Let's Break The Planet
ALIEN KING’S POV
The Elders weren't done trying to make me feel small. They wanted to humiliate me in front of everyone because I chose a human to be my piority. They continued to look at me with their yellow eyes, their faces full of disgust as they leaned forward in their high chairs.
"You are a disgrace to your bloodline, Karn!" the oldest Elder shouted, his voice cracking with age. "Look at you! You are the richest man in the universe, and you spend your days chasing a soft-skinned animal from a dirt planet. It is your fault that we are even talking about war. Your irresponsibility is a stain on our history. You take a human, you made her your priority, and you forget your duties to the empire. You are too busy thinking about her body to realize that you are making us look like fools to the rest of the galaxy!"
They kept going, blaming me for everything. They said the Great Projects were failing because I was too distracted. They said the seed-ships were late because I was launching raids on Earth just to find more girls to fill my bed. They talked about my many wives like it was a crime. They called me a glutton and a slave to my own lust.
"It is pathetic," the silver King added, his lip curling. "A King who cannot control his own hunger is not a King at all. You have a palace full of women, yet you are ready to burn the sector down for one human? It is irresponsible. It is weak. You are a joke among the higher races."
I felt the rage bubbling in my gut, a hot, thick liquid that wanted to explode. I wanted to reach up and tear their tongues out of their mouths. But before I could roar back at them, two of the most powerful Chiefs in the room stepped forward. These were men of war. They didn't have the soft robes of the Elders; they wore heavy, scarred armor and carried the smell of blood and engines.
"Enough of this talk!" the first Chief roared, his voice silencing the old men. He looked at me with a hard, cold respect. "The Elders talk about projects and history, but they are blind to the real problem. The Crab King’s time is finally up."
I narrowed my eyes. "You think so too?"
"Kraye is a thief!" the second Chief spat, stepping into the light. "He sits behind his ten layers of iron and laughs at us. He never attends these meetings. He ignores the Council's laws. He thinks that because he is the tenth richest man, he can hide in his golden cage and steal trade routes from our moons. He has been a parasite on our borders for too long. He takes and takes, but he never gives back to the alliance."
The first Chief looked back at the Elders and then at me. "We don't care who you take to your bed, Karn. You want the human? Keep her. You want a hundred more? Take them. But we want the Crab King destroyed. He has been stealing from my people for three cycles. He has been diverting the energy rays from the outer rim to power his own shields. He thinks he is untouchable. He thinks he can have his little wedding and ignore the rest of us."
The Elders tried to speak, but the Chiefs ignored them. They were the ones with the ships and the soldiers. They were the ones who actually did the fighting while the Elders sat in their chairs.
"The date is set," the first Chief said, slamming his hand onto the digital map table. The blue light flickered as the image of Planet 444 appeared. "We attack in three cycles. We will not wait for the wedding. We will hit him while he is busy preparing his feast. My fleet will hit the orbital stations, and the second Chief’s army will drop onto the southern moons to draw out Kraye's guard."
The second Chief leaned in, his eyes glowing with malice. "And you, Karn... you bring that big gun of yours. You bring the Grave-Maker. We want you to crack those shields wide open. We want to see his palace crumble. We want to see him realize that his gold cannot save him when the Alien King comes for what is his."
"He has been a thief for too long," I growled, feeling the power returning to my voice. "He stole from you, and he stole from me. He thinks he can put his hands on Aurora’s breasts and stay alive? He thinks he can have sex with my Queen and then walk down an aisle to marry her? He has no idea what is coming for him."
"His time is up," the first Chief repeated. "We will bleed him dry. We will take his trade routes, we will take his gold, and we will leave his planet as a smoking rock in the void. He should have come to the meetings. He should have respected the Council. Now, he will learn what happens when the three most dangerous men in the galaxy decide to end him."
The Elders sat in silence, realizing they had lost. They had tried to blame me and shame me, but they had only succeeded in uniting me with the very men who could help me destroy the Crab King. They looked at each other with fear, knowing that a war was now inevitable and it would be the bloodiest one the sector had ever seen.
I turned my back on the Council and looked at the two Chiefs. "Three cycles," I said. "Prepare your men. Get your ships in the air. I am going to the black market to get the final piece for my weapon. When we meet again, it will be over the ruins of Planet 444."
I walked out of the hall, my heart pounding with a rhythmic, dark excitement. I could still feel Aurora through our link. I could feel her dreading the wedding. I could feel her sadness. But I could also feel the Crab King’s lingering presence on her, and it fueled the fire in my veins.
"I'm coming for you, Kraye," I whispered as I reached the landing pad. "You wanted to be the hero of the story? You wanted to be the kind man who saves the girl? You’re going to die a thief and a coward, and I’m going to make sure the last thing you see is my face before I rip your heart out."
I got onto my ship and felt the engines hum to life. The blame didn't matter. The gossip about my wives didn't matter. All that mattered was the three cycles between me and my revenge. I was the Alien King, and I was going to remind the whole universe why my hunger was something to be feared, not mocked.
"Set the course for the Grave-Maker's vault," I commanded. "We have a planet to break."