Ellandra: A STORY OF THE HAILLAR DOMINION

Chapter Four

DON'T FORGET TO FOLLOW ME!

A monomolecular net was an insidious weapon.

It was designed specifically against any type of body armor, including eka shields, and took advantage of any gap in defenses no matter how small. It worked by projecting a network of intelligent filaments that could contract down to the width of a molecule, if needed, and burrow through any c****s it could find, expanding back on the other side. Its range was mercifully small, five or six paces at most, and then the smart network started to dissipate.

An Order shield could have been impervious if correctly done. A shield of Frost was not perfectly sealed, through adequate against most kinds of threats. Not against a monomolecular net, shot point-blank by an angry bird.

Both Del and Ortense were stopped in their tracks by the shiny net splashing against the adept’s shield. Splashing and passing right through. The Frost mistress had the presence of mind to throw an ice plate immediately behind the shield, but couldn’t complete it in time, and in any event, it was just a temporary measure that only gained her a blink of an eye. Enough for me to shroud both Haillar in a cocoon of Order. They were both out of action though, the Sen’Galahad bleeding from a thousand shallow cuts, Del’s chest churned into a mess of raw meat. Not far from them, a corpse laid in a pool of blood. Second Legate Halora hadn’t survived, after all.

I was left standing in the open door, flanked by the two remaining adepts who were in any shape to fight. Quars Mendina and another diplomate whose name I couldn’t remember found shelter further back, behind a bulkhead.

“Ah, the young diplomat turned hero, leading the charge,” croaked Krestellar, his hand stretched towards us, monomolecular glove ready to fire. On either side of him, four burly reptiloids looked eager to use their high caliber weapons leveled our way. The kreussa were already here.

“Are they your fabled suppliers, master Krestellar?”

The avian issued an odd sound I belatedly realised was a chuckle.

“Quite the contrary, young lady. They are the customers, I’m afraid. And there is an entire fleet of them on the way, ready to make a point if needed.”

I had expected a net in my face or maybe a hail of penetrators. The last thing I expected was to have a chat with this traitor over the bleeding body of my friend.

The station master appeared to be in a chatty mood, or most likely wanted something from us. Having removed any serious threats, I seemed to be the one he had chosen for stating his demands.

“Your meddling has complicated an otherwise neat transaction, Haillar. I had promised these gentlemen half of the funds received for arming this station, in exchange for their support. The issue is, now I don’t have those credits, and after having to take care of your lot not even a fool like Erdolminer would be stupid enough to make the transfer.”

So, this entire affair was just an ordinary theft, albeit a grand scale robbery by the look of it. A scam that looked increasingly likely to evolve into extorsion, if I read the situation correctly. A step down from high treason and collusion with the Scourge, but only just.

I had to wrap this out as soon as possible. Del was bleeding to death on the floor, and the Resident didn’t look much better. We had another wounded adept left behind.

“What do you want from us,” I asked.

Krestellar gave an unspoken command, and the bridge screen came to life. A mottled assortment of warships looked to be suspended in space above a blue moon I recognized in an instance. The kreussa fleet must now be close, hidden on the other side of Caldeor’s satellite.

“I need you to be a messenger of sorts, young lady. I need you to pass my requests to the Dominion authorities. I want them to double Caldeor’s funds initially assigned for this station, or the entire colony below would suffer a terrible accident. I’ll undertake to convince the King myself to cover his share, as per our original plan. Oh, and of course, if any Dominion carrier shows itself in the system, this planet burns.”

Well, I had news for this pirate and thief. The relevant Dominion authorities were already in the system.

“Consider the Suzerain Queen informed,” I say, gathering my eka at the same time.

An Oblivion blast is instantaneous, and there is no mundane defence against it. Furthermore, it has the added benefit of only affecting living matter. We couldn’t quite afford to wreck the remaining part of the Huynar station, or we’d be left breathing vacuum in orbit around Caldeor.

An Oblivion blast is an ugly way to die, but I didn’t have time to be nice. I was strong enough to make it mercifully quick. With a clatter, five heavy caliber guns, and a monomolecular glove hot the deck in quick succession.

