Burning Bright

by Michael-Scott Earle

  There was silence for a few more seconds.

  “There are other beings out there. It is part of the reason I am trying to unite the clans of my people. We, humans, are still young. Even with our ark ships, I doubt our race has explored more than a half percent of the Milky Way. Some of these beings are peaceful, others are worse than anything we can imagine. My people were once explorers, but we discovered monsters worse than any nightmare. We retreated, and waited, but I am done waiting. Our enemies will be coming for us, and I want my people to be ready. That is why I will unite them under my Overlord Clan. They will submit to me.”

  I didn’t say anything for a few moments, and she continued.

  “That was my plan. Now I have submitted to you. I will obey your desires, but I will plead that you let my crew go so they can continue my mission.” Her voice sounded surprisingly sorrowful.

  “I’m not looking for slaves. I’m worried about you all coming on my ship and deciding you want it for yourselves,” I said.

  “No. I told you it is not slavery. I am honor-bound to serve you for the rest of my life. I am a Prime Valkyrie. You have never met a woman like me, Adam.”

  Her last sentence made my hands clench the sides of the leather armrest, and it took me a few seconds of deep breathing to force the monster back in my stomach.

  “You don’t know a thing about me, or the women I have met,” I finally said.

  “I don’t need to. I am a Prime Valkyrie. There is only one amongst all of my people. You will soon find out why the title is placed upon my shoulders. If you allow video communication, you can look upon me.”

  “I want to take another break,” I said as I tried to control my anger.

  “No!” she shouted, but then she cleared her throat. “Please, Adam. They will return to ensure I am dead. We are on borrowed time. If you fix the bottom part of our structure, we can use the exit dock to board your ship.”

  “Yeah, but then you’ll be on my ship,” I said. “I need to figure out how to keep you all from taking it from me.”

  “For the love of Odin!” she shouted. “I submitted to you! Don’t you understand? Your will is now mine. I am yours. Taking your ship would violate all of my oaths and my honor.”

  “Ahhh, fuck,” I said as I took a deep breath. “I’m going to fly around the station a bit and see if there is another ship. Maybe I can put you on a shuttle and--”

  “There are no more ships,” she growled. “You are wasting time. If our enemies return to find you here, they will destroy whatever junker you occupy a millisecond before they kill us.”

  There was a collective groan from the other end, and I heard a few voices speak in a language I didn’t recognize.

  “I’ve just been told by my crew that I should not insult your ship. I am sure it is a fine ship, even though I cannot see it.” She was trying her best to sound sincere, but she failed.

  For some reason, her terrible attempt at fake sincerity convinced me she wouldn’t try to take Persephone from me. This woman was not used to subterfuge.

  “I will fly around the backside where your pod is, and then see what I can do about the structure. Standby.” I reached for Persephone’s flight controls and angled her under the station. It only took me half a minute to get to the other side, and I stopped Persephone a hundred meters or so from where I thought their structure was. The maneuver was much easier with fingers and hands on the controls.

  “Is this yours? Can you see me?” The windows of the pods looked dark, but I guessed I was near the correct one.

  There wasn’t an answer, and my heart started to thump in my chest. Had this been a trap after all? I should have waited. I didn’t even have a destination in the navigation system so I couldn’t get away if I needed to.

  “You possess a Shadow Eagle?” she asked a moment before my nerves got the best of me.

  “Shadow Eagle?” I asked.

  “Your ship, Persephone. She is a Shadow Eagle, just as Dance to the Dirge is.”

  “Yeah. That is why I came looking for you. Is that your structure?”

  “Who are you?” Madalena asked urgently.

  “Do you want me to help you?” I asked as I turned Persephone so her side dock exit was pointed at the base of the tall black building. It looked like a chunk of the asteroid had been shot with a massive plasma ball, and the rock lifted up to pinch into the metal of the structure at its base. There was a docking station near there, but I didn’t think I could access the damaged part of the building through that tube.

  “Yes, that is the building. There are drones at the base of the tower. On the inside. One of my crew has written a program to command them to work on the rock and repair the metal, but they are offline.”

