Alien General's Beloved (Brion Brides 6)(23)

Getting on the Levi was easy. Corden landed in one of the docking bays, unquestioned and undisturbed. The same rank fear he'd met on the Raptor was everywhere. Clearly, this ship wasn't about to rebel against the Brions.

The general stepped aboard the ship that was about to become a bullet to the heart of the enemy.

Now all he had to do was convince a whole crew to be braver than they'd ever been in their lives.



***



Corden's first task was to take out the Brion patrols on Levi. Once they were gone, the crew would have a free path to the escape pods and smaller vessels that could carry them away. Of course, this time there would be no confusion and an explosion to cover their exit. Corden had to hope that the Abysmal wasn't watching too closely until it was too late.

The warriors he met were the same as the rest had been. The general was once again hit with the thought that they moved in slightly off ways. He recognized all the moves before they could even start to carry them out.

They reminded Corden of the mechanized AIs and mechs he'd trained with when he'd been a child. Programmed to remember basic fighting stances, strikes, and blows, they were easy tools for combat training when a warrior was still building up his speed and strength.

That's what it felt like to fight the cold Brions. They were powerful enough to overcome most of the others, but not Corden. He went through them with a kind of ease that bothered him. Not only were they a disgrace to the Brion name, it had the bad taste of killing enemies who weren't really able to defend themselves.

He remembered the Torons tearing the warriors to shreds, too. So easy. How could it be so easy? They should have been better, but the only one who seemed to have benefited from their long exile was Worgen.

Corden cut, slashed, and pushed through the units he met. Every time, the Brions greeted him with the same reckless abandon, only to pull back a little when they saw he wasn't going down. The general delivered them the only mercy he could, giving them a quick death.#p#分页标题#e#

It was a blur of blades and blood and flesh until he recognized a face. No realization dawned in the eyes of the warrior Corden could have sworn he'd killed once before. It was the same man, he was certain of it. The one who had promised him they'd meet again.

But it was too late. In the time it took to see the face of a dead man, Corden had already killed him. In the middle of a battle, a Brion became an unstoppable killing machine, not pausing until all the enemies were dead. Coming to a halt in the middle of it took time, like applying the brakes on a huge machine.

The general was left watching the body of the familiar warrior slump to the ground for the second time. Once again, he was the last one to do so, implying he was better than the rest. Possibly the unit leader, although he barely acted like one.

Corden watched him die, the spear in his hand dripping with blood. As the warrior dragged in his final, rasping breaths, he kept his eyes on Corden. The general half-expected him to say something about his vow, but the warrior didn't seem to remember. Instead, as his eyes closed for the last, he said:

"I will see you again."

Corden had led a very eventful life, but that had definitely not happened to him before. It would have been amusing if it wasn't so perplexing. When someone was killed by a Brion, they usually stayed firmly dead. This was a first.

It couldn't have been the same man, the general knew that. He'd watched the warrior get torn into pieces by the Torons. He was about to check if this one really died when footsteps sounded from behind him.

This time, he encountered the Levi's crew. Three men rounded the corner, guns held in shaking hands before them. The sight that greeted them was Corden, crouching over a pile of dead Brions. It should have told the newcomers he was an ally, but he supposed it was understandable he didn't have a calming effect on them. Seeing a man covered in blood and wielding a spear twice their height didn't say safe, exactly.

They opened fire.

Despite the obvious terror, the men were trained and their aim wasn't off. Another man might have been cut down in the hail of bullets, but Corden's reflexes were far beyond their understanding. He was moving before the first shot sounded, dashing toward them, staying out of the line of fire.

No living being could have dodged bullets shot at such close range, but as he neared, the men stopped shooting. The sheer shock of someone running headlong into the guns was enough to make them stumble back.

Corden swept their feet from under them in one quick strike, leaving all three lying on the floor, staring up at the razor-sharp blade of his spear.

"Drop the guns," he growled.

They did. The guns practically fell out of their grasps, clattering to the ground. The men seemed to search for words to plea with, but Corden had no time for them.

