Galaxy of Titans: An Epic Space Opera Series (The Augmented Book 3)

by Ben Hale

  “You still let your daughter be my wife,” Dragorn said.

  “A mistake, I admit,” Dralik said. “But since the last sets of blue eyes are in this room, it’s a mistake I can rectify.”

  Ero thought of his sister. Did he know about her? It was impossible to tell if Dralik was lying. He’d had lifetimes to perfect the art of deception, and exuded an air of brutal superiority.

  “I’ve always wanted to ask,” Ero said, “how did it feel when Relic forsook his royal heritage?”

  Dralik rotated to face him, and a twitch briefly tightened his eyebrows. “Relic is no longer my son.”

  “All the wealth and power in the universe, yet you couldn’t even keep your son?” Ero shook his head in feigned disappointment. “It’s a tragedy when even royalty cannot retain an heir.”

  The Emperor smiled thinly, the amusement failing to touch his black eyes. “You have a rare gift for inspiring anger. Has anyone ever told you it will get you killed?”

  Skorn snorted. “Many times.”

  The Emperor held Ero’s gaze. “Well that day is today.”

  Ero wanted dearly to hurl a witty remark into the Emperor’s teeth, but the words fled into the furthest reaches of his mind and refused to be spoken. The Emperor sneered as if he knew exactly the effect he had on Ero, and then faced the entire group.

  “I want the location of Lumineia. Tell me, and you get to die without pain. Refuse, and I get to watch the spine clamps burn your nerves until the marrow leaks from your bones.” For the first time, his smile was genuine. “I do hope you choose the second option. Pain is such a lovely thing to witness.”

  “You call that an offer?” Dragorn scoffed. “How about I offer to shove you into—”

  The spine clamp closed on Dragorn’s neck, and his body arched. A ragged bellow was ripped from his lips, and even Ero winced. Mora clenched her eyes shut and turned away, while Skorn’s expression darkened.

  The Emperor watched until Dragorn lost consciousness, and then signaled for the clamp to be cut off. Dragorn slumped in the T-Straint, and the Emperor smiled. “I’m told the krey body can endure a hundred burns before it expires, but no one has ever done it.”

  A krey in the Emperor’s entourage abruptly grimaced and stepped forward. “Your Excellency,” she murmured, “Ravel Aly’Ara has followed our ship.”

  “One krey I hate more than you,” he said to the unconscious Dragorn. “I assume she is beamcasting her location?”

  “As always.”

  The Emperor’s features twisted with irritation. “One day I will have the pleasure of pulling her lungs through her ribs.”

  “Can we not kill her?” Malikin asked.

  “No,” Dralik said, “she has a coding talent that rivals Skorn, and is probably already hacking into the Kildor. If she sees them on this bridge, she’ll beamcast the vid on the open network.”

  “She’s right,” the communications officer called. “The cortex is registering a hacking code right now. I’ll try to stop it.”

  “Even if we kill her, the damage will be catastrophic.” The Emperor’s scowl deepened. “Malikin, take the Kildor to hyperlight and head to deep space. I’ll take God’s Hammer the other direction. Beamcast me when they break.”

  Ero smiled at the image of Dralik Thendigor fleeing from Ravel, but one glance at Dragorn kept his mouth shut. Malikin accepted the order with a nod, but the Emperor was already striding to the Gate. He paused on the threshold, and his eyes swept across Skorn and settled on Ero.

  “I dearly wish I could take my time with the interrogation, but I will have to content myself with a vid of your mangled bodies drifting through space.” His eyes flicked to Malikin. “Break them quickly and I’ll let you dispose of the augments.”

  “I thought Malikin gave the augments to Visika,” Ero said.

  The Emperor laughed, a sound that made several shudder. He didn’t refute the statement, and merely turned and left. His entourage folded together and passed through the teleport before the arch extinguished and folded into the floor.

  Malikin, his chest puffed like a stuffed boar, called to the pilots, “Take us to hyperlight. I don’t want to be in range of any beamcast.”

  “As you order.”

  The massive dreadnaught turned and then jumped to hyperlight. The Kildor rotated the opposite direction and jumped as well. Then Malikin faced the captives. Ero wanted to laugh, to mock and deride, but the sobering dread robbed him of his voice.

