by David Beers
He would have to make a quick decision, something he wasn't good at and preferred not to do. Yet, in the coming war, it would be necessary, and she knew that. All of this might seem like life and death to Pro, and it was, but she knew it was his true training, building him into the one man who could bring down an empire.
"She doesn't care about making it back to Earth, at least not without me in tow. She only took Thoreaux because he was an easy target." Pro was quiet for a moment. "Right now, she wants to survive, and she knows more about the universe than most Commonwealth citizens." His head whipped toward Faitrin. "Where is the nearest portal outside of Phoenix?"
Alex watched the pilot's eyes gray over as she checked with her AI.
"It's a long way off, Pro. Their pod will never make it. Those things are purposely built huge distances apart."
"Fine," Prometheus said. "What's the farthest populated planet they can make it to in that pod that's in the direction of a portal?"
"One minute," the pilot responded.
Alex closed her eyes as they waited and searched for Thoreaux, but he was too far away. He'd been too far for a while now. Perhaps in her younger years she could have found him, but that was no longer true. Thoreaux was lost to her, and she didn't want to focus on that. She had to focus on Pro and his ability to retrieve the young man.
"It's a fairly populated planet, Pro. The name is CP36, best I can tell, but that's the Commonwealth's name for it. The locals call it something different."
Prometheus stood up. It was clear his decision was made. "Get the ship you and Servia brought ready. We're leaving in a half-hour."
Relm clapped his hands. "Well, that's damn good news. All this waiting around and talking was starting to bore me, broth, if you don't mind a bit of honesty."
Faitrin raised an eyebrow. "Has anyone ever checked you to see if you're missing a chromosome or something?"
Relm wiggled his eyebrows. "I will neither listen nor respond to your hatred." He pushed the crook of his arm out and moved closer to Servia. "Come, good lady. Let us go save Thoreaux and leave these who would hate on us alone."
Servia finally cracked a smile. That was good. The closest person in the world to Servia was Thoreaux, and Alex knew they would need her more now than ever if they were to get him back.
"Jeeves says it's ready," Faitrin told them. "It's been ready the entire time."
"Go get weapons,” Pro instructed. “Ten minutes, then we're leaving."
"What about the ship?" Servia asked.
Pro was looking through the doorway, obviously ready to start chasing his second-in-command. "Leave a message that it's my gift to the Ascendant."
He stepped out of the room, and the drathe padded after him.
No one else looked at the AllMother, but everyone did as their commander ordered. They went to find weapons, leaving the old woman alone.
She didn't move for a bit but thought of the miles still to go. Her powers were returning, but her desire? She was tired, but Prometheus wasn't ready yet. She saw the power he would become, but...
"Your miles aren't done, crone," she told herself. "You will push on because you're nearly at the finish line. You didn't come this far to falter."
Alex stood up, and using her cane, she left the room.
Chapter Nine
“Your offspring should be more prepared for the world than you were.”
—Adrian de Livius
Veena had thought escape was a good thing, at least when Hel had arrived in that elevator. She'd spent the last day or two contemplating what would happen to her and her fleet, and the answers always came back the same: she would die. This ship and everyone on it would be destroyed. The rest of the fleet would probably survive.
When Hel had arrived with her Whip in hand, Veena had rejoiced.
Now?
Veena wondered if she'd traded one death warrant for another, this one signed by the assassin.
As near as Veena could tell, they'd been traveling for about five standard hours. This pod, while insanely fast, had very little in the ways of communication or scanning ability. They couldn't tell if they were being chased, and they could only make limited contact outside the pod.
When they first boarded, Veena had wanted to program it to go to another dreadnought, but Hel’s argument had won the day.
Her words had been simple. "If we go to another dreadnought without the Titan's head in our hands, we're as good as dead. It doesn't matter if both of you are Primuses; your lives are sacrificed. The only chance we have is to escape from here immediately, then figure out the next step."