"Do you want to live?" he asked.

They nodded, yes, they very much wanted to live.

"I will let you stand and you will not attempt to do anything stupid, like flee," Corden said.

Nods were once again the only answer. At least that much was good. Men who wanted to live were usually very susceptible to suggestions on the matter. They stood, eyes nailed to him, or more specifically, the spear in his hands.

The easy part was over. Now came the risk. Corden needed to make sure that the three were not about to blabber about him once they were gone. Worgen was no fool. He would take any risk to his survival seriously.

He sheathed the spear. The eyes of the three crewmen followed the weapon.

"Now," the general said, his voice dropping to a dangerous, savage growl.

The men almost jumped into the air. He had their attention now, but what he needed was their fear. It was not what Lana had had in mind, of course. His gesha believed that if he explained to them that he was an ally, the crew would keep his secret.

That was not so; Corden knew that. Honor and loyalty were motivators for brave men, but the fleet had proved it lacked such courage. He couldn't honestly blame them, but it was not something he could trust in. What he needed was pure, animalistic terror.

"You will leave this ship," he said slowly, to emphasize every word to make sure he didn't need to repeat himself. "You will say this to your captain and him alone. Everyone must leave, at once. Take whatever pods or ships you need and fly to the nearest ship. Stay away from Levi."

They listened, but Corden had to know they understood.

"Nod," he ordered.

Three quick nods answered him, so insistent the general heard their necks creak.

Corden took a step closer, letting them take in the image of him. Brions had always made an effort to look as terrifying as possible. It was a part of their strategy, to stop potential enemies from ever even contemplating waging war against them. He saw the way they shook, like they were caught in the instincts of a prey animal. Wanting to run, but not daring to.#p#分页标题#e#

Corden heard their hearts beat wildly, saw the whites of their eyes, telltale signs of absolute horror. He waited, coming even closer, listening to their rapid heartbeats. Waited, until the general was sure he could order them to stop breathing. Only then did he go on.

"You will not breathe a word about me," he said quietly, to make them strain to hear him. "Not to anyone. Do you still want to live?"

The question was spoken almost as a whisper. The men nodded, puppet-like, barely able to stand. Corden looked each in the eye before turning and walking away from them. The guns were still on the ground, but none of the men moved to grab one.

They stood, shaking, until he was out of sight. Corden watched them from the shadows, hidden from their eyes, but not gone. A grin curled on his lips when after half a minute, they still hadn't moved from there they stood frozen.

"Now," he snarled from the darkness, and the three ran like the gods themselves were on their tails.

Corden waited until he could no longer hear their panicked escape and walked slowly back to the Brions. Listening to the ship's inner comm announce that everyone was to leave and head for the nearest ship, he took one more look at the man he'd met before. It was an answer to one of his questions for sure.

Time was running out. The Levi had to move quickly after the escape pods blasted off, to draw attention away from their escape. It didn't matter where the nuclear cores were, they would still detonate on impact with the Abysmal.

Corden slowly approached the bridge, keeping track of the announcements coming from the speakers. Once he was sure that most of the crew had left, the general made his way to the bridge.

The last crew members rushed by him as he went, close enough to almost touch him. It amused Corden. He'd learned a long time ago that people mostly saw what they believed they saw. There couldn't have been a man standing so close to them in the shadows, so they blocked any small signs he might have given them.

It was truly disappointing that the trick also worked with most Brions.

The bridge was empty when Corden arrived. There was no reason to be heroic when all resistance was already stopped in advance. The captain had left with his officers, leaving only the prevailing smell of fear behind. From the screens, Corden saw the Abysmal waking slowly, the huge warship turning to the Levi.

He calculated a course for the ship and entered it into the system. Levi began to slowly move toward the warship and Corden rushed back to the bay. The ship would pick up speed and hit the Abysmal straight on. At least in this the warship's immensity came to their aid. There was no way a ship that big could move out of the way of the Levi.