  “So you need me to flip another switch?” I asked.

  “Yes, and perhaps you now understand why I am frustrated with you,” she said, but some of the dark edges was absent from her voice.

  “How long will it take for the robots to fix the--”

  “My programmer thinks six or seven hours,” she interrupted me.

  “Ahh,” I said. Her crew would have been safe onboard Persephone by now if I had activated the drones after I fixed the power. Hell, I could have been back on Queen’s Hat, or hot on the tail of the Magate Order.

  Or I could have fucked up one of my jumps, not been able to use my space suit’s thrusters because the lack of hands, and have floated through the endless void.

  “Will you do it?” she asked. “We have little time.”

  “Yeah. I’ll position Persephone a bit closer, then suit up for a walk.”

  “Thank you, Adam. You will not regret helping us. I will serve you as no woman--”

  “Look, you don’t have to serve me, or submit to me, or whatever the fuck you think you need to do. If you don’t try to take my ship from me, and you answer my questions, I’ll give you a ride where you want. I like helping people. I just don’t like getting shot in the back.” I managed to get Persephone a bit closer to the building and felt another bout of appreciation for my hands and fingers. They really did make everything on the ship much easier, and I stood from Zea’s seat as soon as I had placed the ship as close as I could.

  “I will not betray--” Madalena’s voice was cut off when Persephone’s alarm sounded.

  “Shit!” I shouted as three red dots appeared on the map screen. Persephone’s scanners immediately pushed a wall of red text on the side of the map, and I read through the information on the ships as quickly as I could.

  Destroyer Class Razor: ZANA-AA 878

  Manufactured by: Jotnar Overlord Clan. Rag 876 - a

  Branding: Jotnar Overlord Clan Navy. Yonna Branch.

  Hyperdrive: Raz - 789 Xacer. 32 hours to 1 light year.

  Warpdrive: No

  Foldingdrive: No

  Length: 120 meters

  Estimated Crew: 50

  Estimated fighter craft: 14

  Estimated drone payload: 8

  Heavy plasma cannons: 2

  Light plasma guns: 4

  Laser arrays: 2

  Destroyer Class Vindicator: YANA-HA 998

  Manufactured by: Jotnar Overlord Clan. Rag 876 - a

  Branding: Jotnar Overlord Clan Navy. Yonna Branch.

  Hyperdrive: JJOC - 789 Dual Thruster. 46 hours to 1 light year.

  Warpdrive: No

  Foldingdrive: No

  Length: 100 meters

  Estimated Crew: 40

  Estimated fighter craft: 10

  Estimated drone payload: 6

  Heavy plasma cannons: 2

  Light plasma guns: 4

  Laser arrays: 1

  Destroyer Class Vindicator: YANA-HA 997

  Manufactured by: Jotnar Overlord Clan. Rag 876 - a

  Branding: Jotnar Overlord Clan Navy. Yonna Branch.

  Hyperdrive: JJOC - 787 Dual Thruster. 47 hours to 1 light year.

  Warpdrive: No

  Foldingdrive: No

  Length: 100 meters

  E
stimated Crew: 44

  Estimated fighter craft: 10

  Estimated drone payload: 6

  Heavy plasma cannons: 2

  Light plasma guns: 2

  Laser arrays: 1

  “Our enemies are here, Adam. You must flee. Protect the Shadow Eagle,” Madalena said without the emotion I expected from someone who was about to die.

  “They are… four minutes away!” I said as I checked their distance measurements on the map.

  “But it will take hours for the drones to repair the station, and there is no way a single ship can battle three Jotnar craft. They are skilled and vicious beyond what you could imagine.”

  I cursed and looked out Persephone’s display while my brain spun with half-formed plans. I was a bit familiar with her landing gear now, and I wondered if I could use the arms to grab onto the side of the building. Then I could spin the station around so these Jotnar ships couldn’t fire on me. Eve had done that with the Alloprize carrier when I’d boarded it with Zea and the Children of Rah.

