by Justin Sloan
Valerie laid back and closed her eyes, but couldn’t get the image out of her mind. “I’m going.”
“Where?”
“Away from all of you, that’s for damn sure.” She stood and went to join the hackers in their nerd talk, figuring she would absorb whatever she could just in case. They'd be there soon, and she wanted to be focused.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Kalan piloted his fighter toward the spot he’d seen the High Priest’s ship go down. It wasn’t difficult to find; as soon as he broke through the clouds, he saw a giant splash.
“Ha! Got you, bastards!” he muttered.
He circled a few times, giving the water a chance to calm down a little, then set his fighter down in the water. This was the all-in moment. His stolen ship wasn’t built to float, so he wouldn’t be lifting off again. That was fine with him. Either he’d be dead soon, or he’d have the High Priest. Either way, he wouldn’t need this fighter again.
Kalan popped open the cockpit and jumped into the cool, salty water. The High Priest’s ship sent tendrils of smoke curling into the sky as Kalan swam toward it, using long, powerful strokes to cover the fifty yards quickly.
The ship was floating on top of the water for now, but Kalan knew that wouldn’t last. As seawater seeped into the fractured hull, it would eventually sink. Kalan hoped he could get to the High Priest before that happened.
Finding his way into the ship was easy. He just held onto the hull near the largest airlock he could find. Sure enough, it was only a few moments before a panicked survivor threw it open. Kalan shot the male Pallicon with his Tralen-14, then climbed inside.
The interior of the ship was dim, lit only by the emergency lights. Kalan didn’t know the layout of the ship, but he didn’t need to. He followed the angry shouts down the corridor in front of him.
The ship wasn’t large—it was significantly smaller than the Grandeur—but it had landed in the water at an odd angle, Navigating the tilted hallway took longer than Kalan would have liked. When he reached the end, he paused and listened.
“Respectfully, Your Holiness, don’t you think we should abandon ship?” a timid voice asked.
“What a brilliant idea!” came the sarcastic response. “Let’s jump out of our floating vessel and tread water in this alien sea that’s probably filled with deadly creatures we’ve never even heard of.”
“But Your Holiness,” another voice pled, “we won’t be floating forever. We will sink.”
“I am the High Priest of the Wandarby Church, the one true church of the Pallicon people. My army will not let me drown!”
That was all Kalan needed to hear. It sounded like he’d found the right place. He burst through the door, his Tralen-14 held at the ready.
Four figures stood in the middle of the room. One of them was dressed in the blackest robe Kalan had ever seen, and he took a big step back as Kalan entered. That would be the High Priest. Kalan would save him for last.
The other three Pallicon males stepped forward. Whether they were guards, less important priests, or simply the crew of the ship, Kalan didn’t know. But they were between him and his target, and that meant their crazy cultist lives were about to come to an end.
He quickly squeezed off a round, dropping the guard on the left. The one in the center froze, and Kalan took him out just as easily. The third one was smarter. He drew his weapon and took careful aim while Kalan dispatched his two buddies.
Kalan saw the emergency lights glittering off the Pallicon’s weapon and lunged backward, causing the shot to miss. Then he crouched and charged.
He hit the Pallicon hard and wrapped his arms around him, tackling him to the deck. Keeping one knee on the male’s chest, he drew his pistol and fired.
Now it was just Kalan and the High Priest.
The High Priest raised a tiny pistol and pointed it at Kalan with a shaky hand.
Kalan snarled and sprang to his feet, and the priest let out a high-pitched squeal of fear. Kalan plucked the pistol from the priest’s hand and hit him in the face with it, and the priest landed on his back on the deck.
“So you’re the guy, huh?” Kalan stalked toward him as he spoke. “You’re the one who runs this cult? The cult that killed my people?”
A defiant look appeared on the priest’s face. “Killed? More like exterminated. It was no more than you evil vermin deserved.”
Kalan crouched next to him. “How many Bandians have you killed?”
