Chapter 19
Vesta, 34 Demaa, 4395 Orthodox Calendar
Saturday, 20 November, 2008, Native Regional Reckoning
The KES Scimitar, docked at Kosiningi Emergency Response Center, Zoka Prefecture, Karis
This was it.
The ship was ready to launch. Everyone was ready that was going, which was Jason and all the Faey. Miaari and the Kimdori were remaining behind. The Marines were fully armored. Jason and Myleena, having no armor, were on the bridge of the ship, going over the last details of the data that the Scimitar’s computer had downloaded into their gestalts, which basicly dealt with what their stations would require of them. Myleena was sitting at the engineering console, which allowed her to monitor the operation of the ship, and also gave her control over ship functions. Jason was sitting in the captain’s chair, which was actually the position on a Karinne ship that did most of the work. His gestalt was the command controller, and it was by his command that most ship functions were enabled, though Myleena also had the power to activate or deactivate the systems, because she was sitting at the ship’s main engineering console and the ship’s computer recognized her as the main engineer. Jason controlled the defensive systems, the communications, sensors, and other tertiary systems. Zora, being the pilot, had primary control of navigational systems and propulsion. The final chair, a chair for an assistant engineer, was taken by Myri. Everyone else was down in the galley.
The ship was going to be easy to operate, because the computer did almost all the work. Jason just told it what to do, and it did it. The ship’s crew numbered 24 on this ship normally, and 19 of them were engineers and technicians to make sure that the ship ran properly and maintain the equipment the researchers used. Three were pilots, one was the captain, and the last was a first officer. The ship’s computer was no Cybi. It was a Mark II Biogenic Mainframe, and interacting with it was very sterile. It had no personality at all, nothing like Cybi. It was just a dry monotone of a commune in his mind that relayed information, nothing more.
It was going to be hairy from here out. They would not return to Karis until it was all done, if they returned at all. Jason knew that Trillane wasn’t going to just let them waltz in. The ship was unidentified; no telemetry beacon, unmarked, its identifying marks either scoured off by the nebula or faded over time, and they would fire on it even if they didn’t know who was inside it. All Jason hoped was that they’d hold off on firing just long enough to let them get into a position to pick up the people in the mountain, and then they would run the gauntlet to get back out. If they had to land and recover the Legion under fire, it was going to be ugly. So, the plan was speed. Race in, take as much advantage of their confusion and hesitancy to fire on the ship until they had confirmation as possible, land and get his people the hell out of there, then take off and run the gauntlet to get far enough away from Earth’s gravity well so they could use the hyperspace jump engine to escape.
And once that was done, there was still a matter of getting to the Empress and then fighting an entirely different kind of war, a war of words. Denmother Zaa had prepared him well for that, but it still wasn’t going to be very fun. Dealing with a nest of vipers, where one word not delivered with exacting meaning could create a deadly pit from which he could not escape… ugh. He was going to have to kiss Jyslin for her gift to him. Her vast knowledge of the Faey language was going to serve him well when he stepped into that room.
Right now, they were waiting. The four spaceworthy ships they had on hand were being loaded into the very small ship bay, which was located on the top of the ship, as well as the only battle-capable unit on all of Karis. The two small Novas, the Karinne dropship, the dropship they used to get here, and the Gladiator were all being loaded by the Kimdori.
That Gladiator… shit, was that a fearsome looking piece of machinery. Where standard exomechs were sleek, graceful, a reflection of the supple Faey who piloted them, the Gladiator was a bulldog of a mecha, big, heavy, blocky, and it just oozed intimidation. It was no taller than an exomech, about fifteen feet, but it was about twice as wide. Jason had sat in the cockpit while waiting for the Kimdori to finish the repairs, just after dinner, and man, was it different. The ship was interface controlled, with no manual controls at all, only a series of heads-up display panels inside to provide information to the pilot. He’d taken it for a walk around the storage bay, and was surprised at how graceful it was, despite its ungainly appearance. The interface control meant that he basicly had absolute control of it, could control it as exactingly as his own body.
The Novas too were interesting. They too were interface controlled, but they did have manual controls in them. They were chasers, unarmed, small, fast single seaters used for personal planes. But unlike a skimmer, the tiny Novas were more along the lines of a sports car, with their tailless design dominated by a pair of large diamond-shaped wings attached to the very back of the ship, the wings serving as both wings and tail for the craft in the atmosphere. Jason had to take one out for a test flight, and wow. They were fast… they were amazingly fast. And after he got the hang of the interface control, letting go of the stick, he found that the ship was very responsive. And man, was it nimble! Its small size and aerodynamic shape made it very agile in the air, and it could turn on a dime, but the small size of the ship, only about twenty feet long, would make it really hard to adapt it as an armed unit. Putting even one plasma cannon in it would require the engineers to take some of the existing systems out of it. There was just no room in it.
One thing was for sure. After this was over, one of those Novas was going to be sitting in his driveway. Damn were they fun to fly!
But fun would be for later. Right now, he was looking at the hologram projected in front of Zora’s seat, taking up the whole front wall, showing a Kimdori securing the last ship they’d brought in, the dropship they’d come in. The small gray-furred Kimdori grabbed hold of his memory band and looked up at the camera, and seconds later the computer contacted him. [Maintenance reports final exterior craft is secured.]
[Tell them to disembark. Tell me when they’re all off.]
[Acknowledged.]
[Cybi.]
[Yes, Jason?]
[We’ll be leaving in a minute. Give Miaari my orders after we’re gone. Tell if we don’t come back, then Karis is their responsibility, and they have to take care of you. Make sure you tell her that.]
[I will, but I would very much like for you to return home, Jason.]
[That makes two of us.]
The Kimdori were clear of the ship, and all hatches were closed. Jason blew out his breath and prepared for what was coming in a moment of quiet contemplation. When this ship took off, he was doing more than accepting his responsibilities as the Grand Duke Karinne, he was taking responsibility for the eleven lives in this ship that were not his own. He had to make sure they all lived to enjoy whatever rewards they managed to see out of this. If they weren’t all executed, anyway. Alright girls, we’re taking off. Everyone find a seat, and start praying, he sent, strong enough to be heard through the ship. He looked to Zora. "Alright, Zora. It’s all yours."
"Alright, gals, Jayce, let’s see if two days of constant practice was enough. I see the docking ramp has been retracted, so we’re clear." She rather deliberately crossed her arms in front of her. "And here we go."
The Kimdori on the balcony overlooking the docking ramp waved as the Scimitar lifted out of the water, and a flurry of water cascaded down when a power surge through the hull caused all water molecules to be repelled off the ship’s hull, sending a salty rain down onto the sea below. The ship turned as it slowly ascended, then nosed up and accelerated. Jason felt almost no acceleration, though, felt the ship take on what felt like a level attitude, so much so he could have stood up without having to steady himself.
"Wow, the inertial dampers on this thing are good," Myri noted.
"I’m just glad it has artificial gravity," Myleena added. "I’d hate to have to float around for the next twenty minutes."
That was how long it was going to take them to get far enough away to jump out. They couldn’t jump in a gravity well, so they had to get out away from the planet. In that respect, it was different than the hyperspace engines that the Imperium used, that were more tolerant of gravity wells. But, if these engines weren’t as tolerant, they were much better in that there would be no relativity time delay after they entered hyperspace. Their trip to Earth would take 37 seconds, and exactly 37 seconds, in both subjective time and in real time. If they’d used a regular hyperspace ship, that trip would have taken 37 seconds in subjective time, and about 6 days in real time.
The Scimitar cleared the atmosphere, and one side of the hologram showed a camera view of what was before them. But Zora had her eyes on her own console, and looking over her shoulder showed him that she had the starchart up there, a three dimensional representation of space. She zoomed in and a dot in that chart blinked, then turned white. The map noted it at [Star C2450-174], but Jason knew that it was the Earth system.
In the twenty minutes it took them to get to the jump boundary, Jason calmed himself using techniques his father taught him, the meditative focusing exercises taught by martial arts. He was scared out of his mind with what he knew was coming, but he had to keep it together. People were counting on him, and he couldn’t let them down. He had to keep his head, and most of all, he had to control his fear. If those whores from the Siann realized he was afraid, they’d eat him for lunch. He had to be calm, unruffled, and decisive. He had to be confident.
