by Roxie Ray
“I was not joking, Torqa,” Akzun snarled, “any more than I was joking when I told you what would happen the next time you entered the palace uninvited.”
“Oh? Then follow through on your threats, O Most Esteemed and Infallible Blood Ruler!” Torqa sneered. “Go on! Call the guards! Have them take me to the Detention Center and strap me into my own interrogation cube! Order my execution! I would find that fate preferable to standing here and watching the leader of the Valkred mewl and play and have his tummy rubbed like some weak little Jenka cub, all while his own people are in danger! At least I'd have the pleasure of knowing that before I died, I'd seen you act like a real man, a real Blood Ruler, instead of a helpless, addled, lovesick imbecile!”
“Jesus, Akzun, you let this bitch talk to you like that?” I asked.
“Yes, he does let me talk to him like that, because what else is he going to do?” Torqa spat. “Attempt to find the traitors among our people himself? Arrest them, torture them to their breaking points, carry out their death sentences? No, he needs me.”
“If you're so certain that you are the only one truly capable of carrying out these tasks,” Akzun replied, “then perhaps you should be out there doing so, instead of standing in your leader's bedchamber and hurling inane insults at him. Meanwhile, if I choose to allow Carly to pilot the Angel's Wrath, that is my privilege.”
“So you've unilaterally decided, then, that she is not a threat to our interests? That she couldn't possibly be a spy or saboteur, that there's absolutely no chance of that whatsoever? You've arrived at that decision conclusively, have you?”
“Torqa,” Akzun said dangerously through gritted teeth, “you go too far. And just because you believe yourself to be comfortably above reprimand during wartime does not mean the same will hold true once we are at peace, or that your insults will go unremembered. I would urge you to seriously consider that before you choose your next words.”
She opened her mouth, closed it, then opened it again. “I will take my leave of you now, Blood Ruler, so that you may… indulge yourself as you see fit. I only hope that when I attempt to contact you regarding our search for the traitors, you will make yourself available, regardless of what you happen to be in the middle of,” she finished, eyeing me with distaste.
And with that, she opened the window, hopped onto the sill, spread her wings, and flew away.
Akzun turned to me, raising an eyebrow. “Why can't you kick her in the balls, hmm?”
I was about to laugh, then stopped myself. “Do… do the females on this world have balls?”
He cackled loudly, but I could see in the set of his shoulders that he was more unsettled than he wanted to let on. “Come, we won't let that harpy spoil our morning. Let's hop in the shuttle and take you up to the Angel's Wrath. We keep it docked on an orbital platform.”
He led me out to the landing pad on the grounds, and we lifted off in the shuttle, the blue-purple atmosphere of Valkred swiftly giving way to the inky blackness of space. Sure enough, there was a small space station with a flat surface waiting for us in orbit. It was surrounded by an array of floating automated cannons the size of cars, and the cone-shaped flagship was docked on top of it.
Akzun punched some keys on the shuttle's console and we quickly caught up with the platform. The cannons aimed at us for a few ominous seconds, but their sensors must have recognized the Blood Ruler's private vessel, because they pointed away again sharply.
A large door slid open on top of the Angel's Wrath, revealing the shuttle bay. We lowered ourselves into it with a series of deft maneuvers, and once the door shut again above us and the atmosphere inside was restored, we climbed out. The inside of the bay was a perfect rectangle of black marble threaded with crimson.
He led me to what looked like a smooth, uninterrupted wall, standing in front of it. As I watched, several sections of the wall shifted and slid, revealing a doorway. I followed him through it, looking around and taking in my surroundings. The last time I was aboard this flagship, I'd been newly bought by Akzun, and I was angry and frightened out of my wits.
This time, I was eager to properly appreciate it.
Akzun may have joked about not sleeping in a coffin like the vampires in Earth literature, but as we walked through the empty corridors together, I couldn't help but notice how much the décor reminded me of a funeral casket. The surfaces appeared to be polished black wood, with brass fixtures like the handles on a coffin, and certain areas were upholstered with what looked like red velvet.
