by Chris Fox
“Bord,” Aran called as he approached the ward. “We’re secure.”
The shimmering, white ward winked out of existence, and revealed a placid governor and her aides. Only Nimitz wore his stress openly, which manifested as a vague aura of annoyance.
“And that’s a wrap,” Tharn’s warm voice sounded from behind him, and Aran tensed, but didn’t turn to face her. He’d forgotten that all this was being recorded, and if he turned, cameras would be waiting.
Aran again forgot all about the cameras when Hernandez strode up to Crewes, and the sergeant fell back to chat with her. Something eased in his chest. Aran didn’t know most of the Marines who’d died, but he’d spoken with this one, and knowing she lived helped somehow. The battle had cost them, but they’d held the line.
“Archeologist Tharn,” the governor’s imposing voice echoed through the room. “A word, please? Lieutenant Aran, would you join us as well?” She led them over to the far corner of the room, which was as isolated as they could get given the circumstances.
Aran risked a glance at Nimitz, and was unsurprised to see the admiral frowning in his direction. He wasn’t sure why the governor had excluded him, but it seemed a tactical error.
“Our options,” Governor Bhatia began, “are rather limited. We have no choice but to stay here, and try to live as long as possible. But that does not mean we are powerless. Tharn, presumably you recorded that last battle?”
“I was about to upload it.” She nodded at the governor, showing none of the deference everyone else did. Tharn folded her arms. “What do you have in mind?”
“Before you do, I’d like you to interview some of the Marines for additional commentary. Pick people local to New Texas. Tell their stories.” Bhatia’s gaze shifted to Hernandez, who was giving the few surviving Marines orders. “Capture this. Show the world that we are still fighting, and show them that we’re making the Krox pay for every step they’ve taken. Show them we can resist, so that when our light here is extinguished, the rest of the sector will keep fighting.”
42
Colony 3
Frit turned a slow circle in the opulent room. A comfortable bed floated near one wall, a bed that she was able to sleep on without turning it to ash. The bed’s internal magic seemed to prevent damage, and that meant that for the first time in her life Frit understood what it was like to sleep comfortably.
A full-length mirror sat against one wall, next to a large scry-screen. There was also a golden dresser with four drawers, but Frit hadn’t touched it. It was full of the previous captain’s belongings, and while Frit hadn’t known Aran well, she knew enough to know that he was a good person. Still, she reminded herself, it wasn’t as if she’d stolen the ship. Nara had done that.
“Frit?” Kaho’s voice rumbled from the doorway. “We’ve reached Colony 3, and can open a Fissure on your order.”
“Thank you, Kaho.” She gave him a tentative smile, which he returned. That smile might have terrified her, once, as it exposed a mouthful of fangs. But the more she got to know him, the more she liked Kaho. He was honest and wise, and thoughtful. And one of the few people to see through Nebiat’s bullshit.
Frit sucked in a deep breath, which instantly turned to smoke, and then exhaled her stress. Command was tough, but she’d seen some of the best commanders in the sector and what they all had in common was not letting the people under them see the stress.
She squared her shoulders and strode onto the bridge with the same brisk walk she’d seen Voria use. Nara stood in the central matrix, while the other two were manned by Rita and Fritara respectively. She moved to stand before the scry-screen, which of course showed nothing but unrelieved blackness.
“Kaho, relieve Rita, please. Be prepared to open a Fissure.” Frit clasped her hands behind her back, but that didn’t feel right. She tried letting them hang at her sides but that didn’t feel right either. Where should she put her damned hands?
“Shouldn’t Nara open the Fissure?” Fritara interjected, the soul of innocence in front of Rita.
“Nara, please cloak the ship.” She turned to Rita, who’d exited her matrix. “Rita, would you mind running down to the cargo bay and jettisoning the drone we took from the facility?”
Rita nodded, and seemed relieved as she left the bridge. Frit wished she could leave. Instead, she turned back to the scry-screen and waited. Ordering other people about was much more stressful than simply doing things yourself. That was going to take some getting used to.
