by Casey Lea
A cold fist clamped around Amber’s head making her temples ache. War? With Darsey caught in the middle? This was a disaster. She scurried after Falkyn who was striding from the room with Raptor at his side.
Amber shook her head trying to clear the chill fog slowing her thoughts. They seemed to be tangled in cobwebs. She stopped abruptly, ignoring the staring whispering crowd. Everything in this last life of hers came back to the Devourer and perhaps for once that was a good thing. He wouldn’t let his feeding template die. Surely he’d step in to keep Darsey safe, just as he had with the ice plague.
The murmurs of the crowd were louder now and Lord Warble started toward Amber. She ignored his beckoning hand to hurry after the Arck, but there was no panic in her step anymore. It was time to be thankful for those spying spiders. She escaped the ballroom, but instead of following Falkyn, ran back to her rooms. She entered and slammed the doors behind her.
“Pierce,” she hissed, continuing into the bathroom. “Did you hear that? A pirate fleet has broken through Nexus. Wing and Free are in danger. They’re like my own sons and if you care for me at all, even a little, you’ll make sure they stay safe.” She took a deep breath. “Please.”
A light flashed from the bedroom. It was just a passing gleam, like a ray of sun glinting through a prism, but it had the rainbow hue of an open wormhole. A small one that only a tiny creature could scurry through.
Amber sank to the bathroom floor and let it warm the chill that had reached her gut. Perhaps Pierce really would help Wing and Free, although she doubted it. Her message wasn’t truly about them at all. She sent it to be certain-sure the Devourer knew about the attack, so at least Darsey would be safe.
20
Betrayed
Free should have been back on Blossom tucked up in his new apartment, as Dax kept reminding him, but the Nexus Control tower was more familiar and returning to work had just seemed easier.
Easier for who? Dax whined. This is bo-oring. Why can’t we go home?
“It doesn’t feel like home. Not yet. It’s too…” Empty.
I’ll be there, Dax promised. And you’ve got friends. What about that girl you were talking to after we docked out here? Lieutenant Cozy.
“Lieutenant-plus Costa.”
Ye, her. She was really keen to see your new place. She was all over you about it.
“Exactly.” Free put his seal on the holo of another daily action-map and the document swirled away to his outbox. His signature was always in demand when he was in fresh from a mission. It was enough to make him stay in space.
That would be good too. It’s fun.
“Getting shot at is fun?”
For both of us. Don’t try to act all normal with me. I’m on the inside, remember.
Free snorted. “How could I forget?
So-oo, about L-P Cozy? Dax’s thought trailed off, but Free could feel his curiosity about the curvy Costa.
“No!”
Space it, Fossil. No need to get snappy. Hey, is this about Darsey? Is she why you’re in a grump?
Free thumped the sides of both fists against the desk and the little voice in his mind went quiet. “I am not in a grump. Wing and Dee are having some fully deserved private time. And I have office work piled as high as the Grace. So please, Dax, be silent for a second.”
There was no response and Free tried to relax. He pushed through a growing headache to read the next document, but the words didn’t make sense and he had to go back to the beginning. Concentrate, he told himself, but before he could try again the silent voice returned.
Pirates!
Dax’s cry was like an axe to the head, but Free ignored his pain to focus on the hologram at the top corner of his desk. It showed the grey rock of the planetoid that Central Command was built on and the space above where the Nexus wormhole opened to let traffic enter the system. It should have been dark, but ships were appearing. Hundreds, no thousands of them, swarming from the mouth of a gigantic rainbow whirlpool.
Free swiped the edge of his desk and the image on it flipped to the wall to offer a window on the invasion of his home. Pirate ships sped from the circling wormhole that churned on to release wave after wave of vessels. They smashed straight through the Nexus customs docks, blasting layers of armor to pieces as they passed, and kept on coming.
