“Hey,” Zea said over her shoulder when I came to stand behind her. We were lifting through the atmosphere, and the sides of the front display were beginning to turn a slight orange color.
“Hey,” I said as I rested my hand on her shoulder. I felt her tension there, but she relaxed a few moments after I touched her. “I returned.”
“Yeah,” she said. “Safe and sound. I uhhh. Well, we should be in orbit in a minute. Scanners show that Lith Dae’s ships are moving in our direction, but they won’t be able to cut us off unless they hyperdrive. How do you want to play this?” Her hand reached up, and she rested her fingers on top of mine. I was still wearing my gloves, but her touch was electrifying.
“Are all six coming after us?” Eve asked as she came to stand next to me.
“Only three of them. One of the destroyers, one of the battleships, and the patrol boat,” Zea answered, and the outlines of the ships appeared up on the screen.
“The light cruiser is still in their original possssition?” I asked with a growl. The screen shifted a bit, and I could see that they were still on the other side of the planet. The pillar of purple-red light was still shooting into the sky, and the sight of it made the fur on my neck stand on end.
“They must know that we’ve taken their big ass robots and truck,” Zea said. “I don’t know what their game is.”
“They will try to send another shuttle of marines down to take the northwest bunker. Then they will try to upload their code. The three starships they sent after us will try to keep us away.” Eve pointed to the flat image of the map as she spoke, and I nodded.
“I agree. So we are going to blast around the back side of the planet and then hyperdrive to the light cruiser as soon as we can. That’s the ship that Captain Renalta is on. We’ll hammer it hard and fast. If possible, we’ll take the other two ships out, if not, we’ll run.”
“What if they hyperdrive after us? Or if they try to get away?” Zea said.
“Are their communications stilllll dowwwwn?” I asked. How long had it been since I changed? Fifteen minutes? Twenty? It was probably closer to thirty than I would have liked, and my anger was starting to twist the air in my lungs and the words coming out of my mouth.
“I really think so.” Zea shrugged and let out a laugh. “Yeah. Maybe they will try to get away, but they won’t be fighting us as one fleet.”
“We can always use our hyper, or warp, or even fold if we need to get away or chaaase themmmm. None of their ships have two engines. Can you plot the coursessssss?” I asked.
“And pilot? No. I need one of the wonder twins to do it.”
I turned around and saw that Kasta was still instructing Yegor and his crew at the gunners stations, so I thumbed my transponder. “Paula, what is your status?”
“I’m almost done. Just need two more of the cars. I’ll be up in two minutes,” she answered.
“Hurry, please. Weeeee need you,” I growled as I fought to keep my anger back. I doubted I could keep this form for more than another ten minutes, and I would probably pass out as soon as I changed.
“I will,” she said.
“Keep away from theeeeem, but don’t make it obvious that we are going to warrrrrp around,” I growled to Zea, and then I gestured for Eve to take her copilot seat while I moved to my captain’s chair. I heard Kasta shouting orders behind me, and I prayed to whatever lucky star we had watching over us that they would be ready to go in the next few minutes.
Then we waited as Zea broke into orbit and started to drift away from the three approaching ships.
“They are closing,” the hacker stated the obvious.
“Howwww much time?” I asked.
“Another three minutes before they can use their plasma cannons. They will probably launch drones after.”
“I’m in the elevator heading up,” Paula called through the transponder a second before I asked for her.
“Zea, start movvvving away from them. Head around the other side of the planet,” I ordered.
“Aye, Captain,” she replied, and the screen pivoted as we turned away. Then the viewscreen shifted to show our front and rear views. The three Lith Dae ships were obviously following us, and it looked as if they were picking up speed.
“I’m here!” Paula shouted from behind us.
“I need yooooou to plot our courrrrse,” I said, and then I explained the plan to her. Paula got the idea, and then she moved back to her usual gunner seat so that she could work on the math.
“I’m holding speed, but they are closing. Should I accelerate?” she asked.
