Space Dragon Allepexxis Read online

  Space Dragon ALLEPEXXIS

  Francescan War Chronicles Book Two

  C.K. Pershing

  Copyright © 2018 by C.K. Pershing

  Art copyright © 2018 by C.K. Pershing

  All rights reserved.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  Created with Vellum.

  To Bone, for the encouragement.

  Contents

  Pronunciations

  Prelude

  Part I

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Part II

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Part III

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Author’s Note

  Don’t Miss…

  Concept Art Gallery

  Also in the Francescan Series

  About the Author

  Pronunciations

  Paress Handrel: puh-RESS hahn-DRELL

  Allepexxis: al-leh-PEX-iss

  Casten: CASS-tin

  Jeddeg Behlen: JED-ig BAIL-in

  Prelude

  Francescan Star Calendar Year 582.7

  “When you were coming at me with your sword, I thought I was gonna freeze to death from cold fury,” Feln said.

  “Well, I was really pissed thinking you were a traitorous murderer,” Katashka replied. “The second coming of Handrel. Wouldn’t you also be angry?”

  At the mention of the only Space Knight to turn traitor and who went on to murder thousands, Feln said, “Well, yeah.”

  —From Francescan War Chronicles Book One: Space Knight Denxeiter

  Part I

  Chapter One

  Francescan Star Calendar Year 518.11

  Location: Francescan Imperial Planet Cymarus, Capital City Indrin, 99th Frontier Edge

  It was a gray, cloudy day, and Queen Artzia stared ahead in stony silence. Despite the rough handling of those who had usurped her, she would not break. Even now, with her clothes torn from her body for all to see, she wouldn’t give her enemies the satisfaction of a single tear.

  The leader of the usurpers, Anloo Ange, was a man who had drifted through his early life doing nothing of particular note. Some said that he was a disgraced teacher and banished from his tiny home town. But thanks to a chance meeting with an immortal Fey being, he had been given the gift of powerful magic, and had fashioned himself into a sort of holy leader who would “save” the planet from eternal damnation by taking it over and forcing it to see the light of his words.

  As was usual for cult leaders, he picked up many wives along the way and was sure to cultivate a story of his own divine origins. Considering his powerful magic abilities, this wasn’t especially hard to do. His followers were sworn to secrecy and any who dared to betray him or go against him found themselves and any loved ones tortured to death.

  And so a quiet, but murderous cancer spread across the planet— a cancer that the young queen was unaware of because her own prime minister of the past two years happened to be none other than Anloo Ange himself. When Ange finally gave the order for his followers to rise up and take over the palace, and by extension, the planet, none were more surprised than Queen Artzia herself.

  She had always been a kind and just queen and the people loved her. Indeed, when the coup happened, she first thought that it was the work of agents from off-world, most likely the Aldonis Federation. The Francescan Star Empire and the Aldonis were in a state of peace at the time, but it was a very fragile peace that occasionally spread into small conflicts that kept the diplomats in a constant state of readiness.

  Artzia quickly learned the truth of the situation when her own prime minister suddenly used his powerful magic to murder her royal guards and open the thick doors into her inner sanctum. As the members of his cult stormed into the room, the queen barely had time to catch her breath before violently being forced to kneel before her own prime minister, the newly self-crowned “King” Anloo.

  Queen Artzia was a favorite cousin of Siegfried II, ruler of the Francescan Star Empire, of which planet Cymarus belonged. When she reminded her former prime minister of this fact through gritted teeth, he laughed and said the planet would soon be turned over to the Aldonis and she would be nothing under the new regime.

  All long-distance communications equipment capable of transmitting to the larger Imperial outposts had been silenced by Ange’s followers on the inside. A small signal station managed to get out a short-range signal before its staff was murdered, but no matter— the signal could only travel a couple systems over and those systems were relatively devoid of life.

  Ange had three champions in magic war machines orbiting the planet to stop any Francescan patrol ships who might stop by. It would be a couple days before anyone back at Imperial HQ would decide that Cymarus’ silence was thanks to something other than routine interference. By the time a Francescan rescue fleet arrived, the Aldonis would be firmly in control. They were already on their way and simply waiting for Ange’s signal to begin the final phase.

  And now, two days later, with his grip on the capital complete thanks to his undermining of the military’s chain of command and the army of magic golems he’d raised to fight for him, it was now time to make a public showing of who actually ruled Cymarus. Obviously, he’d have to give the queen over to the Francescans– the Aldonis wouldn’t risk a shooting war over the Emperor’s cousin. But as long as the queen was returned alive and…mostly…unharmed, the Francescans also wouldn’t risk war. The two civilizations would work to keep the shaky peace they currently nurtured after the ruinous war that had engulfed them decades earlier.

  The royal castle had a large promenade renowned throughout civilized space for its lovely architecture and beautiful gardens. The people would gather there to hear the queen speak and to celebrate holiday festivities among the flowers and small trees. But all that had changed.

