RIDING ATOP A satellite with only her armor and a translucent bubble of smart-matter shielding her from the cold vacuum of space, standing beside an undead cyborg monstrosity partially inhabited by the mind of the former lover she’d sworn to kill, while a trilateral space battle—more of a massacre, really—raged through the surrounding void, had Sabira feeling a bit on edge.
At least the view was magnificent.
Sabira, Orion-lem, and Abomination Zika stood atop one of the snare satellite’s twelve sides. The pentagram-shaped surface was copper and silver colored, and about five meters across at the widest point. A glowing, blue-white drive plume shot from the back of the satellite, pushing them ever faster toward Godsfall.
Tearing through the void at tremendous speeds, Sabira didn’t sense any motion at all. In a blink, they passed the Ihvik-Ri’s ornate hull and sprays of plasma fire. The pyramid had been her home once, her pride. Now it was a harbinger of dread and destruction for everyone she cared about.
Clouds of shredded spaceship debris parted before them. Incoming missiles veered off trajectory in short, tense heartbeats before impact. They should have been supremely vulnerable, yet all the chaos and violence couldn’t touch them.
Nearing the amethyst colossus and its fiery auroras, a slight vibration signaled the drive plume extinguishing. A new cone of blue fire ignited in front, breaking their momentum. The snare’s powerful field emitters modulated inertia and gravity, so their deceleration was nearly undetectable. The snare satellite arced around Godsfall’s flaming crystal wings and headed for the center of the titan’s back.
“That was the easy part,” Abomination Zika transmitted. Their voice was steady and even—probably Subaru Hanada speaking. “The High Godseer is in the heart cavity, which isn’t hard to reach. But a cadre of warseers is stationed inside, protecting ahn. If we can get to the heart cavity unseen, and quickly eliminate Atu Madzo before they know we’re there, we can use Godsfall’s interior defenses against them.”
Sabira tightened her grip on the deactivated palukai. Godsdamned, this sounded like a trap. The node Orion gave her had better do its job and watch her back.
The flaming auroras around Godsfall’s wings threw mercurial shadows over their faces. Its back loomed before them, a towering wall of dark purple crystal, marbled with black and veined with rusty gold. The satellite extinguished its braking plume and maneuvered through the final approach by field modulations. They made contact, sending a faint vibration up Sabira’s legs. The bubble of smart-matter encasing them merged with Godsfall’s hull, where an opening dilated to reveal an airlock.
“Everybody off,” Orion said.
“I’ll go first.” Abomination Zika stepped forward. “If we’re spotted, the warseers will recognize this construct. That should buy us a few integral moments of response time.”
Sabira hoped they wouldn’t need a few integral moments, but knew better than to rely on hope. She also didn’t trust how vulnerable they’d be once Abomination Zika stepped inside the airlock, while she and Orion were still outside. She shadowed the abomination’s steps closely, ready to react if the hull suddenly irised shut. But all three of them boarded without incident, and the crystalline port didn’t close until they were safely inside.
They stood within a sealed bubble. Its interior pressurized with atmosphere as it migrated from the outer to inner hulls. The bubble dilated open on the other side, revealing a vaulted corridor, identical to Loshan’s spiral arms, curving away from them.
“I need to check on the warseers’ location.” Abomination Zika led the way inside. They touched their palm to the wall, and the machine exoskeleton came alive, spouting tendril-like cables that ported into the crystal surface.
Sabira stroked her palukai, reconfiguring the yellow and black stick into a short-barreled assault rifle with two curved bayonets. She spotted movement up ahead, where the corridor curved out of sight after a few meters. Little machines scuttled about the floor, walls, and ceiling. The things gave no hint that they noticed them and continued about their business. Sabira kept her plasma rifle trained on the drones, just in case.
Abomination Zika disconnected from the wall. “The warseers are stationed at each of the nine entrances—balconies that overlook the heart cavity. We shouldn’t have any interference along the way. As long as you’re with me, the drones will leave us be. But we will need a plan for once we reach the cavity. I suggest we go to one of the upper-tier balconies. I’ll neutralize the warseers on guard. Sabira, you lay down covering fire. Take out the warseers on the other upper balconies first, then the lower tiers. I will eliminate Atu Madzo while Orion drops down to the cavity floor to interface with my prime iteration.”
