A Clash of Demons

by Aleks Canard

  Nadira smiled. ‘I’ll never tell you that, machina. Letting someone know your hopes and dreams is more dangerous than telling them your fears. But I know what you’re considering, and my wish wasn’t going to be for infinite money. I’ve heard too many fables about crossroad demons granting similar wishes. Infinite money would likely bankrupt everyone else while I became immeasurably rich. It would cause more problems than it would solve.’

  ‘Money often does. Speaking of which, for all the problems you’ve caused me, I’d say this favour has exceeded simple repayment.’

  ‘I thought you didn’t accept payment from friends.’

  ‘I can make an exception for you.’

  ‘You’ll receive a payment that I deem adequate when you take me back to Dark’s Hide with the mirror, and I’m paid. Consider it a courier’s fee.’

  The two women walked side by side for a moment, not speaking. It began raining. Trix was grateful for it. The world needed to be washed of the weirdness that had taken place.

  That was when Valentine called Trix.

  Was nothing ever easy?

  3

  I Came Here To Break Hearts

  Serena Alura landed the Red Queen in Dark’s Hide’s main docks.

  She remotely manoeuvred Faedra’s ship into the port beneath Dark’s Hide’s smaller asteroid with Alan’s help. Then they waited for Trix to give them the all clear for bomb activation. Their plan was to make it seem like the bomb signature was coming from Faedra’s ship.

  Valentine had rigged it with explosives. Once it was breached, he’d set it off, and the bomb signature would redirect to the Red Queen. This would give them more time to survive, and hopefully give Trix a better chance of talking Nadira around.

  The level Serena had parked on was relatively quiet. Just a few djurels smoking. Judging from the looks of their cargo, they were small time drug dealers. An anghenfil ship that’d probably just arrived from Noccril was next to them. All insignias had been painted over or scratched off so as not to be confused for a hostile scouting party. The anghenfil on board likely stopped at Dark’s Hide to gather supplies before finding a secluded corner of space to figure out which planet they would settle on.

  A band of psygotas and kalariks were drinking a couple of spaces over from the refugees. They were sloshed beyond all reckoning. Valentine figured they’d been kicked out of Dark’s Hide’s worst bars now this was the only place they had left. Until they sobered up, of course.

  Oh yes, Dark’s Hide’s docks were a veritable cesspool of shit that was always coming and going like a toilet with inconsistent plumbing. Valentine wouldn’t have it any other way.

  He and Serena were sitting in the lounge. Valentine was writing, as he did whenever he got a chance. There was whiskey on the desk, a cigarillo in his mouth, and hard rock blasting through his earpieces. Writing was what gave him more pleasure than anything else in the world. It trumped sex, booze, and smoking. When those highs faded, writing’s bliss stretched onward until the next day, where hopefully he would do it all again.

  Serena was on the sofa, legs crossed, reading a scientific journal about the latest innovations in orbital dynamics and aero design, though her mind drifted to the potentially dangerous task ahead. Sometimes she caught her reflection in the mirror behind the bar when she looked up. She and Valentine were approaching a century. She didn’t look much older than mid-thirties, especially not when she put makeup on. Valentine was much the same. All of it was possible because of the medical care Valentine bought. He saw it as a way to repay Serena for saving his life. In his mind, it was a debt that could never be fulfilled so long as he lived.

  The only time Serena’s age was given away was when people looked into her eyes. There was a lot of hurt there. Agonising memories. Tormenting tribulations. And woe that stretched past the horizon. But she had only lost friends during Mission Icarus. Valentine had lost the love of his life.

  Both of them waited, nearly slipping into a state of total relaxation when Alan spoke.

  ‘An unidentified liner has docked in the bay to starboard.’

  ‘That’s hardly surprising, old boy. It’s identified liners that are an anomaly here,’ Valentine said as his fingers flew over the keyboard. He preferred tactile buttons to touchscreens for serious writing. They were practically antiques in the 28th century.

  ‘I’m detecting fifty lifeforms on board. My scanners show that it has been retrofitted for combat.’

  ‘Bring it up on screen, Alan.’

