Alien General's Beloved (Brion Brides 6)(17)

More murmurs rose, mostly to support her. Lana kept one eye on the troublemakers and went on.

"Now, I will tell you this straight, as I would like to hear it in your stead," she said. "I will not lie. We are very much fucked."

She allowed for the grim acceptance of that fact to pass before continuing.

"The Abysmal has emerged from the fairy tales we thought it belonged in. It's here and I can assure you, the Brions on that ship aren't the sweet, fuzzy kind we are all familiar with."

Humor was always a good way to dissolve tension, even if there was nothing to laugh about. Lana kept a straight face herself, but a few crew members present were smiling in a sad, careful way. Unfortunately, a quip like that had to be followed up with a few cold, hard truths.

"If you don't believe me, look out there," Lana said, feeling like every word had to be dragged out of her mouth. "The debris you see around the warship. That's my former ship."

The crew looked at the wreckage. Then back at her. Nobody was laughing anymore.

"I made the mistake of trying to resist," she said. "So believe me when I say I won't let you drag the Flora down the same way. We are going to play nice, we are going to hate it, and by the end of it all, maybe we'll all live."

Worst pep talk ever, Lana thought, but with the Brion guards there, it was the best she could do. Experimentally, she turned to them.

"Are you going to stay here forever?" she asked. "I've taken control of the ship like your general asked. I've told them the truth. Could you leave us now?"

The guards spoke something into their comm links and to Lana's surprise, actually left, though their cold presence seemed to linger far after their departure. It figured, since there was really nothing she could do. The Flora was not a military ship. It posed no threat at all.

Finally alone with her new crew, Lana let out the breath she didn't know she had been holding. She sat in the command chair and took a look at the assembled people. They were answering with the same, both trying to figure the other out.

"Any questions?" she asked.

The crew exchanged glances, unsure. Lana helped them out, if only to speed things along.

"Everything I told you is the truth," she said. "I know it's not what you want to hear, but this is how it is. Now, tell me a few things—"

"We don't need you," one of the troublemakers said. "We—"

"Escort these idiots away from my bridge," Lana said, heart thudding. "Anyone who thinks we can stand up to the Brions alone, unassisted, needs to go and get their head checked."

It was her first test as a captain. She knew it was a risky order, that there was a very real possibility they wouldn't obey, but there was no other way. Lana had to take charge sooner or later and she'd be damned if she asked Worgen's help with that.

After a long tense second, everyone who had been against her were physically removed from her bridge, even if they didn't go quietly. Lana wasn't sure if it was only wishful thinking, but it seemed to her that she heard sighs of relief.

"Who's in charge here?" she asked. "The commander of the bridge."

A Palian stepped forward, somehow even paler than his race usually was.

"I am Commander Yarel, Captain," he said and added nothing more in the Palian way of never committing to anything uncertain.

Lana knew exactly how to handle his kind, luckily.

"I'm going to ask you a few quick questions to get up to speed. In the meantime, the rest of you, I may be your captain, but I know practically nothing about running a ship like Flora. Report to me in five minutes and let me know if something's wrong and the extent of the damage."

Quick, simple, confident. That was the key to taking over a new command when the crew had just parted with their former leader. Lana forced herself to keep going on the adrenaline of it, because if she slowed down, she might begin to doubt herself. The crew scattered to work by their stations.

"Now, Commander. Tell me about the last two captains. No family history. I want to know what the fuck happened here."
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There was an appreciative look on the Palian's face. He reminded Lana of Fraly, sending a razor-sharp flash of pain through her. Her grief was too fresh, but she had no time for it.

"Captain Taska jumped us into this system," the commander said. "He immediately realized what was happening; we had all heard the rumors. He ordered the ship to pull in formation, but some of the military officers panicked."

Yeah. As I thought. Nothing smells like a good old overthrow.

"Go on."

"They thought we might stand a chance running."

