Stars of Blood and Glory (28 page)

Then she was standing over the lifeless body
of a Federation politician, still twitching as the nerve agent
finished its job. She rose to her feet and took a deep breath,
reveling in the clean efficiency of her handiwork. The door hissed
open, and an aide to the politician dropped her tablet, her face a
picture of shock and horror. Their eyes met, and though Rina knew
that she should kill the woman, she hesitated—not because of any
compunction or remorse, but because it would mean spilling blood
over a perfectly clean kill. Blood was messy, but life? Life was
cheap.

Kill them.

“
Rina?” Her vision shifted again,
to the corridor of the
Tajji Flame.
A splitting headache made her feel as if her head
would explode, but a she crouched and drew a knife from her boot.
Relief swept over her in the form of a massive endorphin release,
compelling her forward with the promise of ecstasy. It was the
implant, no doubt—it would kill her if she tried to resist. It was
already killing her.

As she crept toward her target, the aging
metal walls turned to rough stone and adobe, the cold tile floor to
carpet and sand. The dim green lights slowly yellowed, and the hum
of the ventilation system turned to the whispering of the desert
wind. She rose to her feet and took a deep breath of the clean, dry
air, all of her fears and nightmares gone.

“
Rina?” the voice called again,
and this time, she recognized it. It was Mira, her older sister.
She rounded the corner and saw her, smiling and waiting with arms
outstretched.

This isn’t real,
Rina tried to tell
herself, but her emotions overwhelmed her. Home—after such a long
and terrible nightmare, she was finally home again. She smiled and
ran forward, into her sister’s waiting arms.

As they embraced, however, something warm and
sticky trickled down the skin of her right hand. She looked down
and saw blood, thick and dark—and messy.

“
Raa!” Mira screamed, her voice
like an animal. In that moment, Rina realized that it wasn’t her
sister, but the old cyborg, Roman. He lashed out and threw her
against the wall, nearly knocking the wind out of her. Fortunately,
her training kicked in, and she was back on her feet, knife in
hand, racing forward for another attack.

The old man stumbled, blood dripping down his
arm. He grabbed her wrist as she came at him, but she twisted and
slipped out from his grip. A rush of adrenaline surged through her
and she slashed the knife across his side, slicing through his
uniform and drawing blood.

Kill them.

The opening was perfect now for a kill-strike
to the jugular. As the old man clutched at his stomach in pain, she
watched herself lunge forward, seizing the opening.

No!

She hesitated for a split second, just long
enough for him to reach up and block the strike with his cybernetic
hand. The knife jammed between his prosthetic metal fingers and she
let go, falling to the floor.

Reality shifted again, and she was in a
shuttle, the roar of the engines filling her ears as the
forcefulness of the takeoff pushed her to the floor. She pulled
herself up and stared out a porthole at the rust-red deserts of her
home world. Familiar landmarks among the rocky plains and dusty
mesas disappeared into the distance, while overhead, a series of
fearsome explosions flashed across the sky, marking the end of the
world.

She gasped and found herself standing with a
gun in her trembling hands. Roman struggled to his feet some
distance away from her. Though the light was dim, she could tell
from his grunts of pain and his blood-soaked uniform that he was
seriously hurt.

Kill them.

“
R-run,” she stammered, her voice
weak. The gun rattled in her sweaty grip, but she couldn’t bring
herself to drop it.

“
Al-Najmi—why are
you—”

“
I can’t stop it!” she shouted,
cocking the trigger. “Just—just run. Run!”

Tears streamed down her cheek as she squeezed
the trigger. The first five shots went wild as the handgun bucked
like a wild animal in her trembling hands. But then her training
kicked in, and she lost whatever remained of her conscious control.
The bullets all glanced harmlessly off of his side—he’d turned so
that his cyborg half faced her, shielding the more fleshy parts of
his body. Relief flooded her—a different kind of relief than
before—and she fell to her knees, the gun slipping from her
hands.

“
I’m sorry,” she cried, the
strength draining right out of her. “I’m so, so sorry. Please
forgive—”

Before she could say more, her reality
collapsed into blackness.

Chapter 17

“
There,” said Katsuichi, leaning
forward as he stared at the swirling red and blue dots on the
holographic projection. “That’s it. Order the fleet forward, full
throttle.”

“
But sir,” said the gunnery
officer, “there are more than six hundred kilometers between us and
the
Demon of
Tenguri.
Once
we’re out in open space, the Hameji—”

“
It’s now or never. Tagatai’s not
going to bring his flagship into the fray, and his fleets aren’t
going to give us an opening any wider than we already
have.”

“
Yes, sir. Forgive
me.”

“
There is nothing to forgive,”
said Katsuichi. “Forward!”

The flashes and explosions
outside spun wildly as the
Divine Wind
moved into position. On the hologram, the nearest
blue dots broke away from the red ones and began to push through
the red formations, pitching and swerving as the gap slowly
closed.

“
My men aren’t going to hold if
you abandon them,” said Colonel Webb, his voice tense. “And they
sure as hell aren’t going to follow us on this mad
charge.”

“
Then let the cowards flee,” said
Kenta. “Where were they at Eyn-Gatta? At New Vela? If honor means
nothing to—”

Katsuichi silenced his bodyguard with a
gesture of his hand. He turned to face the colonel and narrowed his
eyes.

“
If your men will not stand, then
at least have them draw as much enemy fire as possible,” he said.
“We’ll reform on the other side once the
Demon of Tenguri
is destroyed.”

“
But you’ll lose half your
fleet!”

“
Then so be it.”
The true warrior
fights as one already dead.

“
Sir,” said the countermeasures
officer, “the
Demon of Tenguri
is deploying cluster mines along our trajectory
and opening with heavy railgun fire.”

