Majesty's Offspring (Books 1 & 2)

by AJ Vega

  ******

  As Haylek stepped into the yacht, he noticed that the floors were simulated wood. The inside was decorated with paintings on the walls and elegant lighting fixtures on the ceiling. In the center sat a lounge space with plush couches situated around a table. Farther back were rows of passenger seating along both sides of the cabin.

  He closed the entryway door behind them and they made their way to the forward section. An open door led to their destination: the flight cabin. They entered it and she urged him to sit in one of the pilot seats.

  The cabin did not have transparent windows and the pilot station was bare of controls. It seemed that piloting the ship relied on a holographic system. Save for a single panel in the center, nothing appeared to be powered on.

  Chorus jumped onto the lone panel and began operating it. Every key she touched responded with an annoying buzz.

  “The ship is locked down,” she said. “Go set up the terminal. You will need to decrypt the computer lock.”

  Haylek briefly wondered why she did not already know this—perhaps she had limits in her ability to predict things. Yet, it was her idea for him to bring the terminal with him. There were many things about her he did not understand.

  He set up the terminal as instructed, interfacing it with the passive wave from the ship’s computer. After figuring out its protocol’s handshake mechanism, he began working on the encryption behind it.

  Encryption was not his expertise, but this was a low-grade encryption and it was not polymorphic—it only took a few minutes for him to crack it. He activated power and saw the holographic display come alive, showing the landing bay outside. The piloting controls were also holographic projections, something he would need to get used to as they lacked tactile feel.

  “This is different,” he said as he tried to decipher their arrangement.

  Chorus started to regroup the controls for him.

  “I can do it myself,” he interrupted, brushing her aside with his hand.

  She trotted off the panel and leapt onto the co-pilot seat. She then turned to him and winked. “You’re learning to take control. Good boy!”

  Haylek felt his face flush. Despite being a tiny, artificial woman, it was hard not to become bewitched by the beautiful little fairy.

  He rearranged the holographic controls so that he had projected the basic flight controls and hidden everything else. Satisfied, he initiated the engine startup sequence.

  The ship’s engines came alive. To his surprise, their sound was subtle and pleasing to the ear—a stark contrast to the garbage scow they flew in earlier.

  “Okay, now what do we do?” he asked

  “Now we take off and help our friends,” she said.

  She gestured to the holographic visual around them, which had them facing the launch bay’s exit. At the far end he saw the plasma force field that held in the atmosphere. Its blue haze was like a translucent veil, thinly covering the many points of starlight that seeped through it. Mac’s sleek-looking fighter was already launching out through the field, pushed by the inertia of the launch catapult.

  “We are going to follow him,” Chorus said. “Pilot us through it.”

  “But we don’t have a tow beam to move us, or a catapult to launch us—”

  “This ship doesn’t need any of that,” she assured.

  “I guess that’s why you picked it?” he mused aloud.

  She nodded.

  “Why is it you can know some things ahead of time, but not others?”

  Her form suddenly became surrounded by vapor and her visage disappeared in the haze. The nanobot cloud then faded and she emerged with a change of clothing. She now wore a pilot’s uniform that looked identical to Mac’s, but without a helmet.

  She ran her hands down the fabric to straighten out some wrinkles, then patted her hair lightly before turning to him.

  “Now’s not the time to ask questions, Waverider. Show me what I know you can do and pilot the ship.”

  Haylek sighed. “Fine, whatever you say, little fairy.”

  He applied power to the engines and could feel the ship elevate. On the holographic display, he could see the floor of the landing bay float away. He pushed his fingers on the forward momentum controls while balancing the directional controls with his other hand. The holograms reacted to this, moving in response to his touch.

  Haylek watched the ground pass under him as the ship moved toward the bay exit. The view tilted slightly as the ship banked too far. He struggled to counter the momentum, causing the ship to wobble. Concerned, he slowed his speed until he could regain better control.

  “You need to hurry,” Chorus cautioned. “We are nearly out of time!”

  “I’m trying,” he muttered.

  He managed to steady the ship and gradually increased speed. At that moment a claxon sounded in the cabin.

  “What is that?”

  “Bank left!” Chorus yelled.

  Alarmed, Haylek aggressively slammed the holographic controls, his hands passing completely through them.

  The landing bay spun around and they were now headed directly toward the wall. He repositioned his hand back on the directional control and countered the excessive move. The shuttle stabilized itself and it pointed back toward the bay exit.

  Off their port, a fighter shot past them—propelled by the force of the launch catapult. If he had not banked the yacht aggressively when did, they would have certainly collided. Shaken, he tried to steady his hands on the controls.

  “Go faster,” Chorus commanded.

  He glared at her.

  “You need to move it now!” she growled.

