by Cheree Alsop
“I hear something.”
Everyone fell silent at Liora’s words.
“Turn off your gun lights,” Zanden instructed.
Their footsteps became hushed whispers against the tiled floor. Liora heard the sound again, the grating and humming that made her nerves feel raw.
“Ketulan,” Zanden said quietly. “Reach the corner and spread out. If we can draw it past us, we can shoot it from behind. Hopefully someone can find the power source.”
Everyone did as their leader instructed. A pilot named Gunsa took a clip from his vest and chucked it down the hallway. The sound of it echoed along the corridor.
The Ketulan whirled around the corner, its deadly claws out and ready to destroy whatever it found.
“Shoot!” Zanden yelled.
Gunfire sparked in the darkness. Bullets ricocheted off the metal and someone cried out in pain. Liora saw glimpses of the machine in the moments of light. It reminded her of the drones Colonel Lefkin had sent. Its claws clicked, ready to tear apart the flesh and blood creatures around it.
“Wait!” Liora shouted.
The rain of bullets paused. Liora lunged forward and drove her knife up through the bottom of the Ketulan. A brief flash came from the machine and it fell to the floor.
Silence followed.
“What did you do?” Zanden asked.
Creeden switched on the light attached to the side of his gun and shined it at the machine. Liora shoved the metal creature over with her foot to reveal the knife embedded to the hilt into the battery.
“It needs to be accessible for the Ketulans to change it out, but the bullets weren’t doing it any harm.” Liora stepped on the metal machine and pulled her knife free. The flash of silver made her think of Tariq. Thanks to his gift, she might be able to protect her father’s men.
“So knives instead of bullets?” Tanlia asked.
“Sounds like a good idea to me,” Waylan replied in a tight voice. Kray knelt beside him patching up the bullet wound in his thigh.
“We’re a danger to ourselves,” Zanden said. “So yes, knives instead of bullets where the Ketulans are concerned.”
“But for the pirates?” Creeden pressed.
“Have at it,” Zanden replied.
When Waylan was ready, the team moved behind Zanden. Liora caught the leader’s searching look several times. She had heard the Ketulan first. He was counting on her to do so again. She concentrated ahead, her ears straining as they passed each long, dark hallway.
It was unnerving, waiting for pirates or Ketulans to attack. They had the element of surprise, yet the vastness of the Hyperion left finding their enemy a guessing game. Liora willed her muscles to relax and her hold on the knives to stay loose.
“Ketulan,” she said softly.
“You heard Officer Day,” Zanden whispered to his team. “Spread out and create a diversion. Let her handle the knives. I don’t need my team stabbing each other in this darkness.” He paused, then said, “Creeden, go back down the hall and make some noise. As soon as the Ketulan is past Liora, turn on your gun light.”
“Why?” Creeden asked.
“Now is not the time to ask questions,” Tanlia told him.
Creeden muttered something about being set up to get killed, but he jogged a few steps back the way they had come. He then stomped.
“Come get me, you rusted heap of scrap metal!” he yelled.
The Ketulan sped around the corner past Liora.
“Now!” Zanden said.
Creeden switched on his gun light. The Ketulan paused at the sudden brightness. Liora took advantage of the diversion to slam her knife into the bottom of the machine. Instead of falling, the Ketulan spun around. Its claws swiped at her face. Liora blocked them with her arm and slammed her other knife beneath the machine. It fell to the floor with an echoing thud.
“Well, that was exciting,” Gunsa said.
“I missed the power source the first time,” Liora said.
She shoved the Ketulan over. It was bigger than the first one. She pulled both knives from the Ketulan and checked the blades. Neither showed damage from the metal. She was extremely grateful for the strength of Zamarian steel.
Tanlia shined her light on the Ketulan.
“You didn’t miss it,” she said. “It had a secondary source.”
It was true. Tanlia’s gun light revealed two power cells attached to the bottom of the Ketulan.
“What if one of them has three?” Gunsa asked. He flipped his knife over and held it hilt-out to Liora. “Better take mine.”
