Instead it was the pounding of his heart, the echo of his labored breathing, that he heard.
Andi smacked him across the head. Sound flooded into his ears.
“We have to run!”
A fleet of ships was closing in overhead. Each ship was like a living corpse, born from the ashes of Xen Ptera’s past, visible by the light of the moon and the raging fires.
Some of them were mostly old scattered parts of ancient warships. Burn marks and dents and patched-up holes littered the black metal.
But on the side of each one, a single golden symbol stared at Valen like a watching eye.
The Solis family crest. A sharp, dagger-like triangle.
They accompanied the face smiling at Valen from his mind.
A queen of death and darkness, seated upon a throne of the galaxy’s bones.
Chapter Sixty
* * *
ANDROMA
THE GROUND TREMBLED. Sand sprayed as the fleet landed at the desert’s edge. Steam billowed in clouds as the loading ramps opened and uniformed figures poured out like bugs.
Dex growled. “Reinforcements.”
“What the hell is this?” Breck shouted.
“Does it matter?” Andi yelped. “We’re in the middle of a war zone.”
On the sand beside them, Lon’s bare chest was a mess of blood.
“We have to get him to the medics!” Lira cried, sobbing as she ripped off the bottom of her gown, pressing the fabric against her brother’s chest. He was unconscious, looking near dead already.
“You have to get your emotions under control,” Breck said. “Lira. You have to, or we’ll lose you. Lon needs you to stay with us.”
Lira pressed her scales to his wound, trying to cauterize it, but each time she tried, the light winked out. As if she couldn’t control herself when she needed to the most.
“Gilly, left!” Andi commanded.
The girl swung to the left and shot off another round. Light spiraled from the barrel. A nearby soldier screamed as he was blasted off his feet, crashing into the stand that held the Unified Systems flags. Gilly dropped the empty rifle and scooped up another one from a fallen soldier, this one with two barrels. “Where to, Cap? The Marauder’s not ready to fly!”
“Hide in Rhymore?” Breck suggested. She leaped to her feet as another soldier appeared and shot. The bullets pinged off her skin. Gilly shot back. The soldier fell, paralyzed by a stunner.
“Not going to work,” Gilly said. She racked the gun twice, switching to the upper barrel. “We just lost our ride.”
In the distance, Andi could see the Albatusks’ carriages in flames.
Breck cursed. “If someone doesn’t come up with a plan soon, Lon will die. And then we’ll all go down right after he does!”
Lira began to sob again.
The girls were falling apart before Andi’s eyes.
She took it all in, her heart racing in her throat. Her mind screaming that this was her fault for drawing the Xen Pterrans here. She glanced to Valen as he knelt in the sand nearby, his eyes closed, his hands clamped to his ears as if he could block out the chaos.
Had the Xen Pterrans tracked him somehow?
“We’re not going to Rhymore,” Dex said suddenly.
Breck spun around to block a spray of bullets. She groaned, sinking to a knee, breathless. Bullets couldn’t pierce her skin, but ammo this large packed a nasty punch. Soon, she’d tire out.
“We’re not going to Rhymore,” Dex said again, eyeing the group around him. “We won’t make it far enough before they catch us. They must be here for Valen. They want him back. They won’t leave until they have him.”
“We won’t let them take him,” Andi said.
“No.” Dex peered past her shoulder, to the distant edge of the desert. “No one is taking him back to Lunamere. Because I’m going to fly us out of here right now, and finish this mission before it kills us all.”
“That’s a good plan,” Andi said. “But where the hell are we supposed to find a ship right now?”
“You’re space pirates,” Dex said. “I’m sure you can take your pick.”
Grinning, he pointed into the distance, where the fleet of Xen Pterran starships sat ready and waiting.
“And your plan to get there?” Breck asked breathlessly.
They fell silent as a group of soldiers marched by, their masks and red armor like beacons in the smoke. Flames crackled and licked up the wood just two stalls away, the heat sparking a memory in Andi’s mind.
“Remember the job on Sora?” Andi asked. She looked to Breck and Gilly, whose eyes lit up as Andi’s plan suddenly became clear to them. “Find soldiers close in size to each of us. Kill them clean and quick. We need their bodies.”
“What the hell for?” Dex yelped.
A grim smile spread across Andi’s features. “For once in your life, Dex, just do what I say.”
He nodded.
“Hurry,” Andi said.
The three of them faded into the smoke, leaving Andi behind to protect Lon and Lira.
As a soldier appeared out of the smoke, the Bloody Baroness hefted her blades and swung, thinking of another tally soon to be added to them.
Chapter Sixty-One
* * *
DEX
THE XEN PTERRAN mask stunk like rotting blood.
With each step Dex took, the stolen boots crushed his toes together and the dead soldier’s armor rubbed in all the wrong places.
Dex’s Tenebran blood boiled.
The...man who’d worn this suit before him had murdered innocents. He’d approached Revalia as if it were a war zone, shooting at anyone that moved. Man, woman, child.
“Hurry,” Dex said as he helped haul a shocked Valen across the sand.
