Shattered Destiny: A Galactic Adventure, Episode One

  Chapter 3

  Shar

  I was lying on my bed, wrist pressed over my forehead as I stared between my fingers at the ceiling. There was a crack in the metal, a couple of inefficient perimeter shields in place around it to stop the persistent sand from pushing its way through.

  My room was right on the edge of the compound. It was one of the few with a door back into the compound, and one into the world outside.

  Despite the ferocious weather of this planet, I often kept the door open, a few scraps of old canvas and fabric in place over it to stop the majority of the sand from scattering through.

  Through a small break that I had put in the canvas, I could always swivel my gaze and lock it on the sky above. At night, I’d even be able to see a few scraps of stars, twinkling in and out, always partially obscured by the relentless, marching sand clouds.

  Now I frowned as I swore I heard an unfamiliar noise. It sounded like the soft constant shudder of a large ship coming in to land.

  Sure enough, as I pushed up off my bed, a general alarm rang through the compound.

  “Emergency refueling operation,” the electronic voice of the refinery’s main computer said.

  “Emergency refueling operation?” I mouthed as I pushed up, lurched down to my knee, and grabbed up my dusty, well-worn boots from beneath my bed. I crammed them onto my feet as I ticked my head to the left and tried to see through the gap in the canvas.

  I saw a huge body of metal suddenly obscure the view. It had to be a massive ship coming in to land at the primary refinery building. Though the building was a good 500 meters away, my canvas door started to flap and churn in the wind.

  I thrust toward it, catching it with one hand as I used the other to manipulate the controls of the structural shield.

  I increased them to maximum, and soon enough a flickering blue sheet of energy blinked into place beyond the canvas, protecting it from the buffeting winds.

  I twisted to the side and grabbed a sand scarf from the empty desk to my left.

  I crammed it around my neck, looping it several times until I secured it over my mouth. Then I pushed through the canvas and structural shields until I jumped down to the sand below. It scattered around my boots as I tipped my head back and whistled through my teeth.

  Though I’d already figured out a big ship had to be coming in to land, I hadn’t been prepared for the sight that met me now.

  It was massive, easily the largest ship that had ever docked at the refinery. I’d never seen anything on this scale. As my enquiring gaze darted over the girth of its slim line, silver-and-black hull, I wondered what the hell it was. It was too fancy looking to be a transport or a cargo ship. It was also too well-armed.

  Though I could only see the underside of the hull as it loomed above the refinery and outbuildings, I could still discern the gun turret ports dotted at even intervals.

  By now a few other refinery workers were pushing out of the main habitation compound and walking out toward the refinery, just like me. And just like me, they all tipped their heads back and stared in astonishment at the ship.

  “What the hell is that doing here?” I heard a Narin ask his friend. “Isn’t that a Royal Arterian war cruiser?”

  Something raced down my back and sank into my coccyx at that. It took a stiff, cold pressure pushing through my chest until I realized it was nerves.

  The Narin’s friends tipped his head all the way back and whistled through his fat green lips. “What in Farick’s name are they doing this far out? The Arterians patrol the central sectors.”

  I listened carefully, a strange queasy feeling alighting through my gut. Quick and hard, it felt like I’d been punched by a brick.

  Squeezing a hand under my thick tunic top, I curled my ragged nails against my stomach as I tried to dig the uncomfortable sensation out.

  Suddenly, a rattling alarm blared over the refinery main grounds. I had to jerk my head to the side and cram a hand hard over my ear, nestling the other against my shoulder.

  “Incoming ship deploying security personnel. Refinery crew will comply,” the main computer instructed in a booming voice that echoed over the grounds.

  My lip twitched.

  I’d already made it half way across the massive dirt yard that separated the main habitation building from the primary refinery facility.

  The refinery was a massive structure, though you couldn’t really tell that from the surface. The majority of its infrastructure was sunk under the sand like an iceberg. It was over a kilometer deep and two kilometers wide. And that wasn’t to mention the gas pipes that crisscrossed under the surface of this desert planet.

  The Royal Arterian cruiser dwarfed everything. It was like a floating city.

  More than its size, I’d never seen a more sophisticated ship dock at the refinery. We tended to get dilapidated tankers and cargo ships. Occasionally we’d get military vessels, even pleasure cruisers.

