Free ZeQuest: A Space Opera Mystery Novella (The Quest Saga Science Fiction Adventure Series Book 2) by Dhayaa Anbajagane Page A

guards?”
    “There are a few. We do not have much intel on this, but I believe only the squad commanders will have guards that you might need to worry about.”
    “That shouldn’t be too hard to get by,” Carlos said.
    “Yeah,” Q said. “I mean all you have to do is beat a large group of people capable of sonic blasting you to death right?”
    “I do not understand,” Idhren said. “What is he saying?”
    “He’s being sarcastic,” Carlos said.
    And Idhren stood there as though he were not aware of such a tool of speech.
    Weird , Q thought. But then again, he’d never really heard any Getafixian use any sarcasm, so maybe their culture didn’t have a sarcasm factor in it.
    “Send a copy of the plans to my quarters,” Carlos said. “I’ll look it over and get back to you with a plan of action.”
    “I hope we can avert this war,” Idhren sighed.
    Carlos smiled at him, “Hope is coming your way.”
     
    ***

4-2
    Carlos looked up at the stars as he made his way out to the palace lawns. Their pure crystal light shone in all their glory. He missed being back on Aliea, he missed being back on Earth. He knew he had only been on Armorica for a few days now, but he still missed home.
    He found it amusing that he didn’t know which felt more like home, Aliea Academy or the Earth. He’d spent so much of his time at Aliea as a Commander that he really didn’t think of Earth as home anymore. Rather it was just a place he’d been born.
    He lay on the lawn and reminisced about his times on Armorica. He had to say he’d missed this place as well. It had been his home for the hardest years of his life, and he’d learnt more here than from anywhere else.
    “ Imagine the wind to be a part of you, ” he recalled Idhren saying to him when he first started learning the Elementa of wind. The corner of his lips twitched into a smile at the fond memory, dropping just as quickly a darker one resurfaced as well. He remembered it as though it were just yesterday.
    He’d been hiding behind the bushes in the palace lawn to jump out and scare Idhren. Instead he ended up eavesdropping on his conversation with someone else.
    “ You must give us time, your Majesty, ” Idhren said.
    “ I understand we’re your biggest sponsors, High Priest. But we cannot afford to keep funding a weak link in our allies ,” the man said. “ It is time we redirected those funds to someone more useful to us. ”
    “ Just give us a few more months ,” he pleaded.
    “ I’m sorry. We’ve already transferred our wealth out of your treasury. Please do not take this personally. ”
    Carlos didn’t remember how long he’d stayed in the bushes after that, but when he came out he saw Idhren standing still, his eyes staring down at his feet.
    “ I’ll show you ,” the High Priest had said. “ I’ll show you all .”
    “Looks like you’ve got something on your mind,” a voice interrupted Carlos’ thoughts.
    He looked up and saw Q walking toward him, a jacket around his torso.
    “Nah,” Carlos quickly shut off his thoughts and smiled. “I’m fine.”
    “This week is going to be pretty hectic, huh?”
    “Yeah,” he chuckled. “When I brought you here this was the last thing I’d expected.”
    “Well, at least it was on the ‘What to expect’ list,” Q laughed.
    Carlos grinned, “When you’ve been in this sort of thing for a while, you start to expect everything.”
    “That is true,” he said. “Same time last year I wouldn’t have believed you if told me about extraterrestrial civilizations, let alone about wave-skills and sorcerers.”
    “Time does change the way we think.”
    “So what were you doing out here?”
    “I needed some fresh air. I spent the last few hours looking into that thing we’d talked about.”
    Q seemed excited, “Did you find something?”
    “I found a ton of things,” his voice went quiet. “We were right.”
    His brother’s face dropped, “What should we do now?”
    “Just relax,” he