Aelon stands there. He’s like a statue on the outside, and his aura is emotionless in my mind – yet I can still feel that undercurrent, just beneath the surface. It’s like a calm day at sea, while sharks lurk beneath the surface.
Anger. Rage. Pain. It all threatens to breach the calm surface in a boil of blood; and those are the emotions burning in the core of Aelon.
“They’re expecting to catch you by surprise,” I warn. “Even with every advantage, you’re still facing impossible odds. Don’t you have anything to live for?”
I’m pleading with him now. I’m wishing, desperately, that he’ll realize he can live for more than just anger and revenge.
Iunia stands behind his leader. He wants to listen to me, but Aelon’s word is law for the triad. Vinicus is stoic and powerful. He, too, will go along with what his Captain commands.
“What do you expect me to do, Tasha?” Aelon sighs. “Those Toads are criminals. They’d massacre a defenseless mining camp for profit. I can’t let that evil go unpunished.”
After his hundred years of service to the Aurelian Empire, Aelon has lost faith in the ways of his people. He’s concluded that he can only ensure justice if he punishes his enemies. It’s noble, it’s honorable – and it’s going to get him killed.
I need him to need me. I need him to value me – us – more than he values his Gods-be-damned sense of righteousness. I fear I might be beating my head against a brick wall, though.
Oh, Aurelians! They torment me! Why couldn’t rational Iunia be the leader of their triad? Why couldn’t I be Bonded to Garrick?
“Run,” I plead. “Please, Aelon, just run.”
I’m begging him. I don’t care about my own pride any longer. I don’t need to be taken seriously by men like Chris anymore. I don’t need my triad to even obey me. I just need them to choose me over their misguided notions of violence and honor.
Aelon is tortured. He’s trying to stay emotionless – something his species practices from the first days of their lives. They’re a fucked-up, repressive society of men who don’t dare show which things hurt them – but he can’t force down that pain forever. Aelon’s got too much of it welling up inside of him.
“Tasha,” he murmurs, “I can’t lose you again - but I can’t run, either. If The Instigator leaves, then the Toads will kill the miners I swore to protect. There is not enough time to evacuate them. They’ll die if we run – so there’s only one course of action left open to us. I have to fight.”
Aelon steps forward, taking my hand.
“I’m begging you – you should leave, Tasha. Leave and don’t come back. I don’t think I’m getting out of this one alive – but you can.”
Captain Aelon is vulnerable. Angry, vengeful Aelon is finally accepting the specter of defeat. It twists like a knife inside of me. He knows he’s not getting out of this one alive, but he can’t leave the miners on the surface to be massacred.
No one can stand up to a Toad mothership.
I don’t know what Captain Hoplan told the owners of that Mothership, or all those who pilot the thousand assault ships that surround it, but he must have massively exaggerated the riches on offer to have received such massive support from these profit-hungry aliens.
How many Orbs did they claim we’d stolen? Toads will do almost anything for money. If they think they can incapacitate an Aurelian warship and take its riches without the Empire finding out, they’d do it.
This is why Aelon’s ship is the perfect target. It wouldn’t be juicy enough usually – but with twenty-six Orbs on board, plus the nearby mining camps on the planet’s surface to raid, The Instigator has suddenly become a Toad’s wet dream.
Aurelians control almost all of the Orbs in the universe. They have enough to be able to outfit each of their soldiers with an Orb-Blade, and each of their assault ships with an Orb-Drive, which allows them to shift great distances, something only the most powerful Toad and human ships can do.
Toads lust for Orbs. Even if they’re too scared to use Orb-Shifting right now – since it’s become so unreliable – there’s still nothing like an Orb to power the engines of a ship or the most devastating weapons in an arsenal. The Toads are even willing to take on an Aurelian Warship for it – as long as they have numbers in their favor, and the element of surprise.
But would they fight the same battle without those advantages?
My gut says no. Toads are cowardly. They wouldn’t want to fight The Instigator on even terms. Even with overwhelming firepower, Toads would hesitate. They like a sure thing – not a gamble in which they have to risk their lives. They might lose millions at a casino to quench their thirst for easy riches, but they won’t do anything that could result in them being blasted to nothingness.
They want the Orbs without the risk.
That’s our way out. We can resolve this without any bloodshed…
…but at an incalculable cost to Aelon’s pride.
“The Orbs, Aelon. That’s all they want. Give them the Orbs.”
Rage boils in his aura. Aelon can’t clamp it down. My words set him off.
“Those twenty-six Orbs? In Toad hands? That will result in twenty-six-thousand innocents dead. They’re coming to kill us, don’t you understand, Tasha? They’re coming to wipe out the entire mining crew. Don’t you get it? If I give those Toads the Orbs, I’ll have the blood of whoever they kill or kidnap with them on my hands!”
He
