Sneak Peek - The Last Angel: Ascension, Chapter 44 (Patreon)

So I've gotten lots of progress on this chapter (we'll see how long that lasts) and I might even have the rough draft done by the end of the weekend. In the meantime though, here's a sneak peek from the opening scene, taking place aboard a Red Hand warship in Onza Creche and a slight disagreement over the chain of command...

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Behind Omeiaaal the doors to the bridge opened. Algassi eyes had a very large field of vision, so the Leader didn’t even need to turn his head to see who had entered Uncertain Footing’s command deck. His first officer, Sstenoh’c. She was a Xensiri, one of the few of her people who had renounced the Compact. Like the Algassi, the Xensiri owed their existence to the Compact. A pre-spaceflight species at the moment of contact, they had been well on the way to annihilating themselves through nuclear war, rampant environmental collapse and many of the other trademarks of ‘short-sighted, uncivilized’ peoples’ societal development. Even so many centuries after that intervention, the Xensiri were fanatically loyal to the Compact. Not all of them. Some had seen past the veneer of the hand lifting them up to know that it was actually holding them down. Sstenoh’c was one of them. She was a diligent and capable officer and had served under Omeiaaal for nearly four years.

The Algassi rose from his seat. “Ah, good morning,” he said in greeting, still holding his jamja in his smaller secondary hands. “What do you have today, Ssten?” He always shortened her name. It mildly annoyed her, but she got her own back enough often. They had a healthy professional relationship, and a good personal one.

“Nothing much, kih,” Sstenoh’c’s voice buzzed through her vocal implant. “I have those performance reviews you were looking for, as well as updated duty rosters and personnel evaluations from the last war game.” She handed the Algassi a ‘scroll which he accepted with one of his primary hands, thumbing it on, and going through the file directory to review the documents.

His long snout tilted in acknowledgement. “Ah, excellent.” Sstenoh’c was a very attentive officer when it came to paperwork, despite the stereotypes regarding Xensiri. “Was there anything else?”

“Actually, there was, kih,” the woman replied. She drew her pistol from her waistband, pointed it at her leader’s center of mass and as Saisyn stared in surprise and shock, she opened fire, emptying half the magazine into his body. As Omeiaaal fell to the floor, his bulging eyes already glazing over, the Xensiri stepped over him and loaded a fresh clip. The bridge crew gawped, more than a dozen men and women staring in utter disbelief at what had just transpired. Some tried to speak, to ask what was happening, if their first officer was insane or to call for security. Others scrabbled for their own sidearms. Some tried to run, or duck behind their consoles. Others were too stunned to move.

It was only a matter of heartbeats before Sstenoh’c raised her pistol and opened fire again. Her first targets were those trying to warn the rest of the ship. Then, the ones going for their own weapons. They were too shocked to do anything. Only two managed to get their weapons clear of the holster and just one got a shot off. It went laughably wide. Next were those who tried to run or hide were killed. Finally, those who’d been wracked by confusion and indecision. The last rating Sstenoh’c killed never moved from her seat, completely frozen in place.

The Xensiri reloaded her pistol a second time. Most of the crew were dead, or would be in a matter of seconds. A sobbing, bleeding Didact comm officer pulled herself over the gore-slick deck. Her legs didn’t work. She wasn’t even going anywhere in particular, acting on simple, blind panic.

“Hmm,” Sstenoh’c sighed. Her aim must have been off. That was annoying. She strode through the carnage, coming to stand over the other woman. Sensing her presence, the comm officer rolled onto one side, her eyes wide and terrified. Blood matted the fur on her face.

“Why?” she asked, the only word she got out before Sstenoh’c shot her in the left eye.

“The Compact endures,” the Prelate informed the dead woman. She stepped over to the bloody master comm console and keyed in a shipwide message. “This is first officer Ssstenoh’c,” she said. “Case Harvest is effect, I say again, Case Harvest is in effect.”