Gladiatrix of the Galaxy

by Tristan Vick

  Estriel cleared his throat and gave her a dour look.

  “She’s not coming back with reinforcements?”

  He shook his head in the negative. “The High Council would never permit it after such a loss. Now, she must stand before the council and explain how she could have lost her entire fleet. If they accept her answer, she’ll retain her position. If not, she’ll be stripped of her rank, court-martialed, and thrown in prison for the rest of her life.”

  Another blinding flare of white light forced everyone to divert their gaze away from the window. Once the flash died down, they looked out to find that the Omikran’s thrusters had ignited to full. It would be a hot, fast burn to the end of the line, but at least Azra’il Nun would go out a hero.

  As the Omikran and space-squid, along with the Light Bringer in tow, pulled away from them, Sanakar cleared her throat and pointed out the side window. “Pardon me, Sub Commander. But what’s your plan if Dakroth should destroy the rest of the fleet and come looking for us?”

  Jegra turned and watched in dismay as the Nyctan ships went up in fiery balls of flame. Hot orange and yellow explosions plumed out of all seven remaining vessels as their shields started to fail them. Several intense minutes later, a series of rapid concussive blasts discharged as all seven remaining ship’s cores went critical and detonated at the same time.

  Jegra knew it was a coordinated self-destruct sequence meant to try and knock Dakroth’s battlecruiser out of the sky. But all it seemed to do was make the Subjugator look all the more menacing.

  “Keep our front deflector shields at full and point us into that shockwave,” Jegra ordered. Estriel obeyed. “How long until his scanners can pinpoint our location?”

  “After the radiation levels die down, approximately an hour. Maybe sooner.”

  That news didn’t exactly fill her with hope. An hour wasn’t long. Jegra reached up and took the controls. Throttling up the thrusters, she aimed the ship at a still flaming piece of wreckage. Not only would it give them additional shielding against the shockwave, it would mask their presence.

  “What are you going to do?” Estriel asked.

  “I’m buying us some time.”

  Parking the ship under the chunk of debris, Jegra hit a button and released magnetic tethers. The tethers shot out into zero-gravity, their carbon-fiber mesh cords dangling behind them like slithering snakes. With a clunk, they latched on to the wreckage and anchored the shuttle. Flicking a few switches, she powered down the ship.

  “Powering everything down except life-support.” Jegra swiveled around in her chair and looked right at Cassera. “Let that asshole try and find us now.”

  “You know he’s the most stubborn person in the galaxy, right?” Cassera tossed her platinum hair over her shoulder and pointed out the window. “He’ll just stay out there sniping at random debris until, eventually, he gets to us.”

  “At least we won’t be made into particle dust before we can come up with a plan to get out of this mess.”

  Cassera folded her arms. “I hope you’re right,” she said peering out at the monstrous ship that hunted them.

  Several more minutes crawled by and Jegra was positive that time was deliberately inching by at the most aggravating rate possible. All that could be heard was their collective breathing and the occasional sigh.

  After what seemed like forever, a scrambled transmission came in. It was Azra’il Nun. But the holographic image was too garbled and distorted to make out.

  “Is there any way we can clear up just the audio?” asked Jegra.

  Estriel frantically pounded away as the controls but he couldn’t get the message to materialize. “I’m sorry,” he said, shaking his head. “There’s nothing I can do. There’s just too much interference.”

  They all looked toward the black hole when, all of a sudden, a bright flash–as bright as a supernova–lit up the dark sky.

  “There goes the Omikran and the Light Bringer,” Estriel said with a sigh of sadness.

  They shared a moment of silence which, unfortunately, didn’t last very long. A sudden explosion jolted them back to the threat at hand.

  “What was that?” Sanakar asked.

  Jegra looked out the window. Another loud blast shook their ship. “That lunatic is firing on the larger sections of debris.”

  “He really dislikes you, doesn’t he?” Sanakar asked.

  “You have no idea,” Cassera said, answering on Jegra’s behalf.

  This piqued Jegra’s curiosity. “Oh, really?” she asked. “And just how long have you known about his great disdain for me?”

