“Let’s get right down to it. Cut through the crap,” Yuri says. “Tell us, why are you here, and why should we let you stay?”
I gaze longingly at the meat, dripping juices as the smoke rises up against it–and the golden glaze and black char forming on the skin–and force myself to focus on the task at hand.
“Elders,” I say. “First, the Tsarina and I apologize for barging into your territory and bringing Imperial soldiers with us.”
The man uncrosses his arms and says in a low voice, “Tsars and Tsarinas never apologize. You speak on behalf of her,” he points an accusing finger at Anya. “Yet she dares not speak?”
“No,” Anya says. “But I am a different kind of ruler, and I do apologize. I also thank you all for saving our lives and taking us in, even if you decide it will be just for a few days. Though I truly hope it will not come to that. Aegus–Yelda–wants nothing more than to end this war, and I truly think the tribes no longer have the luxury of sitting this out. You may be able to remain isolated for a few more years, but sooner or later, the war will come to you, and it will be too late to fight then.”
The elder crosses his arms again and grunts.
“What is your plan, Yelda?” the woman asks me.
I look at all the glassy eyes focused on me. Hundreds of them. These tribes started out as scientists, but I see no sign of any real technology anywhere in their settlement. I’m not sure how much I need to dumb down my explanation, but I suspect they will resent me if I assume they are ignorant.
“The Marauder fleet has split into two factions,” I say. “The ships are all nearly side-by-side, but they are delaying open conflict until they arrive in your solar system. One faction, my faction, wants to peacefully co-exist with humanity. The other wants to annihilate every last one of you. They will not care if you are living on an isolated jungle like this, they will destroy you if given the chance.”
“Your faction sounds weak,” the man snarls. “If they will lose anyway, we may as well enjoy the time we have left in peace.”
“My faction will win,” I say. “I’ve spent the last five years setting up antimatter scoops in orbit around Jupiter. The nano-factory on Titan has been building mines packed with antimatter. A few months ago we deployed a minefield toward the incoming fleet, and when detonated it can destroy every last ship.”
“You’d destroy your own race to protect us?” the woman asks, raising an eyebrow.
“I would,” I say. “But there’s another way, though it’s not without its sacrifices. Within my faction there’s been a lottery, and half of all Marauders loyal to me will die for the cause. They will eject themselves into interstellar space, along with all the life support machinery needed to keep them alive.”
The man laughs at me and shakes his head. “Why?”
“This will cut off enough mass from my faction’s ships that they will cut off their engines a week before the minefield hits. While the enemy faction’s ships continue braking, my ships will zoom past, and once they are out of the detonation range, we blow the minefield and annihilate the enemies.”
“What’s to stop the enemies from cutting their engines too?” he asks.
“Idiot!” the old woman says, shoving him. “If they stop braking without shedding the extra mass, they will fly right through our solar system, like a wild boar with a bee up its ass.”
I nod. It seems the tribes didn’t lose their understanding of science even after hundreds of years.
“So the wise, all-powerful Yelda,” the man says, scoffing, “has already taken care of everything. Why do you need our wooden spears and arrows when you have antimatter minefields?”
“Because,” I say, “when my faction arrives, their goal is peaceful co-existence. Think of what they will see when they get here. The habitats looking down on the surface dwellers, the Martians fighting against Earth, and Venus as a puppet planet ruled by a brutal dictator. It’s clear to me that the Empire is the problem. Do you trust General Bahamut to leave your jungles untouched?”
The elders stay stone-faced, but the crowds further away all start murmuring and whispering with each other.
“What exactly do you want us to do?” the old woman asks.
“I talk about these two Marauder factions as if they are clear-cut with no grey area, but surely there will be people still on the fence even among my faction. The worse the situation here is when they arrive, the greater chance they will splinter off and give up on humanity. They’ll follow my lead for a while, but if this civil war drags on, I can’t guarantee anything. My faction’s ships will arrive in just over six months, and they are going to attack Earth directly. Hard and fast.”
“And what about us here on Venus?” the man asks.
“Marauders can swarm Earth with drop pods. Millions of Marauder warriors can take out every last Imperial soldier while sparing the civilians. This won’t work on Venus. We can’t crush the Imperial elements here without destroying the cities. We need you.”
I point to the elders, and then out to all the surrounding tribespeople.
“I don’t trust him,” the old man says.
“I do,” the woman says. “Who else sides with Yuri?”
There’s a weak shout and sad showing of hands among the crowd.
Yuri stamps off and mutters, and the old woman smiles.
“So we will fight,” she says. “Not for you, but for Venus, and for our home. What else do you need?”
“Ships,” I say. “A lot of ships.”
“Luckily we have those,” she says, grinning. “Hidden well away.”
13 Fenrir
On Jupiter’s moon, Titan
I watch the screen. My fists are balled up tight, and I dig my nails into my palms. My chest is tight against my pounding heart. Phase two of Aegus’s plan is about to begin. The friendly ships are tens of millions of kilometers in front of the enemy’s ships.
Everything I see on the feed now happened a month ago, as the fleet was a light-month away when the minefield detonated. But this is the first time we’re seeing if Aegus’s plan worked.
