Blood Prize

Chapter 24: Battle Plans

“I’m not leaving him there, not to be tortured by Jinta,” Kala growled each syllable angrily.  It had been her fault, she had been the one to push him into going, how could she not be angry?  “If I have to do it with just the Fortune, then so be it.”

Beside her, Hranik recoiled at the anger she was expressing, not that it mattered.  He had never been her supporter and she doubted that he would now, especially since it was just he and her that were the proper crew of the ship; everyone else was either dead or captured and Ihkra wasn’t a member.  He waved a blue hand around, making huffing noises that were akin to a human scoff.

“Getting yourself killed, Kala’Ital, is not going to get you anywhere and I serious doubt that’s what Leibowitz of Earth would have wanted,” Hranik stated.

“I doubt Chantal wanted to get herself killed, either, Hranik,” she stopped.  “She wanted to get out of this business,” she said the word apprehensively, not knowing whether it was the right word to say, “and return to Earth on a full pardon.  Live her days out in some place call Poland, where she had been born.  I wanted her to be the Queen Consort.  Fate or destiny or Gods and Goddesses or some bullshit greater power wanted her to die.  We don’t all get what we want.”  She looked at him.  “How are the engines and battle systems?”

“Engines are good.  Shields and weapons could use a few more hours of work to get them ready to battle an entire Straxi Fleet, but they’ll be as good as can be,” Hranik stated.

“Good,” Kala nodded.  She didn’t say anything else as they both turned their opposite ways, Hranik towards Engineering and she towards the Bridge.  They didn’t need to.  There was nothing else to say right now; they both knew what their orders were.

She entered the Bridge to spot Ihkra in the command chair.  For a brief moment, anger flooded her.  She wanted to go over there and throw the Jogunti bitch from the chair, from Chantal’s chair, her fists clenched and ready to do just that.  But she relaxed.  It wasn’t Chantal’s chair anymore, it was simply the command chair.  Chantal wasn’t coming back, not now, not ever.  Kala had to accept that, regardless of how hard it was to let go.  She slid into her own chair at the Weapons console and brought up the systems.

No self-respecting Straxi weapons officer would ever let the systems checks go to anyone else - nor would they ever trust someone else with the safety of their ship and themselves.  And neither would that fall under Kala’s purview either.  She had been Admiral in the Straxi Stellar Navy, the youngest ever, and she had proven herself in every encounter she’d had with humans and Jogunti.  She wouldn’t - she couldn’t let it slide now, not with Johannes’ life in the balance.  She’d lost Chantal, she wasn’t going to lose Johannes, too.

She slammed her fist down on the console and cursed loudly in Straxi.  She slammed it down again, then a third time, each punctuated with a curse.  Ihkra turned to face her, silenced before she could say anything by Kala’s glare in her direction, though Ihkra rose from the command chair and stepped towards the console.  Kala pursed her lips and clenched her jaw.

“Kala’Ital of Straxi,” Ihkra stopped in front of the console, “what is wrong?”  She glanced at the console.  “Everything seems to be in order.”

“It’s not the console!” Kala growled.  She sighed.  “It’s not the console,” she repeated, calmer.  “It’s…”  The words trailed as she put her head in her hands.  “I’ve already failed too many times in the past few days…  I lost Chantal, I lost Johannes, Admiral Kihat sacrificed himself for me, and for what?”  She looked up at Ihkra.  “I don’t even know what the Hell’s going on out there.  What the Hell did we get ourselves into when we accepted that mission to take that thing?”

A tear fell down her cheek.  “Whatever the Hell it was, it’s not worth Chantal or Joe.  For Erisa’s sake, it’s not even worth Hranik’s.”  How many deaths have I - has it been responsible for?  Her head dropped sadly.  “I’ve failed them and I’ll fail again.”

“How?” Ihkra asked.  A silence grew between them as Ihkra waited for the answer that never seemed to come.  She gingerly reached out, worried how Kala would react, but still gently taking the Princess’ hand in hers.  “You haven’t failed Sudenwald of Earth, not yet, and you won’t unless you give up on him.  And Leibowitz of Earth, there was nothing you could have done at that time.  You were still beaten pretty badly-”

“I’m Straxi!” Kala growled, pulling her hand away from Ihkra.  “Damn, I’m a fucking Princess!”  For the first time in the years since her exile, admitting that she was still the Persata of the Straxian Hegemony didn’t feel unwanted or even like some curse on her shoulders.  It made her angry; furious that her sister had usurped her birthright, had taking their parents from this life for greed, and had tried to kill her through dishonourable and unscrupulous means.  She slammed her fists down on the console.  “Pain is nothing to us!”

