Sweat dropped down Darvik's brow as he fought off another one of the strange spider ape creatures. He leapt back to gain a little distance and then thrust out with his saber, stabbing the beast through the heart.
The Emperor, it turned out, greatly enjoyed watching biologicals engage in blood sports, so an arena had been hastily built on Gateway, complete with an altar in Koo L'Koom's honor. Despite wearing his ancestors' death crystals on an ornate crown, Jylik didn't seem terribly attached to his people's religion.
Finishing off the last of the apes, Darvik looked up at Hoon-Kra, who sat by the Emperor and Empress in high seating that was far removed from the masses of Astralbian soldiers who looked on from the stands. He stepped away as a troop of Astralbian soldiers dragged the bodies to the altar.
He was summoned up to the royal box, where he gave a deep bow to the Emperor, Empress, and High Priest in turn.
"Well done, Darvik," said Trilia.
The swordsman nodded.
"Now we have a special event planned," said Jylik. "Are you prepared for another fight?"
Darvik shrugged. "If it pleases you."
"Bring out the prisoner!" shouted Hoon-Kra to the guards below.
A cage below the royal box was opened and a Shairet was thrown out, and a sword was tossed carelessly behind. The cage door slammed shut and the trembling insectoid scrambled to pick up the sword. It was the first time Darvik had seen one of the locals.
"One of the rebels," said Hoon-Kra. "Go, show your might."
"But he doesn't fight me willingly," said Darvik.
Either he dies and you live, or you both die, said Trilia's voice in his head. Your choice.
Darvik stiffened, but nodded to the Emperor and descended the steps, the guards allowing him into the arena.
***
Hacksaw and Tank walked up the ramp into Crush's star tree, the Admiral waiting at the top to greet them.
"Captains!" she exclaimed excitedly. "I have an opportunity for us. I wanted your opinions first. The job would be for the kingdoms of Hruduk, serving as transport to get their armies to the Astralbians."
"There's potential there," said Hacksaw, nodding. "Hruduk is a mineral-rich world, particularly in terms of uranium. Our Ramshackle-origin ships don't need fusion materials, but a good portion of our fleet does. Long term, we could ask for mineral rights and set up a mine."
"I'll bring it up," said Crush.
"Who will you be negotiating with?" asked Hacksaw. "King Hrynkak?"
"Correct," said Crush.
"Make sure you give him the Fleet's condolences on the loss of his father, the late King Zrykyk," Hacksaw said. His intelligence network had been paying dividends. He gave her all the reports, but he tended to have a better handle in the Galaxy's goings on.
"I'll be sure to do that," said Crush.
***
Covered in blue-green blood, Darvik stumbled back to his quarters aboard the Swamp's Pride. He rapped in Cevla's door. The tall psychic opened her door, her facial expression only twitched slightly at the gory figure before her.
"Put this on my door," he said, handing her one of the door-locking devices they'd used on the Gladius. "Leave it on for two days. I don't care what you hear, leave it on." Cevla looked at him with empty eyes and nodded mechanically.
He paused for a moment. "Let me do one thing first."
He walked into his room, rummaged around for a moment, and came back out with an armload of bottles with clear and amber liquids in them, and unceremoniously threw them all into the garbage disposal slot on the wall.
"Alright," he said, walking shakily into his room. "Do it."
***
The next few weeks on Hruduk were spent ensuring the fleet was in perfect condition and once again rebuilding Gred. The Astralbian attack had done far more damage to the city than Zrykyk had managed, but the Gredites were steadfast in their efforts to rebuild. Sredik provided them with vast quantities of high quality lumber, and they returned the favor in skillfully cut stone. The Griffon Republic facilitated the trade at first, but Aethercrate Hauling was brought in when the job became too large for the military to devote the necessary resources to.
"Thanks for calling us in, Jasken," said the captain of the Mayblin.
"Oh, don't thank me," said Jasken. "The King asked if I knew of any haulers, and I offered you up as an example. Frankly I'm surprised you were willing to come back out this way."
