Blue solace complete ser.., p.62
Blue Solace: Complete Series Boxset, page 62
“Selene,” Dru said. “With me.” The two women took lead. Mustachio soared above them, easily keeping pace.
Dru darted to the front, phasers pulled. She easily shot and killed the few Concords they came across. “There’s not many of them here,” she said suspiciously.
A woman materialized in front of them, hands raised. “I’m with Half-Moon.” They lowered their weapons. “You all need some help?”
“Wondered if you were still on board,” Dru said. “We’re headed to the bridge. Name?”
“Clara,” she said.
“Welcome to the fight, Clara,” Dru said, and then they were moving again, Clara falling in line with them.
Elin was suddenly running beside him. “There’s a group ahead. They’re waiting to ambush you.”
“Elin says there’s an ambush ahead.”
“Around the next two corners.”
Sebastian repeated her words, and Dru laughed. “I love you, Elin!”
“Hey,” Haroon said. “That’s my dead wife you’re talking to.”
“What?” Clara looked at them in confusion.
“The joys of a shaman’s life.” Alois tugged Sebastian to the side and shot a Concord soldier. The man had been hiding under one of the collapsed bodies in the hall.
They approached the corner, and Selene pulled two of Beck’s new toys from her pack. She activated them and tossed them, allowing the devices to bounce against the wall and land around the corner. Less than a second later, they heard screams of pain. They walked around the corner. Sebastian held his hand to his mouth. The Concords had been electrocuted by whatever Beck had created. The bodies shook and some still sizzled with blue lightning.
“Damn, Beck does like electricity,” Dru said. “Come on. Keep moving.”
“We’re almost there,” Elin said. “Before the bridge, there are two rooms, one on each side of the hall. Right now, the doors are shut, but there are groups waiting in each room for you to pass by. They plan to pin you against the bridge door.”
“Damn it,” Sebastian said. “Thank you, Elin.” He told the others what she had found.
“Hmm,” Dru said. “This might be harder than we thought.”
“Princess and I have the room to the right,” Sebastian said. “You all can take the other.”
“What? I don’t think so, beautiful.”
“Okay. Princess, Alois, and I have the room to the right. You all have the other.” Sebastian was starting to flag. He really needed to start jogging every morning.
“How do we get in and maintain the surprise?” Dru wasn’t even panting. Bitch!
“Here it is,” Elin said, popping in front of the group. They stopped before reaching the doors.
“Like this,” Sebastian said. He closed his eyes, entering the spirit world, and focused on the circuits running through the walls. He pulled their threads and held his hands out. To each side of him, the walls imploded, and the ship rocked. His eyes opened. He may have gone through more than one wall. Oops!
“Fuck, Sebastian,” Dru said and shook her head.
“How did you do that?” Clara watched him with wide eyes.
“No time for explanations. Move it, guys,” Dru said.
Princess jumped from his shoulder and grew, roaring loudly as he entered the room. Sebastian quickly slapped more shields on him and activated them, so his large size was covered. The dragon was easily fifteen feet long and five feet wide by the time he finished expanding. The large group of Concords didn’t fare well. The dragon breathed a large wave of fire, covering most of the room. Alois fired into the mess, picking off the few mercenaries that managed to survive.
“Well, that went fast,” Alois said, looking around at the destruction. “Come on, guys. Let’s help the others.” Sebastian could hear them from where he stood.
Princess shrank to fit through the hole, then joined the battle in the second room. Alois hopped in behind him, phasers firing. Sebastian was about to follow, but Death stood in the hallway, eyes focused on the bridge door.
“I can’t hold him any longer,” Death said. “Sebastian, we need to do this. Their fleet is already attacking ours.”
If Fire was free, he could hurt their fleet, giving the Concords a huge advantage.
“Princess,” he yelled, then held his hand out, focusing on the door. It blew inside, and Death ran through it. “Fuck, fuck, fuck.”
He looked back toward the others, but they were busy. Princess slipped out, hissing as he came to a stop beside Sebastian. A small line of blood trickled down Princess’s side. He put more shields on the dragon and activated them.