"Alright, we’re here. Earth coordinates locked in. Jump engines are ready," Zora called. "I got us set to come in behind the moon, Jason, so they don’t see where we came from."
"Do it," Jason told her.
Everyone take a seat, we’re jumping in thirty seconds! Zora sent throughout the ship.
Jason bucked the safety belt attached to his chair as the other three in the bridge strapped in and locked their chairs so they wouldn’t swivel. He heard Zora counting down, but this time he closed his eyes. He wasn’t all that curious about the psychodelic images he’d see in hyperspace.
"Three. Two. One. Jump!" Zora barked, and then all his senses went crazy. He tried his best to ignore the strange sounds, the weird smells, focusing his mind by repeating a mantra over and over, waiting out the 37 seconds they would be moving through this nonsensical domain. But it wasn’t easy, because those sounds, those smells, the strange feelings along his skin, they were almost tantalizingly unusual, begging him to explore them. But he kept his focus, keeping his eyes shut.
And it was over. Everything returned to normal. Jason opened his eyes and saw the moon ahead of them, about the size of a beach ball in the hologram, and the planet Earth peeked out from behind it. He shook his head and got control of himself, then looked around. Myleena and Myri were turning to look at the hologram, and Zora was already changing her navigation holograms. "We’re here," she called. "Alright, I have 37 contacts in orbit around Terra. Looks like Trillane brought a whole squadron of their fleet here," she grunted. "I’m plotting a course to get us to this mountain of yours. We’ll do a wrap-around of the planet, so they don’t home in on where we’re going."
"Now we see if those modifications the Kimdori made work," Jason said as he ordered the Scimitar computer to access Civnet. It did so successfully, and he called Kiaari’s contact number. He relayed it to a hologram that would project out from the little swing-away mini-console that attached to the right side of his chair. A window appeared, and Kiaari’s Terran face, Kate, appeared there. "Thank the Denmother!" Kiaari said explosively. "Do you have any idea how good it is to see you, Jayce?"
"Kiaari, listen carefully. Get everyone gathered together in the aircraft hangar, and get someone in the dropship and the skimmer. You’re going to be picked up in about fifteen minutes."
"Jason, we lost the dropship," she told him. "It was shot down last night. We lost Jenny, Bo, and Terry."
Jason closed his eyes, clenching a fist as he absorbed that unpleasant news. "What happened?"
"We don’t know. We don’t know if they found a way to penetrate the cloak, so we haven’t launched the skimmer since then."
"Well, get Luke in the skimmer and tell him to be ready to punch it into a belly-oriented landing bay. I want you, Jyslin, Temika, Kumi, Fure, Myra, Tim, and Symone in the skimmer with him. Tell him that he’s gonna have to get it in here while the ship is still descending. He won’t be able to get the skimmer under the ship once it lands."
"They’re all here, I got Kumi back from Nebraska a few days ago, after Trillane shut Vultech down and nearly caught her. What’s going to happen? I haven’t had any contact with Miaari for days. It’s been really hairy here."
"We found and salvaged a Karinne ship, Kiaari. We’re in it right now, and about to get down there to pick you up. Just remember, hon, this has to be fast. We have no way to hide from Trillane, and they’re gonna start shooting at us when we don’t answer their hails for identification. Everyone has to get to the ship as fast as they can when we land."
"You got a Karinne ship?" she gasped. "What kind?"
"A scout ship."
"Alright, I remember those from my history classes. Stern ramp or bow ladder?"
"The stern ramp. Luke has to get my skimmer into the little auxiliary landing bay in the belly before we can land, but it’s gonna be a tight fit. It was meant for a zip ship, not a skimmer."
"I’ll do the flying, I remember where the doors are from the pictures."
"Alright. Just get everyone there, and remember, this has to be as fast as possible. Just leave everything. We’ll only have a couple of minutes at the most, and I’m more worried about the people than the equipment."
"You got it. We’ll be ready. As soon as you’re in sending range, call out to Jyslin. She’s very anxious to hear from you, and we’ll know it’s almost time when you do."
"You bet I will. Be there soon."
"Good luck," she said, then the call was ended.
"Alright, I got a good course plotted. We’ll hit the atmosphere around Asia and the come in on a shallow high-speed arc down to Colorado."
Zora brought them in hot. He had a hologram of the sensor readings displayed by the outside view, showing the planet and a series of red dots which were sensor contacts of other ships. None of them moved off their normal course as they came around the moon and accelerated, racing towards the planet. One of them began to slow as they approached the planet and got close enough for energy signatures to start registering on their sensors. When they got within 50,000 kathra of the atmospheric boundary, Jason knew they were made. [Contact. Receiving query hail on standard Faey ship to ship frequency. Open channel?]
[No, ignore it,] Jason ordered. "They’re hailing us, Zora," he warned her. "They know we’re here."
"I know," she said, glancing at the ship location graphic. Everyone find a seat and strap in, this is gonna be a rough entry! she warned.
And it was. The ship shook as they hit the atmosphere, and Zora went as fast as she possibly could without losing control of the ship to air turbulence… which she was doing because the air wake and heat shockwave would deflect any incoming fire; at that speed, the air displaced by the Scimitar was like a solid object, a laminar flow with defined borders that would disrupt and deflect incoming plasma fire from the big heavy-mount plasma cannons on the ships. The ship came in fast, and it came in hot, leaving a glowing trail of burning air behind it as the hull was heated by the atmosphere. The entire ship vibrated violently as the computer responded to the rapid raise in temperature by focusing environmental systems into cooling the interior of the ship. Jason found himself hanging onto his chair as the ship rocked, but he kept his eyes on that hologram by the outside view that showed large Faey cruisers still in orbit changing their courses to move into a position over their ship. They were getting into a firing position.
"Shields!" Jason gasped, then mirrored that command to the computer. The ship hummed as the power surged, and a graphic to the left of the outer view appeared, one of the ship, showing a glowing green sphere appear around the ship’s icon in the center. Ahead, in their view, there was a shimmer of greenish light, and then the ship’s vibration eased tremenously as the shields took the brunt of the air friction. This is gonna get rough! Jason sent. Hang on! "Zora, they’re about to open fire!"
"I can’t maneuver very much in an atmosphere at this speed!" she warned. "Let’s hope all those burns on the hull are skin deep, and this old man can handle himself!" Show ’em what you got, baby, Zora sent, probably unintentionally, patting her hand on her console.
They came in over the Pacific, so fast that they could fly from Los Angeles to New York in ten minutes. They slowed as they came down into the thicker air, and miles above, a Faey battle cruiser, nearly half a mile long, swung sideways and rotated so its broadside flank was aimed at the planet. Heavy mount cannons fired streaming coherent plasma down towards the surface, fast enough to keep it coherent but not so fast it shattered in the air and exploded before striking its target. Seconds ticked by as multiple pulses of angry red plasma screamed down from the heavens, meticulously aimed taking wind patterns and the planet’s rotation into account as well as the target’s speed and altitude. But those targeting computers had never tried to target a ship piloted by Zora Sharelle Karinne. Just like Jason, she had a pilot parent, but she literally grew up in a skimmer, and had been flying them since before she could look over the dash. Jason watched in surprised amazement as Zora handled the ship on manual control with a deftness and soft, almost delicate touch that made it seem like she was born wearing an interface. Slight changes in speed and altitude, coupled with evasive maneuvers, outfoxed the targeting computers of the battle cruisers in orbit, who had to be so incredibly accurate to hit a target from 200 miles away that at that range would be like trying to shoot the wings off a fly with a rifle at 400 yards. Plasma bolts showed as red blips on the tactical view on the right, and several of them streaked past the bow of the ship, falling short, even as others rained down like flaming spears of fire… but they continuously missed. None of them missed by much, but none of them came close enough to hit the shields. The Scimitar danced in that deadly rain, and avoided every shot.
