by Rachel Bach
“Morris!”
I cringed. That was Caldswell, and he was close. Much closer than I liked.
Deviana, Maat pleaded in my head. I couldn’t see her with my cameras on, but I could feel her hands reaching through my armor, tugging on my arm. Deviana, we have to go.
I glared at Hyrek one last time as I holstered my gun. There was no point in threatening him anymore. Even if killing Hyrek could have stopped the alarm, we both knew I didn’t have the heart. “I’ll get you for that,” I promised, running out the door. Behind me, I heard a sound like cans being crushed in a grinder as Hyrek called his reply. I didn’t know what that meant since I didn’t speak lizard, but I chose to think it was Good luck.
The medbay was on high alert when I came out. All the doctors had pressed themselves against the walls to stay out of the armored Paradoxian’s way, proving they were the smart ones. Unfortunately, I had no idea where to go next.
Hurry, Maat whispered, flooding my brain with urgency. Hurry!
I didn’t need her to tell me that. With a thought, I flipped my suit into combat mode, letting my computer take over as I picked a direction and started running, trusting my Lady to jump and bend and slide me around any obstacles. I spotted Caldswell the second I got into the hall, but what really concerned me was that I didn’t see Mabel, which meant she was probably a lot closer than I wanted her. So, since I couldn’t be sure, I turned and ran in the other direction.
Symbionts could outrun me no sweat on open ground, but in the chaos of the damaged battleship, I had the advantage. While the captain and Mabel had only their eyes, the combination of my 360-degree view and my density scanner fed my Lady all the information she needed to keep moving. And move we did. With Maat right beside me, the phantom’s disruptive aura didn’t so much as flicker my display. I raced around the corner, my suit moving so smoothly it felt like I was flying as I cleared the back of the medbay and charged into what looked like a central troop staging area.
This way, Maat said, and then, before I had a chance to remind her I couldn’t see where she was pointing, a map shoved its way into my head, showing me the path across the battleship to the docking tube on the other side.
I had no idea where the end of that docking tube connected, but off the ship was good enough for me. I changed direction midstep, thinking through Maat’s map in a way my suit could understand. After that, the route appeared on my computer, and I didn’t even have to make choices. I just followed my suit, running faster and faster past confused soldiers and technicians until, at last, I reached a huge open staging bay with bold arrows painted on the floor, pointing the way toward a wide, plastic tunnel at the far end.
Battleships like this one were too big to dock at most stations, so they made do with collapsible plastic tubes that could be extended to lock into a docking bay, forming an enclosed path from ship to station. Unsurprisingly, the docking tube for this ship was big enough to drive a tank down. There actually were a few tanks lashed down in the bay around me, ready for deployment, but I didn’t have time to give them more than a passing glance before I launched myself at the exit.
The tunnel was guarded by a wide, heavy exterior door, but they must have been pretty secure in their connection, because it had been locked open when the ship’s power shut down. There was also clearly supposed to be a shield in place, but it was down at the moment, and I was able to enter the tunnel no problem. As soon as I was inside, the door’s exterior locking panel flickered to life, and I flipped up my visor to see Maat working on it, her fingers flexing inside the machinery just as the door slammed closed. Maat pulled her hand back and made a fist, then slammed it down again, destroying the lock in a shower of sparks.
There, she said, snarling at the closed door. Rot in your prison.
The cold hate in her voice made me shiver, but I didn’t have time to be squeamish. Even though we’d made it out and broken the door so he couldn’t follow, I didn’t let myself believe for a second that we were safe from Caldswell. He’d be beating his way to us any second, which meant we needed to get a move on. First, though, I intended to find out where we were moving to.
We were now on the opposite side of the battleship from the fighter bay where the phantom had spoken to me, but I could still see the fight. Counting the ship we’d just left and the one behind it that the lelgis had opened fire on before the emperor phantom’s counter-attack, there were four Republic battleships in total. Four battleships were normally considered a hell of a lot of firepower, enough to squash any rebelling colony, but next to the lelgis it wasn’t even a blip.
