by Juno Wells
Every warrior on this ship is fairly certain that this is not a battle we will survive. Elder Scarn and I have decided that our youngest two recruits will pilot the two shuttles. They are scarcely of age and none of us can bear the thought of losing them. I have yet to break the news to them. Denying the young warriors the opportunity to fight and die for their queens will make them furious. They will have to deal with their emotions because none of the queens can fly a shuttle. Plus, I hate to say it, but they will be the last line of resistance if the shuttles are boarded.
None of us have the heart to speak of this to the queens or young warriors. Though I wish Elder Scarn had let me speak to my queen in the due course of time, part of me is grateful for being spared the agony of that conversation. I hold her tighter, as the feeling of danger grows ever stronger. I would curse my gift of knowing, if it did not give a slight advantage in protecting my love.
Nothing about this day except having my lovely queen in my arms pleases me. When my brother is finished, he has ten thousand bots encased in two tiny metal boxes, one for each pod. That they are all piled on top of each other is the only way I know they are there. These are somewhat larger than the ones he injected into my bloodstream, but not by much. We head down to the loading bay, and I can hear messages broadcasting over our com. They are dark and foreboding messages of doom and destruction as our enemies try to force us from our hiding place. We pay them no mind and continue with our plan.
Darg’s voice comes over the com. “Commander, the Strovian vessel did not stop for the Moltan ship to join forces. They are boxing us in, and each firing into the event horizon.”
“It is as I expected them to do. I will come to the bridge and speak with them, after we load the bots into the pods.” I don’t know why it is important, but I think overseeing this process is important. Maybe I’m just stalling for time. My own motivation is lost to me at this point.
Elder Scarn turns as we enter and rushes over to the first pod. He’s set up two vats of lubricant. Phan empties one box of bots into each vat. We watch them clump together even though Scarn stirs the viscous liquid. “Can we add something with a higher viscosity to thin the mixture?”
My Kearney agrees. “If we could thin it down a little, maybe they wouldn’t clump together so much.”
Elder Scarn opens a small metal jug and pours a dribble of liquid into each vat. When he stirs them again, the bots are much less noticeable. “That’s much better.”
He closes each vat and attaches it to the underside of the pod. His engineering is excellent. The bot housing units have metal tubes attached and appear to be part of the initial design of the pod.
“That’s the best I can do.” The older man sounds satisfied with his work, but it remains to be seen how effective our ruse will be. We head to the bridge. Instead of upbeat, we are solemn and anxious.
I speak with the Moltan first, even though I know they will not answer. “Stand down your attack and we will send you a human female. We do not wish to part with our females, but we will sacrifice one for the safety of all.” They stop firing at us. Even though their shots were not landing on our vessel with all the refracting going on inside the event horizon, it’s progress in the right direction.
I shift my attention to Artor on the Strovian ship. “Stand down you attack, Artor. We are prepared to give you one human female if you stop your attack on our vessel.”
His face appears almost instantaneously on our screen. “I wish to choose the female from your collection myself.”
“No. You get the one we select.”
A stubborn look crosses his face. “You have my chosen mate, and I want her delivered to me immediately.”
My queen steps forward to speak with the ignorant man herself. “What are you talking about?”
“I wish to have the queen who sat beside me while we dined on your distasteful human food. She has hair the color of fire.”
She whispers, “He’s talking about Crazy Pants. She attacked me today, and I had to put her on lock down. She was talking like an alien, calling me human, and saying I was her enemy.”
I turn to the view screen and lie. “We know of the female you speak of. She attacked my mate. We are happy to be rid of her. Do you agree to cease hostilities if we deliver her to you unharmed?”
“We accept your offer, but be warned. My bride had better not have one scratch on her pale body.”
“We have made the same deal with the Moltan. We will deliver both your brides momentarily.”
The screen goes blank, and I message Elder Scarn. “Are you ready to launch the pods?”
Since pods are designed to shoot off from a ship under fire like a rocket in order to avoid being taken out by an explosion, I designed these pods in the same manner. “They should only take about three or four microns to exit the event horizon on either side.”
“Thank you for all your hard work on the pods, Elder Scarn. I guess, we will know when they take the pods aboard if our ruse works.”
“It is my best work, Queen Kearney.” The elder’s voice is thick with emotion, for he is not used to being praised so openly by a queen.
My queen’s bottom lip quivers but she forces herself to speak. “I want you to know that no matter how this day ends, I’ve been proud to have you as a father for the last few weeks. My mother chose well when she selected you as her bed warmer.”
“I live to serve, both my queen and her daughters. If thing go badly, live the life we would have wished for you, my daughter.”
I pull my queen close under my wing, as she fights back tears. “Eject the pods at your discretion, Elder Scarn.”
We hear silence, then the clicking of machinery. The elder’s voice chokes out, “Pods away, commander.”
We wait with anxiety twisting in our stomachs, and I feel it the moment things go wrong. The Moltan lock onto their pod with a tractor beam and know immediately that they have been tricked. Instead of pulling it into their ship, they fire on it, and we watch it explode along with any hopes of avoiding an all-out battle. “Move closer to the Strovian vessel. Get us as far away from the Moltan as possible without leaving the shelter of the anomaly.” The Moltan begin firing into the event horizon and it takes the Strovians only a moment later to open their pod. Then they are incensed as well. “Artor seems reluctant to fire upon our ship.”
