by L A Warren
His body fell to the ground. Several WOR-guards pulled him back from the edge of the boundary. The purple coloring faded from the High Tender’s face, only to be replaced by a deep red and then a pale, pasty gray. He was alive.
Elise dismissed him from her thoughts.
An arcing beam of energy shot through the WOR-shield.
It pinned the High Tender’s body to the ground.
Elise traced the line of energy back to Paula.
Paula’s face twisted in rage and torment as she finished what Shriek had begun. High Tender vlor’Vardhal, Master of the Tender Conclave, jerked and then went still. The WOR-guards assisting him flew back ten feet from the force of the blast. The imperial soldiers rushing to his side would find no pulse in that body.
Paula stared at Elise, daring her to say a word. Madness flashed behind Paula’s eyes, before being replaced by a calming peace. Her friend drew breath, unclenched her fists, and stood straight.
“I take full responsibility for that devil’s death,” Paula said.
“We’ll speak about it later, Paula,” Elise responded. “Justice is an odd animal, never what you think it should be.” Elise bowed her head to her friend, and fellow Tender Group member. They had an appreciation of the High Tender which only a few others shared. Elise searched for the faces of their Tender Group cohort. Clipped nods greeted her examination. Yes, they agreed, justice was seldom what it appeared.
“Emperor,” Elise spoke with cool dispassion, “we have work to perform. Clear your men from the hangar.”
Gregor watched the body of the High Tender being carted off by four men. He turned to Elise. “I will not.”
He scanned the s’vlor. His eyes widened when he made out the four Vendel standing at the center. His voice lowered with menace. “Have you gone mad?”
“No, Emperor vlor’Malita,” she said, emphasizing his name. “You collected us to deal with the S’Lorek threat. We will stop it and then we will leave you.”
“I command you to stop,” he said. “The Binding . . .”
“You command nothing. The Binding Rite failed.”
“But you . . . we . . . you couldn’t have faked all of that.”
“Didn’t I?”
He didn’t need to know the truth. She had enjoyed it as much or more than him. Given another time and place, she wouldn’t hesitate to choose him, but that was not the way of things. She shook her head and gave him a cold stare. “Remove your men.”
“I can’t do that.”
“So be it. Interfere with what we’re doing, distract us for a moment, and I’ll personally treat you to the High Tender’s fate. This is what you brought us here to do. Let us finish it.”
“How are you going to do that?” Gregor took a step forward, but stopped two paces from the edge of the boundary. “You need us to stabilize your power.”
“I don’t need you anymore.” She sent out feelers and located the S’Lorek within the bubble of n-space it traveled within. “We’re going to fight. I trust you to leave us to it.”
Alex ripped the S’Lorek out of its dimensional folding and forced it into normal space where it reeled, stunned from the harsh transition.
Elise took a WOR-step and travelled from here to there.
It was time to end this.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Everyone in the hangar staggered as reality shifted. Like a rubber band, they stretched, snapped, and then wobbled before coming to a rest. The Gambit traveled twenty-five light-years within the space of a moment.
Elise lifted her arm and traced the outlines of a screen into the air above Gregor’s head. Sitting within a field of stars, a lumpy, potato-like moonlet sat dazed and confused. She lifted the combined voices of nearly ninety WOR and spoke to the S’Lorek, transmitting the conversation for all the Vendel, friend and foe, to follow.
Gregor, and those standing with him, moved from the space below the screen and took vantage points with clearer views.
“S’Lorek, I demand you stop. We will not tolerate your destruction.”
“You!” it growled. “We spoke before. Go away, pesky slime. I am hungry.” The moonlet spun on its axis and aligned itself with the center of the Gambit’s torus. It swiped at Elise, attempting to brush her away.
Elise, Alex, Whimper, Shriek and Malice deflected the S’Lorek and hid the Earth WOR from its examination.
“What is this?” It seemed surprised, and rightly so. “You have grown since our last conversation.”
“And you have not. Leave now and we will let you live.”
