Queen of Hearts

by Michael-Scott Earle

  “Yes,” he said. “One of us was chosen to destroy them, but we are both alive. You are the champion, and I will help guide you. But I will explain that when we are on your ship. Now, let me show you to your armory.”

  “Alright,” I said as I followed Kuroda and Bastia out of the planning room of the castle. We walked through half a dozen different colored marble corridors before we finally came to a set of steel doors. Four heavily armored warriors carrying shotguns guarded the entrance, but they saluted us and stood aside when we approached.

  “Damn,” I said as soon as we walked inside. “This is one hell of an armory.”

  The room was about eight times the size of Persephone’s armory. Hundreds of cartridge firearms were displayed on the far wall. The left wall held an assortment of laser and heavier plasma rifles. The right wall was loaded with various armored suits, and the shelves in the center of the room were organized with ammo, belts, and grenades.

  “It is yours now, Tiger,” Kuroda said. “Once you are ready, we will set the stage and allow your enemies to fall into our trap.”

  “Got it,” I said as I walked over to the armor. I quickly found a suit that was large enough to handle my shift. It was a bit bulkier than the one I normally wore, but I guessed it would be as effective. The new suit was made of smooth plates with a dark forest digital camo pattern on the exterior.

  “Ahh, I was about to recommend that to you,” Kuroda said as he grabbed a matching, but slightly smaller suit. “This model has a surprise you will appreciate.”

  “Oh?” I asked as I unfastened the latches and began to put the plates on.

  “Yes,” he replied. “I will show you as soon as you have it on.”

  “Eh,” I grunted as I continued my work. The suit was easy enough to put on, but I couldn’t remember the last time I’d put on armor without Eve, Zea, Madalena, Paula, or Kasta helping me. Hell, even when I was attempting to complete my rite on Nordar - 13 - a, Hegeia, Uma, and Waiola had helped me.

  Maybe a bit of practice on my own wasn’t such a bad idea.

  “Alright. It is on,” I said as I tapped on the thick collar part that was set around the neck of the armor. “What is this?”

  “Controls are on your right and left wrist,” he said as he pointed to the small touchpad of his own armor. “The same buttons are on each side so you can use them with whichever hand. The first button is the expandable helmet.”

  “Great,” I said. “I needed a helmet. Will it fit my head?” I pressed the button, and the collar expanded to circle the top and rear of my skull, leaving the face still exposed, but then a thin layer of clear material slid in place.

  “It should,” he said. “The armor of the helmet should stop most smaller rounds and protect you from short bursts of a laser.”

  “Got it,” I said as I pressed the button again. The helmet slid from around my head.

  “The next button is the cloaking mechanism.”

  “Ohhh damn,” I gasped as I pressed the button. The edges of the suit flickered, and then the green digital camo paint shifted so that it looked as if I wasn’t standing there.

  “It will be overloaded if you move too quickly, but if you stand still, you will escape most detection. The suit is even insulated from heat, but advanced sensors will still pick it up.”

  “Does it work on the helmet also?” I asked as I moved my arm through the air.

  “Yes, but the effect is limited to the surface of the armor, so your weapons and gun belts will not be cloaked.”

  “Ahh,” I said as I turned off the button. I figured this would be useful, but if I couldn’t move with it on, or have weapons that would also be hidden, its use would be limited.

  “Now for the weapons,” he said as he gestured to the other two walls. “We have virtually every type of firearm you could wish for.”

  “No shit,” I said as I walked over to stand beside Kuroda. There weren’t five square centimeters of open space on the three-meter high wall, and I had to take a few moments to stare with appreciation.

  Damn, I loved guns, and this room must have had over three hundred different styles of weapons.

  Small pistols made for concealed carry. Large pistols that were big enough to fit comfortably in my tiger-man hands. Submachine guns with single barrels and sleek magazines. Double-barreled carbines that looked as if they could vomit hundred of bullets every second. Bulky rifles with grenade launcher attachments. Sleeker sniper rifles with deep magazines.

