Empire of Ashes: An Epic Space Opera Series (The Augmented Book 1)

by Ben Hale

  “You’re just a slave,” he sneered.

  Anger extinguished her fear, and she darted in. He swung his hammer, causing her to leap, and this time the gravity answered her summons. She directed it at him, tripling the gravity under his feet. The dakorian groaned as he dropped to knees. Siena landed on his back, driving her blade through the spot between his shoulder blades.

  “Even a slave can kill,” she said.

  She leapt away as more ion bolts pummeled the sphere. The shadows of the beams kept her alive, distorting her position. She looked upward and spotted Reklin running along the beams above, dodging beams of light and deflecting one bolt with his blade. She hesitated and then reached for the gravity, wondering if she could control it.

  Like threads of cloth, the gravity seemed to float up and around her, and she blinked in surprise. When she opened her eyes again, the threads of gravity became visible, the strands of purple extending from gravity repulsors. She jumped into the air, twisting her body to float in place.

  The feeling was euphoric, of flying by force of will. She tugged a thread and glided to the side, and tugged another to glide the opposite direction. Her burgeoning excitement was cut short when an ion bolt streaked over her leg, so close it heated her pants.

  Tugging on the gravity, she soared between a corridor and the sphere. The contrasting gravity repulsors created a type of river, and she rode the current. Elated, she flipped sideways, curving over a seracrete beam and catching the gravity of another corridor. She spun over and down, flying between the cubes. A dakorian rose into view, his features stunned. She slashed once, cutting deep into a dakorian’s chest as she passed. His hammer fell from his grip.

  She floated past his falling body, relishing the sense of power and the astonishment on the dakorian’s face. Then she was beyond his reach, the gravity eddies pulling her through the beams, up and over, sideways and around. She landed on a beam close to Ero’s ship and jumped again, flipping her body twice before landing on the top of the Nova. Reklin jumped as well and landed at her side.

  “I thought you said the gravity leash was broken.” His tone was suspicious.

  “I thought so too,” she said.

  He grunted and then both retreated as dakorians opened fire, the lancing light splashing across the seracrete plating of the ship. The outside plates had already been shut, with only the stern still open. The other three dakorians were fighting a knot of station guards, keeping them from entering the vessel. Several bodies floated around the ship, outside the reach of the station’s gravity repulsors. Siena dropped down to the platform outside the ship and leapt inside—just as Captain Gellow burst from the darkness inside the ship.

  “I’ll gut you for what you did,” he snarled.

  He swung his hammer for her body. Against the bulkhead with no space to evade, Siena desperately sought to bring her augments to bear and caught a glimpse of a large hammer lance firing from nearby.

  The ion bolt struck the dakorian in the side, knocking him into the bulkhead. Siena turned to the one who had fired. She found Kensen standing with his hands around a hammer lance, his eyes wide in shock.

  “You think to kill me with such a weak strike?” The dakorian lurched to his feet, raising his stubby hammer. “I’ll rip your bones from your flesh!”

  An energy blade pierced his body, and the dakorian looked down at the glowing weapon protruding from his stomach. Confusion and pain twisted his features before he tumbled forward. He tripped and went down, his body bouncing off the platform and floating away. He held his stomach, his eyes wide in shock. Siena looked to the attacker.

  Ero.

  The blue-eyed krey lowered his blade and looked to Siena with reproof. “You started without me?”

  Siena had never thought she’d be grateful to see a krey, but in that moment, she was overjoyed to see him. Reklin dropped into view and barked orders to the others, and the trio of dakorians jumped back into the ship. Ero turned the crystal, and the stern of the ship closed. As ion bolts splashed against the hull, the ship powered up, the newly installed gravity drive pushing them out of the station’s bubble shield and back into space.

  Beneath the glow of the new sphere, Ero fixed Reklin with an amused look. “I assume there is a good explanation for this?”

