The Queen’s Triumph (Rogue Queen)

by Jessie Mihalik

  Alpha Team, what is going on? I asked over the team group link.

  Ambush! I didn’t recognize the voice over the staticky link. The connection cut out for a few seconds, then came back. —need help!

  On our private link, Valentin said, Luka’s link is down. His tone was perfectly flat, and I knew exactly what it had cost him because worry for Imogen twisted my stomach into knots. It was all I could do to prevent myself from dashing down the hall to them.

  But getting myself killed in an ambush wouldn’t stop Adams. And if I didn’t stop him, he would continue to attack CP57 before moving on to Koan. Thousands more would die.

  I closed my eyes against the tears of rage and worry. I could either save the people I cared about or I could save the universe. It wasn’t fair and it wasn’t right, but I knew what I had to do.

  Staying put was the hardest decision I’d ever made.

  I buried my rage and pain under a mountain of icy determination. Adams would die today, no matter what I had to do to see it done.

  Alpha Team needs backup, I told the main group. They were ambushed somewhere after the final door. I’m pushing into the bridge.

  I’m on it, Ari said. She didn’t even try to argue, which meant my tone must’ve been worse than I thought.

  If you want to go find Luka, you should, I told Valentin. I have to deal with Adams.

  I’m staying with you, he said quietly.

  Valentin moved to the left side of the bridge door while I attached the breaching charge. I activated it and then pressed myself to the right wall. A few seconds later, the charge did its job and blew a hole through the door.

  I peeked through the gap while the smoke and heat would disguise my thermal signature. There were nearly twenty soldiers, half in camouflaged Kos armor. Adams, surprisingly, was not.

  He was farthest away from the door, with two lines of soldiers acting as a shield.

  I pulled out a grenade. Blowing up the bridge wasn’t the smartest idea, but if we needed to, we could control the ship from the backup console in maintenance.

  I paused as Commander Adams’s voice boomed through the gap in the door. “Samara Rani, I presume. I believe I have something of yours. Drop your weapons and come in before I decide to break it.”

  A familiar groan echoed from the bridge and I froze. There was no way they’d snuck Imogen past me, but I had to check. I peeked again. Two of the screens behind Adams were streaming video from what looked like a combat armor camera, and Imogen’s bruised and bloody face stared back at me.

  She was missing her helmet, but the rest of her combat armor appeared to be on, if not entirely intact. Her face was bloody and her eyes were fuzzy and distant—a concussion, at best. I couldn’t see anything else, but the sounds of rifle fire came through the speakers.

  Someone was still alive and fighting.

  I pulled back before one of the soldiers in the bridge could take a shot at me.

  Adams is on the bridge with fifteen to twenty soldiers. Imogen has been captured, I said on the main group link.

  “I’m tired of waiting,” Adams said. “Kill—”

  “Don’t be so hasty,” I called. “Kill her and you won’t live long enough to draw another breath.”

  Adams laughed. “You really didn’t think I’d let you get all the way to the bridge without some sort of insurance, did you? It’s in your best interest to keep me alive.” His voice hardened. “Step inside, now, or your little guard dies.”

  Stay here, I told Valentin. Then, before he could argue, I unstrapped my rifle, turned off my armor’s camouflage, and activated the grenade I still held. I kept the grenade’s safety lever held down—the countdown timer wouldn’t start until I released it.

  If Adams shot me when I stepped through the door, at least I’d take his smug ass with me to hell.

  I eased through the door, grenade first. “Watch your soldiers, Adams, or we’ll all go down in a blaze of glory.”

  Once I was fully in the room, my connection to the net wavered. It didn’t die completely, but that could be because I was close to the door. If they really were blocking links, then Adams was communicating with his people by some other method.

  My connection isn’t stable, I told Valentin. I might lose it if I move deeper into the room. There are eight soldiers in Kos armor and eight more without armor.

  I will keep our connection active as long as possible, Valentin said, and I’ll relay your updates to the others.

