Night Song (The Guild Wars Book 9) Mark Wandrey (christmas read aloud txt) 📖

thing could pull up stakes and move to another location. It would probably be vulnerable during a move. Very vulnerable, was his guess.

“Bastard Zuparti wants to use us for a distraction. I don’t think so.” His problem was how to uphold his orders without violating the letter of the contract. On another slate was the contract in question. Other than his company being forced into it, the contract was as legitimate as any other he’d ever read. A cool 229 pages of details. His personal slate had the sort of low-level AI many merc commanders used. Developed by the Golden Horde, it was a useful tool for scanning contracts and finding problems. It said this one was legitimate, though it had several issues.

Chief among the issues was a potential forfeiture of assets in the event of non-completion. Such clauses weren’t uncommon, and usually accompanied a contract that involved a high value objective. The mercs would put up a bond, handled by the UCX (Union Credit Exchange), and if the objective was destroyed, the bond was forfeit. He hadn’t put up a bond; Jill had been convinced to put up Starbright.

“It was either that or be prisoners,” she’d explained shortly before the meeting with Ifka. That fact had contributed to his less than amiable attitude toward the Zuparti guildmaster.

Looking at the contract one more time, he couldn’t help but think something wasn’t right. He wished Dana was there. He’d married her for a lot of reasons, besides love, of course. One was her knowledge of the merc business. He was certain she’d find what was bothering him. She was a thousand light years away, back on Earth. As far a reach as his odds of surviving his current predicament.

With a sigh, he prepared the order of battle.

* * * * *

Chapter 10

Vergola Assault Base—E’cop’k System

Veska waved her tail broadly behind her, ensuring the sweep of it framed each side of her body repeatedly to draw Makori’s attention.

“Nillab spared you?” he asked, slitting his eyes and leaning back against the wall as though she’d interrupted a nap.

“The captain,” Veska said, snapping her jaw to emphasize the title, “is reviewing repairs up on the Gheshu, which I am not needed for.”

“How indispensable you have become,” he replied, dropping his tail low.

When he said nothing else and the moment stretched too long, she growled and shook herself, throwing off her pique. She had the better task on this posting, but Makori was no pup to be lured by temporary competition. The coiled energy twisting her gut would have no outlet here, unless she opened her mouth and used her words to explain what she needed, and that…

That would make it too real.

“How are the Humans?” Veska leaned to the side as though to peer past him, but the large male’s bulk blocked too much of the room beyond. Moving the Humans and all the Zuul who had evacuated the Paku and made it to the Gheshu down to the assault base had made the urgency of their reality more real—with the Gheshu barely operational, the assault base was the smarter posting…but also far closer to combat with those who had recently been allies.

“Bored.”

“And?”

“They’re Humans, Veska. There’s not a lot of ‘and’—they are what they are. And they are bored.” Makori crossed his arms, making a show of getting more comfortable in his lean, while also blocking the door further.

“We both know there’s plenty of ‘and’ with them. Are they angry? Resigned? Crawling through the ducts to attempt to take over the assault base?”

Makori tilted his head to glance behind him at that last, and she didn’t bother to swallow back her huff of laughter. He flattened his ears, but after a breath, his tail waved enough to signal her point.

“They are calm, for Humans. At first there was shouting, and some noises the translator indicated were nonsense about breeding and defecating, but A’kef came to restate his commitment to them as allies, and they trust in our honor.”

A pleasant surprise. Had Rex and his siblings shown them the faithfulness of Zuul? Some Sei had questioned if Zuul were born into honor, if they learned it from the clan while walking their path, or some combination of both. Perhaps these Zuul, raised so far from their true home, could answer that once and for all. Though if they were truly Hosh…

“Makori,” she said, pretenses forgotten. “Did A’kef tell you what clan the Earth pups actually are?”

He straightened, registering the change in her tone. “He did not.”

“He and the captain…they believe Rex, Ripley, Drake, Sonya, and Shadow are all that remain of Krif’Hosh.”

“But Krif’Hosh has been lost for…” Makori’s ears flicked, first one, then the other, and his eyes widened.

“For the stretch of the Earth pups’ lifetimes. You saw how they took to Eshtoo. I’ve seen true-born Zuul raised on old colonies who couldn’t figure it out. You know that a Sei of Cho’Hosh took an interest in them.” She heard the barest edge of an eager whine in her tone and swallowed, shaking herself again. “Think what it would mean, to have the Hosh complete again. Look at us now.” Her voice rose in urgency. “The Zuul are without a rudder. Krif’Hosh was always our scent leader in the dark of night. That’s where their name comes from.”

“The legends of dreamers.” Makori snorted, flicking his ears dismissively.

“Yes, the dreamers,” she said, thumping him on the chest hard enough to make him wince. “The first K’lak was from Krif’Hosh, as was every one before, until now. Why do you think we’ve been so indecisive as a race for the last 20 years? Look around you. The galaxy is about to catch fire.”

“More rumors.”

“Rumors? Are Humans driving Raknar rumors? Or images of them fighting Canavar? I heard whispers on a space