GEHENNA STATION

When Kath Toom awoke that morning, things had changed on Gehenna. There was tension in the air, and more activity among the spectres and bots that rolled through the rocky hallways. The Palatine was scheduled to arrive shortly, and everyone knew Nova would be on board. Gabriel had explained to Kath that they were headed for Augustgrad, and this time, with Nova’s help, they would not fail to take the emperor hostage.

At first Kath thought they were all insane; how could one battle station hope to defeat the entire Dominion Marine Corps, especially after their first failure had put the troops on high alert? But when Gabriel explained the plan, she had to admit that it was so perfectly simple, it just might work.

The plan was not built on force but on deceit. Gehenna Station’s advanced cloaking device would allow them to orbit Korhal unseen, and Nova Terra would approach alone in her private ship and request an urgent audience with Mengsk, while the cloaked spectres quietly infiltrated the palace guard. The emperor’s confidence in Nova would surely get her access, and once she had him the spectres would facilitate her escape, assisted by Lio, who would disrupt communications and make it appear that Mengsk was still in his private rooms long enough for them to get clear. They would bring Mengsk to the cloaked Gehenna Station and hide him there right under the Dominion’s noses; to the marine forces, it would be as if he had disappeared into thin air.

General Bennett had brokered a deal with Michael Liberty to broadcast Mengsk’s “confession” to the people, again assisted by Lio, who would ensure the broadcast went out on every communications system available. Mengsk would be forced to admit his role in Project: Shadowblade, the mistreatment of ghosts in the academy, his secret medical experiments and executions; if he resisted initially, Bennett, with his unique skills at mind manipulation, would make sure the emperor did as he was told.

Finally, as the Dominion was reeling from Mengsk’s confession of his crimes against humanity, Colonel Jackson Hauler would step forward to fill the power vacuum. There would be others who would try to assume command, of course, but Bennett could influence their thoughts enough to convince them he was the best choice to lead the people. The academy would be torn down; the spectres would be reborn as an elite team created to protect Bennett’s rule and ensure peace in a time of conflict, and a new order would be established.

All this seemed plausible on the surface. But Kath was growing increasingly nervous. Something was terribly amiss, but she couldn’t put her finger on it. Since Gabriel Tosh had seduced her on the floor of the mysterious tunnel, he had exhibited more and more erratic behavior, seemingly calm and gentle one moment, agitated and cruel the next. What was worse, she had caught him cocking his head and staring into space several more times, as if listening to a voice she could not hear. She had even heard him muttering to himself once, and the words made little sense to her, but it sounded like a conversation about something to do with a death goddess.

Gabriel had told her everything: the zerg attack on Shi, his supposed death and his newfound abilities, his discovery of terrazine. He’d told her about General Bennett and how their alliance had developed. Gabriel was a natural leader, but his stories were beginning to sound like the ravings of a lunatic, filled with pseudoreligious undertones, delusions of grandeur, and sentimental memories of their time together at the academy. He had built up Team Blue to be something superhuman, and his fixation on this idea that everything would be all right if they could just be together again seemed childish and irrational.

She still loved him. But she did not trust him anymore, even though she had come to believe him about what had really happened to her father.

In spite of herself, she wanted revenge too.

The other spectres were acting strangely as well, particularly Dylanna, who was overly paranoid and seemed to feel Kath was a rival. She remembered Dylanna had had a crush on Gabriel way back at the academy, and it was still obvious now, although he was oblivious to it. The woman fawned over him, and the worse he treated her, the more fixated she became. Sometimes it seemed as if she would say or do things to provoke him, just to get his attention. It all felt increasingly desperate. At the same time, Kath would catch Dylanna glaring at her, her eyes like daggers.

Kath had taken to wearing the spectres’ black suit, and although she still felt slightly uneasy in it, she did have to admit that it had its advantages. The technology behind the suit was even more impressive than she had realized, and wearing it felt like having a second skin. The artificial muscle fiber enhanced her natural strength and agility far beyond what her old ghost suit had done, and the cloaking function appeared to make her completely undetectable, even masking her thoughts from other teeps. Gabriel had given her a canister for terrazine that she kept on her at all times, and although she tried to use it sparingly, she had trouble keeping the cravings at bay. The hallucinations and memory fragments no longer shocked her, but what she couldn’t seem to handle was the hunger that started to eat at her insides a few hours after her last hit, and grew steadily until she couldn’t think of anything else.