The docking tube was clear all the way around, made of self-formed collapsible plastic with battery lights. There were no wires, no ribs, nothing at all to block my view of the lelgis fleet that had closed in around us like a fist. The emperor phantoms were there as well, three of them now, but even they looked small and helpless in the face of so many ships. Thousands of ships, and behind them, the huge shadow of the queen was still lurking, visible only in the flashes of blue fire and the stars she blotted out.
Deviana?
I took a deep breath and turned to Maat only to find she’d moved ahead of me in the tunnel, her ghostly bare feet moving over the hardened flat plastic floor without even a whisper. The cloud of phantoms around her had only gotten thicker, but the tiny bugs weren’t looking at her. They were looking at me, their tentacles waving, and for a moment, I almost thought I could hear their small voices in my mind, begging me to hurry.
“Where am I going?” I asked.
Maat raised her dark eyebrows and pointed down the tunnel.
With Armageddon going on outside, I supposed I could be forgiven for missing the space station. Honestly, though, even if the lelgis fleet hadn’t been bearing down on me, I would have had a hard time spotting it, because the station at the end of the docking tunnel was painted matte black. There were no identifiers on its surface, no numbers, not even guide lights to mark its edges, though that could have been due to power loss. Still, I would have bet my suit that the station wouldn’t have been lit up, phantoms or no. Everything about it spoke of hiding and secrecy, even its old-fashioned diamond construction with four pointed arms radiating from a central generator core like rays on a star, which made it look like an evil Terran base straight out of a classic Paradoxian war movie. Cinematics aside, the cross star shape was actually very fitting when I realized at last what I was looking at.
“Dark Star Station,” I muttered, glaring down the tunnel. The fortress they’d built to hold Maat, the heart of everything that had gone so wrong. It was smaller than I’d expected, and very plain, which was really a shame since nine to ten odds said it was going to be my grave. I’d hoped to smash up something really impressive, but I guessed this made more sense. Whoever heard of a beautiful secret government base?
“Come on,” I said, starting down the tunnel. “Let’s get this over with.”
Why?
Her question made me skip a step, forcing my suit to catch me as I whipped around to face her. “Excuse me?”
Maat folded her arms over her medical gown. I got you out of the ship to get away from Brian. But we’re safe now, so why wait? I’m here. You’re here. She held out her hand, her fingers glimmering as the phantoms scurried over her palm to get away from me. Give me what you promised, she demanded. Give me my death.
“I can’t yet,” I said, glaring at her. “If I kill you here, every daughter dies.”
Maat doesn’t care, Maat said, her eyes glittering dangerously. Maat never asked for daughters.
“They didn’t ask for you, either,” I snapped. “But they’re yours now, and I won’t kill them if I don’t have to.”
I’d actually been thinking about this in the back of my head ever since my talk with Dr. Starchild. Caldswell’s story about doing my testing on a Republic deep hyperspace ship had given me an idea, and facing Maat now gave me the final push I needed to put it all together. I just had to pray she was sane enough to un
derstand.
“I have a plan,” I said calmly. “In order to let the phantoms go home and keep my promise to you, I need to kill you. But if I infect you with the virus now, it will spread to all your daughters.”
So? Maat said, shrugging. They’re part of me now. If I want to die, that’s what they want, too. She glared at me. Do it.
“No,” I said firmly. Seeing Ren die as she wept over her father’s body was what had started me down this path in the first place. As wrong as I knew Maat had been done, I’d be damned if I let her kill the poor girls who’d been just as abused simply because she was impatient. But Maat clearly didn’t see it that way.
No, her voice ripped through my mind, sending the phantoms fleeing as her body began to tremble with rage. You can’t do this to me. Not now. Not when I’m so close. She stepped forward. I will kill you if you betray me!
