Page 84 of Legend

Dorn rocked back. “Then I will not waste your time, Admiral. I have transmitted all the information we have on the Sythian swarm and the recent change in its composition and trajectory. We would have preferred you had this days ago, but the situation is not yet dire.”

“Then why are our proximity sirens sounding?” Fiona whispered to me.

“You do not believe an attack is imminent?” Zoran asked even as the sirens echoed in the corridors.

“The last sighting of the swarm was still far from Drex,” Dorn said. “There is time to prepare and fortify. We are sending reinforcements.”

Zoran tipped his head in a small bow. “Thank you. I had hoped that another rescue would not be required so soon after the last.”

“This could not be helped.” Dorn squared his shoulders. “Our home planet and the Academy must be defended. I will contact you again shortly once you have had time to review the reports.”

Then his transparent image shimmered for an instant and was gone.

Zoran’s shoulders relaxed a fraction, but he pinned me with a hard gaze. “I need you to tell me why the proximity alarms are sounding, if the High Commander still believes the swarm is far away.”

I gave him a sharp nod, spun on my heel, and then hesitated.

“I should stay here and help with any battle plans,” Fiona said with a measure of regret in her voice.

She was right. She would be better used with the admiral, but I did not like the idea of leaving her.

“Take the Assassin,” Admiral Zoran said, meeting my gaze with one that told me he understood more than I had suspected. “You may need her strategic skill more than I will.”

Fiona released a breath, and I did not wait for the admiral to change his mind. I grabbed her hand and bolted from the room. Having her by my side gave me renewed strength, and I could not help thinking how much had changed since my first day at the academy, how muchIhad changed.

We dashed down the hall, I pressed my hand to the panel for my door and rushed inside with Fiona. Once I was behind my desk, I released her hand, activated my tablet, and started to scan the flood of transmissions that had been suppressed. At the same time, I pulled up at the readouts for the security systems and proximity alerts.

There was no doubt about it. Something had triggered the security net I had set up to detect incursions into Drexian space farther away from the planet. I flicked my hand up to cast a holographic recreation of the star chart into the air. As I squinted at the approximation of the space surrounding Drex, it was evident where the alarm had been triggered.

“But there is nothing there,” I muttered as I stared at the empty space.

“That’s impossible,” Fiona said, as she gazed at the holographic image. “There has to be something out there, unless it retreated. Do swarms retreat?”

I could not answer her because I did not know. I knew precious little about this new enemy of ours. As I huffed out a frustratedbreath, an alert sounded from my screen. I read the coordinates then remembered to breathe as I read them again. I was being hailed by someone beyond the planet but not beyond Drexian space.

I exchanged a glance with Fiona before I tapped my finger to accept the hail, bracing myself for whatever enemy might appear, although I could not imagine what a bloodthirsty Sythian who was bent of devouring everything in its path would look like, or how it would communicate

The creature that appeared on my screen had silvery horns curling around his ears, dark hair pulled up into a knot atop his head, bright-blue eyes that seemed to glow, and black markings on his skin that curled up his neck. He was no Sythian.

“I am Runn of the Taori.”

Chapter

Sixty-Five

Fiona

My heart stilled as the alien on the screen introduced himself. It wasn’t like I was ignorant of other beings in the universe. I was on an alien planet, after all, and living among Drexians, who were decidedly not human. But this Taori was nothing like the Drexian warriors who could pass as larger, more muscular humans. No one would mistake the horned creature and his impossibly blue eyes as anything but otherworldly.

He leaned closer and a pendant hanging from his neck swung forward. “To whom am I speaking?”

Vyk shifted beside me. “I am Commander Vyk of the Drexian Empire, security chief for the Drexian Academy.”

The alien who had called himself Ruun inclined his head. “I am a science officer for the sky clan of the Taori, which is why I am here.”

“Where?” Vyk asked. “You do not appear on our tracking systems, although you did set off our sensors.”

The Taori frowned. “We should not have set off your sensors.”