Page 11 of Her Alien Spy
“Yeah he sounds like I’d want to kill him within about five seconds. I deal with guys like that at Mars Lounge all the time.”
“I know. I hate him. I hate having to pretend to be him. But he’s effective. No one expects a Bellarian to act like that, so it throws people off. And he’s so flashy and over the top, you immediately write him off as a moron.”
She nodded. “I can see how that would be effective. The persona is so distracting people don’t realize what you’re actually doing.”
“Right.”
“Okay. So how does Savis taking an obviously hot, stunning, 40-something bartender to a pleasure planet fit into whatever your work is?” She knew she wasn’t letting him off easy. But if he knew her at all, he had to have expected it.
This was pure Julia, and it made him calm down, knowing she expected answers, knowing she wasn’t going to give him any space to stretch the truth or leave things out.
It just brought the whole mess into focus. She might very well agree to help him. And then hate him or feel weird with him after. And there would go his chances with her.
But he also realized, sitting there talking to her, that he didn’t have it in him to play Savis Eletath with anyone else. That she was the only one who really knew the Bellarian behind the asshole persona. And that mattered.
He’d deal with it later. Figure out how to repair whatever this did to the friendship he and Julia were building. Hopefully more.
“So, you know about the Alliance of Planets that Xarek spearheaded. A bunch of planets joined immediately.”
She nodded. “Sure. The Altarian home world, Bellaria, Cendil, Plantis. Earth joined pretty quickly, too.”
“Right. We want as many people as possible, as many worlds–”
“We? So this was something you were involved with?”
He nodded. “Xarek and I came up with it. Presented it to his people after their war was over–”
“Holy shit. You helped them fight the Redlians,” she murmured, and he nodded. The Redlians had been terrorizing planets with their advanced technology, until the Altarian and Bellarian military formed a united front and took them down, with the help of another alien race.
“I helped from behind the scenes. And I helped after. Some of the planets needed a little… convincing… to join,” he said, feeling his shoulders stiffen, knowing how people usually looked at things like that. He took a sip of his coffee, his gaze dropping to the table top so he couldn’t see the condemnation on her face
“Hey.”
He looked up at her, and she smiled. And his heart did this weird little stutter, and he knew he was gone.
“I’m former military, remember. I know how things work. Everyone hates a spy until you have one on your side, right?”
If he could have kissed her, he would have. Wrong time, which he suspected would be something he’d end up saying a lot about him and Jules.
“Right,” he said, nodding. “Well. All of the major players have signed on, except one. Remember how Maggie had all the bartenders watching for a Paraxian?”
She nodded.
“Xarek had a contact that helped mess up the Redlian tech enough to enable us to get past their shields, finally. They do that a lot, for pretty much anyone who wants it.”
“Playing all sides,” she murmured.
“Exactly. Because of what they do, there’s a good chance plenty of planets would love to destroy the Paraxian Empire. But, the fact that they’re useful keeps people from doing it, because what if they need a technological sabotage job done someday.”
“Right,” Julia nodded, following what he was saying.
“The Redians were such a powerful enemy that even the Paraxians decided it was worth leaving the shadows, helping the Altarians to end the Redlian threat. And afterward, they were ready to join the Alliance, assured that they’d have the safety of the Alliance military at the ready if they ever needed it.”
“Seems like a smart plan. But they haven’t joined,” she said, watching him, and for just a second, he was distracted by how damn pretty she was. Those green eyes, her dark, curly hair, a little messy after she’s run her fingers through it a few times.
“They haven’t,” he finally managed. “They have a council that has to agree unanimously to join anything like that, and one of the council members is holding out. Our intelligence suggests he has lucrative contracts in the works with some non-member planets, things that could make him even richer. So he’s betting his world’s safety against his own desire for wealth.”
Julia made a face, and he nodded in agreement. It was disgusting. And something that, in most societies including the Paraxian Empire, didn’t usually happen anymore. The hoarding of wealth to the detriment of everyone else in society was an ancient, backwards mindset that few, if any, still took seriously.
