by Corin Cain
I feel the heat of Tasha’s outrage through our Bond.
“You’ll have one chance to beat them, Aelon! Once your cover is blown, you’ll be dead in the water. There has to be a better way.”
Tasha’s Reaver appears on my ship’s scans. She’s close enough now that I can protect her.
The tendril of doubt grows in my mind. What if I can’t protect her? I know my last-minute plan could triumph, even against this seemingly overwhelming force, but what if luck goes against me?
Can I afford even a one percent chance of being wrong? Twenty percent? Fifty? What are my real odds in this battle? I’ve never been one to think about percentages – but now, for the first time, I feel doubt.
Every second I delay, though, lowers my odds even further. My greatest strength as Captain has always been quick thinking, quick acting, and the seamless flow of thought into decision. Decisiveness wins battles, and this will be the biggest decision of my life. Right or wrong, I must make it fast.
If you put me in this situation a week ago, I’d already be maneuvering toward the moon, landing on the concealed side of its surface, and then aiming our weapons to hit the Toads completely by surprise.
In the meantime, I’d have alerted the miners to flee their camps. The Toads will think I’ve left the mining camps unprotected…
…when, in fact, those anti-air batteries are going to come in handy after all.
That’s because I know what a Toad would do in a situation like this. With a score of twenty-six mid-sized Orbs to protect, they’d abandon whatever protection service they’d promised to provide. Long term profit is always less important to them than an immediate, valuable prize.
Likewise, when that Mothership finally comes into range and can’t detect The Instigator in orbit around Tarrion, they’ll assume we fled – taking our treasure with us. Having missed out on the main prize, the Toads would take consolation in razing the seemingly undefended mining camps.
Only, they won’t be undefended.
“If we hide on the moon’s surface,” I explain, “the Toads will attack the mining camps. We have enough triads on the surface, manning anti-air batteries we’ve already set up, to hit them hard. Then, as they’re in disarray, we’ll use The Instigator to cut them off from behind. They’ll be pinned between us - and we’ll blast them while they shift power from their forward shields to their rear ones.”
It will be a slim window, though. Even cool, lucid Iunia shifts his weight, standing uncomfortably as his aura fills with worry.
“That’s supposing they bring the mothership in close enough to the planet, Aelon. You know Toads. They may hang back and send in wave after wave of assault ships.”
I do know Toads. I know they’ll be greedy. Betting on a Toad’s greediness is always a safe gamble.
Iunia’s discomfort is contagious, though.
“Is any bet safe enough, now?” I challenge him. He shrugs. He knows I don’t have the same certainty I used to – but I’m still the Captain, and hesitation gets you killed in a battle. It gets your whole crew killed.
“Don’t risk it!”
Tasha is pleading with me now. I can feel her slipping away from me. She didn’t come back to be with us. She came back to warn us, and nothing else. I realize that as much as I try to cling to her, she’ll always find a way to escape me. And yet, knowing this, she’s still piloting towards me. She knows I’m going to try to keep her. I held her captive in my ship before, not allowing her to leave. So, why is she coming back?
Tasha’s stolen ship is a dot through the tempered glass of the bridge by now. Her Reaver seems so small compared to the emptiness of space.
“Tasha, turn around,” I order. “You can’t be here! This system is about to become a warzone.”
Tasha cuts the feed, approaching my ship.
She knows I’ll battle the Toad, but she’s piloting towards my loading bay anyway. She knows this could be my final fight, and yet she’s entering my ship.
12
Tasha
Theme is quivering at the controls of the Orb-Beam. During our approach, I restored power to vital systems, including the shields and weapons.
“Theme. Hands off.” He might take offense, but I can’t have him pulling the triggers by accident.
“Tasha, what are you doing?” His face is ashen. “You’re taking us right back into The Instigator!”
“Yes, I am – and you need to trust me.”
