14


The Jellybird maneuvered away from the Bold Freedom, constantly on the lookout for debris that might cripple us. The chaos caused by all of the bombardments wouldn’t end soon, but we were learning to predict most of its movement.
Our shields could handle small impacts. What I was more worried about was our enemy’s ability to hide amongst floating ship parts and other detritus. We hadn’t seen or heard of any more Archangels searching in their space-capable armor. And it seemed all of the micro-fighters had returned to their motherships.
“Jelly, do you have an update on the Dark Lance?” I asked.
“Yes, Captain,” Jelly said. “She established a geosynchronous orbit and immediately deployed micro-fighters.”
“How long before we arrive?” I asked.
“Three hours and eighteen minutes,” Jelly said.
I cornered Rejon with a look. “Last chance. Why is Nebs so hot to find out what’s on your home world?”
“It’s not our home world. It’s just a base.” Rejon stared at the holo view. A moment later, he sighed, releasing tension that had gripped his posture like a vise. “We have a weapon there. We never use it because of the damage it does to our planet when we fire it.”
“Jelly, give me the best magnification possible,” I said.
Moments later, I was able to see the planet that the Dark Lance was orbiting. There were several distinct landmasses. As we watched and waited, fountains of energy thrust upward, then converged in the stratosphere. A glowing blue and purple beam streamed straight into the Dark Lance.
I waited for a massive explosion, but nothing happened.
“That’s it?” Elise asked.
I had a similar question but decided not to belabor the issue.
“It seems that all micro-fighters are being recalled to the Dark Lance,” Jelly said. “I’m getting variable readings from the stealth carrier. It does not seem to be able to maintain its stealth field or maneuver well.”
I raised my brows in question. “That’s your weapon?”
Rejon nodded. “It doesn’t do much good without a fleet to take advantage of the immobilized enemy. If I had been on the planet, I wouldn’t have used it. There are other factions, however, who do not wish there to be bloodshed at any cost, even in self-defense. For them, our ultimate weapon is a perfect, non-violent warning system.”
“Does it have to be fired from the surface?” I asked.
“In theory, no,” Rejon answered. “The system was designed to be fired from a combination of void-capable ships.”
I watched as the state-of-the-art Union stealth carrier drifted like just another hulk of potential salvage. It obviously still had power and some maneuvering capability, but I thought we could take it out, even with the Nightmare’s limited mobility. If we were able to take full control of the ship’s AI, we would make quick work of the Dark Lance.
“Now is our chance,” I said.
“You are at least partially correct,” X-37 said.
“You’re killing me, X,” I said, running through a list of things I needed to do to corner Nebs and take him out. “What are we waiting for?”
“I don’t believe Novasdaughter and Henshaw have gained full control of the Nightmare and I predict that Nebs will order the Black Wing onto the offensive to keep us from attacking his flagship while it’s vulnerable.”
I hated admitting when X was right. One look at Elise and the others told me they knew it too. I decided to get over myself and be a team player—because that wasn’t weird or unnatural for a Reaper.
Yeah, totally what I was made for. “Jelly, scan for the Black Wing,” I said.
Several seconds passed and I began to get worried. Normally, it was X-37 who was glitchy and slow. Not that I was blaming my LAI—there had been a lot of extenuating circumstances—but Jelly was normally solid.
“Jelly, talk to me,” I said, feeling my crew tense.
“Brace for impact,” Jelly said. “I located the Black Wing just before it came out of stealth mode and launched a barrage.”
“Can we get a little more warning next time?” I snapped, feeling like a jerk because I knew Jelly would have warned me the moment she detected one of our enemies.
Alarms sounded, followed by heavy impact against our shields. The ship was buffeted by contact explosions. I’d been through worse, but this one was bad.
“I guess that’s one way to keep us from exploiting the Dark Lance,” Elise mused.
“We’re a team, Reaper Cain,” X-37 said. “You should take my advice more often.”
“Are you programed to gloat, X?” I said, pulling up several tactical screens to more carefully assess the situation. “We need to slip out of this fight.”
The battle with the Black Wing took us farther and farther away from the Dark Lance. My dreams of grabbing the vice admiral by the throat and demanding answers faded second by second. The man had made me what I was when he created the Reaper Corps, then destroyed my life when he kidnapped my mother and sister and had my father murdered.
“What is the matter, Reaper Cain?” X-37 asked inside a private channel. “Your biometrics are doing strange things—indicating sadness and rage at the same time.”
“We need to get on that ship and handle Nebs,” I said, talking to my LAI while still flying the ship and scanning for the next thing that would kill us.
“There is no need to inform me of this,” X-37 said. “I agree, but must remind you there are significant obstacles between us and our ultimate objective.”
“What I need from you, X, is less doomsaying and more coming up with a brilliant plan. Or better yet, why can’t you wake me up from this twisted dream?” I said, wincing at an alarmingly close call—five time-delayed missiles that exploded around us in a three-dimensional triangle only a thousand meters from each side.
“That was a bit closer than I’d like,” Elise said. “I really hope that was pure luck.”