  But this….

  There was another blaring alarm, and I watched a hatch appear out of the side of the ship. A ramp built itself, smart metallic plating locking into place and slamming into the dust-covered earth.

  I jerked my head to the side and tucked my scarf further over my mouth.

  A second later, troops began to deploy down the ramp, their heavy metal armor echoing against the ramp, sending thumping, drumming beats reverberating through the facility.

  The sun glimmered off the guards’ armor, off their guns, too.

  My eyes narrowed.

  “Obedience is expected,” the computer suddenly blared. “Every refinery worker will comply with every order given by the Arterian Security Forces.”

  Obedience was expected, ha? More like mandatory. Step out of line, and it was clear these gun-toting guards wouldn’t think twice about mowing you down.

  I tucked my head down and continued toward the facility.

  Around me, my fellow workers continued to speculate about what the hell could bring an Arterian war cruiser down to our refinery. As I walked further under the shadow of the hull, I gazed up and realized why.

  The ship had been in a fight. There were black swathes of burnt plating scattered over the hull, a few gun turrets nothing more than smoking pits.

  The ship was sophisticated enough that it was self-healing – I could pick up the faint green crackle of organic technology fields encasing the damaged sections.

  “Head down, worker,” someone suddenly snapped from my side.

  I glanced over to see an Arterian guard. He gestured toward me with his gun, the muzzle of the gun, to be precise.

  I darted my gaze to the side, locked it on my feet, and walked past the guard. As soon as he was behind me, I ticked my head back up and continued to assess the damage.

  That’s when my gaze locked on an odd black protrusion.

  I had great eyesight. Good hearing, too. And I swore I could hear an odd cracking sound above the steady whir of the cruiser’s engines cycling down.

  “Get a move on,” someone snarled from behind me.

  I half turned to see another security guard.

  I flicked him an obedient if still petulant look, turned hard on my boot, and headed toward the refinery.

  I didn’t reach it.

  For at that moment, something truly strange happened.

  I felt as if an ethereal hand reached out from nowhere and clutched my shoulder, stopping me in place. It was such a distinct, real sensation that I let out a startled gasp.

  I shifted hard on my foot, swinging my gaze from left-to-right as I looked for the source of the strange sensation. That’s when my gaze locked on the ramp.

  Another figure was cutting a path down the long metal ramp, its footfall heavier than most, every step ringing out like a deafening drumbeat.

  I brought my hand up as a strike of sunlight glinted off the man’s armor. I protected my gaze as I stared at him through my fingers.

  All of the security personnel appeared to react to his appearance. The
y straightened up, snapped salutes, and brought their guns down in respect.

  The man ignored them. He reached the end of the ramp and strode off it. For whatever reason, he was wearing a cape. It was a deep rich purple color and connected to a gold insignia on his left shoulder. It then swept across his back and connected to a point beneath his right shoulder.

  Why anyone would wear a cape, I didn’t know, especially with armor. But it confirmed one thing – this man, whoever he was, had to be royalty. Arterian royalty, to be precise.

  The Arterian Empire controlled most of the central galactic states. They had the most power, access to the most resources, and the most influence. Though the modern galaxy professed to be democratic, the Arterians held all the power in the Senate.

  I had never seen an Arterian, let alone royalty.

  The man stopped several meters away from the ramp and began conversing with what looked like a senior guard. While most of the other members of the security force wore simple, drab, gray-black armor, this man wore white adorned with silver.

  The man in white bowed down low, pressing a hand against his chest.

  The man in purple waved him up.

  I stopped.

  I couldn’t move.

  It wasn’t just the memory of the ethereal sensation that had pressed against my shoulder, it was the effect of the Prince.

  He was… I couldn’t describe it.

  My whole body was suddenly beset with such violent emotions I had to stop and wrap a sweaty hand over my brow.

  My head was spinning, my ears ringing like I’d fired a blaster in the center of my skull.

  I pressed a shaking hand to my parted lips as I stared at him.

  Even if the refinery had exploded behind me, I wouldn’t have been able to tear my eyes off him.

  I couldn’t see his face. Didn’t need to. His whole body was obscured by his purple gold armor, but that didn’t matter. There was something about the man….

