Ruins of the Galaxy Box Set: Books 1-6

by Chaney, J. N.

  With any luck, the prisoners he’d released onboard the orbiting starship would disable the vessel shortly, and the rebels’ hasty escape would be thwarted. All that was left was to find where the child had gone, for hers was the only life force he was unable to locate.

  So-Elku retreated into his study and looked for the codex on the lectern, as was his hourly habit. But it was gone, just as he suspected it might be. Awen and Piper had made off with it, and that fact rankled him to no end. He would recover it, though. Somehow, he would find it and make it his own again. There was still so much to learn. And he could find Piper even without it. So-Elku had enough knowledge to search within the Nexus, and he suspected she’d hidden herself away there.

  He was about to slip into his second sight when he felt a disturbance in his spirit—one that arrested him like a strongman grabbing him by the robes and spinning him around. There, not far away, was a presence. Her presence.

  “But how can this be?” he wondered aloud, turning back toward his balcony. A cold wind suddenly blew through the curtains and pricked his skin. So-Elku moved toward the opening, toward the star fighters that twisted and shrieked above the cityscape, then closed his eyes to ignore the distractions.

  The Luma master searched with his feelings and opened his senses to the space around him. He stretched out and began to probe, pushing himself forward like a blind man on the edge of a cliff, expecting his fingers to discover the place where the ground gave way at any moment.

  Then, suddenly, he found her.

  * * *

  Piper sat in the tower above the Grand Arielina, holding her knees tight against her chest. The Republic Talons chased Ricio’s starfighter like a pack of wolves after a willow hare. But Piper knew that Azelon was helping him, so he’d be okay. They’d all be okay. Everyone, that is, except her mother.

  Magnus had killed her.

  Which meant Nos Kil had been right after all. Magnus had killed women before, and Piper’s mother was simply the next. Which made Magnus a monster. She wouldn’t have believed it—couldn’t have believed it. But she’d seen it all happen with her own eyes, and there was no denying just how horrible he was. She cursed him using every bad word she knew, and even made up some new words that she didn’t know.

  Suddenly, Piper remembered all the dreams she’d had of Magnus saving her life. The images were so vivid—the emotions so strong. She’d watched him climb over piles of rubble just to find her, to rescue her. He’d been her hero. He’d been the most important man in her whole world. But no more. All those dreams were nothing more than dark fairytales made up by her imagination. Magnus would not be coming to rescue her. He’d be coming to kill her next.

  Then Piper silently thanked Nos Kil. She thanked him for helping her escape when she did. Without that, Piper might be in Magnus’s evil clutches even now.

  A shudder went through Piper that made her feel cold. Normally, she’d run inside to get warm. But not tonight. Tonight she would sit here and watch the city burn. She would let the cold in to numb the pain in her heart. Maybe it would erase the images she saw in her mind’s eye, the horrific mutation of her beautiful mother’s face. Maybe the cold would freeze them like ice, and then Piper could smash them and break them into a million tiny pieces that not even she could put back together again.

  Without even knowing it, tears had started flowing again. She’d cried so much since arriving in the tower that she wondered where all the water came from to feed her eyes. The wind lashed at her body, tugging on her hair. But the wind only served to make her colder, and she embraced it, welcoming it into her heart. Maybe it would help her heart stop beating. Or maybe it would just help freeze the tears and keep them from forming.

  “I am so sorry for your loss, my child,” said a low voice behind her. Frightened, Piper turned and blasted the intruder with a stream of magenta-colored energy. But the person exerted some sort of shield to deflect it, sending the colored light into the pillars and floor and ceiling. When the barrage subsided and the light returned to normal, Piper could see a silhouette moving toward her.

  “Stay where you are,” Piper ordered. “I can do worse.”

  “I don’t doubt that,” replied the person, most definitely a man, given how deep his voice was. “But I’d gladly risk my life to make sure that you’re alright.”

