“Squadron Commander!” a voice yelled angrily from the elevators at the end of the hall. Yen turned as Captain Hodge stepped off the lift, her pale face flushed with anger. “Release that man this instant!”
Yen kept his grip as he scanned once more for Iana, his power passing through multiple walls and catching sight of her just as she reached the base of the stairwell. Letting go of the Crewman, Yen turned and stormed past the Captain as he pursued the escaping Warrant.
“Don’t walk away from me,” Captain Hodge ordered as she took up step right behind Yen. “You’re already in enough trouble, Commander.”
Ignoring her, Yen continued to the stairwell, rushing up the first flight in a hurry, taking two stairs at a time. Captain Hodge kept pace, though Yen could hear her heavy breathing as she rushed. Pausing at the next landing, Yen looked up the lengthy stairwell above him, scanning again for Iana. He sensed her again, a couple flights above. As he got ready to rush up the next set of stairs, Captain Hodge grabbed a hold of his arm, pulling him to her.
“Commander!” she hollered as he continued trying to chase Iana up the stairs. “I was monitoring your communications channel during the last battle. I heard what you did to Warrant Pelasi. I am accusing you of murdering one of your own pilots. I’ll bring you up on charges for this. I’ll also let them know about Merric.” She paused while Yen continued to stare upward. “Are you even listening to me?”
Yen stopped trying to pull away and turned toward her, his eyes burning blue as his psychic energy grew unfettered. “Oh, believe me, ma’am,” he replied dangerously. “I heard you.” He stepped toward her as the intercom sounded an alert above them.
“Warning! Warning!” the intercom roared. “Collision with unidentified debris imminent! Brace for impact!”
The Revolution shook violently as a piece of metal struck its hull, scraping and puncturing the thick metal plating. Multiple rooms decompressed, launching their inhabitants to a freezing death in space. On the stairwell, the ground shook, nearly knocking Yen’s feet from under him. Dropping to one knee, he braced himself against the motion. Captain Hodge, caught by surprise, staggered backward toward the lip of the stairs. Clutching for the railing, she grabbed hold at the last moment. Though now supported, her body leaned far out over the precipice of the first stair. Leaping forward, Yen grabbed hold of her wrist as her grip weakened from the continued shaking of the ship.
As the shuttering of the Revolution finally stopped, Captain Hodge let out a sigh of relief. “Thank you, Commander,” she said. “You saved my life.”
Yen smiled cruelly. “I don’t think so,” he hissed. “No one questions me. No one!”
Forming his power into a pair of hands, Yen clutched the sides of the Captain’s head. Shifting his grip on her wrist, Yen dug his nails into her soft flesh. Screaming in anguish and surprise, the Captain’s grip faltered on the railing and she tumbled over the lip of the stairs.
As she fell, her knees buckled. She threw up her hands defensively in order to protect her face, but Yen’s powers drove her head toward the solid stairs. Her head crashed against the first stair, being driven downward by the combination of her body weight and the psychic grip. With a sickening crack, blood sprayed across the matted stairs, trickling onto the stairs below as she continued to tumble. Keeping a grip on her head, Yen slammed her fragile face into each individual stair on the way down. Under the psychic hands, the Captain’s skull grew soft and the skin split on the edged stairwell. One wing shattered as she tried to slow her decent and her nose flattened against the side of her face as the next stair caught her between the eyes. Blood smeared in a thick streak as Captain Hodge finished the fall and her body came to rest at the landing below. Her body crumpled — with one arm twisted awkwardly behind her, a wing shattered and broken, and blood spreading from her crushed skull — Captain Hodge’s body convulsed uncontrollably as the damaged brain send confusing signals throughout her nervous system.
Standing at the top of the stairs, Yen watched dispassionately at the broken woman below. A frown etched its way onto his face as he realized he had lost track of Iana. He would have to make sure he watched the hangar bay so she couldn’t escape the ship. It was only a matter of time before he caught up with her. Still, having just killed the Captain, Yen had other tasks to accomplish between now and when Keryn arrived if he expected to remain free.