  “Looks like Ravel is following God’s Hammer,” the navigation officer said.

  “Then we are free to continue.” The judge smiled, his eyes drifting over the group and settling on Mora. “Start with the girl.”

  “No!” Reklin growled. “Start with me.”

  Malikin flicked his hand, and the spine clamp closed on Reklin. His body shook but he did not cry out. Then Thekton stepped in and punched him in the face. Three more blows, and Reklin finally growled.

  Malikin’s smile deepened. “Now start with the girl.”

  A krey reached to the activating switch as Mora cringed.

  “Stop!” Ero shouted. “Stop and I’ll tell you!”

  “That was easier than I expected.” Malikin rotated in place. “To save the life of a single dakorian child, you would betray your House?”

  “Ero,” Skorn warned, “you do that, and Malikin owns us.”

  But Ero could not take his eyes from the bleeding Reklin. Across the room, they exchanged a look of understanding. Reklin would die for Mora, but Ero would not let him.

  “I’ll give you the coordinates to Lumineia,” Ero said.

  “Ero!” Skorn barked.

  Thekton wrapped a hand over Skorn’s mouth. “Now is not the time you speak,” he growled.

  Skorn’s face reddened, his eyes bulging as he sought to escape the big dakorian’s grip.

  Malikin drifted across the room to stand in front of Ero, his expression triumphant. He leaned in until their faces were inches apart. “Tell me.”

  Ero hesitated, his eyes flicking between the bloodied Reklin and his brother, who shook his head. If Ero gave the location of Lumineia to Malikin, he would lose his House, but he couldn’t let them torture Mora. He gave the coordinates. Skorn writhed under Thekton’s grip, his face hardened in shock and anger.

  “Commander Peron,” Malikin called, “confirm the location.”

  The navigator checked the coordinates and gave a nod. “It’s a planet on the outer rim. Six hours by hyperlight from our current location.”

  “Captain Thekton,” Voice Malikin called, turning away with a smile, “change course. I want to confirm it before reporting to the Emperor.”

  Thekton took his hand off Skorn and called orders to the pilot. Skorn trembled with rage, a torrent of curses tumbling from his lips. Dragorn took that moment to rouse, and in seconds he understood what had happened and turned on Ero with a vengeance. Ero endured their vitriol as he stared out the forward window, anger and regret burning through his bones. Dragorn shouted at him, and Skorn glared at him with outright disgust.

  “You will pay for this betrayal,” Dragorn snarled. “I will flay your skin and boil you until you beg for mercy! And to think I ever thought that your failure on Kelindor could be redeemed. I should have just killed you myself to spare the shame of others thinking you were my son.”

  Unable to explain why he could not let them kill Mora, even to himself, Ero endured the abuse from his father. His silence only incensed Dragorn further, and he hurled threats and rage at Ero. Ero could have ignored his father’s condemnation, but it was Skorn’s hatred that sank the deepest.

  “You should have let them die,” Skorn agreed, the rebuke in his expression too much for Ero to endure. “They’re just soldiers.”

  “Is that what they are to you?” Ero demanded with sudden vehemence. “Dakorians and humans are more than blood to be exchanged for glint.”

  “That’s exactly what they are,” Dragorn snarled, his tone full of contempt.
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  “I tire of your voice.” Malikin motioned to an officer, and they flicked a holo. The spine clamp on Dragorn ignited, causing him to scream and then slump again. Skorn clenched his hands and strained at his shackles, but Malikin shook his head. “Leave the other two awake. I want them to witness their defeat.”

  “Um…sir?” the security officer called. “I hate to interrupt.”

  “Then don’t,” Malikin said, his eyes on the forward window.

  The krey flinched. “But there seems to be a situation.”

  “What?” Malikin rounded on him.

  A faint boom echoed from deep inside the ship, followed by a series of shouts and the unmistakable hum of ion bolts being fired. The sounds quickly mounted, and the T-Straint behind Ero trembled.

  “Captain Thekton,” Malikin said, his voice gaining a warning edge, “what is the meaning of this?”

  “I’ll know in a moment.” The hulking dakorian strode to the security panel and leaned in to examine the holo.

