Chapter 4
Prince Xarin
I sat in my command seat, cape tossed over my shoulder, head pressed back against the headrest, eyes closed.
After a few quiet, restless minutes, I brought a hand up and pressed it over my eyes. I ground my thumbs into the flesh around my temples as if I was trying to unscrew it.
I’d been seconds from losing my goddamn life. If that refinery worker hadn’t acted when she had, and torn the bot from the very sky, I would have.
My free hand twitched as I clutched it hard around my arm rest. I drove the fingers so hard into the yielding fabric that my short nails cut it.
A second later I drew my hand back, balled it into a fist, and slammed it on the armrest as a roar split from my throat.
I was losing. On every battle front and in every encounter. So I balled my hand up, brought it back, and struck my armrest with such force it broke free from the back of the seat and clattered onto the floor by my feet.
I kicked at it petulantly, sending it scattering over the floor until it struck the far wall.
I punched to my feet and began to pace the room, finally latching a hand on my cloak and wrenching it free from my armor with a hiss. I discarded it in disgust over the back of my chair.
Before I could continue to take my anger out on the furniture, a warning beeped through the air.
I jerked my head back and ticked it to the left, activating my ear implant. “What?” I snapped.
“More Zorv detected in the adjoining solar system,” a toneless electronic voice informed me.
I jerked my head back and drove my eyes fully closed, lips drawing back from my teeth. “I’m on my way.”
With that, I spun on my boot and headed toward the door.
Though the corridor directly outside of my private command room was completely empty, once I took a superfast lift and reached one of the decks above, I saw the crew. This ship had a complement of over 500.
And as I passed a cluster of them, they all stopped what they were doing, eyes widening with surprise as they snapped salutes.
I ignored them, not even bothering to make eye contact.
There was too much happening in my mind. A storm of thoughts and hatred.
I curled a hand into a fist as I considered how many men I had already lost to the Zorv. They kept sweeping through the once peaceful systems of the Milky Way, destroying everything that stood in their path.
More than that, they were concentrating their attacks on Arterian strongholds. Going after resources and critical transport routes.
I had insurmountable pressure from my family to do something about it.
But that was nothing compared to the pressure to find my betrothed.
Even as that poisonous thought arose in my mind, I pushed it away as I angled my head forward and focused on the end of the long, straight corridor.
While it would end, my trials would not.
Not until I finally found my betrothed, and solidified my growing power. Without either, I would die. If the Zorv didn’t kill me, the emptiness would. It was already pushing into my dreams on a daily basis, tearing through my mind, using all its force to find a weakness. And when it did – when it found a door into my consciousness, it would invade, possessing me in full.
Despite my tumultuous, spinning thoughts, my mind still drifted as I made my way toward the primary control center in the ship.
They drifted, because as I passed a female crewmember, my mind jerked back to the battle at the refinery. Specifically, the woman. The human, in her dirty scraps of clothing. The human who’d saved my life and fought like an Arterian star warrior in full armor.
The other members of my family drafted galactic citizens at will, I barely used the power. Despite my desperation, I couldn’t agree with snatching someone from their life, not unless they wanted to come.
Today… the words had sprung from my lips before I’d been able to stop them. It wasn’t just that I needed warriors like her, it was… something more.
What that something more was, I would have to wait to find out, for a second later I arrived at the primary operations center. The large doors swished open before me as I strode in.
Instantly, every crewmember pushed to their feet and saluted in turn.
The Captain pushed from his command seat in the center of the room, clasped his hands behind his back, and nodded low. “Prince Xarin, we respectfully acknowledge your presence.”
I strode in, bringing a hand up and waving at him dismissively. “We can cut the official introduction. Tell me where the Zorv have been detected.”
Every time I came into the operations room, the crew always pushed to their feet and saluted, and the Captain always went through the official greeting.
It was tiring. A waste of time. But no matter how often I told him to ignore tradition, he wouldn’t.
For the Arterian Empire was built on tradition.
It had arisen from the ashes of a long-dead, great civilization that had spanned the universe. They had existed over 2000 years ago. What had destroyed that sophisticated civilization, we still did not know. Though there were reportedly some within the Arterian Royal Family who knew the full story, I was not one of them.
For the rest of us, it was enough to appreciate that we lived on the ashes of a civilization that had eclipsed us by centuries. According to what little records we had, they had not only possessed the technology to transport men and matter, but they had held ships with the capability to traverse whole galaxies within days.
Just that thought alone was enough to send a cold shiver pressing down my spine.
Though I knew much less about that once great civilization than other members of my family, I knew enough to appreciate that the name of my ship originated from that period of time.
The Illuminate.
According to what I’d heard, the Illuminates had once guarded the entire universe before the great fall.
Now, all we were left with was their name and the occasional destroyed relic.
“Zorv forces are building along a level III transport route used for fuel shipments,” the Captain said.
I ground my teeth together.
“Change course to intercept.”