The Emperor's Daughter (Sentinel Series Book 1)

by Richard Flunker

  “What’s to stop me from shooting you oh little kitten of the Dominion?” he mocked.

  “I wield the power of the stars,” she shouted.

  Alex looked confused. He looked around nervously, waiting for the end from one of the mech bullets. Instead, a tiny little figure threatened him. He knew they wanted her, and most likely alive. He calculated his odds. If these mechs were down here, that meant that his Corinthian bosses in orbit had failed to destroy the behemoth. That also meant it would be some time, if there would be any, till help arrived from one of the cities on the planet. He had fought the Dominion his whole life and had no trouble taking even a small girl out. If he was going to go out, taking at least one more of those filthy men, or little girls, would be worth it. He began raising his weapon at Deespa.

  The young empress raised her own unarmed hand. Her palm was out, pointing at Alex. He raised it and leveled it at her but didn’t stop there. His arm kept going up until his weapon was pointing straight up. He felt his other arm start going up and Ayia dropped to the ground.

  “What the hell? What is this?” he screamed in terror.

  “The power of black holes within my fingers,” she said, stepping closer to him.

  He began to float up into the air, looking around wildly. He began shrieking in terror. His legs began spreading out. Kale watched in awe as the little girl he had rescued suddenly morphed into some kind of magic wielding angel. He knew he was suffering from blood loss, and that it was likely adding to the illusion, but he could clearly see the mercenary floating six feet off the ground just in front of the downed tree trunk. His arms and legs were spread apart.

  Deespa kept her arm pointed at him and formed a fist. A familiar hum filled the air, like the sound of a thousand bees. The ground began to vibrate just slightly. Kale could see the dirt shaking as he lay on the ground. The mechs began to take steps back as dirt, moss and branches and limbs began to float up too.

  “There can be no mercy for those who inflict evil upon the innocent,” She began shouting over the increasingly louder buzzing sound.

  The mercenary’s head flung back and he began screaming. Deespa kept him floating there, fist clenched. Then she opened her hand and the man vanished in a red mist. The screaming stopped instantly, but the buzzing sound was at its highest volume. She dropped her hand and instantly the buzzing stopped. Everything came crashing down, including the rest mist that flowed down into the ground.

  Deespa turned around and looked back at Kale. She had a sad look on her face but when she made eye contact with him, she smiled, if just slightly. She began walking back to her mech as the other mechs began chanting. At first it was quiet, but it kept building up. Kale couldn’t quite make it out but as more and more joined in and got louder and louder, he began to understand.

  “Queen of the Stars!”

  Kale glanced over to Ayia, who was on her hands and knees trying to look around. For a brief moment, he swore that he made eye contact and that she smiled. He then rolled back over and looked straight up at the covered canopy of the forest and the few piercing blades of light coming through them. He continued to hear the Dominion mech pilots chanting to their new leader when he took a deep breath and the world faded to black.

  Epilogue

  3124 - on the Harmoa in orbit over Oxaoca

  Kale stirred slightly and felt the pain in his shoulder. He didn’t have to open his eyes to remember what had caused the pain in the first place. Memories rushed back through the drowsiness of the pain killers he was evidently on. Unfortunately, the drugs were wearing off.

  When he did open his eyes though, the memories vanished and were replaced by a far better sight. Ayia sat next to him smiling.

  “It’s about time,” she said. She had bruises on the right side of her face. They were days old already, but still visible.

  “Looks like you're just as bad as I am,” he said, trying to shift to take the pain off of his shoulder. He looked down and saw his right knee and leg bandaged up. He glanced around and saw that he was in a state of the art medical facility. “Where am I?”

  “On board the Harmoa. Kale, it’s just like the Magyo, just a tad smaller,” she exclaimed. He of course already knew that. “Did you know that our girl, she calls herself Deespa and somehow, it turns out she’s the Dominion’s new empress?”

  Kale laughed then grimaced in pain. “Well, she isn’t yet, but she is well on her way.”

