Queen of Hearts

by Michael-Scott Earle

  “They are approaching,” Bastia said. “Ten meters. Now five meters. They are stopping outside the narrow passages and talking together as a group. They do not see us, but their body language suggests that they are worried about an ambush.”

  Each narrow corridor was about ten meters long. So, it would be somewhat of a long shot to lean out around the corner where I hid, especially with my shotgun. I could order the other men to engage with their rifles, but then I’d lose out on the kills, and the beast wanted to participate in the bloodshed.

  “They are moving forward,” Bastila whispered. “Groups of four down each of the passages. Commanders are in row five and eight.”

  “Five is next to me,” I whispered in return. “I’ll take him. Everyone else begins when I start. End communication.”

  I waited a few moments with my eyes closed. The new shotgun already felt like an old friend, and I could feel my heartbeat pulse through my muscular legs, stomach, chest, and neck.

  I counted down and imagined the Elaka Nota men moving through the narrow passageways toward the plaza. They had to know that something was amiss, but I was sure their orders were to proceed. They wanted Persephone and Eve back.

  I wasn’t going to let Elaka Nota take either of them.

  My new shrapnel sprayer led my turn around the corner. I didn’t want to risk killing the commanding officer, so I aimed low to take the legs out of the men who were positioned in front. A narrow cone of twisting blades spiraled out of the muzzle of the new weapon and covered the distance between myself and my prey instantly.

  The devastation was incredible.

  The Elaka Nota Marines were armored with what looked like a bulkier version of the suits that were on board Persephone. The thickness of the plates didn’t matter though. The shards of metal cut through them as if they were red colored paper. The bottom half of the first man ripped away as if he’d been torn apart by a giant, the man behind him lost his entire left leg when the metal passed through the first fucker, and the third man’s foot was sheared off.

  The men’s blood exploded on the walls before they even had a chance to scream, and a sonata of gunfire filled the other corridors.

  I was already charging into their midst. The first man somehow still had hold of his carbine, but I had a better angle with my weapon now, and I knew how it fired. My second shot took him right through the chest, punched through his armor, and blended the face off the second man.

  I jumped past them both as they died and twisted the sight of my shotgun toward the third guard. This one was either skilled, and ignoring the pain of his lost foot, or his brain hadn’t reported the damage to him yet, since he was in the process of aiming his carbine toward me. He was still too slow though, and the next blast from my weapon turned his helmeted head into a burst of confetti.

  The commander of this unit was still unharmed, but he was pointing his pistol at my chest. I didn’t want to kill this fucker, so I knocked his gun away with a sweep of my weapon, shoulder checked him into the wall, and then elbowed him in the face. He was wearing one of those half helmets that only covered the top part of his head, and his jaw cracked when my elbow smacked him.

  His gun went off, but he was aiming away from me, so the bullet missed. I took my right hand off the butt of my weapon, hooked it under his armored elbow, and then pushed his hand forward with my shotgun while I yanked my right arm to my chest. His elbow snapped like a twig, and the man made a muffled cry of agony as he dropped his pistol.

  “Status update,” I said as I kicked the man’s gun away and hip threw him to the ground.

  “Your presence is needed in column two,” Kuroda said over the sound of bullets being fired.

  “Got it,” I said as I looked between the walls. They were maybe a meter and a half in width and made of the same tough metal the majority of the station was made from. It was a somewhat smooth material, but I figured that I would be strong enough to not slip if I tried to climb them.

  I threw myself against the wall that separated columns five and six. The bottom of my boot kicked flat into the wall, and the momentum threw me backward as I spun. My other foot hit the wall that separated columns five and four, and I pushed out again to fling back in the other direction. I kicked off the walls two more times, and then I was standing on the top of the walls and leaping across the gaps toward column two.