In front of them, Andi took point, her pace steady. Not too fast, not too slow. Her Xen Pterran armor was too loose, but she looked the part nonetheless.
Other soldiers sprinted past them, and Dex’s heart leaped into his throat.
They’ll know, he thought. They’ll see right through our stolen masks.
In his mind, he saw a lifetime behind bars, stuck in that horrible darkness they’d just freed Valen from. He readied himself for a fight, body like a coiled spring about to come loose.
But the soldiers only ran past, clicking freshly loaded clips into their rifles as they disappeared into the smoke beyond.
He hoped they, too, burned with the bodies he and the Marauders had left behind.
* * *
It took everything Andi had not to swing her swords at the soldiers as they ran past. But she held herself in check, continuing up the hillside as they got closer and closer to the desert’s edge.
The line of ships was half a mile ahead, ramps still lowered, dark interiors waiting to swallow them whole.
Each step, each breath, they made it closer.
“Which one?” Andi asked. Beside her, Breck had Lon held over her shoulder, his body limp as if he were already dead. “Lira. You have to tell us which one.”
She couldn’t see her pilot’s face behind the Xen Pterran mask. But she guessed it was blank as Lira ran, robotic and silent.
Andi looked to Dex instead. He knew starships better than she did, could look at them as if he saw their insides turned out. “Which one?”
“There. Middle of the fleet. It’s the smallest, so it’ll be harder to track.”
The ship of choice was outdated. The wings were dented, the hull looked to be made of several different models, and yet...it had made it here in one piece, all the way from Xen Ptera, and unless this attack was planned as a one-way trip, she guessed the ship had enough fuel inside for a flight back to the Olen System.
Andi swallowed, glancing back only once at the distant destruction.
Soldiers were gathe
ring together, knocking over the remains of booths.
They had droids lined up on the sand for questioning. People huddled together on the ground nearby, some screaming and begging for mercy. Others looked stoically out at the desert, as if resigned to the same shock that was swarming through Lira and Valen now.
“We can’t leave them here to die,” Andi said. Adhira had taken them in. Alara had allowed them to stay in Rhymore after they’d crash-landed. She knew the general had a hand in it...but this planet had opened its arms to her and her crew.
Now it was bathed in blood.
A victim to Xen Ptera’s terrors.
Breck hefted Lon farther onto her shoulder. Her muffled voice came from inside the mask. “We don’t have a choice. If we go back down there, we’ll all die, too, Andi.” She angled her head toward Valen. “He is our mission.”
Andi turned away.
She would make this choice now and allow herself to consider the consequences later. More faces, more dead for her to call to a dance.
They continued until the sand beneath their stolen boots turned to metal.
Until they were marching up the ramp of the chosen ship, Dex whispering, “Go, go, go.” Gilly ran inside, swinging her rifle left and right, searching for any remaining soldiers on board.
“Clear,” she mouthed.
It was strangely hollow inside. Enough space to pack a hundred soldiers into the empty cargo bay. Overhead, a single catwalk spread left and right. Darkness waited beyond.
Breck set Lon down on the cold metal floor. Lira nestled beside him, shifting his head gently to rest on her lap. Valen knelt before them, speaking in hushed tones to Lira. His own hands shook, but it seemed he was in better control of himself for now.
Go with Gilly, Andi silently commanded Breck.
The giantess nodded and slipped past Andi to follow Gilly and Dex farther into the ship.
She watched them climb the ladder to the catwalk, no words shared between them as they split up, Breck and Gilly to the left, Dex to the right.
Andi waited, catching her breath and praying to the Godstars that the ship was clear.
Only a few seconds passed before a gunshot exploded above.
The crew.
Leaving the loading door open, Andi turned and sprinted into the heart of the ship.
Chapter Sixty-Two
* * *
DEX
BLOOD POOLED IN DEX’S VISION.
He toppled and fell backward to the floor, his head ringing.
Of all the people to find waiting on the bridge, it had to be a soldier with New Vedan blood, didn’t it? And one easily double the size of Breck.
After he’d entered and found the giant waiting to spring, Dex had only had time to fire off a single shot, useless against the bulletproof man. He’d probably been one of the many visitors stuck on Xen Ptera during his childhood, eyes opened to the neglect of the Unified Systems. Now he was fighting for Queen Nor.
“Tiny little Tenebran fool,” the pilot’s voice boomed as he stalked forward. He ripped Dex’s gun from his grasp as easily as taking a toy from a child.
Then he bent it in half over his massive thigh. The metal squealed as a similar sound slipped from Dex’s throat.
“Easy there, big guy,” Dex said, lifting his hands before him. He tried to stand, but his vision was spotty. His two hands, spread before him, suddenly looked like seven. “We can talk.”
The giant laughed menacingly, advancing toward him.
Then the door to the bridge hissed as it slid open, and Breck and Gilly were standing in the entryway, their eyes wide.
“Oh, for the love of the stars,” Breck said.
Gilly fired off ten rounds. Each one of them slammed against the man’s chest, then dropped to the metal floor.
