Caged With The Alien Warrior

54.

Aanya

In a whirlwind, we left the oasis and made our way back into the city. We sat in some traffic, but neither of us had many words to say, worry overtaking my thoughts. And from Ronan's white-knuckled grip on the wheel, he felt the same.

What did it mean that the Intergalactic Alliance doesn't believe us? Where would we go to testify? How long would the trip be? What did Ronan mean when he said the journey would be dangerous?

I gulped.

As much as I was putting on a brave face, this all made me nervous. Everything felt so out of my control. I pulled at my dress as it stuck to my still-wet skin.

Suddenly, we stopped, and Ronan came around to help me climb out of the car.

I gulped again, this time intimidated by the humongous building in front of me. It towered over all the other buildings on the busy street. Wowza. I craned my neck and couldn't see the top. How the heck did they engineer that?

Well, I guess if they could engineer space travel, they could engineer super tall buildings too that defied gravity.

Ronan held open the door for me and I walked in, gobsmacked, taking in everything. The sparseness reminded me of the military back home, too. They sure liked their concrete here too.

We were brought upstairs in a weird elevator-like thing and brought to an office with two guards. They let us into a large office with two Rhodinians. They both stood by a large, concrete desk, next to a collection of medals on the wall.

I shivered, wrapping my arms around myself. The room felt cold.

Ronan's gaze was sharp on the white-haired older guy. Must be the general dude. My eyes darted between the two. Definitely picking up on some tension there.

I unfortunately knew the other occupant of the room– Drogan. Also known as the guy I thought was a space pirate who thought I kidnapped Ronan and cuffed me. Yippee, he was here too.

They were both dressed impeccably, in some military getup unlike any I'd ever seen.

How did I look? I quickly had rinsed off in the water, but I was sure my hair was drying into a dishevelled nest. And my dress had dried a bit wrinkly. Oh well, there was nothing I could do about that.

Ronan started with introductions. "Aanya, this is High General Ziso Ilzax and my second in command, Drogan." He motioned at each male.

His second in command was this guy? Ugh. Why Ronan, why?

"And this is Aanya Patel, the human I met while imprisoned by the Szentists," Ronan said, introducing me.

"Pleased to meet you, High General Ilzax." I gave a tight smile at the tension in the room. I inclined my head towards the redhead. "Drogan."

Ronan looked between us. "You two know each other?"

"You could say that," I said, my smile going even tighter. More like baring my teeth like a wild animal.

"We had a... misunderstanding when Ms. Patel first arrived with you," Drogan said diplomatically.

I snorted. "Yeah, a misunderstanding."

Ronan nodded, but from the look in his eye I knew he wanted to continue the conversation, probably without High General Ilzax.

Ronan focussed back on High General Ilzax. He crossed his arms, wings flaring out behind him. "Is this meeting regarding my punishment?"

My gaze shot to Ronan, heart pounding. Punishment? What punishment? This man withstood torture from the lizardmen and they wanted to punish him even more? Because he wasn't allowed to go or something? I, for one, was very, very glad he went to find his cousin. Without him, I'd never have escaped and Lani and I would still be trapped and–

High General Ilzax cut off my thoughts. "It's been decided from the council that you've gone through enough. You'll be back on active duty escorting Ms. Patel to the Intergalactic Alliance Headquarters."

"Understood, sir." Ronan stood at attention.

Whoa, serious.

"You'll bring your team with you. I conducted my investigation and you've all been cleared." High General Ilzax cleared his throat, almost uncomfortably. "I apologise for my harsh words yesterday. After reviewing the data myself, I see that you conducted yourself well in a difficult situation."

It was an awkward, stunted apology from a man who seemed like he didn't apologise much, but it was an apology.

"Thank you, sir," Ronan replied, tilting his head. "When are we due to leave?"

High General Ilzax picked up his datapad. "Tomorrow. I have a ship ready. It's of the utmost importance to get you both to the Intergalactic Alliance Headquarters, along with the proof of the Szentists' actions."

Ronan nodded. "Understood, sir."

"I'll inform the rest of the team, Ronan," Drogan nodded. They sure liked their nodding.

Wait, what?

"Drogan is coming too?" The words slipped my mouth before I could think.

Ronan looked at me, brow furrowed. "Yes, he's my second in command."

I crossed my arms. "Fine. If he's coming," I pointed at Drogan, fighting the urge to make an ugly face, "the nice guy is coming too."

Ronan's brows shot up. "The nice guy?"

"You know, the guy who I gave Lani to hold when I passed out. Tal-someting. Talek? Talie?" I tried to remember, looking up and to the right.

"Talion." Drogan corrected, frowning. "Talion's just a cadet, he's not qualified to–" Drogan started, but I cut in.

"I trust him. And that's more than I can say about you." I couldn't help the sour look that I gave him.

A flicker of surprise crossed Drogan's face, but he masked it well in a polite expression. "Understood. I defer to the High General's opinion, of course."

Drogan looked expectantly at High General Ilzax. We all did, really.

High General Ilzax looked to Ronan. "It's your team. Would you allow Talion to join?"

Ronan looked between me and Drogan and seemed to settle on some conclusion. "Talion can accompany us if that's what you want, Aanya. He's qualified enough so there's no harm in him coming. And he could probably do with some real-world experience. But he's still a cadet, so I can't have him join my team yet."

"Understood. Now, in term of logistics..." High General Ilzax went into gobbledygook that I didn't understand about ships and captains and people but I nodded along like I understood.

Suddenly, something occurred to me that should have been my very first thought. It hit me in the solar plexus. God, how could I have forgotten? I dragged a hand down my face.

Ronan looked at me, concerned. The muscles in his jaw flexed. "What is it?" He stepped closer.

I blinked, trying to figure out what to do.

Slowly, I met Ronan's gaze. "What about Lani?"

How could we take a newborn on this journey? 

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AUTHOR'S NOTE

How could they forget about Laniiiii

Any predictions for what's gonna come next? 👀

Comments and votes are much appreciated.

Virtually yours,

Ro