The Lost Tech by Vaughn Heppner

Author:Vaughn Heppner [Heppner, Vaughn]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2021-01-30T22:00:00+00:00

-38-

Dag the Merovingian Champion hurried down a hauler corridor. The Queen had summoned him over the ship’s intercom system, and she’d sounded furious. Dag wondered if one of the soldiers had set him up with false reports. The soldiers did not like him—

Dag’s brutish head lifted. Could Tobias have engineered a coup against him? He knew the former Champion hated him, although Tobias worked overtime these days, acting meekly. If Tobias had done this—

“No,” Dag whispered. “That can’t be it.” His best friends in the Merovingians watched Tobias at all times. Dag had instituted the watch as he shifted loyalty in the corps back to the Queen as she’d instructed. Why, then, was she furious?

Dag rounded a corner and came upon a squad of soldiers with blasters in their hands. Each blaster came up and targeted his chest.

“I’m here to see the Queen,” Dag said.

The lieutenant in charge of the squad spoke a word to the others. They lowered their blasters, although they did not holster them. The others parted, moving aside, making a lane.

Dag took it. The lieutenant dipped his head in greeting and tapped on the hatch. It opened.

“Go in,” the lieutenant said. “The Queen is waiting for you.”

Dag ducked his head because he was too tall to enter the hatch otherwise. His Merovingian armor rattled and clanked.

The hatch slid shut behind him, and it took a moment for his eyes to adjust to the dim lighting. Soon, he saw the Queen before a console and screen—she had her back to him. She wore a tightfitting uniform and cap and seemed absorbed by whatever was on the screen.

Dag cleared his throat.

The Queen straightened and swiveled around in her seat. She appeared angry. “Dag, why are you here—oh, I summoned you. That’s right.”

Dag waited.

“Approach,” she said.

He started forward.

“You should know that lasers are tracking your every move,” she said. “One word from me, and they will cut you down.”

“Yes, my Queen.”

Her nostrils flared as she eyed him closely. She sighed a second later, nodding. “I distrust everyone it seems. But you’re loyal to me, aren’t you, Dag?”

“To the bone,” Dag said, having come up with the phrase himself.

That brought a smile to her lips. She was intoxicatingly beautiful, even if she was frightening like a vampire.

“Observe the braggart,” she said, swiveling back to the screen, pointing at an armored man.

Dag moved to the side so he wouldn’t be standing directly behind her, as he was sure she would not care for that. On the screen, he saw a Bosk, a thickset man wearing Merovingian armor. The Bosk’s mouth moved, but no sound came.

“He’s the usurper you’re going to take down,” she said.

Dag did not understand, but he didn’t say that. He waited for her to explain further.

After a time, she looked up at him. “He controls an ancient weapon, one I found…” She cocked her heard, frowning. “I can’t quite remember how I found it. Isn’t that strange?”

“A gift from the gods,” Dag said.

Her frown shifted focus from inward to him.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.