  Valentine’s writing saved, then closed. It was replaced by an exterior view from one of the Red Queen’s starboard cameras. The liner was a similar model to Valentine’s, though it was built with stealth in mind. Serena watched the feed on the lounge room’s floor-to-ceiling screen.

  Serena: ‘Impressive make. Their weapons are concealed pretty well too. No windows. Matte black finish. It’s a specialist ship. Custom built from a zirean frame. Elysial make the engines of this particular type. Most of the fusion core’s energy goes towards running coolant around the thrusters to minimise thermal output.’

  ‘What’d you reckon they’re doing here?’

  ‘Probably the same thing everyone’s doing. Buying weapons.’

  ‘That’s not true. I come here to drink.’

  ‘And how do you think I stock the armoury with sticky C4? By recycling your empty whiskey bottles? Pfft.’

  ‘Your shopping lists are unusual.’

  ‘Except for here.’

  ‘Alan, keep an eye on that ship. Tell us the second anyone comes out of it.’

  ‘Very good, sir, ma’am.’

  Eighteen minutes passed. Tension began rising. Serena found herself staring absently at the new ship. She used her comms gauntlet to flick through the various external cameras. The djurels who were smoking kept casting wary glances over their shoulders. Even the drunken psygotas and kalariks had quietened down. It was like a dragon had landed in Dark’s Hide and no sooner fallen asleep. None wanted to wake it.

  ‘Sir, ma’am, we’re being scanned.’

  ‘Well, jumble their readings,’ Serena said.

  ‘I already have.’

  That was when everything went dark. The only light came from the dwindling tip of Valentine’s cigarillo.

  ‘Fucking hell. An EMP. Who are these jokers?’

  Serena put her journal down and activated her helmet.

  ‘I don’t know, but they won’t be laughing much longer.’

  ‘Alan, you still with us, old boy?’

  ‘Here, sir. Running on emergency backup generators. The ship is unable to fly or fight. All systems are in the process of rebooting.’

  ‘Don’t bother with anything but communications,’ Valentine said, downing his drink. His helmet encased his face.

  ‘Who should I call when the communications come back online?’

  ‘Trix. And make it urgent.’

  Valentine walked to the airlock. Manually opened the guest bedroom door beside it. Then he did the same to the elevator so he could access the gatling gun Serena had installed earlier.

  Serena Alura took position on Valentine’s right. The shield door they’d erected on the other side had its own core. It’d overheat faster without being attached to the Red Queen’s fusion core but it was better than nothing.

  Serena heard the loading ramp being forced open. They had to be using a mixture of explosives and plasma cutters to break through.

  Soon they’d be heading through the cargo bay. Serena crouched behind her gatling gun, concealed by darkness. She wasn’t using her night vision. She and Valentine opted for thermal imaging. Serena rolled two flashbang grenades back and forth in her hand. These bastards were about to get one hell of a welcome.

  Barely audible footsteps made their way through the cargo bay. Neither Serena nor Valentine could pinpoint how many footsteps there were, not even with their helmets.

  Meteor Brigade’s last surviving members grabbed their gatling guns. Their attackers were on
the other side of the airlock now. More breaching explosives were placed.

  Now they were at the interior door.

  Boom. Through. Flashbang.

  Serena unloaded a lead shitstorm into the airlock’s ruins. Return fire came through in drabs. It was no match for the gatling guns. Then Valentine fired. He and Serena shot until their belts ran dry. They surveyed the damage when their guns screeched to a halt. Whoever had boarded them failed spectacularly. Valentine hadn’t even needed to activate the guest bedroom’s C4.

  Both Rangers switched to night vision. Looked into the cargo bay. No one else was approaching.

  ‘That was easy,’ Valentine said, reloading. ‘Come on, you pricks. Send me more pigs to shoot.’

  ‘What if they already have? They could’ve come in the starboard airlock.’

  ‘That’d be a pain in the ass to enter through. It’s too narrow for a large boarding party. Unless you have plenty of time… oh fook.’

  ‘And because of the gunshots they know exactly where we are.’

  ‘Sir, communications are back online. Calling Trix of Zilvia now, and beginning all other secondary reboots. I’ve also detected a breach in the starboard airlock.’

