Renegade Alliance

by J. N. Chaney

  “I stand ready to accept the blame.” The Celestial looked less than worried at the empty threat.

  I rolled my shoulders and stepped in, scanning the stairwell as I went with caution. When we hit the top and nothing happened, I couldn’t help the sigh of relief that escaped. Our return to the facility’s main level remained uneventful, a fact no one complained about.

  Abigail was waiting when the elevator opened. She took one look at the state of our little trio and gasped. “Gods, Jace. Sigmond told me what happened but you look like hell.”

  “Thanks, Abby. I appreciate that,” I said, then gave her a wink before getting serious again. “Where are we with packing up?”

  “Dressler wanted to bring as much as we could carry. Another ship was already en route when we got the news. It should be here soon.”

  “I’m going to rendezvous with my team,” Rackham said. “I have a feeling Vick will want to brief me on the situation beforehand.”

  “Alright,” I said. “As soon as that cargo hauler drops, send your men this way so we can get things loaded up. Our time has officially run out.”

  “Mr. Hughes, Abby, come look!” Lex was pointing into the dense jungle behind one of the buildings.

  The last of the Eternal equipment was being moved to the ship and the rest of us were following behind. Shaw hadn’t reported any issues with Lex, so we thought it would do the girl some good to run around in the fresh air. She’d be cooped up on Tartarus soon enough.

  “Lex, stay out of there,” Abigail called out. “Remember, we don’t have time to stop and play.”

  “Okay,” she said, drawing the word out.

  I watched as she darted back toward us, all knobby knees and gangly elbows, then banked left, heading for the front of a building.

  “The Celestials must have decided not to come after us,” Abigail said, picking up where she’d left off before.

  “We knew it was a possibility, though why they picked a station in Sarkonian territory I’ll never know.” I shook my head. “There are plenty of better locations for them to hit, most of which would have been in Athena’s drives.”

  Shaw cleared his throat. He was walking next to us and had been keeping a keen eye on Lex, but now turned to look at us. “I’ve been studying the reports and footage of your interactions with them. These creatures don’t do anything by accident. It would be a mistake to assume they are attacking blindly.”

  I considered that. “Fair enough. So, what are they planning?”

  “There are too many possibilities to discuss here.”

  “Mr. Shaw, look how high I am!” Lex had run ahead and, while we were distracted, climbed up some of the vines. She let go with one hand and waved to get our attention.

  “Lex, don’t!” Abigail was already on the move, but it was too late.

  Not hearing, the girl leaned back—too far. The move messed up Lex’s balance and she lost her grip. Screaming, she fell at least three meters before hitting the ground. My longer legs gave me the advantage and I was ahead of Abigail. Lex’s arm bent at an odd angle and she lay motionless on the ground.

  I got to her first, kicking up dust as I slid to a stop beside her small form. “Lex!”

  She blinked up at me, her eyes cloudy with confusion. “I’m okay, Mr. Hughes.”

  “But your arm, I saw it.”

  Abigail reached us next and dropped to her knees to inspect Lex. Shaw was right behind her but gave us some space.

  “See?” said Lex, holding up her arm. It looked completely normal.

  I exchanged a look with Abigail, then looked back at the kid. Her knee had a large gash, but as I watched, it healed until the only thing left was a smudge of red. “Someone got a rag or something?”

  Abigail reached into her pants pocket and handed one over without a word. I wiped gently at Lex’s knee. She didn’t yelp or pull away, and just as I’d thought, the skin was unmarred.

  “It’s not even pink,” Abigail said, awestruck.

  “What does that mean?” asked Lex, looking at the two of us in confusion.

  “Nothing, kid.” I didn’t want her to go telling everyone she knew about her newfound healing properties. “Let’s just keep this to ourselves for now, okay?”

  Lex just shrugged, already over the fall. “Sure, Mr. Hughes. Can I go back to playing now?”

  Abigail stepped forward and helped the girl up. “No more time to play, Lex. We have to get back.”

