Chapter 1: Naked

Weary, I gaze out of the viewport at the sun. Its size is tremendous. It’s early morning ship time and I stand alone, save for the few crew members necessary for running the ship. I’m barefoot. Foolish maybe, to let the crew see their king this way, but I couldn’t sleep and I wanted coffee more than I wanted to put slippers on. Besides, a king in slippers would surely have been worse than one in bare feet. The decking is cold on my feet, comforting in a way. The mug of hot coffee is a wonderful contrast.

The bridge of the Ashe looks almost sterile, especially in comparison with the mess hall from last night, Mendo hosting his nearly nightly festivities. I’ve attended only once on our month long journey. My mind has been too scattered, too nervous and brittle. I’ve preferred the company here on the bridge, with Lana and her stern spine.

Around us, out the viewport, swarms a chaos of ships, drifting amidst the reflected blue light of Mercury, the intensity of the sun, looming larger than I’ve ever seen it. I’ve never been to this orb. Never wanted to. Too many mountains, too many valleys, too little life. Its austerity is legendary, its people driven by their warrior past.

I too am a warrior. Perhaps the hardest of them all. But I miss the softest of us. Lindley. When I told her of my quest, she insisted that she come along. But someone has to bear the King’s Warrant in my absence, and who better than the queen. I’ve thought this past month of what she said to me there on the landing pad. We stood, holding each other close. I could barely hear her over the sound of the engine of the bulky freighter patiently waiting for me. 

“You’re a good man,” she said. “Kind, considerate. Don’t lose yourself in all of this.” She kissed me then and pressed my scepter sword into my hand.

I feel on the verge of doing just that, losing myself. I feel like I’m floating adrift through space, no one to catch me, nothing to stop my momentum. My mind feels like it’s going to run away with itself. I’ve always prided myself on being in control, both of mind and of body. But this mission. The month of solitude. The goal.

“Sir,” someone says into my thoughts. I turn to see Auden, captain of my Blood Guard, the newly minted replacement for my Black Owls. His posh accent serves to soften the deadly nature of the man. He’s in full kit, armored and ready for war.

“Auden, I think the dress code is a little less formal for this occasion,” I say with a laugh.

“Never can be too safe, my liege. If I may, we are making our final approach on the planet and the King’s Hand is not yet awake. Shall I rouse him?”

The man’s complexion is striking in its similarity to mine. Although, unlike myself, he keeps his hair trimmed close, a few grays just starting to show despite his relative youth.

“Ah, my Hand. Best to let me handle that,” I say.

I make my way down the Ashe’s halls, my bare feet making little noise. Turn after turn I go until I find the door leading to Mendo’s suite of rooms. My hand print on the door opens it to me.

The young man is lying prostrate on his bed, stark naked. I can’t help but laugh. It’s hardly the first time I’ve seen my friend naked. His proclivity towards nudity is legendary amongst the palace staff. Lindley has had to console more than a few unsuspecting staff members. But now, there’s something about my friend, his posture, the pool of drool under his face, his messy hair, that just makes me laugh. I can’t stop. It’s the first time in a month that I’ve felt some sort of joy, and yet I now manage to find myself in a gleeful state. My laughter must wake Mendo because finally he stirs.

“Lucy,” he starts groggily, “is that you?” He swings his legs over the side of the bed and stands, facing me.

“Good god man, put some pants on,” I say, shielding my eyes. “I need you. I need the King’s Hand.”

The kid was so excited when I bestowed the title upon him, making him my official right hand, giving him vast authority, making him third in power behind myself and Lindley. It’s really hard to believe as I watch him hurriedly dress in his finery and comb his hair out of his face.

He looks older than when I met him. He’s finally shed what was left of his boyishness in favor of the visage of a serious looking man. Of course, that doesn’t mean that he’s stopped living like a younger man.

“What have I told you about coming in my room unannounced Lucy? I do…private things in here. I’m slagging third in the entire Kingdom, I have rights,” he says.

“Uh, lest you forget, I’m the King. First in the Kingdom. Besides, you’re a distant third after Lindley,” I say. “You’re not actually in the line of succession.”

“That hurts Lucy.” By now, he looks presentable. Enough. He wears the blue and silver colors of my house, trousers and a fitted tunic. Surprisingly he wears some armor, a deep blue pauldron over his left shoulder along with a vambrace. He carries a blaster pistol at his hip.

“Expecting trouble?”

“Can never be sure. Who would choose to live this close to the sun? Only deranged people if you ask me. And if we’re dealing with deranged people, I’m going in armed.”

