by Aaron Crash
TWENTY-SEVEN_
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A blip appeared on Blaze’s display, first one, then another, then another until there were a dozen blinking blue dots above him in the ectoplasm ocean. He crouched but the liquid Onyx lowered farther and sizzled into the nanotech armor covering his back.
He ran a quick diagnostic on the objects. They were Vespula, but more than that, they were overheating their engines. Even more than that? No way, they had nukes on board, a whole mess of them. They were going to blow up the ectoplasm ocean, and they weren’t dicking around.
Blaze winced. The explosion drove him onto his belly and pressed him into the rock. The ectoplasm was cleared from above him, hell, for miles and miles, but his display showed him it wasn’t gone. They’d put a damn big hole it, sure, but that too would come back together and get to work sucking up every bit of matter in the star system.
He’d been damned lucky that the ectoplasm took the blast and not him. His nanotech armor wasn’t that good.
Blaze leapt to his feet. He let the smoking nanotech take hold of his ax, flail, and shotgun, and then he waited, arms up because he knew what was coming.
And there she was, the Lizzie Borden, flying down through the open space created by the suicidal Vespula gambit. Those ships could be autopiloted, sure, but how had his crew convinced the IPC to play ball?
Not sure, but the ectoplasm ocean was already coming back together, the tentacles from either side reaching out to pull on each other to seal up the gap.
The Lizzie spun around, the cargo bay was right there, and Blaze stepped inside. Trina and Cali were inside, Cali in a spacesuit, unconscious, strapped to a wall. Trina, though, was in vampire mode, not the ’roided out beast thing that had helped him storm the Gorebacks’ freighter, but still, the wicked light in her jet-black eyes didn’t bode well for him.
If Elle had taken off, that meant her spell on Trina was gone as well.
Blaze heard the whine of the SWD engine fill the air, and he grabbed hold of a docking ring. He was right near the energy shield which gave him a view of the vast expanse of the Etrusca ruin. Then, like before, the entire structure vanished as they generated a spacetime wave.
The ship shivered, and the deck trembled as the wave threw them through space, out of the parted ectoplasm sea, away from the remaining IPC ships, the undead dragons, and the last of the ghost ships.
The battle was over, but Blaze’s next fight began.
Let’s play our game, Blaze, Trina’s voice wormed into his mind. I’ll start. Alpha is how much I love. Bravo is your blood in my mouth. Charlie is our son’s name once you open your veins to me.
Blaze felt himself wanting to give in. He was tired, and in the end, Elle leaving had hurt. And here was Trina, a full-on vampire. Maybe he’d just give her a little blood.
He turned off his nanotech armor and all the remaining microscopic robots scurried back into the gauntlet on his right arm. His weapons fell to the floor of the cargo bay. He stood in his ripped-up, bloody old woodland cammies. “Sure, Trina,” Blaze said. “Alpha, Bravo, Charlie.”
A smile lit up her face, the veins and capillaries on her skull visible through her translucent skin. He thought he even saw some of the gray matter of her brain through her eyes.
She came over, talons out, fangs exposed.
Yeah, he’d give her a little blood. Might as well make her happy.
Pain exploded from his ankles, followed by pissed-off kitty hisses. Raziel was back, that damn cat, and was knifing her claws into Blaze’s skin.
She stared up with yellow eyes, made sure Blaze was back to his senses, and then darted out of the room.
How in the hell had that cat made it from the planet to the ghost ship and then back on board? Creepy-ass kitty.
Anyway, Trina was mesmerized by the blood flowing through Blaze, so she didn’t care. She approached him, ready to drink him up good.
When she got close, Blaze slammed Elle’s syringe into her neck and thumbed down the plunger.
Trina staggered back and fell to the acid-pocked, battle-scarred deck of the cargo bay. Blaze walked over and crouched down next to her.
He turned her over, and she was back to being a hot redhead with such cute freckles covering her nose. But those green eyes were closed.
“Hope you know what you’re doing, Elle,” Blaze whispered.
He gathered up Trina and took her to the sick bay. While he was there, he hit himself with an electric syringe of painkiller to deal with his multiple wounds. He wasn’t worried about bleeding to death or passing out, no, he’d been hurt much worse in the Bug War as well as in his three years hunting demons. He’d only been hit with a bullet. Whatever. Lead was so five hundred years ago.
