“Bring him closer, please,” the God-King said.
Akyra thrust Ace forward like a rag doll. He was inches away from the camera.
“He looks to be in poor condition,” the God-King said. “Do you expect me to pay that much for damaged goods?”
“I’ve kept him well enough to survive,” Akyra answered. “He was dangerous any other way.”
The God-King brought a skeletal finger toward his chin. “I understand, but do you really think he is worth six million fragments? He is a stubborn man entering old age. He can no longer accomplish simple tasks anymore. The queen of Xovia is still on the run, in possession of something I covet more than anything in the entire universe. Do you think I have time for such trivial rubbish as this?”
Akyra didn’t respond, and Ace was hardly hearing his old best friend’s voice. He felt, despite purging the last dosage of deracil, like he was drugged and hearing the conversation from the bottom of a deep well.
It can’t be true. Please, Zaidre, don’t do this—
“Now I have a rebellion brewing in the far reaches of the galaxy, on top of the queen out there doing Gods know what with my crystal.” The God-King’s eyes flared with anger. Ace found himself fearing—truly fearing—the man for the first time in the many years they’d known each other. “The problems, my Thrathan friend, keep mounting up. These are problems that will require money and time, both of which are not infinite. So I am sorry, Akyra, I refuse your demands. Do what you wish with Mr. Silver.” He cleared his throat. “Ace, if you can hear me, my friend, know that this is nothing personal. It is just the price of war. We have had a good run, have we not?” His hand skated across the arm of his chair and clicked a button. The sound was cut off along with the video feed.
Akyra and Ace waited in the total darkness for a moment, and then she dropped him roughly onto the floor, where he landed and wrenched an arm. There was a sickening crack, but what was another injury on top of all the others? No matter what, his physical ailments would never hurt as bad as that betrayal did.
Akyra flipped on the lights. The surrounding shell of the communicator turned transparent, showing the desolate planet beyond. There was a dot on the horizon, a house that once belonged to the man who owned the place, and another smaller dot that was his dead body in the dooryard. The man’s daughter had run for it and got a decent distance away, hiding in the nearby wheat fields, but Akyra’s gun sought her out despite the golden cover.
“Wow, that was cold. Even to me,” she said. “And I’m as cold as they come.”
Ace got back on his knees. This action took much energy, energy he didn’t have—Akyra wasn’t exactly feeding him three square meals a day. He was looking at the spot where his best friend, his king, had been less than a minute ago.
Abandoned me? Ace thought. How could he abandon me? Was it all a ploy? Maybe they traced my location and he’s sending troops my way right now. Maybe—
I always thought you were a dummy, son—this just proves it. Open your damn eyes. He doesn’t want you. He threw you away like the tissue he wipes his ass with. Get over it! Move on!
No, that’s impossible. He is like blood to me.
“Well, this has been a colossal waste of a Common week,” Akyra said. “Eh, guess it doesn’t matter much. I still got the frags you imbeciles wired me before that debacle on Xovia. I’ll be just fine.” She paused. Doing what, Ace wasn’t sure. His eyes were still fixed on the screen before him. Memories flashed by in a blur, all the good times Zaidre and him had had together. Wasted.
Oh, please, his father said, get over yourself. You’re not some sissy boy, are ya? What kind of man reminisces about the good times he’s had with another man?
“Shut up,” Ace said softly.
“What was that? Did you speak, Silver?” Akyra asked from behind him. “I could’ve sworn I just heard you say something. Guess I gave you a little too much of a dose, huh? Doesn’t matter. You’re useless to me now. If the God-King doesn’t want you, I doubt anyone else will, not even that rebellion he spoke of. But, hey, your head will look real nice on some buyer’s mantle, don’t you think?”
The bounty hunter’s holster clicked. Ace heard a snick as her handblas caught on the leather, and soon after, the n-pack was charging.
This little snick, that was all Ace Silver needed—that moment of time, that fraction of a second—to do what needed done. And though he knew the voice of his father inside his head was only a hallucination brought on by his own stress and the drugs, he would make the old bastard proud regardless.
“Best not damage the merchandise, like the GK said, huh?” the mercenary laughed, and Ace felt the hard steel of the blaster press into the middle of his back. It set his skin and mind ablaze. Snapped him out of his fugue state. He was no longer a drugged-out, helpless nobody; now he was Ace Silver, the God-King of the Celestial Dominion’s right-hand man and trusted confidant. War-master. Stone-cold killer.
