by F. E. Arliss
After conferring with Zeus, Apollo and Atlas, and the Generals they served under, they came to a consensus as a family and alliance. Queen Altum Juls’ ships would enter the abyss, well hidden from their enemies. The Generals harbouring their children would keep them safe and the ships in the abyss apprised of the outside world’s progression via the helmet aboard Talio.They did not know how long it would take Queen Altum Juls to return to them. In the meantime, they would rest in the abyss.
The fact that they’d trusted in her enough to enter the abyss and put themselves into stasis filled her with a deep feeling of regard for her warriors.
Levering herself through the docking tube, Juls reached down one arm, and scooped a reluctant Cat up through the opening. First things first. She needed to find out how long she’d been gone. Time had been irrelevant on Caloon. What was the state of the Universe now? Where were her Freux, her children, and allies? Freux first; she needed to be in his arms.
Settling into the bridge of the Talio felt so good. The chair was now slightly too small. The helmet fit very snuggly, not loosely as it once had. The ice queen has a big head, she thought to herself with a snort. Slapping the connections into place, she focused on the stream of data. Mere minutes later, she unfastened the helmet and stepped out. Three years. It had been three long years on Caloon. Her children were all alive and well. Thank Heavens. Now to wake Freux.
Moving with purpose and an economy of movement, she ran through her ship. Stations snapped on as she passed. By the time she reached the stasis pods, Talio had already woken and was regenerating the warriors she needed. General Freux first, then Dent and Axel.
As Freux’s capsule fogged, then cleared, Juls smacked the tab to open the pod as soon as the light showed green. Pulling Freux’s gasping body into her arms, she sank to the floor hugging him against her. “My darling, it is so good to hold you again,” she whispered into his ear.
Freux’s frame stiffened then relaxed as he listened to her voice. He drew back slowly, his eyes roving over her altered appearance. “You look extremely beautiful, my Queen,” Freux croaked out. “What have you done to your hair?” he asked, with a lopsided grin. Juls had once told him that on Earth when men couldn’t really figure out why their women looked so good all of a sudden, they would just tell them they’d had their hair done.
Juls burst out laughing. “Thank you, darling. My hair is indeed a little different. It seems to have a life of its own these days. Plus, I think I’m truly Idolum sized now. I seem to have grown. I’ll tell you all about it when we can be in the privacy of our nest bed. I can’t wait,” she whispered, licking his ear in the way he loved.
Freux struggled to his feet, clasped her to him and choked out, “I am so glad to see you alive. I worried, but trusted. How did you find your way back to me? How long have we been in the pods? Are the children well? What of the alliance?”
It took Juls several hours in the privacy of their nest bed to tell Freux all that had transpired. When he realized the extent of the change in her, he sat up, clasped her head in his long-fingered hands, and said, “You are truly as powerful now in fact as you have always been here,” as he tapped the side of her head lovingly. “You are a great Queen, my darling. You always have been and you always will be.”
“You will need to think about whether or not you wish to make the transformation to Osmir, Freux. It is not a decision to be made lightly or for the wrong reasons,” Juls whispered, looking deep into his eyes. “I feel you would be right to do so to protect our family. But only if you truly feel a calling to it,” Juls said, her voice alive with emotion. Don’t decide now. Decide only after we’ve talked with the children and our nest.” Freux nodded and pulled her close again.
“We will think on it later. For now, let me hold you. Then we will wake the others,” he whispered back to her.
Slowly, they woke the rest of the crew, beginning with Dent and Axel. Their sagging forms were lifted out of their pods by Juls, one in each hand, and propped against the wall of the pod holding their stasis cubes. The rest of the crew revived quickly.
General Kor was next. Soon the ship was completely staffed, stations charged, and the ships were recharging using Queen Altum Juls’ energies.
Juls and Freux retreated to their quarters aboard Talio and discussed more intently what she’d learned on her long arduous journey to Caloon and about the Etherie and the Osmir.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Reunion
After several weeks of rest and recovery, and lots of practice with the sceptre, Queen Altum Juls held a conference with her Generals. Plans were formed. They would exit the abyss, check on the well-being of their children, and see what remained of their allies. That was the first step. The rest could wait.