  Chapter Forty-Seven

  As the ship departed the Korgith station, Ero eyed the ferox. Her hair was disheveled, her dark clothing normal for a slave, yet somehow appearing formidable on her small frame. The mask across her face had been a smart move, and even Ero had to admit she looked dangerous.

  “Small creatures should not look so deadly,” he remarked.

  Brand pulled the mask down, revealing a weary smile. “It’s not my fault. You’re the one that taught me to use a weapon.”

  “A reckless choice,” Teridon said.

  Reklin motioned him to silence. “Ero Bright’Lor,” he said formally. “We were attacked at the station while my other dakorians finished the drive. We repelled the attackers until you returned.”

  “Then it appears the timing of your employment was opportune.” Ero noticed their wounds and pointed to the door of the gravity drive chamber. “You should find cell regenerators in the cargo bay.”

  “As you will,” Reklin said.

  Ero eyed the soldiers as they departed. He’d seen the dead on the station, and if Reklin’s solders had been anything but Shards, they would have been killed. Ero and Skorn would have returned to find their ship owned by others and would probably have been summarily executed and jettisoned into space.

  “Reklin?” Ero called, and the soldier paused in the door. “I would like to know the identity of your enemy.”

  “A disagreement with an old friend.” Reklin’s eyes flicked to Brand, who avoided eye contact, and then back to Ero. “He decided to murder me and steal your ship. As I said, we defended the Nova, as is our duty.”

  Ero grunted, the sound expressing his doubt. He believed the dakorian soldier, but it was obvious he did not speak the entire truth. Ero’s eyes settled on the unmasked slave, guessing that she would reveal more than Reklin. He swept his hand in dismissal. The dakorian gave a curt nod and left, leaving Ero alone with his two slaves.

  Brand made to leave, but Ero folded his arms. “Stay,” he commanded.

  The girl grimaced and turned back. “What do you require?”

  Ero’s eyes flicked to the boy and jerked his head in dismissal. The boy accepted the unspoken order and also left. He gave the girl a warning look before he was gone.

  “Well?” he asked.

  “What do you want?” she asked.

  “Do I have to start using the inflictor?” Ero asked.

  Brand actually rolled her eyes. “You know you’re not going to use it.”

  “I will if you roll your eyes at me,” Ero said caustically, irritated at her lack of respect. “Now give me the truth.”

  “You’re just annoyed you weren’t here for the fight.”

  He stabbed a finger at the impertinent girl and opened his mouth for a quick retort, but the lie would not be voiced. She was right, and they both knew it. His teeth snapped shut as he grumbled. “I taught you to fight. The least you could do is wait for me.”

  He tried to make it sound less petulant and failed spectacularly. She raised an eyebrow, to which he laughed in chagrin. He pulled the mask from her neck and held the red cloth up.

  “Dangerous is a good color for you,” he said.

  She flushed. “I didn’t want anyone to link me back to you.”

  “How many did you kill?”

  She scrunched up her face in thought. “Seven or eight. I’m not sure.”

  “Dakorians or krey.”

  “All dakorians.”

  “I leave for a day and miss everything,” he lamented.

  She hesitated and then asked, “Where did you go?”

  “Back to Telik.”

  He kept his tone light, watching her reaction. As he’d guessed, her features darken
ed, but not as much as he expected. She was less haunted and more guarded. Did she know she’d been augmented? What abilities had she gained?

  “What did Telik say?” she asked.

  She, too, tried to keep her voice casual, but he had far more experience with deception. With his back to her, he smiled, pleased with her attempt to glean more information.

  “Most of the other slaves are still alive, if that’s what you’re asking.”

  “And the experiment?” she asked.

  “The others have gained a variety of augments.” She froze in the doorway, and he turned back. “I’m still supposed to watch you in case you show any new abilities.”

  Her guilt was almost comical, and he pretended not to notice. Although he acknowledged his strange trust in the slave girl, he was not about to tell her everything. If she thought her augmentations were secret, she was far more likely to reveal them.

