Star Conqueror: Recompense: An Epic Space Harem Adventure Read online

  “Fire!” I yelled, and Alyra complied, a reflecting of a grim smile visible on her console’s screen.

  The ship rocked, not from oncoming fire, but the blowback from the overcharged particle cannon, the Orion’s main gun, a blast of white-hot death rocketing through the needle ships, even as the rail guns let loose with a deadly rhythm of shots.

  The vacuum ahead of us lit up with Matriarchy fighters blowing apart, the blast ripping through the main part of them, with those stragglers being shredded during the confusion of their controller ship blossoming into an eruption of burning atmosphere and fuel, the Darts finishing what the Zultars started.

  Letting out a breath I hadn’t realized I was holding, I settled back in the captain’s chair and nodded. “And that’s how you do it.”

  2

  The light of the stars reflected over the shattered husks of the Matriarchy ships as a brief silence fell over the bridge, the now-safe Blue Skies dominating the view on the other side of the debris field. Tulip smiled warmly as she glanced sidelong at me, relief plain on her face now that the rescued girls were safe. Clara turned her seat on its swivel to favor me with a smile of gratitude of her own. Alyra, well, she was still focused on her screen, as if she were hoping some more targets would present themselves.

  It was Turner that broke the silence though, laughing as he pulled his bulky body out of his seat. “It is that kind of daring bravado in the face of the enemy that makes me like you Earthmen! Your invincible hero, Chuck Norris, would be proud.”

  I quirked an eyebrow at him and chuckled. “I’m sure he would be.” While Turner was very much an Earth culture nut, the way he spoke made me wonder if knew that most of our movies and shows were fiction. Sometimes, he acted like Die Hard and Rambo were historical films, but it made him happy, so I wouldn’t burst his bubble yet.

  “Well, I’m going to see how badly you abused my baby today,” he announced in a more serious tone. “Have to make sure we’ll make it to our actual mission, right?” Turner waved a meaty hand at everyone as he slipped through the bulkhead door leading into the rest of the Orion. “Don’t find another enemy fleet while I’m gone!”

  Tulip rolled her eyes after him, one of her cat ears twitching as she turned back to her station. “I’m bringing us around to within docking range of the Skies in case they need more direct assistance before they can jump out.”

  “Good call,” I said with a nod, tapping at my own screen to bring up damage reports and sensor controls. I was no engineer, but I could do some basic diagnostics while Turner did the heavy lifting. “Clara, give some thanks to those Dart pilots. They knocked it out of the park with the Hive, and then see if you can get through to the Hauler.”

  “My pleasure, darling.” The healer spun back to her screen with a flutter of her wings. “Should I send a report back to Resistance command or …?”

  “Let’s see how the Skies is doing first.”

  Alyra was dead silent, her lips pressed tightly together as the Darts fell into formation around us. We all moved back to their escort, shields nudging through the shredded metal and twisted hulls of our attackers. My hands clenched as the dragon spirit in me roared at the sight of the broken hulls of the rest of the Resistance squadron among the debris. More good men and women dead by the Matriarchy’s hands, and I knew I had to do everything I could to end it.

  If you believed Tulip and what a lot of the Resistance preached, I was prophesized to lead the charge to free the galaxy. While I wasn’t sure I bought that entirely, especially after the brief chance I had to look at the Matriarchy’s scriptures, it ultimately didn’t matter. I was going to stop the High Priestess’s empire not because some ancient holy man said so. I was going to stop this because it was the right thing to do.

  As if Tulip could read my mind, she gave me a comforting touch and said, “We’ll honor their sacrifice, and we’ll avenge them in the process.”

  I nodded to her, just as Alyra finally broke her personal silence. “Something we could best do if we head on to our mission goal immediately instead of lingering here, my dragon.” Her words carried her usual bluster, but this time I knew I heard an undercurrent of something else. Worry, maybe, or even a little hint of fear.

