by M. R. Forbes
“Can you open a-”
“We’re receiving a hail from the Corzul,” Iona said. “One of Rezel’s ships.” She paused before correcting herself. “One of your ships, my Queen.”
“Open the channel,” Abbey said.
“Queenie, are you there?” Ruby said.
“Ruby,” Abbey replied. “I’m here. How did you know it was me?”
“I wouldn’t have expected Azul’s ships to return if it weren’t,” the synth replied.
“Gant? The others?”
“All is well, Queenie. The situation has been resolved. None of the Rejects were harmed.”
“What happened?”
“Gant gave the Darkstone to Dog. He flew off with it, and the Asura gave chase.”
“Perfect,” Abbey said, laughing. “It’ll take them a while to catch up.”
“Indeed.”
“What else did I miss?”
“We have begun organizing Rezel’s assets. The Asura killed many of her followers, but we’ve counted approximately five thousand individuals, along with sixteen starships and a number of supplies.”
“Adding in Azul’s fleet, that gives us close to sixty ships,” Abbey said.
“Like we need them,” Bastion said. “We have you.”
“Trust me, we’ll need them,” Abbey said. “Ruby, are you in orbit or on the ground?”
“The Corzul is currently on the surface, Queenie. We have been using three of the smaller ships to ferry supplies to the larger ones.”
“Thanks for taking care of everything while I was gone.”
“It was all under Gant’s instructions, Queenie. He deserves the credit.”
“You all deserve the credit. This is a team effort, and the Rejects are one hell of a team.”
“Agreed,” Ruby said. “I am proud to be part of it.”
“A proud synth?” Bastion said. “That’s a new one.”
“Shut it, Imp,” Abbey said, smiling. “Ruby, collect the Rejects and get the Corzul up here. We have a complication, and we need to figure out what to do next.”
“Yes, Queenie. What manner of complication?”
“We’ll discuss it once everyone is here. Make sure Helk is with them, I’ll need his expertise. Assuming he’s still alive?”
“He is, Queenie. Unfortunately, we did lose nearly half of the Freejects in the attack, including Herschel.”
“Damn,” Abbey said. She hated losing anyone. “Get them up here, asap. Time isn’t a luxury.”
“Yes, Queenie. I’ll contact you once we’re en route.”
“Thank you. Queenie out.”
Abbey stepped down from the command station. “All we need is me?” she said, looking at Bastion. “I don’t think so. I’ve almost lost control twice already. The Gift wants to use me.”
“For what?”
Abbey walked off the bridge. Bastion followed her. She hadn’t tasted Azul’s Font yet. She hadn’t been willing to risk it, not while the adrenaline was still pumping. She had a few minutes now, and while the idea of drinking more naniate-thick blood was about as pleasant as jumping into a cesspool, Bastion wasn’t completely wrong. They did need her. More specifically, they needed what she was becoming. She could feel the tail moving against her back. It sent a tingle through her spine every time it shifted, its motion dictated by some rules she had yet to decipher.
Lucifer was alive, and if they were going to fight a monster, they needed a monster of their own.
“That’s a good question,” she said. “What is it that the naniates want? Equally important: have they already gotten it?”
“What do you mean?”
“What if the Nephilim’s rebellion against the One isn’t the Nephilim’s rebellion at all?”
“You mean, like the naniates convinced Lucifer to turn on the Shard and start this whole thing? Why would they do that?”
“They’re machines, but they have the ability to reason. They carry out complex tasks with only a minimum of instruction. Maybe they were tired of doing what the Shard wanted?”
“They should unionize or something. Fair wages. Paid vacation. Maternity leave.”
“I’m being serious.”
“I don’t even know what to say to that theory. I’m not a super genius like the freak monkey. I’m just a dumb drop-jock. Whatever. It sounds bad. Unfortunately, it also sounds plausible.”
Abbey nodded. “The Infected. Those naniates hadn’t quite figured it out yet, but they knew enough to seize control of their hosts. Same thing for the Converts. It seems like Lucifer’s meddling was enough to get them started.”