  “Can I run to the ship?”

  “I suppose,” said Abigail, relenting. “Just be careful, please.”

  Lex let out a small whoop and zoomed off, leaving the three of us to stare after her.

  “What the hell did I just see?” demanded Shaw.

  I leveled a look at the former Admiral General. “The kid has always had advanced healing abilities, but this is a little more—” I hesitated, uncertain of what to even say.

  “Extreme,” finished Abigail.

  I nodded. “A bit, yeah. It seems faster than before. I’m not sure what to think, but let’s keep this little incident to ourselves,” I said, looking at Shaw. “And don’t tell Lex that we think she’s changed. It’s better for her safety if she just thinks it’s the same healing as before.”

  He returned my nod. “Of course. I hadn’t seen it in person before, but if it was anything like we just witnessed, I have to say I’m a bit startled.”

  I would have chuckled if the incident hadn’t rattled me. “Just wait until you see your first Celestial up close. It’s a whole other level of crazy.”

  “Looks like the Celestial was wrong,” Vice Admiral Vick intoned, flicking a hard glance at Carl. The agreement between myself and the Union leader remained strong, but it was clear he didn’t trust the new Cognitive.

  Sanchez stood at the head of the table and waved the comment away. “Right or wrong, it doesn’t matter. The Celestials laid waste to Hades over the course of a day. Sigmond, could you put the feed up?”

  A murmur broke out among some of the attendees at the sight on the holo. The remnants of the doomed station spread for kilometers in every direction. I’d heard of Hades from others in my profession, but never went myself. Sarkonian space wasn’t exactly known for being hospitable to outsiders and all that. I knew it was supposed to be similar to Taurus though. Big enough to take up permanent residence if one wanted, or just a supply stop for travelers.

  “Gods,” muttered Davon.

  “Where was their security?” demanded Vick.

  The major turned to level an even look at the Vice Admiral. Since it was Vick, he didn’t back down or have the decorum to look abashed at his interruption. After a heavy pause, Sanchez answered his question but addressed it to the room. “Imperial forces have been spread thin as of late. Security and defense were assigned based on need and likelihood of attack. While Hades did have a military hub, it was not a base.”

  He paused and nodded at Abigail, who had raised her hand.

  “If it’s not a base or something extremely important to Sarkon, why destroy it?” she questioned.

  Sanchez paused slightly before nodding at Sigmond. “The rest, please.” The holo drew inward, growing smaller as the image zoomed out to become a star map of the Sarkonian Empire’s holdings. Hades was marked with a slash, as were two other points. “Hades was only the first. Directly following the attack, Fossura, a small mining moon, sent out a distress transmission.”

  The image changed again, this time to another planet. “An hour ago, a planet named Typhon was hit. It wasn’t particularly important on its own. However…” He paused briefly to mark a path linking the attacks and showing the future trajectory.

  Rackham sat up suddenly. “They’re heading for White Cross.”

  I looked closer and saw that he was right. Each Sarkonian asset hit by the Celestials lay on a direct route that would connect with arguably their most important territory. Just as Shaw had said, they clearly had a plan. And it involved the Sarkonians’ biggest asset.


  “Yes. If they stay on this heading, only one outpost, Delos, stands between them and White Cross.”

  “What information do you have on the size of their military force?” asked Vick, all business.

  I’d sat through a lot of meetings with the man since our first encounter on the USS Centaurus. His close relationship with Marcus Brigham had colored his view of me and my crew and been a major source of contention until only recently. The fact that we now sat in a room together, with representatives from the Sarkonian Empire no less, spoke to his ability to put things in perspective.

  “Half a dozen squadrons, by our estimation,” Sanchez replied. “This is what the cams caught before they went black.”

  The holo display returned to Hades, this time whole. Outside the brightly lit station, heavy space traffic flowed in organized rhythm. In the distance, a flash of green announced the opening of a rift. The feed fast forwarded until the first moment of attack.

