by Eva Brandt
As the fire between us escalated, my power danced between us, wild and free. I tried to reach out to their minds like I had in the past, but I couldn’t focus for the life of me. Abandoning the idea, I reached for their feelings and their hearts instead. That, I could feel without a problem, and those feelings dragged me down through an abyss of emotion and sensation.
I didn’t know how long it lasted or how many times I came. When my body finally gave out, I wasn’t aware of it either. I was a captive of the ecstasy flowing through my veins, and I could do nothing but go with the flow.
It was only when I opened my eyes that I realized that at one point, I must have lost consciousness. Brendan and the others were by my side, looking worried.
A drone was hovering over us, presumably checking me over. It beeped in approval and robotically reported, “Subject suffering from minor injuries and abrasions. Bed rest and first aid recommended.”
As the drone left, I faced my lovers and burst into laughter. “Would you look at that? I now need even more rest than before.”
“I feel like we should apologize, but it’s not something you want, is it?” Pollux asked with a small bemused smile.
I shook my head and for the first time in what felt like ages, the weight threatening to crush me disappeared off my shoulders. “No, of course not. We should do it more often.”
“We will,” Brendan promised. “Soon, princess, we won’t have to steal a few moments together between our duties and classes. I’ll fix this. You’ll see.”
As they rejoined me on the bed, I smiled at my lovers and curled between their still naked bodies. “We’ll fix it, together,” I corrected Brendan. “As the Grand Chimera Unit.”
They didn’t answer, but I didn’t let it bother me. They’d proved to me time and again that they respected my skills. They knew that together, we were stronger, that together, we could build a better future.
Like me, they were aware that what had happened during flight class had to be dealt with. And we would take care of the problem, as a team. The world needed to learn, once and for all, that we would never be separated, and what better way to prove it than this?
Spilled Blood
Brendan
After Pollux’s strange fit in the Scylla, things settled down at the academy. I received no significant news from my father, beyond the occasional minor update. Selene was given a schedule that included her lessons on Terra and while it dug significantly into her time with us, we didn’t complain.
Two months after the beginning of the term, Selene took one of her first real exams at Chimera Academy. It was for Tachyon Firearms and she passed with flying colors. She still held her phaser a little clumsily, but the tachyon particles came to her regardless and hit all the required targets. It was more than enough, especially for a beginner.
Our whole unit was present to encourage her, but so were several others, some of whom didn’t have the same good intentions.
Since Selene’s mother had started teaching the class on Terrans, there had been less ugly comments directed at Selene. It didn’t take a genius to notice messing with us wouldn’t end well. But most of the other students still thought this was only a temporary change. They were making plans for the unavoidable moment when Selene outlived her usefulness.
I tried not to let my restlessness show and congratulated Selene with as much enthusiasm as I allowed myself in public. “You were wonderful,” I said, pulling her into my arms.
“I don’t know about that,” Selene replied with a laugh. “I still have a lot to learn. Sphinx says I was clutching the phaser too tensely the whole time.”
“Your wrist was in an awkward position, yes,” August replied, “but that’s not a big problem. Everyone has different grips for their phaser. You’ll find the one that works best for you.”
The other students unashamedly eavesdropped on us, but we ignored them. We ushered Selene away and celebrated her success in our dorms, in the best possible way—through a lot of sex.
The next day, though, Selene had another meeting with her mother, and we found ourselves lurking in the hangars on our own. I decided against going for a flight, although I was supposed to put in more hours. Instead, I stayed behind with August, Typhon, and the still dormant Charybdis.
Typhon had not forgotten my frustration with the rest of the students at the academy, because he chose this exact moment to make a wildly inappropriate suggestion. “There are so many humans at the school with a low degree of self-preservation, hatchling. Maybe we could just go ahead and consume them. That would remove every other problem we have on our hands.”
“I wish that were possible,” I replied, “but you know it’s not.”
Also it was too dangerous to talk about the idea out in the open, but we were trying to stay discreet by keeping most of our conversations telepathic. The unfortunate side-effect was that August was excluded from our exchange. Even so, he seemed to guess what Typhon and I were talking about.
“We can’t make any rash decisions,” he said with a sigh, “no matter how much the thought might appeal.”
I produced my tablet from my uniform pocket and flipped over the holographic files. Over the past couple of weeks, I’d been looking into a possible expedition into the Apsid Quasar. We didn’t need to go very far. A few apsids would be enough to provide fuel for our chimeras and remove the necessity of following The Grand Judiciary’s orders. But no matter how I looked at it, the option remained far more dangerous than the original plan.
We hadn’t lost anyone in the unit in our last confrontations with the apsids, but that was no guarantee. Plenty of chimeras had fallen to our foes. Mechas like the Medusa and the Minotaur were still dormant, and chances were they’d never awaken again. After what had happened on Mercury, could I really afford to take such a chance with the people I loved, just for the sake of the Terrans?
The answer was simple and no matter how many times I went over it in my head, it didn’t change my conclusion. Unless something extraordinary happened and the apsids attacked, we’d have to follow my father’s plan.
