Neron Wars

The sound of exploding metal and the sonic boom of Neron above my head sends me ducking for cover beneath the trees, as if they could offer any protection. Turning my eyes skyward, I see blue waves of energy rippling across the sky, and the fire that follows stains the clouds red and orange. Huge chunks of debris go spiraling through space, rocketing through our atmosphere, peppering the landscape in the distance.

Another day, another battle in the sky.

It's a jungle here. The temperatures on Kaelea are always warm. It rains every morning just before the sun rises, which means everything grows at an out-of-control rate. Everything is lush and green. The trees are so thick the entire planet looks like a forest until you get to the ocean, and there's plenty of that.

Only somewhat confident a thruster isn't going to fall from the sky and land on my head, I step out from the trees and head toward the hillside, to where I can just barely see a nearly invisible door. Grabbing the handle, I pull, and step into the dimly lit cavern.

The space was carved right into the mountainside. Fifty feet deep and eighty feet wide, I don't know when Valen felt the need to create this space, but it was here before he and I arrived.

It's filled only with two long tables and dozens of cots pushed up against the gray stone walls, and standing in the center of the room, at those tables, are five men and women.

Valen was looking toward the door before I even entered, as if he knew I was coming. Lazarus Riot hardly even glances my way, neither does his daughter, Cyra. Harp and Andreas both slide over, giving me room to stand beside Valen.

"Looks like Raze just took down another ship," I say, looking down at the screen displaying on the tabletop. "Debris landed about fifty kilometers to the east."

Valen nods and taps the screen. A new display expands and I get to watch as Raze's ship darts around the other ship, firing away. The other ship explodes, breaking into pieces.

"The man's a maniac, but he gets slag done," I say in an exasperated breath. "Everything else holding up okay?"

Harp nods. "All six of our ships are at ninety percent capacity, or higher."

"The next onslaught of ships is five days away," Lazarus says, looking over his own holotab, displaying where all the enemy ships are.

"Good," I say, my eyes automatically hopping from one screen to the next, my brain running a million kilometers a minute. "My father and Edan will be getting here tomorrow."

Everyone's eyes jump to me. "We got communications through just an hour ago. They're nearly here."

Really, their arrival does little for the cause. They're just three humans. Nymiah is with them as well, and as a Nero, she's invaluable. But in the grand scope of things, they won't do anything to tip the scales.

But everyone at this table knows what those four people mean to me.

They're the second largest part of my world.

"Let all the ships know to anticipate their arrival," Valen says, looking to Lazarus and Harp. "Their ship is called The Corsair. No need getting everyone on edge and blasting allies out of the sky."

They each nod and speak into their connect-links, getting word to their people.

Another day, another battle.

As I look around, I marvel at this small miracle. This blinding ray of hope.

Valen and I arrived at Kaelea within an hour of making our announcement to the world that we were going after Dominion. Traveling on the fastest ship in the galaxy has its advantages.

But we knew our declaration would come at a cost. We had to rally anyone in the galaxy willing to stand up to Cyrillius. It also put a galaxy-wide target on our backs. On our ship. On Valen's planet, Kaelea.

We were prepared to spend all our time defending the planet. We were ready to fight. Because we knew Cyrillius would send as much force as he could to destroy us.

But in the end, we weren't alone.

Within two days of arriving on Kaelea, we received a message. It was from a man named Lazarus Riot. He and his family, and about fifteen thousand others, lived on a cluster of three planets named Korichi, in the same K Sector Kaelea is in, and they were offering to help. They were offering half their army, miniscule by planetary standards, but enough to change the game.

The very next day, he and his daughter, Cyra Riot, arrived with ten warships and two hundred soldiers.

Which was just in time, because twenty-one hours after that, three Dominion fighter ships arrived, and the war began.

We won. Vastly outnumbering Dominion, we took down the ships, and there were no survivors. We didn't lose a single life, didn't damage a single ship.

But we knew it wouldn't stay that way.

Two weeks later, we got another transmission from two Dominion Commanders, Harp and Andreas. They heard our story on The Black Hole of Truth, and they wanted to join us. Bought as child slaves from a planet on the edge of the galaxy, they had only been looking for a reason to turn against Cyrillius.

They brought with them six fighter ships and thirty-six soldiers.

Two days after they arrived, Dominion hit us with six ships.

Again we won.

Dominion's army is scattered throughout the entire galaxy. They're stationed on planets in every Sector, or out in space. So they came in waves, arriving only because they were already close.

Space is a big place.

We knew at some point we would have to defend ourselves against an entire fleet, or perhaps even The Dominion itself. Cyrillius would send everything he has after us.

But we'd had time.

One lunar after being on Kaelea, a madman hailed us. He gave no story. No history. Only his name-Raze 51, and said he wanted to take down as much Dominion scum as he could before his days ran out.

He still hasn't even touched down on the planet. This entire time he's been up in orbit, fighting every moment he can, and seemingly loving every second of it.

We're small. We're a tiny, miniscule dot against the mass that is Dominion. But we're starting the revolution. We're slapping the water, reversing the tide.

Our days are full of plotting. Full of communication. Every morning, within an hour of the sun rising, we connect with Arden Black and give a report. Of how we've grown. Of how many Dominion ships we've taken out. And she gives the report of what she's learned, what others have called in to her.

I never like what we hear.

That Isroth is abuzz with activity. That dozens of ships have lifted off the planet and are headed our way.

But worst of all, no one has seen any signs of the Nero child.

I considered that maybe Cyrillius made it up, used it to try and draw us out.

But we can't take that chance that it's fake.

With the morning report and decisions made, we disband, each headed where they're needed to get slag done. Together, Valen and I head out of the cave and down the hillside.