Kath made her way to the bridge, where she found Gabriel standing alone, muttering to himself. Gehenna’s bridge was different than those of Dominion ships; it was smaller, for one thing, since the huge space station needed very few people to pilot it. Its instruments were also more compact, the holo-screens brighter and sharper.

Gabriel was standing in the shadows, the lights from the screens glowing green, lighting him in profile. The scene was eerie, and she felt as if she was intruding on a private conversation. She crossed her hands at her waist and waited. He didn’t notice her at first, but then gave a start, as if suddenly becoming aware that she had entered the room.

“Palatine’s coming in dark,” he said abruptly. “I keep pinging them but get nothing.”

“They’re on time, aren’t they?” she asked. “Maybe they’re just being cautious.”

Gabriel shook his head. “It’s all wrong. Like their systems are out. Can’t get Lio to respond to me either.”

“If you’re worried about Lio—”

“He’s barely human anymore, Kath, and he’s arguing about control. Been worried about him for a while now. We need him with us, but if he won’t do what we ask, Bennett has a plan for that too.”

“What do you mean?”

Tosh glanced at her, then away. “EMP,” he said quietly. “Focused blast to wipe him out where he lives if he causes trouble. It ain’t perfect, but that should disrupt the Dominion communications network long enough for us to do our job too.”

“You can’t do that,” she said. “He could be anywhere now—how could that possibly work? And even if it did, Lio’s still alive, Gabriel, still conscious. You can’t just murder him if he doesn’t do what you want. What about the team? He’s still your friend—”

“Last resort. But if we have to, we will. It’ll work, trust me. We can’t let anything stop us from getting to Mengsk.”

No. Toom shook her head. It was all wrong. They stood in silence, watching through the observation window as if they could find an answer somewhere out in deep space. Gehenna was huge, almost like its own small planet, but when she looked out, she was reminded that they were hurtling through space at thousands of kilometers an hour.

Time seemed to stand still as she sensed Gabriel’s anxiety grow, manifesting itself in the repeated clenching of his hands into fists. He seemed to have forgotten she was there and turned his head sharply to one side, as if angry at a comment someone had made. “It’s not her,” he said, under his breath. “Don’t make it more than it is.”

“Excuse me?”

He turned back to her, as if startled again at her presence, then let out a sigh. “You believe in ghosts?”

A chill crept up her spine. “I … sometimes our brains make up things we want to see. That’s what I think.” Especially after a little terrazine, she thought, but didn’t say it.

If he picked up on her thought, he didn’t react to it. “Had a dream last night,” he said. “Grandma Tosh was there. Death was all around, bodies everywhere. Lots of blood, and me, I was alone.” He shook his head. “She says it’s a bad omen. What do you think about that?”

“You’re using present tense, like she’s here right now.”

“Maybe she is.”

Now she knew what he’d been doing when she’d caught him muttering to himself. “There are no such things as ghosts, Gabriel. Your grandma’s been gone a long time, and she’s not here.”

He looked irritated. “I know it. I’m not stupid.” But he sounded uncertain. “I mean like her spirit’s with me, you know? A guide.” He fumbled for the words. “They say that the people you love stay with you forever. Like that.”

“I don’t know.” Kath thought of her own father, how real he had seemed when she had seen him in that AAI unit with Lio. She could still hear his voice sometimes in her head, and for a moment she wondered if terrazine didn’t cause hallucinations at all, but opened a window between the living and the dead.

But that was crazy, and just thinking it made her realize how close to a breakdown she was right now.

“She says I need a sacrifice,” Gabriel muttered, the lights throbbing softly, making his skin look as if it were pulsing in and out. “Maman Therese takes something from me, in exchange for giving me what I want. Problem is, I don’t know what the sacrifice is yet. Maybe that’s why I had the death dream. Maybe the loa’s angry.”

“You’re just worried,” she said. “It comes out in dreams.” She hesitated, then took his big hand in hers. It was sweaty and hot. He clutched at her for a moment and released her fingers as the comm unit crackled to life.

“They’re here,” Caleb said through the comm. “Docking now.”

“Any contact?” Gabriel asked.

“Nothing yet. We’ll be opening the doors soon. You better get down here.”

