Chapter Twenty

 

“Thank you all for joining me today,” Bronsyn started after all the formalities were completed, his eyes on the split screen. Allwyne and Smyrta appeared politely curious while Stege’s face held an expression of studied indifference. But Bronsyn had prepared well, compiling notes of what had transpired in the weeks he and his warriors had landed as well as vid clips of his communiqués with the quest Commander.

The damning evidence in how the peoples of Galaxia and Nutrol were lied to about the Searcher’s glorious mission.

“You have spoke of this before, Bronsyn,” Allwyne cut-in. “I and my other Herald leaders discussed it at length, but told Stege was unavailable to meet with us for another few rotas.”

Smyrta frowned and nodded. “The Nutrol Conclave received the same response. It is not that we disregarded your allegations, Bronsyn, but wanted to meet with Stege and obtain his response before voting.”

The blonde Stege waved a hand dismissively while uttering, “I am a busy man with a number of responsibilities and cannot be expected to drop everything for yet another chit-chat session. I send you weekly reports and those should answer any and all your questions regarding the quest.”

Allwyne shook his head and sat back in his chair. “I think you want us to believe your reports are complete and thorough in all that is happening with the mate search, but after Bronsyn’s last call to me directly, I find that not to be the case.”

“I agree,” Smyrta joined in. “I went back and personally reviewed all the updates provided by the Committee and found them sorely lacking, especially in light of the ground Commander’s claims.”

“Are you calling me a liar?” The affront in both Stege’s face and tone was hard to miss and Bronsyn felt a measure of satisfaction in putting the male on the spot. Although it rather felt like he was being a tattle-tale, going to the leaders to disclose the less than honorable intentions of the Committee. “Is that what this is about?”

“What else would you call it? Our original mission was to find females to mate with and return back to our home world in order to raise a family. But as soon as it was discovered Rykhan’s mate was with youngling, we discovered an entirely different strategy was intended.” Bronsyn pulled up the supporting vid of a very drunk Stege when he’d called to report Rykhan’s Leah was breeding a female hybrid.

“As if I hadn’t receive that bit of news more than two heras previously,” Stege mumbled before his lips met the rim of his glass to take a deep, long drink. “We are celebrating their joining and the youngling’s gender, Bron. With fervor, if you must know.”

As well as everyone who had been involved in the first quest would be, Bronsyn thought. The fact that a Picari sperm cell had actually penetrated an Earthling’s ovum and created the first ever Picari/Earth zygote would be cause for celebration on both Galaxia and Nutrol. And to discover it was female would put the resulting festivities over the top.

“Be that as it may, I respectfully request how you wish me to proceed with our mission.” Bronsyn felt his stomach clench.

Smacking his lips, Stege peered into his device as if to spear Bronsyn with his gaze. But the man was too drunk to perform the action with any level of authority. “You are to go on as you have been doing. Your females still have yet to complete their assignment.” The male took another sip of what was in his glass before speaking again. “And it is not your place to ask questions…”

But Bronsyn felt it was time to get to the truth. “Oh, but it is! As the commander of the quest while on planet, I need to know and understand the full scope of this mission.”

Stege’s image showed the drunken sod as he blinked deeply.

“My warriors have been questioning why our star-ship has one full level dedicated to medical while their quarters, those supposed to house both them and their mates on our return trip, are so small.”

“You don’t know anything, Bron.” His commander and long time friend was getting drunker by the minute and Bronsyn felt he only had but a few lesps to speak plainly was a small window before Stege passed out.

“Tell me what’s going on, Gwynt. As the mission commander, I needs clarification of the Gal-Trol plans.”

“Let’s just say that because Rykhan and that human female have successfully mated, all our dreams for the future have come true,” Stege muttered, tipping the last of his glass into his mouth. “The Picari Alliance will never again have to worry about any funding or the infestation of humans as we move into the future.”

“How so?” But Stege only wavered in his chair as Bronsyn demanded. “Tell me, Gwynt! Why don’t we ever have to worry about funding or the humans?”

