The mindspeaking had been real. Painfully so—he could still smell Ellis on his skin. He didn’t move under the sonic showerheads immediately, relishing the scent of his lover. For five years he’d held tight to the belief that they would find him or avenge his death. He didn’t know how, but he’d been faithful. No one had been able to tempt him when he kept his memories so near. Every day, he’d vividly recalled each touch and caress and each day it’d killed him to believe that he would never feel it again.
The thoughts soured his mood and he quickly scrubbed the dead skin cells away. He dressed efficiently. He needed to return to the bridge. His hands tightened into resentful fists, but he’d hidden away long enough. He had a ship to run. Grabbing up his communicator, he called up their medic and asked her to join Ellis in his quarters.
She arrived unnaturally quickly, and Julian wondered if she had been hovering. With a quick scan, she confirmed that Ellis’s vitals were a bit better. It should have been a soothing thought, but there wasn’t any real comfort. They were still light years away from Airtha Prime.
Donning his uniform jacket, he moved quickly to once more brush his lips across Ellis’s brow. It was painful to walk out of the room. His legs were heavier with every step that took him closer to the bridge.
After years of clinging to memories that had faded over time, he was surprised at how vividly they came back to him with Ellis’s presence; he had woken with Ellis’s body spooned against his.
They had always fit together perfectly.
The lift ground to a halt and the doors slid open. Barth slouched against the far wall, unreadable in his silent regard. They nodded in greeting. He didn’t ask how Ellis was and Julian didn’t offer anything. Ignorance seemed to be blissful, as far as the Cembrian was concerned. Then again, the entire ship probably knew everything and he appreciated Barth’s silence, however temporary.
“I’ve done a bit of engine modding.”
“Oh?”
“I took power away from our nonessentials—no holovids for the next week—but we should have enough of a boost to bring us into Airtha space within the next two days.”
Julian blinked in surprise. “Thank you.”
“I’ve seen more life in you in the past two days than I have in the past few years. I can only imagine what sort of chaos we’ll be able to raise once he’s more solidly back amongst the living.”
Julian’s lips twitched in a weak semblance of a smile.
Barth shifted in his place. “I’ve also checked our weapon upgrades. They’re holding strong.”
Even after years of hunting the Ethervold, the modifications to their laser arrays were untested, and Ezvorkian would not sacrifice Ellis without a fight. But Julian had faith in his Smews in general, and Barth in particular. They would not fail.
The lift slowed to a stop and Julian stepped out onto the bridge. Barth remained in place, leaving the captain to wonder how long he’d been riding in wait for him.
The bridge fell silent as he moved to his command post, which his first mate surrendered immediately. Sitting behind the large console, Julian checked the coordinates. Airtha Prime was impossibly close. They were less than a half-day’s journey from the outer rims of their system and he sent a thankful thought to his engineer.
His flight team was trading subtle glances and he stood again, drawing every eye in the room. They all rose in response.
“There’s no profit in going to Airtha Prime,” he said at length. “And I sacrificed a lucrative escort arrangement to go. If anyone wishes to make arrangements regarding their cut of the deal, they can discuss it with me or Kaelem.” No one spoke up. “This is something I want communicated to the remainder of the crew as well, understood?” A few scattered nods were the only answers he received. “When we reach Airtha, I will likely travel to the surface. Mr. Jensen will be left in charge.” The woman in question nodded in acknowledgement. “We may be some time, but I’m asking for everyone’s forbearance with this. If you do get questions—from anyone—apologize on my behalf. This is a personal matter and—”
“Sir?” Jensen interrupted. “We understand. All of us.”
Julian inclined his head. “Thank you.” He seated himself again. “We will probably be hailed in a few hours. Let’s make sure we’re sending out friendship and greeting beacons. We don’t want any misunderstandings once we enter Airtha space.”
His communications team nodded and entered the commands. Julian settled back into his seat, his thoughts focusing on the flight path ahead of them.
