“Destiny,” Kipso’s voice boomed over the Meltor’s panicked shrieks. “Destroy the freighter now, while it’s in sight.”
Layela’s eyes met Josmere’s surprised look. “What are they talking about?”
Cailan turned to her for an instant, frowning and looking just as puzzled, when Avienne’s toneless voice ripped through the bridge. “Their lead ship is charging its plasma weapons.”
Layela looked speculatively at Avienne. Avienne shrugged and said, “If they fire in here and hit the wall, the whole tunnel will collapse.”
“Oh.”
“Avienne, do we have enough shields to take the hit?”
The redhead was already shaking her head before the captain finished speaking. “Our tachyonic shields will fail if I draw any more power to tactical.”
Cailan nodded. “Ardin, avoid that blast. We’ll have to take our chances where best they lie. Everyone, strap in!”
“Firing! Twenty-four degrees on our starboard side!”
“Moving!” Ardin pulled at levers and hit buttons. The slow-loading plasma cannon took a few seconds to fire, giving Destiny almost enough time to get out of the way. Almost.
“Compensating!” Avienne screamed, diverting whatever was left of tactical shields to the starboard engines. The shot ricocheted off the energy shield, right into the wall of the tunnel. For a second, nothing happened. The tunnel appeared to have swallowed the blast.
Then, the whole tunnel shuddered around them as freed tachyons smashed into the failing shields. All of them covered their ears in pain as the tachyon wails broke through — all but the Berganda, who could hear much deeper and finer songs.
Even the Meltor’s pleas grew silent. Every soul in the tunnel quickly came to the same realization.
The tunnel was collapsing fast, and precious little time remained to escape a slow and cruel death.
CHAPTER 22
Destiny’s remaining engine fired wildly as her crew urged every bit of power into it. Every single inch of the ship shook with the strain, including her crew. The end of the tunnel proved too far, but the second-to-last exit could be their salvation. It was near, but possibly still too far down the collapsing tunnel.
Layela clutched her seat, looking down. The lights were out and only the frenzied electric blue light of the tunnel illuminated the bridge, giving her the sensation of being under water. She chanced a look at the tunnel. The blue lights were no longer controlled, but flying wildly, with just enough particles travelling in the right direction for Destiny to ride. The silence was intense on the bridge. Everyone concentrated on their stations and only an odd, occasional shrieking sound penetrated from outside when too many particles struck the tachyonic shields that protected the hull. She wondered what the song of tachyons would sound like were they not in the vast, still emptiness of space.
Avienne’s tense voice suddenly cut through the thick silence. “A Mirial ship is passing us.”
“Probably trying to get out of here,” Lang muttered from his station, watching the countdown to the exit on his panel.
“They’re firing at the freighter!”
“Please stop firing! We are a civilian ship!” the Meltor captain’s voice shrieked back to life.
“What are they doing?” Layela went to jump up, but the seat harness kept her secure. She undid it and stood. Her legs felt like jelly on the shaking deck.
“Our communications are still down, but I have weapons,” Avienne told Cailan, looking up at him with a raised eyebrow. Layela stood by Avienne, watching the small ship firing on the large freighter, its tachyon shields reflecting blue and purple as each shot weakened them dangerously.
“Almost at the exit,” Lang said in hushed tones.
Cailan shook his head slowly, looking at the small ship as he gave the order. “Take them out, Avienne.” Then he added quietly, “Make it a clean shot. It’ll be a nicer death than collapsing with this tunnel.”
“Aye,” Avienne softly replied as she targeted the ship. Layela looked up at the ship, the Meltor’s pleas suddenly seeming far away. She tried to envision Yoma on the ship, in the same danger she was in, but still her mind could not connect with her sister’s, even as tears of despair spilled down her face.
i
Yoma stared at the shuttered window, desperately focusing on Layela as the ship jerked again. She gritted her teeth and held tightly to her seat, wishing she could do something; wishing she wasn’t so helpless.
The captain’s plea sounded over and over again. “Please cease fire, we are a civilian ship.”
