“Blel,” I said through clenched teeth.
“Let her go and we can talk,” he said, his garbled words still translating.
I shook my head. “We talk, your forces back down, you give me my friends, and then we leave.” I almost said “show me her body,” but refrained.
“What do you hope to achieve here, Mr. Parker?” I hated the way he was saying my name, almost spitting it out through his dull, yellowed teeth.
“I hope to make the deal and get the hell out of here, that’s what.” He was giving me a bad vibe, and I felt the Empress stiffen as we had our back and forth.
“Is that so? Why should we let you live? Humans are a scourge to the universe.”
“And the Bhlat aren’t? I’ve seen the carnage in your wake.”
“Is it so unlike your own, Mr. Parker?” His accent was heavy, but his words slapped me in the face regardless. “We started the destruction of the Kraskis, who were no stranger to death and slavery. Then you single-handedly destroyed them along with the Deltra, and most of their abominations while you were at it.” His word for the hybrids set my blood boiling, but I let him continue. “We make quite the team, Dean. Maybe you should stay on my ship, and we can work together.”
“Can we cut the crap and make the deal?” When he didn’t reply, I kept talking. “You can have your Empress here, her kid, and Earth. I want my people back, and for you to vacate the area for ten Earth days while we evacuate. Then it’s all yours.”
He seemed to consider this, and a tall Bhlat leaned in to whisper something in their native tongue.
“No deal,” he said. “You ended a whole outpost of ours. Women, children, all gone in an instant. This is unforgivable.”
My pulse rifle lifted in the air, and I fought back the instinct to fire at the old unarmed Bhlat leader. “What do you mean, no deal?”
“Blel, this isn’t your decision!” the Empress yelled in English for my benefit before shouting other words in her language to him.
“You sit in your palace as your mother did before you, barking orders and rewarding us for killing worlds, and now you have a heart?” His voice was loud and gravelly. “You don’t get to decide any longer. I’m taking charge.”
I kept my gun up and glanced to Leonard, who was sweating profusely down his brow. The officers on the bridge looked torn, deep colorful swirling eyes looking to each other for an answer on what they should do. Who did they side with?
“How dare you think to speak to me like this, Blel? I’m your Empress, and you will address me as such.” The Empress started to walk forward toward him, but I held her back. If this was going to get ugly, I needed a hostage. That would only work if the crew sided with her.
A noise carried from his small mouth, and at first, I thought it might be a cough, but quickly realized it was him laughing. “Empress, I care as much about what happens to you as I do this one’s mate, Mary.”
He said the sentence, and I stood there blankly, body exhausted from the last couple of days, my mind taking a minute to catch up to the translation.
“Stand down, crew! Blel, you’re now relieved of your duty to the Empirical Core, and are hereby declared a traitor, and you will die like one.” This time, I did let her loose, while Mary’s name still echoed in my head. She moved to him, her hand raised, red power glowing from her palm.
I spotted at least three armed crew coming from the edges of the room, and knew one of them would fire at her before she killed Blel.
“Stop!” I yelled, pulling my tablet from the small pack strapped to my chest. It sat beside my small Kalentrek, which would decimate the bridge and the ship’s crew at a touch. It was a last resort, but one I’d be willing to use to save my friends.
Maybe Blel was right: we weren’t so different. I left the Relocator and mini-Shield inside and flipped to the image of the powerful device sitting in the ceiling back in the palace. “Let’s just say I brought more collateral.” I held the tablet up for Blel and the others to see. “This is the same device I used on your outpost, and it’s sitting in your capital on your homeworld now. I have a switch to activate it, and a friend on the outside has one too. If you don’t leave in fifteen minutes…” I let the bluff linger without finishing it.
Some of the crew looked around nervously, clearly having family back at the capital city.
“What’s it going to be, Blel?” I asked.
The Empress was still standing between us, and she was clearly ready to do some nasty business to her turncoat military leader.
“Do it. We sacrifice the old to build the new.” Blel’s voice was grim, and I almost panicked when he called my bluff. But the Empress didn’t. Her palm glowed a fierce red, and she moved to attack him, only he pulled a small handheld gun and aimed it at her with unexpected speed.
He fired, but not before being tackled by a female officer next to him. It all happened so fast, I nearly didn’t see it. The Empress dropped to the floor and I rushed to catch her, narrowly avoiding letting her head strike the hard surface. Her daughter, now free of Leonard’s grasp, ran over to her.
Two groups of Bhlat were forming around the now disarmed Blel. He was being held by the woman who’d taken him down. Tension was thick as they yelled back and forth between supporters of their military leader and the Empress.
I knelt by the Empress, who was breathing. A wound in her side smoked where the ray had blasted her.
“Can you translate?” I asked.
She nodded with a grimace.
“The battles can stop. I’ve already made a deal with your Empress.” I waited while she translated into their rough language. A few kept shouting at each other, but most stopped to listen.
She must have asked them to listen, because soon the room was silent; only Blel’s labored breathing whistled across the bridge.