“Ready to do this?”
The dragon entered the bridge with a roar, and Sebastian followed behind him. He ducked behind a small console and looked for Fire. Princess was holding his own against the Concords, but there were a lot of them. Sebastian couldn’t see through all the chaos. He closed his eyes and searched the spirit world. As he looked for Fire, he cut the threads of as many Concords as he could. He didn’t want to kill them, but he shook his head and thought of the fleets fighting outside.
“Damn it, Sebastian.” Haroon’s voice startled him.
Sebastian opened his eyes and saw Haroon standing over him, fighting off Concords. Alois stood with him, face grim. Sebastian closed his eyes again and focused, knowing he was safe. A bright mess of beautiful, pure threads drew his attention. The sweet, fiery threads were corralled by sickly green ones. The binding. He opened his eyes and poked his head above the console. He ignored the dead bodies and fighting and focused on the slim collar around an old man’s neck.
The man was human like the rest, but he was a lot older than the others, with grey hair and a wrinkled and weathered face. His eyes gave him away. They swirled with fire, looking remarkably like Hack’s when he was drawing his fire to him. The man’s expression was empty as he focused on Death. He threw something toward Sebastian’s friend. They were small, sticky patches, and he’d never seen anything like them. Death froze them in the air, letting them drop far away from him. Occasionally, one got through, and Death dodged to the side. It all looked ridiculous. Sebastian expected some fierce, showy battle.
Sebastian took a second to look at the patches and blanched. Bindings. If any of those even touched Death, he was the Queen’s. “Fuck. Alois, Haroon, we need to stop him now or we’ll lose Death. Princess,” he yelled, jumping up and running through the room. The dragon roared and followed, swiping and biting men as he went. Alois followed on Sebastian’s heels, shooting anyone in their way, and Haroon cursed and followed, shooting his phaser as he ran.
Sebastian focused on Fire’s binding and began the process of unraveling it. It was hard to do while he ran. He couldn’t focus enough. As if he had summoned him, Mustachio’s song filled the air, a deep hum that was as familiar to Sebastian as Alois’s voice. He easily slipped into the spirit world, his body still moving. The binding was all he could see and within a few moments, he’d unraveled the Queen’s work. It was built with such ugliness. Hate, envy, and cruelty. She enjoyed knowing how much she hurt Fire.
The binding fell to the ground and Fire froze, dropping the binding patches. He looked at Sebastian and blinked. Death stopped moving and looked around the room. The fighting was slowing down, so the element quickly went to the wide window and watched the ships fighting. Sebastian looked around too. There weren’t many alive in the room anymore. Dru and the others had joined them and were finishing off the Concords. He counted people, breathing a sigh of relief that everyone was alive. Mustachio landed next to him and leaned his head against Sebastian’s leg. He stroked his bird’s head, so glad he had come to help.
Alois pulled him into his arms, chin settling on his head, and they watched the last of the mercenaries fall. One Concord man stood out from the others. He was middle-aged and dressed in the finest clothes Sebastian had ever seen. His face was screwed up with hate, and he ran toward Fire, binding patch in his hand.
“Princess,” Sebastian yelled and pointed. Princess pounced, launching across the room and landing on the man. Sebastian winced as the man’s body was squashed. That was just gross. The dragon leaned down and bit the dead man’s head off, spitting it toward the door.
“Princess,” Selene said, blades falling to her sides. “I wanted to kill Admiral Sharp.” The dragon rumbled and rubbed his head against Selene. “Of course, I forgive you.”
“He’s so pretty! Can I pet him?” Fire bounced in place beside Princess. “Please? Please? Please?” Sebastian and his friends stared at the ancient being. “Who’s a pretty boy? Who?” Fire scratched Princess’s nose, and the dragon rumbled happily.
“What. The. Fuck!” Dru exclaimed.
Chapter 13
Alois held Sebastian and finally took a breath. Damn, but he didn’t like his mate being in battle. He had some crazy skills, but one of them wasn’t basic observation. Alois had stopped counting the number of times Sebastian had almost been shot or stabbed without noticing it.
