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

  Xara scoffed, her nose turning up dismissively. “The first is ridiculous, as I am the most knowledgeable Matriarch of the faith, and all your tyrant dragon tricks are known to me. The second is so blatantly obvious only a fool would fall for it.” Her right hand lashed out with blinding speed and caught me by the throat. “Now, let us see to your examination, shall we?”

  “Hold on,” I gasped out as she lifted me up effortlessly. I didn’t try to resist … not yet. In a way, I couldn’t have asked for a better position. “You’re wrong about one thing.”

  That caught her, just for a moment, that supreme arrogance brought on by her brilliance incensed at the notion she could be wrong. Her eyes narrowed sharply as she stared up at me. “Oh, do tell, D-876.”

  “It wasn’t a minute and twenty-two seconds.” Xara’s eyes started to widen, already starting to comprehend her error, as I grinned broadly, teeth already starting to shift into a maw of fangs and fire. “I only needed the twenty-two.”

  With a triumphant roar, the dragon spirit surged through my body. It was a relief in more ways than one to feel the power rush through my veins, to have my senses open up to every minute smell and every distant noise, to feel my body shift and scales to grow. After all, I had never actually fully shifted into dragon form before without the power suit, and while Tulip had been told me several times that I didn’t need it, that the power was inside of me …

  Well, we humans are great at doubting things we haven’t experienced first-hand, and with so much on the line, I was just happy to have her proven right … and happy that by some element of the magic involved that my lucky boxers did not bite the dust with my draconic growth.

  Unable to keep her grip around my now dragon-sized neck, Xara dropped back, fear warring with steely self-control as she danced back away from me. “Impossible. Every observation, every second of combat footage …”

  “You must have been cooped up too long in this lab,” I growled, cracking my neck as my foot talons dug into the marble floor. “You forgot the one critical thing about the technology that powers this war.”

  “Upgrades,” she whispered to herself in disgust. “Very well, D-876, I suppose it doesn’t matter—”

  I wasn’t going to give Xara the chance to monologue, and I certainly wasn’t going to give her the chance to get away, trigger whatever deathtrap she had rigged to hurt Clara or Turner. Instead of witty patter, I interrupted her villain speech by rocketing forward, hoping to snatch her up in one go. With how fast she could move and the fact I still had no idea what her magic powers were, her distraction was my best chance to end this quickly.

  Even to my draconic senses, the sudden focus in her eyes, as if she was computing everything happening around her, every bit of my superhumanly fast movement, was almost imperceptible to read. I wouldn’t have even caught onto it in human form, the whole sequence too fast to read. That was at least part of her secret, I could tell instantly. She was absorbing everything she observed so quickly and calculating every action and reaction with all the power of the most advanced supercomputer.

  Which was why instead of being completely taken aback by my abrupt lunge, Xara was able to start moving with it. Her mind was faster than even her amazingly honed body though, so instead of being able to fully counter my attack, she was forced to roll with it, my palms crashing into her shoulders, causing the shields around her to blaze.

  Before I could cinch that contact into a grab, though, Xara fell backward just out of reach, grabbing my wrists as she fell, legs kicking upward to launch me overhead with a judo-style sacrifice throw. Though I couldn’t prevent the kick, gritting my fangs as that foot hit with enough power to make me feel it through my thick layer of scales, I was fast enough to twist my wrists before she could let go herself. While she was impossibly strong for her size, my draconic might was greater, and instead of being hurled across the laboratory into all manner of delicate and dangerous technology, I landed on my back right past her, her wrists now securely in my taloned hands.

  Though she was still faster than I was, now that I was in my full draconic glory, it wasn’t an insurmountable advantage. I could match it enough to play this game of move and countermove … which was good, because I felt the air pressure of her kick before I even saw the movement. Xara lashed her foot up and over her head with incredible flexibility, but as that was the logical countermove, I expected it.