“Relax, Brother Fenrir,” Dr. Wang says. “This all happened already a month ago, we’re only just now able to see the lightwaves! So whether you worry or not cannot change the outcome. Mr. Einstein not only found out about the limits of light-speed, but postulated also that time is simply a fourth spacial dimension...so either way you look at it, we cannot change the outcome!”
“That’s an obnoxiously logical way to look at it,” I say through gritted teeth.
I look around the room, and everyone seems just as nervous as me. Except for Dr. Wang.
“My wife is pregnant, Dr. Wang,” I say. “If this minefield doesn’t work, what future does my child have?”
Dr. Wang never answers questions that don’t suit him, and this is no exception.
The screen in front of us is a feed from our most powerful orbital telescope, and it shows around one hundred pinpricks of light. It looks like a field of stars laid out in a grid. Each little star is the antimatter engine of an enemy Marauder ship.
There’s a timer below–a countdown to the detonation. It reads two hours.
Suddenly, one of the engines cuts off.
“Shit!” I shout, my ears standing as rigid as they’ve ever been. “Wang, what the fuck?”
“Erm,” he says. “It’s possible they spotted the minefield.”
“It’s too late, right?” I ask.
Wang pulls out his tablet and starts hitting buttons. “Hmmm,” he says.
“Don’t ‘hmmm’ me! Tell me it’s too fucking late for them to dodge the field!”
Five more lights cut off. “Shit! Shit!” I shout.
Wang hunches over his tablet, and I shout loudly at all the scientists and physicists and other assholes to figure out what’s going on.
Over the next hour, twenty more ships cut their engines, leaving just over half still on course for the center of the explosion.
“Okay,
” Wang says. “The first few ships that cut their engines. If, and this is a big ‘if,’ if they cut their engines, turn all the way back around, and restart their engines toward us...they might escape the blast.”
“The first few,” I say. “How many ships?”
“Six,” he says.
Six too many. Even one hostile ship like that–one antimatter torpedo launched into Mars–could destroy everything in the universe that I care about.
There’s nothing left for us to do but watch.
My adrenaline never stops pumping, and as the countdown approaches two minutes, I feel a thick rush of blood burning through my rock-hard, perked-up ears.
“Aegus,” I hiss. “You cocky fucking shit. If this doesn’t work…”
10, 9, 8, 7, 6…
The countdown hits zero, and nothing happens.
I inhale and hold my breath, and just before I let it all out in a roaring expletive of anger and despair, the entire screen flashes pure white.
“Boom!” Dr. Wang says, “See, Brother Fenrir, I told you–”’
“Shut up!” I shout. “When will we know for sure?”
The light begins to fade away, and when all the white is gone, there’s nothing left on the screen but black space and the regular constellations.
It’s what we were supposed to see, but how many of those six ships have survived?
“We’ll know within an hour, I’d wager,” Dr. Wang says. “Every extra moment they spend not braking will mean more mass they need to shed, more lives and life support ejected. They’ll need to get those engines back on ASAP.”
“Wang!” I shout. “What is your first name.”
“Arthur,” he says.
“Thanks, Wang,” I say.
“Why did you ask me that if you’re just going to call me Wang?”
“Because,” I say, “if Fiona wants to name our kid ‘Arthur,’ I’ll tell her no.”
A low chuckle reverberates through the room, but I was dead serious. That smug bastard scientist has been on my nerves ever since I landed on Titan, and it’s easier to take my anger out on him than it is to worry about what I might see on that godforsaken screen.
Suddenly, a new star appears, and moments later, a second.
“Shit!” I roar. “Two fucking ships.”
“So far,” Wang says.
I growl at him.
We wait for several hours, and decide that it really is only two ships.
“Two ships,” I say. “That’s four hundred thousand Marauders hell-bent on obliterating humanity. On killing my wife and child.”
“Hmmm,” Wang says.
I grind my teeth together. “What?”
“Their dodging the mines will mean they’ll have to sacrifice an incredible number of crew and life support systems if they want to brake in time. It will be much fewer than four hundred thousand.”
I sigh. “Get an encrypted message sent to Venus. Let him know.”
“Aegus may not even be alive,” Wang says. “The Imperials are claiming he was killed on Venus—“
“Fucking do it!” I shout.
14 Anya
Six Months Later
I pull back the bowstring. My arm is strong now, and I pull the bow back with ease. I still remember my first attempts, unable to even get the arrow knocked.
I steady my breathing and take aim at the boar.
Just before I release the string, the boar squeals and dashes to the side. I keep calm, and I lead the boar, moving the bow along with it as it runs.
The arrow flies, and I lead it just right. The arrow lodges into the boar’s neck, and it topples to the ground.
“Clean shot,” Aegus says, putting a hand on the small of my back. “No pain.”
He runs his hand up my body to my hair, which is now thick with dreadlocks.
“It will be different when I get my shot at Bahamut,” I say, lowering the bow.
I see a subtle twitch of the ears from Aegus. I’d not have noticed it months ago, but now I know it means he’s worried about something, but stubbornly will not say anything.
I sigh at him and walk toward the fallen boar.
