by F. E. Arliss
She’d sent him in Labrys, his ship for all intents and purposes, as Chronite, the ship’s brain, worked best for him. It was their largest ship and hopefully a show of power that would calm skittish allies. Labrys was the largest of the nest ships, created from a brain stem that Juls had found in the hidden cache in the birthing nest on Geboren. Stored for centuries, Chronite, the human male that had donated his brain, had been joyful at being woken and in communication once more with his old friend Talio.
General Monsav’s Centurion was smaller, but no less ferocious. Each of the nest ships also held shuttles, fighters, and one or two small sloop ships.
Talio was their smallest ship and not really a nest ship. Talio was a cruiser. A small, personalized cruiser. Not that Talio was, in actuality, any less of a threat. He was highly weaponized and extremely armoured. He just looked inconsequential.
Now that the Soclaued she’d purchased upon her first meeting with General Monsav had settled into his home planet and were producing processed ore, the nest had been able to reinforce all their ships with a powerful lightweight armor, sell processed ore for profit, and even develop a new type of ultra-lightweight body armor made from that same ore and infused with nanites. The patented and highly sought after armor was making them a very, very tidy income. Freux and his companions were wearing it now.
Juls had General Monsav, aboard Centurion, waiting in the wings several planets over from the proposed meeting place. Just in case. It never hurt to be prepared.
Juls sat on the bridge of Talio, in orbit above Geboren, awaiting news of the conference with the allies. She felt a great sense of trepidation today. Being aboard Talio helped. She loved looking down on the small green moon. Sometimes she could see great herds of hippolites sweeping across one of the open plains. Much as she envisioned herds of buffalo might have swept across the great plains of the American continent on Earth in the days before mankind’s rampant killing had wiped them out. It was a sobering thought.
Her sense of unease growing, Juls hailed Monsav aboard the Centurion. “I don’t have a good feeling about this,” Juls said slowly. “I want you to begin making your way towards the meeting point. We should have heard something by now. I’m getting negative feelings, I think maybe from Freux. Please go..., now!”
“Perhaps they’re just taking a long time to come to agreement. We knew it might be a tough negotiation,” General Monsav said reassuringly.
A frisson of anxiety wove down Juls’ spine. “No! Go!” she barked. “Something is wrong! Go now!”
Without answering, General Monsav jumped to the coordinates of the meet. Opening a channel to Talio, he left it open so that Juls could hear everything.
“Target the aft nest ship and fire!” came the first order from Monsav. “Fighters deploy, target the starboard nest ship. Hailing, Labrys. This is Centurion.”
“General Monsav, this is Lieutenant Qual. General Freux is wounded, but a group of our fighters were able to land and retrieved him from the surface of the planet. He and his guard were ambushed on the surface. All three allied -- I mean enemy ships -- opened fire on us simultaneously. It was an ambush,” his voice quavered. “We are holding our own with the port side nest. Thank you for your assistance,” Qual added, a note of relief lacing his usual whirling tone.
“Deploy your fighters to the starboard ship with mine,” General Kor ordered. “Labrys, continue firing on the port side vessel. Centurion crew, keep targeting the aft ship.”
“Port side enemy vessel destroyed, General Monsav,” Lieutenant Qual stated, vicious satisfaction dripped from the words. “Retargeting to assist fighters.”
“Direct hit aft ship,” Monsav’s lieutenant said, looking up from his console.
“Continue firing!” General Monsav demanded. “End them, Lieutenant!”
“Starboard ship destroyed,” Lieutenant Qual’s whir came again.
“Aft ship destroyed,” came General Monsav’s lieutenant. A long silence encompassed the bridges of both vessels.
“Sweep the wreckage for trackers. Please bring General Freux and his wounded warriors to me as soon as possible,” came Queen Altum Juls, husky voice. “They will heal faster if I am able to send energy to them. Well done to all of you. Freux would have been proud of your commitment on his behalf.”
“Aye aye, my Queen,” General Monsav said, concern slowed the usual lilting whirl of his diction. “We will return to you as soon as possible.”