The priest looked away. “In truth, you’re the first one I’ve met.”
Kalan laughed. “I’m sorry, but that’s hilarious. You spent your whole life looking for a Bandian, and the one you find ends up killing you? Kind of ironic.”
“I’ll die gladly if I know you go down with me.”
Kalan ignored the comment. It didn’t deserve a response. “Here’s what I need. I need to address the entire Wandarby army at once. Can you make that happen?”
Now the priest chuckled. “Of course I could, but am I going to? For you? Never.”
“Wanna make a bet?”
Five minutes and a few broken cult-leader bones later, Kalan had located the comm system and had it properly tuned to address the entire Wandarby army. He took a deep breath and began to speak.
“Greetings, Wandarby true believers. My name is Kalan Grayhewn, and I’m the Bandian you are so violently looking for.” He paused a moment to let them take that in. He imagined it would be strange for them to hear their enemy in their ears, and he didn’t want them to miss his next words.
“You think my kind are the scourge of the galaxy,” he continued. “You think there are a whole bunch of Bandians hidden in this Lavkin squadron. You think your fight is against my Bandian family, but actually it’s against something much worse. See, I don’t have a Bandian family. Other than my mother, I don’t know another living Bandian. But I have something that is much worse for you. I have the family I fight beside every day.”
He walked to where the High Priest was sitting on the ground, listening in horror.
“I have my newest family members, the Lavkins—the ones kicking your asses right now. I have my crewmates—a strange collection of humans, a Shimmer, and a Pallicon. Then there’s my boss, the Prime Enforcer. Trust me when I say you do not want to be here when she gets back. You’d be better off fighting a whole battalion of Bandians than facing her when she's angry.”
He paused for a moment, wondering what Valerie would think of this situation. She probably would have ripped off the High Priest’s head by now.
“I have some other friends too, whom you’ll be meeting soon. I don’t want to ruin the surprise. My point is this: the Wandarby cult is done. If you are lucky enough to be one of the few Pallicons who survives this battle, I highly suggest you buy a ticket for the farthest planet you can afford to get to, and when you arrive you start a peaceful new life. Because I am going to make it my mission to hunt down each and every Pallicon who dares call him or herself a Wandarby. I’m going to hunt you like you hunted my kind. And if there are any other Bandians living out there somewhere in this galaxy, I’m going to make damn sure they don’t have to worry about being your next victims.”
He raised his gun.
“And I’m going to start with your High Priest.”
The Pallicon had just enough time to open his mouth before Kalan squeezed the trigger.
“You think Bandians are evil? Dangerous? Something to be feared? You have no idea. Wandarby, it’s time for you to start running.”
With that, he dropped the radio and headed for the airlock. The ship and the High Priest’s body would soon be at the bottom of the sea where they belonged.
***
When Jilla climbed aboard Flamebird, she was shocked at the number of Pallicons and the ferocity with which the Lavkins were fighting them. Though they were greatly outnumbered, the Lavkins showed no fear.
So far during the battle Jilla had traveled from ship to ship with Mej and Lien, helping to assess the situ
ation on each and making strategic adjustments on the fly. Now they were on Lien’s ancestral ship, where the fighting was the heaviest.
Bob dashed over as he spotted her. “You okay?”
She nodded. “Where can I help?”
“The starboard side is where we’re having the most trouble.”
“Bob!” one of the Lavkins called. “We need your help over here! They’re slamming us.”
Bob grinned at Jilla. “Also, I’m basically a war hero now.” He turned and ran to the guy who’d called him.
“Transport!” someone shouted.
Jilla looked up and saw a transport ship racing through the sky toward them. It hovered fifteen feet above Flamebird and opened its cargo door, and twenty Wandarby cultists leaped out. Jilla knew from experience that a fifteen-foot drop was no big deal for a Pallicon.
She found some cover on the starboard side of the ship and started firing at the new arrivals.
