Nexus

by Sasha Alsberg

  She turned on her heel and disappeared through the curtain, tugging Dex in after her.

  * * *

  Andi had never been a fan of movies.

  She hated the way they painted a picture that wasn’t truly real. Illusions, displayed on a grand scale, that told stories that could never really come true.

  Most of the movies that were popular on Arcardius ended happily, everyone too afraid of sinking back into that place of darkness so many people had felt during the Cataclysm. But Andi had seen one film, ages ago, that she didn’t hate. She’d watched it with Kalee late at night, hidden in the back of the media center in Averia. Kalee had been terrified, watching the lead actress walk through a dark tunnel that would surely lead her to her death.

  But Andi had felt alive watching that moment play out. She’d known even then that she’d never be so foolish as to walk down a road that led to such an obvious, ominous death. And if she was ever forced to, she’d know how to fight her way back out.

  At least she’d always thought so...until now.

  “Well, this looks like a cozy place to cuddle up together in the shadows,” Dex said softly.

  Andi couldn’t help but laugh, despite her nerves. “No time like the present, is there?”

  The tunnel beyond the curtain was dark and narrow, with water dripping down the rocky walls like fresh blood. Had Andi been anyone else, she may have feared taking a step forward.

  Instead, she clicked on her cuffs, allowing their light to bathe the tunnel in a cool, muted blue.

  “The best gift I’ve ever given you,” Dex said. “Those, and the Marauder.”

  “Oh, was that a gift?” Andi teased. “I thought I stole it, fair and square.”

  He was right, though. Not only did the varillium cuffs protect her scarred flesh—burned into ruin the night Kalee had died—but they’d helped her get out of many sticky situations. The Marauder had, too.

  “Let’s go,” she said. Andi stepped forward, her fists held before her. As she walked, she imagined it wasn’t just Dex with her, but also her crew. Breck’s tall figure at her back, Gilly’s delicate footsteps beside her. She imagined Lira, calmly assessing the situation, beautiful in her fearlessness as she prepared to destroy anyone who laid a hand on the girls.

  So much had changed in a matter of weeks. But for the sake of her crew, Andi would bravely walk forward into the dark.

  The tunnel suddenly opened wide, revealing another rounded room. Dex stopped and gently guided Andi’s wrist to shed light on the wall.

  “More of those strange carvings,” he whispered.

  The symbols truly were like the constellations that marked the Godstars, only flipped. Altered, in strange ways. They followed the carvings deeper into the darkness, until the rock walls began to widen, trailing upward to a spot where a single fire flickered on the rocky ground, the flames spitting embers that danced in the shadows overhead. The smoke escaped somewhere above, likely another clever design by whoever had once turned this place into a hidden home.

  Andi walked quietly toward the flames. More carvings were written on the ground with what looked like coals from the fire.

  “Someone’s slightly obsessed,” Dex said as Andi knelt to look at them.

  It was then that she felt the presence of someone else shifting in the shadows.

  “Interesting, that you would invite us here, but choose to hide when we finally arrive,” Andi said softly to the darkness.

  She could feel the warmth of the fire, welcome in the chill of the space, and Dex’s body close against her back. If she couldn’t have her swords, she’d definitely settle for him as her backup. He’d taught her to fight, after all.

  “Well?” Dex called out. “We’re here for the party.”

  Silence was their only answer.

  But then, across the room, a set of tiny red lights blinked into being. Gone one breath, and there the next, floating in the shadows.

  “You must be into games, if you’ve teamed up with Soyina,” Andi said, moving to the side. The red lights followed her as she paced by the fire. They did not blink, only tracked her with a devil’s stare.

  Andi stopped walking and squared herself with the flames between them. “What do you want from us?”

  The red lights shifted, and Andi heard a clicking noise, the tiny tap-tap-tap of what sounded like an animal’s claws. “Well?” she demanded, even as a shiver ran over and through her. She wasn’t afraid. She would not be afraid.

