Free Flames of Arousal by Ruth D. Kerce Page B

twins, you and I get out of here.”
    “Out? How?”
    “I’ve been snooping around. I found our transport-connectors. They’re still functional. Braden won’t abandon Alexa, not even for a short while, not now. If she can’t be moved back to the Lair, then that leaves us. We need to return to Command Center. We can’t just sit here in this hole, while Marid attacks.”
    She squeezed his arm. “But what if Laszlo is right? What if Xylon can be saved, but the Lair is doomed? Remember what he said? Shouldn’t we try to survive by staying here?”
    “Shouldn’t we try to save as many Warriors as possible? What if Laszlo is wrong?
    What if we can make a difference? Xylon needs every able body fighting to preserve our way of life, to keep our freedom. Just Xylon surviving isn’t enough. Our security base needs to survive so we can protect our society and our whole way of life. Sometimes not that much is required to turn the advantage.” He needed to at least try, or he’d never be able to live with himself, especially if Xylon ended up defeated, and he stood by and did nothing.
    “Well, I’ve actually been thinking about all that myself. They’ll need Healers in the Lair, and on the surface, if the worst happens. Does Braden know about this plan of yours?”
    “Yes. We’ve discussed it, and he agrees. One of us needs to be in command. Brianna will be in charge now. She’s good, but she goes strictly by the book and she’s never held a command post under anything close to these circumstances.” He watched Leila digest the information, knowing she was turning over everything he said in her mind.
    “I agree, too. But I don’t want you going off without me. We’re a team. You have to promise.” The look in her eyes softened, pleading with him.
    He smiled and squeezed her hand. “Promise.”
    She visibly relaxed, and only then did her look switch to pure Warrior mode. “Once we return, if things look really dire, we can evacuate at least some of the population.
    Laszlo can’t bring everyone out the way he did with us. Even if he somehow could, this facility won’t hold them. But we could slowly send people in personal transport orbiters with fighter escorts to Tamara and Sunevia. Right?”
    Erik shook his head. “Won’t work. Tamara and Sunevia don’t have any defensive forces of their own to back us up. Nothing worthy of mention anyhow. We’d have to send too many fighters. We can’t fragment our forces more than they already are.
    Daegal would let the people and fighters go, but then take Xylon as soon as he felt we were unable to effectively fight back. With our forces divided, he could then easily take Tamara and Sunevia, too. All we’d be doing is delaying the inevitable, and not for very long. We need to regroup now, here, and present a strong front.”
    “Can we send a message? Tell Brianna what’s going on, that we’re all right, and let her know what she needs to do, step by step, if necessary.”
    “Brianna won’t adhere to a remote order. It’s against regulations…once the planet goes Red.” His last five words came out as barely a whisper.
    Leila’s face revealed her shock. “Xylon’s at Code Red?”
    She looked up at him again with pleading eyes, as if begging him to take the words back. He only wished he could. Not wanting to worry her any sooner than necessary, he hadn’t alerted her when he’d seen the status change. He pointed to a small screen on the far wall. “Current status.”
    After a quick glance in that direction, her grip on his arm tightened. She raised her eyes to his. “Brianna will listen to a message from Braden, from her own brother, won’t she?”
    “Normally. But I just got word that the Lair’s authenticator has been knocked offline. As such, no off-grid messages can be picked up by the comm system.” The authenticator separated genuine messages from phony ones—and also reported “send”
    locations to identify possible enemy transmissions