Ping, ping, ping.
The giant looked up at Gilly. A low grumble rolled from his chest as he took a lurching step forward and swung.
“No!” Breck shouted.
She leaped in front of Gilly. A sickening crack sounded as the man’s fist connected with the side of Breck’s face.
She landed beside Dex in a heap, limbs splayed across the floor.
Gilly screamed just as Andi rushed onto the bridge, her eyes wide, her swords already out and crackling.
Her face, bathed in the electric light, was the last thing Dex saw before darkness pulled him away.
Chapter Sixty-Three
* * *
ANDROMA
THE GIANT SWUNG.
Andi ducked, and his fist whizzed past her head, punching into the metal wall instead.
It dented outward with a screeching whine.
“Come on, you bastard,” Andi growled.
She moved backward, easing out of the bridge, her too-large Xen Pterran suit hampering her movements slightly.
The giant followed. Andi could see Breck’s splayed form behind him, Gilly kneeling over her and Dex on the floor.
“You think you can steal my ship?” the giant growled as he stalked toward Andi.
She shrugged as she stopped in the center of the catwalk. “I’ve done it before.”
The giant loosed a chuckle. “Not today, little girl.”
Then he was at her again, bounding forward in two heavy strides that shook the metal beneath her feet.
Andi whirled her swords, then thrust forward with one jab, two jabs, three. The blades crackled and sang with each thrust. But each time, the swords rebounded off the giant’s wrists as he blocked her, his bulletproof skin proving strong enough to ward off even a scratch.
Damned New Vedans. Andi’s mind seethed as she dropped to her knee, allowing another swinging fist to soar past her before rising again.
He was strong, but he was slow.
And if she could just figure out how to disable him, perhaps make him lose his balance and topple over...
The giant gripped the catwalk railing and tore a piece away, the metal screaming in protest.
“I like sword fights,” he growled.
Then he swung.
Andi lifted her swords in an X. Sparks flew as her blades met his makeshift weapon. She managed to shove him back, barely giving herself enough space to adjust her swords, take a half step back and swing again.
The giant blocked her and advanced.
On and on they swung. Andi’s body took over, on autopilot.
Left sword, right sword. Block.
Thrust.
Drop to a knee, avoid a hit.
Rise back up, advance.
All the while, the giant’s bulletproof skin warded off her attacks.
Andi’s arms began to tremble as the giant pressed her backward, closer and closer to the end of the catwalk.
“Let us take the damned ship!” she yelled over the clash of metal.
“My soldiers will come back soon,” the giant growled. “Then you will die.”
He thrust the piece of railing at her.
It sang as it cracked against the wall just beside Andi’s head.
She was running out of steam, running out of options. Guns didn’t work, her best fighters were unconscious or helpless or, in the case of Lon, actually dying in the cargo bay below.
A hit made contact.
Andi screamed as one of her swords fell from her hand. It tumbled over the railing, where it landed beside Valen, the electricity fizzling out.
“Run, Andi!” Valen cried.
She hefted her remaining sword with both hands and swung.
The giant lifted his palms and gripped the blade. The electric currents made his body seize and shake, but he remained standing.
Slowly, eyes boring into Andi’s, he pulled the sword from her grip.
He tossed it over the railing to join its mate.
“Run!” Valen
screamed again.
Andi’s breath hitched in her throat. She’d never lost a fight, not like this, not like...
BOOM!
Andi looked up just in time to see an explosion of red light barreling toward her from the still-open entry door. It rocketed through the air, a red swarm of death.
Blood sprayed against her face as the New Vedan warrior erupted into vapor. She blinked, hot blood dripping down her cheeks as she tried to figure out what had just happened.
Where the giant once stood, only his torn bit of metal railing remained.
Andi gasped and dropped to her knees.
Gilly appeared from the bridge, her mouth hanging open. “What in the actual hell just happened?”
Andi pointed over the catwalk railing. Down below, a whine of gears sounded as the entry door shut.
Standing before the door, with a giant, still-smoking launcher resting on his shoulder, was Alfie. He set down a wriggling sack. With a loud yowl, a fuzzy, horned creature emerged.
“Havoc!” Gilly shrieked happily.
Andi still stood motionless, staring down at the AI.
“Hello, Androma Racella,” Alfie said. “It seems we found you right on time. How can I further assist you in this mission?”
“Program this ship to get us the hell out of here.”
Moments later, the ship’s engines blazed as it shot through the planet’s atmosphere en route to Arcardius.
Chapter Sixty-Four
* * *
LIRA
THERE WASN’T ENOUGH Griss in the galaxy to drown out Lira Mette’s thoughts.
She sat alone in the storage room of the stolen Xen Pterran warship, slumped against a wooden crate she’d burned her way through with her scaled palms. Smoke still lingered in the small space, wafting among the stacked bags of food stores, the flagons of water, the metal shelf across from her that held extra Xen Pterran soldiers’ masks.
“Damn it,” Lira cursed. She looked at the bottle of amber liquid that sat beside her on the metal floor, the final few drops calling her name.
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