by Scott Moon
"Get that big dummy out of here. All I needed was the ship powered," Lacy said, climbing onto a control panel that was too large for her.
Ontin whirled on her, drawing his sword and advancing. "Get away from that station."
She aimed her pistol with one hand. "We're going after the Guide and you're not stopping us.”
"You will get us all killed,” Ontin hissed, the stumps of his secondary arms twitching as he prepared to strike, heedless of the threat of her aimed pistol.
"Wait!" Kevin said. "There is one thing the twins value. If I give it to you, they'll do anything you want, including force Cronin to do what you say. I don't have influence over him, but they do. If you want Cronin to use the Sol Gate, whatever the hell that is, this is the only way.”
Ontin faced him. "Are you lying like a human?"
Kevin pretended outrage. "Why would I do that? We're on the same side here, right? Or did I miss something?"
"We are all enemies of the Ignari.” His eyes searched the tactical screens. "But we are also enemies of each other.”
Priest quietly stepped in position to take Ontin down.
"I'll show you how to beat Cronin," Kevin said.
For a moment, he thought the Nix would fall for the ruse. He wasn't sure where he was going to lead the creature but had acted on impulse, hoping he understood the mind of this new enemy. Priest and Ontin measured each other. Neither looked eager for the fight that had to come.
It was this respect between warriors that gave Kevin hope, but it wasn't enough.
They clashed like Titans, Ontin swinging his massive sword down as Priest fired his short rifle. Both emerged wounded. Too close now to do anything but grapple, they tumbled to the ground. Ontin had the clear strength and size advantage but didn't seem to have studied ground fighting.
Seizing an opportunity to attack, Priest grabbed the larger warrior around the waist and suplexed him hard. The deck shook from the impact.
Lacy was still mounted on the control station that was far too large for her. She tested controls but couldn't get the ship to move.
Ontin groaned, coughing up something wet.
Priest stepped back.
“You’re too close, Gunny. Watch out for…”
Ontin lashed out with both legs, kicking Priest in the chest, launching him backward.
Kevin aimed his rifle, aware it could be dangerous to fire the powerful weapon without knowing how vulnerable the interior of this ship was.
Another round of rockets slammed into the ship, causing one of the engines to sputter and go silent. Dust fell down from the rafters in the ship Kevin had thought to clean for such untidiness. The worst of all, the boarding hatch in the ramp that folded into it started to glow.
Lacy climbed down from the control panel and readied her weapons. Priest separated himself from his adversary and took up an angle on the door. Kevin was moving but not sure what he planned to do.
"This is your fault, human Connelly boy." Ontin struggled to his feet and checked himself for injuries. "Now all of us will die. Next time, I will know better than to associate with humans. Cronin told me it was a foolish idea. But I thought that I might find a lever to use against him."
"We're gonna need a new ship if that door gets breached," Lacy said.
"Let it in." Kevin moved between the others and what he knew was coming.
"I cannot allow the abomination onto my ship. It would be a dishonor. And we will all be slaughtered."
"We're going to be slaughtered anyway. Do what I say and at least your ship will still be functional afterward," Kevin said. He didn't wait for Ontin to comply. Instead, he put away his weapons and calmed himself.
When the ramp was down and the smoke had cleared, the Burner Queen moved forward with her fires under control. She looked almost like a normal siren except slightly bigger and with the peculiar skin texture of something that had been too long in the fire.
"You're making slow progress, Kevin Connelly," the Burner Queen said.
"Where's Ace and Amanda?"
"They're trapped. You know what you must do to free them." She faced Ontin. "I care nothing for whether you are a good Siren-nix or the evilest of Nix rebels. Take them into the void beyond the blockade. They must stop the Guide. Do you wish to reach the Sol Gate?”
“We must leave the galaxy before the Guide and the Dreamrider destroy all the Chrysalis chambers,” Ontin said.
“Do as I command or I will destroy this ship.”
Kevin and the others retreated several steps from the increasing heat of the Burner Queen.
“I did not defy the Forever Siren only to bow to an abomination like you,” Ontin said, baring his large, flat teeth. “The Dreamrider defiled the Chrysalis chamber for too long while you were the Forever Siren. All of this is your fault. Your unholy union with the Ignari will not save our people. You have doomed us.”
The Burner Queen’s eyes widened, growing so hot they became black holes with a blazing galaxy of fury. “I saved us. Now I rule one of our ancient enemies and have the tools to destroy the other.”
“You are insane and possessed by their demon power,” Ontin spat.
“Leave this planet now or you will be atomized.”
“Death will take me before I submit!”
The Burner Queen screeched a laugh that distorted her features and focused her gaze on the Nix warrior.
He fell to his knees and planted his face on the deck, his entire body trembling in fear and pain.
Kevin protected their visors with their arms and the others retreated as far as possible.
“Start looking for an interior door. This room is too hot, even with our armor,” Priest said, his voice crackling on the commlink.
The Burner Queen looked straight at Kevin as she allowed her fury to abate. “Kill the Guide but beware the Dreamrider. She is not so weak as you last saw her beneath the diamond ziggurat.”