Age, pain, sadness—none of it mattered any longer.
Ace spun to the right, sweeping his legs out at the same time. His bone connected with the bounty hunter’s armor. A sickening crunch filled the air, one that hurt almost as bad as the burns had, but it worked. Akyra cried out in a mixture of shock and agony, tumbling back.
Ace used this time to tumble himself, though much softer. He rolled, stuck his legs up, and shimmied his bound hands out from under him. Now that they were in front, his eyes, sharper than they’d been in a long time, sought out the blaster.
Akyra growled, her gaze fixing on the weapon, too.
They both went for it, but—
Ace was faster. Much faster.
He grabbed the handle with both hands and leveled it at Akyra. She stopped abruptly, her palms held up in front of her face.
“Okay, okay,” she said, “we can work something out, I’m sure. You don’t have to do whatever it is you’re planning on doing.”
“For one long week you’ve tortured me,” Ace said, his voice wavering yet still harsh.
Offering him a half-smile, she said, “I did what I had to do. I’m sure you understand. If you were in my position, you would’ve done the same.”
“No, I would’ve killed you as soon as I could.”
“Because you’ve never struggled for money. You don’t know what it’s like out in the galaxy as a normal person. Billions are starving to death and suffering while you and the God-King sit fat and content in your castles and battle stations.”
“You don’t know a damn thing about me, Thrathan scum. Don’t assume you do. I’ve struggled; I’ve struggled a lot. I wasn’t born into the position I’m in. I had to work for it. So save that sorry sack of shit for the afterlife.” Ace seethed.
You never struggled, you big liar, his father said. If it weren’t for me, you and that dumb broad of a mother of yours would’ve been on the streets, and you would’ve ended up dead or in prison. A nobody.
“Shut up,” Ace said. “Shut up, Dad!”
Akyra blinked slowly, her eyes wide. “You’re not in your right mind, Silver. Give me the gun. I’ll unlock your binds, give you my ship, and we can forget about all of this, okay? Just move on. Hell, I’ll even give you back the frags you wired into my account.”
Ace snorted. “You wish, Akyra.” He laughed again, shrill and manic. She was correct: he wasn’t in his right mind at all, but when was he ever? That, he couldn’t answer. “Don’t you remember how you treated that poor man and his daughter up there?” He nodded his head back and over his shoulder at the screen. “Don’t you remember how he begged for his life? And don’t you remember how you ended it for him? And when his daughter ran, don’t you remember gunning her down? Imagine his face when he said, ‘Don’t hurt my daughter, please!’ Or is your Thrathan brain not capable of doing that?”
Akyra snarled. “I did what I had to do.”
“You didn’t have to kill them. You want to talk about suffering?” He scoffed.
“Oh, look at you. Mr. Right.” It
was her turn to snort. “You’re joking with me, right? Ace Silver, you have more blood on your hands than the entirety of my race does. And I speak of generations upon generations of war. You’ve killed and killed, and just because you did it miles away in the safety of your Battler, just because you didn’t stab or shoot or break a neck but pressed a button instead—that doesn’t mean you’re not responsible for those lives. So yes, I’ll talk about suffering all I want.”
He opened his mouth to argue, but really, what argument did he have? He was the slaughterer of millions. His finger slid down from the trigger guard and fell upon the trigger. He smiled. “You’re right, Akyra. I’ve killed many, many people. Of all races. From all different planets. So what’s one more?”
“Wait—”
Ace Silver did not.
A red-white beam took Akyra just below the throat, burning a hole in her flesh the size of a fist.
The barren landscape stretched far and wide through that jagged opening until her hands rose and slapped at the fresh, sizzling wound. She looked at him with unbelieving eyes. Dying eyes.
Ace savored the short moment the best he could, and a few seconds later, Akyra the Thrathan mercenary died.
Fourteen
“You sure about this?” Ryze asked. “I can still come with you.”
Jade shook her head. They stood in a large docking bay beneath the moon’s surface. A tunnel stretched before them, dimly lit with yellow lights. That was where Sae and Jade would leave him, Blue, and Spex behind.
Possibly forever.
“I have to do this on my own. Like all good adventures, the heroes are supposed to split up, Starlo. Don’t you read?”
He scratched his head. “Gods, I don’t know the last time I read anything besides a bounty card.”
