by Tristan Vick
Brei looked into the commander’s eyes and took a deep breath. “I killed ensign Dree’alek.”
Lianica laughed, thinking it was some kind of bad joke. “What in the galaxy are you talking about? I was there. I saw Onelle gun him down in cold blood. I can assure you, lieutenant, it wasn’t your fault.” She put her hand on Brei’alas’s shoulder to let her know she was fine. She’d be fine.
“That’s not what I meant. What I mean is…I don’t know…none of this makes any sense. But you have to believe me. I was the one that died that day, not Dree’alek.”
“You’re not making any sense,” Lianica said. “Try taking a deep breath, lieutenant. That’s an order.”
Brei’alas did as asked, inhaled, and then slowly let out the air. “The prisoner, Onelle,” she relayed, “shot me when I tried to rescue the empress. I know it doesn’t make sense, but I remember it all as clear as day. I’m the one who bled out on that landing bay floor. Not Dree’alek.”
“Brei,” she said, dropping the formal labels in order to try and connect with the girl, “are you even listening to yourself? If you’re the one who died, then how could you have possibly killed Dree’alek?”
“Because, the time anomaly reset everything.”
“What time anomaly?” ask Lianica.
“That’s what I’m trying to tell you. The ship experienced a time anomaly, or, well, I did, anyway. The day reset, three times I think, maybe more. And for some reason, I was the only one who knew anything about it!”
“And you didn’t think to report this?”
“At the time, it was clear what was happening. And, then, once it had passed, it was like nothing had happened at all. Except, I was alive and Dree’alek was dead.”
Captain Lianica Blackstar reached out and took Brei’alas by her shoulders and squeezed her firmly. “I think you may be experiencing survivors’ remorse, lieutenant. Anomaly or not, the green-skin killed Dree’alek in cold blood. Not you.”
“Still,” Brei’alas said, rubbing her chin, “if I had done something differently. Chosen a different course of action, he might not be dead right now.”
“If you need to talk about it more, I can meet you when my shift is over in the lounge. I’ll be there having a few drinks. In the meantime, let’s keep this under wraps for now. If anything like this time anomaly should happen again, you tell me immediately. Do you understand?”
Brei’alas simply nodded her head, relaying that she understood the captain’s orders.
Captain Lianica Blackstar smiled and put a hand on the lieutenant’s shoulder. “Just take a deep breath and,” Lianica began, “and clear your head. We still have work to do. And I need you at your best, lieutenant.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Brei’alas said.
“Good,” Lianica said, stepping aside and letting the lieutenant out of the closet. As they made their way to the lift together, Lianica continued speaking as though this little breakdown in the middle of the corridor had never even happened. “First, I need you to do a long-range scan of all ship activity and track down the Lord Emperor. Check every ship’s log from here to Cordova if you have to. But find him. The empress wants to have a word with him.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Lieutenant Brei’alas replied, feeling renewed after having cleared her conscience. Lianica turned to Brei’alas and motioned for the lieutenant to go on ahead of her. They boarded the lift together and rode in silence up to the bridge. As the numbers on the deck readout ticked down, Brei’alas stole a glimpse at the captain.
Although she hadn’t noticed it till now, it was Brei’alas’s opinion that the captain was looking a bit withered. She had dark rings under her eyes, probably from too many late nights of binge drinking. Her hair, although pulled back tight in a ponytail, had some rogue strands sticking out that she had neglected to fix. And although she still had beautiful, smooth skin, the first sign of creases from the stress of the job could be seen winding their way into her complexion.
Lianica looked over at Brei’alas, who smiled gently and then looked away again. She smiled in return and then tapped her foot anxiously for the elevator ride to be over.
The doors opened and Lianica let out an audible sigh. To cover up the fact that she was coping with enough stress of her own and didn’t need the burden of Brei’alas’s additional anxiety, something she could never admit to without appearing weak, she quickly stated, “After you, lieutenant,” and motioned for Brei’alas to go on ahead of her.