  Suddenly, an alarm blared out over the refinery. It was such a shaking, shrieking pitch that I had to clutch both hands over my ears as I practically fell to my knees.

  The Prince jolted forward, the man in white by his side.

  The security forces ran around chaotically, obviously looking for the source of the alarm.

  Me? My head suddenly ticked back as if somebody had jerked it there. My gaze locked on that odd black protrusion on the hull above.

  That’s when I heard a cracking noise, distinct, impossible to ignore.

  Before I knew what I was doing, I pitched forward, throwing myself into a sprint, aimed at the Prince.

  I honestly had no control over my body. It felt as if somebody had reached inside and had wrapped their hands around every muscle.

  The man in white saw me spring toward the Prince and grabbed up his gun.

  But it wasn’t in time.

  And I had no intention of attacking the Prince.

  Just the opposite.

  Something shot out of the black protrusion along the hull. Small at first, it grew in a fraction of a second.

  It was a Zorv bot. A kind of self-replicating assassination drone.

  Before I knew what I was doing, I leaped into the air and intercepted its course. I wrapped my arms around its middle as it slammed into my gut.

  I was thrown backward into the ground. But there I did not remain. Immediately, I pitched my legs up and around, rolling, pressing the bot against my stomach with both hands.

  I felt two metallic arms try to protrude from its back.

  I jerked my hand away for just a second, then jerked it back once the legs had formed. I grabbed them, pitched around, and threw the drone on the ground by my feet.

  By now the security personnel were acting – they were thrusting toward me, guns held high. They weren’t as fast as the man in white, though. He pulled up some kind of directed energy blade from his side and sprinted toward me.

  None of them were close enough.

  I doubled back, just as the bot tried to shoot me with a laser. It sliced over my arm, collecting the side of my top, but not powering through my shoulder below and slicing my arm off.

  Immediately, I jerked an arm around, intending to grab the blaster from my back, but it wasn’t there.

  We weren’t allowed to be armed. I’d left it back in my room. Instead, my prying fingers grasped against a lock wrench. It was a device designed to adhere to most surfaces so you could pry back tricky panels or rock or what have you.

  With no other weapon, I thrust forward, deliberately falling to my knees just as the bot sliced toward me with one of its pincer-like, impossibly sharp arms. It managed to slice off the end of my dust scarf but missed my face by a good few inches.

  Though it was fast, I was faster.

  And desperate.

  Though I’d been in my fair share of fights, a different kind of fear pumped through my veins. One I’d never experienced before.

  People had often asked me if I felt fright. I seemed so composed most of the time, so cold.

  I’d had more successful run-ins with the breakers than anyone else at the refinery.

  That’s why I had a reputation. But this – desperate, frantic emotions charging through me – I’d never felt them before.

  They pushed me on, charged me up with a truly powerful energy that saw me dodge once more as the bot sliced toward my face.

  It extended its metallic arms toward my throat.

  I saw my opportunity. I brought the wrench around and locked it between the thing’s dangling arms.

  The force of the magnetic field it emitted was just powerful enough that it locked the thing’s arms in place.

  I pitched backward, grasping along the magnetic holster along my back once more, desperately trying to find a more powerful weapon. Though I could hold the bot in place with this wrench for now, it wouldn’t last. Soon the thing would pull free.

  Just as I clutched hold of a rudimentary laser cutter, a blade swept past my side.

  It didn’t belong to the bot.

  Instead, it was bright, purple, and the most brilliant thing I had ever seen.

  It missed me by a good few inches, for I was not its intended target.

  Rather it slammed into the bot, slicing it in half with the ease of waving your finger through the air.

  The bot twitched and fell apart at my feet, one softly smoking side rolling until it banged against my boot.

  I swiveled my head to the side and saw him.

  The Prince.

  He was still in his full armor, a burst of wind catching over his shoulder and sending his cape billowing around him.

  He was holding a specialized kind of energy sword. It pulsed and crackled with light and charges of electricity, looking like tamed lightning.

  I….

  It was like a part of me shut down. As I stared at him – even though I still couldn’t see his face – I lost all concept of where I was, time, and dimensionality.

