“Brothers,” he said. Brions-like-me, it meant.
Faren barely acknowledged him, except for the slightest of nods to show he had heard him. Gawen barked a laugh.
“Any other day, Diego,” he growled. His name now meant grothan-that-was. “Today, it seems we stop being brothers.”#p#分页标题#e#
“I see no reason why that should happen.”
“Don’t play the ignorant,” Gawen snapped back. He beamed in the dimness, valor squares implanted in his skin casting him in deadly, darkened light. Unlike Diego, the twins had their crystals going up their faces to their brows. It was said, by Brions gossip and the rest of the galaxy alike, that the twins had thrust their signs of valor too deep. The squares went too high, too close to the brain, and the implantation had driven them both different kinds of mad.
In myths that haunted every general, the crystals were said to have hit the emotional core, making Faren cold to the point of not feeling anything and Gawen barely able to restrain his feelings. Diego doubted it. Faren had been cold and Gawen quick-tempered since they were young and had trained together to be warriors. He could not rule out, however, that the implantation had exaggerated the characteristics already there.
“I’m not,” he said with deadly calm. He was aware his Brion brothers knew him well enough not to confuse his cool tone with a peaceful mind. Even in his rage, Gawen didn’t approach him. Faren knew better anyway. “What did that traitor tell you about me?”
Traitor meant Brion-enemy.
Gawen snarled something unintelligible in reply, but Faren looked at him for the first time since he entered the arena. “Careful,” he said simply. Compared to a lot of Brions, his voice was gentle to the point of sounding soft. Diego had seen him drenched head to toe in the blood of his enemies and knew where the only threat to him in that room lay.
It was Gawen who replied, as always. “He said you disobeyed a direct order from him, and you threatened to undermine the entire Brion culture.”
“The first is true, the second is not. It applies quite well to him, though.”
“The first implies the second,” Gawen said, his hands clearly itching for his guns, pacing restlessly, but not coming closer. “We are Brions. We do not disobey orders that come from the Elders.”
“They did not come from the Elders. They came from him. And he is wrong.”
That gave Gawen pause, but Faren still hadn’t reacted, as if nothing of this was surprise to him. Diego had thought as much.
“Why did you not kill the human?” Gawen asked, instead. “I hear some crazy stories that she is…”
“My gesha, yes,” Diego said. “She will live.”
Isolde probably didn’t know how loud her sudden intake of breath sounded to a Brion’s keen hearing, but both the twins looked up at her direction. Diego watched them stare at her and knew which of the two would live.
“She could betray our secret to the GU,” Gawen said. “She must not be allowed to talk.”
“She does not know, but that is not important,” Diego replied. That was it. The moment he had to convince them, or at least one of them, or he would die and Isolde with him. He was grateful for the knowledge he had to make them believe the truth; it really did make matters much simpler. He spoke loudly, for all to hear. It was fair, after all, to give his warriors a chance to know what they might die for in the coming days.
“I believe the Elders intended for us to share Rhea, to maintain a strong presence there and over time let it fall out of memory that we had kept the rich harvest world from the Galactic union . It was their policy we should be included in the union in the first place, so I find it hard to believe they would jeopardize that.
“I also believe the senators have no such intention. When the order came to take out the first research team, I saw no danger in that. The work on the planet was not finished. But with the second attack, I no longer think the senators want us to share anything. Whether they want to sweep the world clean of everything before the GU arrives, or are planning to keep the world to ourselves after all, they are provoking a conflict that threatens all Brions.
“This last attack was too blatant already, fingers will be pointing at us no matter what we do, yet they do not rule out attacking the next team. They invite war. With the Gamma Quadrant starving and the Palians asking reinforcements of tertanium to rebuild the core of their main hydraulic reactor…
“If we are exposed hiding a world like Rhea, getting thrown out of the GU and left without their provisions is the best possible result. If we fight to keep Rhea or make another attempt to kill a team under the protection of the GU… they will start a war that will leave both sides worse than we were to begin with, but start it they will.
The Palians know the human is with me. If she does not reach her destination, how long do you think it would take the Council to make the connection? She has to go. Has to sell our lie. And we… we must deal with the traitors that would have the GU send us back to the dark days.”#p#分页标题#e#
He hoped Isolde didn’t understand his words. He would have to find a way to break the truth easily to her and make her understand the power that suddenly lay in her hands.
All eyes were trained on him – Gawen was fuming, Faren seemed thoughtful. He could not blame them as he was suggesting outright civil war. No doubt some of the generals would side with the senators. He didn’t have time to explain the truth to all of them. Some hated him enough not to listen either way. And Rhea was, unknown to the rest of the galaxy, the main source of their might. Fuel and materials for their space ships, food for the armies, a literal warehouse of supplies. Many would think it worth going to war with the Galactic union , would call him a…
“Coward,” Gawen said at last.
Diego had expected that from him, hoped for better, but prepared for the likely.
„We are Brions!” the other general barked at him. “We don’t owe the rest of the galaxy anything! You would cower from the Palians…”
“I cower from no one,” Diego cut him through, his voice sliding over the other’s easily. The volume of his voice had not risen once – in fact, he seldom needed to yell anything, usually his presence was enough to guarantee silence, even if Gawen was out of the ordinary – but his tone was pure venom. Even Gawen had no reply to that, simply glowering at him. “Not the GU, nor the enemies within.”
The last made Gawen finally take a step forward. “Watch your words, brother. We are under orders to bring you to heel, or bring back your head.”
Brother meant traitor now.
“You are under orders from Eren. He does not speak for the Elders. I believe I do. They would not invite this war upon our head.”
“I fear no one!”
Fearless, Diego thought in disgust.
“And you think I do?” he asked.
Gawen took it for a rhetorical question until the continuing silence in the arena suggested Diego and everyone else was expecting a reply. Faren had yet to speak his mind.
“I would not have thought it possible, before now,” Gawen growled. “When did you suddenly lose your spine? When your human-gesha stepped on your ship?”
You’re making this horribly easy for me.
“Do you think I fear?” he repeated.
Even Gawen’s honor guard went tense at that, sensing this was no longer even a pretense at friendly conversation between equals. Diego Grothan did not repeat himself to anyone.
Gawen glared. “I heard you alright,” he said then, calmer than he had been since arriving. “No, I do not think you do. I think you have simply gone soft. Senator Eren was right about you and right about the planet. Rhea is ours and it should stay so. No one else has business there. Let the others scrape by. I do not care for what the GU thinks. We are the mightiest of them!”
Diego was, to be honest, disappointed. The argument about keeping Rhea he had expected, it wasn’t all that uncommon. Many had protested, even daring to question the will of the Elders, when they’d decreed that Rhea had to be “discovered”. It was such a vast resource for them, to have it taken away meant substantial losses not all were ready to sacrifice. Gawen was bound to agree with that, yes, but the last boast…
“You disgrace your training, Gawen,” Diego said, pronouncing it Gawen-the-fool, setting the other general’s valor squares to dangerously bright pulsing. “You mistake being mightier one-on-one and being mightier than the entire union . They will all rally against us. If we give them reason, they will do their very best to destroy us. Many have looked for this exact excuse, saying we cannot be trusted. We cannot give them that reason.”
“If all the galaxy were against us, I would still not betray what I am,” Gawen said. “I am a Brion. I stand for all of us.”
Diego stole a glance at Isolde. Then he slowly drew his spear. “So do I.”
Valor squares had many tricks built into them. Gawen’s often pulsed so bright in battle it was nearly impossible to see him. His own eyes had somehow been modified against that light. Diego went in half-blind.