  Dex pressed a reassuring hand to her back. “If you won’t speak to us, we won’t waste our time any further. Soyina would be more than happy to play creepier games with us.”

  The red lights flared as Andi spun on her heel, following Dex’s lead away from the fire, back toward the tunnel to the undercity.

  “She stole everything from you, did she not?”

  The voice that spoke was shockingly deep. Metallic. Inhuman. It sounded even worse than it had on the feeds, somehow more imposing in person. As if it were speaking into her very soul.

  Andi stopped, tilting her chin ever so slightly to the side. “Who?” she asked.

  “Nor Solis.”

  From the corner of her vision, Andi could see the darkness moving. She could see the tiny red lights shifting, glowing brighter with each syllable the figure spoke.

  “She has stolen a lot of things from a lot of people,” Andi answered. “But yes. She stole my crew.”

  “And what would you be prepared to give, to have them back?” The lights flared again and again, each time that metallic voice uttered a word. “The answer is simple. Get it wrong, and you’ll leave here at once, unharmed.” The lights moved upward, the tap-tap-tap clicking in time with the motion. “Get it right, and I can give you what you desire most.”

  Andi’s heart pounded, furious, in her chest. “I’d give anything to have them back.”

  “Andi,” Dex said, a warning in his voice.

  She knew he was afraid to lose her, afraid she’d risk too much of herself for the sake of rescuing her girls. But she couldn’t hide from the truth of her heart, and she wouldn’t protect him from it, either.

  “Most would say the same, after losing what they love,” the figure in the darkness said.

  “True.” Andi raised a brow. “But when I say things, I mean them.” She stepped closer, wondering who Arachnid really was, to hide in the shadows like this, and how he dared to ask her such questions.

  She stopped at the edge of the flames, feeling the warmth dancing on her face, the firelight flickering off her metal cheekbones. “To have my crew back, to see them walk free from the false queen... I’d give my life.”

  Dex’s breath came out in a whoosh behind her.

  Then the red lights blinked out, and only darkness stared back at them both.

  “Is that the wrong answer?” Andi asked. Frustration picked at her, an obnoxious little creature she couldn’t shake, and she was about to turn away when the darkness shifted once more.

  A massive figure, clad in crimson armor, stepped forward from the shadows. Andi couldn’t see a face beyond the dented, war-torn helmet concealing the figure from view. But the spidery droid that sat upon its shoulder, red eye-lights blinking to life again, explained the strange voice.

  “No,” Arachnid said. “I can give you what you desire.”

  “And what do you want from us in return?” Andi asked, walking closer to the firelight.

  “Didn’t anyone tell you why you’re here?” Robotic laughter filtered from the droid on Arachnid’s shoulder. “You came here without knowing why. What if this were a trap? What if it is a trap?”

  Fury began to writhe within Andi.

  “We came here because your people saved us,” Dex snapped. He gestured in the direction of the ceiling, indicating the surface of the planet. “No one out there controls their own minds, but
your people do. That’s enough for me to hope we’re on the same side. Call us foolish, stupid or whatever you want, but we can help each other.”

  “How do you propose to help me?” Arachnid asked.

  Andi knew their fighting skills were unmatched, but that wasn’t enough to bargain with. There was only one thing they had that could be used as leverage—something that was of the utmost importance.

  “We have information.” She grabbed Dex’s wrist and unfastened the silver band Alfie was programmed into. “Inside this watch is a chip with detailed information about Nor’s half brother, Valen Cortas. We believe he’s a key to how the virus works.”

  “And what do you wish in exchange for this information?”

  Andi held out the watch. “My crew is stranded on Arcardius, under Nor’s control. I’d like your help getting there, so I can set them free.”

  Arachnid turned his head slightly to look at the watch, seemingly deep in thought. Andi sent up a prayer to the Godstars as she waited, heart in her throat. If he wouldn’t help them, they might never find another way to rescue the girls.

  Finally, Arachnid said, “I don’t need your information. I already have it.”

  Andi’s heart dropped.