Nara began touching air and dream sigils, while Kaho focused on void. Each completed their respective spell at nearly the same instant, and the Talon shimmered out of existence at the same instant the Fissure cracked across the sky.
A tiny, silver drone was punted out of the cargo bay, and tumbled end over end through the Fissure. “Let’s hope they buy this.”
Fritara’s lip turned up in a sneer. “They cannot possibly be foolish enough to believe a probe is capable of opening its own Fissure.”
“Respectfully,” Nara said in a low, submissive tone. “The Ternus military knows next to nothing about magic. If they believe this came from the one facility where they were experimenting with magic, they’re far more likely to accept our ruse.”
Nara guided the Talon through the Fissure, which snapped shut in their wake. It afforded Frit her first view of another world, and it couldn’t have been more different than Shaya. Shaya was small, comparatively. Just a slice of a single moon, with a few hundred million inhabitants.
She had no idea how many hundreds of millions of people called Colony 3 home, but they must be nearly uncountable. Cities dotted the surface, each surrounded by a sea of green and gold farmland that made this world so very valuable. And, if they succeeded, all of it would be ashes soon.
Dozens of orbital defense platforms clustered not only around the planet’s umbral shadow, but also the rest of the planet. How could anyone ever breach this place? These people were just so…massive.
“Hold on,” Nara called. There was a moment of vertigo as the ship blinked, then another, and another. Five more came in quick succession, which was more than she could have managed. By the time they stopped, they’d made it nearly ten kilometers from their entry point.
Nara leaned against the stabilizing ring, but Frit couldn’t see any other obvious strain. “Okay, I’m taking us away at maximum speed.”
A wave of magical energy, fire in this case, washed through the area they’d just vacated. Frit smiled. “Nicely done, Nara. Looks like we avoided their initial scans.
Several dozen fighters zipped up to the probe, encircling it like hungry sharks. Frit froze. Three of those fighters were golden, and smaller than their Ternus counterparts. “Those are Shayan spellfighters. They have war mages.”
“You don’t think.” Nara gave her a horrified glance.
“I do think. There’s only one woman crazy enough to be out here.” Frit sighed. “That has to be Ree.”
“You know them?” Fritara asked suspiciously.
“You do too,” Frit snapped, just to cover the other woman’s grating tone. “It’s the leader of the war mages we faced when we departed Shaya, and I’m willing to bet she’s here to finish what she started.”
That complicated things. Frit already had massive reservations about this plan, but adding Ree into the mix underscored how dangerous this all was. If she wasn’t careful, they’d all end up dead. If she was, then billions of people ended up dead.
It felt like there was no right answer, no proper path forward. None of this felt right. “Circle to the third moon, and hide behind its shadow.”
Fritara gawked at her as if she’d suddenly sprouted frost. “We’re not going to finish the mission?”
“Not yet we aren’t.” Frit rounded on Fritara and stalked up to the edge of the matrix. “Ree is canny. She’s powerful. And we don’t know what other resources she brought. We get one shot at this, and if we mess up we’re all dead. So yeah, I’m going to wait. I’m g
oing to let Ree wonder. Are we really here? Maybe the probe was a coincidence. Then, in ten or so hours when she’s exhausted, I’m going to strafe the planet. Do you have a problem with that?”
Frit made it a challenge. Maybe this wasn’t the right way. Maybe she should back down, and be reasonable. But that didn’t feel right. She was a battle mage. She was trained to kill, to overcome. Fritara was going to challenge her, and she needed to show her she was ready for that challenge.
After several long moments Fritara relaxed. “It’s a good plan. I just didn’t understand what you were doing is all.”
“Good. Then I’m going to get some rest. I suggest you all do the same.” She stalked off the bridge, and then entered her quarters. This time she waved her hand and the door slid shut behind her.
She had a lot to think about. Very soon she’d need to make some very difficult, very permanent choices.
43
Death Approaches
Nara was alone on the bridge, and had been for the better part of six hours. Frit and Kaho had spent most of their time together in the mess, while Rita had remained in what used to be Kezia’s quarters. Fritara poked her head in every hour to glare at Nara, but beyond that had left her in peace.
