Chapter 20
CHAPTER TWENTY
J ulia wiped her brow, sweat trickling down her temple as she prepared to neutralize the last containment unit in the lab. Her fingers worked quickly, adjusting the vial of neutralizing agent in the dispersal mechanism. Just one more unit and they could get the hell out of this place.
Her breath caught when she heard footsteps—heavy and deliberate—echoing from the corridor outside the lab.
No, not now.
Sergi and Josh moved in front of her, blocking her from sight as the door slid open. Six Legion soldiers stepped inside, their weapons drawn. The officer at the front narrowed his eyes.
“Identify yourselves.” His voice was sharp and suspicious. His eyes flicked from Sergi to Josh. “You’re not assigned to this sector. I don’t recognize either of you.”
Sergi glanced at Josh, his lips curling into a slow, mischievous smile. “Oh, we’re pretty memorable,” he drawled.
Josh raised an eyebrow. “Ancient Knights of the Gallant,” they answered in unison, their voices tinged with wry humor.
In perfect synchronization, they raised their staffs, releasing a blinding surge of energy.
Chaos erupted. The soldiers returned fire, bolts of energy from their weapons slicing through the air. Julia ducked low in front of the containment unit as several came within inches of her. Her heart pounded as she worked furiously to neutralize the last of the iROS. She forced herself to breathe evenly, her hands steady despite the chaos around her.
The officer, blood seeping from a wound in his side, stumbled backward. His hand slammed down on the wall-mounted alarm. The shrill wail of the alarm echoed through the lab.
“Damn it,” Sergi muttered.
At the same time, the ground lurched beneath them as the explosives Packu set began rocking the space lab. Julia stumbled, catching herself against the console as a low hiss filled the room. Her eyes flew to the containment unit. Her heart stopped when she saw the crack beginning to form.
“Sergi!” Julia shouted. “We’re about to have a breach!”
“ Of course, we are,” Sergi groaned, spinning his staff to knock out a Legion soldier. “Because this day isn’t exciting enough.”
Josh ducked behind a console, dodging another laser blast. “Options?”
“Bantu, you need to stop the emergency lockdown,” Julia said into the commlink.
“The neutralizer is spreading—just not very fast.”
“Then we move ,” Josh ordered, covering her.
Sergi’s staff crackled with energy as he fired at the control panel located by the main door to the lab, short-circuiting it. The panel melted, locking out any re-enforcements heading for the lab.
“Julia, come on!” Josh called, holding out a hand.
Julia barely caught her balance, her hands slick with sweat as she pushed away from the containment unit. She grabbed Josh’s hand and let him pull her out of the cubicle. He sealed the door with a quick charge from his staff.
The corridor outside flickered with red emergency lights. The bulkheads trembled, metal panels beginning to buckle in places.
“Back to the conduit,” Sergi called, already sprinting ahead. “Go! Go! Go!”
Julia darted after them, her pulse roaring in her ears. They reached the conduit access point, and Josh swung the grate open.
“After you,” Sergi said with a dramatic bow.
Julia didn’t hesitate. She climbed into the narrow space, the air thick with smoke and ozone from the explosions below. Sergi and Josh followed, closing the grate behind them.
“Wait,” Julia said, pointing to the sensor she and Josh had to bypass.
“What’s wrong?” Josh asked, confused.
Sergi chuckled and shook his head. “I’d say the chicken’s out of the bag now.”
Julia shot him a look, her lips twitching despite the tension. “It’s cat out of the bag.”
Josh nodded, his eyes sharp and alert. “Definitely cat.”
They were three levels below the shuttle when a rumbling explosion roared through the conduit. Sergi grabbed her arm, pulling her back as the metal flooring in front of them twisted and split open. Super-heated steam poured out of the opening, driving them back.
“The level below is collapsing!” Josh hissed, his eyes scanning the section ahead. “We’ve got to find another way.”
Another explosion rocked the space lab, nearly knocking Julia off her feet as the ship began to list. Josh caught her around the waist, steadying her.
“Thanks,” she breathed, her voice tight.
“Don’t thank me yet.” His eyes were grim as he looked at the collapsing tunnel ahead.
Julia pulled up the holographic map, her fingers trembling. “Bantu, we need a new route. Now.”
Bantu’s voice crackled over the comm. “Head to the lift on your left. You’ll need to cut through the corridor wall once you reach the top. Hurry. The explosives are chain-reacting faster than we estimated.”
“What about Roan?” Julia asked, her voice catching.
There was a long pause.
Cassa’s voice crackled in her ear. “We lost contact with Roan.”
Julia’s breath caught, her pulse hammering against her ribs. No. No, not again.
Smoke curled through the air, the alarms blaring in her ears—so much a repetition of before. The Gliese 581g mission. The moment when everything had shattered.
Josh ordering them to the escape pods as the Gliese tore apart...
Her father’s helicopter spinning out of control ? —
Not again.
“Julia?” Josh’s voice yanked her back to the present.
She forced herself to breathe, swallowing the panic clawing up her throat. “We have to find him.”
Cassa’s voice was soft but steady. “We lost contact with him after the explosions started. We’re still trying to re-establish a connection.”
Julia’s chest tightened, fear curling in her gut. Roan was out there—alone in the crumbling space lab, surrounded by Legion soldiers. Her fingers curled into fists, the image of him flashing in her mind.
Hold on, Roan. You have to make it. You have to.
