Colliding Worlds Trilogy 01 - Collision (17 page)

“A gesture well received,” the general replied.

“Now, if you’d like to come with me, I have a room for us to talk candidly. We have much to discuss.” Apolo gestured down a hallway.

“Show me the money,” the general said. Bente and one of the general’s men stepped in front, and the two leaders walked side-by-side, with their officers falling in behind and the remaining soldiers forming up around them.

A dark-skinned soldier saddled up next to Jax. “Good to see you, old buddy.”

“Ace. About time you showed your ugly mug.” Jax grasped onto the other man’s forearm in a half man-hug. Aside from their skin color, the two could’ve been twins in the way they moved. Incredibly yummy twins. Like a bowl of vanilla and chocolate ice cream. The pair stepped in line behind the general and Apolo, and Legian and Sienna joined suit after them.

Sienna was far enough behind the leaders that she couldn’t make out their words. Not that she tried. She assumed it was casual chit-chat, as they would wait to reach Apolo’s secure quarters to get into the juicier stuff. She hobbled with her cane to keep up with the herd migrating toward Apolo’s room. Until she noticed who was right behind her.

She stopped, turned to the side, and held out her hand. “Major, nice to see you again.”

He looked down at it, and then obliged with a handshake.

She stepped to the side. “Oh, Major, meet Legian. Legian, Major Sommers.” She kept her introductions quick, pointing at each man.

“It’s an honor to meet you, Major. I am a member of Apolo’s trinity. We serve as Apolo’s chief advisors in all military matters. ”

“There’s three of them. Hence the ‘trinity’ thing,” she said with air quotes. “Legian, Bente, and Nalea. Bente’s up there. I guess we should catch up so you can meet — ”

Only Sienna didn’t get to finish her sentence. Her hand flew to cover her mouth. “Oh, God. No.”

Standing before Apolo and the general was one of the younger Sephian males. Jeffers, Jappers? She couldn’t remember his name. It didn’t matter. What mattered was that he was holding a blood-charge. Bente and a Ranger stood on either side of the man, both poised to attack.

“Giphers. Stand down,” Apolo commanded as he stepped between the general and the young Sephian. “Give me the charge. Now.”

The Sephian fell to his knees and started to cry. “I’m sorry. I have no choice. They’ve got her. They’ve got my sister.”

“Who has your sister, Giphers?” Apolo asked gently, yet his voice clearly demanding an answer.

“They’ll kill her if I fail. My life for hers, they said.” He looked up, tears streaming down his face. A scowl came over his face. “We shouldn’t have come here. We never should have left Sephia. They need us there. Let the humans deal with the Draeken. We don’t owe them anything.” And with that, Giphers moved his fingers, and the blood-charge lit up. He tossed the device in the air. He lowered his head to his hands and wept.

Legian threw Sienna to the ground. He landed on her leg, and sharp pain tore through it. She gasped and frantically tried to push him off her.

“Get down now.” Legian yelled, yanking the major to the floor. He was so close, the harsh words made her ears ring. He moved enough to take some weight off her leg. “Stay down,” he whispered to Sienna before covering her completely with his body. She tried to roll him over, to protect him, but it would have been easier moving a sleeping bull.

From there, everything seemed to move in slow motion. Apolo dove toward the hovering charge. Jax and Ace tackled the general. Apolo grabbed the charge and threw it down the hall as Bente covered him. It exploded mid-flight, exactly as it was designed.

Sienna had never seen a blood-charge go off before. Not even when the Draeken attacked the base. It was bizarre seeing an explosion without any sound. At first it looked like dust filled the air. But she knew in that poisoned dust were small x-shaped barbs. And they flew everywhere.

Giphers collapsed with a scream. Apolo and Bente hit the floor hard.

Several others still on their feet fell to the ground, grasping at wounds that she could not yet see.

Then, the world speeded back to normal. Blood splattered the walls. Men yelled and moaned.

“Sienna? Sienna, are you hurt?”

She looked up into Legian’s concerned eyes at the same time she felt his hand against her cheek. “I’m fine.” Her dazed words came out like a shout. “You okay?”

His look of relief was instant and brief. He gave her a crushing kiss. The next instant his frown returned, and he jumped up and ran toward Apolo.

Sienna turned to the major. He held a bloody hand to his shoulder. She reached out to him. “You okay, Buzzcut?”