Kevin’s stomach clenched at memories of Joii as the flaming creature left the ship. Those had been her last words. Beware the Dreamrider.
The Burner Queen was gone for several minutes before Kevin and the others came to their senses. Ontin went to a private chamber. Priest searched the ship as a matter of standard procedure, looking for additional enemies or other foul surprises.
Kevin found himself alone with Lieutenant Lacy. If he’d considered such a thing, he never imagined her tending his wounds—or doing the same for her.
He drew along one of her incisions with medical glue. Facing away from him with her shirt off, she held her braided blonde hair out of the way with one hand.
"Thanks. I didn't want Priest for this and we seem to be short a medic."
"It's no problem," he said awkwardly. "Some places are hard to reach without help.”
The sound of her laughter was refreshing. Tension drained from his neck and shoulders. Thinking about what to do next was impossible. He couldn't even remember most of what he’d done during the last twenty-four hours.
Lacy pulled on her shirt and faced him. He didn't mind her face. In fact, he had to remind himself she was scarred beyond repair of even the most skilled genetic surgeons. He’d never known her before her wounds. This seemed natural. Her confidence was beautiful and her eyes intensely clear right now.
He looked for the black tendrils in the sclera and didn’t see them.
"You better get back to your bunk and get some rest, Connelly."
"Yes, sir," he said. He paused in the doorway. "Could you really have flown the ship?"
“Yes, Connelly. I don’t bluff. Remember that.”
Kevin slept like the dead for several hours. He entered into that state where he was still asleep but knew it was good sleep, the deep, refreshing rest needed to heal.
And then came the dream, and with it a pain in his head that defied description. Calling it a headache was like calling a laser beam warm light.
Voices screamed at him. He wanted to ignore them and search for Ace and Amanda. They were tr
apped in the diamond ziggurat, or so the Burner Queen claimed. If he hadn’t already tried to steal them from that place, he would’ve just gone there and fought his way to their sides.
No matter the consequences. Death was better than failing his siblings. Who else was going to save them? Arthur? His brother seemed to have fallen of the face of Siris or died.
Kevin twisted in his sleep. His attempt to rescue Ace and Amanda from the Chrysalis chambers had gone badly. It was nearly impossible to remember all the things he’d done wrong since his quest began.
He needed something to leverage the Burner Queen away from them. He would kill the Guide or learn why she feared the creature.
Nothing made sense anymore. The galaxy seemed to be in its death throes. His subconscious complained that he was sleeping instead of doing something about it. He dreaded waking up.
“What are you going to do, Kevin Connelly?” said the voice of a creature he remembered from his childhood dreams but had not encountered for a long time.
Beware the Dreamrider.
“Are you dead?” Priest asked. “Because I’m not giving you last rites. I’m not that kind of priest.”
Kevin opened his eyes and saw the man standing over him. He looked hard but better rested than he ever had.
“I think we all slept once the ship was in space. Even that Ontin character, who’s a real ass if you ask me,” Priest said.
“I had a nightmare.”
Priest smiled. “I think we all had this one. Getting this ship into space seemed like a good idea when we started, but I think we’re in for rough times.”
Kevin roused himself and got squared away as quickly as he could, then met Priest and Lacy on the bridge of the ship they had stolen.
“We have a problem I need to explain before Ontin gets here,” Lacy said the moment Kevin arrived.
“Shoot,” Priest said.
“There are Noctari ships in the Siris system, but I think these are different,” Lacy said, studying the tactical screens that showed simple diagrams of the system.
“Different how?” Priest handed Kevin a sealed coffee cup.
“What did you dream about, Kevin?” she asked.
He didn’t want to answer. “I have to find the Guide if I’m ever going to get Ace and Amanda back.”
“These ships don’t belong to the Guide. I’d feel his influence if he were in this system. The poison he put in me all those years ago is quiet. I’ve beaten it like Roosevelt must if she wants to stay half sane,” Lacy said. “These ships belong to the other one.”
22
Attitude
Amanda slipped from the tube, gliding on waves of energy. Are we born again? Have we changed? Can we save Arthur and Kevin?
Sadness and hope filled her at the same time.
"You are looking for your brother," said the voice of fire.
"You shouldn’t keep him from me. My journey is just beginning, but I’ve learned much of your kind."
“You are the boldest of humans.” The flames that created the former Forever Siren twisted ever upward, burning so hot, they were almost clear except when she moved. “A good thing for your kind; not as good for you and your family.”
“I’m just a girl.” Amanda said the words without thinking, hoping to hear Ace snort. Her twin understood this was what she said right before fighting someone from Building 595 where they grew up. Arthur and Kevin wanted to pretend the younger Connellys were delicate and needed protection, but no one got a pass in the neighborhood. She knew how to get rough. It was just that she liked to surprise people. She liked to smile sweetly until it was time to get mean.
“That is a strange human expression.”
“What are you now?” Amanda asked. “Because you’re more than just a Siren.”
