Starblazer

by Spencer Maxwell

  No time to harp on that, either. She lunged forward and kicked near the glowing metal with her shoe. It gave easily enough, and had she not grabbed onto a nearby handle, she would’ve gone tumbling out of the ship and possibly broken a bone—if none had been broken already.

  Jade, barely able to stand on her own two feet, grabbed Wylow, pulled her out, and the two of them were free from the scorching metal prison. For now.

  Nine

  “We gotta move, Wylow,” Jade said. “I need you to try to walk on your own. I can’t carry you, I’m sorry.”

  Wylow, groggy but recovering, nodded. “No, I’m sorry, my queen. I—”

  “Don’t apologize. We’re gonna get out of this.” Despite it all, Jade smiled, and Wylow returned the expression.

  They were about a half-mile from the crash site. If Jade looked over her shoulder, she could see the smoke from the flames rising into the air, a stark contrast to the picturesque blue sky. It was never days like today when one thought bad things could happen, but Jade had been proven wrong. Her entire world was shattered, her kingdom destroyed, her people ravaged, and most dead.

  To no one in particular, she said, “I am no queen.”

  Wylow, limping, looked up. “Don’t say that.”

  “A queen is there for her people. And what am I doing? I’m running like a coward.”

  Wylow placed a warm hand, sticky with dried blood, on Jade’s shoulder. “You could do nothing. This isn’t your fault. The God-King…he is an—”

  “An asshole,” Jade finished for her. “And that’s putting it mildly.”

  “Yes, an asshole. That’s an apt description.”

  “He’ll pay for what he’s done today. I will not stop until he does.”

  “That’s my queen,” Wylow said.

  They climbed a steep rise of land, using the crooked trunks of trees to pull themselves along. It wasn’t easy, but they managed. Cybersoldiers would be sent to the location of the crash, tasked with finding and eliminating any survivors. All they would find was Duke’s body—Gods rest his soul. Jade already missed the old pilot; he was, in some odd way, one of the last links she had to her father.

  If we survive this, I will go back and make sure Duke receives a hero’s funeral, she thought.

  Wylow stopped behind her, out of breath. Jade turned and looked her over. She had certainly seen better days—both of them had. Dirt and ash covered Wylow’s clothes. Her normally wild and curly locks were somehow even wilder, partially singed and full of debris. Cuts of dried blood stretched over her cheeks and above her mahogany eyes.

  Jade couldn’t imagine what she looked like herself.

  “I need a rest, my queen. I’m sorry,” Wylow said.

  “We’re almost there.”

  “Where?”

  “To the top.”

  “And then where?”

  Jade had no answer. She was just trying to get them as far away from the crash site as possible, somewhere that would hide them from any scanners.

  “To safety,” Jade finally said. She went back down toward Wylow and put her arm around the queensguard’s waist. “Come on, I’ve got you.”

  They moved again, up the hill, boot heels digging into soft earth, free hands gripping the ashy wood of the tree trunks as they pulled themselves up and up. An excruciating five minutes later, they cleared the thicket of woods and settled atop a plateau. Here, Jade scanned around her. She saw the ruins of the castle far off in the distance, the Battler, and the remains of buildings she had admired for all her years.

  She reached out with the Essence and searched for signs of life. Sadly, she found very few. The realization was a punch to the gut.

  Wylow sat in the grass, her back to a large rock. She undid her boot and pulled it off, held it upside-down and shook it. Pebbles and twigs and metal shavings fell out. Her sock was stained red with blood.

  “What do we do?” Jade asked. “I’m lost. I don’t know.”

  Wylow shook her head. “I’m as lost as you, my queen.”

  “We need a transport, but it’ll be next to impossible to get off the planet. How will we get past that Battler?” If Duke couldn’t…she added mentally.

  “One thing at a time,” Wylow said as she laced her boot back up and leaned her head against the rock. She closed her eyes, took a series of deep breaths. She was worse than she was letting on.