The air was kept chilled, which wasn't a surprise, and the lights were set to a low level. The gloom that filled the corners and crept in on all sides made me extremely uneasy, but when I edged closer to Akzun, I felt better.
It was funny. As a kid, I was afraid of monsters in the dark. Now I was clinging to the arm of a vampire, hoping he'd keep me safe.
We stepped onto the flight deck, and I ran my hands over the control consoles lightly – remembering how hard I'd tried to study them during the trip from Cexeia to Valkred, desperately trying to plot my escape by any means necessary.
Well, now I was about to learn how to operate them. Armed with that information, would I still try to find a way home if a chance presented itself?
It was hard to imagine that I would, but if it came to it, I couldn't really be sure.
I was enjoying Akzun's company more than I'd ever liked any male companionship I'd found on Earth. I had an entire galaxy of wonder and adventure at my fingertips. New foods, new creatures, new experiences. Yes, there seemed to be plenty of dangers out here in space – but Earth was pretty unsafe, too, for people like me in the lower classes. Gangs roamed the streets after dark, robbing and attacking people. Homes were broken into regularly, looted and vandalized. There was disease, poverty, starvation. And in the end, did it matter if the assholes who sneered and postured and threw their weight around had fangs like Torqa or fat guts and grabby hands like Lars?
But Earth was still my home. Deep down, there was still some part of me that hoped to see it again someday.
Yeah, that'll work out real well. I'll just show up one day in my old neighborhood, in a big-ass spaceship. “Hey, guys, check out my new ride! Isn't it sweet? How about the bass on the stereo system. My alien boyfriend gave it to me. Oh, yeah, by the way, aliens are totally a thing, and so are vampires, and they're actually the same thing a lot of the time. Hey, wait, what's going on? What's with all the crosses and garlic…?”
I snorted with laughter.
“What's so funny?” Akzun asked.
“Oh, nothing. Just thinking about what would happen if they could see me now.”
“Who?”
I shrugged. “Everyone. So, should we take this thing out for a spin, or what?”
He motioned toward the command chair. “The basic controls have been re-routed to your console. By all means, have a seat.”
I sat down, feeling a big, goofy grin on my face. I couldn't help it. All those hours, months, years, working on airplanes I'd never be allowed to ride in, let alone pilot…
And today, I was going to fly a fucking spaceship.
16
Akzun
“All right, now change course and engage the left rear thrusters,” I said, leaning over the back of the command chair and watching Carly enter commands on the console. “Don't forget to adjust the stabilizers accordingly.”
“What, like this?”
She punched in a key sequence and the ship lurched to one side. I stumbled, smacking my shoulder against a bulkhead and wincing.
“Are you all right?” she asked, running over to me.
“No, no, stay in the command chair!” I cried out. “You have to correct course, or else we'll –”
Too late.
The Angel's Wrath did a full barrel roll, the ceiling switching places with the floor just long enough for us to plummet and bump our heads. Carly let out a sharp squeal of panic. When we came right side up again, I grabbed her and spread my wings
– the quarters were a bit too close for real flying, but at least I was able to catch her before her head smacked against the hard surface once more.
Still, we both came down hard on our backsides, our brief plummet barely cushioned by my feathers.
We looked at each other and laughed.
“Okay, so you should probably teach me how not to do that again,” she said, rubbing her forehead. “Because seriously, ow.”
“That little misadventure aside, you're learning very quickly,” I reassured her, carrying her back to the command seat. “You have the basic thruster controls. They simply require a bit more… finesse, ha.”
“Finesse. Right. Got it. Even so, though, I'm starting to see why it usually takes a full crew to fly this damn thing.”
I shook my head. “Most of the crew assigned to the flagship are warriors, meant to guard me during travels and diplomatic missions. The ones on the command deck are useful, to be sure, but their presence is largely ceremonial. They're mostly meant to act as redundancies – if one pilot is out of commission, another can take his place, and another, and so on, until the vessel can be flown by a single person: the Blood Ruler himself.”