“Ever since the Holo Net started broadcasting to the far reaches of our galaxy, not many people read anymore, but that’s an issue for another time.”
“Geez, are you a twenty-something queen or a hundred-year-old librarian? Lighten up, Jade.”
She smiled at him. There was a sadness to it, because they both understood that this meeting between them, on an unknown moon in an under-explored corner of the cosmos, might very well be the last time they saw each other. They hadn't known one another very long, but the things they went through together were enough to turn acquaintances into family.
“It’s been an interesting time,” Jade said. “Lots of destruction and all that. It’s probably for the good of the universe that we separate.”
It was only a half-joke, Ryze knew. “Yeah, you’re right.”
Jade stepped forward. In anticipation, Ryze stuck his hand out for a shake, but Jade ignored it and wrapped her arms around his middle. Shocked, he hugged her back.
“You’re gonna do great, Jade. Don’t worry.”
They parted.
“I’m not worried,” she said. Her hand went up to the crystal around her neck, just a bulge beneath the meshy material of her new flight suit. An unconscious movement. She was nervous, and Ryze didn’t blame her for it. He was nervous himself. Going on a journey with a bunch of strangers, trying to break into a heavily guarded prison planet? All that sounded insane.
“I know you’re not worried,” Ryze said. “Me, either.”
Jade winked at him. “Just get her back for me, Ryze. Okay?”
“I will.”
The ship that she and Sae would travel on opened its bay doors. Sae was standing in its threshold. She wore no suit; her kind’s heavy fur held up pretty well against the conditions of most planets. So she instead opted for a light armor and a helmet.
Jade turned and waved to Sae. “Coming!”
“Good luck, Jade,” Ryze said.
“Don’t need it.” She started walking. About three-fourths of the way to the ship, she turned back around and said, “Tell Spex I’ll miss him.”
The voice from his helmet gave Ryze a jolt. Spex said, “I’ll miss her, too. Please tell her, sir.”
Holding his helmet up, he shouted: “He’s gonna miss you, too!”
Jade grinned as the bay doors closed and the ship’s engines whined. Ryze watched them go by himself.
“Spex, you gotta give me a warning before you scare the shit out of me like that. Deal?”
“Of course, sir.”
The outpost hovered behind a cluster of meteors. Ryze tilted the Starblazer around one, and then slowed for a landing.
“This it?” Ryze asked
YES, THIS IS IT, Blue answered. He was cramped in the cockpit, green, mucus-like flesh pressing up against the back of the pilot’s chair and swallowing up the other seats. On the moon base, in the open air, he had only gotten whiffs of the Gelerris. Not exactly pleasant, but he didn’t expect an alien with such…qualities to smell like flowers. In the cockpit, however…whew.
“What’s their names again?” Ryze asked, pushing his mind away from the stench he hadn’t gotten used to.
ERADICE AND ALFIS, Blue replied.
“Cool names.”
TWO OF THE BEST WARRIORS I’VE EVER MET. ERADICE IS THE BRAINS. SHE’LL BE ABLE TO LOCATE YOUR FRIEND WITH EASE.
“What about Alfis?”
HE IS AN ATORGA, A SPECIES KNOWN FOR THEIR FIGHTING PROWESS. HE IS OUR MUSCLE. HE WILL BATTLE THE GUARDS FOR US. ALL OF THEM, IF HE HAS TO.
“All of them?”
ALL OF THEM, BUT DON’T LOOK HIM IN THE EYE. HE’S LIABLE TO FIGHT YOU, TOO.
“Eye?”
YOU’LL SEE. COME ON.
“I don’t know if I like the sound of that, sir,” Spex whispered.
“Me, either.” Ryze got up and followed the Gelerris, who didn’t so much as walk as he glided on his goo.
Once on the landing pad, the concrete floor sunk, taking the ship down into the heart of the outpost. From a distance, the structure looked like a spinning top. Up close, it looked like a giant’s tooth, which was where it must’ve gotten its name: Giant Tooth Outpost.
Clever, Ryze thought.
“You never told me why you’re called Blue and not Green,” Ryze said.
MY TRUE NAME DOES NOT TRANSLATE TO COMMON.
“What is it?”
I CANNOT SAY. IT IS TOO LONG. I MYSELF HAVE ONLY RECITED MY NAME THREE TIMES IN MY LIFE, AND EACH TIME TOOK ME A COMMON YEAR.