  One thing at a time was right. They could worry about getting off the planet later; now Jade needed to make sure Wylow got the proper medical attention she needed. The medkit on the ship was ruined in the crash. Had it been intact, they would’ve been fine, near one hundred percent.

  “I know there’s an old communications hub not far from the forest. Not sure exactly where,” Wylow said, her eyes still closed. “I may be able to get it running. Probably not but it could offer us shelter at the very least, my queen. I am unable to protect you to the best of my ability, I’m sorry.”

  “Wylow, you and I both know I don’t need protection. I can handle myself.”

  She grinned. “That you can, but I took an oath, and I am bound to the Alanden family by that oath no matter the circumstances.”

  Jade shook her head. The protectors of royalty were an odd bunch—No odder than the Sisters, her mind said. Regardless, both were deadly serious when it came to their beliefs. Some might even say they were hardheaded when it came to such matters. “Then I release you, Wylow. You are no longer bound by anything to serve me.”

  Wylow’s eyes glistened. Her lips took a slight downward turn, not quite a frown, but very close. “Very well, my queen.”

  “Wylow, that means you don’t have to call me ‘queen’ anymore. Jade will do just fine. We got into this together, and we’re going to get out of it together. We’re equals. I don’t need a protector right now; I need a friend.”

  “Okay, Jade.” Wylow smiled, a good sign.

  “Now, let’s find our way to that old communications center.”

  Such places were before Jade’s time, before the Dominion claimed Xovia as their own. They ran on a slightly outdated technology, and their signals were limited in range, but the old way of encryption would most likely go under the radar. Most likely.

  The problem was getting the comms up and running.

  No—the problem was finding it.

  Jade’s shoulders weighed her down. She regretted not studying the old ways of the kingdom with more enthusiasm. In her schooling, the history of Xovia was taught to her, but she was young and she tuned out, thinking mostly of boys and what her and her friends would do once the guide let them out of the classroom.

  She went toward Wylow and extended a hand. One thing was for sure: they weren’t going to find the comm center resting here. They needed to get going. At night, creatures came out of their daytime slumber. Monsters that could sense the scent of blood from miles away.

  Wyrmwolves.

  “We will find it, my qu—Jade,” Wylow said, shaking her head. “I’m sorry. Old habits.”

  “It’s okay.”

  Jade looked out at the forest. Focused. Then something unexpected happened. A highlighted path of yellow energy hung in the air. “What?” she whispered. “Do you see that?”

  “See what?”

  “That…that yellow line.”

  “I see nothing but trees and dirt,” Wylow said.

  Follow it, fool child! The voice of Reinya, her Master. The artifact around your neck will lend you more power when needed, but you must let it!

  “Come on.” Jade helped Wylow up. The thought that she’d gone crazy crossed her mind, that following this path could lead her to death, but what other options did they have? Wait and die by either cybersoldiers or wyrmwolves?

  So they followed the path. It remained as vibrant as ever. Wylow moved more easily, too; it was almost as if the energy touched her as well.

  Jade felt the spot on her chest where the crystal hung. “Almost there,” she said, looking back at Wylow.

  The queensg
uard’s limp was gone. She moved using a large stick in her hand for support, but she probably didn’t need it.

  Nearly fifteen minutes later, with the sounds of the ships far in the distance, they came upon the old communications center. It really did look like something from ages past, and Jade was surprised to see that it was exactly how she saw it in her mind’s eye, all the way down to the glassless observatory window and the overgrown lichen, moss, and ivy covering its façade.

  “Kind of spooky, isn’t it?” Jade said, her voice smaller than intended.

  “I have my blaster, no worries.” Wylow patted her on the shoulder.

  Jade waited for a moment, watching her queensguard. Behind, some abominable creature howled, and she came to the conclusion that a haunted-looking building was much better than being torn apart by rabid animals.

  The inside looked worse than the outside. The forest had claimed the comm center as its own, and soon it would be completely swallowed by nature. Why did her father keep it up in the first place?