When they arrived at the docking bay, a cavernous space large enough to fit several battlecruisers, the Palatine’s engines were off and its large exit ramp was already hissing open. Almost immediately, a large man with a shiny bald crown and a salt-and-pepper goatee came charging down the ramp, flanked by two marines in combat suits. He wore a formal military outfit with a heavy collar decked in purple and gold. This would be the general, Kath thought. He looked ready to tear someone to pieces with his bare hands, and she sensed dull confusion and fear from the resoced marines, who did not seem to understand why.

Gabriel seemed to sense the source of General Bennett’s anger almost immediately. “Where’s Nova?” he said, stepping forward to meet him.

Bennett stopped in the center of the landing area. “She’s gone,” he said, his eyes glittering with rage. “And she damaged our systems from within. Didn’t you notice we could not communicate with you?”

“What did you do?” Gabriel asked.

“Nothing. She escaped when we were preparing to remove her implant—”

“‘Escaped’ makes it seem like she was a prisoner.”

“What did you think was happening when we sent you the wrangler?” Bennett shouted. “She wasn’t going to do this willingly, Gabriel. You had your chance to turn her and you couldn’t do it. She—”

“So you tried to force her,” Gabriel said. His own voice was low, but Kath could see him clenching his massive fists again, and the threat of violence seemed to emanate from him in waves. “I told you not to do that. The gods’re angry at you.”

Bennett waved this off. “Silly superstitions.” He peered at Gabriel’s face so intently, Kath felt even more uncomfortable. “You haven’t been using the jorium,” he said. “It keeps the terrazine stable and minimizes the side effects. You know that.” He glanced at Kath. “Have you?” he asked, and she shook her head. “Has anyone on this station been taking their jorium?”

Kath looked away and caught movement underneath the Palatine’s massive outer shell. A hydralisk slowly uncoiled from where it had clung to the pipes and couplings, dropping to the deck on clawed feet and hissing at her with dripping jaws. It hunched its plated back, exposing the tips of deadly spines ready to launch like missiles. Her heart pounding in her chest, she blinked rapidly and it disappeared, replaced by a technician who let more steam loose from a release valve, then checked a reading on his handheld console.

My God, she thought, what’s happening to me? What’s happening to all of us?

Bennett stepped closer to Gabriel Tosh, extended a finger, and poked his chest. “You’re losing control,” he said. “I’ve been studying this gas for years, running enough tests to know what it can do better than anyone alive, and that’s why I’m able to handle it. My dosing schedule has to be followed to the minute. I’ve been warning you. But you won’t listen.” His voice raised another notch in volume. “We can’t afford any more mistakes. If you can’t handle this assignment, I’ll damn well find someone else to do it.”

Gabriel looked down at Bennett’s finger, still pointed at his chest. When he looked up, his face was red with rage, and energy radiated outward in a palpable wave. For a moment she feared he might just detonate like a nuclear weapon, and she stepped forward, grabbing his arm to pull him away.

When Gabriel turned toward her, his face was contorted into a thoughtless mask of hatred. She felt his mind lash out, as if two hands had been placed on her chest and shoved her violently backward. She flew through the air, then her back hit the hard stone floor and her teeth snapped together, pain blasting upward through her body and making her cry out. The room went black for a moment, and when she opened her eyes again, he was standing over her, a look of horror on his face as he tried to help her up.

“Kath, I’m sorry,” Gabriel said. “I—I didn’t …”

She scrambled to her feet, pulling away from him, a sob catching in her throat. She felt a part of her going into attack mode, her academy training like a reflex that rose unbidden to the surface, but the rest of her just wanted to run away from this place and never return.

His face was like that of a small boy who had thrown a tantrum and just realized that he’d broken something precious, and her own heart seemed to break in response. This was the Gabriel she loved, not the monster that had reared its ugly head a moment before. But she couldn’t know when that monster would show up again, because it lived permanently inside him now.

Kath Toom turned and ran from the docking bay, the sound of Gabriel’s voice echoing after her.

“Leave her,” Bennett said. “We have more important things to attend to.”

Tosh stared at the door where Kath had disappeared, anger and remorse churning in his stomach. His head was a whirling mass of confused thoughts, voices surfacing and sinking back into the depths. He loved her, and yet he could not risk being pulled away from his higher calling; Grandma Tosh had made that clear enough.

Grandma was upset. Ever since Kath had come aboard Gehenna Station, Project: Shadowblade had started to fall apart. She was a distraction he couldn’t afford, Grandma told him, and she was right. Maman Therese had grown angry, that much was clear. How else had the first mission to Augustgrad failed when they had such an advantage? Nova’s escape was just further proof.

