Electric Heart (Dark Planet Warriors Book 7) Read online

  “And who has the authority to assign me this role?” Kail responded in Kordolian, preferring to speak his native tongue.

  “The one and only.”

  Kail blinked. “The General isn’t even in this sector.” Akkadian had traveled back to Kythia to deal with urgent matters. As a General of the Imperial Fleet, he had responsibilities beyond the First Division. They all understood that and knew how to operate in his absence. At some point, Akkadian would return with reinforcements. The First Division warriors had all agreed that they wanted the Xargek horde wiped out before the boss got back.

  “He left some pretty specific orders.” Torin was juggling a small black object. “Didn’t get a chance to share this up in space. See for yourself.” He tossed it to Kail, who plucked it out of the air.

  He opened his hand, revealing a gleaming black datacube. It activated in response to his bio-sig, throwing up a holo-view that revealed General Tarak al Akkadian’s unmistakable official seal.

  A string of orders appeared, hand-written in elegant Kordolian script. The usual rules for new planet contact flashed across the display, followed by the usual rules for dealing with Xargek.

  There wasn’t much to the latter. Eradicate completely.

  Of course. That was a given.

  To his surprise, there was something about classifying Earth and Humans as nonhostiles, and something else about negotiation and diplomacy. It wasn’t like the General to use that approach.

  He reached the section entitled Specific Duties and scrolled down the list, locating his name.

  A holo-image of General Tarak appeared. Even though it was just a recording, the General radiated authority.

  “Kail,” he said quietly, pinning him with his dark red gaze. “You are well aware that your primary mission is to eradicate the Xargek at all costs. By now I will have returned to Kythia. A Kordolian transport cruiser will be diverted from one of the outer sectors to provide logistical support and transport. Until it reaches the Ninth Sector, you are all assigned to Eradication Detail.

  However, I understand that unexpected situations may arise from time to time, especially in uncolonized regions. Should the need for Special Operations arise, that task will be assigned primarily to you, with backup as required and directed by you.

  You know how I operate. You know how I expect things to be done. You know what we stand for. As always, I trust your judgement. Just remember that nothing is absolute in this Universe, soldier, not even the Empire.

  The General’s image blinked out. Typical Akkadian; he was as specific as he needed to be, and as cryptic as ever. Kail swore under his breath. As much as he loathed the thought of this particular assignment, orders were orders, especially if they came from the boss.

  And the prospect of revenge was not to be taken lightly.

  “Very well,” he growled. “I will find those responsible for the attack, and I will deliver them a message.”

  “Of the permanent, soaked-in-blood variety?” Nythian raised an eyebrow, his lips twisted into an almost-smirk.

  Kail shot him a dark glare. “The message and the means will be of my choosing.”

  “Naturally. We’ll leave that to you, brother, although if you need an offsider, we could possibly spare one more—”

  “No!” Kail and the Human woman blurted simultaneously.

  “It’ll draw too much attention, and we don’t want the Feds to figure out that any of you are missing. One of you can slip out undetected, but two? They’ll notice something. We still don’t really know who we’re up against. We can’t risk it.”

  “I work alone.” Kail crossed his arms, glowering at his comrades.

  The other warriors shared an uneasy glance.

  Kail resisted the urge to sigh. “Give me a lead,” he said softly, brushing his stray thoughts aside as he gave in to acceptance. “As I said, I will go alone. Should I need assistance, I will ask for it.” As he opened his mind to the task that lay ahead of him, he was enveloped by a sense of calmness.

  This always happened. Purpose overrode his emotions. He became a single-minded seeker and deliverer of justice.

  Temanjin. The word echoed through his mind, imbued with ancient power. It transcended his fractured memories and whispered to him of long forgotten secrets.

  The Lost Tribes knew of dark truths that the Empire would never comprehend.

  Torin looked over his shoulder, making eye contact with the Human called Arin. “Explain your suggested course of action, Sergeant.”

