The Vigilante Chronicles Boxed Set 1

by Natalie Grey

  Now he had found his place. Hadn’t he?

  When a bridge officer showed up in the doorway, everyone scurried out of his way, and Lotar tried to make himself look presentable. His hair was a mess. What if the bridge officer told Koel about that?

  The bridge officer just sneered. “Mr. Yennai wants to see you at the ship’s magazine,” he relayed and disappeared before Lotar managed to ask where that even was.

  In a ship this big, there was no good way to guess which level and sector one might find anything in. Lotar sighed, tried to make his hair presentable, and practically ran out the door. He paused and turned back to the other officers.

  “I don’t suppose any of you know where the magazine is.”

  They all shrugged, but then Era, to his surprise, elbowed another officer, a Torcellan female.

  “Palla, you know. Tell him.”

  Palla looked far from pleased about Era’s intervention, but she wasn’t willing to lie outright. “Level 14, Sector 2,” she told Lotar grudgingly. “You can get there faster if you take the mechanics’ lifts.”

  “Thank you,” Lotar said with feeling.

  He arrived in the magazine still reeking of carbon and grease from the mechanics’ lifts. As a pleasant surprise, the smell wasn’t too noticeable compared to the munitions.

  Koel and several of his officers were clustered around a tower of some sort, maybe three stories high with thick cables lining its sides. At the top were metal spikes, easily three feet long and serrated. Lotar gulped.

  “Ah, Lotar.” Koel beckoned him forward. “Come see this.”

  Lotar came closer, somewhat unwillingly. The cables filled him with a sort of dread, though he wasn’t quite sure why. It was amazing how you didn’t have to know exactly what a piece of technology was used for, to divine its larger purpose.

  Koel stroked one of the cables, and Lotar had the sudden, hysterical urge to ask if the thing was alive.

  Please no, please no, please no.

  “This is the latest innovation from my laboratories,” Koel said with a smile. “Isn’t it beautiful? It latches on there, you see, and these arms can tear a ship to pieces. Then they weaponize the shards of it. Each arm is attached to an explosive chamber. They rip apart, seek other ships, and use the power of the arm to bash through the hull with the shards, and explode inside them.”

  It was such a visceral image that Lotar swallowed. “Very nice,” he managed.

  “We’ll be at Devon soon. I want you on the bridge with me, Lotar. Your assessments of the Jotun fleet will be very useful.”

  Lotar, still staring at the missile, felt the sudden, desperate need to be anywhere else. He nodded his head so far, he practically bowed.

  “I’ll go gather my research on the Jotun fleet’s capabilities, and will meet you on the bridge, Mr. Yennai.”

  “So this is High Tortuga.” Jeltor stared out the bridge window of the Shinigami.

  “Beautiful, isn’t it?” Gar came to stand beside him. He pointed. “That’s the main continent. Most of the noteworthy things happen over there, I’m given to understand. And that’s the smaller continent. Barnabas calls it the Wild North.”

  “Wild West,” Barnabas corrected with a smile. He was seated in the captain’s chair and was reading printouts Shinigami had made for him. She sat in her usual chair, one leg draped over the arm, toying with a double-barreled pistol that seemed to have a wooden handle.

  “Right, Wild West.”

  “Although Wild North does have a ring to it.” Barnabas raised his eyebrows. “Driving snow… I’m picturing mountains. No, glaciers.”

  “Big fuckin’ bears,” Shinigami opined.

  “What are bears?” Gar asked. Jeltor also looked curious.

  “Oh, man.” Shinigami sat up. “So, you know what tanks are, right? Yeah, so picture a tank covered in fur, with really big teeth.”

  Both aliens looked at her like they hoped she was joking.

  “It’s a fairly accurate summation,” Barnabas agreed. “The other thing is that you never run from bears. They have no natural predators. You have to stand your ground, or they’ll think you’re prey.”

  Gar and Jeltor stood frozen.

  “Never. Going. To Earth,” Gar muttered.

  Jeltor gave a mechanical nod.