I pull out my arrow and wipe it clean on the leaves of a nearby tree, while Aegus hoists the 100-kilogram boar onto his broad and chiseled back.
He’s recharged his biosuit to full capacity on boar’s meat, fruit, and bugs, but he’s not used it since. He’s saving it for the coming battle. Which means I’ve enjoyed his full nakedness for the past six months...and he’s enjoyed mine.
If he weren’t mad at me now, I’d consider taking him right now here on jungle floor, but he’s definitely mad at me. He avoids my gaze as he hauls the boar back toward the village.
After far too many silent steps, he says in a low whisper. “I can hear your every footstep.”
“I’m not trying to sneak up on you.”
“You never know when you’re being tracked, so always walk quietly.”
I stop walking, and he takes a few steps without me before stopping himself.
“I didn’t mean to stop walking entirely,” he says.
“Why don’t you just say what you mean then,” I snap back.
He turns to face me, the big bloodied boar still hoisted across his back, and he’s hunched down looking at me with his ears pulled back.
“Forget it,” he says. “We’ll talk about it later.”
“Aegus,” I say. “Put the fucking hog down and talk to me. Now.”
He huffs.
“Drop the pig, Yelda!”
He throws the boar down, and it jiggles as it hits the ground. His purple body is sweaty, and his muscles are bulging and glistening.
“How fast do you think you can fire that bow?” he says, pointing at me.
I look down at the bow, clutching three arrows in my right hand.
“I don’t know,” I say. “A few seconds?”
“Turn around,” he says, “and close your eyes.”
He still seems mad, and I know I’m not going to get a sexy surprise, so I start to feel a nervous tightness forming in my chest.
“Why?”
“I want to show you what is bothering me,” he says. “If I tell you, you’ll deny it.”
“Fine,” I shout, and I turn around and close my eyes.
“If your bow is drawn before I’m on top of you,” I hear his voice say. “You win.”
“Win what?” I ask.
“Stop talking,” he says, “and listen. Count to ten, and then turn back around and open your eyes.”
I’m starting to feel fucking furious at him for being a cryptic asshole, but I decide to play along with his little game, if only to prove him wrong.
I start counting back from ten, and I listen as closely as I can.
I hear the regular sounds of the jungle, which I barely even notice anymore. Birds chirping, crickets buzzing, leaves rustling– but I don’t hear Aegus moving. The arrogant bastard is trying to prove to me how quietly he can move. I do move quietly, but he has alien and bear super hearing...it’s not my fault he can hear so well.
I reach zero and spin around, opening my eyes.
I’m hoping to catch sight of purple skin, but I see nothing but green and brown. He could have cleared a lot of distance in ten seconds, and he could have gone in any direction.
He was standing about five meters in front of me when I first closed my eyes, and he could easily have gone another twenty meters in either direction.
I grip the bow and nock an arrow, dropping the other two to my feet.
The moment the arrows hit the ground, I see leaves rustling to my left. As long as he’s more than a few meters away, I’ll see his big purple ass coming in time to draw the bow, I don’t know what Aegus is trying to prove, but he’s going to fail. The only way he could sneak up on me would be…
I start to spin around, and I pull on the arrow and start to draw the bow even before I can look over my shoulder. When I’ve turned only about forty-five degrees, I feel
the bow snatched out of my hands. I finally turn around only to see Aegus’s smug grin towering above me, my bow in his hand.
I’m left holding just the arrow.
“You see–” he starts to say.
I raise the arrow up like a weapon. “I could jab this into your stupid face!”
He snatches it out of my hand before I can even blink.
I grit my teeth at him. “You cheated,” I shriek. “You snuck up behind me, making out like you’d come from the front, as if it was all about whether I could draw the bow fast enough after seeing you.”
“No,” he says. “I did what anyone trying to kill you would do. I took advantage of the situation, and you failed to defend yourself.”
“So you’re mad at me,” I say, “because I’m not an elite fucking warrior after six months of training?”
“No,” he says. “I’m not mad. I’m worried. You talk about killing Bahamut as if you will lead the charge into the palace.”
I glare up at him. And I realize that I have imagined the attack this way, with me leading a charge of warriors into the palace. I don’t admit this to Aegus, of course.
“You can’t blame me for wanting to kill him,” I say.
“We have to kill him,” Aegus says. “For the greater good, not just for revenge–”
“Come on!” I shout. “You know that’s not why you’re mad. Don’t preach that shit to me.”
He narrows his eyes at me.
“This stupid test,” I say, snatching an arrow from the ground and poking it toward him. “You don’t care about why I want to fight, you just don’t want me to fight.”
“I want to have something to fight for,” Aegus says, leaning into me. “If I lost you…”
“The only way you’ll lose me,” I say, “is if you force me to stay safe while you and all the others fight my battle for me. How could I live with myself after that? Whatever you see in me, it would be gone if I let you, Yulia, Irena...even old ass Yuri, take back my own palace. What would I be then?”
“Beautiful,” Aegus says, gently gripping my chin. “Charming, radiant…” His other hand grabs my waist and pulls me tight against him. “And safe.”
Marauder Aegus Page 9
