Jolo turned to Katy. “This is the end. Run down to the marine team.”
“I ain’t goin’ nowhere,” she said.
Suddenly the Vellosian screamed as a large, dark shape came down upon them. Jolo and Katy instinctively dove away as the Emperor’s blade cut Merthon’s staff in two. Both pieces skipped across the roof and left the tall, green humanoid utterly defenseless. “And now, it is time for you to go home once and for all,” said the Emperor, the red end of his weapon angling in to cut Merthon in half. Jolo fired twice at the Emperor, the force of the bullets throwing him off balance, the tip of his blade finding nothing but Merthon’s jacket. Jolo fired again and the Emperor turned on him, swinging the blade at his feet. Jolo jumped, but the blade caught his left leg and he fell, bleeding, the black monster stepping in for the kill. Katy fired the shotgun, pushing the Emperor back as Jolo scrambled to his feet.
“You will all die. You cannot match me,” screamed the Emperor, the last words a hissing, electric buzz.
“He has weak points!” screamed Merthon.
“Where?” yelled Jolo.
“Find them. Use your powers for God’s sake. There is more to you than you know.”
And then something clicked in Jolo’s mind. All this time he’d been trying to be the man he wasn’t. He was trying to be Vargas, but just like Jaylen said, Vargas was dead.
He took a deep breath and everything came clear in his mind. The world slowed down. The screaming stopped. The Emperor’s cape, flapping wildly in the wind, became a slow, undulating black wave.
Computer, Jolo thought, play back the first time I saw the Emperor during the Inquisition. And instantly he saw the Emperor on that day like a video playback in slo-mo. The Emperor’s chestplate was larger and thicker than his warriors. Bullets didn’t have the same effect as they did on the rank and file warriors. So he focused on the legs: each with two perfectly crafted alacyte sections, a metal femur and tibia joined by a mechanical knee, a simple offset hinge. Jolo watched as the Emperor turned during his speech at the inquisition, and there, in the center of the knee, was a small circle flush against the upper section. You could only see it from behind as the front of the knee had a coverplate to protect the components. But from behind it was there plain as day, a small circle that marked the end of a pin. One clean shot to the pin at the right angle would break his leg in half.
Jolo popped back into reality as the Emperor was gearing up to attack again. “Pull him in towards you,” said Jolo. “I need to get behind him.” Merthon grabbed a piece of his broken staff and waived it defiantly. The Emperor charged again and Katy caught him square in the chest with Betsy as Jolo jumped over him. Jolo rolled, found his feet and turned to fire but the cape blocked his shot. Meanwhile Katy and Merthon had been backed up to the edge of the building.
The Emperor took another step and the cape moved, and there, for a split second, Jolo found the tiny round target. He fired once, the sound of the Colt echoing out in all directions, but the Emperor remained standing. Katy and Merthon were backed up to the edge and Katy tried to fire Betsy again but the Emperor knocked the shotgun out of her hands. It fell down to the ground below.
This is it, thought Jolo. I’ve failed. But then the Emperor took a step forward and a funny thing happened: the lower half of his leg remained on the ground, his upper leg waved in the air and he lost his balance and fell. Katy and Merthon were still in danger so Jolo fired again at the Emperor’s head to get his attention. The Emperor had been reduced to an angry pile of black alacyte covered with a cape. He tried to regain his feet and fell again, the worm inside screaming out, cursing. Jolo fired again and the Emperor used his powerful arms to steady himself and brought the blade around keeping Jolo at a safe distance. Then suddenly the black beast started laughing and turned its upper body back towards the edge of the building. It lunged. The red blade aimed at Katy. There was nowhere to go so she jumped off the building.
Jolo screamed, saw Katy disappear over the edge, as the Emperor, still laughing, struggled to stand and fell again. Jolo fired the Colt at the Emperor until he was out of bullets and then fell to his knees. He’d lost everyone.
But then he heard the unmistakable sound of an old thruster, a deep grumble compared to the new Fed ships’ high-pitched whine. And suddenly he saw Katy, hovering in mid air, then rising up above the roof standing on top of the Argossy. One of the railguns was torn off, but George kept the one still attached trained on the Emperor as he picked up Jolo and Merthon.
Once on board they picked up the survivors from the Leviathan. Only five were left: four marines and one bridge officer. Some were killed during the fight. Falkowski and the rest died in the crash.
Jolo wanted to take out the Emperor, but the one gun still attached didn’t work. Hurley had welded it back on for show. All of the BG ships had been destroyed or had jumped out. Greeley, who’d been injured earlier and had limped back, wanted to try and crush the Emperor with the ship. But that would have just endangered his crew, thought Jolo. In the end, Jolo decided the best thing to do was to run now before any BG reinforcements came. The Argossy and her crew were in no shape to challenge the Emperor and
