The rest of the crew took their positions, Ro and Cray smarting off to the select SMT squad Jetta had formed, taking advantage of the fact that the Alliance soldiers weren’t allowed to talk back.
Jetta worked hard to conceal her appreciation for her soldiers. She had asked for volunteers from her Special Missions Team, not expecting any of them to take on such a deadly operation, and was left speechless when they all raised their guns.
Their words still pressed tears into her heart: We are with you, Commander, until the very end.
She felt the impression of Jahx’s thoughts echo in the far reaches of her mind. They trust you. They believe in you.
“Take us out to mark 0.1113 and hold,” Jetta instructed Reht.
Reht nodded to Sebbs. In the absence of Diawn and Vaughn, the ex-Dominion officer took over as helmsmen.
Huh. I would’ve never guessed he’d be such a skilled pilot, Jetta thought as he positioned the Wraith under the rotating axis point of the Alliance Central Starbase.
Jetta took a deep breath and held it, listening to her sister’s thoughts and sharing her concerns.
Are you sure about this?
Jaeia only gave her a brief glance, trying to maintain her composure. It’s the best chance we have.
I don’t believe in chance.
Jaeia kept her gaze trained on the viewscreen. Then believe in me.
Squeezing the golden key in her pocket, Jetta let out the air in her lungs. She took one last look at the abandoned Starbase.
“Ready to jump,” Jetta said, taking the first mate’s chair positioned next to Reht. “Heading preset alpha-017.”
“Locked in,” Sebbs acknowledged. “Jue Hexron on the scopes.”
“Have primary drivers in heat. On my mark.”
Jetta waited as an arm of the Starbase passed below the Wraith’s engines, catching a glimpse of Victor’s fleet surrounding Trigos. Thousands of starcraft dotted the upper atmosphere of the blue world, with behemoth warships keeping their weapons trained on the Starbase. The Republic starships signaled the Starbase on all the open channels, their final summons for the Alliance surrender playing out over the Wraith’s loudspeakers.
“All Alliance forces, stand down, or we will attack.”
She thought she heard Victor laughing in the background as the enemy missile bays charged.
As the Wraith disengaged from the underbelly of the Starbase, Jetta looked at the timer on her uniform sleeve, synchronized with the other Alliance ships. Taking another deep breath, she counted down the last seconds. “3... 2... 1...”
Jetta heard her sister’s heart thudding against her chest wall as the entire fleet of enemy warships launched a full spread. “Mark!”
Light, color, and sound stretched out into the infinite kaleidoscope tunnel of space-time. The floor rattled beneath her as explosions from their point of origin resonated through the jump portal.
Just hold together—
The Wraith shot out of the jump site with fragments of the Starbase spewing out around her. Engines hot and overcharged, she hurtled through the upper atmosphere of Jue Hexron.
“Sebbs, keep her nose down!” Reht yelled as a barrage of Victor’s guards swept in on their position.
“Shields are maxed out!” Sebbs yelled back. “I’ve got to let up or she’s going to come apart!”
“No!” Jetta shouted. Sebbs dodged the assault while Ro and Cray returned fire from the weapons pits. “Keep your heading.”
Holding on tightly to an armrest with one hand, Jetta slotted the golden key into the adjacent interface port. “Jaeia, now!” she called over the engine strain.
Jetta could hear her sister’s silent prayer as Jaeia sent out the signal to the Hub. Eons seemed to pass while they watched the radar spread.
“Anything?” Jetta said, holding on with all her might as Sebbs banked hard to port to evade the new formation of fighters coming their way.
Jaeia scrutinized the scanners, sweat pouring down her neck and forehead. “No Alliance signals.”
Jetta checked the key to make sure it was properly aligned in the port.
“Skucheka!” she said, slamming her fist into the console.
She was a fool to invest her trust so wildly. After all, the Hub could easily be lying about its ability to transition flashed materials out of the wave network. It was a stupid risk. She should have never broken her own code of self-reliance.
Jetta closed her eyes. Why can’t Jaeia ever see?