"They still don't trust me," Valen says when we're clean out of earshot of anyone who might be around.

"What?" I say, my eyes snapping to him. I nearly trip over a ball of roots.

"Open your eyes, Nova," Valen says, staring straight ahead, hard lines creasing between his brows. "They can hardly look at me. They rarely address me directly. I hear them talking as I leave. They have plans in place if they think I'm spying. They think they can take me out."

I stop in my tracks, my mouth agape as I watch Valen take three more steps past me. When he stops and turns back to me, I see the hard, dark look in his expression.

"What..." I stagger over words. "They don't... What are you talking about?"

He just stares at me for a moment, reading my reaction. "You really don't see any of it, do you?"

"Valen, I-"

"I knew this wouldn't be easy," Valen says, looking away. "Somehow you see something different in me, Nova. You see some kind of potential. But even I doubt myself at times. Nearly twenty solars of mental manipulation was undone thanks to you, but that doesn't mean any of this feels natural. There's still this snake that lives in my stomach that misses the power. The satisfaction of doing what I want. Of being someone people feared."

My eyes widen and I shake my head.

I hate all the words Valen is saying right now.

But that door between our minds is always open at least a little and I feel his struggle. I feel Valen's true meaning.

"But every time I look at you, Nova, I feel something far more powerful." He takes three steps forward, taking my hand in his, holding my hand over his heart. "I feel fire. Heat. The want for something...different."

I swallow, because at just this simple contact, my heart is racing.

"I don't care if they don't trust me," Valen says. "The reality is that I don't care what anyone in this entire galaxy thinks about me except for you. No one on this planet trusts me, and I don't blame them for one second. But I need you to realize that, Nova. Because it means that they are here because of you."

Something drops in my stomach. Something hard and heavy and cold.

"I need you to recognize that they are looking to you-that what is giving them hope, is you, Nova."

"But, I am nothing," I breathe as a tremor shakes its way through my entire body. "I-"

"You are everything, Nova," Valen says, his voice a whisper of conviction. His brows furrow, and his Neron blue eyes bore into me with absolute certainty. "You are what will bring light back to this galaxy. You are who these people believe in."

I shake my head. "I don't know anything." My entire body is quivering with fear and insecurity. "I don't know anything about leading a war. I don't know anything about politics. I don't know about the interworking of Dominion. That is all you, Valen. That is why the galaxy needs you."

Valen's grip on my hands tightens and he leans forward, touching his forehead to mine. "I am here with you, for every second of this fight, Nova. I will share all the knowledge I have with you, give you every secret I know. But they trust you, Nova."

I take three deep breaths, and concede with a tiny nod. "We're in this together. You and me. I have your back and you have mine, no matter what the others say or think. I trust you."

"We're in this together," Valen repeats.

As he kisses me, I taste something bitter in it. Something unsure. Something that reflects the doubt of everyone on Kaelea in himself.

I press my lips harder to his, determined to crush it. I know Valen is good. I know he has the power to change everything in this galaxy. I know he's capable of so much more than I am. If anyone in this galaxy can fix things, it's him. Not me.

So, until everyone else believes it, until he believes it himself, I will believe enough for all of us.

I lie in our bed, staring up at the ceiling.

The sound of explosions echoes across the entire planet.

We thought we were going to have a few days of peace, that the next wave of ships was a way out, but occasionally Dominion's ships slip past our sensors.

I plan to put Zayne to work on that as soon as he gets here.

For now, in the dark, I lie awake, staring at the ceiling, while others fly in ships above us, fighting for our lives.

I feel guilty for every action taken in this cause that isn't directly fought by me. I can't stand the thought of someone getting hurt. Of anyone dying because of the choices made by me and Valen.

Things could have continued like they've been for hundreds of solars. No one would have thought about it at all. Life could have carried on.

But now I've given a face to change. I made a decision that I would fight. I invited others to do so, as well.

If people die in this war, it's because of me.

"It isn't because of you," Valen says through the dark.

No one in the galaxy can understand the storm inside of me except the man lying next to me. He can see it all, feel every inch of my emotions.

In my brain I know he's right. That the lives lost are worth the possibility of a Dominion-free future. But my heart still hurts.

So I curl into Valen's side, letting him wrap his arms around me, protecting me from my own thoughts, and wait for the day to begin.

I actually throw up, I'm so anxious and excited and nervous. Thankfully I'm by myself, headed from headquarters to the Airspace. My hands are shaking and my stomach is quivering.

I keep seeing my father lying on the ground, his throat slit, blood spilling onto the ground on Gara Lune.

He was dead.

I knew he was dead.

But still, frantic, I pressed my hands into his wound and summoned as much Neron as I could, pouring it into him.

I've heard his voice over these lunars, talked to him.

But I still can't quite believe it.

And Zayne. I know I need to patch things up with him. He's too important to me to leave things as they've been.

Edan. Oh, Edan Calwin. I need him here. I need his confidence in me because he makes me believe in myself and he encourages me with my mad plans. In so many ways, I feel like I've lost myself since we parted and I don't think I'll get those parts of me back until he delivers them with that manic smile of his.

Wiping my mouth with a wide leaf from a tree, I spit on the ground one last time and head toward the Airspace.

We burned all the vegetation down to the ground the first time we landed Deliverance on Kaelea. With as much Neron as it holds, it generated enough heat and energy to clear a one by one kilometer space perfect for a landing zone in the middle of this jungle. Currently, the ship sits to one side of the space, glorious and bright and beautiful, only able to fly when piloted by a pilot and a Nero.

I walk across the space, standing just to the side of our ship, and turn my gaze skyward.