We might even have to speed things up. The Grand Judiciary had been very quiet, and I didn’t like it. I wanted our chimeras to be in perfect order and that just wasn’t the case right now. Nobody had found out about what had happened with Scylla, but that had only been out of sheer good fortune. If not for August and Selene’s prompt intervention, things could have been very different.
I was debating the merits of joining the others on the training field when the hangar doors slid open and Paul Welton walked inside. “Your Highness, good afternoon. I’m glad I caught you before you started your flight training.”
“Greetings, Lord Welton,” I replied. “Is there anything urgent you wanted to tell me?”
He nodded. “The Grand Judiciary has made a decision regarding the matter we discussed.”
My heart twisted and my stomach churned, but once again, I remained perfectly calm. “Oh? They’ve found the first food source for our chimeras, then?”
He nodded. “There is a small community of rebel Gaia followers living in The Ural Mountains. We haven’t dealt with them yet because they’re not violent, but they’re very isolated so nobody will miss them once they’re gone.”
A community of rebels. It was a good choice, but at the same time, an odd one. Why would they decide to target someone non-violent, when there were undoubtedly countless other options? There were plenty of small factions on Terra that opposed The Grand Judiciary and usually staged attacks similar to the one that had awakened Sphinx. What had these people done that had made them targets? This was rubbing me the wrong way, and not just because I’d have to kill innocent people soon.
I didn’t reveal any of these doubts to Penelope’s father. “Very well, Lord Welton,” I said. “We’ll go tonight.”
Lord Welton shook his head. “You’ll go now. There have been some signs of activity and The Grand Judiciary wants to deal with it before it becomes a problem
. Besides, daylight doesn’t reach that region a lot, so you’ll be able to approach stealthily.”
This part wasn’t really unusual, since the Grand Chimera Unit had left the school before to go on missions. And maybe it was better to go as soon as possible, since Selene was busy with her mother and our absence wouldn’t be obvious.
Getting to The Ural Mountains, wiping out everything in the area and returning to the base wouldn’t take us more than two hours, if that. By the time Selene finished her own lessons with her mother, we’d be back. She’d never know what we’d done.
Lord Welton didn’t seem to realize we had no intention of including our lover, or if he did, he wanted to make sure we were in agreement.
“Oh, and be discreet. The king trusts your judgment, but some of your recent choices have made The Grand Judiciary leery. We hope recent developments will mean you’ll stop your reckless actions.”
“I’m never reckless, Lord Welton,” I replied. “Everything I do is carefully planned. It’s exactly why I knew your daughter and I would be a bad match. And with respect, Lady Welton is far more reckless than I’ll ever be.”
Lord Welton’s eyes flashed, and I could’ve sworn I saw hatred on his face. “Penelope is enthusiastic, it’s true. But she’s a woman, so you shouldn’t judge her too harshly. In any case, it doesn’t matter anymore, since you’ve already made your choice.”
“Yes, I have. And my father approves of it, as evidenced by his support of the Terran Sociology classes.”
“I wouldn’t rely too much on that, Your Highness. The fairytales propagated by one woman don’t change the behavior of the countless others on Tartarus Base. Everyone here knows the real reason why you picked Selene Renard over my daughter.”
“Yes, and that’s because she’s superior in every way,” August replied in my stead.
It was surprising that he’d even stayed silent until now, but he did try to respect my authority as a prince when he absolutely had to. Welton had just crossed the line, though, and none of us took it well when Selene was targeted in any way.
The chimeras landed behind us, Pollux and Knox having lost interest in flight practice. A part of me wanted to team up with them and feed Welton to Typhon and the others. Surely, nobody would figure out what had happened if they weren’t aware that he’d come here.
But I had other, bigger problems. For the first time since Lord Welton had arrived, I realized that he’d approached us in the worst possible area. Sphinx wasn’t functional right now, but she wasn’t dormant either, and she could undoubtedly hear every word we were saying. We’d avoided problems so far by talking to our chimeras through our respective bonds, but our efforts had just been rendered useless.
“If there’s an issue, I’m pretty sure we can get Sphinx to lie for us,” Typhon murmured in my mind.
“You think so?” I asked. Tartarus help me, I hoped he was right, because I really didn’t want Selene to find out about this.
“Sphinx is a very practical chimera and she understands the necessity of bloodshed. She’s been my friend for millennia, since those days when we were still flesh and bone. She might not be thrilled with keeping secrets from Selene, but she’ll do it if we convince her it’s for Selene’s own good.”
That was a big ‘if’. Sphinx wouldn’t be easy to fool, and truth be told, I wasn’t convinced the lie was for Selene’s sake. We were the ones benefitting most from it, since we wouldn’t have to face her anger and disdain.
Lord Welton was oblivious to the exchange between me and Typhon. He stole a look over my shoulder, having obviously noticed the others arrive.
I decided it was high time I got rid of him. “Thank you for giving us this message, Lord Welton,” I said. “We’ll handle the matter today, as you recommended and I’ll report to my father as soon as we’ve returned. Have a nice day.”
The dismissal was rude, but we didn’t particularly care. He hadn’t been all that nice to us either, today, or any other day and there was no point in pretending we liked each other. He’d always despise me for rejecting his daughter and hate the others for their influence over that.
