spears of Uu'kata (CLEAN(ish) Version)

Chapter 41 - War Pigs

Ahnekk looked down at Charlotte, unconscious in his grasp, and felt an overwhelming sense of guilt. Spears but the way she'd looked up at him was like a knife in his chest.

It had hurt to see her desperate. To see her beg...

Her face, now slack, slowly returned to its normal color. The way she changed colors when scared, angry or, in this case, strangled, made her kind seem more fragile.

He gently stroked the side of her face and whispered, "I'm sorry," under his breath. Then he picked her up and cradled her.

He was about to hand her over to Echnar when Tlornden stepped forward and said, "May I touch her?"

Ahnekk growled before he could stop himself.

"I won't harm her. I just can't believe that this is what humans look like."

Ahnekk swallowed and nodded.

Tlornden slowly extended a hand and brushed his knuckles against her cheek. "Her skin is so soft and smooth," he said.

Then he touched her hair and said. "Her hair feels like xylo silk."

That was enough for Ahnekk. He turned two Echnar and put her in his arms.

He turned back to his guests to find them watching him with a peculiar air. Especially his brother whose eyes constantly bounced between him and the door and back again. To his credit, he didn't say anything or ask questions. Neither of them did.

"Okay," Ahnekk said, approaching the table once more. "What's your plan here?"

Tlornden blew out a breath, then put his hands on his hips and looked down at the pictures on the screen spread across the table.

"Well," he said. "Jacoba told me that a single Uu'k'asht could only make a gate big enough for, roughly, ten."

"That's correct, mostly," Ahnekk said. "Some can do more, some less."

"Okay," said Tlornden. He folded two of his arms, rubbed his chin with another, and scratched behind his behind his ear. "Here's my idea, we get enough of your warriors on each ship to create a gate. Jacoba said that you can make gates that interlock, creating larger gates, potentially something large enough to fit a ship through."

"That's right," Ahnekk said.

"With Jakoba's help, we were able to take a small ship close enough to get those pictures. But these humans, they have machines flying through the air that are so small they're almost invisible and they'll attach themselves to ships and explode on impact. Like thinking bombs. So anything we bring is going to have to be able to fly cold and be equipped with stealth tech, like the Shadow Slicer. It seems to throw off their sensors."

"So you want to just drop bombs and go?" Ahnekk asked.

"I wish it were that simple," said Tlornden.

"Unfortunately," Ondet chimed in, "it isn't. He zoomed in on one of the pictures and then pointed at little structures placed here and there around the larger structures. "These are weapons here," he said. "Any unknown objects that get close are blown out of the sky."

"Luckily," Jakoba said, leaning his palms on the table, "I came up with a way to coat even our ordinance in stealth tech. But they still have to run hot to hit their targets and human systems can obviously sense heat signatures. I'm working on a design to run them cold up to a point, then activate when they're within range, but under radar."

Ahnekk smiled proudly, "I knew our fathers were wrong when they said you were the dumb one," he said.

"No, you were the dumb one. That's why they didn't waste money trying to send you to university off-world," Jakoba shot back with a grin.