The corridor leading to the main control room was wide enough to drive a tank through.
Or a Centaur.
Ragia pressed his back against the cold, ribbed wall. He could hear them. The heavy, rhythmic thud of hooves pacing on the other side of the blast door.
"Two of them," Gin whispered, crouching beside him.
She was wiping purple dust from her blade. Her eyes were bright with the adrenaline of the silent slaughter they had just concluded.
"Maybe three. I can hear the armor clanking."
"Four," Raya corrected.
She dropped down from the ceiling vent, landing silently next to Ragia. Her clones had dissipated, their task complete. She was alone now, but her presence filled the space with calculated calm.
"Thermal scans indicate four heavy signatures guarding the entrance," Raya stated, showing her datapad to Ragia. "And one... massive signature in the center of the room."
Ragia looked at the screen.
The central heat signature was blindingly white. It was pulsing.
"That is a Queen," Ragia murmured.
He felt a shiver run down his spine. It wasn't fear. It was recognition.
His own body reacted. The dormant Krall DNA inside him… stirred. It recognized the pheromones leaking through the blast door.
Alpha…
"It is an Alpha," Ragia said. "Stronger than the one on the Moon. Stronger than the one I fought on Gonggong."
But…
There was something else.
Underneath the overwhelming scent of the Queen, there was another frequency. A subtle, underlying hum that vibrated against Ragia's Inquor senses.
It felt... golden.
It felt like the energy he gave to his wives. It felt like the power that fueled Melito during the Felt session.
"Inquor energy," Ragia whispered. "Prof, do you read that?"
Raya adjusted her glasses, frowning at her data.
"I am detecting trace amounts of distinct male bio-energy," she admitted. "But it is corrupted. It is fused with the Queen's signature."
"It is biologically impossible for them to exist in the same organism without mutual destruction."
"Unless they adapted," Ragia said darkly. "Like what I did."
He thought of Labradlle.
Labradlle Chorus. The man who taught him how to shoot. The man who taught him how to lead. The Inquor who laughed louder than anyone and fought harder than a demon.
Five years…
Five years in the belly of this beast.
"If he is in there," Ragia said, gripping his blaster until his knuckles turned white. "If they are using him as a battery..."
"We save him," Gin finished firmly. "We burn them, and we pull him out."
"Or we put him out of his misery," Ragia said softly.
"Ready?" He looked at his team.
"Always, Capt," Gin grinned.
"Calculating combat variables," Raya nodded.
"Let's move." Ragia commanded.
They crept toward the door.
Ragia reached into his pocket. He touched the pen. Just for a second. A reassurance, but he didn't pull it out. This wasn't a problem for a writer.
This was a problem for a soldier.
He prepared to breach. He signaled Gin to prep a flashbang. He signaled Raya to target the door lock.
But…
Before they could make a move, the door hissed. The heavy locking mechanism disengaged with a groan of grinding metal. The blast doors slid open.
Slowly….
Invitingly…
Then Ragia froze.
"Trap," Gin hissed.
"Obviously," Ragia muttered. "But we don't have a choice."
He stepped out of cover. He walked into the open doorway, his blaster raised.
The control room was vast. It was the brain of Gyra. The walls were covered in pulsing organic matter, glowing with bioluminescent veins. In the center of the room, raised on a dais made of bone and metal, was a throne.
And around the throne stood the Centaurs.
Four of them. Magnificent, terrifying beasts. Their lower bodies were armored horses, their upper bodies red-skinned women with four arms, holding massive energy pikes.
They looked at Ragia, but they did not attack. They stood at attention. Like an honor guard.
And on the throne...
Ragia stopped. His breath caught in his throat.
Sitting on the throne was a figure.
It was female….
She was tall, even sitting down. Her skin was a deep, rich crimson, flawless and glowing with health. Her body was a masterpiece of curves and muscle, naked save for pieces of bone armor that accentuated her power rather than hid it.
A long, thick tail curled around the base of the throne, the tip twitching lazily. Her hair was a mane of white fire, cascading down her back, stark against the red of her skin.
And her face...
Ragia knew that face.
He had seen that face laugh over a beer. He had seen that face grimace in training. He had seen that face smile with pride when Ragia got his first command.
It was Labradlle's face, but it was wrong. It was softened. Feminized. The jaw was smoother, the eyes larger, the lips fuller.
It was Labradlle... as a woman.
It was Labradlle... as a Queen.
"Hello, Ragia," the figure said. "Or… maybe I can called you… Omega?"
The voice was layered. It was the voice of a woman, rich and sultry, but underneath it was the echo of the man Ragia knew. A double-tone that vibrated in Ragia's skull.
"Labradlle?" Ragia whispered.
