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  Takar

  Conquered World: Book Eleven

  Elin Wyn

  Contents

  Daphne

  Takar

  Daphne

  Takar

  Daphne

  Takar

  Daphne

  Takar

  Daphne

  Takar

  Daphne

  Takar

  Daphne

  Takar

  Daphne

  Takar

  Daphne

  Takar

  Daphne

  Takar

  Daphne

  Takar

  Daphne

  Takar

  Daphne

  Takar

  Daphne

  Takar

  Daphne

  Takar

  Epilogue: Daphne

  Letter from Elin

  Zarik: Sneak Peek

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  Don’t Miss the Star Breed!

  About the Author

  Daphne

  “You look like a hungry Valorni,” Annie laughed, watching as I went through my serving of noodles and thinly-sliced cuts of Luurizi meat.

  “No,” I protested with a mouthful, frowning as I eyed the tiny portion on her plate. “You’re the one who’s barely eating. Are you on a diet or something?”

  “No, I just eat like a regular human being.”

  “It’s not my fault the food is so damn good in here,” I continued, barely stopping to breath as I devoured whatever was left on my plate. I exhaled deeply then, leaning back against my seat and feeling completely satisfied.

  Biher’s was a small restaurant located right between the main government building and Nyheim’s hospital, where I’d had met Annie.

  The restaurant was conveniently located between our two places of work, and we were both fans of the food there. Sure, food shortages sometimes wreaked havoc with the menu, but the place’s atmosphere made up for that. Both aliens and humans ate here, no animosity between the two groups, and it felt like the perfect hiding spot from the growing tensions in the city.

  “So, what’s new?” I asked Annie, checking the holoscreen on the wall. I still had time before I had to be back at work, which meant I could pepper her with questions. There weren’t any major surgeries planned for the afternoon, so I wouldn’t be needed in the operating rooms.

  “Same old,” she smiled, fending off my question for the hundredth time. Luckily for me, she never grew tired of my non-stop questions. Curiosity was part of my DNA, after all, and Annie accepted that quirk of mine easily.

  Of course, that just made me even more relentless in my pursuit of answers.

  “Rocks, rocks, and then some more rocks. A thrilling day in a geologist’s life.”

  “Oh, come on, Annie,” I protested. “You gotta give me more than that. You’re working under the mayor and General Rouhr. You must be working on something more interesting than just rocks. You could be analyzing the materials from the Xathi site, or you could be working on some geological samples that came on the Vengeance.”

  “It’s nothing like that,” she laughed, but I just kept pestering her with even more questions. That was my defining trait: whenever I started with the questions, I would never stop.

  While it annoyed my parents to no end when I was growing up, it also ensured I had been curious enough to pursue a career in the neurosciences. Still, while work at the hospital was interesting—I helped out on surgeries while still conducting my research on the side—it wasn’t enough for me. I always needed to know more about the world around me...and, after the aliens’ arrival on the planet, that hunger for more had only grown exponentially.

  “Alright, alright,” she surrendered, holding both hands up. “I’m working on something you’d love, but I really can’t say much.”

  “Is it a confidential project?”

  “You know it.”

  “Crap. No clues?”

  “Nope,” she smiled. “The only thing I can say is that it’s something so weird I’m pretty sure you’d love it.”

  I paused at that, going through all the possible scenarios in my mind. There were a lot of areas where Annie’s work could make a difference, but since she was working under the general, it had to be something of relevance to the government.

  And it if wasn’t connected to the Xathi or to something that had come from outside the planet...then it could only mean Annie was working on something that was happening right now, on this planet.

  “You’re working on the vines, aren’t you?” I exclaimed, a wave of excitement running through me. The vines were probably one of the most interesting subjects a scientist could be studying right now, no doubt about that.

  Too bad I was sitting on the sidelines, completely clueless to what was going on.

  “How did you know?” she started, frowning as she realized I had seen through her. “I’m not supposed to talk about this with anyone, you know?”

  “My lips are sealed,” I said, pretending I was locking them up with an imaginary key I immediately flung off. “Just tell me what’s the angle on this. Are you testing it for measurable signs of intelligence? Or even sentience? What kind of biometric readings are you using?”

  “Look, I don’t know much,” she finally relented, a more serious expression on her face. “And even if I did, it’s not like I’d be able to tell you. The only thing I might say is that the higher-ups call that...thing...the Puppet Master.”

  “The Puppet Master?”

  “Lower your voice,” she hissed, leaning forward and scanning the room with her eyes. No one seemed particularly concerned with our conversation, but I still mouthed an apology. “I don’t wanna get in trouble. Everyone’s already freaking out with how little they know, and the last thing they want is everyone in the city freaking out, too.”

  “Is there any reason for people to freak out?”

