“Unless they are still waiting for the breach,” Deven said from Hrrru’s station. “There were only three gray ships, and, while aggressive, the last two are keeping their distance from us.”
Vas jumped to her feet. Damn it, fatigue was a lousy excuse for missing something like this, but it was all she had. “Gosta—ghosting scan, now.”
“Aye.” His reply was lost as the results filled the screen. Between the Warrior Wench and the closest gray ship were the faint outlines of dozens of those Asarlaí shadow fighters.
“Damn them all to hell,” Marli said as she obviously had forced her way into the link between the Victorious Dead and the Warrior Wench.
Deven started furiously adjusting the scans both on his and Gosta’s station. Gosta stayed out of his way.
“Those shadow fighters are too small to force their way through without an anchored breach.” Marli said between swearing. “And the gray ships aren’t using their fighters so they don’t get caught in the mess when those ships are able to completely come through to this side.”
Another wave rocked the ship.
“The breach flares are getting brighter, and longer.” Ragkor looked down at his console before continuing. “The energy is off the charts.”
“You are running out of time, Warrior Wench.” The commander from this new gray ship was even more surly than the last—a man this time, but cut from the same cloth of obnoxious superiority. “Surrender now and we will let your crew die quickly and with honor—those of the other two ships as well.”
“Like hell.” Vas turned to Mac and dropped her hand. “Now.” All three ships fired at the same time.
The gray ships fired back, but still only at the Victorious Dead and Scurrilous Monk and not at the Warrior Wench. Explosions showed where the gray ships had been hit, but both were still moving. Something had increased their shielding.
Then the Warrior Wench groaned and came to a complete halt as the breaches sucked out any remaining power. The bulkhead where the modified tats were started to glow—from the inside of the ship.
“Damn it—they are coming through!”
The two gray ships engaged the Scurrilous Monk and the Victorious Dead, firing with a brutality they’d held back on so far. Vas knew they had different classes of ships—the massive ones that weren’t here now being the planet killers—and these had seemed like the lesser warships. But the hits both the Monk and the Dead were taking told her how wrong she was about the smaller ships’ strength.
“Get us stable, get us moving, and shut that damn breach down!”
“Captain, we have more ships coming in,” Xsit yelled over the alarms. Vas looked up, expecting that the breach within the tats on her ship was letting through the shadow fighters. She wasn’t expecting the three gray planet killers that were now coming for them.
49
“I’ll take care of these. Get your ship back on track and stop that breach,” Marli said as her ship went to intercept the three massive ships. Marli’s ship was the most advanced Vas knew—Marli’s secret Asarlaí tech made sure of that. But those were three planet killers.
Another rock of her own ship reminded Vas she couldn’t worry about anyone else. “Deven, we need to seal the breach.”
“I’m trying, damn it. I’m—” His words were swallowed as the console exploded and the ship went dark.
“Deven!” Vas ran across the bucking floor to reach him. Both he and Gosta had been blown clear, but their console was a pile of melted wires and plas-steel.
“Captain, the tats are glowing stronger, and they aren’t stopping. We’re not reading any power from you.” Ragkor was a captain himself now, but he still addressed her as if she was the only captain.
She didn’t answer until she’d checked on both Deven and Gosta. They were shaken and had cuts across their faces and hands. But both were still conscious and moving.
“We’re here. We can’t stop the breach. You need to fire.” Vas had opened the comm ship wide. She’d kept an open comm during her talk with Ragkor. Her crew knew what he’d been ordered to do. This was a last-ditch effort, and one Ragkor had vehemently disagreed with, but they couldn’t let the breach fully open. And that was before they realized they were sitting in a mass of half-formed shadow fighters.
“Captain, I still think we can find another way—”
“No. We can’t,” Vas said as the ship bucked again. “What the hell do you see? Therlian, I’m not a nun and never was, but I am asking you to witness these last rites.”
There was a pause on the other side. Last rites for the righteous meant Vas had demanded that Therlian do everything in her power to allow Vas to die. That she was taking an entire ship with her was not an issue.
“I witness. Ragkor, we have to do it. If those breaches blow we are damning this entire galaxy to another thousand years of hell. Whether they are really the Asarlaí or just bastards who wish they were, they can’t be allowed to come through.” The comm cut off as most likely the two had a private battle of wills. Vas knew how well Aithnea trained her nuns. There was no doubt in her mind who would win.
Vas reopened the comm to Ragkor, but also ship wide to both ships. “I want to thank you all—those here, on the Victorious Dead, and back on Home, for being the best damn crew any captain could want. Even if we stop this breach, the fight will continue. Take care of each other.”
Vas helped Deven to his feet and held him close. She’d gotten him back—her Deven. It was her luck it was right before they were all going to be blown apart.
“Think you’ll come back from this one?” She was holding him but watching the screen as the Victorious Dead moved into position. The irony of having to be blown apart by her own ship was something she figured Aithnea would have enjoyed.
“Not unless you come with me.” Deven bent down and kissed her. Not a bad way to face the end. No matter what Aithnea said, this was better than dying with a weapon in her hand.
The kiss ended and both looked deeply into each other’s eyes.
