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  She sliced through a wire, disconnecting it from one glowing circuit to bring it over to another. She examined the set just below it.

  “Don’t touch that one,” Anath said suddenly, pointing to one circuit and wire bundle. “They haven’t changed everything on me, and that one is a failsafe against doing something like this.”

  “Understood,” Jade said. “Thanks.”

  She probably would’ve done that one next, since it seemed logical, and relief flushed through her at his timely interruption. Leaving that one alone, she moved onto the next. Knowing Arkana technology as much as she did, which was probably more than anyone outside of ESS R and D, she figured two more would do the trick.

  “We’ve got company,” she heard Dan announce behind her.

  A moment later, the shooting started up again. There was nothing like a soundtrack to one’s work, right?

  Jade tried to drown out the sounds of combat behind her and just focus on getting through these next two bundles. She wouldn’t let it be on her head that they were stuck like fish in a barrel to be shot down.

  “One more,” she said through gritted teeth.

  Another moment more and she finished the last one. As predicted, the large door split open, with one part rising into the ceiling and the other into the floor.

  “Move!” Dolan ordered.

  With enemy soldiers close behind them, Anallin was moved to cover the front and take out any that came up at a distance as they all worked their way through the door. The Hanaran sighted forward through the opening, seeing no one at first, but it knew that wouldn’t last long.

  The doorway was only a little narrower than the previous halls had been, so they began pushing through in much the same way they’d been moving since entering the palace. There was a slight crush to it, but they pushed through. Anallin was there with the colonel while Anath and Jade prepared to bring up the rear.

  “Martin,” Dolan said. “Can you shut it after us? Lock it and buy some time?”

  “I think so, Colonel,” Jade called back in between the sounds of bullets and pulses.

  The room they moved into after the door was something large and wide open. Anallin could see immediately that it was higher than a single story, with balconies lining the several sections of the second floor. From up there, it would be a sniper’s dream, but from the ground, it was closer to a nightmare.

  “Stay right,” Dolan ordered, with most of the balconies so far being on the right side. It would make a harder shot for anyone above, but Anallin took out Arkana soldiers that it saw coming out into these openings as quickly as it could.

  Less guns above would be the best defense against snipers.

  “We need to get to the other side,” Anath said.

  “Move fast,” Dolan ordered immediately after. “Martin, get that door shut when the last Marine is through. Try to take out the soldiers behind us before she does.”

  They did their best, shooting back through the opening of the doorway while Anallin tried to make sure no others shot their heads. Once the last Marine was through, Jade all but launched herself at the panel beside the door, ripping out wire bundles with far less grace than she’d shown in opening the door.

  Perhaps closing it was an easier task.

  After a moment, the door slammed shut. Just as it did, Anallin saw more Arkana rushing for it and shooting wildly, but to no avail.

  “Move it!” the colonel yelled.

  And they did.

  29

  They hurried through the wide-open hall as best they could, and Roxanna by now could taste everyone’s tension on her tongue. She had heard humans, and those with adrenal systems, describe the feeling as sometimes tasting metal in their mouths. This was like that, and she almost wondered if it was her own system causing that feeling, or if she was absorbing some new level of sensations from the people around her, who were primarily human.

  She felt it when two Marines were taken out during their rush, and she knew that it was too late to do anything about either of them.

  Forcing their way ahead, there was another doorway that Anath was leading them toward. This one, however, was simply an open frame. There didn’t seem to be any inner panels shut against them that had to be manually wired into permitting their passage. Of course, the Selerid could only just hope that they wouldn’t wait until Marines were on their way through before doing just that and crunching one of them.

  Roxanna stopped that thought before it got too far. Negativity would serve her nothing by dwelling too long on the possibilities. She just had to focus, identify a problem, and do the best she could with it.

  While their own snipers and marksman kept their watch against those above, and the leaders kept to the front and brought them along, Roxanna and the others watched the side and the wide-open space that was to their left. It looked like some sort of grand ballroom, the sergeant thought, although there was no party being held now.

  Anath and Dolan made their way through the opening first, Anath moving against the wall and indicating that they were going right. The colonel conveyed this order to the rest of the Marines.

  “Move fast through the door,” she ordered, and Roxanna knew that Dolan had had the same thought she’d had.

  Despite how tired and weary and scared and tense everyone was, they still moved with the speed, determination, and well-trained precision that was expected of an ESS Marine. That was expected by Colonel Dolan. Grief for those they had to leave behind. Concern for those pulled aside by medics. Still, they moved forward.

  This next corridor was narrower than the last, like it wasn’t expected to conduct as much traffic as the corridors closer to the outside of the building. Everything felt a little more austere, as well, with the wall paneling and floors being not quite so glistening and bright. It gave the Selerid the feeling that they were moving into a more “behind the scenes” area of the palace.

  Dolan’s squad pulled a little ahead, taking point to watch for incoming enemy soldiers and for Anath to keep leading the way toward the throne room. Even the name of that was ridiculous, Roxanna thought. Selerid was not a planet with a monarchy. She’d never even heard of such a thing until joining the ESS and meeting other races, learning Earth history.