  Cassera gulped nervously, having been found out. “It’s not like I didn’t want to tell you,” she said apologetically.

  “That he was just playing me? Don’t worry. I wasn’t born yesterday. I knew he was scheming against me.”

  “You knew about that?” Cassera gasped.

  All of a sudden Jegra wasn’t quite sure they were talking about precisely the same thing.

  “Of course, I knew,” she said, acting like she had known whatever it was Cassera thought she had known about all along. The feign worked, because Cassera let out a deep sigh and revealed the truth of the matter.

  “I was so worried that he was going to dissect you, or pickle you, or something. I kept telling him that weaponizing your DNA would never fly with you and so he decided to gain your trust and experiment on you in secret.”

  This was Jegra’s worst nightmare come true. Being experimented on by a mad-scientist, that is. And all this time, she was unaware of the fact that she was trapped in this nightmare.

  “Weaponize my DNA?” she asked.

  Cassera glanced around at all the faces in the shuttle. That’s when she realized that Jegra hadn’t known.

  “I mean, yeah, that’s what Dakroth’s obsession with you has all been about. It certainly wasn’t out of his deep-felt love for you that he wanted to marry you. He needed you close by. More precisely, he needed your DNA.”

  “What’s so important about her DNA?” Estriel asked.

  Cassera looked to Jegra who merely nodded, urging Cassera to spill it all.

  “Well, Jegra’s unique genetic code has the ability to overwrite other species’ genetic code and make them more human.”

  “Wait,” Sanakar interrupted, “are you saying that Jegra has the power to create hybrid entities?"

  “Something like that, yes,” Cassera answered.

  “It’s the fulfillment of prophecy!” Sanakar announced. Clamoring out of their seats, the two Nyctans hastily got down onto their knees and placed their heads on the floor, kowtowing to Jegra.

  “Um … what’s going on … exactly?” Cassera asked.

  Sanakar rose to her knees and scuttling forward, she took Jegra’s hands in hers. “The prophecy speaks of a Daughter of Sol who has the power to bind the light and to miraculously create hybrid entities that would go on to gain their celestial forms. It is how Nyctans believe we will ascend into the golden nexus and join Hastur in the eternal realm of light.”

  “Dagons believe something similar,” Cassera informed them. “But we don’t think it’s through gaining a new body. We believe that we will shed our bodies and the radiant light inside us will join Hastur. Unified with his creation, he will then destroy the Great Darkness so that his light is all that remains.”

  “You know,” Sanakar said, turning her smiling face to Cassera. “Your people and mine aren’t so different, after all.”

  Another sudden blast violently shook the ship.

  “That was a close one,” Estriel said, hopping back to his feet and sliding into his chair.

  Jegra smiled at Sanakar and then slowly drew her hands back, sliding them out of Sanakar’s grasp. She then swiveled back into position and dialed up the ship’s engines.

  “It wasn’t just close,” Jegra growled. “It was too close.”

  She hit the ignition switch and the thrusters came online. Retracting the tethers, she dialed the thruste
rs to full and quickly darted away from the debris.

  Just as they were pulling away a large disrupter blast erupted behind them as the debris went up in flames.

  Sanakar screamed from the shock of it and Jegra aimed the shuttle straight at the monstrosity of a ship that loomed over them.

  “Wait, what are you doing?” Estriel asked, his voice flooding with anxiety. “You’re heading right for them.”

  “I know,” Jegra snapped, not having the time to explain. “Everyone, strap in! This may get bumpy.”

  A volley of red disruptor blasts streaked through the sky—all of them trying to knock the tiny vessel out of the sky. But the shuttle was too small to pinpoint accurately, especially as Jegra dodged and weaved, carving out a haphazard trail like that of a common housefly.

  “We’re not going to make it,” Estriel shouted.

  “We’ll make it!” Jegra shouted back.

  Just then, from left field, came the Light Bringer. The ship, which was already severely damaged, rammed into the Subjugator and broke through the hull. Metal scraped against metal as the two ships collided. The Light Bringer scraped to a halt, getting wedged about a quarter of the way in.

