First Assault Read online

rock bounced off the window.

  Olivia shouted, “You better sit down and buckle up!”

  Ailios and Friseal quickly obeyed. Now all that Ailios could do was close his eyes and pray. Gods, help me get out of this cursed place alive. I won’t steal from you anymore, I promise–

  A shudder made him snap his eyes open. The ship touched the tunnel’s walls. A computer started beeping.

  There was no bright light at the end of the tunnel. Only a black dot that was getting bigger and bigger until it turned big enough to distinguish blinking dots and a piece of the gray-orange planet outside.

  “Hold tight!” Olivia shouted. “If they seal the doors again we might need to break through!”

  “Seal the doors?” Ailios mumbled. “Which doors?”

  “Those doors!” she shouted.

  The opening started to get smaller as two gray rocks moved toward one another. Ailios felt his stomach churn. “Damn my mouth,” he mumbled.

  “Gods, we’re going to die,” someone said.

  “Hold on!”

  The rocks were nearly closed. Palatine turned into a gray-orange rectangle. Olivia pressed a button – the yellow dolphin spat three missiles. In an instant the explosion expanded through the tunnel, getting closer to their ship. Bright ball of flame covered everything behind. Ailios thought the next thing they’ll do was smash the rock doors…

  But the flame disappeared in a quick puf. The doors were gone and so were they. Only the space remained around their dolphin.

  Ailios let his head collapse back, and he closed his eyes.

  LUCIUS

  The bridge on Power Comet was subdued and silent. Lucius drummed his fingers over the arm of the command seat, but no one dared say a word to him, not even a consoling one. Not after he sent Bruttius to the improvised dungeon in the cargo hold.

  The emperor was leaned back, his jaw clenched. What little he could feel from his body was tense and restless. He tilted his head forward so his furious eyes could glare under the eyebrows.

  I was supposed to stand there, he said to himself as he stared at the usurper in Lucius’s body standing frozen on the screen.

  Lucius moved his eyes at the command console next to his hand and for the first time since the accident he took a glimpse at his reflected face on the black surface. He didn’t want to look at it before. Maybe because of lack of courage, or maybe because he thought it was unnecessary. But now there was another man wearing his face. With heavy heart Emperor Lucius acknowledged that the usurper was everything that he was not – where he had golden flames on his chin Lucius had skin; where the golden fire burned his cheeks Lucius had cuts scarring him; where the gold danced above his forehead Lucius had black hair pointed up. It was as if he was looking at the boy from his dream, weak and fragile. He was nothing without the gold.

  Lucius moved his eyes back at the screen where the usurper stood with pride. Metal fingers dug into his palm as the emperor imagined squeezing the usurper’s neck.

  The soldier Bruttius earlier said that history will remember Lucius Cornelius Venator as the great conqueror of Talam, even if it wasn’t actually he who would lead the attack. After all, the usurper had the emperor’s golden body, did he not? “Who will know that it wasn’t the true emperor Lucius himself?” he said to another soldier.

  Unfortunately for him Lucius overheard their conversation. “I will know, you imbecile!” It was good enough reason to send Bruttius to the dungeon, to contemplate on what he had said. The only reason he did not execute the soldier was because of his outstanding performance aboard the Aquila when Lucius and Arrius were struggling to escape the merchant ship. Bruttius was the one who sabotaged Aquila’s EMP cannon and saved the day. But it took only few words to ruin what he was close to achieve. The fool.

  Lucius tapped the play button for the fifth time and the frozen usurper came to life. His hands were up in the air. His lips turned into a self-satisfied smile that made Lucius hate the man who stole his body and throne even more. People cheered their approval underneath the balcony while red banners flapped relentlessly above his head. The golden man looked back and the video feed switched to another camera where a Bion soldier was being dragged out in chains. A gigantic robot lumbered in front of the Bion, pulling the other end of the chain like he was taking his two-legged creature for a walk. The Bion was reluctant to go forth. His body would lean back after few steps, but then the robot would pull the chain forward and the Bion was forced to make few hasty steps not to fall down. Before they reached the end of the balcony the soldier fell. As he struggled to get back on his feet, the usurper pointed his finger at him.

