“Roger that,” said the guard.
He changed a setting on his blaster rifle and aimed it squarely at Lacuna’s forehand. Her heartbeat accelerated. She wanted to move, try something, anything, but her muscles refused to obey.
I can’t believe this is how it all ends. Kevin, I love you.
6
Kevin beamed back onto the bridge of the Osiris.
“Did it work?” asked Ziron.
Kevin was still under the emotional impact of killing Myrianna, so words were not forthcoming. He nodded instead.
“The smart suit?”
It took another moment for Kevin to speak; meanwhile, he shook his head from side to side.
“Gone.”
“At least so is your AI. I’d like you to go to sickbay and have the droid remove any trace of the tech from your brain, just to be on the safe side.”
“I like the sound of that.”
“What about your tech-sorcerer gear?”
“I’d like nothing more than to remove it as well, but we may still need it. Once we’ve accomplished our mission—and it won’t be a minute too soon—we’ll remove them.”
Ziron started to purr.
“What are you doing?” asked Kevin.
“Sorry. I—I’m just really glad you’re okay.”
“Thanks. But this ain’t over, not by a long shot. We need to get to our friends. By the way, where are Zelda and Leg’olas?”
“Roaming around the ship, probably. She seems to be into an exploring phase these days. As for Leg’olas, I honestly have no idea. After we had to put you in stasis, I seldom saw her. I think she doesn’t trust the rest of us as much as she had bonded with you.”
“She’s shy, indeed. I could have used her help with healing some of my battle damage.”
“The sickbay droid will be able to help with that.”
“I guess I’d better drag my butt to sickbay then. I feel like I could collapse and sleep right now.”
“I’ll come with you.”
* * *
Xonax looked at his reflection in the mirror. Despite the titanium jaw of excellent finish, his face had been irreparably disfigured forever, and that was just a hard pill to swallow for someone who had always been vain about his appearance.
But the newly crowned Kregan Emperor knew his current look was better than death. And he got what he wanted: his father’s head and the throne. Xonax was the true ruler of his people like he always wanted.
The boy named Kevin had been a formidable adversary, but Xonax’s fleet was on its way to the Terran system, and he looked forward to enslaving all of humankind. Plus, there was something special about these humans—something the Kregan Empire could harvest to take over the rest of the galaxy.
He’d start with the direct members of the boy’s family and use them as a bargaining chip since he hadn’t heard from Orion 8-3-9-6. By now, the AI should have reported back, so Xonax did not doubt that the boy had managed to outwit it one way or another.
If anything, that boy was very resourceful, which is why Xonax would have to make sure he acquired someone from Kevin’s family to bargain with on their next encounter. The boy’s sister seemed like the right choice.
He had already sent multiple agents to grab her, but they failed at getting past the Arcadian sentries that were in place.
Before being killed, his agents had reported the humans had no real space defenses or ships per se. Conquering their world would be easy. First, he would level their biggest cities and then enslave the survivors.
Once he had access to the human psyche, it would only be a matter of time for him to develop technology and tactics that rivaled the Arcadian ones.
But unlike his father, he would not have them bend the knee. No, Xonax was not interested in enslaving their centuries-long enemy; instead, he would wipe them from existence.
A pain at the top of his lower right jaw brought him back to the present moment and his hideous reflection. The artificial jaw and parts of his neck were painful from time to time, his organic tissue not always playing nice with the metallic appendages.
A small price to pay indeed, he thought.
* * *
Lacuna’s heartbeat was so strong, it felt as if her heart wanted to escape through her chest.
She could feel the guard’s finger tensing on the trigger, and she was helpless to do anything about it.
“Nothing personal,” said the guard.
She never thought these would be the last words she’d hear. She had so much she wanted to tell Kevin, and in these final moments, all her thoughts were ricocheting around inside her mind with the force of a twister, all aimed toward the boy who had stolen her heart.
She took one last deep breath. “Fucking do it already, you pussy.”
The muzzle trembled in front of her face, and she closed her eyes. Then moments later, she heard a clanging noise, and her eyes shot open.
The rifle had fallen to the floor, and the guard had collapsed next to it.
“What the hell?”
A furry yellow spider walked from behind the guard’s shoulder and jumped forward.
“I hope that’s what you wanted me to do?” said Leg’olas.
Lacuna released the biggest sigh of relief she ever had in her life.
“Oh my god! You. I—I can’t believe it.”
“I shouldn’t have?”
“No, no, dear, you did very well, thank you!”
Leg’olas jumped for joy on the dead guard’s body. She had such a personality and juvenile attitude, and Lacuna understood then and there why Kevin was so fond of her.
Lacuna tried to get up, but pain hit her shoulder like a lightning blast, and she yelped.
“Let me help,” said Leg’olas.
She climbed up Lacuna’s body and started glowing when she was on top of her shoulder wound. She then licked the last portion of burnt flesh, and soon Lacuna felt no more pain. The numbness in her entire body also quickly faded away.
“Thank you.”
“My pleasure.”