Him and Auden must be on the same wavelength. Maybe I’m just too trusting. My father treated with these Governors. They have long resented the fact that Mars gets the bulk of our liquid cryogenic oxygen reserves to power their space flight. Now, they resent the power that I hold because of my brother’s consolidation of oversight, bringing all planetary governorships under the direct oversight of my office. But I believe they’ve gone a step beyond just chafing under my rule.

“Ah, you’ve found him,” Auden says, meeting us in the halls. “We need to debrief before we shuttle to the planet.”

“Debrief? Don’t you mean prebrief?” Mendo asks.

Auden shoots me a look. “We need to have a conversation my liege.” In a whispered voice, Auden turns to Mendo and says, “I’m head of his protection, not yours. I will gladly leave you for dead if you do not stop your infernal joking.”

“Gather your men,” I say.

—

Fifteen minutes later, we’re in one of the ship’s conference rooms. I see now that we could have just had this conversation in the hallway. It’s just Auden, Mendo, and myself.

“Well,” I say, losing some of that gleeful feeling to the monotony of bureaucracy, “shall we get started?”

“My liege, if you would just—,” Auden starts.

“Would you kill it with the ‘my liege’ nonsense? The last person who spoke that way murdered a friend of mine and kidnapped another. Call him Lucian. He’s just a man. Although, he rarely lets me see him naked, so I can’t really be sure,” Mendo says.

“It is against our code to call the Blood by his given name,” Auden says.

“Forget your code, I outrank you.”

“Mendo, what have I told you about pulling rank on people?” I ask.

In the midst of all this argument, the door to our room slowly opens. A small woman slides in through a barely open door, squinting at the bright fluorescent lights. The woman is pale skinned, a few freckles dotting her oval face. Brown hair is tucked behind small ears. She’s an attractive woman, maybe in her early twenties. Her eyes speak to a quick-witted intelligence as they scan the room. She wears a pilot’s jumpsuit in a drab grey color. Seems like everything on this ship is grey.

“Um, I think you might have the wrong room—” Mendo starts before he gets a good look at her face. He goes strangely quiet after that.

“No,” Auden says quickly. “My liege, this is Br—.”

“I can introduce myself, thank you Auden. Lucian Elwyne, I am Bryn Hawke. I’ll be your pilot for this mission. Before you speak Mendo, no you cannot fly, you do not have military clearance to fly any of the craft aboard the Ashe. I’ll also be accompanying you off the ship, posing as your servant. No, I will not actually be serving you. So…get me up to speed?”

“Well Captain Hawke—,” I start.

“Ugh. Bryn, please,” she says. “Anyways, it’s Commander Hawke.”

Impressive. “Well Bryn, you should know that we will be meeting with the governors of Venus and Mercury. Arda Freudg is the governor of Venus. She’s an eery, efficient woman, in her mid sixties. She’s less a governor of a planet, and more so an administrator of a space station. As you know, the only life on Venus exists in the ring-like space station circumnavigating the whole of the planet.

“The governor of Mercury is a wildcard. My father knew Arda. But Ciaran Braoin is new to the position. His father died a matter of weeks ago. When I planned this trip, it was to meet with him. Ciaran is my age, by all accounts a tall, lazy man, spoiled by privilege and wealth. I’m still unsure how to treat with that.”

“What aren’t you telling us?” Bryn asks. She’s bold, that’s for sure. I like her.

“This intel doesn’t leave this room, not even to the Blood Guard,” I look to Auden. He nods. “Two months ago, I got intel that my brother had been seen on Mercury, consorting with the governor. Greysen is on Mercury.”

Chapter 2: Blade

Bryn brings us into the atmosphere of Mercury. I’m struck by the jagged peaks of the mountain range ahead of us. This world is so unlike Luna. My home is all vast plains and wide open spaces like the gardens of the palace. Here, there are mountain ranges that dome upward, running like spines with valleys in between.

We spiral down now into one of those valleys where I can see a fortress and what looks like a barracks for soldiers. We come around the high walls of the fortress, and I’m stunned. There’s a full on parade, a celebration going on from the landing pad, all the way up to the fortress. I wonder if this could be the place where they’re keeping Greysen. I think about Kaelyn. I’ve missed her these last couple years. She always had an easy going nature, quick to smile.

I always thought that she was good for Greysen. Calmed him down a bit. She was, is, brilliant. She didn’t have the Elwyne gift for memory but I swear she knew everything. She had studied to be an architect. Designed half the public works on Luna. Looking at the valley, the fortress, the crowd, I’m not sure that this is the kind of place you’d keep a prisoner.