He went back into the cargo bay for Cali, deactivated her suit, and noticed her bracelets had been welded closed. Good. For now. He took her and laid her on the bed next to Trina’s.
He then left and walked down the corridor to the bridge. The doors opened, and there were Ling, Fernando, and Bill, in seats, all working at holographic controls of various colors.
They weren’t talking to him. What the hell.
“So, guys, uh, hello?”
Ling brightened. “Hello, Blaze! Was that not the essence of exciting? I can’t believe that we all survived. Death remains unexplored today, at least for us.”
Bill clicked.
Fernando translated. “My brother hates you; however, he does want to thank you for introducing him to Lizzie. Their love is one for the ages. The ship is doing well, though we need some more supplies, more repairs, and do you realize we’ve lost all of our starcycles?”
“And the plasma minigun,” Ling added. “Remember how I rode it like a vehicle during our first fight with the dragons? That was so much fun. Anyway, we’re low on silver and we lost the spear gun. Also, we’re nearly out of hydrogen shells.”
Blaze cocked his head and squinted at them. “Guys, we should be celebrating. You should be hugging me, and we should all be all happy and shit. But then, we should also be a little worried. Elle is gone, and this Nauzea thing is going to come after us. So, yeah, how about a little emotional reaction?”
Ling laughed. “Oh, you Humans. So emotional. Very well.” The Shaolin sloth leapt to his feet and pumped a fist into the air. “Fuck yeah! We kicked some ass! Take that, Chthonic, lord of kiss my butt and master of shut the hell up!” He mimicked the normal Human reaction a little too well.
Fernando threw up his four arms in a very half-hearted hurray. The Clicker doctor then frowned. “I would think any kind of celebration would be premature. We have not closed the Onyx Gate. While we have coordinates, without a timestamp they are quite useless. For example, we know the Onyx Gate will appear in the Americatus quadrant near Omaha Prime, but we don’t know when it will appear there. Hence, our victory has been shadowed by another task.”
The Clicker doctor paused. “Also, I have to say, I am very sad Elle is not with us. As you know, we had a magical night together when she was intoxicated, and I can’t help but hope we’ll recreate that passion at some point. That is impossible if she is gone.”
“Don’t lose yourself to Human perversions, Fernando.” Ling crinkled his nose. “And you are right, my dear doctor. Perhaps now is not the time for the yippee. Is that the right term?”
Blaze sighed and growled. “Guys, Elle will be back. And we got Granny, so we know what she knows. We have half of the puzzle. More than that, we survived a whole ton of Onyx thrown at us. I say we celebrate.”
Bill clicked hatred.
“Did I have the word right?” Ling asked. “Yippee is a word, yes?”
Before Blaze could answer, Lizzie came over the speakers. “Hhhello, Gunny. I will give you a hhhearty hhhurrahhh. We are on course to Meelah space in pursuit of Arlo. We’ll pass through the Terran quadrant, and I’m assuming you’ll want to stop by Earth.”
“No, no time,” Blaze said. “Hey, Lizzie, any sign of Elle on your sensors?”
“N
o, Blaze, sorry, and I also can’t find my brother Chthonic. He’s kind of a dick, don’t you think?”
Blaze nodded. “Yeah, but you were too. What can you tell me about Nauzea?”
A buzzing sound filled the speakers, and Lizzie started to sing a song about Daisy, some girl named Daisy. Crazy was in the lyrics, and there was no denying Lizzie was at least partially insane.
Bill clicked laughter, and Blaze didn’t like the sound of it.
Fernando stood. “I will check on Cali and Trina in the sick bay. I saw you put them there. You should also come with me so I can check your wounds.”
Blaze found a compartment in one of the bridge chairs and pulled out a cigarillo. He put it on his lips. Ling reached out with a fusion nunchaku to light it. “Yes, Ling, yippee is a Human word you can use in a celebration.”
Ling clapped his hands together. “That makes me exceedingly pleased. This moment is good.”
