by Debra Jess
"Behind you!"
Darvik's frantic voice brought her back to the present. From under the door, the black cloud puffed its way toward her, the stars surrounding its core, crackling, just as she remembered. A minute later, and the fullness of the cloud reached from floor to ceiling. By the Guardians, it was larger than she remembered.
Time ticked, every second wasted because she couldn't move; she was frozen in place.
"Move it, Shade! Grab the fire retardant and shoot!"
Grabbing the canister, she aimed and fired. The spray shot hard and fast, the content hitting the cloud…and passed right through. Even the stars avoided the onslaught, spinning faster instead, the hissing growing louder. So much for plan number one.
"Time for plan number two. Get to sick bay."
She'd long ago memorized the blueprints of the ship. The cloud blocked one exit, but she knew there was another that led to the captain's office, which had a separate exit into a corridor leading to the captain's quarters. The idea was the captain's family would have the largest quarters available and the most private.
Ditching the fire suppressant, and with the grav-resister and ops tracker following, she made a mad dash for the second door. The door reformed behind her before she hit the next one and entered the corridor.
Home. This corridor brought her home. The comforting dark-red walls with a pattern of silver stars repeated themselves until she reached the door to where she and her family had lived. Oh, Guardians, the memories poured through her, even without going inside, but she couldn't stay here. Looking over her shoulder, she saw the reformed door hadn't slowed the down the cloud.
She ran again, found the compression gate at the end of the hallway, and directed it to sick bay. Once on the other side, she jammed the compressor controls, slamming the window shut.
Could the cloud use a compression gate? She didn't think so but took no chances. Finding the room’s temperature control, she turned up the heat to full blast. Heat like the inside of a furnace poured into the room, making her sweat.
"Keep your eyes on the door." Darvik's voice comforted her until she saw the first wisp of cloud seeping under the door frame.
"Here it comes."
The cloud didn't hesitate even with the high heat. It billowed up to its full size and moved closer. It wasn't evaporating as she expected.
Does it recognize me? She'd be damned if she’d show this thing any fear.
All right, you son-of-a-beast. You didn't kill me last time. Let's see what you do this time.
From the grav-resister, her slippery fingers grabbed the large container of food Darvik insisted she keep on hand. Tearing off the top, she squirted flammable liquid on it and shoved the entire grav-resister at the cloud.
The organic matter burned bright as it hit the cloud, slamming through it but stopping when it hit the door behind it.
The fire burned, and the stars frantically spun in their orbits, hissing in pain. She hoped that this would be the end of it. She would finally kill the cloud and put her nightmare to rest. Darvik would greet her when she returned to the Queen of Hearts and hold her close, and everything would be okay.
The cloud slammed upward, contracting, keeping itself above the flames. Its structure altered, and the stars’ orbit flattened. Then it slammed down and snuffed out the fire.
So much for plan number three.
"Darvik, I think your plan is going to replace plan number four."
No response came.
"Darvik?"
Still nothing.
"Queen of Hearts, this is Majesty of the Stars. Please respond."
Nothing.
Something had gone wrong, but with the cloud lowering from the ceiling, she had no time to wonder what. Without Darvik, she'd have to adjust his plan.
In order to make this one work, she had to get out of sick bay but keep the cloud inside until she could eject the entire bay into space. Once ejected, and with the cloud unable to guide it, and with the Queen of Hearts not answering, she would have to return to the bridge and pray to the Guardians that the Majesty's cannons would still fire. If so, she'd destroy the bay with the cloud inside. Fire did seem to affect it, so that plan felt like it might work.
If Darvik didn't fire first. She hoped he did, that his silence meant there was a problem receiving his signal from her end, not the other way around.
The cloud reformed, stretching once again from the burned matter on the floor to the ceiling. She had to get it farther away from the compression gate, but how?