“How soon until they are within firing raaaange?”
“A few minutes at current speeds.”
“Howww long until we circle around the planet?” I asked.
“At this speed? Another fifteen.”
“Shit. We need to move faasssstttteeeerr,” I growled.
“I have it!” Paula yelled. “We can hyperdrive around right now if you want. Pushing the plot to Zea!”
“Got it!” the blonde hacker called back.
“Kasta! Are they ready?” I shouted over my shoulder.
“No, but fuck it! They know how to aim the crosshairs and pull the trigger. Let’s do this.” The android shouted a few sentences in Russian, and then I saw her sit next to her sister.
“Engagggge hyperdrives!” I ordered Zea.
“Engaging hyperdrives!” my friend called out and the view screen blurred for a fraction of a second.
Then we were right behind the trio of Lith Dae starships.
“Fire on the cruiser!” I ordered, and I heard Kasta repeat it in Yegor’s language. The group didn’t need much encouragement. My four friends were already firing their cannons and lasers at the back part of the ship, and the other gunners just followed their lead.
It was a wave of red heavy plasma balls and darker red-purple plasma beams. The first few bolts impacted the rear part of the carrier, but then a moment later the three vessels stretched as if they were rubber bands, and they appeared in orbit besides the other ships that had been chasing us.
“Shit!” Zea cursed. “They hyper--” Her words stuck in her throat as we gaped at the screen. The back part of the light cruiser appeared to be melting, and a red glow was moving up the back of the ship.
“Looks like--”
“We got it!” Zea interrupted me.
“Paula, give us a hyperdrive courrrrse so we come at theeeem from the top,” I said.
“Hyperdrive needs another minute to reset, we can do the warpdrive,” she replied.
“Warpdrive has a forty hour cool down!” Zea reminded me.
“Doooo it! We arrrre going to hit them before they can reeeact!”
“Got the plot! Sending to Zea!” Paula shouted.
“I see it! Ready!”
“Engage warrrrrpdrrrrive!” The words escaped my mouth like a roar. The beast wanted to kill all of our enemies with fire, and plasma, and rage.
“Engaging warpdrive!” Zea shouted, and we appeared on top of the six ships in a blink.
“Split fire on the destroyerssss!” I ordered, and I heard Kasta translate my orders.
Twin salvos of plasma launched from Persephone's wings. There was one Destroyer closest to us, and its hull burst open like a rotten tomato. The second destroyer was some two kilometers from us, but it couldn’t move out of the way in time. Four of the lighter plasma bolts slammed into the side of its hull, and the craft began to spray air out of the molten cracks. I doubted the ship was incapacitated, but it was starting to tilt on its side, and I imagined the crew was going to be more worried about staying alive for the next few minutes.
Just three more ships left.
“Closest battleship! Zea take ussss across its portttt side!”
“Aye, Captain!” Zea pushed forward on Persephone's controls and the starship dove around the closest battleship. A spray of green plasma fire shot past the front of our display screen, but Persephone didn’t shake from any sort of i
mpact, so I guessed that they all missed.
Our plasma bolts didn’t miss, and the first battleship turned into a twisted bend of bubbling metal almost instantly.
“Lastttt battleshhhhhip! Zeaaaaa, head up to pass by its--” Zea was spinning Persephone around so we could fly by the battleship, but the enemy craft expanded for a split second and was gone.
“They ran!” Zea shouted with pleasure.
“That’s not gggood! Get the patrol booooat!” I roared, and the hacker tilted Persephone on her side and bent her through space so that we angled toward the smaller ship. The forces of our movement pushed against my stomach, but it wasn’t entirely uncomfortable.
Then the patrol boat stretched and disappeared into hyperspace.
“Shittt!” I roared. “Take out the lastttt destroyer!”