“I bet the console feels different, Persata,” Ihkra nodded at the damaged display, several cracks spiderwebbing from the impacts of Kala’s fists.  She looked at Kala’s clenched fists to see if the Straxian woman had injured herself.  “You haven’t mourned, haven’t forgiven yourself yet, have you, Kala’Ital of Straxi.”

“I have mourned!” Kala snapped.  “I’ve done everything to mourn!”  Ihkra only looked into her eyes knowingly.  “I’ve etched-”

“I know how Straxi rituals are, you’ve cut yourself and then tried to block it out,” Ihkra shook her head.  “That doesn’t do anyone any good, regardless of what culture you’re in.  And this is just everything bubbling to the surface in an attempt to get you, yes, you, Persata, to otherwise accept that you need to let yourself feel.”  The blue-skinned Jogunti nodded at Kala.

Kala closed her eyes.  Ihkra was right; she hadn’t truly mourned Chantal’s loss.  Everything had happened so fast in the days since Regor and faster still since she’d watched her beloved shaushami vapourized on the galactic news networks.  But she couldn’t mourn her, not now.  She needed to focus on the tasks at hand; she needed to push aside everything else to keep the Fortune operational and…

What else have I done? Kala thought to herself.  All I’ve done is keep the Fortune operational and drink and drug myself into stupidity.  I’ve done nothing but disgrace myself and dishonour Chantal’s memory.  I’ve even lied to myself about everything in the past few days.  She sighed and looked at the cracks in the console, her shattered reflection staring back at her, as broken as she truly was inside.

“I’m scared,” she blurted out.  Ihkra raised an eyebrow in a strange facsimile of a human’s inquisitive glance.  Her fists clenched again.  “I’m scared.”  She wished Chantal had been there.  Hell, even Johannes.  Anyone but Ihkra.  She still felt the blame for Chantal’s death placed squarely on the Jogunti beside her, even as it had slowly fell away in her mind.  “I’m so fucking terrified right now.”

“Why?”

“I shouldn’t even be, I’m Straxi, for Goddess’ sake,” Kala said.  “Fear isn’t something we allow ourselves, especially not Royalty.  It’s…  It’s…”

“Perfectly fine,” Ihkra replied, wrapping her hand over Kala’s fists, relaxing her hands.  “There’s nothing wrong with being scared.  We’re going into combat and there’s a very good chance that we’re not coming out of it alive.  Even if you make it to the surface, you’re going to be fighting against countless odds in their favour.”

“That’s not scaring me,” Kala admitted.  “I don’t know if I can take Jinta down.”  She hung her head.  “I don’t know if I’ll be able to defeat her in the Kanta’Pera.  I don’t know if…  What if I just fail?  Johannes, Hranik, you…  You are all relying on me to take command of the Straxi Forces and stop them from ripping this ship apart.  I don’t know if I can do that.”  She paused.  “And then Chantal would have died in vain and everyone who’ve died…”

“Didn’t die in vain,” Ihkra said.  “Those at Zhanka Station, the Straxi who were defending you, they died for their Princess, for their true Queen.  You were worth their faith and belief, willing to give their lives for your survival so you can take the throne again.  Leibowitz of Earth loved you enough that your safety was worth more than her own life.  If you want to talk about dying in vain, then don’t do anything.  Run away, flee, let her faith…” Ihkra stopped and searched for the word, “ishkatalk.”

“Sour?” Kala asked, looking at Ihkra.  “I think you mean that if I don’t do this, or something in general, would be a breach of her faith.”  Kala smiled.  “I just…”

“Princess, you will be able to take care of your sister, regardless of what’s needed,” Ihkra said.  Kala shook her head with a slight smirk on her lips, despite herself.  It wasn’t a surprise that some of Ihkra’s words weren’t entirely proper English.  Ihkra opened her mouth to say something else when the Weapons console beeped incessantly.

Kala glanced down.  “Oh, Goddess.”  She closed her eyes for a moment.  “The Kilimanjaro and a fleet of EA ships just emerged from FTL.”  She tapped commands into her console.  “Take your station, Helmsman Ihkra.”

“Yes, ma’am!”

“Admiral Ysa, we have-”

“Scanners read them.  Fourteen starships on intercept course, all registering as Earth Authority ships, weapons armed.”  Ysa stopped, giving orders in Straxi.  “Fortune, set escape vectors.  Secondary-”

“Negative, Admiral!” Kala said forcefully.  “We’re going right to Straxi.  This is going to be the finale you wanted to do.  And we’re getting Joe back, I’m taking command of the Hegemony, and the EA and the Unified Corporations can kiss my jade-”  Everything went black around the Bridge of the Fortune.  “What the fuck?”  Kala glanced around, waiting for the emergency lighting to come on.  It didn’t.  “Ihkra, status?”