Before she figured out an answer, a funnel formed within the cloud. It swirled and rolled until it reached out for her. She ducked and rolled herself behind the grav-resister. Looking up, she saw the funnel sneak over the top of the grav-resister. Flattening herself to the floor, she crawled as fast as she could away from the funnel until she could jump up and make a run for the compression gate.
The funnel whipped around her body, pulling her away and tossing her toward the row of bio-beds on the opposite side of the room. Her whole body tingled from the sharp electrical burns from the cloud, but hesitation meant death, so Kelra ignored the pain and rolled off the bed, landing feetfirst on the floor. Now she was caught in between the beds. Blocked on the left and right, the only way out was forward—right toward the cloud, which advanced on her.
She had watched the cloud from inside the escape pod. If she knew how to stop the countdown, she would have, and then she would have opened the pod door and jumped into the cloud.
She had nothing to live for back then. Everyone was dead, so why should she live? Now, she had someone to live for, and he wasn't answering her. Darvik was in trouble, and she was tired of dancing with this damn alien who'd haunted her for most of her life.
Sometimes the way out of a problem was to plow right through it, even if it killed you. It wouldn't though. It could have by now, so she had to assume it didn't want her dead any more now than it had twenty years ago.
Wiping the sweat pouring off her face, she pushed off the wall behind her and ran.
The funnel appeared again, this time wrapping itself around her chest, stopping her and squeezing until she saw spots in her eyes.
She'd been wrong. The cloud wanted her dead. Now it would get what it wanted, and there was nothing she could do to stop it.
She should have listened to Darvik.
Chapter Thirty-Eight
"Darvik, I think your plan is going to replace plan number four."
He never should have let her go over there by herself. None of her plans were working, so why would his? He hadn't believed her. His plan was meant to show he believed in her, not that he believed her.
He should have listened.
"We're ready. Tell us what you—"
The Queen of Hearts exploded around him. The artificial gravity blipped, lifting him out of his seat, before the emergency system kicked in and slammed him back down.
"Sound the red alert. Get the puppets to their quarters. Rusa—"
"It's the Silt."
"How did they sneak up on us?"
"I think they executed a short gravitational acceleration jump."
It was the trick Kelra used when she sneaked up on the Queen that one time she came so close to capturing them. He knew now it would have disrupted communications temporarily. Kelra hadn't heard him try to respond. Would she think he abandoned her?
"Firing." Mirin’s face twisted in a combination of glee, determination, and cussedness. "Direct hit, port side. That'll teach ’em."
"Rusa, split the holo screen. I need to see the Silt and reestablish contact with Kelra." It would be a dangerous move, splitting his attention, but he had no choice.
The holo screen split, but only the half following the Silt showed.
"Sorry, Captain. I can't reestablish the connection with Kelra. It looks like the ops tracker was knocked out by the cloud."
His heart screamed with the same agony he felt when he heard of the destruction of the Iron Heart. J
ust because the ops tracker died didn't mean that Kelra was dead too. He had to believe that. If anyone could outwit an alien intelligence, it was her.
"Silt coming around," Johza called out, his voice strong, but rough. "Cannons are hot."
"I see it." Mirin jolted her controls, her whole body moving with her firing sequence. "Got two more hits, port side."
Kelra had been wise to warn him about the Silt's weakness. It was the only reason the Queen of Hearts could still fight after the surprise attack. Well, not the only reason. He'd kept the Queen's double shielding in place since they'd entered the nebula, and it had held better than expected.
"Naz. Status report."
"Three injured ’pets. Two broken bones, one puncture wound. All repairable."
"Get ready to eject the sick bay if things get too hot. This fight isn't like the others. Sorry, Naz, but Kelra is still on the Majesty of the Stars."
"I understand."
Good. No holding back this time. He'd fight to the death for Kelra, but also for his crew. They deserved no less. He needed to either destroy the Silt or cripple the ship to the point where they couldn't interfere with his rescue plan for Kelra.
The plan he hadn't told her about.