“All ships and all stations, this is Queen Altum Juls. General Freux has been ambushed on his diplomatic mission. High alert is instituted. We are in grave danger. High alert now!” she ordered.
“Emergency message to Queen Calli and General Sauvage, Queen Bylar and General Beahr, Queen Socir and General Houk! Labrys was attacked on a diplomatic mission to nests Karto, Adibe, and Mala. General Freux has been wounded. I require communication with Princess Zeus, Warrior Apollo and Warrior Atlas,” she demanded.
The next thirty minutes was a nightmare of worry, shock and anger. After the shock passed, then came the debilitating wave of concern, followed by the overwhelming rage that wished for retribution. Calming her children was not an easy task. The rage and shock from the other nests had also begun to pour in. For hours Juls talked to other Queens, calmed Generals and issued alerts.
As soon as Freux’s unconscious form was delivered to her, she had him placed in the nest bed, and his warriors placed on cots in close proximity. Pouring as much power as she could into his damaged form, she opened herself to the power of the planet, channeling great waves of energy through his healing body. One of his warriors died. Determined not to let grief derail her life-saving flow, Juls shut it out and concentrated harder. Slowly she could see the damaged tissues mending. His beautifully chiseled features slowly began to form again. Thank the Universe they had not damaged his brain. Thank Soclaued that the new armor had probably saved his life. He would live and they would seek retribution together. For now, he needed to rest.
Every ally and station was locking down, upping security and instituting security protocols that had been worked on for years. The time had come to put them all in place. If she was right, the shit would begin to hit the fan soon. It already had. Shit had rained down on them at the ambush. That was only the beginning.
Turning to Vulm, her Lieutenant aboard Talio, Juls said, “Set us down on the surface please, Vulm. Activate all planetary defense shields and long range warning buoys. I suspect they’ll be coming soon.” At his nod, Juls signed off on the shipboard comms and leaned back, dropping her head into her hands. Sobs wracked her chest. She needed to calm herself before the storm began. Stumbling from the chair, Dent caught her in his arms and proceeded by Axel, carried her through to her chamber. Heading for the nest bed, Juls stopped him. “The pool, Dent. Put me in the pool, please,” she whispered.
Kneeling, he gently let her slide in. “Leave me,” she sighed out quietly. “Leave me,” and silently slid beneath the green viscous surface.
Chapter Twenty-Two
The Past Comes Haunting
The green fluid slid easily from her skin as she rose from the pool. It no longer had the ability to make her feel cold and awkward. She was part of the pool and the pool was part of her. It was time to make alternate preparations. If she was right, and she was, those that did not honor the life-givers would now become life-takers.
It was a fine line, and now they had slipped the reins of honor and become her enemies. It was time to welcome the fire. It would come, and they would believe themselves victors. Only time would show them that they were not. The plan was in motion. It no longer felt extreme. It felt right. They believed they had killed Freux, her mate and the father of her children. They had not. But now they would all pay.
Juls held Freux to her until the last moment, hating to see him go. He kissed her gently and said, “No matter what, we will see this play out. We will protect what we love. We are one. Our family and nest relies on us. We will see this through. Rememb
er, I love you and we will be together again soon.” With that, he turned and boarded the Labrys.
That day Talio disappeared from skies over Geboren. The Labrys and Centurion were gone. The allies of the great ‘un-pure’ queen had vanished, gone to ground and hidden, the rest said contemptuously. What could be expected of those that followed an un-pure queen. Good riddance.
Queen Altum Juls stared out into the dark of the small moon she had come to love. She hoped it would not be destroyed, but she knew the habitat and her garden would be. She had Freux scoop ‘their’ orchid out of the cleft of the tree, where it had flourished the last three years, and take it with him aboard the Labrys. She would see them both again soon.
Now, the plan was in motion. They’d let the others believe her nest had deserted her. In truth they were massing and preparing, hidden on General Monsav’s home planet. Talio once again slumbered in the ‘knotted abyss’. They awaited only her command. Freux would lead them until she returned.
