by Calista Skye
'What would you want to happen to you?'
HELP DEFEAT THE ETHEREALS. THEN PLACED IN EMPTY SPACE, ON COURSE TO ANDROMEDA GALAXY.
Ator'aq frowned. “What did you ask him?”
“Just if he feels like a prisoner here. He doesn't. He's on board with fighting the enemy. You know, let's not ask him anything else. Feels like it's not that useful. So if that's it, I guess we're ready.”
The king of the Braxians smirked again, and Olivia felt a little tingle in her girly bits. He was always having that effect on her. “I guess so. Well, let's assemble the men.”
24
They were all assembled in the training hall, Olivia and eleven Braxian warriors. The wounded man had recovered enough to take part.
The mood was excited and confident. Olivia was mostly anxious. Everything depended on this going their way. She had put on her space marine uniform with greater care than ever. The bar on each shoulder shone like bright gold, and so did the Space Force badge. She was technically no longer a part of Space Force, but she felt entitled anyway. The heavy sword in her belt had a reassuring weight to it. She had her gun, too, just in case.
Ator'aq stood in the middle and smiled tightly. “Today could mean the end of the Ethereals. We will lure them to attack the Earth base, thinking that we have left and that it's ripe for the picking. But we will be waiting for them. We know the sensors on their ships are not sophisticated, because technology was never their strong suit. We will fly one shuttle to the base, undetected by both Space Force and the enemy. We will also keep this ship at a safe distance where it will be too far away for anyone to detect. At least until battle has been joined. If the Ethereals attack, they will attack in force. They will all be there if they think we Braxians will not be present to oppose them. They are selfish – each Ethereal will want to get their pick of victims. If this works, they will attack, thinking that they will only harvest humans for later consumption. They will be surprised that we are waiting for them with drawn swords.”
“What does Boniar say about this?” Umi'on asked.
“He says as follows: 'Very numerous fighters. Return of lost one. Truth about chief.' Make of that what you will. He's usually less cryptic than that. I think he has trouble seeing much about this battle.”
“How will we trick the Ethereals into attacking?”
“Olivia has a way to contact their king. She will attempt to trick him.”
“And if she fails?”
The young king shrugged and managed to make it look like a confident gesture. “Then it didn't work, and we will think of something else. Are we not warriors?”
The ten other Braxians cheered, and the room reverberated with their deep voices. Olivia was too nervous to feel like cheering.
“We will go to our victory or to our deaths. One is no worse than the other. To the end of time!”
They all drew their swords and placed them all together, one blade on top of the next. “To the end of time!” they yelled, and Olivia wanted to clasp her hands over her ears.
Ator'aq sauntered over to her. “Any time you're ready.”
She sheathed her sword. “No time like the present.”
He bent his head down and kissed her tenderly. “True words.”
25
She had been gone from Space Force Base for only a few days, but the whole installation, which had impressed her so much the first time she saw it, now just looked old and worn down and cramped. And dark – it seemed the electrical system had been badly damaged in the last Ethereal attack. The ventilation system sounded more labored, the deck felt unsteady and the artificial gravity had little patches where it didn't work.
They docked the heavily camouflaged shuttle in a part of the base that was still under construction, and where they could be pretty sure they would not be spotted.
Ator'aq and Olivia walked together further inside the installation. There was no one to be seen. They cautiously made their way to the section that had been the Braxian barracks. The entrance to it was dark and deserted, and the cameras on the wall had not been repaired.
“I guess this is as good a place as any,” Olivia said. “You had better get out of sight. I mean, far out of sight. We don't know if he can sense you from a distance.”
“I would prefer not to leave you,” the Braxian king said gruffly.
“Fine, but the whole point is to lure him here and make him feel safe. If he sees you or senses you somehow, the game is up. I have to do this on my own.”
“Very well. Do you think the sword might give you away?”
Olivia glanced down at her side, where the very Braxian sword hung heavily from her belt.
“Shit. Yes, I think it would. You have to keep it for me while I'm doing this.”
She unbuckled the belt and handed him the sword in its scabbard, then looked down herself again.
“Anything else that would give him a clue to what's going on?”
Ator'aq looked her up and down. “You have changed. There's a different air to you now. You're more secure. But he might not pick up on that. Your worry about your sister should mask it. But keep in mind that you must seem fragile to him.”
“You know, that I can probably do. All right, go as far away as you think is necessary and I'll try to get his attention.”
Ator'aq bowed down and kissed her one more time. “You're a warrior now, my love. Don't forget that. I'll have your sword ready for you when you need it.”
He walked quickly away. He turned a corner and she heard his heavy footsteps running down a corridor.
She waited for two minutes, then cleared her voice. Might as well get it over with. She was more nervous than ever before. But Ator'aq was right – she felt more secure now. As if she cared less about the outcome here than she would have before.
“'Leabined', she said very clearly. Nothing happened.
She said it again, feeling pretty silly. Had it just been a joke?
“Once is fine,” a velvety voice said into her ear from behind. She yelped and jerked around, her hand reflexively seeking the hilt of the sword which wasn't there.
