“Good. Now come on.”
Together they slipped inside.
Klaren was waiting for them, armorless this time, but still perched near a crackling fire. She held a piece of black rock in her fist and didn’t look up as they entered, busily carving the floor with more of those strange patterns that littered the tunnel to the Underground.
“The Godstars look different, from Exonia,” the droid, perched upon her thin shoulder, said for her.
Dex looked down at his own skin, covered with the constellation tattoos that represented them. When he looked up, his eyes met Klaren’s, and he was struck by just how much the woman looked like Nor.
Beautiful golden eyes and dark hair, but missing that half-secretive smile, likely buried beneath a lifetime’s worth of guilt. Dex couldn’t blame her. She’d fallen in love with the galaxy that she was once supposed to steal for her own people, and now she was paying the price for it.
Andi stepped up to the fire, her boots close to being licked by the flames.
“The Godstars gift us our power,” Klaren explained. “I may not be near them, not in the way I once was, back in Exonia. But I still worship them, and strive to uphold their ways.”
She muttered something else, running her hands across the drawings on the floor before setting down her piece of black rock. “You’ve had time to consider my offer, General.”
To Andi’s credit, she didn’t flinch at the mention of her new title. She simply stared down at Klaren with all the predatory focus of a lioness, about to consume her prey.
Or perhaps play with it before dealing the killing blow.
Havoc had done the same to him, just this morning.
“I have,” Andi said. “And yet you still haven’t told me what exactly it is that you require from me.”
“I require nothing from you but your cooperation,” Klaren said. “But the plan I have is not one you are likely to come back from.”
Andi barked out a laugh. “I’ve come back from plenty of impossible plans.”
“As I’ve heard,” Klaren acknowledged with a nod.
“Tell me about the weapons network, and what my part in shutting it down would be.”
Klaren considered this. “You’d have to manually gain control of the weapons system, using your own DNA. That was what Cyprian used to assign you as his successor in the system, was it not?”
Dex nodded. “I watched the process. He needed Andi’s handprint, too, but it wasn’t just that. I think he took a scan of her internal DNA.”
Klaren continued. “The system will know her by that signature, and will respond accordingly. There is a hub on each capital planet that controls it. My team believes the one on Arcardius is in the general’s old estate.”
“He kept everything in his office,” Andi said. “His alcohol, and his war plans.”
Dex didn’t like the sound of this.
Not one Godstars-damned bit.
“In that case, you would have to go in and shut it all down. Destroy it from the inside. There is a self-destruct mode for all the planetary weapons, but it must be triggered manually and in person.”
“Of course it must,” Dex said with a sigh. He glared at Klaren. “There’s no other way?”
“I didn’t create the system,” Klaren said apologetically. “I can’t change how it operates.”
“Then we’ll leave now,” Andi said decisively. “We can’t afford to let this go on. We’ll shut it down, and stop Nor from being able to open the Void.”
Klaren shook her head. “If you wish to help me, if you wish to free your old crew and save Mirabel...then you must be patient. You must remain here, until we’re able to turn the tide of this war. Until we have more intel, and more of an idea of how to—”
Her words trailed off as footsteps pounded down the hallway.
Dex turned in time to see Soyina burst through the door, a male soldier at her side. Soleran, by the look of him, as if his very skin were made of diamonds.
“You need to see this,” Soyina said, marching toward Klaren, all her usual bravado gone, replaced by a soldier’s hard expression. The Soleran man followed behind, a holoscreen in his hands. “Show them. Quickly!”
He set it down beside the fire, tapping it with a crystalline fingertip so that a holo of the feeds appeared before them, blocking out some of the flames.
Andi sucked in a breath, and Dex’s eyes widened, shock coursing through him as he took in the scene.
Nor stood in General Cortas’s old office. Dex had been there once before, when Cyprian broke the news that he would be withholding Dex’s payment for intercepting Andi and her crew, until they all attended the Ucatoria Ball as guards.
He’d never gotten those damned Krevs.
With Nor were three figures that Dex had come to know very well.
“This message is for Androma Racella,” Nor said.
She looked so very real, that hideously wicked smile on her lips as Lira, Breck and Gilly knelt before her. They looked right into the camera, staring straight into Andi’s eyes.
“They’re alive,” Andi whispered beside Dex. She fell to her knees, kneeling before the girls, as if they were truly here with her in Klaren’s office. She reached out a hand, as if she could reach through the holo and touch them.
“It has come to my attention that you believe you are the true General of Arcardius,” Nor announced, glaring into the camera as she stood with her chin high and spoke her demands. “That you believe I am not the rightful ruler of Mirabel. My patience now grows thin, since you did not respond to my initial message.”
“What message?” Andi growled, looking up at Klaren and Soyina. “What is she talking about?”
“There was a demand,” Soyina said quietly. “Just before the attack. For you to journey to Arcardius and give yourself up, in exchange for your crew.”
“And you didn’t think to share that with me?” Andi cried.