“Because you and your males will never bring the stench of a human female back to either Galaxia or Nutrol.” The high-pitched, sing-song voice of the male hovered in air of the room and made the skin on Bronsyn’s arms and legs prickle with goose-bumps. “No. We will secure any and all of the hybrid offspring, bring them back to our worlds only allowing them to be raised by those who have the deepest pockets and the brightest futures.”

“You’re talking about selling the younglings that might result from a mating of our warriors to the highest bidders or to those of the elite of our planets?” Everything within Bronsyn rebelled at Stege’s words.

“Of course! This hybrid of Protector Nillr and his disrespectful human female has already been promised to the pair who lead the technology sector on Galaxia.” Stege’s chin was almost on his chest and the male was drooling even as he spoke. “We’ve already received over five hundred thousand credits in payment for it.”

Bronsyn’s lips felt like ice, but he needed to press on, to discover as much as he could. “You have already sold Rykhan and Leah’s youngling?”

“Gyed’s veil! Isn’t that what I’ve been telling you?” Stege’s head bobbed up, but his eyes couldn’t seem to focus on any one particular image. “We’ve even got the necessary equipment in place on the Searcher in order to transport the hybrid.”

“What else? What else don’t we know about?” Bronsyn was leaning into his unit and only realized his fists were clenched by the pain his fingernails generated as they dug into his palms. A pain that seemed to help center him somehow.

“There might be the matter of a rysling,” came the low, slow mutter before Stege’s voice drifted off into a snore.

Bronsyn switched off the vid and waited for a reaction from the other leaders.

“I wholly object to this…this piece of chicanery. It is obviously a falsified, doctored portion of video whose only function is to disparage my good name and my authority as the quest Commander!” Stege sputtered, so angry he was spitting as he yelled.

“I wondered why you requested the approval of a rysling. Such an unusual request in light of the original quest parameters,” Smyrta drawled with a curl of his lips. “But the ground Commander brought up a good point. Why was the Searcher crafted with so much space dedicated to medical facilities and so little given to our worthy warriors?”

“That alone speaks of a pre-knowledge none of us were made aware of or, dare I say, would have approved had we known.” Allwyne’s words were condemning and Bronsyn felt hope flare in his chest. “I also take umbrage at your assessment of human females. I believe you even called their proposed presence on our planets a ‘stench’. Can you explain what you meant by that, especially in light of the vow you took when you became the Supreme Commander of our lofty mate quest?”

Bronsyn watched his old friend’s face flush as the male opened and closed his mouth several times. “You can’t honestly expect me to explain all the intricate details of the mission in a brief conference! They’re too scientific for men such as yourselves and too numerous to explain in just one meeting.”

“Try anyway, Gwynt,” Allwyne urged, firmly yet quietly. “Give us an overview of what you and the others on your Committee have proposed to do.”

“And not just for the current mission but the upcoming one,” Smyrta added.

Bronsyn felt the need to expose another piece of information the two leaders obviously didn’t know. “The Seeker already launched two days ago. In addition, the Supreme Leader has demanded an operating theatre be built in the leased housing I and my warriors currently occupy. I was told this was so a multitude of human ovum could be extracted as quickly as possible.”

The tension in the silence that fell was sharp, deep and carried a vague sense of utter astonishment. That it went on for so long made it even worse.

“I will immediately call for an emergency meeting of the Galaxian Herald,” Allwyne started, the somberness of his gaze giving evidence to his words. “Where I will call for Gwynt Stege’s resignation as the Supreme Commander of the Mate Quest. This may or may not include his arrest for crimes again our two worlds.”

“Cr-crimes? What sort of crimes can you bring—”

“And I will be doing the same with the Nutrolian Conclave,” Smyrta announced, his voice loud enough to override Stege’s bellows. “We will, of course, inform you when a new leader has been chosen, vetted and appointed, Bronsyn.”

“Thank you, sirs,” Bronsyn replied, holding a fist over his hearts and bowing his head. The relief of the moment was only superseded by the exuberance in proving Stege was not the right male for the job. “I wish you Tsiran’s strength and protection as you do what must be done.”

He didn’t raise his head as he heard the chime of the call being disconnected but as he raised his head to the screen he saw Stege remained connected.

