Victorious Star (34 page)

The doors opened. Plasma bolts slammed through the doors along with the sound of vicious fighting. The
mahfdhyt
returned fire.

Seht hauled Victoria out the door under their covering shots. He shoved them both behind a collection of fallen freight partially blocking the hallway, then pointed his rifle and started slamming bolts at the battle-armored soldiers. The dock where the
Raptor
and Syrhus waited was one block up from this station.

Victoria crouched behind the freight and noticed a snarl of cables sat directly within view.

Arcane chuckled. “Okay, little lady, let’s go to work.”

Victoria grabbed the particular cable he wanted. “Do not get me electrocuted.”

“I know what I’m doing, just do your part.”

Victoria jammed a small dagger into the cable. A low level of current buzzed up her arm.
Arcane
spat code in an explosion of white noise that vibrated throughout her entire body.

Plasma shots stopped dead. Somebody shouted and a few shots blasted across the corridor.

“Oh, you think it’s bullshit do you? Tell me, you ass-wipes, are you afraid the dark?” Lights began to go out, starting from the far corridors. Unrelieved darkness began a slow but steady march toward the dock from every corridor but one.

“While we’re at it, how about a nice little breeze--from space?” Sub-zero air blasted from the vents. Frost formed instantly on any surface close to the vents.

“Breathable air is next, you piss-ants. Shall I continue?”

Men shouted and scrambled for the only lighted corridor left.

Seht grinned at Victoria. “Nice work,
Arcane.”

Arcane
chuckled from Victoria’s lips. “Oh, she came up with this stuff, not me. She’s very creative.”

Victoria sighed. “I still think we should have made it snow.”

Arcane
snorted. “I want it a hell of a lot colder than that.”

Victoria shook her head. “I didn’t want to chance that we’d hurt our own people…”

“Arcane!”
Moraine ducked as he stepped out from a darkened side corridor. He was massive in full Imperial marine power armor. Servos wheezed as he moved. His breath steamed out in the chill air.

A sigh echoed from the intercom. “There you are, Moraine. I’ve been looking all over for you.”

Moraine straightened in the main corridor. His blond head cleared the ceiling by mere inches. A blast cannon that would normally take two fully powered marines to carry was mounted to his shoulder. “How the hell did you get off that ship?”

“Oh, it was easy. I hitched a ride.”

Victoria stepped out from behind the freight boxes dragging a cable as thick as her wrist in each hand. The damned things were heavy, too. She took the two sliced ends and held them only inches apart. Power sizzled through her augmentation. She could just make out a slight wavering in the air around her.
Don’t get me fried,
Arcane.

Humor traveled through her thoughts.
Trust me, I’ll keep you safe.

Moraine focused on Victoria. “Seht’s slave-girl?”

Seht walked out from behind the freight boxes. “That’s Blood-prince Seht, Admiral Moraine.” Behind him,
skeldhi
scrambled from the corridors to get on the tram.

Victoria glanced at Seht.
Stay behind the cables.
Arcane
is using this stuff to generate some kind of electrical plasma field.

Moraine pointed his massive shoulder cannon at Seht and Victoria. “You again. You are always causing me problems.” His cannon whined as it powered up. Heat curled and steamed from the long barrel.

“Oh, I wouldn’t do that if I were you.”
Arcane
chuckled from the intercom. “On second thought... Go ahead. This ought to be fun.”

Moraine bared his teeth, and didn’t fire. “What the hell do you want,
Arcane?”

“I should think it was obvious by now. I want your head on a plate, but I’ll settle for getting off this station.”

Moraine shook his head slowly. “I’m not letting you off this station.”

“Out of curiosity,” Seht called out. “Before you blow us to hell and gone, who did you rig that ship for? Who was your target?”

Moraine smiled coldly. “My target was always
Arcane.
If I could get you or Prince Syrhus on it, I considered that a benefit.” His eyes chilled to sub-zero, and his smile became a feral show of broad teeth. “But I want that damn ship dead.”

Victoria felt the heat of fury boil in the back of her skull. “What the hell did
Arcane
ever do to you?”

“Oh, I can answer that one!”
Arcane’s
laughter boomed from the intercom. “I was the very first ship he tried to fly as a nav-pilot, way back when, and I threw his ass out!”

