“That’s putting it lightly.” Tulip leaned against me, a soft purr rumbling at the back of her throat as her head settled on my shoulder. “Especially after we saved the Blue Skies, seeing how hard that hit her, I think I really started to understand. When she opened up after that, well, I’m just glad that Alyra’s here, on our side now.”
“Yeah, we’re lucky.” I smiled, glancing away from my menus to stroke Tulip’s hair, scratching behind her cat ears. “And I’m lucky. Luckier than any man alive, if you ask me … but all of our luck is going to run out if you’re so tired from lack of sleep you can’t aim worth a damn tomorrow.”
Tulip giggled, wearily picking herself up off of my shoulder. “Okay, Mr. Boss Dragon, I can take the not-so-subtle hint.” She winked at me as she stretched, not even bothering to get up really, just flopping over bonelessly in the other direction atop her sleeping bag. “Good night, David. Don’t linger too long yourself, okay?”
“Scout’s honor,” I said softly, smiling at her as she drifted to sleep in moments. And I meant it too, but I needed to check out my upgrades. It wasn’t so much that I had a lot to spend, though that was also true. The magic Quibs seemed to be worth quite a lot, Enzio granting more credits in the coffer than even Tur had, so I was sitting on a pretty pile of one-thousand-one-hundred-twenty-five credits.
No, I was more curious to look deeper into Dragonfire. There was something about those eerie, green flames that nagged at my mind, and Enzio’s screams still rang in my ears. I didn’t object to killing in war, not at all, but that sounded more like torture than death, and it didn’t sit right on me. Maybe I could puzzle out why that made me feel that way by delving deeper into the upgrades. There had to be a logical system to it, something from which I could infer what this all meant.
And if it didn’t, well, I had been waiting to have a thousand credits all at once for a while. I knew exactly where to drop it. Attuned to the Dragon, in my Dragon Form tree, would passively knock a whole minute off my dragon form cooldown, making it the easy choice.
With that in mind, I tapped my screen over to the Dragonfire upgrade tree. There was still the next step of the Ascension tie-in trees, but there were three other options opened up as well. One was a direct line off of Dragon Bolt, while the other two were off of Soul Burn … and one of those had a linkage to another tree, the Dragon Form tree and the Flames of Freedom ability.
My curiosity growing, I dived in. First off was the next Ascension tie-in I had already examined, but gave it another look to refresh myself, and then the next ability off of Dragon Bolt:
* * *
Revolution Rising
Cost: 175 power credits
Further strengthens the spiritual connection with your squad. When using Through the Fire and Flames, you also share the effects of an active Dragon’s Revolt ability with your squadmates. This lasts as long as Through the Fire and Flames is active.
Passive Upgrade
* * *
Dragon Ball
Cost: 150 power credits
Requires equipped Focus
Concentrate your projected dragonfire into an exploding ball of napalm. This ball copies all passive statistics and upgrades that affect your normal dragonfire, but at 50% normal strength, exploding in a 3-meter radius
Power Cost: 8% maximum
Cooldown: 8 seconds
* * *
While I was definitely still intrigued by the concept of sharing all those Ascension abilities over time, Dragon Ball was, well, an extremely vanilla ability. But sometimes the straightforward options were the best ones, the whole idea of a simple solution to a situation sometimes being best. However, before I made a decision either way, I turned my attention to the two abilities that branched off of Soul Burn, the first one directly cascading from it while the other also linked to the Flames of Freedom upgrade in my Dragon Form tree.
* * *
Purifying Flames
Cost: 80 power credits
Requires equipped Focus
Conjures spiritual flames from within your own soul to burn away psychic and spiritual impurities in a target. The flames heal psychic damage equal to 25% of normal dragonfire damage and can purge the target of mental imbalances and weak possessive forces.
WARNING: May cause physical backlash, may not be effective against more powerful beings.