  The narrower corridor made for a more compact walking pattern, which would help as much as it would hurt the Marines. It made fewer enemies able to cluster together to attack, but it also made it harder to amass a broader defense.

  “T-junction. Left,” Anath said. Dolan relayed the order down through the squad leaders.

  Roxanna felt that they would never make it back out of here on their own. If their mission was successful, however, it likely would not be as hard on the way out as the way in…

  Something shifted.

  It was subtle, and in the heat of their present moment, she almost didn’t notice it. She did catch it, though, and frowned as she tried to split her attention just to understand where it was coming from. She saw the T-junction ahead, with a low bank of consoles. She realized that what she sensed change was from Anath. While it was true she couldn’t read most Arkana, she knew him, and that made a difference.

  What was it, though? Surprise? Concern?

  “Those weren’t—” he began as they made their way forward slowly, turning to the left. Roxanna saw him frown but walk on, until stopping and looking back.

  It happened quickly, then.

  And yet in slow motion.

  The Marines of the colonel’s squad made a curve around the turn, with Anallin on the “outside” of it. It put the Hanaran nearest to the consoles, or whatever they were. It was these that had caught Anath’s attention. There was a sense of dawning awareness, of realization, as the Arkana-turned-ESS-Marine turned back around.

  “Anallin, move—”

  It was too late.

  One of the small boxes exploded. It wasn’t a big explosion, considering, but the Hanaran Marine was directly beside it when it did. It took the full brunt of it, effe
ctively shielding the others in the process.

  The body was thrown back, catching Roxanna almost full-on and sending her into the wall with a bloody, charring squad-mate against her.

  The Selerid stared down at its body, shuddering as she sensed the body—the corpse. The light, the life, was all gone. It had happened in an instant and was thorough. Dolan was suddenly in front of her, though no one else seemed able to move.

  “Is…”

  “Anallin is gone,” Roxanna said numbly, overwhelmed by the sudden absence in the being that was so physically close to her at that moment.

  “I— I tried,” Anath stammered.

  “It was too fast,” Dolan said. “Help move the body off the sergeant. We can’t—” Her voice cracked, but she recovered quickly. “We can’t afford to stop now. Anallin would understand that.”

  Anath and Dan came forward to help move Anallin’s body, the shell that had once been their fellow soldier and friend. Roxanna scrambled up, feeling emotion and utter discomfiture rise to the surface, not only at the loss but at having the corpse land on her.

  “Lay it down,” Dolan ordered quietly. “We have to keep going. We...have to keep moving, Marines. We have a war to end.”

  30

  No one in the squad wanted to move on, but they did.

  Of course, Marines around them had been lost before. This was war. But none of those lost had ever been in their squad. The five of them—Colonel Dolan, Sergeant Roxanna, Corporal Anallin, Lance Corporal Thomas, and Private First Class Martin—had been together since before the war began. Anath had been with them for a long time now too, it felt.

  This was the first loss to that group, and so close to the end… There seemed a particular cruelty in that.

  War was unkind to everyone, but Dan had felt especially affected as time went on. It was harder and harder to find the man that was “him” these days, he thought, as it was buried under the fear and the pain and the anger that came with all of this. His salvation lay in the end of it all, which they all assured themselves was just ahead.

  He had envisioned that salvation, however, being between him and all his friends. And now that wouldn’t happen.

  Dan swallowed hard and kept moving, following his leader. Who would be next? The idea that it might be Jade… Well, it wasn’t like that thought hadn’t haunted him every single moment since his feelings for her had developed and deepened. But they had a war to fight, and she was a dedicated soldier. It was a fear that he’d just have to live with.

  The only thing now was to end this.

  As the second-best shot in the squad, it fell to Dan to fill the place that Anallin had just occupied. The weight was not missed by the human, but he bore it. It wasn’t like they had any choice in the matter.

  “We’re getting close,” Anath said.

  “Other squads report they’re meeting heavy resistance, but are holding,” Andy let them know.

  Dan wondered about that, and he imagined the others were too. They had encountered “resistance” themselves, but compared to previous engagements with the Arkana, he would not have called it “heavy.” Did that have any meaning, or was he making assumptions over nothing because he was weary and wrung out?

  He wondered what the others thought, but he didn’t ask.

  Another T-junction, but no more explosions. Then they came to another curve they couldn’t see beyond, and he brought them to a halt.

  “This next hallway is straight, and it leads to the throne room,” Anath said. “There will be guards at the door. We’ll have to move quickly to get inside once we’re seen, so the doors can’t be triggered or he can’t get away, but he conducts all operations from that room. He’s in there.”

  Dan saw the siblings look at each other for a long, silent moment, then nod once.

  “Be ready,” the colonel said. “Go.”

  They moved around this curve with more speed and force than they had any other. There was no time now to be cautious. As soon as each Marine came around that bend, they had their rifles up and were aiming down the corridor.