Activating his transponder, Yen let emotion slip into his voice as he called to the bridge. “This is Commander Xiao.”
“This is the bridge, Commander,” Tylgar replied, his gravelly voice carrying over the radio.
“There has been an accident,” Yen said, allowing a tear to fall from his eye. “Captain Hodge fell when the ship was damaged. She’s…”
A brief silence stretched over the radio. “Sir?” Tylgar asked. “The Captain is what?”
“She’s dead,” Yen replied, his voice almost a whisper. “She was killed in the fall. I need a medical team down to Level Fourteen immediately to retrieve her body.”
“Yes…” Tylgar paused, stunned at the news. “Yes, sir, right away.”
“One more thing, Tylgar,” Yen said into the radio, not wanting the navigator to turn off the channel before Yen was finished. “I need to know the whereabouts of Horace. He’s the security chief and should be apprised of the situation.”
“I’m not sure, sir,” Tylgar said. “The debris knocked out our internal sensors. His last known location was in the brig, guarding the prisoner.”
Yen turned off his radio and smiled to himself. “Perfect.”
The smile remained on his face until he arrived at the door outside the prison. The thought of Captain Hodge lying at the bottom of the stairs was pushed from his thoughts as he traveled through the series of lifts and hallways. Instead, he focused solely on the next inevitable stage of his plan: eliminating any loyalists to the former Captain. Closing his eyes, Yen stood outside the door and let his power build. Blue tendrils spread from his back, sculpting and shaping into a series of scalpels and hooks at the ends of his psychic chains. Snarling, Yen reached out and activated the door.
As it slid open, Horace turned, seeing Yen standing silhouetted in the doorway. The large Oterian took a step backward as he saw the demented expression on Yen’s face, the sadistic smile accentuated by the blue glow of the whirling hooks and blades and the shifting and shimmering aura surrounding him. Yen stepped forward threateningly as Horace tried to speak.
“Commander, what are you…” Horace never finished his sentence as the barbs and knives of Yen’s psychic power plunged into his body. Hooks tore through his flesh, pulling his arms and legs wide until Horace was stretched, suspended a few feet above the ground. Yen generated and sent more and more of the hooks into Horace’s body, ignoring the cries of pain as the barbs pierced his cheeks, abdomen, and groin. With his body stretched and blood spilling freely on the ground, Yen sent the scalpels flying at Horace. Ignoring the surgical precision one might expect from his small blades, Yen struck the Oterian’s body over and over with the knives, leaving ragged cuts and torn flesh as the blades pierced his thick hide. The hooks in his cheeks and lips leaving him unable to speak, Horace gurgled as organs ruptured under the assault. Withdrawing all the scalpels at once, Yen formed his hands into claws with his fingers pointed at Horace’s suspended form. As he moved his fingers, the ten dancing blades responded in like. Thrusting his arms forward, all ten scalpels drove forward, piercing straight through the Security Officer’s chest and erupting from his back. Horace stopped struggling and hung limply in the air. Satisfied, Yen dismissed all his psychic power, the hooks and blades dissipating into the air and allowing the Oterian body to collapse to the floor.
As Yen turned away, he heard a soft whimper from the brig cell. “Vangore, I had almost forgotten all about you,” Yen said without turning toward the Wyndgaart prisoner.
“I don’t want to die,” Vangore said weakly as he pulled his knees tighter to his chest while huddling in the
far corner of his cell. “Please don’t kill me.”
“Hush, now,” Yen said sharply. “It’s not you, you have to understand. You had a purpose before. You were going to expose a great conspiracy that would have brought down Captain Hodge, Horace, and numerous others. That would have allowed me to take over as Captain of the Revolution.” Yen leaned against the bars separating the two and reached his right hand through the bars. He held his hand palm up as he continued speaking. “But now I decided to take matters into my own hands. You’re just not needed any more.”
“I won’t tell anyone, I promise,” Vangore pleaded. “Just, Gods, don’t kill me.”