Suddenly something changed. One moment, the Pallicons were in full assault mode, and the next they had their hands over their earpieces, listening.
“The Bandian!” one of them shouted. “How dare he!”
Jilla smiled. She didn’t know exactly what Kalan was up to, but whatever it was seemed to be throwing off the Wandarby, and she was going to take advantage of that.
She took out three of them as they listened dumbly to the voice on their headsets.
“Nice shot,” a male voice next to her said.
She turned and saw Commander Larence crouching next to her. “Thanks. We’ve got a long way to go, though.” She glanced up at the transport disappearing into the sky. She didn’t want to say it aloud, but they were in trouble. As valiantly as they were fighting, at a certain point it came down to numbers. If the Wandarby really had thousands of soldiers to throw at the Lavkins, eventually the Lavkins would lose.”
Commander Larence squinted at something across the ship. “What the hell is he doing over there?” Then, more loudly, “Kalan! We’re over here!”
Jilla saw it was indeed Kalan rushing across the deck toward them. Larence raised himself into a near-standing position and waved his arms so Kalan could spot them.
As the figure drew closer, Jilla saw the edge of ‘Kalan’s’ shoulder flicker. “Commander, that’s not—”
The false Kalan brought up a Pallicon weapon and fired, shooting Commander Larence directly in the face.
“No!” Jilla shouted. She squeezed three quick rounds into the false Kalan’s chest and he fell, returning to his Pallicon form. But the damage had been done. Commander Larence was dead.
She barely had time to shut the Lavkin’s eyes before she heard the dreaded cry once again. “Transport!”
“Holy hell,” she muttered. “Will they ever run out of these guys?”
She wished the real Kalan were here. Not that he’d be able to save them from these insane odds, but it sure would be nice to have him by her side if this really was the end.
She squeezed off another round, dropping a Pallicon who’d been dumb enough to stick his head into the open. Still, they’d only managed to take out about half the last group of Wandarby, and now another group was leaping out of their transport.
Mej and Lien were crouching behind a metal barricade not far away, and she scurried over to them.
“What are you two still doing here?” she asked. “You need to get somewhere safe.”
Mej shook her head and raised her weapon. “This is where the fighting is heaviest, so this is where we belong.”
“Besides,” Lien added, “this is my family’s ship. There’s no way I can leave it.”
Jilla grimaced. From the determination on their faces, it was clear they’d be no talking them out of staying here until the bitter end. “Hey, I want to say that what you guys did—welcoming us into your family—it meant a lot to us, and especially to Kalan. He wants a family more than anything, so that was just about the best gift he could ever receive.”
Lien nodded. “It was our pleasure, but don’t talk like this is the end. We’re going to get through this.”
“Yeah? You got a secret plan I don’t know about?”
“No,” Mej said, looking past Jilla and toward the sky, “but maybe they can help.”
Jilla followed her gaze and gasped. Dozens of massive round ships decorated with strange red lettering were firing on the Wandarby.
She knew whose ships those were. She’d seen ships like that around SEDE on a daily basis.
The Shimmer Fleet had arrived, and they were fighting for the Lavkins.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
The journey to find Captain Tenowk had been an easy one. It was the battle on planet that was going to be the challenge. As they approached the location—what had once been a destination planet, a paradise to which Tenowk had apparently come to spend the rest of his days with beautiful vibrantly-yellow-skinned women—it was clear Aranaught had taken over.
Flynn highlighted the security system on the display, emphasizing the land-based surface-to-outer-atmosphere missiles, well-equipped cruisers, and what translated from Lavkin as a Juggernaut-class destroyer.
“Maybe we should reach out to Nathan Lowell,” Robin suggested. “This might be over our heads.”
“Except that as we’ve seen in the past, Aranaught suffers from an excess of hubris,” Arlay countered.
Lolack stood beside Valerie’s seat, tall and in charge as if this were his ship. It was only slightly annoying.
