Silas: Imperial Warrior (A Sci-Fi Alien Warrior Romance) (17 page)

He held up a hand to cut her off. “I’m not going to let anything happen to you. You...you mean so much to me. You—” Silas shook his head, as if lost for words. “I’m not going to let this happen. Do you believe in me?”

Katia nodded, mutely.

“Then believe me.”

Chapter Eleven: The New Plan

“We can’t let this happen.”

“Do you have any idea what you’re suggesting?” Hamara asked over the comm link. “If the Empress doesn’t back you on this, then it’s treason. She’ll have you killed.”

“She’ll have to find me first,” Silas muttered.

Hamara shot him a look. “She
would
. She’d find you and then she’d have you killed. Slowly. In front of the rest of us. Is that what you want to happen?”

“No,” he replied. “But I won’t abandon this planet to the Fremeri.”

He was on the small ship that Cress had arrived on. Cress was standing behind him, fidgeting nervously as they talked. This wasn’t a secure channel, so if for any reason the Empress decided to request the logs for the comms on this ship, she’d be able to see and hear this entire exchange. And that would give her all the proof she needed that Silas was a traitor to the cause or whatever she’d try to pin on him.

They'd gone to Hamara first. Cress seemed to think that she'd be the most sympathetic to what they wanted to do, and she was actually on Gathra and could speak to Ammaline in person about trying to help the humans.

Unsurprisingly, she didn't seem thrilled about this prospect.

"You go to Earth and then you come back all changed," Hamara was saying. "What happened to you out there?"

"He met a girl," Cress supplied.

"Stuff it, Cress," Silas warned. "She has nothing to do with this."

"Oh, come on, Silas. She has everything to do with this, and you know it. Before you came here, you wouldn't even have considered something like this, and now you're trying to get us all to go against Her Imperial Majesty so you can save your girl."

"Is that what's going on here?" Hamara wanted to know. "Because that's actually better than what I thought was happening."

"What did you think?" Silas asked, already sure he didn't want to know.

"That you were losing your mind. But if you're trying to protect someone then that makes more sense."

He pinched the bridge of his nose with his fingers. "Will you just listen to me?" he asked. "It doesn't matter what my reasons are. I'm not abandoning this planet to the Fremeri. The Empress' plan is a bad one. So what if we cripple their home planet? They'll have this one. It won't weaken them when we have to fight them, it will just make everything take longer. We need to strike now."

All he wanted was for them to hear the wisdom in his words. It was there, Silas knew it was. "Listen," he continued. "We're HIMA, and I know that comes with heavy responsibility. We're meant to serve the Empress' interests and keep her lands safe. Our jurisdiction doesn't extend out this far, and I understand that. But please. Please think about this."

Both Cress and Hamara stared at him like he was speaking in a different language. Hamara sighed after a moment and then nodded. "As much as I really don't want to get killed, you're right. We can't just let the Fremeri have their way. I'll talk to Her Imperial Majesty."

Silas breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank you, Hamara."

She saluted him and then grinned. "Nice to see you're not a prisoner, a corpse, or a traitor, Captain. Although, I guess that last one is still up for debate, isn't it?"

"
Dismissed
, Hamara," Silas said firmly, shaking his head.

When the screen went back to being a windshield, Silas sighed and dropped his head into his hands.

Cress came up to stand next to the seat. "You know, I..." He trailed off, sounding unsure. "You know I'm going to follow you, right?"

Silas looked at him. "What?"

"I'm going to follow you. There was never a question of that. I think provoking Ammaline is a terrible idea, but if you're doing it, then I'm doing it, too."

"Cress...you don't have to do that. You don't have to follow me if you don't agree with it. Because Hamara's right. If she doesn't agree, then Ammaline will have us all killed, starting with me. Wouldn't you much rather be on the sidelines saying 'I told you so'?"

Cress rolled his eyes at that. "No. I wouldn't. I'd rather be able to say that I stood with you and did the right thing."

He was touched, actually. Cress had always been behind him, but he'd always been his friend, too. "Thanks, Cress," Silas said, reaching over to clap him on the shoulder. "Now we just have to wait and see what she says."

It was a long wait, too. Silas didn't want to go back to Katia's without an answer. If she said no, then Hamara was under orders to try to find others in the army who would be sympathetic to the cause and not unwilling to defect if need be. They would all end up being fugitives, provided they survived the Fremeri, and Silas knew that wasn't an appealing prospect.

He so wanted to do this the right way, with the full support of the Empress and the entire might of HIMA, but he had made Katia a promise, and no matter how it had to happen, he was going to do it.

So they waited.

He filled Cress in on what had happened to him and how he'd gotten to Earth and how he'd met Katia, and listened to Cress talk about how he'd come to find him.

They went through the process of getting the spare tablet that had been on board the ship registered to Silas, and he went through his messages, touched to see that people had missed him and had sent him messages and holo vids while he'd been missing.

Katia probably had dinner cooking by now, and he sighed, wishing he was there to eat it instead of here, waiting to find out if he was going to have to become a traitor to the very people he had sworn to protect.

Almost two hours after they had made the call to Hamara, the trill of a call coming in broke the silence.

Cress and Silas exchanged looks, and Silas answered the call to see Hamara's smug face. "Well?" he asked, feeling like his heart was trying to come out of his mouth. If this hadn't worked then he'd need to make a plan for what he was going to do. How he was going to outrun the Empress once he'd killed the Fremeri. If this hadn't worked then... Well. He'd have to do some serious thinking. It seemed like it was taking forever for Hamara to start talking.