  “How could you have this information when you’ve been hiding out here? I doubt Valen gives away his blood willingly,” Dex countered, as if trying to call a bluff.

  But Arachnid ignored Dex’s comment, instead moving his hands up to his helmet, pausing when they reached the back. A whoosh of air escaped the suit, and the droid on his armored shoulder scuttled away, over his back and out of sight. There was a hiss of steam, and then the metal collapsed in on itself.

  As the steam cleared, Andi stared at Arachnid in disbelief. For standing before her was not a man, like she’d expected, but a woman.

  Small in frame, practically dwarfed by the size of the armor protecting her. Her face was marred with a wicked scar, harsh against her brown skin, but her eyes gleamed in the firelight.

  “Who are you?” Andi demanded.

  “You don’t know me.” The woman’s lips didn’t move as the droid spoke for her. “But I believe you do know my son, though perhaps not my daughter. Yet.”

  Realization began to dawn on Andi as Arachnid stared at her with eerily familiar golden eyes. “My name is Klaren Solis. And I need your help to stop my children from destroying Mirabel.”

  CHAPTER 15

  NOR

  Nor had spent most of her life dreaming of growing old on Arcardius. The planet was breathtaking with its crystal clear waters, lush greenery and floating gravarocks—a veritable paradise compared to Xen Ptera’s crumbling earth and poisonous atmosphere.

  Arcardius’s capital city of Veronus was its crowning jewel, filled with glittering towers. But today, Nor found it difficult to appreciate Veronus’s glory as she peered out the windowed wall of her office, past the clouds to the cityscape far below. For how could she stand to look upon it when, after all this time, the planet she’d thought was finally hers actually belonged to someone else?

  With a huff, she drew the curtains closed, suddenly disgusted by the view.

  “There must be another way,” Zahn said from the opposite side of the office. He sat on a comfortably worn couch beside the window, a near-empty glass of aged Griss in his hand. Weeks ago, it had brought Nor great joy to open the doors of Cyprian’s personal cellar and partake of the finest liquors in the galaxy. This particular vintage had quickly become one of her favorite indulgences.

  But tonight, the taste was stale on her tongue.

  Nor sat down beside Zahn, sighing as she looked at the holoscreen he held in his other hand. Androma Racella stared up at her, a wicked half smile on her lips. It was a photograph of the girl from her days as a Spectre here on Averia, guarding Cyprian’s daughter, Kalee. When Nor closed her eyes, she felt as if she could still sense the girl’s presence here in this office, where she’d once attended meetings with the general.

  “We’ll never find her,” Nor said, looking down at the amber liquid in her glass. She set the drink aside on the table in front of the couch.

  “We will,” Zahn said, reaching for her hand. Nor gently pulled away, entwining her fingers around her golden prosthetic instead. “You’re not one to give up, Nhatilya. Don’t change that now.”

  “Of all people, why her?” Nor said, looking at Androma’s pale skin, the metallic implants across her cheekbones, her winter-gray eyes. The girl looked like she carried a thousand secrets—and as if she would kill anyone who dared try to pull them from her. “Why the most renowned criminal in the galaxy?”

  She knew the story of the Bloody Baroness. The girl who’d inadvertently slain Cyprian Cortas’s daughter, the very charge she’d sworn her life to protect. As vengeance, he’d trapped Androma into the task of retrieving Valen from Lunamere, an assignment that would have likely been a death mission if Nor hadn’t already planned for Valen to be rescued—a ploy to get him back here to Arcardius without the general suspecting he was an ally of Xen Ptera.

  It was clear that Cyprian hated Androma Racella.

  So it didn’t make any sense that he would choose her, of everyone in Mirabel, to take his place as General of Arcardius.

  “She’s not beneath Valen’s compulsion,” Nor said. “And her ship has left no trace that anyone can find since she fled.”

  Again, Nor looked down at the screen. The damned girl had been in her clutches only weeks ago, walking these very halls. Valen had nearly killed her at the Ucatoria Ball. She’d thought the girl would never pose a problem...but now?

