• Choose a category
• All
• Classic-Fiction

Brand looked away from the plot table and out at the shipyard just in time to see it enveloped in an enormous explosion that ripped the thrustship free and sent the yard into a slow, tumbling roll. Swallowing hard, he ordered the mains directed at the mortally wounded structure and watched as they tore through what was left, turning the jumble of vessels inside into a spreading cloud of burned and twisted debris.

While the dissection continued, the damaged thrustship slowly fell planetward in a graceful death dive. The lead thrustship followed it part of the way down, then climbed out and away under full thrust, leaving half a dozen of its fighters scattered behind it, abandoned.

Brand turned away and leaned heavily on the plot table with both hands, as though he needed support for shaky legs.

“Now we know what it takes to beat them,” he whispered. “Begin recovery operations.”

Three thousand kilometers above the plane of the star system, the thrustship Tholos slowed to a stop and turned end for end.

During the climb out from the third planet, a full load of gravity bombs had been racked in the central drop chute, and the main batteries had been shuttled along their internal tracks until all eight were located in the ship’s upper hemisphere. From there, they could be directed at a single target during the attack dive.

Hold nothing back when you go to kill—

“Ko nakaza!” cried Par Drann, his fighting crests flushed and swollen. “Soko darama—for the honor of the viceroy, the Blessed, the All. Now, Proctor—there is our target. Speed! Before the vermin escape us—”

Nil Spaar gently caressed the mara-nas hanging in alcove five. In only three days it had more than doubled in size, and the surface had taken on a rich iridescent sheen that foretold a superior nesting. Wrapping his tongue around his finger, he drew in the complex scent and taste of the oily secretions.

Nitakka, he thought. A strong young male to carry my blood.

There was a noise behind him, and the viceroy turned to see Tal Fraan standing in the doorway of the cell. Behind him, Nil Spaar caught a blurred glimpse of the keeper as he hurried away, his errand completed.

“Darama,” Tal Fraan said, taking one step into the alcove and kneeling, his head lowered, his neck bared.

“My proctor cogent,” said Nil Spaar. With a half stride forward, he reached out and lightly laid his hand on the back of Tal Fraan’s head, keeping him in the posture of submission. “Tell me—when you warranted your knowledge of the vermin with your blood, was it sincere, or simply what was expected?”

“Most sincere, darama.”

“Good,” said Nil Spaar, tightening his grip on the younger male’s skull. His fighting crests were a purplish red and swelling quickly. “Now let us be certain of my memory. Did you promise me that the prospect of an alliance between myself and these Imperial vermin would fill Leia with such fear that she would not dare make war against the Blessed? This was a shadow they feared and would not dare enter—did you say that?”

“Darama, what has happened?”

Nil Spaar pushed Tal Fraan’s head down sharply, until his neck was bent to the breaking point. He made a fist with his other hand, and the long, sharp dewclaw slid out of its retractile casing. “The vermin destroyed Black Nine, at Prildaz.”

The resistance went out of Tal Fraan’s body. “I give you my blood as a gift to your child,” he murmured.

“You gave me this gift once before,” said Nil Spaar. “But this time I will take it.” He struck with such sudden violence that Tal Fraan’s head was severed completely, coming free in his hand while the body dropped to the floor. Discarding the head with casual contempt, Nil Spaar stepped over the body and left the alcove as the keeper came running.

“The sacrifice was unclean,” Nil Spaar said. “None of his blood is to go to my children. Make meal of his carcass.”

“Yes, Viceroy.”

Taking no notice of the blood spattered on his armor and vestments, Nil Spaar strode through the corridors with long strides and a vengeful countenance, driving those he encountered to flee before