  Piper was startled by the sense of care that she heard in his words. It seemed genuine. And in light of how another man had just brought ultimate harm to her world, she was surprised at two conflicting feelings that appeared at the same time. One was to blast this person into oblivion, tearing his atoms apart. The other was to run to him, believing he would be different than him. Than Magnus.

  “However, if you wish me to leave,” the man continued, “I shall.”

  “No, wait.” Piper held up a hand. “Who are you? Step out of the shadows.”

  “I fear you will not wish to see me, dear one. I am merely here to ensure your safety, then I will be gone.”

  “I am safe.”

  “Then I will be on my way.”

  “No…” Piper didn’t know what to say next. She was grateful for the company. The truth was that despite her pain, she desperately wanted to be with her grandmother right now. And maybe even with Awen a little bit too, although Awen’s love for Magnus was confusing. Piper wanted someone to hold her. To tell her that everything was going to be okay. “I don’t want you to go.”

  “But if you are safe, then my presence here is not needed.”

  “But it is, whoever you are. Thank you for checking on me. But…” Piper pushed herself off the tower floor and squinted in the shadows. “How did you know I was here?”

  “I could sense you… sense your grief.”

  “My grief?” Piper felt her throat tighten. “So you’re a Luma?” She stiffened her arms and lowered her head, preparing for another fight.

  “I have no desire to fight you anymore, my child. Only to help you… to show you the ways that the others refused to.”

  “Others?” The man’s words were curious. “Refused to?”

  “Of course. That suit you wear.”

  “It’s my power suit.”

  “And does it give you power? Or does it confine it?”

  Piper tilted her head. She wondered if she should slip into the Unity to see who this man was, but she suspected that he might hide himself in shadow there as much as he did here. “My suit helps me.”

  “In what way?”

  “It keeps me from hurting others.”

  The man’s voice sounded surprised. “Hurting others? That cannot be. A child like you?”

  “It’s true.” Piper felt the memory of her father’s death come rushing back, and with it, a new thought, one that made her weep. “I’m an orphan.”

  “An orphan?”

  “I killed my father. And now my mother is dead because of… of…”

  “There, there, young one. Everything is going to be alright.”

  Those were the words she desperately needed to hear. She didn’t even care who this man was or how he’d found her, she was just grateful for those words. They felt like a warm blanket or a hot cup of chocolate milk. They felt like Talisman.

  Talisman that kept her from hurting people.

  “I’m not safe,” Piper said. “You need to stay away.”

  The man gave a soft laugh. But it wasn’t directed at her, she felt. Instead, it seemed directed at her statement. “But you are safe, Piper.”

  “You—you know my name?”

  The man ignored her question. “You may very well be the safest person in the galaxy. That suit was not meant to keep you from hurting others, it was meant to keep you from being who you were truly meant to be.”

  “I… I don’t understand.” She was getting frustrated. “Who are you? Tell me now!”

  “If I promise to help you discover who you really are, if I promise to help you stop those who’ve hurt you, will you promise to give me a second chance?”


  Piper squinted, trying so hard to see the man. “A second chance?”

  “We all need second chances, don’t we? If you give me one, I’ll show you what Awen wouldn’t. I’ll set you free to explore the Nexus without limits. No rules. No discipline. Just pure freedom, the way you deserve it. Then, together, we will keep all people from getting hurt ever again.”

  Piper was moved by the man’s words in a way she couldn’t explain. Where Awen had tried to limit her, to scold her for doing wrong, to give her a suit that suppressed her powers in the Unity, Piper sensed the opposite from this stranger. There was something curious about him, something she felt she could trust. The wind played with her hair and licked at her tears while the blaster fire from the star fighters flashed against the man’s green and black robes. And Piper knew that she would give him a second chance.

  35

  Three fighters remained in the group of Talons that swung around to the south. Ricio accelerated to match their speed, then feathered off his throttle, noting just how fast the Fang was by comparison. Azelon wasn’t kidding when she said the Fang was four times the ship that the Talon was. And then some, he thought.