  With every corner Nor turned, it was as if she saw the ghost of the Bloody Baroness.

  “We will find her,” Zahn said again, turning the screen away. “We’ll do whatever it takes to root her out, and make sure you have full command again.”

  “And until then?” Nor asked.

  Zahn wrapped an arm around her shoulder, pulling her close. “There’s plenty to occupy your time. The completion of Nexus, the running of your new empire...and I can think of a few other things.”

  His teeth had just grazed her ear when the doors to her office swung open and Valen swept in. Zahn sighed and pulled away, rising to his feet. Nor followed his gaze to the doorway and was surprised to see that Valen was not alone.

  For behind her brother trailed Darai, along with three others—female soldiers Nor only vaguely recognized.

  “What is the meaning of this?” she asked, standing and pulling her cloak tight across her stomach to hide her wrinkled gown. She hadn’t changed clothes since they’d heard the news about Cyprian’s successor, too worried to do anything but focus on finding Androma.

  “Majesty,” Darai said, bowing quickly before crossing the room toward her. “My deepest apologies for the intrusion, but—”

  “You can stop with the ridiculous adviser act, Uncle,” Valen said, cutting the old man off. He looked to Nor, but finished his sentence through their mental link instead. I made a mistake, letting Andi go. I thought I’d killed her—

  A mistake you will not soon forget, Nor snapped back, surprising herself with her own sudden surge of anger.

  Valen cleared his throat and quickly answered back with a nod. No one could have known, Nor. But these three... I promise you, they will be the answer to our problem. Consider this my apology. I think you will find it perfectly to your liking.

  The young women stepped up behind Valen, all three obediently dropping to a knee in unison. Nor looked at the girls more closely, surveying them one by one.

  The first, a giantess with brown skin and hardened eyes, was clearly from the planet New Veda. The one at her side, redheaded and petite, hardly looked old enough to don the black soldier’s uniform she wore. The last was a girl from Adhira, judging by her ocean-blue skin and eyes. Her posture was graceful and elegant, and she held her head high even as she
bent the knee to her queen.

  All of them had a singular trait in common: the silver veins of the Zenith virus spread across their skin, glowing brightly as they waited for her judgment.

  “Who are they?” Nor asked, still unable to place them.

  “These soldiers used to serve a different master,” Darai said, his features broadening in a rare smile. “They were once criminals who worked alongside the Bloody Baroness. Her...crew.”

  Electricity zinged through Nor’s entire body at those words.

  “I know Androma,” Valen said, moving closer to Nor, his hands worrying away at each other. “She’s not beneath my control, and she’s going to be nearly impossible to root out. And she’s a survivor—she’ll do whatever it takes to save herself. She’s likely already far away, holed up somewhere none of our soldiers can reach. She may even be with Arachnid himself now, hiding out—”

  “Don’t say his name,” Nor said, clenching her teeth.

  “My apologies, sister,” Valen said, cringing slightly. “But she would be impossible to find, Nor, if it weren’t for these three.” He looked over his thin shoulder at the trio of soldiers. “They’re like family to her, and Androma will do whatever it takes to save them. Always. Even if the cost is her own life.”

  Nor approached the girls slowly, stopping a few paces away to look down at them. They kept their heads deeply bowed, as if they were too afraid to look upon their queen.

  “Rise,” she said to them. As one, they stood, their faces full of awe as they gazed at her. Nor’s eyes fell on the Adhiran girl. Beautiful, like a delicate flower that had rows of hidden thorns beneath its petals.

  “How well do you know the Bloody Baroness?”

  The Adhiran girl’s eyes met Nor’s, and her voice was melodic as she spoke. “My queen... I am ashamed to admit that I was once very close to her. I...saw her as a sister, of sorts.” She glanced at the other two girls, both of whom were nodding.

  “We all did,” the New Vedan girl agreed. “We spent years with Androma, learning from her...learning about her, on board the Marauder. We can tell you anything you need to know. Her likes, her dislikes, her greatest fears.”