20. Shifting Starlight
20
Shifting Starlight
Ki’REMI
T he night was long.
Surgery after surgery, rounds upon rounds, one critical patient after another, until the Falasian mission wound up, and the landers ascended for a final time.
In hours, the Perseus Prime left the planet’s airspace and now burned to Galicia to pick up medical supplies.
Giving the extensive teams a break from active care so they’d focus instead on reporting, winding down, and catching lost sleep.
Ki’Remi powered through his files in his office, pushing through exhaustion with sheer will.
By the time his shift ended, the artificial lights of the dreadnought had diminished to simulate night.
Most of the ship’s personnel were in their quarters, the corridors quieter, the background drone and beeps of machinery the only companion to his tired, heavy steps.
Issa was already there when he stepped through his door, waiting for him.
She sat on the edge of his bed, wearing nothing but another of his black tees.
Her wild curls tumbled over her shoulders, her legs bare, skin aglow in the dim light of his chambers.
He exhaled, locking the door behind him.
She tipped her head, studying him as he stripped off his jacket, slides, and scrubs.
Leaving him naked.
She sighed at seeing his dark complexion etched with shifting metanoid tattoos, silver and gold glowing and moving in languid patterns.
‘Tired, love?’ she murmured.
He didn’t answer because the moment she reached for him, her hands traced up his torso, over his corded muscles, and up his shoulders, he groaned.
The kiss started unhurried. A teasing brush, a whisper of warmth.
She nuzzled his neck and sighed. ‘You showered after surgery. You smell so good.’
‘You’re wrecking me up, kidaya ,’ he rasped. ‘I missed you so damn much today; I might have to put a ring on you ‘cause when I lay it down, you’ll know with precision who you belong to.’
‘Slow down, Rider,’ she chided with a husky laugh and licked his lower lip, tipping him over the edge.
The Sableman had no patience left in him for a languid pace.
With a growl, he cupped the back of her head. Dragging her into the heat of him, deepening the kiss until she melted against him, her body molding to his.
His hands skimmed under the hem of his shirt that she wore, which hung loose on her, palming the bare skin beneath. They slid up the curve of her waist and the dip of her spine.
A shiver coursed through her.
Fokk , he was already hard for her, and she knew it; she was hungry for him.
She glided lower, gripping his waistband, tugging, teasing.
A curse rumbled from his chest as he lifted her, her thighs wrapping around him.
Lips breaking apart only to trail down her throat, nipping at the delicate column, drinking in her soft gasps.
ISSA
They tumbled onto the bed, where he wasted no further time.
He spread her legs and tossed them over his shoulders.
He cupped her ass and pulled her up to him.
At the feel of his mouth and tongue and just how good it was, her entire body arched.
Her bare heels dug into his back, and the universe ceased to exist.
The ecstasy was so out of this world that she screamed.
She should have guessed his sensuous lips, which almost brought her to an orgasm just by kissing her, would ravage her even more when he went down on her.
Hard, fast, licking, slow.
‘Remi,’ Issa groaned, her waist working, hand pulling at his locs, feeding her more of herself.
Desire ratcheted, and more cars of pleasure tore through her, bringing her close to the edge.
She moaned, unsatisfied with just tongue; she needed all of him inside her now.
‘Remi, fokk me.’
He ignored her, his grasp coming up under her ass, canting her so he lapped and laved deeper, suckling hard.
He stroked her thighs, on her like a tattoo, inking her with his heated touch.
She attempted to buck, but his meta strength held her still, his shoulder muscles bulging, as she stared down at him. ‘Remi,’ she begged, ‘Please.’
Her plea worked because he reared back, tearing off his pants before bending over her.
His skin was so honey dark and gorgeous, ink glowing, his cock, so thick, so hard, so pulsing with meta power, bobbed in front of him.
‘You ready? You wet for me?’ he demanded as she reached for him, palming and squeezing him.
He sucked his teeth, thrusting his hips into her grasp. ‘ Kidaya .’
‘ Naam , so wet for you,’ she breathed, and he growled, pushing her back, raising her pelvis, aiming his shaft.
His mushroom tip eased in, splitting her, and she shuddered; seconds later, with a long groan, he surged in, bottoming.
