Alien General's Fated (Brion Brides 5)(19)

Ryden looked at Aria, who was glaring at Klaen with badly hidden animosity in her eyes.

"The ambassador managed to rescue herself. I merely gave aid," Ryden said. "She was well within outsmarting the hive mind. It should not come as a surprise to me that this council insists on wasting talent as well as my time."

Aria's eyes were wide, but several of her colleagues were nodding.

"That is fair," said one of the Palians. "Ambassador Harris has been most useful to us. She should have been given full rights a long time ago."

Ryden saw Aria's gaze flick to another Terran, a short, dark-haired man, who ignored her scowl. There was something between those two, but it didn't concern him. Instead, he nodded.

"Ambassador Harris is one of the few people on this moon who seems to realize we're in the middle of a war. She selflessly attempted to sabotage the hive mind, while all of you do nothing but find ways to delay me."

He let his voice drop to a low growl.

"This council is corrupted, but I do not have the time to purge it of its ailments at this point. There are traitors in your midst. I will give you one chance to explain why you've called three armies away from the front lines before I do what I should have done from the start and shut this council down until order has been restored."

That, unsurprisingly, brought the hall to a chorus of angry murmurs. Even his own ambassadors were frowning at him. One of them attempted to reason with him, showing exactly how much time he'd spent away from Briolina.

"General..." he said. "We understand your frustration, but this is getting out of hand."

"Yes," Ryden cut in curtly. "I agree. This is a waste of time. I am forced to attend this meeting, while the Clayors are out there. I managed to agitate the hive mind earlier. I do not doubt there will be revenge."

"Why did you do it then?" an ambassador asked. "This is an example of your reckless—"

"He did it to call the bastards out," Stavor said in his deep, rough voice. "To make them rash, to force them to make mistakes."

Support from him was unexpected, but Ryden accepted it without comment. The council seemed upset that their presumed ally was agreeing with him.

Ambassador Klaen was clearing his throat again. Fortunately for him, Ryden had already ruled him out as the traitor. Klaen was simply old and set in his ways. He had been with the council for so long that it was natural for him to protect it.

"General," he said carefully. "We thank you for your service and for rescuing Ambassador Harris, but we have called the commanders here to relieve you of your duties. We know your heart calls to the battlefields—"

Ironically, that was true. Ryden would have liked nothing better—maybe short of Aria's hot, soft body against his—than to take his ship and go fight an easy, understandable war. But Eleya had been right, damn her. That was the duty he was given and he'd see it through to the end.

He now knew how badly he was needed there. The hive mind was a powerful entity beyond his abilities to comprehend, but it was still only one. It kept winning because a single mind with a single purpose would always beat hundreds of voices each pulling in their own direction.#p#分页标题#e#

To counter that, Ryden had to be like one as well.

"I will hear no more of this," he cut in, allowing his deep voice to carry to every corner of the hall again. "The last time I stood here, I hoped I would be able to work alongside you, but I see now that was a mistake. You may be fit to lead in times of peace, but this is war and this ends now. I asked for an explanation, a real concern. Spare me the politics, they hold no value to me."

The Palians spoke, this time.

"General," their ambassador said, smiling oddly. "We called our army here to give you support."

It was hard to surprise him, but that was definitely something he hadn't assumed. Ryden didn't let it show, even when the ambassador went on.

"We agree with you. About the traitors. About us not being prepared to fight this war. We called our Commander Goy here only after we heard of the other two. Do not be offended."

A smirk dragged the corners of his lips upward. The damn Palians, they were always full of surprises. He couldn't say he liked the smug bastards, exactly. Palians were a nurturing species, always looking for peaceful ways to settle things, that's why they were often used as conciliators. But they had the annoying habit of coming to the right conclusion.

"I am not," he said simply. "It's good to see not everyone on this council is irredeemable."

The council murmured again, but the general had had enough of them. He signaled his warriors, knowing that somewhere, the hive mind was enjoying the show.