  She regarded Kail without fear, an unspoken challenge in her eyes. “The Federation have been keeping tabs on us. That’s why I ordered this.” She pulled a smooth, oval-shaped device out of her pocket. “Frequency blocker. Call me paranoid, but you never know who’s listening in.”

  “You don’t trust your own people?” Kail allowed his skepticism to show.

  “Do you trust all of your people?” she countered.

  Kail inclined his head. She had a point.

  “The information networks on our planet are big and labyrinthine. I don’t know how it is back on Kythia, but here on Earth, everyone is monitored to some extent. If you want to track down anyone on this planet, you need someone who understands how to navigate the Networks.”

  “You can do this?”

  “Hell, no. Not me. I’m just a simple soldier. For that, we need an expert. Someone who can hack a military server, for instance. You’ve met her briefly, I believe.”

  “Hm.” She was talking about her wild-eyed subordinate; the strange, fearful one. “You seem to have a lot of confidence in this woman. What makes you so certain she can deliver what I need?”

  Arin’s expression turned sly. “I was her commanding officer. I’ve seen her file. She knows more than she lets on. She’s smarter than she pretends to be. I suspect even I don’t know what she’s really capable of.”

  Kail stared at her. “And she can be trusted?”

  “Trust is mutual.”

  Kail didn’t like her answer. He saw no reason for a Human to trust him. That would imply some sort of interdependence. “She will obtain the information I need. Nothing more.”

  Arin raised her eyebrows but didn’t argue with Kail. Instead, she produced a bundle of bright red fabric from some hidden place. “You’ll need to be able to navigate this big, messy planet of ours without being obvious. The first step is to slip out of here undetected.” She threw the fabric bundle at Kail.

  “Undetected,” he repeated in disbelief, catching the bundle of fabric. It appeared to be a costume of some sort. Was he supposed to try and pass for Human?

  “The second step is to meet us at a safe point. I’ll escort Riana there, and we’ll wait for you to join us. All you need to do is keep her safe while she taps into the Networks and gets us our lead.”

  “Why does she need protection?”

  Arin waved a nonchalant hand in the air. “Oh, we suspect someone’s trying to kill her. We’re not sure why. I figured it would be best to have one of your kind around while we got to the bottom of it. We find your enemies, and in exchange, you kill ours.”

  “Are you trying to bargain with me, Human?”

  “It’s a fair deal, don’t you think?”

  “I don’t bargain.” Kail began to rise to his feet. “You presume too much.” He glared at his fellow warriors. “All of you would agree to this?”

  “It makes sense,” Rykal drawled. “This is an uncolonized, uncharted planet. We don’t have access to a tech division or a world-mapper right now. We haven’t established any intelligence networks, and if one were to get really technical, we don’t have any jurisdiction here until we colonize the place.” He smiled, baring his fangs. “So you need a guide.”

  “Hm.” Kail didn’t like it, but he could see how the plan made sense.

  “I’ll leave tonight,” Arin said. “I’ll lend you an old-fashioned link-band Navigator with the meeting point programmed in. It’ll also allow you to communicate directly with me. Ry will
have one too.”

  Rykal was staring at his mate with dark intensity. “I’m going with you.”

  “I can handle my own, Ry. As much as I appreciate it, you don’t need to watch my back twenty-four-seven. This is my planet, remember? I know this place like the back of my hand, and believe me, if I thought this was something I couldn’t handle, I’d drag you along in a heartbeat. But we can’t afford to jeopardize this mission before it’s even started. I’m Human. They won’t take much notice if I leave. You, on the other hand…”

  “I don’t like it. You don’t have a squad of peacekeepers to back you up anymore, and you’re not invincible. You’re not like—”

  “Like you?” Arin raised an eyebrow. “That’s true, but my mother is a General in the Federation Starforce. She’s just been awarded her fourth star. If anything happens to me, she’ll be all over it like a bloodhound. Whoever’s behind the Fortuna Tau incident will think twice before doing anything to me. They won’t want to deal with that level of blowback.”

