by Vi Voxley
"Very eager," Worgen said, still not taking his eyes off the Flora. "I don't believe you. I see no reason why you would want to help me."
Truth, Lana told herself. Twisted truth, but still.
"I don't," she admitted, finally dragging Worgen's attention back to her. "You killed my crew. You will kill again. But if I can spare someone by doing what I promised you before, I will. After all, I know now what will happen if I don't listen."
Lana held her breath as Worgen considered her words. That alone told her that he did need her. The general probably had his channels and his ways of finding out about the events that took place in the galaxy, but they weren't infallible. At some point, he needed someone like Lana to explain, fill in the details, and provide background.
"Your second mistake will be more harshly punished than the first," he growled at last.
Lana almost winced. As a high-ranking officer, it was natural that she spoke Brionese, even if it was technically impossible for any non-Brion to fully master it. Their complicated language was always changing, every word gaining and losing meaning according to how it was said. Lana was sure she missed more than half of it, but the harshly most definitely meant your death now.
She considered that. A whole ship full of innocent people—that was already on her conscience. Now she risked even more. But somebody had to stop this lunatic, and now that Corden was gone, Lana had to come up with a new plan. Win the general's trust first, then look for a weakness and strike.
"I understand," she said, knowing that it was a devil's bargain and would more than likely cost her life.
Outside, the Flora had still not moved. It looked like the carrier was not going to be drawn in as easily as it should have been. To Lana, it was a clear sign that somebody aboard had lost their mind.
Guessing where a refusal like that lead, she quickly said: "Let me talk to them."
Worgen didn't respond immediately, his dark eyes back on the Flora. Annoyance had replaced the earlier hunger, but it was not gone.
Think, what might convince a maniac like that?
"I don't know what you want with them," Lana began, hoping she wasn't bringing about more death. "But people are easier to question when they're alive."
There, the same crooked smile again. So she was amusing him. That was good. Tyrants and madmen always liked their fools and if that was the part Lana had to play, she was fine with that. If it helped her cause, she was willing to put up with a lot.
Worgen nodded toward the comm console. Gratefully, Lana dashed to it, watching the standoff outside. It was the most ridiculous one she'd ever seen, an ant stubbornly refusing to get out of the way of a boot. The amount of lives at stake was less funny.
"To the Flora, come in," she said. "This is Lana Cormac, captain of the... formerly the captain of the Raptor."
The seconds of silence that followed were one of the scariest in Lana's life. She didn't know that much about Brions or their personalities, but she knew psychopaths and Worgen definitely ticked all the boxes. Guys like that weren't known for their patience and forgiveness. The Flora was edging very close to being destroyed, useful or not. Lana didn't understand how the carrier's captain didn't see that.
A male voice answered, most certainly a human male.
"This is the Flora," the man said. "Where are you, Captain Cormac? What the fuck is going on here?"
Oh good God, Lana groaned in her mind. A warship the size of a fucking moon is telling you to surrender, what do you think is going on? This man is a moron. How did he get put in charge?
"I'm aboard the Abysmal;" she responded, trying to be calm. "But that is not important. I think you see the situation fairly well yourself. I will come aboard and explain everything, but right now, just do what the Brions say."
"You're on that monstrosity?" the man asked. "Why?"
Lana's heart was once more racing so hard she could barely breathe, only this time it was from sheer agitation. The guy she was talking to was an idiot, a certifiable one. Captains of ships like the Flora had only one command when it came to unknown enemies. Try to be diplomatic and don't push your luck. If they demand something, give it to them and fly away alive. The Union would replace everything. Threatening the crew was another matter entirely. In that case, the orders were even easier.
Surrender. Do whatever it takes to protect the passengers.
"Am I speaking to the captain of the Flora?" Lana asked. "It doesn't matter where I am or why. All that is important right now is that we are in a bad situation that will get considerably worse if you don't listen to me."
"Yeah, I'm the captain," the voice said, but Lana had serious doubts about that.
Something very weird was going on aboard the Flora. At first she'd thought the captain of the carrier had severely misjudged the situation, but now it was clear to her that she wasn't talking to the real commander. No man in charge of a ship like that could have afforded being so stupid.
Caught between two madmen, Lana thought with morbid amusement. Only that one of them has an army and the other is too dumb to understand that means he's already lost.
Picking her words very carefully, she said: "All right, Captain. If you want to know what's going on and if you want to keep living, do as they say. I will explain everything when I get there."
She held her breath while on the other end, the supposed captain was hopefully looking for his eyes, brain, and good sense.
"Why would I trust you?" the voice finally asked, hesitant.
Because I'm trying to save your life, you fool, since you're clearly too dumb to live yourself.
Lana suppressed a painful, hopeless sigh. With every ounce of patience left in her body, she replied coldly: "Trust? I expect you to read the name of the Brion ship and consider that for a moment."
The captain's answer was lost in a sudden surge of voices, all speaking over each other. It seemed to Lana that some were calling to her, but she couldn't make out a single one. One thing was absolutely clear, however. She had to get to the Flora in a hurry and salvage what she could from the mess.
