Everything had gone wrong. All her plans and preparations for over a decade had been useless. People were dying, the Skrel were winning, and this time they didn’t need the Ursa.
“We need a weapon of mass destruction,” she said.
“What about the F.E.N.I.X. bombs?” the Savant said, pushing his plate away.
“How many are left?”
Burch paused and consulted a readout on the display before him and held up four fingers.
“We’re going to have little left but rocks to throw at them. Those we have plenty of, and it seems they will prove as effective,” the Iron Queen grumbled. “What about the upgrades?” she demanded, refusing to appear weak, even if it was just the three of them in the room without any aides.
“We’re working on them, but scaling up has proven difficult. No one has really looked at those schematics in decades. After all, those damn ships descend, drop, and leave, all too fast for the batteries to track them down.”
“What are we doing about that?”
“I have my top people on it,” he replied.
“This isn’t working,” the Primus said. “We’re all going to die.”
“I don’t need you losing your faith, not when the people are looking to you for guidance,” Raige said, her tone allowing no argument. “Your addresses to the shelters are giving them something to hold on to. It’s the one thing you can give them that I cannot. That he cannot.”
Raige was frustrated at the lack of a plan, at the lack of action. If she could, she’d don a jetpack, grab a cutlass, and go meet a Skrel ship in the skies over the city. Since the jetpack remained mired in the R&D branch of the Mirador, the Savant’s headquarters and labs, she had little choice but to control things within her grasp.
She stabbed a control and spoke into the microphone. “This is the Prime Commander. Strongbow, send teams to the F.E.N.I.X. surface-to-air guns and have them ready to go again. Send a runner to the Mirador and get me eyes on the upgrades. Then round up the Defense Corps. Have them check shelter by shelter. Make sure we have people secure and safe. Medical emergencies are the only ones who have permission to leave a shelter. I want Defense Corps people teamed with Rangers to begin walking the streets. Those Skrel bombs bored into the ground, which means they left evidence. Find them, tag them, and keep moving. We’ll figure out how to deactivate them later.”
“Commander, it’s Sykes. Strongbow is dead.”
Raige was stunned. She blinked and sat back in her chair. “How?”
“She was bringing in fresh supplies from a warehouse when one of those bombs went off.”
“When?”
“Last night.”
Damn. Was she that wrapped up in the mission she missed her adjutant’s presence for that long? In fact, did she ever get confirmation Brom made it to Mama Sam? He must have, she assured herself. Right now it was all about maintaining focus on the mission above all else, and the mission was far from done.
“Mourn later, Sergeant. Can you carry out those orders?”
“Affirmative.”
“Execute. Congratulations, you’re the new adjutant. When you have the orders carried out, change the duty rosters, grab Strongbow’s materials, and carry on.”
She turned her attention to the Primus.
“And I need you to keep the people calm. We’re at that point in every battle when fear and rumormongering can undermine us as easily as a Skrel bomb.”
Anderson nodded.
“This is overwhelming.”
“I know, not something they can train you for. Are you up to this or not?”
“Do I have a choice?”
“Not really, but I do have a suggestion.”
Raige studied the Primus’s expression, trying to anticipate the question.
“Take over. Lead us all.”
That was not what she expected.
“Now there’s an idea. I can focus more on the F.E.N.I.X. tech work if I don’t have all the other demands,” Burch said.
“You do remember the last time one person controlled all three offices,” Khantun said.
“Yes, it was at a time when we weren’t prepared and needed a single leader to take us forward. If I recall, it was also a Raige. Your family seems to be built for leadership. So lead us,” Burch said.
“Amen,” the Primus added softly.
“The people will need to understand that I am in command. Me and no one else. So I will accept this, but as the Imperator.”
Anderson stared at her in confusion.
“You don’t remember your history, Anderson,” Burch said. “Back around 200 AE, we had an Imperator, and it didn’t end well for him. It’s why the Prime Commander’s ancestor refused the title when she took control. But I think we need that title now. Take it and wear it with pride.”
The Iron Queen stood, looking each man in the eye. For the first time in hours if not days, there was certainty in their expressions. They wanted her to take control, to lead the people or die trying.
Tapping a control on the table, she said, “Computer, as of this moment, Khantun Timur Raige is no longer the Prime Commander.”
“Acknowledged,” the artificial intelligence replied.
“Effective immediately, Khantun Timur Raige will be listed as the Imperator. All Citadel and Mirador commands will now flow through Ranger protocols.”
“Acknowledged,” the computer repeated.
The Iron Queen was retired and in her place stood Nova Prime’s Imperator, charged with protecting the people of Nova Prime and driving the Skrel from its skies.
Khantun moved closer to a holo display and watched one Skrel ship dip low over the city.
She grabbed a small device that remotely controlled the station. “This is Raige. Varuna flights Alpha and Gamma, converge on target over the northwest medical center. Target exhaust ports.”
“Roger, Prime Commander,” came a female voice. “Do we have confirmation on where that is exactly?”
“Use your thermal imagers to trace heat emissions. Target their hottest spots and fire at will.”
“Acknowledged.”
It had yet to be tried, but now was the time to be unorthodox. If the Skrel were going to play this game, she was here to win it. Silently, she studied the two purple blips registering the squads of flyers as they converged on the Skrel ship, which was moving into a position that would mean the medical center was destined for rubble.
The purple blips grew closer to the red at a remarkable rate.
Khantun caught herself holding her breath and forced herself to exhale through her nose. Deep breaths.
The purple blips touched the red dot and then the red winked off the screen.
“Target down,” the female voice said.
“Good shooting,” the Imperator told them.
Before she could redeploy them, her new adjutant entered the war room and handed her a tablet. Scrawled across the screen was a note from Brom, safely at Mama Sam’s and asking innocently about a missing file. Khantun allowed herself a moment—just a moment—of relief.
Khantun’s son was safe, and the planet would be, too.
1000 AE
Earth
i
The darkness inevitably gave way to light, and the sun began to rise above the horizon. Kitai was startled awake as he tried to move and felt constricted. He stretched and felt trapped under something. Panic forced his eyes open, and a ray of morning sunshine streaking through a gap in his binding nearly blinded him. He strained against whatever it was that confined him. Reduced to crawling, the teen moved toward the light and the promise of escape.