting like projectors.
Holy cow.
Hundreds of galaxies, maybe thousands, with glowing displays of where, I guess, these particles can be found.
“Time dilation?” Sergeant Potts asks. He’s also staring at the projection, trying to hide his awe .
“Yeah,” I mutter, still dazed by the display. “I thought you said in simple terms.”
Doctor Feldman clears his throat. “When an object moves near the speed of light – which is the fastest speed anything with mass can travel at – time starts acting weird. It moves more slowly for the object than for someone standing still. So, if you were on a spaceship flying at nearly a billion kilometers per hour, only a few hours might pass for you, while decades go by here on Earth. By the time you returned, I’d be pushing daisies. ”
My eyes bug out. “So, if the Avaren traveled from NGC 1300 without this array, it would take them…” I open and close my mouth, unable to wrap my mind around it. I see most of the elders look as stunned as I feel.
“About sixty-one million years,” Feldman supplies.
“However, for the Avaren, it would be closer to three hundred thousand years,” Kiko adds, sounding pleased to be of assistance.
“Oh, certainly, just a blip,” I quip, making Kairen and Doctor Feldman grin.
“So, why are you here?” Potts asks, back to his usual no-nonsense demeanor.
Kairen takes a deep breath before searching for my eyes. “Translate for me, please, Princess. It’s always best when it comes from one of their own and not a mech.”
The pain in his eyes makes me reach out to cover his hand with mine. One of the elders, the principal of our improvised elementary school, gasps in outrage.
Fuck her and the xenophobic horse she rode in on.
When he turns his hand around to intertwine our fingers, I give him a conspiratorial smirk. Then he squeezes my fingers, and an echoing pulse of desire tugs on my ovaries, making my smile turn shaky.
Damn this ma… malien. He has no business being tempting.
Potts clears his throat, and my cheeks ignite. We’ve been having a moment here like no one’s watching .
Unbothered, Kairen licks his lower lip before facing the head of our soldiers and putting on his I am the Commander mien. “Many, many cycles ago, the Ghorvek came to Avaris…”
And so, I translate while Kiko provides the occasional visual backdrop for the story I heard on their big spaceship, the one they call The Sovereign. I tell them about the Avaren becoming all but infertile, of liberating planets from the brutal invaders, and looking for viable partners.
“So they’re here to take our women?” Smithy asks in a raspy growl.
Cigarettes are very hard to come by in this apocalyptic world, but Smithy still sounds like he smokes two packs a day.
He used to own a construction company back in the day, and his experience is valuable in the camp. But man, can he be abrasive.
“Men as well, Smithy,” I chirp. “Maybe a leggy Avaren female will take you for her own.” I doubt it, but the look on his face is priceless.
“What’s the difference between Ghorvek making zombies and raping our people, and the Avaren looking for their matches?” the Sergeant asks, making Kairen flinch.
“The difference is,” I say before the commander can, “that rape, even attempted rape, is punishable by death on Avaris. Or, I guess off Avaris as well,” I add, fumbling with my words. And I started off so strongly.
Potts lifts an eyebrow. “And how do you know this?” he asks, anger seeping into his voice.
Ah, yes. Oops.
“I might have had a small incident,” I begin.
“With three Avaren and a medical probe. No, I jammed the probe into the alien!” I add as Potts takes a breath.
“I mean, I jabbed it into his neck and killed him.” It’s Patricia’s turn to gasp.
“And then Kairen killed the other one. And the third one is still alive, I guess. He didn’t hurt me. He went to get help.”
Kairen rubs his forehead with his free hand, the other still not letting go of mine. Some things really are universal, in the literal sense of the word .
“Is this behavior common among Avaren?” Potts asks through gritted teeth.
“No,” Kairen answers in a sad sigh, and I translate for him.
“The biggest culprit, Zaiem, took advantage of Rheven and Orren’s desire to find a match and create a new life with a female who belonged to them.
The last planet we followed the Ghorvek to…
we were too late, and the surviving inhabitants were few.
” He waits until I’m done speaking before continuing.
“Tara defended herself against Zaiem, Rheven showed little remorse, and young Orren just wanted to see what a human female looked like up close. He didn’t know the other males intended to harass her. ”
I can see Pott’s jaw working while he digests the information. His light eyes land on our intertwined hands, and I casually pull mine back under the guise of tightening my ponytail.
“You two seem friendly quickly,” he remarks in an unreadable tone.
“Tara is–”
Kairen interrupts whatever Kiko was trying to say. “Tara is a wonderful creature, and I consider myself incredibly lucky to have her as my ambassador on Earth.” I blush while translating his words.
“Your ambassador…” Potts repeats while Patty and Feldman give each other a knowing look.
“Indeed,” Kairen says, stretching back on the chair. “Before coming here, we shared our findings on political power players across your planet with her. Once we assist you with whatever fallout you have after the attack, I would like to initiate contact, with Tara’s assistance.”
“Assist with the fallout?” Patty asks once his words are translated. “Tell me, alien, can your kind bring back the innocent dead?”
I hang my head, thinking of Micah, and hear Kairen shifting in his seat beside me.
“You wouldn’t want that,” Kairen says for me to interpret. “Once the spark of life abandons the body, what’s left behind is an empty shell. One you’ve seen roaming your planet too many times since the Ghorvek came, I’m sure.”
“So they’re dead?” I ask him. “There’s no hope?”
His eyes are so soft on me. I could fall in love with those eyes over and over again every night and every morning.
“I’m afraid so, Princess. The Ghorvek’s viruses are enhanced with nanites. The process is irreversible,” he says for Kiko to translate to the rest of the humans.
Just as whatever caused their fertility issues is irreversible. The Ghorvek really do suck lemons. Sensing my sadness in whatever way he has, Kiko jumps off the table to land on my lap like an alloy pet. It’s so unexpected and adorable that I burst into giggles.
“You’re the best, Kikolino,” I murmur.
Ignoring our antics, Potts speaks to Kairen in his business tone. “Do you plan on sharing your findings about our planet with us? Or is Tara the chosen one?”
I flush as the alien’s grin widens into something smug. “I plan on sharing the information we gathered regarding your leadership, military power, population, infrastructure, and the best methods of restoring it once we’ve eliminated the threat.”