  Before I could stay too long in that strange reverie, I heard something whirr at my feet. It was such a subtle sound, I shouldn’t have been able to discern it over the hubbub of the security guards and the continuous cycling down of the cruiser’s engines.

  But something reached inside and alerted me.

  Before I knew what I was doing, I spun down, pushed to one knee, and brought the magnetic wrench forward. I stabbed it into one side of the bot just in time. For a split second later, it tried to divide. A great convulsive crackle of electricity cascaded off its form, sinking into the dust and seeing any organic matter trapped within burst into flame.

  I had stabbed the wrench onto the bot’s body just before it could split in half, and now it fought against the powerful field coming from the wrench.

  It fought against me, but clenching my teeth and bearing my lips wide, I pushed the wrench down and down.

  “Get back,” somebody said. That same somebody latched a hand on my shoulder and jerked me away.

  The Prince. He b
rought his massive purple blade down and sliced the bot in half. Then he wasted no time in clutching a strange, powerful gun from the holster around his hip, setting it to maximum with a smooth flick of his thumb, and obliterating all remaining parts of the bot.

  I took a step back, then another, then one more.

  My body was shaking. I even dropped the wrench from my hand as a powerful shudder crossed up my arm and deep into my shoulder.

  I had… I had no idea what was happening to me.

  The alarm kept blaring around the compound, louder now, so thunderous I was sure it would split my head in two.

  And yet even above that truly torturous sound I still heard more cracking filter down from the cruiser’s hull far above. I twitched my head back just in time to see more of those odd black protrusions split open, bots spewing forth.

  The Prince saw it, too. I heard a strangled gasp echo from his armor. “Move,” he suddenly snapped as he ground a hand into my shoulder and pulled me up. He was so strong my boots scattered over the ground.

  He twisted me around and shoved me hard in the center of my back. “Get back.”

  Despite the momentum of his push, I still twisted my head around, eyes pressed wide open as I stared at him.

  He thrust forward, holding that strange purple blade high.

  The bots snaked down from above, powering toward him. Despite the fact there were numerous security guards, many closer than the Prince, the bots all concentrated on him. Swarming down and around him like locusts.

  I couldn’t help but bring a hand up and cram it over my mouth as I gasped. It was more than that, though. Again my body shook as a surge of emotion came from somewhere. It slammed into my sternum, pushed and burrowed until it reached my heart. It felt as if it would wrench me in two.

  Though the bots swarmed upon the Prince, he fought valiantly, brilliantly. Though his sword was undoubtedly powerful, and his armor looked as if it were some of the best in the galaxy, his ability accounted for more than his advantage.

  He spun around, flipping on one hand, bringing the blade up and slicing it through two bots at the same time.

  By now the majority of the security guards had streamed past me on their way to help the Prince.

  A full red alert was echoing through the compound, and I knew my duty – I should help evacuate. But I couldn’t.

  I couldn’t move a goddamn muscle.

  I watched in horror as the security guard beside me tried but failed to shoot one of the bots. It sprang upon him, sinking its metal arms right through his chest plate. They were so strong and so violent that they sprang out the other side, scattering blood over the rust-colored sand.

  The guy dropped his blaster as he fell down onto his knees, then onto his back, his body giving one violent twitch until it lay still.

  The blaster scattered toward me, bouncing against my boot.

  I stared at it for a single second.

  I heard the Prince scream orders at his men, heard them all scatter forward as the sounds of heated battle filled the compound and mixed with the still shrieking blare of the alarm.

  And yet time appeared to slow down.

  Something happened to me, to my body, to my mind. I felt as if they stretched as if that same ethereal hand from before punched into my skull and began to smear me thin.

  Before I knew what I was doing, I jerked down to one knee and clutched up a blaster, squeezing my sweaty fingers through the trigger loop.

  The frantic sounds of the battle drained way as an eerie ringing filled my ears.

  I jerked my head up and my gaze locked on the Prince of its own accord. There was nothing I could do to tug it off as I suddenly thrust forward.

  Several of the bots attacking the Prince suddenly veered off and shot toward me.

  I fought them. Well. Though I’d managed to push my way through 100 breakers only that morning, there was something different about the way I fought now. Something natural, elegant. It was almost unstoppable.

