by David Beers
It repeated. Hel, Hel, Hel.
She had told him the Ascendant would go to his wife. She had known, so she would know more. At least, that was how Alistair's mind worked at that moment: a simplistic view in which hatred and anger had taken over.
"Pro," Thoreaux said from behind him. "You okay?"
He reached up and harshly wiped the tears away with his palm, then straightened and turned to the door.
"Pro," Thoreaux repeated, sounding more worried now.
Alistair said nothing. He strode toward the door and then out into the hallway, leaving his council in stunned silence behind him.
Thoreaux had forgotten about the emotionally traumatic experience he'd had mere minutes ago. He stared after Prometheus, wondering where he was going and what he would do when he got there.
Servia turned to him. "Did you know about his wife?"
Thoreaux ignored the question. "Where's he going, AllMother?"
Servia looked her way as well. "Did you know? About his wife?"
The old woman was staring after her leader. She didn't bother looking at the two asking questions. "I don't know where he's going. If you want to know, I'd suggest you follow him."
Thoreaux started forward, but Servia grabbed his right arm hard to halt him. "Did you know about his wife?"
He didn't understand her obsession with the question, but he knew she wouldn’t let him leave without answering it. "Yes. He asked if he could see what was happening to her when he first got to Pluto. That's it. Now, let me go see what the hell he's doing."
Servia held him for a second longer, then shook her head and let go of his arm. She turned to the AllMother. "I assume you know more than that?"
The AllMother turned a withering gaze on the younger woman. "Yes. What would you like to know? I don't remember you being born when this plan was made, but I'm sure you have much to say about it."
Thoreaux didn't have time for them to argue. Pro was doing something right now, and he didn’t think it’d be the smartest decision the man ever made. He left the room and didn‘t hear what Servia said in response to the AllMother’s statement.
He looked both ways in the hall. One direction led to the bridge, and the other to the brig. Pro could want something in either area of the ship, but Thoreaux didn't have time to check both right now. He also wasn't going to send an announcement out, knowing the enemy would hear it.
Thoreaux chose the brig. If any of the prisoners had useful information, it would be the ones lodged there.
He flew through the halls, remembering what Pro had told him. He was dependent on Thoreaux to watch his blind spots, and it was obvious his wife was a major one.
He heard footsteps behind him at one point and saw that Faitrin was running as fast as she could to catch up. Thoreaux didn't slow down, but he was glad someone else had come too. Stopping Pro from doing whatever he intended would be difficult.
It took some time, but he reached the brig. The large doors were shut, but Thoreaux walked up to them, expecting they'd open.
They didn't. "What the hell? What's going on?" he asked, turning to Faitrin as she reached the door. From the other end of the hall, he saw Obs bounding toward them. The drathe had sensed something was wrong and rushed to find his master.
"That's why I came." Faitrin breathed out heavily while Obs slid to a stop, staring up at her. "He's got Primus-level access, and I thought he might tell it to reject everyone else. Let me get to the panel."
Thoreaux did as she told him, stepping back so she could harmonize. Her eyes showed falling gray snow as she stared at the closed door. His palms were sweaty, and his chest was heaving from the hard run.
"It's going to open in a sec, but we've got another problem." She glanced at Thoreaux, her gray eyes appearing to see nothing. "He's jammed the fucking elevator too, and I don't think I can make it work."
Alistair didn't want anyone to stop him from what he was going to do.
To ensure that, he rode the elevator down, then unleashed his Whip on it. It was a smoking heap of trash behind him, and he was staring at Hel in her prison. Her face was a mess of broken bones and bruises. Alistair had allowed her no medical treatment, and he'd been wondering if that had been the right choice. It was not a humane choice. Now, he felt no doubts. He only wished he'd beaten more answers out of her.
She’d been lying down when he arrived, but when he'd taken out his rage on the elevator, she'd slowly sat up. Alistair couldn't see if she had fear in her eyes because they were nearly swollen shut. The rest of her body? She curled up as she stared at him.
