Both children were sleeping peacefully, Motoi humming New World under his breath, Gwesty snoring. Gabrie switched off the lights and walked into the conference room. Nobody was there. Only the beeps of the automated security systems broke the silence and they were looking for intruders and the Iselia Queen, not her. The computers had no screens, no towers - only holo-terminals that could be summoned with a sweep of her hand. The interface was a tiny chip implanted into her palm. Everyone's already left for the battlefield, thought Gabrie. She summoned a terminal with a microphone and began speaking.
"I'm moving out." she told the log, "Both the children are here. I'm taking them to safety as per my orders. Call me when you pick up this message."
She closed the terminal and opened a cam-holo to the space port. One ship was left, a tiny scout ship. She didn't like flying in a ship with barely any weapons or armour but, on the other hand, it meant that the Chronicle were less likely to misinterpret her approach as an attack and shoot her on sight. Bringing up another terminal, she keyed in the security code for the bay and scheduled a ship to take off. She went back to the room where the children were sleeping. Gabrie couldn't sleep on the standard issue bunks. They were about as comfortable as badly oiled torture racks. They must be exhausted from their mental ordeal, she thought. Even fully developed Valkyries had trouble accessing a Tenth Magnitude Prophecy. Was she looking at the next Freya? As for the boy... he didn't look that miraculous but bards were rare and necessary to the galaxy's existence. These kids had to be kept alive at all costs.
She easily carried both children under her arms without waking either. The ship door opened for her automatically. She deposited the children in a random cabin in the living quarters and headed to the bridge. With a few commands, the doors were locked and ship took off. She watched the white blocks of the government buildings disappear, then the argent globe of Central Hub shrink from view. She set a course for former Nedian airspace.
A rusty tang in the air alerted her to the presence of loose antimatter. A leakage in one of the weapons? An antimatter explosion could do a lot of damage to the ship. Opening a scan and repair program, she left the bridge and walked down the corridor into the lift that would take her to the engineering deck.
She barely registered the presence of the other before she jumped back, weapon drawn. A flash of dark purple sliced past her. Even with her semidivine reflexes, pain shot through her as the two blades cut across her back, drawing blood. The wound would be data damaged, she knew, and would take a cellular reconstruction program to heal. Adrenaline surged through her veins, causing her to lick her lips out of the sheer thrill of battle, an instinct instilled in her through thousands of years of training as well as Tria's legacy. Her othersight sensed a spell being cast. She ducked down and ran out into the corridor. Waves of dark energy flared across the ship, choking her with the stench of ozone, the metal cracking and buckling under the magnetic forces. The computers beeped and ran auto-repair programs. An alarm sounded but she shut it off, not wanting to wake the children. This was her battle. Focussing her will, she teleported behind her assailant, who immediately whirled around to face her. Gabrie Celeste saw a pair of flashing red eyes stalking her - a predator's eyes.
"Iselia." she recognised her dark twin. She crouched into a fighting stance, her black hair flowing down her shoulders, a pair of knives posed to throw. Gabrie Celeste calmly went into the crane stance, her spear brandished in one hand. The look in her sister's eyes was as cold and cruel as ever.
"Dear sister!" she mocked. "Did you arrange this whole ambush from the beginning? You betrayed Tria's Council. The punishment for this crime is execution!"
"What would you know of betrayal?" Iselia glared at her, "You, who would take Lenneth's place! Even though you're the weaker of us, you would become High Valkyrie with your little games! First you use these children to gain Lenneth's favour, then you worm your way off the battlefield. Did you hope that we would all die and leave you as sole heir to Lenneth's throne?"
"Iselia, my mission is every part as vital to the defense of the galaxy as those in the front lines!" said Gabrie.
"Then why volunteer for it? Why not let a more capable Valkyrie deal with the children?"
"Like you, you mean? You'd probably throw them out of the airlock!"
"Whereas you will just use them as political tools and discard them when they become unnecessary!" said Iselia, "You admit yourself that you're leaving them in the hands of known terrorists! Don't give me that crap about them being news reporters!"
"Say what you will, I won't allow you to sabotage the mission given to me by Tria's heralds." Gabrie Celeste brandished her spear.
"And how will you stop me, dear sister?" Iselia mocked her, twirling her blades expertly, "Your power is nothing compared to mine. Ever since we were born, we've been rivals, you and I, light and shadow. I've always been the strongest one. It was only your underhand court maneuvers that led to me being imprisoned for war crimes!"
"That, and you tortured two hundred prisoners of war to death." Gabrie reminded her.
"You're no innocent either. If I remember rightly, you control a mafia network on Expel." her eyes flashed red as she walked slowly up to her sister, "You've been hiding from me for thousands of years, holing yourself up in a mountain in Expel. Now there's no escape. During my imprisonment in the Silver Trumpet, I had a vision, sister. I saw the dark side of Tria rising again. The cold death of outer space... the hidden, creeping darkness... the seal on the gates of darkness is broken, sister, and they shall soon open! It is time for Tria's true potential to be unlocked. We shall be even greater than Freya herself! THAT is Tria's will, sister! You shall not stand in the way of my crusade!"
Iselia's blades whirled but Gabrie Celeste struck first. Teleporting forwards, she thrust with her spear, its neutron blade flashing a brilliant white. Like a dancer, Iselia dodged every lightning thrust with casual grace, retorting with her daggers that arced towards her enemy and returned to her hand. Gabrie had the range and the power but Iselia was faster. What was more, her magic was far stronger. Gabrie knew that she had to interrupt that magic at all costs. The made her attacks furious, relentless, her Tria-blessed endurance never failing. Iselia ducked and wove, forcing Gabrie to teleport after her from room to room, circling the ship as she struck again and again, her blade dancing like a butterfly.
Then, suddenly, a blade breached Gabrie's defences, slicing her across the chest. Stung by the blow, Gabrie's thrust faltered by a fraction of a degree, allowing Iselia to jump backwards into a ventilation shaft. Confused, Gabrie tried to jab into the tunnel. She was thrown back by three spheres of crackling energy that slammed into her. The pain was intense. Magic... Gabrie needed to interrupt the magic or she was dead... The air was thick with dark arcane energy as the spheres dissolved into a dark mist. Gabrie could feel space distorting around her, her movements becoming slower. It was hard to breathe. Two blades flew at her again and sliced her across the face, almost embedding themselves in her throat. She teleported back. Her dark twin advanced, forcing her further into retreat. She warped through the wall into the next room, looking desperately around for some kind of weapon. All the weapons on the ship were gone, as were the medikits. Iselia had been very thorough.
Iselia did not follow her. Gabrie Celeste couldn't even hear her. Could she cloak herself now? Gabrie teleported into the corridor and opened a mapping terminal. Her question was immediately answered when the alarm sounded and the engine room flashed red.
Gabrie ran. She headed to the children's room and threw the door open. They were gone. Opening up another terminal, she sent out a command to track all life forms on board the ship. Apart from herself, there was only Iselia, running from the engine room to the escape shuttle bay. She asked the computer to seal the bay doors. A message came back reporting that the shuttle had already been launched. Gabrie smiled. A silent prayer to Tria passed her lips. Then she teleported behind the Iselia Queen and screamed a battle cry.