  “Hello? Remember the way the vines tore the city apart? Or how we were trapped inside that dome? If that isn’t enough for people to freak out about this Puppet Master, then I don’t know what to tell you.”

  “Point taken,” I nodded, a thousand thoughts already taking over my mind. Annie wasn’t giving me much, but it was all so fascinating. “It’s just that...well, there weren’t that many casualties, were there? And the buildings that got destroyed, I somehow doubt they were targeted at random.”

  “What’s that supposed to mean?” she asked, forehead creased.

  “Well, the industrial precinct was the place with the most destroyed buildings. Do you think that’s a coincidence? Because to me it looks like it happened deliberately. This thing, whatever it is, isn’t just some dumb plant. There’s real intelligence behind it.”

  Of course, I didn't have any proof to back what I was saying, but my gut was telling me that I was right. And, more often than not, my instincts had a tendency to be correct.

  “That’s...interesting,” she hesitated over her words. “I hadn’t considered that there could be a real pattern, although I agree with you that this thing has some kind of intelligence. Not that it matters much...there’s little to no funding to conduct an investigation. And, to make matters worse, we’re short-staffed. Everyone’s just so damn busy trying to prevent more incidents, or at least ensuring we’re ready for them.”

  “That’s not enough,” I said. “Prevention doesn’t work without understanding. If we don’t know what we’re dealing with, how can we be prepared?”

  “And you’re asking me?” Annie smirked, rolling her eyes at me. “I don’t have a general’s insignia on my jacket, do I? Besides, I get their reasoning. Their priority is to ensure everyone’s safety.”

  She continued to talk, defending her point of view, the general’s point of view, whomever was workin
g on this problem.

  But I was no longer really processing anything she was saying.

  Even though I gave her the occasional nod, my mind was already working at a thousand miles an hour, trying to see this Puppet Master situation from all angles.

  There were so many tests I could conduct, if given the chance.

  Would any of my equipment work on the vines? What if I could get closer in, find the main plant? It was a plant, right?

  If there was any intelligence, any real pattern, the vines were probably just an extension of this Puppet Master. And if that was the case, there had to be a nerve center of sorts. If I were to conduct any tests, I would have to find out its location.

  Of course, that was impossible. My shoulders sank.

  I wasn’t invited to any of the government groups tackling the situation, and the government wasn’t exactly sharing what they knew with the civilians. All I had were hypotheses and conjectures. And, if it weren’t for Annie, I wouldn’t even have that.

  “Why the hell is this being kept a secret?” I said out loud, voicing my own thoughts. Annie just stopped whatever it was she was saying, her eyes wide with surprise, and then a frown took over her face.

  “You weren’t listening to me, were you?” she accused, and all I could do was shrug sheepishly.

  “Sorry,” I apologized, but I couldn’t stop myself from hitting her with a follow-up question. “But, seriously, why doesn’t the government share what they know? Maybe not to the civilians, but there are a lot of scientists in the city that could help.”

  “The timing just isn’t that great,” Annie sighed. “With all the anti-alien sentiment going around, the general probably feels it’s better not to stir the pot. I mean, how easy would it be for the anti-alien groups to say this Puppet Master is the aliens’ fault?”

  “True,” I agreed.

  “One step at a time, I guess,” she shrugged. “The general has already set up the public inquiry office, so that’s something.”

  “The inquiry office…” I repeated, remembering something I had seen on the holonews a few days ago. “The project spearheaded by that woman, what was here name, Stacy something?”

  “Stasia. Stasia Cole. She used to work here, can you believe it? She proposed it as a way to bridge the communication gap between the aliens and the humans. I’m not sure if it’ll work, though. People are stubborn, and the anti-alien propaganda is strong.”

  “People will see the light,” I said, choosing to believe most people would see through the propaganda.

  “Well, some people are actually going to the office,” she shrugged, “although I guess most of them just go there to complain.”

  “Maybe someone should go there to ask questions instead of complaints,” I mused, an idea already brewing inside my head.

  Annie just pursed her lips, her forehead creasing with concern.

  “Don’t do anything stupid, Daphne.”

  “Me?” I laughed. “Never!”

  Takar

  I woke up in darkness, which wasn’t terribly unusual. I almost always woke up well before the sun painted the sky. Today, however, was darker than others. It was a combination of the heavy clouds bringing down the nonstop gentle rain since yesterday, and my mood. Today, I was assigned to be “Complaint Officer.” A low growl escaped my lips.

  There was only one light on in the apartment, the one for the cleansing room, and it was something small that plugged into the electrical socket.

  No matter how old we grew, Rokul still needed at least that light on. He could sleep in utter darkness, but when it was time to use the cleansing room, if he didn’t have some sort of light on, he’d curse and fumble around in the dark, occasionally missing the mark and making a mess.

  My brother was by far the most unusual person I had ever met. Even now, with Tella part of his life—and occupying his bed—he was still the same person he had been while we were growing up.