  Shinigami snickered. “So, how do things stand?”

  “Shouldn’t we be asking you? I thought you were the one with the built-in scanners.”

  “I was daydreaming.” She sat up and cocked her head to the side. “The Jotuns are getting in formation. We have them running a scanning subroutine I found in the Yennai systems that might give us a chance at seeing any cloaked ships. Also, I’ve boosted our cloaking and theirs with a similar program to the one the Yennai use. I think.”

  “You think?”

  “Computer systems for a fleet are…how do I put this delicately—”

  “You’ve never put anything delicately in your life.”

  “Oh, right. That makes things easier, then. They’re gigantic fucking monstrosities. The size of Chuck Norris’s balls. Easy.”

  Barnabas frowned at her.

  “Old Earth joke.” She waved a hand. “I found what I think was their cloaking program, but invariably, it’s going to rely on pieces of programs that are stored in different places. It’s not like every relevant subroutine is going to be labeled ‘Cloaking.’”

  “Why the hell not?”

  “You’ve clearly never spent any time around programmers. The first few lines are meticulously documented, and it all deteriorates from there. The whole thing winds up being held together with duct tape and bailing wire. It’s like that across every species I’ve ever seen.” She grinned and opened her mouth to add another quip, then straightened. “Heads up, the Yennai fleet is incoming.”

  “Everyone strap in,” Barnabas told the rest of the crew. “Shinigami likes to do barrel rolls when she’s punchy.”

  “Is she punchy now?” Jeltor asked curiously.

  “She’s always punchy,” Barnabas said.

  “Damn straight I am.”

  Koel was speaking with the admiral in hushed tones when Lotar arrived on the bridge, looking nauseous. Koel was fully aware that Lotar had had second thoughts. In his youth, Koel would have been uncompromising about the failure such doubt represented. He would have had Lotar transferred to another ship, or perhaps killed. A first-rate mind like that was dangerous if it was not loyal.

  Perhaps it was age, or perhaps it was the loss of Uleq and Ilia—a pang went through Koel’s chest—but he wanted to guide Lotar. He wanted Lotar to become a worthy heir. There was so much in him that was commendable, after all. He had the instincts to become all that Koel was and more.

  Koel did not fear being surpassed. If his successor made the Yennai Corporation more than it had been under his leadership, he had done well. It was what he had hoped for when he chose Ilia.

  Ilia would have chewed up Lotar and spat him out, but…

  Ilia was dead.

  For a moment, Koel felt the wave of blackness he had tried to suppress. He feared it was going to swallow him whole. His children had been his greatest pride and his greatest achievement, and now they were gone and he would never see them again. Never—

  He turned back to the window.

  He had to remain calm, especially in front of his officers.

  The planet grew larger on-screen. It gleamed red in the light from the nearby suns, and Koel shook his head. They had tried to hide from him. They had poked around in everyone’s business, cowing those who could not match them in force or technology, and finally they had made a misstep.

  They had taken on the Yennai Corporation.

  They would never appreciate the depths of their mistake. They would be dead, killed by their ambitions.

  Other species would see what had happened here, however, and they would know not to make an enemy of Koel. He gave a thin smile.

  “Begin targeting the cities,” he instructed. “We
will fight the fleet, but first we will show them that they have nothing left to defend. That they failed utterly.”

  The officers nodded. Their fingers danced over the keys. The Jotun ships were coming into focus now, changing from pinpricks of light gleaming in the darkness to recognizable shapes.

  “Sir?” One of the officers scratched his head. “I’m having trouble locating the cities. They aren’t where they should be.”

  “Try a different scanning protocol.” Their commanding officer made a show of being involved, leaning over their chairs and pointing at the screens. “The volcanic eruption is throwing off your sensors. The city should be at…” He frowned.

  Every one of his team was silent now, staring at their screens.

  Koel felt a stab of worry.

  “What is it, officer?”

  “It’s…it’s the wrong planet.” The officer looked up, too horrified even to find a clever way to say it. “Again. They directed us to the wrong planet. Again. There’s nothing here.”

