The doctor nodded and sat in the empty seat next to me. The dark circles under his eyes and the lines around his mouth indicated that he was utterly and completely exhausted by his forty-eight-hour ordeal with the beast.
Commander Karter looked to the warlord at the end of the table.
“Thank you for attending, Warlord. Since you are well enough to be out of the ReGen pod, what do you know about what's going on?”
I didn’t know what was going on and was eager to find out. I was a little confused, as if I’d missed something big. But, it was my first day on the job, so I definitely had some ramping up to do.
The Atlan blinked slowly, watching everyone in the room as if seeing them for the first time. His eyes weren’t totally silver, like some I’d seen on those who’d been integrated, but they shimmered from the inside. The poor man was looking through eyes that were no longer his own.
And I thought the weird buzzing in my head was an adjustment.
“It's a trap, sir,” he said, his voice deep.
Chapter 10
Chloe
* * *
The Atlan cleared his throat, the sound a thick rumble in the room. “They're using this Sector to deploy a new, experimental weapon...” The warlord’s hands were palm down, flat on the table, but his entire body strummed with tension so thick I could feel it on the other side of the room. “You have to get the entire battlegroup out of here.”
“You know I can't do that,” Commander Karter replied. “The Coalition has held Sector 437 for hundreds of years. We're not going to lose it today.” When Angh didn’t say more, the commander sighed, then asked, “What kind of trap?”
The giant Atlan shook his head, frustration on his face and in his crumpled brow. “I don't know, sir. I don't remember everything. I know there's a trap here. I know it's closing in on us. But that's all I've got.”
“Well, Warlord Anghar, I guess that's better than nothing.” Commander Karter turned to me. “Tell me some good news, Chloe. Tell me you can hear what these bastards are planning. Give me something to work with.”
All eyes in the room turned to me, most with curiosity. I was new here and the commander was placing the entire mess in my lap, looking for answers. I lifted my chin. “There's nothing obvious in the normal traffic. I'll need a couple of hours to analyze their signals and see what I can come up with.”
“What was that attack about? The pain in your head.”
“Not sure,” I replied. I wasn’t. I had no idea why it suddenly came on other than I’d intercepted…something.
Angh’s hands balled into fists but he did not lift them from the table. “You don't have two hours. I can feel them getting closer.”
So could I. I had no idea how, but I just knew.
I looked into Warlord Angh’s eyes and an understanding passed between us. Somehow, he knew that I could feel it, too. There was a strange humming connection between us, as if the frequencies that the Hive used to transmit were tying us together. Two fixed points on the end of a vibrating guitar string.
I looked away from the giant warlord to Commander Karter. “He's right. We don't have two hours. I can feel them, too.”
“With all due respect to Commander Karter, what the hell are they talking about?” I didn't recognize the Atlan warlord who spoke, but he was massive and scarred and wore the rank of commander on his uniform.
The Atlans voted for their leaders. So, the warrior before me had been elected and chosen by the others. Respected. Experienced. He saw me watching him, his eyes jumping briefly to the Prillon collar around my neck before he bowed slightly at the waist.
“My Lady, I am Warlord Wulf.”
“Commander Chloe Phan, of Earth.”
The giant warlord towered above me in my chair. He was nearly eight feet tall.
“And what is your specialty, Commander Phan? How did you earn the rank of commander in the coalition fleet?”
Commander Karter stood and leaned over the table, his elbows locked, arms straight and tight, his muscles bulging with barely restrained tension as he rested his knuckles on the table. “Commander Phan was with the Intelligence Core for four years. That is all I can tell you. But we need her help on this. What she says, goes.”
One of the other officers shifted around at the far end of the table. I could not see his face clearly, but I heard his words. “Shouldn't we alert the Intelligence Core of this new threat?”
“Gods be damned, yes.” Commander Karter stood to his full height and rolled his head on his neck. The ominous sound of bones cracking was loud in the room. “Send an immediate transmission to the I.C. We need a team here, now.”