by AJ Super
“I know Yoon. But we need them now. To save our sisters,” Nyx reminded him softly.
Matthews walked in, followed by the Greene siblings. He motioned for the two to stand by the door, and they stood poised like coiled vipers.
Nyx eyed the two. Since when did they become part of this? She turned her attention back to Yoon. “Plans need to change. We have to have troops. Troops to crew ships. Troops to form a boarding party for taking La Terre.”
“The Andraste has to be crewed by someone.” Matthews smiled as he put a hand on Yoon’s shoulder.
Yoon shook his head. “I told you. The clones haven’t gestated fully yet. They have at least five more weeks in the augur vats. If they come out too soon, they end up with auto-immune conditions and immuno-suppression issues… or worse.”
Jack Greene stepped forward from his position opposite his sister by the door, hands clasped easily behind him. “Mae and I could go recruit believers. It would be a great calling.” He tapped his heart.
Nyx slammed her hand on the console and the map jittered off, then back on. They didn’t understand. With Erebus gone, her powers were weaker. She was weaker. She needed her sisters with her. And now they knew where they were being held. She had to rescue her family. “We have to have people and ships… No matter what, we’re going to be smaller fish than that gold-topped behemoth. We need feet on the ground, and we need ships to distract the La Terre.”
“La Terre may as well be five Battle Stations with its fire-power. Not to mention the short-range fighters it docks,” Malcam mumbled, his arms crossed as he leaned against the wall.
Yoon ran a hand through his hair, letting it fall around his shoulders. “Why not just infiltrate quietly? Like you did the Andraste? You don’t necessarily need my clones.”
Nyx grit her teeth. “The coup d’état will have everyone on edge. The NAU and ACG already have an increased presence in the black; imagine what they’ll have on the pride of the Navy’s armada.”
Matthews grinned. “So, use something completely different. Wait to go get the clones and the Battle Station and build the Cult of Nyx.”
Nyx’s heart stuttered. It was something she wasn’t prepared to do. It was one thing to harness the zealotry aboard her own ship, but to build on it… She hesitated.
Nyx cleared her throat and clasped her hands. She was only prepared to take Yoon’s clones and create an army aboard the Andraste. “Don’t you think that’s taking it too far? It’s one thing to have to deal with the Church of the Seven and their monks, but it’s a whole different thing to start your own off-shoot religion. Especially if you’re going to drag them into a conflict.”
“A war,” Malcam growled. “Let’s be real here. It won’t be just a conflict. This will be us against the current Protectorate. It will be a war.”
“And if what Coeus said is true, it has something to do with someone claiming to be the Star of Nyx. Possibly another AI. Maybe even an AI with capabilities like me or other Stars.” Nyx lowered her head. “It’ll be a second AI War if that’s the case.”
A chilly silence filled the room.
Yoon straightened. “The asteroid mines.”
“What?” Nyx raised her eyes and looked at him quizzically.
“You’ll need a population of desperate, impressionable people who already lean heavily on a belief system based on what you want them to turn to. People who will be grateful to be saved. You can turn their gratitude to loyalty and their desperation to zealotry.”
“And how do you save people who are indentured?” Malcam pursed his lips. “Especially when it was pirates that probably put them there in the first place.”
Matthews leaned over the desk, excited. “Only a small portion of asteroid miners are pirate bounty. Most of them are lifetime debtors to the Protectorate under-governments. They’re not supposed to be shipped out of their home-states, but the conglomerate nations don’t really care about those parts of the treaties as long as they get their money. And the asteroid mines don’t say anything as long as they get their workforce.” He nodded. “It would be an ideal place to start. We can use the Thanatos crew as senior proselytists. Let them tell personal stories about you. Let them tell the old myths. Start new ones.”
“Those mines are guarded, though. And output is highly measured.” Malcam said, exasperated. “If you don’t want to raise suspicions, you have to keep the mines running if you plan on taking over.”
Nyx rubbed at her forehead. Taking over an asteroid mine was as daunting as taking La Terre. And the Protectorate kept close eyes on the output of all the mines, even the small ones.