“Look!” Jaeia exclaimed, pointing to the cluster of Alliance starships rematerialized above the Holy Cities.
An eye and mouth danced across the holographics, giving Jetta a smile and wink.
Affording no time for the Hub’s antics, she shouted into the com system. “Is Billy Don’t in position?”
“Awaiting your order!” Tech said over a thicket of static. On her armrest projector, she saw a video feed of the little Liiker wired into the Wraith’s primary communication’s dish, blowing bubbles with his lubricant as Tech checked his connections.
Jetta flipped to the secondary viewscreen just in time to see the outnumbered Alliance Fleet being swallowed by Victor’s forces.
“Now!”
Déjà vu knotted her stomach as she watched the starships of the Galactic Republic suddenly rendered inert. She remembered her own moment of interconnectedness to a network of warships, the way she caved the entire Dominion Core with a single thought. Back then the Motti Overlord had manipulated her rebellion to enact the demise of a tyrannical empire. Now she ordered a Liiker child to do the same.
“Check the readings.”
“Already on it,” Jaeia replied.
Mom came up beside her and helped her interpret the datastream sliding down the Wraith armrest monitors.
“See the hole?” Jaeia said.
Jetta didn’t waste a second. “Sebbs, take us to heading preset 1-beta-2.”
As the Republic ships scrambled to reassemble, the Wraith dashed through the enemy fleet formations. Jetta wasn’t sure how long it would take for the sub-commanders to assume the posts of their fallen executive officers, or even how many ranks Victor had implanted with his intracranial devices.
“Ackkk, haaaaaaaa—”
“What is that?” Jetta said, turning to Reht as a raucous series of chirps and giggles echoed over the com.
“Billy Don’t,” he sighed.
Despite the situation, hearing a child’s laughter, even a semi-mechanical one, made a few members of their squad chuckle.
Jetta hid her own amusement as she wondered what command Tech had him relay to Victor’s subordinates. Knowing Billy, the Republic officers are probably twirling around on their heels and blowing bubbles with their spit.
Jetta wiped her mouth, trying to rid herself of her smile. “We don’t have much time. We have to find Victor’s base of operations. We’ll need to set up a—”
A high-pitched whine broke through the com and blew out one of the speakers. Jetta ran over and shielded her sister as two video relays sputtered and sparked. Finally a signal organized on the center screen.
“My, my, Warchild. You’re more clever than I gave you credit for. Using Narki technology to get behind my defenses? Brava.”
Jetta hated the enigmatic humor in his eyes. It took everything she had to keep her tone in check. “We’ve come to end this war.”
“You know the power I have. You know what I can do to your pitiful little fleet. To you.”
“Not before I drop about ten thousand nukes on your head,” Jetta said with a grin. “I think it’s time you and I met face-to-face.”
Victor’s lower lip quivered. Jetta had never seen him show such emotion. For some reason it startled her, and faint waves of nausea licked the back of her throat.
“You are going to die, Jetta Kyron. And so is everyone you love.”
“No, Victor,” she said, holding her voice to a hush. “Just me and you.”
Chapter XIV
“Where
is he?” Jaeia said, studying the holographsic map of the city. They only had moments to deduce the most likely location of Victor’s base of operations while Unipoesa and the remaining Alliance forces battled the recuperating Republic Fleet. When she looked up, Jetta was not even studying the map. Instead, her lips moved, and her eyes focused on something beyond the viewscreen as Sebbs flew them past stone towers and jutting urban skyscrapers basking in the morning sun.
Jetta walked over to the helm and typed in coordinates. Sebbs balked at first, but Jetta pressed down on the throttle until Sebbs was obligated to comply or risk crashing the ship.
Reht pulled Jaeia aside. “Does she know where she’s going?”
Listening to her sister’s thoughts, Jaeia picked up on the usual psionic oscillations between her and Jahx. It’s more than just Jetta’s intuition guiding her decision. She answered the dog-soldier captain confidently: “Yes.”
But as her sister’s emotions bled into her own, Jaeia found herself hugging her stomach. On some level, they both sensed Victor’s presence expanding in the backs of their mind like a dark cloud blotting out the sun. We must be getting close.