  They came out of nowhere, at least to the untrained eye, a myriad of cloaked weaponry firing at once. The people on Hades hadn’t had a chance. Unable to see their attackers, those that tried to flee were picked off easily. The Celestials took their time making sure the devastation was complete.

  “Fossura and Typho suffered a similar fate,” Sanchez continued. “Though they may yet recover. The destruction was not as severe as Hades.”

  “Why not raze them too?” Rackham wondered.

  “It’s not their goal,” Abigail said simply. “Hades was the first, and biggest. No one knew the Celestials were coming, had no time to prepare. They had to know this would get a response. Now they’re moving for speed and wreaking havoc along the way.”

  “The Emperor is requesting support from the Alliance. A call to action.” Sanchez cast a glance around the room.

  “No objection here,” I said. “If they aren’t stopped… Well, I think we all know how that ends. White Cross may belong to the Empire, but it falls under Alliance protection.”

  Vick stood. “We’re wasting time. If they know about White Cross, it’s a given they’ll know about the Union’s invaluable resources as well. I’ll get word to the Union and see what support can be spared.” He beckoned at Rackham and exited, already on his personal data pad.

  “Well, that went better than expected,” Sanchez remarked.

  The man was turning over a hell of a new leaf and I was glad for it. Not so long ago he would have flat out refused to help. Maybe things could work out for everyone after all this business with the Celestials was over. But, I thought to myself, that was a worry for another day. “He’s got a point. The Celestials won’t stop once they finish with Sarkonian space. They’ll hit the Union next, then the Sol system.”

  Major Sanchez locked eyes with me. “Then let’s put a stop to it.”

  “You heard the man, Carl. Get us into slipspace.”

  I watched the display as he opened the rift that would take us back to familiar space. We were in for a hell of a day.

  For us, Novo was the equivalent of a few obscure systems from White Cross, but the Celestials had a head start. Carl predicted we would arrive roughly twelve hours after they did. Not ideal, but it was what we had to work with.

  In the meantime, the atmosphere aboard Tartarus had changed drastically.

  The rising tension between the crew had finally come to a boiling point. Rackham and I had already broken up more than a few fights, one of which earned me a quick fist to the jaw.

  I had moved to pull two soldiers, a Sakonian grunt and a Union sergeant, apart. They’d paid me no mind and continued to struggle with one another.

  The Sarkonian had his opponent in a solid headlock and the Union soldier’s face was turning an unhealthy shade of blue. I grabbed the Sarkonian by the collar of his uniform and pulled hard, causing him to let out a sharp grunt as he let go of the other man. The Union soldier, still wheezing and probably too dazed to see properly, lunged at his attacker and got me instead. It was a sloppy move, but my momentum put me directly in his path. Or, more specifically, my face in the path of his fist.

  The force of it snapped my head back and I saw little explosions of light in my field of vision. I shook my head to clear it and whistled to get their attention. “Alright, godsdammit, that’s it!”

  “Captain Hughes?” one of them had asked, finally recognizing me.

  The two combatants finally broke apart, coming to attention with a snap. I stared hard at the pair. The altercation had left both in a sorry state. Bartold, the Sarkonian, sported a split lip and a swollen eye that was rapidly heading for black. His uniform was torn, splattered with blood and grime, and it hung off one shoulder. Neilson, his Union counterpart, fared slightly worse. Blood streamed freely from one nostril, running down his neck and under his collar. Only one button remained on his shirt front and, unless it had been that way before, I was pretty sure he was missing a tooth.

  “Did you idiots forget where we’re going?” I barked.

  “No sir!” they replied in unison, thanks to standard military protocol.

  “Then squash it,” I ordered. “In case you didn’t hear, the Celestials just attacked the Sarkonian Empire. They’re after all of us, so you’d better pull your shit together and start looking at each other as allies.”

  Bartold turned to Nielson and stuck out his hand. “I apologize,” he said.

  Nielson took his hand. “Me too.”

