Night Song (The Guild Wars Book 9) by Mark Wandrey (best ereader under 100 .txt) 📕

kicked himself for forgetting he might not be alone in here. Gawking was all well and good, but this wasn’t home, and he knew better.

“Oi, technician!” Shadow remembered not to gesture wildly to attract the elSha’s attention, but he put enough effort into the bellow that he had to course-correct again.

“More Zuul?” the elSha replied, Shadow registering the words despite the distance. The small being flipped easily midair and pushed off the Raknar, angling for the new arrival, and added, “A Zuul speaking Human?” The technician tapped her pinplant as though questioning it and flared to a stop halfway between Shadow and the immense ancient machine behind her.

“A Zuul in a Human mercenary unit,” Shadow replied, his ears twitching before he stilled them. “In case that question was for me.”

The elSha tucked the part in her hands closer to her body and regarded him silently. Shadow tore his eyes from the Raknar looming behind her and focused on the smaller alien.

“You’ve seen Zuul recently? And Humans?”

“I mostly stay in here, Human-merc-Zuul.” Even the translator managed to pick up the wariness in the technician’s words.

“I’m Shadow,” he offered, trying to wrangle his thoughts off the machine and to the matter at hand.

“Freena.”

“You’ve been working in here long, Freena?” he asked, managing to keep most of the interest out of his voice.

“Ever since the Wrightcart Human started smashing around in one of these,” she said, the tip of her tail lashing toward the Raknar, “everyone thinks all the old death-carts can be made to move again.” Something very like a snort emerged from the small body. “It pays credits, until clients get impatient.”

“So no chance on this one?” Shadow cleared his throat, hearing the longing in his tone. He had a CASPer—one of only five Zuul in the galaxy who could say such a thing—panting after a Raknar was over the top greedy.

“Is that why you’re here, Human-Zuul-merc Shadow? To get your own Raknar?” The careful spacing in her words gave him pause, but he couldn’t imagine what she would be worried about.

“No. We’re looking for the rest of our company. That’s why I asked if you’ve seen Humans pass through recently. Sounds like you’ve met with some Zuul?”

“Yes.” The elSha let the word sit between them for several long moments, blinking with what felt like deliberate slowness. Shadow held himself still and stared back at her wide-set eyes.

“Yes,” Freena repeated, twitching her tail again. “I talked to a Human trooper, and then not long later, a Zuul trooper. I don’t think they knew each other.”

“The Zuul we’re traveling with are also in search of the rest of their company.”

“I had no idea so many mercenary companies had to go searching out parts of themselves across the galaxy.” Freena’s third eyelid paused mid-blink, and Shadow had the undeniable feeling that she was laughing at him.

“Did either the Human or the Zuul trooper mention what had happened to them, or where they were going?”

“They did.”

“Would you be able to share that information?”

“I might.”

“Did they enjoy their conversation with you as much as I am?”

“They mostly stared at that.” She flicked her tail toward the Raknar again.

Shadow chuffed a laugh, his ears twitching. “The Pushtal aren’t very good at keeping it a secret.”

“They didn’t try to hide it from those Zuul and Humans. Neither was much of a threat at the time.”

That sobered him right up. “You know where they went…” A pause for her slight noise of agreement. “I’d like you to come talk to the colonel, please.”

* * *

Alan was talking with A’kef after they’d gotten as much info as they could from Akohn. The story checked regarding the Pushtal obtaining a basically junked CASPer, as well as where Starbright had come from. They’d even managed to get him to admit the Zuul ship, Gheshu, had come through at almost the same time. Akohn had wondered if the Zuul ship was chasing the Human ship.

“But then they transitioned together,” Akohn admitted. “Through the stargate without issues.”

“Just timing, I guess,” A’kef said to Alan.

“The Zuul and Humans haven’t been as bitter of rivals as, say, we have been with the MinSha, or even the Besquith,” Alan said. “We’ve fought, yes; however, it’s been amiable.”

“I would agree,” Akohn said. “We respect your ability, despite your needing the suits to stand on even ground.”

“We didn’t evolve with sharp teeth and stronger bones,” Alan said with a shrug. Then he chuckled. “Flatar have Tortantula, we have CASPers.”

“From what I’ve learned, it’s the other way around with the Flatar/Tortantula. That is neither here nor there, though. We still do not know for certain the destination of our people.”

“Father, I mean Colonel?” Shadow asked, floating over. A’kef gave a little growl of displeasure at the break in military decorum.

“Yes, Private?” Alan asked.

“I think there’s someone you should talk to.”

Shadow had an elSha in tow, and the reptilian looked at all the armed Humans and Zuul with obvious trepidation. The fact there were hundreds of Pushtal also nearby didn’t help. It would seem the loathing of cats and dogs was something every race understood.

The elSha was nervously plucking at a strange component as it arrested its momentum against a random piece of junk. Alan had always considered the race a bit of an enigma. They weren’t a merc race, far from it. The elSha seemed to loathe violence, but because of their incredible and innate technical acumen, they were nearly ubiquitous around merc units. Mercs used vast amounts of technology, after all. He’d even seen an elSha in a Winged Hussars marine boarding team once. Every race seemed to have their outliers.

“What do you have?” he asked the two.

“Tell him,” Shadow prompted.

“I…I don’t want to get in trouble,” she said. Once the alien spoke, Alan’s translator tagged