Just shut up and bear it, Yoma thought, knowing his pleas to be in vain.
The ship jerked again and her muscles ached from clutching her seat. As the tachyons broke free and their wails forced everyone around her to cover their ears, Yoma’s heart grew quiet. Sacrificing the Meltor and all on board was the only way to save her sister.
Let me go, Layela, Yoma pleaded, hoping her sister would know her heart and choose to stand without her twin. Only one of us can live, and I want it to be you.
She sat back and felt her muscles relax, waiting for the death she knew to be necessary. She mused over how many she would be willing to sacrifice, including herself, to see her sister safe.
i
“Firing!” Avienne screamed. The word sliced through Layela, mists blinding her sight so effectively she couldn’t see what her vision had foretold. Still, she knew she had to do something to stop it. Her instincts begged and screamed her to, and energized her limbs. Without thought, she threw herself on the redhead. The weapons remained unfired and cuss words flew freely as Layela’s impact brought Avienne to the floor.
“What the…” Avienne started, angrily pushing Layela aside, when a flash stopped her short.
“Exiting the tunnel,” Ardin whispered as the blue faded, but not before Layela could see the outcome of her actions. Without Avienne’s shot to stop the Mirial ship, the Meltor had been destroyed, two hundred civilians killed.
“I…” Layela tried to say something, stunned by her own actions. Her tongue felt thick and awkward.
Avienne quickly got up, shrugging as she offered her hand to Layela. “What’s done is done.”
Layela took the offered hand and was pulled to her feet. Cailan shouted, “Evasive manoeuvres! Avienne, shields, now!”
Layela was jerked off of her feet again and onto Josmere, who caught her and held her tight as the ship jostled. She looked out the view port but didn’t understand what she was seeing. The space around them was purple, a deep purple, with darker wisps stroking their ship as it desperately tried to turn. The groaning metal seemed to be pulled in various directions.
She saw a few of the smaller ships emerge from the tunnel into the purple mass, some of them quickly torn apart by the vicious matter. She might have thought the deep purple was the tunnel itself, but she could see the tunnel shuddering beside it, a blue, frenzied snake writhing in the vast cosmos as it lay down its final breath. The tunnel turned bright for an instant, blinding her, and when she could see again, all that remained of it was a faint shimmer of blue. In a moment, that too vanished, leaving only the purple beast behind.
Destiny’s engines spat one more time, breaking free. The sky was once again littered with stars, but the ship’s bold efforts had cost her the rest of her shields and most of her engine power.
“What is that?” Avienne asked as she looked at the great purple mass that had almost swallowed them, too much in awe to even muster a swear.
“A dense nebula?” Ardin guessed, although he didn’t believe his own words. Before them the sky stood purple and empty. Any light that had dared to venture this far had been swallowed in the swirling, thick gases.
“Where are we?” Avienne asked, but Lang only mumbled under his breath, shaking his head. His gaze was deep in his star charts.
A few ships floated around them, some in a straight line, others tumbling over themselves.
“Captain Cailan,” Kipso’s voice came crisply over
the communications system. “Please follow the escort.” There was a pause. “If you resist, we will destroy you.”
Ardin looked questioningly at Cailan, his features tense with worry and confusion.
Cailan wearily nodded. “Do as he says, Ardin.” The captain rose from his seat. “If you need me, I’ll be in engineering,” he whispered as he lowered himself over the first rung. The siblings exchanged a long look, and Avienne’s shoulders dropped.
Layela paid little heed to them. She felt Josmere hug her tightly, the Berganda’s body shaking as tears ran down her face and onto Layela’s shoulder. Layela wanted to comfort her, but before any words could escape, she too began to cry, at first quietly, but then with an emptiness and deep sorrow that ripped her soul apart.
Somewhere along the length of the collapsed tunnel, or in the purple beast that had swallowed it, were the Meltor’s broken remains.
Which meant her sister was dead. Layela moaned.
Yoma was dead, and it had been her doing.