Ryze’s eyes widened. “Geesh, talk about a convo-killer. Okay, I’ll stick with Blue, then, I guess.”
WISE CHOICE.
The airlock above the landing pad sealed and Ryze opened the ship’s door. He kept a safe distance behind Blue. The Gelerris sometimes flung bits of slime while moving.
He’s a housekeeper’s worst nightmare, Ryze thought with a grimace.
They waited for a moment. Ryze had his helmet on, but the scanners couldn’t penetrate the blast door in front of them.
“Now what?”
PATIENCE, PATIENCE! THEY WERE EXPECTING US, AND NOW THEY KNOW WE’RE HERE.
“How do you figure? I didn’t get hailed by anyone at the outpost.”
THEY LET THE SHIP COME DOWN, DIDN’T THEY? IT IS JUST THEM. LIKE SAE SAID, WE ARE NOT LARGE IN NUMBER AND WE ARE SPREAD OUT ALL OVER THE GALAXY. THEY ARE PROBABLY BUSY WITH THEIR REPAIRS.
“I don’t like this…” Ryze said. He looked around, trying to pick up any signs of wrongdoing. He found none.
WHY?
“Something feels off. Do your mind-reading thing, see if you can pick up anyone.”
I’VE ALREADY TRIED, Blue replied, BUT LIKE YOUR VISOR’S SCANNERS, MY TELEPATHY CAN’T GET THROUGH THE BLAST DOOR.
“Great,” Ryze said, drawing his blasrifle from his back.
WHAT IN THE STARS DO YOU THINK YOU’RE DOING?
“Being safe—”
Just then, the door opened. Standing to meet the two was an odd-looking creature. It was short, only coming up to Ryze’s chest plate, slender, and covered in a brown fur.
“Friends! It’s so good to see you!” the alien said in a cheery feminine voice. She wore a cape and a col
lar and nothing else besides a gun belt with an empty holster hanging from it.
IS EVERYTHING ALL RIGHT, ERADICE?
“Everything’s fine, I assure you,” Eradice replied. “No worries here.” She motioned with one hand. “Come, come. We have much to prepare for!”
Blue craned his head toward Ryze.
Ryze shrugged. “After you, my big green friend.”
A scent of flowery perfume punched Ryze in the nostrils, almost making him lightheaded. Beneath that scent, however, hung another smell. This one was sour and dirty.
THERE IS A GROUP OF PIRATES INSIDE, JUST AROUND THE CORNER IN THE BRIEFING ROOM, Blue said. DON’T RESPOND WITH WORDS, STARLO. THINK.
What are you talking about?
THE REASON MY FRIENDS TOOK SO LONG TO OPEN THE DOORS WAS BECAUSE THEY ARE BEING HELD HOSTAGE. ERADICE SAYS THERE ARE THREE OF THEM. BIG GUYS. GRAYS.
Shit, Ryze thought. I hate the Grays. We’ve got some…history. I guess that explains the smell. They tried covering it up with incense or something.
YOUR KIND AND YOUR AVERSION TO STINK, Blue said. AND MOST PEOPLE DISLIKE THE GRAYS. THEY DON’T LIKE US, EITHER. WE HAVE TO PLAY THIS CAREFULLY. THEY’RE WATCHING RIGHT NOW, SO WE MUST ACT NORMAL. THEY DON’T KNOW ABOUT ME. THEY DON’T KNOW I CAN READ MINDS. IF WE GO IN LOOKING FOR A FIGHT, THEN MORE BLOOD WILL SPILL THAN NEED BE.
Screw that. Let’s get rid of the vermin as quickly and as painlessly as we can.
They were reaching the end of a corridor. The door to the briefing room was closed before them.
“So how have you been, Eradice? I’m Ryze, by the way. Ryze Starlo.”
“Pleasure to meet you. We have much to discuss. But we’ll get to that soon. I’m sure the two of you are tired from your trip out here. There’s some leftover rangi and sil soup in the heatbox if you’re interested, Ryze. And of course, a bouquet of Xeeeeeee mice for you, Blue.”
“Blah. I never thought I’d hear the words bouquet and Xeeeeeee mice used together,” Ryze mumbled. When Blue eyed him, he quickly perked up and said, “Oh, that sounds wonderful, Eradice!” in his most pleasant voice.
A Galaxy Divided Page 8
