The clock ticked along in her head.
If she tossed away her rifle, he might just shoot her. He might do something else to take her down when she was defenseless. He might cheat. But what other choice did she have now? It was down to the wire, and he could be right. If she won and defeated him, she could try to save the others in the room. Somehow.
At the door, she could hear the rest of her Marines trying to break in—but how long would that take, if it was possible at all?
Resignedly, she threw her gun aside. She pulled off her helmet and visor, because she wanted to see. That went away too.
“Come on, then,” she said simply.
“That’s my girl,” he said as there was a shimmer before him, and he stepped down from his dais.
“I’m not your girl,” she drawled, bringing up her fists.
Her nightmares all flashed through her mind, showing her all the times and all the ways that she had come up against him. Had they really just been dreams, or had he somehow found a way into her mind? She supposed she wouldn’t ever know. If he had been there, he would know how she fought…
It didn’t matter now. She could only fight, and that was what she’d do.
He lunged at her with a right hook, which she managed to sidestep. She returned the favor, but it was met in kind. The next few swings were equally unsuccessful on both parts as they felt each other out and learned each other’s moves. His were familiar to the dreams she’d had, so she had to imagine that hers were to him. It seemed unlikely to be otherwise now.
When he came for her again, she didn’t move away as far as before or return with another hit of her own. She shifted her weight back and caught him in the midsection with a heavy, booted foot.
Doubling over, he hacked a few times, and she moved in to drive her clenched hands down onto the back of his neck. Her blow never landed, however, because he drove himself forward and tackled her around the midsection. It sent them flying back several steps, landing her on her back. As he rose to hit her, she threw her weight and caught him off-balance. They flipped over so she was on top and she instantly sent her fist into his face, although it was so quickly done that it didn’t have the impact she wanted.
She tried again, but suddenly his fist was in her side. Despite her body armor, he managed to connect with what she was sure were her bruised ribs, and she choked on a scream as she fell to one side. Just barely rolling back to her knees, and then her feet, to protect herself from his next strike.
Unfortunately, she was only partially successful.
His fist still connected with her face, and she heard something crack in her mouth. She spit out what she imagined to be part of a tooth before she managed to retreat far enough to avoid the follow-up hit.
As he lunged for her again, she caught him by his shirtfront, and they outright wrestled for a moment. She threw her head forward, driving her forehead into his and sending him blinking, reeling back. She could only hope that there was a whole galaxy of stars floating in his eyes from the impact.
They both managed to get to their feet.
“Cursed child,” he growled, blood leaking from a busted eyebrow.
“I am as you made me,” she sneered.
Shouting his anger, he lunged at her again. Blow for blow, they pummeled one another with less and less care for defense. It was just a matter of who won. Inflicting punishment on the other. Seeing who could hit hardest. When they fell, they kicked. When they rose, they punched.
She’d banged his head against the floor at one point, and he’d nearly broken her kneecap at another.
The world was starting to swim as she felt blood sliding from various cuts to her face, and the aching of her ribs in more than once place. Not to mention other places. She wondered if something was bleeding internally.
He looked worse for wear as well, so now it was just who outlasted who. His desperation was growing. She could feel it.
Another clumsy lunge, but her leg buckled in her attempt to avoid him. The knee he’d nearly taken out. He was on her as she fell.
The two tumbled back to the floor with his hands around her neck, squeezing tight. In an instant, the air grew stagnant in her body and there was a faint shadow around the edges of her vision. Clenching her teeth, she focused despite the darkness closing in and brought her hands up between his arms. Twisting her body, she pressed her arms against the inside of his elbow, and then down. It loosened his hold just enough for her to gasp and push him back. Bringing up a knee, she leveraged against his abdomen and flung him off.
He stumbled back several steps before righting himself and grabbing something off the ground. She saw in an instant that he had a gun.
“I never meant to lose,” he said.
She rolled away just in time for his energy pulse to drive into the floor where she’d been. As she came around, she saw her rifle lying there, and she grabbed it. Clutched it to her body as she kept rolling away from another pulse into the floor.
Once on her back, she brought the rifle up and pulled the trigger with barely any time to aim.
The bullet—filled with the substance her mother had given her the secret to—flew across the space between them and slammed into his stomach. He didn’t fire off another shot, standing and looking shocked that she had managed to shoot him at all.
The effect was quick. He dropped the gun as he grabbed at his throat, gasping and falling to the floor in violent convulsions.
Andy pushed herself to her feet, watching. She wished she could have felt nothing at the sight, but some part of her was saddened. Why did it have to be this way? Why did it have to come to this? When all was said and done, she had no regrets. This had to happen. It was never going to end any other way…but he was still her father.