Chapter Fourteen
Borders of Orekian Space, en route to Airtha Prime
Coalition Standard Date 113-233.5
Julian’s communicator buzzed violently next to him and he forced his eyes open. Disoriented, he blinked rapidly. Ellis’s frail body lay still in his arms and Julian gently ran his knuckles down the curve of the man’s slender neck. His breathing was a bit easier now than it had been before the mindspeak, but the medic showed no confidence in the longevity of the improvements.
Shifting, Julian reluctantly pulled away and grabbed the comm from the small table beside him. “Gaspar here.”
“You’ll want to come to the bridge, Captain,” Jensen said.
Julian frowned. “Can it wait?”
“We have a tail.”
Julian’s frown deepened. Turning the communicator off, he leaned over and brushed his lips against Ellis’s temple. Underneath the sour smell of sickness, Ellis was still there, albeit faintly. He stood and gathered his clothes.
When he arrived on the bridge a few minutes later, his attention was immediately drawn to the viewing screen. A familiar vessel hovered in the distance. The Ethervold. He’d been searching for her since Ellis’s disappearance, but the ship had proven impossible to find. He’d bribed a handful of Glemisian spies and gradually collected rumors of stolen nondetection technology. That the Ethervold was appearing now told him that Ezvorkian wanted to talk.
“Care to tell me why we haven’t shot that bastard out of the sky yet?”
“He’s trying to hail us.”
“I don’t care. Blow him—” Julian paused. What if killing Ezvorkian resulted in Ellis’s death? “Have we spoken with Kaelem yet?”
“He’s on his way,” Jensen said. “Our shields are at full and Barth has our entire artillery at the ready. What are your orders with regards to the hail?”
Julian nodded sharply. Moving to his command chair, he waited for the small screen to rise out of the arm. Ezvorkian appeared after a smattering of pixilation, a smug smile plastered on his face. The Zzesstari, far from the desiccated, half-dead thing Julian had encountered five years past, looked disgustingly healthy. His complexion was flush with life, making him appear almost human, even if the skin pulled just a little too tightly across his head. When Julian thought of Ellis lying half-dead two decks below, his blood roared with rage. And he had to stop himself from putting his fist through the screen.
“Captain Gaspar, how charming to see you again. I wondered where my favorite plaything scuttled off to.” His words were pointed in their meaning and diction. Every syllable that fell from Ezvorkian’s mouth sounded planned and carefully chosen. He was trying to get a rise. “Have you had a joyful reunion?”
“Shall I introduce you to our laser array, Captain Ezvorkian?”
Ezvorkian raised his hands. “There is no need for hostilities, Captain. I’m simply here to collect what is mine. After that, we will allow your ship to be on her way.” The Zzesstari chuckled. “If you’ll recall your time aboard, I’m sure you’ll remember that we have certain advantages.”
He and Barth had slaved away at recreating the specs of the Ethervold after their imprisonment. Each free moment for months had been dedicated to determining each possible firearm and shield setting. And each subsequent change to the Kestrel had been made with their decisions well in mind.
“We’d be happy to dance.” Julian held up a hand to prevent his bridge crew from firing. He d
idn’t want to tip their hand so early. “You won’t take him back.”
Ezvorkian’s lips perked up at the corners of his mouth. “But I will.” He leaned forward, as if to whisper something, though he had to know that Julian’s entire bridge crew was listening. “Your little catamite was very pleasing to me, Captain Gaspar. I’m sure that being as acquainted with his talents as you are, you can have little doubt of that.”
“Keep talking, corpse-feeler. You’re not buying yourself any more time.”
“In fact, I remember your time among my crew to be exceedingly satisfactory. I can’t quite recall the last time when I was so well-pleased by any of my guests.” He bared sick yellow teeth and bright red gums. “Of you and your Cembrian, in particular, I have the fondest memories. Your screams were exquisite.”
Julian remembered the Zzesstari’s torture and his hand clenched into a fist.
