House of Fate

by Barbara Ann Wright

  Judit also strapped on a large laser cutter they’d borrowed from engineering. Now all they had to do was aim for the ship and hope they made it. And thinking about that was the most difficult part. Judit was certain Annika would have been looking forward to it, would have gleefully jumped into the abyss, but Judit couldn’t help focusing on the yawning chasm of space outside the door.

  The shuttle rocked slightly. Judit and Evie held on near the closed airlock. They’d already shut the cockpit off from the rest of the shuttle and secured anything that might vent into space. Noal was watching through the small window, his face creased in concern.

  “Get ready, Jude,” Beatrice’s voice said in her ear. “The Damat is moving to shield us from the Nocturnas if they get here before we return. I’m going to get as close to the other ship as I can.”

  “Copy that.” Judit tried to sound surer than she felt. She and Evie held on to a bar overhead and faced the airlock door. It had a tiny window, too, and the other ship whirled and raced outside. She didn’t dare look too hard for fear she’d throw up.

  “I’m turning off the gravity,” Beatrice said. “Noal and I are buckled in.”

  “Copy that.”

  “Magboots,” Evie said, nudging Judit’s arm.

  “Right.” Judit engaged her boots and told herself to get her head in the game. She tore her eyes off the window and took deep breaths. Her ears felt the change in gravity, but with her boots, her feet didn’t come off the deck.

  In the airlock window, the enemy ship leveled off as the shuttle matched its course and speed. Judit braced herself, but before they could get close, the enemy ship’s cannon glowed red.

  “Hold on,” Beatrice shouted.

  The shuttle rolled away, and the shot went wild. Beatrice fired a short salvo, and Judit bet the Damat was swinging around to defend them.

  “We can’t risk destroying that ship!” Judit said over her comm.

  “We can’t let them shoot us out of the sky either,” Evie said.

  “They can evade! Bea, tell the Damat to only fire warning shots.” Judit knew Slattery was a good shot, but he wasn’t as good as Evie. By the dark, things were going sideways faster than she’d anticipated.

  “Tell the Damat to draw their fire,” Judit said. “And bring us around for another pass.”

  “The Damat is firing,” Beatrice said. “There’s an opening.”

  “Take us in.”

  The shuttle swung around, and Judit saw a blast fire in the opposite direction. The enemy’s cannon wouldn’t penetrate the Damat’s armor, so Judit tried to put her ship’s safety out of her mind and focus on the hull of the enemy ship as it slid back into sight.

  The shuttle cruised closer, and Judit tried to judge the distance, waiting for their chance. Evie put a hand to the door controls.

  “Wait. Wait,” Judit said. “Get ready. Now!”

  Judit released her magboots as Evie opened the door, and the bit of atmosphere in the shuttle’s cargo hold blew them into space. They hurtled toward the enemy ship as if rocketed from a cannon, but Judit knew distances could be deceptive. She engaged the jets on her pack and angled herself to fly boots-first at the enemy hull. She’d done a similar maneuver once in practice, and it had scared the dark out of her then, too.

  Now her heart hammered, and her brain kept up a shrieking litany of all the bad things that could happen, not the least of which was what might happen if she missed. She was small enough that the shuttle and the Damat could lose track of her in a matter of moments, and she could drift anywhere, could crash into something or burn up or run out of air. There were so many ways to die in space.

  And now the ship was flying at her even faster.

  “Evie, use your jets to push away!” Judit cried. “We’re coming in too fast!” Every part of her was crying out to do the opposite, to land as fast as she could, but she might break her legs and bounce off to die in space. As she got closer, Judit slowed, the jets pushing her away, but if she gave them too much power, she’d push away from the ship completely.

  “Now, Boss?” Evie asked.

  “Yep.” Before the jets could push them away, Judit engaged her magboots and pulled toward the ship again.

  The shock of landing was still enough to make her knees buckle. Her feet stuck to the hull as she fell backward, bouncing hard enough to whip her head forward. Her neck throbbed, but her feet were stuck, and for a moment, that was enough. She took half a second to breathe, to feel that she wasn’t injured, that she’d reached her target, and that she wasn’t floating alone in the blackness of space.