  At the other end was another large door, with four Arkana guards standing in front of it. The four brought up their guns but weren’t fast enough. One shot went off but flew wide. The Marines made short work of the resistance, and then double-timed it down the hall and into the large room at the end.

  As they burst through that doorway, they moved into a standard defensive formation—

  —but there was only one man in this room.

  “Welcome to Arkana,” said the man.

  Roxanna and Jade covered the door while the rest faced him. “You are hereby apprehended by the—”

  The man rolled his eyes and pressed something on his console.

  In the several seconds it had taken the second Marine squad to catch up, it was proven to be too long. Whatever the man had done caused the door to slam shut. A moment later, Dan heard a hissing sound overhead.

  He looked up to see something white streaming down, and then the world suddenly went black.

  It happened so fast, but Anath instantly realized that he and Andy were still standing.

  Anath brought his rifle up in rage that they were so suddenly dead and fired, but it ricocheted off something in front of his father’s seat. This was technology even Anath hadn’t known they had…

  “They aren’t dead yet,” Father commented. “I was unsure if it would also knock Andrea out, given she is half-human, so I kept it mild. It’ll kill them eventually, but by then, I don’t imagine you’ll be in a position, or a condition, to care.”

  “So why not kill us right away?” Andy demanded, still holding her gun on him.

  Anath’s mind was still stuck on the tech. It must have been untested…otherwise they would have run into it all over the palace, and maybe even the city.

  “Call it ego, I suppose.” Father waved his hand at Anath. “Something your brother very often accused me of, before…defecting. I believe that is the appropriate Earth word. Before turning traitor to the cause. Before betraying his blood.”

  “I’m his blood too,” Andy replied defiantly.

  Father narrowed his eyes at her. “Only because of me.”

  Without missing a beat, his colonel sister returned, “I can’t imagine why he said you have an ego problem.”

  That actually drew a snort from the elder Arkana. It was only half-derisive. One had to admire her gumption, as Anath had heard the term once. It was an edgy humor that he could remember his father once possessing. It seemed like another lifetime now, and his father had always been…an insane egomaniac, really.

  Why hadn’t he done something to stop him sooner?

  Anath realized the thought that he’d spent the whole war ignoring. He could have prevented this entire thing.

  Couldn’t he have?

  “Again,” Andy was going on, entirely unaware of Anath’s dawning self-remonstrations in the middle of their trauma. “Why not just kill us?”

  “Again,” Father said mockingly. “Call it an ego problem. I wanted you to be aware of me and my victory when I kill you.”

  There was a gun in his hand that Anath hadn’t seen before.

  “No!” Andy shouted, just as Father pulled the trigger.

  In a haze of red, Anath lost sight of the world around him.

  31

  “You bastard!” Andy screamed, firing her rifle even though she knew it was useless. The bullet ricocheted off the energy shield that the Arkana had somehow invented, and she heard the round clink harmlessly against the floor.

  Was this really how it was going to end? All the lives lost and all the blood shed, and she was going to get shot down like a dog in the middle of a freaking throne room.

  Anallin’s body lay in that corridor, left behind. Anath was shot, bleeding on the ground, although she could hear his haggard breathing. Her training kept her eyes on the enemy, though she wanted to check on him. The rest of her squad—the people she’d fought for, with, and beside for
the entire war—lay dying slowly on the ground around her. Taken down in an instant by these special weapons her father had kept for the last line…

  “Fine. Shoot me. Get it over with!” she shouted.

  “No, my dear daughter,” he said with a disturbing smile, tossing the gun aside and standing from his throne, though without leaving it yet. “I want to feel my hands around your throat when you die. I want you to have time to think about all the mistakes you’ve made, all the wrongs committed against your father.”

  She stared at him for a long moment. “You are just a horrible creature,” she said before she could stop her own inanity.

  He shrugged. She could see the features he had passed on to Anath, but not to her. She looked like her mother. “I am the Ruler of the Arkana People, and I have an…ordained quest to lead them on. A holy war, if you will, with less holy to it.”

  “Why?” she asked. Even though she knew the reasons she had been told, there was nothing in her that allowed her to understand.

  “Children are made to replace their parents,” her father replied. “We were the children of humanity, and now we come to bring our parents back to the right way of things.”

  “Children are made to replace their parents,” she said quietly. “Truer words were never spoken. Dad. It’s why I’m here.”

  He smiled again, and she felt shaken to her core. She refused to let it show.

  “Toss away the gun, and I’ll give you fair crack at me,” he said. “Hand to hand. One on one. Who knows, if you win, you might be able to save your brother and your friends.” His smile deepened, which only made it more disturbing as his blue eyes glinted. “Not that you’ll win. I’m older, stronger, smarter, and faster than you. I know more. I’ve seen more. I’ve done more.”

  “Maybe,” Andy granted, and that was as far as she would take it. “But I have no intention of letting you win.”