  Instead of taking one of those shitkicking battle boots in the face, I let go of her left wrist and rolled, the blow shattering the marble floor where my snout had once been. I was up to my knees a split-second before she started to do the same. Before Xara could get her full balance, I simply heaved with all my strength on that one arm, up, over, and hopefully onto the examination table that our tussle had taken us dangerously close to.

  If I could get her on it, strap her down, I might have an opening to let loose with the Flames of Freedom. Soul Dragon Rising would let me channel Purifying Flames through it, and that would give me the opening to use Dragon Will. If there was ever something that caused psychic and spiritual impurities, it was the Mother of Chains’ corrupting influence.

  With the leverage advantage, even on my knees, I yanked Xara clean off the ground before she could free herself from my grip, feeling a satisfying crash as she landed back first on the table behind me. To Xara’s credit, she didn’t even grunt, no matter how bone-jarring that impact had to be, shields or not. As I stood, spinning to keep a hold on her wrist, I had to take my eyes off of the Illuminator long enough that I didn’t see the crystalline scalpel she had snatched off the tray of surgical tools until it was too late.

  I felt the bite of the blade into my forearms though, as she dragged the scalpel across them. Though sharp as hell and enchanted to pierce my nearly-invulnerable hide, the blade was thankfully short, but it hurt more than enough to force me to let go of her wrist, though I made sure to give it a good, bone-crunching squeeze in the process.

  We both let out sharp hisses of pain as I stepped back out of range of the scalpel, forearms dripping steaming hot blood, and Xara slid off the operating table opposite me, holding her injured wrist guardedly close.

  “Finally, a decent workout,” she said with cool detachment as she brandished the scalpel, but I wasn’t going to fall into the ploy. Already her arm was tensing to throw, the words only an attempt to distract me, and as I presented a huge target as a dragon, my best defense was simple.

  Before her arm could finish coiling, I kicked the entire table full-on with the flat of my foot, smoke pouring out of my nostrils as I hit with enough power to rip the contraption off of its hydraulic base. Fluid gushed, and wires sparked as the whole assembly crashed into Xara’s chest, too close for her to dodge and throwing her aim off. The glittering blade hurtled into the ceiling, sinking up to the handle in the metal.

  My instinct was to pounce now, as she fell backward, the wreckage of the table crashing down on her chest to pin her. That was the smart thing to do … but it was also exactly what Xara’s supercomputing brain would expect. Whatever her magic was, I realized that it was all focused internally. Her superhuman speed, strength, mental prowess, those were all internal abilities, and she was using those magically-enhanced attributes to play the counter game. I had been keeping up so far, but time favored her. She would either hold out, countering me until I dropped out of dragon form or until she could maneuver to do something about her hostages.

  No, to win this, I had to do the unexpected, cause her to doubt her knowledge as I did at the start of the fight.

  So, instead of pouncing on top of the table, I took a step back. And sure enough, Xara immediately did what would have been a precise counter to what I originally intended, using her enhanced strength to throw the entire hunk of wreckage straight up off of her, which would have slammed into me if I had been leaping at the time. Instead of that, though, I could smell the scent of surprise from her as she was forced to roll away from her own attack, the table crashing down whe
re she had once been laying.

  That’s when I made my move. Barreling into Xara from behind with my superior strength and mass, her shields buckled beneath the impact. I scooped her up in mid-charged, not stopping until we slammed into the far wall, tearing through a very expensive-looking alchemy lab. Hitting the white-painted and chemical-splattered wall with a full head of steam, I caved a huge, Illuminator-size dent in the wall causing a pained hiss to squeeze out through Xara’s clenched teeth.

  “You have surmised my secret,” she gasped out as I twisted, keeping her pinned and trying to work my snout around to give her a face full of cleansing dragonfire. “Congratulations are in order. You’re doing quite well.”