Slowly, Juls piloted Talio through the labyrinthian twists of the knotted abyss. General Freux and General Monsav kept the Labrys and the Centurion in the closest proximity they could manage on the same path. Shooting out into the space surrounding the abyss, cheers could be heard ringing throughout the ships.
Centurion and the Labrys were quickly dispatched to the far corners of the galaxy. While Talio, with only Freux, Juls, Cat, Dent, and Axel aboard made the jump towards Caloon. Finding Caloon again had been easy for Juls, it was as though a homing beacon shone in her mind. Talio made the jump easily with only her thoughts as the plotted course. Leaving Talio in orbit above Caloon, Juls took Freux and Cat down to the surface in a small jump ship.
It was strange being here again. Cat leapt from the ramp as soon as the door opened and was gone in a flash. Juls wondered if he would return with them. He was home, though as her familiar, or a kindred spirit who could share her emotions, she would miss him greatly.
Freux marveled at the heat. Idolum did so love heat, and it was a rare opportunity for him to find a planet so suited to their physiology. The trek to the fissure that had so exhausted her in what seemed a lifetime ago, only served to heighten his enthusiasm for the planet.
Even Freux could feel the energy boiling beneath the surface of the planet as they wound through the labyrinthian tunnels towards the temple room. When they finally made the last ‘leap of faith’ over the gaping pit protecting the perimeter of the temple, even Freux, for all his thousands of years of life, had never seen anything like it. He spent several hours pouring over the glyphs and the pit outside the temple. Marveling at the planet’s sentience and power.
Juls said nothing, just soaked in the power herself and let him ponder whether he would make the transition to Osmir, Etherie, or remain Idolum. It was clear to her, before he ever spoke, that Freux would become Osmir. He wanted to be with her. He wanted to protect his nest. He wanted to protect his species. Being Osmir would help them do all those things.
Looking towards her, he simply slipped gracefully onto the flat stone dias, pricked a palm with one long, sharp fingernail, and lay down. The process seemed agonizing to Juls, as she watched the man she loved being impaled upon the dias. Trying to reassure herself that she’d felt pain, but that it had been nothing in comparison to the wonders of the ages and universes she’d been shone, Juls forced herself to relax and clear her mind.
Days passed. Cat slunk in, curled into her lap to sleep, only leaving again when he needed to hunt. Freux transformed slowly before her eyes, yet remained impaled upon the dias. Everyday, Juls hoped he’d wake, but remained by his side in contemplation. Finally, on the ninth day the stone spikes retracted and Freux stumbled from the dias. Clasping him to her, Juls sank to the ground and rocked him against her. “How are you my darling? Are you aware? Can you speak?” she asked him anxiously.
A rumbling laugh rose from Freux’s massive frame. “I’m well my Queen, my love. I am Osmir, now. We are together. All is as it should be,” Freux said, hugging her against him. “We will love and protect those we care about. All is well,” he repeated. Juls simply hugged him in response.
Glancing around for Cat, she saw him circling Freux and sniffing him and rubbing
against him. This was new. Cat hadn’t seemed to care much for Freux upon their first meeting and had even hissed at him a few times when they’d been hugging in the privacy of their nest bed. Stalking a few steps away from the embracing couple he sat down and stared at them for a few seconds.
Freux turned his head to follow Juls’ gaze. “He seems curiously amenable all of a sudden,” he said grinning at Juls. “That’s a nice change from hissing and growling every time I try to have a little closeness with you.”
Cat slunk towards Freux now, pressed against his side for a moment, then leapt onto the stone dias. “What are you doing, Cat?” Juls demanded, struggling to disentangle herself from Freux in an attempt to reach Cat.
