Fated Blades

CHAPTER 5

Matias Baena was living death.

She had gotten to the doorway a second behind him. He’d turned that hallway into a slaughterhouse. No, not slaughter, surgery. He’d struck with impossible precision, so fast she could barely follow, and when he’d turned to look at her, she almost didn’t recognize him. Everything that was Matias was gone. His sharp mind, his alert gaze, that rare smile that shocked her—all of it belonged to someone else. His face was blank, his eyes cold and empty, as if she were looking at death itself. Not many things scared her, but in that moment, she felt the icy grip of true instinctual fear.

Now, as they briskly moved through the opulent belly of Drewery’s mansion, she kept stealing an occasional glance at his face to reassure herself that he was still present.

A duel with Matias would be the hardest fight of her life. She was sure of it.

The hallway ended in a T section. Matias turned left, and she followed a step behind. Twenty-five meters ahead, three Vandals blocked the way. Two held pellet rifles. The third, between them, manned a squad-level weapon on a tripod.

A blast wall dropped out of the ceiling to their left, cutting off the hallway from which they came. Ramona sprinted forward, whipping her shields in front of her as her mind scrambled to evaluate her surroundings. They were caught in a corridor, twenty-five meters in front, fifteen behind, no doors.

The cannon flashed with blue. A sonic boom pealed. The air smashed into her like an aerial at full speed. Ramona flew back and crashed into the wall. The impact knocked the air out of her lungs. Her eyes watered, her vision swam, pain bloomed across her back. The pressure vanished, and she dropped next to Matias, half-blind, trying to suck the air into her mouth.

The Vandals opened fire.

Matias lunged in front of her, planting his left knee on the floor, his right foot anchored to the ground, forming two wide shields in front of him that covered him head to floor. She knelt behind him and thrust her shields above them, tilting them up.

The pellet barrage pummeled seco, ricocheting into the walls. The barrel of the sonic cannon spun, priming for the next shot.

“Through the wall, right, three small rooms,” Matias ground out. “Go straight.”

Her lungs finally opened. The air never tasted so sweet. She slashed at the right wall, carving a hole in a frenzy, and dived through it.

Behind her the cannon boomed again.

Ramona sprinted through the small room, running parallel to the hallway and toward the Vandals. Another wall blocked her way. She tore through it in a controlled blitz, crossed another room leaping over furniture, ripped into the third wall, and ducked through the opening. A larger chamber opened before her, double doors on her left. Perfect.

Another sonic boom shook the walls.

She slammed the doors open and leaped into the hallway. The fire team was on her left, one soldier’s back to her, the other facing her, as the gunner frantically tried to reposition the cannon. She cut through them like a tornado of razor-sharp blades. Three bodies fell apart, bleeding onto the floor.

Behind her Matias emerged from the doorway, his face grim. Blood dripped from his scalp, painting a crimson line on the side of his face.

She opened her mouth and realized she tasted her own blood on her tongue. “Are you okay?”

“I’ll live,” he growled and turned right.

They jogged forward. Her back hurt, every step sending a fresh wave of pain through her hips. The world was slightly fuzzy.

An ornate double door blocked their way. Matias didn’t bother slowing down. Seco flashed with crimson. He kicked, and half of the door crashed to the floor, sliced free of its mounting. Two energy rifles barked in unison. He shifted to shields and charged. She lunged through the door right behind him.

Two Vandals, one on the left, by the couch, one on the right, next to an ornamental chair. She threw her shields up, two long rectangles stretching from her head to her knees, and rushed the one on the right, ripping through the pain like it was a wall in her way.

Soldiers were trained to shoot center mass. It was a remarkably difficult habit to break, especially in the stress of combat. The soldier in front of her was no exception. He’d aimed at her chest and pulled the trigger. The energy rifle spat a burst of glowing projectiles. They sank dead center into her seco shields, harmlessly melting into the force field.

She shifted the right seco into a modified scythe and sliced him from his right shoulder diagonally down, through the clavicle and shoulder blade, through his chest, through the heart, all the way to the sixth rib on the other side.