  I added my camera’s view to the link I shared with him. It was quite a bit of data to transfer over an unstable connection, but it would let Valentin see what was happening in the room, if not in full video, then at least in still frames.

  Adams wore a standard Quint officer’s uniform, but I couldn’t get a shot at him. “Welcome to Implacable, Scoundrel Queen,” he said. “As you can see, I’ve shut down your net connection, so any help you were hoping for isn’t coming, but I have to admit, the grenade is a nice touch.”

  He didn’t know that I could still connect out, at least as long as I stayed close to the door. I might be able to use that to my advantage.

  “Unfortunately for you, it looks like we both had the same idea.” Adams smirked, then lifted his right hand, revealing a cylindrical detonator. “Except my bomb won’t just blow up a room—it’ll take out the station.”

  Chapter Twenty

  My breath caught, and I made and discarded plans at lightning speed. The detonator in Adams’s hand had to be constantly depressed or it would activate—much like my grenade. If he died, his grip would relax, and the explosives would go off. I would have to get close before I killed him.

  Assuming there were any explosives in the first place.

  “It seems that we are at an impasse,” Adams said when I remained silent. “Of course, if you let go, then you die with me. If I let go, then several Blocks of the station will cease to exist, along with all of the people inside. So why don’t you tell me where the emperor is hiding and deactivate your little grenade before I kill your guard.”

  I’m alerting Sawya, Valentin said.

  See if they can shut down all signals to the station, I said. At the same time, I responded to Adams. “You don’t really expect me to believe that you snuck enough explosives past Sawya to actually do any damage to the station, do you?” I scoffed. “You would’ve been better off telling me that you’d wired Arx to blow.”

  Adams laughed again. “If you think there aren’t powerful people on CP57 who are eager for a change of leadership, then you haven’t been paying attention.”

  “It’ll be hard to lead a station that is in pieces. Your new friends are powerful all right—powerfully shortsighted,” I taunted.

  I needed more information about the location of the explosives. Isolating the station from all signals would be incredibly difficult. And while I doubted I could stall long enough for the explosives to be found and disabled, I had to try.

  Adams ignored my taunts. “Where is the emperor? I know he was on the station with you, and I suspect he’s here now. Turn him over and I’ll let your guard go.”

  “I haven’t seen him since I left the station,” I lied. “He’s probably back in Koan by now.”

  Sawya needs five minutes, Valentin whispered in my head.

  Five minutes was an eternity.

  I started a timer. The numbers counted down in the corner of my visor’s screen.

  On the video behind Adams, the rifle fire moved closer. I had to hope that help was coming for Imogen because if I had to watch her die, I wasn’t sure what I would do.

  “Why do you want Valentin anyway?” I asked. “Your support in Koan is gone. The war is all but over. What do you get by killing Valentin?”

  Before Adams could answer, the video behind him shifted as the soldier with the camera slumped to the side and a hulking shape lurched into view just before the camera cut out. I only caught a glimpse and couldn’t see his face, but the silhouette was unmistakable.

 
Luka is injured but alive, I told Valentin. He made it to Imogen.

  Adams hissed something low and furious at one of the soldiers next to him. The soldier touched his earpiece and demanded, “Status report.”

  They were communicating with low-tech two-way radio transceivers rather than neural links. Links operated on a completely difference frequency and tech stack, so there was no way for us to intercept their communication without recovering a transceiver.

  The soldier must not have gotten good news because his face paled. He whispered something to Adams and the commander casually backhanded him, sending him staggering back a step.

  “That’s no way to treat your people,” I said with an exaggerated shake of my head. “The Rogue Coalition offers sanctuary to anyone who wants to join us.”

  One soldier shifted. “Move and die,” Adams threatened. The soldier stilled, and Adams turned to me. “Enough stalling. I know Valentin was with you, and I bet he’s outside the door right now. Maybe I should send some soldiers to flush him out.”

  I swept an arm toward the door. “By all means.” Valentin could handle himself, and I would happily take out anyone who was stupid enough to approach.

