by Vi Voxley
Corden heard the call inside him, saying that a monster like Worgen didn't deserve a quick death after all the pain and suffering he had caused. But the monster standing above him looked at his gesha watching him with fearful eyes, waiting. And knew that he had to do the right thing, for all Brions.
He lifted his spear and struck, clean and fast.
He had won.
CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
Corden
Lana ran to him.
Corden would never admit to anyone how much of a relief it was to have her in his embrace. For a second while his gesha was waiting for him to decide what to do with Worgen, he'd thought she would remain scared of him.
Cradling her into his arms, pressing his face in the silk of her hair was the best feeling he'd ever experienced. No victory in battle was anything compared to Lana still loving him despite seeing him at his weakest moment.
Realizing the state of his armor, Corden wanted to let go.
"I'm getting blood all over you," he said, but Lana just shook her head and they stood like that for a long, long moment.
"I didn't want you to see me like that," the general finally said.
Lana took a moment to answer. At last, his gesha lifted her beautiful blue eyes to him, shining under waves of her curly brown hair and smiled.
"It wasn't a pretty sight, no," she said, still breathless, "but I saw the real you. Now I know who you are."
Corden searched her eyes for any trick, but she hadn't meant that as a goodbye. On the contrary, her eyes were shining with an emotion he wasn't sure he'd seen in them before. It spoke of the future, of a happier time without constant danger and enemies from a dark past.
The moment lasted until he remembered they might have been celebrating too soon.
"We still have to take the Abysmal," Corden said.
Lana nodded, but the smile wouldn't leave her lips.
"Yes," she said. "We must end this nightmare. I want to be far away from here."
If that wasn't an incentive, Corden didn't know what was.
***
Even with Worgen gone, the Abysmal remained dark and looming as Corden rushed through the corridors to the bridge. Signs of fighting were everywhere, but they seemed distant and quiet to him. No wonder, the fact that his warriors were now aboard too was making the battle more even. The only concern he had was whether the Abysmal had decided to open fire upon the fleet or not.
Nearing the bridge, the general was joined by his warriors who were heading that way as well. They reported that most of the ship was now under their control, but a few places remained where fighting still continued. The bridge was one of them.
"What about the fleet?" Corden demanded. "And the Flora?"
"They're still in one piece, but we don't know who is in charge on the bridge," one of the warriors responded. "We think they are waiting for Worgen to give the order to fire upon the ships."
That is good, Corden thought.
There was only one good thing that had come from Worgen's terrible regime, and that was that without him, the warriors didn't dare act on their own. That meant the bridge could be taken before the Abysmal opened fire upon the fleet. All they had to do was make sure none of them heard of Worgen's death.
The general considered his options. They could overrun the bridge with force. Corden knew there was no one left aboard who could face him, but all it took was one officer firing the Abysmal's guns and the fleet dutifully following them would suffer.
No, there had to be another way.
The idea came to him after a minute and Corden ordered his warriors to follow him to the bridge. When they got nearer, he encountered Captain Soren and his men attacking the bridge. Corden ordered his men to stay back and wait. At his command, the break-in attempts at the bridge stopped and Soren pulled back his men, playing out a tactical retreat.
After giving the enemies a few moments to realize something was going on, a message sounded over the ship. Corden listened to Soren's voice with morbid amusement.
"The enemy general is dead," the message sounded. "The rest of the warriors are withdrawing. Bridge, send reinforcements to cut off their exit routes."
The general was pleased. Soren had enough authority in his voice to pull off the trick, and after a few moments, the doors of the bridge opened. At first the doorway was heavily guarded, but seeing no one, the officers started hurrying back and forth, trying to establish order in the chaos around them.
Corden had told his men to wait in hiding, but he was seeing it all with his own two eyes. A grin appeared on his lips when it turned out slipping on the bridge of a Brion warship wasn't that much more difficult that it had been with the Flora. Worgen's crew was simply too afraid, living in an eternal state of anxiety, that they were ignoring their own senses.
The general was certain that some of them were able to hear him quietly enter the bridge, after all they had Brion senses too. But none of them raised the alarm, too busy trying to make everything work again.
He waited patiently, observing the many work stations. Corden wasn't about to risk missing one console that could have opened fire on the fleet. After a few moments, listening to the panicked crew try to understand what was going on, he charged out of cover.
The enemies drew their weapons, but it was too late. Corden's spear slashed through them as they tried to stop him, killing quickly and precisely so as not to miss any. He had been right as well. Worgen had instilled a deep fear in the men and had apparently given orders to punish the fleet in the event of an attack.
Three men attempted to fire the Abysmal's powerful weapons, but didn't succeed. The screams alerted Corden's men waiting outside, who were now able to break in to the bridge and take it over without endangering the fleet.
Corden watched it all happen with almost passive curiosity. After Worgen's death, there was nothing challenging him on the ship. He ordered a new message to be broadcast, making it very clear which general was dead. Another message was sent to the fleet, telling them it was all over. That the Abysmal was no longer a danger to them.