“What will you use?” Liora asked him.
He smiled at her, revealing a gap between his front teeth. “I’m counting on you to take them out. No pressure.”
Liora slid the knife behind her belt.
“Take mine too,” Tanlia said. “You never know when a blade will snap.” She lowered her voice. “Besides, I’m not that good with a knife.”
“Thanks,” Liora told her.
“How’s your arm?” Kray asked. “I saw you block the claws. Do you need stitches?”
“I’m fine,” Liora replied.
She pulled the sliced sleeve of her atmosphere suit back to reveal the black cloth of the outfit her father had given her.
“Ventican,” Kray said with an approving nod. “Nice.”
“I wish my father owned an entire planet,” Creeden said. “I would wear Ventican cloth wherever I went.” There wasn’t any jealous in his voice, only speculation.
“Shut up, Creed,” Zanden said. “Officer Day, lead the way. We’ll follow. If you hear pirates instead of Ketulans, hold up a fist and we’ll regroup.”
Liora never thought she would get to the point where two knives weren’t enough, but it was reassuring to walk ahead of the others with the weight of the extra blades behind her belt, as well as those from her father strapped to her arm beneath her sleeve. If she failed, the team would pay the price. She wanted to make sure that didn’t happen.
“Maybe I would wrestle with a chenowik,” she heard Creeden say quietly from the back of the team. “Or see how well it works against a swarm of swarthans. I’d need a mask of some sort. I wonder if they make Ventican material that’s breathable.”
“Quiet,” Kray hissed.
Liora didn’t care. The pilot’s sarcastic words kept her nerves calm. She was beginning to understand why the others had laughed before. Her heart pounded, but not quite as thunderously as she made her way up the next hallway.
“Think about it,” Creeden whispered. “What if I wore a Ventican outfit and went into the Gladarian on Titus? I could wrestle Heins and make a million bars.”
“First of all,” Kray shot back. “You need to be able to wrestle. Second, Ventican cloth won’t protect you from being stomped to death out of sheer stupidity. You can still die from being pummeled. It’ll just keep their horns from slicing you up first.”
“I’m glad you have such faith in my fighting abilities,” Creeden grumbled.
“Prove me otherwise,” Kray said.
A clink of metal caught Liora’s ear. She held up a fist. At Zanden’s motion, the other pilots gathered near.
“Guns,” Zanden said.
Answering grins of anticipation spread across the faces around Liora.
“Our turn,” Tanlia said.
“Better step back, little Damaclan,” Creeden told Liora with a wink. “The big boys are ready to play.”
“Ahem?” Kray said.
“Sorry,” Creeden replied, rolling his eyes. “The big boys and girls are ready to play. Is it really okay if I call you a big girl? I usually get slapped for saying something like that.”
“Shut up,” Kray said.
“No, you shut up,” Creeden shouted.
The sound of footsteps running toward them made Creeden’s grin widen.
“Here they come,” Zanden said.
The pirates rounded the corner and slid to a stop. They were a mixed group of humans, a Terrarian, a Talasta
n, and a Banthan armed to the teeth with guns, knives, and grenades. The lights of their guns shone on the crew a moment before bullets peppered them. Only one pirate managed to shoot his gun, and the bullets drove into the ceiling as he fell motionless onto his back.
“That was easy,” Creeden said.
“Thanks to your big mouth,” Waylan pointed out.
Creeden ducked under the pilot’s arm and helped him limp behind Liora.
“If telling Kray to shut up brings such good results, perhaps I should tell her other things,” Creeden continued.
Liora heard the sound of a slap behind her.
“Ow,” Creeden replied. “That was uncalled for.”
“That was entirely called for,” Tanlia said. “If Kray won’t slap your face, I’ll slap the back of your head.”
“Thank you,” Kray said.
“Will you guys be quiet?” Zanden asked. “How is Liora supposed to give us a warning with the sound of you guys fighting behind her?”