“I don’t like this,” I say.

“What? It’s a party. I swear, you need to have more fun,” Mendo says.

“No. This is unlike them.”

“I thought you said you don’t know them,” Bryn says.

“But I know their people. This world is so extreme, very little lives here. Nothing can go to waste. They have no excess, no expenditure that isn’t carefully weighed out. The wealthy live in luxury, but even they practice asceticism. It’s part of their religion, from this ancient tome. This isn’t like them,” I say.

“This is befitting the arrival of their sovereign,” Auden says succinctly, always showing his respect to the Blood.

“Maybe.”

“You really think your brother is here?” Mendo asks.

“It’s the first lead I’ve had since that day he vanished,” I say. “I have to find out.”

“Why?”

“What?” I say, not understanding the question.

“If he lives or if he’s dead, what does it matter. You are rightful king. The solar system is yours. People are happy under your reign. He has no grip on you. Not anymore.”

“You don’t understand,” I say.

“We’re landing,” Bryn says into the tension.

“Guard, on me!” Auden commands. The twelve Blood Guard that accompanied us form around us.

As the ship touches down, we descend the ramp, me first, Mendo to my right, Auden to my left, Bryn trailing just behind with the Blood Guard fanned out behind us. I activate my plasmaShield, feeling uncomfortable being out in the open, in the middle of a crowd like this.

Men and women, along with young children line the promenade. Many are shouting, waving streamers. Their warmth for some reason makes me feel cold. Maybe it’s just the breeze coming in off the sea. Individual cries reach my ears. These are native people to Mercury. They are Boii, most paled skinned and ruddy. Some carry signs that cut me to the heart.

They wave in the air images of my son. He has become a symbol for them, a symbol of, what? Freedom? Loyalty? I never wanted my son to be a symbol, I never wanted him to inspire hope as a dead little boy. I wanted him to be happy, to live his life in peace, to pursue what he wanted out of life. This is meant to honor me. But it makes me feel…sick. I try to push it out of my mind.

“Lucian, I love you!” Calls someone from the crowd.

“Lindley is so h—.”

“You saved us! You saved us!”

Chanting. “Lucian. Lucian. Lucian.”

Little children hold balloons, their parents having dressed them in their finest clothes. One young boy sits perched atop his father’s shoulders. I catch his eyes. He smiles at me. I’m cut to the heart. I once had a boy like that. I do my best to smile back at him. It tears me apart.

Flowers blanket the path ahead of us, thrown there by the bystanders. We tread over them with caution, stepping on their red petals even as their fragrant scent fills our nostrils. The fortress ahead looms large, utilitarian. It stands at least ten stories high. Tapestries hang off its outer walkway, a great eagle, the sign of the house of Mercury, waving in the breeze. The sight of it makes me shiver. Eagles and owls are enemies, vying for the same prey.

“Stay close,” I say under my breath.    

Up ahead I see our welcoming party. Ciaran and Arda stand side by side, a coterie of knights flanked out beside them. Neither wear armor, not even ceremonial pieces. Auden and Mendo look out of place.

“Lucian, my liege!” Ciaran shouts over the noise of the crowd. We close the meters between us and them. He reaches out a hand. Have they no manners here? I choose to overlook the error in decorum and I take his hand. His accent is thick, soft vowels and rolling r’s. “A grand day indeed to have ya with us!”

Pastoral.

Arda gives me a brief bow. I extend a hand to stop her.

“Please, you knew me as a boy. That must feel beneath you,” I say. She just smiles, unfriendly as expected.

“Dinner will be ready in not quite thirty minutes. Could we trouble you for some alone time?” Ciaran asks, looking at my Blood Guard. I look to my friends and nod my head.

“It would be lovely to get to know one another,” I say.

My companions are led away down some hallway as we enter the fortress. I follow Ciaran and Arda until they turn and enter what looks to be a great drawing room. Soft rugs line the floor. The room on whole is quite baroque, adorned in gold and red. Hardwood coffee tables sit in front of sofas, a floor to ceiling bookcase lines the back wall. It’s the kind of room I would sit down with a proper scotch to do some reading.

“May I get you a drink?” Ciaran asks. He seems to be the one doing all of the talking.

“Scotch, if you have it,” I say. Why not?

“Laprhoig? Balvenie? Earth still makes the best whiskey.”

“Seems someone warned you of my preferences. Either would be fine. Tell me, how are things going since the war?”