  ‘Next priority is lights,’ said Serena.

  The machina answered. Her voice came through Serena and Valentine’s earpieces.

  ‘Valentine, you can call off the ruse. Nadira and I have come to an agreement.’

  ‘Yeah? Well Serena and I were just coming to multiple agreements with a fucking boarding party that busted through our ship. You know what they say, if your argument ain’t shit, just drown the other guy out.’

  ‘Who’s attacking you?’

  ‘We don’t know. They’re in a zirean luxury liner refitted for stealth purposes. No insignia. No colours,’ Serena said, dissembling her gatling gun and moving it over to the bar. That was the next best strategic position. Valentine flew into the armoury. Grabbed another one-way shield. Used it to plug the gap which led to the lounge room. It was hardly ideal if another boarding party came through the cargo bay, but it was better than letting them waltz in unimpeded.

  Back on Orix, Trix turned to Nadira.

  ‘Did the Guild tell you what ship their couriers would be using?’

  ‘No, but I’m guessing it’s the one which is now assaulting your friends. Those motherfuckers. They think they can rip me off? Me? I’m going to wage war on the Guild and not leave a single one of those twisted scholars left standing. Not all the necromancy in the world will be able to make them speak once my Hidden are through with them.’

  ‘What’re you talking about?’

  ‘The Red Queen was seen leaving Zilvia where my spies knew both the mirrors were located. I can’t have been the only one to know. The Guild must’ve had scouting parties. Maybe moles within the Lodge. It pains me to say that I’m not sure. If anyone was tracking your ships, they must’ve assumed the Red Queen held the mirrors since it was going to Dark’s Hide. And now they think they can take the mirrors without paying me.’

  Valentine: ‘It doesn’t matter why they’re attacking. What matters is that they’re about to fuck us on two fronts. Alan’s initial scan showed 50 people aboard the ship, but it’s big enough to hold hundreds. Considering the specs, it’s highly likely that they gave us a false readout. Get on the Fox and punch it.’

  ‘It’ll be a miracle if we can hold out for forty minutes,’ Serena said. No one had come to attack them yet. The waiting made it worse.

  Trix: ‘You two need to leave now. Serena’s right. We can’t make it in time to back you up.’

  ‘Leaving would be swell and dandy, but these bastards’ve blown open the loading ramp, and shot the ship’s biggest airlock to shit. We could seal off the cockpit, but first we’d have to make it there. And even if we did, we’re recovering from an EMP, so the engines are dead anyway.’

  ‘I can fly Faedra’s ship on autopilot to our loading ramp. We can use it to escape,’ Serena said.

  Valentine clapped his hands together. ‘That’s what I like to hear.’

  Serena began assessing what terminal she could use to pilot Faedra’s ship. The guest bedroom by the elevator was out. So was the lounge room desk. It was too exposed. There was the bedroom Sif had used to code the bomb signature, but you never wanted to seal yourself in a room with only one exit. All it would take to kill her would be a couple of pot-shot grenade throws.

  ‘We’ll have to wait until the power comes on,’ Serena said.

  ‘Alan, how long have we got?’

  ‘Provided we’re not struck again, approximately eleven minutes. Lights will be operational in thirty seconds.’

  There was movement in the right hallway. Serena had the gatling gun. Valentine moved behind the wall, ready to ambush the first person to step inside the lounge room. He nodded at Serena. She nodded back.

  This was going to be messy.

  4

  The storm intensified on Orix.

  Rain poured so hard that lights became useless. The pitch darkness had more in common with the ocean floor than it did with a rocky plain. Altayr recovered the mirror from the rapidly disintegrating hydra. It was the one which Trix had liberated from Xifaw.

  Trix and Nadira walked up behind him as he admired it. The Fox landed only 20 metres away.

  ‘Altayr, we need to reach Dark’s Hide right now.’

  ‘And how do you plan on doing that?’

  ‘You’re going to use the mirror to get us there.’

  Altayr grimaced. ‘I’m not discussing this in the rain.’

  Trix supposed that was fair. She picked up the mirror. Carried it into the Fox’s cargo bay. Sif closed the loading ramp. The rain wasn’t as deafening inside. And there was light.