Power Cost: 10% of maximum
Cooldown: 10 seconds
* * *
Soul Dragon Rising
Cost: 200 power credits
When activating Flames of Freedom, you may infuse your dragonfire in Dragon Form with the effects of Soul Burn or Purifying Flames, paying the appropriate power cost of the chosen ability. You cannot channel both, only one or the other may be applied when Flames of Freedom is activated.
Passive Upgrade
* * *
After reading that, I truly was left to ponder the implications of this whole dragon thing. Sure, every Earth concept of dragons that they were vastly powerful creatures. Some stayed to the whole fire-breathing lizard thing, while some legends gave them immeasurable magical abilities, making them practically gods. Hell, in some cultures, dragons were pretty much that. It was becoming very obvious that this dragon spirit that was part of me now wasn’t one of those simple creatures. What I was, my place in all this, was looking to be very complicated indeed.
Soul Burn and Purifying Flames seemed to be almost in opposition with one another. While nothing prevented me from taking both upgrades, one seemed, well, cruel, to literally set someone’s soul on fire, while the other sought to help others and heal the damage that I saw in the minds of the Matriarchy’s victims. And that’s when it hit me.
What I had always suspected was true. If all the dragons had this immense power over the souls of others, there could have been dragons like Draconis, symbols of peace and freedom, and others like those in the Matriarchy’s holy texts, dragons who bound lesser creatures to be their slaves, using their minds and souls as playthings, the ultimate tyrants.
“Well,” I murmured to myself, “I know what kind of man … what kind of dragon … I am.” What to do with the power credits I had was obvious. Without a second thought, I picked Purifying Flames, watching my temporary credit total go down, then flipped to Dragon Form, double-checking Attuned to the Dragon.
* * *
Attuned to the Dragon
Cost: 1,000 power credits
Reduces your dragon form cooldown by 1 minute
Passive Upgrade
* * *
Nodding with satisfaction, I nabbed it as well, leaving me with forty-five power credits left. Feeling good about my choices, I tapped Accept on my screen, the immediate rush of power combining with the piercing roar of the dragon inside me to make my eyes go wide. It sounded … closer, closer than ever before, and that cry was joined by a brief spark of silvery flames from my Cestari.
I clenched my fists and nodded slowly. That felt good and proper. Armed with that new power, I was now truly confident that whatever happened tomorrow, we would come out on top.
22
We awoke to a brief morning meal of reconstituted meal packages and a thick sludge of a drink brewed by the miners, something they called ‘pick grit’. It was kind of gross, but boy, it made you wake up once you choked it down.
Maybe our mood was a bit brighter because instead of bog-standard military rations, our meal packs had been prepared by Clara in the Orion’s galley, spicy Tel’ra cooking that reminded me fondly of Indian food. There was nothing like a reconstituted-but-home-cooked meal made with love to put a spring in your step.
More likely, it had to do with the frown on Ferria’s face as she walked up to where we were eating, a Mandible Plus slung over her shoulder and her exoframe clanking along. I stood up, washing down both my meal and the pick grit with a gulp of water, and gave her a questioning glance. “Morning, Ferria. You’ve got a certain ‘bad news’ look on your face.”
“Maybe she just drank too much
of this crud,” Tulip mewed, sticking out her pink tongue as she stared into the chiseled stone mug of the stuff. “It’d be enough to make anyone sad.”
“I don’t know, Tulip,” Alyra mused, gulping back a good swallow’s full. “I find it has a certain heady charm.”
Ferria gave the two ladies a look of disbelief before focused on me. “Unfortunately, Captain Briggs, I do bear some bad news, though I supposed in our situation, it could be worse.” I gave her a short nod to continue as I stashed my filtered canteen in my pack. “The responses to our coded missive are far less than it should have been. Of the twelve active Resistance cells, we have only gotten word back from six of them, and of those six, two were on the run from Matriarchy forces.”
She shook her head sadly. “We can only assume that everyone we have not heard from has been killed or captured by the enemy. I don’t know how she found us out so quickly.” Turning her eyes away from us, she let out a hollow sigh. “Maybe she always knew where we were, tolerating our existence like a khama-beast endures flea bites.”