“I know Yangxi X. It’s close enough to dark space. Doesn’t output much, and it’s isolated. You’ll have to take out their security system and rework their hierarchy, but they have a deep religious background there that helps them stay somewhat civilized.” Yoon smiled. “And I have a friend there who may be helpful.”
“Yangxi X?” Malcam glowered. “I thought you were cooped up on the Andraste.”
“The raw materials to build the Battle Station had to come from somewhere. And someone had to oversee the building of the ship.”
Nyx’s eyes narrowed. “So, you actually know every inch of the Andraste.”
Yoon thinned his lips. “I do. Which is why I should control my clones.”
Nyx closed her eyes and inhaled sharply. It would be a consideration she’d have to put on the pile once the clones got out of their gestation period. She just had to wait five more weeks. It would be a really short time to bring an asteroid mine to heel… “Do you know anything about Yangxi X’s security procedures then?” She changed the subject.
Yoon shook his head. “I was an honored guest. I went through the front door. You’ll have to do some creative maneuvering to get what you want, where you want, in that asteroid.”
“We know Yangxi X, too,” Jack Greene spoke out with a haunted look in his eyes.
Maeve glanced over at him and whispered fiercely, “You said we wouldn’t go back.”
Jack stepped forward again, coiled and ready to strike. “We know the layout. Number of guards. Shifts of workers and guards. Feeding schedules. Shipping schedules. Everything.”
Nyx tipped her head. “And if I decided it would be best for me to go in as an indentured and start the op from the inside?”
Maeve scrambled forward. “They know us. We can’t go with you.”
“And you’ll have to survive the ring.” Jack’s eyes shone dark.
“Did you both survive this ring?” Nyx stared at them, her face unreadable. She wasn’t sure if she wanted these two young vipers to answer her question. She might be afraid of the answer.
Maeve looked at her hands, and Jack set his jaw. “We did. Our parents didn’t.”
“Neither did our brother,” Maeve whispered. “Kill or be killed.”
Gooseflesh rose on the back of Nyx’s neck. Were these children forced to kill their family? Her gut churned. “Yangxi X it is, then. Get me a thorough report as soon as possible. I want all the details.” She paused and softened her voice. “I do mean all the details. Don’t leave any of your experience out. I need to know every nook and cranny of that place. It’s a three day jump from the moon. We’ll stop there for a day to gather volunteers and solidify a plan, then make the jump to the asteroid mine. But I plan on infiltrating myself, and with a cadre of those loyal to this Cult of Nyx.”
“I’m coming with you,” Malcam growled.
Nyx shrugged. After his confession about his promise to her father, she wouldn’t begrudge him the chance. “Sarama can be acting captain. Again. I don’t know why the two of you just don’t switch ranks.”
Malcam narrowed his cobalt eyes at her.
Matthews raised his hand, “You’ll need your High Priest to guide new souls.”
Nyx covered her mouth and held back laughter. “High Priest? Is that what we’re going with?”
Matthews pouted. “It’s the only thing I could think of.”
“Let’s try not to mimic the Church too much.” She squinted in thought. “How about High Consul?”
“Are you really doing this?” Yoon asked quietly.
Nyx stared at him. “Yes.”
“It’s madness.” He looked half relieved and a little disturbed, tipping his head and exhaling surreptitiously, his shoulders relaxing slightly.
“I am the Star of Nyx. Head of the pantheon of the Seven Stars. Matthews is right. Why would I not use my influence?” She breathed softly. Matthews couldn’t know that she doubted. No one could. This plan was off-the-rails, but it was her only option to get the people and eventually the ships she needed for an assault on La Terre. It didn’t have to be a huge assault. It only had to be big enough to distract the Protectorate goons so she could pull Phoebe and Erebus from the clutches of the NAU and ACG coup. But, in the end, it would start another war. Between the Stars and whoever was behind the Protectorate now. She needed people, loyal people. No one was more loyal than a religious zealot. And right now, she couldn’t count on Yoon’s clones. Eventually though, they would have to be hers, too.