Before she could make it to her feet, Cat flicked one claw against his chest drawing blood. One fat drop landed on the dias. That was all it took. Massive spikes impaled Cat. A loud growl gurgled to a halt mid-sound. Juls and Freux were riveted to the sight. Cat’s form elongated and grew. Large sinewy muscles replaced Cat’s previously wiry ones. His pads grew. The already fearsome claws became downright saber-like. His striped fur seemed to become coarser, more like a light layer of armor than fur.
Juls and Freux looked at each other, then slowly approached the dias. Cat was now about six feet long and looked like nothing more than a giant prehistoric saber-tooth tiger that Juls had once seen in a history lesson about ancient Earth. Though the coats on those animals had been short and sleek in the proposed lesson, Cat’s coat was now like a nano-filament set of striped, coarse, woven chain mail.
When Juls put out a hand to stroke Cat’s head, the spikes suddenly disengaged and sank into the dias. Cat opened his eyes and emitted a grumbling hiss. Still the same old grumpy Cat, Juls thought, smiling across the dias at Freux. He grinned back. “Hi Cat, you’re all in one piece and as grumpy as ever,” Juls stated, continuing to stroke Cat’s huge head. “You ready to leave Caloon? Or do you want to stay? I’ll understand either way,” Juls said softly.
She felt a tremendous pang of pain when she asked him if he wanted to stay. Cat rolled into an upright position on the dias and growled a series of sounds that resembled nothing so much as a lecture on her stupidity. Then promptly leapt down, glanced over his shoulder and shot up the crevasse towards the planet’s surface.
“Ok, I’d say that means he is coming with us,” Freux said with a grin. Reaching over he took Juls’ hand in his, pulled her to him, kissed her passionately, then hand in hand they headed after the already-disappeared Cat.
Returning to Talio, they charted a course to Geboren to rendezvous with the rest of the nest. Freux and Cat’s appearances didn’t even raise much attention when they returned. They were now the same size, roughly, as Queen Altum Juls, and it just seemed right. Most just believed that she’d done some powerful queenly magic on them that made them that way.
In the next month, Juls repaired what damage she could to Geboren after the devastation Tom Chadmore had wreaked upon it. Geboren was the last place the Intergalactic Guard or their enemies would look for them. It was supposedly the place of their great defeat. No one expected them to return.
To Juls and Freux, it was their home. They would rebuild it, fortify it, and protect it with untold power and new weapons that none before them had ever acquired. They would not lose their home again.
Juls and Freux meticulously restocked the fissure in the mountain where their nest had been. Reinforcing it with nano-tech fibers and restocking it with all types of weaponry and first aid, they also made sure to create a impenetrable defense system meant to keep out all but the chosen.
Once Geboren was mended and habitats built, Juls met with her allies and the rest of her large nest. Strategies were planned, decisions made, priorities set. Their nest would not fall again. Juls would make sure of that.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Revenge Is A Dish Best Served Cold
Two weeks later a large force of nest ships dropped from space onto the fringes of the galaxy holding both the nest ship of General Shale and the allied nests that had turned on General Freux, now part of Shale’s alliance.
“All hail General Shale, murderer of Queen Altum Vis,“ Juls broadcast on all frequencies.
The buzz that began immediately on the comms between different hive ships sent tingles up Juls’ spine. In typical Idolum fashion they trusted no one, just as she had predicted. They would turn on their own, there was no doubt of that either.
The only ships that were quiet were the seven ships broadcasting the message. Those ships were the Talio, the Labrys, the Centurion, and the ships of Queen Calli, Queen Bytar, Queen Sobir, and Queen Zeus, now Regent of her own nest ship with General Atlas, her brother as her right hand. Apollo was at his mother’s right hand aboard the Talio with General Kor. General Monsav was aboard Centurion, and General Freux, now back aboard Labrys, had Lieutenant Qual and Lieutenant Vulm at his side. Cat’s large form was held against Queen Altum Juls’ chest, his eyes glowing a brilliant yellow.
“Who dares cast these aspersions?” came the grating, whirring voice that Juls had never forgotten.