Hellfokkinyeah.
Her head fell back, and she gasped.
‘This won’t be gentle,’ he warned. ‘Can you handle it?’
‘Stop asking and give it, Sable,’ she hissed.
His chest rumbled as he fell to her tit, sucking all of her into his heat while his fingers worked her clit.
She lost all inhibition, pistoning her groin up to his surging one, his cock impossibly hard in her, filling her. She cried out and sobbed as waves of sensation, bliss, and emotion crashed over her.
She pulled at his locs in a battle of wills until he lifted from her nipple with a laugh and devoured her lips.
They kissed with an urgency and fervency she had never experienced before.
‘ Fokk !’ she mewled.
‘You complaining? You asked for it.’
His timbre was a hoarse growl.
‘I meant, this is fokkin ’ heaven.’
‘You’d better believe it,’ he rasped, his thumb working faster over her engorged clit.
There was only so much a woman could take, and with a combustion of Ssignakht flames, she shuddered and came hard.
Stroking hard up against his cock, seeking relief, pursuing friction, even as surges of pleasure crashed into her.
‘So freakin’ good,’ she breathed, her inhales ragged.
He rode her as her next orgasm hit and then was lost to her, chasing his nirvana.
He threw his locs back and teeth gritted, guttural sounds at the back of his throat.
He lifted her knees to his shoulders and pistoned harder, faster until, with a roar and the kinetic ripple all over his glowing, inked body, he came.
His cock splurged, spraying his heated seed into her.
She took it all in, his wild thrusts and his corded neck.
Her arms wrapped around him, lower limbs to his flank, heels to his back, when he fell on her and took her mouth for a long, searing kiss.
Which only softened after many minutes as he glided in and out of her.
‘That good enough for you, daughter of the gods?’ he rasped when he pulled up for air.
‘Not bad,’ she teased, earning herself a swat on her butt when he shifted them to the side.
‘You were begging for it,’ he reminded her, his meta eyes glowing at her, imbuing her with so much emotion.
Fokk , she was falling for him.
‘Was I now?’ she deflected, flicking her eyes away, unable to handle all of him.
‘You were, and let me tell you, woman -,’ he growled.
She turned to face him again. ‘ Naam ?’
‘You’ll never have another like me.’
She rolled her eyes. ‘For a man who’s not a god, you sure act like the most pompous and prideful of the lot.’
‘You better believe it. I got just receipts.’
Ki’REMI
At some point, exhaustion won out.
They drifted off, his arms locked around her, her head nestled into his chest, the warmth of their bodies tangled in the sheets.
Without warning, klaxons blared.
A violent wail shattered the stillness, the ship-wide alert blaring through his neural node.
Ki’Remi’s eyes snapped open.
Issa jerked awake beside him, reaching for the chrono at his bedside and scanning the emergency transmission message on her screen.
A voice boomed overhead, repeating the flashing words.
‘All personnel to battle stations. Incoming hostile fleet detected. Immediate intercept is imminent. Prepare for an incursion.’
They moved fast.
Ki’Remi was off the bed, scrambling for his combat suit, Issa behind him, in sync.
He secured the dark armored plating over his body, checking the integrity of his weapons, as Issa slipped into her lightweight combat gear and holstered her blasters.
He tapped his neural node. ‘Sable to Command, status report.’
The holo screen in his suite lit up.
What he observed made his blood run cold.
Massive shadows loomed, materializing from the nothingness of deep space.
Hulking warships, their obsidian hulls gleaming, jagged and cruel, de-cloaking in waves, cutting off their path.
Each one dwarfed the Perseus Prime, a colossal dreadnought in its own right.
He leaned in, eyes searching.
He spotted no markings, and there were no transponders.
Nada .
Yet the hulls resembled the single gunship that attacked them in Allorian space.
Fokk .
Issa’s breath hitched. ‘It’s them.’
Ki’Remi whipped his head toward her, piercing gaze on her pale face.
‘You’re sure?’
She swallowed, her a husky whisper. ‘ Naam .’
Of course, she was.
At his neural command, the live holo feed shifted.
The fleet of armored ships moved like ghosts, positioning themselves between the Perseus Prime and its escape trajectory.