He hopped easily across the small space separating them. Hel backed up on the ledge until she was in the corner.
"You know why I'm here?" he asked. His Whip hung at his side, the strands floating lazily as they waited for their master's command.
She nodded. He knew it would hurt her to speak. It might even be impossible, but speak, she would.
Alistair let his Whip extend until the lasers touched the deck. They ground into the perfect white material, turning it black as smoke rose toward the ceiling. "What are they going to do with my wife? I want to know everything you know. If you don't tell me, Hel, you’ll see that I'm a surgeon with this weapon."
The woman pointed at her mouth. When she spoke, it sounded like she was talking through a mouthful of mashed potatoes and gravy. "I can hardly fucking talk. I need some medicine and some time in the goddamn medbay if you want me to help."
Alistair reached out to slap her.
"PRO! DON'T!"
The call came from above; Thoreaux was yelling at him. His hand hung above the woman, who was cringing in fear. The assassin was staring at him as if he were a monster.
What am I doing? he thought. What are they turning me into?
He was here because he'd let two parents escape with their lives, and now he stood above a beaten woman, ready to beat her more.
Alistair lowered his hand and retracted his Whip. He had managed to fight his base instincts this entire time, never turning into a monster. Now they were using his wife to cause him to do just that. He wouldn't do it. He would not destroy the man his wife loved, regardless of what they told her.
"PRO!" Thoreaux screamed again.
Alistair stepped across the cell, grabbed the edge of the glass wall, and leaned out. He stared up, able to see Thoreaux's face at the top of the pit. "Repair this fucking elevator and get the medbay ready. We're going to fix this bitch's face, then she's going to tell us what we want to know."
Chapter Four
“The Commonwealth rules the universe. Managing it is easier, though, when we pretend we don’t.”
—Alexander de Finita, Imperial Ascendant
"How did I do?" Luna asked as soon as the recording was finished. She knew it’d take some time to reach her husband, though not how much. She’d limited her questions, not out of fear, but because she was smart. Asking this man anything was dangerous, but too many questions might be deadly.
"You did great," he told her. "Truly, if your husband will listen to anyone, it's you."
Luna didn't want to ask the next question. Everything in her said it was the wrong thing to do, but she couldn't help herself. This was her husband they were discussing. "What happens next?"
She swallowed as the Ascendant stepped away from the communication chamber they'd been using. Their recordings had already left Earth and were flying through the fifth dimension toward Alistair. What would he think when he saw it? Would he think she believed those things? Would he think she no longer loved him? There were so many questions she couldn't answer and so many that wouldn't be answered for her either.
The Ascendant placed his hands behind his back. "’What comes next?’ What do you mean?"
The question didn't sound like he was curious, but as if he wanted to know why she was asking.
"With Alistair." Luna had to walk a careful path. "Is there anything else you need me to do, my liege?"
The Ascendant shook his head
. "No, that's all for now. Thank you for your help today, Luna. I know that was hard."
"I'll do anything for the Commonwealth, my liege. I hope you know that."
De Finita stared at her for a long moment. Luna didn't drop her eyes but kept gazing at him as if she had nothing to hide. Finally, he said, "I know. If you'll excuse me, Luna, I have other matters I must attend to now."
"Of course, my liege." Luna bowed slightly and left the room.
She went into the hall, then moved quickly toward her quarters. She hadn't left the Imperial Residence since she’d arrived and had no idea when she'd be allowed to. Right now, all she could think about was her quarters.
Luna reached the door, stepped inside, and didn't slow down. She made it to the bathroom and shut the door easily, then collapsed on the floor.
She didn't know if she was watched in here, but it was the only place she thought there might be any privacy. Her hands started shaking, and the tremors traveled up her arms and gripped her entire body.