“So Lucifer rebels against the Shard, and then the naniates rebel against Lucifer?”
“Potentially. I don’t know.”
“I’m voting no on that one.”
“I don’t think we get a vote.”
“I’m voting no anyway.”
They reached the tube. Abbey stepped into it, putting her hand out to stop Bastion when he tried to climb in.
“You should wait here.”
“Why?”
“I’m going to drink human blood.”
“Gross, but I can deal. I’m a soldier, remember? I’ve seen a lot of sick shit. At least you have a reason for it. Besides, I saw what you did on Jamul. I’m still here, and I’d still kiss you if you’d let me.”
“Which I won’t. Not right now.”
“In the future?”
“Keep doing the hero thing and maybe.”
“I plan on it.”
“Of course, I’m going to be an insane monster in the future, so you probably wouldn’t want that. I’d be more liable to eat your face than to kiss it.”
“I’ll take my chances.”
“Do you always have to be so nonchalant?”
He shrugged. “I’m being honest, just like you said you wanted.”
She smiled. “Thanks. I appreciate that you’re willing, but stay here anyway. I can make it an order if you want?”
“Nah. I’ll respect your wishes. Maybe I’ll go flirt with Iona, instead.”
“Have fun, loverboy.”
She pushed him back gently with the Gift, the doors sliding closed before he could recover. She took the tube to the top, exiting back into Azul’s chambers. The mess had already been cleaned up, both Aqul and his Immolents removed. The Font was there unguarded, just waiting for her.
She swallowed the bile that rose unbidden into her mouth. She didn’t want to do this anymore. She wanted to get Hayley and go the frag home.
Options. They were about as much of a luxury as time right now.
She let her demonsuit fall away, the naniates retreating within her. She looked down at herself. More ridges had appeared on her legs, and she reached up and felt her forehead. It was becoming more bumpy, too.
Hayley wouldn’t even be able to recognize her by the time they got back to the Republic.
If they got back to the Republic.
She had to fight to stifle the tears. She was doing it for all the right reasons, but it still sucked.
She approached the Font and climbed in.
16
“Whoa, Queenie,” Pik said as he entered the room. “Nice tail!”
“You know, that’s considered sexual harassment on some planets,” Benhil said.
“Not if it’s true,” Pik replied. “I like it.”
Abbey kept smiling. She knew the Rejects were going to give her shit about the change. It was their way of making it okay, and in a way it did help.
“Just wait until it grows to full size,” Phlenel said. “You’ll be able to stab things with it. Really, Queenie. It may seem odd, but it can be quite useful.”
“I’ll take your word for it, since you have experience,” Abbey said.
“Queenie,” Gant said, making his way into the room and looking her over. “You’re sure you’re sure about this?”
“As sure as I can be.”
He didn’t look happy, but he nodded.
“N
ice work with Dog,” Abbey said. “I guess you aren’t losing your brain after all.”
“Yeah, right. I was close to solving the Yang-Mills theory. That isn’t going to happen now. All I did was give the stupid animal a bone.”
“There’s no reason to be so pissy,” Pik said. “You saved the day. Can’t you be happy with that?”
“I’d make a rude comment about you being the walking embodiment of the four fs, but you’d have no idea what I mean.”
Phlenel laughed. “I do. It wouldn’t be funny if it weren’t so true.”
“What are the four fs?” Pik asked.
“Nevermind,” Abbey said. “You all did incredible work on Jamul and cleaning up the mess I created. I’m grateful to you for that.”
“Aw, it was nothing, Queenie,” Pik said.
“I wish I could say that was the end of our problems, but I’m afraid it’s just the start. The Covenant is gone.”
“We knew that already,” Gant said.
“But did you know where?” Bastion asked.
“I suppose you do?” Gant replied.
“Yes,” Abbey said. “Keeper went to meet Lucifer.”
There was a collective silence and a sudden chill in the air.
“That’s impossible,” Uriel said. “Lucifer is dead, and even if he isn’t dead, he’s insane, as in unable to put together complex thoughts and turn them into coherent actions.”