  The corpses of loyal subjects now hung from the tree branches, gently swaying in the breeze. Men, women, and children— anyone who might cause trouble, or was merely related to a would-be troublemaker, was ripe for murder. Anyone of noble birth was publicly put to a long painful death.

  Queen Artzia had been kept in her chambers as a prisoner and starved during that time. When Ange’s men marched her out onto the deck overlooking the promenade, her knees almost buckled at the sight that greeted her. Not only that, but the stench of the bodies rotting in the sun made her head swim. She caught herself though, and resolved to resist Ange and his followers to her last breath.

  Anloo Ange paced back and forth in front of her. “Look upon the bitch who calls herself Queen! And know now that I have freed you from her tyranny!”

  A cheer rose up from Ange’s followers, but only sobs and gasps could be heard from the normal citizens. With a nod to one of his bodyguards, a collar was clamped around Queen Artzia’s neck and a leash was extended and placed in Ange’s hand.


  “Come my pet, let’s go for a stroll,” Ange said, attempting to pull her along. When she resisted, he walked back to her and after a moment of staring into her defiant eyes, rammed his scepter into her stomach, causing her to fall to her knees coughing. A scream went up from the crowd.

  Ange’s head darted up. “Who was that?”

  An old woman was pulled from the assembled people and pushed before Ange and forced onto her knees.

  “Hello, old mother,” Ange said gently. “I’m sorry, but I can’t have any outbursts like that. You see, I’m trying to make a point.” As he spoke he walked behind the old woman. “I want everyone here to know that no matter what, such outbursts won’t be tolerated.” And with that, he raised his hands, tracing shapes in the air. As he did so, his magic sprung out and burned the old woman to death, her haggard screams quickly choked by the smoke.

  More than a few people almost cried out but with a final look of warning from Ange, they managed to stay quiet. “You bastard,” the Queen gasped out. “Damn you to whatever hell you came from.”

  Ange simply laughed as he strode back over to her and without warning tore the clothes from her body. She wasn’t even allowed her underthings. “Another word and I’ll set twenty children on fire and make their parents eat the charred meat,” he said. “Now, on your hands and knees. And make sure you stick that pretty ass in the air for all to see. We’re going in amongst the common people now.”

  He pulled on the leash and she followed along. She wanted to break down into tears so badly, but she couldn’t show weakness to this villain. She had to stay strong for her people. If she could face this with dignity, maybe she could give them hope.

  The crowd parted as Ange pulled her down on to the promenade. He soon went from walking in front of her to walking behind, as if truly taking a pet out for exercise. Her people all averted their eyes, doing their best to give their queen as much dignity as they could.

  “If anybody here has ever wanted to mount this bitch and make her yours, you have my blessing,” Ange said with a note of hatred in his voice. When nobody took him up on his ludicrous offer— even his own followers seemed to squirm— he shouted, “Look at her, damn you!” And when the citizens still refused, he threw the leash down and went into the crowd. He pulled two men and a little girl forward.

  “It’s alright!” Queen Artzia screamed to the crowd. “Please look! You have to look at me. Please.” But the words were barely out of her mouth when Anloo Ange brought his scepter down on top of one of the men’s heads. He repeated the blow until the man’s head was nothing but smashed gore.

  “Stop!” Artzia shouted. “As your queen, I command you to look at me!” And even though the people obeyed and uncomfortably looked at their naked queen forced to walk on her hands and knees like a dog, Ange still brought his scepter up behind the head of the little girl. “Stop!” Artzia screamed. “See? They’re looking! You don’t have to...”

  “Yes, I do,” Ange replied loudly. “They have to learn that it’s me, not you, who rules them. They don’t look at your nakedness because you command them to. They do, because I command them to!”

  And Anloo Ange was about to bring the scepter down on the women’s head when an ear-splitting crash suddenly erupted from the sky. Something came tumbling out from the clouds engulfed in flames and broke into pieces before hitting the ground and exploding.

  Everyone looked up, wondering what had just happened. Flashes of light could be seen in the blanket of gray clouds overhead, almost like a lightning storm. But then a deafening roar shook the air and a colossal stream of flame blasted out of the clouds followed by a massive black dragon the size of a small starship. On further inspection, it was actually mechanical, but its movements were smooth and lithe as if it was organic.

  The dragon, a thousand feet long from head to tail, was in a high speed dive, its wings tucked in to increase speed, but now those wings, shaped like a bird of prey’s, extended and the dragon pulled out of its dive and shot overhead and back up into the sky. It was traveling at three times the speed of sound and the resulting sonic booms shook the ground. As it careened skyward, engines on the dragon’s back erupted into blue flame adding more speed and the heavens shook as the clouds parted in its wake.

