“Leo, let’s agree on this. Let’s jump away and then decide on a course of action.”
“No, Richard. That’s not my mission and neither should it be yours. We have a path we chose for ourselves, and if we stray we’ll forever be chasing it. The Federation forces must be destroyed. Here and now.”
“Why? Why would you want to fight this fleet? There are hundreds of thousands of ships in Federation space right now and all you can think of is that a single fight will change anything?”
“There will be an Imminy Captain aboard that Star-Eater; an Imminy Absolute that can communicate with the Ka.”
“You son of a—”
Just then I figured out what Leo was truly after. The moment he realized there wasn’t a Ka here he jumped to the next best thing. He expected the Federation to pick up our modified Ka signature and sent an emissary to rescue.
“I’m sorry I had to withhold all my information. In all honesty, I didn’t expect them to show up so quickly. I thought that I’d have time to explain myself, but these are the cards that I have been dealt.”
“The cards, huh?” It wasn’t as if I hadn’t heard that one before.
“Richard, with the knowledge this Imminy has we could change the galaxy. And this one is all on you. Your modified Ka signature was a genius idea. If we manage to capture the Absolute, you will be revered as a hero of the people.”
“Don’t butter me up, Leo, you know I don’t give a shit about how revered I am. I’m the fucking Bloodmancer if you haven’t noticed!” I almost snapped at him but then took a deep breath before I continued speaking. “You may be a bit over your head with this one. We can’t take on a Federation fleet with two ships, let alone capture an Imminy.”
“I have deep trust in your abilities as a warrior and as a commander, Richard.”
“That’s not the point! What about my crew? What about yours? We have fought two years to get to the Federation and now you want me to attack them simply because you had a change of heart? Because you found yourself a new enemy?”
“Richard. That’s not—”
“No, Leo. I wanted to get to Federation space to warn them of the Partak-Aloi alliance and then fucking disappear from this war. There’re billions if not trillions of soldiers out there and it is somehow always up to me to do the big and noble thing! Well, I’m fucking done! I’m spent, and I’m tired!”
I found that all eyes were on me, but at this point, I didn’t care anymore. I had but one more mission to fulfill. One object that was supposed to be the epilogue of my insane adventures across the stars. Despite my growing powers, I felt my mind was being pushed to its limits. Too many changes, too many battles, too many decisions, and absolutely no time at all to process any of it. I was burning out hard, and if it kept on going I’d be done in a few weeks.
“You don’t mean all that,” Leo said. “We’ve been through so much, Stavos. I’ve trusted you with my life, and I did everything you wanted me to. Trust me this once. For her.”
I sighed and fell back into my captain’s chair as a headache crept its way up from my neck. More fighting, more dying, more tears, and then his damn guilt.
“Everyone has a righteous path and yet with every new thing I find out, I realize the paths are strewn with conspiracies and corpses. In every battle we fought, I gave my heart and soul for victory only to find out I had inadvertently helped some insane alien species to cut out another piece of the galaxy for itself.”
“What’s done is done, Richard. We can’t change what has happened, but we can what is ahead of us. Join me. Don’t turn your back on me just like I didn’t on you back then.”
“Damn it, Leo! I have the Partak on my tail, the Aloi, and now you want me to go to war with the Federation? Why don’t you just ask me to eat a fucking grenade?”
There was tangible silence after I literally screamed my last words. Leo looked at me with a patronizing gaze that pissed me off even more. His sanctimonious expressions began to annoy me. He was ten years younger than I was, but it seemed like he had picked up all the wisdom of the world while I was here just teeming with anger and frustration.
“Richard, just let me explain.”
“Don’t lecture me anymore, Leo. I’m sorry, I love you like a brother but—”
“Richard, please, let me just say one thing and I’ll leave you to it, ok? For two years you’ve been the scourge of the Partak sector. For two years you have jumped from one opportunity to the next, plundering, outsmarting, and toying with the great forces of this part of space. What was your endgame? Go to Federation space? Save humankind? You could have been in Federation space a year ago.”
