Shattered Destiny: A Galactic Adventure, Episode One (8 page)

With that, I
spun
on my boot and headed towards the door.

Though the corridor directly outside of my
private command room was completely empty, once I took a superfast
lift and reached one of the decks above, I saw the crew. This ship
had a compliment of over 500.

And as I passed a cluster of them, they all
stopped what they were doing, eyes widening with surprise as they
snapped salutes.

I ignored them, not even bothering to make
eye contact.

There was too much happening in my mind. A
storm of thoughts and hatred.

I curled a hand into a fist as I
considered how many men I had already lost to the Zorv. They kept
sweeping through the once peaceful systems of the Milky Way,
destroying everything that stood in their path.

More than that, they were concentrating
their attacks on Arterian strongholds. Going after resources and
critical transport routes.

I had insurmountable pressure from my family
to do something about it.

But that was nothing compared to the
pressure to find my betrothed.

Even as that poisonous thought arose in my
mind, I pushed it away as I angled my head forward and focused on
the end of the long, straight corridor.

While it would end, my trials would not.

Not until I finally found my
betrothed, and solidified my growing power. Without either, I would
die. If the Zorv
didn't
kill me, the
emptiness would. It was already pushing into my dreams on a daily
basis, tearing through my mind, using all its force to find a
weakness. And when it did – when it found a door into my
consciousness, it would invade, possessing me in full.

Despite my tumultuous, spinning thoughts, my
mind still drifted as I made my way towards the primary control
center in the ship.

They
drifted, because as I passed a female
crewmember, my mind jerked back to the battle at the refinery.
Specifically, the woman. The human, in her dirty scraps of
clothing. The human who’d saved my life and fought like an Arterian
star warrior in full armor.

The other members of my family drafted
galactic citizens at will, I barely used the power. Despite my
desperation, I couldn’t agree with snatching someone from their
life, not unless they wanted to come.

Today… the words had sprung from my lips
before I’d been able to stop them. It wasn’t just that I needed
warriors like her, it was… something more.

What that something more was, I would have
to wait to find out, for a second later I arrived at the primary
operations center. The large doors swished open before me as I
strode in.

Instantly every crewmember pushed to their
feet and saluted in turn.

The captain
pushed from his command seat in
the center of the room, clasped his hands behind his back, and
nodded low. “Prince Xarin, we respectfully
acknowledge
your presence.”

I strode in, bringing a hand up and waving
at him dismissively. “We can cut the official introduction. Tell me
where the Zorv have been detected.”

Every time I came
in
to the
operations room, the crew always pushed to their feet and saluted,
and the captain always went through the official
greeting.

It was tiring. A waste of time. But no
matter how often I told him to ignore tradition, he
wouldn’t.

For the Arterian Empire was built on
tradition.

It had arisen from the ashes of a
long-dead, great civilization that had spanned the universe. They
had existed over 2000 years ago. What had destroyed that
sophisticated civilization, we still did not know. Though there
were reportedly some within the Arterian Royal Family who knew the
full story, I was not one of them.

For the rest of us, it was
enough to appreciate that we lived
on
the
ashes of a civilization that had eclipsed us by centuries.
According to what little records we had, they had not only
possessed the technology to transport men and matter, but they had
held ships with the capability to traverse whole galaxies within
days.

Just that thought alone was enough to send a
cold shiver pressing down my spine.

Though I knew much less about that once
great civilization than other members of my family, I knew enough
to appreciate that the name of my ship originated from that period
of time.

The
Illuminate.

According to what I’d heard,
the
Illuminates had once guarded the entire universe before the
great fall.

Now all we
were
left with was their name and the occasional destroyed
relic.

“Zorv forces are building along a level
III transport route used for fuel shipments,” the captain
said.

I ground my teeth together.

“Change course to intercept.”

S
har

I was aboard an Arterian Royal war ship,
I’d been drafted into the Army, and yet, all I could do as I sat
there in the armory, waiting to be measured for my armor, was think
about that goddamn prince.

The thought of him completely owned my
mind.

I’d never experienced anything like this.
Anything so impossibly, goddamn invasive.

Though I’d never had a self-destructive
tendency in my life, my gaze flicked towards a blaster sitting on
the abandoned crates to my side. I suddenly got the urge to clutch
it up and take it to my head.

But the urge passed, quickly, as I
clenched my teeth and told myself I’d figure out what the hell was
going on. Maybe I had some kind of strange virus. Or I’d been hit
on the head this morning when I’d fought with the breakers. There
would be some way to explain what was happening to me. And
goddammit, I would find out what that was. And then… then I’d find
some way off this ship.

With that strong determination welling in
my heart, I sat there, teeth clenched, gaze locked hard on the far
side of the room as a few engineers worked on measuring my
armor.

I’d never had armor in the past, not by
choice, but out of a simple lack of funds. Armor wasn’t just
expensive to purchase, it was extremely expensive to
upkeep.

It was also meant to be hard to train
yourself to use, but as one of the engineering techs came up to me
and placed another gauntlet around my arm, and I managed to shift
the thing without the least bit of trouble, he shot me an impressed
look.

“Where exactly did they dig you up from?”
he asked from under his breath.

Maybe it was a simple joke, but I didn’t
like the look on the guy’s face. He, like most of the other
Arterian soldiers I’d met, looked upon me like a bit of dirt the
prince had dragged aboard.