Dru finished off the last merc and turned to them. “Death, can you help our guys?”
“It will take time and effort, but I will,” Death said. “I’ll start by freezing the ships. There are a lot of them though, so I’ll have to wait to deal with the Concords.”
“I can help,” Fire said. He gave Princess a kiss on the nose, then went to stand close to Death. He scrunched up his nose. “I won’t kill them, but I can make their engines and weapon systems malfunction.”
“That would help, Fire. Thank you,” Death said.
“I want to help you,” Fire said, voice small. “I tried to hurt you in our last cycle. You were beautiful and in love, but the Queen made me try to hurt you.”
Death wrapped an arm around the old man. “I understand. I understood then too.” He closed his eyes, and Fire did the same. “Let’s save these people. You’ll like them, Fire. I know you will.”
Over the next five minutes, each ship in the Concord fleet lost their engines and then their weapons. The fighting came to a standstill, and then Death began his work. The grey, delicate souls poured from the Concord ships to Death. Alois could imagine what the ships looked like, soulless, collapsed bodies lying everywhere. He shivered. He had to admit he was glad he wouldn’t have to board the ships to check for the Concord’s prisoners.
“Fuck,” Clara said, standing next to Alois and Sebastian. “What are those?”
“Souls,” Sebastian said. “He can harvest the souls of people, leaving them alive, but empty. From what we’ve seen, the bodies just lay there, breathing.”
Clara looked horrified. “Yeah. It’s not pleasant,” Alois said. “It saves our soldiers’ lives though.”
“I can get with that,” she said, shaking her head. “We’ve seen some crazy shit in the Crellic System, but this makes me really glad he’s on our side.” She looked toward Fire. “He was seriously creepy with that collar on. He just stared blankly and did exactly what Sharp told him to do.”
“Not anymore,” Sebastian said firmly. “We’ll keep him away from the Queen and her bindings.” Alois kissed the top of his head. He had the feeling they would have a guest staying with them for a while.
Fire came to them, leaving Death to his harvest. “You freed me,” he said, eyes big and full of tears. He launched himself at them, and Alois found himself hugging two men. Sebastian sniffled, then both men started crying. Alois sighed. They would definitely have a houseguest for the foreseeable future.
“I called Hack and asked for a pick-up,” Dru said. “We still need to clean out the ship. No one has come to attack, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t hiding out somewhere.”
“Oh,” Fire said, wiping his eyes. “The admiral kept some people in cages near his quarters.”
“I can show you where they are,” Clara said.
“Okay,” Dru said. “Alois, will you and Clara go find the prisoners? Selene, Morgan, Princess, and I will start clearing the ship.”
“Got it,” Alois said, reluctantly releasing Sebastian. “I’ll see you soon, beautiful. Stay here with Haroon and Death.” He looked at Fire. “Will you make sure he stays safe?”
Fire nodded furiously. “Yes, yes, yes. I’ll protect him so good.” Mustachio flew to the back of a chair, and Fire’s eyes followed him. “Oh, look at him. He’s so distinguished.” He started stroking Mustachio’s feathered head.
Sebastian laughed and took his hand. “Just like a mustache, right? My name is Sebastian. Come on. Let’s sit down and talk while they do what they do best.” They headed to some chairs close to Death, and Haroon followed behind. Sebastian looked over his shoulder. “Elin says there are three groups of Concords left on the ship. One really small group near the prisoners, and two larger ones in the ship’s commons and training rooms.”
“At least they’re not all over the place,” Dru said, moaning as she pulled her blade out again. “Damn, but I’m tired.” She had a gash on her head and a shot to her shoulder, but she was still fighting.
“Remember to keep Princess shielded,” Sebastian said, settling into a chair and yawning.
“We will,” Dru said, patting Princess’s flank. “This guy is my hero.” Princess hissed, and she moved her hand. “He’s still a jerk though.”
Alois and Clara left the bridge, running toward the admiral’s quarters. “Why did he keep them so close to his quarters?”
