Chapter 1

 

Liora took her hands from Tariq’s. His face was pale, but he watched her.

“They set a trap for you.”

“It’s only a trap if I don’t know what I’m getting into,” Liora replied. She lifted her helmet to shove it back on her head.

Tariq grabbed her arm. “Liora, wait. You don’t know what you’re getting into. We don’t know what they’re capable of.”

Liora met his gaze. “They have Brandis. That’s enough for me. He searched the entire Macrocosm to bring me home, and I will do the same for him.”

“Not alone,” Tariq said.

“That’s what we keep telling her.”

Pilot Zanden stepped out from behind the next docking station. Liora realized he had been waiting there the whole time. Kray and Tanlia followed, with Gunsa and Waylan close behind.

“Warden Day, leader of the Fearless Six,” Creeden glanced at Tariq and gave him a skeptical once-over. “Or possibly seven, Defenders of Corian and the rest of the Macrocosm, we are reporting for duty.”

“You’re seriously going to have to work on that,” Kray said.

“I think it’s perfect,” Creeden replied.

“We could have saved the Macrocosm by now,” Waylan said dryly.

“You’ve been listening to our conversation?” Liora asked.

Zanden lifted his shoulders in an apologetic shrug.

“It was my idea, Warden,” Creeden said. “A good team never leaves its commander alone.”

“It was the quietest I’ve ever seen Creed,” Tanlia told her.

Liora couldn’t help the smile that crossed her face. She turned back to Tariq. “Well, what do you say?”

An answering smile touched his lips. “I say I’m putting my money on the Damaclan.”

“Then it’s settled,” Zanden said. “Fuel up, team. We’re heading out as soon as the Nines are resupplied.”

“Can we get to the medical wing first?” Waylan asked. “This bullet is killing me.”

“Then you should’ve avoided it,” Gunsa pointed out as he and Zanden helped the man limp toward the end of the dock.

“Maybe if everyone wasn’t busy shooting at metal objects, I wouldn’t have been hit,” Waylan argued.

Zanden met Liora’s gaze and grinned. He touched a finger to his forehead in a casual salute and turned his attention to helping Waylan along.

“That’s your crew?” Tariq asked, his voice filled with skepticism as he watched the ragtag group walk away.

Liora nodded with a feeling of pride that brought another smile. “That’s my crew. They fought well against the Ketulans.” Her smile faded as the thought of what she needed to do returned. Seeing Tariq back on his feet had banished everything else from her mind, but Brandis was in trouble.

“The Warden Day Warriors!” Creeden shouted from the other end of the hangar.

“If he put as much thought into the mysteries of the Macrocosm as he does our crew name, he’d have solved cold fusion by now,” Kray called over her shoulder.

“At least he’s thinking about something,” they heard Tanlia reply. “That’s more than he usually does.”

“We’re in trouble,” Tariq muttered.

Liora lifted a shoulder. “Actually, I think we’re far better off than we’d be without them.”

“You’re putting a lot of faith into untrained merchant guards.”

Liora glanced back at him. “You didn’t see them in action. I think you’ll be glad to have them along.”

Tariq put his hand on the ship Liora had flown. The name ‘Day’s End’ stood out sharply along the side.

“Do I get to fly one of these?”

“Depends.” Hyrin, the Talastan, came around the end of the ship and grinned at Tariq. “If Liora’s father doesn’t like you, he won’t authorize it.”

“Why wouldn’t her father like me?” Tariq asked in surprise.

“I don’t know,” Hyrin replied with a shrug. “You’re the bad boy, the sulking ship medic who looks like he’d rather kill someone than talk to them. And you’re interested in his daughter.” He shrugged again. “What’s there not to like?”

Tariq caught up to the Talastan. Liora heard him ask, “Seriously? Do you really think that’s what the Senior Commandant thinks? Does it matter what he thinks? If I love his daughter, he doesn’t get a say, does he?”

The worry in Tariq’s voice held her. Liora couldn’t get past how amazing it had felt to see him standing there in the hangar out of his coma. He had nearly died when the Nameless Ones attacked him. She paused, then corrected herself. He had actually died. When she reached him, his heart was silent and no breath stirred his lips. She had brought him back by pushing everything she had into him, and it nearly cost both of them their lives.

What a strange turn her journey had taken. She had started out fighting for her own survival. Now, entirely against her Damaclan training, she had been willing to give all of it up so that the man she loved would return. She had no regrets.

“Officer Day?”

She turned to tell the woman that she was no longer an officer. Her heart skipped a beat at the sight in front of her.

The woman was impaled on a long claw. Blood dripped from the corner of her mouth and her hands scrabbled at the metal.

“Ketulans!” Liora shouted.

