by Gini Koch
My iPod came to life playing Corey Hart’s “Never Surrender.” I laughed. Then I caught our reflection in some glass that was behind her, so reflected back onto our viewing screen.
We were grouped like the Justice League—Superman, the Flash, Batman, and, for now, Wonder Woman, complete with our requisite kickbutt animal companion. We also all looked relaxed but ready for action. I laughed again.
“What are you laughing at?” Lenore asked. “Your defeat?”
“No. The picture I’m going to take when this is all over. Smile for the birdie.” Then I pulled out the cube and slammed my other hand onto it.
CHAPTER 94
THIS WAS BY FAR the easiest cube transfer I’d ever done, because I was looking right at where I wanted to go. The five of us moved from the Rapacian ship to Lenore’s command ship in less than a second. We landed right in front of her, because that’s what I’d focused on.
Lenore gaped. And we moved.
Bruno flew off of Chuckie’s shoulder screaming the nastiest things in Peregrine at Lenore and hit her in the face with all his claws.
I dropped the cube back into my purse, pulled out of Jeff’s hold, and wrenched Jamie away from Lenore. I had to pull hard. Lenore screamed, possibly because I’d broken her arm while getting my innocent child away from her. She could take that complaint up with the Planetary Council later.
Jeff slammed the Rapacian who had Gower to the ground, broke the spear over his thigh, and slammed the pointy half into the floor. It went in deep. Then he grabbed Gower and held him up.
Christopher zoomed around and moved all the hostages into a tight group.
And Chuckie walked around behind Lenore’s back. He nodded to Bruno, who flew off and onto my shoulder. Then Chuckie took her head in his hands and broke her neck, looking right into the camera all the time.
“This is how Earth deals with our enemies,” he said in the Smooth Criminal way the C.I.A. seemed to love. “Beta Eight and Alpha Seven are under Earth’s protection. Earth is an ally of the Imperial Monarchy in general and Alpha Four in particular. Choose your side carefully.”
He let Lenore’s body fall, pulled the spear Jeff had slammed into the floor out, rammed it through her heart, pinning her dead body to the ground, then nodded to me. Apparently I wasn’t the only one channeling my rage.
“Link up, team, right now!” Grabbed Chuckie with one hand and Jeff with the other. I didn’t need the cube to go back home, but whoever touched the cube was the only one who could see the reentry point glittering in the air.
“Set!” Christopher called.
I walked into the glitter. And we walked out right back on the command deck of our Rapacian ship before Corey Hart’s second and only other hit was even halfway done.
“Now,” I said calmly as I cuddled Jamie, “who wants to fight us, and who wants to play nicely, live in harmony, and repel the Z’porrah fleet?”
“Commander Martini, the weapon is aimed and ready,” Serene said, right on cue. “We’ll fire on your order.”
“Awesome, Commander Dwyer, thank you. First off, if there are any Rapacians, or anyone else, wearing a circlet with a jewel in it given to them by Lenore or someone working for the Planet’s Right Faction, those need to be removed and destroyed. If you see someone wearing one, please remove it for them if they’re slow about it. We’ll wait. Check in when all circlets are removed.”
“How will you know if they’re removed?” yet another voice asked. There were a lot of people out there.
“We’re using the honor system, but trust me, we’ll know.”
There was a scream from another ship. “There are giant monsters here!” The voice sounded like the one who’d first spoken from the Planet’s Rights Faction command ship. Heard familiar growling.
“Are they fluffy with lots and lots of terrifying teeth?”
“Yes!” This came from several ships.
“Shoot them and die,” I said calmly. Nice to know the Poofs were taking part. “Give them the circlets. I’d also assume they’re sort of herding some people into a group or a corner?”
“Yes.” Also coming from a lot of ships.
“Those are your traitors, or your Z’porrah spies. I’d put them into some form of restraint. Or else the Poofs will probably eat them.”