  The sorcerer picked up right where they left off. ‘Trix, I can’t guarantee teleporting to Dark’s Hide any more than I could the western ridge’s blindside. I haven’t studied it long enough. You saw what transpired before. Magic was enough to turn them on randomly. Faedra could be anywhere, even beyond the reaches of imagination. The risk is too great.’

  ‘Valentine and Serena have been ambushed by the Guild’s personal army. And they won’t last forty minutes. We need to get there now.’

  Nadira: ‘Listen to the machina, sorcerer. I want to ensure my rule’s integrity is maintained.’

  ‘That was your fault for trusting the Guild. I have no sympathy for you. And, Trix, I’m sorry, but there’s more chance of us dying than reaching Dark’s Hide.’

  Nadira wasn’t listening to Altayr’s self-righteous bullshit. She had connected to Sif’s long-range comms and issued encrypted commands to her head of security. Her Hidden were going to swarm the Guild’s ship and kill every last son of a bitch they crossed with absolute impunity. However, Nadira did request that one prisoner was taken. She wanted to know exactly what the Guild had ordered.

  And she needed to set an example.

  Trix, on the other hand, wasn’t taking another excuse from Altayr. She grabbed the sorcerer and kissed him.

  ‘I can’t let them die. They went there on my orders. They’re my responsibility. You don’t have to follow me through the portal, Tyr. You just have to open it. I’ll go through alone.’

  Nadira: ‘No you won’t. I’ll be with you, machina. Damn it, what’s the point of having something like this if you don’t even use it. What a tremendous waste. My Hidden are suiting up for warfare. We’ll crush these insolent pups together.’

  ‘I didn’t think you did your own dirty work anymore?’

  ‘Sometimes you have to remind people why you aren’t to be fucked with.’

  Altayr thought over what Trix had asked. Teleportation’s fundamentals as compiled by Maerlyn Orddeith ran through his head. In theory, it was so simple that anyone with a rudimentary knowledge of magic could understand it. But the power required to teleport such a distance would be enough to kill him a million times over. He guessed that was where the mirror came in.

  Endless ene
rgy had come from the mirrors when Altayr had fought the hydra. He could’ve used it to blow up moons. But too much energy — if you couldn’t harness it — could end in death just as easily as a lack thereof. He laid his hands on the mirror’s face.

  (beginnings and endings are no different)

  Perhaps the pair wasn’t needed to teleport between two places after all. Maybe the pair wasn’t really a pair, just a copy. Another mirror that could be used in conjunction with its twin. The inscription seemed to indicate that it formed a wormhole.

  ‘Alright. I’ll try, but first we need to strap this in to the cargo bay. Sif can follow us to Dark’s Hide the long way around once we’re through.’

  ‘You could end up on a rock in the middle of the universe. It might be you who’s taking the long way around,’ Sif said.

  ‘Thank you, Tyr,’ Trix said, fastening the mirror to the floor. ‘I know your powers are going to be limited on Dark’s Hide. You don’t have to follow us. Stay here and keep Sif company. Besides, if this works and we need your help, you’ll only be one portal away.’

  Nadira saw that Altayr was about to argue. ‘There’s no time for disagreement, pretty boy. Just do as the machina says.’

  This time it was Altayr who kissed Trix. He didn’t speak. His eyes said enough. Come back to me.

  Trix felt an odd pang of guilt. She wished Kit was here. He wouldn’t have questioned her at all. He would’ve dived headfirst into danger for her in nothing but a bath towel. In fact, he had done exactly that, once upon a time. Trix had to remind herself that Altayr wasn’t born for combat like oni machinas were.

  Altayr began speaking in ancient zirean. His staff thrummed with energy. He called upon the power flowing through the water outside. The mirror began activating. Altayr spoke faster. His voice grew louder. Veins in his forehead started pulsing. Blood trickled from his nose. His eyes turned red.

  The mirror’s reflective metal was covered by a grey portal. The portals had looked like jet black water before. Altayr figured he was off to a good start. Only this time the mirror wasn’t its own power source. It was sapping Altayr’s energy faster by the second.

  ‘Go. I can’t hold it much longer.’