***
Present Time
***
My mind snaps out of the memory, my breath is heavy, the water is rising past my waist. I hold Lunara up to my chest as firmly as I can. Looking around for anything I can use, my heart begins to thump slower as the cold water saps the warmth from my bones. My thoughts are becoming sluggish. The demon crawls in my mind now.
You will call… They always call
“I will not call you creature. While there is life, there is will to keep it.” My eyes focus, look. Find. Anything. Please.
A block of foam hits my back as it slides off the wall. The water is up to my shoulders, I struggle to hold on to Lunara as my fingers go numb. I have no choice but to reach out to the block and hope it holds us. I release my metal fingers from their grasp on the ship’s hull, reaching for the block of foam. To my surprise it holds us up, I must not lose focus. I kick at the water unevenly trying to move towards one of the larger holes in the ship. Almost there. There is a gurgle of air as the hole I move towards floods with water pushing us downwards into the churn, I squeeze Lunara as firmly as I can, whilst clinging desperately to the foam block.
I can help you save her… Or is your pride worth more than her life…
Is there no other choice. Am I so weak that I must ask this demon to save me. Can I not save myself… can I not at least save her? As the water swirls us in the churn, slamming us against the hull, dazing me, almost making me lose my grip on her, I feel the last of the memories that brought us to this cold hell come frothing back.
***
One Hour ago
***
“I repeat for the last time this is Space Command actual, respond with the condition of my soldiers. If you do not, I will be forced to bring the full weight of my command down upon you, raining holy hellfire, sifting their corpses from the ashes.”
Lunara nods to Fennec.
“Space Command actual this is – well just call me The Stylish Bandit.” He turns to Lunara who rolls her eyes before he finishes with “Your soldiers are alive and well. Stand down.”
The comm is silent for a moment, the only sound I can hear is the hum of the gravity actuators and a soldier that snores loudly.
“Stylish Bandit – Send proof of life and we can discuss the terms of your peaceful surrender.”
Lunara moves her hand through the holo display on the main panel.
“Data of their real time vital monitors has been sent to you.” Fennec says, then suddenly an alarm sounds in the ship, his eyes go wide as he says “Space Command actual, we have sent the proof of life, stand down, I repeat stand down.”
“Flagship Thorn, this is Republic Space Command actual, I have Command in this system, you will stand the frack down.” The voice says sternly.
There is a pause over the comms as Lunara pulls up a schematic of the ship we are on.
“I don’t like this.” Fennec says moving through another display.
The communications panel lights up once more.
“Flagship Thorn, I am the authority of military action in this system, Governor Adonius is an interim Governor, he does not…” the voice trails off as though receiving comms from somewhere we can’t hear.
My fingers twiddle idly, I don’t know how to help, I barely know what’s going on. The woman’s words about the Black Edict and Lunara ring in my mind. Am I a fool to have followed her? What happened to the previous users, are all Edicts like this? Sekat… there is so much I don’t understand. The frustration is building in me.
Lunara moves rapidly now, leaving behind the panel. Lights still flashing red. Dragging the soldiers one in each hand like a sack of scraps through the ship, into a pod that opens from the wall. Stacking them in twos. Unable to squeeze more in without injury.
“How can I help?” I ask, not wanting to sit idle anymore. My hands need something to do to distract my mind.
“Get them to the escape pods. Two in each.” She says, her pace increases as she throws one over each shoulder, then drags two more behind. Her walk now a fast shuffle.
I drag the soldiers, only able to pull two at a time across the floor. Sekat she is strong. I stand the first upright slowly, but they fall back onto me, how did she do this. I hear her boots on the floor behind me. She pushes past me, grabbing the soldier and pressing a button on the wall, a seatbelt unspools and wraps itself around them.
“Get it?” she asks, turning and running to grab the next ones before I can even nod.
I stuff the other one in, grunting as I press the button. The seatbelt fastens around them, pulling them snugly into place. There are hundreds of buttons inside the pods. Labels with abbreviations I don’t know. Symbols on some of the buttons I haven’t seen before, some look like pictures of an action, like a fire being put out.
“Flagship Thorn I am ordering you to stand down. You do not have authority in this system, regardless of your rank, I am in Command. I repeat stand down; I have twelve soldiers on that vessel." the voice says.
“Jump Gate in range!” Fennec yells back to Lunara “If we are going to do it, it needs to be now.”
“Not until they are all loaded up.” She says back to him.
“Sekating bleeding heart.” Fennec grumbles as he scrambles to us “You get prepped, me and him can get them.”
She looks at the four soldiers left on the ground, one of which is the woman who insulted her. She nods, turning to the control panel and running towards it. As she swipes her hand through the controls, the ship begins to chime.