It was Denibael, as beautiful as a fresh day in spring. Impossibly beautiful, even. He was wearing all gold, and it contrasted with his dark hair in a way that seemed supernatural. The slight translucency that Olivia had seen last time was still there. He was very fairy-like.
“I hope you have what I asked for,” he said smoothly with a look on his face as innocent as a three-year-old.
“I have the answer you want. Give me Tessa and I'll tell you.”
The Ethereal king smiled widely, a smile so beautiful that Olivia almost felt repelled by it. No one alive could possess such beauty. “Not the way it works. You pay first, then I deliver the goods. She really wants to get away from us, I promise.”
“How do I even know you have her?”
The Ethereal sighed and held out his hand with the palm up. Immediately a little image of a person in a space marine uniform appeared hovering over his open palm. It was an extremely lifelike and three-dimensional picture that made Olivia's heart jump in her chest. That was Tessa, no doubt about it. She was moving a little, too, and it looked as if she had been locked up in some kind of cell.
“See? In the palm of my hand.” The Ethereal slowly closed his hand into a fist, and the image of Olivia's sister seemed to be crushed to nothing.
“That's not proof of anything,” Olivia tried, even if she was completely convinced.
“We both know it is. So tell me: Why are you so important to Ator'aq?”
“He thought that I was a mighty warrior who would help him win against you. A prophecy of some kind.”
The Ethereal frowned. “A prophecy? That made him risk his whole strategy? But anyone could see that you're not a warrior, young lady.”
“That's what I said. He said that that was just it – the prophecy had stated that the warrior that would help him win didn't look like a warrior at all. Okay, give me back my sister now.”
“Wher
e is the Braxian now?”
“I don't know. They left after the attack. Hopefully he's right on your fairy ass, ready to cut your head off.”
The Ethereal smiled merrily. “Really, now! I wouldn't suggest you pursue the idea of insulting me further, considering the circumstances. If you are so important, why did he leave you behind?”
“He realized I wasn't a warrior at all. If I had been, he said I would have killed you when you cornered me during the attack.”
“I see. It's taken you days to come up with this. And the Braxian has been gone for a while. You didn't exactly rush to tell me, did you?”
“Betraying a friend never came easily to me. Impossible for you to understand, I'm sure.”
The beautiful but lethal alien nodded pensively. “Yes, you're right. I have no personal experience with betraying my friends. Well, your story rings true, I suppose. A prophecy is something the primitive Braxians might take seriously and then discard when it didn't match his expectations. The fact that he didn't bring you when he deserted Space Force to its relatively horrendous fate is an indication that he changed his mind about you. He was never of a constant mind, our Braxian barbarian.”
“Whatever. I've done my part. Now you deliver Tessa.”
The Ethereal smiled, a guilty little smile like on a child that has eaten forbidden candy. “Oh, Olivia. I lied. I have her. But she's so young and tender-looking that I will keep her to myself. Surely you wouldn't deny me a little pleasure, on those endless voyages between the stars?”
Olivia slammed a fist into the wall of the station, making the whole corridor vibrate. “Damned fairy fucker! Give me back my sister, you fucking creep!”
The alien didn't react. “You look pretty delicious yourself, now I look at you. Especially when angry. Do you think you'll be angry when I take the first nibble? I'm sure you will be. It will give your flesh just that extra bit of flavor. Yes, I will have you as well. Don't worry! You'll see your sister very soon.”
The Ethereal faded to nothing.
26
Ator'aq was waiting, pacing up and down a corridor fifty yards away. When he saw her, he came to meet her. “Well?”
“Not great. He didn't give me Tessa. Says he'll keep her because she's young and-”
She couldn't bring herself to say 'tender' about her own sister, as if accepting that she was just a piece of meat.
“I understand,” Ator'aq said. “I never expected him to come through on that. Will they attack?”
“Yes. And I think Denibael will seek me out. He wants the complete pair of sisters.”
Ator'aq grasped her upper arm. “He will never get that. That's a promise.”
“I know,” Olivia said and strapped her sword back on. That act in itself made her feel better. “I'd rather split myself open on my blade than be taken alive.”
Ator'aq just nodded. He looked so concerned that she wanted to embrace him and tell him not to worry. But the moment was wrong for that.
They started walking back towards the Space Force part of the base, still taking care not to be detected.
“They can move through space with surprising speed if they want to,” he said, changing the subject. “They could be here at any time. Attacking this base in space is much easier for them than having to go to Earth. That's why they only appeared on your planet at long intervals before your people figured them out. They didn't have the energy for anything more. The laziness is one of their defining features. We think that's why they had to become the predator species they are – they just don't have the energy to keep up a real civilization of their own.”
“They really want to restock their supplies, ruin the rest of mankind and then go on, right?”
“That's it. Every time they meet a prey species, tricking and harvesting them is first entertainment after a long trek through space. But then it becomes like work to them. And they don't like work. Because of me, they've had to stay in this solar system for too long. They're itching to get away. I think they'll be here very soon. Maybe just hours.”
He hadn't even completed his sentence before the whole station reverberated with a hollow 'boom' and the deck shook under them. Something had rammed the station. Hard.