“The war?” He asks, sounding surprised. “That was hardly a war that you waged. More like a family scuffle. But please, there will be time for diplomacy later, after dinner. I thought we might now…share a common bond.”

Of course, his father. “How rude of me Ciaran. I’m so sorry about your father. He was a wise man.”

“Some may disagree with that,” Arda laughs. “But I do miss the man.”

“Thank you Lucian. And your father. What has it been now, two years?” Ciaran asks.

Could it really have been that long already? It’s been more than two years, the anniversary was during my voyage here. It’s funny, grief. It has a way of holding on and not letting go, of slowing down time.

Nash would be nine.

“Hard to believe,” I say. “Feels like yesterday. It all feels like yesterday. I haven’t seen my brother in two years.”

I overstepped. Something changes between them. They share a look. I almost would have missed it, but I miss nothing.

Ciaran puts on a consoling tone. “Come now Lucian, life has much good to offer.” He walks over to me with his arm outstretched as if to embrace me. I barely know the man. He carries no drink in his hand. The gesture is odd, but this is an odd planet. He keeps one hand behind his back as if he’s about to take a bow. I should never have said anything about my brother.

He’s within a meter now. I can smell his woody cologne. He places his left hand on my shoulder.

“I’m sorry about your father Lucian, I truly am,” he says.

“Thank you,” I reply, still perplexed. Arda remains glued to her spot, expression giving nothing away.

“You and I ought to be like brothers,” Ciaran says, drawing me in, hugging me with his left arm. 

My right arm raises to reciprocate the embrace, but before I can move, Ciaran is pushing me away, grabbing at my shirt collar to hold me in place. I see it but there’s nothing that I can do. A blade appears in his right hand and it is sharp and long. He rears back and plunges the blade into my midsection. I gasp. He twists the blade before he rips it out. I want to crumple to my knees, want to fall down and fight for breath, but he’s holding me up by my shirt. I feel drool dripping from my mouth. Or is it blood?

“Why?” I manage, coughing up flecks of blood.

A broad smile breaks Ciaran’s face. He pulls me close and spits in my face.

“Thus always to tyrants. Hale sends his regards,” Ciaran says in a snarl.

“The deed is done, let’s go before they wonder where he is,” Arda says.

“I want to watch him die,” Ciaran says, still not letting me fall.

“You painted the blade in the toxin I gave you?”

“I did.”

“Then he’s already gone. We go. Now.”

Ciaran throws me to the ground. I smash my head against one of the tables. I manage to roll myself upright in time to see them leave the room. I retch, barely able to turn my head to the side so I don’t choke on it. My wound is the worst pain I’ve ever experienced. I want to scream, but I’m unable to.

I’ll be dead before my friends realize that I’m here. Even if they find me, I may be dead already. I can already feel the effects of the poisoned blade. A heat runs through my veins, a stabbing burn that’s nearly as bad as the wound.

My thoughts run to Lindley. I told her this would be a routine mission, that I’d be home in a few months, that she should stay. It’s better that she didn’t come, that she didn’t get caught up in all of this. It’s unfair really. We haven’t had enough time together. Two years.

I think about the first time our lips met on the Skylark. Walking together through the forests. The first time we shared a bed. All of our plans for the present and the future. I’d give everything that I have if I could just see her one more time.

Soon I’ll be just like Nash, no more than a memory. Nash. I couldn’t protect him. Is this my punishment? If so, I’ll take it, I’ll bear it.

I think about my son, trying to ease the pain. But the only image that comes to mind is his face before the grenade went off. I try to push it away, but this pain is a demanding thing. It requires that everything hurts, even my heart. I can’t conjure up pleasant memories. I can’t think of the good times we spent. I just can’t.

I find the strength to touch my hand to my wound. It comes away slick with blood. I press down on the wound to staunch the bleeding, as if that will do anything. I’m losing so much blood. I feel weak, faint. I should close my eyes. I’ll sleep, just for a little while. That’s right, just sleep.

I feel myself slipping out of consciousness when I hear a sound. Footsteps? It doesn’t matter. I need to sleep. I close my eyes again, drifting off. Another sound. Voices? I’m not alone in this room. I no longer have the strength to look up. This time I don’t need to. The voices clarify, and I hear my friends talking over me.

“This is going to hurt my liege,” Auden says, packing a medKit into my wound.

God was he right. The pain makes me scream out but after a moment it turns to a sweet cooling feeling.