  “They grow up too quickly Kale,” she said, smiling just the way that eased Kale’s pain, “We did a really good job raising her.”

  They both laughed and Kale began to relate to her everything that had happened since she was captured. From her side, she couldn’t remember anything after being hit in the head. The doctors on board the Harmoa had told her she was kept heavily sedated and that she would feel off for several weeks because of it. She would be dizzy at times, but mostly she would suffer from a lack of desire to sleep, even when tired.

  “Gives us time to catch up then,” Kale said.

  Deespa joined them almost an hour later as they talked, followed by two large body guards. She instructed them to remain on guard outside of the room. When the door slid shut, she turned, smiled, and ran jumping into Kale, hugging him. He jumped in pain but hugged her back with his one good arm.

  “We did it. We saved her Kale,” she said excitedly.

  “No, you did. I just got myself shot up,” Kale began, motioning his head to his shoulder and leg, “Speaking of you little girl, you have to tell me something about these powers you have now.”

  She looked at him quizzically, turning her head slightly to the side

  “Ok, I know what I saw. You, that guy, you turned him into mush,” he said, hoping he really hadn’t dreamed that whole event.

  “Oh. Well, Sentinel gave you a gun, he gave me one too, just smaller,” she said, holding out her arm. There was a small armband around her wrist that reached out onto her palm. “As long as I'm close to a reactor, like I was on the mechs, I can use this to extend the field and manipulate it.”

  “That is, rather harsh, dangerous?” Kale wasn’t sure of how to explain what he was trying to ask.

  “I think what he is asking is, what if this gets out? I know you are, well, the Empress…” Ayia began.

  “Not yet,” Deespa corrected.

  “Not yet, ok. What happens when others get that weapon?” Ayia finished asking.

  “Sentinel told me only I can use it,” Deespa began explaining. When neither of them answered, she continued, “He said because of the way my brain is made up, how its setup up differently than most humans, that only I can use this device.”

  “That’s good then,” Ayia said, “I think.”

  “You just called Sentinel a he,” Kale pointed out.

  “I did. He is a he. He’s alive. I'm alive. We’re all alive Kale!” She jumped on him again.

  Kale grunted in pain again. “What about my ship?”

  “Oh, not so much. It’s bad. We have her in our hangar, but really only to save Sentinel,” Deespa explained. She brought up a tablet to show him a live feed into the hangar where his once beautifully white ship was now mangled, mostly on the starboard side. It was in no shape to be repaired.

  “But don’t worry Kale, I’ll get you a new ship,” Deespa said gleefully, “I think I'm rich now, or mostly. I'm not certain. I am supposed to meet the man who figured out who I am and the nobles of the family he represents. They are saying they will fund everything.”

  “You really know what you're getting yourself into?” Kale asked. Ayia sat down next to Kale in his bed.

  “Yeah. Sentinel and I have gone over it many times. I think it’s the right thing to do,” she replied.

  “Just make it the right thing, no matter what you do. And don’t get yourself killed kid. I’ve grown attached to your craziness.”

  “Will we see you again?” Ayia asked.

  “I don’t know,” Deespa glanced back as the two guards came in. �
�It’s time to go. I hope we do,” She looked back at Kale, “We did it. We saved her.”

  She turned and left the room, leaving Kale and Ayia in silence.

  “I hope we…” Kale began, but Ayia quickly interrupted him, “We brought back an angel, Kale. Some angels bring death, but they also protect.”

  Kale nodded his head and leaned back in his bed.

  “You know, I'm rich too. I can get us a new ship,” she said, smiling coyly.

  “Did you say us?” Kale asked.

  “You're going to need a partner. Especially when that partner is going to pay for your ship,” she said.

  “You had me at pay for your ship,” he said.

  “That was the last thing I said,” she said shifting back on the bed.

  “That’s the part that got me,” he said, smiling. He tried to put both of his arms behind his head and then lurched when he realized one of the arms wouldn’t move. “So, we have to deal with your lawyers.”