He lowered his blaster slightly. He couldn't help it. The figure smiled. It was a warm smile.
A mentor's smile.
"You look good, kid," she said. "I like the jacket. Still refusing to wear the uniform properly?"
"You..." Ragia took a step forward. "You are alive."
"Define alive," Labradlle chuckled.
She stood up.
She was massive. She towered over the Centaurs. She walked down the steps of the dais, her hips swaying with a hypnotic rhythm.
"I am breathing," she said. "I am thinking. I am... evolving."
She stopped ten feet from him.
Raya and Gin moved up behind Ragia, weapons trained on the Queen.
"Hostile detected," Raya stated, her voice tight. "Bio-signature matches Labradlle Chorus."
"But genetic markers are 90% Krall Queen. Designation… Hybrid Alpha Type."
"Hybrid," Labradlle tasted the word. "I prefer... Transcended."
She looked at Raya.
"Hello, little scientist. Still hiding behind your data?"
"And the cook. Still fighting over food with your sister" She looked at Gin. "Well… I smell Birako sauce on you. Did you bring me a snack?"
"I brought you a flamethrower," Gin growled. "Step back."
Labradlle laughed. It was a booming sound.
"Feisty," she said. "I missed that."
She turned her golden, slit-pupiled eyes back to Ragia.
"You are confused, Ragia," she said softly. "I can smell it on you. You smell like... disappointment."
"I thought you were dead," Ragia said. His voice was hard now. "I thought you died fighting."
"I did fight," Labradlle said. She spread her arms. "I fought for days. I fought until my ammo ran dry and my knuckles broke. I fought until the Queen swallowed me whole."
She took a step closer.
"And then... I realized something."
"What?" Ragia asked.
"That I was fighting the wrong side," Labradlle whispered.
She reached out. Her hand, tipped with sharp, elegant claws, hovered near Ragia's face.
"The Limit, Ragia," she said. "The Inquor Limit. It is a cage. A leash Reagalus put on us. Six times a day. Twelve hours of weakness."
"Why?"
"To keep us human." Ragia stared at her.
"To keep us weak," Labradlle corrected. Her eyes flashed.
"Look at me. I broke the Limit. I embraced the change. I let the DNA win."
She spun around, her tail whipping the air.
"And look what I became! I am not weak! I am not tired! I have the power of the Inquor and the strength of the Queen! I am the perfect organism!"
She looked back at him, her expression pleading.
"I didn't lose, Ragia. I won. I found the next step."
"You turned into a monster," Ragia said. "You let them eat you."
"I ate them!" Labradlle roared.
The Centaurs shifted, their weapons raising.
"I consumed the Queen!" Labradlle shouted. "I took her power! I took her hive! This ship? These soldiers? They are mine! I am the King and the Queen!"
She calmed down. She smoothed her hair.
"And I waited for you," she said softly. "I knew you would come. I knew you were like me. I felt it when you turned."
"How do you know that?" Ragia stiffened.
"We are connected," Labradlle smiled. "The blood calls to the blood. You felt the hunger, didn't you? You felt the power of the Queen."
"It was intoxicating, wasn't it?"
Ragia didn't answer. He remembered. He remembered the efficiency. The clarity.
"Join me, Ragia," Labradlle offered.
"Don't fight it." She held out her hand. "The war is a lie. Reagalus is a lie."
"But this?" She gestured to her body.
To the power radiating off her.
"This is real. We can rule them, Ragia. You and me. We are… The Queens of the Galaxy."
Ragia looked at her hand. He looked at the face of his mentor, twisted into this beautiful, terrible form.
"Hey, Narrator," Ragia thought.
I am here, Capt…
"This is the plot twist, huh? The hero didn't die. He turned."
It is a classic trope, Ragia. The Fallen Mentor.
"Yeah," Ragia sighed. "It sucks."
He looked up at Labradlle.
"You make a compelling argument, Labradlle," Ragia said. "And you look... great. Seriously. The red works for you."
Labradlle smiled, thinking she had won.
"But," Ragia continued. "You forgot one thing."
"What?" Labradlle asked.
Ragia raised his blaster. He aimed it right at her heart.
"I like being a man," Ragia said. "And I like my socks mismatched."
Labradlle's smile vanished. Her eyes narrowed.
"Pity," she hissed.
She snapped her fingers, and the Centaurs charged.
"Prof! Chef! Plan B!" Ragia yelled.
"What is Plan B?" Gin shouted, igniting her Flambe.
"Run and gun!" Ragia screamed, firing a bolt into the nearest Centaur's face.
"And try not to die!"
Labradlle stood on her throne, watching them with sad, hungry eyes.
"Welcome to the family reunion, Ragia," she whispered.