Page 70 of I Married Amreth

As much as I believed in respecting the laws of his people, I could not sit back and watch a murder being committed, no matter how much the victim might have deserved it.

The wave of psionic energy ended just as abruptly as it began. The man’s head dropped to his chest, his shrieks fading into pained whimpers as he breathed heavily.

“Speak or I will make you wish you could die,” Aku said in a menacing voice. “Your people brought death and suffering to mine with a sickness that nearly wiped us out. And now, you threaten us with extermination. Youwilltell me why.”

“I don’t know anything! I swear!” the man pleaded.

Aku didn’t insist and simply gave him another generous serving of psionic strikes. My stomach roiled, every fiber of my being screaming for me to stop him. This wasn’t the way to do it. It troubled me all the more that, although his voice screamedsincerity as far as him not knowing anything, the human’s aura continued to say that he was being deceptive about something.

When blood began to trickle from the man’s ear, I placed a hand on Aku’s shoulder in an appeasing fashion. I didn’t say a word. He gave me a sideways glance, our eyes locking for a moment. He clearly wanted to tell me in a less-than-friendly way to back off. To my pleasant surprise—and utter relief—he relented and stopped his attack.

The man wheezed and cried, all his previous arrogant bravado gone.

“He doesn’t know anything,” the Raithean suddenly said, startling us both.

His head was still bowed, giving us the impression that he remained unconscious. The shorter and narrower tentacles dangling from his head, and which acted as hair, hid his face, reinforcing the illusion he was still passed out. He lifted it, the nictating membrane of his double eyelids blinking as he looked at us with a slightly groggy expression.

“Bruce is just a grunt. He’s too stupid for people to confide anything in him beyond the specifics of his tasks,” the Raithean said in a tired voice.

“Butyouknow what’s going on,” I retorted.

“I knowsomeof what is going on, but not all,” he corrected before shifting his attention to Aku. “I don’t know anything about the sickness that the scientists are trying to cure. But the continued existence of your people has become too great of a threat now that you have found a way to travel off-world. Our employer cannot risk you exposing them.”

“Shut up, Nylar!” Bruce hissed.

“No,youshut up, stupid human,” Nylar replied, as he gave him a disgusted sideways glance. “We’re not getting rescued. But you’re too dumb to see it.”

“You don’t know that!” Bruce countered.

“Look at the monitor,” Nylar said, gesturing with his chin at the overlay screen above the navigation board. “The artificial intelligence is currently transferring all our data. They have someone skilled enough to remotely take control of our ship. By now, they’ve already seen and handled our pre-programmed emergency rescue call. We’re screwed. So, we might as well come clean.”

“We have indeed taken control of your ship’s computer,” I confirmed, while narrowing my eyes suspiciously at him. “But why are you suddenly so cooperative?”

“Because either we die here today, have anaccidenton our way back, or meet just as dreadful of fate on Molvi. Any way you cut it, we’re fucked. Typhoon Pharma will not want us to speak. So I’d rather do it now for a chance at increased protection from the Enforcers. For sure, they have some of their people out there. There’s no way you would have detected us this quickly, or managed to hack our ships in a Dead Zone the way you currently are.”

I nodded in concession, my heart soaring upon hearing this confirmation about Typhoon Pharma’s involvement. That his aura also didn’t show any deception further thrilled me.

“I knew I shouldn’t have messed with such a pretty world, and especially not places of worship,” Nylar added with self-derision.

“And yet you did,” Aku said harshly. “Why?”

“I had to. It’s my job. For the record, I don’t know all the secrets, but only that if what happened here gets exposed, it will raise too many questions that will have people look far too closely into Typhoon Pharma,” the Raithean replied nonchalantly. “The problem heavily centers around Noah Montel, the CEO’s son from a previous relationship.”

“Noah! I know that name,” Aku exclaimed. “That was the name of the human that Sora bit.”

Nylar snorted. “Obviously. That bastard constantly gets in trouble. Most of my career has been spent burying his shit. After the last big tragedy he caused, I thought he was done for. But Elias Jacobs agreed to take him on his team when no one else would.”

“Why did Jacobs do that?” I asked. “And why would no one else take Noah?”

“Credits, of course,” Nylar replied in a factual manner. “Jacobs was failing at securing new funding for his research. Noah wants to play field doctor but cannot follow rules and quickly gets bored. In this specific instance, the project wasn’t turning out to be lucrative enough.”

I frowned, my confusion reflected on Aku’s face.

“What do you mean by not lucrative enough?” I asked.

“The research on the Sangoths was always a huge gamble that no one truly believed in. But it was just a facade. Typhoon always suspected that it wouldn’t pan out. But it gave them a legal excuse to be on Kestria, despite the Prime Directive. There’s a reason why Typhoon tries to get involved in projects on primitive planets. It allows them to always stay ahead of everyone else when it comes to major discoveries. They send people like Noah as scouts to explore forbidden areas of the planet to seek new medicine, plants, or resources to exploit.”

“But why attack my people?” Aku challenged. “Surely, your Typhoon doesn’t go around exterminating the local population of every planet they try to exploit.”

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