  “Maybe you have a mutiny,” Ero said.

  “Captain,” Malikin growled, “what’s going on?”

  The commander pointed to the holo and various red lights appeared. “I’m getting scattered reports from our security teams. Half are not responding, and the other half are claiming they are under attack.”

  “By whom?” Thekton demanded.

  “I’m not sure.” The commander checked the holos and then shook his head in confusion. “But it seems they are comprised of dakorians . . . and humans?”

  “Humans?” Malikin snorted. “Who would bring humans to a fight?” Ero grinned, an expression that drew Malikin’s wrath. “You find this amusing?”

  “It appears my House doesn’t like the idea of being taken,” Ero said.

  “You think your augments came to your rescue?” Malikin was incredulous.

  “They are stronger than one would think,” Skorn said, his expression still dark. “And they have proven to be rather stubborn.”

  “Then it seems I get to see them earlier than I had hoped.” Malikin waved in dismissal. “Commander, dispatch security teams. I want them alive.”

  “I…can’t,” the krey replied. “The doors to the barracks and the armory are not responding.”

  “Get them open,” Thekton barked.

  “The coding is rewriting itself faster than I can change it,” the commander said. “I’ve never seen anything like it.”

  Kensen, Ero thought, pleased that he’d retained the boy. He had proven to be oh so useful. He mentally called to Siena, but she did not respond. It didn’t matter. If augments were here, she would be at their head. He hadn’t heard from her since the tribunal, so she must have followed Reklin and snuck onboard the Kildor. He then noticed Reklin.

  The soldier had been silent during most of the exchange, but now his arms were flexed, his head leaning forward, as if he were gathering himself to strike. And if Ero was not entirely mistaken, his right hand was slightly out of the restraints. There were a dozen soldiers on the bridge, not to mention twenty krey and Malikin himself. Reklin would be no match for them, especially wounded. And Thekton was a Bloodwall. And yet just the prospect of Siena coming to their rescue had galvanized both him and Reklin to hope.

  Malikin picked up on the rising tension. “Seal the bridge and activate emergency shields.”

  “The cortex is not responding,” the security officer said.

  The communications commander suddenly cursed. “Someone just locked me out.”

  “What?” Malikin growled. “How? The protocols on this ship are supreme level.”

  “I don’t know.” The krey’s hands flew across the holographic controls, but each command came back with a blaring red light. “But whoever they are, they knew what they were doing. The micro-Gates are down. I can’t send a distress signal.”

  “This is the Kildor,” Malikin snarled. “We do not send a distress signal for a few disgraced soldiers and a handful of slaves. Get a security team to the bridge.”

  “Is someone afraid of a few humans?” Ero called.

  “Shut your mouth or I’ll remove it from your face!”

  “I have a team outside the bridge doors now,” the security officer called.

  “Let them in,” Malikin barked.

  “Wait,” Thekton said. “Ask for an authentication code.”

  “Request sent.” A pause, and then the officer grimaced. “No response.”

  “It’s not our team,” Thekton barked. “Secure the bridge. Alpha protocol.”

  “Nonresponsive,” the officer said.

  The door suddenly whisked open, and all eyes turned to the dakorian standing in the opening. His eyes were open, his jaw slack. Thekton demanded a report, but the dakorian slumped to his knees, and then the deck. Siena stepped over the body.

  Ero saw her and almost cheered. “You’re late,” he called.

  Siena’s eyes flicked to him and then returned to Malikin. “Sorry. I had a few dakorians to deal with.”

  She flicked blood from her energy blade as she advanced. Behind her, three dakorians followed, and Ero recognized them as Reklin’s mother, sister, and brother. Their arrival sent the bridge crew into a frenzy. Thekton barked orders and the soldiers onboard raced towards the door. Siena came to a halt as Malikin’s officers formed a line and weapons powered up.

  “You are so dead,” Ero crowed.

  “Shut your mouth,” Malikin barked.

  “Voice Malikin,” Siena greeted. She kept her energy blade out to the side, and held a plasma repeater in her other hand. Dressed in an exo suit, the girl looked every bit the warrior.

  Malikin sneered. “I don’t speak to animals.”