  “You have no power here. You’re going to give me Valentin, or I’m going to let this go.” Adams waved the detonator around with a carelessness that made my blood freeze. One slip and thousands of people would die.

  “Dropping that detonator will be the last thing you do,” I promised. Seconds trickled through the timer, each seemingly slower than the last. There were still more than two minutes remaining.

  Adams smirked. “Your little grenade doesn’t scare me. I have two squads of people who will throw themselves on it for the cause.”

  I looked around at the soldiers. The ones I could see remained stone-faced. “I don’t see anyone volunteering to die in your place. But suppose I could produce Valentin. What would you give me?”

  “I will trade you the detonator for Valentin.”

  I snorted. “Even I’m not stupid enough to believe that.”

  At some unknown signal, two armored soldiers rushed at me from opposite sides of the room. I drew my pistol with my free hand and put rounds through both of their visors before they’d taken more than four steps.

  Retreat and find Ari, I told Valentin.

  The rest of the soldiers raised their weapons, and I dived behind the closest console. My connection to the net died.

  “I figured you’d be too spineless to actually use the grenade,” Adams shouted smugly. “That’s why I’m going to walk away and you are not. Kill her and find Valentin!”

  I deactivated the grenade and pulled my second pistol. Adams was right—I wouldn’t use the grenade until I was sure it wouldn’t destroy part of CP57. I activated the camouflage on my armor. There were over a dozen guards between me and Adams and at least half of them would be able to see me.

  I had no illusions about my chance of success.

  “If you wanted to find me, you only had to ask,” Valentin called from outside the door.

  Adams held up a hand and the soldiers in the room froze.

  I silently cursed Valentin. My whole gambit had been designed to keep him safe and now he was offering himself up on a silver platter.

  “Does Chairwoman Soteras know you are here?” Valentin asked. “Or are you betraying the Quint Confederacy along with everyone else?”

  “I’m doing what’s best for the Confederacy,” Adams said with all the zeal of a true believer. “Why should we settle for a compromised peace when we can wipe you out and take everything for ourselves? The current Chairwoman doesn’t have her father’s vision, but she will thank me when I’m done.”

  “You’re just another puppet on a string,” Valentin taunted. “When you fail and your backers cut you free, what will you have? Nothing.”

  Adams shook his head. “I won’t fail. And Hannah Perkins already paid me more than enough for me to live comfortably for the rest of my life. The stupid bitch thought she was using me, but she never understood that I was using her, too.”

  “Why didn’t you kill me when you captured me?” Valentin asked. He was far better at stalling than I was. The five-minute timer was nearly up, but without a link, I didn’t know if Sawya had managed to find the explosives or shut down the signals. Attacking would still be risky.

  Take off your armor, now, Valentin said, his mental voice faint.

  I hesitated. Was he trying to get me killed? There were still more than a dozen soldiers in the room and the armor was the only protection I had. After a heartbeat, I sighed and started quietly stripping off the pieces. I trusted Valentin—and if this didn’t prove I was in love with the man, then nothing would.

  “I had a feeling that Perkins didn’t want to make the second part of my payment,” Adams said, his tone smugly superior. “Your life was my insurance. And I was right—she sent the soldiers after me the night the Scoundrel Queen showed up. In fact, I thought they were working together. And maybe they were, have you considered that?”

  Sixty-second window in ten seconds, Valentin said. Secure the detonator. I’ll cover you. Aloud, he said, “Samara wasn’t working with Hannah. She planned to ransom me back to my advisors.”

  Seconds that had crawled by before now drained away too quickly.

  “I would’ve loved to see your face when you figured that out,” Adams said with a laugh. “The great Valentin Kos, outsmarted by—”

  Adams bit off the rest of what he was going to say as all of the lights, screens, and terminals went dark. Muffled shouts came from the soldiers weighed down by their unresponsive armor.

