Page 24 of Dreikx

As one, the Alphas take out their com units and throw them on Raven’s desk.

“I fucking knew this shit was shit,” Seer says.

“It is not waste. Please take your coms back. We will use him to our advantage.”

“How so?” Raven asks.

“We’ll stage something while doing something else.”

“Wow, Mr. Focused, that was as clear as mud. Bravo.” Seer claps.

“Quiet, boy. I’m not in the mood.”

He shows me his teeth. “Two days, and I’m leaving.”

I groan.

He continues. “You think I forgot I gave you three days?”

“I’m working out a strategy to actually deliver you to the king’s doorstep.”

“Raven prefers if they come to us,” Sotay says. “I say we draw them out.”

“How do you propose we do that?” I ask.

“Get out word of a Regha princess on Earth, and they’ll come,” Seer says.

“Absolutely not.” I stand, hands fisted.

Seer laughs. “Sit your ass down. It was a joke.”

Ignoring their chuckling, I start pacing the room. “The enemy must be dealt with. Not only because Seer is impatient and will swim to his death, but also because the humans are losing faith in us. They’re fleeing cities for the country, which is bad because that’s where you’re going, Seer. Correct?”

“Correct. The Horde raids house by house, neighborhood by neighborhood. The Warlords sweep the land, meeting armies on open fields.”

“In that case, there will be uprisings, or worse, faced with an army, the humans will seek protection with the enemy. I plan to live on Earth, so this is unacceptable. We have two choices. One, organize a massive land sweep from the sky and with my crew. This would—”

“Negative,” Seer interrupts.

I stop near him. “I was not finished.”

“By the time you finish, I’m gonna die.”

“Unlikely. As I was saying, our second choice is to generate a third gate control for Seer.” I look around for objections and find none. “Excellent. Everyone is listening.” I continue, “This would allow for faster transport through the land, and it would draw the Swarm away from this city and toward Seer.”

“Because I have the control?”

“Yes. Anything new is always updated, and anyone paying attention to Telean tech knows your new control has new capabilities. They will want yours, not ours. They’ll have no choice but to engage you.”

“I love this plan,” Seer says. “Anything else?” He looks at Raven.

“What of the imposter’s location?” Raven asks. “I heard Seer caught alive one with a brain.”

“He caught a live one with a hemorrhaging brain, so I extracted what I could.”

“How?” Raven asks. Clearly, Seer has briefed him on what happened in LA.

“I read his mind,” I deadpan.

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