I acknowledged then I looked to the dome shield as father was projected on half of it and Rhea occupied the other half. When things were tense, father always did this for transparency sake, so that the citizens knew why certain decisions were made.
Father spoke, “This is Odin.”
Rhea smiled like she was speaking to an old friend and said, “Now that I have the weapon I need, I will be leaving your system once I have broken your pesky little Valkyrie.” She yanked on a glowing ribbon of energy and my heart stopped when Kara stumbled into the picture. Her face was covered in blood, the flesh was swollen and almost hamburger around her nose. One of her eyes didn't focus well and I could see portions of her skull where her scalp was torn away.
Rhea looked down at her and smiled. “We're having such fun aren't we pet?”
The corner of Kara's mouth quirked up in a sneer. She said in a voice that reminded me so much of the Demon, it didn't sound Asgard, “As my friends from Earth would say Rhea... fuck you.”
I couldn't help it, my mouth quirked into a smile, her defiance was a given but I had never heard her use that term more than once or twice in the millennia we have been together. Mostly I smiled because she was still alive and being Kara. I'm confident Rhea didn't understand what she said, but knew it was a derision so she backhanded Kara, who flew off-screen.
Then she looked at father. “I would have just left now and sterilized the planet upon our exit from this system, but my new pet is full of delightful games. She had informed me that she would die before helping me if I harmed a single person on that dreadful little speck of dirt. So I will break her first, then after that I will make her watch as I destroy you all before we go hunting for Jotunn for her to kill.”
Father started to respond, but Rhea just said, “Now to see just how much pain this little Valkyrie can take.” She cut the transmission. I stared the blank dome and heat flowed through me. I shrieked out my rage and struck down at the ground. The rock below my feet cracked but a moment later the red in my vision faded as I found myself in a firm hug from Arina. I took a deep cleansing breath then hugged her back.
I centered myself and pushed away gently, my calm returning and gave her a reassuring smile. We needed to continue planning our rescue attempt, only now things were much simpler, we needed only rescue one person. Right now, we needed information about what had happened up there and any tactical information any of the former slaves could give us.
I turned to a large Ragnarok that had armor on, being a warrior, he would most likely have seen something useful. Then I glanced around at the Olympians, they would have the most valuable information. I would talk with Artemis later to see if they would help us. I spoke calmly to the Ragnarok, “How did Kara secure your freedom?”
He had a fierce pride when he growled out, “She would not cow to the Titan witch. She threatened her with the Hammer of Thor unless she released us from her witchery. We truly had no control over ourselves, she was so... persuasive.” He smiled in memory then shook his head and growled like a wolf in rage.
I blinked at the man. “The Hammer of Thor? But that technology was lost to the ages with the death of Thor.”
He shook his head. “I witnessed it with my own eyes, the Demon stood before the Titan Queen wielding the Hammer in her hands. The Wild One has no fear!” It still looked odd to me even after all these years, a Ragnarok showing such pride in a Valkyrie. Once sworn enemies now the most inseparable allies.
But what was the man talking about, there was no Hammer. Then my eyes snapped wide, I had thought my mate had a screw loose when she had retrieved Samantha's Jack in the Box. She wouldn't... she didn't... did she? I remembered her poker comment and started laughing almost hysterically. I grasped at the man for support as I laughed. He was looked at me in confusion, but my laughter got the man smiling. I started pounding on his chest in mirth, then tried to normalize my breathing. Giggling a little bit more, then I grasped the man's forearm.
He tilted his head at me. “What is it little Valkyrie?”
I spoke, my voice threatening to break into laughter again, “There is no Hammer of Thor. It does not exist. Kara, the Wild One... she just outplayed the leader of the Titans. She secured your release with a child's toy!”
The man looked down on me as the realization dawned on his face. He asked, “A deception? A lie?” I nodded and then the man chuckled and shook his head. I winked up at the man and released his arm and stepped away, looking around. I brought two fingers to my lips and whistled shrilly, stopping the din of conversation all around.
