Shattered Destiny: A Galactic Adventure, Episode One (20 page)

I had no idea what she was talking about.
That didn’t stop me from punching to the side and rolling, coming
up behind her, and firing several more bullets her way. This time I
didn’t waste ammo on trying to shoot her directly – I let the
bullets sink into the floor below her feet, hoping they’d be strong
enough to create some kind of hole big enough to drop her through
it.

Without any apparent order from the woman,
the flickering blue inertia fields spread over the floor and
protected it, absorbing my blasts with ease.

I swore, spittle flying over my lips and
chin.

The woman brought her hands forward and
clapped.

Then she moved. Faster than anyone I’d ever
seen.

With no warning, she was upon me, sinking
a hand into my gut. Though I wore armor, it didn’t matter, as
suddenly a charge of powerful blue energy shot from her fingertips
and sank into me.

It blasted me back, sending me slamming
against the far wall.

Arterian weapons fell off the rack around me
as my body crumpled.

Every muscle locked with pain, and I had to
battle to draw in a single breath.

A breath that would be my last.

For the woman reached me again, crossing the
room in half a second. Then she loomed above me, one of her
sparking, crackling hands drawing close to my helmet.

…

Prince
Xarin

I
couldn’t… fight this.

The compulsion in my mind, in my
hands.

Guided me forward.

I
knew I should be with my crew, I
should be trying to find out what was wrong with the
scanners.

I
wasn’t.

Instead I was running through the
corridors, headed to God knows where.

With every step more desperation powered
through my gut.

My
body shook underneath my armor, so
much sweat clogging my brow my hair was stuck against my
neck.

I
began muttering, in a language I
couldn’t even recognize. Low, quick, snapped, desperate
words.

They – like the compulsion locked in my
hands – came from somewhere beyond me.

A connection.

A connection that screamed at me to
hurry.

Before I knew what I was doing, I reached
one of my secure Arterian weapons lockers.

There was no reason to rush in here – no
one could enter this room but me.

So why couldn’t I
stop myself
as I thrust out a hand and used my armor to
override the security codes locking the door in place?

Why couldn’t I stop
myself
as I thrust forward through the doors before they
barely had a chance to open?

Why?

Because she was in here.

Shar
.

I
ran in just as I saw a woman in a
purple cloak leaning over Shar’s body.

The woman was an Arterian assassin. From
the cloak, to the technology riddled through her body – there was
no mistaking her.

She loomed over Shar, Shar’s helmet in her
hand.

I
caught sight of Shar’s face – caught
sight of her fear, of her terror.

As I powered into the room, the assassin
turned.

She arched her neck my way.

“What are you doing on my ship?” I boomed,
voice punching through the room.

Without a moment’s hesitation, I went for
my sword.

Which was a potentially treasonous move.

All Arterian assassins were members of the
royal family. And it was forbidden to directly physically threaten
royalty.

Oh no, my family chose to undermine each
other through fear, intrigue, and machinations instead.

But I couldn’t stop
myself
as I sent a charge of energy powering through the
blade until it glowed a blistering purple-white.

The assassin took several slow, almost
languid steps towards me, Shar’s helmet still held thoughtfully in
her hands.

The woman tipped her head to the side and
appeared to consider me, her cloak never tugging up higher than her
lips. “Sheath your sword, prince. You know I am a member of the
royal family. You have no right to draw up a weapon in front of
me.”

“Get away from her,” I said through
clenched teeth.

Sha
r coughed, her body still slouched
against the wall, several droplets of blood splashing out onto her
chin and broken breastplate.

My stomach turned at that, felt as if it
would tear from my body.

The assassin continued to walk towards me,
though she briefly inclined her head towards Shar. “Prince, lower
your sword. You have no right to lift your weapon against a member
of your own family.”

“Put down her helmet and get on your
knees,” I said, never dropping my sword.

Nothing mattered to me at that
moment. Not reason, not tradition.
Nor
the fact that this could get me
stripped of my title, my possessions and my
privileges
.

All I wanted to do was tear through the
assassin and get to Shar, check that she was okay….

Before I knew what was happening, I thrust
forward, and launched towards the assassin.

She was clearly surprised, but jumped back
just in time, her lips jerking wide over her teeth.

I had not chosen to slash at her – my hands
had.

“What are you doing?” she hissed. “Don’t
you care for tradition?”

“Get away from her,” I screamed once more,
voice so loud it could have taken the ceiling down.

The assassin darted back, quicker than any
ordinary person could move. She flipped and sprinted until she
stood atop the crates. She glared down at me, head tilted to the
side. “How did you know we were in here?”

“I won’t let you hurt her,” I snapped
back.

The assassin shifted her tongue over her
teeth. “Perhaps I underestimated the connection. You should not be
here, Xarin. You should have waited your turn. But no
matter.”

Connection.

That word flooded my mind, sank into my
consciousness like a knife trying to split it down the middle.

I almost fell to one knee.

But I didn’t get the opportunity.

For the assassin thrust towards me.

My armor could scan her body, and I’d
already detected the numerous Illuminate implants grafted through
her form.