Her presence plunged into my mind as she spoke, reaching for the virus. But Maat had always said my plasmex was tiny, impossible to find. This was clearly true, or she would have grabbed it already. So, though the invasion of her hands in my head galled me, I kept my temper, refusing to give her so much as a taste of what she sought.
“I’m not going to betray you,” I said calmly. “I swear to the Sacred King that I will set you free, you and the phantoms, just not here.”
Then where? Maat’s eyes gleamed madly as she threw her arm up, pointing at the beautiful glowing shapes of the emperor phantoms as they faced off against the lelgis. They are fighting and dying for you, and you would make them wait longer? They cannot hold the lelgis forever. When they fall, it is over. The queens will tear you apart and all will be lost.
I took a deep breath. She had a point, but I’d made up my mind and I would not back down. I’d never been anything if not ambitious, and with only one shot to get it right, I was going to ace it, all of it, or die trying. “If that’s the case, then you’d better quiet down and listen,” I told her, putting my hands on my hips. “This is my virus, which means my rules. I’m going to get you everything you want, so do you want to shut up and find out how, or do you want to keep fighting over it?”
Maybe it doesn’t matter, Maat snarled, glaring daggers at me. You claim to be in charge, but Deviana’s temper is worse than Brian’s. It’s only a matter of time before you slip up.
“Don’t count on that,” I snapped. “I’m not the same woman I was. I learn and I survive, and if you think I’m going to forget myself and just hand you this virus, you’re in for a rude surprise. Now are you ready to hear the plan or not?”
Maat narrowed her eyes, and for one tense moment I could actually see her fighting it out with herself, her lips moving in a silent argument. Whichever side was arguing for me must have won, because a second later she motioned for me to go ahead.
“Good,” I said. “But first, let’s get something straight. Is it true you can’t talk to your daughters in hyperspace?”
Maat nodded. Even Maat can’t go outside the universe.
I grinned. Bingo. “Here’s the plan, then,” I said. “I’m going to break you out of that station, steal a ship, and jump into hyperspace, separating you from your daughters. Once we’re out there, you clean the virus out of me. I’ll get to live, and you’ll get your death just like you want, without taking the daughters with you. With you gone, the door will be open and the phantoms can go home. It’s win-win all around.”
My words came faster and faster as I spoke, my heartbeat speeding up in time. Out loud, my plan sounded even better. I was so close, so close to pulling it all off, to getting everything I wanted and living to tell about it. But Maat didn’t look convinced.
No, she said softly. It won’t work.
I stopped short. “Why not?”
You can’t get to Maat, she said with a helpless shrug. The Dark Star might be old, but it’s been built up over decades to do only one thing: keep Maat in. The entire place is a labyrinth designed to confuse and trap anyone who enters without clearance. Even Brenton was never suicidal enough to assault the Dark Star directly, and he’s much stronger than you. It’s simply impossible for you to reach Maat. All you’d do is get yourself killed and ruin everything.
“What do you mean ruin everything?” I said. “You said if I die, the virus goes free.”
That was back on Reaper’s ship, Maat replied, indignant. There, Maat was set up to catch you, and only if it was the virus itself doing the killing. If you die to a bullet with your virus still dormant, you’ll just be dead.
“Then I’ll make sure to get mad before I go,” I said. Shouldn’t be hard; failing now would certainly make me angry enough for a final black-hands hurrah. “That way even if I fail, all you’d have to do is be ready to catch.”
Maat refuses, Maat said, shoving the words into my mind like needles. You will not risk my freedom or theirs—she nodded at the phantoms crawling over her shoulders—on a stupid gamble.
I sighed. Deep down, part of me agreed with her. It would be much safer to just stop here, give her the virus, and be done with it. That’s what a smart merc would do, take the sure bet, keep her nose clean, get the job done. Trouble was, I’d stopped being a merc at some point over the last week. I wasn’t sure what I was anymore exactly, but on one thing I was absolutely certain: I was not going to throw anyone to the wolves on this. Not Maat, not the phantoms, and certainly not the daughters, whose plight was the kicked kitten that had made me take up this stupid crusade in the first place. I didn’t care if it was nigh impossible. Risk brought reward, and I was too close, had fought too hard, to give up mine now.