Now comes the nasty part, Zora sent. They see they’re not dealing with an amateur they can hit from space, and they’re launching fighters. Sure enough, a series of small yellow dots erupted from the ships in orbit above, even as a series of dots appeared on the leading edge of the display, ground-based fighters. Jason, we’re only gonna have about thirty seconds once we hit the ground, and we’re gonna take fire from both fighters and those cruisers as soon as they realize we’re coming in.
I know, he told her. That’s why we get paid the big bucks.
I wanna see this paycheck, Myleena grunted mentally.
The fighters came into visual range as they crossed the shore of California at 15,000 shakra, ten Dragonfly fighters. That model was fast, sleek, heavily armed, and had strong armor. They intercepted the Scimitar east of Los Angeles, as all ten lined up and fired angry red streaks of plasma energy towards them. Zora was good, but there was no way a ship the size of a destroyer was going to evade fighters, so she aimed right for their center and intended to plow through and make them chase. Angry flashes of greenish light appeared on the front camera, as flares of red appeared on the left ship status image. The shields had stopped the plasma fire! That was metaphased plasma, and the shields stopped it!
Holy shit! The Karinnes’ teryon shields could stop metaphased weapons!
Not without a price, though. Hits on the shields showed a sudden spike in shield generator power, and a heat warning. Even the brief salvo fired as the fighters met them head on was enough to make the shields work. Clearly, though they could stop metaphased weapons, they weren’t very good at it. A hit from a cruiser in orbit would probably overload the shields and bring them down after only one shot.
The fighters scattered and let the big ship race through their ranks, then turned and moved to pursue as more fighters from orbit were lancing in on an intercept vector. Zora adjusted their course as they moved over southern California, not heading directly towards the mountain, so as not to give away their destination. The fighters behind did not open fire, because at the extreme speeds they were going and the distance between them, the plasma fire dispersed before it could reach the target. So they were at maximum throttle, closing the distance so they could get into firing range, but Zora was pushing the throttle herself, keeping the ship going fast, not giving them that chance. Though she was big, the Scimitar had good engines, and they were keeping the much larger ship well separated from the pursuing fightercraft. They were laying down a sonic boom so powerful it was shattering every window ten miles north and south of the ship’s trajectory, they were going so fast.
Just as the space-based fighters, a mix of Dragonfly and Starhawks, got within tactical range, Zora changed course, shifting north, putting them on a curling hooked curve that he could see would bring them over the mountain… but not in a straight line. Clever Zora, she was making her turn look like a defensive course change to keep the approaching fighters off their heads. [What’ll happen if the shields are up when they make contact with a solid object?]
[They will overload.]
[So we have to lower them to land?]
[Correct.]
"Crap," Jason growled. "Zora, we have to drop shields to land!"
"I know!" she called as she turned more to the north and seemed to want to reach for a throttle as they moved out over Arizona. We got two minutes, girls! Everyone get ready for a very hard and very rough landing! Get into a good position, we’re gonna be hitting the brakes so hard the inertial dampers won’t possibly be able to absorb it all!
In the span of a minute, the ship hooked through Arizona and into Colorado, and then Zora hit the brakes. The ship lurched under them, making it feel like he was about to be pushed out of his seat, but his seat restraints kept him secured. Myri gasped and grunted as the ship slowed down so fast, so hard, that the fighters behind them were taken by surprise. They streaked past the ship, but two of them were too close. They hit the shields of the Scimitar in glancing blows as they tried to get clear and were violently rebounded, and then air resistance did the rest. The composite Neutronium armor of the fighters withstood the stress amazingly well, keeping the fighters from flying into pieces, but the joints between the wings and the fuselage couldn’t take the strain. The wings were ripped off both Dragonflies, and gouts of fiery discharge from ruptured plasma conduit running through the damaged areas vented plasma like little waterfalls as the two ships tumbled out of the sky.
They moved down, slowing down, closer and closer to the mountains below, until the peaks were nearly level with the outside view. Jyslin! Jason sent with all his power as they moved into what he felt was his range, which was about twenty seconds until they landed. You have thirty seconds to get everyone on board! Be ready!
I will! came a weak response.
"Zora, swing us so the stern covers the hangar door from above when we land!" Jason commanded as he ordered the ship to prepare to lower landing skids and the stern ramp, and also ordered the belly bay doors to open.
"You got it!" she replied as Cheyenne Mountain came into view.
It wasn’t rehearsed, but it happened quickly and smoothly. The ship slowed, and slowed, and then it swung its stern around even as it continued forward, tearing the air as it moved against aerodynamics at 500 miles an hour, letting the shields take the brunt of the air resistance. The fighters around them had regrouped and turned to attack the ship, but Jason had a sudden brilliant idea. Yana! We got about twenty fighters incoming! Do something about the pilots!
EVERYONE BLOCK YOURSELF NOW! Yana sent with rippling power, and it made all of them, even the telepaths in the mountain below, raise every defense and barrier they possibly could. But even those defenses weren’t enough to completely block out the sheer power of that young lady as she basicly sent what one would call a jamming signal across the telepathic spectrum, a powerful cacophony that would be like an airhorn being blown in the ears of any unprepared telepath within ten miles of the Scimitar. The sudden erratic movements of the fighters closing in from the north and northeast was testament to Yana’s amazing power, as one of the most powerful telepaths among the Faey used that power as a weapon against anyone in the area who was telepathic. She couldn’t block them for long, until they recovered their wits and blocked themselves, but it only had to be for long enough.
With Yana blasting her power at full volume into the mental ears of the enemy pilots, and giving them a hell of a lot more to worry about than just shooting at a landing ship, that left only orbital strikes to worry about. The ship swung over and moved backwards as Jason’s skimmer appeared under them, flying fast and straight and true on a vector that would intercept the landing bay. [Close the bay doors the instant that skimmer is completely inside!] Jason ordered as he lowered the shields, and the ship slowed to a crawl and descended. The green globe around the icon of the ship vanished on the left, and before the ship had even fully opened the bay doors, the skimmer lanced in between them and took up a matching course that made it essentially hover inside the bay. The doors began to close as the hangar doors of the mountain opened, and a group of people started boiling out. Even from that distance, Jason saw a flash of blue among those faces.
Jyslin! She was on the ground! She wasn’t in the skimmer!
The ship shuddered violently as the Scimitar landed, sending up a cloud of dust as landing skids slammed into the ground, and the ramp lowered in a position that was only about 20 meters from the hangar door, with the wide stern of the ship hanging over the mountainside, almost resting on it. Zora couldn’t have landed any better than that! The remaining members of the Legion were running like mad towards the opened stern ramp, and Jason watched as Jyslin, wearing her armor but not her helmet, was waving people ahead of her, getting them into the ship. "Hurry up!" Jason barked over the outside intercom, a voice they would hear. "Twenty seconds! Move it, move it, MOVE!" The first one to reach it literally jumped onto the ramp as it lowered to the ground and dashed up. More were behind him, a stream of Terrans carrying rifles, charging towards their escape ship. Jason glanced at tactical, and saw that the fighters were recovering and moving into an attack posture. Those people on the ground were sitting ducks, and his wife was among them! "Raise the shields!" Jason screamed.
[Raising shields will overload them.]
[It’ll make them come up until they do, so do it! Those shields will keep the fighters from strafing my people on the ground!]
[Objective noted. Raising shields in a directed arc to minimize surface contact.]
And with that, the shield generator projected out a shielf matrix that would only cover the top half of the ship.
Jason had no idea it could do that!
But it couldn’t do it completely. The shields still had to raise as an enclosed sphere, but it only tried to maintain bubble integrity everywhere but over them, maximizing power output only to certain shield grids. The fighters dove on them and started firing, and they did try to fire at the people on the ground, but the shields intercepted that fire and dissipated the power of those plasma bolts into the shield matrix. The generator spiked, throwing multiple warnings across both sides of the holographic display as the shield generators instantly overheated, warning him of an impending shield failure.
The shields failed and came down seconds after they came up, but those seconds were all it took. Jyslin was the only figure not on the ramp, and then she engaged her antigrav and raced up onto the ramp at high speed, literally ramming the people in front of her and driving them before her into the ship.
