by Eve Langlais
“I am the archduke of this citadel. And you are trespassing on my ship. Seize him.”
Which was a useless order, given the hands of the soldiers present sank into the alien body and grasped nothing.
On the other hand, the apparition could cause damage. He shoved at the guard who thought to grab him. The fellow went flying. As for the shot fired? Right through the strange body, hitting the soldier on the other side.
A snap of the apparition’s fingers and drones detached from the walls and converged, their tentacles grasping those that remained. Including the archduke. He left the priest alone, but he addressed the androgynous figure.
“Why do you persist in chasing this woman?” He gestured to Dara.
“Who are you? What are you?” asked the priest.
“Can you not guess? This one”—he indicated Dara—“knows me as Raffie, but she can be excused for not knowing better. She was denied her history. But you… You know. Do you not feel the mighty presence of your lost king?” Who knew a computer simulation could mock? Then again, this computer entity began life as a man. But now…now he was so much more.
“Our king is dead,” the priest claimed.
“Not quite,” Raffie said with a shake of his head. “Merely transformed.”
“Murdered by your brother.”
“Saved. Make no mistake, Mikhail saved me, saved me from a life of servitude to that throne and the ghosts haunting it. Saved me from committing atrocities in the name of a corrupted ideal.”
“The Rhomanii need you.”
“The Rhomanii need to cast aside the technology that doesn’t belong to them. Haven’t any of you yet understood you were used?” he sneered. “Apparently not, because centuries later and still you hunt down those of my blood. The hunt for my heirs ends now.” The apparition that claimed to be king turned to Dara. “Isa’dara Aba’ddon, place your hands on the wall.”
“What?” A spectator, she didn’t grasp much of what was happening other than the fact the hologram was supposed to be a man centuries dead. Meanwhile, she sat on her haunches, hands tucked in her lap.
“Place your palms against any part of this ship. We need it to recognize you.”
Because the citadels responded to blood. She dropped to her knees and palmed the floor. “Now what?” she asked, only to gasp as the floor appeared to grab her, sucking in her hands and making them both hot and cold at once.
“Perfect. Now if you’ll hold still for a moment.”
Raffie, formerly known as the gypsy king, stepped into her, the most chilling thing she’d ever felt, then painful.
Her mouth opened wide on an unvoiced scream as he used her to link to the ship. He flowed through her somehow, and she saw as he took over the circuits, one by one. He swamped every single control on board.
Used her as a conduit to kill it.
She felt the moment the citadel began to die. As one by one the systems shut down.
When it was all over, she heaved in a mighty breath and shook, still on her hands and knees. The apparition was gone.
“What have we done?” The priest kneeled before her. “Tell our king to forgive us. We only meant to give him glory.”
“I think your king just told you to fuck off.” She staggered to her feet as the sound of panic began to reach her, not in the form of alarms but people. Voices rose as lights dimmed. There wasn’t even enough power to sound any alarms. The citadel died, and soon the cold would seep in as the machinery powering the filtration and heating systems failed.
As promised, Raffie had eliminated the threat to Karo, but in the process, Dara would die, too, if she didn’t manage to escape. The archduke had said the Moth was nearby.
Rising to her feet, she shoved past the praying priest. She noticed the archduke, prostrate and babbling. His guards fled. The drones having retreated as well.
“How far is the Gypsy Moth?”
But the buffoon stared wildly at her. “The chosen one has rejected us. We are doomed. Doomed!”
She slapped him. “We have to get off this citadel.”
“Escape?” His expression brightened.
“Do you have any jumpers?” Small vessels capable of space flight. She didn’t need to go far. She hoped.
“Yes. Yes. Yes.” He jumped to his feet, but rather than lead the way, he shoved her. “I must flee before the others take it.”
A caring leader, always thinking of himself first. She watched from her spot on the floor, her buttocks throbbing a bit at the impact of landing on them. Jerk. She hoped an asteroid smoked him into space chunks.
Rising again, she left the section with the cellblocks behind. She needed no guide, as she knew her path, the citadels all being built using the same blueprint.
But as fast as she sprinted, the ship failed faster than she could move.
“Raffie!” She shouted his name, and while he didn’t appear, he spoke.
“Yes, Isa’dara.”
“Help me.”
“I cannot help you.”
She halted in astonishment. “What do you mean, can’t? You did this. You broke the ship.”
“I did. I told you I had a plan to stop the citadel from chasing the child.”
“What of me?”
“What of you, Isa’dara?” The very words mocked.
“You used me.”
No reply.
“You bastard! This was your plan all along.”
“Your loss will be regrettable.”
“How about you at least make an attempt to save me? You already helped me once against the archduke.”
“Despite what you saw, I have no true form, and I had no path to the tainted citadel until you boarded it.”
He’d used her as a conduit. Chilling. “Can’t you slow down the self-destruct long enough for me to escape?”
“No. But perhaps your mind will be eased by the knowledge Captain Jameson will momentarily arrive in landing bay three. However, he might encounter some resistance from those wishing to flee the ship.”
“Can you blame them? We’ll all die if you don’t fix the citadel.”