As they circled the religious sector, Jaeia recognized the tinted glass of the capital skyscraper where she had first met Victor.
He’s there, isn’t he?
Jetta afforded her a quick look. Yes.
“Incoming!” Sebbs shouted as gun turrets poked out of concealed windows.
Grabbing onto the console chair, Jaeia held fast as Sebbs took evasive maneuvers. Ro and Cray hollered from the weapons pits, blasting out most of their turrets in a blaze of gunfire. As much as she disliked the dog-soldier duo, Jaeia was thankful for their fighting skills.
“They’ll be more,” Jetta said to Sebbs. “Victor has restructured this entire building. Set us down as quickly as you can.”
“First team, come with me,” Jetta said, signaling her SMT and running back to the ramp. “Jaeia, take the second team out in a minute delay. We’ll need to break through their primary defenses.”
“What exactly are you planning?” Jaeia asked her quietly as she helped her sister load her guns and combat pack. “You can’t expect to muscle your way in. Scanners read at least a few hundred soldiers in the first level of the tower.”
Hiding her eyes, she revealed her strategy. “Be my anchor?”
Jaeia cringed. “No, Jetta, that’s not what we discussed.”
Jetta nodded toward their brother as he ambled down the walkway and waited expectedly at the hatch. Triel followed, shoulders hiked up and eyes full of worry.
“They will help you. You know this is the only way,” Jetta said, clicking off the safety to her gun. “I’m not about to make this a suicide run for my soldiers.”
“No, just for you apparently,” Jaeia retorted.
Green eyes looked at her sharply, but she got no other reply.
The Wraith smacked down hard near the entrance to the capital skyscraper, taking out any streetlamps and parked hover cars that were unfortunate enough to be situated near the tower’s entrance. Victor’s soldiers immediately poured out of the entrance, opening fire on the Wraith before Jetta could even lower the ramp.
Trust me, Jetta called silently to her sister, shoving on her helmet. Jaeia couldn’t chance looking at her as Jetta gave the signal for her SMT to ready their weapons. An edge of blue fire sizzled on the nozzles of their guns, rifles charged and hot. It’s not like before...
“I have a few new tricks up my sleeve,” she added aloud, punching the ramp and lowering her visor.
“Fire on my mark!” Jetta shouted over the blasts.
Jaeia winced as Jetta tipped back into their shared connection and rummaged through their collective strength. She felt their bond flex and strain as Jetta reached out across the illusionary space and grabbed hold of the enemy soldiers’ exposed minds.
No, Jetta! she silently screamed, fearing the worst. But Jetta didn’t strangle them like she thought she would, or entrench them in their own gruesome nightmares. Grabbing her brother’s hand and holding on tight, Jaeia watched with her inner eye as her sister did something new, something impossible; something wonderful.
Jaeia marveled as her sister swept across the psionic plane, netting the soul material of the enemy soldiers. She stripped them raw, until they were nothing but threads of light, and brought them together, end to end, until she had woven them into a continuous pattern. As the light grew exponentially brighter, Jaeia could no longer distinguish one soul from the next. She turned away, unable to bear the intensity, withdrawing with a sense of overwhelming joy.
“Jetta...” she said between heaving breaths, “I never thought it was possible.”
Her viewpoint reverted to the physical world. The Republic soldiers were no longer firing at them. Slowly, methodically, they laid down their arms and sank to their knees, mumbling to themselves as they tried to comprehend their sudden enlightenment.
“Jetta!” Triel said, rushing down the ramp.
Following the Healer’s eyeline, Jaeia saw her sister in the arms of her SMT lead, barely able to support her own weight as she ordered her team inside the building.
We have to keep going. Keep Triel back, Jetta ordered her sister.
Jaeia caught up to Triel and pulled her back on board. “You can’t run out there like that!”
“She can’t keep using her talents—she’ll kill herself!”
The truth felt like a lead weight inside her stomach. “Not if I—we—can help it.”
