Total pages in book: 45
Estimated words: 42132 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 211(@200wpm)___ 169(@250wpm)___ 140(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 42132 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 211(@200wpm)___ 169(@250wpm)___ 140(@300wpm)
“Watch,” Tyrant says, pushing the vial into the bridge computer. “That is going to coat the head of a long range missile, which I will launch… NOW!”
There is a bright flare as a missile heads toward the double binary star system which houses DICK. I don’t know what’s going on. I’m actually worried for Tyrant. He sounds like I did when I decided socks were just floppy shoes. Is he losing touch with reality in the grief of his loss?
“Watch,” he says, his eyes locked on the screen which he keeps increasing the zoom on until we are looking at a rounded black station which I am guessing must be the nexus of DICK.
“Wait…”
“Wait for it…”
“Waiiiiit…”
We are all waiting. Tyrant. Me. Terrible. Twelve generals who all watched me being absolutely ravaged to within an inch of my life. There’s nothing we can do but watch, and, as Tyrant insists, wait.
“Annnd… impact!”
The missile strikes DICK head on. There’s a flash of light and smoke which clears a second or two later to reveal… nothing. The missile hasn’t left so much as a dent on the station.
“Well,” Terrible says. “It was nice knowing you all. Have a good total annihilation.”
“Wait…” Tyrant says.
He doesn’t seem to be registering that his missile didn’t work. I look at him in concern, wondering if he did just fly us all to our collective deaths. If these are the last moments of life I have left, I wish I wasn’t spending them standing on the bridge looking confused.
And then there’s a sound. Sort of like a: SDFHSDLFHENJKHCZ
It’s a clattering, as if the universe is emptying a cutlery drawer onto the ground.
But that’s not what’s happening. Emerging from all corners of existence at once, so it seems, is the Swarm. Mantids come pouring out of a sudden explosion of wormholes which open up all around the station. It looks as though a hive that we couldn’t see was just hit with an invisible baseball bat.
The Swarm attacks DICK, and unlike the missile, a billion hungry Mantids do make an impact.
“Pheromones,” Tyrant explains. “The missile…”
“Genius, sire!” Terrible exclaims before Tyrant can finish explaining the obvious. My juices coated the DICK HQ, and caused the Swarm to attack.
The swarm is destroying the shell of HQ, and all its agents are spilling out into space in bits. It is a disgusting, satisfying sight.
“We should retreat to a safe distance,” he says. “A few million light years should suffice.”
16 DICK Destroyers
Tyrant
I have taken revenge for all my warriors. All those who were taken in an act of cowardice, their souls may now rest at peace. Destroying DICK cannot bring them back, but it can make their sacrifice worthwhile.
We are now at a great distance from what used to be the DICK HQ. It has been completely destroyed, and I am sure that the swarm is already using whatever remains as an egg laying site.
It feels as though I haven’t had so much as a moment to truly talk to Tania since she arrived back on this ship and triggered the total chaos of war. There should have been a proper reckoning after she recovered from her punishment, but there wasn’t.
She has been waiting for me in my quarters, ordered there while I addressed my warriors and told them of our victory. I enter the room in triumph, a king who has lost much, but gained even more. When I look at my human, sitting by the window, her face turned to the universe, I feel a rush of overwhelming love and pride.
“Now,” I say. “To deal with you. Again.”
My rough tones catch her off guard.
“Am I in trouble?" She squeaks the words, suddenly nervous.
Her presence is a spark of chaos which unmakes all plans. When I first met her, she was quiet and terrified of all she was surrounded by. Her fear now is different. It is warranted. It is natural. She has become an integral part of my existence and that means danger. But it also means so much more. It means being my mate in war, and in life, and in death.
“You saved our lives with lies. You were instrumental to the destruction of an evil which has stalked our galaxy for thousands of years, to the point some regarded it as an inescapable inevitability.”
She swallows.
“So that’s a good thing, right?”
“Is it good to have contributed to the destruction of a supreme tyrannical evil? Yes. It is good.”
“Okay. Good.” She lets out her breath.
“You don’t know what is good and what isn’t?”
“I don’t know… I know so much of this is my fault. I know you’ll never forget what I did. How I lied…”
I cross over to her and crouch down before her. She is so much smaller than me, but she fits me perfectly.
“I won’t ever forget that you ran to me, did whatever you had to, to be with me again. Yes, I punished you. I had to. I will never tolerate a lie from you.”