by Sara King
The Warrior’s eyes widened and he began to plead for his life, but Juno was already up and storming from the room. Above, the entire arena was alive with curious whispers.
Juno halted at the exit to the booth and turned back, her face furious. The bloody Warrior stopped sobbing a moment, hope etched upon his wretched face, but her attention was directed at Athenais’s guards, not him. “Bring her!” she snapped, “I’m not letting that bitch out of my sight again.” Then she kicked the door to the booth open and exited the arena. In the hall outside, she heard the sound of a garbage-can go sailing into a wall.
Like a child throwing a tantrum, Athenais thought, amused. She let her guards get her to her feet, inwardly enjoying the nervous looks they gave the fingers wriggling in her shoulder, then followed the sounds of destruction in the hall.
Once she was done with her tantrum, Juno led them back through the palace at a fast pace, cursing. Athenais was unfamiliar with the path they were taking, and it wasn’t until Juno turned onto the bottom level that she realized they were walking through the pilot’s quarters outside the docking area.
Juno stopped at one room, threw it open, and stepped inside. Apparently, she didn’t like what she found, because when she came back out, her face was a thunderhead. She brushed past Athenais and stormed into the shipyard. Immediately, she singled out a graying man in his thirties, who cringed before her like a frightened rabbit.
“Where is Howlen?!” she demanded.
“Sleeping in his quarters,” the man replied. “I have his room’s readout right here.” He handed her a small black unit with a palm-sized display.
Juno scowled at it, then threw it in his face. “You moron! It’s been rigged. He’s not in his room!” For all her ‘Guiding Light’ nonsense, Juno looked like she was about to drop onto her stomach and start pounding the floor with her toes and fists right there.
The dockmaster began to sputter, but Juno swept her arm out over the bays. “Close the docks. Nobody goes in or out. I want a thousand Warriors in here. Twenty on every ship. Anybody who approaches a ship gets shot, you understand?!”
“But the breach…” the dockmaster began.
“The breach can wait,” Juno snapped. “Lock down the docks. Now.”
“Yes, of course.” The dockmaster bowed deeply, then turned and started bellowing orders.
“Bring her!” Juno snapped, turning on Athenais’s five guards. “Keep your eyes on her at all times. She escapes and you’re all visiting the fish tank.”
Two Warriors grabbed Athenais roughly and shoved her after Juno, who was stalking out of the docks. Athenais followed, chuckling.
Juno whirled and slapped her.
“Wow,” Athenais said, reaching up to touch her cheek, “You know, that kinda stung.”
Narrowing her eyes, Juno spun on heel. “Bring her,” she commanded. Juno made her way back to Athenais’s cell and shoved her bodily inside. She left the five guards posted at the door and followed her in. Then she tore the handset from her belt and threw it at Athenais.
“Talk,” Juno ordered. “Tell them to give themselves up.”
Athenais caught the handset one-handed and looked down at it.
When she did not obey, Juno narrowed her eyes. “I’m not going to tell you again, Attie. You tell them to surrender or I’m going to stuff you in a cage and drop you to the bottom. Special built. I’ve been conferring with my engineers. It’ll be floater-proof. Half-inch mesh. Corrosion-proof. Imagine that, Athenais. Not even the little fishies will be able to get you out.”
Athenais glanced up. “You’re a spoiled bitch, you know that, Juno?”
Juno smiled cruelly. “No more than you.”
“No,” Athenais said, “I’m not like you.”
“Make the goddamn call!” Juno screamed.
Athenais sighed deeply. At that, she lifted the handheld to her face and depressed the button. “Attention, crew of Retribution. This is your captain speaking.” Her voice echoed against the stone walls around her in long, ominous waves. She paused, meeting Juno’s eyes. Glancing back to the receiver, she said, “Raise Hell. I repeat. Raise Hell.” She released the button and tossed it back to Juno.
Juno narrowed her eyes. “You’re going to the bottom, Athenais. Tomorrow.”
“I’ll set my calendar.” She wiggled the stump growing from her shoulder. She already had four fingers and the makings for a thumb sprouting from the socket. Smiling, she used them to flip Juno off.