“That’s a lot of blood,” a voice I don’t recognize says. Wait, no, that’s Bryn.

“No dip, so glad we have your opinion,” Mendo says.

I try out my weak voice. “P—. Poi—.”

“What are you saying Lucy?” Mendo asks.

“He’s clearly trying to say poison.” Bryn again.

“Slag. I don’t have anything for that,” Auden says.

“I do, back on the ship,” Bryn says.

“We’ll have to make it there first. I don’t like our odds. I’m calling the Guard,” Auden says.

“Umm, who’s gonna be the one to carry him? Clearly it’s not gonna be me, and it definitely won’t be Mendo here,” Bryn asks.

“My first officer will carry him. They’re here now,” Auden says. Before I know it, I’m being scooped up very gingerly by one of the Blood Guard. After just a minute, he’s covered in my blood. The medKit is helping to repair what was damaged internally, but I’m still out of it. I barely notice what’s going on. I close my eyes.

The poison is a demanding thing. Fire races through my veins. I can’t quench it, can’t put it out. I’m not strong enough. It’s spread from my gut to my chest and down my legs and arms, so that no part of me is immune from the burning, immune from the torture.

I try to clear my mind, to force the fire to give in to my will. No use. I’m going to die. They should just let me go, leave me here. I’m slowing down their escape. Death would be easier than this…agony.

No. No. I try to shake off that thought. I try to think of Lindley, of Nash, but pain racks my body and I seize up in the guardsman’s arms. Still, the faces of my wife and my boy fill my mind’s eye. I focus on them. I try to overwhelm the pain with my desire to see them again.

But the pain is insidious. It creeps up my body, into my head, whispering in my ear that my boy is already gone. That soon, I’ll be joining him in oblivion. I try to fight, but I find myself giving in to the pain. I loose a scream into the frenetic air, causing my gut to ooze more blood and to send me into shivers from the pain.

I can tell that we’re running. Fast. Would our hosts openly kill their sovereign? It’s one thing to assault me in private. But I think that crowd we seen on our way in would have something to say about that.

A sound forces my eyes open. Blaster fire. We’re in a tight corridor, styled similarly to the drawing room where I was stabbed. Knights fire on my Blood Guard. My Guard wear heavy armor and carry even heavier weaponry. They return fire, dropping our pursuers.

I’m being carried on my back, so my entire field of vision is either sideways or upside down. I look around for Mendo and Bryn, the two most vulnerable members of our party. As we come across another group of enemy knights, I find Bryn. She carries a long nosed blaster pistol and fires rapidly at the approaching group, taking out three of them. Where did she come from?

I’m starting to get increasingly worried about the poison that was on that blade. I feel it coursing through my veins. I feel it in every inch of my body. It feels like the worst is yet to come.

As we round a corner, I feel the guardsman carrying me come to a rapid halt. I roll in his arms to see why. My heart drops at what I see. One elite looking knight, flanked by a score of fortress soldiers. These men are different than the rest of the combatants we’ve come across. I can tell that even through my delirium. The knight at the center steps forward. Most of his class carry stunBlades. But, like me, he brandishes a plasmaSword, a long length of onyx metal tinged with plasma energy. A dangerous weapon when wielded by capable hands.

His armor is bone white. He wears a cape. I hate capes. His skin is as dark as onyx stone, his hair trimmed short. He looks to be thirty, muscular. He wears a cocky smile, clearly pleased with his prize. When he speaks, it is with a rich, non accented baritone that suggests warmth and friendship.

“Lucian Elwyne, you live on borrowed time. I offer a boon to you wayward souls. Simply hand over the dying king, and you will be given your lives and safe passage back home. You have ten seconds to decide.”

In response, Mendo spits on the ground. Bryn follows suit. Auden puts his body protectively between me and the man.

“Have it your way,” the man says. He raises a hand, and turns to issue an order to his men, but Auden is faster. He points and one of the guardsmen throws some sort of metal device. It sticks to the wall just in front of the man in the bone white armor. A second guardsmen, this one with a long barreled rifle, raises it and fires one shot, hitting the metal object stuck to the wall. An incendiary device! With an incredible BOOM! the wall comes crumbling down, completely blocking the knight’s way to us.

“That ways closed,” Auden says, out of breath. “Follow me.”

We make our way through the fortress, back to where the crowd greeted us. I can hear them now. They’re still there. No, no, no, they can’t be in this cross fire. My group runs towards our ship, through the crowd. I hear the crack of a blaster bolt from above. No one in my group goes down. The crowd screams. They make space. An old man is hit. He lies bleeding from a head wound, dead, dropping his hand drawn poster of my son. Another rifle crack. A teenager this time.