“Where were you? We haven’t seen you in a while.”
“I was hiding on the big one.”
“Darmak?”
Leg’olas moved her small head up and down.
“Can you help my friends as well?”
“Absolutely,” said Leg’olas as she jumped from Lacuna’s shoulder.
Soon, both Boomer and Darmak regained consciousness.
Boomer was still not used to the sight of the spider, and he growled for a moment until he realized that the spider had healed him.
“Sorry about that,” said Boomer. “I—I guess I’m still afraid of you.”
“I’m not going to hurt you. Kevin’s friends are my friends. Right?”
Lacuna smiled. “That’s right. We’re all friends here.”
Lacuna grabbed the rifle in front of her and set it back to stun. She fired a shot at each of the other three guards for good measure.
“Let’s get the hell out of here.”
* * *
After a long-deserved nap, Kevin woke up with more energy than he thought he had ever had. The medical droid was probably to thank for that. It was also the first good night’s sleep he had had in a month.
He missed Lacuna, though, and hoped she and Boomer and the rest of his friends were okay.
The shower was a godsend, and after he finished and got dressed, he walked to the bridge.
“Hello, sleepyhead,” said Ziron.
“Hi. How long did I sleep?”
“You don’t want to know, but you woke up just in time. We should arrive at Arcadia soon.”
“Okay. Sounds good,” said Kevin with a yawn.
“What’s the plan?”
“We get in, grab our friends, and get out.”
“While I like this plan…” but Ziron let the words hang.
Kevin smiled. “Okay, what’s wrong with the plan, Zee?”
“We need to think long term. Getting back our fri
ends, while the evident priority, will still not make it easy for us to stop the Kregan fleet who are on their way to Earth.”
“Are we still on time to do this?”
Kevin dreaded the answer.
“Fortunately, Arcadian hyperdrive engines are much faster than Kregan ones. So, yes, it’s going to be close, and if we manage to get our hands on ships by the end of this day, we should be able to catch Xonax’s fleet.”
“Why do I sense a but coming?”
“However,” said Ziron with a smile, “I don’t think Kalliopy will let us borrow any ships voluntarily.”
“No Princess this time around?”
“As far as I’m concerned, she lost both title and privilege when she refused to help you and when she imprisoned our friends. She’s no longer my princess. But that’s not the worst of it, I don’t think she has the well being of the Arcadian people at heart anymore.”
“What makes you say that?”
“You may want to sit down for this one, Kev.”
“That bad, huh?”
Ziron’s face turned cold. “Worse.”
Kevin sat on a nearby chair. “I’m listening.”
“Funny you would say that. Here is a recording I intercepted while you were resting.”
Zee played the conversation between a guard and the princess where she ordered him to execute Lacuna.
“Is Lacuna…?”
“I wish I could tell you she’s okay, but the truth is, I don’t know...I haven’t heard any more chatter on that frequency, so I take it as a good sign.”
Kevin, however, wasn’t as optimistic as Zee, but he knew that he had to keep the faith. If he thought, for even a single moment, that Lacuna had been killed, he would come apart at the seams.
No, Kevin had to believe that she was still alive. That didn’t stop his anger and rage from taking over.
“I’m going to kill her!”
“I know how you feel. I couldn’t believe my ears either. But I know Kalliopy, and something doesn’t add up.”
“She’s a raging lunatic of a woman is what she is, and she must be stopped.”
“Be that as it may, listen to me, Kevin. She’s been very different since we got her back from Xonax’s grasp. I think they may have brainwashed her.”
“And the basis for this conclusion is. . .?”
“We’ve had a couple of assassination attempts targeted toward Kalliopy in the past. People close to her suddenly tried to kill her. Upon investigation, we found some strange neural patterns. The Kregan have been experimenting with mind control for a while, and it seems they’ve gotten better at it over the years.”
“So she’s doing all of this outside of her knowledge, is that what you’re saying?”
“That’s my theory, yes. But I have no proof, only a strong gut feeling.”
Part of Kevin wanted to believe this. After all, she had seemed like such a sweet princess the first time he met her. He could sense no malice emanating from her. And if one person in this universe was ideally positioned to understand what it felt like not to be in control of one’s actions, it was Kevin.
He knew all too well how helpless and horrible that sensation was.
“Alright, I’ll give her the benefit of the doubt but only as far as we don’t risk our lives in the process. Agreed?”
“Absolutely, we can’t afford any more delays.”
“That we certainly can’t. We need to expose her, though, and fast.”
“Yes, but without a smart armor, it won’t be easy.”
7
Lacuna, Boomer, and their friends were running down a corridor as laser blasts flew by. The entire palace was after them the moment the princess discovered they had not been captured and Lacuna was still alive.
It also didn’t seem they cared so much about Boomer’s life anymore, which in itself was bad since the group of friends was largely outnumbered.
“We can’t continue to run blindly away from everyone we encounter,” protested Boomer.
“I’m open to suggestions,” answered Lacuna, gasping for air.
They had been running for what felt like hours, and they were all pretty tired.
