by AJ Super
“Can’t blame me for trying,” Kai muttered.
“And what were you going to do? Blast your way through the entire boat with that little pew-pew gun?” Nyx scoffed.
Kai shrugged. “Gotta do whatcha can.”
Tyco shoved the little repeater in the back of his tan cargo pants and fumbled through the rest of Kai’s jacket pockets.
“We both shouldn’t have come,” Kai hissed. He didn’t even look over his shoulder.
Nyx blanched. She made a rotten deal without thinking about the consequences. “I know. I made the deal. Why go back on it? You know Malcam. He would have killed everyone from the Thanatos if we didn’t come.”
Kai stepped forward silently, Red and Tyco flanking the two in the corridor front and back. The copper-headed woman slid her hands down to Nyx’s ankles and stood. She looked at Tyco who shook his head and grabbed Kai by the shoulder.
Nyx sighed. She’d come directly from the shuttle bay of the Thanatos after arguing with Kai. “So, who’d you leave in charge of the Thanatos?” Nyx glanced from the side of her eyes at him.
Kai looked back at Nyx as he stepped in front of her and down the corridor to the command deck. “Sarama. Gave her a promotion to First Officer on the fly. I keep leaving her in charge after all. Might as well give her the title to go with it.”
At least he had a command succession plan in case they didn’t come back to the ship, unlike when they went to see the queen.
Red jerked her head towards the deck. “Go,” she grumbled, pushing Nyx ahead of her as Tyco strode in front of Kai.
The dark-lit corridors stretched forever as Nyx and Kai trudged on, the thunk of their boots echoing in the quiet. The yellow running lights of the Medusa were suspiciously low, conserving power. Malcam was saving fuel.
He must be running low on funds. This wasn’t so much a power-play as a hail-Mary. Malcam needed leverage to get back into the piracy game. His sales pitch to give more of the pilfered wealth to the crew had backfired. The Medusa would be dead in the black soon, maybe even in a week or two, if they didn’t catch themselves a decent fish. Selling a ship’s bounty from the secondary trade lanes including its crew as mining slaves didn’t pay enough to stipend the Medusa crew and keep the boat afloat if he was cutting in the crew too much. And pirating right off an asteroid mining station would get them shut down even faster.
Red slapped the door pad and the doors to the Command Deck whooshed open. Even the running lights here were low, forcing the bridge crew to work in the gloom of half-light.
The screens glowed with images of the Thanatos, with her guns trained on the Medusa, sitting darkly in the black next to the lengthy behemoth of the ore hauler Calliope.
Malcam perched in the center of the bridge on the tall, gun-metal grey captain’s chair. He swiveled around as they walked in, fingers pressed together, elbows resting on the arms, leaning forward with a grin.
An icy shot stabbed Nyx’s heart. That was her father’s chair. Malcam had stolen it. Malcam had murdered her father.
Tyco pushed Kai next to her.
“Take it easy,” Kai snapped, hands in the air. “I’m moving. No need to be pushy.”
Malcam’s eyes sparkled. He smoothed his greased hair and stood, hulking above the deck on the raised platform.
Nyx glanced around. The bridge was fully staffed, and standing guard in ten-meter intervals were armed men and women eying the uncomfortably shifting crew. Sitting in front of the giant view-screen image of the Thanatos and ore hauler were the cowering silhouettes of the remaining nine Thanatos crew members, and the two dead bodies. Matthews, body racking with sobs, was curled up beside the dead man. Two armed men stood behind the captives.
“We’re here. Now what?” Nyx spat, fists clutched tight.
Malcam stepped down from the raised captain’s chair, one painfully slow step at a time. Nyx flinched at the deliberateness. His bulk soared over her and Kai. “Where’s the Star?”
“Nearby,” Nyx said.
“That wasn’t the deal.” Malcam nodded to one of the armed men by the hostages. The soldier lifted his weapon to the bowed head of a shaking, grey-haired man.
Kai opened his mouth, Nyx held up her hand and stepped forward. “It was. I said Kai and I would come over. You agreed. All too readily. We can talk about the Star now if you like. But first, I want to know what you’ll trade for them.” She tipped her head in the direction of the Thanatos crew.