  “We’re being hailed,” Estriel said.

  “Who’s hailing us?” asked Cassera.

  “The Light Bringer!” he replied joyously.

  Jegra flipped on the holovid. Galahad stood in full battle armor with five of his finest warriors. “Miss us?”

  “How in blazes are you still alive?”

  “Hastur must be watching out for us,” Galahad replied. “The moment the entity hit that event horizon, it began to squirm with panic and relinquished its grip of the ship and we had just enough time to rocket out of there before the Omikran went up.”

  “Hastur is indeed watching out for you, brother,” Estriel said. Galahad nodded, his face plate looking majestic in the glowing light.

  A sudden explosion rattled the screen and two Knights ran to meet their enemies head on, igniting their plasma blades as they disappeared off camera.

  Galahad leaned into the camera as sparks streamed down from the damaged vessel. “I’m paying your emperor a little visit. Figured we could do more damage from the inside than the out.”

  Jegra smiled. “Give him hell,” she said. “That’s an order.”

  “Yes, Sub Commander,” Galahad replied. With that, his plasma sword ignited and the holovid went dark.

  Before they even had time to rest, another hail came in.

  “Um … I think it’s him,” Estriel said in a timid voice.

  “Well, it’s about time,” Jegra said in a vexed tone. “Put the asshole on.”

  “My treacherous, cold hearted, wife!” Emperor Dakroth sneered. “Do you honestly think you can defeat me with a handful of Knights and puny little shuttlecraft?”

  “Of course not,” she replied with a wicked grin. Then, popping her knuckles, she added, “I plan to defeat you with my fists … as I bash your stupid grinning face in.”

  Dakroth leaned back in his chair amused by her idle threat and grinned sinisterly at her. Then he cut the feed.

  “Dock there,” Jegra said, pointing at the Light Bringer. “We’ll board one ship in order to make it onto the other. As long as those shields reinforce the structural integrity of the Light Bringer, we’ll be—”

  A powerful blast rocked the shuttle hard astern and sent it whirling out into deep space. Fighting to regain the controls, Jegra managed to wrangle the ship in and get her steady.

  When she peered out the window, the Light Bringer had gone up in smoke. Luckily, it took a large chunk out of the Subjugator when it went, knocking the Subjugator’s engines offline. But for how long, Jegra didn’t know.

  That was the good news. The bad news was that the shuttle had incurred far more damage than Dakroth’s ship. And their engines were completely shot.

  Cassera came over to Jegra’s seat and placed her hand on her shoulder. “Now what?”

  “I don’t know,” Jegra replied.

  For the first time since she had joined this war, she was at a loss. They had no engines. Their power would eventually fail. And if that wasn’t bad enough, Dakroth was a rock’s throw away. They were sitting ducks.

  “It’s up to Galahad now. Everything is riding on whether he fails or succeeds.”

  By the expressions on their faces, she knew that they, like her, believed the odds were entirely against them. It would take a miracle for Galahad to storm a ship that size let alone win against an entire army.

  Besides, Jegra knew that Dakroth had the ability to take down Knights with a single laser blast. So, in her estimation, they were all royally screwed. But saying so wouldn’t change anything. And right now, about the only thing they had going for them was that they all had, somehow, managed to beat the odds. But eventually every gambler’s luck runs out. Jegra feared that so had hers.

  29

  Thoom! Vibrations wracked the small shuttle as another ship came out of FTL just above its bow. The ship was a mid-sized frigate roughly the size of an ocean frigate. It was sleek and slender and had a recognizable look to it that brightened up Jegra’s eyes when she saw it.

  “Holieeey shit!” Jegra exclaimed, leaning forward in her seat to get a better angle on it as she gazed out the window at the ship. “Ain’t she a pretty sight for sore eyes.”

  “Do you recognize that vessel, Sub Commander?” Estriel asked as he ran a quick security scan just to err on the side of caution, what with it being a Dagon class cruiser and all.

  “It’s the Skywend!” Jegra announced, turning around and looking at Sanakar and Cassera.