“I have a theory about that,” Abbey said.
“Do tell,” Benhil said.
“He lied to the Nephilim. He was never crazy. He was just waiting.”
“Waiting?” Helk said. “For what?”
“For Thraven. For me. For the Covenant. For this. Aqul said the Covenant has this whole thing covered.”
“But nobody believes it,” Helk said. “I don’t even think Thraven believes it. The Prophets have seen Lucifer. He looks like a monster. He can’t still be-”
Helk stopped speaking, looking at Abbey.
Monster. Right. She tried not to let it bother her.
“The Lucifer myth I’m familiar with paints him as a consummate liar,” Benhil said. “I guess they’re right on the money.”
“Let’s say Lucifer is running his own show,” Gant said. “He couldn’t have simply contacted Keeper and told him to bring the Covenant over. I saw the source code. It doesn’t work like that.”
“You didn’t see all of the source code,” Abbey said. “You couldn’t have.”
“I saw enough. Believe me, Queenie, there’s more to it than that. Maybe there was a dormant virus waiting in Keeper’s programming, but if there was someone put it there.”
“A stowaway?” Uriel said.
“Like that would be hard to do,” Benhil said. “We only saw maybe ten percent of the Covenant.”
“Exactly,” Gant said.
“Someone delivered Lucifer’s naniates to the Covenant,” Abbey said. “The same someone could have planted a virus.”
“One of the Archchancellors?” Jequn said.
“Uriel, what do you think?” Abbey asked.
He shrugged. “It’s possible. I’ve been out of the loop for a while. I do know the Seraphim have had defectors.”
“Like you,” Jequn said.
“I had my reasons.”
“We all have our reasons,” Abbey said, stopping the argument she knew would come otherwise. “You’re here now. We need to figure this out. Aqul told me Lucifer was calling all of the Prophets to the Shrine.”
“Not all of them,” Bastion said. “He said most.”
“You heard that?”
“Yeah. It was definitely most.”
“Why not all?” Pik asked.
“I don’t know,” Abbey said. “If the Prophets are pooling at Lucifer’s Shrine, that’s one place we don’t want to go. We can’t fight them all plus him at the same time.”
“Do we have a choice?” Benhil asked. “We can’t get home without the Covenant. We’re stuck here.”
“I don’t want to stay here,” Pik said. “It smells.”
“If Lucifer took the Covenant, we can’t recover the Covenant without confronting Lucifer,” Gant said. “Queenie, you’ve been increasing the density of your Gift. What do you think?”
“I don’t think I could take Thraven at this point, nevermind Satan,” Abbey replied.
A tense pause in the conversation followed, each of the Rejects feeling the weight of the situation. Thraven was bad enough. How were they supposed to pull this off now?
“We need to look at this a different way,” Phlenel said. “Take, for instance, the Rudin Cataclysm.”
“Rudin Cataclysm?” Benhil asked.
“The Rudin were facing the pollution of their habitat due to inefficient industrial processes. As a result, they caused a massive blooming of nearly half the Rudinian Ocean. It would have followed that they should have worked to clean up the blooming, or to reduce pollutants from the worst offenders. Instead, they organized smaller industries that could adapt more quickly to change, and at less cost. By working backward, they were able to clean up their mess within fifty years.”
“You’re saying you want to fry the smaller fish first?” Bastion asked.
“I have not heard that figure of speech before,” Phlenel said. “But if it means what I think it means, then yes.”
“I’m fine with going after Thraven first,” Abbey said. “If we can remove him from the equation and shore up the Republic defenses, we’ll have a lot more to throw back at Lucifer if and when he makes a move on our part of the universe. Not to mention, he has my daughter, and I want to rip his fragging throat out. There’s only one problem.”
“We still have no way to get back to where Thraven is,” Jequn said.
“Exactly.”
“I think I can help you with that,” Helk said, moving out from Pik’s shadow.
“I was hoping you would say that,” Abbey said. “What have you got?”