  He decided to have one more go with blasters before using his missiles again. Like any pilot worth their ass pad, he knew to save the majority of the guided ordinance for shots he couldn’t afford to miss. But right now, in the opening moments of the dogfight where the enemy was still getting its bearings, blasters would do just fine.

  Feeling more confident, Ricio targeted the two rear-most Talons in the triangle formation. As soon as the reticles displayed a lock, he fired both blaster cannons—this time altering their delivery timing. The smaller bolts from the wings shredded shields and created a soft spot for the larger rounds, which drilled into the ships and tore straight down the fuselages. Ricio thought it was a lot like popping pieces of greedum fruit from the peels.

  A second later, he flew through the debris field and targeted the third Talon. The enemy pilot must’ve seen his wingmen get destroyed because he pulled a textbook Paraguutian Cobra maneuver. The Talon slowed, pitched up into a quick-flip along its horizontal axis, and then—

  Ricio was caught off guard. Instead of finishing the maneuver—resuming forward flight and landing well behind the pursuing enemy—this Talon’s pilot decided to roll, pointing its nose straight at Ricio’s Fang.

  The man hadn’t a clue how fast Ricio was traveling or else he wouldn’t have attempted such a risky move. Blaster fire lit up Ricio’s HUD, but he’d already ducked under the Talon and avoided what would have been a catastrophic collision. He watched his display to see the Talon stall out of the hasty assault and then regain an attack vector heading north…

  Which was where the other five Talons were coming from. He didn’t have time to get a lock, so Ricio flew down as close to the city as he dared. Seeing a wide thoroughfare ahead, he dipped down and decided to use it as cover. If he guessed right, the Repub pilots would refrain from firing into the city unless an evacuation had been instituted.

  The buildings whipped by him in a blur—the air fighting him as he swept into the hand-made canyon. He watched on his HUD as the enemy ships passed overhead by two-hundred meters.

  “Time to punch it!” Again, Ricio pitched up to execute an Alcion maneuver. He came over the top of the high arc inverted, then rolled out to see the five Talons with a sixth one trailing behind them—the one he’d missed before. He wouldn’t miss again.

  Ricio spent his full attention on the trailing fighter and sent blaster rounds from both cannons into the ship, tearing off its wings and detonating one of its torpedoes. The resulting explosion sent the ship catapulting forward and down where it impacted a building. A wave of fire wrapped around the structure, pulled it off its base, and sent up a plume of dust and smoke that blotted out the block.

  Ricio wasted no time and targeted three more Talons. He selected missiles, then launched them. “Birdies one, three, and six, away.” The guided munitions flared like the sun as they streaked forward. Ricio could hear the propellant from inside the cockpit. The missiles searched hungrily for their prey, dipping and weaving as the enemy fighters attempted evasive maneuvers. But there was no stopping the Novian tech. In three distinct pops, the targeted Talons blew apart in a dazzling light display that must’ve looked like fireworks from the city streets.

  Ricio rolled clear of the debris field and targeted the last two Talons. Up until now, he’d hardly thought about the pilots he was killing—he’d been far too busy trying to fly an alien gunship with his mind. That said, he almost felt ashamed of how little thought he’d given to these Navy pilots. He’d been given the gift of time. Time to sit with Magnus and hear about what was happening to his beloved Republic, to the Luma, and to the prospect of true peace in the galaxy. He’d been allowed to make up his mind as to who was right and who was wrong in this fight. But these pilots? They were dying in the midst of their ignorance. And it pained Ricio’s heart.

  Deciding whose team he was on scared him. Fighting for Magnus’s side meant he’d probably never see his wife and son again. He could desert, of course—using the opportunity to run back to Capriana. But Azelon’s threat of blowing him up probably wasn’t hyperbole. Nor would Moldark’s threat of executing him be if he ever caught him back at home without checking in.

  No, Ricio hadn’t come this far simply because of the opportunity to escape. He’d come this far because he believed in Magnus’s cause. Moldark needed to be stopped. And if Ricio helped Magnus and his friends, then his wife and son had a chance to be safe—to survive what was coming next. Ricio would die for that.