  Wylow pointed to the back of the large, circular room. Covered by leaves, and a foot of dust and dirt, was the blocky comm unit. The metal had rusted and been scratched by the years and the wildlife who’d found its way inside. The past presences tingled her flesh. A wounded verkar mother and her litter had once lain here and suffered. The mother died and the young feasted on her corpse. Streaks of dried blood on the floor like lines of rust. Old bones. All of these signs were vestiges of the past, but the visions of old came through in a rush as clear as if it was happening now.

  Wylow looked at her and asked if she was okay.

  “Yes, I’m fine,” Jade answered. It was a lie.

  Wylow pointed to the comm unit. With her forearm, she swiped the debris clear from the machine. The glass viewscreen was cracked and small weeds poked through the fracture.

  “Looks bad,” Jade said.

  “It could be worse. At least it’s here and not totally destroyed.” Wylow pressed a button next to the screen. It groaned, not giving easily. Both of them waited eagerly for a sign that the comm wasn’t completely destroyed.

  Nothing happened.

  “No power,” Wylow said. “I figured.”

  “Where are we going to get power?”

  Wylow dropped to the floor, brushing more dirt away from the brick. She looked like a miner digging for precious gems. “There must be an auxiliary cord,” she said. “Somewhere.”

  “If the animals haven’t chewed it to pieces.”

  “Have faith.”

  Jade began working on the back of the machine. She knocked it gently with her fist until she heard a hollow banging. Here was a panel, but Jade couldn’t find a handle to open it, so she kicked it. The sound resembled a thunderclap in the empty comm center, echoing all around them. The metal now dented, Jade kicked again, and the panel fell off with a clank.

  Wylow jumped, turning, her eyes wide. “What was that?”

  “Found the control panel,” Jade said. “I couldn’t find a handle.”

  “It’s here,” Wylow said.

  “Whoops.”

  Wylow bent down with a smirk on her face and examined the inner workings of the machine. Jade knew next to nothing about technology. That wasn’t exactly one of the subjects taught in her school lessons. The inside looked like the nervous system of some robotic beast, chock full of coiled wires, springs, rusted bolts, transistors, and circuit boards. In the upper right corner of the opening was an abandoned juke’s nest full of old eggshells speckled red.

  “Do you know what you’re looking at?” Jade asked Wylow.

  “Somewhat.” She squinted, her fingers feeling around the wires. “It’s old tech, very old tech. These were the types of long-distance communicators we used when I was a young girl, and it was outdated then, too. If only my father were here. His job was repairing junk like this—refurbishing it and selling it for way more than he paid, which was usually next to nothing. He would often find the gadgets in the dump or scrapyards.”

  It hit Jade then that she hardly knew anything about Wylow. The woman had been in her father’s guard since before Jade was born, yet the extent of her knowledge stopped there. Guilt suddenly wracked her conscious. How many of the people who cared for her did she take for granted?

  Some queen I am—well, was, she thought.

  “Was your father from Xovia?” Jade asked.

  “No,” Jade answered, grunting as she pulled a braided cord free. “Ypso, actually. That’s where I was born.”

  “Whoa. Really?”

  “Yep.” Wylow yanked at another wire. “I spent the first fifteen years of my life on that planet.”

  “Did you like it?”

  “It certainly isn’t a vacation destination, that is for sure. But I do have fond memories of the place. When you’re young, you don’t often understand the darkness so constant around you. Ypso is known for harboring fugitives, the most undesirable people in the galaxy, but I didn’t know this, and I thought everyone was quite…nice. I made a lot of friends there, only to find out the people I had spent so much time with were thieves and murderers.”

  “Wow, I never knew.”

  Wylow looked up, three cords wrapped around her fingers, sweat beading on her forehead. She put one into her mouth, biting down on it, and stripped the insulation away. She did the same for the other two.

  “You seem to know what you’re doing,” Jade said.