Wait. We might need them to--
Eve’s voice was interrupted by Kasta’s command to the Yegor’s team. A salvo of red plasma fire sped from us and cracked across the front nose of the injured Destroyer. It was enough to cause the metal to bend inward, and the rest of the hull crumbled like a burnt piece of paper.
“Fuck yeah!” Zea shouted, and her jubilation was echoed by everyone else on the bridge.
Except for Eve and I.
We looked at each other, and the vampire woman frowned.
“I couldn’t rissssk them escccaping,” I said.
“I know,” she replied with a nod. “The two ships already did, so they will know about what happened here. We don’t know where their home system is though, so they could return with more ships.”
“Weeee can finddd out,” I said as I gave the beautiful woman a tiger smile.
“How?” she asked, but then her mouth twisted into a smile. “The drone pilot will know. Ahhh!”
“Hopefully.” Everyone on the bridge was still cheering, and I stood from the captain’s chair to address them.
“Good job, crew,” I said. “Zea, what is our status?”
“No damage, Captain,” the hacker replied.
“Excellent. We’ll need to get Yegor and his team back on the ground, then we’ll have to see if there is anything else we can do to help them. Paula, when will the drones disperse around the planet?”
“In about forty-five minutes. Then we have a few days before they return to the strange temple.”
“Good. We arrrrren’t done herrrre,” I said as I pointed to the screen where the strange red-purple light shot into space. “As soon as the drones returnnnn, we will explore what is inside that temmmmple.”
“Aye, Captain,” the four women said.
“I need to restttt. Zea, you are in charge until I wake up.”
“Uhhh. Are you sure?” she asked.
“Yessss.” I walked away from my chair and toward my hallway past the holomap. As I walked behind Yegor and his group of guards, they turned in their seats, raised their fists to their chest, and bowed their heads low.
I continued into my hallway and then pushed my mind to the ocean. I tried to think about the warm sand on my feet, the hot breeze through my hair, and the gentle murmur of the waves in my ears. The door to my suite opened with my touch, and I stumbled inside as my body began to change back into my human form. The shift back wasn’t as hard as the one I attempted last time in Queen’s Hat, and I felt a sigh of relief pour out of my chest. Perhaps the subtle shift changes pushing me to stay in my tiger form was just my imagination. Maybe I didn’t need to worry about becoming stuck as a tiger.
I peeled off my armor plates and left them discarded on the floor. I wanted to sleep about a hundred times more than I wanted to take a shower, but I couldn’t remember the last time I’d bathed, so I forced myself into the warm spray of water. Then I washed the grit and oil off my tired skin before I stumbled out.
My bed was waiting, and the mattress was unbelievably soft. For a brief moment I thought about large black panthers with long tongues, I thought about a woman that looked somewhat like Eve, and I thought about the strange light coming out of the dark temple, but the thoughts were like snowflakes, and they melted as soon as my brain tried to hold onto them.
Then I was asleep.
Chapter 22
“Adam,” a sweet voice called to me. It pulled me out of the darkness and into a dim light that caressed my face like the fingertips of a lover.
Then I realized finger tips were actually caressing my face, and I slowly opened my eyes.
“Hello, my love,” Eve was sitting on my bed, and it had been her fingers that I felt.
“Every time I see you, I feel as if I’m still dreaming,” I whispered, and she let out a small gasp of pleasure.
“You warm my heart and soul. I give thanks every time I see you as well.” Her red eyes twinkled in the dim light of my room.
“How long have I been asleep?” I asked as I sat up in my bed. I was naked under my covers.
“Almost two days.”
“Shit. Really? Damn.”
“Yes.” She nodded. “The drones should be arriving at the temple in less than an hour. I don’t want to waste any time.”
“Agreed. Persephone wanted us to come here for a reason, and I’m almost positive the reason is that temple. Did I miss anything while I was asleep?”
“We’ve talked extensively with Alava and Yegor about their situation with the bees and the drones. Their story is in line with what Faddy said on his videos. Kasta and Paula did a flyby with their drones to the excavation spot where they were uncovered, but they found no more of the creatures or anything of interest. There might be more to dig up on that site, but we should first deal with the light coming from this temple.”