Veena hated admitting Hel was right, but she was. If they made it to any other dreadnought without Kane, they'd probably be put in another brig.
Five hours out, though, Veena wanted to know the next step.
It looked like they had escaped the AllMother's hands. Their captive was asleep in the corner of the pod. No one had a Clip for him, but it wouldn't be hard to keep him in line.
Veena sat across from Ares, Hel next to him. She looked at the assassin. "Where are we going?"
Hel's head was lying against the wall behind her, her eyes closed. Veena knew she wasn't asleep from the way she touched her Whip.
"I know you hear me," Veena told her.
Without opening her eyes, Hel answered, "If you know that, and I’m not answering you, why do you continue speaking to me?"
"Because I want to know where we're heading. It's quite simple if you think about it, Hel."
"If you two were in charge, we'd still be in the brig."
Ares spoke up. "If we hadn’t listened to you, we wouldn't have been put in there, would we? I agree with Veena. Where are we going?"
Hel sighed. "I'm not going to be stupid enough to speak in front of the prisoner and tell you why we're going somewhere. Perhaps you two geniuses can figure it out on your own. However, we're heading to a well-populated planet. One with more people than Earth. From there, I'll figure out our next steps."
"You'll figure them out?" Veena said. "You're in charge, is that what you're thinking? Because last I checked, the moment we're out of this ship, protocol puts Ares in charge."
Hel laughed. "What is your call sign? Hawk? Flutter away, little bird. You're annoying me."
"Enough," Ares said. "We're in no position to bicker among ourselves, in case neither of you noticed. We're in a pod in space, heading to a planet none of us knows much about, in an unknown part of a foreign galaxy."
He stared at Hel first, then turned his gaze to Veena. She couldn't deny what he was saying, but what was the alternative? Letting this psychopath lead them to certain death? Veena did not doubt Hel was going to kill them the moment they were no longer useful. Now, on a strange planet with only a Subversive captive as a witness? It would be easy to do.
Hel didn't look at the Titan but remained leaning back with her eyes closed.
Ares didn't seem to care. "AI, on."
"How can I help you, sir?"
"How far are we from our destination?" he asked the primitive computer. "Better yet, what's the estimated time to arrival?"
"Current velocity puts our arrival at twenty-five standard hours, sir."
Ares continued with his questions. "If you are active for the same amount of time, will the pod have enough energy to make it to our destination?"
"At the current speed, yes," the AI answered.
"AI, off," Ares said, putting the computer into a dormant state so as to not drain extra power. "In twenty-five hours, we're getting off this pod, and Hel, I don't care about the Subversive. I'm not getting off without knowing the plan. I won't be a stranger in a strange land without knowing what's happening. If you want to test me on that, now's the time, assassin. As soon as you're done, I'm going to turn this AI back on and have it explain everything about this planet to me."
Hel smiled. "Do you think you’re as great as your mentor?"
"Well, given that when I went up against him, my face didn't end up like y
ours, I'd say I'm better than you."
Veena saw the slightest twinge of anger pass over Hel’s face. She hates losing, Veena thought. Or she hates people seeing that she lost. Don't forget that.
The anger passed quickly, and Hel shook her head. The former Titan had bashed her up badly. She would need facial reconstructive surgery as soon as possible.
The assassin started speaking. "You two have about the same number of brain cells between you as an Earth-donkey. If you want to put us at risk, I'll tell you the plan. If we try to get back to anything the Commonwealth owns—a dreadnought, a portal, anything—we're dead." She lifted her head away from the wall and opened her eyes. She stared first at Ares, then turned her gaze on Veena. "Does either of you doubt that? Do you think we can run back to the Ascendant, and he will welcome us with open arms?"
Veena didn't need to answer. They all knew the truth. The Ascendant might not have told them everything, but he had made that point extremely clear.