"I see," Lana said. "Were they blind, deaf, or stupid?"

"I think all three," Yarel answered with a small smile. "The Brions had made their commands very clear."

"But they still thought it was wise to provoke them? And run after that? Have they ever met a Brion? Or know anything about warfare with them?"

The Palian answered with another kind smile, the trademark of his species.

"I don't know, Captain. Perhaps they were taught the unknown secrets of outrunning a plasma cannon."

"I assure you, it's not in the Terran curriculum," Lana said and shrugged. "All right. I think I can guess the rest. They killed Taska, the other guy took over and he's the one I spoke to."

"Yes," Yarel assured her. "We were listening and most of us agreed, but they had weapons."

"Bad guys always do," Lana said, looking at the Abysmal's gun turrets again. Funny how they kept drawing her attention so much more now that she'd seen them in action.

She felt like she owed the crew something. A silver lining, perhaps, if not real, tangible hope.

"Listen," she said, raising her voice. "I want you to know that while I will aid the general for the purposes of defending the fleet and the Flora, I will not take shit from him. If I can protect all of you and all of those innocent people out there, I will. But we have to do as they say for now."

"For now," Yarel repeated, his lidless eyes going wide.

"Yes," Lana said, giving him a hard look. "Now, report."



***



Most of the reports were predictable. With cold fury, Lana sat through all the lists of the dead and other damage that the Brions had done around the ship and in the landing bay. Compared to the lives taken, the Flora itself stayed in relatively good condition. It felt strange to call it positive, but Lana told herself—as well as the crew—that they had to take every win they could.

The Flora was divided into sectors and every one of them was calling in. Lana listened and tried her best to memorize it all, but failed easily enough. The carrier was simply enormous. It would take weeks for her to start making sense of it all. She dearly hoped she would live to see those weeks, but when the final sector reported, the captain began to doubt it.

Lana suddenly found herself hoping for a miracle. It was exactly like back on the Raptor. A large, strong group of Brions turned up dead with no explanation. Even hearing it had been the Torons didn't manage to quash her wish to see Corden again. Could he have escaped her ship after all?

Still, whoever it was, it left Lana with the unpleasant task of informing Worgen. The general had made his way back to the Abysmal for a reason he didn't feel like sharing with her.

"Dead," the general growled at her, the image of him crackling on the holoprojector. The Brions had jammed the communications systems, but left the short-range hololinks for easier communication than sending fighters back and forth.

Lana watched the crew shrinking back from the figure.

Strong, you have to be strong.

"Dead, General. Torn to pieces by the Torons," she said.

Worgen gave her a hard look, one that nearly made Lana fall over the edge of her own platform. She stared back, knowing this time she had nothing to hide.

"Why would they go to the beasts?" Worgen asked, his cruel eyes poring over Lana. "My warriors had no business with them for now."

"I don't know," Lana said honestly, trying to ignore her heart and mind having a shouting match with Corden's name. "Perhaps they were lured there."

Worgen's eyes narrowed, but Lana added as calmly as she could:

"You can't be surprised, General. The crew tried to fight back. A few of them apparently succeeded."

That was a fair account with no lies, Lana thought, at least to the best of her knowledge. She prayed that Worgen didn't know anything more.#p#分页标题#e#

A thin smile played on the general's lips.

"I will send someone to examine the bodies," he said with vicious joy. "You better be telling the truth."

"Yes, General," Lana said. "But I'm told there isn't much left. The Torons were very thorough."

It occurred to her again that Worgen took the loss of his men very lightly. The general shrugged and said nothing more on that topic. Instead, he added:

"I will return to the Flora tomorrow. Round up all the Terran women and all the Palians. I will meet with both."

"I don't think that's possible," Lana said carefully.

As she'd thought, the general frowned, his piercing look making Lana wish she could back down.

"There are about twenty thousand of each," she said. "There is no place big enough to gather them all and you wouldn't be able to see them all in one day."