The top half of what used to be a human slid to the floor.

She used this type of strike as psychological warfare. Cutting someone in half was unexpected and visceral, an overkill nobody could ignore. It also guaranteed instant death. The target didn’t suffer. Most of the time they died before they realized what was happening.

Ramona turned. At the other end of the room, Matias dismissed his seco sword, and the Vandal impaled on it collapsed. To her right, Senator Drewery rose slowly from behind a massive desk carved from a huge chunk of ivory.

They were in a large room. Ornate furniture occupied most of the floor, two couches and a handful of chairs resting on a black-and-gold rug. Shelves of polished black wood lined the walls, supporting an array of expensive trinkets: priceless ceramics, awards of glass and metal, congratulatory plaques, centuries-old technological artifacts, and alien insects preserved in amber and crystal. Hand-painted portraits decorated the walls between the shelves. An older couple she didn’t recognize; young Senator Drewery and his wife; older senator, his wife, and young Cassida; and finally, present-day senator, a broad-shouldered, large man with a leonine mane of silver hair contrasting with his deep tan and bold masculine features, standing next to a bookshelf filled with antique appliances from the First Wave.

This had to be Drewery’s office. The entire perimeter of the room was one giant I-love-me wall.

The senator drew himself to his full height. He walked around the desk, picked up a heavy crystal decanter, and poured a golden liquor into two glasses. She noted the slight tremor in his hand. Her demonstration had had its desired effect.

“You surprise me, Matias. I didn’t expect you until Wednesday.”

He had a good voice, a reassuring male baritone, and he spoke with the smoothness of a practiced orator.

Matias stalked around the couch. She saw his eyes, frosted over and dark, and fought an urge to step back.

“Today has been full of surprises,” Matias said.

Drewery set the decanter down. Only two glasses, not three. Ha.

“I see you brought hired help,” the senator said.

So, he decided to bet on their animosity. Pit her and Matias against each other, then divide and conquer.

Ramona circled the body bleeding onto the plush rug and sat on the pale sofa, throwing one leg over the other. Everything hurt.

“Where is my wife?” Matias asked.

Drewery picked up a glass and sipped, looking out the window. “I had such high hopes for you, Matias. You seem to have all the right ingredients: intelligence, discipline, a capacity for strategic thinking, a good pedigree, and a background free of catastrophic sins. You lack in charm, but charm can be developed. With the proper coaching we could’ve made a provincial senator out of you, at least. Yet here we are.”

Matias, a provincial senator? She laughed.

Drewery ignored her. “Do you know what your problem is, Matias?”

Matias looked at him, impassive.

“You have no vision. All you want to do is to run your little family business. This province is the limit of your ambitions. My daughter tried so hard to push you to superior heights, but your inertia is simply too great. You will never soar.”

“You soared and landed in bed with the child killers,” Matias said.

Something was off. She’d seen the extent of Matias’s anger. She had expected to have to hold him back once they found Drewery, but now he appeared almost passive. There was no heat in his accusation. He seemed distracted.

Was he stalling for time? Why? A delay made reinforcements more likely. It worked to Drewery’s advantage, and the senator wasn’t dumb enough to miss the opportunity, which was why he’d launched into this ridiculous speech.

Drewery shrugged. “Child killers, devoted patriots. Our perception of things depends on the way they are labeled for us.”

“Why?” Matias asked.

“Money, of course. Why else?” Drewery glanced around his office. “My grandfather was a mayor. My father was a provincial senator. I am a federal senator. With each step, we climbed higher. And each step required an infusion of cash. Politics is my family business, and I am very good at it. Had you allowed Cassida to broaden your horizons, your child would have been a provincial governor.”

Quick steps echoed through the hallway. Cassida’s mother marched into the room. Lyla was past fifty, but her face was unlined, her golden tan perfect, and her makeup flawless. She wore a robe dress of pricy spider silk, and the nearly weightless rose fabric alternately flared and clung to her as she walked. She moved like a woman thirty years younger.