Malcam bowed his head as he reached the floor of the command deck, glancing from under his deep brow. “They mean that much to you? This crew of strangers? Did you forget your loyalties?”
Nyx glared at him. “I didn’t forget my loyalties. I expanded them.”
Malcam grunted.
“That’s what you never understood about the way my father ran this boat. Everyone made their own choices and lived or died by them.” Her father certainly did, choosing to trust Malcam.
“Captain did at that.” Malcam voiced her thoughts and walked towards Nyx. “His last words were for you.” A sad look passed across his face, only to be replaced quickly with a vicious grin.
Nyx’s skin prickled. Malcam was playing with her, baiting her. She had to keep her head.
“Don’t you want to know what they were?”
Her eyes widened. Her father, who basically threw her to the wolves, had something to say to her in his last breaths, and he said it to Malcam. “I don’t want to hear it.”
“Come on,” Malcam taunted. “Everyone wants to know their loved ones’ last words. Especially if it’s about them. Don’t you want to know if your father thought you were a failure? A disappointment? Or maybe it was the opposite. I can’t seem to remember.”
A knot in Nyx’s throat tightened. She started to open her mouth, but clamped it shut, unspoken words strangled in her throat.
Kai slid between Malcam and Nyx. “She said she doesn’t want to hear it. Back off.”
Malcam whipped his gun from the holster at his side, put the barrel between Kai’s eyes, and cocked the hammer. He pursed his lips. “The prince comes to the rescue. How many times are you going to be her voice before someone shoots you?” He shoved the barrel between Kai’s eyes, pushing him into Nyx.
Kai threw his hands up and slid back to Nyx’s side. “Fine. Let her tell you.”
Malcam kept the gun trained on Kai.
Nyx looked down at her black boots. Malcam could lie. He could tell her anything. But he could also tell the truth. There was no way she could trust what he said. So, she should hear it, even if it was a lie. It would buy them more time to allow Erebus to find a way to get the Thanatos crew off the Medusa. Erebus’ emerald code energy whisked through the console displays. Nyx was amazed no one was bothered by it.
Then it dawned on her. She was the only one who could see it. The rest of the Medusa crew just kept working at their consoles as if nothing was amiss—as if Erebus wasn’t there.
“What did my father say?” she asked slowly, trying to buy more time.
Malcam shook his pistol at Kai. “You don’t know her that well after all.” He lowered his arm, tilting his head at her. “He said: ‘We all make choices. Make better ones than me. He’ll be beside you through it all. We’ll have that dinner another time.’”
Who was the he that her father refered to? Nyx tensed her shoulders. Did he mean Kai? He couldn’t mean Malcam.
“Does it mean something to you?”
Nyx turned her hands over and looked at the crescents her nails had carved into her palms. “I suppose,” she whispered, fighting the warmth of tears in her eyes.
Malcam reached his free hand to Nyx’s face, his rough fingers sliding across her jaw to the corners of her eyes. He wiped them and then cleared his throat. “Princesses don’t cry.”
“What about the Thanatos crew?” Kai furrowed his brow and growled, placing a shoulder between Malcam and Nyx. “You still haven’t answered Nyx’s question.”
Malcam turned away from the two,
his blue eyes burning. “When is the wedding?”
Kai glanced over his shoulder at Nyx. She wrinkled her brow.
“I feel like I should get you an engagement gift.”
“We’re not here to play games.” Kai sighed. “We’re here to negotiate. If you don’t want to do that, we can leave.”
Malcam whipped to Kai and flipped the pistol in his hand. Malcam swung the butt across Kai’s jaw, snapping his head to the side, leaving a crimson welt on Kai’s cheekbone.
“Always un petit malin. You’re not leaving. I’m not playing games.”
Kai put his hand to his cheek, raising an eyebrow.
Malcam raised the butt of his pistol and smashed it against the side of Kai’s head, staggering him to the ground.
“If you speak again, I’ll just shoot you.” Malcam glowered at Kai. He motioned to Tyco to pick him up. Kai shoved the bodyguard’s hands off him as he got to his feet.
“Malcam. Stop it.” Nyx slid between the two men. She put a hand on Malcam’s. If he was going to be gentle with her, she’d play that card. “Just tell me what you want for the crew.”