Despite her earlier threats, Fritara hadn’t used the collar, and other than the claustrophobic feel of the thing it hadn’t really limited her much. Apparently it could lock magical ability entirely, but as they needed her to fly the ship, they’d left her that.
“Death comes,” Talifax rumbled, popping into existence right next to her.
Nara bumped into the stabilizing ring, and her hand shot down to the spellpistol they’d allowed her to keep, probably because she couldn’t even think about harming anyone carrying a control rod without being overcome with blinding pain. Not that she’d tested that.
She relaxed when she realized who the intruder was. A quick glance around confirmed they were still alone. She had no idea if anyone else could see him, but the last thing she needed was the crew thinking she was insane.
“What do you want?” she whispered fiercely. “Now is not a good time.”
“When the moment comes I will disable the collar,” Talifax explained. He folded his thick arms, and stared impassively at her. “Frit must live. Remember that.”
Then he was gone. He’d simply vanished, with no apparent spell use.
“Who are you talking to?” Fritara’s voice had an extra layer of suspicion slathered on.
“Myself,” Nara snapped, then immediately chastised herself. She took a breath, and offered Fritara a week smile. “I’m sorry. I was just muttering to myself. Ree scares me, is all. If you’d met her, you’d be scared too.”
“I did meet her.” Fritara narrowed her gaze, and the flames all over her body surged hotter. She wrapped a hand around the hilt of a slender spellblade, and delivered a milk-curdling scowl. “I will meet her again, and this time no more of my sisters will die. This time she will, and so will her smug friends.”
She hadn’t seen Fritara fight, but the way the war mage carried herself would have put Aran on guard immediately. She knew how to use that sword, and while a true mage could cast some amazing spells…well, Nara doubted she could stop her if Fritara decided to cut her down.
Footsteps sounded from the mess, and Fritara’s ire shifted to Frit and Kaho as they strode onto the bridge. Both wore smiles, and under other circumstances Nara would have been thrilled for Frit, even if her boyfriend was a Krox.
“Have we cowered long enough?” Fritara crossed the bridge to stand before Frit, and Nara didn’t miss that her hand rested on the hilt of her spellblade. “Let’s finish this, for good or ill.”
Frit slowly folded her arms. She kept her composure, for the most part, but Nara knew her well enough to see she was struggling. She licked her smoldering lips before speaking. “You are not going to like what I have to say.” She cupped both hands to her mouth and called, “Rita, we need you to hear this.”
Fritara stared daggers at anyone willing to meet her gaze, which Nara wasn’t. No sense drawing attention to herself. A cautious Rita appeared, blinking owlishly. Well as owlishly as a girl made of fire could manage.
Death approaches. Talifax’s words echoed in her mind.
Frit unfolded her arms, and rested her hands at her sides. “I’ve decided not to do as Nebiat has asked us. What we’d be doing isn’t just murder. It’s killing on a scale this sector has never seen, or at least maybe not since the godswar. Killing this planet ends all other resistance in this sector, and—”
Fritara’s blade was in her hand, and she advanced toward Frit with murder in her eyes. “I knew you were a traitor. Nebiat has asked nothing of us, except this one thing. This thing that will ensure we win the war. And you don’t want to get your hands dirty? Fine. Get out of my way, Frit. I’ll do it myself.” Dark, purplish, void flames burst up around the blade.
In that moment, Nara understood Talifax’s warning. Time seemed to slow as she considered the situation with the gift Neith had granted. Talifax wanted her on that station, because it placed her in Frit’s path. He wanted Frit to have an ally when in a situation where she’d be killed, because if she were killed then Colony 3 would be wiped out.
If Colony 3 were wiped out, then Ternus lost the war. Shaya probably lost it as well, or would at least be hampered by the loss. It would cripple the entire sector for a generation while entire economies shifted to provide the necessary food. On the surface she didn’t understand why preventing that benefited Talifax, but it could be as simple as bleeding his enemy. By stifling Nebiat’s plan, if she succeeded here, she kept Ternus in the fight, which kept the Krox forces occupied and allowed Talifax to operate freely.
