Alien General's Beloved (Brion Brides 6)(3)

The bad news was that there was definitely something going on. A presence—by some accounts one huge ship, by others a small fleet—was attacking ships all over the galaxy. And despite their best attempts, the union   wasn't able to track it down. Or if Lana understood correctly, tracking was less of a problem than receiving reports back.

Every ship sent to find out what was going on disappeared.

A few of them had managed to send out distress calls before they went silent, but the information they relayed was confusing at best. Lana took it as a personal duty to read through all of them, as clipped and fractured as they were, but ended up none the wiser.

Sure, technically it all fit. A huge ship, dark and looming like death itself. It suited the stories of the Abysmal well, but the lost Brion battleship wasn't the only big vessel in the skies. It proved nothing, but that was no comfort at all. Rumors and fear fueled paranoia more than actual evidence ever could have.

The weird news was that no one could disprove the ghost story. Without actually seeing the person who was behind all of the attacks, it was within the realm of possibility that it was the lost general spreading chaos.

Absolutely fucking unlikely, Lana thought, but still possible.

The union   had started assembling armies to bring the person responsible to justice, but the Brions had interfered. It seemed they took the rumors very seriously. Their promise to handle whoever was behind the attacks served as a warning as well. If Brions thought the threat was real, most of the union   was relived to stay as far away from the conflict as possible.

Lana took comfort in the fact that Fraly agreed with her. The Palian had been acting odd ever since the first report came, but so far Lana had let him be. She had a good working relationship and an understanding with him, very like the one Terra shared with the Palians in general.

They both had the best interests of the galaxy in mind, which made them natural allies. That meant not delving too deeply into each other's secrets when it wasn't necessary.

Fraly said nothing about the reason for his unease, but he was one of the few that agreed with Lana. The others were either terrified or dismissive, which was a common sight on a rogue ship whose crew saw much of the galaxy's darker side. Lana had let that be as well, not wanting to cause panic without reason.

And now she was reading that the unseen enemy was targeting more and more Terran ships. Looking for them, in fact. Seeking them out with clear purpose.

That was the most unsettling thing about the whole affair to Lana. The Brions as a species had little to do with Terra. Other than the recent news of a few Brion generals unexpectedly binding to human women, the two species barely had any contact at all.

She didn't like it.

Lately, the Brion Elders had started nudging their terrible, bloodied species in a new direction, hoping to mend ancient wounds of war and carnage. Lana was ready to admit that even the famous generals were trying to appear less savage these days. That made dealing with the Brions almost tolerable, even if she still felt the hairs stand up at the back of her neck whenever she had to meet one.

They embodied raw, barely controlled rage, no matter what they claimed to be.

General Worgen and his lost ship... that was something different.

He—if it was really him, a ghost of days long past—was not the new kind of Brion, ferocious but benevolent. Worgen was a relic, the manifestation of the dark days in the Brion history. Lana had read up extensively on him, all the legends and stories she could get her hands on, just in case.

Every word made her blood turn to ice and turned her dreams into nightmares. The stories didn't describe a man, but a monster. The kind that couldn't be stopped.#p#分页标题#e#

"Captain," Fraly interrupted her, entering her rooms after a polite knock.

Lana looked up, sitting behind her desk with the screen in front of her still showing the last paragraphs of the report she'd been reading.

"Yes," she said. "Have we arrived at the beacon?"

The Palian confirmed that. A few hours ago, they'd picked up a distress signal, coming from the Terran trade ship Wanderer. It was far off course, but even more so, it was close to a spot where an attack had taken place. Lana had immediately ordered a change of course.

She'd done so with a heavy heart, but an easy conscience. It was her job to go and check out situations like that, to see if she could solve them quickly and without casualties.

On the other hand, if there was even a shred of truth to the rumors, she was putting her crew in danger they couldn't possibly hope to match. The Raptor had guns, of course, but they would be practically useless against a Brion warship. Years ago, Lana had seen one of them, so huge they said it could tear through asteroid fields, pushing celestial bodies out of the way. Like moons.