  On the bridge of the Shinigami, the crew burst into laughter. Gar held his side, Tafa leaned on one of the desks, and Jeltor’s powersuit shook with mirth.

  “They got the wrong data,” Shinigami gasped. “And they fell for it. Again.” She nodded to Tafa. “All accolades go to our resident artist, who really helped make this fake-out a thing of beauty.”

  “I am but a humble painter,” Tafa protested, but her eyes were dancing.

  “We should have one on every ship.” Barnabas looked at the screens as one of the sensors whistled. “Ah, yep, there they go. They’re arming everything.”

  Shinigami settled back in her seat with a grin. “Showtime.”

  26

  “Destroyers, engage.” Admiral Threton’s voice echoed over the fleet channel.

  Shinigami watched as the first wave of destroyers advanced. After extensive discussion, they had decided to have the ships engage in much the same way as they had before, not visibly adjusting their formations to account for cloaked Yennai ships.

  Behind the scenes, they would plan to head off the cloaked ships—but for as long as possible, they would not tip their hand that they had the means to see through Yennai cloaking.

  The destroyers had locked onto their targets and were preparing missiles as the carriers disgorged fighters. At the head of the fleet, flying just over Admiral Threton’s ship, the Shinigami waited.

  “It’s coming,” Shinigami murmured to Barnabas. “Any moment now.”

  “I suppose we’ve overlooked an important possibility,” Barnabas said. He looked worried now. “What if he turns around and leaves? Just heads for a colony and—”

  “Nope.” Shinigami had cocked her head to the side as if listening to something only she could hear. When Barnabas frowned, she tapped at her ear. “I got a line onto their bridge. Koel is pissed, and he wants us all to die a fiery death. One second, informing the Jotun fleet of his orders.”

  The Yennai ships advanced quickly with their missiles armed.

  “He wants us all dead as quickly and painfully as possible.” Shinigami’s eyes narrowed. “He’s starting to break.”

  “What does that mean?” Barnabas asked as their ship banked and readied its own weapons.

  “I mean that before, Koel didn’t give a damn who he hurt. You know how some people hurt others because they like doing it? He wasn’t like that. He didn’t care about anyone else. He just did what he had to do to get what he wanted.”

  She shuddered. “I hate him,” she said quietly. “I even hate him for what he did to Uleq and Ilia. That doesn’t make sense, does it?”

  “I think it does,” Tafa said. She looked at Shinigami. “That’s what happens with people like Koel. They turn on everyone eventually, even their allies, and you wind up sympathizing with…murderers, slavers, torturers. But it’s the kind of sympathy that doesn’t mean anything. At the end of the day, anyone who throws their lot in with someone like Koel is dangerous.”

  Shinigami nodded. She turned back in her seat and aimed directly at the Avaris, holding the commands in her systems. She wanted to throw everything she had at Koel, tactics be damned. Try to crack my mind open, you bastard? Try to break me? ME? You’ll get more than you bargained for.

  But she refused to allow her hatred to push her into stupidity. She aimed one missile at the destroyer nearest the Avaris, specifically targeting the area of the ship she guessed held the munitions.

  The first impact crackled along the shields but showed her that they were not impervious. She fired three more in close succession, each targeting the same place. The first produced an even more impressive display of electronic feedback, the second actually impacted the hull, and the third broke through. The magazine exploded, tearing the ship nearly in half, and sent it spinning out of control.

  There was a cheer from the Jotun ships, and several of their destroyers copied the technique in short order. None of them were willing to waste even a second.

  The Yennai ships retaliated at once. Fighters swarmed from the Yennai carriers, as well as the Avaris, and dropped in behind the missiles, closing the gap between the fleets quickly.

  “Destroyer Group 1, continue your assault on the Yennai destroyers. Destroyer Group 2, focus on Carrier 1.”

  Shinigami joined forces with one of the Jotun ships to focus on a Yennai destroyer. With the fighters now engaged, getting missiles through would not be so easy. A scatter of cannon fire kept them at bay, but there were so many of them that they resembled a swarm of gnats.