The lieutenant gave a courteous nod and stepped off the lift. Captain Lianica Blackstar brushed down her uniform one last time and readied herself to tackle another trying day. Before stepping off the lift, however, she muttered to herself, “What I wouldn’t give for a drink right about now.”
25
Lord Emperor Dakroth strutted across the smoky marble floor of the assembly room and looked up at the senatorial committee, which sat behind eight-foot-tall podiums and looked down on him with stern gazes.
Emperor Dakroth put a fist to his mouth and cleared his throat, but before he could speak, the head chairman spoke first.
“We cannot, in good conscience, agree to send a quarter of the fleet in search of the empress.”
“Chairman, if only you’d hear me out on this matter, I can assure you that—”
“Your assurances mean little these days, Lord Emperor,” another senator interjected.
Dakroth snapped his head to the ancient woman who spoke down to him. He scowled up at her pale-yellow eyes; she seemed little threatened by his sharp glare.
“You assured us that you could defeat the Nyctan fleet and instead you returned to Dagon Prime, tail tucked between your legs, licking your wounds.”
“You lost half the fleet in an unnecessary border skirmish,” another senator added. “And now you want to take half of what’s left on a rescue mission?”
Dakroth brushed his elegant, white naval suit down, minding the numerous pins and medals that plastered his right breast, and took a deep breath.
“If the senate would just hear me out. I know I could persuade—”
“I’m afraid,” the chairman interrupted, “I cannot allow you to weaken the already limited defense of Dagon Prime on the off-chance the empress survived. Your request is denied.” He slammed the wooden gavel down and offered that as the final period to his remark.
Dakroth managed a smile from behind a clenched jaw and then bowed reverently.
Without saying another word, Dakroth spun on his heels and stormed out of the assembly chambers.
Halfway down the open corridor, lined with a long row of ornate columns, ten meters high, replete with curling scrolls and decorative acanthus leaves carved into them, he met a servant boy who waited for him.
The boy bowed reverently and then informed the Emperor, “You have an incoming subspace hypercast, sire.”
“Patch it through to my shuttle.”
“Yes, sire.” The servant boy bowed again and then scurried off ahead of the Emperor to make the necessary preparations.
Once the boy had disappeared from the atrium, Dakroth’s eyes flickered to the shadows cast by a couple of pillars and scowled.
“I thought we agreed not to meet in public.”
A figure stepped out from behind one of the columns but kept to the shadows. In a gruff voice, which sounded as though it were filtered through a mask, the figure answered, “We have a problem.”
“I pay you handsomely to avoid any inconveniences,” Dakroth growled.
“The Empress’s ship has been sighted in Galliforn space. My spies say she is aboard, safe and well.”
Dakroth mulled over the information and clasped his hands together behind his back. He turned toward the fountain in the atrium, his eyes watching the spouts of water cascade down the petals of a lotus flower as an effigy of a naked nymph from ancient lore rose up from the center of the blossoming flower, and grinned. “It seems that fate has acted in our favor and done all the work for us.”
�
�What would you have me do, Lord Emperor?” The figure stepped out of the shadows to reveal a green skinned woman. She had on body armor, a purple cape, and a mask with a narrow visor that concealed her face. Only the hint of piercing teal eyes peeked through the narrow opening.
“See to it that her ship doesn’t make it back to Dagon space. If, for some reason, she evades you–track her down and deal with her personally.”
The mysterious woman bowed and then slowly withdrew into the shadows, disappearing as though she was never there.
Dakroth tugged at the waist of his uniform, pulling it tight, and cleared his throat. Without so much as stealing a backwards glance, he promptly exited the courtyard and strolled past the towering pillars of the senatorial assembly hall and down the grand steps. Arriving at the base of the staircase, he stepped onto a luxurious green lawn and cut across to the small, egg-shaped shuttle that waited for him in front of the senate.
Unlike Jegra’s pearl white shuttle, Dakroth’s shuttle was coated in a dark chrome that seemed to reflect more shadow than light. As he approached the vehicle, it cracked open and two doors rose up on either side, giving the strange vehicle the appearance of an egg with wings.