"Good. We're on the same page. Next, the Subversive over there? He isn't asleep. He may be acting like he is, and you've fallen for it because you're not trained in deception like I am. Hel nodded at him. "He's listening to everything we're saying. I'll give up the plan to satisfy you two idiots' curiosity. My plan, overall, is to make it to a portal. Where I go once I'm there is none of your concern. However, portals are spaced far apart, so it's going to take a bit of time to get to one."
She stretched her arms out and arched her back as if this whole thing was tiring her. She dropped them back into her lap before continuing, "That Subversive there is one of the few important ones in the whole movement. He's what we might call a 'valuable asset.' I'm betting he's valuable enough that the Titan will come for him. Plus, what else is he going to do? Wait there in that dreadnought for the Commonwealth to kill him? Not hardly. He's on the way right now, and if his AI is advanced, he'll be able to trace the dust particles our pod is dislocating. If he's smart, he'll figure out what I'm trying to do. Either way, he's coming. My plan, my Earth-donkeys, is to wait until he gets to the populated planet and then take his head."
She leaned forward and placed her elbows on her knees.
"That is the only fucking way any of us will get back to Earth." She looked down the pod at the Subversive. "You hear that, Thoreaux? If your AllMother somehow contacts you, let her know everything we're going to do."
The woman leaned back into her seat and resumed her former position.
Veena looked at her face quietly. Never before had she seen someone who had been beaten so harshly, not even in the Academy. Bones were sticking out in the wrong places, and the only reason she could speak as well as she did was that Kane had ended up needing something from her. Hel said she wanted Kane's head, but Veena wondered if that was true. She thought the woman might want more—a lot more. Maybe as much as the man's soul.
Twenty-five hours.
That was how much time Ares had to understand what he was walking into. The AI was telling him about the planet, and the population was huge, over a trillion people, and the physical size dwarfed Earth as well.
He had to do more, though, and he hoped Veena knew that as well. Hel was telling a half-truth. They couldn't return to Earth right now. Ares wasn't sure if they'd be able to return even if they'd killed Alistair. The Ascendant was not a man to forgive easily, and Ares and Veena had failed him multiple times. They'd sacrificed one dreadnought, probably two, a host of Titans, and most likely other assets Ares wasn't aware of. If they showed up with Alistair's head in a bag, they might soon find their own in the same bag.
How did Ares get out of that little situation?
His eyes were closed, his head leaning back like Hel's, yet he was simultaneously taking in all the information on the planet and thinking about what his father would do in this situation.
What lesson had he learned as a child that might be apt now? Because in this pod, hearing this AI recite a planet's history, Ares saw no way out. It seemed as if his death were certain.
That was unacceptable to him. He'd worked too hard and come too far to simply roll over. His father had given him enough lessons to last a lifetime. He only needed to find the one that fit.
His father had taught him the lesson, and it was a tough one for Ares to learn. He hadn't been Ares at the time, though he'd aged since the beating.
Romulus was fourteen, years away from starting the Academy. He once again ranked number one for his age group. He'd listened to his father, and Adrian was...”proud” wasn't the correct word. Neither was “happy,” and certainly not “content.”
He was waiting. His son was doing what was necessary, but Adrian knew it wasn't sufficient. The father’s eyes were always searching for a misstep because he knew his duty. He was the one who had to shape this young man into something the world couldn't destroy.
At fourteen, Romulus misstepped again.
The two of them went hunting twice a year, once in the fall and again in the spring. That fall, Romulus had asked if his friend could come, and Adrian had seen no harm in it. The young man was from good stock, and he didn't seem to be a bad influence on Romulus.
The three of them had traveled north, far from any major cities. They went for a week and stayed in one of Adrian's cabins. They would only eat if they could kill animals, and they’d only drink water they carried in buckets from the river that flowed half a kilometer from the cabin. For one week, twice a year, Adrian made sure his son was dependent on his wits and muscles to survive.
The new boy would do the same.