“And now, you feel like all this sacrifice had been for nothing?” I said softly. I could hear the edge of defeat in her voice, and I didn’t blame her for it. She nodded, still not meeting our gaze, so I added, “Well, the best way to turn that around is to make it worth it. Swallow down that ill feeling, pull yourself up by your, well, exoskeletal bootstraps, and shove Xara’s contempt right down her throat.”
Tulip was up as well, shouldering her pack. “I wholeheartedly agree. As they say on Earth, if Turner is to be believed, the greatest revenge you can have on someone is to live well. It isn’t wholly applicable, I guess, but if you count success in overthrowing a planetary tyrant as living well, it works.”
“I believe that Mrs. Dain gets the general idea, zadavio,” Alyra said with a short laugh. “As one who served the Matriarchy myself, trust me when I say that the fact she had let you organize this long will only serve to bring about her downfall. I feel for your losses, but there are still six groups that she did not catch, and those will be six more groups of fighters that will make her rue her folly in ignoring them and you.”
Ferria stared at the shorter woman for a long moment, and I almost thought she would yell at the ex-Matriarch. But after that moment, she smiled slightly, clapping Alyra on the shoulder. “All right, little angel, I believe you.” She glanced back at me. “Let’s go make the Matriarch eat her words, Captain.”
“That’s the spirit.” I grinned, cracking my knuckles as I did a last check of my gear. “Did any of those cells still active send any word about the rest of our squad?”
“No, I am afraid not.” She put her gauntleted hands on the exoskeleton wrapped around her hips. “But before you worry, I did receive a very strange coded message on the Resistance frequency, something I didn’t have a valid cipher for. Maybe your squadmates sent it?”
Despite what Ferria said, I wasn’t worried. Even if Turner and Clara had run into trouble, a very real possibility, I trusted their ability to get out of it or, at the worst, our ability to bail them out of it. Still, I could tell that Tulip, brave front aside, was a bit more shaken than me.
“Transmit that message to me,” the catwoman asked, pulling up her wrist screen in anticipation. Ferria pulled a small tablet from her pocket, tapped it a few times, and Tulip’s eyes narrowed as she received the message. “It’s definitely from Turner. He’s using our personal cipher from before you joined us, David.”
I moved to look over her shoulder, Alyra doing the same by virtue of a few judicious wing flaps. “Don’t leave us waiting in suspense. What does it say?”
“It …” Tulip’s voice trailed off as her body tensed, her tail lashing from side to side. “It’s a set of planetary coordinates, encrypted security keys for the Orion’s security systems and main computer, and three words.” She glanced at me over her shoulder. “Out of Twinkies.”
From anyone else, that phrase would only mean a trip by Earth or to the markets of Silica III, the only place besides Earth one could find those yellow sponge cakes of joy. But from Turner, well, it was a code phrase that meant extreme danger.
The concern for them was burning in Tulip’s eyes. “David, this can only mean—”
I cut her off with an arm around her shoulder, trying to pay her back for all the comforting strokes in the past. “It only means they ran into real trouble. That’s all. The fact he even got that transmission off means everything.”
“And it also must mean the Orion is safe and secure,” Alyra added, doing her level best to sound as confident as I was trying to. “Your security measures are second to none in the galaxy, Null-K.”
Tulip took in a deep breath, her eyes closing as she tried to dispel the anxiety racking her body, and after a moment, under my comforting embrace, she managed it. “Right. Which also means that once we’re out of the deeper mines, like where our target today is, we can remotely access the ship, use the auto-pilot AI if we need air support or a quick escape.” She leaned her head against my shoulder. “Thank you, I almost lost it there for a moment.” With a glance to Alyra, she added, “And you too, Alyra.”
Alyra smiled a bit at the acknowledgment. “We are zadavio. Family. We are here for each other at all times.” She landed and began to walk towards the assembling freedom fighters. “Which also means we must be ready to help Turner and Clara the moment we are in a position too. We won’t do that here.”