With no warning, a second fleet blinked into existence.
The Rider stiffened, for this fresh influx of vessels was unlike those already crowding his vision.
These were, simply put, divine.
Sleek, their hulls crafted from what looked like molten silver.
Engravings glowed on its surface in unimaginable celestial colors, their maneuvering so seamless that space itself bent around them.
He whipped his head to her.
The look of blind fear on her face jacked his meta-senses all the way up.
‘Who the fokk are these now?’
‘The first wave was of the Ssigis venators who led the way for the second, the Saatifa,’ she whispered. ‘Sulfiqar’s personal guards. The highest elite warriors of the Sacran Immortal Army.’
Issa let out a shaky exhale, and Ki’Remi jolted.
Hell, whatever was about to happen next would change everything, and he had to make sure he played his part as the eyes and ears of the Sable Group.
‘If the admiral makes the wrong call, we are lost,’ she whispered, then darted off with incredible speed.
Lost in thought for a beat, he only perceived the blur of his woman as she raced out of the quarters.
‘Wait.’
Twas to no avail, for she was charging through the corridors.
He gave chase, but she switched up her Ssignakht power and flew away ahead of him.
She burst onto the bridge, ignoring the stunned faces of the command crew, the admiral’s sharp inhale, and the roar of indignation.
She sprinted toward the central control panel where the tactical officer sat.
The Rider caught up, clamping a hand on her arm.
‘Elaris, stand down,’ he growled, voice like crushed gravel, aware that her actions might be misconstrued as mutiny.
She flicked her fingers.
A pulse of energy surged outward.
His grip broke, and he was levitated into the air, not with violence, but with a firm readjustment.
Another flick, and he landed gently onto the deck as her celestial lock held him still.
Shock flickered across his face, and his silver molten eyes blazed.
She had just levitated and repositioned his ass.
Him.
His meta-enhanced form should have countered any external force and resisted her, but he fokkin ’ was unable to move.
What the hell had she done to him?
Around him, the ship’s senior crew snapped out of their stupor, weapons cocking, pointed at her, ready to intervene.
‘Issa,’ he growled, relieved he could still speak, ‘think with care about what the fokk next you’re about to do.’
‘Always,’ she intoned in a husky whisper.
She swept her hand as yet another surge rippled outward, sweeping over the ship’s complement like an unseen tide, freezing everyone in place.
Gasps of surprise echoed through the bridge as their limbs refused to obey their synaptic commands.
What in Devansi hell was she playing at?
ISSA
The Perseus Prime was a ship of formidable speed, built for endurance.
It traversed entire sectors without refueling, and its defenses were unmatched by most.
Yet it was a mote of dust against the Sacran fleet.
Her heart pounded, and her mind raced as she flicked her eyes from Admiral Rhye to Ki’Remi and the rest of the dreadnought’s higher-ranking team.
They would not endure this.
The Sacran Immortals did not attack like other galactic powers.
They eradicated.
With a thought, they could tear this dreadnought from existence, unravel it to its base particles, and scatter it into the void.
‘Forgive me,’ Issa called out,’ but this is for your good, so we survive this shitshow together.’
She slammed her palm on the primary holo-console, overriding the system, calling forth a direct link to the fleet looming outside.
The transmission engaged at once, the vision shimmering onto the dreadnought’s giant viewscreen.
Revealing the monolithic ships, over a hundred of them, their hulls carved from celestial metal, engraved with ancient sigils, glowing with the cosmos’ power.
They floated in perfect formation, their movements too precise, too fluid, as if they were not bound by standard physics.
At the nucleus was the Saatifa Command Vessel, a bristling ebony and silver ship unlike any other, its design resembling the wings of an ascended seraph.
A second later, the screen shifted, and a figure appeared.
His presence sent a deep chill through the bridge.
An aura of supernatural command wreathed his tall form, draped in the regalia of the Saatifa.
Twas a robe woven from celestial threads of silver and deep violet shifting like living constellations.
As Issa remembered, his face was a sculpted, terrible beauty as if chiseled from the bones of the universe itself.
His hair was a cascade of midnight, and ember gathered in intricate braids at the crown of his head. Each was wrapped in rings of glowing script, oaths spoken to the Divine Immortal, promises carved into his being.