Even so, I was still a prince, and he was still bound to respect me, at least to a certain point. “Of course, Your Highness. May Tartarus watch over you in the coming battle.”
He bowed, pivoted on his heel, and stalked out of the hangars. His departure was probably opportune, because by the time he’d disappeared into the depths of the academy, Knox and Pollux had joined us.
“Unpleasant news, I take it?” Knox asked.
“Unpleasant and unavoidable,” I replied.
It didn’t sit well with me that our future mission would involve massacring innocent people. But for good or ill, this was our lot in life, and some things were just more important than others.
“I still agree with Typhon,” Cerberus offered from behind Knox. “We could just consume The Grand Judiciary or some students here at the academy.”
“We’ll do that soon, once Charybdis is back and Typhon and Scylla are better. With the way things are right now, we’re running the risk of any one of you shutting down mid-battle. This small community will likely not be an issue, but The Grand Judiciary is an entirely different matter.”
Cerberus reluctantly agreed, although I knew his displeasure was more or less for Knox’s sake. He didn’t care all that much about who he ate. Knox wasn’t that discerning in his kills either, but he still had some scruples, and Cerberus respected that.
Besides, he—just like me and the rest of our unit—feared how Selene would react to all this. She’d been upset after that whole business with the terrorists, and we hadn’t even had a direct hand in the deaths of those people. What would she say if she found out we’d left for such a mission? Would Sphinx agree to hide this for us, like Typhon had said?
As if overhearing my thoughts, Sphinx emerged from the shadows, joining the rest of us. “There’s no reason to hesitate any longer, Prince Brendan. Young Selene has a good heart, it’s true, and she’d be against something like this. But I know small sacrifices are necessary for the greater good. And I’ve never been afraid of shedding blood and making sacrifices.”
“Thank you,” I told her. “I know it won’t be easy for you to keep this a secret from her, but I think she shouldn’t have to carry this burden.”
“I don’t know about that. She needs to learn these things eventually. But… Yes, perhaps it is a little too soon. I want to shape her soul, but not crush it.”
Since we were in agreement on that, we could direct our attention to more practical matters. Charybdis was still dormant, and with the recent changes to the Harpy Squad, the Zephyrus wasn’t accessible to us. That meant August didn’t have a chimera he could use for the imminent mission.
For a few seconds, all of us froze. Since we’d come together as a unit, we’d always dealt with our missions together, as a team. It seemed so wrong to leave him behind.
“I could join you,” Sphinx offered. “It wouldn’t be a perfect fit, but we’d adapt. And it’d be easier with the four of us. Since Selene isn’t on Tartarus Base, it shouldn’t be a big deal.”
I didn’t know who was more surprised by the offer, me, August, or Sphinx herself. She’d never been that inclined to trust us, especially since she was well aware of our original plans for Selene. But maybe this time, she realized that we truly did want to protect her charge, and that was why she’d decided to offer us her unconditional assistance.
“Thank you,” August said. “I really appreciate this.”
“Don’t thank me, Flight Lieutenant Cavallero. I’m not doing it for you, or for Terra. I’m doing it for Selene and Charybdis.”
I couldn’t have agreed more. Our duty to protect the planet wasn’t nearly as important to me as my friends and my beautiful lover. It was nice to know Sphinx had the same priorities as we did.
Together, our small group made its way to a large transport shuttle. We didn’t use the Venom, since it would’ve been to
o eye-catching. A smaller ship could carry our mechas too, although it wouldn’t be as fast as my private vessel.
Since there was no one else in the hangars to monitor the launch operations, August helped us with that. He had to do it remotely, through his technopathy, but he managed well enough. Meanwhile, Pollux took position in the pilot seat of the shuttle and started the system.
As the displays of the shuttle flared to life, a strange feeling erupted over me. Maybe it was just the lingering remnants of my conscience, but all of a sudden, I couldn’t help but think something bad was going to happen.
I couldn’t turn back, so I grabbed Knox’s arm and pulled him aside. “Listen, Knox. If this goes downhill, you take Cerberus, Sphinx, and August, and you leave. Find Selene and make sure she’s safe.”
“You think we’re missing something, don’t you?”
“I know we are, but I can’t tell what it is.” I stared at the back of Pollux’s head, a shadow stirring in my heart. “I’m afraid, Knox. I’m afraid that no matter what I do, it won’t be enough, that I’m taking too long to get rid of that man. If I’d just killed him sooner, maybe—”
“Don’t think about that now,” Knox cut me off. “It was too dangerous to act then and it’s still too dangerous now. We’ll deal with him when we’re in a better position.”
“A lot of people will die because of my vacillation,” I replied with a sigh.
“People die, Brendan. You and I both know that. What’s important is to make sure the right people don’t die.”
I nodded. Fortunately, the list of people we wanted to protect was very small. Selene was safe with her mother, so we only had one another and the chimeras to worry about. We’d be fine.
Even if we had to spill innocent blood, we’d bring Charybdis back and take over the crown. After that, all bets were off, and we’d finally be able to build the future I envisioned.