Blaze took the smoke into his mouth and relaxed some. “With a cigar? Life is good. I hope Elle remembers that. Now, tell me what happened with the IPC. Why did they sacrifice all those Vespula and nukes to save me?”
Fernando clicked in amusement. “No, Gunny, that wasn’t for you. That was to save one of their Paladins. The Etrusca ruin crushed the Paladin it had seized, and the crew abandoned the ship and fled to the other Paladin in the grips of the ectoplasm ocean. The tip of the hull was gone, but they decided if they flew the Vespula into the ocean and detonated the nukes, it might free the ship. It worked, while at the same time allowing us to free you. I saved Alvin Denning’s last message to you. It has colorful language, to say the least. But now, I think, the IPC will have to consider the existence of Onyx energy. They lost a great deal of personnel and resources in the Hutchinson Prime debacle.”
“Lost us as well,” Blaze added. “And those pinche Goreback cannibal putas. Any sign of them?”
“None,” Ling said. “But I have a feeling we’ll be seeing them again.”
“You can count on that. Those murdering psychopaths don’t get to live in my galaxy,” Blaze said. “Not while I’m still breathing.”
The gunny smoked the cigar to a nub, then stood up and walked down to the sick bay with the Clicker doctor. “Hey, Fernando, I’m trying to figure out the ghost ships. They were fighting on our side, which I don’t get. Chthonic ruled every ghost on Hutchinson Prime. I’d talk to Elle about this stuff, but she’s MIA. You’re our new Onyx expert.”
Fernando rubbed the fingertips on both sets of his hands together. “I believe the ghosts were acting of their own accord. We’ve seen spectral entities possess spacecraft before. From speaking with Ling, it seems the girl and her father wanted to thank you. And the cat was with the ghosts. Bill set up a new sensor which scans for Raziel. Perhaps the cat was helping us as well.”
“Feels right, but that cat isn’t normal. But she’s not an Onyx creature either. So, what is our Raziel?” Blaze asked.
“A mystery,” Fernando said. “To quote Ling, isn’t it wonderful we can know so much about the supernatural and yet be so confounded by a simple cat?”
Blaze had to laugh at that. The two entered the sick bay, where Fernando took the bullet out of him, repaired his wounds with synthetic skin, and got him going again.
Cali slept on, but after being a werewolf for hours, killing hundreds of dragons, the girl could use some rest.
Trina also remained unconscious. But when she woke up, would she be Human or vampire?
While they pondered the question, Fernando switched from doctor to novice witch. “Your sister is betting that Trina can process the special Onyx solution in the syringe like blood. It’s an interesting if desperate theory, and we’ll see if it pays off.”
Blaze frowned, hating that Elle had gone off. Without her presence, the ship felt so empty.
“Keep me posted,” Blaze said. It’d be rough if he had to put Trina down after so much time and so many near misses. He just had to hope for the best.
The gunny left the sick bay and showered up, washing off the blood, sweat, and dirt on his skin. They weren’t going to stop on Earth, but hopefully, they could find a normal bounty job to take on the way to Meelah space. They needed the money to resupply.
But where was he going to sleep? He stopped by the weapons locker, half-filled with hullfoam. The yellow hardened crust meant he would have to find another place to get some shut-eye. And he didn’t have a hammock he could string up anywhere. The master suite was still a fire-damaged mess on top of the bad memories he had of recent events there.
Blaze wandered by Cali’s room, letting out a long breath. That girl. That wolf. She was getting harder to control, even with Fernando’s knowledge of Onyx speak. The doctor had been able to talk her down during their battle with Xerxes, but could that have been a one-time thing? Just the thought depressed him. She had been such a nice, quiet, shy girl, religious even, but now she was being torn apart by the beast within.
Blaze found himself in the library, which Trina had claimed for her own. The smell of her perfume greeted him at the door, and her clothes were littered about the place. Of course, her bed was unmade. For being a former IPC auditor, she was messy. As the commanding officer on the Lizzie Borden, Blaze could order her to keep her room tidy, but as her boyfriend, such a move would be the very essence of unwise. And who cared about a few clothes anyway?
He eased himself down on the bed, watching the stars stream past the window. The glass was still smeared from the zombie vomit that the alpha obsidian had puked on them. Had they really survived all those undead dragons?