A C-class combat implant enhanced agility, reflexes, and hand-eye coordination. It shaved a few milliseconds off your reaction time and improved your accuracy. The caveat was you had to practice, preferably by sparring against a trained opponent. Lyla’s life was filled with charitable events and formal dinners, but she practiced religiously, several times a week, bringing in new opponents as she learned their moves.

“You!” Lyla pointed at Matias. “How dare you barge in here! How dare you destroy our house! After everything my daughter had to endure! You vulgar, immoral—”

“Your daughter is an adulteress and a thief,” Ramona said. “You have no moral high ground to stand on.”

“Be quiet!” Lyla barked.

Drewery smiled.

The rage that simmered inside Ramona flared into a blinding red inferno. Two marriages crushed, the efforts of so many people ruined, just for a bit of money, and the two of them dared to act offended, as if they were entitled to some outrage. She was so done with it. Just done.

“This has been fun,” Ramona said, “but I don’t think either of you fully grasps the situation. Let me help you gain some clarity.”

She rose and stepped toward Lyla. The older woman dodged left, yanking a small, elegant gun from under her clothes. Ramona struck, driving the heel of her palm from the bottom up into Lyla’s perfect nose. Cartilage crunched, the impact smashing two pressure points, one in the middle of the nose, the other in the philtrum, just above the upper lip. The secare rarely fought unarmed, but when they did, their attacks focused on knocking their opponent away so they could slice them to pieces.

Lyla’s head snapped back. The gun clattered to the floor. Lyla jumped back. She should have been out. Instead, the older woman spun around, snapping a lightning-fast angle kick. Ramona dodged right, but Lyla was too fast. Her shin bone smashed into Ramona’s ribs. A blinding flash of pain tore through her left side. If she hadn’t dodged, her ribs would have snapped like dry twigs.

Lyla lunged at her, throwing a devastating elbow strike.

Not this time. Ramona jerked a seco shield up. The elbow hammered the force field, and she smashed her right palm against Lyla’s ear.

The older woman’s eyes rolled into her skull, and she went down like a cut log. Her body hit the rug with a thud.

Drewery didn’t move.

Ramona sent her right seco out in a narrow spike, pierced the firearm, sliced it in half, and kicked the two pieces aside. A C-class implant would wake Lyla up in a matter of seconds. Ramona retracted her seco, flipped Lyla onto her stomach, grabbed her arm, twisting the wrist up, and stepped on her back.

Drewery still didn’t move.

There, I took out your not-so-secret weapon, and her head is still attached.

Lyla gasped. Her arm jerked, but Ramona gripped her wrist. Lyla bit off a curse.

“Your daughter took something of mine,” Ramona said, keeping her tone light. “She can have my husband. That’s his choice. She can’t have my research. That belongs to me and my family. Your spoiled brat has no right to benefit from it. Tell me where she is, or I will start shaving slices off your wife.”

“I’m a federal senator!” Drewery roared.

“I don’t give a fuck.”

“Do you honestly think that you can get away with a direct attack on an officer of the Senate?”

“I’d start with her nose,” Matias said.

“Hand is better,” Ramona said. “Hands can be reattached. It leaves them with hope.”

“You ignorant, stupid bitch,” Lyla snarled.

Ramona twisted Lyla’s wrist half a centimeter. The woman screamed. Ramona smiled and released her left seco as a short straight blade.

“New Adra,” Drewery said, enunciating each word.

“Theo!” Lyla snapped.

“Cassida is well protected,” he said. “We can do nothing for her until we get them out of here.”

“Where and when?” Matias demanded.

“The Summer Solstice Festival,” Drewery said.

Adra’s summer solstice festivities were famous throughout the planet. It started ages ago with a sect devoted to worshipping nature in all forms and over the centuries had grown into a celebration of all things Dahlia. Five days from now, thousands of vendors would line the streets of Adra, offering everything from delicious food and trinkets to lanterns and packets of brightly colored glitter powder to be thrown during the dances. Tens of thousands would dance through the city in a joyous, loud, colorful chaos.

“When did you sell yourself to the Vandals?” Matias asked.