Moraine screamed in rage. “You burned out my array!”

“And made damn sure you’d never wear a nav-pilot’s array again, you sick shit.”

Moraine howled and fired.

A cannon blast of power erupted and hit the wavering field around Victoria and Seht. Victoria shut her eyes and nova-bright light burst around them.

Someone screamed.

Arcane
sighed from the intercom. “No, just extra crispy, more is the pity…”

Seht glanced at the massive body on the ground and shuddered. “Spawn of Chaos, he looks as though his armor has been melted.”

Arcane chuckled. “That was the idea.”

Seht frowned. “What the hell did you do?”

“I used the nav-pilot’s array to generate a field to reflect the cannon blast. You’d think it was obvious…”

Seht shook his head. “But I don’t understand how you did it.”

“I’m perfectly fine with that. Think in the terms of magnetism…”

Seht’s brows shot up then lowered in annoyance. “Magnetism? But it was a plasma cannon!”

“Everything has a polar opposite. I just used the polar opposite of his cannon.”

“For a plasma blast?” Seht tapped his foot in impatience. “Could I have a bit more detail?”

“No.”
Arcane’s
voice was smug. “Well, maybe later, if you’re good.”

Victoria could make out colors and vague shapes, but beyond that, she still couldn’t see straight. “What’s wrong with my vision?”

Arcane
buzzed in the intercom. “It’s not you, nav-pilot, it’s me. I shoved a lot of power through your array. You’ll be back online in a minute.”

Seht snorted. “Are you sure he’s alive in there?”

“Oh yeah. Drop the cables and let’s go. The fucker regenerates faster than you would believe.”

Victoria dropped the cables. The buzzing went out of her body. “He regenerates?”

Seht took her elbow. “Come on, pet, it’s time to go. Watch your step.”

Victoria grasped his arm and walked.
“Arcane,
what do you mean by ‘he regenerates’?”

Seht led her toward a corridor. “Who regenerates?”

“Moraine,” Arcane said from her lips. “I’ve been trying to kill him for years. He’s like a roach, you kill him and he comes back bigger. Had him beheaded once, they just spliced the damned thing back on.”

A shout echoed out from the darkened end of a corridor.

Victoria jerked as though struck. “That sounded like…”

Seht whirled. “Aubrey?”

She turned and saw a pack of tall black blurs moving from one of the darkened corridors with speed.

“You idiot!” Seht shouted. “What are you doing here?”

Ravnos’s gravely voice carried across the dock. “The stationmaster relay-commed the
Hellsbreath
and told me to come get your ass. He found a breach in his security net and said Moribund was tracking you two all over the station.”

Metal groaned at Victoria’s feet. She looked down but couldn’t see much more than a big blur. Arcane,
I need my eyes!

Arcane
was a frenzied movement within her thoughts.
I’m working on it, damn it!

Victoria’s sight abruptly cleared. Moraine lay sprawled at her feet. His armor was a melted mess, as was his face. Bone and metal from his skull showed through his skin. But his lidless blue eyes were perfectly clear, and staring at her with rabid hate.

Victoria’s heart slammed in her chest.

Go! Go! Go!
Arcane shouted in her thoughts.

“Get out of here!” Victoria grabbed Seht by the arm and shoved him toward Ravnos with all her strength.

Seht plunged forward with a gasp. He landed on both feet and lunged upright.

Victoria leaped and landed in a crouch right beside him.

Seht caught her by the elbow. “What the hell are you doing? The
Raptor
is the other way!”

Tortured metal screamed behind them.

They both turned to see Moraine climb to his feet. His armor fell from him, leaving mechanical arms bare of flesh, his fingers claws of titanium and steel. They watched as flesh crawled and reformed his face. He grinned.

“Spawn of Chaos!” Seht grabbed her and shoved, throwing her bodily toward Ravnos.

Victoria flew through the air in a tumble, righted herself and landed in a crouch. She looked back. “Seht!”

Moraine snarled and swung a massive arm at Seht.

“Go!” Seht sidestepped under the swinging arm, pointed his rifle at Moraine and fired a stream of ionic plasma at close range. Flesh ripped away, baring more of Moraine’s metal skeleton.