"Incoming!" Zora barked as red dots appeared on tactical. The cruisers in orbit were firing on them, and the ship was a sitting duck!
"Get us out of here!" Jason screamed as the ship informed him that everyone was off the ramp and in the bay to which the ramp connected. The ramp began to close as the Scimitar lifted off. It had only been on the ground for 24 seconds.
But it was too long. The ship rocked violently as it was struck port amidships by a plasma bolt, slamming into the scorched hull of the ship directly, with nothing softening that blow. The metaphased plasma tried to burn through the hull of the ship, but it encountered a molecular structure so dense, so strongly intermeshed, that it could not disrupt those molecular bonds and penetrate. The plasma detonated on the surface of the hull, the impact and force slamming the ship down nearly a meter and making it list violently to port, sending those in the bay flying to one side as the stern ramp raised to seal them in. The tactical of the ship on the left showed a flashing red splotch on the hull showing the impact, but the computer communicated no immediate damage to him, only a sudden major temperature increase in the sections abutting the struck hull. The ship rocked again as it was hit on the bow, and then one more time, causing a violent list to starbord as the very tip of the starbord wing was hit, almost turning the ship sideways. Each strike exploded on the surface of the hull without penetrating, and each hit did no reported damage outside of cooking the ship’s sections that were struck, sending air temperatures soaring over the boiling point of water in the compartments closest to the hull. The air in the bridge itself became noticably hot, for the bow hit wasn’t far from where the bridge was located.
But then Zora got the ship enough speed to start evading orbital shots. Several more plasma bolts rained down, but they exploded on the surface of the planet when the Scimitar moved out from under them.
"Yana, great job, girl! Get some people down to the ramp bay and check on the rebels, someone might have got hurt when we got hit!" Jason called over an intercom.
You can send again, and we’re on the way, just don’t throw us all over! Yana sent.
Send a doctor, we got some broken bones down here! Jyslin sent.
I’m on the way! Songa sent immediately in reply.
Everyone’s accounted for, love! Jyslin sent to him, her emotions vibrating through her thoughts even with the desperate situation they were in.
Where’d you get this ship, babes? Kumi sent in surprise.
Knock off the chatter, we’re not out of this yet! Myri rebuked as the ship accelerated with shocking speed, sinking Jason back into his chair as the the change of momentum exceeded the ability of the inertial dampers.
Jason, if we switch over to artificial gravity, that’ll help stabilize us! Myleena barked. And Zora can go vertical without slamming everyone down in the bay into the back wall!
Do it, sis! Jason answered, looking back at her.
Everyone grab hold of something right now! Myleena commanded. Activating artifical gravity, so things might get a bit shaky while it overrides natural gravity!
Jason felt a sudden lurch inside the ship, as if he was being pulled three ways at once, and then things settled down. Alright, we’re good! Myleena called.
"Show me why I love you, Zora," Jason said as the ship began to outrace the fighters.
"It’s because I’m willing to play chicken with a battle cruiser," she said, glancing over her shoulder at him and winking.
"You’re about to put your money where your mouth is, girl," Jason told her as they took a sudden steep ascent vector, literally coming up right under one of the cruisers in orbit above.
Listen to me carefully, Zora sent through the ship, sending in that manner that would allow the non-telepathic Terrans to hear her. As soon as we break the atmosphere, in about two minutes, this is going to get very hairy very fast, because the cruisers can use all their guns and not just the ones that can penetrate an atmosphere. Everyone down in the bay, tie yourself down to something or grab hold of something that won’t move. The Marines and Doc Songa are coming right now to get you guys ready for this, and help keep the injured secured. Anyone not tied down or holding onto something is gonna get flung all over creation when I start getting us the hell out of here.
Why are you coming up under that cruiser? Myleena asked.
There’s really nowhere else to go, they’re bringing in more ships, she answered, pointing at the right display, showing more Faey cruisers moving to intercept. I’ll take my chances playing chicken with the one in front of me instead of trying to punch between them and get raked in a crossfire between two ships.
Sounds scary.
It won’t be boring, Zora sent grimly as they rocketed away from the surface with the fighters in hot pursuit. But when they broke off, scattering behind them according to tactical, both Jason and Zora knew it was so the cruiser ahead of them could open fire without threatening to hit its own fighters.
It was as violent as Zora warned it would be. The cruiser opened up with everything it had, even firing plasma torpedos that barely got two miles into the atmosphere before exploding, creating shockwaves that rocked the ship even from tens of miles away. Zora’s light touch skimmed them through most of the plasma fire, but the ship was struck several times dead in the bow and along the leading edges of its small wings, making the ship buck like an angry horse. Blinking flares of red appeared on the ship graphic on the left showed the weapon strikes on the hull, but the dirty, stained, scarred hull maintained its integrity. They erupted out of the atmosphere and turned straight towards the cruiser, which sent a swarm of fire in their direction even as it began to turn. They saw that they were on a collision course, they were minimizing their visible aspect to the Scimitar. Zora sliced the ship right through the fire, avoiding the plasma torpedos and the ion pulses, sacrificing them to the plasma strikes, as the old vessel rumbled and shook almost continuously as they were struck again and again, and as the temperature in the ship began to climb dangerously and the computer was reporting some damage to systems near the hull, damaged by the vibration and the heat. The cruiser grew in the display, until it took up the entire camera view, and the tactical to the right showed the Scimitar and the enemy ship virtually touching on the tactical display.
"Zora," Jason called in concern. They got so close, Jason could see the individual plates in the hull, annealed together. "Zora!" Jason said, taking a white-knuckled grip on his chair.
"Calm down, baby," she told him as she jerked her head to the side. The Scimitar rolled and lurched laterally, turning upside-down in relation to the cruiser, rolling over and racing by the cruiser not fifty feet from its outer hull, almost bouncing the ship off a bulge in the cruiser’s hull as they went over it. An impact like that, between two ships of that size, would have been catastrophic! Jason could only hold his breath as the destroyer-sized ship sliced by the half-mile long monstrosity so close that their artificial gravity fields intersected with each other, sending anything loose in both ships flying since up was in opposite directions on the two vessels. Everyone in the destroyer was ready for this by being tied down or holding onto something, but everyone in the cruiser within the gravity field of the Scimitar was not. The crew in the affected parts of the cruiser and much of their gear and equipment suddenly lifted up and slammed into the ceiling, then dropped back to the floor as the Scimitar passed over.
Zora squeezed the ship past the Trillane orbital ships, and then opened up the engines and hurtled them straight out away from the planet, towards deep space. Fire from five ships behind them chased them, but Zora again showed her light command of the ship by maneuvering them out of the path of the plasma torpedos and ion bolts, the more dangerous of the fire, and basicly allowing the plasma bolts to strike, which the hull had proved it could withstand. But the ships got further and furhter away on the tactical view on the right, as they tried to turn to pursue, even as the fighters raced by the cruisers and gave chase. But this was a different environment, and the Scimitar didn’t have the advantange of all the momentum of re-entry on its side now, which showed that the fighters were quickly catching up to them.
"Idiots!" Zora growled. "If heavy mount plasma cannons couldn’t breach the hull, what do they think fighters are gonna accomplish!"
"As burned as the hull is, they probably can’t tell," Myleena answered that. "This thing looks like a burned dinner from the outside, Zora. The burns from the plasma bolts are just lost in all the burns from particle strikes from sitting in the nebula for a thousand years."
The hatchway opened, and Jyslin ran onto the bridge. She threw herself into Jason’s chair, crushing him in her armored arms, her metal-clad body actually hurting him as it jammed into his chest and legs, but all that pain vanished when she pushed her forehead down against his own, establishing a deep communion in that skin to skin contact that conveyed all of her anguish and fear and worry, and also showed him her terrible resolve for making Trillane pay for what they did to him. In that fleeting moment, they just revelled in being together once again, letting their love for each other shine through their minds, through their souls. If only for a second, there was nothing but Jyslin, and everything was right in the universe.