Lots of background noise indicated that many circlets were being tossed. Other ships also shared that once the prisoners were rounded up, they and the Poofs had disappeared from whichever ship they were on. There was a corresponding response from the PRF command ship that all those people were now over there. Amazingly enough, there was also a group of Rapacians and others the Poofs brought over to Reader’s ship who were apparently on the side of good.
“Us too?” Hughes asked quietly.
Considered our options. “Yeah, us too. Send that order to our three ships, will you, Matt? And tell everyone to check and see if their Rapacian prisoners are still there or not.” Took my circlet off while Hughes shared the news. Christopher zipped off to check our ship, while Jeff trotted around and gathered up the circlets. Then he handed them to Chuckie. Who destroyed them with extreme prejudice.
The ships called off their version of No More Mind Melders or Traitors Roll Call. Received confirmation from Christopher, Reader, and Serene that most of the Rapacians were still on board, but many were gone. Lakin, in particular, was still with Serene.
“I will speak for the remainder of the Rapacians,” he said. “We renounce our actions and apologize for them as well. While we were under a form of duress, there is still no excuse, and we will accept our punishment from our solar community once this war is officially over. Until then, all Rapacians who have been shown to be loyal will fight for the Imperial Monarchy.”
“Super, glad that’s out of the way. So here’s the deal, kids. Like Lakin and Beta Sixteen, you get to choose your side now, free from outside influences. To make it easy, here are your choices. All those who want to continue fighting against the Imperial Monarchy I will consider to be on the side of the Z’porrah and pro this solar system’s annihilation. All those who want to say sorry, kiss and make up, and remain a fractious but ultimately cohesive solar system family I will consider to be on Earth’s side and pro this system’s longevity.”
A throat cleared somewhere out there. “How, ah, do we show you which side we’ve chosen?”
“Oh, let’s make it easy. Does every ship have some kind of exterior lights?” Lots of voices spoke at once. “New plan!” I shouted. The voices stopped. Looked at the former hostages. “Are there any ships that don’t have lights of some kind?”
“No, Commander,” Neeraj said. He was a giant, walking lizard, but it was great to see him. He gave me the Reptilian smile which was a lot like the Lecanora smile—toothy. “Every ship can turn exterior lights on.”
“Excellent. So, everyone who wants to play nicely with Alpha Four and maintain the Imperial Monarchy, turn on your running lights, or whatever you call them.”
The view on my screen switched and we were looking out at all the ships floating here in space. All of them had their lights on. Even the Planet’s Rights Faction command ship.
“Just making sure, but ship where we just killed your commander and where all the traitors have been sent, are you sure you want your lights on?”
“Yes, Commander,” a shaky voice replied. “We took a vote. We’d like to live. And, ah, we’d like the fluffy monsters to stop growling at us. And drooling. We’d really like them to stop drooling.”
“Not really up to me what those fluffy monsters do. They have free will and all, just like you all do. And did, when you chose to become rebels against a regime that wasn’t doing anything other than helping you.”
“Commander Martini, if I may make a request?” This was Alexander.
“Of course, King Alexander. Request away.”
“I would pre
fer that we accept that the dissidents have had a change of heart and allow them to remain with us. They are still part of our system, still our people, even though they’ve opposed our rule. We have encouraged and will continue to encourage positive discussion. Any rule can be improved with the support of the people.”
“And yet those people wanted to oust you and let Lenore or whoever else rule. Why show them mercy?”
“Because that’s what good rulers do.”
It was like we’d scripted this exchange. Wondered if the Matriarchs were affecting me and Alexander at all, but it didn’t feel like it. Alexander had learned a lot since we’d first met.
“That works for me, King Alexander. Especially because this system is going to need every ship to fight off the Z’porrah attack.”
“Actually,” Serene said. “Maybe not.”
CHAPTER 95
“THIS ISN’T GOING to work,” Jeff said quietly. “We’re talking about people who want to wipe every one of us out of existence.”
“They also don’t want to die, and they were defeated before. By the people in this solar system. Plus, we have a lot of help.”