“That was dramatic as hell, but why are we still here?” Vas looked around the command deck. Emergency lights were fading as more power was sucked into the breach. Life support would be next.
“Ragkor? Therlian? What in the abyss is the delay?” Vas looked at her command crew. They were all waiting, and many had come up from the lower decks.
Vas shut down the ship wide comm and used a link only to the command deck of the Victorious Dead. “Damn it, Ragkor. I’ve said my goodbyes. Why aren’t we space dust yet?”
“Because, Captain Tor Dain, I forbid it. I had been planning for something like this—two of the gahan were my spies. One on the Victorious Dead, and one on the Scurrilous Monk. They invited myself and my crew onboard.” The voice was coming from the Victorious Dead per the comm readout, but possibly was the last person Vas expected.
“Empress Wilthuny, what an unexpected and unwelcome surprise. Why are you on my ship?” As she spoke, Vas leaned over the console on the arm of her chair. There were a few weapons systems that only routed through there—maybe they had been better protected against the power suck from the breach.
“I had failed to plan for the destruction of my own ship. Sadly, you don’t seem to be as happy to see me as I would have expected. I have a way to shut that breach without damaging either of my two new ships. I was hoping to get a third, but she is off distracting our enemies.”
Vas swore. The weapon console on her chair was as dead as the rest of the ship. She lost her footing as another slam hit the ship caused by the growing breach on the side of the ship. There was no way that bitch was going to use Vas’s ships to take over the universe. She believed the empress wanted the Asarlaí out of this universe as much as Vas did. That didn’t mean the empress’s rule would be all that much better for the survivors.
Deven had moved over to another console and he and Gosta were trying some last-minute save to regain power—both finally looked up and shook their heads.
�
��How would you do that without causing the damn thing to open?” Vas tried reaching Marli through a typed code, but there was nothing. If they had time, maybe she could get the empress to free her ship by whatever magic she had to close the breach, and then Marli could come and disable the Victorious Dead.
“I have my ways,” she said.
“Captain! Don’t believe her! She’s—” Ragkor’s voice was cut off in a grunt.
“Now, now. You do like your seconds to be big and forceful, don’t you? Let me spell this out—neither of us want those monsters back here. Their servants were helpful, to a point. But they wasted the wealth that could have been taken from Mayhira, with your help. I’m afraid their usefulness is at an end for me. I can save your ship, and your crew, and still lock down that breach. It will take some time, but I’m sure all of your crew will adapt to serving in my fleet. I already have ships heading for that quaint little base world you have as well.”
Vas cut the comm and hung her head. There was no way to win. She couldn’t destroy her ship, she couldn’t free it. Live to fight another day echoed around in her head. That it had Aithnea’s voice attached to it was less comforting than she’d thought it would be.
“Vas, there’s no other way,” Deven said as he came close. Gosta was still trying anything he could on the consoles, but they weren’t responding.
“I know. Death was a better option.” Vas shook her head and turned the comm back on to the Victorious Dead. “Fine. Do what you have to do to shut the breach.”
“I already am. And I’ve given you enough power to see my handiwork and be impressed.” The screen came to life again and a steady stream of matter flowed from a ship Vas hadn’t seen before. A hauler had been hiding behind the Victorious Dead, but had the empress’s markings on it. Then the stream faded its connection from the hauler and then was picked up by the Victorious Dead. The stream was stronger now and the hauler cut whatever it had been doing. More systems came to half-life as the power draw from the breach was blocked.
“What is she doing?” Gosta gave up on his consoles to move closer to the screen. He might not have a computer assisting him right now, but Vas knew that brain of his was processing everything almost as fast.
“She’s somehow fusing the breach. Damn, what I’d give to be on that ship right now,” Vas said.
“Your wish is my command.” Marli suddenly appeared on the bridge—in person, not a hologram. She grabbed both Vas and Deven and nodded to the rest of the crew. “I promise to bring them back. As soon as you get full power restored, get up your shields and run. Savan will guide you.”
Before Vas could say anything, the world went dark. A moment later all three of them were smooshed together in a supply closet.
“I’m assuming this is not my supply closet?” Vas kept her voice low, as she figured they were on another ship. She hadn’t even seen the Scurrilous Monk come back, but even the Monk couldn’t move people too far, so Marli had obviously survived her fight against the planet killers and the ship was nearby.
“No, it’s the one off the main galley on the Victorious Dead. I thought it would be larger,” Marli whispered as she tried to adjust herself.
All three were so close, Vas thought she could feel what Deven ate for breakfast.
“I assume you have a plan?” Deven asked.
Marli was in the back but squished her way through to the closed door. She leaned her ear against it, placed her right hand next to her head, and closed her eyes. “I always do.” She pulled back from the door and pulled a small blaster out of her waistband. She nodded for Vas and Deven to do the same. It would have been easier to get each other’s weapons out with how close they were. But they managed.
“I’m not sure who is on the other side—your people or hers. Capture hers if you can, but the empress is mine.” With a nod Marli slammed open the door.