“Silly slime,” it said. “You cannot stop me.”
The S’Lorek completed its turn and the narrow section of the moonlet opened. Beneath its common mouth, nose and eye, a powerful beam of radiation built.
She had little time before they were incinerated and devoured. She didn’t want to kill the S’Lorek. They had much to learn from each other, but the survival of all of humanity was at stake.
“Stop.” She stretched her mind and swatted the S’Lorek.
It grunted in surprise, but its maw continued to open. “Interesting trick, slime. But you’ll need more than that to stop me.”
“We don’t have to fight.”
“This is no fight. Your mind is impressive, expansive, but still small and irrelevant. The universe is a big place, slime. No place for creatures such as you.”
A dull, red glow built up inside the S’Lorek’s mouth. It readied itself to release a wave of death and destruction.
“This is your last warning.” Elise said. “Leave now and I will permit you to live. Unleash that energy, and I will destroy you.”
“I savor the feast to come, slime.” The S’Lorek opened its mouth and a beam of energy sped toward the Gambit.
“Fool.” Elise unleashed the power of ninety Earth WOR bound together. A cone of protection flew forth, shielding the Gambit and all those inside.
The energy of the S’Lorek flowed around her shield. Radiation alarms blatted and the Gambit bucked under the onslaught. She held the WOR in place until the wave passed.
Alex pushed the cone forward.
The S’Lorek grunted in surprise when Alex wedged the cone into the opening of the creature’s maw. Surprise turned to fear as Alex shoved it deep inside and began to expand the cone outward.
“Last warning. Leave now or perish.”
Elise held the WOR as they trembled with the power flowing through their bodies. Two women staggered, drained by the energies they were forced to handle. One of the conduits failed. Women screamed. That circle transferred the role of conduit to another and held firm, but others struggled.
The S’Lorek bit down on the cone and severed Alex’s WOR-construct. Elise staggered as the WOR-skill energies rebounded back to the women on the hangar deck. Three more fell, threatening the integrity of their links. Their circles closed the gaps and reinforced the links.
“Hold firm!” she shouted over her shoulder. “We are stronger than it thinks. You are stronger than you know. Trust in me.”
Alice rallied the women. She had them sit to better focus their efforts.
Elise spared a glance at Gregor. He watched the screen with fascination and growing horror. He took a step toward her, reaching out to protect and support. Concern for her wellbeing stretched across his face. He stopped himself, remembering the WOR-shield, and looked on in agony.
“Elise,” he croaked.
She shot another cone of energy at the S’Lorek while it readied another blast of death at the Gambit and the WOR inside, but it couldn’t reach them. It roared as it sensed the combined power of Elise and the super-link sitting outside its reach. She kept up her attack. WOR-skill ripped through its outer shell of rock and a cloud of debris floated into space.
If it had a mouth, maybe it would have screamed. It righted itself and sealed off the breach. It came at the Gambit, hungry, determined and angry.
The red glow built anew.
Elise wiggled her fingers, wai
ting to pull the trigger. This had to be timed perfectly, or they were all dead.
Alice called out, “Do we form another cone-shield?”
“No,” Elise said.
“No? But, we can’t survive that.” Alice’s voice went cold.
“No, we can’t. I need every ounce of strength, no hesitation, no fear. You have to convince them to give it all to me.”
Alice’s eyes went wide. In an under-voice, she said, “Not all of us are going to survive, are we?”
The red glow burned brighter.
Elise shook her head. “No. Live or die with me, or live under the rule of the Vendel. They must be willing. I’m sorry. I should have told you the price, but I wasn’t certain until we took the WOR-step what it would take to finish this.”
Using the WOR-skill, Alice relayed Elise’s words to the WOR. One by one, and then in a flood, strength flowed into Elise through the super-link as each woman made her choice. Elise, Alex, Whimper, Malice, and Shriek drank in the combined life energy of the most powerful humans in history.
The S’Lorek fired a breath of death.
