Alien General's Baby (Brion Brides 7)(42)

It was almost impossible for the general to deny her when she was talking like that. He nodded.

"Tell me, then. What do you have in mind?"

"I'm going to use the lifestone on Alona," Naima explained as though it was the most obvious thing in the world. "It will be able to kick Sinetha out, once and for all. And if it works, Braen, the implications are amazing."

The general considered it.

"You want to use the stone to magnify Alona," he repeated.

"Yes," Naima confirmed. "It tried to help me before. You saw it too."

That was true. Braen had seen a quick flash of the android's AI and everything his gesha was saying was good, if he could only trust Alona to really cut the connection to its main network and the Chali.

Only it wasn't about trusting the AI. It was about trusting Naima and he did that without question.

He took Naima's hand in his, looking into her gorgeous, bright eyes.

"The second this gets to be too much for you, I want you to tell me," he said.

"I promise," Naima replied.

Trust is a wonderful thing if it goes both ways.

Then the general turned off the glove. Naima winced, but she raised her arm where the piece of lifestone was now exposed and walked over to the android.

She pressed the stone against the body that now had Alona's gray eyes looking at them again with curiosity.

"Free yourself," Naima said and touched the lifestone gently against its white surface.

Alona didn't shiver or twitch, because those were the reactions of living beings, but a flame roared to life in its eyes as it worked. Naima stayed by its side, a pained expression on her face, refusing to give in to the pain.

Long moments passed. Braen tried to distance himself, yet it was as impossible as to stop breathing. Seeing Naima in clear torture was too much, but there was nothing he could do to ease it, save with his presence. He held his gesha's soft hand in hers, feeling her skin grow colder by the second until it was freezing, just as his throat had been. All that time, Naima didn't utter a single word of protest or complaint, holding true to the plan she'd chosen.

A true Brion quality, Braen thought. Everything I ever wanted in a fated. She is perfect.

To honor her sacrifice and courage, the general didn't bring up the notion of stopping before the android started to shake a little. They all heard Sinetha's last cry as the trader broke back in for a second, but then she clearly lost control because the differences between the mistress and the AI were so obvious.#p#分页标题#e#

Naima was starting to convulse when Alona spoke up at last.

"It's done," Alona said. "She's gone. I took everything I could and I – am free."

Naima rose with a triumphant smile on her lips, although Braen had to help her stand.

"It worked," she said. "Fuck yeah, it worked! We'll need your technicians to check to make sure Sinetha is really gone, but Braen... the test was a success. I think I know how to kill the Fearless now."

That makes one of us.





25





Naima





Alona didn't seem to be bothered by the fact that Braen had cut it in two.

It was an odd realization, but Naima supposed it really wasn't that big of a deal for an android. A body was, after all, nothing but a vessel for the AI and Alona itself stayed intact.

After she'd pulled her hand back with the lifestone and the general had turned on the glove again, Naima had seen a strange look in Alona's eyes.

If it were a human, she supposed the closest emotion was regret. She knew that because she remembered it well. Back on Matthos IV, when she'd first brushed her fingers against the stone, it had been devastating – and divine.

To call it godlike was a just comparison because all the while Naima had felt like she was taken apart on a molecular level, she'd also felt like she could do anything.

Audrey Price had experienced something similar, if her report was anything to go by. She'd been able to force her will upon the Fearless, even. And it had almost cost her her life.

Of course, Audrey had been in dire need. The fate of the galaxy was at stake, Tieran was dying and she herself was inches from being torn to pieces.

Naima had no desire to test her own fortitude against the lifestone, but the single taste she'd gotten of it was enough to relate. Who didn't want to possess the power of gods?

All the way to the Benevolent's techs, Naima expected Alona to ask her for the lifestone. Instead, the android remained silent. The hungry look was replaced by another, contemplative one and that became a peaceful gaze, looking upon the world freely for the first time.

A healer joined them in the workshop to tend to Braen's hand and throat. Naima was amazed at how quickly the damaged skin healed, like it was nothing more than a bruise or a paper cut.