  And of course, shotguns.

  My eyes were drawn to a model that looked similar to the one with the drum magazine I normally carried. But instead of a drum, it had a wide box attached to the feeder. I reached up to pull it from the wall, and I felt a bit surprised by how light it was.

  “Ahh, that is a shrapnel sprayer,” Kuroda said.

  “I have heard of these,” I said as I moved to set it back. “The Elaka Nota troops will be armored, and the flechette rounds will just bounce off what they are wearing.”

  “I would agree with you,” the dragon-man said as he set his hand on the shotgun to keep me from putting it away, “but this particular weapon shoots armor-piercing shrapnel. If it doesn’t cut through the armor and kill your target instantly, then they will have wished it had.”

  “Armor piercing, huh?” I asked as I looked down at the weapon again.

  “Each ammo box will hold sixteen shots. Each shot costs more than most wealthy families spend on food during a year, but you are the emperor of our systems now, Tiger. You should use the weapon to distribute the fangs of justice to your enemies.”

  “I’m sold,” I said, and I felt my lips curve up into a wide smile.

  Elaka Nota wouldn’t know what the fuck hit them, but they would be sorry that they chased after me.

  “It is a good choice,” he said.

  “I’ll take those two big pistols with the green grips,” I said as I looked up to the pair near the top of the weapons wall. Despite Kuroda saying he had every weapon I could want, I didn’t see a big ass revolver to replace the one I had damaged when I killed Madalena’s father.

  “Another excellent choice,” the dragon-man said as he pressed a button on the wall. His gesture caused the wall to shift, and the pistols slid down so that I could grab them. They were still a bit smaller than the ones I was used to carrying, but it looked as if the bullet caliber was the same.

  “You do not wish to look at the energy weapons?” he asked as he gestured to the wall to our left.

  “Naw,” I said. “Laser weapons always seemed like a liability. The last thing I need is a misfire, and I want to leave a few people alive so that Eve can question them, so I’ll skip the plasma rifles.”

  “It is also your nature,” he said as a smile spread across his lips. “Tiger craves simple and effective. The weapons you have selected suit you very well. Since my role is to complement you, I will pick one of the longer ranged rifles and a submachine gun, in case I need to come in close.”

  “Got it,” I said as Kuroda made his weapon selection. Part of me wondered if he planned on betraying me. Yeah, he could have killed me already if he wanted to, but I still didn’t know the man that well, and none of my friends were around to back me up. I didn’t really like the idea of me being in an alley gun fight while a man who had tried to kill me a few days ago had the crosshairs of a sniper rifle dancing over my shoulders.

  But Kuroda had given me his empire, his harem, and his wives. He genuinely seemed to want to serve me, and I had to admit that I was starting to like the guy. I really didn’t have any male friends. Yeah, I had tried to build a relationship with Mikhael, but the Nordar man hadn’t quite warmed up to me yet. I figured we would get there, but I did like the idea of having a guy friend. Especially if I knew he didn’t want to compete with me.

  I walked over to the ammo shelves and picked out a weapon harness. Then I filled up eight magazines of pistol ammo and found the shelf where the shotgun ammo was stored. The boxes were a bit bulkier t
han the drums I normally carried for my shotgun, but I found spots on the backside of the webbing to hold them comfortably. Kuroda finished his load out a few minutes after me, and we nodded to each other.

  “Now we will destroy your enemies,” he said.

  “I’m liking the sound of that,” I replied as we exited the armory. Bastia was standing in the hallway along with eight other warriors. The men all were equipped with armor that looked similar to what Kuroda and I wore.

  “I will give your enemies permission to dock, Emperor,” Bastia said. “Then we can begin the herding plan.”

  “Do it,” I said. In reality, I didn’t even need to participate. I could have ordered the soldiers here to attack Elaka Nota and capture two or three hostages. However, Kuroda had convinced me I needed to participate in this bloodsport, he wanted a chance to show me what power I could obtain, and he hinted it might help fix the insanity that was growing in my mind.