“If Flynn’s as good as I think he is,” the admiral said, “he’ll pull it off. Continue as planned.”
“Sir?” Flynn asked, glancing back from the controls. “I can’t outfly all that.”
“Not outfly,” the admiral said with a confident smile. “Your hacking skills. What do you think of not shutting down, but powering down to a minimal level and making those sensors out there think you’re no more than a stray asteroid?”
“They wouldn’t just let an asteroid in,” Flynn argued, but then looked thoughtful. “Well, that would be true of the vacation hosts, but not necessarily of an AI that doesn’t give two shits about the condition of the planet or the life thereon.”
“Precisely,” Lolack said. “And if they start to fire on us, we go to full engines and see how we do.”
“Still the risk-taker,” Arlay said, considering their options. “Even if the Etheric Federation has ships nearby that they can send, they would take a while to get here. It’s not likely we’ll have a chance of saving the captain by that point.
“And since that’s what we’re here to do,” Lolack said, “that isn’t an option.”
“Try the rock idea,” Valerie said, shaking her head at the thought of it. “What do we have to lose? Other than our lives and this war, of course.”
“Ignoring sarcasm and following orders,” Flynn replied, turning the controls over to Garcia and making for one of the computer screens that he and Lolack had set up for situations like this.
“You sure you can do this?” Valerie asked.
“It’s a simple matter of intercepting their comm, replacing any messaging they have to process our arrival, and then putting our own message in.” Flynn waved off the question. “Piece of cake. At least, I hope it will be.”
“Coming in hot,” Arlay said. “Now or never.”
Lolack nodded his approval of Valerie’s decision to give it a go and went over to help Flynn. The joy of space is that it’s humongous. While scanners could easily pick them up from afar, if one went undetected slipping in without being spotted by eye or running across enemy ships was easy.
Once they passed the first lines of what their system had warned was the outer defense they all sat up a little straighter, waiting for alarms, warnings, or any sort of attack. Nothing.
“Everything’s going according to plan,” Flynn said, voice hushed.
“Keep it up,” Valerie replied, watching the planet grow larger as they entered atmosphere. Soon they were barreling toward the resort sectio
n of the planet.
There was no question that Aranaught was here. A carpet of mechs covered the resort’s beach. There were humanoids around too, but Valerie sensed they weren’t the normal resort types. Judging by the glints off their skin from the sun, they were cyborgs.
Then there was a shift, as if everything on that beach noticed their approach at once.
“Prepare yourselves,” Valerie shouted. The mechs had begun to move, lifting into the sky to intercept them. “Do we have to worry about the destroyer? The turrets?”
“We’re too close for all that now,” Lolack said, “so stay that way. Flynn, get back to the controls. I got it from here.”
“I’ll be on weapons,” Garcia said, returning to his seat to prepare to blow the enemy out of the sky.
“Good, keep them busy,” Valerie replied. “Just get me on the ground so I can find this guy and get him out of there.”
“The fuck!” Robin turned to her, pissed. “You’re not going down there until we know it’s safe!”
“Watch me.”
Robin took a breath and shook her head. “Not without me.”
“And me,” Lolack added.
“You’re too important to the mission,” Valerie protested.
“I know, but you need Flynn up here to fly and ensure the ship doesn’t fall into Aranaught’s hands. Down there you need someone Tenowk recognizes, and you need that someone to be able to find the AI hub and end this.”
“He has a point,” Arlay said, though her voice showed she clearly hated the idea.
“We have a short window on that,” Flynn said, “so make a final decision, because I’m doing a low pass right now.”
“Now?” Valerie asked, standing up and looking for her helmet as she did her best to balance herself.
“NOW!” he shouted, as they came in fast and close to the resort. He pointed to the back doors and said, “Opening now. You’re going to want chutes just to break the fall, but cut them loose if they drag you back.”
“Lolack,” Valerie turned to him, nervous, “stay behind us as much as possible. And...keep low.”