  I tore apart the idea almost as soon as it formed in my mind. There was no way I’d be able to dodge three ships for the seven hours it would take for the drones to fix the damage to the structure. I’d also have to exit Persephone and flip the switch to activate the robots. It would take me at least four minutes to get there and back.

  But the memory gave me another idea.

  “Persephone has a boarding tube with a cutting arm. I can cut through the dwelling pod!” I didn’t wait for her reply. Persephone felt agile in my hands, and I spun her up and around in a tight loop so that her bottom was close to the metal structure where I thought Madalena was. Then I engaged the landing gear

  “No, our pod walls are thick. A cutting tool will never be able to do the job. We already thought of that. It is why we asked you to activate--”

  “I’m going to try anyway. Standby.” The bridge arm was still blaring, and I glanced up at the distance numbers Persephone displayed, and the estimated time the enemy ships would be able to attack us.

  3:10 until they were in blaster range.

  I pressed the buttons to engage the landing gear and watched Persephone’s legs extend beneath the display. I didn’t know if I hit the correct button, or if she was helping me, but the bottoms of the arms were set for their claws instead of their wheels, and the ship clasped the sides of the building like a spider.

  Then I was sprinting toward the elevator.

  The door was already open, and it closed before I even hit the button for the bottom floor. It opened an agonizing five seconds later, and I continued my sprint down the hallway toward the hold.

  I grabbed onto the breaching tool and aimed the laser cutters at the side of the building below me. I engaged the beams and prayed they had enough oomph to cut through the side of the building. They once sliced through the hull of the Alloprize carrier like a hot knife through butter, and I couldn’t imagine that a structural glass on a space station domicile pod would have more armor.

  I let out my breath a half moment later when the lasers started to eat through the metal. I was a bit surprised when it did seem like the material was harder to cut than the carrier’s hull, but the countdown timer on the breaching tube said it would be done in twenty-eight seconds.

  I realized I didn’t have my transponder on me so I couldn’t tell Madalena I was about to cut the hole. I hadn’t even figured out the location with her. All I could do was hope her people were ready to move as soon as the lasers finished their work.

  “Go! Go! Go!” I screamed into the boarding tube as soon as the metal was cut free of the side.

  Heavily armored figures jumped into the tube, and then they leapt free of the gravity shift and floated up through the tunnel and onto the floor of Persephone’s hold. As soon as the first person landed, I was able to see the design of their armor, and the beast inside of my stomach let out a growl of warning.

  Their armor was just a few centimeters short of being comically wide at the shoulders. Dark blue lights illuminated the joint seams, and the flat plates of the armor were etched with winged bird shapes. The helmet had small twisted ram’s horns on the crown, and the face of the helmet looked like a sneering skull.

  The figure carried a plasma rifle, and he, or she, raised the weapon to point at me.

  Shit.

  Another figure jumped through the tube, and I saw that the back of the armor had a small pair of jet thrusters attached. They let out a small push of noiseless power, allowing the second armored marine to float to the ground. This figure’s armor looked almost the same as the first warrior’s, but the skull helmet looked less like a ram’s, and more like a bull’s. Six other figures quickly jumped through the hole.Each one had similar wing etched armor, but a different helmet design. The last figure through wore the most decorative armor, with the wings etched in silver spread across every surface. The helmet had wings on the side of a silver colored crown band, and the skull face was fashioned like a human woman screaming.

  “Is that the last one?” I shouted. The armored figure nodded at me, and I hit the automated extraction command on the boarding tube.

  “Let’s go to the bridge,” I said as I turned back to the group. The first one through the tube still held their plasma rifle aimed at me, and I noticed the other armored soldiers also had badass looking rifles with feathery wing etchings on the sides.

  “We will follow.” Madalena’s voice came from the most decorated of the armor, and I sprinted past them toward the hallway leading to the bridge elevator. They followed me, but none of them said anything.

  I was glad they hadn’t shot me with a plasma rifle. I knew I wouldn’t have been able to heal from almost instant immolation.

  It was a tight squeeze in the elevator with their armor, but we all fit, and I hit the button for the bridge.