Most headed toward Blossom, but dozens broke off and made for the remaining docks, which hovered beside the tower housing Free’s office. The building vibrated with the thrum of its heavy guns firing constantly, but there were far too many invaders to stop the enemy charge.
The com round Free’s wrist began to vibrate and didn’t stop. A dozen voices came through with the calls, but he spoke over them all.
“Yes, we’re under attack. The invaders are pirates, with vessel classes C through G. Nexus has been breached and all defenses have failed. Our shields are down. Repeat, complete shield failure. Nexus Control will be breached. Fall back to Blossom. Our priority is the civilian population there and on Blizzard. Order all civilian ships presently in space to take cover behind planetary defenses. Send our Strike Wings to guide them in. Every other ship is to guard our worlds, except for the Star Busters. They’re with me. Let’s see if we can plug this drain. The Grace will lift in three minutes. That’s three, people. Everyone move.”
Better move your Admiral’s ass too, Dax advised and Free grunted. The chick was right.
Free took a last look at the information on the wall and then he was gone, charging into the link from his office. He didn’t rise to the upper exit though. Not yet. Whatever had gone wrong had started down below, in the Control Vault. He dropped like a comet, letting the fake gravity take him and then accelerated even more with pulses from his com.
Whooo-heeee, Dax crowed in his head and Free almost smiled. Almost.
The sub-basement floor came up fast and his head snapped back when he braked to a halt. He stopped with a whip-crack and only his com support kept him undamaged.
The Control Vault was dark and he hesitated. Where was everyone? Free’s fronds swayed forward seeking any mind touch, but there was nothing. He wished he was surprised. The lack of shields could only be due to a traitor, which led to one vital question. Who could have betrayed them this deeply?
Free stepped forward and almost fell.
It was so black even his frond’s infra-red was struggling, but he concentrated and saw the uneven edges of the floor as a dark blue. The corridor had become a ragged cave, twice the size it should be. An explosion must have turned it into the maze of potholes and chunks of ceiling he could dimly sense ahead.
Something creaked above Free and he paused. The entire weight of Nexus Central rested on this level. It could stop resting at any moment and he was clearly far too late to protect the access computers. He also only had two-and-a-half minutes left to get to his ship.
Free returned to the link, but hesitated.
Hurry up, Dax urged.
“On or back?”
How should I know? I’m just a kid.
This time Free did smile. What the hail. They needed to know who the traitor was and any clues left down here might not survive much longer. He strode back into the dark, careless in his haste and rubble moved underfoot. A crash came from the shadows behind him and he sped up, to sprint toward the main control room.
An abyss opened at Free’s feet, completely black and it was too late to stop.
He jumped instead, throwing himself forward. He could feel the emptiness under him as he hung in the air, his com pulsing him forward with all the power it had, and then he was falling. Drak.
For a second Free thought he was screaming in his head, then realized it was Dax and a second later his chest slammed into an edge. The lip on the other side of the chasm was lower and he managed to strike it face first. His fingers locked on to debris and held. He dangled there hanging over the drop and slowly edged higher. He wriggled over the lip and got as far as his hips before it started to crumble.
No, no, no. Go, go, go, Dax urged.
Free threw himself forward as the ledge shattered under him and his grip slipped. NO. His effort made his eyes water, but he cleared the crumbling pit.
He landed safely, until a hand gripped his shoulder. It pushed hard and he skidded back toward the abyss. This time he was going to fall, certain-sure.
21
Traitor
Free dug in his toes. He stopped and his attacker couldn’t shift him. It seemed desperation could be useful, although the world spun around him in the dark. Even with infra-red vision it was disorienting. He’d thought the stranger in the dark was pushing him back, but he looked up and recognized the face in front of him. Even as a green and yellow blob.
“Darsey,” he gasped and she pulled him to his feet.
“Free? Is that you? I’m sorry. I thought it must be whoever did this.”
He stepped to one side so he could check her over. “Are you alright? Did you see the traitor?”
“Yes, I’m fine. No, I didn’t. We’ve got to get out of here.”