“
Move the fleet into tight
formation and set up a heavy plasma screen to neutralize as much of
that fire as possible. If we—”

“
Sir, we have multiple guided
missiles incoming from the nearest three Hameji ships,” yelled the
gunnery officer. “They appear to be nuclear!”

Katsuichi frowned. “Can you take them
down?”

“
Some, but not all.
There’s—there’s too many of them!”

“
Hold the formation,” said
Katsuichi, gripping the edge of his armrest. “Hold the formation,
and full throttle ahead!”

“
Dammit!” shouted Colonel Webb.
“Can’t you see? You’re flying right into a kill zone!”

As if in answer, a brilliant flash filled the
bridge with light. The officers gasped and yelped in surprise,
while some fell to the floor. Katsuichi ducked to shield his eyes,
waiting several moments to open them again.

“
Commander Sakaguchi has
abandoned ship,” said the communications officer.
“
Ginza
and
Sagami
are taking heavy fire—”

“
Sir, our fleet is under heavy
fire!”

“
Intensify the forward plasma
screens and accelerate full throttle ahead,” said Katsuichi, his
heart racing. “Do not break formation!”

“
You’re insane!” shouted Webb. He
took a step forward, but Kenta blocked him, a single hand on his
sword.

Another explosion filled the bridge with a
flash of overwhelming light. This time, the bulkheads shook and
alarms began to sound.

“
We’re taking damage from the
cluster mines,” said the countermeasures officer. “The field is too
dense—we can’t possibly neutralize them all!”

“
All ships reporting heavy fire,”
said the communications officer. “Taking heavy damage—can’t sustain
it much longer.”

“
We’re almost within range of
the
Demon of
Tenguri,
”
said the gunnery officer, sweat dripping from his forehead. “Just
give us a few seconds—”

“
Sir, transmission from
the
Miyamoto
.”

“
Put it on,” said Katsuichi,
leaning forward.

“
Your Imperial Highness,” came
Commander Takahashi’s voice as alarms blared in the background of
the transmission. “It has been an honor flying with
you.”

“
Miyamoto’s
core reactors have gone
critical. She’s breaking formation—going to blow any
second!”

Katsuichi swallowed and took a deep breath.
“No, Commander. The honor has been mine.”

Commander Takahashi bowed, and
the transmission abruptly ended. The blue dot that represented
the
Miyamoto
flashed out of existence, while a flare of light through
the windows marked the commander’s passing. Katsuichi’s heart sank,
and an awful taste rose in his mouth

“
Sir, the shock wave from
the
Miyamoto
has cleared out the last of the cluster mines. Our ship has
taken heavy damage, though—armor at less than 50%.”

“
In range!” bellowed the gunnery
officer. “Sir, we are in range!”

Katsuichi clenched his fists so tightly his
arms began to shake. He rose from his chair and stared at the
hologram, now showing the shrinking cluster of blue about to
collide with Tagatai’s flagship and the small fleet that surrounded
him.

“
All ships, open
fire!”

* * * * *

Abaqa frowned as the sound of gunshots
reverberated through the bulkheads as if from a great distance. In
her seat at the command chair, Danica perked up and frowned as
well.

“
If all else fails, we can go
down in the shuttles,” said the pilot, oblivious to the noise.
“They’re both sublighters, but if we can wait out—”

“
Did you hear that?” Danica
asked. “It sounded like gunshots.”

“
Boarders,” said Yuri, his eyes
widening. “Oh, hell.”

“
It can’t be,” said Abaqa. “Those
barnacle-pods are only for important targets like command ships.
Besides, they wouldn’t attempt a boarding until our ship was
disabled.”

“
Roman,” said Danica, leaping to
her feet. “Stay here, and alert me if anything changes.”

“
But Captain—”

“
That’s an order.”

Without thinking, Abaqa rose from his chair
and ran to the door to join her. “Hey!” shouted the pilot. “Where
are you going, Hameji?”

“
If there’s trouble, she’ll need
help.”

“
From you? Get back in your seat,
dammit!”

Abaqa shot him a dirty look. “I gave my word.
Do you think I’d go against it?”

“
Enough,” said Danica. Without
another word, she took off down the corridor at a run. Abaqa
hesitated for a moment, then took off before anyone else on the
bridge could stop him.

He followed the captain around a corner to a
hatchway and a narrow stairwell. The lights had gone out, plunging
the place in shadow. He hesitated for a moment before going in with
her, but she pulled out a pistol from her belt and slipped inside.
Not wanting to be left in the darkness, he followed her.

“
Roman?” she called out, an
uncharacteristic hint of worry in her voice. “Roman, can you hear
me?”

“
Yes,” came the old cyborg’s
gravelly voice. With her gun still at the ready, Danica kept her
back to the wall and stepped through the hatchway on the lower
level.

“
Are you all right? We heard
gunshots.”

“
Come quickly,
Captain.”

They rushed forward into one of the officers’
quarters. The first thing Abaqa noticed was the small pool of blood
on the floor. Danica gasped in surprise and covered her
mouth—Roman’s uniform was bloody and he had a fairly sizable stab
wound on the lower part of his shoulder, but he barely seemed aware
of that. In his arms, he held a frail, unconscious girl, his
prosthetic hand supporting the back of her head.

“
What happened?” Danica asked.
Roman’s eye fluttered, but he didn’t seem to be losing
consciousness—he managed to stay upright as Danica tore off a strip
from his uniform and wrapped it around his shoulder.

“
The Gaian girl was assassin,” he
said. “She was planted in our unit to strike at optimal
time.”

“
An assassin?” said Danica. “But
why? Who?”

“
That is what I am trying to
discover.”

Abaqa folded his arms and shook his head. “An
assassin from some breakaway faction—no wonder your planetborn
alliance can’t defend itself.”