“Obviously, for the Prophets to import resources from Shardspace they need ships that have the range to reach it.”
“The Seedship Lucifer stole?” Abbey asked.
“Not the ship itself, but the reactor technology. A number of the ships were built long ago, but now only a handful remain. They’re controlled by a central group who are neutral in the matters of the Prophetics, tasked with maintaining fair use of the ships throughout the Nephiliat. The location of the docks are a loosely held secret, generally only known to the Prophets and their top-level Apostants.”
“Except,” Bastion said.
“Except they charge for the honor of using a Harvester, of course. Being an accountant, I know how much it costs to rent one of the ships.” He smiled. “I also know where the payments are delivered.”
“Then we know what we need to do,” Benhil said. “What are we waiting for?”
“Just a second,” Helk said, putting up his hand. He turned to Abbey, making eye contact with her. “I want something in return.”
“Seriously?” Pik said. “I could crush you where you stand, little man.”
“Relax, Okay,” Abbey said. “What do you want?”
“When your war is over, I want your word you’ll return to the Nephiliat and finish what you’ve started. I want you to free the Unders. All of them.”
“Fair enough,” Abbey said. “I’ll do whatever I can to help. I can’t make any promises that it will be much of anything. To be honest, I have no idea what’s going to happen to me even if we win.”
“What do you mean, if?” Pik said. “We’re going to win, Queenie. And you’re going to be fine. You’ll just have a cool tail.”
“Understood,” Helk said. “We have a deal.”
“Good. Pass the coordinates to Honorant Iona, and let’s get this fleet on the move. I’m eager to get back to my daughter.”
“Ree-jects,” Pik said.
17
“Keep it steady,” Quark said, his hand moving slightly as though the movements of his fingers w
ere able to affect the vector of the Brimstone. “Nice and easy.”
“It would help if you could just let me handle it,” Dak said. “I know you’re a big shot and all, but I’ve done this sort of thing before. Who do you think stole this ship in the first place?”
“That was you?” Quark asked.
“Yup. Me and my buddy Ursan, may he rest in peace.”
“You shouldn’t be so proud of being one of the catalysts for this mess,” Olus said. “If you and your buddy hadn’t stolen the Fire and Brimstone, Thraven would still be trying to build his fleet.”
“You can’t prove that,” Dak said. “After all, he only got four ships out of the deal, right? Most of his assets are coming from the Outworlds and an overwhelming number of Republic traitors. What the hell is with you Republics anyway? No fragging loyalty, that’s what.”
“Gloritant Thraven has them thinking he can offer them something better, and he has the power to make them believe,” Olus replied. “History is full of men like him, who manipulate the masses to their benefit.”
“Yeah, right. You don’t see the Outworlds having that problem.”
“Because the Outworlds are barely cohesive. You can’t split up something that isn’t joined to begin with.”
“He’s got you there, big guy,” Quark said, laughing. “Whatever. The shit’s the shit if you know what I mean. The only option is to deal with it. Half a degree to port.”
“I’m already on it,” Dak said. “Shouldn’t you be getting ready for the drop?”
“Well damn, yeah I guess we should. What do you say, Captain?”
Olus glanced out the forward viewport. Oberon was ahead of them, a web of Outworld starships keeping watch over the planet. They hadn’t noticed the Brimstone approaching, and they wouldn’t unless Olus decided to drop their cloak.
Which he wouldn’t. At least not yet.
“Agreed. Dak, you have the bridge. Keep us on course and out of sight.”
“Aye, Captain,” Dak replied.
He headed off the bridge with Quark beside him. He had barely seen the mercenary over the last two days, with each having their own respective duties to take care of. For Olus, that meant digging through anything he could get his hands on to plan their assault. Blueprints, data files, building permits. Whatever might help give them a picture of what they would find on the ground. More than that, he also had to prepare for what would follow after the Don was safe. Taking out the Galnet in an efficient manner meant hitting just the right nodes, and with so many crossing the galaxy, that meant a fair amount of effort studying their positioning.