Ain’t that the truth, Dax chimed in.
Something in the ceiling creaked and then groaned.
“We need a beam,” Free said. “A good long one. It’s a hail of a jump back.”
“No. We can use the bolt hole.”
Darsey grabbed his hand and started pulling, so Free let himself follow.
The bolt hole? The only other entrance to the Control Vault had multiple doors and security protocols that would take more than his remaining - he checked his com – forty seconds to disable.
“It’s open,” Darsey panted as they ran. “Whoever did this must have got in that way. I saw it was unlocked up above and when I tried to call Control they didn’t answer.”
A block tumbled from the roof and Free jerked Darsey sideways. It smashed at her heels, but she kept on moving.
“I tried to call for help,” she yelled over the noise of debris coming down all around them. “But the coms are overloaded. What’s going on?”
“Pirates.”
They reached the bolt-hole’s hidden door which was swinging open. Free looked up to see that the hatches above were open too. He hoisted Darsey to the first rung and she started climbing. The world began to shake around him and dust exploded up the shaft from below.
C’mon, Dax urged. Don’t let her beat us.
Free coughed and threw himself upward. He pushed on as fast as he could, until his legs began to ache. He gritted his teeth and kept on pushing. He didn’t waste any more of his com’s precious energy on himself. Instead he used it to send a priority signal.
“Spense.”
“Sar,” his Fleet Senior replied at once. “The Grace is ready to attack as soon as you arrive.”
“Don’t wait. I’m climbing the bolt hole from Control, but it’s going to take me some minutes to reach open space.”
“I can fix that, sar.”
Another cloud of dust whipped past Free and he was too busy coughing to answer. He kept climbing instead. A faint light above grew brighter and he saw Darsey nearly at the top. Her com must still have plenty of power.
The flash of a ship’s plasma beam left a jumping green line as an afterimage against the sky above.
“Drak,” Free swore and Dax echoed the sentiment.
A rumble shook the tube around them and Free had to stop climbing and cling to the bars. He was banged against the wall, which cracked behind him, while light flooded down from above. He blinked through fresh debris and saw something hovering overhead. It looked like his personal float, which now had access to the ruined bolt hole. It dived toward him, whipping straight past Darsey, who was dangling from the rungs above.
Free let go of the ladder, the wash of the passing float tugging at his tunic, and stepped sideways into space. His feet met the gridded circle of the float’s pilot pad with a thud and its field flowed upward to surround him. He turned it into a waterfall with a swipe of his hand and it fell back into the float just as he reached Darsey. He plucked her from the remains of the ladder and they were both swept upward.
They shot from the broken bolt-hole and Free ducked, pulling Darsey down with him. A falling pylon swept past them, scraping his back as it went. He brought the float in for a hard landing, skidding it across the buckled terramac of the main dock.
Darsey held on tight until they came to a halt, then jumped off the float.
“You’ve got to go,” she said with a tight smile. “Good luck.”
There was a shriek of incoming missiles and the far end of the dock exploded. Free stepped off the float to help Darsey stay upright, but she pushed him away and wobbled in place until the shaking stopped. She backed up with a goodbye wave, but he reached out and she hesitated.
“Ideas, Darse. Can we close the wormhole? How do we fight this?”
“How should I know? We need to get people on ships and back to Blossom.”
Free stopped and his mind went blank. “Now I'm truly worried. Alright, start evacuations and be certain-sure you go with the first refugees.”
Darsey nodded and turned away.
“Luck,” she called back over her shoulder, while his jaw dropped.
“HEY.”
Darsey stopped at Free’s cry and spun back. “What?”
She looked impatient, but it didn’t matter. Free was already on her and gathered her into his arms. Take care.
He cursed himself as he hugged her, but couldn’t stop. The way those pirates were pouring into the system this was likely goodbye. He held her tight and they stood there for a second, until Darsey squirmed free. The embrace fell apart and she patted Free's arm awkwardly.
