Collision (Colliding Worlds Trilogy Book 1) Page 5

  He pulled down the glasses then slid them back on.

  “Draeken night shades,” she said. “I call them drades for short.”

  “That’s the worst slang word I’ve ever heard,” Nalea said from the cockpit.

  Sienna shrugged. “You’re just jealous you didn’t think of it.”

  “The Draeken came from a planet with a sun like ours, so they had to wear drades all the time on Sephia, where everyone lived on the dark side of the world. The Sephians are the opposite. If there’s one thing I’ve learned about Sephians, it’s that they like everything dark.”

  Sienna never could understand why the Sephians were so in love with dark colors. Maybe it was because they were a nocturnal race and had amazing night vision but could see less than a half-blind shrew during the day without corrective glasses. With oversensitive eyes, they kept everything insanely dim, even their computers. No wonder their skin sparkled.

  “We’re arriving at the base,” Nalea said.

  A minute later, the ship landed softly and silently on the base’s hangar deck.

  Sienna unbuckled her belts and helped Jax with his. When she headed to the door, Legian blocked her way. “Let me speak with Apolo first.”

  She frowned. “Okay.”

  He and Nalea stepped out to greet Apolo, while Sienna stayed back with Jax.

  “What are the odds I get out of this alive?” Jax said softly near her ear.

  “Good,” she said quickly.

  “You don’t sound confident.”

  Problem was, she wasn’t so sure.

  Chapter Seven

  Sienna and Jax waited just inside the ship as Apolo conversed with Legian and Nalea, two members of his trinity. His third member, Bente, stood to his right. Every Sephian leader had a trinity—a trio of their closest advisors. As usual, the Sephian leader wore the plain black Sephian uniform. No logos, decals, or emblems of any kind; there were no differences between uniforms. After being slaves for so long, it seemed as though the Sephians wanted little to do with hierarchy, though they did have a few ranks.

  Apolo was the highest ranking Sephian male on both Earth and Sephia; his mate, the Sephian leader, was back on Sephia. No doubt the distance from his tahren accounted some for Apolo’s dour mood. Tonight his dark hair, a touch longer than Legian’s, was mussed, likely from running his hands through it. He oozed raw sex appeal. No wonder he had been snagged by the most powerful woman of the Sephian race.

  After a couple minutes, Apolo placed a hand on Legian’s shoulder as he passed him and walked toward the ship, stopping a few feet from its steps. Apolo motioned Sienna and Jax off the ship, and Sienna stepped forward, putting herself between Apolo and Jax.

  Apolo tilted his head in her direction. “Thank you for taking such great risk for the Sephian people tonight. I’m glad to see you are unharmed, and I look forward to hearing what you’ve learned.”

  He then looked around Sienna to Jax and brought a hand to his heart. “Welcome to our base, Lieutenant.” His words were, as usual, spoken in near-perfect English, with only the slightest Sephian stilt. “I apologize that your choice to come here was taken from you. My people can be often overzealous in protecting that which is important. You may call me Apolo. I know your people have two names. My people do not. We refuse to wear the slave names given to our ancestors by the Draeken. I am the tahcaya of the Sephian people. In your language, my position is somewhat comparable to a general.”

  Apolo then gestured to the large hangar. “As you can see, this base is our ship, which we’ve buried into the landscape for anonymity.”

  Jax remained stoic, silent. Sienna suspected the soldier still considered himself more a prisoner of war than a visitor. Much like she’d felt at first.

  Apolo continued. “Despite the circumstances of your journey, I am pleased you are here. We have much to learn from one another. Rather than bombard you with questions, I believe you may be most comfortable first becoming acclimated to this environment. As your people say, make yourself at home. I will see to it that you have access to anything you need.” He motioned to the third member of his trinity, who stepped forward. “Bente here will be your guide during your stay with us. First, he will see to it that you can communicate with your commander so that he is aware of the circumstances.”

  “What if I want to return to my unit?” Jax asked.