I crouched immediately by Del’s side. Oh Flame, her chest was a b****y mess of shards of bone and raw tissue. I started feeding as much eka I could, feeling it wouldn’t be enough. Next to me, the grizzled healer kneeled and joined me, melding his Life tendrils with my own. I caught his eyes, and he shook his head sadly.

“Stay with me, Delora! Stay with me, my friend! Don’t die on me, Del. Don’t die, remember your promise.”

Delora’s eyes widened for a moment, pools of black on her pain-stricken face. I was the only one calling her Del, the only one knowing about her promise. The two of us together, bringing a new race into the Dominion.

“Xendara, is that you? But how, my queen?”

“I’m here with you, my friend. Hold on and let me help. Hold on and live, it’s not your time to die.”

I never lied, but in those moments, I knew myself to be a liar, for no one, not even the Life Queen could hope to bring Delora back. Not the way her chest was shattered. Not here, on an empty station, with no way to keep her alive while bones and tissues would be slowly regrown. Not here, surrounded by enemies and waiting for the kreussa fleet to act any moment from now.

Del grasped my hand, her fist clenched in my fist. A final hold, so much similar to the way we used to clasp hands when she was the Novitiate Delora Hardun and me a newly ascended queen, pretty much as I was now. Moments later her hand opened and fell weakly, as the last tortured breath left her shattered chest, and her spirit raised to the stars.

I knew myself for being a fraud then and there. I kneeled next to the body of my friend on Huynar’s Bridge, or whatever name the driang gave to their command center. I was supposed to be the powerful one, the immortal defender of my race. Yet, I was unable to cheat death, no not really, not when it mattered. I even failed the people I loved.

I should have told Del the truth. I should have been by her side. I, the Chaos Queen, not the Sen’Galahad Resident. My friend was dead, and it was mostly my fault.

I was like a puppet on strings, playing the same act over and over again and each time hoping it would end differently. Each time to the same tragic finale. Everyone died, and I was the only one left standing, to start the life and death cycle once again.

“My lady, is it true? Are you her, are you the Chaos Queen reborn?”

I raised my eyes to the blood-drenched silhouette of Ortens Sen’Galahad, her white dress shredded by a hundred cuts, her shoulder a mess. I looked around and noticed the survivors. Quars Mendina, no longer prim and groomed. The other diplomat, miraculously unhurt. The two surviving adepts from Ortens’ detail, one of them the elderly healer.

“I am …” I said, gathering my last shards of will and slowly raising up. Turning to face the screen and the space panorama outside. The planet below, dotted with city lights and the blue satellite in the distance. Dozens of shimmering shards coming around the moon, coming towards us. The kreussa.

“I am Ellandra Ashar Sen Dorien, the Chaos Queen. And I fear we have a marauder fleet to welcome.” And a friend to avenge.

***

There were hundreds of kreussa factions, spread all around the Dominion. Some of them allied with us, some with the Scourge, some supposedly neutral. None of them to be trusted.

Standing on Huynar’s bridge, I couldn't tell who were the ones currently approaching us. I wouldn’t be surprised if they belonged to a clan claiming to be allied with the Dominion. It didn’t really matter.

My crew consisted of precisely one adept. Ortens Sen Galahad had stubbornly refused to leave my side, while the rest of the survivors fortified the hatch against any of Krestellar’s crew still alive and willing to storm the bridge. Not that I expected many traitors left.

“My Queen, I’m yours to command.”

When fighting in space, the Sen’Haillar always respected a basic rule: ‘never handle eka alone, always do it in pairs.’ The reason for this was simple. The more destructive power was thrown towards the enemy, the more the adept’s inner balance was affected. Until her mind could no longer cope with the stress and shattered. Many powerful adepts had ended up this way, mad with power and eventually destroyed by their own side. There was nothing more dangerous in a fight than one of your own losing control. It was the one thing that really scared us, for the capacity for destruction was limitless.

Problem was, Ortens and I made a poor pairing. Oh, it wasn’t because of our earlier clashes or any lingering dislike we may harbor. Proper pairs involved adepts with matching affinities. Chaos and Order. Life and Oblivion. Fire and Frost. That’s why my usual anchor was my sister queen. Reith Sen’Dorien, the Mistress of Order.