  I didn’t know if I believed all that, but I sure as fuck liked killing Elaka Nota assholes, and I was tired of running away from them. This did seem like a perfect opportunity for me to strike back at them and then figure out how they kept following us across the universe.

  “We will travel to the first staging area,” Kuroda said after Bastia used his transponder to communicate to Wobbegong’s harbormaster.

  The group of men and I walked down another hallway, through another grand junction room, and down a set of stairs. We were soon in a basement garage that was at least five times the size of Persephone’s hold. The concrete space was filled with at least forty military vehicles, but I didn’t have much time to study them. Kuroda gestured to a large craft that looked part hover car, part tank, and the group walked toward it.

  “If you do not mind, I will drive,” Kuroda said as we approached the armored vehicle. It was plated and green like a turtle but had a sleek design that screamed race car speed. The front part had an armored glass windshield, and the back of it suddenly opened up vertically to reveal ten seats. Our guards sprinted to take their positions, and I stepped up into the cab of the vehicle so that I could sit next to Kuroda.

  The engine of the hovercar roared to life as soon as my new partner pressed a green button on the dash, and a distant light in the garage illuminated a moving wall. The dragon-man pressed on the accelerator lever, and we shot toward the moving wall like a fired arrow.

  The armored vehicle fishtailed a bit when it hit the street outside of the castle walls, and a group of pedestrians jumped out of the way to avoid getting hit. Kuroda didn’t seem to care if people were in his way, but I figured that the hovercraft was too high off the ground to run over anyone.

  The craft picked up speed when we hit the major street of the station’s Red District where Kuroda’s castle was located, and it only took us five minutes to make it to the Yellow District. Kuroda had told me this was their docking zone for potential hostiles, and the harbor threaded out into narrow streets that could be sealed off through a central guard post.

  Taking care of Elaka Nota would be akin to shooting fish in a barrel, but I wasn’t going to assume that everything would go smoothly. These fuckers were like cockroaches, and I knew I would eventually have to return to their nest if I wanted to take care of them forever.

  “Here is your position,” Kuroda said as he slammed on the brakes of the vehicle. We were in front of the first set of narrow passages that filter people from the harbor and into the central plaza of the Yellow District. There were shops, homes, and restaurants located in this area, but all the citizens had already been told to evacuate.

  “Got it,” I said as I opened my door and pointed to the station high up on a building in the far corner of the plaza. “You’ll be there?”

  “Yes, Tiger,” he said. “I will communicate to you through your helmet and alert you to positions that you might not see, but I will leave you command of the ground forces here. Your cyborgs are already positioned at the far sides of the funnel, and will close in when you give the command.”

  “Alright,” I said as I stepped out. “Good luck.”

  “You do not need luck. You are Tiger.”

  “Maybe you need it then,” I said as I winked at the man.

  “Ha! Fair enough.”

  Bastia and the other soldiers exited the vehicle, and I gestured for them to take their positions at the far side of the passages. Another two squads of warriors arrived once Kuroda pulled away, and I gave them the order to post at the passages near me. The narrow streets looked like the teeth of a comb, and we were all able to position ourselves on the edges of the walls so that anyone coming from the other side would not see us.

  “Hey, Dragon,” I said after I turned my helmet on. “What is the status of the ships?”

  “Bastia?” Kuroda asked.

  “We have given all four permission to dock,” Bastia answered through my helmet. “But only two are approaching.”

  “That’s smart,” I said. “They don’t want to attach their entire squadron to your docks. We’ll need to move fast once we pincher them. Do you have ships that can attack the ones that haven’t docked? I don’t want them to escape.”

  “You have ten warships we can deploy,” Bastia said. “They are on yellow alert, but I will move them to orange and have them prepare to attack the two that linger.”

  “Good,” I said as I reviewed the plan in my head.