  “These savages killed your emperor! They dared make an attempt on my own life!” There were boos and curses from the crowd. The usurped paused to let the crowd vent their anger. “But do not despair, my fellow humans, for the time to punish their weak excuse of an existence and claim their world is finally at hand.” The crowd welcomed those words with shouts of approval. Energy weapons were discharged in the air, lighting the sky in red and blue.

  The usurper made a curt nod to the robot. One heavy arm went up, taking the chain and the Bion along with it. The Bion’s legs left the balcony centimeter by centimeter, kicking franticly while the crowd cheered. His face was red and swollen behind the glass helmet. Lucius could tell that the savage tried to breathe. He had seen that hungry-for-air face many times when he would squeeze a Bion’s neck. This one fought to breathe, but it wasn’t long before his legs went still and his head inclined to the side and thus failed in the attempt. It was then that the robot let go of the chain, and the body thumped down like a sack of spare parts. The crowd cheered louder then.

  With a wave of his hand, the usurper relieved the robot. His metal guardian nodded and turned, dragging the dead body back inside the palace in the echoes of acclamation from the crowd. At that moment a flash of light blinked over the palace, a crack drifted from the sky. Every camera turned up to show a gigantic golden form descend through the atmosphere, its booming roar coming with a slight delay. The crowd instantly went silent. They’ve seen that golden ship many times, Lucius knew, but it was still a breathtaking sight for his people. The camera view showed their faces from up close, how their wide-opened eyes followed the Imperial flagship gliding effortlessly despite its massiveness. In a few moments it was hovering over the palace.

  The usurper looked up at the ship and then down at the crowd. “Never in the history of mankind has such an offensive taken place,” he said. “Never did humanity join strength to end this war. But today, my fellow humans, today we end the war with fire and destruction of the Bion home world!”

  The crowd went crazy. Roars and weapons entangled in the air.

  The ship extended its golden stairway toward the balcony, red carpet unrolling until it touched the usurper’s feet. Lucius noticed the wicked smile that crept on the usurper’s lips as he took a step over the carpet and started his ascent into the emperor’s flagship Jupiter. And then the image froze.

  Lucius was already trembling. His fist came down over the buttons, and the image flickered off.

  “I will smash his head,” he snarled, “and take his body … my body! How does he dare to mock me like this?” Lucius would’ve stood up if he could, but he left his wheels under a weapons crate on Lightning Bolt, even the more reason to be angry.

  Captain Arrius and the soldier Helvius were with him on the bridge, their heads lowered and mouths sealed. From the Aquila’s remains they picked up eight other soldiers, four of whom were now with them on the bridge. They stood firm around the emperor, their helmets in their hands. They said nothing as well.

  I’m surrounded with cowards, Lucius thought as he exhaled what little breath he had.

  “Where did he forge the body, captain? No one has the schematics, no one can copy the Imperial family. It is forbidden. And I doubt he found it in Timor’s ruins.”

  Arrius seemed to have found the courage to speak. “Someone may have forged it just b
y studying you from images and videos.”

  “Impossible,” Lucius blurted. “This is too good a copy to be made by hand. Someone must have had access to the private Imperial Library from where he acquired the schematics.”

  “Whoever it was will be punished.”

  “Of course he will.” Lucius exhaled in annoyance and then changed the subject. “Did you find out anything from the crew?”

  Arrius shook his head. “Just what the captain already told us, Your High… Lucius,” he corrected when Lucius looked at him. He would need time to adjust calling his emperor by his name, Lucius knew. “They were heading toward Palatine when they received our distress call. We were lucky they stopped to pick us up first before the traitors on Aquila could board them.”

  “Luck had nothing to do with it.” It was the merchant’s guild silent agreement – every time there is a distress call merchant ships have priority. The emperor’s escape pod had the IFF of Lightning Bolt, so that made him first in line for the rescue. After they were scooped up, Arrius and Helvius took over the ship and rescued the few remaining soldiers from Aquila, leaving the traitors to die in space. “Is there a doctor among them, is what I want to know,” said Lucius.

  Arrius shook his head.

  Lucius slammed his fist over the buttons again. “I need a body!” He accidentally pressed the play button and the