“What the hell are you even on about?” I snapped. He put his hand up to stop me.
“Wait, don’t get upset. Just let me finish. For the first time in your life, you were truly free, and now you truly are free. Your decisions are your own but now you have to make a stand. Will you continue to wander the stars, challenging anyone who dares to interfere with the Bloodmancer, forever lost to purpose, forever searching, or do you want to make something of your freedom? You’re a weapon, Richard. Don’t you forget it because the rest of the galaxy won’t. Wherever you go, people will know Richard Stavos the Bloodmancer and they will never give you peace. You stand at a precipice: what will the free man Richard Stavos do now that he can mold his legacy with his own hands? I know that in his heart, he will choose that which he always chose: to fight for life.”
I took a deep breath and turned off Leo’s transmission. The entire deck was looking at me for an answer and I had no idea what to tell them. What felt like millions of thoughts raced through my mind. I had no idea what to tell him, what to do, or what to say.
“I trust the shiny man,” Vogron said as he laid there on the floor: “I was wrong… the whole time I was wrong… fuckin—” His words faded into a snore as he fell asleep again.
“Arthur, Fars. You’re my crew. What do you think?” I asked, trying to shoulder some of my responsibilities on their broad shoulders. It wasn’t quite fair, but I didn’t care about fairness as life just kept pushing me down an inch a day.
“I know that Richard Stavos doesn’t run from a fight,” Fars said calmly. He stared at me intently as if daring me to say otherwise. “But if you run from this battle, it’s not cowardice. No, it will be a strategic retreat and your honor will remain intact,” Fars said resolutely. His confidence in me was beyond blind.
“I want to touch an Imminy,” Arthur said and just as I grimaced at his words, he hurried to add. “Perhaps it’s time for us to grow up, Bloodmancer. I’m growing tired of this senseless destruction. Maybe some more sensible, better-directed destruction is in order.”
“So, all of you want to fight this fight? What is there to gain for you?”
“The Imminy are not our masters,” Fars hissed through gritted teeth. There it was, there was that suppressed Eres frustration for having to fight under the commands of others for eons.
“We could easily lose this fight,” I replied calmly, studying their half-drunken expressions as McGill tried to make herself as small as possible.
“What fights we won easily, I have forgotten anyway,” Arthur said as Fars shot to his feet and smacked his chest.
“Now that is a true Eres saying!”
I turned to McGill. “Do you think this is as important as Leo says it is?”
“Why would you ask me?” she asked, her voice a notch weaker than it was earlier.
“I won’t return you to the holding cell as you’re not my prisoner anymore. And since I don’t take guests, you might as well be called part of the crew for now. So, what do you think we should do, sailor?”
“If the stories about you are true, then I think I know what your decision should be.”
I nodded and turned the holographic projection of Leo back on.
“I’m not doing this for you or your cause. Or the Aloi.”
“I know.”
“My crew will board the
Star-Eater and capture the Imminy.”
“I thought as much.”
“You will give us cover fire as long as we need.”
“Of course.”
“Leo, they will be battle-ready. The Imminy will have considered all possible scenarios, even a trap. The ships will be heavily armed and the security aboard the capital ship will be top-notch. There’s up to ten-thousand souls between the ships of their fleet, some of them might be human. Are you ready to sacrifice those lives?”
Leo said nothing for a few seconds that seemed to stretch on for hours. He was pale in comparison and I knew he didn’t like what was about to happen, but he was committed, I had to give him that.
“They’re a necessary sacrifice, Richard.”
I hated those words. Only politicians and military commanders dared utter those words without expecting repercussions. For everyone else, it was a crime dealt with by blind justice. My decision, however, still stood firm. I’d go to war with the Federation no matter the consequences now.
