“Come on, let’s do this,” she said.
They traced the line of bodies back to the docking bay. They found CJ standing amongst a dozen bodies before an enemy craft that had landed with a second wave. Dozens more lay dead around those who had been killed when they landed. Three of their own wounded were being cared for, and only two lay dead.
“Are you satisfied now?” she asked as she approached the Captain.
He looked ponderous as he stood amongst the dead. She couldn’t tell if he was sorrowful or celebrating his triumph. He lifted his hands as if admiring the suit, or perhaps the blood on his hands. His visor was retracted back so that she could see his face, but that gave no more clues as to his state of mind.
“Imagine what a few hundred, or a few thousand of these suits could do. We could end this war in a week.”
“It’s a piece of tech, that’s all,” she said.
“No, it’s far more than that. You must see that. Technology that can turn a man into a god, can you call that just a piece of tech? How can you not be impressed?”
“No, no, I am impressed, trust me I really am.”
“And what?”
“I…I just don’t know, CJ.”
A glimmer of light caught their eyes, and they looked up as a jump gate opened outside of the station. They could see right through the shielded entrance.
“My God,” said King. She felt her heart sink and her stomach turn.
To her horror an entire Morohtan fleet passed through into orbit with the station. They had nowhere to go. There was no escape.
“CJ, what do we do?”
“That is Bolormaa’s ship, isn’t it?”
“Yes, we have to get the hell out of here, now!” she screamed.
“Why? We can end this here and now,” replied CJ calmly.
King was shaking her head in despair.
“Don’t let this go to your head.”
But he watched the enemy fleet as if waiting for them to make the next move. She rushed forward and blocked his vision, putting her hands on his shoulders to try and get his attention.
“Look, what you have done here is nothing short of a miracle. You have me convinced. This suit, it is remarkable, but don’t forget who and what she is. You can’t stand up to her. Not on your own. Listen to me!”
“And why not? Taylor got is chance. Now it is mine.”
“And it nearly cost Taylor his life, and that was when he had strong allies. This isn’t our fight, not right now. We don’t need this. We pick the time and place to do this.”
CJ wasn’t listening. He looked more confident of his decision than anything else she had ever seen. She gasped as she tried to find some other way to get through to him.
“If we stay here, we are going to die. Not just you, but all of us, do you want that?”
“We are in this war to fight, and that is exactly what we are going to do.”
“But you yourself know this isn’t our mission. We hit targets of our choosing when we have the element of surprise and military superiority. This isn’t us.”
“Today it is.”
She looked over to Kaner for support, and yet she found none.
“We can’t get out, even if we wanted to. We stay here until this is done.”
CHAPTER 5
They watched a shuttle depart from Bolormaa’s vast and intimidating warship. It was accompanied by six other craft flying close by. King’s face had turned to stone. She was beginning to wonder why she had even worried about boarding the station. It seemed like nothing compared to what they were now facing. She was astounded by what CJ would do in his new suit, and yet she knew no outcome that would have them walking away alive. CJ didn’t show her concerns. He looked welcoming and happy to see her approach. Just as before the rest of them seemed to show no emotion at all. They seemed to blindly follow the Captain no matter what. That was the case until her eyes met Mirov’s.
He could see the danger of what was about to come. There was sadness in his eyes, and she knew why. They had pulled together to make something great, and it was all about to come to an end.
“It’s not too late to ask for terms,” she said to CJ.
“We both know that is not her way, and I wouldn’t want it either. I came here to fight, and that is just what I am going to do.”
“And if you can’t win?”
“Then I’ll lose.”
“And the rest of us? What then?”
“Well, that won’t be my problem, will it?”
He was becoming frustrated by her questions, but she didn’t know what else to do. She kept running ideas through her head of what possible things they could do to get out of there. Not a single solution came to light. She was losing hope and beginning to accept their fate. She always thought CJ would get her killed, but she didn’t expect it would be quite like this, and so soon. She admired him for taking a stand, but she wasn’t at all convinced he was doing it for the right reasons. But to convince him otherwise would take hours if not days, and with his stubborn nature, she doubted if it would be possible at all.
“You and Taylor are more alike than you’ll ever admit, you know that, don’t you?”
He smiled, seeing what she was trying to do.
“I mean it. No nonsense now. I know we can’t get out of here.”
“But you’d still rather I didn’t do what he would do?”
“You’re damn right, I do. Believe it or not, I’ve grown quite fond of you.”
He turned to look at her face, surprised at her words of kindness. He had rarely thought of her as anything but a watchful eye of the Alliance, forever sitting on his shoulder and getting in his way.
“You’re still a lunatic, but you aren’t the man I always feared you were.”
“Well, that’s a relief,” he replied sarcastically.
She could see in his eyes that it actually did mean something to him, even if he’d never say it. As the enemy craft approached, CJ’s people spread out to the edges of the docking area as if to form an arena in readiness. None of them took cover. It seemed pointless now. They faced an army so vast that the possibility of victory in a straight fight was an absolute impossibility. They knew it all came down to CJ now. It was the same boat Taylor had been in.