Elise caught the energies of the WOR and wove them together. She reached into the dimensions where the S’Lorek’s mind resided, and redirected the energy there. In normal space, the moonlet brightened from within. Matter ignited and heated until it turned to plasma. Pressure built inside of it, until it exploded outward in a plume of molten rock and debris. Inside the S’Lorek’s mind, invisible to the Vendel watching, the connections anchoring the S’Lorek to the universe shred as Elise ripped it apart and consigned it to oblivion.
Women screamed as power burned through their bodies. Elise looked on, helpless, as the reverberations of her power tore their minds to mere fragments of energy as well.
Men gasped as the S’Lorek exploded.
Collision alarms added their noise to the blaring of radiation alerts as debris pelted the Gambit.
Shriek staggered under the onslaught of the echoes of power.
The WOR-shield flickered.
Aomi noticed the imminent failure of their only protection from the other threat waiting within the hangar deck. She added the strength of her link, now a paltry circle of six women, to the fading WOR-shield holding the vlor’lords and Tenders at bay.
The cost in flesh escalated as women succumbed to the power ripping apart space and time. Alice broke her circle and sent her team to fill the voids in the remaining links. Seven circles remained.
Twelve women collapsed. Eight had died.
Aomi stabilized the WOR-shield.
The Vendel vlor’lords remained outside the shield.
Gregor approached as close as he dared. He ran a hand through close-cropped hair. All color drained from his face and his eyes seemed flat and lifeless.
“Enough. You did it, but this has to end. For what you have done for the Vendel, no punishments, no Tender Training, no whipsticks. Come back to me . . . Elise, please, come to me.”
A tear trickled out of the corner of her eye and tracked down her cheek. She closed her eyes and extended her mind into the am-net. Bobo, and her army of constructs answered her call.
“This is not over, Gregor.”
“Elise,” he said in a hoarse whisper, “you can’t sustain this. I promise . . . no harm will come to you. We can find our way past this.”
“Will you free us?” Her fingers curled as her spine straightened.
“I cannot.” His hands trembled and the muscles in his jaw twitched. “Don’t make this harder than it needs to be. Lower the shield. On my word as Emperor, none of you will be harmed.”
“Will we be free?”
“No.”
That was not what she wanted to hear, but what she expected.
She took a WOR-step from here to there.
The world shifted and the Gambit stretched and snapped back into the space above Malbra. The screen above Gregor’s head mirrored the view outside the ship. With the exception of the WOR, all the humans on the hangar deck reeled with the effects of the WOR-step.
She spoke low and clear, ensuring Gregor and the vlor’lords understood. “The Gambit is under my control. You have three days to evacuate the ship’s crew, personnel and any citizens who choose to leave.”
“Don’t do this. I’ve forgiven you, pardoned all of you. Don’t make me take that back.”
She continued, ignoring Gregor. “I will not tolerate any lor’ or vlor’lord, High Tender or Tender, WOR-guard, or Emperor on board.”
The tattoo over his left eyebrow danced. Steel daggers shot toward her.
She deflected it all. “All life support, air purification, food production, sanitation, power relays, lift-tubes, and pod-cars, to name just a few, are under my control. Within three and a half days, the Gambit will no longer sustain life. Within two days, it will be impossible to walk around without a respirator. In twenty-four hours it will become unbearable. Not a problem if you are WOR. We can filter our personal air without any difficulty. As for maintaining this shield?” Elise motioned with her arm. “It’s a simple matter to tie it off.”
“I’m not giving up my ship.”
“Not only are you giving up the Gambit, but you’re giving up all the Earth WOR. I’m taking them with me.”
Chapter Twenty-Three
Elise sent a message to the lower Ranking WOR on board. To these women she gave hope and a choice. They had to be willing and know the price, the cost in flesh she would demand, before deciding their fate. She suppressed the effects of the Binding on these women while they pondered their options.