  “Now, Alyra,” Clara tutted, clicking her tongue as she cast her golden eyes at her former superior, “we must make sure these people are fine before we continue across the galaxy. I know you’re certain that this mission is a critical first step against the Matriarchy—”

  “Which it most certainly is,” Alyra shot back, and before this could devolve anymore, I cleared my throat.

  “Okay, ladies, the plan that Alyra drafted with Resistance command is something we all agreed on, but we’re also not going to cut and run until we know these girls are going to be fine.” When Alyra cast me a sullen look, I stared her down. “That’s an order.”

  Clara looked quite satisfied as she turned back to her screen while Alyra only grumbled and nodded. “As you wish, my dragon.”

  I had plenty of reasons to put my foot down on this one. It wasn’t just that we needed to make sure the freighter was fine, though that was a lot of it. But if I was reading Alyra right, (and considering I had her memories bouncing around inside my skull, I probably was) she needed to see what we were about to. She needed to come face to face with what she had wrought as a willing tool of the Matriarchy.

  While the others didn’t know Alyra had willingly undergone the transformation into a Matriarch, I did. Sure, after that, the Mother of Chains had bound her will, locked away most of her memories, but still, the former Left Hand had started down this path. For all Alyra’s hard edges and outer confidence, I figured it would do her some real good to see what we were about to.

  Tulip glanced over at me for a moment, a questioning look in her feline eyes as she guided us up alongside the Blue Skies. I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised that she could read that something was up. She was an infiltration specialist after all, and any good spy needed to have a good handle on people. I answered that look with a faint, reassuring nod, and that was enough for her. She flashed a brief smile as the Hauler now completely filled our front screens.

  Up close, the tears in the hull were obvious, and I could see right through into the structure of the ship. It could have been a hell of a lot worse, the hull breaches already looked to be sealed off so nothing would cause the ship to completely collapse, but a few icy forms, crew of the Hauler no doubt, served as a grim reminder of the lives lost.

  “Darling, the captain of the freighter wishes to express her gratitude for our timely rescue,” Clara announced, her angelic voice adding a bit of brightness to the dark moment. “Shall I open channels and put her on the main screen?”

  “Right away,” I said, sitting up in my chair.

  With a few taps of Clara’s agile fingers, the central viewscreen changed from the battered ship to the only slightly less battered bridge of the Blue Skies. Red emergency lights and the glow from the consoles were the only things illuminating the place, though I couldn’t see much past the woman dressed in a captain’s power suit and the girls trying to cram into frame around her.

  She was of a species I didn’t recognize from the game and was beautiful in a hard sort of way, both figuratively and literally because her amethyst skin faceted like crystal. Her green eyes, though, were surprisingly human, brimming with a mix of gratitude and determination, while her hair resembled a field of gold wire. Her deep green power suit conformed to her angular form, with light armor studded with cables connecting into the ship’s consoles. I recognized it as the AVA-980, a solid suit designed specifically for starship piloting and zero-gravity maneuvers.

  As for the girls, they were a motley group, each one a different species, from the red-skinned Ar’abi to pale-skinned Tel’ra, Clara’s native species, and a few I didn’t recognize. Though their faces were fresh and young, I could see marks, scars, lines that children that young shouldn’t have. Though it was obvious that the cre
w had taken care of them the best they could, the girls couldn’t have been more than a day out from their rescue, and their hollow cheeks and thin forms attested to the ill-treatment their Matriarch keepers had shown them. Thankfully, their eyes had a spark of life still in them and seeing that spark brought a smile to my lips.

  The captain’s voice was breezy and hollow as she raised her hand in greeting despite a particularly slight Ar’abi girl clinging to her forearm like it was a jungle gym, and said, “This is Captain Essia Krane of the Blue Skies. Thank you for coming to our rescue, Orion.”