I can’t convince Aelon from afar, so we need to return to the ship that originally imprisoned us. I need to look Captain Aelon in the eyes and tell him my own plan. With me onboard, he might be less likely to plunge into a battle he can’t possibly win. This could be the last thing I ever do. If I’m onboard when the Toads arrive, I’m going down with my triad.
The loading bay doors yawn open. We just escaped from The Instigator, and now I’m bringing us right back. My own ship is missing – Chris and his crew got away, apparently. I hope they picked a direction to flee other than towards the Toads.
Deja vu.
Once again, this all appears to be a big circle. I’m back to where I began – only, this time, the loading bay is filled with Reavers. When we’d arrived, there were only a handful.
The vessel we’d stolen is just one of many, and now Aelon had gathered his fleet together, ready for battle. Triads are already on board to pilot the Reavers, waiting for their Captain’s order to blast off and strike.
Captain Aelon stands in the middle of the loading bay, flanked by his battle-brothers. Aurelians pass by him, rushing to man their ships as they prepare for combat. My Bonded triad awaits me, so I land softly before them – demonstrating my skill at the helm. At we touch down, I press the button to open the side hatch.
“Sawoot,” I order, “time for you to leave. You don’t need to be here. Take Theme and get the hell out of here. Aelon will let you go – it’s not you he wants, it’s me.”
Sawoot’s scared, but she shakes her head. “I’m not going anywhere without you, Tasha.”
“Alright – that’s your choice. Hang tight, then.”
I hop out of the Reaver, landing on the deck right in front of my triad of Aurelians. I’m in nothing more than that thin slip of a dress Aelon gave me, but for the first time, there’s no sexual tension between us.
“Aelon – I’m begging you: Don’t try to fight them. I know you can kill them. I know you can beat them, even though there are so many more of them than you. I know you’re outgunned, but that you’ll find a way to defeat the Toads. But what if you get unlucky? What if there’s something else you hadn’t considered. Nothing is guaranteed – and you have a lot of people relying on you.”
Aelon stands there. He’s like a statue on the outside, and his aura is emotionless in my mind – yet I can still feel that undercurrent, just beneath the surface. It’s like a calm day at sea, while sharks lurk beneath the surface.
Anger. Rage. Pain. It all threatens to breach the calm surface in a boil of blood; and those are the emotions burning in the core of Aelon.
“They’re expecting to catch you by surprise,” I warn. “Even with every advantage, you’re still facing impossible odds. Don’t you have anything to live for?”
I’m pleading with him now. I’m wishing, desperately, that he’ll realize he can live for more than just anger and revenge.
Iunia stands behind his leader. He wants to listen to me, but Aelon’s word is law for the triad. Vinicus is stoic and powerful. He, too, will go along with what his Captain commands.
“What do you expect me to do, Tasha?” Aelon sighs. “Those Toads are criminals. They’d massacre a defenseless mining camp for profit. I can’t let that evil go unpunished.”
After his hundred years of service to the Aurelian Empire, Aelon has lost faith in the ways of his people. He’s concluded that he can only ensure justice if he punishes his enemies. It’s noble, it’s honorable – and it’s going to get him killed.
I need him to need me. I nee
d him to value me – us – more than he values his Gods-be-damned sense of righteousness. I fear I might be beating my head against a brick wall, though.
Oh, Aurelians! They torment me! Why couldn’t rational Iunia be the leader of their triad? Why couldn’t I be Bonded to Garrick?
“Run,” I plead. “Please, Aelon, just run.”
I’m begging him. I don’t care about my own pride any longer. I don’t need to be taken seriously by men like Chris anymore. I don’t need my triad to even obey me. I just need them to choose me over their misguided notions of violence and honor.
Aelon is tortured. He’s trying to stay emotionless – something his species practices from the first days of their lives. They’re a fucked-up, repressive society of men who don’t dare show which things hurt them – but he can’t force down that pain forever. Aelon’s got too much of it welling up inside of him.