“That’s a decent plan,” Orion said. “Not much margin for error, though.”
“These kinds of missions, there never are,” Sabira added.
“One more thing.” The undead abomination turned their three dull eyes to them. “I’ve got a status update on the battle. The Monarchy warship was destroyed, but Godsfall has taken dominion over two Constellation battleships. The rest of the Constellation and Republic forces are destroyed or on the run. The battle at Krishnamurti Tower is over. Godsfall is coordinating a slice to their next target. The High Godseer has access to all the local navigation charts now. They’re headed to Nu’esef.”
“Most of the CDF ships in the battle would have been stationed near Nu’esef,” Orion said. “The planet will be undefended.”
Nu’esef. Tauro Arkrider’s homeworld. And the home of Maia del Seta’s New Temple of Mysteries, too. An entire planet of free Humans—a concept utterly unthinkable to Sabira only weeks ago—was the next target planet for the Unity’s genocidal conquest.
“Then we better stop wasting time.” Sabira steadied her palukai against her shoulder. “You said you were going to lead the way.”
Abomination Zika smirked their ashen gray lips and started down the corridor. Sabira and Orion followed. A few strides beyond where the passage first curved out of sight from the airlock, it forked left and right. The abomination led them down the left-hand path that soon opened into a larger compartment. Within, the walls stood out of reach on either side. Ceiling and floor were more than nine meters above and below.
The path became a bridge from one side of the vault to the next. These walls were more transparent than the outer corridor, with little pink and black machines scurrying over them. Motionless bodies hung suspended within the translucent crystal, shaded in hues of quartz and amethyst. Vleez. Gohnzol-Lo Warseers. Humans. Webs of crystalline tubes had penetrated and woven through their denuded corpses.
Sabira recognized the name glyph on a nearby face. Altaro, a chosen from the Ihvik-Ri. Ahns head had been separated from the rest of the body. Looking up, she saw more bodies being submerged within the crystal depths. Humans with hair covering their heads instead of glyphs. The network of tubes sent new branches writhing toward them.
“We need to keep moving,” Orion said.
Sabira realized she had stopped halfway across the bridge. “What under the rocks is this?”
Abomination Zika surveyed the walls. “A few dead bodies making you queasy? You’ve gone soft.”
“Tell me what this is,” Sabira insisted.
“Godsfall’s stomach. One of them. Organic minds have organic bodies. And organic bodies need nutrients.”
“Can’t we do something?”
“We are doing something. Now, like Orion said, stop wasting time and keep moving.” Abomination Zika continued across the bridge to the vault’s far side.
Through her armor, Sabira felt Orion gently patting her back. She started forward, keeping her eyes locked on the large cyborg in front of her. Once they left the stomach behind, Sabira eased her shoulders and let out a long breath. Soon after the exit, the passage forked again, curving sharply left and right.
“This way.” Abomination Zika pointed right. From around the blind corner hurried a human woman wearing Chosen robes. She nearly charged face-first into the abomination’s hand.
“Mother of Life’s mercy!” The chosen placed a palm over her heart. “Oh, it’s the abomination. You scared the wits out of me.”
“Are you alright?” asked another voice from around the bend. More glyph-tattooed faces emerged. “Who’s that behind it?”
Abomination Zika dug metal fingers into the first chosen’s torso, lifted, and slammed her into the wall. Crimson splattered over white and green robes. The others ran back the way they’d come, screaming. Their wails echoed down the corridors.
Sabira fired and missed. The plasma bolt scorched a wide black smear into the wall. Had she missed on purpose? She didn’t have time to think about it.
“About that margin of error,” Orion said.
Abomination Zika stared at them with uncanny dead eyes, their sagging gray face speckled with red, before charging after the fleeing chosen. “Plan’s changed. Try and keep up, drillers!”