“Believe me when I tell you that the Gods will be the only one to hear your story,” Yen said as a blue ball of energy started forming in his hand. The psychic energy swirled angrily as the ball grew in size. When it nearly consumed the whole palm of his hand, Yen tossed it across the cell where it affixed to the far wall. Vangore cringed, flattening himself against the floor.
“Goodbye, Vangore,” Yen said passively as he walked out of the brig, sealing the doorway behind him. As he walked away, a muffled explosion rocked the brig and blue light flared in the window behind Yen. The explosion tore through the wall and the thick hull, exposing the entire brig to the vacuum of space. The violent decompression sucked Vangore into the vacuum only moments before it ripped the metal bars from their sockets before blasting them into space as well. As an afterthought, Horace’s limp body was drug out through the hole as well, to be consumed by the void.
“Bridge, this is Commander Xiao,” he called into his transponder as he walked casually to the bank of elevators.
“Sir, this is the bridge,” Tylgar rough voice responded.
“It appears that the debris punctured the brig as well. Both the Security Officer and the prisoner were jettisoned into space.”
“Are you sure?” Tylgar responded.
“I’m always sure,” Yen said condescendingly. “Open a Fleet-wide channel, linked to my transponder.”
“Yes, sir,” Tylgar replied quickly, sensing the dangerous tone in Yen’s words. “The channel is open, sir.”
“All ships within the Alliance Fleet, this is Yen Xiao. Due to an unfortunate accident aboard the Revolution, Captain Hodge has been killed. As the second in command of the flagship, I am assuming command of both the Revolution and the Fleet. From this point on, I have been promoted to the rank of Captain. All previous orders are still in effect. Captains, I will still expect your presence for a battle planning conference on board the Revolution, beginning within the hour. Make necessary arrangements. Captain Xiao, out.”
With the unfortunate business of murder behind him, Yen allowed the stressors of the day to escape his body. He knew that Iana had no way off the ship, which meant that it wouldn’t be long until he caught and disposed of her. More importantly, he had less than an hour to prepare for the arrival of the other Captains. He hoped he had enough time to clean up before Keryn arrived.
CHAPTER 34:
Keryn fired the last maneuvering rocket then cut the engines as her ship drifted into the hangar bay of the Revolution. Sitting next to her, Alcent looked uncomfortable as they landed. She understood his discomfort. Alcent was used to avoiding both the Terrans and the Alliance as he managed an encompassing smuggling operation. To willingly fly into the flagship of the Alliance Fleet set him on edge.
When the hangar was once again filled with breathable air, Keryn opened the back hatch and stepped out of the ship, her boots clinking on the hard floor. Being on board, Keryn felt her own nervousness growing. She knew a lot of work needed to be done before engaging the second half of the Terran Fleet, and she wasn’t sure they had enough time. If they lost their next battle, then the research she had gained on the Deplitoxide would be a waste and those stranded on the frozen planets would surely die. Keryn wished Adam was by her side, standing stoically as her pillar of strength. Unfortunately, he had remained on board the Ballistae as the Captain in absentia. Whatever evils she and Alcent would face on the flagship, they would face alone.
As Alcent took his place at her side, the door to the hangar opened and a welcoming entourage entered. They flooded toward the Terran personnel carrier, which stood starkly out of place amidst the Alliance fighters. The ships flat body and large wingspan, painted in the royal Empire colors, became a beacon around which the welcoming party huddled. Keryn shook hands with numerous dignitaries, the names of which she instantly forgot. Scanning the crowd, she recognized no one, which just deepened her disinterest in the formal greetings.
Halfway through one of the many introductions, Keryn held up her hand, stopping the unknown woman in mid sentence. “I am really in a hurry,” Keryn said calmly, though her frustration was causing internal turmoil. “I have important information that must be passed on to the other Captains. Can you please lead me to the conference?”
Though appearing dejected, the woman nodded and gestured for the pair to follow. As they walked, Alcent fell into step beside Keryn.
“I almost didn’t recognize you there,” he said, jokingly. “I’m used to the woman screaming on the battlefield and shooting people with deadly accuracy. That, in the hangar, was almost diplomatic.”