“Maybe he doesn’t want to risk killing his bride. I’d give my first born to know why he’s so obsessed with her and why she’s acting so weird.”
“Don’t give away our first born just yet, my queen.”
Drag states excitedly from his station. “The Strovian ship has launched a fighter, commander.”
“Elder Scarn, activate our back up plan. Phan and Timric report to Elder Scarn for orders. You are being assigned a special mission, one of the utmost importance. You will follow his orders without hesitation. The lives of almost two hundred queens depend upon your bravery today.”
Both warriors acknowledge the command. I release my queen very reluctantly and we stand, facing each other. With the battle erupting around us, there isn’t enough time or privacy for the kind of farewell I wish to make with her. Because she is my mate, she senses my dilemma.
Cupping my face in her hands, her eyes fill with tears. “On ancient Earth women told their mates to come home victorious or on their shield.”
I know that ‘on their shield’ means dead because I am a warrior. I struggle to find words to convey what is in my mind and in my heart.
Running her thumbs across my jawline like she is wont to do, she looks into my eyes. Her bottom lip quivers again. It breaks my heart to see her like this.
“I’m not from ancient Earth, so I’m just going to demand that you fight with your sharp mind and your skills as a warrior. You are it for me, my takadon. If you do not live, I will not take another mate. I will dedicate myself to the little ones and live for the day we meet again in the hereafter.”
“I will do my best to survive and be vi
ctorious.”
“No matter how the battle goes, if you do your best, I will live with the outcome.”
I dip my head and take a kiss that is so much less than I need to sustain me through this battle. “Go my love, do not keep the others waiting.”
“Fight well, my takadon, and know you are in my heart.” She turns quickly, and it’s as if she has to force her feet to move. When they do, she breaks out into a run.
I find my eyes are leaking water like a human. Our kind does not cry, yet I do. I feel more emotion than ever before, so maybe I’ve just never allowed myself to feel enough to cry. When I return to my seat, the other males are shocked. I can see it on their faces. I wipe at my face and steel myself for the fight to come.
“Once the shuttles launch, we will destroy the fighter the Strovians launched and then circle back around to the Moltan. Our fight is with them since the Strovians either will not or cannot fire on us again. Although the bots might have been more successful than we ever imagined, I also believe they fired on us before at less than full force, hoping to frighten us. Well, I am not frightened, and we will renew our fight with them after vanquishing the Moltan. We will give the bots a chance to work their magic upon Captain Artor and his crew.”
22 CAUGHT IN THE MIDDLE
KEARNEY
THE FIGHT IS NOT GOING WELL. We are caught between two enemies and both are stronger and more well-armed. Virgil and his sons are staying to fight. I’m not surprised, cause he loves to mix it up with anyone he can. I stoop to pick up a little girl crying in the loading bay and we begin to fill the two shuttles. Scarn has had to take out all the seats and there is literally standing room only. My knees grow weak when I realize we don’t have room for all the women.
The elders are sorting them by age, with the oldest electing to stay behind. I know why they’re doing this, but it feels so wrong. We all had to take the lifeboat test in school, where you had to decide which people to save in an end-of-the-world situation. I struggled really hard with the test, going back and forth until I ran out of time. They do it so effortlessly that it pains my soul.
My mother is standing firm by Scarn’s side, and it takes me a minute to realize she’s staying behind. I have a moment of not being able to cope. Everything’s moving too fast, and I didn’t come all this way to save everyone in my family but her. Her eyes tell me what her mouth can’t, and Phan pulls me into the shuttle he has been tasked with piloting. Kendra is at his side and appears to be learning to drive the shuttle from watching his movements.
Grayson and his sons are saying their own goodbyes to their womenfolk, and it helps me see the gruff men in a whole new light. Virgil jerks his chin in acknowledgement of seeing me. I suck it up and yell out to him. “If we make it out of this alive, we’re each gonna have a ship armed to the teeth and create our own little armada.”
He grins and shoves Donna into our shuttle. The poor woman is in tears. I wrap my arm around her, wondering how she got a spot, but my mother didn’t. They’re roughly the same age. It hits me hard and fast that my mother chose to stay to enable younger or simply other women to go. When they close the door, I feel the chill all the way down to my bones. Swallowing thickly, I turn to Phan. “Get us the hell outta here, Phan. I want you to maneuver out to the edges as far from the enemy ships as possible. Especially stay away from the Moltan, cause they’re slap happy today.”
“It will be as you wish, Queen Kearney.” He deftly maneuvers the controls with both hands, his brow creased with concentration.
I turn and give the little one to one of the other women. The little one is rubbing her eyes and crying. I hate that everyone is so upset, but I can see that the little ones are getting consoled. Moving up to the navigation console gets me a better view of the raging battle.
