Angels of Eternity Page 16

  Lashmi spent a lot of time with Seth in the infirmary. The Widowmaker had a respite room for down time. She found every chance she could to take him there as well. This prompted Shakti to contact the war college and ask about the acceptable behavior of a warbride. To her shock, the war college didn’t want to interfere. She was told it was a matter between the emperor and every one of his wives. When they returned, he could deal with what happened in the heat of battle. Lashmi claimed she had a “dispensation” from their imperial husband, but never showed it to anyone. Everyone knew not to walk in on her and Seth when they were in the room. Seth didn’t quite understand why Lashmi kept him so close and Shakti saw no reason to explain it.

  Chimata continued to work on her theory as to why the wasps had difficulty adapting to whatever battle situation they encountered. She felt it had to do with their hive structure and spent her spare time researching the subject. She was certain a means to destroy the wasps could be found in their social structure.

  The day before they received the next mission objective, Shakti and Dharma learned the story behind Bravi’s nipple rings. They were in the control center reviewing the sequences needed to activate the Schrodinger generator for the jump. Bravi had her shirt off and worked while floating around only in a pair of briefs. Her small breasts didn’t get in the way while she checked the readings on the panel, but the rings in her nipples would tap on it. This generated a tinkling sound every time the rings struck the panel. About the fifth time they chimed, Shakti put down the tool she carried and turned to Bravi.

  “Why do you still have those nipple rings in?” she asked. “They have to be causing you a lot of problems. Can’t you take them out and place them in a box? You don’t need them any more to get attention.”

  “You don’t like my breasts?” she asked, placing hands behind her neck and pointing them forward.

  “I do,” Dharma responded with a smile on her face. Shakti noted they were spending a lot of time together in the command center. These things happened.

  “You have nice, perky little breast,” Shakti said as she drifted over to Bravi and pinched one of her nipples. “But those damn rings are starting to get on my nerves. Just take them out, will you? You can put them back in at night so the hole won’t close.”

  “I like them,” Bravi said as she played with the silver circles. “They were a gift from one of my special clients.”

  “How special?” Shakti asked. “Look, we all had our regulars. I never got anything out of mine except a nice tip. I had men want me to do everything from dressing up like a man to shave my head. No, I didn’t let anyone shave my head, because you need some limits. So why was this client so special?”

  “He wanted to marry me,” she told her.

  “Oh,” Dharma said. “One of those.”

  “He was serious,” Bravi explained. “He told me I reminded him of his ex-wife. This was right after I first started to work as a pleasure girl. He hired me to come to his hotel room one night and kept me for the entire weekend. He even came back the next week and spent another two days with me. After the fifth weekend, he told me his wife, who died in a plague, had pierced nipples and he wanted me to have them done. He told me if I did it for him, he’d pay for my contract and we could leave together. I wanted to believe him, so I had them done. Hurt like hell for a few days.”

  “So what did he say when you showed them to him?” Shakti asked her.

  “I never saw him again,” Bravi told her as her head dropped. “I waited for the next two weeks and kept my schedule open just for him, but he never came back.”

  “No contact information?” Bravi asked.

  “What do you think? It was years ago and I’ve kept them in ever since, in hopes he would return some day.”

  The new mission objective came two days later. Shakti read it, called the other warbrides together, and told them they were in route to a new sector, also on the edge of known space. The wasps were supposed to be active there and they were to report on any suspicious activity. This would be a minimum contact assignment and they were not supposed to engage the enemy unless told to by the war college. Shakti snickered at the last admonition, as she would find any excuse to hit them if she could.

  “There may be a brood ship out there,” she told her co-wives. “It’s something to consider if we end up in a hot zone. Something tells me the war college doesn’t have a clear idea what we’ll encounter when we arrive. We may end up in the middle of a battle.”

  “Always plan for the worst,” Chimata noted as she drifted around the control center.

  Later that day, as they were preparing to fold space, Chimata pulled Shakti aside and wanted to talk to her. They were both in the habitat area and could walk on a flat surface for a change.

  “I’m tired of the way Lashmi monopolizes Seth,” she told her. “None of us has seen this special certificate which allows her to keep him. I think she made it up.”

  “So what would you have me do about her?”

  “Tell Lashmi she has to share him. It’s not right she gets to have her way with Seth while the rest of us go without. Look, he’s young and should have no trouble keeping up with us. I think for most men his age he’d be grateful, biology and all. We could put together a roster and take turns. One night for each of us.”

  “You forget we are all supposed to be married to the emperor.”

  “His Majesty has plenty of other women to produce his heirs and keep him warm at night. We don’t even know if we’ll around from one day to the next. We could even draw straws for Seth.”

  Shakti was quiet. After all the years they’d spent servicing men for pay, she didn’t think it would ever be an issue on board the Widowmaker. She worried more about relationships developing between her co-wives, which could create problems. But never the women fighting over a man on the ship. This would require a little bit of thought.

  “We’re about to make the jump,” she told her. “If we don’t end up in the middle of a firefight, I’ll take it under consideration. I’m sure there is a precedent somewhere.” She turned and went back to the control center.