“Or minutes,” Olivia said and grasped the hilt of her sword.
27
The alarm started wailing just like last time, but there was only Ator'aq and her there to hear it. It seemed Space Force hard barricaded themselves in a small part of the base.
“My warriors will be here very soon. I want us to attack as one this time. We'll focus on Denibael and the guards around him. He seems to like having some protection. Last time, he expended a lot of energy appearing to you almost like a ghost. He will not have enough energy to do it again. He is here in his most vulnerable form, you can bet on it.”
“I think he might seek me out,” Olivia said. “I wonder if we should use me as bait. Since he wants both Cooper sisters, I mean.”
“He will,” Ator'aq agreed. “He and I are not very similar, but it looks like we share our taste in women.”
“The word 'taste' being relative in this case, of course,” Olivia said. She was excited by the possibility of facing Denibael with her sword in her hand. “But I suggest we don't let him seek me out. I think we should find him.
“Lord Ator'aq,” a deep voice said from behind them. Gar'ox came towards them at the head of nine other warriors. “We come to fight the enemy beside you.”
The alarm was abruptly shut off, and again all the light in the corridor went out.
“You shall,” the king said. “You all shall. This is the end of our travels, men. The end of our struggles. Today the enemy is doomed.”
They all nodded solemnly.
The station shook again, but not as hard as last time.
“I think that was the royal transport arriving,” Umi'on said. “First the main ship with the forces that will secure the target, then their pitiful king.”
“Let's be off, Sire!” Gar'ox urged. “Release us to attack the cowardly enemy at will!”
“Sons of Brax!” Ator'aq yelled, and the wall shook. “This is our day. I will say no more. We share this day and this victory. Let us go and pluck it! Victory for Brax!”
Olivia would never have thought that one little group of warriors could make so much noise. The readout in her visor showed decibel overload, and the clasped her hands over her ears again.
Then Ator'aq turned to Olivia.
“Olivia Cooper, in front of all these honorable men I take the largest risk of my life, but it seems worth it: Will you marry me?”
She looked up at the large alien king, so strong and certain. It was perhaps not the perfect time for him to ask, just before they would all probably die at the hands of the Ethereals. But even so, she would savor it.
She did the best copy of his trademark smirk she knew how and waited with her reply for a couple of seconds, just enough to make him squirm a little. He got many things very easy in life. This one shouldn't be that easy. But the answer was clear.
“I don't think there was much risk involved,” Olivia said. “Yes, of course I'll marry you.”
The warriors all laughed in relief at her reply and seeing their king not in total control for once.
Ator'aq bent down to kiss her. “A queen should be able to make her king tremble. You certainly have that power. I think you will be a good Braxian.”
“I think so too,” Olivia said. “I am already a pretty decent Earthling.”
Then they were all running toward the populated part of the station.
28
The Space Force personnel had barricaded the entrance to their section, but the barricade had been breached and the doors blown off their mechanisms. Dead bodies were strewn along the walls and corridors, both space marines and other personnel. Olivia recognized some faces and looked away. She would make the Ethereals pay.
And then, without warning, the enemy was upon them. Ten Ethereals came running at them dow
n a narrow corridor, not making any sound. Olivia's visor was suddenly a jumble of Hostile! and Blunt weapon and Edged weapon.
She lifted her sword and ran faster, as if the sword was pulling her forward and itching to be used for real combat. Ator'aq gave a startled yell when she ran past him to the front of the attack, but this was what she wanted now.
The beautiful faces of the Ethereals were solemn and disinterested, even if they had to know that Ator'aq was the enemy they feared the most. The only enemy they feared, Olivia thought distantly before her sword clashed violently with the metal rod of an Ethereal. She immediately let go and let the sword dance in her hand, and after one feint and one easy parry, she cut the Ethereal's head off. A spray of golden liquid shot up from his severed neck.
A thrill went down Olivia's spine. She would not have to slice herself to let the sword drink blood before it was placed back in its scabbard this time.
The Braxians behind her yelled and cheered and their swords clanged mightily against the Ethereal weapons, while the enemy hardly made noises at all, even when dying.
Olivia felt herself dipping into the same flow she had when she had practiced against Ator'aq, except this time, the resistance was to the death. And she killed many. The blade of her sword was now a sparkling gold with the alien blood of the enemy.
“Their king isn't here,” Ator'aq shouted when they had fought off the first wave of Ethereals. “He must be in his ship still. Take the next corridor to the right! We will hunt him down in his lair.”
He ordered his men to continue on and help any Earth forces they found, while he and Olivia would find King Denibael and bring him to justice.
It wasn't hard to find where the Ethereal spaceship had attached itself to the base. It was a simple, perfectly round hole in the wall. A warm, golden sheen streamed out of it, making it look very inviting.
“I've never been inside his ship before,” Ator'aq said. “I don't know what to expect. We must be on our guard!”
The alien ship seemed to be made of gold and silver and metals that Olivia had never seen before, but were undoubtedly precious. Everything shone and glittered. But she wasn't there to see the sights – she had a mission.