Jokingly, Aria considered the method of distraction and then firmly set it down as fantasy material for later. She had a job to do first.
The crew manning Ilotra's command center was possibly even less thrilled about Ryden than she was, though. When Ryden and Aria entered, it was obvious that the crew had been informed of their upcoming visit.
A man in a GU's captain uniform came to greet Ryden, an unmistakable look of dread on his face. Aria wanted to assure him that Ryden was only dangerous to their enemies, but she wasn't entirely sure. Maybe it was just her that he seemed to want to keep alive. For what purpose, she wondered.
"General," the man said. "I'm Captain Algos, I run... I am usually the one running security on Ilotra."
Aria saw the general measure Algos from head to toe and saw the disgusted grin on his face.
That man is great at making new friends, she thought.
"Are you?" Ryden asked.
The captain looked puzzled by his question.
"Yes, General," he said, uncertain. "Yes, I am the highest-ranking security officer on Ilotra."
"No," Ryden said, clearly relishing the situation. "I mean, are you calling what you're doing here security?"
Aria had to give Captain Algos credit. He frowned and stared at the general, even if he had to look up to do that.
"Yes," he said coldly. "This might not be up to your standards, General, but this isn't a Brion warship, it doesn't need—"#p#分页标题#e#
"Watch it," Ryden cut him off, giving the captain a hard look. "I know Ilotra isn't, strictly speaking, a military structure. But that being the reason this place isn't run like one is absurd. Ilotra isn't a warship, true. It's merely the central point of the entire Galactic union , gathering all the political and economic elite together here, on this little moon. On Briolina, I've visited camps meant for children that I would have had a harder time conquering."
Captain Algos chose wounded pride over wisdom, Aria noticed, when he crossed his hands across his chest furiously.
"I will not be yelled at before my men," he snarled. "You may have the council's approval to run Ilotra under this threat, but I take pride in my service and I will not let anyone come here and criticize what my fortress looks like in a low-level threat mode."
Aria expected to see his head rolling on the floor, but instead, she found the general grinning. It seemed Captain Algos was as surprised as everyone else in central control, considering they'd all backed away halfway into his first sentence.
"Better," Ryden said, smirking, "now you're beginning to sound like a man. I must warn you against speaking to me like that again though, if you do not want your head to be mounted on my trophy wall."
The captain glared, but eventually seemed to accept that it was the best he was going to get.
"I will man the important parts of this fortress's defense with my own warriors," Ryden said, walking around, motioning for Algos to continue. "The Conqueror will provide support from orbit. It's also ready to deploy hundreds of trained warriors on the surface where and when they are needed. What we need to fear the most is a stealth attack, as was made obvious from today. Now."
The general turned back to Captain Algos so suddenly the man almost jumped, but he regained his composure at the last moment.
"You said something about low-level threat mode being in action. The time to raise the level was when you first learned of the Clayor, but we have to make do with raising it right now. Tell me what you have."
Captain Algos went on to explain what they had, with Aria providing additional details she thought the general should know. She turned out to be quite useful, as it was. Captain Algos was very surprised by her knowledge, which only made Aria want to yell at him, because she'd been trying to talk to him for months.
Since it wasn't the time to bring up personal grudges, she let it go. They mostly discussed repair works on the shield generator and other defensive measures that could be done in preparation for the actual fight.
***
She aided the general as best she could, but eventually he had to deal with matters that didn't concern her, so she showed herself out. The tinge of disappointment was eased by the parting look Ryden gave her, telling her she wasn't alone in regretting having to part.
The joy she felt at that was short-lived however, because her feelings were nothing compared to her continued concerns. The attraction she felt was at once annoying and so obvious she barely even took it into consideration.
So far, the general hadn't been that bad. But a part of her couldn't let go of the vision she'd had of him beforehand.
When you hadn't seen him yet, her mind pointed out.
Aria prided herself on making rational decisions, but Ryden had her doubting her convictions. Everything he did seemed to be good—like making preparations for the possible attack—but all of it was still carried out with threats. And whenever he lost his temper and showed his warrior side, he looked like the monster she feared he was. Aria wondered if a monster was what they needed.
She walked back to her quarters deep in thought. Sota was probably waiting for her report, but Aria didn't feel like meeting the leader of the Terran ambassadors right about then. All she wanted was a hot bath to relax in after the stress of the day and a chance to wrap her brain around everything that had happened. And then a very cold one to take away the absurd yearning she felt every time her eyes fell upon the general.
Apparently life wasn't going to be kind to her that day. Stepping into the quarters she shared with the other Terrans, hoping to sneak past unseen to her rooms, she found Sota already waiting for her. Aria sighed, seeing there was no escape. She greeted the aging ambassador, receiving a curt bow in return. Sota was shorter than Aria, with dark black hair reaching his ears and deep hazel eyes.
"You've had quite a day," he said instead of a greeting.
Aria pursed her lips. There were days when she liked the man's straight-to-the-point attitude, but this wasn't one of them. She'd wanted some peace and quiet before, apparently, they would all be in the middle of an actual war. It felt so weird to think that.#p#分页标题#e#
She'd never thought she might see a space war with her own eyes. Despite living on Ilotra and spending every waking moment in the company of aliens, Aria still wanted to say it sounded exactly like something out of a science fiction movie.
"Yes," she told Sota, nodding. "Can we do this later, Sota?"
"No, I'm afraid we can't postpone this attack on us until you feel well-rested enough to converse with me."
"That's not what I meant," Aria snapped.
"I know," Sota said, motioning for her to sit. "But time is of the essence here. What is that Brion bastard up to?"
Aria’s brows shot up. She’d never heard Sota refer to anyone like that; the man was courteous to a fault. She sat down, still chewing on this new development.
"He's reinforcing Ilotra. They're trying to estimate the damage to the shield generator."
"All right, he wants to turn on the bubble. That's predictable. What is he generally planning to do?"
"What do you mean?" Aria asked.
The man sighed.
"He's a Brion," he said. "You saw how he handled things today. Do you think he's a threat and what are you doing to stop him?"
Many things had happened to Aria that day. She'd nearly died in an explosion and almost been sucked into space. Yet Sota's words were the first to make her angry.
"You heard him," she said, slowly, to make sure the other ambassador understood she was being serious. "General Ryden is not a threat to us right now. He came here to help. I thought my job was to try to control him when he stepped out of line. Why would I stop him?"
Sota gave her a stern look, one that made her blood boil.
"I see I might have misjudged you," he said coldly. "I thought you would be good for the job because you have spirit and you speak Brionese tolerably. I see I should have picked a man for this task. One not so easily distracted from what's important here."
Aria was up before he could properly finish his sentence and the slap echoed loudly in the room. Sota didn't raise his hand to strike her back. Instead he stood from the chair, his dark eyes cold and unforgiving.
"Never do that again," he warned her.
"Stop talking nonsense then," Aria threw back at him. "How dare you? I think he is right so far because I think he is right, not because I think he's hot."
"So you admit to being attracted to him," Sota said, like that proved his point.
"Of course," Aria said, rolling her eyes. "Did you see him? I dare you to go out and find a single woman with a healthy sex drive that doesn't agree and maybe then I'll let you get away with saying that. Until then, don't we have much more important things to consider?"
"Like what?" Sota asked.
"What he said," Aria said, despairing.
Was everyone but her blind and deaf?
"That someone in here helped the enemy," she said. "That someone let the Clayors inside."
Sota fell silent at that. Aria wouldn't forgive him for being an asshole, but she knew he took the Clayors seriously at least.
"You really think we have a traitor on Ilotra," he said, deep in thought.