Before they could respond, Nor continued, her image flickering for a moment. “My people are searching for you, Androma. They will find you, and bring you to me, dead or alive. You cannot run, and you cannot hide.”
“She lies.” Klaren spoke up from her droid. “She knows the truth about the weapons network. She will want you alive.”
Dex couldn’t look away from Andi, as she kept her gaze frozen on her crew.
“But I will allow you three more days to deliver yourself to my estate. If you do not arrive...” Nor held out her hands, gesturing to the girls kneeling in front of her. “Then your crew will not survive.”
A shadowy man, robed in black, appeared on the edge of the image. He placed a golden blade in Nor’s hands.
“What is he doing?” Andi whispered.
It was torture for her, Dex knew, to sit here and watch her crew, unable to help them.
The three of them remained motionless before Nor. Mere statues as she spoke above them. They didn’t move even as she began to circle them, that blade held in her hand.
Gilly, so small, her red hair still braided, as if she hadn’t changed one bit. Beside her, Lira and Breck were dressed in the uniforms of Xen Ptera. Otherwise, they looked the same, Lira like a regal bird, Breck a warrior who could tear down any enemy without so much as breaking a sweat.
And all three of them watched Nor, with that blade held out, as if they were staring at a godstar come down from the heavens.
“Who is your queen?” Nor asked the girls.
“You are,” they said in unison.
Andi pressed a hand to her mouth, covering her gasp. “No,” she said. “They would never bow to her.”
“The compulsion is strong,” Klaren explained.
Dex’s heart thumped against his ribs. A coldness moved through him as he stared at the blade in Nor’s hand.
“This is your first warning, Androma,” Nor
said, turning to look at the camera again, rouged lips curved in a feral smile. “Come unarmed to my estate, in three days’ time, or another will fall.”
“Another?” Dex asked, confused.
It happened so quickly.
Nor lifted the blade, turning her back to the camera as she swung toward the girl kneeling on the right.
Lira.
“NO!” Andi shouted.
Dex had only a moment to see Lira fall, her body crumpling to the floor of the office before the holo shut off.
Then only the flames remained, flickering happily as Andi screamed.
CHAPTER 27
ANDI
The slash of that blade...
The sound of Lira’s body hitting the floor...
Andi stood, turning to face Klaren as her entire body shook with rage.
Lira.
Her friend’s face peered up at her from her mind. Lira, so loyal and strong and brave. Lira, who always put the crew before herself. Lira, who had dared to run from a crown so she could instead follow her dreams.
“Andi,” Dex breathed from behind her. But she didn’t want to listen to the pain in his voice, the pity as he tried to comfort her. She barely felt him as he placed his hands upon her arms, his own body shaking, too.
For what they had just seen...
“It wasn’t real,” Andi said. She refused to believe it.
Still, for now, she was no longer Andi. She was the Bloody Baroness again, her body like a taut coil ready to spring. It was the only way to escape the pain, the fear, the desire to crumple into a pile of tears right here and now in this office. So she shoved the feelings down deep, replacing them with the only emotion that had never let her down.
Rage.
“We leave now,” Andi announced.
Silence filled the room.
“Come again?” Klaren asked.
“We leave now for Arcardius,” Andi snapped. “You wanted my cooperation. You wanted a general. Now you have both. Get me a damned ship and a crew.”
“You can’t just go right now!” Klaren protested, her droid’s eyes flashing with each word. “You’ll walk right into what is clearly a trap.”
“My pilot, Lira,” Andi started. “My friend was just...” Her words fell away as Dex squeezed her arms. She took a deep breath, shoving that pain back down as it tried to bubble back up in the form of tears.
The Bloody Baroness did not cry.
“I don’t care if it’s a trap,” Andi said decisively. “You want the General of Arcardius, well, I’m the damned general. I’m going to Arcardius, I’m shutting down that weapons system and I’ll shove a blade through Nor’s throat in the process.”
“I can’t allow that,” Klaren said. “Not like this.”
“You have no ownership over me, Arachnid,” Andi hissed. “A ship. Now.”
“In time, yes. But now that we know for certain Nor is aware of your general status, we must be smart. We must take some time to make a move, consider all of our options—”
“I don’t have any time to waste!” Andi yelled. In her mind, she saw Lira falling. She saw Breck and Gilly, gazing up at Nor as if they truly loved her, as if she were their one true queen.
In one motion, Andi drew her blades, swinging them until the electricity crackled on and they hovered mere inches from Klaren’s throat. “I am leaving. Now. Whether you like it or not.”
“Enough,” Dex said.
His hands had left her arms, and now he was suddenly standing before Andi. Suddenly those blades were pointed not at Klaren, but at him. Directly above his throat.
“Move,” Andi snarled.
Dex shook his head, his eyes wide and pleading. “Andi, please. I want her dead, too. I want Nor’s head on a spike for what she just did...”
“It wasn’t real,” Andi said through gritted teeth.
