Page 19 of Fighting Gravity
I killed. He died.
Everything was a blur and when we arrived at the Urok’mir, my brother was carried off to be cared for and I was led into the presentation chamber where a council of nobles and military heroes welcomed me into my new position as urok.
And just like that, I was a commander. A leader. A man people would listen to. A man that could influence gek’tal to take back our place in the galaxy.
“Rhone Lok’rath,” the Feh Urok greeted me.
She was old. Her green tint had become ashen and her eyes were foggy, but she had the respect of an entire race behind her.
I was still covered in blood and dust and sweat, but it was a symbol of my struggles. I wore the filth proudly, lifting my chin to my superiors.
“Congratulations on your victory. You are now…” she paused a beat, letting the moment soak in. “Urok of the Argos. I understand the ship has been in your family for many generations. It brought many victories in many battles. It is fitting that it passes to you, Rhone of clan Lok’rath. Command it with honor and bravery. You’ve earned it.”
I’d earned it…
The Argos was mine. I would choose a crew or a crew would choose me.
And I would use the ship in the way it was designed to be used.
The jump toward the asteroid was going to take a while so I retreated to my chambers, relaxing into my bed for some much-needed silence. With a hole in my ship, a crew that was getting on my nerves, the knowledge that valerians and humans had joined forces, and a human woman onboard with a sharp tongue, I was spread a bit thin. I laid back, staring at the window hovering over my bed where blurs of light danced across the open expanse.
As I meditated, reinvigorating my resolve, I heard voices echoing in my head. Voices that filled my dreams, the silence, and sometimes my waking hours when I was not focused enough to drown them out.
The valerians are murderers. They are not true children of the Aksokrhun. They are false.
The gek were a nomadic species for generations before the valerians tore us apart. We discovered planets and worlds and settled on them, expanding and growing. We opened up trade routs, negotiated with races across the galaxy, traversed parts of space no one else dared.
We were untouchable.
Until the valerians saw something they wanted. And with so many gek’tal exploring instead of staying in settlements, we were left vulnerable. And the valerians used that to their advantage. An entire colony was wiped out and before we knew it, valerians controlled the syfer trade. The valuable crystals made them the wealthiest species known to our galaxy.
But gek’tal held grudges. We hit back. The traded blows started a war and now I was part of the generation trying to pick up the pieces. My brother’s followers wanted to sink into the shadows, knowing it could mean our extinction one day. I wanted to rise up and regain our strength. Make the galaxy fear us again. I wanted us to thrive and to do that, valerians had to be broken.
Everything I’d ever done had come down to that purpose. Kill valerians. Avenge our stolen planet and the war that destroyed half our population. Rage had become our lifeblood. Our creed. Even as I meditated, swimming through the peaceful sights of outer space, I was angry. Questions raddled my conscience.
I knew there was something else the humans were trading. We’d found their genetic research transports before so either Quinn truly didn’t know about it or she was lying to me. Why did the valerians need human genetic research? Was there a genetic similarity there that could solve their breeding problem? And what would that mean for them?
What would it mean for us?
Groaning, I sat up and swung my legs over the edge of my bed, sweeping my hands back across my head in frustration. I ground my teeth thinking about Quinn. What was so special about her? About humans? They were primitive. They’d inserted themselves between two races with a long and violent past. Either the valerians had not been open about that past or the humans were truly a stupid species. They were going to get crushed between us soon enough.
Judging by Quinn’s attitude and her sharp tongue, she truly didn’t know or didn’t care about the danger she was in.
So humans were stupid.
There was nothing special about her or her kind.
Nothing…
She represented the valerians’ salvation if her people really were capable of solving their reproductive issues. The thought surged inside me like a plume of acid. I put my hand on my Sylvar, stroking the bone handle with my finger. Any ally to the valerians was an enemy to the gek. It was simple. I had to keep thinking simple. If Quinn knew nothing then she was worth nothing. The most she could do was help me understand humans better, but at that point, I wasn’t sure dealing with her was worth that knowledge when we had a ship to repair and free space to traverse.
She was just one human.
It had been hours since I left Quinn in her quarters. I had my time to think and make my mind clear. I marched through the ship’s halls until I reached her door and swiped over the wall controls. When the door slid open, I expected to walk in on her pacing and preparing for a fight she couldn’t win. Instead, I saw her curled up on the bed, the gel conformed to her slender form.
I paused just inside the door, pulling my smaller dagger from my belt, but I couldn’t move forward. Her scent had permeated the room in my absence. It was wild, foreign, feminine, and far too distracting. She’d removed the top part of her suit and tied the sleeves around her waist so the upper part of her body was covered only by a sleeveless, white shirt. Her black mane fanned out behind her head and the way her lips were slightly parted as she breathed drew my eyes right to them.
She was so fair and slight. Humans could not be a true threat. Not if all of them were so fragile. It made no sense. And to say it was their technology that made them a formidable race would be a lie considering they’d only just introduced themselves to the galaxy. Their tech was ages behind ours.