He shrugged. "Hey, money's good. Besides, Hruduk isn't a warzone. At least, not at the moment. Speaking of warzones, I hear you're heading out shortly."
"It won't be long," said Jasken with a nod. Word got around, of course, but they weren't advertising details of their departure.
The Gladius had gone ahead as a scout ship and had determined that Grisseon and Platnon were hardly guarded at all, but Glasaxia, the next world on the way to Gateway, shared a star with an Astralbian-claimed world named Quarry that was heavily fortified and being used for star tree production. Additionally, the Marines had picked up chatter from a world referred to as “T’Lakia,” which appeared to be a Koomite depot or waystation of some kind in the same system. Even more worrying, Commander Glinya had reported that the Koomites and the Astralbian Empire had made some kind of treaty. They couldn’t attack T’Lakia based on that isolated and unconfirmed piece of intel, but it did mean they’d have to be wary. The FRF transport ship was well on its way, having managed to skirt around Astralbian notice, but hadn’t arrived yet. Altogether, it made Jasken nervous. He much preferred being in the thick of the action to waiting around for something to happen.
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“Providence shine on your fleet, then, Admiral,” said the captain.
“Thank you,” said Jasken. “On yours as well.”
***
There was a distant scream. It came from Darvik’s own mouth, but to him it seemed distant. A mass of ghoulish figures gathered around his bed, oozing with blue-green blood and staring him in the eye. The Shairet from last night was there, of course, and so was the first Krauqian he’d killed in the name of Koo L’Koom. There were others, most of whom he had a hard time distinguishing from one another as they morphed and shifted between different faces. Worst of all, though, was Wilbis, who stood staring at him with glazed eyes from right at his bedside. It felt like being frozen in time just as a predator leapt from the brush; there was a constant sense that death was imminent but never arrived.
The first few hours had been easy enough, then the fevers and chills had set in. Uneasy sleep had been interrupted by the specters now hovering over him. His terror waxed and waned with his lucidity, and sometimes the specters would fade away entirely, only to jump back out the moment Darvik's eyelids began to flutter.
He rolled into his pillow, curled up into a pathetic, shaking mass.
"I'm sorry, Wilbis," he muttered bitterly. "I'm sorry."
***
The Apex arrived on Hruduk to a massive amount of fanfare, which Captain Tank had not expected but enjoyed immensely. A large, boxy vessel of Talpidarian design, the Apex had been known as the Mudhole before being commandeered by the FRF from a pirate crew. Tank had volunteered to captain the ship and head the mission, leaving Crush and Hacksaw on Cradle. He had a dozen or so Robots with him, enough to keep the ship running, but that was about it.
Meeting with the warriors he was to work with, he took to the Hrudukites immediately. Their jocular warrior spirit mirrored his own, and they answered questions back and forth about their people. He was careful not to reveal too much about the discoveries on Cradle, per Crush's orders, but he gladly spoke about his time in the Ramshackle Collective. Despite the criminal nature of his endeavors, it won him a number of approving nods and a hearty slap on the back from Trukis.
Jasken and Drai helped oversee the onboarding of the Hrudukites onto the Apex and General Grubula assigned Colonel Utrin, a grizzled Dromean veteran, to help guide the Hrudukites and to serve as a liaison.
Just as Jasken was walking away from the Apex, Trebor approached him wearing a smug grin and holding a tablet out. Jasken took it without a word and read the message on it.
“You can’t be serious,” said Jasken.
“Deadly serious,” replied Trebor. “The connection between the psychic cult known as the Koomites and the Astralbian Empire demands an RTS presence, and I can’t think of a better way to stay close to the situation than to remain with Talon Squad. You’ll notice that this order is signed by Executor Grak-Yurp himself.”
“I’ll be frank with you, Trebor,” said Jasken, returning the tablet. “If you impede the actions of Talon Squad or harass Specialist Raivyn, I will do everything in my power to make your life as miserable as possible, and, as you will be serving with my special squad, I will be able to make it excruciatingly miserable. Am I clear?”