I spoke loudly and with authority, “I am Kate, the Raging Storm. First Valkyrie of Earth and Asgard. Any men...” I glanced at a single Asgard woman not far from me, “...and ladies that hail from the citadel, please return to your homes. Healers will follow up with you at your quarters soon.” I tilted my head expectantly at the closest healer and she nodded in acknowledgment.
Then I continued, “Olympians, our honored guests. You will need to remain in quarantine for a bit longer until our healers can clear you. Then quarters will be assigned to you. I will need to speak with the highest ranking among you. Thank you for your patience, and welcome to Valhalla, welcome to freedom.”
There was some cheering and I grabbed the Ragnarok man as he started to leave. “I'll need to speak with you as well...” I left the question hanging.
“Rosig,” he rumbled. Oh, from the Ro line, not many of them are left after The Culling.
I nodded. “Rosig. Well met.”
He smiled back, inclined his head, and said, “Well met, Shadow Fang.” I grinned at the old title the Ragnarok had given me so very long ago before they knew my true name. I was amazed anyone was around that actually knew it besides Ina.
I backhanded him in the gut playfully. “Call me Kat.” He growled deeply but grinned. Then I released the lock-down on the secondary shield and looked around to see Artemis making her way through the thinning crowd to me with her brother in tow.
They stepped up to me. A smiling Artemis, who had her arm looped in her bother's said, “Kat, I would like you to meet my brother Eros, the highest ranking among the Olympians here. Like me, he is of what you would call the ruling caste of Olympus.” Then she released his arm and turned to him, “Brother, this is Kate the Raging Storm. Now First Valkyrie of Asgard in Kara's stead.”
He smiled broadly, he, like all the other Olympians surrounding us, was a gorgeous specimen of a man. He still had a slightly fogged over look in his eyes as he tried to process his freedom. We grasped forearms and he said with amazement, “You must be gods yourself, I am sorry Raging Storm, this is a lot to process. It is as if we are coming out of a long sleep where we had no control of ourselves. A nightmare that had no end.”
I grinned at him. “Well met Eros. Please address me as Kat, and the Asgard are no gods.”
He squinted. “But on the Elivagar, that small warrior woman held a device that could take down the Titan gods. None has ever wielded the power to bring down a Titan Star Killer until she arrived on the ship.”
I snorted and covered my mouth in embarrassment, then said, “That was naught but a child's toy. It was a bluff, a deception, to win your freedom.” I still couldn't believe that Kara had pulled a Corbomite Maneuver on the Titans. Then I squinted as a hardness entered my voice. “My mate traded herself to free the people enslaved on the Elivagar. Now we, in turn, must free her.” My heart ached knowing the woman I loved was still on that accursed vessel.
He blinked, trying to process it, it was clear that eons under Rhea's power had fogged his mind. “A deception?” Then he paled and said almost in a whisper, “Then you truly do not have the power to bring down a Jotunn vessel? We still cannot bring the fight to the Titans?”
I didn't know what to say to the man, but Artemis looked up with a predatory smirk on her face. “She did not say that brother. The women of Valhalla, the Valkyrie, are the most formidable warriors and dangerous living weapons that ever walked the galaxy
. I watched with my own eyes as Kara, the Wild One, who you saw on the Elivagar, slew Ymir of the Frost Giants. Then the women of Valhalla brought down and destroyed the Ginnungagap itself! Ten Jotunn were sent to the beyond!”
His eyes couldn't have gotten bigger. He dropped to a knee in front of me and did an old roman salute with an arm across his chest as he lowered his head. I quickly crouched and grabbed his elbow and had him stand. I looked around nervously and repeated father's words to another warrior who had done the same with him. “Get up man, you look silly down there.”
He nodded once then looked as if his thoughts were starting to crystallize and he turned to his hazel eyes to his sister. “You escaped my Queen's...” He winced then looked angry and with a hard look in his eyes, started again. “You escaped Rhea's wrath? She told us of how she wiped out the Unclean... the Olympians who did not fall sway to her power.”