“But is there ever a circumstance where that would really be necessary?” Carly asked. “Where the Blood Ruler would have to fly the ship alone?”
“Yes. If the fleet is up against a superior foe with no hope of survival, it is customary for the Blood Ruler to dismiss all crew to the escape pods, ignite the engine core, and manually pilot the Angel's Wrath directly at the enemy, at ramming speed. The impact and explosion might be enough to destroy them, or at least enough of their forces to allow the remaining Valkredians to rally against them and win.”
“You'd really be expected to do that?” Carly asked, wide-eyed. “Stay aboard while everyone else bailed out, and sacrifice yourself?”
“It's the only course of action under such circumstances.”
“But I mean, you guys have such advanced technology. Isn't there some way to just set it to auto-pilot instead?”
“It is not a question of technology,” I explained. “It is a matter of honor. A Blood Ruler who has led his people into such a hopeless scenario must acknowledge his own failure – his poor judgment and leadership – and atone for it accordingly. Besides, do you not have a similar protocol on your world? What is the saying… 'The captain must go down with his ship?'”
“Yeah, we kind of outgrew that way of thinking a while ago.”
“You outgrew honor,” I chuckled. “How convenient for you.”
She looked over the console for a long moment, lost in thought. Finally, she asked, “What about, um, weapons? How do those work?”
I raised an eyebrow. “Why do you want to know? Are you envisioning some scenario in which you manage to steal my flagship, bravely pilot it back to your home world, and fire upon any who might try to stop you?”
Am I truly joking? A shadow passed over my heart like the silhouette of a predator falling over its prey. Or is this an outcome I'm genuinely anxious about? I thought I'd dismissed Torqa's accusations as baseless paranoia and jealousy…but why is Carly interested in weaponry?
“No, nothing like that,” she said. “Just… what if there's a space battle, and something happens to the guy in charge of the firing systems, and I need to take over the controls?”
“If there is indeed a space battle,” I replied, “I highly doubt that you will be aboard this ship. But if it will make you happy to learn, then by all means.”
I set a new course in the navigational computer, then programmed the weapons systems to be routed through the command controls. The ship glided off to its updated destination, the orbital docking platform quickly fading into the distance behind us.
“Where are we going?” she asked.
“To an area more ideal for target practice.” I waited for the new location to appear on the view screen before us, then cut the engines.
I'd brought us to a stationary asteroid belt surrounding a moon at the far edge of the Valkred system.
“This,” I began, pointing out a set of controls, “is your targeting system. This button fires concussive pulse mortars – either singularly or in a tight barrage, depending on the setting – while that one controls the plasma disruptors. You may choose an asteroid, pretend that it's Torqa, and fire at will.”
Carly laughed. “That's one hell of an incentive to shoot straight. But what if I miss and hit the surface of that moon? Am I going to hit any colonies, or blast it out of position and change the tides of the planet it's orbiting, or anything like that?”
“There are no lunar colonies out here for you to worry about. And while I might wish our weapons systems were powerful enough to blast an entire moon out of its orbit, I can assure you they are not. Well, not this moon, at any rate.”
“Fair enough. Here… we… go.” She keyed in a target, and the crosshairs appeared on the view screen.
She hit the button – and a pulse mortar discharged from one of the tubes beneath the ship, careening toward a large asteroid. It went off-center, nicking the side of the giant rock and sending it spinning off away from the rest of the field.
“Not bad for a first attempt,” I said admiringly. “Keep this up, and we might make a halfway decent tactical officer out of you yet.”
“Yeah, but then I'd have to join the Valkred military,” she replied uncertainly. “Which would mean you'd finally have to let me carry a blaster, like the one you've got on your belt there.”
I looked at her for a long moment, then reached over and hit a button. The view screen cut off.
“What is it, Akzun? Did I say something wrong?”