“I am the Burner Queen, after a fashion. They don’t actually have leadership like their nemesis the Noctari. I called them here, showed them the way, used you and your brother as a beacon. When they arrived, they found I could help them by becoming their queen.”
“How special for you.”
Ace put his hand on her shoulder then leaned on her. He was in bad shape to show his weakness so openly.
“You both survived. That is for the best, I think. Come with me to the regeneration chamber and I will instruct you,” the Burner Queen said.
“Instruct us?” Amanda drawled. “How about you check yourself. We’re done with this place and with you.”
The Burner Queen flickered past the point of visible heat, turning almost black with the energy drain she put on the area around her… like a Noctari.
That’s what I was thinking.
Ace’s words sounded strange in her head.
The Burner Queen interrupted, seemingly unaware Amanda was hearing her brother. “We are not so different: Siren, Siren-nix, Humans, Noctari, Ignari…”
“Yeah, we’re birds of a feather,” snorted Ace. “Except you’re a space god who wants to wipe us out.”
“Not all of you,” the Burner Queen said. “Just the ones who oppose me. Do you oppose me, Ace?”
“Hell yeah.”
“He opposes everyone. Fights more than his brothers,” Amanda said. “You’re one of them now. Is that how you became their queen?”
“I learned lessons other Forever Sirens refused during Chrysalis, namely, how to steal the best attributes of other races. Yes, I am Ignari enough to lead them. But I am also Human. How do you think I learned the creative art of treachery.”
Ace cursed under his breath. “You say that like it isn’t a bad thing.”
“Is it bad to get what you want, Ace Connelly?”
“If you have to hurt people, then hell yes.”
“Everyone gets hurt. You hurt people by not taking action.”
“Fuck off, you burning bitch!”
The flaming Siren creature flexed her many arms and stepped forward as her eyes flared dangerously. “I also learned the human trait of taking offense. Do not anger me, boy.”
Amanda wanted to pull her twin back, keep him out of trouble like she’d been doing since they could walk. Instead, she let the moment play out. Why? Because, for an instant, she could see into the thoughts of her adversary.
The Burner Queen roared threats and insults at her brother. He gave them back, standing in the face of her irresistible advance like he was ready to get nuked to prove a point.
Amanda listened. She watched. She saw into the secret places of the Burner Queen’s undefended mind until one fact startled her.
“You sent Kevin after the Guide!”
The Burner Queen stopped, retreated from Ace, and drove her hate-filled gaze at Amanda.
Ace jerked his head around at the same time. “Why the hell would he agree to that?”
“She told him she had us prisoners and the only way to help us was to leave us here and go after the Guide called Guidis.”
Ace snorted. “He would fall for something that stupid.”
“Everyone wins if the Guide is defeated. Hanax has spoken to me. He is unsatisfied with his servant, the Guide, and will negotiate favorable terms when this is over,” the Burner Queen said. “I will meet with him as an equal.”
Ace barked a laugh. This time, Amanda joined her obnoxious twin brother.
“Your tone angers me,” the Burner Queen said.
“I have that effect on people,” Ace said, pulling Amanda with him as he backed toward the door.
“Where do you think you’re going?”
Ace shoved Amanda through an opening that passed for a door. There were no stairs, only sloping passages that stressed her human perception of how a building should be organized. Behind them, the Burner Queen raged in a language that was less like words and more like a solar flare.
“Sorry, ‘Manda. I might have gone too far this time.” Pain filled Ace’s voice.
Amanda pulled him forward and faced the attack. He was stronger, normally, but the heat waves coming from the monster were already taking a toll on her
brother. “Don’t be sorry, Ace. You never left me and I never left you and that’s more than most people can hope for in this lifetime.”
“Stop now and I will spare you both.”
“Fuck off!” Ace yelled, leaning heavily on Amanda.
She was feeling the drain now as well. It was more than physical pain from the heat. The Burner Queen was attacking their minds, their souls, their everything.
“I’ll try to help your brother as well. Doesn’t that sound like a bargain?”
“You need him to succeed,” Amanda said. “Hurt us and I promise you he will abandon the fool’s errand you sent him on and come back here to kill you.”
A moment passed.
“You’re not wrong. I’ll spare you. But you mustn’t run again.”
23
Mutiny
“No, Commander Ford. I’m nearly done with my tour. You are ordered to rest. I’ll need mine soon and you better be bright-eyed and fresh to take the conn,” Danzig said as he strode from engineering to the bridge.
“Say again, Admiral. I’m reading your transmission poorly.”
“Read it any way you like, but you’ve got five minutes to be in your quarters and sleeping.”
“Aye, aye, Admiral.”
Behind him, around a corner, a door opened and closed, but no one emerged into the main hallway. Danzig stopped and listened, rubbing the back of his neck to push back his fatigue a little farther.
“Who’s there?”
Nothing. He considered alerting the on-duty Marine patrol but knew they were stretched thin. The Majesty was a carrier ship with many decks and hundreds of kilometers of hallways. “Sound off, or I’ll have to put you on report. We don’t have time for this.”
He reached the corner to the side hallway, fully aware that whoever opened the door had nowhere to go but into the main passage.