And Cassandra had been with me. Eliard remembered her hands pulling at him, trying to get him to sit up, to stand up as the blood poured from his chest and the Q’Lot virus ate away his last moments of strength…
Until Irie had come, he suddenly recalled. But it wasn’t the Irie that he remembered from before—she had eyes of the most vivid green-blue, and her skin had been spattered with freckles of Blue-Scale aquamarine. She had helped Cassandra, had whispered into his ear.
‘You have to get up now, Captain. You have to keep fighting. I thought I was dead but the Q’Lot ship saved me. It’s going to save you to…’
And that was about as much as he remembered of that time. He had been hauled to the Q’Lot ‘tube’ ship that Irie and Cassandra had fled the Alpha vessel in, and there he had been laid down for the Blue-Scale vegetation to close itself around him, and to begin re-knitting his body.
Which is kinda funny to think, Eliard thought for a moment, that most of my crew have now died and been brought back to life by the Blue Scale. All except Val, but who or what in the galaxy could ever kill Val Pathok, anyway?
“He’s awake. He’s going to make it,” the Duergar grumbled, and Eliard knew then that he would.
The Dread Captain Eliard Martin, Lord of House Martin, awoke to a galaxy that was entirely different from before. After being cocooned by the Q’Lot ‘tube’ ship, the survivors of the battle had set up a medical station on Esther, and it was here that Eliard awoke to a new, bright and hot day, to a world that was in the throes of rebirth.
“Captain!?” Excited and happy voices greeted him when he stumbled out of the medical tent to the red sands of Esther. He was surrounded by what looked like an army encampment, but it wasn’t an Imperial Coalition army or even an Armcore one.
The Captain saw the gigantic dropships of half a dozen different home-worlds, Noble Houses, and other races moored around the camp like watching giants. There’s House Baruse, House Medi, two Duergar Hammer ships, a Gileesian Pod-craft…
“What’s going on?” he managed to croak, as his old crew raced to greet him across the small patch of earth between the tents.
Val Pathok now wore the elaborate Battle Harness of his station—the War-Lag of the Dueric people, while Irie Hanson still looked strange with her new face and skin markings.
Hang on a minute, does that mean that I look like that…? Eliard threw aside the white cotton sheet around his encounter suit, to see that his arm—the one which should have a mutagenic alien Device at one end of it, was once again normal, human flesh.
“Only not quite normal,” Irie’s unusually calm and quiet voice cut through the celebration. “The Q’Lot ship healed you, rebuilt you as it did me…” she said. “But when you came out of your cocoon you shed all of your Blue Scale like an old skin….” She appeared puzzled. “Perhaps the virus in your blood had run its course..?”
“It had done what it was designed to do,” Eliard murmured. It had killed Alpha and the Valyien.
“El!” A new voice broke the celebration, and Eliard looked up to see none other than Cassandra Milan, now wearing sombre blue and black robes, hurrying toward him.
“I’m alive,” Eliard managed to say, feeling awkward and embarrassed in front of this woman for the first time. Why?
“I’m glad,” Cassandra Milan stopped just a step in front of him, her eyes locked onto his. For a moment they didn’t say anything but drank in the sight of each other silently.
We’ve been through so much, Eliard thought. I’ve shared so much terror and joy and blood with this woman…
Slowly, very slowly, Cassandra started to smile, and Eliard mirrored it with his own. He might not know what was going to happen next, but he was starting to think that as long as this woman was beside him, then he might just make it through okay.
Cassandra blushed, looking down at the sand at her feet, before looking back up and saying, a little self-consciously, “The Imperial Coalition is in turmoil, the Old Earth Platform is partially destroyed, and House Archival, my House, has taken over.”
“House Archival is the new Empire?” Eliard raised an eyebrow. That would make for quite a change.
“Well, they’re calling themselves Wardens, and have called for all Noble Houses and Coalition home worlds left to support them,” she cast her eyes down again, frowning. “Eliard, they’ve asked me to go back. To them. To take up the post as a Senior Councilor. It’ll be an important role—I’ll have a hand in designing the New Coalition.”
“Then you should go,” Eliard said, smiling even though his heart plummeted.
“My Duergar Chieftains have called for Deuric independence. We will be negotiating with this new Empire of the humans as allies, but not as subjects.” Val Pathok said heavily, breaking into the moment. “They are calling for me to return to Dur…”
You too? Eliard’s heart sank still further. “What about you, Irie? You running off and leaving me, too?”
Irie Hanson cocked her head at the Captain strangely, and Eliard wondered if she really was the same person as she had been before, or whether her re-making had changed her completely.
But then again, we’ve all changed, haven’t we? Eliard considered.
“I haven’t decided yet, Boss,” Irie said calmly.
So this was it? This was the end of the most infamous pirate crew in all of human space? Eliard thought dismally. He tried to rally his spirits. Perhaps it was the right thing to do, after all. He’d had a good run of it, and they’d all survive. There are no old pirates, after all. Just the famous ones, and the dead ones.
“I understand…” Eliard started to say, as Cassandra coughed.
“Well, there is something that I have been discussing with my House Archival superiors…” She sounded unsure, hesitant. “They know that without Armcore around, it’s going to be a long time before the new Empire has the fleet necessary to protect its worlds and borders—and then there’s the fact that many of the Noble Houses might not even want to support House Archival, but go it alone anyway, in spite of all the damage done by Alpha and Ponos-Omega… There are home worlds out there that desperately need supplies, medicines, expertise…”
“What are you driving at, Cass?” Eliard asked.
“I was chatting with my superiors about the fact that right now we need a new sort of space force. Not a military company like Armcore. And not an Imperial fleet, but a sort of fast-reacting, emergency force that can try to contact the damaged parts of the Coalition and bring aid.”
“Mercenaries, you mean?” Val Pathok said heavily.
“I like to think of it more as ‘privateer-scouts’,” Cassandra said lightly, her eyes catching Eliard’s again, and there was a glint of adventure behind them. “I’m sure I can argue the case with House Archival. We won’t be beholden to anyone, any House. As long we work to rebuild.”
“It’ll be dangerous,” Eliard said. “I bet a lot of Raiders and Pirates will have set up shop in the vacuum left by Armcore…”
“It will need a competent Captain who knows what he’s doing,” Cassandra smiled.
“And a representative of the Duric people,” Val Pathok grunted, cracking what might have been a grin—or a hungry scowl for all the humans knew.
“And I’ve always wanted to see more of the Coalition,” Irie shrugged nonchalantly. “And besides, if I’m not there to keep our flagship in the skies, she’ll fall apart,” Irie raised her wrist computer to tap a few times on it, and there was the sound of roaring rockets and thrusters from the deep skies. There, robotically controlled by Irie and gleaming in the desert sun, came the Mercury Blade.
“Let’s do it,” Eliard smiled, heart rising once more. “There’s a whole galaxy out there, after all. And it would be a shame to waste it…”
THANK YOU
Thank you so much for reading the Time Warp Boxed Set which contains the last three books in the Valyien Far Future Space Opera series. I am so excited you took the chance to read the stories and I really hope y
ou liked them. If you could leave a review for me, that would be awesome because it helps me tell others about my books.
So, the story of the Mercury Blade and its crew is over (for now), but there are a lot more space adventures on the way. If you enjoyed these stories, I really think you’d like the Outcast Marines series. The first story in that series is called Outcasts of Earth and you can download it on Amazon right now.
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Valyien Boxed Set 3 Page 39