“Command accepted – Accessing navigational data – Recommending change in command – Warning – Warning – Incoming projectiles – Command Safety Override accepted – Loading manual interface.” It says.
I feel gravity shift, the actuators squeal loudly under the pressure. My eyes look to Lunara at the helm whose hands move rapidly giving commands, my eyes try to follow what she is doing on the interface, trying to glean some information, but it is so fast. Large plasma shots rip past the side of the ship, she narrowly dodges them.
Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings.
“That’s the last one. Start the sequence.” Fennec says as he moves to a command chair next to her, sitting down. Moving his hand through a smaller interface, much slower than her.
The pod doors slam closed, I turn and look, seeing them eject from a porthole. Moving towards the porthole, my eyes widen as I see the pods begin to take up an encircling motion around us with their thrusters. What is the meaning of this? I move to look out the front viewport now and my eyes grow wide as I see a large circular structure blossoming with light. In front of it are seven massive starships of varying sizes. Only one of which I recognize, the largest of the seven. Flagship Thorn of house Helenius, the house which Senator Adonius the interim Governor belongs to. The man who holds the chains of my people, the one who crushes the necks of my tribe. If I had the power I would blast it from existence.
“Republic Space Command – This is The Stylish Bandit, your soldiers are safe and sound inside of the escape pods which currently orbit our stolen vessel. Now, if you would like them safely returned, I suggest you back the frack off and stop firing upon us.”
A short pause follows.
“Bandit this is Republic Space Command actual. We will comply. Release hostages at point of transfer or we are unloading holy hell into you.”
“Understood.” Fennec says turning off the comm, now looking to Lunara “Not trying to break your concentration as you juggle those pods manually but it’s almost time.”
“I know.” She says with a tone of irritation as she swipes through the display. There is tension around her eyes as they flit across the screen.
With nothing to do to distract me, my thoughts return to the Black Edict. Did she really know and not tell me? Maybe the woman was wrong. I haven’t heard the demon in some time. Perhaps my arm was price enough… no, my gut tells me it is not. My gut tells me the woman is right and my days are numbered. It is strange, I have faced death many times before, looking it right in the eyes, not showing it any fear, telling it that it must earn me. Somehow knowing it comes, knowing it is unavoidable makes me feel…
Boom – shards of metal scrape against the hull. Fennecs eyes are wide.
“Republic Space Command, cease fire, you have fired upon your own soldiers.” He says frantically, he moves to speak again but the craft rocks. The red lights flash faster now.
“Warning – Warning – Warning.” The system repeats.
“What is wrong with them?” Lunara says, her eyes blinking fast. She flicks her wrist, one of the pods moves out of the way rapidly as a massive ball of plasma smashes into the side of the ship, rocking us, sending molten metal spewing onto the floor.
“Containment field activated – Warning – Warning.”
“Put the shuttles in front of the shots!” Fennec yells at her, there is fear on his face, his Kuwathi eyes glow brightly now, the bioluminescence swirling in them.
“No… I won’t be the reason more die.” She says through clenched teeth, extending her hands outwards, flicking the pods into different directions.
“You’ve killed us all!” Fennec yells, slamming his hand on one of the clear panels, cracking it before he spouts in the old tongue “Juni Pek Ula.”
“Sit the frack down and shut up.” She says issuing a new set of commands as another plasma shot rips into us.
“Warning – Hull integrity failing – Containment field… Command Override accepted – Limiters Removed – Full manual control enabled.” The system chimes off now, going silent.
“You’re out of your mind, you can’t manually fly into a Gate and phantom jump. This is suicide, we don’t have a shield anymore, the containment field is barely plugging the holes. One more and this ships getting spaced. Turn the ship about and burn hard Lunara.” Fennec pleads, she does not reply so he stands “Fine, you won’t listen.”
Fennec moves towards her panel trying to input commands. She pushes him back, he tries again, the ship veers, turning us upside down, the gravity actuators squeal again as we fall back down. She punches Fennec square in the jaw, sending him flying backwards knocking him out cold.
“Put him in an escape pod.” She says.
I grab him, slinging him over my shoulder, the craft lurching back and forth, from the holes in the side I see her dodging bolts of plasma. I slam into a wall, Fennec with me, as she rolls the ship. I move now towards the second to last escape pod. Slamming Fennic into it. The belt slides over him snugly. Moving back towards her, I turn as the door slams shut and his pod is ejected far away from us.
My eyes blink twice, has she abandoned him or given him mercy… I do not know. Moving back to the helm I take a seat on the side wall closest to her. We approach the Gate which dwarfs the starships by comparison, I cannot help but be taken in by it’s magnificence. It does not look like anything I have seen the masters make before. I cannot fathom how mortal hands could have built such a wonder.