“Shut it, Alcent,” Keryn sneered, “or I’ll shoot you in the face.”
“Ah,” Alcent replied, smiling. “There’s the Keryn I’ve come to know and love.”
As they were led through a myriad of passages and lifts, they walked in relative silence. Both newcomers spent their walk alternating between being lost in thought and scanning the faces of the Crewmen they passed. For Keryn, she yearned to find a familiar face, but found only strangers staring back. The approach to the War Room was punctuated by raucous laughter and loud voices climbing over one another in an attempt to be heard. They paused at the door as their guide went in ahead to announce them. Alcent stole a glance and reached out, gently squeezing Keryn’s arm.
“You’re looking awfully pale,” he whispered.
“That’s because we don’t belong here,” Keryn replied, her voice raspy and dry. “These are high ranking officers who clawed their way up through the ranks. They know politics and how to play the diplomatic games. What are we?”
“Murderers, smugglers, and thieves,” Alcent replied. “That makes us ten times better people and one hundred times a better crew. They will stab you in the back, but we’ll always have the decency to stab you in your face.”
“You’re joking, but I’m not,” she said.
“I never said I was joking,” Alcent responded. “I would rather fly with our crew any day of the year than serve under the stiff-necked, thin-lipped, tight-asses that lead the Alliance.”
As their guide announced the co-Captains of the Ballistae, Alcent’s words stuck in Keryn’s mind. She had been away from the Alliance for a long time, serving with her special operations crew. Their attitudes had always been relaxed and casual, avoiding any reference to rank. Just identifying herself as Magistrate Riddell had made the words feel thick in her mouth and hard to pronounce. Now, being onboard an Alliance Cruiser, the changes she had experienced were never more apparent. All around her, soldiers walked by in high-necked uniforms, immaculately pressed and glistening with cleanliness. She and Alcent, in contrast, wore the loose fitting clothing they had worn upon their escape from Othus: leather pants with loose fitting shirts and long jackets. Keryn was glad that they had parted ways with the more traditional methods of issuing demerits and extra work hours to those who did not keep either themselves or their work areas clean by the appropriate governing regulations. While she had gladly bought into the idea when she was a pilot in the Alliance, she now found the system antiquated and overly cumbersome.
With a tug on her sleeve, Alcent stepped into the War Room with Keryn close behind. The dark uniforms of the Captains hung burdened with gleaming metal decorations on their chests. Conversations had died as the unlikely duo entered the room. More than a couple Captains, people under
whom Keryn had once served as a pilot, looked disapprovingly over their attire. One person, however, did not share their disdain. From the far end of the table, Yen watched the pair enter.
His heart beat loudly in his chest as Keryn entered the room. Though Yen always remembered her as the pilot wearing her grey flight uniform, he found her new look exotic and enchanting. Her long hair flowed freely over her shoulders and framed her tan face. Keryn’s violet eyes sparkled with an inner confidence that he didn’t remember from before.
“Captain Riddell and Captain Alcent,” Yen called from across the room. “We have reserved a pair of seats next to me for the two of you. You are, after all, the heroes who freed Othus and commandeered a Terran Destroyer for your own. Please, come and join me at the head of the table.”
As the pair came around the table, Yen yearned to make eye contact with Keryn. But, instead, she continued to scan the room, nodding politely to a number of the other Captains. When they reached their seats, they both sat with mumbled words of appreciation.
Yen let his eyes linger a moment longer on the profile of Keryn’s face before he began speaking. “I called you all together because, with a change of leadership at the top level of this Fleet, I felt it necessary to meet face to face with each of you. I know that, were the decision yours, you would have placed yourselves in charge of the flagship instead of the Revolution’s second in command. Unfortunately for all of you, the decision was made by military protocol, which leaves me in command of the Fleet. I expect your full support as we continue with our mission.
“I wish I could say that I knew what Captain Hodge had planned for this meeting before her untimely death. Unfortunately, she left nothing behind that could be used as a baseline. So, instead, the heavy weight of preparing you all for what’s to come falls squarely on my shoulders.”
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