  The Widowmaker folded space without any problems. The warbrides worried they would have trouble as they had no clear idea what to expect. When the field of stars formed before them, they saw nothing odd. Other than wasp activity, the place had nothing of significance. They were supposed to materialize outside a white dwarf star and locate any wasp activity. When the ship reconstituted, they found themselves in the middle of the vast empty void of the universe.

  “Looks like we ended up in a quiet place,” Shakti said as she glanced at the panel. “I don’t see any signs of life out here. Could be they sent us to the wrong location. We’ll wait a few hours and send a message back if nothing happens.

  “Wasp ship three hundred thousand miles from the nearest orbital planetoid,” Lashmi called out. “I see a big one, might be a brood ship. What do we do, Shakti? Your call.”

  Shakti realized the issue of Seth would be put off for another day and floated over to Lashmi’s station. It had to be a brood ship from the size of it. The profile matched the one they encountered on their first time out.

  “Wasp ship is moving away from us,” Lashmi pointed out. “Guess they know we are here.”

  “We need to follow them and see what’s inside,” Shakti announced. “I need another boarding crew so we can find what’s in this one. Lashmi, Chimata, Kamala, you will come with me for the boarding party. The rest of you sit tight and keep the Widowmaker available for us. I want to know what that wasp ship carries. They’re trying to get away and it has to be for a reason.”

  They were in their suit armor in a matter of seconds. Even the warbrides who stayed on board the Widowmaker corvette armored up in case there was a hull breech. Shakti, and the rest of the women who would follow her, took out their weapons and marched to the outer portion of the ship. They waited for an opportunity to get inside the wasp ship.

  “I want to be t
he first one in,” Lashmi told her. “It’s my turn this time.”

  “As you wish,” Shakti told her. “The drill will be the same as before. We’ll blow the hatch door open and skirmish with who or whatever is on the other side. Be ready for a fight to the death because they might know about us by now.”

  Kamala armed her charge to blow the port into the wasp hull open after they’d took the shuttle to it. She armed it just the way it had been done before. The plan was to blow the portal after they’d made a landing on the surface of the wasp ship. And then take the crew by surprise. Shakti didn’t think the wasps had much in the way of defense on the inside. If this were a brood ship, most of the space on the inside would be dedicated to the brood mothers and their hosts. Once inside they could locate the sentient female and take out the ship. Along the way, they might encounter the soldier wasps, but they shouldn’t give them too much trouble. The warbrides had the better fighting techniques, after all.

  “Let me set the charge off,” Bravi transmitted while they stood on the exterior of the wasp ship. “I don’t think they know we’re here and Lashmi can still be the first one in if she wants.”

  “Fine,” Shakti told her. “Just do it on Kamala’s command. She’s planted the charge and will know the right time to blow it.” They all moved out of the range of the blast.

  Back on the Widowmaker, Dharma had Seth near her while she watched the progress of the commandos on the exterior of the wasp ship. So far, the wasps seemed to think they were avoiding them. The wasp ship moved into a tighter orbit around the star nearest to them.

  “Now you want to keep him out here too?” Durga asked her from the station she occupied. With only a few warbrides on the corvette, they could barely navigate it. The navigational system could be operated by a small crew, but it was risky. “Is he supposed to be some kind of mascot?”

  “I like having him out here,” Dharma said to her. Seth attempted to stay out of their way, as he had no desire to cause a problem. He still didn’t know if it was a good thing these crazy women found him. He forced himself to listen to Lashmi’s endless chattering when she visited him in the infirmary. Now that he had a place to himself, they all found reasons to be in his part of the ship. A few minutes ago, he was ordered to come to the command center and here he was. At least this time they didn’t tie him to the deck.

  “I’m ready to throw the switch,” Bravi transmitted. “Just say the word and I’ll do it.”

  “The word will be…” Kamala started to say and the charge exploded, blowing the port cover clean off the surface.

  “Oh, shit,” Bravi said. “I heard you wrong.”

  “So much for a surprise entrance,” Shakti responded. “Let’s go!” They climbed over the exterior of the wasp ship and made their way inside the port. Shakti closed it once they were inside with a portable seal.

  “This is supposed to open the inner lock,” Shakti announced when she found the operation controls for the small docking bay. She made some adjustments and the inner door opened. “Guess we have that one right.”

  They climbed into the wasp ship and enjoyed the gravity simulation from the constant rotation. No one was waiting for them on the other side and Shakti closed the door as they all filed into the corridor.

  “Which way?” Kamala said, as she clutched the halberd in one hand.

  “I’m guessing the right,” Shakti answered. “It would fit in with the insect mentally. Wasps in nature tunnel to the right.” They headed down the right corridor.

  There was no opposition until they found another wasp storage room. This one was huge and was filled with all kinds of packing crates. The entered the room and tried to figure out what it was.

  “Are we any closer to the brood chamber?” Kamala asked Shakti. “This starts to look very familiar.” She held onto her halberd while the other women kept their weapons ready. Lashmi walked slightly in front of the others with her halberd tilted down.

