do?
His last words fill my mind.
Crush them.
Then it becomes clear. He has given me a command. Purpose. A divine order. He’s leaving it up to me to take control and see that his will is done.
If I can do this, I will have proven myself many times over to him, surely.
So instead of following the doctors, I make for the bridge. My long, black braids have come loose in the battle, and they whip the air as I sprint through the hallways, the sounds of my footsteps echoing behind me.
I burst onto the bridge. The officers are running around, shouting at each other. The medical teams have apparently already reported in to them. It seems that several crew members left to be by Beloved Leader’s side, while others nervously hover around their terminals, waiting for commands.
“Where are the Loric bastards?” I shout as I make my way to the viewing window at the front of the bridge.
“They’ve just taken off,” one of the officers says. Based on his terminal’s readouts, I’m guessing he’s our navigator. “They have a Loric ship somehow. We’re waiting for—”
“Follow them,” I say.
“But Beloved Leader is the only person who—”
I raise my blaster to the officer’s head.
“I am Phiri Dun-Ra, trueborn daughter of the honorable Magoth Dun-Ra,” I say, slowly and clearly. “And at this moment I am the voice of Beloved Leader. He has given me orders to crush the Garde. If you don’t put us in the air in the next five seconds, I’ll do it myself.”
He hesitates only a beat before the Anubis takes off.
“Fire as soon as you get them in sight,” I say.
I open a comm line to the medical bay, but there’s nothing to report. Setrákus Ra is still unconscious. The doctors are trying to figure out how best to proceed with the extraction of the pipe. They’ve contacted some kind of specialist, whatever that means.
Which leaves me to command the ship. To execute Beloved Leader’s order.
To ensure Mogadorian Progress.
I pace around the bridge, watching the Loric ship on our radar screen. We’re gaining on it, but not quickly enough.
“Call for reinforcements,” I shout. The officers follow my orders. They know who I am—some of them even recognize me from when I was leading troops at the main base. “Map their trajectory and alert the other warships on this continent that a Loric vessel is in the air. We don’t let this ship escape. And someone send more troops to the Sanctuary. Many of the Loric were wounded. Perhaps mortally. Capture anyone left behind.”
“Incoming transmission from the West Virginia base,” an officer says.
“Pull it up.” I gesture to one of the many electronic panels around the bridge.
“I’m sorry,” he says, his voice a bit shaky, like he’s unsure of how to proceed. “But I’ve been instructed that this is a private message for whoever is in command of the ship.” His brow knits together. “Is Beloved Leader able to—”
“I am his voice and his ears right now,” I say. “Take me to a place where I can receive this call.”
The officer leads me out of the bridge. I’m taken to a meeting room. The officer leaves me there alone as I tap on a control panel. A trueborn appears on the screen on the opposite wall. There’s a jagged but thin scar running across the dome of his tattooed head—one I know he got from the traitor Adamus’s attack on Ashwood Estates.
“Ah, Phiri Dun-Ra,” he says with a slight smirk. “When the chief doctor contacted me, he mentioned the Anubis was in the air. I should have known it was you who’d taken control.”
“Dr. Zakos,” I mutter. “I have a ship to destroy. If you have a message for me, speak now.”
Zakos and I have not always seen eye to eye. He was often a guest of Beloved Leader at the base in West Virginia when I was still stationed there. He oversaw all sorts of experiments and augmentation programs dreamed up by our leader. Once a superpowered piken of his design got loose in the tunnels surrounding the facility and ate half my men when we were sent to retrieve it. The doctor shrugged off these casualties as necessary losses. Meanwhile, I had to train a new squad.
When the Loric Garde escaped a few days later, it was that team of new soldiers who lost them in the tunnels.
“It’s admirable that you’ve so quickly stepped into Beloved Leader’s boots,” Zakos says, “but chasing this ship is out of the