“Of course, Hannah… But first, I have a question.” Sapphire turned back to Kilbourne and smiled sweetly. “How did your precious Mujahadin get the same techbase as the Enemy I was fighting in that alternity?”
Kilbourne was shocked to silence. Her jaw dropped.
“Hannah, why don’t you see the alternities as a threat?”
“Seize her!”
Sapphire’s eyes blazed with silver fury, illuminating the assemblage. “Did you think you’d get away with it? Did you think we wouldn’t see you?”
“Take her to her vessel, now!!”
“I’d been there for two years, Hannah. Did you think I wouldn’t notice your fucking fleet Shadowing through my When?”
The guards at Kilbourne’s side hesitated, made no indication that they were going to approach Sapphire.
“Hannah, have you made an alliance with them?”
“Now, damn it!”
Kilbourne’s guards relented and began to walk toward Sapphire.
“You’ve betrayed us all. You are Judas.”
Kilbourne’s eyes flared up with a mercurial fury, and Sapphire was thrown backwards by the force of Kilbourne’s thoughts. She hit the ground hard and lay there, motionless. The members of the First Circle were silent. Many looked at Kilbourne with unabashed hatred on the faces.
The chamber door burst open with a flash of impossible light, and a man calmly entered, followed by others. Long black cloak, Judas code burned all-too-visibly across his scarred face.
“Hannah, stand down.”
“Reynald.” Kilbourne’s eyes burned with her fury.
“Get out of her pattern, Hannah. I’m taking her with me.”
Kilbourne’s arms faded with the shift. “And what makes you think I’ll—”
Reynald reached out with the full brunt of his mind, and Kilbourne’s face became a battlefield. Pain, terror, anger. Her hands went to her temples, and she crumpled to the floor.
Reynald was satisfied, and with a flash, he released Kilbourne from his hell.
“She’s betrayed us all. She’s made an alliance with Enemy code from Sapphire’s Altwhen. That’s where the Mujahadin techbase came from. I know some of you support her actions,” he turned slowly to address the full Circle, “but I also know that there’s a lot of you who are terrified of the repercussions.”
There were more than a few nervous nods amongst the packed chamber.
“I’m taking my fleet and getting out of here before they find us. Program Seven’s probably been compromised already. Anyone who wants to join me can. We’ll need all the help we can get.”
Reynald walked to Sapphire’s still form, surrounded by her loyal Golgotha captains. He bent and tenderly lifted her from the floor.
“She’s betrayed us all. Come with me if you want to live.”
He turned his back to Kilbourne, who still stood unsure of herself, hand to her chest, inhaling and exhaling painfully. Reynald carried Sapphire out of the chamber, followed by his own loyal Judas and Sapphire’s Golgotha captains, all now shifted into defensive auras of light. Kilbourne was left alone in the center of the chamber, the Circle in uproar around her.
You’ll pay for this, Reynald.
“Beta star! Get your asses over here! Alpha star regroup and prep for viral injection and boarding. Watch out for the flak at nine-one bubble seven. Sapphire! Where’s our fucking cover?”
A massive Enemy came out of nowhere, firing upon its own vessel at the boarding teams.
“Scatter! Sapphire! We need cover now!”
The Enemy vessel splintered into deadly shards as a Golgotha pierced its hull.
((Sorry, Jade. They’re all over us. Things were a little rough—))
“Just keep us covered. We’re going in.”
((Affirmative. Mara out.))
Jade fixed a hull charge to the surface of the vessel below her. And they said this job was hard.
“Viral upload prepped. Injection in…”
A shadow fell across her team.
“Sapphire?”
((Got it.))
The ravenous Enemy was shattered by the force of Mara’s weapons, but the Judas was rocked by another blast and the weapons fire refocused too quickly.
The Enemy hulk spiraled out of control.
At the boarding teams.
((Jade! Get out of there!))
“Sapphire! Shoot it down!”
((It’s too close to you! It’ll burn you up!))
“For the love of Richter just do it ’Phire!!”
((Jade get out of there I can’t oh no no no
“NO!!”
…
Haze.
Light and dark. Voices, distant. Whispering.
Pain: a dull, steady, bodily ache.
“Where am I?”
Her voice was not her own. Disembodied.
“You’re aboard Mara. You’re safe now. Don’t worry, Sapphire.”
Things were gradually becoming clearer. Her eyes struggled to focus, almost succeeded.
“What happened?”
“Kilbourne attacked your pattern. We’ve secured it on a mirror strand. You’ll feel better in a while.”
“Who—Who are you?”
The dark form next to her moved closer, spoke into her ear. “I pulled you and Jade from the escape pod at the resurrender. You were just nine years old.”
“Reynald, is it you? It is you!”
“None other.” He embraced her frail form as she struggled to sit up in bed. “Now just rest.”
“Reynald—We can’t stay here… Kilbourne’s made an alliance with—”
“I know. I know. And believe me, there’s a significant portion of the Judas who are dead set against it, but Kilbourne has the new gunships at her command. And she’s willing to use them…But that can wait. I heard you talking in your sleep…I’m so sorry about Jade. Mara told me—”
Sapphire’s shaking grew worse. “I…I—.” She broke down, holding her face in her hands.
“Now, now, little one. It wasn’t your fault.”
Through her tears she blurted, “Yes it was. I killed her, and for what? Hannah forged an alliance with the same Enemy that we’d been killing for three years.”
“Hush now, ’Phire. You—”
“Doesn’t she see that they won’t honor alliances, that they won’t spare anyone? Once they break into the Stream, we’re all dead, and the Purpose won’t matter.”
“I know that, Sapphire. I believe you. Trust me.”
“What’s happened, Reynald?”
Reynald sighed, sat back in the darkened room. “Things change. Alliances are forged in desperation. Magdalene is dead.”
“What? How—”
“She found out too much. Command killed her. Hannah killed her.”
“Does Simon know?”
“Simon didn’t know. And still doesn’t, if he’s still alive himself. Which I doubt… It was all under the table. Magdalene was ordered to transport several Enemy core patterns to Command. Ambassadors of your When’s Enemy. When she refused, Kilbourne sent the Golgotha after her, and they chased us into a When that was being prepared for upload. Uncharted. Millennium 2 OCE. The Fourteen-seven When. They chased us there, but before they could destroy us, the Enemy did the job for them. We were forced to crash land on the surface of Earth. She knew Command wouldn’t answer any distress calls, so we deployed a general beacon, calling any Fleet vessels in the vicinity. Fortunately, Simon was near. He barely rescued my crew before the Enemy initiated system upload. The natives killed Magdalene when they found her, but her blood is on the hands of Command…And Kilbourne…They imprisoned me when I returned in pattern stasis. If it hadn’t been for my crew, I’d be in the void forever.”
“What’s happening to the Judas, Reynald? Once we were so confident that we could win this war, and now we’re fighting amongst ourselves.”
“Some of us are leaving.”
“What?”
“We’re going to try to leave. To escape. I’ve spoken with the other Golgotha captains. They want to come with us. We have supporters in the Golgotha, Galilee, London, Gethsemane, and even the old Mecca and Eden class vessels. If we all move at once—”