“She might have toyed with Taylor, but she has no care for you.”
“I know that.”
“She will kill you to make an example to us all, and to scare Taylor if nothing else.”
“Yep,” he replied calmly.
“And what will that gain? What good will come of your death, you tell me that, CJ?”
“Why are you so confident that I will die here? I’ve made it through enough fights in my time.”
“But not this. You don’t know what she is like.”
“And neither do you. Taylor has shied away from this fight. He is terrified of her, and that is why he will lose. But I am not scared of her.”
“You should be.”
“And that is why you would lose.”
She smiled. “Just like Taylor would say it.”
“What?”
“He always says you can’t win a battle you think you have already lost.”
CJ nodded in agreement, as much as it pained him to agree with Taylor on anything.
“You don’t have to do this to prove you are better than him, you know that, right?”
“I never do anything to prove anything to anyone. I do what I want, when I want.”
She didn’t truly understand what went on in his head, but she knew that wasn’t the full story. But the time had finally come. Bolormaa’s ship came in to land first as if with no care in the world. The other vessels landed behind, but nobody disembarked for a few moments until the ramp came down on the Queen’s ship. For a moment she hoped that it would be someone else, one of her sons, or anyone but her. But a second later she felt a shiver run down her spine as the creature herself appeared at the door of the ship. She paced confidently onto the docking bay
as if she were the Grim Reaper herself, untouchable and invincible.
CJ’s visor was still up so that she could see him in full view, and she knew why. He didn’t want to risk being mistaken for Taylor. He wanted his enemy to know whom they were facing. Bolormaa wore armour that was a dull, matt grey, but yet decorated with gleaming gold gilding and black gems that glimmered almost like diamonds. She stood half a metre taller than anyone in the room. Her armour moved as if it were part of her body with such intricate articulations as they had ever seen. It made the AR2 suit look crude and primitive. She wore a cloak that that more like a chain linked net, and it glimmered almost as brightly as the gilding on her armour.
Her equipment was garish, and CJ smiled as he looked upon her. She strode out towards them, and four soldiers stepped from her ship to follow her. They were not like any they had seen before and were clearly some kind of elite group. They looked like small versions of her, and just like her, they were bipedal, and of human size.
Geuros!
The human clones that she and CJ had worked to hard to destroy, and yet here they were, and equipped very differently. They each carried spears with projectile weapons integrated. Their armour covered every centimetre of their body, and it looked strong enough to stop any rifle round and more. Bolormaa was empty-handed. She appeared supremely superior and arrogant. No one could tell if it was hubris or a justified confidence. King could tell a number of their people looked worried now, Mirov more than any of them, and she shared his concerns.
Bolormaa came to a stop five metres short of CJ, and her entourage stopped well before, but nobody said a word. She looked around the docking bay as if to study the faces of each and everyone there. She locked onto King for longer than anyone else, and that made the Lieutenant feel nauseous. She could see the ice-cold face of the enemy Queen. It was beyond intimidating. It was terrifying, as though they were in the presence of death herself. King had to look away. She couldn’t bear to maintain eye contact any longer. She couldn’t understand or explain what it was about the creature, but she felt cold and sick. CJ didn’t move a millimetre, and neither did any of his comrades. Finally, the creature spoke.
“You are not Taylor,” she declared.
Her voice was coarse and loud, and it echoed around the docking bay.
“I never claimed to be!” CJ yelled defiantly.
“You must have known I would come. You would summon me here, knowing it would lead to your death. Is this yet another of Taylor’s tricks?”
“Taylor has nothing to do with this. I go and do as I please, and today that takes me to you.”
Bolormaa began to laugh. It was slow and deep that was unsettling to say the least.
“You wish to die in his place today?”
“I have no intention of losing.”
She laughed once more.
“Today, tomorrow, the day after, I do not care. Taylor is going to die, and anyone who stands in my way will meet the same fate as he will.”
“That’s a lot of talk for someone who hasn’t managed the job yet. I could have ended Taylor yesterday, and you haven’t succeeded in doing it it. You are a fake. You are no god.”
Her cold face turned to anger.
“You should watch your tongue, before I remove it from your body!” she spat.
King wanted to do or say something. The situation seemed like utter madness to her, but she could think of nothing, and if she did would be too terrified anyway. She heard the slightest movement at her back. Mirov had moved up to her very carefully and quietly. It made her jump as she was so much on edge.
“This is crazy, isn’t it?”
“Yes, but the whole universe seems to have gone crazy. This is just a product of it.”
“And if the Captain loses?”
“Then I should imagine we all die. But then that was always going to be our fate, wasn’t it? To the Alliance we are expendable.”
“I…I…”
“Come on, you always knew it. That’s why it shocked us all that you stuck with us this far. You must have known it was going to end this way.”