Juls let a burst of icy laughter ring through the comms. “I make these statements, Shale. They are not aspersions. They are truth. I am not dead, though you poisoned me over a millenia ago. You should never have put me in the queen’s pool aboard Talio.” Juls paused to let the recognition of her voice dawn on him. “Sending me into the knotted abyss was also not the cleverest plan. You should have just killed me and the ship. He didn’t let me die, Shale. Talio kept me alive until ‘she’ came to save me. The one you tried to trade as a slave. The one who saved you, but whom you, as the eternal betrayer, would have given up in your pursuit of purity and power.”
Murmurings over the comms rose in volume. Ships began to break off. Several hailed the seven ships. None were answered.
“Don’t try to hail us now, betrayers,” Juls cut in ruthlessly. “Shale is not the only betrayer. All of you participated in the ambush and attempted death of General Freux. For that you will all die.”
“I did say, ‘attempted death’ of General Freux. You see, he did not perish. I would not let him. He stands in honor, ready to avenge me. He will see you all dead on my behalf,” Juls voice rang with conviction.
Suddenly, Shale’s voice rang out over the comms. “Pay her no heed. Queen Altum Juls is a fake. She can not harm us. Hers is an alliance of miscreants and weaklings. Stand together now and end them.”
Juls let her image, and that of Freux aboard Labrys, be seen on all comms. “I am Queen Altum Juls and this is my mate, General Freux, I am not in a forgiving mood. You, Shale, are wrong.” With a motion of one hand, Juls let the images be broadcast to all the ships in Shale’s alliance.
Slowly, the dread mounted aboard the alliance ships as they beheld the difference in Queen Altum Juls’ and General Freux’ appearance. Where once they had been impressive, they were now jaw-dropping. “I gave each of you a chance for honor. You returned those chances with betrayal.
Queen Kurd will be the example of my justice,” Juls voice was emotionless. Abruptly, the bridge of the ship that held Queen Kurd crumpled into a smoking pit of nothingness. With an ice-cold laugh, Juls said, “I disliked that little toad of a queen. She threw a rather harmless dagger at my back once. She was completely dishonorable.”
Silence, then chaos rang out as the ships watched the now silent nest of Queen Kurd slowly spin out of control and then implode. One by one, Juls crushed the ships in front of her. She never removed her image from the screen and she never flinched. Finally, they were all gone except for Shale’s nest. He’d begun firing as soon as the second nest had been crushed. Now, out of weapons, his nest floated listlessly.
Lifting one hand, Juls said, “I could crush you Shale, but I’ll let my children and the friends of General Freux have that pleasure.” Sitting down she watched a being she’d once saved be destroyed completely, as her family hailed fire down upon his once mighty ship.
Finally, t
here was nothing left but debris. She stood and addressed the ships in her nest. “I go now to kill the Intergalactic Guard officer that killed our home on Geboren. You may come or go, as you wish.”
All the nest ships behind hers jumped as one.
Chapter Thirty
Payback's a Bitch Too
Captain Tom Chadmore was flirting outrageously with one of the female lieutenants under his command when the Admiral’s voice sounded high alert. High tailing it to the bridge, he skidded into his station just in time to see seven Idolum nest ships materialise in front of the starship Defender, the premiere ship in the fleet of the Intergalactic Guard.
Tom had been demoted spectacularly after the debacle three years ago at the planet Geboren. Not only had he failed to inform the Guard that he had an intimate relationship with the escaped energy worker, Jullian Arban, he also failed to disclose that he had bartered his knowledge of the energy worker for a significant improvement in status with headquarters. Men on the front lines didn’t like those kind of maneuvers, and Admiral Seevers was nothing if not old-fashioned.
Seeing that they were spectacularly outnumbered, Admiral Seevers did the only thing he could. He opened a hail. “Idolum vessels, we mean you no harm. Please state your purpose.”
His hail was met with a muffled laugh, “Seriously, that sounds so much smarter than the last Guard contact I had. I believe that contact was with that idiot Tom Chadmore,” came the reply.