Dakroth ducked under the uplifted door and sat down on the luxurious, suede leather seats. Brushing down his uniform, he tapped a display panel and brought up a holovid screen with the Imperial seal on it and hit the “answer call” button.
Soon enough, a familiar face was staring back at his. A forbidding grin slid across his blue lips as he looked at the dark, smoldering eyes that stared back at him.
With faux excitement, he grinned even wider, and said, “My dear, you’re alive! I’m so glad to see you’re safe and well.”
“I’m sorry I can’t say the same of you, my love,” Jegra replied, glaring at her traitorous husband. She brushed a clump of hair out of her eyes and tucked it behind her ear as they both shared forced smiles that were as hollow as their love for each other.
“To what do I owe the pleasure of this call?” Dakroth asked, ignoring her previous affront to his honor.
“I hear you’ve been looking for me.”
“It’s true, I’ve been so worried—”
“Spare me your lies,” she said, her voice full of disdain. “We both know you were secretly hoping I’d quietly disappeared.”
“My dear Jegra, it pains me to learn that you think so little of me. But, believe me, my luv, there are no hard feelings. It’s simply politics. I played you, you played me, and now here we are, ready to begin round two of this cat and mouse game which so perfectly defines who we are as a couple. Two titans locked in an internal battle of wits and cunning.”
Jegra did all she could not to involuntarily groan out of exasperation. She’d rather not be the counterpoint to a conniving madman. She didn’t need the stress. But as aggravating as her conniving husband was, he wasn’t entirely wrong about them.
It did seem that they were fated to be stuck in a never-ending chess match whereby the only end to the game was for one of them to completely destroy the other. Knowing Dakroth’s brand of treachery, Jegra realized that in order to defeat him, she either needed to be just as ruthless as he was or rely on something that Dakroth didn’t have the luxury of. Friends.
That’s how she would beat him. She’d create a vast network of alliances so unshakeable that Dakroth wouldn’t ever be able to touch her. She’d unite the warring empires and create the first ever cosmic alliance. It would be in this allegiance that she’d find a strength that Dakroth could only dream about.
“I just wanted to let you know, my darling,” she said, her jaw flexing with tension, “there’s no need for you to come looking for me. Because I’m coming for you.” Jegra kept her voice low and steady, but there was no denying it was infused by forty-eight months of pure rage which was on the verge of boiling over.
Dakroth smiled. “Wonderful!” he chirped, rubbing his hands together. “I can’t wait to see you. Till we meet again, my luv.”
“Be seeing you real soon, Dagie-poo,” she said, playfully making a mockery of his name. She could see this annoyed him and his grin grew taut, as if he were forcing every muscle in his face to hold it for no other reason than his own ingrained sense of regal formality.
Jegra began to raise her hand as though she were going to wave goodbye to him, but quickly twisted it around and flipped Dakroth the bird instead.
Dakroth swiped the holovid away and the screen disappeared. He rolled his eyes and let out a disgruntled sigh and muttered under his breath, “That woman will be the death of me.”
As the egg-like shuttle pierced the upper atmosphere and climbed toward the massive Dagon destroyer hanging in orbit, Emperor Dakroth reclined in his chair and brought up the gladiator games on the holovid display.
On the screen, two female gladiators made their way toward the center of the arena. They were surrounded by three gigantic eight-foot tall gorilla creatures with ice-blue fur and shaggy white manes.
Dakroth tapped the display and zoomed in on the two contestants. As the camera of the televid drone focused on Danica’s face, he chortled lightly in an amused tone and watched as she and Ishtar came back-to-back, their fists at the ready as they began their seventh consecutive match this week.
With nowhere to run, they had no choice but to engage the snarling, chest-thumping apes from the icy plains of the planet Riverion.
Ishtar was the first to advance. Shoving one of the large apes out of the way, she kicked the back of its leg and brought it to its knees. One of the other apes took off after her and she led it away.