Some of it must have shown in his expression, because smug satisfaction crept across the corpse-feeler’s face. “Ellis provided me with something very, very valuable. Though I don’t anticipate having the value robbed from me through any inept attempt you may feel is warranted, I would prefer if you would give him over without a struggle. In return, I shall let you and yours continue unmolested and forgive your interference.”
“Your guns may be bigger,” Julian lied, “but I’m willing to bet the Kestrel is faster. Why don’t you chase us into Airtha space, Captain Ezvorkian? I’m sure they’d be happy to receive you.” Had he not been so intimately acquainted with the alien, he might have missed the slight twitch to Ezvorkian’s eye at the mention of the Airthir.
A second later, the Ethervold fired on them. The lasers refracted brilliantly along the Kestrel’s shields, hitting with a patterned one-two-three beat. He glanced at his diagnostics, pleased to see that the new equipment they were using to reinforce their shields was holding in face of the attack.
“Barth, report!” his first mate shouted.
“She’s holding beautifully. Let me introduce the corpse-feeler to the vacuum.”
“Not yet,” Julian said. “Stand by.”
“Consider that a warning, Captain,” Ezvorkian said, sitting back, apparently ignorant of his attack’s ineffectiveness. “You have two minutes to maneuver into a boarding position.”
“Or what?” Julian asked. “If you destroy the ship, you destroy yourself. Isn’t that how the soul ring works?”
“You know nothing of the matter.” There was a hiss to his voice; a snarl from anyone who was not so thoroughly in control of themselves.
“I don’t? Well, let me tell you what I do know. You’ve been eating pieces of his soul for the past five years. I’m betting that as soon as the link between you is severed, you will loose each little chunk that you’ve stolen.” Julian raised an eyebrow and let out a sarcastic sigh. “That sounds painful.”
“Don’t trifle with me, human!” Ezvorkian growled, finally losing his composure. “Return the boy to me.”
Another burst of laser fire shot out towards them. Julian shouted out for evasive maneuvers, hoping to avoid another hit to the section of their shields which had suffered through the first attack. The ship jerked to starboard, giving Ezvorkian a clear shot at their hull as they pulled away.
Julian gripped the arms of his chair hard. One of his pilots was thrown from his seat as three more shots followed in quick succession. Julian jumped to his feet and quickly grabbed the man’s arm to help him up, bracing them both against a nearby console as the corpse-feeler fired on them once more.
“Diagnostics!” The last blast had obviously been charging to compensate for the increased power to their shields.
“Shields are holding.”
Julian glowered at the viewing screen. “Let’s see if our guns are any more effective.” He dropped back into his seat, greeted by the corpse-feeler’s smirk. “Ezvorkian, I’m going to blow out your engines and let you sit here, useless, until I see fit to return for you.”
“And how do you intend to do that? Your rig could hardly support the infantile arrays you boasted last time.”
“Last time we hadn’t had five years to imagine this moment.” He hit the intercom button to his side. “Barth, target their engines and fire at will!”
“With pleasure, Captain.” On screen, they watched six blue beads of light tagging their torpedoes as they darted towards the Ethervold. The ship tried to veer aside, but each one connected. The first two shredded the shields into electromagnetic tatters and the rest of the salvo slammed home with devastating force. The other ship barely cleared the blast zone, trailing atmosphere and debris. Ezvorkian began desperately shouting at the crew, all rapidly buzzing into action behind him.
“How?” Ezvorkian screamed.
“We’ve been dealing with private contracts since the end of the war, corpse-feeler. We bought some new toys.” He leaned forward. “I owed you that. And I’m prepared to give you what Ellis owes you as well.”
“Go ahead, then, Captain Gaspar.” Ezvorkian’s voice lowered to a whisper. “I welcome the pain that my death will bring you.”
Julian was about to give the order when the doors to the bridge slid open and Kaelem stepped out. The Airthir moved to his side and placed a hand on his shoulder. A wave of calm flooded Julian’s mind, tempering his anger.