  As Lavana, Inary, and Kevent bared their teeth and braced for the fight, Siena pointed her blade at Malikin. “You should. Because you’re about to die by one.”

  Thekton sneered and barked, “Thekton, put them down.”

  “With pleasure,” the captain snarled.

  “I’d hold onto something,” Siena said, and then raised her blade. In a savage burst of motion, she drove it straight into the floor, piercing the conduit embedded just under the deck plating. Graviton spilled from the breach and burst upward, and in that moment the gravity on the bridge went haywire.

  Chapter Forty-Three

  When Siena advanced into the bridge, Reklin’s hope soared. He’d never been so happy to see a person in his life, and all the anger and helplessness evaporated. Lavana followed, as did Inary and Kevent, the trio immediately scanning the room for Reklin. Tears blossomed in his eyes as he spotted his family. They’d come for him.

  Siena! Reklin mentally called to the girl, and her eyes flicked to him, a hint of a smile on her features. How did you get here?

  You really think I wouldn’t follow you? she replied through her mind augment.

  He caught an image of her threading into the temporarily damaged propulsion tube on the tacoda, and he almost laughed aloud. The girl truly was fearless. As Siena squared off with Captain Thekton and the bridge crew, Reklin used the micro hand lance, working it against the shackles and willing them to yield. They gave way and his hand started to come free.

  Wait for my signal, she mentally said, and then spoke aloud, “I’d hold onto something,”

  Heeding the warning, Reklin gripped the side of the T-Straint. As Thekton barked an order, Siena whipped her energy blade high into the air and then dropped to one knee, plunging it into the floor. The weapon pierced the seracrete decking and sliced deep into a large power conduit.

  A geyser of graviton burst from the crack and wreathed Siena. It spilled across the room, warping the decking and tossing chairs in odd directions. One dakorian cried out as his feet went floating upward—before he was abruptly yanked to the deck with a painful thud. Thekton growled and flailed as he, too, floated and twisted.

  Reklin’s legs lifted, and the entire T-Straint began to come off the deck. It toppled to the side, and he yanked his hand free just in time to stop his f
all. Inary leapt to the unconscious Mora and held her T-Straint. Oddly, she, Lavana, and Kevent seemed less affected by the waves of gravity pulsing from the broken conduit.

  “Kill them!” Thekton shouted.

  He swung his hammer and took aim, but the gravity pulled on the weapon, sending the ion bolts wide. Kevent dropped to one knee and returned fire, raining ion bolts onto the dakorians flanking Thekton. In seconds the entire bridge dissolved into screams, floating debris, and beams of ion fire. Through it all the gravity continued to pulse, bending girders, cracking control panels, and tugging at the combatants. The very bridge groaned as its superstructure began to twist.

  With one hand loose, Reklin used the micro lance on his other hand. Then his T-Straint skidded to the side and flopped onto its back. His weight momentarily lifted free, and then he was launched into Malikin. His T-Straint skipped off the control panel Malikin was cowering behind, and its corner embedded into the wall. His feet tugged one direction and then the other, and he fought to gain enough leverage to pull himself free. Through it all, he watched Siena.

  Standing in the center of the graviton geyser, the girl should have been crushed, her bones and tissues warped and twisted in an instant. Impossibly, she breathed in the graviton like it was oxygen. Her limbs glowed with threads of purple, and her eyes snapped open to reveal irises that had darkened from blue to a terrifying indigo.

  Thekton saw her and swiveled in place. He’d anchored himself to the back of a chair, and he used the brace to fire. The ion bolt buzzed over Siena’s shoulder, burning her neck and leaving a bloody line.

  “She’s just a human!” he shouted. “She can still be killed!”

  “So can you.”

  Siena’s voice had a dark timbre as she jumped free of the gravity spout and soared forty feet across the room. When she landed in front of Thekton, he swung his hammer in a chop that should have crushed her skull into her spine. It came to a dead stop, caught in her bare hand.

  Thekton’s eyes bulged as he strained to push the hammer through the tiny human, but she lifted free of the deck, her eyes darkening further as she warped the gravity around the weapon. Thekton tried to twist free, but the gravity lines shimmered into the visible spectrum and bent the lance.