Malcam yanked his hand away and walked to the row of jittery prisoners. He spun the chamber on his pistol. “I’ll settle for a straight trade. The Star of Erebus and you for these worms. The Thanatos and Kai can worry about how they get fed.”
Nyx paused. Did she hear right? Kai would go free with the crew. He would get the Thanatos. But she would be a part of the trade with Erebus.
Nyx nodded slowly. Erebus should have had sufficient time to invade the Medusa’s systems completely by now. Kai and Nyx should have bought enough time to rescue the Thanatos crew and Captain Matthews once and for all.
Maybe Malcam would take being double-crossed and having his ship taken hostage better than the queen.
In any case, Nyx would have plenty to negotiate with now. She pursed her lips. “I think, though, you’ll find that Erebus and I aren’t as cooperative as you would like.”
Malcam cocked his head.
“Erebus. Have you expanded?” she questioned the air above her.
A Sia-unit standing by a console in a dark corner stepped out, gold ring in his blue eyes glowing. “I am still expanding. I am ore hauler Calliope Three Nine Six. I am Medusa. I am La Terre. I am Thanatos. I am expanding.”
Malcam’s face pinched. “What in the Seven Stars is this?”
“I am one of the Seven,” the bald, tan-skinned Medusa Sia-unit chimed.
“You wanted the Star of Erebus. You have her. She’s on your ship. She is your ship.”
Malcam’s eyes glowed. “How do I control it?”
The Sia-unit tipped his head. Nyx laughed. Kai smirked.
“You don’t. She makes her own choices.” Nyx shook her head. “You don’t control her. You befriend her.”
The Medusa Sia-unit smiled. “We’re friends? That’s nice. That makes me happy.”
Malcam’s face darkened. “What’s the point then? You have all this power, and you can’t use it?”
Nyx shrugged. “We’ve taken over the Medusa. So, unless you want the atmosphere vented on every deck, you’ll comply with our demands.”
He raised his gun and pointed it at Nyx. “This is a trick. Just a trick. I want the real Star. The weapon.”
“What you’re looking for doesn’t exist.”
“You’re lying,” he roared and strode to her. “Xaoc said—”
“Malcam,” Kai warned and stepped in front of Nyx again. He glanced at her over his shoulder as Malcam’s fist crashed down on his temple.
“I told you to quit playing the knight. You’re terrible at it.”
Kai stumbled backward, and Nyx caught him. She sat him down and stood toe-to-toe with Malcam. “I don’t have what you want. I’m sorry, but that’s the way it is.”
He cocked his gun at gut level. “So, I’ll just kill you both then? You have nothing to bargain with.”
Nyx let her white tendrils flow into the consoles and twine into Erebus’ code. “I still have your ship.” She grabbed his gun and pushed it into her stomach. “If you shoot me, I’ll vent the ship.” Malcam held his hand out to Red and Tyco to stop them from grabbing Nyx.
“I don’t believe you.”
“Gravity off.” Nyx smiled.
Everything became weightless. Nyx and Malcam rose slightly from the floor and the crew grabbed their consoles and the railings on the walls as they became unstuck from their stations. The hostages lifted, and the dead floated gently.
“Gravity on.” Everyone settled back down heavily, and Nyx jostled the pistol in her stomach. “You either let us all go, or I kill everyone.”
“Yourself included?” Malcam sneered, calling her bluff.
“The Star of Nyx can’t die. It’s an impossibility now,” the Medusa Sia-unit chirped.
Malcam raised an eyebrow.
“You weren’t supposed to say that, Erebus.” Nyx sighed.
“Handy trick. Assuming it’s true.”
“Guess you’ll never know.”
“How about Kai then?” he nodded to Tyco, who leveled his pulse rifle at Kai. “How would you feel if he got shot?”
Tyco pulled the trigger, aiming at Kai’s stomach.
Nyx jolted and closed her eyes, her breath shallow. She turned to look at Kai, but Malcam dug his pistol deeper into her stomach.
The blue-eyed Medusa Sia-unit grabbed Malcam by the shoulders, pulling him away. Malcam spun and cracked the Sia across the face with the butt of his pistol, smashing the orbital and shattering a glass eye.
“Putain de Sia.” He aimed his gun and pulled the trigger. Black coolant oozed from the sternum of the Sia.