Yep. They had. His family was alive, but they weren’t together.
The door opened and Raziel strutted in. The cat jumped onto the bed and curled up next to Blaze, purring loudly.
The gunny petted the calico until both were fast asleep.
He woke when another, much bigger warm body curled around him, touching him in all the right places. In the light of the stars streaming by, he saw it was Trina, as Human as Human could be.
Raziel leapt down from the bed and strutted out the door. Smart pinche cat.
Trina guided the gunny’s hands to where she wanted them. “I’m me, Blaze,” she whispered. “The Onyx serum has given me control, at least for a little while. While I’m still Human, I want to do mammal stuff with you. Are you interested?”
As an answer, Blaze drew her in for a kiss. Then they did a whole lot more.
The next day, Blaze was in the galley, cooking up carne asada for a victory feast. Cali came in and without saying a word, stepped up and hugged him tight. She was in a blue dress and black leggings, no shoes. Her hair was soft and clean. Around her wrists were new nanotech bracelets, lead-lined, to keep the moon rocks away from her skin. Bill had consulted with Lizzie, and both thought these would be better, but Blaze knew that in her werewolf form, Cali was amazingly smart and could probably figure out a way to disable the bracelets.
Bill and Lizzie were also coming up with a way to monitor Trina’s Onyx levels, now that it seemed Granny’s serum allowed her to live without blood. That way, if Trina got too low, it would be a warning sign she was about to vamp out.
Ironically, Blaze found himself fighting monsters with monsters. Sad, and yet, they had done so well time and again.
Blaze held Cali. He wasn’t quite sure what was going on, but he wanted to offer her some comfort. Then Cali whispered, “Can you ever forgive me? I killed Granny. I clawed you up. I would’ve killed Trina if my fusion claws had worked. I’m sorry, Blaze. I’m so sorry.”
The gunny squeezed her tight one last time and let her go. “Darlin’, everyone is trying to kill me all the time. You, Trina, Elle, by leaving me. So take a ticket and stand in line. I forgive all of you. We’re a damn strange bunch, but we’re alive, and once again, we won.”
Tears streamed down Cali’s face. “I don’t know how much longer I can do this. And I miss Elle so much.”
“I do too,” Blaze said.
Cali t
urned to leave.
The gunny called her back. “Cali, wait.”
In the doorway, she turned, her face so young and innocent, with so much pain in those cornflower eyes. “Yeah, Blaze?”
“Only a bit longer, Cali. We’ll find Arlo, he’ll tell us when we can find the Onyx Gate, Granny already told us where. We’ll end the evil. Then we can be done, okay?”
Cali nodded and left.
Those eyes haunted him, though.
Hours later, Blaze sighed in his seat in the cargo bay after their usual victory meal.
He’d eaten way too much, drank too much beer, and was enjoying his post-feast smoke, a Romeo y Julieta Churchill lit with his fusion ax.
Ling rubbed his furry belly, swollen from too many caterpillars and Meelah leaves. Bill and Fernando were still chowing down on their high-protein fungus, and knowing those two, were itching to get back to work. Damn bugs needed to learn how to enjoy themselves and celebrate the little victories along the way.
Cali was sleepy from the meal, and she was nestled next to Ling. They’d taken a little of her blood for Trina, who sipped it demurely from a little shot glass. Cali had not been too thrilled. Even when she wasn’t a werewolf, she wasn’t a big fan of Trina’s. There had been a growing tension between Cali and the Irish vampire. Of course, the two fighting each other when they weren’t Human didn’t help things any.
So far, there hadn’t been any major fireworks yet, and thank goodness for that. Girl drama would end Blaze at that point.
Raziel ate tuna fish they’d dumped from a can onto a plate that Blaze set near him. He liked that weird cat, though there was no way it wasn’t some kind of supernatural something. Didn’t register any Onyx energy, so it wasn’t evil. Probably wasn’t evil, but you never knew.
They’d left Elle’s place empty. During the meal, they kept glancing over at it. Blaze felt the pain keenly.
For the first three years of hunting demons together, he’d wanted to keep her and the rest of his crew at arm’s length, thinking of them as hunting partners and not family. This is what happened with family: they left you alone just when you got used to them.