  Two bots powered toward me, and though I only had a blaster and they had sophisticated shielding, it didn’t matter.

  I fired three rounds into the closest bot, then ran into a sprint and fell to my knees, skidding under it as I fired one round into the small hole where its legs protruded from. My aim was perfect, and the blast aligned with the hole, sending a charge of energy right into the center of the bot.

  It was enough to see the thing explode, chunks of metal spewing forth, several dashing against my cheeks and cutting them.

  I ignored the blood that splattered my collar and pushed to my feet once more.

  One of the bots swung low, its legs extending toward my ankles, its intention clearly to chop them off.

  I didn’t allow it. I suddenly leaped into the air and landed with a foot right on the bot. I pushed off and used it to leap toward the higher bot. I wrapped two arms around it, clutching hold of its protruding legs. Then I pulled it right out of the sky. I threw it down at my feet and shot it with the blaster until it exploded in a cascade of metal and sparks.

  And like that, I fought. I couldn’t tell for how long. I couldn’t tell how many bots I took down, though I knew it was far more than most of the other security guards.

  I kept fighting until the bots stopped coming.

  I paid no heed to the numerous injuries that littered my form. I just didn’t care. My mind continued to ring, my heart continued to beat like a goddamn drum. As my thoughts – every goddamn thought – continued to center on the Prince.

  Finally, the dust settled, literally. The red alert cut down to a yellow alert, the blaring pitch thankfully quieting to a steady whoop.

  The security guards began to pick themselves up.

  They inspected their injuries and clutched at their weapons.

  Me, I stood there, head still tilted back, gaze locked on the hull above me.

  I waited for more of the bots to appear.

  Though it became increasingly clear that the fight was over, I just couldn’t tell my heart that.

  In fact, it took a hand reaching out and locking on my shoulder until my thundering heart stopped, for just a second. I turned around, heart beat a blare in my mind.

  … But it wasn’t the Prince. It was the man in the white and silver armor. Without a word, he reached down and plucked the blaster from my grasp.

  I locked my eyes on his helmet as I clutched onto the blaster with all my grip.

  His head ticked back, but rather than go for the blade at his side, he took a step back, then another, and ticked his head to the side. “You fought well. But I can’t allow you to keep a Royal Arterian blaster.

  There was something calm about his voice, reassuring. This time I allowed him to reach down and clutch the blaster in his white and silver metallic fingers. He pulled away, checked the butt, and then locked it onto a holster around his hip.

  He took one more step back.

  Then the man took his helmet off. It receded into his back plating.

  He was handsome, even by most alien standards. He had the strong, powerful features of an Arterian. He also had almost mesmerizing blue eyes. He locked those blue eyes on me.

  Now I could see his face in full, I could see his surprise, too. “You know how to fight, human,” he hazarded.

  I nodded. “I’m human, I confirmed. And yes, I can fight.” There was a slight shudder to my voice. It shouldn’t be there, but at the same time, I couldn’t control it.

  While yes, I could fight, no, I’d never fought like that. I’d never been filled with such desperation.

  And even now the Prince had retreated back inside his cruiser, my mind was still locked on him.

  I kept telling myself that I had to be sick in some way, that I must have been struck on the head during my fight with the breakers this morning, and I just hadn’t realized it.

  Yet no matter how hard I tried to reason with myself, I could not shift my attention from the Prince. Even though the war cruiser was truly massive, I was somehow po
ssessed of the irrational sense that I knew exactly where he was on it.

  I watched the man’s direct gaze flick up to the sweat collecting over my brow. “You should check yourself in to whatever medical facilities this refinery has.”

  I didn’t even bother to make eye contact. “I will,” I lied.

  Assuming the conversation was over, I turned on my foot and headed back in the direction of the habitation compound, with no intention whatsoever of going to the medical bay. Though this facility had one, it was to deal with major trauma, not with… whatever the hell I was going through now.

  I quickened my step as soon as I made it halfway toward the habitation complex, heart beating harder at the promise of throwing myself on my bed and closing my eyes, giving myself time to understand… this.

  I didn’t get that opportunity. Halfway across the grounds, I stopped. My hackles rose. The skin along the back of my neck suddenly prickled, and my heart quickened to such a thunderous pace, I felt certain it would shake right through my rib cage. I clutched a suddenly sweaty hand to my messy tunic and drove my fingers so hard against the fabric I almost tore a hole through it.