I stood directly in front of the command chair, staring down at her sternly. “Carly, why are you suddenly so curious about weapons?”
She shifted in her seat uncomfortably. “I guess that's probably making you kind of nervous, huh? I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said anything.”
“Perhaps not, but you haven't answered my question.”
Carly took a deep breath, closing her eyes for a moment. When she opened them, she said, “I think you know how I feel about you, Akzun. We haven't been together very long, but… I'm… I don't know, drawn to you. I like being with you. I like your castle. Even Valkred is starting to grow on me, despite all the cold and the darkness. And I know you care about me, and that you wouldn't hurt me. You haven't even sucked out any of my blood yet, and I know how much you paid to do that to me, so it means a lot. But I'm still just a human. I'm still about a zillion light years from the only planet I've ever known. I'm surrounded by things I don't understand, some of which could seriously hurt me, or worse. Half the aliens I've met seem to want to kill the other half, and then there's all of Torqa's sneering and threats – she just seems to step out of the shadows whenever it suits her like some kind of ghost, you know? And she hates me. I don't have wings to fly away from her, or fangs to defend myself.”
“I will protect you,” I assured her. “I will keep you from harm, I swear it.”
“I know you want to, Akzun, and I know you'll try. But you're the Blood Ruler. You've got an entire planet to lead, not to mention a war to win. You can't be with me every moment.”
I unclipped my blaster from my belt, handing it to her. “I will do everything in my power to never allow anyone to hurt you. But you’re right – I can’t be with you always, and it is important to me that you feel safe in your new surroundings. If this will put you more at ease, so be it. I… I trust you.”
“Thanks.” She attached it to the side of her pants. Despite its weight, the material stayed in place.
“I will instruct you on how to use it properly, as well,” I told her. “There's a firing range here on the ship that we can use.”
But before I could begin to lead her there, the tiny emergency comm unit mounted on my wristband suddenly blinked red. I checked the code – it belonged to the Drekkir First Minister.
“Would you please pardon me for a mo
ment?” I asked her, getting up to leave. “I'll be back shortly.”
“Well, okay, but are you sure you trust me to be around all these pulse mortars and plasma whatevers without any supervision?”
I smiled. “Certainly. Just try not to get us into any more intergalactic wars while I'm gone.”
“I'm not making any promises,” she laughed, returning to the firing controls and singling out another large asteroid.
I went to the captain's quarters and punched the correct code into the comm system. Within seconds, the gray-furred visage of the First Minister appeared holographically in front of me, his beady red eyes blinking from the center of his round face. When he spoke, his words were filtered through the comm's translator program. Thank the Succubi for that – hearing the obnoxious, incoherent chirping of the Drekkir language was generally enough to drive me to distraction.
“Blood Ruler,” he said with a deferential nod. “It's a pleasure to speak with you again after so long. You really must visit our world more often – when it pleases you to do so, let me know, and I'll make sure there's a royal welcome waiting for you.”
“Your invitation is appreciated, but I did not reach out to your ambassador so that we could exchange pleasantries. Were you able to contact the Lunians regarding the renewed hostilities between Valkred and the Mana?”
The First Minister shifted uncomfortably. If he'd been wearing a shirt with a collar, I imagined he'd probably have been tugging at it nervously. “Yes. Ahem. The Lunians. Well, as you know, Akzun, they can be rather… erm… enigmatic. That is, it's often difficult to get, ah, a firm reading from them… especially given their, um, unique insights…”
“First Minister, I reached out to you because my planet and its people are in immediate danger. Please cease your stalling and stammering and arrive at the point at once. Did you receive useful information from the Lunians or not?”
He sighed, wringing his hands. “I did as you suggested… I told them that this inquiry was on behalf of our own clandestine services, so that we might keep abreast of the situation between the Valkredians and the Mana and determine whether it posed any threats or opportunities to ourselves. However, as you might imagine, they saw through this subterfuge – they knew you had asked me to contact them about this.”