It was a simple choice. She could remove the Binding and they could join her and the other Fifth Rank WOR, or they could remain with their masters and serve the Vendel. She would not coerce anyone to stay, or to go.
“You have twelve hours to begin evacuation.” She turned her attention back to Gregor, outlining her decree. “If I don’t see evidence of a retreat within twenty-four hours, my WOR will transport citizens down to Malbra. Unlike your First Rank teleportation, my Fifth Rank can take hundreds at a time. I don’t bluff.”
“Where do you intend to go?” he shot back.
“The S’Lorek was one of many, Emperor.”
She refused to use his name. Using his name personalized their exchange. His title placed distance between them, and reinforced the change in power between them. She couldn’t afford to think of him on any other terms. If she did, her heart would break.
“Hundreds of the S’Lorek’s Clan are coming. That thing sent the taste of us to its brethren.” To prove she wasn’t afraid of him, and to demonstrate her strength, she stepped through the force field and stood unprotected in front of him.
His eyes widened.
She leaned in close. “I’m taking the Gambit, all the WOR that will join me, and any Vendel civilians who care to come with us, to stand vanguard for your empire. We will protect humanity, because it is what we chose to do. Not because we’ve been forced to do it.”
“Hundreds? You can’t stand against that many. You need us. You need me.”
“No, I don’t.” She tucked a strand of hair behind an ear. “I’m leaving, Gregor. Don’t fight me. Despite everything you’ve done, the Earth WOR are putting our lives on the line to protect your empire. That alone should be worth our freedom.”
Lines of worry edged the features of his face. He raised a hand to cup her cheek. She recoiled and he drew back as if stung. A stray glance at the ceiling far above caught the army of bio-pods, frozen by Bobo’s commands.
Voids in the ceiling.
She smiled. “I have some thoughts on how to handle the Clan. You should know well enough by now, I’m nothing, if not determined.”
He gave her an appraising look. Gregor struggled with his thoughts, but then he sighed and gave a low bow. “You believe you don’t need me, Elise, but you’re wrong. You need me just as much as I need you.”
“I don’t need you.”
“Tell me you don’t love me.” Gregor wrap
ped an arm around her waist and pulled her to him. He kissed her before she could react. Into her ear he whispered, “You know it’s true. You can’t lie to yourself. You and I are fated to be together.”
It felt right to be in his arms, but she refused to believe; not after everything that had happened between them.
“Let me go . . . Emperor.” She placed a hand on his chest, feeling the warmth of his body radiating through his clothes, breathing in the scent of him, and wanting nothing more than to remain in his arms. But she was unable to forgive and forget everything he had done to her, to her friends, to Earth and her family. He had taken so much. How could she possibly admit to loving him? “I hate you.”
“Hate is half a step away from love, Elise. You will come back to me.” He kissed her and paused a moment to rest his cheek against hers. “I will miss you. I give you the Gambit. I’m wise enough to know when to let go.” He gestured to the shielded WOR standing a few steps away. “I have underestimated you from the very beginning.”
She took a relieved breath. “On your word, you won’t pursue us?”
“I brought you here to fight the S’Lorek. That is done, but understand this. I regret nothing. I apologize for nothing. I’m the Emperor of the Vendel. Before anything else—before anyone else—I swore an oath to my people to serve and protect them. That it caused you great pain is unfortunate. That we . . . well, perhaps Malikai and Chickadee could have done better than you and I. I had expected to groom the strongest WOR in millennium and save humanity. Never in a million years did I expect to fall so deeply in love with her; with you.” He took her hand in his and pressed his lips against her knuckles.
“Gregor, please stop.”
“Stay with me,” he whispered.
“No. You need to leave.” She gathered her courage and told the lie that would doom her heart. “I don’t love you. It was all an act, a part of my plan. You misunderstood my enthusiasm.”
“No,” he said, “I know better.”
“Let go of my hand.”
He released her, and the warmth of his touch faded. “I need to coordinate the evacuation of my people. It will take at least two days, then you and I have more to talk about.”