Adrian spoke to them both before they left. He'd already spoken to the boy's parents, laying out the same for them. If they didn't want their child to come, that was fine, but he felt they should know the truth of the matter.
"If you come, you will only eat what you kill. Not what I kill, but what you kill. Nor will I try to eat what you get for yourself. If you do not bring your pails of water up the hill, you will not drink. This week is relaxation, but it is also work. It is a different kind of survival than we practice in the real world."
The young man agreed to go, and the three took off into the wilderness.
The misstep took place during their first hunt.
Adrian remained back from the boys, studying them. The animals they stalked were dangerous. It was a breed of animal created about five hundred years previous, something lab-developed and released in a limited area for the exact reason Adrian now used them. They were modeled after velociraptors, though they had shaggy hair like a bear’s and weighed less than a raptor. Even the name was only slightly modified: a rapcor.
They traveled in packs of five or so and were dangerous creatures, if a bit rash in their decisions. They had a pack mentality, and when the pack rushed, they could make mistakes.
They came across a pack about two hours into their hunt. The creatures chittered, devouring prey that had been lab-created for them. Their backs were to the boys as they feasted on a beast that crawled on the ground like an alligator.
Romulus took the north side while his friend took the south, and they crept up slowly and quietly on the animals. With only two hunting, Adrian knew they would need to use tricks to win.
The young man made the first mistake. He wasn't as careful with his footwork as Romulus. Even in their feeding frenzy, the rapcors heard the snap of the twig. One of the furry animals lifted his head and looked in the direction of the noise.
The friend froze. He, of course, was trained in battle, as did all boys his age, but he'd never fought a rapcor. The animal chittered as it turned to face the human. Others in the group turned as well, chittering in their haunting way.
Adrian watched the friend, not moving. He had a StarBeam at his waist, but he wouldn’t pull it unless it was necessary. Death had to be a possibility before that would be used.
The rapcors spread out, their dangerous clawed front limbs pointing directly at the friend. Romulus stood behind them, as yet unnoticed. The pack mentality had focused them on the
single newcomer. The boy still stood frozen.
Romulus moved then, and Adrian was furious. It was a stupid decision and a costly one. Adrian remained still, his face set as he watched a game he knew the end of.
Romulus moved with the speed that would make him famous. He had swapped his wooden stick for a metal one that had a blade on each end.
The rapcors didn't hear him immediately, but when he shoved the blade through the one in the middle, they quickly understood that more than one enemy was present.
Three turned toward Romulus while the remaining two remained focused on the frozen friend.
Romulus wielded his pole, keeping the animals at bay. One feinted to his left, and when Romulus sliced, the rapcor on his right leaped on him. The creature’s talons ripped down his back, opening his flesh.
To Romulus' credit, he didn't falter. His blade flashed behind his back and impaled the animal, but in doing so, he left his front open.
The rapcors fell on him. They were already atop his friend, the talons ripping him to shreds. Adrian might have watched the boy die, but he couldn't watch his progeny do the same.
He moved out of the woods that hid him and used the small laser pistol he held quickly. A shot to the head of each rapcor left them on the ground, bleeding and dead. One of them fell on Romulus, its long talons piercing his son’s chest.
Adrian checked both of them quickly to ensure they hadn’t taken enough damage to die here and now. When he’d assured himself that they had time, he picked up the teenagers and slung one over each of his shoulders, grunting slightly at the weight. He was a strong man, but this would be a test of both strength and endurance.
He carried the bleeding teenagers back to the cabin and dressed their wounds. He wouldn’t let them leave this cabin until he was able to talk with his son. There would be scars from this endeavor, without a doubt, but surgery could correct those later. What mattered right now was that his son had learned the lesson.
Two days passed. Fevers gripped the teenagers, and Adrian tended them as well as any nurse could. Although he told the boys there was no help out this far, he would never leave his son without medical attention. His bloodline needed to continue.