Clara didn’t answer at first, then huffed. “He used them. Every single fucking night.” She wouldn’t meet his eyes. “I didn’t do anything for them. I couldn’t blow my cover, and they suffered, Alois. A lot.”
“Fuck, Clara,” Alois said. “I don’t know what to say. You did what you had to do, but that sucks.”
“Yeah,” she said. “I’m used to it in a way. Before Beol took over, our Guild Master made us do some sick shit. We didn’t have much choice in it either since he would hurt our families or friends if we didn’t obey.” She took a deep breath when they reached a closed door. “I’m not used to saving people.”
“You’ve already saved so many, Clara. The intel you provided helped us pull this off. Now, let’s take care of these people.”
Alois raised his guns, and Clara went low, pushing open the door and rolling into the room. The six mercenaries were ready for an attack, but they still went down fast. Clara’s blades moved fast as she cut down two before they could react. Alois fired his phasers, focusing on one merc’s head until the man’s shield gave. Alois pulled his vibro-blade and finished off another when the woman rushed him. By then, Clara was on the last one, and Alois looked around the room.
Seven cages lined the back wall, each holding three people. At least they were adults, though barely. They were a mix of species, both men and women. Each was clean and dressed in filmy night clothes, and each wore a look of hope as they watched the last mercenary fall to the floor.
“Hi,” Alois said. “We’re from Charybdis Station and are here to rescue you. Give us a second, and we’ll get these cages open.”
Clara raised her hand in the air. “Keycard!”
“Good eyes,” Alois said, and they quickly opened the cages. He looked around, but there were no personal belongings, little less shoes. “I’m sorry we don’t have anything else for you to wear right now, but we’ll get you folks set up when we get back to the station.”
“We’re really free?” The woman was tiny. Her large grey eyes were fragile, and she looked like she didn’t quite believe them.
“You are,” Clara said. “Come on. Let’s get the hell out of here.” They led them slowly back to the bridge. Death still stood at the window, but the flow of souls had stopped. Fire stood with him, arms wrapped around Death’s waist, head leaning on his shoulder. Sebastian jumped out of his seat and ran to the group.
“Are any of you injured? We have medical supplies back on our shuttle,” Sebastian said. He pulled off his black and blue uniform coat and wrapped it around one of the smaller, shivering rescued prisoners.
“We’re alright,” a young man said, voice bitter. “They kept us healthy and well fed.”
“There’s more than one way to hurt,” Sebastian said, eyes sad. Alois pulled him into his arms again. Fuck, but he hated that his Sebastian knew that so well. Sebastian leaned his head against Alois chest, right over his heart.
“I love you, beautiful,” Alois whispered.
“I love you too, Alois,” Sebastian said. “You and Haroon did a damn good job keeping me safe. I’m sorry I’m so inexperienced.”
“I’m not. I’d rather you never have to go into battle.”
“You two are mates?” the gray-eyed woman asked.
“We are,” Sebastian said. “We also happen to love each other.” The woman’s smile lit up her face.
Dru and the others came back. The freed prisoners ran to hide behind Alois and Sebastian when Princess came stomping in.
“Ship’s cleared,” Dru said and dropped into one of the seats. Even Monty drooped on her shoulder. “Hack says a ship is coming to get us. He’s busy as hell now that the Concord ships can be safely searched. So far, the fuckers have a ton of prisoners on each of the bigger ships.” She nodded toward the scantily clad men and women. “Hey.”
“What is that?” a man asked, pointing at Princess.
“That is Princess Buttercup,” Sebastian said proudly. “The greatest soldier on Charybdis Station.”
“Now, I must compete with you, Princess,” Selene said. She leaned against the wall and eyed the dragon. “I might have to get Draif to help, but we could both use the training.”
Alois thought of the pet battles in the backyard. “He’s kind of lazy when he’s not attacking Concords.”
Princess chose that moment to prove his point. He dropped to the floor and exhaled loudly. He laid his head on his arms and was asleep in seconds, snoring loudly.
“He’s still the best soldier,” Sebastian said, eyes narrowed on the dragon.
About thirty minutes later, Fire’s head popped up, and Death looked over his shoulder. “Our ride is here.”
