Queen's Move (Lilith's Shadow Book 3)

by Benjamin Medrano

  He didn’t dodge in time, to Lilith’s relief, and she kicked the hero in the side hard, wishing she had another choice. The man choked, his flames fading as he shot sideways, and she spun around, wondering if Spark had heard her.

  That was when she saw Spark duck under the figment’s sword almost effortlessly, sliding across the floor, then sprang to her feet as she lunged at Dreamer, whose arms were out as light pooled around her, indicating that the woman was about to create another shade with her powers.

  Spark short-circuited that attempt with an electric blast, causing Dreamer to convulse for a moment, then try to turn toward Spark. Unfortunately for the villain, Spark didn’t look like she intended to give Dreamer a chance to recover, though. Spark flashed in close to the woman, and Lilith didn’t have time to pay attention anymore, as the alien turned its weapon toward her.

  Then the weapon detonated with a brilliant flash of light, shaking the entire hangar as Lilith stumbled and almost fell as another servo seized up, muttering, “Uh-oh.”

  “What was that?” the pilot asked, and Commodore Catastrophe frowned, not bothering to chastise the man. He’d asked a good question, as the bright blue-white light emitting from the hangar had been incredibly stark.

  “Initial analysis indicates that one of the alien’s energy cells lost containment. A pity, the technology might have been useful,” Melzi reported a moment later. “It appears it did not kill anyone inside the hangar, though some of those who have ceased moving may have been injured further.”

  “Serves them right,” Commodore Catastrophe said, sitting back in her seat and making herself more comfortable. As comfortable as she could be, considering her orders.

  “Orders, sir?” the pilot asked, turning his head toward her briefly, then turning back to his instruments to adjust their course.

  “Maintain current altitude and separation. If the alien is taken down, we can capture it at that point. If it escapes, we’ll grab it then. I’d rather come in after they’ve worn each other out,” she replied, glancing at the screen and mentally nodding in satisfaction. The other seven specialized Stealth Reapers were maintaining a healthy separation from the base’s airspace, which meant they weren’t likely to be detected. Commodore Catastrophe preferred to be less direct than the others, even if brute force had its place from time to time.

  “Yes, sir,” the pilot acknowledged, and relayed the message as Commodore Catastrophe watched the hangar through the camera, amused at the sight of the destruction.

  No matter how many times she saw them, she never got over the sense of awe explosions gave her.

  Shadowmind Redoubt Invincible, Asteroid Belt, Sol

  “The situation is not looking good, Mistress,” Circe said, a hint of anxiety in her voice, one which Amber noted with interest while watching the screen.

  The very idea of the AI being nervous about Lilith’s safety was something which puzzled her somewhat, even if it had been one of the highest priorities which Amber had programmed into Circe before Lilith had allowed the AI to gain sentience. It was also something which could be a liability, which was a good reason to keep an eye on it. In all truth, Amber couldn’t blame Circe for being nervous, as Lilith was in well over her head.

  Her daughter had done well against the alien thus far, and Amber was proud of her work, as the idea of Lilith being able to completely ignore the mental attacks of the creature hadn’t ever occurred to her. She’d known that Lilith’s mind was powerful, but this exceeded her expectations. It didn’t help overcome the differences in technology, though, and in a head-to-head fight, the alien would have crushed Lilith. In fact, it should have crushed her already, but the creature had overextended itself, and the destruction of its weapon had made Amber laugh, if only briefly.

  The alien had to be unnerved, Amber knew, smiling as she watched the screen, and saw how the armor along the alien’s arms had cracked. Dreamer was powerful, but the other heroine had her well in hand, and the Destruction Corps vessels… well, they would prove Lilith’s undoing, if they were allowed to attack. If.

  Her gaze was drawn to the icon which indicated Archon’s position, and Amber smiled a little more as she saw the woman speed up again. The heroine was pushing herself hard, and would likely arrive in time, which suited Amber’s purposes nicely.