PART 2
DAY BREAKS
CHAPTER 23
Captain Kipso strolled down the walkway, his hands tightly clutched behind his back, his shoulders stiff and unswaying. Cailan waited patiently for him, the Malavant siblings flanking him. The rest of the crew was still inside the Destiny, tending to their dead and wounded.
All except Josmere, who lazily leaned against the side of the exit tube that linked the Destiny to the tired station. The docks that housed the Destiny were small, the farming community of the nearby planet of Vock rarely seeing traffic. Mostly self-sufficient, it was only sought out for its rarer plants, like the Booknots. Almost close enough to be a moon was the industrial planet of Lockor, where more resources were available and where they would have made berth had the Destiny been able to reach it with her wounds.
Josmere wished she could close her eyes for an instant. The song of so many Booknots tugged at her mind—a song so similar to that of the Berganda that it stirred her soul and threatened to trap her in the midst of sorrow and loss.
Kipso was almost upon Cailan, and she forced her mind to stop wandering. She had already lost everything: her family, her home…and a woman she considered a sister. She was not about to chance losing Layela too, and she knew that whatever was to be discussed here involved Layela’s future.
She pushed herself off the wall and approached as the two captains hesitantly greeted each other.
Her movement caught Captain Kipso’s eyes and he studied her, her green eyes, green hair half tied back, and green skin, before looking back inquiringly at Cailan.
“She’s a friend,” Cailan stated, not looking back, not backing down, and not asking Josmere to leave, even when Kipso’s slit eyes made it clear he did not want this meeting witnessed by outsiders. Cailan added nothing more. Josmere felt her respect for the man grow — a rare sensation for her.
“Why did you destroy that civilian freighter?” Cailan asked before Kipso could find something else to object about. The fat man’s eyes grew wide with disbelief.
“You don’t know? Of course you don’t know.” Then he mumbled, “Captain Malavant died too quickly to tell you anything, or properly pass down the captainship.”
Ardin stiffened visibly beside Cailan, but Avienne became as still as a cat waiting to pounce. Josmere watched with interest, her fingers itching for the switchblade strapped in her boot as the fat man spoke so lightly of Yoma’s murder.
Cailan whispered, each syllable falling like a sharp blade, “Captain Malavant died quickly at the hands of Mirialers, refusing to betray a man he considered to be his friend.”
Ardin’s eyes narrowed. Josmere wondered if perhaps the siblings had not been aware of how their father had died. Avienne didn’t budge, but Kipso kept a close eye on her.
Not the fool I would have believed him to be, Josmere thought. I hope Avienne doesn’t down him before we learn why Yoma had to die.
Kipso sighed, his belly rising and falling. Josmere wondered if he had once looked younger too, like Cailan had before this day.
“Cailan,” Kipso began. He paused, his eyes darting to the siblings before resting on the captain again. “Malavant knew what he was doing, but that meant betraying Mirial.”
“He would never betray the Mother Star,” Cailan hissed, so fiercely that Avienne even broke her watch on the fat captain to stare at him.
“No?” Kipso said, eyebrow arching. “You don’t even know why he had to die. Why do you believe you knew the man at all?”
Cailan took a step forward, but the round man stared him down, fighting to stay his ground. Cailan said nothing and the air sizzled around them. A few of Kipso’s crew came forward, hands on the weapons at their belts. Ardin’s hand lowered to his own gun and two knives appeared in Avienne’s hands. Josmere took a step forward to stand beside Avienne, her muscles relaxed and ready for action.
“Captain?” a woman behind Kipso asked. Her eyes were trained on the siblings, but her hand shook just enough above her gun to tell Josmere of her inexperience. She grinned and lifted her chin, looking at the young woman, whose hand trembled just a bit more.
Then a single angry word sliced through the silence and tension. “Stop!” Josmere’s grin disappeared as she turned to see Layela storming down the walkway towards them. The two captains exchanged a brief glance.
Layela caught up to them, her eyes dry but her closed fists trembling where they hugged her thighs. Her words, though softly spoken, cut the air.
“There will be no more killing over this.” In turn she looked at both captains, her eyes lingering for a moment longer on Kipso, who looked away from her. “No more, captains.”