  I didn’t really have a title, no official rank. This was a guerrilla war, after all, and the Resistance command sure hadn’t given me anything official, so I just winged it. “You’re welcome, captain,” I said with a nod. “I’m David Briggs and—”

  Essia cut me off with a laugh. “There’s no need to introduce yourselves. Everyone in the Resistance has heard about the heroes of Balarian and the return of the dragon.” The girls started chattering at that, some seeming frightened, no doubt spurred by the Matriarchy tales they had been fed in the camps, while others were ecstatic. “Even if I didn’t know who you were specifically, David, I know the legends that are Tulip and Turner. Your crew has won us what little success we have had before your arrival, dragon.”

  Clara cooed as she glanced over her shoulder. “How wonderful! We’re already famous!” She turned to look at Alyra. “See? You were promised the love of the people, and here we are!” She gestured grandly at the viewscreen.

  Alyra didn’t look convinced. In fact, I don’t think she really heard Clara at all, her polished marble skin paling as her hands clenched around the arms of her chair.

  Keeping an eye on her, I smiled and nodded to Essia. “We do our best, captain. We’re just happy we were within a jump of your location. Are you going to be able to get back to Resistance space, or do you need us to help with repairs and escort?”

  Tulip chimed in at this, obviously overjoyed at the sight of the safe children. “Or anything else at all. We’re at your service, Essia.”

  “We took some hits there, I won’t deny,” Essia admitted as she gently moved a teenaged reptilian girl off of the console to her right. The screen clear, her crystalline fingers tapped on the console a few times, bringing up some damage reports. “Still, our hyperdrive is in good condition, and our hull breeches will be fixed by the nano-repair systems within ten minutes. Once that’s done, we’ll be set to jump.”

  Her focus returned to us. “I don’t want to hold you up from whatever mission you’re out here for, it has to be critical to the cause, but if you can spare those few minutes to help our fighters keep watch, we could really use the help.”

  I smiled. “It would be our pleasure, Essia. There’s no way we’re going to give the Matriarchy a snowball’s chance in Hell of recapturing those girls.” Giving Essia a salute, I continued, “And thank you for rescuing them in the first place.” My eyes scanned the gossiping children. “You saved them from a fate none of them deserve.”

  Clara and Tulip both nodded in agreement, Tulip smiling softly as I swore I heard Clara sniffle. “Indeed, it brings me so much joy to see those poor dears safe,” the ex-Anchorite said, her voice thick with emotion. “Soon, if we have any say in it, those vile camps will be no more.”

  Alyra’s head tilted down during all this as if she couldn’t stand to look at the captain, the girls, any of it. As Clara spoke, Alyra abruptly rose up out of her chair, rising to her full five-foot height, and spun on her heels, hands still clenched tight. “Excuse me, my dragon. I … I need to check the particle charging chambers after channeling that much power.” Before I could even acknowledge what was a patently false excuse, she power-walked her way off the bridge, barely managing to keep herself from running.

  Captain Krane arched a faceted eyebrow at the strange interruption but brushed it off. “Thank you, Orion. If there’s anything else we need, I’ll let you know.” She favored us with one last smile. “Blue Skies out.”

  I was getting up out of my chair as the channel to the freighter closed. While Alyra had tried her level best to keep her eyes and face hidden from me, I had seen the restrained tears in her eyes. Tulip and Clara were both up as well, both ladies coming up to either side of me, the catwoman’s hand on my shoulder while Clara gently caressed the small of my back.

  “What was that about?” Clara asked, chewing on her thumb. “I can’t say I’ve seen Alyra act like that, though to be fair, despite our years of association, she primarily communicated by yelling.”

  Tulip rolled her eyes. “Really, sister? It’s obvious she’s upset!” She turned her attention to me. “Do you want us to go with you, David?” She arched an eyebrow. “You are going to talk to her, aren’t you?”

  I gave both ladies a smile before nodding to Tulip. “Of course, I am, but I better do it solo.” I turned and gave them both a hug, Tulip purring as she leaned her head against my neck and Clara letting out a coo of delight. As I pulled away, I glanced towards the rest of the ship. “You two are both victims of the system, and I don’t think Alyra needs more reminders of that right now. Besides, I need you two to man the ship. We’re still on-duty right now.”

  Clara smiled softly and nodded. “Never fear, darling. We shall hold down the fort, as they say. Go, help Alyra.”

