Page 70 of Sixth
Chapter 17
THE COUNCILworld hung like a golden jewel above its sun, light bending across glass and gold until the entire planet shimmered as if alive. Vast rings of orbiting satellites formed a halo around it, spinning in perfect rhythm.
From orbit, it seemed divine, acitadel built by gods, but the closer they came, the more the illusion faltered. Beneath the gleam was corrosion. The air itself hummed with restriction and deceit. The Valenmark pulsed faintly at Emmy’s wrist, warning her before Apex spoke.
He sat rigid in the pilot’s seat, eyes locked on the horizon as if it were something to conquer. The glow from the console carved his features in cold light. She watched the muscle in his jaw shift when he spoke. “You do not have to come with me.”
Her gaze didn’t waver. “You think I’d let you face them alone?”
His hands flexed once against the controls. “This is not a place of mercy.”
“And we’ll teach them that, won’t we?” she said softly.
Core’s voice rippled through the cabin, smooth and metallic.“Incoming transmission from the Council defense net. They demand identification and submission to escort.”
Apex’s reply came like a blade cutting air. “Refuse.”
The fighters appeared seconds later, sleek silver darts that glinted in the sun, wings spread like razors. The sky filled with them. Their formation shifted into a net meant to encircle, but Apex didn’t slow. He guided the ship directly through the pattern with practiced ease, the hull shuddering as plasma fire streaked across their shields. Alarms screamed. Heat licked at the glass of the viewport.
Emmy gripped the railing behind his seat. The heartbeat in her wrist matched the rising tone of the engines. Her skin prickled with the nearness of power and flame. Through it all, Apex’s voice stayed steady, restrained, impossiblycalm.
“Hold on.”
He cut the ship into a downward spiral that became a silver ribbon threading the defensive grid. Bright tracer lines clawed past. Apair of interceptors tried to lock position and lost it when Apex tipped the nose and skimmed a field of polarized mirrors that fractured their aim. He used the world against them. He always did. He flew like he fought. Precise. Relentless. Certain.
They pierced the clouds, the sky exploding into light. Below, the Council citadel rose out of the mist, an immense city of glass, metal, and sun, its spires stretching toward the heavens. Bridges of gold-veined crystal linked platforms the size of cities. Acorona of crystal intakes drew fire and light and turned bothinto power. At its heart, the great Council Hall burned with energy that pulsed like a heartbeat.
The moment they broke atmosphere, Apex seized manual control. His hand closed over the thruster ring, guiding the ship down through the glowing haze until the landing pad came into view. Armed guards lined its perimeter. Gold-armored soldiers stood in exact rows. Sigils of perfect geometry flared across the floor with every step those soldiers took. The instant the ship’s landing struts touched down, weapons lifted asone.
The ramp descended. Heat and light hit her in a wave, bright as desert noon. The guards were already shouting commands, their muzzles steady. Apex did not pause. He strode down the ramp like he was born to command worlds, every movement carved from purpose. Emmy followed, her pulse drumming in her throat, the Valenmark burning steady andsure.
The guards hesitated. They saw the mark blazing on his wrist, its twin answering on hers. The nearest officer faltered. Fear rippled through the ranks. In that breath, the tide shifted.
A captain stepped forward, his voice amplified, his face as smooth as glass. “Apex, Sixth of the Intergalactic Warriors Alpha Unit, Lord Kael Vettar, House of Sovereigns, you are under Council sanction. You will yield your craft. You will kneel.”
“I do not kneel,” Apexsaid.
He turned his head slightly, asmall tilt that made the captain step back. Apex carried himself with the quiet authority of a born sovereign. The ramp field shimmered—an invisible energy curtain enclosing the ship—and sealed behind them with a resonant, bell-like tone that echoed off the golden landing pad. At the same moment, the enormous doors of the Council Hall swung open ahead, their deep vibration rolling through the airlike thunder and marking the shift from the exposed platform into the grandeur of the Hall beyond.
The Council Hall was larger than she had imagined. Hundreds of tiers of marble stairs circled upward like rings of a sun. Light streamed down from a vaulted dome whose panes were cut from faceted crystal. The air smelled faintly of warm oils. At the far end, nine Councilors waited upon thrones of gold-veined crystal. Their faces were flawless. Their eyes flamed with the same inner light that ran through Apex’s veins.
The central figure rose, his robe pouring over the dais like water. “Apex of Vetta,” he said. His voice was cold and resonant, shaped by the hall. “You were not summoned.”
“I answer to higher law,” Apexsaid.
“You were stripped of command. You hold no authority.”
He walked forward until the Council crest gleamed beneath his boots. “Then try and revoke what you never gave.”
Gasps echoed through the tiers. The Valenmark flared between them, astreak of silver and gold that drew every eye. Its heat climbed her arm and settled under her heart. His pulse chased her own until both moved in one rhythm.
A Councilor on the left leaned forward, eyes hard as gems. “You bring corruption into this sacred hall. You have bound yourself to a human. You have broken vows of purity.”
Apex’s reply came low and measured. “You call purity the act of selling warriors into slavery. Of trafficking consorts. Of breaking oaths for profit. That is your purity.”
He lifted his arm. Apulse of light rippled through the room. The walls transformed into screens, each one showing image after image. Proof of stasis auctions. Human women catalogedlike cargo. Warriors shackled and sold. Voss’s face. The ledger of his profits. The hall filled with murmurs of fury and disbelief.
Emmy stepped forward, her mark glowing brighter with every breath. “You built your empire on pain and lies. You took the strongest and made them slaves. You silenced anyone who stood against you. Iwill not be silent.”