“Tasha,” he murmurs, “I can’t lose you again - but I can’t run, either. If The Instigator leaves, then the Toads will kill the miners I swore to protect. There is not enough time to evacuate them. They’ll die if we run – so there’s only one course of action left open to us. I have to fight.”
Aelon steps forward, taking my hand.
“I’m begging you – you should leave, Tasha. Leave and don’t come back. I don’t think I’m getting out of this one alive – but you can.”
Captain Aelon is vulnerable. Angry, vengeful Aelon is finally accepting the specter of defeat. It twists like a knife inside of me. He knows he’s not getting out of this one alive, but he can’t leave the miners on the surface to be massacred.
No one can stand up to a Toad mothership.
I don’t know what Captain Hoplan told the owners of that Mothership, or all those who pilot the thousand assault ships that surround it, but he must have massively exaggerated the riches on offer to have received such massive support from these profit-hungry aliens.
How many Orbs did they claim we’d stolen? Toads will do almost anything for money. If they think they can incapacitate an Aurelian warship and take its riches without the Empire finding out, they’d do it.
This is why Aelon’s ship is the perfect target. It wouldn’t be juicy enough usually – but with twenty-six Orbs on board, plus the nearby mining camps on the planet’s surface to raid, The Instigator has suddenly become a Toad’s wet dream.
Aurelians control almost all of the Orbs in the universe. They have enough to be able to outfit each of their soldiers with an Orb-Blade, and each of their assault ships with an Orb-Drive, which allows them to shift great distances, something only the most powerful Toad and human ships can do.
Toads lust for Orbs. Even if they’re too scared to use Orb-Shifting right now – since it’s become so unreliable – there’s still nothing like an Orb to power the engines of a ship or the most devastating weapons in an arsenal. The Toads are even willing to take on an Aurelian Warship for it – as long as they have numbers in their favor, and the element of surprise.
But would they fight the same battle without those advantages?
My gut says no. Toads are cowardly. They wouldn’t want to fight The Instigator on even terms. Even with overwhelming firepower, Toads would hesitate. They like a sure thing – not a gamble in which they have to risk their lives. They might lose millions at a casino to quench their thirst for easy riches, but they won’t do anything that could result in them being blasted to nothingness.
They want the Orbs without the risk.
That’s our way out. We can resolve this without any bloodshed…
…but at an incalculable cost to Aelon’s pride.
“The Orbs, Aelon. That’s all they want. Give them the Orbs.”
Rage boils in his aura. Aelon can’t clamp it down. My words set him off.
“Those twenty-six Orbs? In Toad hands? That will result in twenty-six-thousand innocents dead. They’re coming to kill us, don’t you understand, Tasha? They’re coming to wipe out the entire mining crew. Don’t you get it? If I give those Toads the Orbs, I’ll have the blood of whoever they kill or kidnap with them on my hands!”
He squares off in front of me.
“Now, if you don’t get in that Reaver and leave, I’m going to chain you up, throw you in it, and waste one of my pilots to take you off this ship.”
I lose.
I can’t convince him. It’s not a logical argument. By logic, I’m on his side – Toads are willing to kill innocents, and therefore their kind need to be snuffed out of existence. Giving them the Orbs makes us just as culpable as they are for whoever gets hurt by those powerful objects. We’d be soaking our hands in blood that hasn’t even been spilled yet.
But it will be.
Giving those Toads the Orbs is murder.
It shames me, but I would murder those innocents if it meant I could be with my Bonded triad – but only if they’d put everything aside for me.
Not just their anger and their need for revenge – but their very selves.
Some Aurelians, like Garrick and Aelon, are born to protect the weak and helpless. Others, like the General who’d laughed in Aelon’s face when he’d tried to save those women from that Toad ship, live for their own power and prestige. Their version of honor is twisted with pride – a different pride than the kind that’s set Aelon on this doomed path of vengeance and bloodshed.
Perversely, I’m trying to turn Aelon into the second type of Aurelian – the kind that would sacrifice others for himself. It kills me to do so. It makes me feel like I’ve become something horrible. I can’t believe I’d be willing to let those miners die if it meant getting out with my three Aurelian lovers alive and safe.