  “Thank you,” I said with a smile. “Both of you.”

  Giving them both one last hug, I turned and headed off into the rest of the ship to find the woman I knew needed my help.

  3

  I didn’t bother going into the lower decks and the forward weapon bay. That’s where the charging chamber for the particle cannon was, and it certainly was not where Alyra was. The funny thing was that I knew that Alyra could be an excellent liar when she wanted to be. She had been a public face of the Matriarchy, after all, and if nothing else, she had been great at lying to herself. But getting confronted by a face full of the orphaned, mistreated girls had shaken the poor woman harder than anything else could have.

  So, I went to where the memories in my head told me where she would go. She was hurt, confused, upset, and Alyra craved order and safety. There were two places she might go to try to regain that. The first option was to check my own quarters. No, not because of my sexual magnetism or anything like that, though I wasn’t going to cut myself short there, but because in throwing away the Matriarchy, Alyra had attached herself to me and that whole dragon of prophecy thing. Of course, she shouldn’t be able to access my room without my permission. No, that was more up Tulip’s alley.

  So, ruling that out for the moment, the second place Alyra might have retreated to was her own room, because who doesn’t feel safest in their own personal space?

  Fortunately, all the crew cabins were along one low hallway on the Orion’s main deck. The lighting had come up from the dim levels during combat operations. Stepping into the crew hall through one of the reinforced bulkheads, I took a deep breath and adjusted my own near-black power suit. It was currently in standby mode, the heavy shell of armor plates retracted into the suit itself. Either a mental command or a tap at the screen on my right wrist would cause the whole thing to spring into life, not that I needed it right now.

  Well, I hoped I wouldn’t need it. Over the month I had known Alyra, she only ran in two temperatures, red hot or ice cold, and I only hoped she wouldn’t go into anger mode. Her natural magical talent was creating hard light constructs, things of pure force, and she could wreak a lot of damage if she lost her cool. The last time she had done so had fortunately been on the Projected Reality deck, so no real damage had been done.

  I stepped up to Alyra’s door, her cabin next to mine on the right. Apparently, there had been a big discussion among the ladies about what cabins they were taking and their proximity to my own, eventually working out this setup. Tulip had the cabin right across the hall from mine, with Turner’s beside hers and Clara’s on the other side of mine. The access panel by the door glowed red with a
‘Do Not Disturb’ warning scrolling across it.

  Normally, I’d respect that and leave her be, but this wasn’t a normal situation. I tapped the hail button, the on-ship equivalent of a doorbell, and leaned back on my heels, hands resting on my hips. Despite the sound damping of the walls, I swore I heard the chime inside with my enhanced hearing. There was a long moment, long enough for me to wonder if I was wasting my time standing out in the hallway before the panel’s speaker sprang to life.

  “Yes?” Alyra’s voice echoed through the hall, sounding a bit raw and tired.

  “It’s David,” I said softly. “Can I come in?”

  There was a momentary silence before Alyra spoke. “If it is about the charging chamber, I needed to gather something from—”

  I cut her off with a terse, “No.” Taking a quick moment to settle my tone, I continued, “No, it’s not about that. Not like that was the reason you left the bridge so fast in the first place.” I could hear her voice hitch over the speaker but kept right on going. “I don’t know why you’re surprised, Alyra. You’re in my head as much as I’m in yours. I bet you knew I was coming, didn’t you?”

  “Yes.” Her perfect voice cracked as she agreed, followed by a short, stiff sigh of defeat. “You are alone, yes? I do not wish to have this lorded over me by the Anchorite.”

  I found myself grinning slightly. “I’m alone, but now I’m wondering what you would have said if Tulip had come with me.”

  “She understands discretion, at the least,” Alyra admitted as the panel shifted from red to green. With a soft whoosh, the cabin door slid open, the light inside a low, bluish shade as I stepped in. The door slid shut behind me and, not surprisingly locked again, Alyra stood at the end of the short ‘hallway’ where the bulkhead met the cabin proper.