“A bit of human ingenuity goes a long way,” I retorted smartly. I had no intention of answering either question. As we Earthers were fond of saying, a good magician never gives up her secrets.
“Yet you seemed like such an easily conquered race due to your physical limitations, your primitive tech, and your inability to unite against a common foe.”
“Yeah, well, you can't keep us down for long,” I smirked. “I'd ask how things are going for you on Nort, but I overheard everything Ranel just told you. Yikes. Sounds like at this rate, in a few cycles, you guys will be tucking your scaly tails between your legs and flying off.”
“Is that why you came in here? To gloat?”
“Actually,” I said, “if you really want to know, I came in here to blackmail you. You know, use what happened between us as leverage to make you release me and claim I escaped. When I came up with the idea, it seemed like a win-win scenario for both of us. Well, more for me than for you, I suppose, but...”
“Am I to infer, then, that you've changed your plans since then?” From the grumble in his voice, he didn't seem particularly hopeful.
“As a matter of fact, I have. Because they're executing the slaves.” I couldn't believe the words as they came out of my mouth. “Those people didn't ask to be dragged here. They didn't ask to be starved and beaten and worked to death in the mines, any more than I did. They're not enemy combatants, and those Pax scum are butchering them by the hundreds just because they're too cowardly to face you directly. While I was working for them as a supervisor, I thought they saw me differently from the rest. I honestly believed I had worked hard enough for them – been loyal enough to them, even over my own people – to earn their respect. To be rewarded, when the time came. But that wasn't true, was it? If I were down there with the others right now, they'd be doing their damndest to kill me right along with them. I was never different, never special to them. I was just another slave.”
As I spoke, I realized my face was flushed and I was trembling with rage. Dashel was watching me, his expression inscrutable.
“The worst part,” I went on, “is that it's not them I'm angry at. It's me, for being stupid and desperate enough to believe the lie they were feeding me. And then you brought me here, and Ranel wanted to torture me to find out what I knew, but you wouldn't let him. You could have – I'm just another human slave to you, after all, disposable, just like how the Pax saw me – but you didn't. Why? Tell me.”
“Maybe you're not just another human slave to me,” he answered quietly. “Maybe I see something unique in you. Something to be admired. Not that you have any reason to believe such things from me, given everything you've just said.”
“No, you're right. I should think you're lying to me too. And maybe part of me does. But there's another part of me that wants to believe – a part that wants to help you.”
Dashel raised an eyebrow. “Oh? And how do you propose to do that?”
“I wasn't deceiving you earlier when you were questioning me.” I paused, then added, “Well, okay, maybe just a little, when I said I didn't even know if the other camps existed. I did.”
“Yes, that lie was somewhat transparent,” he said with a faint smile.
“I don't have any useful information for you about their personnel, tactics, plans, or anything like that. But I do know everything there is to know about their equipment.”
He sighed wearily. “Do you really think we'd attempt an invasion against an enemy force without first gaining a thorough knowledge of their personal armaments and planetary weapons systems?”
“Of course not, but that's the thing: You've seized their caches of weapons, and they're still coming at you with makeshift devices they've assembled from their mining tools. Did you research that tech in advance too, or did you just rush in thinking you could catalogue it after you'd defeated them?”
From his frown, I could guess the answer.
“They'll keep hammering at you, and you won't know what to expect in terms of what they're using, how to detect it, or how to defend yourselves against it. That I can help with.”
“And what's your price?” His voice was tinged with hope now. I was winning him over.
“My freedom, of course, and freedom for any slaves on Nort who are still alive. An armed shuttle equipped with intergalactic engines, so I can go anywhere I wish and start a new life. Guaranteed immunity from recapture from the Hielsrane fleet.”
He laughed. “You don't ask for much, do you?”
“Plus, there's the thrill of helping you put the boot to these monsters, after all the years they spent caging and abusing me. After everything they've cost me.” I pushed thoughts of Daniel out of my mind.
“I see. Is there anything else you'd like to add to your list of demands?”
I grinned mischievously, taking a step toward him. “Hmm. Well, now that you mention it...”
I put a hand on the back of his neck, bringing him down for a kiss. Memories of losing Daniel still hurt, but this seemed like the best way to make the pain go away, at least for a little while.
10
Dashel
As Natalie kissed me, every rational part of my brain fought it, reminding me that this was wholly wrong – as her captor, as the commander of the Wyvern, as a leader who needed to keep a clear head during a crisis. I told myself I was choosing to take one more big and irreversible step toward losing my rank forever, and enduring a humiliating court martial before the Hielsrane fleet. I tried to let my