What Jeff was worried about working was a plan Serene, the Matriarchs, and the Alpha Seven Penguins, who called themselves the Shantanu, had come up with.
All the spaceships were still in space around Beta Eight, but no one was firing at each other anymore. Instead, ships were getting into position for the plan we were going to roll, the one Jeff was stressed about.
We’d been back and forth to the planet, though not using the power cube. Jeff and Christopher had found the Rapacian shuttle in the late and unlamented Trevik’s ship, and we’d used that to ferry people between, up to, and down from the Rapacian spaceships. And of course the other ships had shuttles, too, and moving people had been relatively smooth once everyone stopped shooting.
The other fighting forces throughout the system had been advised that the Planet’s Rights Faction had been pretty much destroyed. Without the core leadership, and with the Alpha Four Poofs being helpful and going to snatch circlets from anyone wearing one, reports were coming back to Alexander that the cease-fire was going smoothly. Ships were now being moved into position to defend the system.
With things in motion planetside and our defenses being shored up, we were having a planning session on the Rapacian ship that Serene was commanding. As with most of our planning sessions, we had a big group. But since we’d moved all the untrustworthy prisoners to another location, we used the mess hall. Sadly, no snacks were available. Rapacians and Earthlings did not eat alike.
All Earthers were in attendance besides Airborne, who had maintained flight control of the three Rapacian ships. But we had Airborne on the com system, so it was like they were in the room with us. Alpha Four military had taken over the flying of the former PRF command ship as well as security on the planet, at least for now.
We also had all of our Beta Eight allies in the room, which included 2.0, who was back from being planetside, and The Clarence Clone, who’d pretty much stuck as close to me as he could. There had been a lot of arguments about this but Jamie had gone and hugged both of them, which shut up the main arguer, who happened to be her father.
The Planetary Council members who were our friends were here, too. It had been great to get to hug them all, even if we didn’t have time yet for a real reunion. Queen Renata and the princesses had a far more emotional moment than I’d have expected—was pretty sure I saw some tears, but they were quickly hidden—and the princesses were flanking their mother.
Alexander was sitting near us, between Jeff and Christopher. Gower and Chuckie were next to me, because Jamie didn’t want them far from her, and no one was going to argue with that.
“I’m just glad no one called Serene’s bluff.” Jeff heaved a sigh and cuddled Jamie—who had Mous-Mous on her shoulder and Bruno in her lap, with her feet resting on Wilbur’s head and Ginger settled next to her—with an extremely possessive and protective expression. Not that I could blame him. “I have no idea what we would have done if that hadn’t worked.”
“Frankly, we’d have done just what we’re talking about doing now.”
It had turned out that what Serene had done when she’d taken her Rapacian ship down to the planet was find the Shantanu ship and ask Rohini for his support, which he’d given gladly. She’d wanted to do just what they’d said—convert the telescope into a weapon. But there hadn’t been time, and Rohini and the Matriarchs were worried that removing the power spheres could cause Beta Eight’s infrastructure and ecosystem to collapse.
Rohini, however, felt that bluffing was a reasonable option, especially since he did have gigantic sea monster allies on their way and, essentially, I and my team were providing the distraction needed to make the bluff work. Rohini was my kind of Space Penguin.
“And the rest of the solar fleet is ready to fight if needed, or will be.” Jeff sounded like he felt our Plan B was going to be a lot more effective than our Plan A. Which was why he wasn’t going to be too involved in Plan A.
“And, once they’re clear that the new world order is the old world order, massing at the galaxy core side of the system, yes. Now stop nattering at me.”
“So,” Serene was finishing up her scientific explanation for the logistics of the plan, which was why I’d allowed Jeff to distract me, “we have the ability to project any image, including filmed images, utilizing the telescope’s capabilities. We can absolutely reach the Z’porrah fleet, thanks to Usha.”
Usha, who had somehow moved from Murdering Terrorist to Helpful Side Switcher Who’d Be Punished Later, nodded. “They will accept the transmission, and if you can truly show them what you have described, they will retreat.”
