Aurora Rising (The Aurora Cycle #1)(30)

“This locks on to your target,” he says, pointing. “This will fire. In the unlikely event you actually hit someone, hit them twice more for good measure.”

“Thanks,” I say. “But I learned to use a flare gun in my colony training. I can shoot just fine, Legolas.”

He blinks. “My name is Kal. Who is this Legolas you speak of?”

I roll my eyes and mutter under my breath. “Read a book sometime, you conceited sonofa …”

My grumbling trails off into nothing as I notice how quiet everyone else is. And in that moment of silence, the truth I’ve been running from catches up and hits me like a freight train. I’m about to go into combat here. My hands are sweating, and I’m not sure I’m even going to be able to grip the gun. My body’s still aching from hiding in that crate, and my lungs have gone all tight, so I can’t even suck in a slow breath to try and calm myself. Truth is, the thing in my hands is to a flare gun what a full-grown lion is to a kitten.

All the stupid little routines I used to do before a big competition at home flash through my mind—the stretches, the breathing exercises, the pump-up songs—and they all seem so impossibly small and stupid. That version of me—the one who thought she had any idea what life and death stakes were—feels young and far away, even though really, she was only a few days ago.

I’d give anything to be her. To be able to tell my mom this scares me, and have her tell me to switch off the scary movie. To be able to tell my dad I don’t feel ready, and have him help me look up the answers in yet another training course.

Everything I ever learned, I learned from sims or books.

But this is real.

Finian’s voice sounds from Tyler’s uniglass as we spill out into the cargo bay.

“Fired the missiles, sir. They bounced off the Syldrathi like kebar balls. Their ship’s in position, and they’ve got a shuttle preparing to dock. I’m trying to run a localized current through our hull to stop them from getting a seal, but I’m a little worried about the insulation in this place. I don’t want to do their work for them and fry you all.”

“Acknowledged,” says Ty, grim, gesturing for us to take cover behind the crates. “Cat, as the boarding party’s docking here, target their cruiser. They’ll be as distracted as they’re going to be.”

“Roger that,” says Cat over the comms, her tone crisp. “Sucker punch for the mummy ship ready to go. I’ll aim straight for the love factory.”

“They put those on cruisers now?” Scarlett asks.

“I mean, I’ve heard rumors. …”

The cargo bay elevator doors creak open again, and First Taneth appears with the Syldrathi girl, Aedra. A few dozen elderly Syldrathi are with them, all moving slowly, wearing long robes and clutching what even I can tell are weapons as old as they are. Kal is beside me behind a tall stack of crates, calling out as he sees them.

“Take the gantries around the bay. We will cover the ground.”

“We do not take orders from you, Warbreed.” Aedra glares. “Nor your Terran pets, for that matter. This is our station.”

“We must stand united in this, Aedra,” Kal replies calmly. “Or fall alone.”

Aedra breaks away from the other Syldrathi, stalking toward the two of us. Kal shifts his weight so he’s standing in front of me.

“You speak of standing united?” The purple blade in her hand crackles to life, matched by the fire in her eyes. “When your kind tore our entire world apart?”

“You know nothing of who I am,” Kal says. “Or what it cost me to be here.”

She holds up her hand, and I see a tattoo on her ring finger. A circle with a single tear inside it. “I know my be’shmai is dead because of your kind, Warbreed. Him, and our whole world besides.”

“Aedra!” Taneth calls. “Now is not the time for this!”

“We’re about to die, Taneth!” she shouts. “What better time than now?”

She turns back to Kal, her lips curled in a sneer.

“Your path is littered with death, and your destiny is in your blood.”

“Cho’taa,” Kal says, his voice subzero. “It has nothing to do with my blood.”

And all the breath goes out of me, right there.

Because …

I’ve seen this before.

He stood just like this in my vision back on Aurora station. Perfectly poised even when he’s standing still, like a coiled weapon, bruises on his face and disdain in his tone. He spoke these exact words.

This can’t be happening …

This is my vision come to life.

Abruptly the room’s filled with a loud thump, the grinding screech of metal. Nobody needs Finian to tell us that the boarding party’s docked with the outer airlock. Kal turns his head, all eyes shift to the bay doors.

The girl takes her chance, lifting the crackling purple blade.

“I will see you in the Void, Warbreed.”

Everything slows down. It’s like watching the world in freeze-frame, like a strobe light’s going off and I can see each and every movement and moment.

What I’m seeing, and what I’ve already seen.

Aedra will raise her blade and swing it, a flash of purple just like in my vision, a killing blow in the making. Kal will begin to turn but he’ll be too late. The blade will cut straight into him, and he’ll cry out and fall in front of me, and my hands will be covered in blood. Purple blood.