“Yes, Admiral,” said Trebor.
His eyes betrayed anger, but it was tinged with fear and respect. Jasken could live with that.
***
A blissful rest had finally fallen over Darvik when his door opened. The first thing he noticed on waking up was that he was itchy, still covered in flecks of blood from the arena. He turned his head to see Cevla standing in the doorway.
“You survived,” she said flatly.
He nodded, a motion that brought on a pounding headache that made him wince. He dropped back down to the bed.
“I’ll need a shower and some water,” he rasped, his voice thin and trembling. “I’ll be good as new.”
“Why?” asked Cevla.
He looked at her again. “Huh?”
“Why bother with all this?” she clarified.
“I’m not sure,” he said honestly. “I’m tired of being a slave, I suppose.”
“You still are, stupid,” she said, cruelty tinting her voice. It was more emotion than she’d shown in a long time. Darvik wondered what was bothering her.
“You’re right,” he admitted. “But maybe I have one less master now. I feel- I feel like something’s calling me out of this mess.”
“The beasts?” offered Cevla. “That is not their nature.”
He looked over to where Wilbis’ ghostly eyes had stared into his throughout his detox. “No, it certainly wasn’t the beasts.”
***
“Sorry you’re getting stuck with Trebor,” said Huluna.
Chully nodded his head in agreement. Raivyn had wanted to catch up with the RIS agents before heading out, largely to see what they had to say about Trebor and his lackeys. She’d been furious when Jasken told her the RTS agents would be joining Talon Squad for the push back to Gateway. It made sense that they'd come along, but to go with Talon Squad specifically seemed a bit much.
"I could pull some strings," Huluna continued. "Get you stationed with us for the war. We could use a sharp-minded veteran such as yourself as an analyst."
Raivyn shook her head. "I need to be on the front lines. I'm not letting Trebor get in my head, if you'll excuse the irony."
Huluna laughed. "Fair enough."
Chully chewed his stylus in thought. "Trebor's a piece of work," he said contemplatively. "But he's a man of honor."
"Really?" asked Raivyn indignantly. "Baiting psychics into slipping up is honorable?"
Chully shrugged. "He's got a code, you could say. He sees it as honorable. Just keep that in mind. You might be able to leverage it."
***
The Silver Star Fleet, now joined by both the Blue Griffon Fleet and the Apex, made the jump to Platnon, their arrival catching the token Astralbian forces there by surprise.
The Gladius had done the difficult work of locating them during their scouting run, which they had doubled back from in order to help in the battle.
The enemy star trees were largely made up of the survivors of the campaign for Gred. Despite the time they'd had to recover, their resources were limited, and they had precious few void wasps to field.
"Blue Griffon squads, focus on the wasps," said Swampy. "The Silver Star squads will handle the star trees."
"You heard the lady," said Drixen, leading his squads out of the Wingspan's hangar. "Let's mop these guys up."
From his place on the bridge, Jasken watched the lop-sided battle unfolding. Something felt off. The Astralbians should have been better prepared.
"Hey," said Drixen. "Am I crazy or are those star trees getting closer?"
"No," said Mairen. "They're closing in."
"Admiral Drai, this is Jasken," said Jasken hastily. "We need to fall back!"
"What?" asked Drai. "What do you see?"
The gaping maws of the nearest star tree opened, and a wave of hugger mines blasted towards the Pick, which was closest to the enemy fleet.
"All fighter squads, take out those mines!" shouted Drai.
It was too late. The attack took the Pick out of commission, although it also destroyed the star tree.
"All ships, fall back!" cried Drai. "All forces, take out those remaining star trees!"
Ignoring the wasps, all the fighters focused on destroying the star trees. The five remaining trees all launched hugger mines when their destruction was imminent, but none were as effective as the first attack. The Pommel and Pinion took serious damage, but both were still spaceworthy when the last of the star trees were destroyed and the remaining void wasps were killed or captured.