Moraine howled and twisted away.

Ravnos shouted. The dock filled with heavily armored mercenaries and plasma blasts.

With blinding speed Moraine dodged the plasma blasts and lunged after Victoria.

Victoria bolted. Inhuman howling blasted her eardrums. The deck rang under pursuing fleshless metal feet. Something powerfully heavy rocked the deck under her feet.

Moraine landed in a crouch between her and Ravnos. The deck shuddered under his towering bulk.

She whirled back and felt the scrape of clawed fingers score her back like drawn daggers. Blood spattered the deck. On instinct alone, she tumbled and rolled, landing with her blade out, knowing that it wouldn’t do any good. Moraine didn’t have enough flesh to harm, but it was all she had.

Seht lunged into a flying leap, landed, grabbed her arm and leaped again, tugging her away.

Moraine’s massive metal hand smashed into the deck where she had stood.

Backed into a wall, Seht turned his rifle on Moraine. “Die, damn you!”

“You first!” Moraine snarled and lashed a clawed hand at Seht.

Victoria shoved him out of the way and caught the brunt of the intended blow. She went flying through the air, smashed hard against the wall and landed in a breathless sprawl. She blinked in surprise.
I’m not dead?

You will be if you don’t get your ass off the deck!
Arcane howled.

Victoria rolled up onto her knees, gasped and spat blood. Something in her side was definitely broken, and stabbing the hell out of her. She pressed her hand against the wall and got up. Sharp metal closed around her throat and jerked her from her feet. Her sword clattered to the deck.

“Got you.”

“Let her go,” Ravnos snarled. He looked like an avenging demon in his black cape and coat.

“You took my nav-pilot, now I’m taking yours,” Moraine snarled right back. “You can have what’s left of her after I have my programmer dig
Arcane
out of her head.”

Ravnos smiled. “You are not leaving with my nav-pilot.”

Moraine chuckled. “I really don’t see how you can stop me.”

Victoria felt the sharp metal around her throat soften and tremble.
He’s shaking.
She glanced to the side. Flesh was forming at a rapid rate on Moraine’s arm.

Arcane
noted her thought.
Nerves are regenerating under all that flesh. He’s going to be one mass of screaming pain sometime really soon.

Victoria’s brows rose and she licked her sharp teeth.
Really?

Ravnos barked out a length of code.

Moraine chuckled. “That won’t do you a damn bit of good. My array is non-functional.”

Victoria stiffened. The backdoor into her mind opened and streamed with hidden data. The code slammed through
Arcane’s
sentience. She sensed his surprise, then felt him act.

Ravnos nodded. “True, but hers works just fine.”

Victoria opened her mouth and white noise howled from her throat.

Moraine stiffened. “What do you expect that to do to me?”

Ravnos’s gaze narrowed and heated. “Same thing it did to every ship you had me steal.”

Moraine’s body twitched. “You!” He turned to Seht but his movement was stiff. “You said you lost him.”

Ravnos nodded. “He did.”

“You don’t look like one of their slaves.”

Ravnos’s lip curled. “Because I’m not.”

Seht smiled grimly. “I don’t have him. He has me.”

Victoria gasped as the stream of code ended.
Why the hell is he still moving?

Arcane
boiled in Victoria’s thoughts.
He’s resisting the damn code.

Victoria narrowed her eyes at Moraine’s fully fleshed arm. Her mouth filled with envenomed saliva.
Then why don’t we give him something else to think about?
She dug her clawed fingers into the fully fleshed hand that held her and jerked with all her strength, clearing just enough space to move her head. With a snarl, she bared her teeth and bit into Moraine’s forearm with her sharp fangs, leaving four jagged tears in her wake.

Moraine gasped and brought up his other hand. “Stupid bitch!” His movement dragged as the code razed his grasp on his mechanical body. He choked and stiffened, freezing with his hand raised. “Code acknowledged,” came from Moraine’s lips.

Seht expelled a breath. “About damned time!”

Ravnos strode to Victoria with Seht at his heel. “Release her.”

The iron grip on her throat opened and Victoria dropped into Ravnos’s arms, gasping with pain. She pressed her face into his neck. Bloody Fate, he smelled good. She couldn’t believe how much she had missed his scent.