  Queen Artzia didn’t realize she had stood up to watch what was happening. She looked around her to see all eyes looking up into the sky. As the clouds dissipated from the air and heat swirled around the dragon, two giant machines could be seen in the sky above trying to engage it in battle. The machines belonged to Ange’s champions that he had tasked with keeping any Francescan interlopers from interfering with his plans until the Aldonis Federation took over.

  Artzia looked into the distance where the flaming wreckage had fallen earlier. Apparently the dragon had already destroyed one of Ange’s machines. She looked back at the dragon, high in the sky. But now that she could actually look at it without shielding herself from the heat and whirlwinds of its proximity, she could see on its black wings were two large insignias in blood red. They were in the shape of the Francescan Orennis Leaf. Her heart soared because that meant...

  She looked over at Anloo Ange and saw that unlike everyone else looking skyward, he was looking at her. Oddly, he was smiling. “You think you’re saved,” he said matter-of-factly. “But you’ll see. My strongest champion is still in action. Your savior will soon be dead.”

  Artzia couldn’t help but to burst out laughing. “Your champion?” she said. “Ange, do you know what that dragon is? It’s a Space Knight. A Hyper Battle Machine!”

  “I know what it is,” he said. “And it doesn’t matter. The blood magic of the Fey that I’ve instilled in my machines will easily beat anything your idiot cousin sends.”

  Artzia could only laugh some more. “I think your friend over there would disagree,” she said, lifting her chin in the direction where the flaming wreckage had hit the ground in the distance.

  “No doubt a victim of a sneak attack,” Ange said dismissively.

  “Something you’re quite the expert on,” Artzia said, and Ange’s twisted expression of anger gave her more confidence. She no longer cared that she was naked. Hope had infused her with a calm inner strength. “Ange, no matter what happens to me, I’m overjoyed that you’re going to die this day. A Space Knight has arrived by the grace of God. The Aldonis won’t want to get involved in a battle of that magnitude under the overall terms of the treaty. You won’t escape this.”

  Ange listened and replied simply, “We’ll see.” He looked skyward as the dragon and Ange’s machines swooped and dove overhead. Artzia said a silent prayer for the Space Knight piloting the dragon: the would-be rescuer of her and her world.

  Chapter Two

  High above the young queen and the traitorous prime minister, the mechanical black dragon streaked through the air on a collision course with its two enemies. Aside from the large red Francescan insignias on its wings, its body was covered with the many usual safety and warning markings found on military weapons.

  The dragon’s form was the type to have its arms, legs, and wings as separate limbs so that the arms could be used on their own without interfering with the wings. And on the plate armor covering the upper arms were two other large markings: the Francescan Imperial Seal of crossed flintlock rifles over sword and starburst; and a shield design of crossed flaming swords surrounded by the text: FRANCESCAN IMPERIAL STAR NAVY APEX DESTROYER WEAPON HYPER BATTLE MACHINE #25 “ALLEPEXXIS”.

  Deep inside of the dragon Allepexxis’s armored chest, in a cockpit with many view screens and controls, sat the Space Knight who piloted the immense super robot. He was Paress Handrel, a young man in a navy blue uniform and an officer’s forage cap over his shoulder-length sandy blonde hair. Paress’ light blue eyes moved across the array of view screens showing him the battle outside; and while those eyes generally seemed distant and almost detached from what was going on, they occasionally snapped to extreme focus on certain details of the ou
tside world and Paress would act accordingly.

  At the age of twenty-three, Paress had spent nearly half his life as a Space Knight when, at the age of twelve, he went from manifesting harmless small-scale telekinesis to being able to pick up cars and throw would-be bullies around like rag dolls. It was soon realized that he had started to go into puberty, and with it came the Blessing that some members of the Francescan Star Empire received that granted them special abilities. Those abilities were forged into a weapon for Paress to become one of the Empire’s champions, a Space Knight.

  His mount for his duties as Space Knight was Allepexxis, the 25th Hyper Battle Machine to combine science, magic, and other-dimensional technologies into one frighteningly powerful robotic weapon. Even most of the people of the Space Knight Academy who created Allepexxis couldn’t be sure what final form it would take when completing the incubation process, so when the giant black dragon had emerged from the incubation chamber hangar, there had been gasps of shock and amazement. The amount of destruction that Allepexxis could bring down on its enemies was enough to destroy fleets of starships…or more.

  This thought went through the back of Paress Handrel’s mind as he lifted his control sticks and blasted over his two enemies, each about half of Allepexxis’ size: one was a giant white robot that looked like a sleek knight with sharp features to its armor and carried a long sword; the other was light grayish tan with a more brutal design and carried a massive spiked hammer. At Paress’ command, Allepexxis’ mouth opened and a long blast of white-hot flame seared the sky as it streamed toward his enemies. They both dodged out of the way expertly, but Paress was satisfied to see the tan one’s armor melt slightly at not moving quite fast enough to be unscathed.