He smiled, and then he cursed. “Been through worse. What the fuck was that?”

“Called a blood-charge. Basically, it’s a grenade full of nasty flak.”

“No shit. Got a piece in my shoulder.” He nudged at the gushing wound.

She yanked off the bandana tied around her wrist and brushed his hand away. “We got to get you to Med. The barbs are a bitch. They’re coated with poison and anti-coagulant. Here. Let me.” She pressed the bandana against the wound, and stopped cold.

The nuzzle of a gun pressed into her temple.

Oh, hell.

“Don’t move,” the major ordered, and Sienna froze like she’d been sprayed with liquid nitrogen. He placed his hand over hers and pulled away with a wince, keeping pressure on his wound while removing her hand from under his. Her bloodied hand fell to her pants, and the cold metal barrel nudged harder against her temple.

“Not. Moving,” Sienna said through clenched teeth. She couldn’t see the Ranger holding a gun to her head, but she’d bet dollars to dickwads he took his job seriously.

She wanted to kick and scream and hurt him. Instead, she sat there like a pansy. This was one of those times she wished she had more training under her belt. Legian would have known what to do at a time like this. Sienna? Not so much.

She looked out of the corner of her eye since she couldn’t turn her head. The hallway had turned into a complete cluster fuck. Golden and crimson blood splattered the walls, mixing together to form bizarre abstract art. Men lay on the floor and leaned against walls, gritting at their injuries. Sephians held guns on the Rangers, and vice versa. The atmosphere was tense and surreal at the same time. The whole situation had become a total fucked-up-the-ass face-off.

Sienna caught Legian out of the corner of her eye, and he looked furious, like he was about to do something really, really stupid. She mouthed the word “no.”

He frowned but at least didn’t try to play hero. Keeping an eye on her, he knelt by a wobbly Apolo, pressing his hand over his leader’s arm, where blood continued to spill, which meant it had been a very serious injury to not heal quickly. Bente was down. And at least a half dozen Uzis were pointing at them. Even though she had no visible injury, her heart felt like it’d been shredded by the blood-charge.

“Listen up,” she commanded as best she could with a gun pressed into her temple. “I know it doesn’t feel like it right now, but this has all been a big misunderstanding.”

A sharp laugh cut the air. “Misunderstanding?” Major Sommers retorted. “That’s when my wife wants to watch
Desperate Housewives
when a game’s on. No. I think this has gone a ways beyond a simple misunderstanding.”

She scowled at Buzzcut. “That guy …” she pointed to the bloody mess that used to be a Sephian worker bee named Giphers “was clearly targeting both Apolo and General Jerrick. A terrorist threat against both teams. That makes it even more important for us to partner together. We’re after the same thing. We should be allies, not enemies.” Sienna gave a half smile to the stoic Sephian commander. “Apolo will get to the bottom of it. But we need each other if we’re going to beat the Draeken.”

With Legian’s help, Apolo pulled himself to his feet. She was impressed that the man was even conscious after losing so much blood. He seemed unfazed by the guns pointing at him. He turned to face the general, who fortunately looked like he pulled through the incident unscathed. But, it was hard to tell with the black uniforms. Apolo eyed the man, the
soullare
that vined around one eye making his gaze all the more intense. “I give you my word as a military leader that I will get to the bottom of this outrage. And I promise you justice will be both swift and merciless,” Apolo said.

Sienna’s heart lifted. At that moment she knew she would charge into any battle with the Sephian leader any day.

The general, however, appeared less than swayed. “I have no doubt. But the fact stands, Apolo. You can’t even control your own people.”

With comical timing, the entire staff of med-tecs came racing around the corner like a bouquet of flower power. Sienna had always found it ironic that the med-tecs dressed in such a sharp contrast from the other Sephians. She held her breath as a barrage of guns swung in the newcomers’ direction. The med-tecs stumbled to a stop, dropping supplies and nearly tripping over each other. If the situation hadn’t been so dire, she would have found the Stooges show comical. They stared wide-eyed, looking from Apolo to the fiasco and back again. Risa was near the back of the group, flat against the wall, looking more freaked out than Sienna had ever seen her.

Apolo held his uninjured arm toward the med-tecs. “Allow my people to help your injured men. Their blood will not clot without the antitoxin. They will die without assistance.”