“Maybe I won’t send you to the bottom right away,” Juno said calmly, pocketing the handheld. “I’m sure I can drudge up enough from my PsyOps days to wipe that smirk off your face.”
“I doubt it,” Athenais said.
Juno stepped forward, utter fury making her eyes once more bright. “Oh really?” She was shaking in her rage. “Is that a challenge?”
“As Rabbit would say,” Athenais said, grinning, “as things stand right now, you’ve got a very low probability of ever wiping this smirk off my face.”
Juno’s eyes narrowed. “And why’s that?”
“Look behind you.”
Juno did.
Fairy grinned. “Airhead, huh?” And shot Juno in the face.
“I didn’t know it would buck like that,” Fairy complained for the thousandth time. She shook out her arm, one hand pressed to her shoulder.
“It’s a compression weapon. What did you think it was going to do?” Athenais demanded, irritated that the little wench wouldn’t shut up about it.
“But it hurt,” Fairy whined, holding her wrist. “Why didn’t you tell me it was going to hurt?” Fairy sulked at the bulky Warrior, apparently Stuart’s latest victim.
Stuart shrugged. “You said you wanted to do it.”
“You know I’ve never shot a gun in my life!”
“Oh for the gods’ sakes…” Athenais growled, an inch away from plastering the little moron’s brains all over the wall. “Shut up about the damn gun, Fairy,” she snapped. “Ragnar, what’s wrong with the Colonel?”
Howlen was slouched against the wall, staring straight ahead, unmoving.
The shifter frowned at Tommy. “I’m not sure. He’s been like that ever since we found him.”
“Drugged?”
“I think so. He hasn’t said a word. Didn’t even register that we came to pick him up.”
Athenais cursed. “Great. That’s all we need. A vegetable.” She eyed Howlen, wondering what Juno had given him. Perhaps the good doctor had half a brain, after all, and had decided to keep her toys nice and quiet until it was their turn in the merry-go-round. Still, drugging her victims didn’t seem her style. Too easy on the victim. To the parasite, Athenais asked, “How long’s it been?”
“Since we found him? Two hours.”
“And there’s been no change?”
“None.”
Athenais sighed. Something strong, then. “Well, it’s your call, Fairy. If you want us to leave him here, we can. Less trouble for us, that way.”
Fairy flinched. “My call? Why?” Like Athenais had just told her she had to clean a particularly nasty toilet. Gods, she hadn’t been around the little twit more than ten minutes and she already wanted to get her hand around her skinny little neck.
“Because he brought you back to Xenith after you were scott free,” Athenais said.
“He saved my life,” Fairy said.
“He gave you to a homicidal maniac,” Ragnar muttered.
The parasite sided with his former meat-jacket. “We bring him.”
Athenais grunted and nudged Tommy with her foot. “I thought you’d say as much. It’s going to make things difficult, but for once I agree with you. The bastard had half a dozen chances to jump ship and leave us all stranded here, but he stayed. We owe it to him.”
“What about Rabbit?” Fairy asked. “What happened to him?”
“That I don’t know,” Athenais said. “Juno never mentioned him any more than to tell me he had failed to convince her to help us.�
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Fairy’s eyes went wide. “You think she dropped him to the bottom of the ocean.”
“The thought had crossed my mind.” And it had not been a good thought. Someday soon, she and Juno were going to take a very long jaunt into uncharted space. Athenais was sure she could find a nova that would be suitable. Maybe even a black hole, make things interesting for her. After all, she seemed to have a hardon for pressure.
The four spacers looked at each other in silence. “Is there any way we can find out for sure?” Ragnar asked. “I don’t want to leave him behind.”
“I don’t either, but Rabbit can take care of himself.”
Everyone looked at Athenais like she’d rubbed shit on her face. “You would ditch him?” Fairy demanded. “After he saved you from Orplex?”
“I would’ve gotten out eventually,” Athenais said.
“You’re soulless,” Fairy said. “Rabbit’s your best friend.”