She leaned down and kissed him deeply, putting her armored hands on his face, and he felt the paradox of that cold black metal on his cheeks and jaw, and the searing heat of her lips.
But she understood that they didn’t have time for anything other than that. She gave him one more deep kiss, then raised up and looked down at him, her eyes soft and vulnerable. I thought I lost you, my love, she told him.
Never, he told her, reaching up and putting his hand on her cheek. She kissed the palm of his hand and pressed it against her face, closing her eyes and smiling as she nuzzled his hand.
"Not meaning to break up the reunion or anything, but we’re kinda busy here, babe," Zora said, looking over her shoulder at them.
"Push off, Zora," Jyslin said banteringly.
"You can’t order me around, Jys, I’m a Countess now," she said with an evil grin. "And you’re still a commoner."
"She’s also my wife, Zora," Jason told her. "You wanna revise that statement?"
"Maybe in a few minutes, when I have time to think about it, yeah," she admitted candidly as she looked back to her navigation console. Twenty seconds to jump! Everyone settle in and get ready! Warn the Terrans what’s coming, guys!
"Those fighters are going to be in firing range any second, can we jump under fire?" Jason asked.
"Yeah, we can," Zora answered.
Jyslin settled so she was sitting on Jason’s lap, and she kept his hand on her face, using that contact to urge herself gently into his mind. She absorbed everything that had happened to him after the attack in Scotland, and her eyes widened and she gasped when she saw what had happened on Karis. Is that true? she gasped, looking at him.
Yeah, it is, he told her. The Faey ancestor who gave me my talent was a Karinne, and the Kimdori led me there to show me, so I’d have a chance against Trillane. Congratulations, Duchess Jyslin Fox Shaddale Karinne. You’re nobility now.
That I can stomach, but this? she sent in surprise, touching the gestalt. A telepathic computer?
It’s a bit more complicated than that, but in a nutshell, yeah. We have to get you and the others interfaces. Nothing on this ship works without one.
Ten seconds! Zora warned as the fighters closed the distance, and then started opening fire. Streams of metaphased plasma lanced through the darkness of space and peppered the stern, as Zora abandoned any evasive maneuvers and concentrated on making the jump. Jason saw from her nav console that her destination was the Draconis system, a big blue dot on the map, and marked with a star to denote its importance. There would be no rest, no respite. They had to jump from Earth directly to Draconis, because Jason had to get to the Empress as fast as possible. Five. Four. Three. Jys, grab hold of him! One. Jump!
It was easier this time. Jason blocked everything out, all sounds, all smells, eveything, focusing only on the feel of Jyslin’s skin under his hand, the pressure she was exerting holding onto him, the feel of her considerable armored weight in his lap and the uncomfortable bite on his legs from the seams of her thighplates. He focused completely on the sensations he knew was real, and it made all the sensory ghosts that afflicted them in hyperspace from getting to him.
It was over. Reality snapped back into place around them, and he opened his eyes and found himself looking at the blue and green jewel which was the planet Draconis. Zora had jumped them in as close as she could get them, and the ship lurched forward as many smaller ships took note of this monstosity that had just jumped in, a ship of alien design to them that looked like it just came from a battle, and they gave it one hell of a wide berth as it advanced towards the planet. "Myleena, how bad off are we?" Jason called as he urged Jyslin off his lap and unbuckled himself, then stood up. Jason ordered the computer to broadcast the Siann message on a diplomatic frequency, part of what Zaa had taught him for this ordeal. So long as they gave that broadcast, they couldn’t be challenged until the matter was settled by elements of the Empress’ personal staff. No ships could fire on them or approach them, but the Scimitar could not raise shields, come within one thousand kathra of the planet, nor open any gunports, maintaining a completely docile posture. It was a flag of truce that only the Empress could order violated.
Anyone not busy, I need damage control teams! Myleena sent through the ship. Get the Terrans that aren’t injured to help! I got plasma leaks all over and we got some environmental failures in the stern!
How bad? Jason asked.
It coulda been a hell of a lot worse, she answered. We have a couple of days of work ahead of us, but the ship’s still spaceworthy. The redundant systems took over when the primaries went down. We’re running on auxiliary power and life support in section 25 on all decks, deck 1 and 2 sections 1, 2, and 21, and the primary exchanger on deck 14 blew. The shield generator is in standby after a critical overheat, and won’t come back up until it runs a self diagnostic. She opened up to send through the ship. Anyone that works damage control needs to be in armor or an E-suit! E-suits are stowed in cargo bay 3, two decks up and one section forward of the ramp bay.
Are you sure they still work after a thousand years? Min called.
I checked them, they work, she answered, standing up. Everyone just stay there, I’m coming down!
Songa, how bad are the injuries? Jason called.
Three broken bones and a concussion, she answered. Nothing I can’t handle, Jayce.
Can we get out of the skimmer now? Kumi called.
Yeah, Myleena, swing by the belly bay and take them to the ramp.
She gave him a wave of the hand as she rushed to the hatch. Just hang there a minute, I’m on the way to get you.
Myleena? As in the Black Ops engineer that was working against us? Tim asked curiously.
The same, honey, but we’re on the same side now, she answered. Turns out me and Jason are cousins, so we have a common interest.
Jason, you’re a Merrane? Kumi asked in surprise.
No, I’m a Karinne, he answered.
A who?
It’s a long story. Just sit tight and wait for Myleena, then go with her and help get the plasma leaks under control. This ship has to get you guys home. Zora, after I leave, I want you to jump back to Karis and wait there, before Trillane gets their fleet here to pick up where we left off at Earth. I don’t want the ship out where they can see it and get any bright ideas.
How will we know to come get you?
The Kimdori have an ambassador here, I can get a message relayed to Miaari’s ship. As soon as they decide to pick up the call I’m making and answer me, I’ll be leaving in the Nova.
[Message incoming. Imperial priority channel,] the computer warned.
Speak of the devil, and he knocks at your door, Jason mused as he ordered the computer to put the image on the center hologram.
He found himself looking at a mature Faey male wearing a shimmering gold formal shirt, like a doublet or something, with a diamond chain woven into his pale green hair and a thick emerald teardrop hanging from his left ear. "This is a priority channel reserved for official Imperial business," the Faey man sniffed scornfully, looking at Jason, his eyes moving to and fro as he took in the bridge and the people on it. "It’s an Imperial crime to use this channel and broadcast the message you are sending out."
"It’s no crime at all for me," Jason answered, a bit bluntly, turning to face the hologram. "By the Laws of Siann, I demand an immediate audience with Her Imperial Majesty, Dahnai Merrane. The laws state that I am entitled to this audience no matter who I am, and if I’m found to have used this protocol without the proper right to do so, I can’t be executed until after I stand before her and say what I have to say. It’s called the Martyr’s Gambit, and you can look it up in the charter if you don’t believe me. If the Empress wants to execute me, you can’t do it until after I make my statement, and only after I am declared unfit to use this channel legally. That is the law."
The male gave him a strange look. "You have correctly cited the law," he said with some respect. "But you cannot call for the Martyr’s Gambit to be granted audience with Her Imperial Majesty until you strike the Gong of Morr. Your ship may not be fired upon without Imperial permission, but let’s just see you get down here without breaking the conditions of the Ducal Call," he said, somewhat smugly.
"The Empress can grant me safe passage to the palace," Jason protested.
"Yes, I suppose she could. If I bothered to inform her of this. But, given I know who you are and I’m aware of that sizable price on your head, I think I’ll make a call to Grand Duchess Trillane instead," the male grinned. "Let’s just see you get down here in one piece when the Trillanes mobilize their Draconis garrison to intercept you," he added, and then he ended the transmission.
"Why that son of a bitch!" Zora snapped.
"How is he going to explain to the Empress why there’s a ship up here broadcasting the flag of truce without explaining why he hasn’t talked to whoever’s doing it?" Myri demanded.
"I’ll bet she doesn’t even know," Jason growled. "If they think that’s going to stop me, they got another thing coming. Myri, take the conn," Jason ordered as he told the computer to prep the Nova for takeoff.
What are you doing? Jyslin demanded.
