Morgan and Others Return

“What are you doing here?” Arthur’s question sounded uncertain, almost afraid.

“Oh I’ve missed you!” Morgan cried. “I’ve so desperately wished to see what my dear brother has been up to. Hunting pirates? How fun! Can we join? I’ve brought friends.”

“Friends?”

That’s when I noticed that not all of the vessels flying beneath the shadow of Fortress World Hadrian were of Caerleon make. It was especially bizarre, because if I was not mistaken, the other ships had only been recently fighting Morgan’s own forces at Hadrian.

“She brought the Rebels of Kapur?” I murmured. “What the hell is going on?”

“I’d like to introduce you all to my new partner,” Morgan said. “Would you like to present yourself?”

A familiar man’s voice resonated across the bridge.

“I am pleased to meet your acquaintance, Prince Arthur Pendragon,” Manhunter said. “I represent the voice and will of the people of Kapur.”

“What is the meaning of this treachery, sister,” Arthur protested.

“Well,” Morgan replied. “After a hard fought battle between the two of us, I realized that the Rebels of Kapur and I have much more in common than we originally thought. Like our pretty princess here, we were all cast outs, and we all harbored a deep, deep hatred for the royal family and its sickening machinations. That’s when I began to think, oh my goodness! Why don’t we work together?”

“This is treason!”

“Treason?” Morgan snarled. “It was treasonous that you would sentence your sister to a backwater factory to protect your imperial ambitions. Do not speak of treason when you have conspired in kind. I am only here to claim what is rightfully mine. And Manhunter has agreed to join me out of a renewed fascination with one of your principled subjects. Isn’t that right?”

“Face me Admiral Lance!” cried Manhunter. “Face me like the old knights faced each other, before the certainty of decadent old age robbed them of their vigor and dreams. Face me before your prince throws you to the solar winds for feckless ambition, before the promise of the Chalice steals from you the sight of what is real and what is not. Harken to me! See that I am real, Lancelot. Your quest to find the Chalice is not. Fight me, and you will never suffer a worthier foe.”

“Well there you go. Manhunter, ladies and gents.”

“We may have stumbled into a messy sibling rivalry,” Stephen mumbled. “And also whatever the hell this Manhunter is.”

“No,” I said. “Actually, this is good. Morgan’s given us a chance. Let’s not waste it. Spin up the engines, Vlad. Signal the rest of the Sunless Fleet to escape in the shadow of Hadrian. Emiko, work on an escape route of our own.”

“On it,” they said.

“Well,” I announced. “You two seem very lovely together. Arthur. Fuck you. Morgan. Thank you. To you both, I suspect you have some catching up to do.”

“Indeed,” Morgan laughed. “Best of luck, Lady Greymoor.”

What was left of the Sunless Fleet fled into subspace. I said my silent goodbyes to Ulysses and Lucia as the two carriers carrying Circe blinked away. I wondered how grateful the Pirate King would feel after he realized his glorious fleet had been pulverized into dust.

But I didn’t have time to think of Ulysses’s appreciative disposition. Nightwing soared alone, surrounded by rebels, imperials, and traitors, and gunned for escape at the edge of the system.

“Fucking bitch!” Arthur shrieked. “After her! After her! After her! After her!”

“Let’s get out of here!” I yelled.

The darkness of space kindled in the spirit of renewed combat. The Rebels of Kapur threw themselves at Incorrigible with a barrage of missiles, while Hadrian and its orbiting defensive cannons pierced both vacuum and hull with dense titanium spears.

But not even Hadrian’s greatest defenses could keep Arthur’s retinue from pursuing us. I felt like my ghosts, my demons, my fears and anxieties, were resurfacing as we weaved our way through smoke and crumpled debris.

But I wasn’t scared. I was no longer Elaine Greymoor, fiance to Prince Arthur Pendragon, son of His Majesty Uther Pendragon, King of Caerleon and its thousands year imperium. I was someone else.

“Here they come!” Vladimir called.

Noble Interception and its entourage of battle hardened ships blinked into view straight ahead of us. Knight Captain Gawain’s voice filled the bridge, like a somber echo from the all too recent past.

“Please, Lady Greymoor. You’ve caused enough trouble as it is.”

“Away with you Gawain!” I cried. “Fly like the coward you are. Let it be known that from this day forward, I am your protege no more. I will not be you, watching as innocents are slaughtered beneath the boot of the imperium, receiving accolades in place of the venerable dead.”

Sections of the fog cluttering Bridge Mode’s neural fog faded, washed away by a mixed bag of anger and relief. My own mind grew clearer with a renewed sense of purpose, and Nightwing screamed through a torrential storm of plasma and hellfire and cleared Noble Interception’s blockade.

“Am I the only one that felt that?” Stephen asked.

“Elaine?” Emiko said.

A magnetized rod struck Nightwing’s shields from behind. The ship’s shields shattered and the splintered rod smashed into the hull. Nightwing tumbled out of control.

“Ignite the reverse thrusters,” I hollered while gritting my teeth.

Stabilizing boosters to Nightwing’s sides flared in an attempt to right the ship.

“Federation ships closing in!” Vladimir yelled. “Corvette class.”

“It’s Merlin’s whore,” I snarled. “Come out Nemura! I know you can hear us.”

“How do you like the taste of tungsten?” the AI laughed. “You know, I loved watching Diane die. She was twice the captain you’ll ever be.”

“Jeer all you want,” I said. “But even when she’s handicapped, let me show you the power of the machine designed to be the scourge of your kind. Stephen, kill the power to the guns. Vladimir, recharge the shields.”

The two of them stared at me blankly.

“That’s–” Stephen started to laugh.

“Yeah,” Vlad grinned. “It’s what she would’ve wanted.”

“It’s either the shield batteries or the guns,” I shrugged. “You can’t have both.”

I felt lighter, and no, it’s not because Nightwing was still spinning out of control. I could feel the emotions of the crew more clearly. I sensed Emiko’s exhaustion kept at bay by sheer determination. I no longer sensed the trust Vladimir and Stephen placed in each other, but the love by which they were eternally bonded.

Nightwing dashed into subspace. Nemura and her Federation ships followed in quick pursuit. That’s when we had them.

“Run them over!” I bellowed.

Stephen safetied the railgun while Vladimir siphoned what remained of the ship’s excess power to reboot Nightwing’s shields. The stabilizing boosters dragged Nightwing back to a steady altitude, and she swerved in a backwards arc, her wings almost clipping the edge of the subspace tunnel.

Had the Federation ships been larger, we might have been troubled. But despite being in a similar designation, Federation corvettes were half of Nightwing’s size. The railgun was excessive. Nightwing smashed into the corvettes and threw them tumbling out of the tunnel.

“Destination solution ready, Elaine,” Emiko said.

“It’s your show then,” I breathed. “Get us out of here.”

Nightwing decelerated one more time into normal space. Emiko pitched the ship into a dive and rekeyed the Lemmings-Hyder drive. I considered turning my eyes to the battle above us, but what was the point? What did it matter who won? What mattered was that we survived. Nightwing snapped back into an empty subspace tunnel and I snapped my fingers together.

“Bridge Mode. Off.”