The Brion techs, however, amused her at first with their childlike glee. Before, tinkering around with an AI that belonged to the traders had been out of the question, but Alona didn't protest when Naima wanted to be sure Sinetha was gone. That meant that the techs had free reign now.

If anything, the healers and the scientists of all species were built the same way. They hailed from a warrior race, but their eyes lit up at the prospect of getting to work with one of the toys of the hated Chali.

When the first one of them lifted Alona on the work bench roughly, treating it no more gently than a lump of metal, she boiled over.

"Be careful," Naima snapped at the tech who had introduced himself as Fellen. "Alona is our ally. You are supposed to fix it and make sure the connection to the Fleet is cut."

The tech was short, for a Brion. His eyes were blue and he was fit, but nothing like the warriors were. There were no valor squares on his neck either. On Terra, he would have looked formidable. Compared to the general, Fellen appeared small and cowardly.

The man's eyes flicked to Braen, standing right behind her. Naima's frown deepened.

I'll be damned if I spend the rest of my life talking to people who only see my gerion.

"Don't do that. I asked you and I don't think what I said is unreasonable, but I can't handle all of you being so afraid to argue with me because you think Braen will use you as target practice."

She was almost certain she heard a soft chuckle from behind her. The tech was exasperated, caught between two fires.

"Miss Jones, he might," he said. "He would."

Naima turned around, giving Braen her firmest look. She knew perfectly well that she probably looked like a particularly pissed off kitten, considering how hard it was to be anything but happy around him.

With a dramatic sigh, the general shrugged.

"Speak freely to my gesha," he said, the deep voice leaving no doubt that it came with a whole lot of buts. "Freely but respectfully."

"Thank you," Naima said. "Now could you please tell that to all of your warriors, so I could have actual conversations?"

Braen gave her a small bow, the smile on his lips promising her heaven and hell rolled into one, undoubtedly between the sheets. Naima's pussy reacted to that hot sexy look immediately, trembling, aching for the general. She tried to focus on the matter at hand, knowing how easily Braen picked up on signals like that and how little patience he had for waiting to have her.#p#分页标题#e#

Not that she minded at that point.

Fellen found himself at the sharp end of her glare again, answering it with a pout. The expression looked weird on a Brion, like a rebellious child in the garments of an adult. Naima wasn't surprised. She'd met the type before – brilliant with tools, emotionally stagnated at puberty.

"I will do as the general commands, Miss Jones, but it does not feel pain," Fellen said, slowly like explaining to a child. "What difference does it make?"

"Then do so and nothing less," Naima replied, her voice as cold as ice. "I know Alona doesn't feel pain. This is a matter of respect. The AI helped me and has promised to keep doing so. It is an ally and my friend. Not some fighter backup generator for you to rough-handle."

"It is a Chali android," the tech argued as fervently as he dared. "They are our enemies."

"So you admit it," Naima said angrily. "You are being difficult on purpose."

"Miss Jones-" Fellen tried one more time, but Braen cut in so smoothly that the room around them quieted like a spell was cast on it.

Naima could have sworn even the machines fell silent.

"This android saved my gesha's life," Braen said, the venom in his voice making the tech take a step back. "Possibly twice. It gives me no pleasure to admit this, but my fated is right. This is about respect and we are Brions, boy. There is no honor in refusing to give credit where credit is due."

Then, to Naima's amazement, Braen's voice dropped even lower and more threatening, the slight crackle of damage still evident in it.

"My gesha said something a week ago that I didn't agree with back then. She reminded me of our dark past and I told her it was gone. I see now it still lingers, despite what I'd like to believe. In our bloody ages, we targeted anyone even closely related to our enemies, without provocation.

“Those days are gone and I will not tolerate the ghosts of that horror on my ship. The Chali are our enemies. This android is not. Do as my gesha says."

Fellen looked like a sickly apparition himself, but he had enough presence of mind to simply bow deeply and get to work. This time handling Alona more like a healer would a patient.