After that, the general stood by the screens, watching the fleet slowly pull away. Some ships jumped immediately as soon as they were told it was safe. Others stayed, like the Flora. Corden left Captain Soren in charge, knowing that if there was anyone he could trust with an indestructible ship, it was him.
Now that he had done his duty, all he wanted was Lana.
***
As it turned out, all his gesha wanted was to make sure everything was fine.
"There is so much to do," Lana said, the brightest smile on her lips that Corden had ever seen on her. "I have to find out where my old crew is. I have to make sure Helia is fine. And the Torons—"
Corden silenced her with a kiss. Her endless enthusiasm was endearing, even if he longed to claim her again. She had changed out of her ripped clothes, but the new ones seemed to be a size too small for her. A part of the general thought she was doing it on purpose, seeing the mischievous smile on her lips.
"You're right," he said with only a small tinge of regret, gathering his gesha in his arms. "We must end this properly. And then I will take you to Briolina."
Lana smiled, returning his kiss, not protesting one bit.
Still, they remained locked together until the calls for both were starting to get too urgent to ignore. Lana was still the captain of the Flora and Corden found himself with two warships that required his attention.
They resolved to deal with all of that. Now that they could finally be together, neither of them wanted any distractions.
Corden let Lana go, grinning when she looked back and winked at him, promising great things to come. His cock stirred, seeing her gorgeous body barely covered by her new clothes. The flight to Briolina was going to be better than he could have ever imagined.
But before that, Corden still had duties, and not all of them were pleasant.
The Abysmal had to be taken to Briolina, that much was clear to him. It
was up to the Elders to decide what would become of it and the clones. He agreed that it was a question neither of them were able to answer.
That still left the originals who had sided with Worgen. Many had died during the battle, but not all of them. Corden ordered the ship to be searched from top to bottom, putting the Claw's scanners to work to root out any who might have thought to hide.
He told his warriors to take the enemies alive and lock them up, if they were willing to surrender. They would face the Elders as well, but Corden suspected their fate was going to be harsher than that of the technically unborn clones.
Before all of that, he recalled the Torons. One by one, the packs returned to the landing bay. There was no need to use big words with them and Corden was grateful for that. He made true on his promise, however, and delivered Worgen's head to the beasts. The body would stay with him and be taken to Briolina along with everything else.
The Torons accepted the head and boarded in silence. Corden said nothing, knowing what went on in their heads. After a bloody fight like that, the Torons were very grim as they hated resorting to violence. But like Corden, there was a part of them that was simply very, very good at it.
Corden arranged for them to be taken back to the Flora so the carrier could continue its long trip. He wondered how well that was going to go after all the deaths, but the flotilla that was supposed to accompany it had already been signaled and was en route to them. Besides, the general knew there was no chance they'd meet anyone worse than Worgen out there.
Finally, Corden called half of his men to the Abysmal to prepare to fly alongside him back to the Brion home world. In an ironic way, the dark ship was going to take them home after all, but it would not be the arrival they'd hoped for.
Corden himself, along with Tuven and Arben, were the last to depart the Abysmal. The two warriors were even more invigorated now that they were free at last. Only the death of Ilen was heavy on their conscience.
"He died a Brion," Corden said. "One day, so will you."
They nodded and the general could see the burden lessen. It was a good sign that they understood. To be a Brion. That was all they needed.
CHAPTER FORTY
Lana
When Lana left the dark ship for the last time, she made sure to take Helia with her.
The relief she felt was so great that it threatened to bury her under it. The nightmare had finally ended and she honestly couldn't believe they'd survived to tell the tale.
Lana regretted each and every death that Worgen had brought, but watching the fleet and the Flora, she knew their escape was nothing short of a miracle.
And she was bonded for life to the man who was the miracle.
After Corden had left to make sure the Abysmal was no longer a danger, Lana had remained behind with Helia. She knew how important it was that the girl see that Worgen was really dead. Monsters like that were easily left in the minds of their victims. And since this one had originally been a legend, Lana was reluctant to make him a ghost story for the second time.
Helia had not wanted to approach Worgen at first, but Lana had made her come close enough to least see he was gone. After that, she thought they had both seen more than their share of death. The corridors of the Abysmal were filled to the brink with it, so they passed quickly and headed into one of the landing bays that wasn't covered in corpses. With every second, Helia seemed to calm down more, only letting out a quiet scream when she saw Torons.
Lana assured her the beasts were quite safe now, but she supposed that one would take longer to get over.
It was there that she was reunited with Corden again, relishing the chance to simply be in his arms. But Lana wanted more, so much more. Her mind's eye conjured images of a silent morning where no alarms called them anywhere. She would wake up and see Corden already awake, watching her with that amazing grin of his. And they would just stay there, safe and sound.
And it was all there, well within her reach. So close and so real she could almost taste it, but first they had to make sure no one needed them for a while. That meant dealing with the aftermath, so Lana made her way back to her ship.
