From that moment until he faced the Fearless, his choices determined Naima's life. One wrong move and she'd be doomed to die. Even time itself was against him, because if the monster escaped, her demise was just as inevitable.
The pressure he experienced was enormous. The whole galaxy was looking to him to rid them of the ancient evil, but to him, only the look in Naima's eyes mattered.
Judging by the smile on her lips, she was showing more courage than he was.
Well, this can't stand, Braen decided, unable to stay sour when the light of his life was with him.
He answered with a small smirk of his own, looking at her sitting on their bed, the soft blanket she seemed to love so much on her lap.
They were on Darius' doorstep and Braen knew that the pain Naima had to endure had reached its peak. The only thing he couldn't understand was why she looked better than she had a few days ago when Alona told them the bad news.
"You look at me like I've done something wrong," his gesha pointed out.
"Never," Braen said at once. "I've told you that before. You can't do wrong by me."
"Then what is it?" she asked.
The general hesitated for a second, wondering if he should voice his concerns.
"I'm trying to figure out whether you would tell me if the enemy ceased the attack on your mind," he replied. "There was a moment a few days back when you looked pale as a ghost, like you had already frozen. Now you're smiling and there is color on your cheeks. Yet when I touch you, your skin is still colder than it should be."
Naima nodded, shrugging with a small smile on her lips.
"I look better because I feel better, I think," she said. "Audrey warned us, didn't she? That my health is very directly linked to my mental state and I've really been trying to focus on the positive. I mean, we're here at last. Everything is ready. I trust you.
“After Alona talked to us, I took your advice and channeled all my thoughts elsewhere. I've been keeping myself warm and working out whenever I can to maintain that. It helps. It makes me feel like I can fight back."
He nodded slowly. His gesha truly was a marvel.
"The Uthers are coming aboard soon," Braen said in return. "Are you sure you're up for this? We have come to the Fearless' hideout. No turning back from here. If you want to stay on the Benevolent, I would make sure you're well protected."
"What did I just say?" Naima asked, standing up and walking over to him to lay her hands gently on the breastplate of his armor. "I am happy. Honestly. All that waiting and worrying was driving me out of my mind, but now we're here. It's on.
“Maybe the Brion battle readiness is contagious or something, but I'm glad I have something to do. If you make me stay behind and wait for news, I'll go crazy."
Braen snorted.
"I understand," he said. "If someone made me blind and deaf to the battle... I remember the day my old general told me to stay behind when he went to fight the Fearless. The irritation was almost too much to bear.
“To see them all board the dropships, knowing they were walking to their end – I wanted to tear the walls down and jump right off the ship to be on the surface alongside my brothers."
Naima's gaze was a little sad as she pressed herself tightly against him.
"You've never talked about that before. It must have been terrible. What was your old general like?"
"He was a good man," Braen said. "General Valden. A great warrior, one of the best tacticians in living memory. All that didn't stop him from meeting his fate between the fangs of the Fearless."
"You will not end up like that," Naima told him with force. "You of all people should know that."
"I do," Braen smiled. "I don't doubt my victory. I would be a lousy Brion, and a general, if I did. It's you I'm worried about. Down there, on the planet, I won't be able to protect you."#p#分页标题#e#
"I have Alona," Naima said. "And Kerven and half your army on speed dial. You can't think of me tomorrow. You're saving us all, me included, by focusing only on the Fearless."
She was right, of course. Braen knew that, but it was impossible not to put her first in his heart, not to consider all the things that threatened her down on the icy planet.
"Come," he commanded, the forcefulness creeping back into his voice as he prepared to meet with his war council. "The briefing is about to begin."
Naima nodded, taking his arm and letting him lead her out of her – their, since he hadn't actually set foot in his own rooms for weeks – quarters.
"You won't take that?" he asked, pointing to the blanket she'd left lying on the bed.
"No," Naima said. "No matter what happens, I will go through this fight as myself, not some sickly girl wrapped in a furry cocoon. Even if it is a great furry cocoon. The Fearless can't take my pride from me."
Braen grinned, pressing a kiss on her lips, loving the feeling of her giggling at that.
War council, Braen thought with a grin. Who would have thought I'd see the day?
The question was just, considering that the two species represented in the room – other than Naima for Terrans – were the least likely people in the galaxy to make alliances or work together with others.
Uthers because they couldn't find common ground with the rest of the union , and Brions because they simply didn't need it.
The general knew that technically, he still didn't. The Benevolent was more than enough to handle the Chali android army and the approaching Fleet both. As for the Fearless, he was going to challenge the monster himself.
But, as things stood, allies had attached themselves to him along the way and while Braen wasn't prepared to share the ultimate responsibility, there were some perks to having them around. It would have been stupidly prideful of him to ignore the two parties who could offer him vital information about the enemy.
Alona knew the Chali and their technology. And Uthers knew the planet.
Stomech was the first to speak, in his usual grumpy way. He pointed to the holographic map in front of them, showing the planet Darius as well as the dispositions of the fleets around it. Braen observed it with interest, wondering how things had come to that.
In the beginning, it was supposed to be a secret mission, but that had been a fool's hope. Brions were great at all sorts of tactics of warfare. Stealth wasn't one of those.
It had something to do with the enormous flagships. Very difficult to hide even small maneuvers when sporting a vessel that was bigger than some smaller habitable worlds. Pair that with the very real Brion need to be noticed and one would not find a single Brion battleship passing through space in any way that could be described as stealthy.
Now, they were at the brink of a major conflict. Not only with the Fearless, which was inevitable, but starting a war between two members of the Galactic union as well.
Braen was tempted to let the Chali and Uthers deal with their problems on their own, but he knew he couldn't simply ignore them. Somewhere behind him, Naima's green eyes were watching him, bearing the hopes of the whole galaxy. He couldn't bring himself to disappoint her, even if his own mission took priority.
The time to teach his willful allies and enemies a lesson would come. It simply was not now.
"Darius is an unremarkable world," Stomech was saying, barely visible from behind the high collar of his walking suit. "It bears no strategic importance. It is not even colonized. It doesn't have any intelligent lifeforms. Until the Fearless, that is. Now it also has the Chali."
The Uther spat out the last word like a curse. Braen didn't move a muscle, standing as he had so far, arms crossed over his chest, studying the hologram. Stomech gave Alona another angry look, but in the general's presence, he didn't seem to dare to venture further. So far, he'd borne the presence of the android with poorly hidden distaste.
Commendable, considering that Braen would have expected him to launch at the android and tear it to pieces ten times over by now.
"We have located the enemies," Stomech went on, zooming in on the planet's northern hemisphere. "The Fearless doesn't hide from you, General. It waits in plain sight, right in this area here. It's almost barren, save for the occasional cave system in these low mountains.
“The cursed Chali ships are right where they presumably first landed. We gathered no evidence of them moving after they touched down."#p#分页标题#e#
"My men have found the same," Braen nodded. "Go on."
Stomech glared at him, as much as the general could tell from the Uther's little beady purple eyes peeking over the edge of his armor.
"I see this planet and nothing makes sense. If you keep something from me, General, you are our enemy as much as the Chali."
"I have no reason to lie," Braen answered coldly. "And you are in no position to threaten me. You are a commander of the Uther army, are you not? Know this, then. Speak to me like that again and I will begin this battle by using your ships for target practice. Same goes if you decide to get in my way."
Stomech bristled, but the general had discovered that some rumors about the Uthers might have been exaggerated.
That shouldn't come as a surprise to Brions. There are still plenty of people in the Galactic union , in high places even, who believe Faren drinks the blood of his enemies.