Cailan nodded respectfully and backed down, Ardin’s limbs were stiff as he did the same. Avienne sighed as she, too, followed suit. Kipso held out his hand and spread his fingers before lowering it. His own troops looked visibly relieved.
Layela took one more step forward, her hands no longer trembling, her fingers unclenched as she came to stand before the two captains, looking at Kipso. When she spoke, her voice was barely audible over the distant roar of departing ships.
“Why did you kill my sister?”
Kipso’s eyes strayed from hers, as though he could not stand to focus on the night in them. The casual way Layela chose to confront her sister’s killer tore at Josmere’s heart and she had to look away, choosing instead to keep an eye on the Mirialers.
The stale, old air of the station heavily draped the Berganda’s mind, the coldness of space tingling on her skin until all she could yearn for was sun. Sun, and the feel of strong earth beneath her. Kipso broke the spell with his words.
“Because only one can live, Lady.” He looked at Cailan pleadingly, but the captain did not even meet his eyes, focusing instead on Layela. Kipso sighed, running his fingers through his hair and revealing hidden white. “Only one daughter of the queen can live, if Mirial is to survive.”
Layela did not move, did not look away, and said nothing. Her silence was heavier than all the ships in the universe. To his credit, Kipso did not look away this time, his voice soothing as he continued, his words dimming his eyes just a bit.
“It is written in the texts, Lady. Only one queen can wield the ether of the First Star, lest the balance be lost, between light and darkness, night and day. Even your names say as much, in old Mirialer — Yoma means day, Layela night. Usually one of the daughters is killed at birth, but this time…”
A voice broke through and interrupted him. “This time the queen did not wish one of her daughters to die. She foresaw something different than death, Captain Kipso.”
Kipso’s eyes flared at Zortan, who strolled up to join them. Kipso flung his words like poison. “I would end your life now, traitor, if the Lady was not present.”
Layela ignored his words. Josmere, who was steadily moving closer, could not help but note the honorary title he had given her. She wondered how much Layela would lose for it.
Layela whis
pered a single word, one syllable that conveyed the weariness that clutched her soul. Josmere fought the urge to kill them all and take her to safety, far from here, where they could properly grieve and live again.
“Why?”
Zortan’s dark eyes met hers before bowing his head respectfully. “Your mother, the queen, had great visions, as did all queens before her. And she asked me to ensure your safety. Both of yours.” He paused. “I am sorry I failed you and your sister.”
“Captain of the Royal Guards,” Kipso spat out the words. “You kidnapped the daughters and then killed the weakened queen.”
His words were barely ended before Zortan was upon him. His long knife was in his left hand and his right hand clutched the front of Kipso’s shirt, their faces barely an inch apart.
“I may have my own haunted memories, Gobran Kipso, but the death of the queen is not among them. I would have laid down my life for her.”
“Nonetheless,” Kipso stood firm, despite the taller man’s grip on his shirt. “The First Star must be reborn, or we will all lose more than we already have.”
Zortan sliced the man with his gaze for a few more seconds before letting go. He moved back a few feet to stand behind Layela. The flower girl cast a tired look at Josmere as Kipso addressed her.
“Beyond these shields,” he waved towards the great purple mass that sprawled in the space beside them, “beyond that, is Mirial. And it is dying. And with it...” his gaze flickered to Josmere. “And with it, it will take all ether, all ether creatures, and possibly more.”
Layela’s eyes locked with Josmere’s, a question deep within them. Josmere managed a half grin and a shrug, but knew she had not fooled her friend.
“You must come with us to Mirial to help restore the balance.” Kipso’s voice lifted in a plea. No one said anything for a few seconds. Layela looked at Josmere, and Josmere hated herself for not being able to meet the blue eyes, unable to hide her own plea from Layela.
“I’ll come,” Layela said, her heavy words sealing her fate. Josmere closed her eyes, knowing Layela had made the choice for her; for her people. She couldn’t bear to hear it, but didn’t dare stop it either. She remembered a time when she was young and the song of the Berganda was strong within all the worlds.
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