  As I leapt over the hallways, I aimed my shotgun down below me and showered the groups of Elaka Nota fuckers with armor piercing shrapnel. Most of the groups were either in mid fire-fight with my men or had already been shot full of holes. It didn’t matter. They all needed to die. The beast was screaming in my head, and he seemed to grow louder each time I pulled the trigger.

  I made it to column two and found that the group of Elaka Nota Marines had fallen back to the far side of the passageway opposite from my men. They were using the walls as a limited form of cover, but the man with the suitcase was in the process of pulling his drone out.

  I had a bunch of momentum left in my run, so I made the jump over the gap with my shotgun trained down the passage toward the Elaka Nota troops. They had heard me shooting from their position and ducked back around behind the edges so that I couldn’t get a clear shot at them. The positioning left me in a bit of a bind because charging toward them would leave me exposed to their line of fire.

  I increased my running speed and did it anyway.

  One of the guards fell back away from the wall’s edge and raised his carbine up to aim at me. I leveled my shotgun at him, but his helmet suddenly exploded, and his body began to slump toward the ground. The other Elaka Nota soldiers shouted a warning, but then I was leaping off the top of the wall, and my shotgun was singing a sweet symphony of spraying shrapnel.

  My first blast hit the drone controller in the upper shoulders. His body burst into four large chunks before those chunks seemed to disintegrate. The drone he had pulled out of his case fell to the ground, but I sent another shot into it so that no one from their ships would be able to drive the thing.

  My next shot took off the head of an armored Marine that was trying to turn his own shotgun toward me. He died instantly, and his torso continued to swivel from his momentum.

  The last guard was still aiming his carbine down the passageway where he thought I might come from, but I yanked on my trigger again and sent his bloody organs splattering across the walls of the passage.

  Then the battle was over.

  “What are the four ships doing?” I asked as I trotted back to the officer with the broken jaw and arm.

  “They have not raised any sort of alert, Emperor,” Bastia said. “I believe our jammer worked.”

  “Let’s hope so,” I said. “Let’s get these bodies off the street and all the blood cleaned up. They’ll wonder what happened when this team doesn’t check in for a few minutes. Then they will send drones. Was the other officer captured?”

  “Yes, Emperor,” Bastia answered.

  “Good,” I said as I grabbed the one I had taken care of, he was actually trying to crawl toward the pistol that I had kicked away from him, but I stepped on his hand before he could grab it. The bones in his hand shattered, and he let out a screech of agony.

  “If you think that is bad,” I said as I lifted him off the ground by his puppy scruff. “Wait until I get you aboard my ship and Eve starts ripping into your mind.”

  “You have done well, Tiger,” Kuroda said as he walked through the corridor toward me. He carried his sniper rifle over his shoulder and wore a wide smile.

  “Yeah. I take it you saved my ass with that shot to that other asshole’s skull?”

  “It was my shot, yes,” he admitted, “but I believe you would have fired your weapon before he did.”

  “Well, thanks for the save,” I said as I nodded at him.

  “Now you have captured two men that might know how Elaka Nota tracks you.”

  “They might know,” I said. “There are still a bunch of assholes on those two ships
and the other two ships out in orbit. If they see Persephone, I imagine they will attack, and it is only a matter of time before they pick her up.”

  “Then what will you do?” he said. “Think of it as Tiger, not Adam. One is a god, and the other is just a man trying to contain a god.”

  “Hmm,” I said as I puzzled through the options. In a few minutes, the crew on the two ships docked at the station would realize that their Marines and officers were missing. They would either send more men, attack, or escape. Ideally, I’d capture everyone on the four vessels and let Eve take her time interrogating them. However, we’d gotten lucky and captured two officers without any losses.

  I didn’t know how many ships Elaka Nota had in its fleet, but the loss of four would probably hurt them. Especially since I’d already taken out a few when we escaped with Persephone.

  “Can you eject the two docked with the station?” I asked Kuroda.

  “Yes, Tiger,” he said, and his grin widened even more. His teeth were a bit too perfect, but then again, I supposed mine were just like his since they were replaced every time I shifted.