“When something becomes corrupt, that is the only thing you can do to transcend.”
“I don’t want to bloody transcend.”
“Then don’t die.”
And that was the last thing Raffie said. But she didn’t care. She’d reached the chaotic loading bay, the force field over the opening the only thing protecting it from space. How long would it hold before its engine died too? Already the lights had dimmed.
The Rhomanii ran around, dragging children, each other. They crammed the few gangplanks for the handful of ships available. Not enough for them all.
Those with a full crew had sealed their doors, and people pounded on the sides. Crying out. Begging.
It was pure chaos.
A chaos that turned to silence and sobs as the handful of ships departed, except for one. The mob tore it apart.
The lights continued to shut down. Already a chill tinged the air. The force field wavered, and for a second, a cold void swirled before it reignited.
An exclamation went through those remaining as a small craft popped into the bay of the citadel.
She began to run before it touched down. When the ramp lowered, she saw Kobrah standing in the opening, dressed in his captain blacks, a gun in one hand and dagger in the other. She’d never been happier to see him.
She wasn’t the only one who noticed his appearance. Someone shouted, “He’s not one of us. Kill him and seize the ship.”
“No!” She shoved at people, desperate to reach Kobrah.
Despite a lack of weapons, she fought, her fists and feet pummeling those in her way. The chaos of panic and battle made it hard to advance. She heard screams and saw the flash of shots fired as he defended himself against a desperate mob.
“Dara!” Kobrah shouted her name.
She tried to yell back, only to find herself instead being shoved aside. So she shoved back. She didn’t c
are who she hurt. These people had allowed the archduke and his sick priest to chase an innocent child. They deserved every bone she broke and bruise she painted on their skin.
Eventually, she made it through the crowd to the bottom of the short gangplank.
Upon seeing her, Kobrah’s face relaxed, and he strode down the ramp, gun aimed. The crowd held back as she ran to meet him.
“You’re alive,” he exclaimed, hugging her tight.
“You came for me.”
“Of course, I did. I always will.”
“Argh!” The random cry from the left drew their attention, and yet the attack came from the right.
Kobrah grunted and sank to his knees while a gypsy with a triumphant grin and a bloody dagger stood over him.
“You killed him.” Dara stared with disbelief. “How could you?” She knelt beside her husband, and her knees got wet from the blood pooling from his side, staining the deck.
“Help him,” Dara screamed as the Rhomanii streamed around them, looking to board the vessel. “Someone help me!” she screamed as she rocked on her knees and pressed her hands to his wound.
But they were more interested in the ship. It wobbled as it left, overloaded, and without its captain.
He lay still on the floor, his eyes shut. A man who loved her enough to die for her.
It wasn’t fair.
It wasn’t right.
She raised her face and yelled, “Damn you. Fix him!” She pounded the floor once, twice, and the third time, the abrasions on her skin bled, and she left a smear of her blood on the floor. A vibration went through her as the ship trembled.
She hit the deck again and left her bloody fists pressed against it. Again, a shudder, and more oddly, she got the sense the ship was waiting for her to command it.
Me?
Then again, why not? Hadn’t Raffie himself said it was all about the genes.
My genes.
She didn’t know how to change what Raffie had done. Or even if she could, but she had to try.
“Reboot.” A stupid command, probably the wrong one, and yet, something Raffie said—about dying and then transcending. Was one form of transcending rebirth?
Except, her command did nothing. She continued to press and shout various commands. “Enable life systems. Flush the virus. Do something, damn you.”
“If you insist.” Raffie finally chose to speak, and the next thing she knew, a drone detached from the wall and enveloped her and Kobrah. She clung to him tight as the drone zoomed out of the bay, and not a moment too soon.
The force field failed, and everything inside got sucked out, including a few Rhomanii, who didn’t scream for long.
As for her, she clung to Kobrah, feeling a hint of hope as she realized his heart still beat, if faintly.
The drone wobbled and spun on its flight, drunken or breaking down. She only hoped it didn’t shoot past the Gypsy Moth.
She knew they landed because of the bouncing and thumping. She squeaked as Kobrah uttered a deep, pained groan.
The drone opened and literally spilled them out. But she didn’t worry because, moments later, there were hands to greet them. Dr. Karson was there to deal with Koby. As for Dara, she got the one thing she needed. A squeal from a little girl. “Mommy.”
There was chaos in the landing bay, as the drone wasn’t the only vehicle to have made the trek to safety. Some of those who escaped fled for the nearest safe harbor, the Moth. She found out later that others chose the surface.
As for Raffie, that ancient troublemaker, she was holding Kobrah’s hand after surgery when a holographic screen lit up over his bed.
“Doctor, what’s happening?”
No one had time to reply because they were all riveted by an aerial image of the planet. The mauve and brown swirls of land and water were pretty but not the main focus. An object rose from the surface—a dark misshapen blob that penetrated the atmosphere, the filth of centuries burning from its surface until it popped into space, a gleaming white orb.
From another bed a murmur arose, “The chosen one has returned.”
There was little sound as the brilliant vessel approached the dead one hanging in space. A beam of light shot forth, bright enough that she closed her eyes against it.
