Page 84 of May the Stars Have Mercy
They sizzled. Their screams softened. The light wasn’t enough, but that’s all she needed.A room made of tech screens.Her arms were jelly as she set her data pad beside her, leaving a beam of sharp white light beside her. Fingers trembling as she clawed at the ring around her ribs. It took everything in her to pull them apart. Her throat burned as she cried out in desperation. Xexis’ hands and legs thumped as he tossed himself near her. The Brexzkit crawled closer. Their flesh stunk like burnt hair and toxic fumes that danced off their sizzling flesh. Aphrodite wobbled as she climbed to her feet. Their long tendrils reached out for her. Panic zapped through her and she slammed one half of the rings into the table. Switches all over the top of it scrambled. Buzzing worse than the wasps filled the air as the table lit up in bright light. The Brexzkit screamed louder, recoiling to the wall. Aphrodite beat the ring into the table again, harder. If there was one thing, the bane of her existence outside of her dead crew, human skin, and emotions getting the best of her…were fucking magnets. Hundreds of years of tech advancements and yet something so simple could render all her tech useless. Fry it. Scramble it to smithereens.
And Aphrodite scrambled the motherboard of the table till it was shrieking, lights flashing like an angry strobe light, and held out the other half of her ring to the wall. Step after step, the Brexzkit shrank into the wall, she pushed the magnet against its nature toward the wall. Suddenly, red lights began to show…until they turned white. Little white dots pierced through the sludgy body of her enemy. Their screams fell on angry, uncaring ears as she surged forward. The magnet snapped against the wall and all of them fried at once. The telltale electronic hiss as the servers within the walls broke apart filled her with glee. Inch by inch, burned away by a devouring light, the Brexzkit fell away from the wall. Clumps of ashy, dried flesh dropped to the floor at her feet.
The doors snapped open and the alarms of the station finally greeted the pair.
“My mate,” Xexis croaked, using the flashing table as support.
“We gotta go after them. Who knows what they have left. They’ll infect the Council!” Aphrodite spat, blood splashing against her teeth as she stumbled away from the wall.
“Come to me first.”
Aphrodite turned to face him, both of them filthy with little bite marks across their skin. He extended a hand to her that she took eagerly. Xexis pulled her in close to his chest, breathing heavily in her ear. “This is not your fault, my mate.”
“Xexis—”
“I felt it, you never hesitate, you’ve never feared like that. Your mind is an endless array of calculations and solutions, and yet, I’ve never heard you scream like that… My mate, this was not your fault. And we will destroy them, but you must cleanse your mind of such thoughts or else you will hesitate again. The hunt will get in your head instead of getting your head into the hunt. Do you understand?” He peeled back enough to stare down into her face. Aphrodite, numb to the touch, trembling and afraid, nodded vigorously. Xexis swallowed loudly. “Good, now…we hunt.”
Chapter Forty-Eight:
Xexis
Hewouldneverhearher scream like that again. He would not allow it. Not while there was still air in his chest or blood in his body. Aphrodite scrambled out of the room and Xexis charged after her. Thrumming with righteous fury, he couldn’t stand around to mourn his father. He would not allow the vision he saw taint the memory of his Korzavic. His father was a strong elder, wise, cunning, sharp, and fought to the last. Which is probably why his eye was nearly gouged out and infected. The Korzavic probably realized he was infected and tried to remove the Brexzkit himself. Unfortunately, it seemed that Vroz bodies did not infect well. Their flesh deteriorated quickly. Xexis had never seen someone so clearly held together by sheer force before…and he would kill the creature wearing his father’s face quickly. The Korzavic deserved a glorious death, not one of pain and rot.
Xexis flew out of the inner halls and found the station alive and in panic. Screams from multiple people told him what happened in quick succession. A human man and the Korzavic cleaved their way to the Council ship, taking Xnasis and Kinsi with them.
“Shit,” Aphrodite hissed, making quick work of finding Buddy trapped in a decorative vase.
“Armor,” Xexis instructed, scooped her up in one arm and bolting toward his armory. Their armor was kept there for cleansing and upgrades. Aphrodite didn’t fight him, instead her fingers flyingacross the keyboard of her data pad. Buddy whizzed past Xexis, clearing a path.
“Kannatch!” Reevar called out from across the station, charging after Xexis.
“Secure the station!” Xexis commanded.
“Where are you going?” Reevar bellowed as he fought his way through the crowds.
“To hunt my father,” Xexis slowed to a stop in front of the armory, twisting to face Reevar. “Find the others, have every drone we own scan and secure the station. I want every shadow searched and every room cleansed of rot. See that the Korzavic’s chambers are cleansed as well.”
“What about you? Where is the Brexzkit taking the Korzavic’s corpse?” Reevar put his hand to the sensor, opening the armory door. “I knew who that human was the second I saw his face but I could not stop him from snatching the Mphrovic. Xnasis chased after them but was captured all the same.”
“The Council. If they arrive, the whole Council could be infected, and this time, I do not think they intend to be stealthy.” The Brexzkit did not have the numbers for a slow infiltration. Their only chance was to capture the leaders as quickly as possible and breed. There was no time, even one more Brexzkit than before would mean disaster. Besides, if they infected Xnasis…or Kinsi… Xexis’ heart sank as he dove inside the armory. He sat Aphrodite down onto her feet, letting her scramble to pull her armor on. Xexis stopped to face Reevar. “Protect the station, ensure it is safe and secure, and if I do not hail back that the infection was cleansed, then assume we were compromised and blast us from the stars.”
“Zhat muq brotesqu,Kannatch.” Reevar’s eyes widened as Xexis jerked away from his friend and ally to find his armor. It was kept in a case close to the front with his name and rank carved into a plaque above it. Reevar followed him, muttering, “That would…”
“Xreck would be Korzavic and you Kannatch,” Xexis whirled to face Reevar, feeling the weight of his declaration. Rolling the rings down his arm till they were in his palms. The case holding his armor hissed open behind him. Xexis placed his title rings into his oldest friend’s hands. “And should this be my final hunt, it was an honor.Vels Zet,Reevar.”
“Vels Zet, Xexis, and may the stars keep you safe.”
Xexis cupped his friend’s shoulder tenderly, nodding to him before turning to his armor. Reevar left quickly after the rings were pulled up onto his arms. They pulsed with light as the Vroz left to secure the station. Xexis’ chest warmed to hear Reevar command those around him and the panic slowed around the station.
He was in all but his helmet with Aphrodite returned to his side, her data pad strapped to her arm and Buddy sat on her opposite shoulder. Xexis brought her forehead to his.
If this is the end…then it was a glorious hunt together.
Aphrodite pushed up onto her toes, kissing his temple. Then, taking him by the arm, she followed the path on her data pad. “I’ve gotten one of the smaller vessels ready to launch.”
Xexis pulled on his helmet, shivering as it hissed into place. The connector clicked deep into the back of his skull and the screens lit up before him. An exact replica of his previous armor that had been crunched by the Brexzkit. Only there was strangely a newtext box that appeared. Translucent but to the top left was a small gray box.
Now I can speak with Xexis and Aphrodite Kerso at the same time.