  “Yeah, we do. I think we’ve started that though,” Ayia explained. The Harmoa was joined by seven more vessels ranging in all sizes and they were planning to take over Oxaoca and use it as their stepping stone in their impending civil war. Control of that planet would deal a huge blow to the lawyer group, but certainly not their death knell. They would also have to wait and see how invading the privately owned planet would play out with the other powers in the galaxy. In the meantime, Ayia was determined to press charges in Commonwealth courts. Whether she would win a court case against one of the galaxy’s largest group of lawyers was one thing. That she would wrest her inheritance management from them was a something she didn’t think the courts would have any problem dealing with.

  The next step would be to find out exactly what they wanted her for.

  Thankfully, they knew two really good hackers. One was a boy and the other a machine.

  3124 – In threaded space between Garguan and Oxoaca

  Fangix read all the data in detail, salivating over everything he was finding out. His little discovery was proving to be even more valuable than he could have imagined. He read over all of the details of the Harmoa’s battle with fascination and poured over every word describing the little girl. He brought up her image and was completely enthralled.

  He was on his way to the Harmoa to meet her along with the heads of his family. He was sure to get great rewards, but his heart was entirely set on one thing now. The image of the girl replaced all others in his mind and he found himself not sleeping when he should.

  He decided that no matter the cost, he would have her. He began cutting his arms with a blade just to try to eliminate that thought, but found it more deeply ingrained.

  The Empress child would be his.

  3124 – Tau Ceti, Melbourne City on Ceti Prime.

  The video of Deespa’s supernatural display on the surface of Oxoaca, amid the deep forest, kept playing over and over on a large screen. The image of the man being raised into the air and then disintegrated into nothingness was on a loop. A large group of men sat around a semi-circular table made out of a very dark brown wood, watched the loop intently. One of them asked where they found this footage.

  Samuel Easton stood up. “We have believers in all factions. What you are seeing is undoctored footage, straight from the scene where God displayed her powers to us.”

  “It’s just a child,” one of the men said.

  “It is God,” Samuel Easton thundered, “with the power beyond anything mankind has ever seen.”

  “God is near,” another of the men said, and they all began chanting it together.

  “God is near,” Samuel repeated, “but not near enough. We must have her.”

  All of the men began nodding in unison. Behind them, an entire theater sized room filled with many people sat watching. The murmur rose up among them all and slowly, the chant grew, “God is near.” It kept growing louder and louder.

  In the furthest corner up in the back towards the right side of the theater, a young man was sitting. He was not chanting with everyone else. He had seen the video loop over and over again, but his eyes always went down to the body of a young lady on her hands and knees, just under where this new god had displayed her powers. He could tell she was alive, and felt relieved every time the video did its loop.

  He needed to get out of this lunacy and make his way home, if he still had one. He had plans to make. He got up and took one quick look back at the video.

  “Ayia.”

  3124 – Edge of Oxaoca system

  A small Fox class single pilot interceptor ship floated next to the wreckage of a large cruiser, one of the mainstays of the Crusader navy. There were no survivors.

  Lights flickered on the Fox. Power came on and it began to fly into the crushed front section of the super structure. Many parts of the cruiser still had emergency power and the small ship was counting on it. It began transmitting a radio signal, albeit at very low power.

  Computers began coming to life deep within the communication center of the cruiser, where dead bodies were strewn along the airless room floating in the vacuum. A single signal began searching through the ship until it found one of the shuttles mostly intact. The shuttle powered up and began maneuvering through the wreckage of the hangar and barely made it out.

  The small shuttle floated out into space. The smaller Fox ship came up next to it and the two ships faced each other for a brief moment. Then the Fox turned, and sped off into the blackness of space, out into the region beyond the Oxoaca solar system. The shuttle though, turned twenty degrees sunward. A small Prokhof hook formed and the ship vanished.

  There were no human survivors.

  A special thanks to all my friends who have supported me in this journey.

  If you liked this book, please leave a review on Amazon. Your word of mouth is my best marketing tool.

  And look for the sequel soon…

  The Lost Tribe

  Fall of 2014