The largest of the three apes puffed up its chest and beat on its pecks with massive leathery hands, roaring out to let Danica know it was the dominant combatant on the field.
Cautiously, Danica eased away from the beast, but when she moved, it grew agitated and swiped at her with its meaty hands. She leapt back, her skin avoiding its filed nails, but her garments were ripped off in the process.
Annoyed, Danica sighed, letting out her stress as her boobs flopped out for all the millions of viewers to see.
Humiliation bouts weren’t like your normal, everyday bouts. Gladiators weren’t permitted protective armor or even heavy weapons during the fight. But it was a grueling death match. Here, all contestants fought until one was crowned the victor or until all were lying dead in a heap upon the blood-soaked sands of the arena.
Amid an eruption of cheers, the monstrous beast brought Danica’s bikini top to its nostrils and sniffed it. Uninterested in the flimsy clothing, it tossed her things aside and then thumped its chest one more time as it roared up at the rows of cheering spectators.
She rolled her eyes when, out of the blue, a flash of something metallic beneath the sands of the arena caught her eye. It was a discarded spearhead, left over from a previous bout, no doubt.
Thanking her luck, she slowly bent down and ran her fingers through the sand, and when she rose back up, she had a spear clutched firmly in her right hand.
As the beast pandered to the audience with its hammed-up ferocity, Danica clutched the spear tightly and raced toward the creature, breasts flopping as she ran.
The blue ape turned just in time to see the topless violet-skinned woman leap into the air. It roared menacingly, but it was too late. Danica ran the tip of the spear right through the beast’s throat.
It tried to growl out in protest, but the only sounds that came from its mouth quickly turned into a wretched gagging, an animal choking on its own blood.
Danica used her forward momentum and, holding firm to the shaft of the spear, she kicked out her legs and swung around, twisting the ape’s neck along with her. As Danica swung across the backside of the beast, there was a hideous crack and the ape’s neck broke just as she relinquished her grip. The ice-blue gorilla swayed drunkenly on its feet, its tongue hanging out of the side of its stunned faced, and then it toppled to the ground.
The ground shook as the eight-foot tall behemoth hit wi
th a resounding thud and the violet-skinned warrioress landed in a crouching position a meter to its side.
Danica rose to her feet and, pressing a foot to the lifeless ape’s collar bone, plucked her spear out and flicked cornflower blue blood from its tip.
Halfway across the arena, Ishtar held off two additional apes. Unable to match their strength or weight, she used mainly defensive moves to evade or throw the large animals. This only seemed to provoke them all the more and one of them charged her, ramming into her at full speed and sending her tumbling to the ground.
With a grunt, Danica launched her spear. It flew across the arena and struck the ape which had sent Ishtar to the ground straight through the center of his sternum.
A loud roar echoed throughout the arena as the wounded beast snapped the shaft of the spear off and threw it to the ground.
Sidetracked by Danica’s surprise attack, the wild-eyed ape reeled around and trained its sights on Danica. It snorted and then started lumbering toward her on its massive fists. Approaching fast, it leapt up into the air and raised its mighty fists above its head like two leathery hammers.
Danica leaped out of the way and rolled three times, barely dodging the pummeling attack. Springing back to her feet, she whipped around just in time to find the ape already bearing down upon her. She stumbled back, frightened by its abrupt speed, but wasn’t able to escape its giant arms.
The monstrosity scooped Danica up in its massive arms, clutching her by the waist, and began squeezing her with all its strength. She arched her back and pushed against the ape’s burly chest with all her might, but it wasn’t enough. She couldn’t break free of the gorilla’s vice-like grip.
“Fine,” she growled, as televid drones swooped down to get a close up of her, zooming in on her breasts. The crowd went wild as the titillating fan service wetted their licentious appetites. “You asked for it.”
A blue energy bubble surged out from Danica and the ape’s arms tore off from its body. Danica dropped to her feet and quickly threw up another half-bubble, like a tortoise shell, and prevented the ape’s heavy body from crushing her.