Two of the empress’s guards were at opposite ends of the hall, and had been using the area to funnel the ship’s crew into the galley. The galley doors were shut, with only a few of the folks from Home still in the hall, handcuffed and bruised, but Vas didn’t see Ragkor or Therlian. She was glad Therlian had left Kaena on Home.
Marli shot the first guard, and judging by the way he slowly crumbled she had it on a disable setting, not kill. Vas knew that would change the second Marli found the empress. Through her own greed, she had allowed the gray ships to gain more power. Marli still wouldn’t admit they were her supposedly long dead people—but there was no doubt they were evil.
Vas and Deven tumbled out right after her and Vas took out the second guard. Livienn, one of the gunnery mates stationed on the Victorious Dead, ran forward. “You don’t happen to have any more weapons, do you, Captain?”
Marli turned and tossed Vas the small blaster she’d just used. “Take it, I can get more.”
Vas released Livienn from her handcuffs, handed her the weapon, and nodded toward the galley. “How many guards inside?”
Livienn shook her head and looked disgusted. “Only two. They took us completely by surprise. Youli was working for her the entire time and had everything set up. By the time the empress and her people came on board, Therlian’s kid could have taken us. It won’t ever happen again, Captain.” Livienn was a good gunnery officer and one hell of a fighter. She, like most of the folks on here, obviously blamed herself specifically for the invasion.
“I know it won’t.” Vas shook her head. “Marli, she got someone on your ship too.”
Marli had been standing over the immobile but still conscious guard, murmuring sweet tortures at him, but looked up with a feral smile. “Did. She did get someone on there. He’s not among the living anymore. That’s how I knew to come back here so fast.”
“Then you left the gray ships?” Deven had been talking to two of the others in the hall.
“Not in any way they can still fight, or breathe for that matter. Not a worry on that one.”
“Let’s get our people and take back this ship,” Vas said. “We need to fall back and regroup. Those gray ships aren’t going to be happy about us stopping the breach—they’ll launch fighters and a full attack once they are sure the breach is closed.”
“Aye. I picked up some of their chatter on the way in, before they realized I’d hijacked their comms. Everything is waiting for that breach. The Victorious Dead and Scurrilous Monk will be taken or destroyed as soon as the shadow ships come through the breach.” Marli slid up against the wall on one side of the galley door, Deven took the other.
Vas grinned and kicked the door open.
Thirty of her crew from Home were inside, all tied up and looking in the same stages of general harassment as the ones in the hall. Considering Livienn had said they’d taken over the ship without a fight, the bruises were strictly nastiness on the side of the empress’s crew.
Vas had no problem shooting the two guards.
Deven stuck his head into the galley, then motioned he was going down the hall. The armory was down there and they were going to need more weapons.
Livienn came in behind them with the rest of the crew from the hall and shut the door as best she could. Vas had hit it a bit harder than she intended, so it hung awkwardly. But it closed well enough that if anyone came down one of the adjoining corridors they’d think it was secured. Of course, they might wonder where their two guards were.
Most of the folks currently operating the Victorious Dead were older members of Vas’s crew. They didn’t usually run on the flagship, but now that they had two battle-worthy ships, they were the perfect choice. They also knew her well enough to answer her questions before she asked as she moved among the tied-up crewmembers and freed them.
“Captain, there were about ten people with the empress when she took over. Youli is up on deck with the empress, Captain Ragkor, and Therlian. I’m not sure where the others are.” Elisita, an older Welischian, nodded as she spoke. The same guilt Vas had seen in Livienn’s face was echoed in Elisita’s smaller furry one.
“Thank you, Elisita,” Vas said. Then she looked to the rest of them. “None of this was your fault—none of your faults. The empress had been working toward this for a long time. We will get this ship back, and send that bitch to the hell she came from. Agreed?”
At first everyone looked down. Except Marli, who was busy taking various jars, cans, boxes, and glassware out of the cabinets but turned to flash a grin. Knowing the Asarlaí, she was probably finding a way to make weaponized noodles.
“Seriously, we could be blown up at any second and you’re going to feel sorry for yourselves?” Vas took another direction.
“Sorry, Captain,” Elisita said. “What would you have us do?”
“Excellent. We have at least six enemy combatants around here somewhere. If I were attacking in this way, I’d send a team to make sure no one could get to engineering since I’m pretty sure the attack on the breach is being launched from there.” Vas raised her voice and Marli pulled herself away from her project with a shake of her head, then looked at a large round item strapped to her wrist.
“They still have at least five minutes before the breach is closed. And as of now they still have not detected my ship.” She finished her concoction, then poured it into a glass, raised it in a toast, and downed it in a single gulp.
“What the hell was that? I thought you were making a weapon of some sort?” Vas looked around. The crew was all freed and looking for anything to arm themselves. Deven solved that a moment later by coming in with a bag of blasters.
“I’ve been running around for hours—a girl gets hungry you know.”
The ship rocked and sent Vas to the floor.
50
The Warrior Wench was rocking because it was being torn apart on an interdimensional level from the breaches that were fighting to open completely. That wouldn’t be happening with the Victorious Dead. Someone was attacking her.
Victorious Dead (The Asarlaí Wars Book 2) Page 34