  “Arin,” Rykal growled, his voice taking on a dangerous edge. “Listen to me—”

  “Rykal…” She placed her hand on top of his. “I’ll be fine. Please, trust me on this. Anyway, this is a conversation we should probably continue later.”

  Kail watched in mild astonishment as some sort of silent communication passed between them. Somehow, Arin placated the impulsive Rykal with only her eyes.

  The room had gone very, very quiet.

  He’d seen this phenomenon before. He called it the Human female effect. His brothers-in-arms were amongst the most ruthless warriors in the known Universe, and yet they listened to these women.

  Did Humans have some secret talent in sorcery or mind control? Kail vowed he would never succumb to such things. He stared down at the pile of cloth in his hands.

  “What is this for?”

  Arin regarded him with an odd expression. “As of now, you’re joining the traveling Hausa people of Sudan as they cross the desert.” A wicked kind of amusement crept into her voice. “I sure as hell hope you don’t spook the camels, Kordolian.”

  Chapter Six

  “What’s the point of all this subterfuge if I’m being constantly monitored?” Riana stared out at the undulating dunes, grateful for the patch of shade they’d found behind a towering rock formation. The late afternoon sun polished the desert sands, rendering them golden and slightly blinding.

  Arin smiled, but her nonchalance wasn’t rubbing off on Riana, who was wound tight like a spring. “As far as the authorities are concerned, you’ve just decided to take a much needed vacation. There’s no law against that, even if you’re under microsurveillance.”

  “A vacation to rendezvous with a lethal alien who isn’t even supposed to be here.” It sounded so subversive and dangerous.

  “Kail’s your best chance of survival right now. So what if they’re tracking you? They have no idea that he’s left the Hot Zone. They might know where you are at all times, but they don’t know where he is.”

  “This entire desert is a fucking Hot Zone.” Riana reached into her pack and located a cooler flask. She snapped the chemical seal at the bottom and watched as the blue liquid in the outer compartment rose, forming ephemeral swirls and tendrils as it reacted with the substrate. The flask’s smooth outer surface frosted over as the water inside became supercooled. “Remind me, which one is Kail again? Do I know him?”

  “You’ve seen him before. He was in the comms room on the Hendrix II. Big guy with the tribal looking markings.”

  “The cold fish.” Riana’s heart sank. She remembered him all too well. Kail was the stuff of nightmares, a brutal, efficient killer with coldfire eyes and a vicious sword hand.

  He was everything she’d expected a Kordolian to be.

  “Don’t worry. He can be reasonable. He’s not a threat to us, and Rykal says he’s the best fit for this kind of work.”

  “Huh.” Her unease grew as Riana stared off into the distance, squinting. The horizon blurred, playing tricks with her vision. Her eyes were hidden behind dark shades, but out here in the deserts of the Tamanrasset Province, the sun was merciless, even as it began to set.

  A shimmering figure appeared on the fiery horizon, making her blink. At first she thought it was her imagination, but the figure gradually solidified, as if conjured up out of the desert sands themselves.

  Unconsciously, Riana put her hand to her chest. Her heart was beating like crazy, which was stupid.

  Calm down, idiot.

  It was just her hyperactive imagination getting the better of her again, making her assume the worst.

  The figure was heading towards them, appearing larger with every step. Against the red-hot sky, he was a crimson specter, mysterious and implacable.

  “I think that’s our guy. Days ahead of schedule, just like Rykal said.”

  It’s him. Riana knew it without a doubt. He was wearing the traditional flowing robes of one of the desert tribes, and his features were concealed underneath swathes of red cloth that left only a small slit for his eyes, but there was no mistaking him for Human. The way he moved—with the grace and brutal purpose of a hunting cat—was so typically Kordolian.

  “He crossed the desert on his own?”

  “He left the Hot Zone surrounded by a traveling crew of Sudanese Hausa. I paid them to take him on. He blended right in. The Federation wouldn’t have known any better. We couldn’t convince him to ride a camel, though.”

  If Kail wasn’t so damn scary, Riana might have found that amusing. She sipped her water, trying to disguise the fact that her palms were clammy and her heart was still hammering away.