When she opened them again, only one citadel remained.
Chapter 18
I won’t make it in time. In his nightmare, the citadel went dark before he reached it. When he boarded, it was to find her frozen body.
No. No. No! He clawed his way out of the horrible loop he was caught in, cognizant enough to realize this wasn’t real.
“Dara!” He called her name as soon as consciousness was his to command. He fluttered open his eyes to see the familiar ceiling of his room.
Before he could rise, fingers gripped his and a face hovered into view. Worried blue eyes perused him. “About time you woke up. Karson drugged you extra hard to ensure you wouldn’t exert yourself before the nano healing took hold.”
“What’s happened? I should get to the bridge.” He went to rise, but she pressed him back down.
“You’re not going anywhere. Everything is fine. The dark citadel was destroyed. And the one on the planet with Raffie is gone.”
“Gone?” He struggled to sit. “What do you mean gone?”
She shrugged. “Turns out it could still fly. It destroyed the Rhomanii vessel and took off. And before you ask, I don’t know where, and I don’t care. Bloody Raffie betrayed me.”
“Was he a real person, then? I didn’t imagine it?”
“Not your imagination as to if he’s real. As real as a personality caught in a mainframe can be.”
“So we’re safe?” he asked, collapsing back against the pillows.
“Depends on your definition of— Eek.” She let out a cry as he yanked her down atop him. “Koby, what are you doing?”
“Making sure we’re alive.” Before she could say a word, he cupped the back of her head and drew her close. He devoured her lips, the touch of her finally easing the knot inside him. The fear he might have lost her forever.
He no longer cared about the past. He couldn’t live without her in his future.
The linen of her shirt rubbed across his chest, and it bothered him since he wanted to feel flesh. It took but moments to tug on it with her protesting.
“Koby, your wound. The doctor said to not exert yourself.”
“Then help me get this off.”
Rather than argue, she pulled back far enough to strip. Once she was naked, she returned to press herself against him. The soft skin hot against his. Her nipples nubs that dug into his flesh.
He slid his tongue between her parted lips and played with hers. Despite the slight twinge of the wound in his side, he caressed her buttocks, cupping and squeezing, positioning her over his engorged shaft.
“Ride me.” Whispered against her lips.
“Always giving orders, eh, Captain?” she teased, yet she still straddled him, her bent legs on either side of his body. She tugged the blanket covering him down far enough to expose him. His cock strained, dark and thick.
She hovered atop him, her paleness a sharp contrast. Leaning back, she exposed her sex and gave him a clear view of his dick sliding in. He loved watching. Loved feeling how wet she was,
She seated herself, driving him deep, and he grunted as his hips jerked upwards. Her turn to cry out and fall forward, sharp nails digging into his chest.
As she moaned and rotated her hips, he joined the rhythm, angling upwards and deeper, doing his best to grind and thrust.
Her moans grew breathy, her rocking faster as her sex clenched him tight. His turn to moan as she brought him to the brink.
She leaned down and whispered, “I love you.”
He came, came hard and deep, shouting, “Fuck me, I love you, Dara Jameson.” He always would.
Just like he loved his daughter, even when she crawled into bed with them the next morning, a knee in his sac, her body snuggling between
them atop the blankets.
“Love you, Daddy. Love you, Mommy.”
A captain’s family, forever.
Epilogue
Months later…
Dara was still on board the Gypsy Moth along with Karolyne. Kobrah never did get his divorce.
As a matter of fact, they’d spoken of renewing their vows. So much had changed. Now, instead of running and hiding, they were a happy family, traveling the galaxies, exploring new things. Best of all? No more attacks. Not a single one since that citadel was destroyed.
As a matter of fact, rumor around the galaxy was that the Rhomanii had all packed up and gone.
Gone where?
Who cared? Perhaps they followed their resurrected king and his funeral ship. Or Raffie went and destroyed them all.
She did make an attempt to find answers, Kobrah taking her to find Annie, the one person who would know. Only the home she’d grown up in was gone. Razed to the ground and not a clue left behind of her teacher.
A part of her wanted to go searching deeper for answers, and one day, maybe she would. In the meantime, Dara had to make amends for the choices she’d made and those she hurt. Abrams, the one who’d lost his wife, being the hardest to apologize to.
When she’d approached Craig, ready to accept whatever punishment he deemed fit, he’d stared at her with his uncanny gaze. Expression chiseled from uncompromising granite.
“I don’t like what you did,” he grumbled when he finally agreed to hear her out.
“I know you can’t forgive me.”
“I don’t. But I do understand.” Craig’s expression softened as he looked down at the tiny baby he held in the crook of his arm.
Lots of babies on board these days.
And more coming soon. She placed a hand on her stomach imagining the two hearts beating within.
Which, for some reason, caused her mind to flutter as she recalled another pair of eyes as blue as hers. Whose eyes?
The thought never finished, and the Gypsy Moth with its captain and all its crew went on to its next mission.
The noise of the marketplace was muted in this quiet place. The room draped in tapestries as if their bright colors could quell the desperation in the air.