If they want me to ring the gong and fulfill the technicalities of the law, fine, he snapped mentally. I’m going to take the Nova and go down there.
Jason, the Novas are unarmed, Myri protested.
True, but they’re fast as lightning, and once I get the Nova into the airspace of the Imperial Palace, it’s instant death for anyone who fires on me. Right now time is on my side. If I can get down there before that Merrane asshole gets through to the Trillanes, I can get to the palace before anyone can stop me.
Jason, that’s crazy.
Sometimes crazy works, he answered immediately, which made Myri laugh despite herself.
Jason, love, don’t do this, Jyslin pleaded, holding onto his hands. Bring this ship down. Let us go together. It would be safer, and I don’t want to see you putting yourself in danger.
This ship can’t go, love, or it’ll break the truce and they can fire on it, he told her, touching her face. And now, this is a battle of words, and I’m the only one that can fight it. So, I won’t take all of you into harm’s way. This is my fight now. You fought for me back on Earth, my love, you fought hard and you fought well. But your fight is over now. It’s my responsibility, and I have to take it back from you. This is something I have to do, or Earth will never be free of the Trillanes. If you’ve ever trusted me before, my love, trust me now. I’ve flown the Nova before, back on Karis. I got very familiar with it, because I knew I’d have to land on Draconis in another ship, so I picked the fastest thing I could find that would let me outrun anyone else. I know how it handles, and I promise you that it’s the fastest thing on this planet. If there’s anything that could get me down there to the front door of the palace in one piece, it’s that Nova. Now, let me go, love. Every second counts.
She gave him a stricken look, then sighed and let go of his hand.
That’s my girl. Go sit in Myri’s seat and have them fill you in.
He ran at full speed through the ship, down to the stern where the main landing bay was. There, crammed into the small bay, were both of the functional Novas, both dropships, and that evil-looking Gladiator e-mech. The canopy of the closer Nova was open, and the ship was already powered up and waiting for him. He almost jumped up to the canopy edge, scrambling up the retractable ladder, then dropped down into the seat and started strapping himself in. His gestalt took over primary control of the Nova, and it was by telepathic communion that he ordered the canopy to close and the landing bay to activate the airskin shield to prevent decompression and open the bay doors. The doors swung open silently overhead, but there was a loud warning klaxon blaring through the bay warning that the doors were open. Alright, I’m heading out. Zora, get this ship out of here. Jump back to Karis as soon as you get the doors closed, and get the repairs underway.
A cacophony of sendings touched him, all of them warning him to be careful, to watch himself, and be safe, even if some of them had no idea what was going on, like Kumi, the Terran telepaths, Fure, Yohne, and Myra. He grabbed posts on each side of the cockpit that were nothing but handholds, so he wouldn’t touch the controls, and then interfaced with the Nova and established a direct controls link. Now, the ship would literally fly by his thoughts, giving him absolute control over the vessel, a control every bit as exacting and perfect as Zora’s had been over the Scimitar. The ship lifted off from the deck the instant the canopy closed, and then it rocketed up and out of the bay even as it retracted its landing gear, sucking Jason into the seat. The little ship did have a rudimentary inertial damper system, but it wasn’t nearly as good as the system in the Scimitar. It would shave a few G-factors off his turns and acceleration, but wouldn’t nullify it.
The little ship reacted to his very desires, flying with an absolute perfection of intent with him that it was like he was flying and not the ship. It turned and lanced away from the Scimitar with startling speed, shocking the hell out of the sensor officers who were monitoring traffic and watching the strange, old ship that had jumped in unscheduled from unknown origins. They’d never seen a ship accelerate so fast before! Jason enabled communications, and listened to the controllers trying to contact him.
"You have no clearance to approach Draconis! Slow to a stop and enable your telemetry beacon and pilot identification or we will call in fighters to stop you!" one of the controllers warned, as the ship relayed that over a speaker in the cockpit.
[This ship has no telemetry beacon, and my pilot identification is Jason Fox, pilot control number T93-2775. If that’s not enough, you wanna call in fighters? Fine. Let’s see them catch me,] Jason communed, which the Nova’s computer translated into a gravband transmission that the controllers would hear audibly.
In a matter of seconds, the tiny ship traversed a thousand kathra and turned to make a high-speed atmospheric entry. By the time the controllers scrambled fighters to intercept the Nova, it was already leaving a trail of burning air behind it as it breached the atmosphere and descended, heat burning the air around the ship as the ship’s heat shields absorbed the majority of the energy, keeping the cockpit comfortable. Jason brought the ship down in a very steep descent angle, slowing down as he descended, coming in over the ocean and not far from Dracora.
Jason had outrun the fighters in space. He wasn’t so lucky with the fighters stationed in Dracora itself. A tactical hologram popped up on the right showing the city and a swarm of at least two dozen contacts rising up from the city an moving towards him. He realized that he couldn’t come straight at the city. He had to circle it, get them to get behind him, then turn and race for the palace once he had them out from between him and his goal. He veered off to the north, moving out over the continenent and going wide, turning away from the city. The fighters continued to climb, but were now on an intercept vector. He widened that circle until he was flying directly away from the city, which put all of them behind him. The tactical hologram suddenly widened and showed four groups of contacts, two to the west, one to the north, and one almost directly over his position and a hundred miles up. Those were the space-based fighters entering the atmosphere to chase him down.
He couldn’t stay on this course. He turned, a wide circle even as he continued to descend, causing the city-based fighters to change course to intercept, until he was out over the ocean again. He studied the four groups and saw that no matter which way he went, he was going to run smack into one of them. The closest group, the ones from the city, were going to intercept him before he reached the city no matter which way he went, because if he went too far wide, one of those other groups was going to intercept him first. If he tried to race through them, he was running a huge risk, since the Nova had no armor. It was nothing but a flying engine, built for speed and agility-
Speed and agility.
Agility.
Holy shit, was that a crazy idea… but sometimes crazy works.
He saw that there was only one way he was going to reach the palace alive, and that was to go through the city-based fighters, and minimize their opportunities to shoot at him. And there was only one way to do that. He had to put the ship on the deck.
Between the buildings of Dracora, right through the city itself.
They’d be maniacs to fire at him in those artificial canyons between three hundred story buildings, they’d be killing a hell of a lot of civillians. And down there, the Nova’s small size and superior maneuverability would give him a decisive advantage. It could out-turn a Starhawk or Dragonfly, and down there, turning ability was going to be the most critical aspect of a ship.
It was insane, but there was no other way.
Jason nosed the ship into a power dive, going straight down, racing at the deep blue of the ocean below as he kept a mental eye on his altitide, a number in his mind’s eye that decreased with alarming rapidity. The ship began to vibrate and shudder as it plowed through the thick air near the surface, but Jason ignored that, keeping one eye on his altitude and one on the Dracora fighters, who were now racing towards him. He was sixty kathra off the coast, and he was lined up to come right over the Medical Annex and enter the city proper.
10,0000 shakra. The ship still shuddered heavily, making a banging sound, and the city fighters were 20 kathra away.
5,000 shakra. The sea filled his canopy view now, and the fighters were 7 kathra away, seconds from firing range.
1,000 shakra! Jason pulled up, hard, even as the lead fighters opened fire on him with deadly bolts of metaphased plasma streams. They didn’t count on him using such a brutal angle, and angle that would make most pilots pass out, so their initial salvo went wide of him. Jason felt his eyeballs sink back into his head as his vision grayed out from the immense pressure of coming out of such a powerful dive, but the Nova’s inertial dampers kept him from exceeding his limits and passing out. The tips of the ends of the two diamond-shaped wings hit the ocean, shattering a wave and sending a shower of misty water drops into the air. The impact made the Nova lurch, however, and almost slammed the bow into the ocean. Jason managed to recover, and then punched the ship at full throttle, skimming so close to the water’s edge that the gentle windblown waves very nearly hit the belly of the ship. The high speed at water’s edge created a huge twin columns of water high into the air behind him, a wake of spray that concealed the ship from the eyes of the pilots behind and forced them to rely on targeting scanners. But they were too busy turning and trying to catch up to the small Nova, pushing their engines beyond maximum, which just barely allowed them to keep up with the smaller, faster craft.. Jason had to dip the ship high to avoid a small pleasure boat ten kathra from the shore, and the sonic boom behind him overturned the craft and sent its five occupants flying, splashing into the sea. The fifteen fighters behind charged past the capsized boat, but one of the pilots called out to sea rescue to come pick them up.