  “Give the order,” I said. “Destroy all four ships as soon as possible. I might not get everything I want out of these two fuckers, but we’ve won the day, and I’d call it a double win if we also destroy these four Elaka Nota ships.”

  “Agreed,” he said with a deep nod. “They must fear following you, Tiger. This is a good decision. I will give the order. Do you wish to watch your new empire crush your enemies?”

  “Yeah,” I said after a moment of thought. “Then I’ll give these guys over to Eve, and the real fun will start.”

  Chapter 3

  The Elaka Nota squadron didn’t stand a chance against the Wobbegong fleet. The station itself began the attack by forcing the ejection of the two docked vessels. It was impossible to know exactly what the crew thought, but they must have been a bit surprised since they didn’t try to attack in the fifteen seconds it took for Wobbegong’s cannons to warm up and fire. The first salvo annihilated both of the destroyer class ships, and then the cannons turned to the remaining two vessels while the rest of my local fleet swept in.

  The battle was over some twenty seconds later, and Elaka Nota only got two shots off that both missed hitting anything but empty space.

  “We will take the prisoners back to Persephone,” I said to Kuroda. “Then we will be leaving.” We had moved to the nearby harbormaster’s station so that we could watch the brief battle from the video displays there.

  “I will be joining you,” the man said.

  “Are you sure?” I asked. “I’m going to be flying all over the galaxy killing shit. I know you tried to give me your empire, but--”

  “It is already given,” he said as he raised his hand to interrupt me. “While we embarked on this mission, your wives Rin, Yui, Kalan, and Vikana have already made their way to your ship. If you would like, I can give you a tour of your main harem, and you can bring any of the other seven hundred women with you.”

  “Uhh, look, Dragon, I’m not interested in claiming your wives as some sort of prize--”

  “I understand, but you are wrong,” he said as his eyes narrowed. “Tiger takes his prize. As does Dragon. I would have taken your women had I killed you.”

  “Hmmm,” I growled, and my hackles rose. I suddenly felt the desire to kill the man, but there was no malice in his eyes. “I doubt my women would have been happy with that.”

  “You do not have them trained yet,” he said. “You will enjoy Rin, Yui, Kalan, and Vikana, Tiger. You have excellent wives, but the ones you have taken from me will soon become your favorites.”

  “You are trying my patience,” I set my eyes on the man and felt my rage threaten to boil over.

  “There is no rush to appreciate them,” he said with a slow bow that exposed the back of his neck to me like a submissive animal. “As I have said, you need my help to realize your true potential. The scientist Yu cannot help you, but I can. You and I are the opposite sides of the same coin. Our nature is almost identical, and I have lived for hundreds of years with the wisdom of my title.”

  “Alright,” I said. “I will give you a chance, but I am happy with my women. I’m not interested in acquiring more. As far as I’m concerned, they are your wives.”

  “Tiger--” he said as he began to shake his head.

  “No,” I interrupted. “If you want to be on my ship and give me advice, you’ll have to deal with me telling you that I’m not going to do what you say. You also will have to take my orders without question. If I want your opinion about a problem, I’ll fucking ask for it. If I don’t, then you just need to shut up and do what you’re told. Get it?”

  “Yes, Tiger,” Kuroda said with a nod and his usual smile. “I am happy for your show of strength. You are the emperor of a great nation now. Perhaps one of the greatest mankind has ever known, but it will not be enough to stop the darkness you fight. You will need one much larger, and you will need men like me and women like your wives to battle on your side.”

  We stared at each other for a few moments. I still found his presence odd, but I’d given him plenty of chances, and Dragon had helped me each time.

  “Then we will return to my shipppp,” I growled. “In addition to these Elaka Nota fuckers, I need to interrogate Yu again. Then we will depart for Nordar - 13. While we are heading back, you will tell me what you know about Yu.”