Darmak turned around and shot three of the four guards following them. What the Domdori lacked in intelligence, he more than made up for in sharp shooting and was probably the only reason they were still alive.
He rolled to the side to dodge incoming fire and aimed his last shot.
The fourth guard was hit in the chest, dead center, and he collapsed to the ground.
“Clear,” said Darmak.
The party stopped running and took giant breaths of air in between their panting.
“I’m too old for this shit,” said Boomer.
“You, old?” asked Lacuna, raising her eyebrows.
“It’s a dog and human thing, you wouldn’t understand.”
“Right now, I’m not even trying to understand. We need a way off this planet.”
“Well, our last attempt at punching a hole through the launch bay’s security hasn’t really worked in our favor.”
“That’s because we tried the brute-force approach. And let’s face it, we’re outnumbered and outgunned here. We need to use our respective noggins to get ourselves out of this.”
“Got betta idea, bothhh?” asked Darmak, the only member of the party not panting for air with every single breath.
“The transporters,” she answered.
“Right,” confirmed Boomer with a bark. “Let’s beam directly into a ship. I like this plan!”
“Not just any ship. I’m sure her majesty has thought of that, and each transport will be loaded with guards.”
“We could beam their asses out of them before we beam in,” proposed Boomer.
“That’s a great idea, I wonder why I hadn’t thought of it.”
Boomer panted a few times, his tongue sticking out, before answering:
“Give yourself a break, that’s a side effect of not having enough oxygen getting to your brain.”
Lacuna acquiesced with a smile.
“Alright, but let’s do something she would never think us capable of doing. That should give us the edge and reduce the odds of falling into another trap.”
“What do you have in mind?”
She brought up a holo-map from the guard’s device she still carried around. “First, we need to get there,” she said, pointing at the map.
“Wut’s dhere, bothhh?” said Darmak.
Any normal day Darmak’s limited speech capabilities would make Lacuna cringe because of all the lessons she had him take and producing such limited results. But today wasn’t a normal day.
“The palace’s main computer core.”
* * *
The Osiris exited hyperspace.
“Did we arrive?” asked Kevin.
“Not quite yet. We’ll finish the last part of the journey on sub-light speed to avoid detection. It will cost us a little time, but it’s the only way to be stealthy with our approach.”
“I like stealthy when the odds are so strongly against us. But how will you get us there undetected?”
“I created most of the defense systems used on Arcadia Prime and onboard the ships. So I modified our energy signature and shields to emit background sensor data instead of a ship’s signature. I’m not sure how efficient it will be, but hopefully, it will give us the edge we need so they don’t detect our arrival.”
“Which would be bad, right?”
“Very. Most of the fleet is around the planet, and they’d blow us out of the sky in an instant if they received the order. If my theory about Kalliopy holds true, she’s fully capable of giving that order.”
Kevin didn’t like the sound of that. Even if she would do so because of her current state of mind and how it had been programmed, part of him was still angered by the fact she had put all their lives in jeopardy.
“How do we prove Kalliopy has been brainwashed?” asked Kevin.
“I need access
to the central computer on Arcadia to hack the secret files on the Kregan psychological torture methods and brain scans. Once I have that data, I can send you a pattern to use on this scanner.”
Ziron handed him a small, portable holo-pad.
“Is that like a tricorder?”
While Kevin mostly never paid attention to Ziron’s eye blink as he accessed and downloaded memories from Kevin’s mind when he didn’t understand a certain word or phrase, this time he caught a glimpse of it.
“Yes, something like that. Once you’re in front of her, I’ll activate it remotely and compare her brain patterns with the one from the research.”
“Sounds simple enough.”
“It may take some time to get around all the firewalls. While I helped create most of them, I haven’t dabbled in security subroutines in quite a while.”
“I’m confident you’ll manage, Zee. My priority is finding our friends, so hopefully, that will give you the time you need. Can we locate them with their subspace implants?”
“I have tried and failed to do so ever since they were thrown in prison.”
“Do you think their implants have been removed? Hopefully, they’re still here.”
“I don’t know, and yes, let’s hope they are still being held on Arcadia Prime. As per why I couldn’t locate them, I think it may be a jamming field of some kind. It would make no sense for the Arcadians to remove their tracker, if only for them to keep an eye on their prisoners. So once you beam down, the holo-pad should help you punch through the jamming field. I’ve programmed it to amplify the subspace signal through all the jamming algorithms I know of.”
“Alright. What’s our ETA?”
“We’ll get to a safe beaming distance in about five minutes. I’ll transport you directly into the palace’s prison. Beaming you in will most likely activate another layer of jamming, and it will take me another twenty-five to arrive in orbit of the planet, so if things go badly and you need to make a run for it, you may have to improvise your way out of there.”
“I’ll make it work, don’t worry. Can you start hacking at the central computer to get the data you need? And once we get that data, whom do we deliver it to? Kalliopy’s entourage is unlikely to trust us.”
Across the Galactic Pond - Box Set: The Complete FAR BEYOND Space Opera Series Page 46