They’ve put the grey visors over our sensors, so we aren’t blinded by all the refraction of light. Some of it is denser than others, so we ride it like waves. Phan and Timric communicate with each other, and the shuttles dance around each other like a choreographed routine. When I see it, I think they must have chosen them to pilot our shuttles because they are battle buddies, and attuned to each other’s flying and fighting style. The shuttles now have gigantic laser rifles mounted to the four corners. That must have been compliments of Scarn and his team, when they were waiting for Phan to finish programing the bots. The Moltan ship is firing at my vessel, but my crew is skillfully maneuvering around, missing most of the shots, without returning fire. I’m impressed with the old ship’s maneuverability.
Phan mumbles, “My brother is spending down the fuel rods on their energy weapons. It’s a good strategy.”
Since I have no idea how much energy those massive laser cannons burn through with each burst, I can’t get my head around how effective that tactic will be. I do trust my takadon though. If it’s possible for this battle to end with none of our crew being killed, Tabor will see it done. I know that’s a pretty tall order, but my commander is clever and resourceful.
Suddenly, the sky lights up the Moltan vessel. I reach for the grab bar over Phan’s head and lean in to get a better look.
Kendra grabs onto my arm. “What’s going on? Are there more people joining the fight?”
Phan answers before I can. “We’re getting incoming messages from the Raspian. They’re responding to our distress call. They can’t fit inside the anomaly but our crew is joining them against the Moltan.”
Sure enough, our ship had slipped out of the event horizon on the side with the Moltan vessel, and both ships had lit up the space around the Moltan like the fourth of July. We watch the enemy ship detonate and the shielded escape pod explode while in the process of breaking off. I know immediately that they just didn’t launch in time to clear the explosion. Knowing living beings have been killed sends a chill up my spine. Yet, the battle is only half over.
I place my hand on Phan’s shoulder. “Take us to the Raspian. I want to unload the women and come back to help Tabor fight off the Darnovo.”
“That is the Strovian vessel?”
“Yes. He’s not emitting his identification beacon, but that’s the name of his ship.” He hastily turns the shuttle around and makes for the Raspian. “It’s no longer moving but the engines are still online.”
“Since the weapons are still offline, I’m hopeful it can be boarded without incident.”
Phan speaks without looking up from his navigational array. “If we can secure the Darnovo ship it will be a good addition to your trade armada.”
I forage through my memories until I remember the rules regarding space battles. “I forgot the intergalactic laws regulating this sector of space for a moment. When ships do battle, the winner takes all.”
“Yes, my queen. That is the law.”
“Well, it would have suited me just fine if he’d left when he had the chance. Truth be told, I think Captain Artor would be better off without a ship. Being mobile just seems to get him into trouble wherever he goes.”
As we move closer to the Raspian, we see dozens of small fighters swarming from their launch bay. They head straight for the event horizon and buzz right past our shuttle. “I get the strong feeling this battle is going to be over before we can unload the women and get back through the anomaly.”
My sister answers quietly, “From your lips to God’s ear.”
23 VICTORY
TABOR
AS LUCK WOULD HAVE IT, the Raspian was not too far from our current location. They destroyed the Moltan vessel and sent fighters to assist me with the Darnovo. We’re in our loading bay, gearing up to board the Darnovo. The ship’s weapons are down, and it’s drifting, dead in space. Still, boarding her will be an entirely different story. The Strovians will be armed to the teeth, and raring to fight the battle they were denied in space.
I’ve left a skeleton crew on the bridge, and every warrior we can spare is preparing to board the enemy ship. Even the humans are happily gearing up for the fight. Unlike their females, they seem to
relish hand-to-hand combat.
Their eyes light up as my crew members teach them how to attach body armor. Laser rifles are similar in operation to the rifles they brought with them. It doesn’t take long for them to see the advantage of a weapon you don’t have to reload. We can get around a hundred shots out of laser weapon before needing to slam another battery pack into place. We each ring our belts with extra battery packs amongst the knives and laser pistols.
The plan is for us to attach our ship to the Darnovo’s docking ring, infiltrate the ship and open the loading-bay doors for the fighters. Then we will sweep the ship, break through any resistance, and take as many prisoners as possible. Even though the Intergalactic Council can’t interfere in the internal disputes with member worlds, they can and do have lawmen and courts to prosecute intergalactic criminals that prey on member worlds.
The moment we attach and the docking ring opens, we step through. In the loading bay we see the fake life pod they pulled in and several Strovian bodies lying about. My brother’s bots had rendered them unconscious. We secured them and began working our way across the ship to the loading bay. The docking bay is typically on the opposite side as the loading bay, one being for visitors, and the other for freight.
Virgil is on one side and Elder Scarn the other. The human tugs on the neck of his armored uniform. “This is a huge damn ship. Are you sure you know where we’re going, commander?”
I know the human is just making conversation to take the edge off. They aren’t career soldiers, nor have they been trained as warriors.
“Step lightly and keep your eyes and ears open.”
He replies dryly, “Ya, they have the home court advantage.”
Unsure what that means, I just nod and lead the way. We encounter resistance, and the situation quickly devolves into a shooting match. Their red laser fire is met by our blue fire. Their light blue armor looks childish compared to dark Draconian battle armor. It’s not as effective either. Our weapons tear through their armor with very little effort.