“This is not a negotiation,” I told Maat, crossing my arms over my chest. “I know the Eyes have hyperdrive-capable ships in there.” I could actually see the station’s docks now that I was looking for them, four in fact. One of them had to have something we could use. “And if they don’t, I’ll have you. Caldswell would jump a battleship to save your life, and then you take the virus and make a fool out of him.”
I’d thought that image would cheer Maat up, but all she did was bury her face in her hands. You’ll die, she moaned. It’s not fair. You get to die and Maat doesn’t. Maat wants to—
“You should be hoping I die,” I snapped. “Because if I go down at any point during all of this, I swear to the Sacred King that I will give up my virus freely. I’ll cover myself in all the black you could ever want, and you can grab it and die at your leisure, no wait, no fuss. But until that point, I’m going to try, and if you care about anything other than your own suffering, you’ll help me.”
Maat dropped her hands as I spoke, her stricken look turning thoughtful as I explained. By the time I was finished, she was staring at me like she was trying to take my measure, worrying her bottom lip between her teeth, and for a fleeting moment I caught a glimpse of the clever, thoughtful girl she must have been once, back before everything went so wrong.
All right, she said at last. Maat will help. Maat thinks you’re crazy, but Maat will help.
I rolled my eyes. The craziest lady in the universe thought I was nuts, but if she really was ready to help, I wasn’t going to argue. We’d lost enough time already.
I turned and started jogging down the plastic tunnel, doing my best to keep my mind off the terrifying battle going on outside and on my own mission. “Can you tell me what’s going on inside the station?”
A little, Maat said, frowning. Maat has been angry lately, so they’ve been drugging me a lot. They woke me up when the first emperor phantom came, but I held back my aura and let the phantom shut down the station. Her voice was smug as she said that last part, and I knew she was reveling in their fear. It’s still out, but Maat can hear them in the other room talking about drugging me again. If they do that, Maat will sleep. When that happens, the power will come back and all the station security with it.
I made a face. That didn’t sound fun. “How much longer have we got?”
Not long, Maat replied. She was shaking now, her thoughts bleeding into mine
. She hated being drugged. Hated it. Now that I’d experienced the anti-plasmex cocktail myself, I couldn’t say I blamed her.
“I need you to fight them and keep the power off as long as you can,” I said. “I also need you to stick with me and keep my suit functioning.” Having the only working piece of hardware in a shutdown station was a vital advantage if I was going to have a prayer of pulling this off. But while I’d thought this was obvious, Maat’s brush against my mind only felt confused.
You don’t need Maat for that.
“What are you talking about?” I said. “You’re the only reason I’m still online.”
She shook her head so hard her hair flew. Maat hasn’t touched your suit.
I looked at her, then back at the dark ship behind us, and then down at my suit, which was functioning just like it always did. “How is that possible?”
Because you’re like me, her voice whispered in my mind, bringing with it a feeling of connection not unlike what the lelgis had shown me when they were trying to demonstrate the oneness. Your range is very small, of course, because your plasmex is like a tiny grain of sand. Still, it is enough.
She said this like she was telling me I’d never walk again, but I wasn’t listening. I was too busy studying my suit. All my systems were perfectly normal, my power humming along to all segments without so much as a sputter, even when I stretched my hand out as far as I could. But when I took the test further, slinging Mia out of her holster and placing her on the floor, her charge light flickered out before I’d backed off three feet.
“Well, I’ll be,” I said softly, leaning down to scoop up my plasma shotgun again. “So, what? Am I like a daughter now?”
Maat shrugged helplessly. Who knows? Maat’s never seen anything like you. But then, no one had seen anything like Maat before, either.
I sighed. Great, sisters in freakdom. But unlike everything else the virus had done to me, canceling out the phantom’s aura was a welcome development. One I meant to use to my utmost tactical advantage.