“Later.” She took a deep breath and he felt bemusement from her mind, but then she was gone.
She jump-stepped her way over a pile of rubble at combat speed and Free had to make an effort not to follow. Despite the pain in his chest, he made himself run in the opposite direction, leaping to his float and blasting for the Grace.
That was weird, Dax thought and Free had to agree.
“It felt as if she didn’t like me at all. And where’s Wing?”
No, Dax chimed in. I meant all the hugging. Gross.
“It was farewell,” Free said briefly, steering past the first panicked traffic before blasting far too fast for the Grace’s closest hatch. Every entry to the ship was open, looking like fireflies in the night, and distant crew members on floats were still piling through them.
Seconds passed and the ship grew larger, a svelte grey-and-black diamond that dwarfed the ruined docks beneath it. Free’s float was truly traveling when he finally reached a round entry port, but the last stragglers managed to get out of his way. The engines hit full power when he entered the link, so Spense must know he was aboard.
“Get us off-world,” Free ordered through his com and by the time he reached the nest every visual showed the docking planetoid falling away below. Explosions appeared on the receding ground, spreading like lava on the bare rock.
“Any idea what happened to our defenses?” Spense growled as Free flipped into his seat. He turned to his Senior, who settled by his right shoulder, and they exchanged a grim look.
“They were sabotaged,” said Free. “I don’t know who did it and we’ve other priorities right now.”
A series of distant explosions sounded and the ship shook. The far-off thunder sounded again, making the nest jump around them. It kept vibrating as more shots struck and Free checked the external sensors.
Pirate vessels swarmed the Grace. Hundreds of them converged on the flagship, as fierce and spiked as crested army-ants. They covered the hull and although their munitions were weak the attack was constant.
“Where did they get so many ships?” Spense wondered.
“They must have emptied the Rim. Though why they’re all working together I don’t know.”
The Grace shuddered from stem to stern and Free felt a fear that wasn’t his own.
Are we getting nibbled
to death? Dax asked.
Free wanted to deny it, but the chick had a point.
“It’s a problem,” he admitted. “We can’t blast them off, because they’ve latched onto us. The blow back from our missiles would be worse than the present attack.”
“Ideas, sar?” Spense asked.
Light filled the nest before Free could answer. A brilliant white flash was followed by the gold and red of a massive explosion. He squinted through his com filter and his eye’s nictating membranes, but the hologram was already dimming automatically. It darkened until he could see the glowing remains of an Alliance ship. Star Buster class.
“Sar,” Spense said, “we’ve lost the Intrepid.”
“Life signs?” Free grated and twisted his chair to focus on the Data Senior.
“Many, sar,” Senior Torrens said, his voice husky, but steady. “Sixty-five. I’ve got Leader Sweep’s signal. No, it’s gone. I’m losing them. Down to forty-two… fifteen, twelve. One. No. It’s gone, sar. All the survivors are gone. The pirates shot them. Shot them like it was target practice.”
Silence fell over the nest and Spense gripped the back of Free’s seat so hard Free felt it through the headrest. He took a deep breath and searched for words of comfort, encouragement, anything to make it better.
“Admiral,” Senior Torrens croaked and twisted to meet Free’s gaze. “The ships that destroyed the Intrepid, they’re coming for us.”
“They’ll have to line up,” Spense joked, but no one laughed.
Free studied the mass of metal heading through space to join the vultures already settled on the Grace’s carcass. They began to land and his ship groaned loud enough to be heard over the constant barrage. A crash was followed by warning lights throughout the nest.
“We’re breached,” Torrens yelled. “In four places. Emergency bulkheads are up and their shields are holding.”
Not for long, Dax thought and Free couldn’t disagree.
“Open all hatches and send out strike teams with small arms,” Spense suggested, but scowled as soon as he’d said it. “No, it would take too long and they’d get picked off as they tried to take out those damned ships.”