“It’s over,” she said as his body went still, the head of snake lying on the white tile floor.
Epilogue
“To the fallen,” Andy said wearily, holding up a glass.
“To the fallen,” the others echoed.
It had been several hours since Andy had killed her father. His body had been cleared out and the rest of the Arkana soldiers subdued. Many surrendered when they learned that their leader was dead. It was all just as they had expected.
The Marines had managed to break down the door and clear out the gas, being warned of it by Colonel Dolan. Anath had been treated by a field medic. It turned out that the wound wasn’t as bad as they thought. It was just enough to render him unconscious for a bit. Now Andy’s squad, minus one, sat in the emptied throne room. It was all rather morbid, she knew, but somehow, it still seemed right.
She didn’t want to watch the goings-on, the cleanup, outside of the palace. There was much to do now, but the Marines were given a break.
There were casualties to tally, and there would be reports to write. But now, there was only liquor to drink in a victory that ultimately still felt somehow hollow.
“The war is over,” Andy said wearily. “I know we all joined up before it began, but it’s consumed everything for so long. Now it’s over. Just…cleaning up to do. Make sure all the Arkana soldiers and ships out there know that their leader is…dead.”
“What do we do with ourselves now?” Roxanna asked with a faint smile, finishing off what was in her glass, and then holding it out for more. Dan obliged.
“Jade and I are getting married,” he declared. He smiled, and the warmth was genuine, if marred by his weariness.
“Congratulations,” Andy said with a similar smile. “They won’t let you serve together anymore, though.”
He shook his head ruefully. “It won’t matter. My tour is up in a couple of months, and I’m out of the service,” he said. “I am… I don’t know what I am. Proud, I guess, but somehow that doesn’t sound right. I’m not glad. I’m something for the work I did with you, Colonel, and everyone. I’m…whatever I am, that I helped however I did, but this isn’t the career for me.”
Andy wasn’t actually surprised. She hoped a civili
an life would bring his smile and humor back to him. She looked at the younger blonde woman. “You retiring too?”
“No, actually,” Jade said, to everyone’s surprise. “This… This is right for me. I’m following it with a technical specialty. And I plan to apply for officer’s school. I’m a lifer.” She leaned against Dan, putting her head on his shoulder now that they didn’t have to be discrete. Not in this room, after this day, with this news. “He said that if I just give birth to our children, he’ll stay home and take care of them.”
“Selerid fathers do that all the time,” Roxanna said easily. “Congratulations to you both.” She toasted them with her glass, finishing this one off in similar record time. “I’m leaving the service too, I’ll admit. I still have six months, but I think I’m going to go home. Pursue a more peaceful path and let my Selerid nature…heal after this. Maybe I’ll reenlist, if Seler gets too boring.” She chuckled and just laid down against the pale floor.
“I’m staying here,” Anath said with a heavy sigh. “The Arkana cannot be allowed to become a power vacuum, and I am the full-blood son of my father. They will accept me as leader, despite my time with the ESS. When I bring them a life without constant war, it will be alright.” He smiled faintly as he looked at all of them. “You’ll all be welcome to visit, and I hope you will.”
“Hey, so long as y’all aren’t trying to kill me, I’d be happy to stop by. I’ll bring the kids.”
Jade elbowed him lightly in the thigh. “Let’s not rush the plans that much, huh?”
Everyone laughed, if tiredly.
Anath turned his head to look at Andy. “And what about you, sis?” he said. “Gonna stay in or step out? What’s next for Lieutenant Colonel Andrea Dolan?”
She smiled back at him, taking a moment to look each of them in the face before she stared at the ceiling. She thought about her mother, and her father, and about the war and her life that had led up to all of this. She thought about that handsome Commander Godfrey, or at least the feelings he’d caused in her that made her actually think about a life after the war.
She thought about life, and then she started laughing as she replied, “You know, I have no idea.”
THANK YOU
Thank you so much for reading the World Breaker Boxed Set which includes books 7 - 9 in the ESS Space Marines series. I really hope you enjoyed the stories, and the whole series. If you could take a minute and leave a review for me, that would be awesome because it helps me tell others about my books.
There aren’t any more stories featuring Andy and her Marines right now, but you might want to check out Mercury Blade, the first book in the Valyien Far Future Space Opera series. It features a crew that many have compared to the crew of the sci-fi classic Firefly.
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World Breaker Boxed Set (ESS Space Marines Omnibus Book 3) Page 27