“I have a way for your people to have water and other resources, and I’ve offered it to her on the condition that we’re no longer enemies. That you stop the genocide of other worlds and take what I can offer you.”
The words translated. Many of them looked relieved or intrigued.
“Wouldn’t it be nice to be with your families, instead of fighting and mining planets with resistance?” I had them, I knew it.
Blel started to spout something off in Bhlat, but when they wouldn’t listen, he spoke in English. “Mr. Parker, we are Bhlat. This will never be. We are…” His words were cut short as the sound of a pulse coursed through the bridge. Leonard stood there, pistol raised, hand trembling.
“I’m sorry,” he said shakily. The young man dropped the gun and stood there, mouth open, tears falling down his face. “I’m sorry.”
No one attacked him as they let Blel’s dead body slip to the ground.
One crew member said a phrase in their language and came to help the Empress up. They moved her to the captain’s chair and kept saying it.
“What does it mean?” I asked her.
“Long live the Empress, we bask in her eternal light.” She smiled through sharp teeth, the red galaxies in her eyes twinkling as she looked at me.
Alarms sounded, and I raised my gun in defense, but they had nothing to do with what was happening on board. The wide viewscreen turned on, showing an image of Earth below, and something in the distance. One of the helmsmen ran to a console and zoomed in.
New Spero’s fleet had arrived. They were going to attack this ship.
TWENTY-EIGHT
“What trickery is this?” the Empress asked. Medics ran onto the bridge and started to work on her.
“No trickery. We sent them ahead months ago, as backup. Wouldn’t you have done the same?” I asked, knowing she would understand. “You have their leader, Magnus, on board here. Where are the prisoners?”
She said something to the crew member beside her, who I took to be the first officer, judging by the way the rest of the Bhlat responded to her.
“Tres will lead the way. Dean, you must prevent a war today. I can feel hope in my people. A
veil has been lifted. I’ll keep them from attacking your ships for as long as I can. Stop them from coming any farther.”
“We will. It’s best if your fleet evacuates the system. Give me a few minutes to leave the ship first.” I reached and took her hand. Cool slender fingers met my sweaty palm, and she gave it a squeeze.
“Until we meet again, Dean Parker.”
I smiled at her, then at her little daughter, before grabbing Leonard.
“Let’s get out of here,” I said, and he followed along wordlessly.
We moved closely, with Tres leading the way. No one came to stop us, but I still kept my gun close at hand.
We raced through the ship, the odd Bhlat looking confused as we moved along following their first officer. She held a lot of power, so none questioned her.
We entered an elevator and lowered into the belly of the vessel. When we got off, the surroundings were much different than they had been on the main levels. It was dingy, cold metal walls and floor, with less than ideal lighting. We were in the barracks.
My heart pounded in my chest, and I was extremely anxious to see my friends, but worried that I would find out Mary really was gone. What was I going to do without her? I’d already gone through losing someone I loved, and this time, it was even more different. Our shared trauma and situation had put us in a pressure cooker, and we’d come out together so strong and bonded.
I needed Mary and couldn’t bring myself to see a future without her beside me. Each step we took down the narrow hall felt heavy, the immense weight of what we’d accomplished pressing me down like an increased gravitational pull.
If we didn’t get off the ship and stop our fleet from attacking, we would be inside the enemy while a battle raged on, and no one was going to win that altercation. But a part of me didn’t care anymore.
“Mary,” I said through almost closed lips.
“Dean, are you okay?” Leonard asked as we walked, speaking for the first time since he’d shot Blel.
“I’m fine.”
Tres turned to the right and touched a keypad; the door slid open, revealing five forms sitting or lying on the cold floor in the near dark.
I scanned and my eyes adjusted, picking out Magnus’ and Slate’s large forms, then Clare and Nick huddled together in the corner. Someone lay facing the wall, and I assumed it had to be Patty.
“Guys, it’s me.” I said the words and couldn’t hold back the floodgates. I wanted to run into the room, but I didn’t trust Tres not to pull a fast one and lock us away with them.
“Dean?” Slate asked, rushing over to me. He enveloped me in a big hug, his unshaven beard brushing against my forehead. He smelled like a man who’d been in a cell for months.
“We need to get out of here. Our fleet arrived, and only minutes after we struck a deal with the Bhlat. We need to stop them from attacking.” I said the words, and a flood of emotions hit me. Tears fell down my face, and I wiped them away as Magnus came up to me and clasped my arm in his meaty hand.
“Brother. You did it.” His eyes were wet too, and I smiled at the big man.
Clare and Nick were next, and they hugged me.
“We don’t have time for this,” I said, pulling the Relocator from the small pack strapped to my chest. “Let’s go, Patty.”
They all stood around the entrance of the room, blocking the inside.
Magnus spoke softly. “Dean, I’m so sorry. Patty didn’t make it.”
I reeled. “Then who…”
A more than familiar woman squeezed through the broad shoulders of Slate and Magnus and wrapped her arms around me, kissing me deeply like there wasn’t a care in the world. I felt Mary’s love and passion all intertwined as our lips met, and when we broke apart, I was crying and barked out a confused laugh.