“Seven years ago. They tracked a fugitive to Rada and needed diplomatic permits that would let them stay in system as they quietly combed the planet for her. I pushed their application through the right channels in the name of fostering diplomatic and trade relations. It was a small favor, and they were generous in showing their appreciation.”

You greedy slimeball.

“How did they find out about seco research?” Matias asked. His voice still had that distant tone.

“The salvager that sold the data banks to you. The fool snuck into the SFR space and got caught. He told them all about it and many other things to save his skin. My connection to you through Cassida was a happy coincidence. I did try to keep your interests in mind. Initially, I pointed them at the Davenports.”

“How generous of you.” Ramona couldn’t keep the venom from her voice. He was lying through his teeth. “Honesty is the best policy right now, Senator. You planned to rip us off from the beginning. You pointed them at the Davenports knowing that their offer for a buyout would be rejected. You demonstrated to them that you were the only path to seco tech, and then you quoted them an exorbitant price.”

Drewery heaved a sigh. “The Vandals are accustomed to doing things their way. Rather than argue with them, I allowed a practical demonstration to take place. It made them more . . . agreeable. I simply bargained from a position of strength. After all, my daughter would be taking the greatest risk.”

“I wouldn’t classify climbing in bed with Gabriel as a risk. More of a sure bet.”

Drewery smiled, and it took every shred of will she had not to slice his face off. “Oh no, my dear. That affair was a month old when the Vandals reached the system. But don’t take it so hard. It wasn’t about you. It was a punishment for Matias.”

“He deserved it,” Lyla squeezed out.

“Apparently, your husband turned out to be a lot more fun than the man she married,” Drewery said.

Fun. Yes, Gabriel was tons of fun.

“The Vandals wanted our research,” Matias said. His measured voice was like an icy shower. “You wanted money. And you wanted Cassida to come out of this alive. Stealing the tech was simple enough. The problem is the handoff. You needed a guarantee that the Vandals would uphold their end of the bargain instead of murdering everyone involved and leaving the system with their prize. As you say, they’re used to doing things their way.”

“He wasn’t just worried about the Vandals. He was worried about us,” Ramona said. “He knew we would catch on and scour the planet looking for his daughter and my husband. The easiest place to avoid face scanners is in a huge crowd.”

“True,” Matias agreed. “And the summer solstice is so well suited for this handoff. No ships are permitted to orbit above Adra during the festival. Half a dozen religions have rituals and commune with the stars on that date. The sky must be clear, and Planetary Defense parks several military vessels nearby to make sure it is so. The Vandals would be cut off. They couldn’t simply slaughter everyone and shuttle up to that lovely ship they parked in orbit. The security for the festival is tight. They’d have to fight through it, and even if they managed to escape, the Planetary Defense would cripple their ship, so they’d never leave the planet. You had to sweeten this deal to get them to agree to it, so you offered yourself as a hostage, letting the Vandals camp out here in case we knock on your door while conveniently keeping an eye on their bargaining chip.”

“Don’t forget the bonus,” Ramona added. “Once the research is sold, you and I go bankrupt, while his daughter and Gabriel jet off planet for a well-deserved vacation. Cassida is free and much richer, you are a broken wreck, and I am collateral damage.”

Drewery raised his arms. “You got me. Here I am, utterly defeated. You have what you came for. Now do get the fuck out of my house.”

Ramona glanced at Matias. He gave her a shallow nod. She released Lyla’s wrist and stepped back. The older woman scrambled to her feet, her face trembling with rage.

“Come, my dear.” Drewery held his hand out.

Lyla locked her teeth, turned, and joined him at the desk.

“Breaking into my house was a mistake, Matias,” Drewery said. “A colossal mistake. I was going to let you keep what was left of your enterprise after the handoff, but I’ve changed my mind. You should’ve known your place. I don’t need the Vandals or your research to bankrupt you. By next week, your companies will be a distant memory. I’ll bury you both and your families with you.”

Wow. She took a step forward. “You colluded with a foreign power, you let them into our orbital space, and you allowed their combat troops on Rada’s soil. Are you not worried at all, Senator?”

