War for the Iron Planet

Chapter 27: The Nest

Raelik stood at the foot of his star tree, his head held high, his knights all around him, waiting for the crown prince to disembark. The royal star tree dwarfed all the others. It had a large great eye on the trunk, and, despite its old age, had buds nearly ready to spring open less than an hour after landing. The royal family tightly controlled the distribution of great eyes and elder trees, always ensuring they held the grandest- and most deadly- in their own line's fleets.

The door finally opened, revealing a procession of robed guards and attendants, with the crown prince in the middle of it all. He stood a head taller than the rest, and his armor was encrusted with green jewels that matched his flowing cape. On his head he wore a simple silver crown, his fiercely bright eyes glowering underneath it.

The gathered crowd bowed before him as he approached. His attendants split a path for him as he walked up to his vassal.

"Lord Raelik," he said with an easy smile. "Where is the condemned?"

"Greetings, Prince Jylik," said Raelik as he stood. "The former Lord Jacrill is in the dungeon of my mother star tree. We have arranged for the execution to be performed this evening, and have prepared all the rites."

Jylik nodded. "Have him brought here, please."

There was utter silence as Raelik motioned to a guard and he ran off. No one dared to question the prince or even break the silence.

A few minutes later two guards came down the ramp of Raelik's mother star tree, escorting Jacrill. The prisoner whimpered as he approached the prince.

"Mercy, your Majesty, mercy!" he cried.

"No," replied the prince. He took a thorn gun from where it was holstered on his belt, raised it to Jacrill's head and fired. His form exploded and condensed, leaving behind his death crystal.

"There," said Jylik with a smile. "That's out of the way. Now we can get down to setting this operation back on track."

Raelik looked on in shock. Just like that, Jacrill was dead. None of the rites had been observed. A condemned prisoner needed to be brought before a gathering of nobles and priests to be given final judgment. The ceremonies were meant to be held during the evening, but the prince had simply shot a fellow Astralbian as though in the heat of battle.

Jylik walked towards Raelik's tree, carelessly crushing Jacrill's death crystal into the mud as he went. His attendants followed behind him, with Raelik and his underlings falling in after. Still no one dared to speak.

***

In the wreck of the Ferryman, Reclan was marking the crates they needed with a marker.

"Ugh," she said. "We probably ought to just take all the crates. I think we'll have the space."

Doc shrugged in reply. He was busy comparing the measurements of the crates to the size of the hatch they'd come up through.

"I don't think they'll fit anyway. We'll need the engineer's plasma saw to widen this hatch enou-"

BANG!

"Uh oh," said Doc. They heard agitated voices from above, but no more shots. Then they heard shots from below, distant but distinct.

"Uh oh," repeated Reclan.

"I'll go down, you go up," said Doc, already climbing through the hatch.

A horrible scream came from above.

"Oh boy," said Reclan, clamoring up the ladder.

Doc looked out through the hatch and saw four figures trying to pick their way up the steep slope, followed by a horde of huge black centipedes. Wasting no time, Doc crawled out the door and edged off to the side, clipping himself to the hull with a climbing line.