In the Presence of My Enemies Read Online Free Page B

looked beside her father to Savath’s cell. The Kafaran was on his knees, with his large head bowed, and appeared to be in deep meditation.
       “You mean an alliance,” Melissa breathed, then turned back to her father. “With the Kafaran s. A permanent one.”
       William sighed, his body sliding down the doorframe slightly. “I’m not sure permanent is the right word . . . at least, not at this early stage of negotiations.”
       Melissa looked at him dubiously. “But there are no formal negotiations with —,” she started, but then stopped herself. The look on her father’s face told her that the exact opposite was true. Things were now moving too fast, and Melissa was trying hard to catch up. She need to stop, to replay everything before it spiraled out of control. “I need you to start from the beginning.”
       “First things first. You still haven’t told me how you got placed in the brig.”
       Melissa leaned against her own cell wall. “Captain Krif and I had a difference of opinion on whether you should be placed in here or not. I lost.”
       William smiled, then pivoted his shoulder from the frame, leaning his back fully against the cell wall. “I don’t see it as that way at all. In fact, it’s very convenient that you’re here. I just wish Shawn was, too. This is a conversation I wanted to share with the both of you.”
       “So do I,” she said wistfully. “He’s gotten pretty close to being a resident here himself.”
       William chuckled. “I don’t doubt it.” 
       “Well, for now, anyway, it’s just you and me and a couple of Kafarans. That’ll have to do.”
       The admiral took a heavy breath, then focused his eyes on a point well beyond the walls of the Rhea before beginning.
       “ Approximately two years after the end of the Galactic War, the far side of Kafaran space was invaded by the Meltranians.” He then turned to Melissa to emphasize the weight of his next words. “They are a vicious, plague-like species, my dear. Completely devoid of emotions . . . brutal . . . savage.”
       “Where do they come from?”
       Commodore Savath startled Melissa as he began speaking. “They come from the Darkness, an area of unstable spatial pockets on the far side of the Kafaran Empire.”
       “And what do they want?” Melissa asked, still startled over the fact that she was able to have a conversation with the alien.
       “They live off the heat generated by other creatures and planets,” Savath said. It was nearly impossible to detect what emotions the Kafaran was feeling, but Melissa got the distinct impression his words were spoken with subtle regret.
       William then spoke up, drawing Melissa’s attention back to him “ Their isotonic cannon is designed to completely drain all the heat and energy from targets, which then gets absorbed back into their ships. Those ships, just likes the one we destroyed in Second Earth orbit, are known as Collectors. When a fleet of Collectors are on the move, they are said to be extending the shadow of the Darkness.” He paused, giving Melissa time to absorb the information before continuing.
       “ Near the end of the Galactic War with the Unified Collaboration of Systems, the Kafarans began prototyping their experimental shielding. It never moved beyond that phase until after the war with us had ended, which is why Sector Command forces never encountered it. However, when the Meltranians invaded, it was used to some effect against their more powerful weaponry. The design of the shielding has been marginally improved since then, but the Kafarans can’t withstand the Meltranians for very long. So when the Kafarans began suffering heavy casualties—namely to several of their key shipyards and colonies—they began requesting assistance from some of their former allies.”
       “The Army of Light,” Melissa guessed correctly.
       Savath then spoke up once again. “A crude but accurate