  The crystals on her hands and feet started to surge with light, and she began to push back against me, feet and wings both shoving against the wall, which only groaned as the metal began to deform under our combined might matched against one another. No doubt about it, all the magic I could smell in the air, burning inside of her, was redoubling her physical power, though I could also smell the coppery tinge of blood that wasn’t my own. Xara was pushing herself beyond her body’s limits, and I couldn’t have that.

  I dug in my foot talons to keep the Matriarch in check as her internal magic when into overload. With her increasing power fueling her constant struggles, I couldn’t get a clean shot to breathe on her. It didn’t help that she seemed to anticipate it, trying to keep a hand or an elbow up to push my snout away every time I swiveled to try. I growled low, trying to find another solution.

  And that’s when I heard something so high-pitched that a normal human, hell, most species I knew of wouldn’t have been able to hear it. But I could, as a dragon, and a Fertish could, with their feline senses, and more so, it was quick, pulsing tones that sounded a hell of a lot like Morse code, something that almost no one in this part of the galaxy would understand. Well, except for three people.

  Me, Turner, and Tulip … and once I deciphered the message in my head, I knew exactly what to do and exactly how to save Xara.

  Instead of trying to hold her back, I let go. Ungripping my toe claws, I pulled back and away, just as she made a final desperate thrust. That tremendous strength now without resistance, the Illuminator hurtled clumsily off into the room, completely off balance, bouncing off the wreckage of the examination table before rolling into an ungainly heap at the base of a bank of computer terminals.

  “So, you have to be calculating every move I’m making,” I growled, letting fire lick out between my teeth as I stalked slowly towards her. “You know how powerful I am, and you know your own limits, no doubt to the very last Newton of force you can kick with.” Xara was scrambling, disheveled looking as she pulled herself to her feet, using the terminal for assistance. “And I can tell you wanted to beat me fair and square, for your ‘research’ or whatever, but you know now that you can’t.”

  She wiped a trickle of blood from her nose and mouth, brought on by the tremendous strain her magic was putting on her body. “You are correct in all of those things, D-876,” she conceded, her tone still filled with arrogance. “And yet, as you have now focused on your personal victory, you forget that I do not need to win fairly.” She stretched out her good hand in the air between us, motes of glittering dust, nanomachines like the ones from outside, formed into a translucent hologram. “I still have your friends …”

  Xara’s voice trailed off as the holographic image did not, in fact, show my bound and helpless friends.

  No, instead of that, there were images of those two holding cells, yes, but there was not Turner or Clara. One of them had a quite dead looking Quib, his breastplate with a message scrawled in blood that read, NOW I HAVE A PULSE LASER HO-HO-HO. The other also had a Quib, but he seemed to be sleeping rather peacefully, slumped over the chair as if someone had, say, blasted him with an Anesthetic Shot.

  I smiled broadly. The ultra-sonic Morse code message had been quite simply, Found the Twinkies, a code phrase from Tulip that her and Alyra’s mission had been successful. Tulip was as clever and resourceful as ever, using her knowledge of my draconic hearing to contact me when normal communication didn’t. From there, it was a straight-forward gambit to push Xara into using the leverage she thought she had over me. She was so focused on logic, planning, and the whole dance of move-countermove that with her plans now completely falling apart …

  Xara froze, blinking slowly in disbelief at the taunting images hovering before her and utterly dumbfounded as to how her plans unraveled. Even so, it would only take a second or two at most for that magnificent mind to adapt, so I didn’t hesitate. Stoking the fire in my heart with the Flames of Freedom, I focused the dragon spirit inside me, channeling its magic into the flames, and my vision filled with the silvery radiance of Purifying Flames, wispy silver streaks of flame escaping the sides of my snout.

  What was happening started to percolate through the Illuminator’s eyes, but it was far too late. I was on her in a moment, cutting loose with a stream of silver soulflames, the ethereal stream blazing over Xara’s form with no physical effect. However, the burning silver clung to her form like a shroud as her hands, which had started to clench in defiance, went to her head, fingers tearing at her black hair.