  “You okay, Boss?” Evie asked.

  “Good. You?”

  “A bit shaken, but I’ll straighten out.” She leaned into Judit’s view, smiling for dark’s sake. She couldn’t be enjoying herself, could she? Judit didn’t even want to ask.

  “Let’s get moving.” They lessened the pull of their boots so they could walk, hurrying as much as they could toward the side of the ship, to one of the airlocks. The forward cannon glowed before it unleashed a volley at the shuttle, a bright flash without sound. Judit went flat on the deck, even though the shot didn’t come near her. She felt the concussion as the bolt streaked past, and a slight weight bounced off the top of her: Evie, covering her.

  A nice sentiment, but if that shot had hit them, the cover wouldn’t have mattered at all. Evie twisted around to watch the shot, but Judit tugged her onward. “Come on! That Nocturna ship will be here soon.”

  When they reached the airlock, Judit began cutting the bolts. Evie crouched, waiting to push inside. The crew of the ship would detect the breach, but that would happen no matter where they cut. At least this way, Judit and Evie couldn’t automatically vent anyone into space. Well, Judit didn’t want to vent Annika into space. Anyone else, she didn’t care about, though she knew Noal would censure her for that thought.

  The door popped open. Evie swung inside with her pistol drawn and dropped to the floor, held by the ship’s gravity. She peered through the small window before signaling.

  Judit stepped in, secured the airlock door with a large maglock, and scanned the controls. “I’ll give us some atmosphere. See anyone?”

  “There’s a shadow at the end of a hall, but it’s not moving, so I can’t tell if it’s equipment or a person.”

  “I’m opening the inner door.” They took cover on either side. As soon as the door hissed sideways, the deep thrum of a pistol shot came through the inner door and dissipated against the outer.

  The nearness of the shock sent cramps through Judit’s muscles. They couldn’t hope to get through the door quickly enough to avoid a hit.

  “Return fire?” Evie asked.

  “Think you can hit anyone?”

  “Without being a target?” Inside her helmet, she shook her head.

  Judit looked to the maglock she’d placed on the outer door. She grinned. “Get ready. I’m giving our friends a bit of fresh air.”

  “Copy that, Boss.”

  Judit engaged her boots and pressed hard to the wall. She loosened the maglock just enough for the door to slip open, and the effect was immediate. The atmosphere whistled past her so quickly, it turned to fog as it hit the cold of deep space.

  “Lock it up!” Evie said.

  Judit redid the maglock. Evie dashed into the corridor, and Judit ran after. The shooter had been pulled around the corner by the escaping atmosphere and lay along the floor. Judit smiled again. It was about time the vacuum of space worked for her rather than just scaring the dark out of her.

  Evie thundered toward the shooter and kicked her hard in the midsection. The woman grunted, and her pistol dropped as she curled into a ball. Evie punched her hard, and she went still.

  Judit grabbed the dropped pistol. The woman likely wouldn’t recover from that hit in the next twenty minutes or so, and Judit planned to be long gone by then. When they poked their heads around the next corner, two people scrambled away, taking cover and drawing pistols of their own
. Evie let off a shot, but they fled around a corner and fired back. Hopefully, Annika was tucked somewhere safe instead of getting fired on by every guard on the darking ship.

  Judit tapped her helmet’s external speaker. “I want Annika, your prisoner,” she called. “We can part without bloodshed.”

  A volley of shots answered her.

  “Have it your way.” She switched to personal comm and gestured to Evie’s array of weapons. “Any of those stun grenades?”

  “They all are.” Evie pulled one loose, her eyes wide with surprise. “I’m not a monster. Did you think I was packing frags? That I’d risk blowing a hole in this ship?”

  “I…well…” She felt her cheeks grow hot.

  Evie pursed her lips and muttered something about trusting a tactical officer to know which weapons to use.

  “Sorry.”

  “Covering fire in three seconds, please, Boss,” Evie said. “Then take cover. Don’t look at the stun grenade.” She gave Judit a reproachful look, pulled the pin, and counted, no doubt estimating the distance of the shooters based on the sounds of their weapons.

