Ventus by Karl Schroeder

Karl Schroeder / Ventus / Page 512
Every now and then the display flickered with blue-white
light. The Diadem swans were attacking. While they had
easily taken out Marya’s ship, they were no match for this
cruiser, as the captain had pointed out proudly and at length.
Axel was tired, bruised and chilled to the bone. Soon he
would go take that bath he had been dreaming of for months;
for now, he couldn’t take his eyes off the screen.
Somewhere below Calandria was getting ready to
confront Armiger. Axel had argued with the captain for a good
hour, trying to convince the man to follow Marya’s directions
to the queen’s palace and interrupt the siege. They probably
had enough firepower in this ship to eliminate Armiger; but it
had been the god Choronzon who had hired Axel and Calandria
to kill Armiger. As far as the Archipelagic military were
concerned, the war against 3340 was over.
Axel no longer cared about Armiger anyway. He just
wanted to get Calandria back.
"Hey."
He turned. Marya stood in the doorway. She had
cleaned herself up, and looked beautiful in a snow-white gown,
framed by the door’s ivy in warm summer-like light from
hidden sconces. She stood barefoot on the genetically-tailored
grass of the ship’s civilian quarters, and appeared relaxed and
confident, as though she had not been squawling and biting the
arms of medieval soldiers earlier in the evening.
"You’re amazing," he said.
"You look like hell," she laughed. "Why don’t you get
some rest? There’s nothing more we can do now."
He turned back to the window. "We have to go back," he
said. "We’re not done here."
She touched his arm. "I know. First we’ll have the
remains of Turcaret analyzed. They may give us some