Yoon worked his mouth as if he were trying to say something. In the end he just sighed and clenched his jaw shut.
Nyx looked around the room over the top of the star map. “Nothing more for the moment? Fine. I believe I was ordered by my ExO to rest today.” She smoothed down the front of her maroon jumpsuit. “I want to see those reports in the next three hours. And make sure we all get copies forwarded to our datapads.”
The Greenes tapped their hearts.
“You’re all dismissed.”
One-by-one they filtered out of her disused office, leaving Malcam standing at her desk. She flopped limply into the high-backed tan leather chair. She zoomed into asteroid mine Yangxi X in the corner of the star map and leaned into her hand. “Is this the right decision?”
Malcam pushed at his lower lip with his tongue. “It’s a decision. It’s a path. Better to take one than none.”
Nyx sat silently, staring at the hologram of the asteroid mine on the edge of dark space. She would be fighting for her life in that rock. But she was on a warpath now. And there was no turning back.
“Whatever you choose.” Malcam grabbed her by the elbows, standing her up to look him in the eyes. “I’ll be there with you. You’ll never do this alone.”
Nyx smiled weakly and brushed a strand of dirty-blonde hair from his forehead. Somehow that made her feel much better.
15
Nyx sat on the wing of the Thanatos with her back against the comms array, a white mite in her EVA suit on the shining black ship. She tilted her head and watched the moon pass above her. The Medusa had, only moments before, popped out of jump space directly in front of the Thanatos.
Her comm buzzed.
“He’s hailing.” Sarama’s voice rang in her ear.
Nyx pursed her lips. She didn’t want this conversation with Kai to be public anyway, so being in the quiet black on comm wasn’t terrible. “Narrow-wave him over to my comm. I need to talk to him privately.
The Medusa’s bulbous grey form hovered just under the moon’s shadow at the nose of the Thanatos. Nyx stared at the grey lump of a ship. Her father’s ship. She knew Kai would take good care of it and the crew, but part of her still resented him for taking her legacy from her. That ship was supposed to be hers. She leaned her head against the back of her helmet.
“I wasn’t following you this time, I swear. We needed to get away from an ACG ship. Nothing more,” Kai blurted over the comm.
“Okay.”
“I mean it. I’m doing what you said.”
“I believe you.” How was she supposed to explain to him that she just had a feeling she’d meet him here if she waited a bit? She couldn’t explain it. It’s almost like she predicted his next whereabouts.
“Oh.” Kai paused. “Are you EVA? Fiddling with hardware again?”
Nyx bit her cheek. “Comms array needed adjusted again. Little visit from an old friend jostled some stuff loose.”
“Friend?” Kai sounded confused.
“Nothing to worry about.”
“That’s good,” he drawled.
Nyx took a breath. After telling Kai to back off, it was going to be hard to ask him for help. But she needed generals, and he had a ship with guns. One that could help her take the Andraste in five weeks so she could have her Battle Station and her clone army.
“Just ask, Nyx.”
Why did he always know when she was hesitating? “I need help, but it’s not going to be easy.”
“Not easy?” He grunted. “This sounds like it’s going bad places.”
“I need a larger raiding party than what I have on my ship.” Nyx flipped the electronic screwdriver from one hand to the other. “Even if I were to leave a skeleton crew to run the Thanatos, I still don’t have enough people.”
“So, the target is big?”
She quit fidgeting. “Huge.”
“And Erebus can’t take it over? Disengage any security protocols? Help you through it?”
Nyx’s heart stilled. “Erebus isn’t on the Thanatos anymore.”
“What? How is that possible?”
Nyx stared at the jagged craters above her. The weight of their shadows fell on her with a rushed breath. The smooth white bottoms of the ocean-like expanses overwhelmed her, and she closed her eyes. “Kai, my sisters are still on La Terre. I need a bigger ship to rescue them.”
His breath echoed over the comm. “What’s the plan?”
“I need the Battle Station Andraste. I need the army that’s aboard.”