“That’s the big if, though, isn’t it?” Reader asked.
“I will do my part,” Lakin said. “They will believe.”
“You know I’ll do mine right,” 2.0 said with a grin.
“Ah, Kitty?” Jerry asked on the com. He sounded like he was freaked out but controlling it. “If you have a second, could you run, and I do mean run, up to your vessel’s command deck and take a look at what’s coming?”
“Ah, I believe our allies have arrived,” Rohini said. “Please, any who would like to see them, come with me and Commander Martini.”
I wasn’t the only person who trotted out of the room to take a gander. We reached the command deck and took a look. There were three Shantanu Triangles arriving. But they weren’t alone. And I was pretty sure I spoke for everyone.
“Oh. My God.”
The Space Sea Monsters had arrived. And, as advertised, they were gigantic and terrifying. They truly looked like Kraken and all other leviathan nightmares, only with a lot more teeth and tentacles. And a whole lot bigger. Apparently Alpha Seven was a giant planet.
There were snakelike ones, and dragonlike ones, and sluglike ones, and a whole lot of What The Hell Is That ones, and even more Oh God Make It Go Away ones. They went from beyond huge to gigantic to Makes Godzilla Look Tiny size. Myriad colors as well as sizes, too, though deep purple, dark blue, and iridescent green seemed to be the common accent shades.
They all seemed to have a lot of teeth—more teeth per head than the Poofs or snakipedes, potentially combined. Some had legs and arms or things that looked leg- and armlike, and some didn’t. Some had tails that looked prehensile, looked like weapons, or looked like both, and some had no tails. It was hard to call them a “race” but apparently they were all related somehow. Chose not to argue.
“You’re all seeing Cthulhu and his family, right?” Tim, who was copiloting Reader’s ship with Jerry, asked. “Tell me you’re seeing this, and we’re not just hallucinating up here. This is not what I want to see in any kind of dream or vision.”
“Yes, Tim, we’re all seeing them. In all their terrifying glory. Rohini, are they cuddly when you get to know them
?”
“In their own way.” Rohini was trying not to laugh. “And as long as you’re their friend.”
“Chip and I want to share that we want to be their best friends,” Hughes said.
Joe and Randy were piloting the ship hosting the powwow. For possibly the first time since I’d known them, they were both silent. “You two okay?” I asked them quietly.
Randy shook his head. “We’re not in Kansas anymore.”
Joe nodded. “I think the plan’s going to work.”
“They’re sentient beings who are our allies,” Lorraine said, giving Joe a look that said he was a baby.
“They’re not even as scary as a superbeing,” Claudia added. “And you didn’t freak out when you rescued us from one of those, Randy.”
A throat on the com cleared. “Ladies, before you disparage your husbands anymore,” Walker said, “understand that objects in the mirror appear smaller than they are in real life. You’re seeing them via magnification. They’re not actually with the fleet yet. They’re just coming into Beta Eight’s solar space.”
Everyone looked again. “Ah,” Queen Renata said. “I agree with Captain Billings’ husband—the plan is quite sound.”
“We need to be sure they can do what we’re talking about without getting hurt,” I pointed out. “I mean, looking at them, they seem invincible, but since they’re using special equipment to be able to be safely out in space without ships, that equipment can get damaged and then they could be harmed. Or worse.” Hey, I was against any ally of mine dying, regardless of how scary they looked.
“Your concern for their well-being has warmed their hearts,” Rohini said approvingly.
“Um, how would they know? They’re not mind readers are they?” Maybe everyone in this system had special tele-talents of some kind and just hadn’t taken over the entire galaxy out of restraint and a massive case of goodwill.
Rohini chuckled. “Oh no. I have a specialized comlink that connects me to them. It’s not a weapon, but we find that it’s quite helpful.” Rohini had a sarcasm knob, too, apparently. “So when the link is open, which it is right now, the Cleophese hear what I hear and what I say.”