I could balance Ortens’ use of Frost, that wasn’t an issue. All adepts could wield the entire spectrum of aspects, yet only one is dominant. Mine was Chaos, but as a queen, I could handle enough Fire to counter Ortens’ Frost. But there was no one around to balance me, something the Resident knew all too well. She couldn’t gather enough Orders to keep me straight if the need occurred. Nobody could, except for Reith. Let’s hope it wouldn’t come to that. After all, we weren’t facing a Scourge assault, but only a bunch of pirates.

The second reason adepts fought in pairs was priorities management. From capital ships to single pair interceptors, stronger offensive talents were always coupled with defensive ones. It made sense for us to do the same. Ortens was a decently strong defender against both energy and kinetic weapons, despite her failure to block the monomolecular net attack. Frost adepts usually were, as their job often was to act as shields for their Fire brothers and sisters.”

“Protect the station, Ortens, and let me focus on our dear guests.”

Said guests chose this particular moment to make themselves known by sending a wide-band broadcast, addressed both to the station and to the planet beyond. I guessed they had no way to know their allies’ status, though clearly had been in contact with them recently enough.

“Snake Heart to the planet Caldeor. You are under attack, and your defense capabilities are severely damaged. As a steadfast ally of the Dominion, the White Claw clan comes to your support in this hour of need.”

My earlier musings must have been closer to the truth than I thought possible. Last time I checked, White Claw was indeed listed as a nominal ally of the Dominion and a friend of the House Dorien. Unless they planned to switch sides from the very beginning, I doubt the lizards’ original intention was to openly declare their identity. It would have been a quick hit and run, pirates and conspirators murdering anyone not involved in this robbery and disappearing with the funds. By the time the planetary authorities would have realized something was wrong, the credits would have already been transferred away by the very people entrusted to manage them.

Right now, somebody in the kreussa fleet, most likely the White Claw chieftain himself, was quick on his feet and modified the plans to fit the change in circumstances. Specifically, me ruining the station and inadvertently rendering the original scheme useless. By now, Caldeor’s authorities were alerted that something odd was happening upstairs and no funds were coming.

The unnerving station alarm started to blare suddenly and markings indicating an external threat came to life on a newly opened partition on the screen. Incoming torpedoes.

I projected my mind swiftly outwards, on the way checking that our Frost shields were indeed adequate to deal with the incoming threat. I threw an eka net, the easiest way to identify powered objects in space.

There. A second wave of ships was approaching Caldeor on a different vector. The newcomers had just declared their intention by firing a random salvo, a warning shot more than anything else.

Apparently, White Claw was planning to portray themselves as the saviors, defending the helpless planet against the incoming aggressors, no doubt the same people who sabotaged Huynar. For a small fee of course, at the minimum equal with the spoils expected from the original heist.

No doubt, for this scenario to work Huynar needed to be destroyed during the upcoming battle between Caldeor’s valiant defenders and the unknown marauders, no doubt another kreussa clan. Or even a second White Claw fleet for that matter, as bringing an ally in would have meant splitting the spoils.

I didn’t usually have much sympathy for the bandits attacking my fiefs, and today even less so. The second fleet was clearly involved in hostile action against the Dominion and, the Accords’ response to this act of war was unequivocal.

I raised a wide curtain of eka in space, an invisible wall seconds away from the incoming warships. The most passive use of Chaos I could imagine. The least obvious use of eka and also the most economical one. No, I wouldn’t face any risk of losing my balance today.

The aggressor fleet slammed into the Chaos barrier and disappeared. There were no explosions in space. There were no last moment warnings between the invading vessels. No desperate manoeuvres to avoid their fate.

One moment the kreussa fleet was there, the next it was gone, simply vanished never to be seen again. Chaos was indeed the most devastating aspect a Haillar can wield, the very definition of total annihilation.

I turned to the screen and responded calmly, moments after the chieftain’s message.

“White Claw, thank you for your warning, but no assistance in this matter is needed. The raiding force had been dealt with. There are no enemies left in Caldeor’s space.”

Silence reigned supreme for an interminable moment.

“What? How? Who are you, Haillar representing Caldeor?”

“I am Ellandra Ashar Sen’Dorien, The Suzerain Queen.”