The huge Ketulan dropped the woman to the floor and made a stab at Liora. Liora ducked under the starship she had flown into the dock. When she appeared on the other side, two other Ketulans were ready for her. They were too high to reach with her knives, and the power sources that were her only option to slay them would be impossible to hit without a gun.

“Liora, get out of there!” Tariq shouted.

Liora ducked back under the Nine and ran toward the rear of the ship. She reached the end and jumped against the wall, then threw herself backwards. She landed on the ship and took off running across the top.

The thought that everyone within her father’s hangar would be killed if the Ketulans weren’t stopped drove her forward. She saw the edge of the big Ketulan and changed her angle. At the last step on the Nine’s wing, she leaped and landed on the Ketulan’s back.

Shots rang out. Yells filled the air. A glance over her shoulder showed four more of the machines wreaking havoc in the hangar. Pilots fired shots at them and bullets whirled through the air.

“They’re metal!” Creeden shouted. “Stop shooting unless you can hit the power source!”

A pained scream tore through the air.

The Ketulan beneath Liora spun to the left in an attempt to throw her off. Liora grabbed onto anything she could. The metal bit into her hands as she fought to keep her hold. The Ketulan was nearly big enough to house a man inside. Its claws reached back at her. The metal was stained with blood that shone bright red in the hangar’s light.

“Not this time,” Liora said.

She grabbed onto the arm of the claw and swung down, unsheathing her knife as she did so. Before the Ketulan could react, she stabbed her knife into the first power cell she saw.

The machine spun in a tight circle. Liora’s hand slipped and she dropped the knife. She slid her fingers into a gap in the metal beneath the Ketulan and dangled as it fought to dislodge her.

Liora spotted the second power cell. She unsheathed her second knife and drove it into the cylindrical tube. Sparks showered down onto her, but the machine continued to fight back. Liora saw a third power cell tucked beneath the one she had just destroyed. She pulled a knife from the sheath at her wrist, but every time she reached for the power cell, the Ketulan shook. She knew if she fell, the machine would shred her before she even reached the ground.

“Liora!”

She looked down at the sound of Tariq’s voice. He had his gun out.

“Catch!” he shouted.

He threw the weapon into the air.

The Ketulan’s claw reached out for the gun. At the last second, Liora kicked the claw away and caught Tariq’s weapon. Her other hand slipped free. She fired as she fell. The bullet hit the power cell and the Ketulan exploded.

Tariq tried to catch Liora, but a Ketulan ran into him at full speed, shoving him against the Nine. Liora hit the ground hard and curled into a ball as pieces of the Ketulan rained down around her.

“Warden Day!” she heard Zanden call out.

Fighting to draw a breath, Liora raised her head. Four more Ketulans entered the hangar. She pushed up to her feet.

“How many knives do you carry now?” Tariq asked, his voice breathless.

He held out the knife he had given her and the one from the SS Kratos’ armory. When she took them, he put a foot on the destroyed Ketulan and pulled her third knife free. She shoved it into the sheath at her wrist.

“Not enough, apparently,” she said.

A glance showed the still form of the Ketulan that had attacked Tariq lying near the Nine.

Ahead of them, two hangar crew members struggled against the claws of a merciless Ketulan. It had torn the fingers from one Terrarian, and the Folian at her side was fighting with a pipe and a wrench.

“I’ll distract it,” Tariq said. He ran around the front.

Liora wondered how he planned to get the machine’s attention when the body of the Ketulan she had already slain slammed into the attacker’s side. It spun with its claws out, ready to dismember Tariq. He backed up quickly.

Liora ran behind the Ketulan and slid underneath it on her knees. She shoved her knives into the two power cells. The Ketulan shuddered. Liora dove out of the way just before it hit the ground with a resounding thud.

Tariq helped Liora rip her knives free.

“What are these things?”

“Ketulans,” she shouted over the sound of fighting around the hangar. “They must have followed us back. If we don’t stop them all, they’ll be back up again in no time.” She pointed to the big Ketulan she had brought down. Two others were already busy putting it back together.

“Zanden, catch!”

Creeden ran up to one of the smaller Ketulans and hit it on the side with a pipe hard enough to send it flying across the hangar. Tanlia stood ready with a pair of knives. Zanden caught the Ketulan in his gloved hands and Tanlia shoved her knives into the underside of the machine. The Ketulan stopped moving. Zanden let it go and it dropped to the ground.

“Head’s up!” Creeden shouted.

He hit the second Ketulan to the same place as the first. Zanden and Tanlia dispatched it as quickly as they had the other.

“Not bad,” Tariq commented.

“That’s why they’re my team,” Liora said.