Looking back to Lunara, I see she has closed eyes and is taking a deep breath. When she opens them, I can feel the focus as her hands glide like she is painting a portrait of a world without sorrow, it is beautiful to watch. The gravity whips back and forth as she moves into the space near the other ships which move to intercept.
She slowly begins to spin the ship, I feel a tug as the other ship we tow snaps forward, jostling us. I can’t even tell our relative speed anymore, there are only stars and objects so large they loom in front of us. As we spin faster and faster, I feel the actuators give out and the gravity slaps me in the face, it hurts all over, my eyes can’t stay open, I try to cling to the realm of the waking, but I cannot.
***
30 minutes ago
***
My eyes open, there is a mask over my face now, a strange black suit that hugs my body tightly, bulges where my clothes are clumped underneath it, as though I was dipped into a liquid vat of it and left out to dry. The material is strange, I have never seen it before. The ship’s alarms are blaring. Lunara is frantically trying to do something. I feel an explosion behind us, rocking the craft. The containment shields are flickering red. Sekat, what did I miss. My eyes adjust and I see we are flying straight into the large ring, like a fly against a mountain. The silver walls inside all shimmer with light, too far away to see in good detail.
Lunara’s hands move like lightning, I have never seen anyone move this fast before, except maybe Keeper Dargo. There is almost a blur to the movements as my eyes struggle to keep up. She is inputting some kind of command sequence with one hand and entering something else with the other.
Suddenly a noise begins to ring inside my head, after a moment I realize it is a voice. The voice stops as Lunara enters the last command on the console, her hands going still. She turns now to look at me, a mask over her face like mine. There is worry around her eyes as she looks back and forth at the damage the ship has sustained.
As we pass through the gate massive amounts of electricity strike the ship and a sickening vibration begins to shake the hull. The ships holos flicker, then something almost unexplainable happens. I feel a pull towards something, as though every atom in my body is responding in unison to some unknown force, it’s an eerie feeling, electronics begin to lose functionality.
A figure appears on the display of the holos everywhere and it begins to speak in a language I cannot understand. Its words pierce my ears as before, like a knife causing pain as I try to clutch my ears instinctively, the helmet blocking me from doing so. Lunara’s face is contorted from it as well.
I can’t distinguish any of the words and yet I get flashes of images of solar systems I don’t recognize. The noise from the figure stops and we are pulled deep into the abyss, light folding around us, perception changing back and forth as we rip across the galaxy at speeds I cannot even fathom. My entire body is vibrating violently, in a way that tells me I am breaking some fundamental law of physics by moving this fast. Perhaps it is because we don’t have a vessel intended to do this that we suffer so, I push the thoughts out of my head and focus on breathing, but I can’t breathe, I can’t even move.
As quickly as it began, it comes to a stop and the vibrations cease. My whole body is shaking still. Lunara moves her hand through the command console, there is something wrong, I can tell by the look on her face. The holos are flickering, power on the ship seems to be unstable. From the holes that pierce the hull, I see a massive white and blue planet below us.
Lunara moves towards me now, ripping off my belt quickly, half dragging, half pulling me towards the last escape pod.
“What’s going on?” I ask her, trying to keep the pace.
“Ships lost power to the navigation controls, we can’t steer it. We need to use the escape pod.” She says, slamming her fist against the pod’s door control. It opens and the air rushes out of the compartment, she grasps my arm firmly before I am sucked out with it.
Her eyes are wide as she closes the door. The last escape pod was half melted, the containment field unable to even patch the hole. The gravity actuators slowly come off as we start floating in what’s left of the ship’s command deck.
“Frack – Frack – Frack.” Lunara says, looking around.
I feel gravity starting to return as we begin to slowly orbit the large planet.
“Gods – think.” She says to herself.
Her eyes focus on the helm again and she drags me behind her. Slamming me into a seat and strapping me in. She moves towards the helm, trying desperately to work the remaining controls. As we enter the atmosphere the ship begins to shake like it’s been thrown into a storm. Foam begins to spray from recesses in the walls. The containment shield ruptures as chunks of metal fly into the space, one striking Lunara in the head, shattering her helmet. Her body goes limp. The shield from her waist envelops her as the heat from the edges of the holes rolls over her. Her arm tangled in the helms seatbelt as she hangs in the air, flopping back and forth.
Sekat. We are going to crash. We are going to die. My mind goes back to the words Fennec spoke. In the old tongue Juni Pek Ula means roughly – They who promise life, but bring only death. My eyes stare in disbelief as I see the white landscape before us. I have only seen something like it once before on a holo Sage Artemius showed me. It is a world covered in snow and ice which we hurtle towards. The foam covers my vision now. I feel a slam and then it is only darkness that follows.