  “Mistress?” Circe prompted, and Amber let out a breath, shaking her head.

  “Lilith chose to go out on her own. Despite your warnings and attempts to coddle her, she decided on this. It’s only right to let her discover the consequences of her actions,” Amber said, tapping the arm of her chair idly. “Oh, I won’t let Destruction Corps capture or kill her, don’t get me wrong, but this? This is what she chose, and I’m rather curious what she’s going to do when she’s so obviously outmatched. This is not what her power set is ideal for, and her armor is lacking in many ways.”

  “I could have made it much stronger than it is, Mistress,” Circe replied, her voice quiet.

  “Yes, you could have. However… if she wants to go out on her own, she’ll have to make do without cutting-edge technology,” Amber said, a slight edge to her voice as she narrowed her eyes in annoyance. “Especially if she’s going to be sharing her ideas with Whispering Darkness.”

  “Yes, Mistress,” Circe said.

  Any further discussion was cut off as Lilith spoke, her voice surprisingly steady. “Circe, will the ejection system still function?”

  “Yes, Mistress Lilith,” Circe replied, just as Amber sat upright, trying to figure out what Lilith was thinking. “May I ask—”

  “Good. Can the inertial sump be set to release its energy on impact or command?” Lilith asked, dodging a bullet by a hair’s breadth as she worked to approach the alien.

  “Oh, you are a clever little girl, aren’t you?” Amber murmured, realization rushing through her at last, a hint of admiration overcoming her at Lilith’s daring. What she was considering was dangerous, but nothing else Lilith had could get through the alien’s armor.

  Amber sat forward in her chair, not wanting to miss what was coming next.

  Hill Air Force Base

  “Good,” Lilith said, internally nodding in satisfaction as she looked at the alien and the cracks in its armor. She couldn’t get enough weapons on-target to defeat it, but if she could get it out of its shell, that was an entirely different matter. “Prepare to eject me on command.”

  “Mistress Lilith, that seems unwise. Your teleportation device is in the armor,” Circe replied in concern, but continued without pause. “Systems prepared. I will detonate the sump on command.”

  “Good,” Lilith replied, focusing on getting closer to the alien, and ducking as a bright bolt took form in front of its head and lanced out at her, shaving paint off her armor. As she jumped forward, she muttered, “I wish I didn’t end up using my armor as a weapon so often.”

  Based on what she’d heard before, Lilith was rather certain that while the alien was tough, it wasn’t that far out of her league without its armor. She had no idea why it hadn’t used its armor before, but she would far rather strip it of its advantages, then deal with it in hand-to-hand combat. Or, based on its earlier reactions, get Spark to deal with it.

  She spun, taking aim at the fire-wielding hero to shoot him again, hoping this would at least knock him out of range, then jumped in the air with her back to the alien and spoke. “Eject!”

  The armor practically vanished as the sections on her front half physically blew off, and she couldn’t breath as she was launched out of the armor. It was what Lilith imagined being kicked by a mule would feel like.

  Spark ducked a swing of Archon’s sword, a bead of sweat trickling down her neck as she dodged behind Dreamer, who was trying to escape, at the glacially slow speeds that everyone else moved at, relative to her. Using Dreamer as a barricade was doing wonders for protecting her, and it was not pleasant being attacked by Archon, even if this version was slower and weaker than her friend was.

  The sound o
f explosions wasn’t unusual, but the near-simultaneous sounds of explosive bolts detonating drew Spark’s attention away from Dreamer as she pulled the trigger of her pistol, and her jaw dropped as she caught sight of Lilith.

  Lilith’s battered armor had been concerning enough as it was, with a rather deep dent in her right arm and the weapons on that side not working, nor the woman’s flight systems, but now it was even worse. The armor had jettisoned the front sections, and Lilith was launched out of the armor vigorously while it flew back into the alien. Spark barely caught the sight of Lilith doing a flip in midair, violently yanking her right arm back into its socket as she came in for a landing. She’d have paid more attention if Lilith’s armor hadn’t exploded as it hit the alien.