  Again I felt that ethereal hand reach through time and space and lock on my shoulder. Its fingers seemed to brush against my neck, then it jerked my head to the side. Just in time. There was a metal shack several meters to my side. Nothing more than a few broken walls barely holding up a slanting roof. Several of the walls were so bent and misshapen they left enormous holes near the roof that let in mounds of sand.

  The shack was nothing more than an old shed that had once been used to house refinery equipment but had – like everything else on this planet – succumbed to the sand.

  Now I swore I could hear a metallic grating sound issuing from inside it.

  That ethereal hand remained locked on my shoulder as another one pushed into my back and thrust me forward.

  Before I knew what I was doing, I ran into the shack.

  I had no weapon, but that didn’t seem to matter – I simply couldn’t reason against the violent passions thrumming through my heart.

  I rounded the side of the shack and pushed into a roll immediately, narrowly missing several laser blasts. It was another of those bots. My brain had half a second to appreciate that fact before the drone slammed toward me.

  But something else slammed into me at the same time. Mark. His helmet was still off, so I could easily see the concentration pressing across his face as he pushed me to the side, brought his blaster around, and fired at the bot. Though his aim was true, it wasn’t quick enough, as at that exact second another drone sprang from the shack and slammed into his side, knocking the blaster from his hand.

  I wasted no more time. I rolled to the side, thrust into the shack, and picked the blaster up, all in one neat move that couldn’t have taken more than a second.

  I began firing at the bot, destroying one before I locked my attention on the other. It shifted toward me, metal arms outstretched, lethal laser beams slicing out toward me.

  I managed to dodge them all by pushing into a roll and flipping to the side. With three bullets slamming into the bot’s body, it too exploded in a hail of sparks. I’d learned my lesson from the Prince, and destroyed each scrap of its body until nothing but blistered contorted metal remained.

  By the time I’d pushed to my feet, Mark had already pushed to his. He walked into the shack, whistling in a long, impressed move.

  “You can fight,” Mark said, cheeks pale with surprise.

  I didn’t drop the blaster as I swiveled my gaze toward him.

  Another one of those things blasted over the top of the metal wall, claws stretched toward Mark.

  I shoved forward, slammed into Mark with my rounded shoulder, and doubled back.

  The bot shot forward and crashed into me. Its metal body ramming into my shoulder and shunting me backward.

  I wrapped my arms around it, my blaster flying from my grip. It slammed against the floor and skidded far out of reach.

  The bot rammed me across the room, my sweaty fingers sliding over its smooth metal frame as my feet skidded over the broken floor.

  A roar ripped from my lips as the bot slammed me into the far wall with such a thunderous clang, I thought my teeth would be knocked from my mouth. Instead, I bared them as I wrapped my arms all the way around the bot’s body, searching for its arm chute.

  Just in time.

  Two mechanical arms sprang out of it.

  And I grabbed them.

  Sure, the metal split the skin along my fingers, sending blood splattering over the bot’s body and sliding down my palms.

  But I still managed to fasten my grip around the bot’s legs and stop them from protruding.

  With another grating cry, I ripped the damn thing’s legs off.

  Mark had pulled himself off the floor and now stood, blaster clutched in his hand as his wide eyes nervously searched for an opportunity to shoot the bot without killing me at the same time.

  I didn’t need saving. Never had.

  Sparks exploded from the bot’s body as I tore out its remaining leg and threw it on the floor.

  It began to whirr, its internal propulsion mechanism spinning to maximum as it tried to blast from my grip.

  I didn’t let it shoot from my hands. Instead, I pivoted forward, pushed one dirty boot into the floor, and spun on it. Locking one arm around the bot’s spinning body, I threw it like a shotput.

  The force of my throw was enough to knock it off course, and instead of barreling over the top of the wall, it shot right into it with so much force it dented the rusted metal sheeting.

  The whole shack gave a violent shudder.

  I didn’t stop. I bent down, scooped up one of the thing’s legs, and got ready to thrust toward it.

  I didn’t need to.