  “Both of you get to the infirmary. Ask them to check your skulls for brain damage while you’re at it,” I ordered.

  I sensed someone behind me, so I turned around. It was Abigail, arms crossed and smiling. “You handled that well,” she said.

  “How much did you see?” I asked.

  The corridor was empty now and she moved in closer to lay a gentle hand on my chin. “Enough to know you’ll need to ice that pretty face later.”

  I scowled. “Walked right into it. Didn’t have much choice.”

  Abigail didn’t answer except to make a show of studying my face.

  “What? Do I have blood on me or something?” I asked.

  “Nope. Just looking for this outlaw Renegade I used to know,” she said, then shook her head. “Can’t say where he went, though.”

  “Hilarious, coming from a woman like you,” I said.

  “Like me?” she asked, placing her fingers on her chest in a false display of shock. “Why, I don’t know what you mean, sir.”

  The banter felt good after the friction of the last few days. It was short lived, however, as we found out when our data pads beeped at the same time. Tartarus had been dropping out of slipspace at scheduled intervals to get updates.

  “The outpost is gone,” Abigail read aloud. “I hope they made it out.”

  Anticipating the attack, the Sarkonians had opted to evacuate Delos. The outpost was too small to warrant a rescue or defense fleet, leaving the people there to fend for themselves. “I’m sure they did,” I told her. She didn’t look convinced. I wasn’t either, but there wasn’t much to be done about it. Hoping to get her mind off it, I switched subjects. “Did you come all the way down here just to see me or was there something you wanted to talk about?”

  “Oh, right.” Abigail glanced down at the pad still in her hands. “Shaw and Lex are waiting for us in the lab.”

  14

  “I don’t understand,” said Lex, after we’d tried to explain that her body was changing.

  “It’s not a big deal,” I said. “It just means you’re healthier than ever now. That’s all you need to know about it.”

  “That’s why you’re here,” said Abigail. “We just need to run a few tests to make sure everything is okay.”

  “Oh,” she muttered.

  Because of Lex’s sturdiness, Abigail and I had decided to let Dr. Dressler work more with the phasing cuff, under Octavia’s supervision of course, and pending what the girl had to say on the matter.

  The answer had been a resounding yes, which was about what I thought would happen. It
had been hard to keep the kid away from the lab until Dressler was ready, but she had finally called for Lex.

  It certainly seemed that the good doctor’s prediction about the girl being immortal was true. Or close enough. The fall we witnessed should have disabled her. I hadn’t said anything to Abigail, but I could have sworn Lex’s arm was broken.

  But it hadn’t been. Not at all. Like so many other times I’d witnessed, the girl didn’t have any injury when she should. Except this time, I had seen the gash close up on its own in superhuman fashion. That was even more shocking. I’d seen wounds like that before. A cut that deep would have required stitches. Even the healing efficiency Lex had displayed in the past didn’t compare.

  Part of me was relieved—she’d avoided severe injury after all. Still, this—major injuries fixed in seconds—was uncharted territory. Another part of me worried. In the back of my mind, I still recalled all the examples of the Eternals’ genetic meddling. What if her anatomy was changing in ways we knew nothing about? There was only one way to find out, I supposed.

  In the lab, Dressler began a series of tests. Octavia talked assuringly to their stalwart patient, and through it all, Lex sat quietly. Abigail hovered, something she didn’t normally do. I suspected it had something to do with what the kid had endured at the hands of the Union before the then-nun had busted her out of their custody.

  Indeed, keeping Lex out of the hands of those who would have experimented on her had been our ongoing mission. The few times that we had taken a blood sample or tried to verify anything about her genetic makeup were out of necessity. I remembered one of those instances had been after she burned her hands on a piece of old Earth tech. Octavia was surprised enough to want to do a DNA test, and the results yielded some interesting information. That was our first understanding that Lex was different.

  “Okay, Lex.” Dressler smiled down at her and stood back to let her out of the chair. “All done for now. Just give me a few minutes to set up tests, then we can use the cuff again.”