  The armor let out a sizzling sound, then began to melt as it slammed into the alien, instantly followed by a bright flash of light that caused Spark to shield her eyes even with her goggles, and a muffled boom echoed through the hangar, though it wasn’t nearly as loud as the previous explosion.

  “Right, the capacitor discharged,” Lilith muttered, barely audible, but the light cleared to reveal the alien, prompting Spark’s eyes to widen.

  Before the explosion the alien’s armor had looked like it was nearly invulnerable, having deflected projectiles and energy weapons with little more than scorch marks. Now, though… now its armor had shattered and fragmented across most of its body, flaking off heavily as the creature oozed viscus red-orange blood. The creature staggered in midair, an odd sight to say the least, and Spark debated what to do for an instant.

  “I’ve got Dreamer!” Lilith said, landing on the ground lightly, a device on her back flickering, then it fell to the ground smoking. “It was afraid of your electricity.”

  “Oh!” Spark said, glancing at Dreamer, who was reeling from the electricity that’d blasted through her body, and Spark had to wonder how the woman was still standing. Still, she wasn’t steady on her feet, and the shade of Archon was starting to lose cohesion, so she grinned and let up on the trigger, nodding. “Alright, let’s trade!”

  The villain only managed to lurch away as Lilith rushed toward her, while Spark grinned at the alien, spinning her pistols as she raced toward it. “You could just surrender, you know!”

  the alien hissed into her mind, but there was something about its voice that seemed like it was struggling or in pain. It was also trying to float higher into the air, but Spark didn’t intend to give it time to recover, not after Lilith had made herself remarkably more vulnerable to injure it. She’d heard Decarin gripe after losing some of his drones before, and doing that had to suck.

  Spark jumped, no longer spinning her pistols, now that they were fully charged again. She didn’t know why spinning them caused them to charge faster, but it did, and she wasn’t going to argue. Instead she pulled the triggers, dodging to the side as a blast of energy lashed out at her from the alien.

  Behind her she heard the impacts of someone being beaten, but Spark didn’t look, confident that Lilith was faster than Dreamer was, and that as long as the shade didn’t get to her, Lilith could deal with the villain handily.

  Electricity slammed into the alien, and it convulsed several times before crashing to the ground on a knee, and she could hear what sounded like heavy breathing from it. Pulsing blue light surrounded the alien though, and Spark trusted her instincts, pulling back as quickly as she dared.

  The spherical pulse of blue light sent all the shattered concrete and metal around the alien flying , and Spark yelped as a piece of metal clipped her cheek, drawing blood, then it was past, and she stared at the alien, trying to figure out why it had been afraid of her. That was when a voice spoke in her mind, this one thready and barely there.

  the voice began, only to be cut off abruptly by a psychic snarl of rage. Spark wasn’t sure what it was, but the voice was definitely different than the alien’s… so she decided to trust it.

  “Right, let’s ruin a day,” Spark muttered, glancing back just in time to see the shade of Archon evaporate, then she charged.

  Not directly, as the alien launched another blast down the most direct path, but Spark darted in at an angle, taking aim at the alien’s head, and pulled the trigger. Lightning blasted into the alien… and Spark staggered, almost falling over due to the results.

  the alien screamed, staggering and nearly falling, clutching its head as the strange rear protrusion pulsed rapidly. The scream was painful, and after a second Spark couldn’t hold her aim anymore as she collapsed to a knee.

  Everyone in the hangar who wasn’t already on the ground before had fallen as well. All but Lilith, to Spark’s shock, who’d pinned Dreamer to the ground now that the shade of Archon was gone.

  The alien’s exclamation echoed in Spark’s mind, oddly weak as it raged.

  As Spark watched, she was stunned to see the alien’s fingers digging into that protrusion on the back of its head, its arms vibrating as it began to pull hard. There was a soft, sickening popping sound, and the voice she’d heard before came again.