  “I’ll see that arrangements are made, should you wish to return. However, I hope you will stay for at least a few hours so that we can discuss how best for me to meet your commander.”

  Jax’s eyes narrowed. “Three hours. No longer.”

  Apolo gave a small nod. His wrist-comm chimed, and he frowned. “I need to see to something. We will talk after you check in with your commander.” Without waiting for a response from Jax, the Sephian leader turned and walked away.

  “I’ll show you where you can make a call,” Bente said. He sounded polite enough, except Sienna knew Bente was anything but a nice guy. If Sienna were a gambler, she’d lay her money on the two being at each other’s throats in five minutes flat.

  “I’ll go with you,” she offered.

  “Sure,” Bente replied, and then motioned Jax down a hallway. “Pick up your feet, soldier. Try to keep up.”

  Where Nalea struggled with American vernacular, Bente had picked it up with ease. Sienna could almost see Jax’s glare burning into the Sephian’s back as he turned on his heel and followed his Sephian guide.

  3 minutes later.

  Bente shoved Jax against the wall. Jax twisted and slammed Bente against the wall.

  Bente chuckled dryly. “You must have one hell of a death wish, human. You think you could take me on? Even if you got past me,” he said with no sound of humor in his threat, “there’s a base full of Sephians here who would skin you alive. You think you can take us all on?”

  Jax wasn’t backing down. Not one inch. “Try to knock me around again, and I guarantee you’re going to be hurting.”

  Bente shoved him away. “If you put my people at risk, I don’t give a flying fuck how you fight. I will put you down.”

  Sienna rolled her eyes. “Enough already.” When neither moved, she glared at Bente. “Great job at making friends with humans, Bente. Way to go.”

  Bente narrowed his eyes before backing up a step. “Truce. For now.” He held out his hand.

  Jax looked at it for a very long moment then shook it. Bente patted Jax’s shoulder, and it was like some pressure valve had been released. A bit, at least.

  Bente started walking down the hall, and Sienna walked alongside Jax behind the Sephian. “I feel a man crush coming on. You two need some time alone?”

  Bente belted out a laugh, and then muttered a curse in English.

  “Geez, Ben. I know I didn’t teach you that one. You’ve been watching too much cable,” she said.

  He shrugged. “Not much else to do around here.”

  “Do all you guys speak English?” Jax asked.

  “And Spanish,” Sienna answered. “Many can speak six or seven other languages already.”

  Jax frowned. “How long have you been here?”

  “We studied your primary languages on our journey here. We also have weekly required language and humanities lessons,” Bente replied, not directly answering Jax’s question.

  “The Sephian language is so complicated, picking up new languages is a piece of cake for them. Hell, I’ve been trying to learn Sephian for three months and still don’t get it. And I’ve got two degrees and three languages under my belt.”

  “Or, maybe it’s because we’re smarter,” Bente said before stopping at a closed door. He swiped his hand over a touchpad on the wall, and the door opened with a whoosh. Inside, a young comm-tech sitting before several screens looked over his shoulder.

  “Tanel,” Bente began. “This is Jax. He needs to make a phone call.”

  “Oh. Okay,” the comm-tech replied and motioned for Jax to come in. “I can place a call through the Internet using v
oice over IP. I just need a phone number.”

  Jax turned to Bente. “Or, you could just give me back my phone, and I could use that.”

  “You get your gear back when Apolo says and not before,” Bente said. “So, do you want to make a call or not?”

  Jax’s eye ticked. “Yeah, I’ll make the call.” He headed into the room. When Bente followed, Jax added. “A little privacy?”

  Bente smirked and stepped back out. “I can always listen to the call later.”

  “Bente,” Sienna scolded. “You are not recording his call. How’s that going to inspire trust?”

  “It’s okay, Sienna,” Jax said. “I wouldn’t have believed him if he said otherwise.” He turned back to the comm-tech and made his call.