Artemis almost growled, her voice was low and bathed in venom, “The witch fled with the men of Olympus and lured the Jotunn to finish us off. One hundred of us have been on the run through all these millennia. We now number five hundred. We have eluded the Titans and Jotunn alike as we sought out the fabled Gods of Asgard to aid us.”
Then she looked around, and seemed to deflate. “So many have died since the witch took you?”
His brow knotted in confusion as he followed her gaze across the Olympians between the gate shields, then his eyes brightened in comprehension. “Oh, no. This is not all of us. My Qu... Rhea kept half of us as pets and breeding stock, the rest she distributed among the nine other Titan ships in this universe. Only a handful of us have met our demise in the beginning when they were dissected so Rhea could learn all of our secrets.”
I cringed at the mention of breeding stock, it reminded me of the Ragnarok. When they were at war with the Asgard, they used captured people of all the other races to breed more soldiers to man their generational transports to replace the men lost in battle against the Valkyrie. They called the intermediary offspring mutts. Then once the mutts bred again with Ragnarok warriors, then pure Ragnarok were born. I saw it as nothing more than organized rape.
I murmured, “The Halflings.”
Eros caught it and his eyes lowered. “That is our shame, the Titans used us to breed a new warrior sect to try to tip the scales in the war against the Jotunn, but they were not enough. Any female offspring were killed at birth, any males would fight for Rhea.” He took a deep breath. “Demeter was my son with Rhea.”
Artemis' eyes narrowed and Eros looked even more shamed. He tried to defend his words. “You do not know the hold she had over us. I didn't want to but I would do anything for her, she was love itself. That demon-spawn Demeter was her final victory over me, showing me she was my god, my Queen. She had our first two children, females, killed, I do not know why.”
Artemis snapped maybe too harshly, “Because Rhea can only control men... and Asgard women. It was done with a nano-phage. Technology, not with magic. Titans are no gods. The Asgard have found a way to counteract the phage. Their technology almost rivals the Titans.”
I looked around as Inatra and Arina joined us. “We can discuss this in the Central Spire with father. I will make introductions on the way.” I made an ushering motion and looked back and grabbed Rosig and rolled my eyes at him as I dragged him along. “Come on big man, you too.”
Chapter 9 – Biding Her Time
We debriefed the men, and there wasn't much tactical information except the layout of the vessel that they could give us. Rosig had only been on board a short time and he only had eyes for Rhea at the time to notice much else. Eros gave us details of every corner of the ship but knew next to nothing about its technology or armament except how to operate it. They saw it all as the magic of their Queen, who they loved unconditionally against their own will.
The hierarchy among the Titans was of vitally no value either. There was Rhea, all other Titans, then all the pets. It seemed that all the Titans were of the same rank and importance among their kind. To Eros it almost seemed to be of a hive mind though he cannot be sure since he could not see much individuality at all except in Rhea.
I thought about that for a second that was like our observations of the Frost Giants, Ymir seemed to be the only one to stand out from the others, who just seemed to follow his commands. When we broached the subject back then with the healers in the mental health discipline, they gave a couple possible ideas.
One that they were of a hive mind, following their leader like worker bees, with no real individuality. Or perhaps they have fallen to what we have called the fog of ages here in Valhalla. With lifespans that outlast the stars, very old Asgard people can fall into a never changing rut with nothing to stimulate them. To combat this, every few centuries, most Asgard will change their discipline to master something new.
If the Frost Giants were indeed ancient even to our civilization, then this was a real possibility. With them spending an eternity with the same ten people doing the same thing, I could easily see dropping into that fog.
Most of the ex-hostages from our mixed races wanted to bring the battle to the Elivagar for vengeance against the Titan who had warped their will, and to free the champion of Valhalla. Most of the Olympians were of the same mind.
There were however a small number of Olympian men who were still loyal to Rhea, pledging their love to her. The eons had warped their minds into accepting Rhea as their Queen, as their love, as their god. Those men are under guard at all times and escorted through the city by Einherjer. Our healers have them going to therapy sessions to try to break the hold of Stockholm Syndrome on the poor men.