“She’s right, of course,” Ferria, who had been observing quietly, added. Tulip and I both nodded, and as the Synatan turned to lead the way, she continued, “Quar and I sat with Plazzio over breakfast. As you wanted to take the fight right to the heart of the matter, we plotted a course straight to the tunnel complex that opens out to the Illuminator’s research facility. It’s also her seat of power here on Leonis IV. She’ll be there, I guarantee it.”
“Why don’t we break directly into the base?” Tulip asked, diving completely into work mode. “It’s underground, like everything that isn’t a docking facility for freighters and transports on Leonis.”
She glanced back at Tulip. “I wish we could, but the tunnel system within a hundred meters of the facility is like a honeycomb. There’s just not enough room to tunnel through without running into conduits and life support systems, and even then, we’d be squeezing in single file.”
I nodded. “So, not worth the trouble when we can make a blitz through a hundred meters of tunnel. We’ll still have the element of surprise without a doubt.”
“Especially as my codebreakers did their magic while we slept.” Tulip grinned, most of her usual devil-may-care attitude back in place. “Right before we break through into proper Matriarchy tunnels, I’ve got enough passwords and security clearances hacked to play havoc with their early warning systems. Sure, they’ll know we’re there soon enough, but anything that disrupts their security lets us get that much closer.”
Alyra’s lips pressed into that thin, hard smile as she drew her Wander. “And then from there, my dragon and I shall bring on the brute force to punch through the rest of the way. Once inside, Xara will know that it will only be a matter of time before we confront her.”
The miners parted for their leader, and we wound up gathered around Plazzio a moment later. As we settled in around the big Quib, I glanced back at the ex-Matriarch. “Just don’t get cocky. The moment we get too overconfident, the Matriarchy will be kicking our teeth in and shooting us in the face.”
Plazzio turned away from the map to look at us, nodding slowly in agreement. “Arrogance is what Mother breeds, certain and sure power overall, and she tells that to her sons and daughters alike, such as the angel women.” His massive lips split into a smile as he waved at Alyra. “But not you, Plazzio thinks. Plazzio likes little free angel woman.”
“Why thank you, Plazzio,” Alyra said with a smile and a stiff curtsy. “And thank you for your help today. We will free many more people like us with that help.”
He nodded slowly to
her, then clapped me on my shoulder. “Yes, the dragon-man will make it so! Are you ready to lead us, to free the chained people?”
I unlimbered my Thorax, the mono-molecular edged blades popping into place. “I’m ready, man.” I glanced back at the troops, from enslaved miner to Quibs looking for redemption. “We’re all ready.”
“And Plazzio will not have to hurt anyone?” the giant Quib asked hopefully.
I clapped a hand on his armored shoulder. “I did, and I stand by it.” I glanced around the little inner circle standing nearby, Tulip, Alyra, Ferria, and Quar. “Right, everybody?”
“You will never do what you do not wish ever again,” Alyra said, her blue eyes blazing as if she were daring anyone else to say otherwise. “Like me, you are free now.”
To Ferria and Quar’s benefit, even if they thought differently, they kept their mouths shut, not eager to test the ex-Matriarch’s patience. Tulip smiled up at Plazzio, letting the Scourge in her hand curl lazily back and forth as she played with it. “You’ve got nothing to worry about, big guy. We’ll take care of any violence if things get nasty.”
Plazzio gave her another of those massive smiles and turned towards the featureless stone ahead of us. “Then let the stone move under Plazzio’s magic and take us towards freedom!”
23
The stone melted before us, breaking into tunnels that weren’t shaped by Plazzio’s magic. They weren’t like the rest of the mine either. The lines were too regular, the lighting too, and far too much effort had been wasted making the walls smooth, and all angles turned into the preferred curves of Matriarchy construction. To top it all off, someone had actually taken the time to paint the place in pure white.
Star Conqueror: Recompense: An Epic Space Harem Adventure Page 17