  Bente and Sienna stood in the hallway. She could overhear the call, but Jax spoke in code—numbers and random words—indecipherable to her, but she imagined the comm-tech would spend the next few hours translating it. During the last bit of the call, Jax switched to normal dialogue. “They’re treating me fine, and I’m going to talk with Apolo soon. I’ll call you again when I can.”

  A moment later, Jax entered the hallway.

  Sienna gave Jax a thoughtful look. “How’s Major Sommers handling you being here?”

  “I think he was surprised I was still alive.”

  “Probably because if positions were reversed, our guy would be dead already,” Bente said.

  “Nah,” Jax said. “We’d run all kinds of tests first then kill you.”

  “We’d better get going. Apolo’s room is on the other side of the base.” Sienna rushed the words out before Bente could snap back a retort.

  Bente smirked and motioned to Sienna. “After you.”

  She led them down the hallway. “This base is just the ship they came here in, so once you look at it like it’s a spaceship, everything makes more sense. You can use the screens on the walls to pull up maps, find out where someone is, or call someone.”

  “But you don’t have access,” Bente added to Jax.

  “You don’t have access yet,” Sienna clarified.

  Jax’s eyes narrowed. “You can see where anyone is at any time?”

  Sienna nodded. “Yes. There are cameras everywhere except inside quarters, and the computers log every time you enter a room.” She pointed to a touchpad. “See? Every room has one.”

  Jax looked at a touchpad on the wall like he was trying to process all the details of the place. “Everyone here military, or are there civilians based here as well?”

  Bente answered. “All Sephians, regardless of age, are considered warriors. We do not have a formalized military function like you have.”

  “I noticed.”

  Sienna cocked her head. “What do you mean?”

  “Haven’t seen many guards. Most of the folks seem pretty casual. No one’s geared up. This place doesn’t look like a very secure base, especially for being an HQ.”

  Bente shrugged. “We’re shorthanded. The Draeken controlled our world longer than our historical records date. All Sephians who have reached adulthood were born into slavery, so, for many of us, our military training was surviving the Noble War. We learn as we go.” Bente pointed at Jax. “But make no mistake. Our lack of training is not a sign of weakness. Everyone around you is a survivor and will do anything it takes to stay that way. Anything.”

  Jax ignored the veiled threat. “The Noble War. That where you fought the Draeken?”

  “Yes, and we beat them. Our race was nearly destroyed, but the Draeken fared even worse. We estimate the few thousand who survived the Noble War jumped off-world in a mass exodus executed in a single night. We destroyed every short-range vessel that attempted to escape, but one of their core ships got away. We tracked it to Earth, which is how we ended up here to save you pale-skins.”

  Jax raised a brow. “We pale-skins have done a pretty good job at taking care of ourselves before you came along, Goldilocks.”

  “You haven’t met the Draeken yet,” Bente said.

  “Maybe the Draeken aren’t the bad guys,” Jax mused.

  Sienna butted in. “Trust me, they are.”

  Tamping down her frustration, she walked faster. Jax slowed as they passed a closed door that beautifully strange a cappella music emanated from.

  Bente pointed at the door. “That room’s off limits.”

  “It’s where Sephians worship their gods. They are very protective of their beliefs,” Sienna said. “The gardens are the next level down. They’re gorgeous. Most of the Sephian food is grown down there. Hopefully, you stay long enough to see it.”

  “He isn’t staying,” Bente said.

  She let out a breath. A little help from Bente would’ve been nice at improving race relations. Instead, he posed in his classic I-don’t-give-a-shit stance. She ignored him and took the next right, which opened up into a massive space. She walked through the middle, ignoring the tables of Sephians watching them. “Here’s the Commons, where everyone eats. Pretty much just like any other cafeteria you’ve seen. Sephians are vegans, not that there’s anything wrong with that, but they could learn a thing or two about spices. At least they have beer.”

  She opened the cooler and grabbed three beers, handing one to Jax and one to Bente. “Thought we could use some refreshments along the way.”

  Jax nearly smiled as he opened his can. “Smart girl.”

  Paying no attention to Jax or Sienna, Bente drank his beer as he watched a table of Sephian females who looked up from their chatter every now and then to flash him flirty smiles.

