Page 68 of Captured
Chapter Thirty-Two
Rakir
The Rebellion has answered our call and the Freedom waits in the shadow of the uncharted planet. The Freedom is the Rebellion’s fleet crown jewel, fast and light, boasting impressive fire power.
Aboard it, waiting for a chance to strike, is the traitor.
I finally arrive to the small bare room where the leaders of the Rebellion will meet us. My brothers are already there waiting for me. Standing so close to each other, they offer a startling contrast, one that has always fascinated me. Darhk stands straight, his hands folded neatly behind his back, his expression and eyes closed off. His exoskeleton rises all the way to his neck under his pristine military uniform. At his side, Harko leans on the wall, his own exoskeleton totally retracted, the top of his chest visible through the unbuttoned vest. Somehow, despite both wearing the same Drakian High Command uniform, they look completely different.
The middle child of my parent’s mating, Harko is younger than me by ten years, but only older than Darhk by one. He always was the most outgoing of us all, warm and charming, quick to turn an enemy into an ally. As he smiles broadly at my approach, I notice, not for the first time, how his personality serves to hide his best quality. Harko is considered a genius, even for our kind. A skilled engineer, he is the mastermind behind most of the recent Drakian technological advancements.
He is as ruthless as any of us, only where Darhk shoves his authority around with a scowl, Harko crushes people’s objections with smiles. They are both sharp edges to the same sword and I will need them both to unmask the traitor and save the Rebellion.
“How is your Amara?” Darhk asks as I walk up to them.
“I expect she’ll be sleeping for a week!” Harko comments, laughing loudly at his side. “The poor little thing has to be exhausted!”
“Let me worry about my Amara.” I come up to him and embrace my younger brother, then turn to Darhk.
“Juliet is indeed resting.” I answer Darhk’s earlier question. “She’s under instructions to stay in our private quarters.”
“And she will obey you this easily?” Harko asks, still smirking.
“Of course.” Darhk answers with a frown. “She is his Amara. Obeying is not a choice.”
“I see.” Harko muses, but I see the mischievous glint in his eyes. There’s something going on that I haven’t been aware of between those two. “Like Sara, you mean? As your ward here aboard the Pearl, she has to obey your every order.”
Darhk’s entire being becomes stiff and his eyes take a dark, savage shade.
“Sara’s education sorely lacked in discipline when she was growing up, I’m afraid.” Darhk mutters in a shocking display of emotions. “That is a fact I will have to correct if she disobeys my orders to remain in her room until I come fetch her.”
“Disobeys your orders,again, brother.”
Harko smirks as Darhk turns his attention to him, his eyes reduced to slits and his mouth curving downward in a grimace. I stare in awe, my mind running wild at the obvious effect the young human woman seems to have on my usually stern, stoic brother.
Could Darhk have some interest in the young human? I doubt he would appreciate the increased challenge of having a human female as an Amara, but I could be wrong.
“The lock on her personal rooms is programmed to let no one but me inside.” Darhk says with a confidence I’m not sure he should feel. “She won’t be wandering the halls.”
“We’ll see about that,” Harko counters. “She’s smart enough to have hacked into her father’s security system. My guess is she can find a way around yours as well.”
Darhk opens his mouth to answer Harko, but he is cut short by the sound of the alarm. On a wide screen embedded in the wall, the image of a small shuttle grows fast, leaving the looming sight of the Freedom behind, carrying the leaders of the Rebellion. We all remain silent, the levity of the earlier banter leeched out of the air.
“Is our plan in place?” I ask as the image switches to the inside of the loading dock.
“The traitor won’t see what’s coming for him.” Harko answers, handing me a small crystal square. “This decoy would fool General Jarrahdal himself.”
“Good.” I take the fake data frame and inspect it in the bright light. I can see no defect, no imperfection to betray any difference with the one that cost General Jarrahdal a fortune. Such is Harko’s genius that he replicated the most complex piece of human information technology in a matter of hours. “And you’re sure it will work? We’re only going to have one chance at unmasking the traitor.”
“Oh, it will work,” Harko says. “Once the traitor steals the data frame, I’ll activate the locator. Finding him will be easy.”
I frown, then inspect the data frame again. There is no sign of a locator in the crystal surface, no clue. I would expect nothing more from my brother than perfection, but it still amazes me.
“Then, we will use him to root out any other traitors inside the Rebellion,” Darhk adds, his tone ominous. There is no mercy to be expected there. Darhk has none in him.
On the small screen, three humans walk from the shuttle and inside the flexible tunnel linking it to the Pearl. I frown as I see them coming. The first one is a short, sturdy middle-aged man wearing an oversized mustache flanked by an older woman so thin she looks like she’s going to collapse at any moment. Behind her walks a soldier.
“Who is that?” I point at the middle-aged man. “Where’s Admiral Garrick?”