I set my jaw into a strong line and didn’t
bother to answer.

In fact, I didn’t bother to
answer most questions
, and pretty much ignored everyone until my armor
was set.

Once it was complete and my helmet was
locked in place over my head, I felt like tearing the whole thing
off. I’d never been claustrophobic before, but then again, I’d
never been encased in a metal tomb, either.

Before I could whip the gauntlets off my
hands and chuck the helmet from my head, I heard footsteps, and
turned over my shoulder to see Mark walk into the room.

Immediately the engineers in the room stood
and saluted.

Most of them looked as though they were
full Arterians, and now I was close enough to see the difference, I
could tell that Mark was half human.

I’d always been taught that the Arterians
were an insular race – they liked their own. So I was surprised to
see a half human on the right-hand side of the prince.

My stomach coiled just thinking of him,
and I had to clench my teeth even harder to push that thought
away.

I took a rigid step towards Mark, one of my
hands still pressed over my gauntlet threateningly.

I watched his bright eyes flash down to it
as his eyebrows rose high into his hair line. “I wouldn’t recommend
that.”

I managed to unclench my teeth for half a
second. “What do you mean?”

“It takes a while to adjust. Trust me. But
you get used to it. Rip it off a few minutes after it’s been
soldered together, and it will only end up coming out of your
paycheck.”

“Paycheck?” My brow crumpled, even though
no one could see.

He chuckled. “Didn’t think you’d get
paid?”

I didn’t respond. There was one good thing
about this helmet – it hid my facial expressions. I could twist my
lips and sneer as much as I wanted. And for a woman as expressive
as me, that was a godsend.

Right now I narrowed my eyes at this Mark
character, pared my lips back, and shot him the kind of look that
told him I wanted to rip his kidneys out.

“You
will
get paid much more than you did at the refinery. The
Arterians look after their
royal
guards
.”

I made no effort to stop my back from
straightening, my shoulders from locking down, and my hands from
curling into fists. “I’m not Arterian.”

He looked at me seriously, and I saw his
gaze slice towards the Arterian engineers in the room. He appeared
to pause as if he were checking his words carefully. “No, you’re
not, but that doesn’t matter. Now you are a draftee in the Arterian
Army, you will have the full rights of an Arterian
citizen.”

I still glared at him from under the
confines of my armor. I didn’t want to have the full rights of an
Arterian citizen. I wanted all of this to go away. Though I didn’t
exactly love my life at the refinery, at least it was my
life.

Now I would work for this Prince Xarin,
following his beck and call….

I suddenly shivered violently, my
shoulders jerking.

Mark narrowed his eyes and
brought up
a
hand in a steadying motion. “I’m not lying. It will get easier. The
mind just takes a while to adjust to the confines of
armor.”

Maybe it was something to do with the kind
edge to Mark’s voice, but I found myself opening my lips and
replying honestly, “It feels like a coffin.”

He chuckled, crossing his arms and leaning
against the doorway. “That it does,” he said. There was something
strangely serious about his tone, something bitter, too. But
whatever it was, he wiped it away with a smile.

Mark the Imperial Star Guard
had a nice smile. It had been a while since I’d seen
a smile
.

I couldn’t exactly claim that my colleagues
at the refinery had been particularly good at putting you at ease,
but Mark appeared to have a skill for it, and I found myself
relaxing, if only a little.

Maybe Mark could see it, because he pushed
further into the room. “Would you like a tour of the
ship?”

I blinked. I also took the opportunity to
survey the expressions of the techs in the room. With just one look
at their expressions I realized it wasn’t normal for the prince’s
right-hand man to do something like this.

Mark flicked his gaze at the techs, too.

There was something there… something beyond
his smooth calm.

Before I could figure out what
it was, he pushed forward again, then nodded over his shoulder.
“Come on. This ship is huge. You won’t have much time to
familiarize yourself with it. Now
your
armor’s fitted, I imagine Xarin will want to take you on
missions, considering your skills.”

I stiffened even more, all the muscles along
my back becoming so hard a warning suddenly flashed over the
insides of my armor.

Mark motioned me forward once more.

…
And I
followed.

I hadn’t intended to, but my feet chose to
follow.

…

Prince Xarin

I stared at Arteria. Her hologram stood just
before me.

She wore a beautiful flowing
purple gown that touched along her bare feet. Her blood red hair
was
knotted
loosely over her shoulder, and it tapered
softly down her neck, drawing eyes to her neck.

She watched me, hands pressed
together in
a
half praying motion. I walked
nervously around the room, striding down one side of the room only
to turn sharply on my foot and spring down the other.

“Xarin, it will all work out. Have faith.
Have trust,” she said, her beautiful melodious voice tinkling like
a bell on the wind.

I brought up a sweaty hand and locked it on
my chin, finally stopping my pacing.

It felt like I was trapped. By the room, by
my ship, by tradition.

Just when the swirling nerves and anger
threatened to be too much, Arteria’s hologram took several steps
forward and reached a hand out towards me.

A few motes of dust travelled through her
fingers as they stretched towards my face. Her palm tried to lock
against my jaw, but could not.

For she was nothing more than tamed
light.

Though her move was clearly meant to comfort
me, it did the exact opposite.