Kai coughed. “That’s all? The Medusa’s shuttle couldn’t even get past the energy field until your team put it down. And you think we can take it on with the my ship and the Thanatos without Erebus’ help.”
“Erebus wouldn’t have been any good, anyway.” Nyx frowned. Kai didn’t know, how could he? She only found out by being on the Andraste. “The ship is dark. It doesn’t have half the tech we’re used to. No cameras to map the place. Only vague records. A lot of the mechanization is low-tech, hands-on, off-line. No broad or narrow-wave access. That kind of thing.” She shrugged. “It was built to beat the Stars.”
“So, it’s a big hunk of junk. And your best weapon would have been useless, but now she’s missing, so it doesn’t matter. Is that it?”
Nyx pursed her lips. “Yeah.”
“No. The answer is no,” he snapped. “I’m not going to risk my crew. And for what?”
“It’s time to prepare for a war, Kai.”
“A war? Really? Are you out of your mind?”
“Coeus says there’s another Star of Nyx.”
“This just keeps getting better.” He laughed. “Was he the friend? Why are you listening to that branleur?”
“I don’t have a choice. If there is another me…”
“Does that Star have your powers?”
“I don’t know. I don’t know anything about her.”
“Her?”
“Yeah.”
“That’s something.”
“Not much.”
“No. Not much,” Kai’s voice cracked over the comm. “I have a responsibility to my crew to keep them alive.”
“How often have you been running from the new Protectorate?” Nyx stood and shook the sleep out of her legs.
“More than I want to,” he admitted. “Doesn’t mean I think the solution is to start a war.”
“We can’t run forever.”
The silence on the comm covered her in a cold blanket.
“Kai,” she whispered. “We’re in this whether we like it or not.”
“Putain. Putain de Protectorate.”
Nyx waited.
“What do you need me to do?”
A small smile spread across Nyx’s face. “Five weeks. I need you to watch the Andraste and get me updates while I’m at Yangxi X for five weeks. Then we’ll move on her. I’ll have more ships and more people by then.
”
“What’s at Yangxi X? That asteroid mine is…” Nyx could fairly hear him shake his head. “It’s trouble, Nyx. Not even your father did business with them.”
“I know. But the strong rise. And I’m strong. Don’t worry.”
“Malcam will be there?” he ground.
“Does it matter?” Nyx walked to the center of the wing.
“Just remind him he has promises to keep.”
“I doubt I have to remind him.”
“Fine. Where do you want to rendezvous in five weeks?”
“I need ships to go with the new crews and soldiers I’m going to be picking up,” Nyx said roughly.
“Ships? Why not Xianlong V, then?”
Nyx nodded. Stopping at her father’s go-to junkyard for their notorious wealth of stolen ships was a good idea. They could probably find a couple worse for the wear warships that were about to be scrapped to add to her little fleet. “Xianlong V. Perfect.”
“Five weeks. See you then.”
“Yeah.” Nyx pulled her grav boots off the wing in quick succession and ran to the edge, releasing them at the last second and flying across the empty space to the open hatch. She sailed lightly through the black.
The Medusa jumped out.
Nyx choked. Tears gathered in her eyes. She brought her hand to her face and the glove clinked against the glass of her helmet. The last thing she wanted to do was bring him into this.
The stars fired in the distance, blurring. In the quiet of the black, where she didn’t have to share oxygen with anyone else, she could just be. Be herself, by herself. She thanked the Stars that Malcam wasn’t around to see her cry over Kai. It was a temporary weakness.
She released a jet of CO2 to line up with the door and gently landed in the center, grabbing the rail and detaching the tether leading to the comms array, which snaked slowly back to its home. She puffed a bit of CO2 and spun herself to face the moon, clipping her grav boots to the doorframe. So much for quiet time in the black. She needed to get back to her duties and prepare to go to Yangxi X.
She reached for the tether in the re-pressurization tube and snicked it to the magnet on her back. She clomped into the tube, and the hatch rolled shut behind her. The tube repressurized, and she slid her head from her helmet, hair damp with sweat.