Sadness threatened to weaken her legs, but pushing it away was a wave of anger that caused her to take a deep breath and step back into the bridge of the habitat. She would wait patiently.
It didn’t take long. Two hours later a hail came over the comms. “Hailing Jullian Arban, on the planet Geboren. This is the Intergalactic Guard. Please respond. We offer you no harm if you will surrender yourself and your Idolum counterparts. Please respond,” droned the voice. It sounded vaguely familiar.
Juls almost snorted when she realized why. The voice belonged to Tom Chadmore. He’d finally come to rescue her. Or kill her. Either way, he was out of luck.
“Hello, Chad. Finally come to my rescue, have you?” Juls cooed into the comms. She could practically see the sweep of red that emerged from under his collar. “Not to worry, lover, I’m all taken care of. No need to trouble yourself.”
“Jullian Arban, please surrender yourself to the Intergalactic Guard. You are wanted on a count of treason, by assisting the escape of General Shale. Please surrender yourself or be faced with lethal force,” came back Chad’s guarded demand.
Juls laughed, this was so fun! “Now, baby, don’t be so insistent. Don’t you want to pass some time, get caught up on how you shanghaied me into the guard to feed a prisoner without any choice?” she asked back, trying to infuse a world of hurt into her voice. It was protocol to broadcast the conversation over the bridge of the ship. She hoped he was squirming like bat shit.
“Well, they did give me a choice. Feed the prisoner energy, or go to the mines to work off my sentence. Yes, it was such an excellently even set of decisions. I mean, this girl has always wanted to be a miner, get gang raped in the dark, and ruin her manicure. Yeees, such an excellent set of options, dear Chad. You are such a charmer!” She let out a tinkling laugh at the end, just to drive the knife deeper.
“This is Major Tom Chadmore, we demand an answer!” came back the almost shrieking reply.
Oh, good, he was humiliated. She hoped this little conversation would ruin his career. “Now don’t get your shorts in a twist, sweetie. I don’t hold it against you,” she added with a flirtatious drawl. “You had to buy that promotion somehow,” she added, using Major Stallic’s thoughts on the subject. “But, really, I’m fine down here.”
“Release yourself and your Idolum counterparts into our custody or we will use force,” came back the gritted reply.
“Sweetie, I don’t have any Idolum counterparts, haven’t you done a life-sign sweep? For shame, you’re slipping in your judgment, doll,” Juls said sarcastically.
A few seconds of silence reigned. “Very well, turn yourself over to us or we will take you by force!”
“Ooooh, that sounds fun!” Juls giggled back. “You always were good at that!” Clicking the comm off, she saw that they’d already deployed small ships with troops, they would be here in a few minutes. Time to go. Taking a last look around the home she’d come to love, Juls fled into the dark.
It didn’t take her long to reach the birthing nest. Sliding into the dark crevasse, she triggered the self-destruct on the habitat. It hurt her to do it, but she hoped she got all the bastards. Looking through a zoom scope, she could see the troops closing in on the habitat. Two minutes later, an enormous explosion wiped out the closest thing she’d ever had to a home. Along with it, most of Major Chadmore’s troops were pulverized as well.
The concussion smacked into the side of the mountain where she stood a few seconds later. They’d communicated to the settlements and the hippolites to leave the area and she hoped no one had been injured. She knew it wouldn’t be long now if her estimation of her enemy was correct.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Attempted Annihilation
It was. Missiles rained from the sky, annihilating any further evidence of the habitat and its surrounds. She hoped they would believe her dead. Perhaps they weren’t quite as simple as she’d believed, or maybe Tom was just really, really mad. Missiles plastered the entire valley over the next few minutes. As the ground shook and boulders rained down, Juls scrambled madly for the small hidden chamber at very back of the fissure. Slipping into the narrow, claustrophobic space, Juls wondered for a second how Vis had even found it.
Once inside, the space spread out, but flattened down. Ducking her head, she scooped up the small crate laying in a sheltered alcove and made her way to the tiny, fortified sloop at the bottom of the cave. Jules couldn’t leave the crate. She’d discovered it and the sloop while exploring the birthing cavern in the first few weeks on the planet.