Athenais whipped around on Fairy in fury. She would have flattened the little weasel right then and there, one-handed and everything, but both Ragnar and Stuart got in her way.
“Calm down, Attie,” Ragnar said softly. “She didn’t mean it. She has no idea…” He cleared his throat, volumes of understanding in his gentle eyes. Then, more loudly, he said, “She just wants to make sure we do a good job of looking for Rabbit before we leave him here. Right, Dallas?”
Behind their backs, Fairy stuck out her tongue.
Athenais narrowed her eyes and Ragnar turned back to look. “Right, Dallas?”
“Right,” the little twit said. Then she cocked her head, giving Athenais an amused smile. “I mean, well, she doesn’t try to be a soulless bitch.”
Ragnar turned to face Fairy and took a fistful of her shirt and lifted her completely off of the ground, one-handed, like she were made of foam. The petite woman shrunk back in his grip as he brought her face to his. Softly, but with enough force that Athenais could hear it, Ragnar said, “You say something like that again and I’ll beat the life out of you myself.” He shook her. “Capiche?”
Fairy stared back at him, wide-eyed in terror.
Ragnar set her down and shoved her toward Athenais. “Now apologize.”
Fairy started to object, but one look at Ragnar’s face was enough to make her swallow her complaints. “Sorry, Athenais,” she muttered.
Athenais heard a breath let out beside her, and realized that Stuart had been tensely moving closer to the shifter. Interesting. So the little worm had picked sides. Good to know, if things ever got nasty.
Athenais sniffed and glanced at the door. “Juno locked down the docks, so we’re gonna need a distraction. Something big enough to—”
“Attention all hands. We have a Class I Emergency. I repeat. A Class I Emergency. Enemy ships attacking. All available pilots report to their duty stations for immediate launch.”
Outside, something struck the wall and the building rumbled with an explosion. Two more blasts followed, each one successively closer than the last.
“Enemy ships?” Fairy said, frowning. “Who?”
“The Utopia,” Stuart said softly, glancing at Ragnar. “We weren’t fast enough.”
“The Utopia?” Fairy squeaked. “But I thought nobody knew about this place.”
“Ragnar set off a beacon,” Athenais said, sighing. “When they killed his family.”
Fairy’s mouth fell open and she turned to Ragnar, looking crestfallen. “They killed your family?” The little twit was actually somewhat endearing, Athenais decided, when she wasn’t being a twit.
Ragnar nodded. “Right after you took off with Retribution.”
Fairy looked stricken. “Because of me?”
“No, because Juno’s a bucket of bolts short of a ship,” Athenais said. “You had nothing to do with it.”
“But how do you know that?” Fairy whispered. “What if it made her mad…? What if…” Her words broke off in a wretched sob. “Oh, Ragnar, I’m so sorry!”
She actually means that, Athenais thought, bemused. “Listen,” Athenais interrupted, before she could babble more apologies, “The woman probably lost her mind when PsyOps abandoned her on that planet a few thousand years back. Anything she did, she did it of her own free will. It’s not anything you did.”
“But how do you know that?” Fairy whimpered. “Oh, God, what if I—”
“You didn’t,” Athenais snapped. “Juno was going to kill the shifters from the very beginning. It’s a tradition for her. Something she’s been doing ever since she managed to get enough money.”
“She kills shifters?” Fairy blubbered, confusion written clearly upon her tear-splotchy face.
Fairy, Stuart, and Ragnar were all watching Athenais, now. Ragnar looked increasingly angry.
Athenais took a deep breath. “A few millennia ago, I guess she got tired of being a living god on Xenith and went to Derkne for a few years to start a family. Had kids and everything. Got real attached to them, from what Rabbit and I could figure out, and was really getting into living the normal life. Anyway, her son was killed on Wythe, right after the One Species charter went into effect. Wythe was a shifter planet, back then. Her son was an emissary, a gifted negotiator. His goal on Wythe was to convince the shifters to let the Utopia establish a colony on one of its moons, with the subtle threat of military force if the shifters did not comply. The shifters took Juno’s son and the eleven other diplomats, locked them all in a room together, and executed them. They sent the video back to the Utopia as their reply.” Athenais shrugged. “After that, I guess she kinda went off the deep end.”
