The Impossible Future: Complete set by Frank Kennedy (mini ebook reader .txt) 📕

and soldiers dispersed, Rayna’s raiding party took control of Lioness, summarily executing the crew. But chaos morphed into order as peacekeepers reconvened to fight back.

“Do not waste flash pegs,” she told her assault team. “I will make them go away.”

Rayna sent a signal from inside Lioness indicating surrender. She exited a landing bridge and stood before a growing contingent of soldiers seeking revenge for the charred corpses strewn nearabout. Valentin, who only observed per his brother’s orders, saw Rayna tighten her fists at her side and unleash a stormfront of nuclear incineration. The blast took out most of Port Baghdad.

It was the first time a hybrid became a Berserker since SkyTower, and her decision opened the floodgates. Indeed, acquiring Lioness set into motion more Berserker attacks. With every success, they weakened Guard morale and gained followers among indigos who wanted the Chancellory to collapse.

The rising death toll did not impress Valentin as much as the speed by which their little fleet extended its reach and influence. In theory, they could continue this way for years – hidden in a lost corner of the galaxy, imposing enough terror to erode confidence in the Guard. But status quo was not acceptable to any under Valentin’s command – and certainly not to his brother. Was there an endgame? A mission like today’s – a combo hit-and-run sabotage plus assassination – made little sense to Valentin. However, James insisted every mission was a piece in the grander future.

Valentin decided the time had arrived for his elder brother to share those missing pieces with him.

An uplift from Lioness docked with Spearhead as Valentin and Ulrich completed their shutdown checklist and assured the ship’s spatial alignment with the fleet. Minutes later, after docking in their flagship’s landing bay, Valentin was surprised by the lack of reception. The mission James deemed critical now appeared no more significant than a routine supply run.

Valentin returned to the command bridge, where he found the recognition he expected earlier.

The Officers of Salvation, as James called them, took time from their stations and holodynamics to greet him with hardy shouts of “Admiral on Command!” and “Superb, Admiral!” This blend of hybrids, the oldest immortals, and a rogue ex-peacekeeper – the Officers of Salvation – passed numerous tests of loyalty. Admiral Bouchet took comfort in knowing if the fleet ever came under attack, these men and women would be the last standing.

He acknowledged his officers, listened to routine fleet updates, then made his way to the forward captain’s dais, where Sister Rayna, as she was now known, relaxed in Valentin’s chair. She was as striking as ever, a warrior dressed for combat, always seeking to quench her bloodlust. She was taller than Valentin, almost as muscular, her head shaved but for the forelock of her Ukrainian heritage. Her growth in the first month after their escape from Earth was stunning. James beat Rayna senseless, at her urging, until she underwent the same Jewel-driven metamorphosis he endured after dueling Valentin in the Great Plains Metroplex. Their passion for each other intensified, their animalism undenied.

“Where is he?” Valentin said as he approached her.

“Now is not good time for him.” She made no effort to leave the admiral’s chair. “He is with our boys. So, you succeed at Vasily?”

“We completed the mission. Success is a matter of perspective.”

“Ah. You do not believe mission was good idea. No?”

“No, Rayna, it was not strategically sound. And yes, I told this to James when he first laid out the plan. Not that you’d support me.”

Rayna laughed. “Men are assholes. Never able to see beyond their own testosterone. My husband is asshole sometimes, but I love him. Does not mean I follow him with blind eyes. You are right about Vasily mission. Dangerous idea. Fool’s errand. I told him so.”

Valentin flexed a brow. “Let me guess. He said you were jealous of Samantha Pynn and did not understand the grander future.”

She shrugged, to which Valentin sighed.

“I know my brother too well. Or at least, I used to think so. I’ll ask you again, Rayna. Where is he?”

She crinkled her lips into a wry smile. “Do you intend to create scene in front of my boys?”

“I am their uncle. I love them, Rayna. I promise not to demean their father in their presence.”

“Because you will shoo them away then demean their father.”

“Something like that.”

At times, Valentin felt Rayna slipping into a foggy, psychopathic horizon beyond anyone’s grasp – even James – but she still honored the kinship they shared following their escape from Earth.

“They are in stellar dome. He is growing them.”

She meant it like she said it, enough to give Valentin pause. James spoke of the “transference” many times, but he always carried it out with his sons in absolute privacy. Everyone saw the impressive results but never the process itself.

“Thank you, Rayna. I assume you will tell him I’m coming?”

She stretched her smile. “He already knows.”

Of course. After almost two years, Valentin remained uneasy about the hybrids’ ability to communicate instantaneously despite their lack of stream amps. The connection was empathic, James and Rayna explained. Their messages did not form as words but rather a combination of emotions and instincts.

They refused to install amps. Ever.

“We will be the first species to know each other as one without technology,” James proclaimed after he broke the rescued hybrids free of their Chancellor compliance programs.

“A hive?” Valentin asked.

“Better. You’ll see.”

Valentin took the lift up five levels to stellar dome, an observatory at the top center of Lioness, originally designed as a place for parties and concerts while en route between systems. The coliseum design encircled a round stage which elevated ten feet off the floor. Above, a star field and the southern tip of the Enfidi Horse Nebula filled the view. Valentin heard voices as he climbed the stage