As she'd guessed, Worgen had no patience to listen to the quarreling crew. He walked away, Lana running after him, unwilling to be left behind. An ugly premonition set on her heart like a dark shadow. She wasn't born yesterday to be surprised when Worgen ordered a considerable amount of warriors into the fighters. Much more than he would have needed for his personal bodyguard.
I can't do anything for those people if I die, Lana told herself, but it didn't ease her conscience one bit. The damage was already done and she didn't believe for a moment anything she might have said would stop Worgen. The general had killed for less than the disrespectful manner of the Flora's captain.
She tried every reasoning she could come up with to justify staying out of the killing that was without a doubt going to commence.
I'm helping Worgen to save the fleet, along with the Flora. I'll learn his weaknesses to get revenge for everyone who have died. I'll find out his true plan and what he wants with the carrier, other than his fated.
None of it helped. All the way to the Flora, back in the general's personal fighter, Lana fought herself. Only imagining the Raptor being blown to pieces kept her silent. Her priority had to be the whole carrier, but how could she manage to stay there and help them?
They docked in the carrier after long minutes filled with ominous silence.
When Worgen left the fighter, Lana walked with him. Not because she wanted to connect herself to the general's horrible deeds in any way, but because she felt like she owed the people that were about to die at least that. Her eyes found the would-be captain, dressed like a common officer, coming their way.
"I am the captain of this ship, protected by the Galactic Union and you are—"
It had taken the man several seconds to register what he was seeing, but then he stopped so suddenly he almost stumbled. Worgen tended to have that effect on people.
Not a word escaped Lana's lips when Worgen sl
owly drew his long spear and the foolish captain just stood, pale as a ghost, as the blade smoothly beheaded him. People screamed, but Lana found her own attention firmly on the severed head.
He hadn't deserved it; nobody did. Lana had been furious with him, ready to gnaw his ear off, but she'd known he was dead two sentences into her earlier conversation with him. Worgen could hear everything, standing next to her. There was nothing she could do to shut him up and now he was gone.
She hadn't liked him, but that wasn't the same as wanting him to die. Lana added the man to the long list of people she would avenge and turned back to Worgen.
She refused to close her eyes as history repeated itself, only less discriminating this time. Worgen's warriors charged into the crowd that had come with their captain, killing without reason or regret. Lana waited, watching the bloodbath unfold. Her thoughts returned to Corden, big and strong and powerful. If he'd been there, the situation might have been different. Lana herself was no warrior and the guard standing by her side ensured she didn't even reach for a gun so she could try and score a lucky hit.
Without hurting anyone, she still felt like an accomplice.
Worgen was in the middle of the massacre, slaying people with cold precision. There was no remorse, not even anger there. He killed as if it was his nature.
In the end, the general was standing in the middle of a suddenly very empty deck, bodies heaped upon each other around him. Before, his image was enough to stop Lana's heart in her chest, but there was only loathing now. Even seeing him drenched in blood didn't make her stop anymore.
"What had they done?" she asked silently. "The captain was the only one who spoke to you."
The dark general looked at her as if she was speaking a language he didn't understand. It was in that moment that Lana truly knew he was utterly mad.
"Done?" he asked coldly. "This is a warning to everyone on this ship not to disobey me."
Lana said nothing. Pointing out no one had seemed futile when facing a monster like that.
***
Worgen took in the ship. Standing next to him, Lana wished she could have done the same. The Flora was a gorgeous ship by any standard, but she had a hard time appreciating it. Not when her mind was firmly on the guns of the Abysmal, pointed at the vessel.
The general turned his fierce attention on her and a smile flashed on his face. Now that was enough to scare Lana. With Corden gone, would she find herself as the fated of another general?
Merely thinking of his name hurt. Lana was deeply upset with herself for that. Her friends, her crew, the Raptor… but it was the warrior she couldn't get out of her head.
Luckily, Worgen said nothing of the sort. His actual words were even more surprising.
"It looks like this ship needs a new captain," he said. "Someone who understands."
You have got to be kidding me. You're just handing this to me?
"Find the bridge," Worgen said, holding her gaze. "Make yourself familiar with the ship. I will tell you what I need soon."
Before leaving Lana alone with her new command, he said with a grin: "If you please me, this ship might be in one piece when I finish with it."
And just like that, he was gone, taking his fighter back to the Abysmal, the "lesson" taught. Lana was left standing in a pool of blood, not believing a word he'd just said, but willing to make them true.
She looked around. A ship like the Flora carried close to a hundred thousand people. The Raptor had had a crew of two hundred.
Lana crouched down, laying her hand on the deck where it wasn't covered in blood. She felt the ship's beating heart, the sweet vibration of the deck under her skin. Luck hadn't been on her side much lately, but this one moment gave her hope again. The Raptor was gone, but she wouldn't lose this one.
She was a captain again.
CHAPTER TEN
Corden
Corden watched the situation unfold, analyzing it all like he always did.