“I’ve been shot, Nyx,” the Sia-unit said, staring at the hole in his chest. “He shot me with his gun.”
Malcam spun back around, and a hard pop filled the air. Nyx looked down at her midriff and blood blossomed from her side. Pain shot through her midsection and then disappated as the nanomedics deadened her nerves. She pressed her hands to her wound, then looked up at Malcam. “What the Stars did you do?”
“At least this time you get to say good-bye,” Malcam muttered, staring at the shaking pistol in his hand.
Nyx turned to Kai. She looked down at her gut shot; it oozed. Her hands crimson with her blood, she flexed her fingers and pressed Kai’s wound in front and behind, pressing the bubbling holes near his stomach together, trying to hold the blood in. The red oozed between her fingers in waterfalls and pooled on the floor beneath him. Kai patted her hand, then closed his eyes.
Nyx’s chest throbbed, and her breath came hard and fast, so hot it burned her lungs. Her stomach wretched. Every muscle in her body trembled.
Kai was dead. She shuddered. And Malcam had killed him.
Her breath was ragged. The tears burned in her eyes. She wanted to scream. She wanted to tear Malcam to pieces. Pulling her bloody hands from Kai’s chest with a roar, she rushed Malcam.
Reaching for his throat, she tried to wrap her slippery fingers around his wide neck. She squeezed. Malcam’s cerulean eyes bulged. Her fingers scrabbled, strangling.
Malcam scratched at her hands, trying to pry them apart. She squeezed tighter. He dropped his hands to his waist and fumbled, gasping.
The chatter of people on the command deck echoed in Nyx’s head as they rushed to pull her off. Someone punched her wounded side, and she crumbled to the floor, gasping. The pain began easing, and she touched the blood seeping from her belly. The nano-medics must be doing something about the searing heat. She should be doubled over. Maybe it was just shock.
Malcam coughed, raising a blood-splattered hand to his throat. “I really didn’t want to hurt you. Either of you.”
Heat rose in Nyx’s stomach. It trailed up her spine, to the top of her head. The air pushed from her lungs in a low roar.
A flood of white energy circled in the back of her mind.
A brilliant flash coalesced behind her eyes, and the soft rush of wings burst a
s she opened them with a flash.
A blast of fire breathed through Nyx’s veins.
Her head whipped back, and she screamed.
White light traveled through her veins, searing her flesh. Nyx’s head snapped forward, eyes wild. She stared at her belly. It no longer bled. A hole no longer gaped in her abdomen.
She glared at Malcam, his finger tight on the trigger as he aimed his pistol at her.
Malcam had killed Kai.
Her breath came in short pants. Pain seeped through her veins in bursts of brilliant white flames. Tendrils of mist seeped off her skin, reaching for Malcam. The tendrils trickled through the air and twined around him. She opened her mouth. A guttural wail rose from her bowels, roiling like thunder, boiling her blood.
Malcam stole life from where it should never have been taken.
His hand tremored, and his trigger finger loosened.
Nyx struggled away from the crew holding her back. She reached out and grabbed Malcam’s gun hand. His skin burned, fevered. He would die. Life for life.
Her fingers touched a vein in his wrist. A deep blue of glowing light pulsed around him with his every heart-beat, highlighted by a whirling tempest of panic. Her grip slipped, but she pulled the blue light surrounding Malcam towards her. He exhaled, his chest sinking.
He crumpled towards her. She would suck the life out of him, suck the vitality from his skin, his blood, his heart. His heartbeat slowed. She could feel it in her veins as his life drained with the light that surrounded him.
Malcam’s cheeks withered. His frame thinned. His shoulders stooped.
Malcam raised a hand, paper-thin skin wrinkled. He wrapped his fingers around Nyx’s reaching hand. “Stop,” he croaked.
A pain blossomed across the back of her skull. The command deck began to spin.
Nyx loosened her grip on Malcam’s blue energy, and the now white-haired man staggered away from her. She stretched out, the link to the blue light still pulling.
“Stop her,” the old-man Malcam groaned. “Whatever she is. Stop her!”
Red stepped into Nyx’s line of sight, copper hair smooth, muscles coiled, butt of her rifle raised. She smashed it into Nyx’s temple. Nyx fell, strands of blue released.