Aelon steps forward towards me. He stands above me, but he doesn’t loom over me like he usually does. Right now, he’s not trying to intimidate me. He’s torn – deep in his heart, his aura shattered between honor, vengeance, love, and loss.
“Tasha… Gods, if I’d never met you, I’d already have The Instigator lying in wait for those Toad bastards on the moon. I have to make my own path, Tasha. I’ve done it all my life. Please – leave.”
I’m so ashamed at the wetness in my eyes. I’ve spent the last three years trying to project strength and leadership. I’ve led brutish men who didn’t respect me – and I’ve led them well. I’m not used to feeling so powerless.
Hell, I’m not used to caring about anyone I can’t save. I’ve always been responsible for my crew – but nobody else. I knew I could keep Sawoot and Theme safe, but I can’t save Aelon, his triad, or the crew of The Instigator.
I should have warned them and left. Now, Aelon’s wasting valuable time because of me. Instead of fortifying his defensive position, his triad is speaking uselessly with me.
My presence here endangers him. It endangers them. If I care about my triad, I need to leave.
My triad. They are mine, just as I am theirs. They’re linked to me for eternity. I chose the Bond – and even if I was naïve to its effects, I wasn’t naïve enough to think I wouldn’t be important to the Aurelians. I chose to abandon them. I chose to steal the benefits of the Bond, but ignore the link it forged between us.
I’ve done everything to keep my crew safe, but I’ve failed in keeping my triad safe. I’ve been so selfish. I wanted the three men to change. I wanted Aelon to choose me over his lust for revenge and violence.
But I can see it in his eyes – what he’s chosen over me. There’s no anger in him. He’s passionless in his need to kill the Toads – but relentless.
He can’t choose me over his honor. He can’t choose me over his need to protect the lives of innocents.
A shudder runs down my body as I look up at my honorable mate, and I suddenly see him clearly – as if for the first time.
If he ran away with me – which I know he’d never do - I’d probably never be able to live with myself. I’d have blood on my hands for thousands of years. You can’t take back something like that.
I suddenly realize that if I demand the Aurelian
s recognize my independence and grant me my freedom, I must do the same for them.
“Okay, then,” I growl. “We stay. We fight. At least let me pilot a Reaver. I can help in the battle.”
If my triad is going to die, I’m going to be fighting there right alongside them. I’m going to fight to the very end for the sake of our future – even if our future is a cold, unmarked grave in space.
Iunia steps forward. “Aelon. We can’t run. Not with the miners we must protect.”
Aelon turns to him. “You don’t think I know that?”
He nods. “I do know that – but I also know how much it pains you. How about this? Give the Toads ten Orbs. They’ll likely kill us and take all of them if we don’t bargain with them, but Tasha is right. They’re cowards. They already have a mothership and a fleet. They could kill plenty of innocents without our Orbs.”
Aelon’s face hardens. Iunia continues.
“Ten Orbs is reasonable. It’s a fortune, but ultimately giving them to the Toads will result in less death and destruction than if we try to fight them. We can fly a single Reaver out to within sub-communication range, so their blockers don’t stop the message, and then we can make them the offer.”
Ten Orbs.
Ten Orbs that would be used for killing and mayhem. A Toad who’d be willing to attack a mining camp is willing to do far worse…
But if the Toads destroy The Instigator, they’ll get everything. They’ll kill us all, take the Orbs as they float in space amid the wreckage of The Instigator, and then destroy the mining colonies regardless.
This bargain with the devil might be the only way to keep the miners safe. Ten Orbs might be enough to convince the Toads that it’s not worth risking their lives to fight Aelon and his battalion.
As Aelon claimed – Toads are motivated by greed and cowardice. If you can appeal to both, you can achieve victory without firing a single blast.
Aelon considers Iunia’s words. He winces, and I know his answer before he can say it…