Did I believe that the Ka wanted to destroy all life in the galaxy? Not really, it sounded like propaganda to dehumanize the enemy. I had heard a lot of that in my lifetime and I knew how to recognize it. Did I, however, believe that mankind was now under the complete control of the Imminy, that we had turned from a protectorate to complete subjugation? That I could believe, although I wasn’t too clear on the reason why they would have done it. We had proven to be loyal dogs after all.
Fars walked out of the engineering bay, clad in a full golden armor almost identical to the ones the Bak’ri wore when heading out into war. With the help of Mitto and my nanite control, we managed to reverse-engineer much of it. There were, however, slight adjustments. The Eres would never allow himself to wear Bak’ri armor without the approval of an Archon of the Eres so there was no sigil. Instead of that, a red drop stood proudly on his chest: the mark of the Crimson Death.
He sharpened his twin Nas-axes against the milival current that brought the blades to an almost mono-atomic point of sharpness. He could cut through any non-pekta reinforced metal with ease, and even through that given enough time and work.
He picked up one of the handheld plasma beam emitters that were supposed to be stationary weapons and slung it over his shoulder. He didn’t look afraid, he never did, but today his face was set into a permanent brooding frown. Or was I misjudging him? It didn’t matter in the end.
Arthur wore his improved and reinforced armor after protesting for a good hour. He strapped his infamous whip to his side and that was all he wanted to take with him, but only after I made it clear I’d leave him out there did he pick up a Nas-sword we raided from a Greth warship. He strapped the sheath to the back of his armor and slid the blade inside. If I didn’t know better, I’d say he looked like a damn modern crusader, but that’s what he was in the end. A Templar.
I left Vogron on board, however, since he was in no condition to board an enemy vessel. I pumped him up with some upper drugs that Mitto synthesized, but it did little to bring the Jareet back to a fighting stance. I left him with McGill on board but only after I threatened him with his life if he so much as touched the Dusk Ascendancy captain. She was less than enthused by my decision to leave her with the drunk, hulking monster, but I promised her that Mitto would deal with Vogron if things went sour.
Vogron protested some more as did McGill, but Mitto showed what he was capable of when two stasis shields formed around their bodies, keeping them in place. When she was satisfied, I gave her a curt nod and started to get ready myself.
I loaded up on nanite cells and prepared a whole other box of them for the boarding maneuver. We had developed a plan of attack that would involve some serious technomancy on my side, something I had already done once on Detera but in a much more simplified way. This time, however, we wouldn’t be dropping from a ship behind heavily guarded enemy lines. This time we would be dropping onto a Star-Eater battleship; hence, my technique would need some serious upgrades.
I picked up a standard-issue CFF rifle we kept in our arsenal and looked at it for several seconds. It weighed almost nothing, but was sturdy, effective, and reliable. At this point in my life, though, it had almost become redundant. I put it back into its place.
“No more weapons for me,” I muttered. “I am the weapon. Now let’s show those bastards what I’m capable of.”
20
Aside from capital ships, which were rare and sometimes took years to finish, Star-Eater battleships were the very cream of Federation starship technology. Before the Aloi developed their Crusader ships from genetically modified living beings, Star-Eaters managed to take a big chunk out of Aloi-controlled space. Those were the so-called golden years of Federation warfare when it seemed that the Aloi had no answer for the overwhelming firepower and protection a Star-Eater could offer.
When the Aloi finally caught up, they did so in style. Within a few decades, the Aloi Hegemony swarmed the night sky with Crusader battleships and some of the most devastating space battles of the unending war were fought across the Ulyx Cluster. Both navies suffered immeasurable losses and had to up their production on a massive scale. That, of course, took a toll on the economies of many races which had been steered toward military production on a grand scale.
The ship designs remained more or less the same for hundreds of years since there were no true alternatives to pekta-reinforced hulls. This was that time. The time of mass production and mass destruction. Rarely did any battleship live long enough to make a name for itself, so that’s why the names of those few that did echo through both factions with a heroic or terrified undertone respectively.