It was just safe enough for them to try, he realized. Jason felt the edges of it as one of those pilots in the fighters behind him reached out with her mind, and tried to attack Jason. He brushed aside her assault with almost scornful disdain, but he was too busy lining up his entry into the city to worry about striking back at her. At 1600 kathra an hour, almost 750 miles an hour, that shoreline was going to be behind him in a matter of seconds! He slowed down as he turned the ship, and the fighters behind seemed to pull up, waiting for him to pull up and go over the buildings ahead. But he didn’t.
At 250 miles an hour, Jason lanced in between the hospital and the Medical Services administrative headquarters only 100 shakra above the ground, shattering windows in both buildings for ten stories and dragging an air wake behind him so powerful it overturned parked hovercars, uprooted two trees, and knocked everyone to the ground and sent them tumbling.
The fighters behind broke up. Ten of them pulled up to go high, but five of them gave chase through the city itself, and Jason learned almost immediately that they were crazy enough to fire at him. He almost didn’t believe it when the lead ship opened fire, forcing him to evade wildly in the narrow canyon of the major artery through the huge buildings, as streams of plasma sizzled by the canopy and slammed into a building far ahead, sending a spray of fire, plascrete, and glass showering towards the ground. Jason’s fast eyes and quick reflexes let him catch sight of a border, and he turned the ship hard and descended at the same time, doing a banking vertical turn to get away from the fighters. They matched the turn, and he turned again at the end of the building, banking high and to the right to prevent them from getting a line of fire, then turned to the left and dropped to the deck, the tip of his wing mere feet from the ground as he banked through and levelled out. The five fighters turned into the parkway behind him, and he punched the throttle to get to the end of one of the two hundred story buildings between which he flew before they could shoot at him. He just barely managed to make the corner just as the lead fire unleashed a pair of plasma bolts from the gunports under and to each side of the nosecone, as the Nova turned left and ascended.
Right towards a suspended walkway between the two buildings!
Jason reacted out of sheer panic, spinning the ship and going high, and he just barely cleared the walkway, so close his canopy almost hit the roof of the glass and metal bridge as he passed over it inverted. He hooked down to get behind it, and behind him, in his rear monitor display on the left, he saw the glass and metal walkway explode as the lead fighter rammed it. The Dragonfly spun in the flying debris, relatively undamaged from the impact but the impact sending it somersalting out of control, and it dropped to the ground in a wide arc along with the remains of the bridge, plowing into the ground in a huge cloud of dust.
Jason was too busy gripping the posts in a white-knuckled grip to care much about shaking one of his pursuers, for the other four had cleared the bridge, and there were still ten more overhead, shadowing the movements of those on the deck, waiting for the Nova to come out into the open where they could get a shot at it. Jason weaved the ship between two blocks of buildings in a scissors motion, turning back on his path with each cleared building, getting a feel for the spacing between the buildings. The Starhawks and Dragonflies kept up with him, unable to line up a shot but not dropping out of the chase, so Jason started taking the turns faster and faster, pitting his natural reflexes and his superior machine against his more experienced pursuers in their slower, less maneuverable ships. He took one turn so fast that the leading edge of his right wing nicked the glass of the building, shattering it and sending glass flying into the parkway below. But the lead Starhawk clipped its entire wing into the glass, the wing caught on a wall, and then the ship vanished as it was yanked into the building, sending a fiery cloud of building materials billowing out into the air. The Starhawk plowed through the entire floor and erupted from the glass around the corner, in a straight line from where it went in, then dropped the hundred shakra to the ground below as just part of a rain of debris.
The Nova came out into a vacant lot, and Jason punched it to get through before the fighters above dove down and opened fire. He turned vertical and skimmed along the side of a building with his canopy mere inches from the glass, his air wake shattering it behind him, and then he dove to the deck as he made another turn, weaving left and then right. He nearly rammed a hovercar that came out from between the buildings in front of him, his wake sending the hovercar spinning out of control to crash into the ground, but he never saw what happened because he’d already turned between another pair of buildings. He realized he was getting deeper into the city, where the buildings would be even larger, and there would be more open space between them, giving the fighters more opportunities to fire at him. But he was also coming into some slow traffic, moving into an area of the city where hovercars flew at the altitude he was using; most sections of the city, the hovercars and zip ships flew above building level, only descending between them to land. But here, closer to the center of the city, the buildings were so tall, so massive that many hovercars simply flew between them, turning corners, mirroring what ground-bound cars back on Earth did on city streets. Those hovercars were now obstacles to avoid, as the Nova lanced along a parkway between two monstrous buildings, even as the hovercars seemed to be warned about the oncoming fast movers and tried to get out of the way, most of them going up. But, the open space let Jason open the throttle more, using his ship’s advantages of speed and agility to overcome the experience of his adversaries.
He lost another pursuer when he banked a corner going nearly 200 miles an hour, plastering him to his seat because he took the bank oriented in the direction of the force, and the three remaining fighters mimicked him as they took the turn themselves. But the last remaining Starhawk just couldn’t navigate the turn at that speed, and her belly slammed into the side of a building. Again, the armored fighter survived the impact, but that impact sent it out of control, bouncing it right off the building to plow stern first into the building on the far side, disappearing into it in a cloud of dust and shattered glass. The two remaining pursuers were in Dragonflies, which were smaller and more agile that Starhawks. He led those two on a mad, chaotic, meandering chase through Dracora, always turning just before they could get a line of fire at him, speeding up to nearly 500 miles an hour in the straightaways the braking hard and navigating tight, right-angle turns at almost impossible speeds, and basicly aggravating the hell out of them. The fighters above kept trying to get into a position where they could dive down and take a shot at him from above, but he kept turning wildly, almost randomly, making it impossible to predict where he was going to go.
But Jason knew where he was going, and thanks to Miaari’s sharing, he had a detailed memory of this city. He knew exactly where he was, exactly which direction the palace was in, and he was following a route that would take him right to the palace without surrendering cover from the fighters behind him, which were the much bigger threat. He could see it when the fighters overhead dove at him and react, but those two fighters behind him could shoot him down if they got a clear shot. That was the one thing he absolutely could not give them.
He turned a corner and found himself staring at a swarm of hovercars! He rolled around one car and then dove under a bunch of them, then had to jerk high to avoid one that dove away to get out of his path, but had dove right down into him. He ordered his fighter’s comm to broadcast on emergency control, a frequency every hovercar’s radio would receive, but someone else beat him to it. "This is an emergency! Fighters are pursuing a renegade ship within Dracora proper, in the Trades district! All hovercars and civilian traffic in the Trades and Barter districts are to land immediately! Repeat, all hovercars and civilian traffic in the Trades and Barter districts are to land immediately!"
That actually helped. When the Nova took another turn hard and fast, it did so over a series of hovercars that were diving to the ground, moving to follow the emergency instructions and land so they would get out of danger. Jason banked again, hard, between two glass towers, and saw a glittering crystal lattice spire in the distance ahead. The spire of the palace!
