17. PEACE
PEACE
M y limbs were pleasantly limp as I rested on Xyrox’s chest. I didn’t even mind the sweat the slicked our bodies and stuck us together.
The thought made me want to giggle. I wasn’t sure why.
I felt like I was high on Zyrosian sayden berries, but even better.
My eyelids fluttered closed as my fingers played with Xyrox’s glowing spiral on his chest and he drew lazy circles on my back.
Then an alarm shrieked. We both jackknifed up in the bed, barely avoiding colliding with each other’s heads.
“What’s happening?” I yelled over the screaming alarms.
“I’m not sure, but get dressed.” He threw the clothes he must have found while I was in the cleansing station in my direction and I scrambled to put them on.
“Julie! What’s happening?” I hoped the AI could hear us in this private space.
“Two ships have entered the restricted airspace above the mountain.” Julie answered in her helpful and fekking annoyingly calm voice.
“Who are they?”
“I read their signatures as the royal Pleiadian ship Victory , and the other has illegally blocked its identification signature.”
A voice I now recognized came over the loudspeaker—Prince Frierik. “Peace, Xyrox, we’re in position. You need to get back to the center of the lab near the MEDIC so I can lock onto you and teleport you out of there.”
“Teleport us?” My voice cracked even as we raced down the hall. I was familiar with the concept, of course, but had never had the opportunity, nor the desire, to try it. I liked all my atoms where they were, thank you very much.
Xyrox looked at me, noting the trepidation in my voice. “Don’t worry, xiara. It’s simple. You’ll feel a little pressure and it will be over.”
I swallowed hard but nodded as we reached our destination. Xyrox had done this. I could do it, too. We stepped to the center of the space.
“Prepare for extraction,” Julie’s voice instructed right before light enveloped my vision. My body tingled and I felt a strange, weightless pull, the world melting and reforming in a blink.
The chill of the lab vanished as I stumbled forward onto a solid metallic floor. The temperature difference was jarring. Warm air filled my lungs, and bright artificial lights replaced the lab’s dimness. I looked up—and there they were.
Prince Rick. Peace One. Varroc.
The first thing I noticed was the way Peace One looked at me—as if I was an unfinished sentence in a book she was desperate to finish reading. I must’ve been doing the same.
And then I noticed Peace One’s rounded belly. “Are you pregnant?”
She nodded. “You’re going to be an aunt!”
An aunt? My mind reeled, but there was no time to dwell on that. Warning klaxons blared, and Prince Frierik turned sharply to the command console.
“Brace for engagement!” he barked. “Battle positions!”
The ship lurched. The other ship had fired the first shot.
The jolt threw me against Peace—the other Peace—as she adjusted something on the control panel. I eyed her again. The resemblance was uncanny, but there was no time for questions.
Varroc drew two blades from sheaths at his back and threw one to Xyrox. “They’ll try to board. Helos is ruthless.”
Xyrox wielded the blade like he’d been born with it. “Let them try to take my mate. I’ll kill them all.”
“Hot, right?” My sister clone snarked. I didn’t think this was the time or place, but she wasn’t wrong.
Instead of answering her, I turned my attention back to Prince Frierik. “So, it is them, the Silverlight ?”
“Yes. I’ve dealt with him before. He’s a well-known pirate more than anything.
He might be looking to collect on Jokull’s generous reward for anyone who brings him a Peace clone,” he responded, adding ominously, “dead or alive. A few months ago, we heard about a newly-registered recovery agent from Rykantos with silver hair, violet eyes, and olive skin. We’ve been searching for you ever since. Evidently, we weren’t the only ones.”
Another blast rocked Victory , and I could see the ship in the viewscreen now. The Silverlight was a predator, circling in the black of the sky, lobbing bright flares of plasma fire at us.
Frierik’s voice was like steel. “Shields holding. Vector shift—now!”
Victory rolled sharply, dodging the next barrage. In the chaos, I barely felt the shift of pressure in the room before the others reacted—
A blinding pulse of light flared at the rear of the bridge. The hum of an enemy transporter.
Figures materialized.
Helos’ thugs—four of them, heavily armed.
Everything exploded into motion.
Varroc was on them first, his blade flashing. The largest of the attackers barely got his rifle up before the warrior drove his weapon through him, the energy field around it sizzling through flesh. The man collapsed into two pieces on the deck.