  “Very well,” he said.

  We walked out of the station and got into the armored hover vehicle. Kuroda drove again, and we took the most direct route to Persephone’s dock.

  “Tell me about Yu,” I said as soon as we started moving.

  “He is the scientist. He pretends he is a god, but really he is just a blind man who once saw the light.”

  “What do you mean?” I asked. “How do you know him? My sister seems to think that I was always this tiger shape and he didn’t actually do anything to turn me into this.”

  “I know of Yu because he once helped me,” Kuroda said. “Just like you, I once did not know of the power inside of me. The scientist found me in the hospital and offered to help. I was desperate, so I agreed.”

  “So he did to you whhatttt he did to me?” My voice was starting to growl too much, but I didn’t want to shift back until we had reached Persephone.

  “He said he rearranged my DNA, but that was false. His medical treatments were useless.”

  “Then how did you figure out you could shiffftttt?” I asked.

  “I escaped,” Kuroda said with a dry chuckle. “The desire caused me to learn of my nature. Then I traveled the stars until I created my empire.”

  “Hmm,” I said as I considered Kuroda’s words. “Sounds like we have had a similar background.”

  “Yes, which is why I challenged you, Tiger. Only one of us can be the master.”

  “Yeah, I’m still notttt understanddddding that.”

  “Imagine two groups,” he said as he took one of his hands off the steering wheel to gesture. “Two tribes, if you will. Your enemy is united, and they are focused on working toward a common goal. The other side is unfocused. In fact, they do not even know they are at war. How can they possibly win? They need to be united under the most powerful leader. For the longest time, I built my empire because I thought I would be that leader. I knew of my essence and ability. I am strong, but I wondered if there would ever be a man that could defeat me.”

  “I just don’t see why we haaad to batttttle,” I growled. “We could have just formed an alliance. It is--”

  “Our enemies have an alliance,” Kuroda interrupted me. “These powers of darkness agree to help each other as long as it serves their purpose. But they are selfish at the core. An alliance is much weaker than dominance. That is why we had to battle, and I am glad you allowed me to live. Now I will serve you, and our enemies will not be prepared for the destruction we will inflict on them.”

  I turned his words over in my head as he steered our
craft into the harbor beside my newly acquired castle.

  As we approached Persephone’s dock, I could feel Madalena’s worry, and I knew I’d probably have to spend the next ten minutes explaining why I chose to enter combat without my friends as backup.

  You have brought us Elaka Nota prisoners. I suppose I will have to forgive you.

  Eve was standing on Persephone’s lowered bay ramp with Madalena and Kuroda’s two advisors. My lover smiled at me when I got out of the car, but her smile grew larger when the green armored soldiers pulled the two Elaka Nota Marines out of the back.

  “I havvvveee returned,” I purred to her after I had taken her hand in my paw and licked it.

  “We missed you,” she whispered to me.

  “I was only gone for halfff an hour,” I chuckled.

  “And every second away from you feels like an eternity, my love.”

  “I agree,” I said as we both stared into each other’s eyes.

  One of the soldiers cleared his throat, and we turned to face them.

  “I will show you where to keep them,” Eve told my new soldiers, and they dragged the two bound Elaka Nota prisoners up the ramp after her.

  Once Eve had taken them into the hold, I turned back to Madalena. The Prime Valkyrie was in a deep discussion with Baccor and Reeyal. The group of four turned to greet Kuroda and I as we approached, and I could feel my wife’s emotions calm a bit.

  “We shall be ready in a few minutes,” Madalena said. “The last of the supplies are being sorted, and our additional crew has been given rooms.”

  “My sister?” I asked.

  “Yes,” Madalena replied as she turned to Kuroda, “and his four wives. Will you be joining us, Emperor?”

  “Yes,” he answered her with a bow. Then he turned to Baccor and Reeyal. “Have you discussed the deployment of Tiger’s fleet with his wife?”