  He shrugged and kept walking, casting over his shoulder, “I told him you were normal.”

  “Right,” she hedged, and then caught up with him. “Out of curiosity, what did the others gain?”

  “Manipulation of heat, water, heightened physical traits, even control over light. A few had more than one ability. It’s quite impressive, really.”

  Out of the corner of his eye, he saw her give a tiny nod to herself. “Did anyone manipulate gravity?”

  He chuckled at her suggestion, spoken so casually, yet oh-so-revealing. Had she gained such an augment? Could she shift gravity at will? He imagined all the exciting possibilities of such a talent and then wondered why he had not thought of her value first. A slave that could manipulate gravity without a mech could be sold for a fortune. Other Houses would pay billions for the girl, yet that had not been his first thought. Instead, he’d imagined her helping Ero and Skorn rebuild their House.

  “What else did Telik say?” she asked. “Will the augments have long-term effects?”

  “Too soon to tell,” he said.

  “Oh.”

  Unable to take it any longer, Ero began to laugh. “Your skills at deception are terrible.”

  She flushed crimson. “You know?”

  “Of course I know what you are,” he said. “I own you. That means I own your secrets.”

  Her features tightened in anger and exasperation. “Why didn’t you say anything?”

  “Because you revealed so much when you thought I was ignorant,” he said. “Gravity, body manipulation, self-healing, and if I’m not mistaken, you have some sort of control over cortex crystals. Am I missing anything?”

  She looked away.

  “I am missing some,” Ero said, delighted by the news. “Just how many augments do you possess?”

  “Enough,” she said sourly.

  “You never fail to disappoint,” he said.

  He turned and headed out of the room. She hurried to catch up. “You should know that Reklin figured it out as well.”

  “He was bound to,” Ero said with a shrug.

  “Can we trust him?” she asked.

  Ero chuckled at her use of we. It wasn’t like they were allies—or maybe they were, considered they kept revealing secrets to each other. And even though she was a slave, he knew he could trust her, especially after she’d worn a mask to hide her identity on Korgith Station. When krey did not control their slaves, both were punished.

  “I trust my brother,” Ero said, stepping into the hall. “And he chose our dakorians for a reason.”

  The tension in her face visibly lessened. “He’s a lot like you, actually.”

  Curious, he paused next to the Gate chamber. “In what way?”

  “He doesn’t see slaves as animals.”

  “That doesn’t mean he won’t kill you,” he warned. “Do not forget, he’s still a dakorian.”

  She nodded. “I know.”

  “Good.” He resumed walking up the hallway. “Because I’d rather not lose my prized ferox.”

  “Wait,” she said. “You said the other augments were stable. What’s going to happen to us now?”

  “Telik is still measuring results,” Ero said. “We convinced him not to tell the Empire about the experiment until after the harvest world.”

  “Smart,” she said. “If you revealed the success of the experiment now, you’d be destroyed, but dumping millions of augmented slaves on the Empire would be impossible to stop.”

  He turned and raised an accusatory finger at her. “What were you just thinking?”

  Again with the guilt, and he decided that he would need to teach her how to be better at deception at some point. Or maybe he shouldn’t. She would certainly lie to him. But right now, she looked like a slave caught with her hand in the drey cabinet.

  “I’m not thinking anything,” she hedged.

  It was his turn to roll his eyes. “I love plotting, and I know the sound of someone that just latched onto an idea.”

  “Will you use the inflictor if I refuse to tell you?”

  He gave a devilish smile. “That would just make you angry. I would instead take your blade and code the holochamber so you could not train.”

  Her eyes narrowed, and he knew he had her trapped. Brand was more than just any ally, he realized, but he could not let her ignore his authority. Emotions washed across her face: first anger, then doubt, and then, surprisingly, fear. Why fear? He’d never known the girl to be afraid.

