Old Enemy by Nathan Hystad

Author:Nathan Hystad [Hystad, Nathan]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Woodbridge Press
Published: 2018-11-16T00:00:00+00:00

EIGHTEEN

“Dean Parker. I was beginning to think you were ignoring me.” The Empress spoke in clear English. I pictured her swirling red eyes boring into mine, her thick black braids hanging down her back.

“I wouldn’t do that, Empress. I was… incapacitated,” I said.

“I heard all about it. Bravo. Saved the universe from the Unwinding, and protected your wife and child at the same time. What a sacrifice you made. You didn’t expect to return from that, did you?” she asked, and I wondered how she’d gotten this detailed intel. She always seemed to be a step ahead of the competition.

“I didn’t, Empress. I thought I was a goner.” I wasn’t sure what else to say.

“Thank you for the ice world’s location. We have already begun our trek there. Your contract is completed for now.” I didn’t like the way she paused before the last two words.

“What can I do for you?” I asked.

“Are you alone?” she asked.

I was on my back porch steps. Maggie sat beside me, tired from her morning walk. It was cooling off outside, the sun’s red light casting a strange ominous glow over my yard today. “I’m alone.”

“Good. I’ve heard some rumors,” she started and stopped.

“What kind of rumors?” I asked.

“Lom of Pleva is angry.”

“What’s new?” I asked, trying to make it not sound like a big deal. The truth was, I didn’t want anything to do with the guy. He was bad news. As much as I didn’t think the monotony of colony life was suited to me, I’d rather do that than fight anymore.

“What do you know of him?” the Empress asked. I listed the very few facts I had on him, then delved into the hearsay, which was a much longer list. She listened, saying nothing.

“Your turn,” I said when I was done.

“The Kraski are a nuisance. I honestly thought we’d had all of them when we took their world over. We knew some escaped, and those were the ones you met back in what you call the Event, but we didn’t care. Now we learn there’s a planet of them. Multiplying and vengeful,” the Empress said.

“Vengeful against whom?” I asked.

“You and I, Dean Parker.”

“You mean the Bhlat and humans?”

“No. I mean you and I, personally.”

“Why?” Not that I didn’t know the answer already.

“My Admiral Blel attacked their home, killing billions of them. They wouldn’t surrender, and we took what they wouldn’t give. You killed the rest of them. Later, we learned they had a plan in place to take Earth with the use of the hybrids, bought from Lom of Pleva.”

“Did he use these hybrids often?” I asked.

“No. It was a new technology, tested for years before he perfected it with the human DNA. At least, that’s another rumor. We have spies, but not all information is accurate. I fear Lom of Pleva has become sympathetic to the Kraski cause,” she said.

“Why? Why now?”

“Because of you. You stopped his hybrids. You gave them a home.” As the Empress spoke, I realized it was so much more than that.

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