"Gentlemen," she said finally. "You'd better get prepared. Under the orders of Her Imperial Majesty, HIMA is going to war."

War. What a word. Silas had never been to war before, but he had some ideas about it. Cress looked positively green at the notion of it, and so Silas brought him home--that is, back to Katia's house--with him so he could eat and sleep and prepare.

Katia had dinner on the table and an anxious look on her face when they came in, and she barely greeted Cress before pinning Silas with her gaze. "Well?"

He smiled and opened his arms for her. "HIMA fights for you. With our Empress' permission and everything."

Her anxiety melted into delight, and she flung herself at him, arms wrapping around his neck as she held on tight. "Thank god for that," she murmured into the skin of his neck.

Silas smiled wider, rubbing her back and inhaling the softly floral scent of her hair. He felt a sense of triumph at getting the Empress to agree to his plan, but that was nothing compared to the joy he felt at being able to protect this woman in his arms.

It had nothing to do with being in HIMA, nothing to do with being a military leader, and everything to do with what he felt for her. If he had been anyone else, a civilian or just a bystander, he'd still want to keep her safe.

"Thank you," she murmured into his ear and then slid down to the floor, straightening her clothes. "There's food in the kitchen."

The three of them sat down for the meal (a rather excellent one, too, with some sort of tender meat smothered in sauce with mashed potatoes and bread), and Silas enjoyed watching Cress discover the wonders of human food. They laughed and talked like old friends, even Katia and Cress got along, and Silas was happy.

Later that night, Cress went to lay on the couch, making his peace with being so much bigger than the couch and thanking Katia for her hospitality. Silas and Katia went to the bedroom, closing the door behind them.

"I like Cress," she said softly. "He's nice."

"He is," Silas agreed, watching the lamplight paint pictures on Katia's skin as she stripped.

The room was silent, save the sound of them breathing, and when Katia was undressed, Silas opened his arms for her again.

She climbed into his lap and licked her lips, suddenly seeming nervous. "Do you have a plan?" she asked, voice soft. "Is...is everything going to be alright?"

Silas nodded. "Yes, Katia. I made you a promise, didn't I? I intend to keep it." He and Cress and Hamara had hashed out the finer details of the plan the Empress had outlined for them, and Silas had a good feeling that it would work. It was risky, but it was the quickest and best way to make sure that the humans were safe and the Fremeri didn't have a chance to go after anyone else.

In a low voice, Silas explained it to her. "There isn't time to deal with your government," he said. "And Earth has too many anyway, and you're all fighting with each other, which would just make things take much longer than they need to. So what we are going to do is let the Fremeri think Earth is undefended."

"
What
?" Katia asked sharply, pulling back.

"It's alright," he soothed. "They get one attack and only one. Just enough for the governments to realize there is a problem. And then we'll wage war on them. It's the most efficient way."

Katia still looked torn, but she nodded eventually. "You're right. It would take forever the other way. What about the people?"

"You'll be fine," Silas promised. "We'll take the fight to them soon enough, and it will all happen outside your atmosphere if all goes according to plan."

"And if it doesn't?"

"Then Ammaline will suggest that people evacuate. It's the best we can do." And as far as last minute plans went, it was pretty darn good, if Silas did say so himself. Everything that could be accounted for was accounted for, and anything else would just have to be dealt with on the fly.

"When?" Katia wanted to know.

"I'm not sure. Since this is a matter of some importance, Her Imperial Majesty is launching the ships tonight. It depends on how long it takes them to get here."

"How long does it usually take?"

"Depends on the warp paths." He'd explained those to her when he'd first arrived, of course. About how they changed shape and length and speed seemingly at will and people were just at their mercy. “And on when the Fremeri attack, I guess. But we’ll be ready for them.”

"So what you’re saying is I shouldn't call in sick tomorrow?"

Silas laughed. "No, no. There's still plenty of time. And you love Sundays at the inn."

There was time, but war would be upon them soon enough. The old thrill that had always accompanied missions where he got to fly and fight was coming back, but surprisingly enough, it was dampened now by worry. Worry for Katia, for himself, for what would happen after.

This was why most members of HIMA didn't have families. It was too much to always be wondering what would happen if something went wrong.

But he didn't want to think about that now.

Instead, he made both of them comfortable in the bed, keeping his hold on Katia because he wanted her close. He shut off the lamp and they talked softly about nothing in particular until she fell asleep.

Silas stayed awake for a while longer, watching her sleep. She looked peaceful and soft like this, and he stroked her hair and tried to match his breathing with hers. His nerves were all jangly, ready to fight, ready to end this, and he made himself breathe. The sooner the fight happened, the sooner he'd have to make decisions about his future and most likely say goodbye to someone who meant a great deal to him now.

He wasn't in any hurry.

The day that HIMA arrived on Earth was almost completely unremarkable. No one noticed, outside of those who were waiting for them, and no fanfare was made. There were no flags flying, no announcements made. No diplomatic meetings and no dress uniforms.

The warships came as close as they dared and then cloaked themselves, so as not to be picked up on the humans’ radar.

It wasn’t a moment too soon.

Already things were happening. Silas and Katia had already spent quite a few evenings sitting on her couch listening to news reports about missing people and mysterious illnesses.

“The Fremeri,” Silas had said as soon as he’d seen the first one.

Katia had tried to convince him that it wasn’t necessarily them. She said that people went missing all the time on Earth, and it didn’t necessarily mean something alien was happening. But when the first human turned up drained of blood, Silas had been quietly smug and outwardly horrified.

“They’re here,” Katia had said. “What are we going to do?”