  Mark fired off several rounds with his blaster, the white-hot bullets slamming into the bot’s body and ripping it apart. Its mechanical innards erupted over the room, striking the floor and scattering into every corner.

  Mark swiveled on his foot and stared at me, dropping the gun to his side. His eyebrows marched up his face until they disappeared into his hairline. His gaze jerked down to my blood-covered fingers and the mechanical leg clutched in them. It was still twitching.

  His lips parted, and he let out an impressed half-chuckle. “Wow. What the hell were you going to do? Beat it over its head with its own leg?”

  I shifted past him, maintaining eye contact as I gave a short, sharp nod. I knelt down and inspected the largest chunk of the bot.

  “… It’s dead.” Mark walked up beside me.

  I caught sight of his expression as I shifted my head over my shoulder and stared at him impassively.

  He was making no attempt to hide his complete surprise. It was like I’d sprouted wings and flown around the room.

  I fixed my attention back on the bot until I was sure it was down and couldn’t fix itself. Throwing away a chunk of its body, I wiped my bloody hands on my pants and stood.

  Mark followed my every move, brows still pressed high into his hairline. “I shot it three times with a level III blaster. It’s not coming back.”

  “It’s better to be safe than sorry,” I counseled as I walked past him and out into the primary yard.

  “Where the hell did you come from?” Mark asked.

  “You mean where did I learn to fight?”

  He chuckled. “Yes, I mean where did you learn to fight?”

  “Here. And in other refineries. You either fight, or you die,” I said simply.

  He made eye contact as he nodded. “Yeah, I understand that.”

  I doubted he did.

  He was an Arterian. The only thing he would understand was privilege.

  I kept that particular thought to myself.

  He suddenly flicked his head to the side, and it was clear he was receiving a message through his implant. A second later he sliced his hand forward. “All crew are being called back to the pr
imary grounds.” He shifted forward.

  I didn’t move.

  He flicked his gaze toward me. “That means refinery crew, too.”

  Reluctantly I pushed off and followed him.

  My boots scattered through the sand, now torn in places from my ongoing fights with the bots.

  It didn’t take long to reach the primary grounds.

  It seemed the Arterian ship had already been refueled, as the majority of the security forces were pulling back and walking up the ramp in single file.

  Suddenly, my gut clenched and I jerked my head to the side, gaze locking on a figure marching out of the massive refinery doors.

  My gaze locked on him long before the doors opened and the Prince strode out.

  Again, I just knew where he was.

  My stomach clenched as I became terrified at what that could mean.

  Mark cleared his throat. “It was nice meeting you. Thank you for saving my life.” With that, he stepped back and tapped a hand on his neck.

  His helmet shot up and covered his face.

  Almost immediately his behavior changed. Though I could no longer see his expression, his countenance became just as hard as his armor.

  It was easy to see why – he clearly held a position of authority amongst the Arterian guards. He would have only dropped it around me because I was a simple refinery worker he’d never see again.

  Though I tried to distract myself with that thought, it wouldn’t work.

  Every sense locked on the Prince as he cut a straight path toward us. The wind kept billowing through his cape, blowing it over his shoulder dramatically.

  I still hadn’t seen his face, but that didn’t matter. I felt as if I already knew exactly what he’d look like. A strong angular, jutting jaw framed by wavy ice white hair and offset by crystal purple eyes.

  It was such an oddly specific image that I just couldn’t shake it from my mind.

  A second later the Prince reached us, brought a hand up, and tapped his helmet.

  It receded.

  … And I stared at the man I had imagined. Down to every detail.

  I swore my heart chose that exact moment to stop in my chest.

  Mark appeared surprised that the Prince had taken off his helmet. He took a strong step forward. “Prince Xarin, we can’t be sure it’s safe yet.”

  The Prince ignored him. “We have recalibrated our scanners. We have scanned the hull. There are no more bots. It is safe,” he said simply.

  His voice was strong, boomed out of his throat, seemed to reverberate in his large, barrel chest. It was more like concentrated claps of thunder and less like the tone of an ordinary mortal.

  I knew I shouldn’t be staring at him so openly, but there wasn’t a goddamn thing I could do to close my eyes or turn away.

  A second later, his gaze darted to the side and locked on mine.

  … And it felt as if I stared through a door into a completely different realm.

