Ancalagon - 107. Chapter 107

“Stop it. If he was going to turn me in, he would have done it already.” I put a hand on Ases’ shoulder. “You need to calm down or Bouncer is going to lose it too. These guys are our allies. We need to hear them out.”

“Well look at you using your logic and brain,” snarked Timok. He cocked his head. “I didn’t know you had it in you.”

“You’re not helping either,” I said shortly. “Seal your lips and listen to the plan unless you have something better to offer.” I crossed a pair of my arms and glared at Timok and then looked at Ases. “Well? We aren’t talking about turning in either of you. We’re talking about turning me in. I’m willing to risk it if there’s a good way to get Garjah out. But we won’t know if there is unless you two cooperate.”

Ases had already sheathed his claws and stood upright. Timok was slower to follow. I stroked Bouncer’s head, calming his steady rumbling growl. “You’re fine. I’m fine. It’ll be okay, you’ll see. We’re going to get him back.” The smooth scales and ridges were hard against my fingers, but he arched his neck into my fingers as I scritched behind his ear. He finally grew quiet. “There you go.”

Looking at Chaintrik, I nodded once. “Sorry. We’re ready to listen now.”

“It’s not that complicated.”

“Simple plans work best,” Timok agreed.

Chaintrik glanced at him and nodded once. “We’re going to surface down the street from the Kadoval’s secure compound. Garjah told me that he gave one person access outside of security.” He trained his gaze on me. “And he didn’t tell anyone that he did it.”

“So that’s why you didn’t argue about me coming.” Of course they’d need someone to help them get inside. And since they were only doing it because I’d insisted, they needed me to get them in.

“It was a failsafe, in case something happened.”

“Then what? I don’t want to hurt someone if we don’t have to.” How could we know who was actively part of the Kardoval’s plan? If they were just following orders, did they know any different? Could they? The whole memory thing brought up questions I didn’t know how to answer. But surely it didn’t change their ability to know right from wrong.

Secretly kidnapping someone and ransacking their home was wrong. However the Kardoval felt about younger allies and revealing their location and species to the Galactic, they were not going to be able to hide from discovery anymore.

It my idle moments, I had to wonder how many other advanced races were hiding in the outer reaches of space, maybe watching to see how we interacted before they made contact.

Contact. Stars, Chaintrik was talking. I had to pay attention, even if I felt like I was going to come out of my skin with worry. “We are not as hidebound as the Kardoval think, and more of us have made it offworld to trade and send back technology.”

“Like the Zusqner engine,” Ases said.

“Yes. We have also acquired these.” Chaintrik held up a strap with two flat circles on either side. He slipped it over his hand so one rested on the palm and the other on the back of his hand. “If I place a free hand over the top circle here and point it toward a person, it will emit a beam of energy powered by the electricity within my body. With precise effort, it can cause an injury, unconsciousness, or death.”

“No death,” I said. “Not if we can avoid it.” So if those took precision, they were out for us. I didn’t really want to carry a projectile weapon anyway. “Do you have batons? Like long, thin sticks?”

Chaintrik consulted with one of his males, and he left. “He will get you something that should work.”

“Okay, we have weapons.” Ases and Bouncer were their own weapons, and Timok could figure it out for himself. “We’re going to come out down the street, then I’ll code everyone into the building. Where do they have Garjah?”

“We don’t know for sure, but we believe it is here.” Chaintrik pulled up a map of the building, pointing out a room on the inside and down three levels. “We may have to go through several layers of security to get there.”

“But you’re hoping not at night.”

“They would draw suspicion themselves if they had extra security there.”

“True.” Timok nodded.

Anxious to go, I was happy to see the male coming with a long, thin metal rod. It was thinner than I liked, but knowing their metal was stronger than anything I’d ever seen, it was probably better than other rods I’d used before. I stepped back from Bouncer and gave it a practice slice and then downward slash, checking the balance. It was good.

“Go quiet, get in, get him out, get back,” I said. “And don’t get the entrance to the tunnels discovered because they hide your people.” I wanted to make sure Chaintrik knew we didn’t forget that. “If we’re pursued, we don’t come back here.”

“No. Head south,” Chaintrik said, tracing a route on a schematic of the city he pulled up. “Look for the acoji nuts.”

Every sound made my shoulders tense, and I stood as a tense statue waiting for the last male to clear the tunnels. Then Chaintrik led us on toward the Kardoval’s secure building. They had comm feed, but that’d been diverted. We raced through the darkness and to a side entrance.

Government buildings had to have deliveries too. We split into two teams.

Our luck ran out on the second floor. We hit a pocket of security, a team probably heading off shift because they weren’t nearly as neat as they should be according to Garjah.

“Stop! What are you doing—”

“Shut them up before the whole place hears him,” someone hissed.