She would be a formidable foe.

I didn’t shrink back.

I bellowed as I brought my shining blade
around and sliced it towards her.

She was too quick, and dodged away,
bringing a hand up and sending a charge of electricity punching
from it. She had no gun, she simply used her furled-back
fingers.

I wasn’t quick enough to dodge – as the
blast sank into the shoulder plate of my armor.

Though my armor managed
to
disperse
most of the energy, it couldn’t discharge
it completely, and a few errant charges sank down to my body
below.

The assassin was relentless. She attacked
me with everything she had. Flipped and jumped, sprinted and with
all the agility and speed of a superfast robot.

Though I tried to lock all my attention on
her, my gaze kept shifting towards Shar.

It was clear she could barely move. But
her eyes were still open, and that gave me enough hope to continue
the fight.

For all it was worth.

The assassin was too well
armed. She flung towards me with another
deadly
blow, sending a pulse of electricity sinking into my
neck.

It jerked my head back and I fell harshly to
the side.

Before I knew what she was doing, the
assassin loomed above me and locked something onto the back of my
head.

My armor started to convulse, my limbs
shifting around as my head jolted back and forth, slamming into the
floor like a hammer against an anvil. It sent out great shuddering
booms that echoed through the room.

“No,” I heard somebody call. It was a
strangled, meek voice. A voice on the edge of death.

Sha
r.

Somehow I fought against the crippling
energy snaking through my armor, and I shifted my head until my
visor locked on her.

Sha
r was trying to get to her
feet.

And somehow she managed it.

Though she had to lock a hand on the wall
for support, soon she pushed off, and she somehow found the
strength to throw herself into a sprint.

Her lips pared back from her teeth, and she
shot towards the assassin.

The assassin didn’t even bother to turn
around. With her head still turned to me, she thrust out a hand and
grabbed Sha by the throat.

Instantly I felt ghostly fingers lock
around my own throat.

I began to splutter just as Shar did the
same.

Eventually the assassin tipped her head to
the side and locked her attention on Shar. “Your turn.”

“No,” I screamed. Somehow I fought past
whatever the assassin had done to my armor, and I punched to my
feet, throwing myself at the assassin, wrapping my arms around her
middle, and wrenching her grip from Sha’s throat.

Sha
r crumpled, and I threw the assassin
to the ground.

That’s when she punched up, an energy sword
forming in her hand.

A sword with the power to slice through my
armor.

A sword with the power to kill me
instantly.

…
I’d underestimated
her.

Somehow time stretched just long enough
for me to lock my gaze on Shar once more.

Somewhere in the back of my
mind seven words echoed –
in another lifetime, I will see you
again.

The assassin thrust towards me.

But her sword barely dented my armor. For
at that moment somebody thrust into the room. They activated some
kind of grenade, and it pulsed through the air. It didn’t appear to
affect me or Shar, and instead concentrated all its deadly force on
the assassin.

The woman screamed.

A directed energy field suddenly appeared
over her body, and it tugged her into the air, yanking her arms and
legs out and dragging her head back.

Finally the cloak fell from her face,
withering up and turning to ash as the assassin screamed and
screamed.

The directed energy field appeared to be
pulling her apart on the molecular level.

I staggered to my knees, then my feet. I
saw who had thrown the grenade.

Arteria
.

She was standing in the doorway, her chest
pressing up and down as she panted, her hand still held out, her
fingers spread in mid throw.

The assassin screamed one final time, and
her head jerked to the side.

She was dead.

The inertia field cut out, and her bloodied
form fell to the ground by my feet.

I barely noticed as Arteria threw herself
forward and thrust towards me. She wrapped her arms around my
middle. “Oh my God, Xarin, are you okay?”

“How… what… how?” I couldn’t control my
voice, let alone my thoughts as they thundered through my
mind.

“I knew you were in trouble. I can’t
explain it, but I was drawn here—” Arteria began.

Before she could finish, the assassin
moved.

She was still alive.

Somehow.

She brought a hand down, and activated
something on her belt.

An explosive device.

This room abutted the outer
hull
. Though
the exterior hull plating was so thick and reinforced it would be
able to withstand most explosions, I instinctively knew this one
would be too strong.

Sha
r was at my feet. Just in
reach.

I didn’t have time, didn’t have time – the
explosive device went off.

Rather than cascade out in a destructive
ball of fire, it suddenly shot across the room and locked on the
wall that led out to the outer hull.

And obliterated it.

Instantly, the atmosphere was sucked out of
the room.

Arteria
was ripped from my
grip.

She was sucked towards the hole in the
hull. Just as Shar was.

My armor was powerful enough to lock on the
floor and hold me in place.

I pushed forward, thrusting towards
them.

Both of them managed to clutch hold of a
warped, torn section of the hull plating, their legs dangling
behind them as the venting atmosphere tried to suck them into the
void.

Both reached
hand
s out
towards me.

T
he compulsion tearing through my body, the
tingling in my hands – every haunting sensation that had driven me
insane over the past several weeks – they all told me to go for
Sha. I didn’t.

I reached towards Arteria and managed to
grab her just in time.