She knew deep down that was the truth. It had never been said, but it was plainly obvious. They were a penal unit that nobody would miss, although she had seen a different side. If only she could make others see that, too, but now it seemed it was all too late. She was drawn back to the confrontation ahead of them. Bolormaa appeared to be assessing the situation. It was clear that she sensed a trap, and King just wished that were the case, that they had support to call upon.
“Why would you die for him? Why would you die in his stead?” Bolormaa demanded.
“Taylor?”
Bolormaa didn’t respond, but it was clearly what she meant.
“I wouldn’t die for him, and neither will I stand to see anyone else take his life. Taylor is mine, and you are just an obstacle to that.”
“You would want him dead?”
“He is no more an ally to me than you are,” CJ snarled.
“You want to see him dead, and yet you would fight me first?”
“If that is what it takes, then yes.”
Bolormaa seemed stunned by the prospect. She paced back and forth, never taking an eye off the Captain. It was if she were studying him and trying to determine if what he said were the truth.
“I am no friend of Taylor, but you will not get to him before me,” said CJ.
Dozens of Morohtan warriors began to pour out of the ships behind Bolormaa, and their number soon swelled beyond that of CJ’s team. Nor were they any normal soldiers, but certainly an elite fighting force.
“You want to fight him? You hate him that much?”
“I do.”
“Then…join me.”
CJ was taken aback, and King gasped at the prospect. It was the last thing she had been expecting, and now faced with it, she didn’t know what CJ would do. She feared his hatred of Taylor could be enough to turn him over to the enemy. It was even more terrifying than the prospect of death. That everything they had achieved and worked for would be turned over to the enemy. She began to shake her head as if praying he wouldn’t do it.
Please no! No, no, no! Don’t do it. You can’t!
She was grinding her teeth in anticipation and dread for what was about to come. She trusted CJ with her life, but she knew how bitter and twisted he was towards Taylor. It was a very real possibility that he could be manipulated into turning against the Alliance if it suited his own agenda. She didn’t blame him for it, because he was created and programmed that way by his creators. He had so much good in him from the man he had been cloned from, but his personality had been twisted into something almost unrecognisable.
‘Well? You want to see Taylor suffer. Join me, and you will stand by my side when I end his life.”
King smiled, knowing that would rub CJ up the wrong way. If there was one thing he hated more than Taylor, it was authority figures who wanted to rule him.
“Taylor is mine, and if I have to kill you to get to him, then so be it,” he replied.
“You fool. You could have had it all, and now you will die like all the others.”
She unlatched her cloak and pulled it off with one hand before drawing a large blade from her side. It curved forward with a crescent shape like a khopesh of the ancient Egyptians, so much so it had to have been influenced by that ancient people. CJ drew out his Assegai and extended it in readiness.
“One last chance, join me, or die!”
CJ shook his head. Bolormaa let out a deafening battle cry before launching her cloak at him. CJ tried to move, but he hadn’t expected it, and even though he leapt a metre back, the steel wired cloak ensnared him like a net. It hissed and spat. Whatever it was made of, it bit into his armour as though it were acid. She rushed forward with her blade raised high as if to finish him in one fell swoop. CJ stamped on what part of the cloak lay near his feet for leverage and pushed out with his hands in opposite directions. The steel ringed net burst open as broken pie
ces scattered across the deck, and he lifted his Assegai just in time to parry her blade. As they clashed, the blade of her sword lit up and sparks flashed. Whatever energy it possessed, it was no more able to cut through his weapon than the Assegai was of her sword.
They were locked for a moment. Bolormaa was pressing down on her smaller foe, and yet seemed unable to shift him. King could see the worry in her face, even though she showed so little emotion. She drove her foot up and kicked CJ to the stomach. That launched him back several metres, but he stayed on his feet as she came at him again.
Bolormaa went forward with a fanatical charge, as if furious that he had survived her initial attack. She cut one cut after another with full swings from the shoulder, and CJ parried each of them one after the other. Finally, she caught the shaft of the Assegai and cut the blade from it. CJ lifted what was left in two hands to parry another blow, but it was cut in half, and her blade glanced his helmet. It was enough to force him down onto one knee as the blade struck the deck.
She lifted it to deliver the finishing blow, but as the blade was raised, CJ rose up with lightning speed. As the blow descended, he caught her hands at the wrist and stopped them dead. She forced with all her strength but could not move him. It was a moment of doubt that CJ could see in her face, and it made him smile. She pressed with all her strength but could not drive through him. She was used to overpowering every foe she had ever met, and this was a challenge she never expected.
CJ felt the AR2 suit suddenly became awfully heavy as though he was losing power, and as he did, Bolormaa kept pushing. He was forced down onto his knees, and her blade pressed in against his collar. The suit was fading fast now, and he couldn’t understand why. She slid the blade against the joint of his armour, and it cut in deep to his flesh. He squirmed with pain as she pushed him down onto the deck, and then paced back and forth triumphantly with her sword raised high for all to witness.
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