Drewery laughed. “Truly, the naivete is refreshing. The Vandals are here on a diplomatic mission. They have all of the right permits, they enjoy diplomatic immunity, and the men you killed were guests in my home who took it upon themselves to protect their host against a surprise attack. You broke into my home, slaughtered my guests, and assaulted my wife. By the time I’m done, the entire planet will stand in line to suppress you. Make no mistake, I will survive this. You won’t be so lucky.”

Matias shut his eyes for a moment. Three vid screens slid out of the walls and flared to life, displaying documents.

“What the hell is this?” Lyla demanded.

“A record of your dirty deeds for the past five years.” Matias’s voice was cold. “Kickbacks, quid pro quo backroom deals, illegal campaign contributions, bribes from foreign powers. You’ve been busy.”

Drewery stared at the screens as if they were venomous snakes about to bite him.

“You’re right. You would survive the Vandal fiasco,” Matias said. “That’s why we’ll build up to it by starting with something juicier. Like the Monroe chemical spill. Three hundred and thirty-seven technicians died because the Monroe Conglomerate failed to follow their own safety protocols. And you absolved them of all responsibility during the senatorial investigation. You literally took the death benefits from widowed spouses and orphaned children, all to preserve the stock price from falling.”

Drewery clenched his fists.

Matias pretended to ponder the screen. “You might survive this one as well. After all, you were just the head of the committee, and the generous gift of stock your wife received six months later could be a coincidence. That’s why the next day we will follow it with Abbas Orbital Station. In case it’s slipped your mind, the Department of Defense used to maintain a reserve of fuel cells on one of Gameda’s moons. This reserve was designated for emergency use by the system fleet. You plied the secretary of defense with gifts and favors until she transferred control of the reserve to the Department of the Interior, and then your buddy, the undersecretary of the interior, quietly marked it as defective and sold it to Abbas at a huge discount.”

“He’s accessing our confidential files,” Lyla hissed.

“Yes. I felt that much was obvious.” Drewery stared at Matias with naked hatred. “How?”

“Cassida gifted you a lovely vintage Second Wave toaster for your collection,” Matias said.

What? Ramona turned to him. “You hacked them through a malignant toaster?”

“Yes.”

She laughed.

Matias pondered Drewery. “I knew you were dirty. You wouldn’t have offered Cassida to me if you weren’t. I wanted to protect my family and my lovely spouse from the fallout when you inevitably got caught with your pants down. While you were grandstanding and your wife was trying to remember which end of the firearm to point at the enemy, I took control of your house and dumped your data banks to a private server. I have everything, Theodore.”

“You and I are in-laws!” Drewery snarled. “If you release any of this, you’ll get splattered with the same mud. The media will go after you.”

Matias shrugged. “But unlike you, I run a clean business, and I’ve taken steps to guard myself. What was it you said? ‘I will survive this. You won’t be so lucky.’ I’ve sent the first part to my favorite reporter. She is bright and very hungry.”

Drewery grabbed an ornate, heavy statuette of some weird herbivore off his desk and hurled it at Matias. Matias stepped out of the way, and the statuette smashed into the wall.

“Today the chemical spill, tomorrow the orbital station; I’ll let you pick the third. We have so many to choose from. You might survive one, but can you survive all of them, and how many people will sit idly by waiting for you to drag them down with you?”

Drewery cursed.

“First, you’ll be an embarrassment, then a liability. Your former friends will line up to silence you. One day you will simply vanish. I must say, I’m looking forward to it, Senator.” Matias’s eyes turned dark, and she saw the shadow of death on his face. “I’ve waited for this moment for a long time.”

Drewery grabbed Lyla’s hand.

“Pack.”

“What?” Lyla stared at him.

“Pack. Do it now. We’re leaving the system.” He marched toward the doorway, dragging her with him.

“What do you mean leaving? This is our home. Cassida is here! My life is here! I have a charity dinner tonight . . .”

He pulled her out of the room, and Lyla’s voice faded.

Ramona pivoted to Matias. He stood in the middle of the room, a small smile stretching his lips.

“Was it good for you?” she asked.

“The best.” He grinned at her like a lunatic and laughed.