  “It’s inside me, David Briggs, tearing me in two,” she hissed as she slumped against the terminal. “Your fire pushes it back, but not for long.” Those grey eyes, no longer dispassionate, now blazed with anguish and need. “You must do it now! I need you inside of me, inside my mind and soul.”

  “Do not fear,” I roared as I rushed forward, pulling Xara against my chest as I summoned the Dragon Will inside of me. The red-gold aura of my flames erupted from me, mingling with the silver fire still clinging to the Matriarch as it pulled us together. “Xara Lilana, I work the Will of the Dragons, and by that Will, I shall set you free.”

  28

  A corona of silver-gold flames exploded around the two of us, overloading my draconic senses as the world wrenched and spun. The battle-torn laboratory faded away, the taunting holographic image winking in time through each individual mote of the pixels behind us. The constant ultrasonic patter of Tulip’s message dropped off as the aura surged outward, engulfing the world in its purifying flames.

  As my perceptions adjusted once more to the orange blankness of the mindscape, familiar and yet still strange as it was every time I had entered it, I realized that my battered snout, my aching chest, and my bleeding arms no longer hurt, purely biological artifacts of the body I had left behind.

  Xara wasn’t in my embrace. Looking around, I found the Illuminator standing a few paces from me, the last licks of my Purifying Flames still clinging to her.

  Xara’s power suit had been burnt away by those flames, as had her raven wings and every other thing that marked her as a Matriarch. Instead of cold detachment, fear, or worry marring her face, there was a serene harmony in her eyes, her shining black hair loose and hanging down to the small of her back. In the place of armor, she wore robes of crimson silk, with simple gold embroidery around the edges, arms bare and skirts loose. They looked like what a monk or priestess might wear, something reinforced by the polished emerald beads about her throat.

  The little glasses were still perched on her sharp nose, the only things identical between this mental self and the physical Matriarch

  “There is little time, dragon, even in here where it barely flows at all,” she said before I could even get a word out of my snout. “There is a trap laid here, as you must have expected, one bound into my very nature, and …” Xara’s voice trailed off, strangling in her throat as the silver flames died out.

  She started to crumple, arms hugging her chest as if she were trying to hold herself together. I was there in an instant, already hearing the rustling metal of the Mother’s chains in the distance. They were the ever-constant danger in the Matriarchs’ minds, the barbed steel that tore at their souls and chained the door to their past selves closed with mental locks.

  A
s I took Xara in my arms and tried to pull her upright, my eyes widened as I saw those animate links starting to rip out through her midsection, disturbing in the fact that no blood was spilled despite the savage wounds.

  Xara didn’t just look like she was trying to hold herself together. She literally was. Where the chains tried to pull her in half, the right side of her body started to turn an even ebony black, while the other shifted chalky white, two equally tortured screams tearing from her lips.

  “Hold on!” I roared. I didn’t need to ask the specifics, not that Xara was in any position to tell me. Going off instinct and observation, still feeling the power of the Flames of Freedom roiling in my gut, I breathed in deep, ready to cover her in healing dragonfire.

  I only had time for one shot before it ended, and while I could summon them back, every time ate ten seconds out of my time as a dragon. Without my suit or a timer of any kind, I didn’t know how much juice I had left, and if I ran out in Xara’s mindscape, well, I had no idea what would happen. My instincts told me that whatever did happen, it wouldn’t be good.

  Ignoring the winding metal I felt around my feet, the Mother’s chains no doubt, their barbs unable to find purchase in my scales, I let loose before they wrapped around my snout, their intended goal I knew from experience in Alyra’s mind. Silver fire roared out of my mouth, cascading over Xara’s torn form just as her torso literally popped into two fully formed upper bodies.

  The chains that had been bursting from Xara, pulling and tearing, melted away into slag, and as quickly as the horror had been unleashed, the two bodies snapped back together with enough violence that the air split with a crack. The living, rattling chains around me, though, held strong, twining up around my legs and wrapping around my chest, a thousand black metal claws trying to find purchase in my draconic hide.