It’s a sacrifice she want, and you best give it to her before long. You and the witchcraft you carry be meant to lead your fellow men. But you need to give her that.

The idea of a sacrifice made Tosh’s blood run cold. He clenched his fists, the familiar feeling of his nails biting into his palms steeling his resolve. Then he nodded, turning back to where Bennett stood with his hands on his hips. “Follow me,” Tosh said.

They went to the bridge, where Dylanna was working the instruments alone. She looked up at Tosh as they entered, and he saw a strange emotion pass across her face before she looked away again quickly. As always, just the sight of her enraged him, and he struggled to resist the urge to strike her.

“Nova Terra escaped in the November, a wrangler’s ship, just hours ago,” Bennett said without preamble. “She can’t have gotten far. I want you to find her.”

“I don’t know how—”

“I don’t care for your excuses! Wrangler ships have tracking devices—it’s Kelerchian’s ship. Figure out how to tap into that. Just do it.”

Dylanna nodded, then started pressing the keys on the nearest screen: “Lio? Are you there?”

Nothing happened for a long moment, and Tosh thought Lio would continue with the silent treatment, the way he had ever since their argument over his handling of Kath and the other spectres. Tosh had managed to pilot the huge station with the others’ help, but it made him realize just how dependent they were on Lio’s expertise. That needed to change, he thought. Lio had never been particularly reliable, and they were asking for trouble with him. Tosh was sure he would not answer now.

But then a brief line of text appeared: What is it?

“We need to find wrangler Kelerchian’s ship, the November,” Dylanna typed. “It left the Palatine about two hours ago.”

Nothing, and then: tracking …

If anyone could find a tiny ship like the November in the sea of space, it was Lio. Dylanna looked up, smiling as if she had been personally awarded Augustgrad. Bennett crossed his arms impatiently, and silence descended over the bridge. Tosh thought of a thousand things and tried not to focus on the thirst that was building within him. He ached to take a hit from the canister of terrazine, but did not want Bennett to see him. He must not show any weakness now.

A few moments later and the screen lit up again: Found a ship fitting that description. The screen switched to a map with coordinates showing the November only kilometers away. Scans revealing one life-form inside.

“She might have already made contact with Augustgrad,” Dylanna said. She typed: “Can you block all communications from the ship?”

Lio responded immediately: Already done. Nothing in or out showing on logs.

“Send the vikings,” Bennett said into his comm unit. “Ward, I want you on this personally. You hear me? We can bring her in now, and barely have to change course.” He smiled. “We’ll have her within the hour.”

The vikings brought the November in without a single shot fired, expertly herding her back around and into the docking bay. Bennett and Tosh met them at the bay, the November ticking on the deck as it cooled, looking tiny beside the massive bulk of the Palatine.

Lieutenant Ward stood in full combat gear on the deck outside the ship with a small contingent of armed marines, saluting Bennett and the others as they approached. “She tried to run at first, sir,” he said, “but we surrounded the ship and brought her back. She’s been sitting in there since we arrived. I waited for you before boarding.”

“Good work,” Bennett said. “I’ll go in alone.”

“Bad idea,” Tosh said. He had been thinking of the best way to handle Terra, and this was definitely not it. “She’s gonna fight, and you don’t know what she can do—”

He paused in horror. Standing next to the ship, dressed in a black, flowing robe, was Maman Therese. Tosh’s hand went to the figurine around his neck, his heart pounding in his throat as she pointed her finger at him, shaking her head in silent reproach. Grandma Tosh stood behind her, a look of sadness in her eyes.

He had angered them both, and now there would be hell to pay.

“Don’t go in there,” he whispered, his mouth dry, but a technician had already forced the ramp open and Bennett was headed up it, ducking his head as he entered. Dylanna touched his arm, but he shrugged it away. He was sure that any moment there would be a bloodcurdling scream. Someone was going to die; Maman Therese had foreseen it.

General Bennett was missing from view for only a few moments. When he reappeared again, his face was red, and he was breathing hard. His eyes flashed with anger as he thundered back down the ramp, looking as if he wanted to tear someone limb from limb.

“Sir?” Ward said as several of the armed marines thumped up the ramp, guns up, and disappeared inside.

“The ship’s empty,” Bennett said. “Nova is gone.”