  “I was thinking what millions of augmented slaves would do to the slaves in the Empire,” she said.

  That explained her fear. She was talking about rebellion. Millions of augments, all with abilities that rivaled krey technology and weaponry, it would inspire and give hope to hundreds of trillions of slaves across the Empire. It could bring war.

  If the slaves were not controlled.

  “Telik has a mechanism that stops the augments from using their abilities,” Ero said. “We don’t have to worry about controlling the populace.”

  Her face fell, and he managed to keep the smugness from his tone. That was how one employed deception, yet oddly, he experienced a twinge of guilt. He’d lied millions of times throughout his life and rarely felt guilty for the act. Why did he feel guilty lying to the girl?

  Ignoring it, he turned and called a final comment over his shoulder. “Get yourself cleaned up. We’re going to the harvest world.”

  “The harvest world?”

  “Don’t you want to see it?”

  “I guess.”

  The conflict was evident in her voice, a mixture of hope, worry, and disappointment. She’d probably been thinking of what an army of augmented slaves would be able to do, dreaming of tearing the Empire down and punishing the krey for all their cruelties to humans. Silly girl. She might have power, but that just made her more useful. Ero liked her, as much for her grit and fortitude as her defiance. But she was still a slave, and would live the life of a slave, short and quickly forgotten. He left her in the corridor and returned to bridge. He slipped through the door and found his brother in the captain’s chair.

  “Did you learn why our ship was being assaulted?” Skorn asked.

  “A misunderstanding.” Ero waved airily and sank into the copilot’s seat. “Something between Reklin and a former friend.”

  “I saw the slave girl fighting with a blade and mask.”

  The accusation in Skorn’s voice was impossible to miss, drawing a smile from Ero. “She’s magnificent, don’t you think?”

  “Just make sure you can control her,” Skorn warned.

  “You don’t need to worry about her,” Ero said. “But we will need to worry about the others. With millions of augments, we will need a way to deactivate their abilities.”

  “An obvious concern,” Ero said. “Uncontrollable slaves would be worthless.”

  Skorn gave Ero a pointed look, and he realized his brother was talking about Brand as well. Ero grinned, pleased that he had managed to annoy Skorn. His far more calculating brother was rarely surprised or irritated, and although Ero relied on Sko
rn’s brilliance, it was also rather insufferable.

  “How long until we get to the harvest world?” Ero asked.

  “Nine days with the new drive,” Skorn said.

  “That long?”

  “That fast,” he corrected. “House Thorn’Vall recharged our secondary drive, so I’ve slaved it to the first, doubling our power.”

  “I take it we won’t be within range of other Gates?”

  “We’re going to the far reaches of Krey-controlled space,” Skorn said. “There aren’t exactly leisure spots on the way.”

  Ero groaned. “At least I have Brand to practice bladecraft.”

  “You could use the dakorians for that.”

  “Nope.”

  “It will be a longer flight back,” Skorn said.

  “Why?”

  “We’ll be offloading the second gravity drive when we arrive.”

  “Why? We just got it.”

  “It’s the only way we can power a World Gate that will connect to the Empire.”

  Ero chuckled as he realized his brother’s intent. Skorn had never planned on just having a second gravity drive on the ship. They were transporting the energy source so it could power a Gate.

  “We’re going to have to code the World Gate so the destination is masked,” Ero said.

  “Already done,” Skorn replied.

  “Is there anything you haven’t done already?”

  “Stopped father’s Condemnation.”

  “We’ve got ages to do that. Not something to worry about.”

  “Voice Malikin is petitioning to hasten the date of his tribunal.”

  Ero frowned. “But I thought we had plenty of time.”

  “We did, but Malikin is arguing that House Bright’Lor represents a present threat and that father is a traitor. If he succeeds, the time will be shortened to just a year.”

  “That’s hardly enough time to raise a few hundred slaves, let alone an entire crop.”