“She’s a Damaclan,” Creeden said. “She’s used to fighting. That’s why I like her.”
A smile spread unbidden across Liora’s face as she turned up the next hallway.
“You like her because she’s female and gorgeous,” Gunsa pointed out.
“She doesn’t need to be pretty for Creeden to like her,” Tanlia pointed out. “She only needs—”
Four pirates rounded the corner in front of Liora and everyone paused in surprise.
Liora was the first to react. She drew the two knives the crew had given her and threw them. Each met its target in the throat of a pirate. Liora unsheathed her other knives, knocked away the gun of the first to move, and stabbed a knife through the bottom of his chin. She spun and knocked the legs out from under the last pirate, a Vrugite so big he had to duck to stand in the hallway. He hit the ground with a loud thud.
Liora grabbed his gun when he raised it. She wrestled it from his grasp and threw it behind her. The pirate swung a leg up and around, flipping her to her back. He shoved a knee into her throat. Liora drove a thumb into his eye, then slammed her other hand into the side of his head. The blow jarred him to the side far enough to free her knife.
Liora slipped it from its sheath and stabbed the Vrugite’s right side twice. He let out a yell of pain and doubled over. Liora pushed free and rolled to her feet. She slammed the knife into the Vrugite’s lower left side and brought the blade up. Blood poured from the wound. The Vrugite slumped forward and stopped moving.
Liora pulled her knives free, cleaned them on the Vrugite’s shirt, and shoved them back into their sheaths. She then pulled the knives from the throats of the other two pirates. When she finally met the stunned gazes of Zanden’s team, she had prepared herself for the fear she knew she would see.
Instead, each of them watched her with wide eyes and amazed expressions. None of them appeared to be afraid of the Damaclan in their midst.
“That may have been the greatest thing I have ever seen in my life,” Creeden said with awe in his voice.
“Great,” Kray replied. “Now he has another thing to crush over.”
“I’m sorry we didn’t shoot the last one,” Zanden told Liora. “In hindsight, when he had you pinned on your back, we really should have shot him.” He looked back at his crewmates as if asking them to back him up. “But that was so amazing I was stunned.”
“We had to see what you would do,” Gunsa said with the same amazement on his face. “That was incredible.”
“Can you stay on our team forever?” Waylan asked.
“Pretty please?” Creeden echoed.
“Alright, alright,” Zanden said. “Will you please shut up now so that Liora doesn’t have to kill everyone on her own? We need the element of surprise much more than they do.”
“Sorry,” Creeden apologized.
“Yeah, sorry,” Kray said.
When they started walking, Liora heard Creeden whisper, “Totally not sorry. That was spectacular.”
Chapter 20
Liora destroyed four more Ketulans and Zanden’s team took down three more groups of pirates before they reached the bridge. But one glance at the hallway in front of the bridge said they were outnumbered. There were twenty-two pirates at Liora’s count, along with nearly the same number of Ketulans. The problem was that the pirates held hostages, and the Ketulans appeared to be halfway through the sealed bridge door.
At Zanden’s motion, the team backed up to the previous hallway.
“Why are the Ketulans working with the pirates?” Creeden whispered.
“I’m not sure,” Zanden replied. “They should be killing each other. Ketulans don’t work with anyone.”
“We’re apparently wrong on that front,” Kray said.
“Is there another way in?” Liora asked.
Zanden shook his head. “The Golden Condors were made by the Coalition. Their first line of defense is to protect the bridge, so one way in, one way out. Foolish, if you ask me. What if there’s a fire and the door is sealed?” He leaned against the wall, his brow furrowed as he puzzled a way around their situation.
“Let us in, Commandant Day,” a pirate shouted. “We’re growing impatient. One more minute and we kill another hostage.”
Liora’s heart slowed. She listened more closely. Several of the hostages were sobbing, and there had been sheer terror on the faces of those she had seen when she looked around the corner.
“He’s already killed some of them,” she said. “We have to do something.”
Kill them all. End this.
Liora stared at Zanden.
“What’s wrong?” he asked.