My voice is weak but I raise it as loud as I can. “Stop!” They don’t hear me. We just keep running. We just keep running. Shots continue to ring out as the crowd is culled, one by one, as we rush up the boarding ramp to our ship.

—

“Butts in seats! It’s gonna be a rough one!” I hear Bryn shout from the cockpit.

“How far are we from the Ashe?” Auden’s voice.

“Ten minutes.”

“Slag.”

I’m dizzy, barely hanging on. As soon as we boarded, they set me gently down onto a medStand. I stare up at its hazy purple dome as its appendages work on my wound. Still nothing to be done about the poison. It’s excruciating. I want to double over in pain, but there isn’t any room. They’re infusing me with a fluid to restore my blood volume. It’s a mix of saline, glucose, and, from what I understand, synthetic cells that mimic the role of red blood cells. Not that I care about any of this. Not that I could care. The pain is too much.

I feel the ship rock from a laser blast.

“Hey, the King is trying to rest back here!” Mendo shouts from my side. “It’s alright Lucy, it’ll be alright.”

He sounds like he’s trying to convince himself of that fact. I can hear his breathing. It’s heavy, like he’s nervous. I know he’d rather be behind the sticks, flying this thing. But he’s never left my side, not since I found him on Earth.

The ship rocks again. I feel like I’m going to vomit. We’re not going to make it. This ship is just a transport. Single engined, slow, no guns, limited maneuverability.

“Are you two mag locked down back there?” Bryn calls back to us.

“Why does that matte—,” Mendo says, as he’s thrown from his feet. The ship goes into a barrel roll. Bryn really is coaxing everything out of this ship. I feel the compensators try and keep up with the acceleration, keeping me in place on my table.

“Tiny slagging—,” Mendo is groaning as he picks himself up.

“I told you to lock in,” Bryn says matter of factly.

Mendo walks past me. I can’t see where he goes, but I can hear him conversing with Bryn and Auden in the cockpit.

“Please sir, you must lie still. It is for your best interests,” the table softly hums to me.

I stare at the ceiling. I try not to think of Lindley, of Nash. It hurts too much, the thought of not getting back to Lindley, of never seeing Nash’s room again. Then I hear the sound of hope.

“Querencia, come in. This is Ashe. We have you on our scopes. You’re being pursued by five fighters. If you can get into range of our weapons system we can clear your path.”

That’s Lana’s voice! Hope swells within me. If we can get to that ship, maybe I’ll see my family again. Maybe. I try to be still, calm. But I can’t be. My mind races, full of scenarios and tactics. I see my home, my wife, my son’s room. I see myself walking through my room’s private garden. I see myself rolling in bed with my wife. I see life. It’s distracted only by the pain in my gut and the burning in my veins.

Mendo is back at my side. He speaks to the table. “How’s he doing?”

The table is monotone. “Not well.”

What?

“Explain,” Mendo says tersely.

“I have stabilized the abdominal wound, though the liver and left kidney were bleeding quite badly. There was a slight puncture of the large intestine, though we were able to excise the affected tissue and complete the anastomosis. We have flushed his abdominal cavity with saline and cauterized all wounds. Field spray is filling in any gaps until his body can heal properly.”

“Then what’s the problem you overly clever table?”

“I have been unable to find a match for the poison on the blade.”

“Meaning?”

“He is dying.”

The burning in my veins goes cold. Any flicker of hope that I felt is extinguished. Mendo turns back to the cockpit.

“Uh, we need to hurry!”

“We have a problem,” I hear Bryn say.

“What is it?” Auden asks. 

“Torpedoes.”

“Querencia, you have been target locked. Torpedoes inbound!” Lana’s voice rings over the com.

“Yeah, yeah, I know. Give me slagging second,” Bryn says.

“Torpedoes are thirty seconds out Querencia. At your current speed and vector you are at minimum thirty five seconds from the range of our weapons systems.” Lana’s voice again.

I start a mental countdown.

30. We go into another barrel roll. I close my eyes and let the seconds tick by.

20. “No, revert all power from every other system to the engines!” Bryn.

10. I start to feel weak. Well, weaker. I can’t feel my limbs. Even the pain in my gut goes numb. I think of Lindley, of the shape of her face, how I long to trace my fingers along her chin and pull her lips to mine, of her freckles, her black hair. I think of Nash. How soon, I’ll be gone like him.

0. The world goes dark.