  Judit fired around the corner. Evie lobbed the grenade, then both turned away. A bright flash and a crackling sound echoed around the corner, but it was the stunning discharge that made Judit’s hair stand on end, even from a distance. The attackers didn’t have time to call out.

  Judit poked her head out and saw a leg sticking into the hallway. She sprinted forward and found both attackers unconscious. The stun would keep them out for an hour, maybe more.

  They needed to find Annika, and Judit felt time slipping away. She peeked into several rooms, but they looked like standard crew quarters. When she tried a door and found it locked, she paused.

  “Well, only one way to find out who’s in there.” She knocked.

  When a shaky voice asked, “Who is it?” she blinked in surprise that anyone answered. A man’s voice, but he might have information.

  “Everything’s all right, sir,” she said, using her most soldierly, official voice. “We’re moving everyone one corridor over, just in case.”

  The door opened, revealing a man in the dark red robes of a hierophant. She grabbed a handful of his robe and hauled him into the hallway, banging him into a wall to stun him.

  Evie peeked into his room. “It’s clear.” She took up position at Judit’s side, pistol out as she kept watch.

  The hierophant squealed, and Judit clapped a hand over his mouth. “I’m not going to hurt you.” She leaned close as his eyes rolled. “I’m not going to hurt you! I’m looking for someone. Tell me where she is, and I’ll put you back in your room; you can lock the door behind you.”

  He shuddered, and she repeated herself more calmly until he seemed to settle. “I don’t…I don’t…” He looked closely into her helmet, staring at her face. “You…you’re…”

  “Running out of patience!” Judit said. “Was someone brought aboard this ship? Are you holding her prisoner?”

  He laughed, and Judit was afraid he’d lost his mind. “I didn’t think it would be me. I thought it would be one of the others, but…” He sighed. “If I have to die for the cause, I’m ready.”

  “What the dark are you talking about?”

  “Boss,” Evie said, “we can’t stay still for long.”

  “Tell me where she is!” Judit barked.

  “She won’t be hurt and neither will you,” the hierophant said. “You’re both too important.”

  “Too important to whom?”

  “To fate. You don’t know that yet? You’re the chosen ones.”

  Judit rocked back on her heels. How did he know that? Did Meridian release a statement? No, she would have heard. And chosen ones? Was he talking about Annika? She’d always been the Nocturna heir, but when the prophecies mentioned the chosen one, they were always careful to say the title belonged to Meridian alone. Was there another prophecy she didn’t know about? And this man was a hierophant. Surely he would know. Was that what her father had been looking for?

  “She’s waiting for you on the bridge,” the hierophant said. “Now that you’re here in person, I’ll tell the guards to stand down.”

  Judit shoved him into his room. If Annika was on the bridge, Judit didn’t need this man anymore, didn’t need his crazy theories. And if he was telling the guards to stand down, it didn’t matter the reason. Judit would take all the good fortune she could get.

  “What the dark was that about?” Evie asked as they continued down the hall. She moved cautiously, and Judit was with her. They couldn’t depend on the promises of one crazy hierophant.

  “Who knows?” Judit said. “After we get Annika back, we can take the darking ship somewhere else and question everyone at our leisure.”

  * * *

  Annika glanced down the hallway, but no more guards waited for her. She’d expected a whole cadre of them. “Where is everyone?”

  Melise shrugged. “There’s a sealed door ahead.”

  “Can you get us through?”

  Melise shrugged again, but Annika had seen her gaze linger at every door or corridor they’d passed. She was looking to bolt, and a sealed door would be the perfect place to try. Whether she ran or not, it was clear she wasn’t going to make this easy.

  Annika pushed her hostage down the corridor to another hallway. She wondered if she should favor her left arm, but she feared stiffening up. The use of an injured arm was better than one that might fail when she needed it.

  This next hallway ended in a door, but instead of being sealed, it stood open a crack. “Now’s your chance,” Annika said. “Get me through that door, and you’re one step closer to freedom.”