Nara eased her spellpistol from its holster. No one noticed, least of all Fritara. The war mage had advanced on Frit, who’d had no choice but to back into a corner. Kaho couldn’t help, as he appeared to have precisely zero combat training. He was a true mage through and through.
Rita looked as if she wanted to say something, but lacked the courage.
That meant if Nara did not intervene in this moment, that Krox would win here. A tiny, frigid voice in her wanted her to let things play out. To let Krox win, because it would harm Talifax. She ruthlessly crushed that voice.
“I can’t let you live. I’m sorry, sister.” Fritara launched a roundhouse that Frit was too slow to dodge. The blow knocked Frit into the wall, and she went sprawling at the mouth of the ramp leading to the mess.
Frit began sketching a sigil, but Fritara flung a counterspell with incredible speed. Frit’s spell shattered, and Fritara raised her blade for a killing stroke.
Nara’s spellpistol snapped up, and she relaxed her grip, cradling it in both hands. She sighted at the back of Fritara’s head, then crafted a killing spell. She began with a core of earth refined down into a super dense sliver. Around that she added a thick layer of void to burn away flesh, and magic alike. Finally she added air, to shatter the earth once it reached its target.
The pistol kicked slightly, and the spell shot from the barrel. A purplish-brown orb streaked into the back of Fritara’s head. The void splashed against her defenses, and the sliver of earth pierced the back of her skull. Once inside, it detonated. Fritara’s eyes flared briefly, and then her lifeless corpse slumped to the deck.
Nara holstered her pistol, then raised her hands and faced Rita and Kaho. “I’m sorry. I was just saving my friend.”
Kaho had his hand raised, ready to sketch. He watched Frit, apparently waiting for instructions.
Rita’s spellblade was half out of its scabbard, but she abruptly sheathed it. She shook her head sadly. “That needed to be done, but I’m glad I wasn’t the one who had to do it.” Fiery tears streaked her ebon cheeks.
“Thank you,” Frit whispered as she climbed to her feet. She was also crying. “I didn’t want it to come to this, but…if you hadn’t stopped her, I’d be dead.”
“Frit, look!” Kaho pointed at the scry
-screen, which still showed Colony 3. Nine points of light were streaking toward the moon where they were hiding.
“It can’t be coincidence.” Nara’s heart sank. “You know who it is. Ree’s found us.”
44
Last Minute
“Pickus, establish contact with the local authorities.” Voria deftly sketched the final sigil, and a Fissure split the black. She willed the Spellship through, bracing herself for what lay on the other side.
Much to her surprise, there was no immediate Krox assault. In fact, there was no sign of any vessels, enemy or otherwise. The entire umbral shadow was empty, save for some glittering stations and satellites in near orbit of the planet below.
“I’m connecting to the planetary defense network,” Pickus explained as his fingers flew across the keyboard. He glanced up at the scry-screen. “There we go. Take a look for yourself. I’ve got up to the minute casualty reports, top news stories, and everything else you could want.”
“I see.” But Voria didn’t see. What kind of nation would publicly broadcast all news of its war? What was to prevent enemies from listening to those transmissions? Then it hit her. A smart commander would seed the news with false information. An enemy could never know what was true, and what was planted. “The data is helpful, but can you get me a person to converse with?”
“I’m trying.” The clacking of the keyboard continued. “Okay, one sec.”
The scry-screen flickered just as Voria caught sight of the top news story. It read ‘War Mage Single-Handedly Saves Command Bunker’, and it contained a picture of Aran’s face. Before she could investigate, another familiar face filled the screen.
Where Kerr had been the best case, this was the worst. “Hello, Admiral Nimitz.”
He folded his arms and gave her a once over, clearly unimpressed. “Let’s get the preamble out of the way, shall we? We’re screwed, and as usual, you’ve arrived at the last minute. Unless you can magic away hundreds of thousands of corpses dotting cities all over the globe, and somehow deal with the binders, then as usual it’s too little, too late.”