"Rusa, keep us away from their cannons. Mirin, hit the port side every chance you get. Johza, feel up to handling the tail gun?"
Johza stood up without even answering and headed for the compression gate. The tail needed its own gunner so Mirin wouldn't have to split her attention. Darvik had also eliminated the quarter-second lag by keeping the controls with the gun itself instead of operating it from the bridge.
"I'm taking control of the ship. Now, let's see if this Hyeph Silt is worthy of the Silt."
As he spoke the words, the Silt fired her cannons again. Darvik put his faith in his shields and turned the Queen of Hearts into the onslaught. He pushed the engines to get them into the middle of the pattern and started his countdown to contact.
The explosives missed, shooting past the Queen of Hearts because Darvik had shortened the distance between them and the Silt. The volley couldn't compensate fast enough.
"Fire, Mirin. Keep firing until we punch a hole in their shields."
Mirin didn't answer, but she didn't have to. Her face said it all while the holo painted red over the image of the Silt each time she hit her target.
"Silt is tumbling." Rusa paused as her hands flew faster, stylus adjusting the holo, pulling the image back so they could get a better at the Silt trajectory. "They're trying to show us starboard."
"We weakened them. Johza, get ready to fire when their aft comes into view."
"On it."
Mirin lowered her arms just enough to show she'd stopped firing. Johza had the better advantage until Silt pulled away and executed their own diversionary tactic.
Darvik hoped the tactic included a retreat, but he doubted it.
"Three direct hits, port side," Johza reported. "Their shields are starting to buckle, but holding for the moment."
"Mirin, hold your fire." Darvik studied the holo long enough to watch the Silt try to pull out of the field of fire. "They're turning. Rusa, match them. Bring us parallel with the port side."
"Can't do it, Captain. We're too close. Our shields will tangle with theirs."
"What about starboard?" At this point, with the port shields buckling, they should throw all their power into the shields protecting the rest of their ship.
"Pulling parallel to starboard."
"Hold our course steady." He waited and watched as the Queen of Hearts swung around in time to pull parallel with the Silt's starboard side even as Silt tried to steer away. "Fire."
Mirin's body jerked in her seat as she let loose another salvo. "Three hits to starboard. Their shields are buckling on this side too, but still holding for now."
Each side of the Silt needed another throttling to destroy the shields, but the Queen of Hearts could only hit one at a time. They needed to make one more pass to finish off the Silt. Before he could swing the Queen of Hearts around, the holo showed the Silt breaking away.
Ezick jumped up. "They're running!"
"Back in your seat!" Darvik couldn't blame the kid for his excitement, but he'd learn soon enough that holos didn’t tell the whole story. "What's their current trajectory?"
The pause almost killed him because watching the holo, he knew before anyone else told him. "Hold tight." He spun the Queen of Hearts on her point, turning them three hundred and sixty degrees. "Son-of-a-beast."
The holo showed the Silt, though weakened, speeding directly at the Majesty of the Stars, risking the integrity of their ship with each of its cannons turned toward the helpless cruise liner, toward Kelra. With no one else on board except a murderous alien, the Majesty of the Stars couldn't defend itself. Queen of Hearts had better shields, but a cruiser like the Silt was faster than a destroyer at sublight speed.
"Rusa!"
"I know."
"More power!"
"I know."
"Mirin!"
"Locked on target, but I can't stop them from firing first."
Would the Majesty's shields hold? For how long? Was Kelra even alive? He needed to know. If the alien had killed her, then he'd let the Silt destroy the Majesty of the Stars and kill that thing for them both. He wouldn't care. Nothing would matter to him if Kelra wasn't alive.
The comm chimed with an incoming message. "Stand down, Queen of Hearts, or I'll blow the Majesty of the Stars to smithereens."
"Rusa."
"Their shields are still holding. No guarantee we can destroy them before they strike the Majesty of the Stars."
"What do you want me to do, Captain?" Mirin asked, her arms raised and ready to fire if he told her to.