“The Idolian Wallbreaker,” I said under my breath. We could have used a bit more luck with who we were to face, but it could also have been worse.
“How’s the uniform?” Leo asked over the screen. Mitto synthetized a CFF navy uniform with captain’s stripes and a few medals which felt oddly satisfying to wear. After all, I should have had some decoration for my service in the Federation army.
“Fits like a glove.”
“You know this ship?” McGill asked.
“Yeah, I do. It’s one of the two hundred battleships that broke the Idolian blockade and rescued the First Takkari Fleet. It’s also the only survivor of that battle.”
“You know anything about the captain? Anything that we could use against them?”
“It’s an Imminy, that’s all I know. Whatever we think we’ll use against them, the Imminy has already prepared for.”
“Then why this whole charade?” McGill continued.
“An Imminy doesn’t respond too well to torture. They have incredible mental resoluteness. This trick is a long shot, but I’m hoping the Imminy could spill his beans about something inadvertently before we even capture it.”
“You’re all deceit, Stavos.”
I turned to McGill whose face wasn’t too judgmental, no—it was curious. I dared to say maybe even a bit fascinated.
“See, I’m not just a rampaging savage murderer, I also lie quite well.”
She rolled her eyes and shook her head. The mane of hair she’d grown out ever since we captured her shook with every movement. It just made me chuckle inwardly and think about home. When I still had the chance to chase human women. Not spend every passing moment with bloodthirsty aliens.
“I have a visual on the Federation fleet. One Star-Eater, two destroyers, six frigates. Their weapons are hot. Alpha formation on the battleship,” Mitto said, briefing us.
I looked at the Federation markings and lost myself in thought rather quickly. For almost twenty years of my life, I had fought in their name. I knew how they thought, what they were capable of, how they would respond in battle, and yet despite that or perhaps because of it, I was incredibly anxious.
“Even after everything, this still feels like a betrayal,” I muttered. It just didn’t sit right with me, but I had made my choice so I would have to lie in the bed that I made.
“Because it is betrayal,” Arthur said. “Of the highest order, mind you. Take it all in as there’s nothing like it.”
“Even the guilt?”
“Of course! That’s the best part. Guilt is one of the most powerful motives in life. Often subconscious, it drives us to do things we later can’t explain. But it’s a process, Stavos. Guilt dissipates with time, and only when it’s truly gone will you be able to truly appreciate it. I for one like to put my mind back into that feeling whenever I can. It keeps me questioning my current allegiances.”
Sometimes it seemed to me that despite Arthur’s incessant need to experience all that life had to offer, he often came off like an observer of life rather than someone who actually lived it. Perhaps those were the subconscious manifestations of his guilt.
“The Federation fleet is almost in range, boss. We have fighters swarming from the Star-Eater and I don’t think they’re here for negotiations.”
“Establish a link to the bridge of the Idolian Wallbreaker.”
“No answer, boss. I think the whole clandestine part of our plan is going out the window.”
No, I couldn’t allow that. It was nothing unusual for a Federation fleet to open fire on an Aloi ship without wanting to talk about it. Matter of fact, it was standard procedure. The CFF didn’t want its officer to get any ideas; they only had to have one idea: Aloi bad, fire at Aloi. But Leo’s ship was a Star-Eater with Aloi markings. I hoped the commander of the fleet would have his curiosity spurred by that fact alone.
“Call them again.”
“No answer, boss. They’re opening fire.”
“Shit! Leo, don’t retaliate, I need them to open a channel.”
“Incoming torpedoes,” Mitto relayed. “Countermeasures activated. Five torpedoes destroyed but—”
We felt it before he finished his report. Three torpedoes slammed into the shields of the Redeemer, shaking several decks, and sent ripples across the shield’s surface.
Redeemer: A Military Space Opera Series (War Undying Book 2) Page 22
