Alien General's Beloved (Brion Brides 6)(21)

"Call it here," Lana said at once. "You can actually battle him. Alone, we're sitting targets."

Corden hesitated.

"That's true," he said. "But there is something wrong. Worgen doesn't worry about the Abysmal. He acts like nothing can touch him."

"And?"

"That's completely possible."

Lana frowned, making Corden grin, loving her temper.

"I know your ships are built to endure a lot, but they're not indestructible," she said.

"Mine isn't," Corden nodded. "I am not sure about the Abysmal. The technology of the older ships is lost to my species. We don't know what it can do. Until we do, I'm not bringing the Claw here."

Lana pushed him away firmly. Corden allowed it to happen and watched her stand, starting to dress again.

"You've barely slept," he said, amused.

"No time," Lana said, trying to stay out of his sight, avoiding looking at him too. "I need to try out something."

"What exactly do you propose?" Corden asked.

"We find out what the Abysmal is capable of," Lana said, pulling her coat on. "You said people can move between ships if they're smart about it."

"That was luck," Corden said. "Don't push it."

Lana smiled, the first true expression of amusement Corden had seen in a while.

"We just need a smart ship," she said. "And I know which one that is."

"One ship has no chance against the Abysmal," Corden said, a hint of warning in his voice. "The guns are no match to a Brion warship."

But his gesha was beaming, alive with a new purpose to drive her onward.

"No," she admitted. "But a ship carrying three nuclear reaction cores makes one hell of a bullet."





CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Lana



It was all coming together.

Lana waited for Corden's reaction. Her feelings toward him were all over the place, which was to be expected. The man seemed to bring trouble everywhere he went, but a part of her really liked that. At the moment, the captain was desperately trying to drown out her annoyance with herself by focusing on her new plan.

Great going, her mind pitched in. You close your eyes for a moment and when you wake up, it's straight into the arms of the guy who tried to force himself on you.

Lana wished there was a way she could glare at herself, because that was definitely not something she needed to think about right now.

The nightmare had been so vivid. She'd fallen asleep, thinking of everything that was at stake, at the mercy of a man who didn't know the true meaning of the word. The Raptor hadn't been helpless, exactly, but it was gone. The Flora was basically a huge, floating target. If Worgen decided to open fire, he didn't even really need to aim. It was impossible to miss the carrier.#p#分页标题#e#

And she was now the captain of that ship. The fact that she, too, was aimed at was a distant concern compared to the thousands of innocent people who didn't have a straight line to Worgen. Not that Lana did. She was still waiting on the general to tell her his commands. So far he seemed to enjoy keeping everyone in the dark.

To see the Flora burn in her dreams had been too much. Despite calling it a prophecy in the sleepy moments after waking up, Lana didn't really believe it was. First of all, the carrier had looked like a pyre, which was all sorts of impossible in fucking space. But that didn't make the image any less terrifying. She'd heard tortured screams, seen people torn apart and slaughtered. No wonder, really, that she went for the first solid, firm thing that was close enough to grab.

The fact that it was a really, really hot man was a secondary concern.

So much for keeping him away, though.

The general was considering her proposal.

"Nuclear cores," he repeated. "You mean to fly a ship into the Abysmal."

"Yes," Lana said. "Think about it. If it works, we've dealt a blow to the enemy. If it doesn't—"

"We'll know how much damage the flagship can take. I understand," Corden said, frowning. "I don't dispute the plan. I like it. It's bold. You have more in common with Brions than you think."

Lana felt a pleased smile tug at her lips.

"Then what's wrong?"

"This is too easily traced back to you."

Well, that was both true and troubling. Lana felt her enthusiasm take a hit, but she shook it off.

"Everything we do, every way I choose to fight, of course there's a chance it comes back to bite me," she said. "He can't blame everything on me."

"He can," Corden said, taking a step closer, vividly reminding Lana how amazing it had felt to be in his arms. "You're the only one in the fleet with a spine."