Peace—the other Peace—moved fast, ducking under a blast and countering with a well-aimed kick to the throat—despite her little baby bump. Impressive. The man staggered backward, right into Varroc’s bloody blade.
I hardly had time to register the efficiency of their work before I had to react to a thug swinging at me with the butt of his rifle.
Instinct took over. I ducked, spun, and cracked my elbow into his stomach.
He staggered, and I seized the advantage, throwing him over my shoulder.
He hit the floor hard, rifle clattering away.
The next thing I knew, Xyrox’s blade removed his head from his body.
Behind you! I screamed in my head as I gasped.
Xyrox must’ve heard me, because he ducked and spun in the same motion, bringing his blade across the belly of the last thug. As the man screamed and tried to catch his innards, Xyrox saved him the trouble with a clean stab to the heart. He collapsed in a bloody heap, his eyes vacant.
Prince Frierik didn’t blink. “Move off the grid.” We did as he asked, moving back to the area where the seats were located.
“Eject them.” His normally charming voice was now flat and held an undercurrent of something almost vicious. I never wanted to hear that voice directed at me.
As we watched, the ship’s internal security system engaged, and suddenly, the remains of the invaders’ bodies dematerialized in a violent transporter recall, a gruesome warning.
But we weren’t safe yet. Lights flashed red.
“Enemy combatant repositioning for another strike,” Julie’s voice calmly informed us over the sirens.
“Buckle in,” Frierik commanded as his fingers flew over the controls as Victory twisted sharply, evading Silverlight ‘s fire. The void outside filled with crackling energy fire. The starfield blurred as we spiraled through more evasive maneuvers.
My stomach heaved, and I thought I might vomit. Peace One leaned over to me. “You okay?”
I fought for breath, nodding, my mind racing. I locked eyes with her and something passed between us—call it twintuition, or perhaps it was simple Pleiadian telepathy. This isn’t over, not by a long shot .
Prince Frierik seemed to be in his element, though, which was comforting.
Rick’s pretty awesome. Between him and Daddy Roc, I’m never worried. Peace One winked at me.
“Lock onto Silverlight ‘s weapons array. Disrupt beams—fire now!“ Prince Frierik ordered.
“As you wish,” Julie said. She was way better than the autopilot’s my beater ship had.
A pulse of energy streaked forward, slamming into the enemy ship’s starboard hull. Sparks erupted.
Wiping blood from his knuckles, Xyrox stepped closer to me. “That’ll damage them, but if Helos is working for Regent Jokull, he’ll keep pursuing us because Jokull wants you badly enough to pay handsomely for you.”
My nostrils flared. “Well, he can’t have me. Fekk that guy.”
“Yeah! Fuck Yogurt,” Peace One cheered, pumping her fist in the air.
Another blast rocked the ship, but we were ready. Peace One and Varroc worked in tandem on weapons and defense systems. Prince Frierik controlled the ship with a pilot’s grace, twisting Victory into an impossible target.
One last push.
“Target their engines,” Varroc ordered Julie. “They can’t chase us if they can’t move.”
“As you wish. Missiles locked on Silverlight ‘s port engines. Missiles locked on Silverlight ‘s starboard engines. Firing in three, two, one.” Victory jerked back from the force of the launch.
The shot connected. Silverlight ‘s aft engines erupted in a chain of detonations, blue flame spitting out before being consumed by the vacuum of space. The remnants of the ship curled up like a wounded animal, pieces breaking off and falling into the ice below.
“Time to go,” Prince Frierik announced. “Get in your seats. We’re hitting hyperspace and getting out of here.”
The ship’s engines roared, the stars stretched, and we left the ice planet and the pirate ship behind.
The sirens fell silent. A beat of stillness prevailed, and I exhaled fully for the first since we were jolted out of bed after my shower.
Then, Peace One took my hand in hers and for the first time since I had met her, I mustered the courage to fully look at her and process my startling new reality.
“What the hell do we do now?” I finally asked.
Prince Frierik turned from the pilot’s console, his voice carrying across the bridge and answered. “For now? We’re going to Lithoria, where Varroc’s army will keep you both safe, while we plan our next move.”
“And we plan how to kick Yogurt’s ass once and for all,” Peace One added.
I wasn’t sure anywhere would ever be safe again. But for the moment, we had won. I leaned back in my seat and smiled at Xyrox. It was enough for now.