“What do you hope to accomplish with this little coup? You want my job? You want to be the decision-maker, the one to raise funds in order to pay for our attempts to repopulate our worlds?” The sneer in Gwynt’s voice showed what he thought of Bronsyn’s ability to lead. “I just bet you’d love to be in the middle of it all, trying to appease the movers and the shakers on both sides of the issue, of being caught in the vise of those who are happy with the status quo and those demanding we infect our society with fracking females. But you couldn’t even handle being a diplomat and negotiating with Ater and Castic, could you? No. And if memory serves, you lost more deals than you won in meeting with the others of the Picari system.”

Bronsyn didn’t reply, shocked at the vitriol of his old friend’s words.

“Let me tell you this, Commander. It will take those two old fools time to do what they threatened. Time enough for me to blast your residence into oblivion with nothing more than one laser flare from the Searcher. At the same time, your two missing warriors and their mates will be found and executed where they stand, all at my command. And then we’ll just see who remains in their position of leadership.”

“You are mad, Stege, and need serious help,” Bronsyn breathed, staring into the wild, crazed eyes of his one-time friend.

“Am I? Or is it that you simply do not recognize true cunning, true power when confronted with it?”

With shaking fingers, Bronsyn disconnected first.

 

*.*.*.*.*

He gave himself a few minutes to calm, reviewing what was said and the reactions of the leaders before he rejoined the group in the main house. His warriors needed to be apprised of the situation and discuss the possible outcomes since it would affect them directly.

Gathering them together and accessing Rykhan and Wyst remotely, he recounted the conference call. When he was finished, he found it interesting to note the warriors went silent and still, much as the other males had done during the call.

“I didn’t think the Searcher had such weaponry, commander.” Leave it to Laxon to bring up something Bronsyn hadn’t considered. “I mean, wasn’t ours supposed to be a peaceful mission and had no need for anything other than speed to evade any threat?”

“It’s my thought that we were told quite a number of untruths,” Tyshar responded. “My concern is how the Searcher can get into position to fire without detection from Earth’s monitoring satellites.”

Arbrynt looked around the group as ideas were brought up and discarded one by one. “The house is impervious with the shield I put up but there is the possible a laser might bounce off it.”

“That would be good though, right?” Wyst’s voice came through only the slightly bit tinny through the electronic connection.

All eyes went to Arbrynt and he shifted in his seat at the unwanted attention. “Not necessarily. There’s no guarantee the beam might not hit any of the neighboring houses.”

“Frack!” Rykhan’s expletive summed up the issue succinctly.

“So did you get a feel for if the Writ of Treason is really in place?” Bronsyn knew it would be the number one focus for Wyst stuck in the small town without his warrior-brothers around him.

“You are starting to speak like the pixie, brother,” Gyard quipped with a grin.

“I’ll take that as a compliment,” Wyst shot back. “We’ve been told we have three Picari searching for us around Wayward.”

“Captain Pryntal’s men or are they with Dr. Jyrl?” Bronsyn couldn’t see the Searcher’s captain obeying an order to hunt down, then kill any Protector, much less their mates. But Laxon’s question held merit. Better to determine their enemy in order to evade them.

“I will confer with Pryntal since he needs to know what is transpiring. But if I were to hazard a guess I would say they were from Jyrl’s crew.”

“That makes sense,” Rykhan agreed. “The doctor has more to lose than Pryntal and seems more aligned with Stege’s plans. There’s been no one approaching the ranch but I will stay alert in order to protect my plyca from any strangers.”

“Do you have anywhere you can hide yourself and your mate until the car is repaired?”

“Unfortunately no,” Wyst replied sourly. “But I will make that my number one goal.”

Bronsyn stared around the table at the remaining men, taking in their quiet contemplation. Wyst’s Pam had said it true when she’d said, ‘all for one and one for all’ because each of them considered the other warrior’s problems as their own.

“I still cannot determine how they were able to locate Wyst’s location,” Laxon grumbled to no male in particular.

Arbrynt huffed out a breath. “All they would have to do is set their equipment to seek out a being with dual heartbeats since humans only have one.”

And with that dire but unassailable logic, the meeting concluded with no resolution but a lot of determination in a successful outcome.