She rolled onto her side, tears streaming down her face, and wrapped her arms around her body. Luna hadn't wanted to betray her husband, and right now, she felt as if that was exactly what she'd done. There was no one she could call. Her family couldn't intervene. Her friends would be killed without a thought.
She hardly understood what was happening. All of this energy to get her husband back? The Ascendant hadn't discussed killing him, but she understood it had to be on the table.
What am I doing? she asked herself. What have I done, Allie?
There were no answers for Luna Kane. Only pain and the knowledge that it was nowhere near finished.
The Ascendant knew his fathers wanted to see him, but he had no desire to speak to them. They had of course heard about what the damned former Titan had done: taken over a whole dreadnought with two Primuses on it. Such a thing shouldn’t be possible, let alone probable, and yet, here Alexander was.
He'd heard the bastard's little speech. The man had acted as if he'd won a decisive battle. True, he'd gotten himself a dreadnought and captured some valuable personnel, but did he not realize where he was? In the middle of a galaxy he didn't know, surrounded by enemies, with only a handful of people to help him. Alexander had received the recordings from the ship. It had been programmed to stream the take constantly and had done so until the Titan had cut it off.
The Ascendant wouldn’t lie and say he hadn't been impressed. Kane was a special creature, but he was up against odds he didn’t seem to understand or care about. Either way, the odds were there, and the Ascendant didn't need to speak to his fathers to know what to do.
The Ascendant was simply using the wife to buy time. There was no other need for her. Alexander no longer wanted to bring the miscreant back, he wanted him dead. Before, it had been about proving something to the fathers. Showing them he could move the middle-aged Titan around as he saw fit. No longer. Now he wanted the man fucking erased, and that was what he was going to do.
Using the wife had been a ploy to get him to act rashly and do something stupid. He hadn't lied about the dreadnoughts in the fourth dimension. They were there and waiting. More were on the way and would arrive shortly. There was nowhere for him to run, and if he tried, he would be followed. Alexander could simply drop out of the fourth dimension now, but he didn't want to risk this odds beater surviving again. Two dreadnoughts versus one weren't enough for him after watching those videos. No, the Ascendant wanted the other three dreadnoughts there as well.
It would be five against one.
His Primuses would die, but what of it? They had failed the Commonwealth again and again and had thus lost any right to their titles. Hel would die as well, but that would be a blessing.
Let Kane do something rash. Anything to keep him busy for a bit longer, then he and his movement would be space debris.
Chapter Five
“Anger is the tool of the young.”
—The AllSeer
A day had passed, and Alistair sat with the assassin once again. The medbay had performed the necessary repairs to get her jaw into working order, then it'd pumped her full of enough meds to keep the pain from destroying her. Alistair wouldn't torture the woman; he'd decided that when he’d raised his hand and she’d cowered in front of him.
He would make her talk, though.
Once out of the cell and not feeling as much pain as before, Hel had regained a bit of her arrogance. Not the full measure she'd shown before he'd taken the dreadnought, but enough to be annoying.
"What do you think you're going to get out of me, Titan?" she asked. "Do you think I had some sort of special connection to the Ascendant from that cell?"
Alistair had demanded he be alone with her, but Thoreaux had only agreed to it after he’d promised not to beat her to death. Alistair meant to keep that promise. Thoreaux was doing as he'd been told: he was watching his blind spots.
The two of them sat in a medbay alcove. Alistair could get her more meds if needed, but there was enough privacy to allow them to speak freely.
Hel was staring at him, waiting for him to answer her question. Instead of speaking, he touched the small table in front of them. The Ascendant's face popped up in the same holovid as before. "Watch this and don't speak," he instructed.
The recording played through, and Alistair kept his emotions in check this time. He wouldn't let the assassin see what his friends had. Even when his wife showed her face, he didn't tear up.
It ended, and Hel looked up from the table. Her face was still badly bruised, though the fractures had been set and dealt with. She would need more surgery before her beauty returned, but she could speak now, and that was what he wanted. "What do you think is going to happen after seeing that?"