As she’d lain in the queen’s pool aboard Talio, the existence of Geboren, the birthing nest, the contents of the crate and the escape plan with the emergency sloop, had all been downloaded into her brain. Most of the things in that ‘learning’ she understood. The significance of the crate, she did not. All she knew was that it was extremely important to Vis, something of vital power and could mean the survival of her nest.
Lashing the crate in place behind the seat, Juls then slid her long frame lithely into the low, narrow, pilot’s seat. Pushing the buttons she’d pre-programmed, and strapping a helmet-like mask over her face, she slapped her fist down on the console and prayed like hell that this whole thing actually worked.
Dust and chunks of rock fell in a wave of debris from the crumpling mountain. Chad was mad! Ass hole! She hoped he lost his commission. The sloop rotated and darted forward. The small craft jetted out of the shallow crevasse high on the mountain side and jumped immediately to a set of pre-programmed coordinates. Not immediate enough it seemed, a thwumping crunch impacted the rear of the small ship. A split second later, the sloop was gone.
When she emerged from the first jump, Juls could tell it wasn’t quite right. This was not the destination for the first jump. The impact to the back of the sloop must have slightly altered the course. Fearful of remaining too long and allowing the Guard to find her, Juls took a deep, shaky breath, slapped the console, and initiated the second jump. She couldn’t risk them finding her.
She had to live to return to Freux and her children. Her nest needed her. It was a gamble. A huge gamble, but she had to do it. She must protect those whom she loved. Her enemies could not be allowed to find the remainder of her nest.
Targeting a directed thought to Freux, she screamed out her intent. “I am off-course, but alive. I will find my way back to you! I love you!”
The next instant she was gone.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Off Course
Juls came to as the sloop was burning through the atmosphere of a large desert planet. The heat had caused sweat to run into her eyes and the burning woke her. Blinking the sting away, Juls scrambled frantically to right the small sloop. Slowing the tiny ship down was her only chance, and so far it wasn’t responding quickly. Finally, in an act of desperation, she did the only thing she could think of. She shut it all down.
Precious seconds ticked by as she gathered her energy, calmed herself, and imagined the engines in perfect workin
g order and a barrier cushioning the small vessel, then she slapped the console. Keeping her eyes closed and her focus on the barrier and the slowing of the ship, she urged the vessel to respond. It was an organic ship after all. It was energy. Slowly the engines fired to life, the cruiser slowed, shields went up, and as they descended over the desert planet, Juls regained a small portion of the rudder control.
The landing wasn’t pretty, and the tiny sloop was badly damaged. She’d taken out a swath of brush-like vegetation as she plowed to a halt on a long barren strip of what she could only call a savannah. It looked a little like she imagined the African plains on Earth might have looked. Except, ok, so the sky was orange, the plains were yellow, and the trees were a weird sort of gray. It was not an attractive savannah; at least not from what she could see through her view screen.
Tapping the console to bring up external readings, Juls saw that it was incredible hot on the surface. Forty-five degrees Celsius. Bearable, but not for long. She would need to find shade and water. Her energy would sustain her for prolonged periods of time, but in this climate she would need to find water as well.
Pondering it, Juls decided there was no sense in staying in the sloop. It was damaged and would take repairing. She needed to find a way to sustain herself before she could repair the ship. Clicking the lever that opened the cockpit, she braced herself for the rush of heat. Nothing could have prepared her for the level of oppression that hit her.
She imagined that his was how a shirt sleeve felt when it was clamped in those gigantic steam presses at the old time laundries on Earth. Not only was the heat like a massive blow to the head, there also seemed to be a heavier than normal gravitational pull. She could barely move.
Juls pondered slamming the cockpit closed again, but since that would accomplish nothing, she kept it open and let the heat wash over her. She still needed to get out of this heat. The ship seemed to be slowly shriveling. How she would rehydrate it when she tried to repair it was a question yet to be answered. Raising the binoculars to her eyes, she scanned the horizon. Not much in any direction.