The appearance of the Flora complicated things, but it still didn't make sense. It was Worgen's plan to attack Briolina, there was no way he could have misinterpreted that. That raised several unanswered questions. One, how exactly did he intend to do that?
Worgen was a formidable general and a warrior with the Abysmal at his back, but there was still only one of him. There were fifteen armies he had to go through, each and every one of them ready to abandon whatever they were doing to protect the home world. Even now, they were bound to hover somewhere nearby, waiting for Corden's word. If there was one enemy the Brions didn't underestimate, it was one of their own. They would hold the perimeter around the Abysmal as long as the fleet surrounded it like a living shield. And as long as Corden found out which parts of the legend were true. One of them said the Abysmal couldn't be damaged, not to mention destroyed.
As good of a fighter Worgen was, did he really expect to beat all of them? Corden counted himself among those who could stand against him, now that he knew he could.
His duel with Worgen hadn't been a sure bet in any way though. There was a very particular thrill that only the other general had brought out in him, the feeling of standing on the verge of death. Corden had seen it slip by him several times.
His analytical mind ensured that he wasn't in fights like that often, ones he wasn't sure he could win. But the Brion blood in his veins had loved it... the way his life hung by a thread. There was no denying the pull of his core, but Corden wasn't going to become a slave to it like Worgen had.
So, Worgen intended to take on all of the Brion armies and win. Corden thought it was insanity, to put it simply. No matter how he meant to do it—by force or persuasion or threats—Worgen was bound to fail. He was a legend, but Corden lived in a time of legends, and he’d found them to only be men beneath the myth.
That didn't make any of them less imposing. For sure, Diego Grothan didn't still carry his title because of luck.
The thought of his fellow general's name made Corden grin and slide his fingers over his braid like he was wont to. Most of the Galactic Union had never picked up that grothan wasn't Diego's real name, but a title. One given to every Brion warrior the moment the Elders told their fate.
Unlike other accolades and trophies, that title meant little when it was given, and only mattered when the warrior got older. It meant undefeated, marking out a warrior that had never suffered defeat. Not in combat, not in war, not in any way. Usually warriors lost the title before they got out of the academy. The fact Diego still had his was bordering on the impossible.
And that was only one of the men Worgen meant to simply swipe from his path.
It was madness, but Corden was not going to be the one to point it out to him. Worgen was clearly insane and he had no problem with watching the other general doom himself. The question that bothered him a lot more was why hadn't he set course for Briolina yet?
The answer had to be because he needed something first.
A gesha? Possibly.
As far as Corden could tell, it helped. An involuntary smile crept over his lips when he thought of Lana. He no longer had to rely on the words of other men when describing the sensation of having a gesha. Now he knew and it had all been true. And Worgen was the man standing between him and his fated.
Watching the Flora hover, uncertain, Corden suspected that there was more. Another thing that Worgen wanted before he could venture on to Briolina.
The carrier was acting strangely. For a ship like that, it was nonsense to try and act tough. It had no weapons to defend itself with. And if anyone with half a brain or at least one functioning eye took a good hard look at who their opponent was... Corden frowned.
Rescue missions weren't his priority, but the Union would not look kindly upon him standing by and doing nothing. One fighter was not going to help a lot, though. He sent a message to the Claw, telling his own flagship to move closer, but not to engage without his command.
There was too much Corden didn't know, and the only way he was going to get
answers was to go and ask.
He watched as the fighters left the Abysmal. Lana was still out there somewhere, needing him. Corden hoped she didn't know how much.
Carefully, he pulled into formation with the rest of the fighters, making sure he didn't dock in the same landing bay as Worgen did.
After all, he was a ghost now.
***
The Flora was a true beauty.
It wasn't the kind of rough brutality that Brions usually liked, but Corden could appreciate the carrier for what it was. And the home of more than a hundred thousand souls was nothing less than a small city. After the general left the bay and the stolen fighter behind, he vanished from sight, which was much easier than it was back on the Raptor.
The huge carrier was a living, breathing organism. It took no skill at all to stay out of sight. Not even his bulk was a problem on a ship with Torons, huge hunched beasts that worked the physically demanding jobs. Their large heads and powerful upper bodies, all covered in smooth gray fur, hid amazing strength. Corden had seen a few of them move cliffs that should have crushed them. As long as he remained no more than a shadow, he could pass for one of them.
There was panic in the air that Corden caught the whiff of as soon as he stepped aboard. His frown deepened as he cursed Worgen, so close to bringing everything down that the Elders had achieved. If the Flora was lost, the Union would not forgive. They rightfully relied on the Brions to handle the matter of Worgen, and Corden was the man whose duty it was. In the course of that, he couldn't lose a ship like Flora, almost irreplaceable even without the massive casualties it would have brought.
There was trouble to come, he knew that. One person was capable of amazing things. They could show great courage and portray stunning intelligence, but put a thousand of them in one room and all you had was a disaster. Crowds were stupid, easily scared, and panicky things. Nothing would stop a riot when the incentive was given. And Corden knew it didn't even have to be a good one, nor a just one.