  What was this feeling? Trepidation, anticipation, fascination. Fear.

  What had she gotten herself into?

  He was close now, close enough that she could make out the intricate embroidered patterns decorating his headscarf. The sunlight glinted off his dark glasses, and the warm desert wind tugged at his loose robes.

  He was a Kordolian in Human clothing, a darkness-dweller shrouded in a light-dweller’s garments.

  He barely made a sound as he walked along the windswept spine of the steep, curving dune. He crested the hill and stepped into the shadows, coming closer. Riana was overcome with the urge to flee.

  It was a primal, visceral reaction.

  Stupid. Arin had this under control… right?

  They were over a hundred kilometers away from the nearest township. They were alone in the desert with an alien who could end them in the blink of an eye.

  “That was quick,” Arin said by way of greeting as Kail came within earshot. “I thought you’d still be two, three days out at the most.”

  He said nothing, inclining his head slightly as he scrutinized them. He didn’t remove his sunglasses, or unwrap his headscarf, or give them any indication as to what he was thinking. He just stood there, radiating a quiet kind of menace.

  “Let’s go,” Arin said, unfazed. She stood, gesturing towards the two hover-bikes parked up on the sand. They’d rented the dilapidated vehicles from a hard-bargaining vendor in Tamanrasset town, posing as tourists. “You been on one of these before?”

  “No. I will run alongside.”

  “No way. That might be fine in the middle of the Sahara, but we’re getting close to civilization now. If someone sees you, we’ll get reported. No Human can outrun a damn hover-bike.” Arin just seemed to accept the fact that a Kordolian could run so impossibly fast.

  “What is your alternative?”

  “You can ride with me.” Arin picked up her pack, then offered Riana her hand, helping her up. It had been three days since they’d left Neo Tokyo, and Riana’s ankle was partially healed, enough for her to walk short distances.

  “No. You are Rykal’s mate.”

  “Excuse me?”

  “I will go with her.” Kail nodded at Riana, who baulked.

  “Me?”

  “Is there a problem, Human?”

  Why me? Riana wanted to
ask, but she kept her mouth shut, not wanting to antagonize Kail, especially if he was going to be sharing a ride with her. “There’s no problem,” she said quietly, not wanting to offend him. “I’m just not as experienced a rider as Arin. I haven’t taken a passenger before.”

  “You’ll be fine.” Arin tossed Riana her helmet. Riana trudged across the sand, her booted feet sinking into the shifting surface. Her gait was a little unbalanced; she favored her right foot, taking care not to put excess weight on her still-tender left ankle. In contrast, Kail didn’t make a sound as he stalked behind her.

  If what Arin told her was correct, he’d just traveled from the Hot Zone—the site in Naea where the Xargek had emerged—to Algeria on foot.

  In under three days.

  And this was a man who supposedly hated the heat and was super-sensitive to ultraviolet light.

  What kind of madness was this? He was inhuman, impossible, and terrifying.

  If the Kordolians ever decided to take over Earth, Humankind would have no chance. Not if their people were all freaks like Kail.

  Abruptly, Riana turned and looked up at Kail. He stopped just inches from her, and for the first time, she realized how big he really was.

  Riana was a tall woman, but Kail towered over her, standing at least a full head taller. He was broad of chest and shoulder, and from what she could remember of their brief encounter on the doomed freighter, he had the taut, honed body of a supreme fighter.

  Taken aback, she reacted on instinct. “You must be thirsty.” She held out her supercooled flask. “Here.” Riana didn’t know much about Kordolian biology, but after such a lengthy trek through the desert, surely he needed water.

  All living things needed water to survive.

  At first, Kail didn’t react, and Riana felt foolish and awkward. Perhaps she’d overstepped. This was why she kept to herself most of the time. Around strangers, she never seemed to know how to act, and she was terrible at reading social cues.

  So when Kail abruptly reached for the flask, she did the worst thing possible.

  She dropped it. Allowed it to slip right out of her fingers.