  Melise didn’t look as if she believed that. Annika gestured at her with the gun. “I’ll have a clear line on you the whole time. Talk fast.” She stayed behind Melise as they turned the corner, but they hadn’t gone ten paces when the sound of a pistol echoed ahead, and Melise collapsed with an oozing hole in her chest.

  Annika scurried back down the corridor.

  “Nice try,” her mother’s voice said from the other side of the door. “I understand you’re trying to take control of the prophecy. It’s one of the reasons you were chosen. But it’s not quite time yet. I told them not to go in and check on you, but Feric insisted.”

  Warning lights flared to life in the corridor, and a low siren began, a steady, electronic whine.

  “I’ve begun scuttling procedures,” Annika’s mother said. “We’re under attack by a Meridian warship, and I’m not letting them get their hands on you.”

  “You’re going to kill me instead?” Annika shouted. “What did Feric have to say about that?”

  “There’s a shuttle two decks down. If you hurry, you can make it.”

  A door to Annika’s left slid open and revealed the inside of a lift car. The sealed door began to roll closed. If she sprinted…

  She cursed and got into the lift as the ship was jarred by another hit. She didn’t know what her mother and Feric were up to, but she doubted they’d let her die in a Meridian attack. They needed her for something, but she intended to be the only one on the supposed shuttle. Well, the only conscious one, anyway. And it was a better plan than trying for the bridge. Even if the ship managed to survive an assault, Annika wouldn’t be able to override any scuttling codes. This ship was a lost cause, and there was something to be said about living to fight another day.

  The lift door slid open two decks down, and as promised, a sign pointed to the shuttle bay. Annika took off at a jog as the ship rocked again. A few of the escape pod bays stood empty. She wondered if Feric had gotten away and didn’t know which idea bothered her most, that he had or hadn’t. Part of her still cared about him, but a louder part of her wanted to hunt him down herself.

  When she got to the shuttle bay door, it stood closed, but scorch marks said someone had tried to burn their way inside. There was no control panel, only a DNA scanner, and Annika wondered how she was supposed to get in if s
everal desperate attempts to cut through had already failed.

  The scanner flashed green as she came near, and the door slid open. She paused, looking down the hall. She hated being led, and this was so obviously what her mother wanted her to do. Had this been part of her mother’s bizarre plan this whole time? But who could have planned to be attacked by a Meridian warship? Was there even a warship or a scuttling going on? Or did her mother want her to get in this shuttle for some other reason?

  Annika reminded herself of a thought she’d had in the medbay: If she second-guessed every decision she made, she’d be forever paralyzed. And there were alarms, and if the rocking of the ship wasn’t caused by weapons fire, something bad was still happening. If she was in the shuttle, at least she’d be on her way to freedom.

  Annika poked her head inside the bay. Nothing there but a waiting shuttle. She hurried to it, and the door opened. She stepped inside gingerly, wondering again what the plan was. Could her mother have beaten her here? The shuttle seemed empty, but any of the walls could be a secret compartment. She slipped into the shuttle’s emergency pressure suit, easing it over her injured arm. She’d get away from this ship, vent the atmosphere, and see if any hidden assassins could breathe in a vacuum.

  She keyed open the main bay doors and guided the shuttle out and away as fast as she could, turning and weaving, evasive maneuvers. A look from the cameras showed the ship she’d been on in a firefight with another, larger ship. It did indeed look like a Meridian design. She had a brief thought that it might be Judit, but the ship seemed bigger than the Damat. Still, her heart began to pound at the thought that she might be running away from her beloved. As she reached for the controls to make the camera zoom, light-headedness swept over her. Clearly, all her recent escapes were making her giddy.

  But no, now her hands wouldn’t stop shaking, and she could no longer reach the controls. Lethargy overtook her, and she slumped in her chair. Even panic was ebbing away. The air inside her helmet. Something was wrong. She fumbled for the catch, but her gloved hands wouldn’t work right.

  Feric stepped into view beside her, a smile on his face. “I set a few traps in here,” he signed, “but something told me you’d pick the suit.”