  Gnats with guns.

  The second wave of Jotun destroyers assembled carefully. Their target Yennai carrier was cloaked, and they did not want to rouse the ship’s suspicions.

  Shinigami’s attention was focused mostly on them, even as she directed her guns at the fighters to help the Jotun missiles reach the destroyer. She watched while Group 2 of the destroyers closed ranks and readied their weapons.

  The admiral took control of the destroyers for this maneuver, and the crew of the Shinigami watched with their jaws hung open as the destroyers swung in a perfectly timed formation and fired in unison.

  The first round of missiles knocked out the shield, and the second set, directed at specific points along the hull, breached the carrier and vented its atmosphere. The ship spun out of control, uncloaking, and razed another destroyer as it went.

  “Well, our hand’s tipped now,” Shinigami murmured. “Let’s see what they do.”

  On the bridge of the Avaris, she saw Koel standing white-faced with fury.

  He was, however, smart enough not to give specific orders just yet. He allowed his officers to direct the battle as they saw fit.

  Dammit. Shinigami would prefer it if he weren’t intelligent about any of this. She wanted him to issue nonsensical orders and scream unintelligibly. She wanted him to see his own helplessness and be crushed by it.

  Yennai destroyers surged forward and attacked the Jotun formation. They were desperate not to lose another carrier. If the Jotuns extinguished the capital ships and turned on the Avaris, the Yennai fleet would be in dire straits.

  Shinigami tried not to flinch as Jotun ships were hit. She fired pucks and missiles of her own to keep the Shinigami safe. She maneuvered more nimbly than a human pilot could, but she could not save all the Jotun ships.

  She hoped Jeqwar was safe, but she could not bring herself to check.

  “Take the last two carriers at once,” the admiral ordered. “I will take control of the fleet once you are in position. Move now, regardless of what ships are missing.”

  Shinigami held her breath as the Jotun ships battled to get into position. Three were taken down as they maneuvered and the resulting formations had gaps in them.

  Even after the losses, Admiral Threton did not change his action plan. Shinigami wondered what it must feel like to have the ships missing, not responding as he sent the signals. When the last two carriers were destroyed, she did not smile.

  They were doing what they ha
d to do, but the cost was high. It was far, far too high.

  On the bridge of the Avaris, Koel snarled his fury. They’d broken through his ranks and destroyed his ships. Everything he had built over the course of decades was being taken apart piece by piece.

  He glowered at Lotar, who instinctively backed away.

  This. This was what was left of Koel’s legacy: this coward, a broken fleet, and the cloud of rubble where Koel’s children had met their end.

  The void seemed to reach for him, roaring in his ears, and he fixed his eyes on the ships before him.

  “Throw everything at them,” he ground out. “Use the new missile. Aim it at the Shinigami.”

  “But, sir—” the admiral objected.

  “Do it.”

  “Sir, the carriers are a much more dangerous target than—”

  “I said do it!” His voice was raw with fury. He grabbed a sidearm from one of the other officers, whom he then sent sprawling. The barrel of the gun came up, pointed at the admiral. It trembled in Koel’s hands, but at this range, he wouldn’t miss.

  The officers on the bridge blanched, and a few ducked under their desks.

  Cowards.

  “Yes, sir,” the admiral said finally. He gave the orders loudly: “Fire the grappler missile at the Shinigami.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  Koel knew his crew wondered how they’d survive when they had fired everything they had at the Shinigami and still had the Jotun fleet to contend with.

  It was good that they were wondering. If they didn’t guess the truth, the Jotun fleet wouldn’t, either.

  And when Koel drove the Avaris straight into the center of the Jotun fleet, he would leave only rubble in his wake. They would be too close to the planet to pull up at that point. They would be going too fast.

  But what did it matter if he survived, after all? Everything he had worked for was in ruins.

  My children…

  Avaris. Uleq and Ilia. He would be with them soon. Koel swayed as he stumbled to the navigational controls. The officers scattered out of his path, mindful of the gun still in his hand.