“I don’t want it to be real, either,” Dex said, those blades still hovering over his throat. “I want to make her pay. I want the girls to be free. I want... I want all of this to have never happened, Andi. But it did. It is happening. And you have the power to stop it. But not like this. You go there, you rush to Arcardius, and Nor will be waiting. She’ll trap you, use you to control the weapons system and all will be lost.”
Every muscle in Andi’s body was screaming.
She wanted to swing those blades.
She wanted Nor before her, kneeling as she made the queen’s head roll.
“We’ll get our revenge,” Dex assured her. He looked to Klaren, who had stepped aside now and was watching them with widened eyes. True fear was written on her face. “But we can’t go like this. You’ve never gone into a mission without a plan. Without a crew.”
“I have a crew,” Andi growled. “They’re next to face Nor’s blade if I don’t go.”
“And you will go,” Dex said. “But—”
“But not without a ship,” Klaren cut in. “I am sorry for your loss, General. Deeply sorry. But such are the ways of this war. And if we wish to win it, then I cannot allow you to embark on a mission that will surely end in the loss of our only true weapon against Nor and Valen. You will not take a ship. You will not take a crew. I will do whatever it takes to stop you, and I can promise you, General...you will fail if you try.”
Soyina cleared her throat. “Perhaps we should give the general some time to consider, Arachnid. Perhaps we should reconvene in an hour or two, in light of recent events?”
“Reconvene?” Andi snapped back. “Why reconvene when you’ve already made up your minds not to let me go?”
“We will not hand you over in order to save two, when you could save the many,” Klaren said. “So for now, you will remain here, beneath my care and protection.”
“I am not yours to protect,” Andi said.
“You are within my Underground, and therefore, you will abide by my rules.”
“Rules?” Andi barked out another laugh. “You can’t keep me here.”
“You are one woman. I have hundreds who will stand in your way. I don’t care how deadly or desperate you are, General. No one is leaving this place today.”
Andi looked to Dex. “You’re with them on this?”
He held out his hands, looking hopeless. “No, Andi. I’m with you, and that means keeping you from walking right into what is clearly your own death. And for what? You show up there, Andi, you hand yourself over, and they still win. Your crew will still be prisoners to the compulsion. They won’t be free. Not truly. They’ll use you to blast off those weapons and...” His eyes had actual tears in them now. “Godstars, Androma, I’m begging you right now... Please, just wait. There has to be another way.”
Seeing Dex’s anguish, Andi’s anger slowly began to dissipate.
Now all that was left was sorrow.
For she knew that they were right. She knew, yet again, that she was powerless to save her crew.
Andi turned off her swords, the electricity fizzling out. Dex let out a deep sigh as she placed them back into their sheaths.
“Thank you,” he said. “Now—”
But Andi turned away.
She could listen no longer, when the image of Lira’s body still haunted her, the cracked mask of the Baroness not enough to hold it at bay.
She found herself walking away from the group. Ignoring them calling after her as she stepped, one foot in front of the other, into the darkness.
For now, it seemed, the darkness was her greatest friend.
CHAPTER 28
NOR
“Well done, my soldier,” Nor said.
She smiled at the Adhiran girl lying on the ground, arms splayed on either side of her body like a fallen bird.
Beside her, the other two members of Androma’s crew stood, grins on their faces as they watched Nor.
“She’ll come for us
now,” Gilly said, glancing down. “Lira was always her favorite.”
“And when she does come, she won’t be alone,” Breck responded. She looked at Lira’s body, too, as if she were contemplating an interesting portrait.
For a moment, Nor was almost convinced that the Adhiran truly was dead.
But then she rose, just as she had in that ballroom during Ucatoria, a smirk on her face as she looked at her queen. “Was it convincing?”
“Very,” Gilly answered. “Andi’s probably losing her shit.”
“Language,” Breck hissed. She lowered her voice, eyes widening. “We’re in front of the queen.”
“It’s alright,” Nor said.
It struck her then, as she watched the crew, that they truly were a sisterhood. All of them, like extensions of the others. Nor had never had any female friends before—someone to lean on, someone to share the world with.
She’d had far better with Zahn.
Anger swept through her, followed by a surge of grief, and she found that she could not look upon this crew—this family—any longer.
It would be such a shame when she actually had to kill one of them to prove a point to Androma. For if she didn’t come, the blade wouldn’t be dull.
It would be sharp enough to sever one of their heads.
“You’ve earned your rest for the day,” Darai said to the crew, standing from his place in the corner of the room. He took the false blade from Nor, placing it into his robes before looking back to the girls. “Head to the barracks. Tell no one of our plan. We’ll summon you if we have need of you again.”
The girls bowed to Nor before they left, all three of them looking as if they could take flight from the joy of serving their queen.
Nor hated their happiness.
The room was silent for only a moment after they left. Then Darai turned, hands clasped together as he looked at Nor. “Have you given any thought to my proposition, Majesty?”
Nor took a seat, her body weary. But she found that every inch of her itched with the need to move. To do something, for the longer she sat, the more the pain of losing Zahn haunted her.
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