  “You do not look injured,” Madalena said. The eye sockets of her banshee helmet actually glowed with strange power.

  “I heal fast. Who is your pilot?” I asked as Madalena stood with her armored chest pressed into mine, and I stared into her skull helmet. For a moment, I wondered if the armor was giving me the illusion that they were freakishly large. I wasn’t the biggest grunt in the Jupiter Marines, but there were only a few taller and broader of shoulder. Even the smallest one of these armored figures still stood half a head taller than me.

  “Nikki, you are piloting,” Madalena’s voice sounded darker coming from the suit.

  “Yes, Prime Valkyrie,” a woman answered from behind me.

  “Center seat,” I said over my shoulder, and then I turned back to Madalena. “Who is your navigator?”

  “Goran,” Madalena replied.

  “Yes, Prime Valkyrie,” a man’s voice came from the armored suit standing to her left. The door opened as soon as he finished speaking, and we poured out of the elevator.

  “Goran, your seat is to the left of the pilot. I need you to plot a course to Queen’s Hat. It was the second to last destination where we traveled.” He didn’t nod or indicate that he understood me. I realized he had been the first one through the boarding tube, and the only one to point his rifle at me.

  “Goran, plot course to Queen’s Hat,” Madalena said.

  “Yes, Prime Valkyrie,” he said.

  “The rest of you are on cannons, I have five stations on each side of the bridge. The holomap is between them.” I pointed to the stations as we ran past them. “Grab a seat and get ready to buy Goran some navigation time.”

  “Mikhael, Josefinna, Calisto, Milda, and Lux. Get on the cannons. We are buying Goran enough time to plot the course to Queen’s Hat.”

  “Yes, Prime Valkyrie!” the five of them shouted as they moved to take positions at the gunner terminals.

  Then Persephone shook, and her alarm seemed to scream louder.

  The remaining four of us sprinted past the officer chairs. The armored figure that I guessed was Nikki slid into Zea’s chair and moved her armored fingers over the controls with a
surprising amount of dexterity.

  Goran moved to the chair left of Nikki, and he strapped himself in just as I saw another volley of blue colored plasma drift toward us. I swore it was aimed right at our screen, but Persephone seemed to spring backward off the side of the station tower, and the balls of blue energy slid right past our display.

  “Yes! Great job! Turn her around and come about from under the station,” I said as I strapped myself into the captain’s chair.

  “Nikki, continue reverse course to below the station, then head pitch bearing negative four five eight seven, and yaw bearing negative twenty-two,” Madalena barked as she sat in the chair next to me.

  “Yes, Prime Valkyrie,” Nikki replied, and Persephone spun back around as if she was a dancer. Then Nikki piloted us under the edge of the asteroids, spun us around so we squeezed through two tall housing structures, straightened out into a sharp climb, and pointed us back to the side of an oncoming spray of plasma fire. The balls didn’t come anywhere close to hitting us.

  “Take us in a heading to position them on our port side. Everyone on a cannon, fire at the right destroyer. On my mark,” I said.

  “Nikki, bear heading twenty. Avoid their fire,” Madalena’s voice was perfectly calm. It almost sounded as if she was bored.

  “Yes, Prime Valkyrie,” Nikki said, and Persephone twisted to the right a bit before accelerating.

  “Crew, prepare to fire on Destroyer number three. On Adam’s mark,” Madalena said.

  “Yes, Prime Valkyrie!” the five warriors sitting behind me shouted, and I hoped that they had figured out how to use the cannons by now.

  “Destroyers are taking evasive action!” Nikki shouted. The enemy ships looked a bit like birds of prey, and they moved just as gracefully through space.

  “Goran, how is the plot?” I asked.

  “Goran, give us an update,” Madalena ordered.

  “I need forty seconds,” he said as his armored fingers flipped across the buttons of the terminals.

  “Get us closer, Nikki,” I said, but a new blast of plasma balls cut off her intended path, and she had to twist Persephone away. It was obvious that she was an exceptionally skilled pilot since every single one of her movements were incredibly smooth and graceful.