  It was a simple strategy, but not without flaws. The idea was that Elaka Nota would dock their ships, and they would be given the instructions to meet with the Yellow District’s harbor master in the far plaza junction for processing and a security briefing. The route given would bring their entourage through the narrow comb passages and into our midst. Then the passages would be sealed from behind, Kuroda would identify who seemed to be in charge, and we’d kill almost everyone else.

  There were three potential problems: First was that Elaka Nota might not exit their ship. It was unlikely, since their whole purpose in coming to this station was probably to hunt for Eve, Persephone, and me. Still, if they just stayed inside of their ships, we’d have to figure out how to entice them to come out.

  I would probably just issue the order to destroy them at that point and not worry about taking a hostage for questioning.

  The second potential problem would have been them sending drones out to scout first. We’d have to shoot the machines down, and they would realize it was a trap and not come out. To offset this chance, the traffic controller had been instructed to tell the captains of the Elaka Nota ships that drones were not allowed in the station.

  The third problem would occur if we were unable to capture and eliminate whatever force that came into the station. They would communicate back with the remaining forces on their ships, and either hole up, or try to leave. To offset that risk, we deployed a short-range transponder jammer. Our encrypted communications would get through, but it would take them a few minutes to figure out that they weren’t getting signals back to their ships.

  And then it would be too late.

  It would be easy enough for us to just kill all of the Elaka Nota forces. I could have ordered their destruction when they first came into orbit, or I could order their destruction now. I wouldn’t even have to lift a finger since Dragon had made it clear I was now in charge of a significant military.

  However, the strange man had told me that sitting back and letting others take care of my problems was not Tiger, and I needed to be part of this mission if I wanted to attempt and control my insanity.

  “The ships have completed docking,” Bastia said over our helmet transponders. “I will update when they exit.”

  We waited for a handful of minutes, and I felt my mind wander to thoughts of my lovers. It was weird not having them at my side, or speaking to me through my transponder, but it was also a bit freeing. I cared about not losing any of the men I was with, but I didn’t care that much. If Madalena, Eve, Zea, Paula, and Kasta had been at my side, my first priority would have been t
o protect them.

  Maybe Kuroda was right when he thought I’d get a lot out of this experience.

  “A team of twenty have left each of the ships, so forty in total,” Bastia said. “Each group is similar in composition: Eighteen Marines wearing medium density armor, one carrying a case which I believe holds aerial drones, and a commanding officer in lighter armor.”

  “We’ll keep both officers alive,” I said. “Attempt to kill the drone operators first.” Two groups of twenty was a bit more than I expected, but the comb-like passages that they had to go through would force a gauntlet that would mean easy work for us.

  “They have exited the dock and entered the harbor,” Bastia said. “They have paused and are considering their next steps. I do not understand the language they speak, but I believe that they are nervous because of the lack of citizens in the harbor.

  “It’s Malay,” I said. “Or at least, it once was. Elaka Nota is from the Trappist systems, and the first settlers were Malaysian. They will keep coming. They came all the way out here to find me.”

  “Understood, Emperor,” Bastia replied. “We will be ready.”

  Another minute of silence passed, and then Bastia said that they were starting to advance again.

  “Tiger,” Kuroda said through my transponder. “You should take your true form.”

  I was about to argue with him that it was not my true form, but I didn’t want to get into a discussion with the man right before we engaged in a firefight. He was right about me shifting since I wanted every edge I could get.

  The beast in my stomach screamed as he filled my blood, muscles, and mind. The sensation was somewhat of a welcome pain, and I realized that protecting my women hadn’t driven the shift. Granted, my finding out how these fuckers kept tracking us would protect my women, but the threat was very far removed.

  I was shifting now just because I wanted their death and blood. Not because I was really protecting anyone.

  My fur covered body pressed against the new suit of armor. It was tight, but comfortable, and I guessed that I would be able to move just fine in it. I hit the button on my wrist to turn on the helmet, and the visor fit over my tiger-maw. The suit didn’t feel as comfortable as the one I was used to wearing, but I did like how it had armor to protect my head, and I figured that the cloaking mechanism would prove useful.