  It was such an indescribable sensation, so completely alien.

  I had never led a free life. My choices had always largely been dictated by the need to survive. And yet as I stared into Xarin’s crystalline purple eyes it seemed as if the entire universe opened up before me. A multi-verse, in fact, a realm so large one would never be able to explore it completely.

  Though Xarin had only looked at me for a fraction of a second, it felt like a year. And when he flicked his gaze away, I almost wanted to stagger over, clutch a hand to his chin, and wrench it back until I could stare into his eyes once more.

  ….

  Instead, I staggered back and swallowed as I realized how insane my thoughts had become.

  Fortunately, Xarin appeared to ignore me completely. “Our ship has been refueled. We are leaving.” With that, he turned and walked toward the ramp a few meters to his left.

  “Already?” Mark asked with surprise. “Aren’t we going to pause for repairs?”

  “We can do it in orbit,” Xarin remarked without turning around.

  “.. Yes, your highness.”

  Xarin paused a few meters up the ramp. The wind caught his cape and suddenly furled it over his shoulders.

  He inclined his head slightly to the left, locked his gaze on me, and appeared to come to some decision.

  Then I heard three words. Three words that felt as if they punched through my heart and shook my rib cage.

  The Prince nodded toward Mark. “Bring her aboard.” With that, he turned and marched back up the ramp.

  Again I felt an ethereal hand lock on my shoulder. Just as I wanted to turn and run away before Mark could catch me, something stopped me in place.

  Mark looked surprised for a few seconds, but shrugged his shoulders, and turned to me.

  “The Arterian forces are always looking for good recruits. Strong recruits. Fast recruits. Soldiers who can fight no matter the odds. And today, you’ve proved you’re just what were after.”

  My mouth was dry. It felt as if I’d fallen down to my knees, unhinged my jaw, and scooped a handful of sand down my throat. “What are you saying?” I managed.

  “That you are being invited into the Arterian Security Forces,” he said directly. Though he dipped his head back and had a certain hard kind of look about him, his voice was still soft.

  I looked at him steadily. “This isn’t an offer, is it?” Perhaps I should have been controlling my tone. I couldn’t.

  Mark nodded. “You’re being drafted. The Arterian Security Forces have full powers from the senate to draft any citizen of the galaxy.”

  “Drafted,” the word rolled off my tongue.

  I knew I should have been incensed, fearful. Yet I couldn’t tug my eyes off the ship’s hull and the thought of Xarin within.

  “Get your stuff. Our ship’s leaving in five.”

  “I have no possessions worth keeping,” I muttered, still unable to tear my eyes off the titanic hull.

  Out of the corner of my eye, I watched Mark tip his head back. “The Illuminate is one of the most sophisticated ships in the Arterian fleet.”

  Fear pounded into my gut, and my eyes opened so wide it felt like the skin split. “What?” I spat.

  “Don’t be afraid. With what you’ve shown today, you’ll easily fit in amongst the security forces.”

  That word. That goddamn word did something to me.

  It rang in my mind as if a whole city of people screamed it into my ears.

  Illuminate.

  I couldn’t stop my lips from cracking open as my eyes somehow cracked even further open. “What… where does that name come from?”

  “What? … The name of the ship?” Mark appeared to catch up. He looked thoughtful. “It’s traditional. A name from the Arterian’s past. Beyond that, I don’t know what it means.”

  “Aren’t you Arterian?” I stuttered.

  I had to know what that name meant. Though all reason told me to drop this, I couldn’t. It would have been easier to rip my own heart from my chest.

  “Me? I’m only half Arterian. Half human, like you.” He nodded at me.

  Before I could press him for more information, he ticked his head to the side. I watched him shift his jaw in a clear move as he obviously turned on his communicator. “I’m coming aboard now,” he said.

  He briefly made eye contact before turning away.

  I stood on the ramp and watched him. It didn’t take long for my gaze to be tugged back to the ship. And it took less than half a second for my thoughts to center back on the Prince.

  … I had no idea what was wrong with me. I soon found myself walking up that ramp, my worn boots reverberating against the metal ramp with every step.

  As I walked into a massive deployment bay, I couldn’t deny one thing – I felt as if I was walking into my future, and yet, at the same time, my past….