The general looked over his bloodied men, and then nodded tightly.

Apolo motioned to the dozen or so med-tecs. “It was a blood-charge. Help the humans first. And get Bente to Med fast.” Two raced toward Bente who lay unconscious on the ground. Blood poured from his back. They had him on a stretcher before the others gingerly stepped forward and spread out among the injured.

A young med-tec rushed to Apolo and swabbed him — the Sephian version of injections — with the antitoxin. Apolo stopped her when she rolled up her sleeve. “Help the humans first. Put the call out for more donors to heal the wounded Sephians.”

“But you’re hurt,” the med-tec stammered.

Apolo glared at her. She paled, turned, and hustled to a fallen Sephian. Legian grabbed a cloth binding out of her bag and wrapped it around Apolo’s arm to staunch the blood. Then, without a pause, he bared his chest to the Sephian leader.

Apolo shook his head. “No, friend. I need you at full strength. I will take no more of your energy today. My wound is minor. I’ll wait for a donor once I know the more seriously injured are secure.”

In response, Legian gave him a hard look. He slowly fastened his shirt and soldiered up at Apolo’s side. The general stood firm a few feet away. The leaders watched over them, and Sienna turned her attention to see the hallway turn into a makeshift hospital. Med-tecs injected every injured Ranger with the antitoxin before bandaging their wounds. By some miracle, it looked like only Giphers had been killed, although several looked seriously injured. This wasn’t over yet. Not by a long shot.

Sienna no longer felt pressure against her temple, and she looked up to see Jax watching her, his hand on Ace’s gun held inches from her head. After a tight nod from the major, Ace backed off, slid the gun back into its holster, and helped his CO to his feet. A hand came in front of her, and she grabbed it. Jax pulled her to her feet, saving her a lot of work since her leg brace had gotten royally screwed up when Legian knocked her to the ground. She couldn’t find her cane so she leaned against the wall, while the major walked toward the leaders with Jax and Ace on either side. He paused to give her the bloodied bandana. His shoulder had a fresh bandage on it. She tied the soaked piece of cloth around a belt loop. It would come clean. It always did.

When the trio reached Apolo and Jerrick, Sienna couldn’t make out what they were saying. Using the wall for support, she hobbled closer. A Sephian sat against the wall, and she stepped over him, her foot bumping his wounded leg. He cursed. “Oops. Sorry,” she apologized and continued on her way.

When Sienna neared the men, Legian stayed at Apolo’s side but held an arm out to her. She grabbed it, and used his balance and strength to stand at his side. The others paid little attention to her, too focused on the conversation at hand. She didn’t know what she’d missed, but already the men were sounding frustrated.

Jax stepped closer to his father. “I have seen the enemy, sir. The Draeken are like nothing we’ve ever faced. Their technology is far more advanced than ours. The Sephians need us as much, maybe even more than we need them. Despite what went down here today, it will take all of us working together to defeat the Draeken.”

The general’s cheeks darkened, and his fists clenched. Sienna suddenly felt like an outsider watching a family squabble.

“Lieutenant, some feel you should be hung for treason. Because you are my son and a soldier, I gave you the benefit of the doubt. How do you know you’re not being played, Jackson? How do you know what you saw wasn’t a setup to coerce us into an alliance?”

Jax didn’t back down an inch. “Because what I saw decimated the Sephian troops. I saw over two hundred Sephians killed in minutes. What I saw will destroy us all if we don’t stand together.”

“If they are as vile as you say, why haven’t they attacked us? Why have they only attacked Sephians?”

“Why they haven’t attacked us until today, you mean. Look around you, sir. I think it’s pretty clear. The Draeken have just declared war on the United States.”

The general glanced over the hallway and waved a hand in the air. “Bah. I saw no Draeken today. We have no proof. It was more likely mutiny by Apolo’s own people.”

Apolo stepped forward out of Legian’s supporting arms. “I will get to the bottom of today’s mishap. I give you my word. Stay, General. Together we can work this out.”

General Jerrick shook his head. “I think we’ve talked enough for one day.”

“It is my greatest hope that we can form an alliance, for the safety of your world,” Apolo replied with genuine concern.

Jerrick watched Apolo for another second, then nodded to Sommers who in turn organized the Rangers. The general took a deep breath and looked around. Without another word, he started to walk down the hallway back toward the ramp, with Ace at his side.