“You could destroy him,” Kaelem’s voice whispered. “But it would be the death of your lover.”
Julian’s mind was suddenly at war. They didn’t even know if Ellis was going to make it to Airtha alive, and even the thought of destroying the Ethervold was unprecedentedly pleasing. During the war, he had never taken a life pettily and it galled him that he was considering it. But if they left Ezvorkian here and carried on their way, the Ethervold might make the necessary repairs and disappear into space, never to be found.
“How sure are you?”
“The soul rings take time to devour a life, and that life is retrievable as long as the bond exists. Destroy the matching ring Ezvorkian wears and Ellis will not survive.”
The Zzesstari continued to scream orders at his crew. They had delivered four crippling shots… The Ethervold was as good as done for unless Ezvorkian’s engineering team could work miracles. They could go to Airtha and have Kaelem’s people try to help Ellis, but the chance that Ezvorkian would abandon ship or somehow restore engine functionality remained and Julian risked forever losing his chance for revenge.
Was revenge more important than the meager hope that Ellis might live?
With an angry jerk of his arm, Julian closed the communication relay. “Mark these coordinates for our return course.” He regarded his pilot. “Let’s get to Airtha. Full speed.”
“Aye, Captain.”
They pulled away from the other ship, jumping to their top speed in less than a second. Julian silently vowed that they would return and finish what they started—with Ellis either standing at his side or in his coffin waiting to be put to rest.
Chapter Fifteen
Airtha Space, two hours from planetfall
Coalition Standard Date 113-234.5
Small luxuries disappeared from the ship with increasing frequency, but they reached Airtha space faster than Julian anticipated. All around him, crew members were scurrying to complete their tasks wrapped in thermal blankets because the heating conduits of the ship had been rerouted to engine. It all seemed worth it as the planet came into view from the room he and Ellis shared.
Airtha Prime’s beauty was lost on Julian; dangerous gases made the planet purple with wisps of white clouds threading through volatile skies. The surface was inhospitable to human visitors. The gaseous clouds surrounding the volcanic rock were deadly without breathing apparatuses or proper inoculation. To accommodate the Coalition’s numerous visitors, a large space station had been set up in the upper stratosphere of the planet. They were escorted past it by the two flagships that had intercepted them upon their entrance to Airtha space. Jensen had conducted the greetings with aplomb and diplo
matic flair; far better than Julian could have done in his current state of mind.
Every minute they drew closer to Airtha, Julian spent an increasing amount of time in his cabin. Ellis was wasting away by inches. Barth was in and out, but Kaelem was more persistent. He would stand with a subtle tension in his thin shoulders, gazing out silently at the stars.
Less than two hours from planetfall, Kaelem broke his self-imposed silence. The Airthir’s voice in Julian’s mind pulled him from his thoughts. “How did it happen?” he asked.
“Pardon?”
“I was not aboard the Maligned Kestrel when you ran afoul of this…Ezvorkian,” Kaelem said. “I wish to know the circumstances behind Ellis’s current state.”
“It was ugly.” Julian’s jaw tensed. “I still don’t know everything. It’s tormented me.”
“I am sorry for your torment, but I need to know the story.”
Julian nodded to himself and threaded his fingers through Ellis’s. Kaelem waited patiently while he conjured up the memories he had relived every day for five years. It all poured out, everything from the torture to the harsh words that had sent him away. Kaelem listened in silence, absorbing the information.
“To this day, I don’t know if Orifian acted on his own or under Coalition orders,” Julian finally said. “The war ended a few months after our run-in with Ezvorkian, and there was a general call for ships as fast and useful as the Kestrel to help rebuild the Coalition fleet. For all I know, they arranged everything because they anticipated a use for my ship. I broke all ties with them, but it didn’t stop me from losing the brightest and best part of my life.”
“Your Ellis sounds very noble.”
“He is. And I never knew how noble until he was gone. I spent five years searching for them, but Ezvorkian’s use of Coalition nondetection technology prevented me from finding so much as a vapor trail.”
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