  “Well, it’s all guesswork,” Wylow answered. “I have always been observant—I think that is why I have made such a superb queensguard and kingsguard before that. Those sunny, summer days on Ypso weren’t all just fun and games. I would watch my father work, sometimes from dawn until well after dusk. He was tireless when it came to such things.” Now Wylow ripped the main circuit board out of the control panel. It came completely free, making a sound it probably shouldn’t have made, a type of electric sizzle. A small spark lit up the darkness, and hope filled her chest. This spark meant there was at least some power still in the machine, but would it be enough to send out a signal to someone, anyone?

  To distract her from the prospect of failure, Jade asked another question. “Was your father…was he a fugitive?” She instantly regretted it. This was, she knew, none of her business. Nor was it very polite.

  Wylow, without missing a beat, said, “Yes, he was.”

  “I’m sorry.”

  “Don’t be sorry.” Wylow laughed. “He was no murderer, nothing like that. He was a renowned hacker, but he had gotten mixed up with the wrong people. It happens. Anyway, I grew up with ion bombs five feet away from my bedroom. So I guess I do have some experience.” With the stripped wires, she connected them to the copper coils on the circuit board. A great burst of electricity crackled from it, lighting the interior of the building up like daytime.

  The machine hummed and rattled like a coughing lung. Jade and Wylow watched. They couldn’t believe it worked. Wylow looked at Jade and smiled. She seemed a decade younger.

  Then as quick as the machine started, it coughed again and the lights dimmed, flickered, and went out.

  Wylow dropped back down and began jiggering the wires. “No, damn it! No!”

  “It’s okay,” Jade said. She put her hand on Wylow’s shoulder; now it was her turn to be the comforting presence. “At least we have shelter. We’re safe for the time being. We can rest, get our heads together, and set out on the morrow, when the sun is up.”

  “It doesn’t make sense. The circuits are meant to store power for centuries. I rerouted it to the main batteries and—”

  Another hum rumbled from the comm machine, and the lights blinked on, staying steady. For the moment, the women stood statue-still and waited.

  Thirty seconds passed.

  Then thirty more.

  The machine continued its humming. It sounded slightly…normal.

  When Wylow finally broke the silence, she said, “Okay, we have limited time. The power will only last five minutes, and that’s if we’r
e lucky.” She rounded the bulky metal box and began flipping switches.

  Jade followed her, but looking at the many buttons of various colors and switches, she was utterly lost.

  “The signal is weak, but it should reach someone, at least. Theoretically,” Wylow said. As she flicked a switch up and down multiple times, she paused and stared at the screen.

  “What is it?”

  “There’s a name here already,” she answered. “It’s dated from almost two decades ago, around the time of the First War.”

  Which we ultimately lost, Jade thought bitterly. “Who is it addressed to? Can you delete it?”

  She tapped the screen a few times. “I’m not sure. Let me see, hold on.” More tapping as the screen flickered and dimmed. With each passing second, their time became more dire. "Ryze Starlo…my Gods.”

  “Ryze Starlo? The war hero?”

  “I believe so,” Wylow answered.

  “Why is his name there?”

  “He must’ve been the last person this comm center contacted. Why, I have no clue.”

  “Send it to him, too. We need to cast a wide net and hope somebody will come to our aid.”

  Wylow brought up a keypad and typed a message with lightning-quick fingers.

  Xovia under siege. Queen needs transport. Please help. Anyone.

  She hit send, and the machine garbled as the light on the console went from red to green, indicating the message had gone through.

  “I’ve sent it to the three closest frequencies,” Wylow said. “And Starlo’s. If he’s not near the Brink, there’s a good chance he’ll get the message.”

  “Or if he’s not dead…” Jade added. She sighed. Ryze Starlo was a well-known name on Xovia, but he hadn’t been seen in the system since he was a young soldier. His whereabouts in this endless universe were largely unknown. “Will the Dominion be able to intercept the signal?”

  “No,” Wylow answered with the utmost certainty.