  The protrusion broke free suddenly, leaving behind several wounds dripping with the alien’s red-orange blood, and she saw what looked almost like suction cups and a probe of some type extending from the bulging object, which was pulsing even more rapidly now. It threw the object to the floor, letting out a hissing sound as it raised a foot over it.

  the first voice exclaimed a last time, just as the creature’s foot came down hard.

  Spark winced and looked away as the object burst, looking up at the alien, worry rushing through her. If it chose to attack them under these circumstances… well, she probably could deal with it.

  the alien said, looking at Spark, and its face twitched slightly as it looked around, its ‘voice’ growing thready again as it swayed in place.

  With that, the alien collapsed, and Spark looked at it, stunned.

  “Huh. So we had a psychic alien, and a psychic alien parasite,” Lilith murmured, her voice soft, and it was at that moment that Spark realized that all the weapons fire had come to an end outside. “I think I’m going to have nightmares. Lovely.”

  “Um, I think you’ll have more than that if Dreamer gets to you,” Spark said, nodding to the woman who was on the ground.

  “Yes, I think you’re right. Or you would be if she was conscious,” Lilith said, looking down at the villain and pausing for a moment, tilting her head. “This… is oddly reminiscent of how we met, really. Do you have restraints, perchance? I’m afraid mine exploded with my armor.”

  Spark blinked, thinking back to when they’d met, and slowly amusement built up inside her, until finally she laughed, grinning as she pulled out a set of restraints and tossed them to Lilith. “You know, you’re right! It is like that day, isn’t it? You deal with her, I’m going to go get a doctor. If we can keep the alien alive, maybe we’ll manage to get some information on what the heck happened.”

  “That sounds like an excellent plan to me,” Lilith agreed, smiling gently as she snatched the restraints out of the air.

  As Lilith dealt with Dreamer, Spark darted outside, hoping that the military had some nearby medics.

  “The alien has been defeated, and the defenders are significantly weakened,” Melzi reported calmly. “If you are going to strike, now is the ideal time to do so. According to my estimates, Archon will be arriving in four to six minutes.”

  “Good enough,” Commodore Catastrophe said, leaning forward. “You heard Melzi. Vulture, you’re going in first. Focus on tak
ing out their armor, then strafe the airfield. I don’t want any more jets in the air.”

  “Roger that, Commodore,” Vulture replied, and the icon indicating the Reaper began turning toward Hill Air Force Base.

  “The rest of us have our orders. Get in there, retrieve—” Commodore Catastrophe began, only for Melzi to interrupt suddenly.

  “Incoming! Archon has exceeded—” Melzi began, but no one managed to react in time as what looked like a flaming meteor flashed across Commodore Catastrophe’s field of view, accompanied by a brilliant flash of yellow-gold fire. The next instant one of the other Reapers appeared as its camouflage failed, and its severed wing dropped from the sky as the gunship struggled to stay in the air. Only then did Melzi manage to finish. “—all estimates of her maximum speed! Class S heroine on the field!”

  Commodore Catastrophe’s mind flickered through the different options she had in an instant, during which Archon’s wings snapped outward and the woman turned back, her hair and sword blazing like the sun itself. They might be able to take the hangar. Even now it was a possibility, but the chances of them doing so without losing the majority of the detachment was poor. And as much as she hated to lose, Commodore Catastrophe was rather fond of living, which made her decision for her.

  “Abort mission!” Commodore Catastrophe snapped out, clipping herself back into her seat fully. “Escape plan alpha, evacuate the area!”

  Acknowledgements chorused over the com system, and Commodore Catastrophe was amused by the fact that literally no one argued with the order. Or delayed in carrying it out, as every Reaper on her sensors turned tail and fled at top speed, opening up their engines so that the heroine couldn’t catch them. Her Reaper was no exception, as Commodore Catastrophe was slammed back in her seat, and the one which had lost a wing raced off in a different direction.