  I didn’t know how Sawya had managed it, but they had shut down every electrical system on a ship that had been specifically hardened to withstand such attacks. Now Valentin’s warning to remove my armor finally made sense because I could move while the armored Quint soldiers were trapped.

  I silently started counting the passing seconds. I had sixty of them, and I needed every one because I couldn’t see a fucking thing.

  I attempted to link Valentin but got nothing but silence in return.

  “Get the lights on!” Adams snarled. It sounded like he had remained in place.

  I hadn’t worn my night-vision contacts and even if I had, I wasn’t sure if they would’ve survived the shutdown. Luckily, our weapons still worked, and plasma pulses came from the door as Valentin shot into the room. His eyes were biologically augmented and allowed him to see in total darkness. Hopefully he was taking out anyone else with the same augments or I’d be very dead, very quickly.

  The armored soldiers hadn’t moved, and I had a map in my head. I shot blind while I moved toward Adams’s last known location. From the shouting, at least some of my shots landed.

  Ten seconds.

  I’d mentally broken the minute into ten-second intervals and the first one was gone already.

  A green glow stick flared bright in the darkness, its chemical reaction unaffected by the outage. I squashed the instinctive urge to look at it. I needed my eyes to stay adjusted for the places where the glow stick’s light didn’t reach.

  “Protect the Commander!” a male voice shouted. He must be the squad commander.

  Shadows flickered as the unarmored soldiers moved in the soft green light of the glow stick. With the light, they could see well enough to return fire, but it took them a critical moment to find my new location. I shot two before I had to duck behind cover. Adams had vanished behind a wall of bodies.

  The stretchy base layer I wore wouldn’t protect me from even a grazing shot, so I needed to be fast and careful—two things that didn’t go well together. I darted to the next console while Valentin leaned around the door and shot into the room. His face gleamed in the low light. He’d also dumped his armor, which meant we were both unprotected.

  I’d left my grenades and other weapons behind with my armor, so I only had the two pistols I carried. If I needed more ammo, I’d have to steal a gun from one of the other
soldiers.

  Twenty seconds.

  I moved again during a lull in the shooting. I took down another soldier before a plasma pulse clipped the outside of my left arm, deep enough to burn like the fucking sun. I ducked behind the console with a low hiss.

  I flexed my left arm. White hot pain flashed down to my elbow, and my hand trembled, but the arm moved, so good enough.

  “Secure the exit!” the squad commander yelled. He still had enough soldiers to be problematic, but Adams could not be allowed to escape with the detonator.

  While the soldiers concentrated their fire on the door, I dashed to the next console. I wounded two more soldiers, sending them to the ground. Valentin and I had thinned the soldiers enough that I finally caught a glimpse of Adams—and his empty hands.

  He no longer held the detonator. Had he dropped it or tucked it into a pocket?

  Whatever Sawya had done to suppress the electronics had an expiration date or Valentin wouldn’t have told me that we had a sixty-second window. That meant I had just over half a minute to kill Adams and find the detonator.

  A pained groan from the hallway almost netted me a plasma pulse to the face. I jerked back at the last second, and the heat seared my cheek. My worry for Valentin would get me killed. I had to trust that he could look after himself, at least for a little while.

  Thirty seconds.

  I was nearly to where Adams had been standing when I first entered the bridge. Shadows turned the floor into an impenetrable black hole. If he’d dropped the detonator here, I’d have to crawl around until I felt it, leaving Valentin completely on his own. The remaining soldiers would overwhelm him, and Adams would escape while I searched.

  The soldiers advanced on the door. A couple of them faced me, trying to keep me pinned down, but the majority focused on Valentin. I had to decide: go after Adams, assuming he still had the detonator, or search here, assuming he’d dropped it?

  My gut told me to go after Adams, but I hesitated, torn. Was revenge clouding my judgment?

  From everything I knew about Adams, he wouldn’t let go of something that might prove useful later. Decision made, I started picking off the soldiers guarding Adams’s back from the deep shadow of the console I was using as cover.