Suddenly he's a smooth-talker, the captain thought. Don't fall for him now. Bad timing, the worst.

"I have to try," she said, hoping that it was enough.

It was.

"I didn't say you shouldn't," Corden said, grinning.



***



She no longer felt entirely safe in his presence, but Lana trusted him to succeed like she didn't trust anyone else. It was partly because of the things she'd seen him do, but also because he was a real Brion. Despite seeing him at his weakest moment, Lana saw real regret in him. Real desire to make it all up to her. And who better to help her than a general she'd seen take on Worgen and give him an actual fight? Win, even.

It was harder to coordinate the plan while one of them couldn't be seen, so Lana and Corden set everything down right there in her new quarters. After that, both of them just had to believe that the other pulled off their end.

The target was a ship called Levi. It was a part of the fleet, in many ways similar to the Flora, the most notable one being that it was also without weapons. When Lana said that in her opinion no ship could have afforded to be defenseless in a galaxy like that, Corden laughed. She suppressed her own smile in a hurry, but the captain couldn't deny something in her responded to him.

She blamed it all on the obvious attraction, because that was an easy target. Brion men were, after all, officially forbidden to set foot on Terra. The widely known joke said that the reason wasn't the bloody image they carried, but the fact that the warriors were too hot for Terran women to handle.

Stealing glances at Corden, Lana was willing to admit there was more than a share of truth to that. She'd called up the images of the fleet on the captain's holoprojector. Every time Corden leaned forward on the table to take a good look at the formation, Lana's eyes traveled shamelessly over his perfect form.

She was being a fool, but of course she was a fool either way she chose.

Because it didn't pose a threat, Lana thought that Levi was less likely to be carefully observed, compared to bigger ships with potentially dangerous firepower. And Corden agreed with her that the Abysmal, while formidable, was behind in the technology that allowed tracking ships.

The plan was simple, Lana said. Corden would go to the Levi and arrange for the crew to leave before sending the ship on its way to the warship. Lana would stay on the Flora and gain an alibi by inviting Worgen over to meet the Palians.

The military genius next to her laughed once again and said she was asking for trouble with that statement, wondering if next she was going to say nothing could go wrong. Lana wanted to believe that it was the joke that made her smile, not the man.#p#分页标题#e#

In truth, she knew how bad of a liar she was and how fiercely everything in her called to Corden.

At least she wouldn't see him for a while, Lana told herself. Instead of him driving her insane with his presence, he'd simply be in mortal danger, fighting for her.

No problem, right? What could go wrong?

She must have looked miserable, because Corden walked over to her. For a moment, Lana thought he was going to pull her into his arms again, but he stopped. She badly wanted to ignore the tinge of disappointment that brought.

"This is a good plan," Corden said seriously. "I'm Brion. We don't try out plans destined to fail and we don't fight hopeless battles. If I'm going, it shows there is a chance. You do your part and we will gain a victory against that monster."

Lana nodded, but her heart felt three sizes too small for her. Corden waited for her, but she didn't trust her tongue not to betray her fears. Finally the general bent down to lay a chaste, soft kiss on her lips. It was no more than a goodbye, without the demanding forcefulness of their first kiss. A moan escaped her lips before she could stop herself, but Corden didn't rub her nose in it. The general straightened himself, his powerful body towering over her, filling her with confidence.

"I told you," Corden said. "I will not let anything come between us again. Not even death."

And with that, he was gone and Lana felt more alone than ever before. She wanted to believe in the same stubborn way that the Brions did, but couldn't find it in her.

Corden had his spear and his strength to trust in. Lana only had hope.



***



She headed back to the bridge, ordering the crew to hurry with gathering all the Palians. That earned her several suspicious glances from the officers, including Yarel who had to appear before Worgen too. Lana wished she could tell them the truth, give them something to root for.

She really wanted them to know they weren't alone in the fight. That there was another general out there, fighting for them with his flagship around the corner, but she kept her mouth shut. Corden had been right. Until Lana was absolutely certain who she could trust, she couldn't say anything.