Jaeia waited the full minute before ordering the second team to follow Jetta’s SMT inside the capital skyscraper. The Liberalist soldiers took a circular formation, protecting Jaeia, Triel, Jahx, and Kurt as they made their way carefully through the mass of dazed Republic soldiers to the tower’s glass door entrance.
Jaeia looked back to see the Wraith take off.
Well, this is it; the dog-soldiers fulfilled their end of the bargain, she thought. I just hope this isn’t the last time I’ll see them.
“Jahx,” she whispered, looking up at the skies darkening with the smoke from damaged starships. The capital skyscraper loomed in the orange glow of aerial gunfire, towering over her like an indefatigable mountain. “I have a very bad feeling about this.”
Held up by an Alliance medic, her brother showed no sign that he recognized her words, or even of meaningful consciousness.
Jaeia felt the dark cloud swallow her whole as she stepped through the skyscraper doors and into Victor Paulstine’s world.
JETTA STUMBLED ALONG, her head floating in a sea of hurt. She could sense the opposing forces lining up for a surprise attack behind the far offices near the elevators and emergency stairwell. Taking a knee by a wall, she motioned for the first team to take cover while she assessed the situation.
(I can’t do this...)
Jetta lifted her arm, as if to test the gravity in the building. Everything seemed heavier, every appendage more sluggish and numb.
(I’m not going to make it much longer.)
No. Keep going. You’re almost there.
Jetta peered around the corner. She heard the pins being removed from flash grenades and the whine of charging pulse rifles. Somewhere, Victor was laughing at her.
(So weak. So afraid of what you are.)
Jetta squeezed her gun against her chest. They were still outnumbered. Only one way to get past their defenses. Only one way to survive another psionic expenditure. The easy way was the only way.
Time is running out.
Only one way.
I have to stop him.
Jetta closed her eyes and dug her fingernails into her own throat. I’m sorry, Jahx.
KURT STEIN STOPPED Jaeia as she reached the professional sector of the skyscraper where the structure separated into offices and conference rooms. “Captain, I need to tell you something,” he said, fumbling with the visor of his helmet.
After checking the corners, Jaeia signaled the Liberalists to move forward and pos
ition themselves to flank the first team. Up ahead, Jetta’s SMT crouched along the far dividing wall, waiting for her command to press forward. Jaeia sensed the number of the opposing forces hidden behind the offices, near the access stairwell, readying their assault. “It had better be quick, Doctor.”
“I don’t have much of this sixth sense left, but I can sense what’s here.”
“What do you mean?” Jaeia asked, nodding for the medic to bring about her brother. Triel followed close behind, eyes and heart searching desperately for Jetta.
“There is another demon here,” Kurt said, wiping the sweat from his eyes.
“Like the one that was inside you?”
Kurt shook his head, his face pinched with frustration as he tried to find the right words. “Worse.”
Jaeia would have investigated further, but the sudden psionic shift jarred her concentration.
Oh no—
“Jetta!” Jaeia shouted.
JETTA BARELY HEARD her sister’s cry as she stabbed her fingers through the eye sockets of the enemy soldiers and burrowed into soft gray matter.
So much easier—
(So much more fulfilling—)
Giggling, Jetta raked her hands through their memories, wrestling fears and nightmares from buried places. Screams and cries for mercy filled her with delight as imagined horrors became real.
JAEIA RAN TO HER SISTER, pulling her off the wall and shaking her by the shoulders.
“Jetta, no!” she screamed.
Lights overheated, shattered. Wall sockets blew off their mounts and computer monitors exploded. As the floor rumbled, the air charged with electricity, making Jaeia’s arm hairs stand on end.
“Switch to backups!” she commanded. The teams clicked on their flashlights and held them with shaking hands.
Whipping to the left, Jaeia’s eyes widened as the phantom image of someone’s nightmare glided down the hall, a colossal creature with moonlit eyes and pitch-black skin. A few meters away, eight-legged insects with clawed mandibles crept down the cubicle partitions and over the cocooned husks of their victims. Pools of blood expanded down the hallway, accompanied by the shriek of a monster emerging from slumber.
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