"All of this." She opened her arms to indicate the entire medbay. "For that question? You wanted me to watch that video and tell you what's going to happen? You have to be joking, Titan."
"Don't think because I let you talk, I won't stop it again very quickly." Alistair took a step forward, and the woman raised her hands in defense.
"Calm down, psycho," she said. "I'll tell you what I think. You don't have to be a genius or have any kind of in with the Ascendant to figure out what he's about to do. It would seem the Myrmidons aren't chasing you right now, and who knows what sort of reason drives them to do anything? The Ascendant isn't lying about the dreadnoughts. If you hop into the fourth dimension, you'll see them there. He's sending more, too, and the wife? That threat is simple enough. Do anything he doesn't like, and he'll kill the woman." She shrugged. "You're out of options, Titan. You had a good run, but there wasn't ever any way you were going to overcome them. You knew that."
"You're saying the only reason he has her is to threaten me? That she's there so I'll do what he wants? That's it?"
Hel looked like she almost pitied him. "You poor, poor man. You thought...what? That she had traded on you? Maybe. I don't know. Depends on how brainwashed she is by the Commonwealth. The Ascendant doesn't care about that, though. As long as she fakes what she's supposed to fake, the Ascendant will let her play her game unless you don't surrender."
Alistair just stared at her for a moment. He believed what she was saying. It fit. Only his anger at his wife being used had hidden these simple facts from him. "Is there anything else you can tell me, Hel?"
"I'd give it up if I were you. Save your wife. Maybe save those thousands back on that gods-forsaken planet, too. The Ascendant wants you. No one else."
Alistair put a Clip on Hel, then left the alcove. He found the first droid doctor he saw and said, "Fix her. When you’re done, put her back in the brig."
He exited the medbay and found Thoreaux waiting for him. "Is she—"
"She's fine, bleeding heart," Alistair said as he turned down the hall. "I instructed them to give her medical care and then put her back in the brig. You can stop worrying about that, at least."
"What did she say?" Thoreaux called as Alistair strode away.
"I ne
ed time to think. Tell the council to meet me in two standard hours."
Thoreaux had another meeting to attend first, one called by Servia. She didn't want Pro there.
He'd only gone to the medbay to make sure their leader didn't murder that woman. He'd been happy to see the man keep his word, though he would have understood if he’d killed her. Thoreaux didn't want that to happen, but “evil” was the word that described her best.
He watched Pro walk down the corridor and saw Obs join him at the end. The drathe was on patrol, moving around the ship at intervals to make sure no coups were bubbling up.
Obs followed Pro as he turned down another hallway. They'd meet in two hours, and hopefully, he'd have some idea what they were going to do. Thoreaux was at a loss, and now he had to go deal with Servia.
He made his way back to the room where they'd watched the Ascendant’s message. The rest of the council was there: Servia, Faitrin, and the AllMother. Relm was still on the bridge. The other two were seated at the table, while Servia leaned against the wall. Her arms were crossed over her chest, and her face showed her displeasure.
The door shut behind Thoreaux. "He wants to meet with us in two hours. He's doing his thinking thing again." He looked at Servia. "What do you want to talk about?" he asked as if he didn't already know. As if everyone in the room wasn't aware of what this meeting was about.
Servia didn't uncross her arms. "You don't think it's wise to talk about what happened when he saw his wife?"
Thoreaux shrugged. "What did you expect to happen? It was his wife. Of course, he loves her. If he hadn't shown emotion, I'd worry he might be a psychopath."
Servia shook her head. "No, this is different. I want to know how much you knew about her, Thoreaux?"
He raised both his eyebrows. "Do you think you can question me like that?"
"I didn't realize you were above me in a question hierarchy," she shot back. "It's a damn fair question. How much did you know about her before you saw that?"