“You knew about this?!” Ragnar said. “Why didn’t you tell me?!”
“Tell you when?” Athenais retorted. “Maybe if you hadn’t shocked yourself into unconsciousness when I was trying to help you, I could have. As it was, I had to do something, so I saved your life.”
“Did you tell Paul? Did you tell my father?”
Athenais looked directly into Ragnar’s furious eyes. “Would you want to know it if you were about to die?”
“They might have been able to save themselves!” the shifter snarled at her.
It was the parasite that saved her. Gently, Stuart said, “Ragnar, there was nothing they could do.”
Ragnar looked away. They listened to the alarm blaring through the halls in silence for a few minutes, jumping each time the palace shuddered with another blow. After a moment, he said, “We should give it a day or two. Dallas removed Juno’s clearance. Retribution isn’t going anywhere. Let’s let them duke it out with the Corps and then make a run for it.”
“I’m not going to be up for much fancy flying,” Athenais warned, wiggling the digits sprouting from her shoulder socket.
“That’s okay,” Fairy said. “I’ll fly.”
“You?” Athenais scoffed. “When have you ever been on the wrong side of a blockade? That is what this is going to turn into if we wait much longer. The Utopia will lock the planet down, control all traffic coming and going.”
“I fought Erriat’s entire fleet,” Fairy said stubbornly.
“Well, take that and multiply it by about a hundred. Now add mass-seeking weapons and autopilot interference.”
Fairy’s eyes widened. “Autopilot? You mean—”
“Everything’s manual,” Athenais said. “Right down to spin compensation and weapons locks.”
“Oh.”
“So,” Athenais said, “Do we have any other bright ideas?”
“Dallas could still fly us,” Stuart said. “I could help her concentrate.”
Athenais sighed. “Look, Stuart, maybe you don’t understand what I mean by ‘manual.’ That many ships, they’re gonna have an ASP. The Utopia’ll use it to zap us with a signal that shuts down the ship’s computers. All the calculations, all the trajectories, all the plotting has to be done in the pilot’s head—in a split second. While they’re doing their darndest to blow us into itty bits.” She gestured at the girl. “She might be a stick-fairy,
but not even a fairy can work magic.”
“She could do it,” Stuart insisted.
“Oh come on!” Athenais snarled. “She can’t do it. I’m telling you. Now let’s find something productive to talk about before our section of pretty pretty hallway gets blown out of existence by high-energy photon beams.”
“What makes you so sure?” Ragnar asked, ignoring her.
“I know her,” Stuart said, giving his beloved airhead a doting look. “We get her back on Retribution and she can get us home.”
Athenais did not miss the flirtatious look Fairy gave Stuart in response. Her gut twinged at the idea and she gave a derisive snort. “I’m sorry, but I’m not about to spend the next twenty years floating in space because you think Fairy can break a Utopian blockade. I’m telling you right now. It’s impossible. Not even I could do it. We need to get out of here now.”
“She’s better than you,” Stuart said.
Athenais narrowed her eyes at the worm. She was so getting tired of hearing that.
“Hey, now,” Ragnar said, stepping between them, “Let’s just wait to see what happens. Maybe the Utopia will offer sanctuary for captured citizens.”
“Maybe,” Athenais muttered. “And then maybe they’ll just blow this planet apart and call it good. It’s what the place needs.”
“Amen to that,” Fairy agreed vehemently.
Athenais gave the twit a sideways look. Well, maybe she wasn’t a complete airhead…
Dallas watched the fight from the roof of the Wall while the others stayed in the storeroom, worried about being seen. Stuart lurked in the corner near the staircase, not wanting to leave her alone, yet not wanting to expose himself, either. Looking out in either direction, huge holes riddled the Wall, some areas collapsed altogether. Standing in the shelter of the rampart, Stuart’s nervous gaze continued to flicker towards the devastation.
“Dallas, haven’t you seen enough?” he finally called as the sun was going down.
“Are you crazy?!” Dallas shouted back. “This is when it gets good!”