  Cassera closed her eyes and let out a deep sigh.

  “Don’t worry,” Jegra said, flicking on their comm, “they’re friends of ours.”

  “Looks like you could use a little help,” Raven said over the comm.

  “How in the bleedin’ galaxy did you find us?” Jegra asked, bending down to speak into the mic on the dashboard.

  Ravens voice came back on and answered, “We received an encrypted message from someone named Galahad. He used the subspace carrier code I slipped you before you left us. Figured you wouldn’t have given it to him if it wasn’t important. Gave us your exact coordinates and said you might be needing our help. And here we are.”

  “I appreciate it, Raven.” A grin spreading across her face, Jegra turned to Estriel and said, “Remind me to thank Sir Galahad when we see him again.”

  He nodded and smiled, making a mental note of it.

  The docking clamps of the Skywend came down and latched onto the small shuttle. Reeling them in, there was a clunk followed by some clanking as the docking ramps attached themselves and created a seal between the Skywend and the shuttle. This was followed by a hiss of decompressed air as the shuttle matched the Skywend’s pressurization.

  Jegra flicked a few switches and buttons and powered down the craft. Getting up, she walked to the shuttle door and looked back at the three faces staring at her. “You all coming or what?”

  She knew they were exhausted and on edge. The last forty-eight hours had been a grudge match. It was perfectly natural for them to be skeptical of the Skywend. But Jegra knew that once they met Raven’s quirky crew of mercenaries they’d understand and maybe even find some piece of mind.

  Cassera was the first to jump up and meet Jegra by the door. Standing closest to the entrance she waited for the green light above the door to flip on, signaling it was safe to exit the shuttle.

  With a swish the door rose up and opened. To everyone’s surprise, a giant, green Dragonian was standing on the other side. He was fully geared up in battle armor and held a blaster rifle at his side just in case those in the shuttle weren’t what they appeared to be.

  Kregor poked his head into the doorway with a big grin, but upon seeing it was Cassera that he greeted, his grin quickly faded away. “Oh. It’s you,” he said, lamenting the fact that the first person he met was the blue-skinned Dagon bitch.


  “It’s me,” she said in a sardonic tone. She smacked him in the junk with an unexpected ball-tap as she walked past him causing him to jolt and tense up. Jegra laughed out loud.

  “Kregor!” she chirped excitedly, throwing her arms around his thick neck and giving him a great big hug and a peck on the cheek. “I’m so glad to see you!”

  “The feeling is quite mutual.” Setting her back down, he smiled and informed her, “The captain regrets that she couldn’t be here to greet you. She’s needed on the bridge, what with that ugly monstrosity of a ship blasting everything in sight.” Turning to the Nyctans, he grinned, his thin lizard lips pulling tight across his face. “Who are your friends?”

  “These are the people who’ve been taking care of me for the past three months. Please see to it they’re treated in kind.”

  “Of course,” Kregor said, motioning for them to follow him. “Any friend of Jegra Alakandra’s is a friend of mine.” Waving his green hand toward the corridor of the ship, he added, “Right this way, if you please.”

  Jegra ushered them off the shuttle and then followed them onto the Skywend. She shut the airlock doors behind her and then headed to the bridge.

  “Evasive action!” Raven shouted, as laser blasts lit up the Skywend’s bow.

  Jegra entered the bridge and looked up at the Subjugator as it blotted out the systems binary stars. “He’s already got his canons online?”

  “What did you do to piss Emperor Dakroth off so badly?” Raven chuckled.

  “I blew up his whole fleet.”

  Raven’s purple eyes seized Jegra’s face. Her expression was grim and then melted away as she began to laugh. “You would, wouldn’t you? I guess my next question is, what did he do to deserve it?”

  “The son of a bitch turned me over to his enemies as a distraction so they wouldn’t discover he was secretly making that ugly ass ship,” she said nodding at the hulking beast of a vessel that sat outside their window, “and then he left me for dead on Cordova and told the Dagon people the Empress of the Galaxy was lost in a shuttle incident.”