Hundreds of Ryden’s elite warriors marched to the hall. Ryden saw Aria wince, looking around in bewilderment. There was a sad look in her eyes, reminding him of the one of fear.

Stavor tensed up, but he rose calmly, a spark of danger in his eyes.

"This is a coup," he stated. "I see why I was called here."

Ryden turned to him. "This is martial law. I declared it days ago, but I see it needs to be established more firmly. As for you, what you said before is true. The Clayors need to be rooted out before their support gets here."

Stavor nodded.

"I agree," he said, looking at Ryden seriously. "Trust me, I agree. But this is where we are different. I follow orders. Your orders were to reinforce security on Ilotra. After it became known the Clayors were already here, the task to find and kill them was added. But you've gone beyond that."

"There is no way to do this separately, as you can see," Ryden said coldly.

"All that means is that you didn't look hard enough," Stavor replied.

Before Ryden could say anything, Aria spoke.

"He did," she blurted out, looking startled in the next second as though she hadn't intended to say that out loud.

She turned to the council, her eyes steely.

"He is right," she said. "General Ryden is right. I have seen the enemy. You're helping it. Some of you are doing this on purpose, one of us is urging the discontent on, but you are all a part of this. The enemy is here and I can assure you, we are not ready."

A burst of pride warmed Ryden from the inside, the makings of a smirk on his lips. The little Terran was proving to be more and more to his liking.

Aria looked toward Ryden then.

"He is," she added. "And when you're thanking him afterward, I want you to remember this moment."



She fell silent after that. Ryden ignored the desire to throw Aria over his shoulder and take her away from it all, see if she had changed her mind. Her words were sincere, because he could hear the resentment in her voice. She didn't want to believe what she did. She wished to deny the truth, but could not. That spoke to a strong character in his mind, one he liked a lot.

He turned to the council, knowing that once he'd done it, there would be no going back. Bad choices for bad times, but he only did what needed to be done.



"You will all return to your quarters and stay there until further notice," he said, speaking over the rising protests. "You will be ready to move and evacuate at a moment's notice. As of this moment, I'm disbanding the council until this conflict is over."

At that, the shrill screams rose to the sky, but he ignored them. His warriors got to work escorting the ambassadors back to their rooms, essentially arresting them. Some went kicking and screaming, others—like the Palians and Brions—accepted his judgment with cold dignity.

He wondered if he'd still have the support of the Palian fleet after that, but he chose not to single anyone out. It was better if he knew where they all were.#p#分页标题#e#

The commanders stayed when all the ambassadors had been led away. The Palian was observing him coldly, Stavor was the picture of calm as he always was, and the Fremma had yet to speak. The scavenger species of Fremmas had no worlds to call their own, even though they'd been offered a home world.

Their perpetual home was in space, the biggest fleet to ever sail together, composed of ships mostly found, bought, borrowed or simply stolen from others. They looked a lot like humans, save for their pale greenish skin and the wires at the back of their heads, which were connected to their partly mechanical bodies.

Stavor moved first, approaching him without fear. It was a posturing move, but Ryden knew the warlord had the strength to give him a decent fight. He wouldn't win, of course.

"Are you going to stop me or do I need to threaten you?" the Koliar asked.

"I will not stop you unless you make the mistake of threatening me," Ryden replied.

Stavor snorted.

"My ship will stay," he said. "The Clayor are the main enemy right now, but mark my words, Brion. When this is done, I will bring you to justice."

Ryden didn't answer that. Stavor gave him one last look and left. The Palian was next.

"My fleet still supports you," he said, "but that might not have been the wisest move."

"Perhaps," Ryden said. "I doubt I was sent here to make friends."

Finally, the Fremma approached him, a short warrior with his trademark wires buzzing.

"And you," Ryden asked. "Who do the scavengers support?"

The man gave him a wide, mischievous smile. "We side with the winners, of course."