  The door closed very slowly behind them and they heard a lock click through their audio receivers.

  “I don’t like what just happened,” Kamala transmitted.

  “Me neither,” it was Bravi.

  Shakti gripped her sword and stepped forward. She looked around. This might be a storage room or something else. It was never easy to figure out what the wasps had in mind when they built something. She heard a noise over her external audio feed and turned to see another door open on the opposite side of the room. When it slid open, wasps emerged from it. Soon, they were confronting twenty wasp soldiers. More followed in the rear.

  “What’s this?” Durga said from the Widowmaker. She watched the screen in front of her display a series of dots that emerged from the far side of the wasp ship. The dots began to move in their direction, so she flipped on the magnification. Before her, the dots turned into a series of small ships, all of wasp design.

  “Something happen?” Dharma said to her from the other side of the command center. Seth was holding onto a handrail not far from her.

  “Attack ships,” she announced. “Didn’t know the wasps knew how to build them and we have six headed our way.” Durga made some adjustments on the panel and the laser cannons changed their orientation.

  “Shakti,” she transmitted across the void of space to the warbrides on the other ship. “You need to get home. I’ve picked up a series of small wasp vehicles headed toward us. I think this may be a trap.”

  “You think?” Chimata said as she watched the wasps organize themselves into a series of phalanxes.

  “I think we are about to have some problems over here,” Shakti transmitted to the corvette. “I know you can handle those ships, Durga. Pray for us.”

  As the wasps formed themselves into units, Chimata turned to Shakti. “No creativity with these creatures,” she pointed out. “This is not a good pattern to use if they want to strike at us. Something about the way they organize their society prevents quick decisions.”

  Suddenly, Lashmi yelled a war cry and ran straight into the ranks of the wasps. She’d noticed a weak point in their lines which could be exploited. If she ran directly into it, there would be no way they could reform fast enough to stop her from doing some serious damage to their ranks. Before Shakti could say a word, Lashmi took her halberd and swept down at the smaller wasps before her. Four of them were sent airborne and she sliced through three more. She hurled herself into the front ranks of the wasps. This caused confusion among the wasps who hadn’t anticipated a full frontal assault from their enemy. Lashmi vanished into the wasp troops, her blade rising and failing with green fluid on it.

  “Support her!” Shakti ordered and slammed into one corner of the wasp positon with the edge of her shield.

  The wasp soldiers were sent flying and Kamala followed up as her blade harvested green blood. The other women followed behind, wasp bodies ripped apart by the sharp blades they carried. Chimata and Shakti went side by side while Kamala followed from the rear, chopping down on any wasp that came in range. It was almost a replay of their first engagement against the wasp hordes, but this time they were outnumbered beyond measure. Shakti guided them to the door as she tried to find the opening Lashmi created for them. However, it was almost impossible with wasps that attacked from all sides. Lashmi was too far out front.

  In horror, Shakti saw Lashmi go down under a pile of wasps, their razored forearms slashing away at every opening they could find on her suit armor. Shakti plowed into a row of wasps to grab Lashmi and pull her back. The screen inside her helmet showed Lashmi in serious trouble as her blood pressure fell to a dangerous level. Shakti pulled her out of the mass of wasps as the other two warbrides harvested green fluid all over the room. They backed into the door from where the wasp soldiers emerged and found the handle. Once inside, Shakti slammed the door back down. It was another maneuver to lock it in place.

  They were free of the wasps for the time being, but it wouldn’t be long. If they’d been lured into a trap, the enemy would send more reinforcem
ents after them. Shakti could hear the sound of wasp soldiers slashing at the door from the other side.

  “They just act on command,” Chimata pointed out to her over the suit transmitter. “No ingenuity, no planning, sheer force of numbers. There’s another caste which directs them. It’s a weakness in their ranks.”

  Shakti barely heard her. She tried to get Lashmi’s helmet off as her blood pressure was almost to the fatal level. Her suit armor was punched full of incisions and her face appeared blotched red when the helmet came off. Lashmi looked up at her, grinned and tried to say something. All Shakti could make out was the word “Seth” and she quit breathing. The vitals screen in her helmet flat lined and a red toxin warning appeared.

  “They’re using some kind of venom on those forearms,” Kamala pointed out. She indicated a clear fluid splashed over Lashmi’s suit. “They’ve learned a few things.”

  “Shakti, what is your situation down there?” she heard Durga yell over the transmitter. “Stay put because the attack vehicles are in range. If you leave, the shuttle will be in the cross fire.”

  “We lost Lashmi,” she told her over the transmission. Shakti held her body and tried not to weep. She wasn’t successful.

  “Two of the attackers almost in range,” Dharma told Durga from her station on the control center. Seth continued to do his best to stay out of the way.

  “I have them, “Durga responded. “Three, two, one…” She pulled down a switch and let the targeting system take over.

  The laser cannons of the Widowmaker sprung to life and locked on the first two wasp attack ships which entered their sights. Both ships were split in half as the laser neatly severed them in the midsection. Seconds later, there was a flash and both ships were scattered across the stars.