She said goodbye to Helia, hoping that the girl would have more luck in the future. Silently she wondered if she was strong enough to go through with the rest of the long trip the Flora had in front of it.
That brought her to the more pressing question of her successor. The carrier had lost quite a few captains in a few weeks. The first was killed, the second murdered, and the third was going on her honeymoon.
The smile that Corden's name kept bringing to her lips fell when Lana remembered Yarel. She was at the bridge and had been about to surrender the command to the Palian.
"Who is the next in line?" she was forced to ask, sadness overwhelming her for a moment.
The crew pointed at a young Palian, one Lana thought she had seen handle Yarel's commands. That was good enough of a recommendation for her.
"All right," she said. "I pass the captaincy over to you. To be honest, I had no right to this in the first place."
"Commander Yarel thought very highly of you," the Palian said, smiling sadly. "He said you were the only reason we are still here."
Corden is, Lana thought, but she supposed she had done her share.
In any case, the praise lifted her spirits a bit and she answered the smile.
"Take care of the Flora," she said. "In his memory."
"I will," the Palian promised. "And in yours."
Lana laughed softly and left the bridge in full confidence that the carrier would be fine. As she walked back to the bay where a Brion fighter was waiting for her, the emotion she felt was bittersweet.
The Flora had never been hers, not truly, but she felt attached to the immense carrier. After she had fought so hard to protect it, it was almost painful to leave. On the other hand, nearly every corner reminded her of the blood flowing down the decks, bringing back memories she wanted to forget.
No, it was good that someone else was taking the Flora wherever its destination was. Lana was content to know it was safe. The screens mounted on the walls showed her what was left of the fleet. One by one, the ships were leaving. Some seemed to take comfort from the presence of the Brion warships, reluctant to leave the Claw's protective shadow.
Many were already gone and Lana grinned, thinking of the amount of rumors this incident would create. She'd have to make sure she gave her own account to the Galactic Union, to make sure they didn't find a way to pin it all on the Brions.
Tuven and Arben were waiting for her by the fighter. Lana looked at the cut marks on their necks, thinking that was another irony. Corden was sending them to watch over her because they were the two warriors she knew the best despite what they had been.
"We are grateful," Arben said when they were on their way to the Claw.
Lana was watching the last ships of the fleet jump away. The Flora was the one that stayed the longest. Maybe the warp drives of the carrier took the longest to fire up, but Lana wanted to believe it was their way of saying goodbye.
"For what?" she asked.
"For you leading us to the bay," Tuven said. "We got the chance to help the general."
Yeah, I'm pretty proud of that one myself.
Lana nodded , watching the two warriors observe her. They both looked...excited? She didn't have to look far for an answer.
"We are going to Briolina now," she said. "If you don't mind me asking, what do you remember of it?"
The warriors answered with the first smiles Lana had ever seen upon their faces. They were shy at first, hesitant, as if they weren't sure if they'd earned the right to be happy.
"We couldn't forget," Tuven said. "But we still can't wait. It's been so long. It will almost feel like the first time seeing it."
Lana laughed.
"I guess that makes three of us, then," she said.
Corden was waiting for them in the hangar of the Claw. Lana couldn't fight the smile that seeing him brought
to her lips, even if she'd left him only an hour ago. The general answered with the grin she loved and Lana could already see the lazy mornings in her mind.
She hadn't even questioned it. Lana wasn't entirely sure which moment had made the bond real for her, but it had happened. A part of her felt like it was all going too quickly, that she was making a mistake by throwing herself head-first into the bond.
Maybe it was, but Lana didn't care. All she knew was that when she returned to the Flora, she hadn't even consider staying. Nor boarding some other ship to take her back to Terra.
Her heart was set on him and she couldn't deny it, didn't want to deny him anything.
The two warriors saluted their general and Corden answered.
"I have told Captain Frilen that you will report to him now," he told them. "You can find him on the R deck by the training arenas."
Before they were able to leave, Corden added:
"This will be hard. Much harder than fighting. My men will distrust you, but you are Brions. Remember your oaths."
Both nodded and left them alone at last.
"Do you think they will manage to adjust here?" Lana asked when Corden led her deeper into the warship.
"Yes," the general said, and there was no doubt in his voice.
Lana noticed how different the Claw was to the Abysmal. The hallways were still dark, but there was something comforting about it. Like the dimness of your own room, a cloak rather than a bag over your head. With a smile, she noticed that Corden's valor squares provided her with light and that his arm was around her shoulders, guiding her.
Lana had not made a choice to go with him. To be with Corden had been no choice at all. It had become the only life she could accept.
EPILOGUE
Lana
"I am so nervous," Lana said.
A week had passed since they left the fleet and the Flora. A week since Worgen had died and the nightmare had finally ended.
And Lana couldn't have been happier. She had had no doubts about the bond in the end, or about going with Corden to Briolina or wherever her gerion had to go. But if there was one small thing nagging at her, it was whether the passion between them was the result of just the danger or something bigger.