"And as sunny as your disposition. Give them a half-powered shot on the shields," Anna said, lounging back in her throne. Today she'd dressed for diplomacy, which meant barely at all, in red and gold.
I let loose with a few seconds from our beam cannon at low power. I'd tweaked the emitters to match Anna's chosen colors, a red beam lancing across the shield.
It didn't take long to get a comm signal from the surface. It was visual so I put it through to a screen. The man looked to be in his early thirties, dressed in a gray duster.
"We are an unarmed settlement under the protection of the Legasa," said the man, before pausing and squinting at his display. "Scholarium Aderitus Besari?"
"Badass Queen of the whole motherfucking world, if you're going to insist on titles, Scott. It has been awhile," Anna said.
They knew each other. That wasn't a total surprise, Anna had these coordinates memorized and the settlement below didn't look large. If she had ever served here, she likely knew everyone.
"Not long enough, since you're shooting at us. Do you have any idea how long it took us to get that Viraxum dust out of the vents?" Scott asked.
"You were chasing me with a digger bot. I had to scramble your sensors," Anna said.
"You'd left us tied up and indecent in the arboretum after stealing that core," Scott said.
"Good times. Me, airship with heavy firepower, and unless you missed it Queen of the whole Motherfucking World," Anna said.
"Pretty sure you made that title up," Scott said.
The man was elbowed out of the way by a younger-looking blonde woman. "Excuse Scott. He is bitter and not too bright. Hi Anna, love the outfit."
"Zora? I thought you'd have transferred away by now?" Anna said.
Fascinating though this all was, I was picking up some strange readings. It was a Powered individual drawing upon a considerable use of their powers.
"If we're quite done rehashing why nobody likes you, there is something suspicious going on. I believe they're planning some sort of attack," I said.
"Hit them with a full blast," Anna said.
I fired another blast at the shields, this time at full intensity. The heat from the three suns had to be a constant drain on their systems—it was on our shields. The shields flickered for a moment and continued to hold.
"Zora, I'm fond of you and I don't completely hate Scott, but fuck with my ship and I will kill every fucking one of you. If the title isn't making it clear, I don't care about the Legasa any longer," Anna said.
The power readings dampened.
"Bullying appears to be an adequate substitute for friendship," I said.
"We're standing down. So you're really going for it?" Zora asked.
"All the way. I'm not here to catch up on time. The word is that someone has found Aelfwal. Do you know who?" Anna asked.
Anna had been short on details of her plan. Obviously it involved stirring the pot among the Scholars.
"You're hoping to steal it away? Zora asked.
"Something like that. I heard they haven't claimed it yet, but they’re attempting to get through some sort of shielding. You’re both archaeologists, surely you've heard something?"
Zora and Scott talked amongst each other.
"We haven't heard anything. Truly," Zora said.
"Not that we'd tell you if we had," Scott said.
"Send me your transmission logs. I'll verify," Anna said.
"Screw you," Scott said.
"Scott..." Zora said.
"No, we are not doing this with her. Not again. If she wants to blow us to hell, she can," Scott said.
"Don't suppose you happen to be hiring?" Zora asked.
"Seriously?" Anna asked
"Sure. I mean, you're kind of a ruthless self-serving bitch which sucked when you were a coworker. I kind of like it in a monarch," Zora said.
Anna looked agonized and shook her head. "Sorry, Zora. Tempted to say yes, but I just can't trust you. You're the Legasa's creature, you always have been."
Zora raised a pistol and shot Scott in the face. There was the expected blood and gurgling as he fell back.
"I just tendered my resignation and applied for a new position all at once," Zora said.
Anna stared impassively at the screen. "Kill the feed. Get us out of here, Emma."
"You aren't going to take her up on her offer? She reminds me a bit of you," I said.
Anna let out a low sigh. "You saw how she tried to appeal to me? She could have flirted, she could have called on old times. I'd have taken her up on either, but she treated me as a killer who would be impressed by killing. It was a glimpse of what she thinks of me. If I let her aboard she'd be waiting for her chance to take me out. It’s what you do with killers—it’s what killers do."
It was an interesting insight. I keyed our next set of coordinates.
37
When we next materialized we were in the air just above a flying city. It was improbably located above three tornadoes that churned with terrible fury below.
"Did the Scholars make it a point to send you to the most miserable places in existence in the hopes of getting rid of you? They may be more intelligent than I'd given them credit for," I said.
"It is all about the pursuit of cores. It’s in the most inhospitable of areas they are likely to have gone overlooked," Anna said.
"But you're still sending people you hate the most out to look for them, I'd assume," I said.
"You aren't wrong. Listen up, we aren't going to start out shooting here. We don't want to knock out a stabilizer and send the ship anywhere near those tornadoes. Open me a channel," Anna said.
I tried but got no response.
"I've opened you a line, but they aren't sending a feed in return," I said.
Anna settled back and announced, "This is Annabella Besari, Queen of the World and your rightful monarch. The word is that Aelfwal has been found. Tell me all that you know and I shall leave you in peace."
I got sudden readings of objects materializing near the hull. I focused my sensors on one and found it to be a combat drone of a type more advanced than my own. It fired a concussive blast that caused the shield to ripple. The others were doing the same.
"We're taking fire," I said.
"Then return it, but avoid the city itself," Anna said.
I opened up with the side cannons. Their drones were difficult to lead, and the high winds outside complicated matters considerably. They seemed to have routines to deal with the turbulence, but I didn’t have anything similar.
I compensated by increasing the rate of fire. If you aren't aiming properly there is something to be said for a wide distribution of fire. It paid off and one of the drones went spinning through the air in a spray of sparks.
"I am not amused. Stand down your attack or I will open fire on the city," Anna called.
Outside, space twisted again. It was a pair of airships flanking us on either side. They were both smaller than the Powerhungry, and clearly warships. They immediately opened fire, a withering blast hitting our shields.
I activated overdrive in combination with the thrusters and executed a sharp lift in altitude. I had Hot Stuff in the chair for the main gun, drawing off her power set, and I fired a shot charged with her heat powers.
The air warped and twisted between us and the target vessel. Its shields held and the ship swiveled away out of the line of fire.
"I see them," Anna said.
Great, she still had her eyesight. That wasn't helping me to deal with the situation. I maneuvered for a second shot on the same vessel. This one took down its shields and the last part of the beam sliced a line through its hull leaving glowing metal in its wake.
Both the ships opened fire at the same time and this time it was our shields that went down.
Our BioArmor was durable, but they were warships and I didn't doubt they had solid plating of their own.