“Did you hear that?” she replied.
She knew he would shake his head before he did it. The voice was one she recognized all too easily. But it wasn’t possible. They had killed the Nameless Ones. Why, then, did she hear the voice in her head?
Come on, Liora. You know how to save the hostages. Kill the pirates. It’s the only way.
“Get out of my head,” Liora growled.
“I’m not in your head,” Zanden replied. He gave her a closer look. “Officer Day, are you alright?”
Liora gritted her teeth. “Something’s wrong,” she said, her voice tight.
Let the blood run, Liora. It’s in your veins. You want to kill them all. End the suffering.
Liora’s hand tightened on the knife Tariq had given her. She could kill all of the pirates. The Ketulans would be a problem, but she could deal with them after. The want to slice throats, to see blood run along the white tiled floor, to stop the terror the pirates inflicted upon their captives and the threat they posed to Brandis surged through her body. She needed to kill. She wanted to kill.
Yes, the voice hissed. Make them pay for what they’ve done. Kill them all.
“Officer Day?” Zanden said.
“We need to kill all of the pirates,” she replied.
Zanden shook his head. “It’s too risky with the hostages. Some of them will be killed in the process. We can’t handle that many pirates and the Ketulans besides. Our entire team will be wiped out.”
He doesn’t know what he’s talking about, the voice whispered. You’re Damaclan. You can make them suffer. You can make them bleed.
“What’s going on with you?” Zanden asked. “Officer Day, put down the knife.”
He can’t stop you; nobody can stop you, the voice continued. Make him pay for his foolishness.
Liora grabbed Zanden by the throat and pinned him against the wall. The other team members stared in shock as she pressed the blade of the silver knife to his neck.
Zanden didn’t struggle. He lifted his hands slowly.
“Officer Day, we’re on the same team,” he said, forcing out the words. “I don’t know what’s going on, but we can deal with this together.”
End him, the hiss commanded. Bleed him dry. End it all.
Liora shook her head. It wasn’t right. This wasn’t who she was. She wouldn’t let the Nameless Ones wi
n. She would fight them to her very last breath.
She withdrew her knife.
No! the Nameless One howled.
Liora had to get the voice out of her head. Her hands itched to kill. She shoved the knife back into her sheath. Zanden watched her with wide eyes. He didn’t speak, and the rest of the team didn’t move. Everyone waited to see what she would do.
Liora didn’t want to be the monster the Nameless Ones claimed her to be. She had a soul, and as much as she wanted, and could, kill every pirate standing before the bridge door, there had to be another way that wouldn’t risk the hostages as well.
She walked back up the hallway.
“Officer Day, where are you going?” Zanden asked. When she didn’t turn around, he called, “Officer Day, don’t be crazy! You can’t take them all!”
But she had a plan that wouldn’t involve slaying every life that threatened Brandis.
Liora gathered her strength, the inner energy that made it possible for her to push emotions, memories, and thoughts towards others. She pulled together every bit of it and balled it in the middle of her chest. She could feel the energy roiling, pulsing, bursting to be free.
As Liora reached the edge of the hallway before the bridge, she charged the energy with fear. It was the most powerful force she knew of next to love. The pirates had dealt with the hostages using fear, they had tried to force Brandis to open the bridge door through the fear of watching his crew die, and so now it was time to turn their fear against them.
Liora stepped into view and shoved the energy away from her. It wasn’t hard to find the minds of the pirates. Where the hostages’ thoughts were filled with worry about their loved ones, terror at what the pirates would do, and concern for their captain, the pirates had one goal; to maim, to hurt, to destroy. Liora had felt those feelings so many times they pulsed at the edges of her thoughts, and it was easy to send her energy there.
Screams filled the air. Pirates let go of their captives and put their hands to their heads. Visions of nameless terrors, of millions of ways to die, of enemies so horrible and terrifying they had no true form filled the minds of those who wished ill for Brandis. The cries of terror echoed and bounced back, multiplying the fear of the pirates.