They were pirates. His crew signed on for the booty, nothing more, nothing less. Losing the Majesty of the Stars would sting after so much careful planning, but that was the risk all pirates took.
If he sent Silt the holos of alien on board the Majesty of the Stars, he might be able to negotiate a deal, one that would leave him on the Majesty of the Stars to kill the alien and keep Kelra alive, if she was still alive, and let his crew retreat on the Queen of Hearts.
"Stand down." Those words stung, but he kept his voice steady and his head held high. "Transmit a message. Tell Hyeph Silt we will surrender, but only if he retreats from the Majesty of the Stars."
No one looked at him while Rusa transmitted the message. Another comm chimed, this time from Johza. "Do you want me to remain here?"
"No. Return to the bridge." What Johza was really asking was should he remain hidden? A younger Darvik would have attempted the subterfuge, but he already had Naz in sick bay, possibly performing surgery. If Silt had half the skill he claimed to have, he would know how many individuals it took to fly the Queen of Hearts. Hiding Johza would only antagonize an already intolerable situation. "Pick up Sorinestro and his men and bring them here with the rest of our crew. If Naz is out of surgery and the patient’s stable, bring him with you too. If he's not, fill him in on the situation and tell him not to eject the sick bay."
On the holo, he watched the Silt pull away from the Majesty of the Stars. Darvik could only hope Kelra lived. If that alien singed one hair on her head, he would kill Silt and fly to the Majesty of the Stars himself to take out the creature.
Johza arrived with Naz, Sorinestro, his men, and the rest of the Queen of Heart's pirates at his back. Naz took his place at Darvik's side as the bridge grew crowded. Not that it would help the situation, but it couldn't hurt either.
Time slowed down, irritating Darvik until he wanted to pace the bridge while the Silt force-locked a transfer corridor onto the Queen of Hearts and a security squad invaded his ship. The squad wore full decon suits. A prudent move given that pirates didn't always practice perfect decontamination protocols. They took their sweet time inspecting the bridge for hidden weapons and other traps, accounting for everyone on board, before securing all of them with hands behind
their backs and feet plasma-linked together.
"Why is the compression gate to the servant quarters deactivated?" the squad leader demanded, his pulse rifle in Darvik's face. Naz leaned forward in his restraints to intervene, but Darvik waved his brother away.
"Those rooms are reserved for the puppets on board. They have instructions to lock the compression gate should anyone board the Queen of Hearts by force. They're harmless."
"Well, have them unlock it."
Over the leader's head, Darvik could see Ezick, eyes wide, angry, ready to pounce if anyone got near his sister. Darvik stared at Ezick, silently begging the kid to do nothing. He must have gotten the unspoken message because he stopped fighting his restraints.
"If you free my hands, I can unlock the compression gate from here."
The squad leader didn't budge, so Darvik tried again. "Look. I can guide you through it, which will take more time than it needs to, or you can free my hands, not my feet, and I'll unlock the window in ten seconds."
The squad leader signaled his team. Each one put their weapons to the back of a pirates' head, his threat clear.
Once his hands were free, Darvik called up the holo using his finger, not the stylus, to avoid any “misunderstandings,” and unlocked the window…or he tried to. The function failed to respond.
"It appears that the compression gate has sustained damage and will not open."
Before the squad leader could snap back at him, his comm chimed. Darvik heard a demand barked from the Silt bridge.
"We cannot secure the ship, sir," the squad leader responded. "One of the compression gates has sustained damage, the one that leads to the servant quarters. Captain Hart claims there are only puppets down there."
More yelling came from the other end of the comm. The squad leader gritted his teeth in disagreement over what he was told to do. "Yes, sir. We'll begin cutting through immediately."
Interesting. Splitting the squad was a dangerous gamble, especially on his ship. The squad leader ordered two of his team to get a cutting torch. Judging by his jerky movements, he thought this was a bad idea as well, but like a good soldier, he believed orders were orders.