Seht caught her gaze. “Where are you hurt?”

She tried to take shallow breaths as she held onto Ravnos. “I think I have a broken rib.”

Ravnos scowled at her. “That was a bravely stupid thing to do! He would have killed you!”

Victoria whimpered under Seht’s exploring fingers. “I bit him to make it harder for him to resist…”

Seht looked over at Ravnos. “The rib needs to be set immediately or it will heal broken.”

Ravnos scowled. “She’s not
rehkyt
enough to heal that fast.”

Seht’s mouth became grim. “Yes, she is, as of last night.”

Ravnos’s face blanched, then darkened. “Damn you…” He nodded at one of the hovering mercenaries. “Get the medics. Now.”

Seht stared steadily at Ravnos. “If she hadn’t been given the last course, Moraine would have shattered every bone in her body when she hit the wall.”

Ravnos bared his teeth at Seht, and his voice came out in a vicious snarl. “You better have a damn good reason for this. If I even suspect you did this on purpose, I will kill you myself.”

A pair of medics took her from Ravnos’s embrace. Her suit was peeled down, and for once she didn’t care that her breasts were bared for all to see. Their hands were coolly professional as they investigated her injuries.

“It wasn’t his fault.” Victoria sucked in a painful breath. “There was a fight and I…” Emotion squeezed her heart, and dried the words in her mouth.

Ravnos’s chill gaze narrowed on Seht. “What fight?”

Seht held his gaze steadily. “During the banquet, I sent her back to the enclave with the rest of the
rehkyt.
Moraine’s people were waiting in the halls. She went into
rahyt
to defend herself, and the blood-rage triggered regeneration seizures. They took her to medical…”

Ravnos’s expression darkened. “They dosed her.” It wasn’t a question.

Seht nodded. “If they hadn’t, she would have died from the seizures.”

Ravnos’s voice slashed like a blade of ice. “And where were you?”

Seht flinched. “I was still at the banquet. I wasn’t notified until I returned, several hours later.”

“It wasn’t his fault.” Victoria gasped to keep from howling in agony as the medics wrapped her midsection with tight bandages. “He didn’t know there was an ambush waiting.”

Ravnos bared his teeth. “Victoria, I ordered him to keep you close.”

Victoria glared at him and ignored the tears streaking down her cheeks. “And he sent me back because Moraine was asking questions. If I had stayed with him, Moraine would have figured out who, and what, I was, and killed us both!”

Seht gently helped her back into her suit, avoiding Ravnos’s chill gaze. “I should have gone back with you.”

“You tried to.” Victoria winced against the pain as he fastened the buckles closed. “Lord Syrhus wouldn’t let you leave.”

“Victoria, it’s still my fault,” Seht said quietly. He shoved Sakata’s sword back into the sheath at her side.

Victoria turned on him with bared teeth and a vicious snarl. She couldn’t even see him through her tears. “You! Shut the fuck up! It was nobody’s fault but Moraine’s! If he hadn’t been here, none of this would have happened! I would have never had the first course! And I’d still be -- still be…” She collapsed into Seht’s arms, and the sobs finally broke free. “Still be… a nav-pilot.”

Ravnos and Seht silently locked gazes. Ravnos tilted his head to the side and Seht led Victoria toward the waiting group of mercenaries.

Victoria wiped her eyes and turned to look back.

Ravnos looked up at Moraine where he stood frozen, hand upraised for a killing blow. “You miserable sack of shit…” His gaze was frigid as he thumbed the power up on his rifle. With cold precision, he jammed the rifle under Moraine’s jaw. “I should have killed you years ago.”

Seht and Victoria watched as Ravnos pulled the trigger.

Moraine’s mouth opened in shock, then his entire head disappeared in a sizzling flash of light. The body crashed in an ungainly heap.

“Good, he’s dead!”
Arcane
growled from Victoria’s throat. “Could we possibly get the hell out of here before station security comes in and sees this hunk of junk?”

Ravnos walked over to Victoria and his expression was bitterly cold. “What the hell?”

Victoria flinched back from his frigid gaze. “Captain Ravnos, meet the
Arcane.”

“Captain Ravnos, that’s quite a temper you have there. Remind me not to piss you off.”