  Angrily, he pushed the throttle control to full and aimed the ship toward the exit. The engines roared and the bay became a blur. Before he could question his ability to maintain control at that speed, they were clear of the bay and in space.

  Chorus floated up in the air and began to operate some of the holographic controls. The screen changed and showed graphical overlays of all the ships around them.

  Green indicators circled the friendly ships, while red ones indicated enemies. Haylek counted a dozen red indicators that were flashing on the screen. He imagined that Chorus must have somehow tapped into the telemetry data stream from the Sea Wolf.

  “Get close to the red ones,” Chorus instructed as she floated back down.

  Haylek complied, putting the ship on a direct course to the squadron of enemy craft. As he did so, he noticed her handling the portable terminal. The screen of the terminal showed the aimbot program loading up.

  “What are you doing?” he asked.

  “Modding your program for this ship.”

  Haylek looked at the twelve flashing indicators closing in.

  “We’re going to attack those ships?”

  “Yes.”

  “In this thing?!” he cried.

  “Just get us close, Waverider,” Chorus said. “The program will do the rest.”

  “Whatever,” he said.

  Haylek felt increasingly irritable from the withdrawal headaches. He fought the urge to let go of the controls to rub his temples. When this was all over, he would need to get his hands on some Elation—if they survived.

  Haylek read the distance indicators on the screen. They should be in weapons range soon. In the distance, he noticed a wall of capital ships that seemed to be taking fire from another fleet of ships—UEP and Martians probably.

  Directly ahead of him, the friendly fighters stayed in formation and headed toward the incoming squadron. The friendlies were not visible, but the indicators showed their position nonetheless. He imagined that they must have had some kind of stealth technology to hide them. Only three of them advanced, and they were going against twelve.

  His thoughts went out to Mac—he really did have the odds stacked against him. Maybe Chorus was right—maybe he could help them somehow. Mac had saved his life—he had to try.

  He s
aw a flash in the distance and he watched as fire erupted from the three fighters. A spread of explosions went off across the squadron of enemy ships. The enemy indicators on screen vanished.

  For a moment, he wondered if Mac and his pilots did it—but when the sensors reacquired the targets, most of the enemies remained intact. He now counted ten of them, and Mac’s fighters were unscathed—so far.

  Haylek turned to where Chorus sat—not there.

  “Chorus?” he looked around.

  “Don’t worry, I’m still here, ” he heard her voice say.

  He looked to the source: a white, vaporous cloud floated above him.

  “I need all of my nanobots ready,” she said. “I don’t have enough to spare for a nanoform.”

  “Ready for what?”

  At that moment, a burst of light shot out from the yacht toward the squadron. The beam of energy swept across space, striking each of the enemy fighters in sequence. Ignitions of fiery gas erupted from the first set of targets, halting their advance as they drifted away in pieces. Seven of the ships remained.

  Haylek maneuvered the yacht on a course that took them to the incoming fighters. Perhaps they could take them out, or at least slow them down enough for Mac to pick them off.

  “You missed some,” he said to Chorus. “You need to fire again.”

  “The weapon has been damaged,” she said. “Just fly us closer.”

  Haylek looked at the incoming fighters—at their rate of closure, they would intersect with them any moment. Mac’s fighters were far behind them now, and struggling to catch up.

  “Are we going to try to slow them down?” he mused.

  “No. This ship is not maneuverable enough,” she said.

  He re-examined the scene ahead: the enemy fighters were almost on top of him, and Mac’s squadron was not gaining on them fast enough. It was a matter of time before they released their deadly payload against the Sea Wolf. Whatever Chorus had planned, she had better do it soon.

  He peered into the nanobots floating above. The vaporous form looked like a storm cloud ready to unleash its fury.

  “What are you doing up there? How are we going to stop them?”

  There was a pause. “I’m going to have to do something terrible, Waverider.” Her voice had sadness in it. “I hope you understand why I’m doing it. It is the only option available now.”

  He felt himself tense up. “What… what are you talking about? What are you going to do?”

  Suddenly, he felt something burning in his chest. He looked down and saw the jewel glowing around his neck. This time, it was no longer a kaleidoscope of colors, but a single bright tornado of light—twisting and expanding beyond the confines of the jewel itself. A crackling sound began to emanate from it.

  “I’m sorry,” Chorus said. “I’m so sorry.”

  Before he could ask her another question, his body became paralyzed—he could not breathe. The world became awash in white light and everything became silent.

  For a moment, he felt nothing—he saw nothing. Then the burning sensation started. It crawled up his body, dancing on the top of his skin—bringing with it the most intense pain he had ever felt.

  He wanted to scream, but he could not move, could not feel his limbs—all he knew was the pain.

  Haylek waited in frozen agony until it finished covering his body. His consciousness began to leave him. Then finally, it all stopped. His thoughts vanished—and everything faded into oblivion.