“We’ve got to go, Julia,” Josh said, his voice snapping her back to the present.
Julia nodded, determination hardening her features.
* * *
Weapon’s Room: Minutes before
The weapon’s lab shuddered, each explosion drawing closer, the bulkheads trembling with growing intensity. Coleridge Landais leaned heavily against the support beam across from the containment unit. His breath mere ragged gasps as his body began to shut down.
The containment unit in front of him caught his attention. Its once-bright, glowing liquid had dimmed into a lifeless black. The iROS parasites—his and Andri’s creation, their masterpiece—were gone, snuffed out by his son.
Roan.
The name burned through him like acid. Even in his weakened state, Coleridge’s lips curled into a twisted smile. His son had won this round, but the game was far from over.
His right hand rose to his chest. Blood oozed from the wound in it, soaking the front of his uniform. His vision blurred, but the intensity of his fury kept him conscious. His strength was waning, but his mind remained sharp—too sharp for comfort.
A soldier shouted when a large piece of equipment fell, creating more chaos in the room that had become their prison. Sparks rained from severed conduits, and the air was thick with smoke and the acrid scent of burning wires.
The soldier at his side was panicking, his hands pressing uselessly against the wound in a futile attempt to stop the bleeding. “General… I need to get you out of here, sir. Let me help you to the door.”
Coleridge lifted his head, his eyes narrowing with disdain. “You don’t understand, do you?” His voice was thready but laced with steel. “There’s no running from this. No escape. Not for you. Not for any of us.”
The soldier blinked, confusion flashing across his face. “General…?”
Coleridge ignored him, his attention shifting back to the now-dead containment unit. A twisted smile curled his bloodied lips. The storm he had felt building had hit with a devastating force, but it wouldn’t wipe away everything.
Roan’s stubborn defiance had always been a thorn in his side. Even as a boy, he had refused to bow to authority, had challenged every order, every expectation.
It had driven Coleridge mad with frustration, but deep down… deep down, there had been a flicker of something else—respect, perhaps. Admiration for his son’s resilience, his unwillingness to break.
That admiration had long since curdled into something darker—envy and jealousy.
“You thought you could win, Roan,” Coleridge whispered to the empty air, his voice barely audible above the screeching of failing machinery. “But winning isn’t always about who lives.”
He bowed his head, his vision fading in and out. His hand moved slowly to the communicator strapped to his broken wrist, his thumb brushing across its surface. Three transmissions, pre-programmed and waiting for this very moment. The first message sent, the second queued, the third poised for delivery.
Each one a thread of chaos he had spun long before stepping onto this cursed space lab.
The first… A whispered order. One that would set the galaxy ablaze if the person he had chosen follows his orders.
The second… An offer too tempting for even the most cautious to refuse. The kind that could topple even the mightiest.
The third… Ah, the third. A promise. This one wrapped in shadows and riddles. Just enough to sow suspicion, just enough to unravel everything from within. Especially in the mind of someone already fearful of the shadows.
He pressed his thumb down, activating the transmissions. A soft beep confirmed their delivery.
Coleridge leaned back, his breath rattling in his chest. Satisfaction coiled in his gut like a constricting serpent, curling tighter with each passing second. He had always been a master of long games. Even in death, he would have the last move.
The soldier beside him murmured something, his voice lost in the growing cacophony of destruction. Coleridge barely registered it. His eyes half-lidded, his thoughts drifted back to Roan.
Stubborn boy. Always defiant. Always blind to the lessons he had tried to teach.
And Andri… His brother. Always watching, always scheming.
“You’ll learn, dear brother,” Coleridge whispered, his voice barely audible over the escalating chaos. “They’ll all learn.”
Coleridge’s lips curled into a grim smile. The message he had sent would reach Andri soon enough, along with the names of every Legion officer who had shown even the faintest trace of disloyalty. It would sow chaos, mistrust, and fear within the very heart of the Legion. If he couldn’t see Andri fall with his own eyes, at least he could ensure that the seeds of his destruction were planted.
The soldier’s voice cut through his thoughts. “General… please, we can still?—”
“We’re already dead,” Coleridge said, his voice cold and final. His eyes gleamed with a cruel satisfaction as he turned to glare at the soldier. “And soon, so will be the rest of them.”
The floor beneath them shuddered violently, another explosion rippling through the structure. The door to the lab buckled, opening just enough for light to stream in. Soldiers outside redoubled their efforts to pry it open, but Coleridge’s eyes remained fixed on the dark liquid inside the containment unit.
His mind wandered again, drifting to his final conversation with Roan—the defiance in his son’s eyes, the unwavering resolve. Coleridge had underestimated him.
The soldier at his side shouted something, but Coleridge barely heard him. His vision blurred at the edges, his pulse was slowing. His grip loosened around the communicator until it fell from his hand.
Another violent tremor rocked the lab, sending sparks and debris raining down. Coleridge closed his eyes, a slow, satisfied breath slipping from his lips.
“If I go down… I’ll take the rest of you with me,” he vowed in a hushed voice.
The door to the lab burst open just as the charges set in the weapon’s room detonated. Heat and light engulfed the room, a wall of fire rushing toward him in a blinding crescendo. For a split second, Coleridge saw everything in perfect clarity—the containment unit shattering, the soldiers caught in mid-motion, the lab collapsing around him.
Then it was gone.
A flash of brilliant white, a wave of obliteration—and silence.