The captain took one last look at the screens. For weeks, she'd tried to keep her crew's spirits up by joking they'd get to meet the intergalactic Flying Dutchman. Of course, only the human members of her crew understood that, but they explained it to the others as well as they could. It did make them feel better for a while, as fleeting as the feeling might have been.

Lana closed the screens, willing herself to focus on the task ahead. She'd find the beacon and the Wanderer and escort them back to safety.

"You seem worried, Captain," Fraly said when they were walking.

Lana sighed, smiling. "It's the agony of waiting, as Terrans say. I don't like it. I want to know. If it turns out to be another ghost scare, fine, we'll deal with the bastard. If it is Worgen, fine, we'll deal with a long-dead invincible Brion general as well."

Fraly smirked, nodding.

"I get that," he said. "It's always better to know what you're facing, even if it is bad."

"So," Lana said, changing the topic. "How's the Wanderer? Is the ship intact?"

"It's not the Wanderer itself," Fraly said. "It's only one of its escape pods. And Captain—this time we have a survivor."



***



The Raptor was pulling the pod in. Lana stood on the bay deck, watching the little cone being dragged in by the magnetic arms extending from her ship.

It was really nothing more than a box, she noticed. A cone small enough to house one person, if they were hunched. There was a survivor, a witness, Fraly had said. Lana wondered how they'd managed to sleep or eat in that thing. From what she gathered, it had been days since the pod launched from the Wanderer.

The bay workers ripped the doors open and a figure—a young girl—stumbled out. For a moment, she looked around her and then practically collapsed on the floor. Lana rushed over, catching the girl in her arms. Her features were pale and it was clear she was malnourished, and probably exhausted.

Her eyes were wide open, terrified. Lana didn't think for a second that she was the cause of that fear. No, she'd been right to suspect something was amiss.

"Leave," the girl whispered before she could say anything. "Run."

"Relax," Lana said, "we are here to help you. Tell us where your ship is and we can go and—"

The girl was shaking her head so hard she nearly twisted herself out of Lana's grasp.

"No, no," she said frantically. "We have to go now. It might be too late already. You can't help, no one can help. He is here."

He.

"Who are you talking about?" Lana asked, knowing the answer already. "Who attacked the Wanderer?"

"HIM," the girl almost screamed. "Worgen. I saw him when they took the ship. He walked by right in front of me when he was looking for his fated. His eyes were completely black and his skin was burning, I could see it..."

Well, that is going to do wonders for morale, Lana thought. I should have questioned her in private.

She stood, helping the shivering girl stand as well.

"You need rest," Lana said, hoping to salvage what was left of the situation. "We can talk more once you've had some food and a good night's sleep."

"You don't understand," the girl pleaded. "He's coming, he might be here already. Nothing will stop him until he finds his fated."#p#分页标题#e#

That's the second time you've said that.

"Worgen is looking for his gesha?" Lana asked.

"Yes," the girl said, sighing in relief. "You see now? We have to go. Hurry! He's heard of all the Brion generals binding to human girls. He wants one too, to be more powerful than ever. Ship after ship, he's looking for her. That's why he attacks Terran ships."

Oh, wonderful. Just when I thought she couldn't say anything more damaging. Now they know we have a crazed maniac on our trail, looking for a bride, Lana thought, barely suppressing the eyeroll she felt coming on.

She sent the girl off to sleep, despite her desperate pleas that they should run at once. To ease her growing concerns, Lana took the next watch on the bridge. The monitors showed nothing, but the emptiness unnerved her.

"Do you feel it?" she asked Fraly, who was standing loyally by her side. "The gun pointed at our heads?"

The Palian nodded, a grim smirk on his lips. It was an unusual expression for him, but considering the situation, it fit.

"The scans came up empty?" he asked.

"Yeah," Lana said, checking for what had to be a hundredth time. "Nothing near us. Not the Wanderer, not any other ship. The first signal I can find is the Gromus Station, five times the distance a pod like that could fly."