  “Good to see your fan club made it, Ben,” Sienna said.

  He tossed the empty can into a receptacle. “Let’s get you to Apolo’s.” He took lead through the Commons and the hallways beyond.

  As they continued their walk, Jax looked around, taking in everything. Sienna wondered what his trained eyes noticed that she never had.

  “This is a massive ship,” Jax said.

  “I still get lost.” She motioned around them. “The rest of the base is mostly quarters or storage rooms.

  “Do you have a brig here?” Jax asked.

  Sienna thought for a moment then shrugged. “I don’t think so. I’ve never seen any cells.”

  “We have a brig,” Bente said. “But it’s your lucky day. Since you’re our guest, you get to bunk with me.”

  “Lucky me,” Jax replied with sarcasm. “Do you have any Draeken in the brig?”

  “Nope,” Bente replied. “The only good Draeken is a dead Draeken.”

  Jax’s gaze flashed to Bente before turning away.

  “I’ve only seen one,” Sienna said. “They’d have a harder time blending in than Sephians because of their wings.”

  Bente chimed in. “The Draeken have sickly pale skin, much like humans, but they tend to be taller. And, yes, they have wings.”

  “Wings would make any attempt to secretly infiltrate our world much more difficult,” Jax said. There was a lot of thinking going on in Jax’s head by the look on his face. After taking a big drink, he looked directly at Bente. “Can the wings be amputated?”

  Bente nodded. “They can, and we’ve seen it done. But it’s rare. Generally only half-breeds have it done. More out of shame than anything. It’s rare a pure-blood would ever do it. Their wings are a source of pride, and proof of lineage is displayed across the skin. With how low their numbers now are, they would have to be desperate to go to such measures. Also, the wings are fully functional. To remove them is akin to removing a major organ. Their ability to take flight has given them a significant advantage in many battles.”

  “What are their key weaknesses? How did you defeat them?” Jax asked as if he were studying for an exam.

  “We beat them with just enough luck and far too much sacrifice,” a voice said from a doorway.

  All heads jerked around to see Apolo step out into the hall. “Lieutenant, it’s my hope that you can help bridge our peoples.”

  Jax gave a small nod. “I’ll se
e what I can do.”

  Apolo gestured to his room. “I said we would talk, however, I gained some valuable information not long after you landed that we must address first. I’d like you to join me on this mission so you can see first-hand what we’re up against.” He looked across the three faces. “I have just learned the location of a Draeken camp.”

  Chapter Eight

  Sephians. Draeken. Aliens. In no way could either pass as human, yet both were now inexplicably connected to Sienna’s people. And here she sat, left behind in a makeshift underground base, as the two fought over her kind. One for domination, the other for freedom.

  She felt so useless.

  Sienna, as a noncombatant, was staying behind. Finding herself fidgeting nonstop, she headed over to the training room to burn off some energy.

  As she hefted the blaster in her hand, she couldn’t help but appreciate Sephian technology. She could shoot the hell out of a target without ever having to reload. And that was exactly what she did. She didn’t know how long she fired, all she knew was that by the time she released pressure on the trigger, the target was nothing but smoking black ash. A burnt-metal scent and haze filled the room, but her patience hadn’t improved.

  At least she could hit the target. Shooting laser guns was completely different from shooting regular guns. Give her a twenty-two and she could nail a beer bottle from twenty yards. Laser guns, on the other hand, were much more sensitive and precise, even without the kick, making it nearly impossible to hit a target more than several feet away. Good for a sniper, bad for Sienna “Shotgun” Wolfe.

  Even practicing a full hour every day, she still didn’t have as good an aim with a blaster as she had with her Glock.

  “Nice shooting.”

  She snapped around and grabbed at her heart with one hand. “Jesus, Lea. I could have shot you.”

  Nalea pursed her lips. “That would have been a mean thing to do. I don’t think I would be your friend anymore if you did that.”

  “Yeah. Because you’d be dead.”