  The target reticles glowed, the lock icons pulsing at him, willing him to fire.

  Maybe, if given more time, these Repub pilots would have chosen the same as Ricio. But as it was, their mission was to take the shuttles down, and he wasn’t going to let that happen. If that day did come—where he could talk to them before they ran to the flight line and went up, if he could reason with them like Magnus had done with him—Ricio would gladly take the time to speak with each of them if it meant sparing their lives. Today, however, there was no time.

  “Birdy five, away.” Ricio loosed his last missile on the left Talon and turned both blaster systems on the right. His cockpit flashed with light as the missile sped toward its mark and the blasters chewed into hull plating. The enemy fighters exploded a tenth of a second apart, producing a near simultaneous explosion that showered the city with fiery fighter fragments.

  As Ricio flew through the falling remains, he kept the ship steady, holding off on his usual post-kill barrel roll. Instead, he grieved for the pilots who’d lost their lives without even knowing what they’d died for. Could it be said of them, perhaps, that they’d died defending the Republic? Died in honor of the pursuit of peace? He supposed part of it was true, but it made Ricio’s stomach twist and did nothing to make him feel better. Instead, he could only focus on the lives in the shuttles—those he’d sworn to protect. Awen. Magnus. The Jujari, the Reptalon, and the huge Miblimbian. The Nimprinth that always spoke in third person and his mismatched Caledonian girlfriend. And the little girl with the blonde ringlets. The cosmos had brought them all together…

  “And it’s gonna be the cosmos that sees us through,” he said aloud.

  “Please rephrase your statement, commander.”

  “I was just talking to myself.”

  “As, yes. I have noticed your kind doing this regularly.”

  Ricio brought his Fang around in a low turn, remaining below the defense cannons’ firing arcs. “How goes the fighter hunting, old girl?”

  “I have successfully eliminated all remaining targets. The shuttles are free and clear.”

  Ricio let out a holler and pumped a fist.

  “Are you alright, commander?”

  “Yeah, baby. We did it.”

  “I concur. However, your exclamation is such that—”

  “It’s what we do when we’re excited about somethin
g, like successfully saving those who we’re trying to protect.”

  “Ah, I see. Well, in that case—” Azelon screamed over comms. At least that’s how Ricio interpreted it. The sound was something between a shrill shriek and a mechanical cackle. He winced and placed his palms over his ears.

  “What the hell was that?” Ricio asked when it finally subsided.

  “I was returning your congratulatory exclamation, commander.”

  “We need to work on that.”

  “I have added it to my list of subjects to return to at a later time.”

  Ricio worked his jaw in an attempt to get the ringing in his ears to subside. “So, back to the Spire then?”

  “Indeed, sir. If you would please accompany the shuttles, I will ready the hangar bays for your return.”

  “On it.”

  Ricio pushed the Fang forward, accelerating away from Plumeria and over the tropical forest once again. He stayed low, turning beneath rock ledges and following the contours of the low hills. He passed the wreckage of the second emplacement he’d destroyed, and then began the long descent toward the ocean, feeling his stomach flutter. The aquamarine blue stretched to the horizon in all directions. Several seconds later, Ricio swept over the first turret he’d annihilated.

  “Damn, old girl. You seeing the size of that crater?” Ricio asked.

  “I am, sir. I am recording the data as I have never witnessed the effects of a mine used on a surface target in atmosphere before.”

  “That makes two of us.”

  As Ricio shot out across the ocean waves he could see the shuttles ahead, appearing to hover like seabirds in an updraft. He dialed down his throttle as he closed the gap, willing his Fang to come even with them. He was certain the other vessels had seen him on radar so he would need to hail them. But how, exactly, would that conversation go? Hey, remember me? I’m that guy Ricio that tried to kill you a few days ago. Oh yeah, I broke out of prison too. But then I had a random change of heart and decided to turn on the Republic and everything I knew in a hasty effort to help save your sorry asses.