“Alright, Warden Day, Killer of Ketulans and Annihilator of, well, whatever you annihilate,” Creeden said, “Let’s show these metal heads who’s in charge.”

The others jogged over. Kray looked exhausted but enthusiastic with a smear of grease on her cheek and her knives out. Gunsa jumped from foot to foot with a grin that revealed the gap between his two front teeth.

“Let’s do this, boss!”

Liora nodded and gave directions as they jogged up the hanger toward the fighting. “Kray, Gunsa, head to the entrance and take down any others that try to enter. Zanden, Tanlia, follow us with the batter routine to take down the smaller ones. Creeden, you’re on bat duty. Leave us the big ones that don’t fly when you hit them. Where’s Waylan?”

“I sent him to get his leg fixed,” Zanden replied. “He won’t be of any use to us if he drops dead.”

“Good call,” she told him. “He’s probably had his fill of Ketulans anyways.”

“I have, too,” Tanlia said. “Let’s remind them that they don’t belong in this part of the Macrocosm.”

“They don’t belong in any part,” Creeden shot back.

“You got that right,” Zanden replied.

They rounded the corner and found three small Ketulans dismantling one of the Nines.

“Batter up!” Liora said.

“Got it covered,” Creeden told her.

Tariq and Liora ran past the Nine and slowed.

“What is that?” Tariq asked. “Have you ever seen one so big?”

Liora shook her head. The Ketulan in the middle of the hangar towered above the starships. There hadn’t been one that big attacking the Hyperion. Liora wondered where it had come from.

“Maybe they were biding their time,” she said.

She and Tariq circled where the monstrous machine clawed at a ship whose make was already indecipherable. Three crew members lay torn apart beneath it and another cowered before the Ketulan’s claws.

“Maybe they were waiting to see where you would go,” Tariq replied.

Liora’s heart slowed. It was entirely possible. Whoever had sent the Ketulans to attack the SS Hyperion had taken Brandis to ensure that she would follow. Maybe these Ketulans had been sent in case she didn’t.

There was one way to find out.

“Hey!” she shouted.

“What are you doing?” Tariq demanded.

“Head to the lift,” she replied. “Fluid slows them down.”

She waved her arms to catch the Ketulan’s attention so it would leave the other crew member alone. “I’m Liora Day,” she shouted.

The Ketulan spun around so fast adrenaline flooded Liora’s body. Her hands tightened on her knives when it neared. Its claws clicked and an additional set appeared from flaps on its sides.

“As if two claws weren’t enough?” Creeden said, reaching her.

“You should get out of here,” Liora told him.

“So should you,” he answered. “I’ve a feeling that one takes a few more power cells to run.”

“I’ve got your back,” Tanlia said, coming up behind them.

“And we’ve got yours,” Zanden called from their left.

Liora fought back a smile. Only her team would choose to face a raging Ketulan instead of running away. She liked them more every moment.

“As soon as Tariq dumps the water, we attack,” she told them.

“Uh, Warden, I don’t think that’s water,” Zanden pointed out.

Tariq hit the spout on the tank above them. Black fluid spilled over the Ketulan. The machine’s claws snapped, sending sparks into the air. The oil caught and flames ran up the sides.

“Now!” Liora shouted.

They charged beneath the Ketulan. Power cells littered the bottom of the machine. Knives flashed in the light as the crew worked to destroy them all. The machine jerked back and forth in protest. Fire and oil flew everywhere. Creeden let out a yell when flaming oil fell on his arm.

“Almost done!” Tanlia said. “I can’t reach the last two.”

She pointed above her. Liora made out two power cells nestled further inside. She would have to climb to reach them.

“Boost me up,” she told Zanden.

Zanden linked his fingers together. Liora stepped into his hand and he tossed her into the air. Liora grabbed onto two destroyed power cells and pulled herself up. The machine was listing heavily to the side and she could feel the heat from the fire ranging around her.

“Hurry, Liora!” she heard Tariq shout.

She could see the wrecked remains of several other Ketulans sprawled across the hangar floor. The fact that other machines weren’t busy repairing them was a good sign.

She reached up into the Ketulan. The fire raging around her was so hot she felt her fingers burning within her gloves as she stabbed the first power cell. The machine spun sharply around and dropped several feet, forcing Liora to hold on so she wasn’t thrown free.

She pushed up with her feet against the inside of the machine so that she could see the last power source. Liora switched her grip so that the knife blade was down. She shoved up as high as she could reach and slammed the knife sideways into the side of the final fuel cell.

Sparks flew and the machine gave a whirr of protest before the power cut off. Liora jerked her legs up as the sickening sensation of falling reached her stomach. The Ketulan slammed into the ground, trapping Liora in the small, burning space inside.