When he gazed down at them with disdain as if gazing at a column of ants, searing through each inconsequential moment they had ever lived, every choice made.
The entire Perseus crew stared at him, transfixed, sensing his power as it pulsed through the transmission.
‘Issandra Elaris Astraeus D’Leqan.’
His voice was smooth as glass, sharp as a blade.
Her stomach coiled.
She expected contempt, but somehow, his inflection carried a wicked tone of amusement.
She lifted her chin.
‘Zavei Rhakiba Caleph D’Ketheron,’ she greeted in return, matching his formality.
She glanced at Ki’Remi, then the admiral, and continued on their behalf. ‘Commander of the Saatifa Division, General of the Celestial First Host, Executioner of the High Tribunal, Blade of the Divine Immortal King.’
The demi-god before her was no ordinary warrior.
Zavei was one of Sacra’s finest weapons.
His skin was obsidian, a deep midnight hue threaded with astral silver. Markings etched into his being shimmered with divine energy.
His features, chiseled and sculpted out of black jasper and jet, were ferocious, and his eyes were a molten gold, burning like the cores of dying stars.
He did not wear traditional armor.
Nada , his body was the armor.
Across his broad shoulders, a cloak of woven stardust draped, shifting with every breath he took, each mote holding power to eviscerate a single city.
Issa held his stare.
His lip curled, his amusement still dancing within his mesmerizing eyes.
‘You have the Sanopic Jar in your possession?’
The answer to this simple question would decide the fate of the dreadnought and everyone on board.
Issa didn’t flinch. ‘It is never far from me.’
The flicker in his gaze deepened, a satisfied yet icy frisson passing over his countenance.
‘We’re sending a boarding party to fetch you. Bring it with you.’
This was no request nor a negotiation, simply a quiet command.
Issa lifted a brow. ‘I’ll come to you.’
Silence stretched.
The amusement twisted into something darker.
‘Of course, you will,’ Zavei murmured.
His countenance faded into black as the holo vision fell away.
She heaved, planting her hands on her knees and taking jagged breaths.
Rearward, Admiral Rhye snapped.
‘This is my ship.’ His voice thundered across the bridge, breaking free of her hold through sheer will. ‘You just committed gross insubordination, Doctor!’
She turned her head to face him.
His jaw clenched.
The rest of the crew stiffened, and the significance and danger of what was happening sank in.
She had one chance to make them understand.
So she didn’t yell.
First, she waved her hand, releasing them all from the kinetic lock of their limbs.
Some heaved, others shook, and a few fell into their chairs in terror.
She let them reorient until she raised a hand.
The command was sufficient to silence them.
Not the Admiral, however, his furious growl thundering through the bridge. ‘Tactical officer, ready weapons.’
‘Belay that order.’
She spoke loud enough for her vocalization to carry through the expansive span. ‘Say another word, Admiral, and this ship will cease to exist in a trillionth of a second.’
Her utterance struck like a hammer, the impact of her words and, frankly, her recalcitrance rippling throughout.
Rhye’s face darkened with fury.
She understood his rage and his instinct to fight.
However, this was not a battle he could win.
Slowly, he sat back down, shoulders tight with contained wrath.
His personnel stared at her, frozen, shock in their eyes.
She nailed the ship’s leader with narrowed eyes. ‘I’ll go to them and give them what they are after, which is me and what I carry. It is the only way to save you all. Should you act otherwise and order the crew to fire, I will have to stop you, Admiral, the only way I know how, for I cannot justify sacrificing an entire dreadnought of thousands of souls for the sake of hubris. Once I step off this vessel, I strongly recommend you race for a safe harbor. Eden II is your best bet, given its elite planetary defenses.’
With that, Issa exhaled, her heart a storm inside her chest.
Behind her, Ki’Remi was still as a rock, yet giving off waves of emotion.
She sensed his scorching rage, fury, disbelief, and frustration.
However, to his credit, he held his tongue.
She turned to face him, her expression severe. ‘I hope you, too, Commander, now understand that this fight has never been mine to win. Neither is it yours. It’s my battle to face head-on, even though I have already lost.’