  I quietly tiptoed past their room on my way to the cleansing room. Once inside, I closed the door, turned on the wall light, and went about my morning routine.

  As I washed myself in the shower, I thought about the inquiry office that General Rouhr had created in order to appease the whiney humans. Granted, not all of them were annoying crybabies, but why did we have to listen to their complaints and give them either answers or advice on how to deal with those complaints…what was the point? All the humans needed to do was trust that we were doing what was right.

  They had never faced the Xathi before, they didn’t know what kind of cleanup was involved after a Xathi attack. Where did he put my toothpaste? Of course, he put it there. We were doing what was necessary, why couldn’t they just accept that?

  Why should they, as a collective, know as much as we did? I didn’t know everything that the general did, and I didn’t want to know. Back in the war, before the rift, I didn’t know what the War Council did and that was fine with me. If I had a complaint, spit, rinse, spit, I dealt with it myself or learned to accept that there were just things I didn’t like.

  I cleaned up after myself, making sure the cleansing room, or bathroom, was as clean as it was before I used it.

  There was light streaming out from under Rokul and Tella’s door. “Morning,” I said as I walked by.

  “Morning,” I heard Tella groan, then she yelped and started cursing at Rokul as he laughed. He must have pinched her again. He had started doing that fairly often lately, and it was going to get him in trouble.

  I made myself a simple breakfast of eggs, bacon, and something Tella called oatmeal. It tasted better than the breakfast gruel I used to eat on the ship, so I was content. As the couple came to join me in the kitchen, I was already finishing off my last bite.

  “You’re on Complaint Officer duty, right?” Rokul asked, which put me into an even sourer mood. To match my mood, thunder clapped outside and the rain intensified slightly.

  “Yes,” I grumbled as I rose from the table to wash my plate.

  “Ooh, Stuffy is grumpy today,” Tella teased, using the nickname for me that she had fashioned. “Come on, it’s not that bad. You just have to sit down and pretend to listen to people. I do it with you two every day.”

  “Hey!” Rokul exclaimed in mock indignation.

  While they laughed, I gathered my gear, double checked my weaponry to ensure that it was properly cleaned, loaded, and stored, then bid them good-day. The rain was still gentle, but annoyingly cold. It was a sign that the seasons were about to change. I wondered what winter on Ankau would look like, or if the planet was in a perpetual state of late spring/early summer.

  I ensured my pack was closed and that my rifle was covered, then stepped out into the rain. I marched to the general’s office building, only to be greeted by a line of humans waiting outside…already. I stepped into the building, dried myself off with one of the many towels Tobias had placed by the door, and headed to the room that General Rouhr had specifically set aside for human complaints and named it with a sign, subtitled, “Complaints and Redress”.

  The room itself was fairly simple, and comfortable by human standards. There was a big wooden desk with an overly comfortable chair for me to sit in, three other semi-comfortable chairs arranged in front of the desk, a couch, and in a corner, a small table with things to do for children.

  I looked over the list of issues that were still unanswered from the day before, resigned myself to having to deal with people complaining about not getting their complaints dealt with, and buzzed Tobias. “Let them in,” I said dejectedly.

  Over the next several hours, I listened to complaints about the lack of food, how bland the simulated food was, questions about why we hadn’t fixed a certain neighborhood yet, at least two people with nothing better to do than simply throw insults at me, and a complaint about the lack of suitable technology at one of the schools.

  Alright. The last one was something I would be interested in doing something about.

  Nothing was more important than
learning. Learning leads to knowledge, which led to proper preparedness, which led to not getting caught by surprise and being capable of completing whatever task needed to be completed.

  I made that one a priority and sent it off to Tu’ver, Sylor, and Iq’her. They were collectively in charge of trying to improve the technology of the city.

  Finally, there was one more person…a woman by the name of Daphne March. Her ‘complaint’ was that she was nervous about the fate of her city. Well, if these damn humans would just trust us to know what was best and allow us to handle our responsibilities, there would be nothing to be nervous about. These rekking idiots that are part of the ‘anti-alien’ group just needed to shut the rekk up and stay out of our way. We would leave soon enough.

  If we could.

  Of course, no matter what my thoughts were, the likelihood of us leaving was evaporating more and more every day. Too many of us were getting close to the humans, developing friendships and relationships with them. I was certain that Vrehx and Rouhr would stay here if we had the chance to leave.

  I worried that Rokul would stay, as well.

  I looked up as this Daphne person entered the room. A petite brunette, she looked around every corner, curiosity lighting her eyes.

  Her distraction gave me a moment to collect myself. It seemed unthinkable that anyone would be able to look as attractive as she did in a war-ravaged city. She had her hair tied up in what was commonly referred to as a top-knot, but stray strands fell to soften the look. My hand itched to push the silky strands back behind her ear.