“Understood,” I said. “You can fill me in with the details later. Is everyone ready to go?” I slid out of my bed and walked toward my closet.
“Yes. Yegor and Alava’s people are still in the bunker though. We landed Persephone in the fields north of the city yesterday, and we gave them most of our food, but I told them they should not leave until we find out what is inside of the temple. Yegor has asked to come with us when we decided to move Persephone to the temple. He is waiting in the hold with a group of his warriors.”
“You think the temple is dangerous?” I asked as I slid my legs into one of the tight flight suits I found hanging in my closet.
“You dreamed it was.”
“Yeah,” I said. “I think the thing in there isn’t going to be nice, but that’s okay. I’m not nice either, and neither are my bullets.”
“Adam…” Eve began, but then she paused, and I turned from my suit to look at her.
“What’s wrong?”
“I have fear. No. It is terror. I am worried.” The beautiful woman crossed her arms and stared down at my bed.
“Because of what I saw in my dream?” I asked.
“Yes. She looked like me. Also, there is something else.” She paused again, and I used the opportunity to finish putting on my suit.
“What? You can tell me anything,” I said as I sat on the bed next to her. I saw that she was actually shivering a bit, and I wrapped my arms around her shoulders so I could pull her into me.
“It calls to me,” she whispered.
“The temple?”
“Yes. I hear it, but I don’t understand it. It knows me, and I know it. Just like I knew Persephone. But where I feel Persephone’s love, I only feel malice from the temple. It is a place of evil, but its song fills my head as if the thoughts are my own.”
“I won’t let anything in there hurt you,” I whispered as I ran my hands through her silky hair.
“You might not be able to stop it, Adam. I feel as if I would rather go back into the tube than go into the temple. I’ve never been this afraid. I’m terrified for you, Zea, Paula, and Kasta. I feel that we will all die in there. No, feel is the wrong word. It is as if I have dreamed we will die in there. I know it with such certainty.
“That is our payment,” I said.
“Our payment?” she pulled away from me a
bit so she could look into my eyes.
“Yeah. I should have died, but you saved me. You should be stuck in the tube, but I saved you. You want to help people. You want to pay back the blessings you say you have received. I look at it like I’m already dead. Maybe I died when they first started experimenting on me. That is why I feel my name is Adam and not the other name my parents gave me.”
“I understand,” she said with a slow nod.
“Maybe this place isn’t evil, and whatever is inside isn’t evil, but we both doubt it. It’s our job to take care of it. It’s the deal we made with each other when we became the first man and woman.” I gave her a half smile, and she returned the expression.
“With you at my side, I feel as if I can win against all the odds,” she said, but then her frown returned.
“What else?” I asked.
“The blood. I fed on Commander Tunar-Roz. It invigorated me. The other men died to my witch magic, and I fed off them as well. Their blood gave me more power.”
“Okay,” I said.
“You see? I drank blood from a package, but it did nothing to satisfy my hunger. Then I drank from someone alive, and I felt the power fill me to the brim. Then I drank from those recently killed, and it also gave me strength.”
“So you have to kill someone to feed?” I asked.
“It seems so. Perhaps that is another reason why this temple terrifies me. I want to help people, but I gain power only when others die.”
“There are plenty of assholes who need killing,” I said.
“Yes, and it is a promise I made,” she said with a heavy sigh. “I accept it, but I don’t want to have to worry about my next victim.”
“I can worry about it for you,” I said.
“Then you will never have rest either.”
“We are free of our prison, but bound by our honor.”
“You are right, of course.” Eve smiled again and then leaned against my chest once more.
“I don’t want to let you go, but I should put on my armor,” I said as I released my arms from her shoulders and stood from my bed. Someone had picked up my armor from the floor, and I didn’t see the pieces anywhere in my room.
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