For weeks, going on four months, the Elivagar has remained in place at the asteroid field. We are constantly threatened by Rhea with ultimatums and the like, she keeps transporting Hybrids to our gates, I believe just to keep us wary of her. But she has not followed through on her threat of destroying Ragnarok and leaving the system after she has broken Kara.
This tells us a couple things. The one that keeps me going and stopping me from giving up on a rescue plan that seems impossible to accomplish, is that Kara still lives. That she has not been broken by the Titan bitch. Though I cannot feel my mate through our nanite-link, I know she perseveres, that she defies Rhea. This gives me strength and hope. I smiled, even now Kara inspires me.
The other thing it tells us is that Rhea is not sure she can actually break Kara and bend her to her will. So, she sees us as a replacement for Kara should she fail. She as much as said it once when she implied that she was aware that I possessed the same level of power as Kara due to my infestation of sentient machines. From the way she spoke of the men we rescued, she isn't yet aware they are no longer held sway by her charms. We are not sure how to leverage that yet, so we are keeping it under wraps.
She would at times show us videos of Kara's beaten and bloodied body and some of the torture sessions. I swore my Verr were the only things keeping me from dying on the spot. That and the almost imperceptible defiant smirk on Kara's face in every video. That smirk kept me going, she's always been a stubborn woman. God do I miss her!
I was knocked out of my musings when Artemis shook my arm gently as we sat eating breakfast with Arina and Ina in my quarters. “Kat? Are you with us?” I exhaled then took a cleansing breath and smiled and nodded at her.
I nodded then Arina, said between bites, breaking our no business rule in the quarters, “Loki pointed out that the Elivagar isn't fully in our system. A small portion of its aft section is still in the quantum gateway. Father has hypothesized it is so they can maintain their observation and scans of the Earth and Folkvangr systems from wherever their point of origin is.”
I took a long tug from my mug of mead holding the cup up for her to elaborate why that was significant. The only viable rescue option we had come up with was still under construction in the Earth system.
My nanites had taught mother's less evolved ones how Kara's had figured out how to affect the Jotunn armor
at the molecular level. It is how they were able to help defeat Ymir, and how they reinforced Kara's body with the material. There was still trace amounts of it lacing Kara's bones, making her even tougher than she had previously been. It was a struggle, but they finally learned how.
Mother is dissolving chunks of the Ginnungagap's armor shards and they are coating Pegasus with the armor. Since Jotunn energy weapons cannot affect their own armor, we can possibly get Pegasus in with a boarding party to rescue Kara. It is most likely a suicide mission but every able bodied Valkyrie, Einherjer, Valkfela, Illrovin, Ragnarok and human had put their names in the hat to volunteer for the mission. Kara had saved all of the races at one point or another in history, and they all wanted in on returning the favor.
I couldn't be more proud of all the races. But I would not risk more people, it would be myself, Inatra, and Artemis to take the risk. Mother informed us that they were just a couple weeks out from completion of the retrofit and Pegasus was aching for a fight, Kara is her friend too. Kitty was still on station in orbit with the other Sky. The Hornet pilots rotate out at the citadel, but Kitty has been on point in Swooper for all the months Kara has been held. Hornets were keeping her resupplied.
Our plan is simple, flank the Titan vessel with a couple Hornets as a diversion at the extreme range of the Elivagar's main cannons and absorb the attacks with their lattice. Then use the Titan's own quantum entanglement tunnel to get Pegasus eleven hundred miles from the Star Killer and make a run through the main and secondary weapon's fire, then dock and board.
We know in general where the torture sessions are held according to Eros' intel. We would be dealing with at most ten Titans and around a thousand Halflings. The Halflings were of no concern to me, it was the Titans. It took the combined races, thousands of men and women, to take down ten Jotunn, the Titans would be just as formidable and we would be but three. It would be all but impossible to succeed in the rescue, but we had to try didn't we? I would have my mate back!
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