“I thought you were dead,” I said so softly only she could hear me.
Her cool hand rested on my cheek. “Why did you think that?”
“Oh, Patty didn’t tell the Bhlat her real name. When we arrived, she called herself Mary Lafontaine, in hopes it would give them some respect for our group. It made things worse,” Clare said, clearly upset by Patrice Dalhousie being gone.
“I can’t believe it,” Leonard said, wide-eyed, probably conflicted between feeling terrible for killing someone and trying to record everything in his mind for his next comic issues.
Mary was alive, and I was so shocked I nearly forgot what we were doing.
“We have to go. Everyone touch my arm.” I held my arms out, the Relocator in my left hand. I nodded to Tres, who kept her distance, and she gave me a grave nod back. With the tap of a button, we all disappeared from the prison cell doorway.
____________
“Anyone know how to fly this thing?” Magnus asked as we made our way from the back of the Bhlat drop ship to the cockpit. The craft was empty, so we didn’t have to fight our way out.
I grabbed the communicator from my pouch and tapped it. “I need to speak with the Empress.” A garbled voice said something unintelligible before the Empress’ weak voice carried over the device.
“Dean Parker, missed me already?” she asked.
“We’re in one of your drop ships. Have them open the bay doors. We’re going to head out.”
“Done. We will leave as promised. Good luck.” She said another phrase in her native language, and the communication ended.
“I think I can muster some semblance of understanding here,” Mary said, and I couldn’t help but smile as she sat there, looking confused at the alien controls.
Slate stood behind her suggesting things, and soon, with Clare chiming in, we had the engines running and Mary was ready to give it a go.
“Say a little prayer,” she said, and I instantly thought of the Theos. Were they still out there? Could they hear a prayer?
She gently lifted a lever, and we moved slightly.
“We don’t have all day,” Magnus said, clearly frustrated.
“Do you want to fly?” Mary asked, and jammed the lever back, lurching us toward the hangar ceiling. She pulled down just in time to narrowly avoid crashing. She cringed and smiled back at us before moving the ship toward the open bay doors. The opening was a couple hundred feet across; a dim green barrier glowed as we passed through it, and into space.
We were free of the Bhlat ship. My tight back loosened for a second before I spotted the gigantic fleet ships coming toward us.
“Damn if they don’t look impressive,” Magnus said proudly.
“When they blow us out of the sky, you won’t think so,” I said. “How do we contact them and tell them to stand down?”
Nick crowded in behind us, and I got a sense of how poorly they’d been treated. He’d lost a good fifteen pounds, and his eyes had a look I’d never seen in them before. “Is there any way to send a message?”
Clare moved into the seat beside the pilot’s chair and attempted to find a communication device. The viewscreen had radar on it: the green lights, which identified the Bhlat master ship and their other orbiting ships, were moving away from Earth. The red lights, showing our incoming fleet, started to move toward us.
“I can’t see how to do it.” Frustration and panic melded together in her voice.
“They’re coming for us. If we don’t tell them what transpired, they’ll chase the Bhlat and break our peace.” I had to think of something. “Magnus, you have the Kraski beams in those ships?” I fiddled with the chain and pendant still around my neck.
“Yeah, you can use the suit’s pins to get access if needed. That’s just an emergency EVA situation…” He stopped his thought, looking at me and grinning. “One more adventure for old times?”
I smiled back, hiding the stress I was feeling. “One more adventure. Did you leave the pack by the pyramid?”
He nodded.
“Mary, we’ll be right back. Magnus and I will get on board the lead warship and get them to stop.”
Our eyes met, and a flicker of hope and exhaustion transferred betw
een us. I mouthed “I love you” to her, and she said it back.
“I’ll see if I can find anything useful in the back,” Slate said, moving out of the cramped cockpit.
“Ready?” I asked Magnus, and touched his arm, hitting the location for the pyramid on the Relocator.
TWENTY-NINE
The first thing we did, when we got the EVA suits Magnus and Mary had stashed near the pyramid, was try to communicate with the fleet in space approaching Earth.
“They’re too far for these suits’ comms to work,” Magnus said, slipping into his suit. Mine was made for Mary, and the fit was tight. They had a little give, so I was able to stand up in it, but not comfortably.
“How do I look?” I asked, serious behind the face shield.
“Like a man that would do what it takes.” I’d expected a joke in return.
“I don’t think Earth has much time either.” The clouds were black, angry, and the air was thin and getting harder to breathe. We needed to get these people off the planet. It was as if all the things we needed to do had severe urgency, but we couldn’t save the people without stopping the fleet from attacking the Bhlat.
With a tap of the Relocator, we were back on the drop ship, and I once again thanked Kareem silently for the gift.
Slate jumped at our sudden appearance. “Look what I found.” They were backpacks with thrusters. The kind of thing I’d dreamt of flying over the farm fields with when I was a little kid, wishing for something more than canola crops and chicken feed. I guess I’d gotten my wish. Now I wanted to swap with myself and live that quiet life.
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