Now came the gamble. He hit that broad avenue and put the Nova into overdrive, maxing out the throttle in a hard command. He was slammed into the seat of the fighter and felt his head swim as it punched supersonic in a heartbeat, the broad grassy avenue narrowing and narrowing in his vision, becoming a razor thin sliver between blurring glass and steel, where the slightest deviation off his course would cause him to drift right into one of those buildings before he could correct. The fighters behind him dwindled in the distance, but then they stopped getting smaller, even started gaining ground on him, and he knew that they were just trying to get enough of a bead on him to fire on him, try to hit him when he was going so fast he had no room to evade if they did so. Jason edged closer to a building, close enough for his sonic boom to blow out all the windows explosively, sending a cloud of broken glass out into the air behind him to conceal his ship in a cloud of scillinting colors to their eyes and confuse their sensors as they tried to read through a cloud of solid objects to lock onto him. He slammed the brakes by going into full reverse throttle seconds after sending that cloud of glass, almost sending him through the windshield and causing a jet of blood to spew from his nose as all the breath was crushed out of him, and then he nosed the Nova straight up and gained altitude, then banked hard and dove between two buildings as the blinded Dragonflies didn’t react in time and overshot him, flying under him, even as three fighters above had dove down on him and fired, spraying plasma bolts into empty air where he would have been, bolts that slammed into the grassy ground below and exploded violently, further blinding the Dragonflies that flew through the smoke and debris. One of them wobbled in flight, its wing clipped a building, and then there was an explosion of glass and debris as the fighter ripped through the building, tumbling into it.
The last remaining fighter was joined by three more that had dove on the Nova, but they couldn’t see him, relying on tactical scanners and control sensors in orbit above to pinpoint his location, where Jason had a full tactical view of the city sector showing him where the remaining eleven fighters were, and also showing him that nearly thirty had nearly reached the scene from other bases and were about to join the pursuit. God bless the Karinnes and their excellent sensors.
It wouldn’t do them any good. He had them now.
Jason banked again into another broad avenue, and again went supersonic, pushing the Nova, pushing himself to the limits of his endurance, as he wheezed and struggled to breathe. His eyes were locked on the crystal spire that quickly got larger and larger, as he kept track of the seven fighters above as they pushed hard to get into a diving position. The small ship seemed to oblige them when it suddenly slowed down, but did not turn. They maneuvered into position, rolled, then dove at their quarry.
But the strange, small ship had vanished. It was nowhere to be seen, and it had vanished from tactical scanners.
Running lights blinking on, Jason carefully maneuvered along a small tunnel that had once been part of the subway of Dracora, part of the city’s historical landmarks, a two kathra section of tunnel that had not been filled in as a kind of monument to their past, but had been fenced in to prevent people from getting in. The Nova had done well in breaking through that fencing without doing any damage to itself. Right now, he knew, the fighters were searching for him, and it wouldn’t take them long to find the hole in the fence and realize where he went. He had to get out of the tunnel before that happened, so they weren’t sitting there waiting for him. So, he flew through the old tunnel as fast as he dared, hopeful that it was almost over. The tunnel came up only a kathra from the Imperial grounds. If he could get the Nova over the fence, the fighters wouldn’t dare open fire on him. Not so long as he was broadcasting the Truce Call, which he ordered the Nova to start doing immediately. When he came out of the ground, the defense systems of the Imperial palace would see that transmission and at least give him a chance, where the fighters above would not.
To make sure of it, he again called the Imperial Palace using a frequency reserved for the Siann, now that he had enough spare time to pay attention to talking to someone without worrying about getting himself killed. This time, it was a pink-haired woman that answered, her image appearing under the canopy, on a hologram over the control stick. "This is a reserved channel!" she protested.
"Lady, in about twenty seconds the ship they’ve been chasing is going to cross over the fence and land," he warned her. "It is carrying a member of the Siann on official business, it is unarmed and unarmored, and is broadcasting the Truce Call. So wave the fucking fighters off and let me land!"
"How can it be the Siann if you are the one flying the ship?" she demanded, frowning at him.
"When I land I’ll explain it," he snapped at her. "But I’ve done everything I’m supposed to do by the laws of Siann to be allowed to land safely, so dammit, follow the laws! You can have a fucking army of guards there to meet me, but let me fucking land!"
He had no more time to argue, for the fence appeared ahead of him. The Nova burst through it, and Jason instinctively rolled the ship and banked when he saw a flash of red ahead and above him. They’d beaten him to the tunnel mouth! He evaded a cascade of plasma bolts as he weaved over an open park abutting the Imperial compound, then pushed the roll into a corkscrew that made him harder to hit as he jacked the lateral controls to slide the ship to port to avoid a pulsing series of bolts of plasma from one of the Starhawks that had figured out where he went and set up to ambush him when he came out. He ducked and wove and careened wildly, speeding up and slowing down, trying to shake them off his tail as they fired at him. He had plenty of room to maneuver, but there were five of them and one of him, and he knew it was just a matter of time until one of them finally got enough of a lead on him to hit him.
It didn’t take long. The ship rocked violently as the entire control board started flashing red and sparks erupted from under a panel on the port side, spinning almost out of control. The entire left wing had been blown off by a plasma bolt, and Jason struggled to regain control of his crippled ship, the remains of it nearly hitting the canopy as he spun into its path. He managed to get the ship back under some semblance of control and turned it towards the palace, leaving a trail of smoke and fire behind him as the ship listed badly to port and lost altitude. Several more plasma bolts streaked towards him, missing by inches, but when the crystalline façade of the Imperial Palace came into view over the trees, all firing ceased. At this range, an errant shot might blow a hole in Empress Dahnai’s crown jewel, and it would mean the head of the offendor who did it.
Sagging in the air, burning, barely under control, the wounded Nova flew over the fence and entered the Imperal grounds.
Jason was aiming for a landing platform near the palace proper, but he saw already he wasn’t going to make it. The engines were damaged and overheating, and he had seconds to get the ship slowed down or he’d risk plowing a nasty trough into Dahnai’s neatly manicured lawn. He had the ship slow down as much as it could as he tried to extend the landing skids, but only one of them was functional. The ship came into a hover about fifteen feet above the ground, the nose skid extending, and then the ship lost all power, shuddered in midair, and dropped like a stone.
The impact was bone-jarring. Jason’s teeth clicked together as the ship slammed into the ground, as a company of black-armored Imperial guards charged towards him, even three exomechs, but he was alive and generally unharmed outside of bruised ribs, a bloody nose, and feeling like he’d been trampled under an elephant from all the high-G maneuvers he’d done. He unhooked the restraints and tried to catch his breath as the canopy slowly opened using emergency backup power dedicated solely to the canopy, and he woozily got to his feet in the cockpit, sat on the edge, and then swung his legs over and slid off to fall six feet to the ground. His legs were a bit rubbery, and that caused him to fall when he hit the ground.
Then hands pushed him into the ground. Imperial guards held him down as others a distance away trained MPAC rifles on him, ready to shoot him if he made the faintest false move. Jason collected himself while they pressed his head against the ground. By the laws of Siann, I claim the right of Martyr’s Gambit! he sent powerfully, so powerfully that just about everyone in the palace could probably hear him. I have done everything the law requires to get here. I broadcasted the Truce Call from my ship in orbit, but some weasel in the palace ignored the law and called the Trillanes so he could collect their reward on my head! That forced me to fly down here on my own with half the damn Navy chasing me down! But I got here in one piece! Now release me and let me strike the gong of Morr to gain entry to the palace!
There was a startled silence all around him. The guards obviously didn’t expect this maniacal, suicidal Terran to send, and what was more, he knew the laws of Siann!
Release him, came an amused, dry sending. Let him strike the gong. He is granted his claim of Martyr’s Gambit.
He didn’t need anyone to tell him who that was. That was Empress Dahnai herself, answering his sending with one of her own!
Hands instantly let go of him, and then two hands returned to help him to his feet. The hidden faces behind those helmets didn’t let him see their reactions, but those helmets were a little bowed.
Protocol insisted that he remain silent. He wasn’t allowed to send to the Empress, it was both in bad form and illegal. But, he really hadn’t expected her to answer him personally. He really hadn’t considered the possibility that she would have heard him.
"This way, please," one of the Faey said in a rich alto, pointing with an armored hand towards the gleaming crystal of the Imperial Palace.
He walked slowly, trying to recover himself. He knew that now the real fight was about to begin. Now he had to convince Dahnai that he had a rightful claim to the seat of Karinne, and then, after that, he had to challenge Trillane for Earth and get Dahnai’s approval of his claim. Part of doing that was to use an old law in the Siann called the Martyr’s Gambit. It was one law that had two interpretations, based on who used it. A noble could use it to bring a grievance directly to the Empress, but face her wrath if she found the grievance below her, it was the last resort of a noble with an issue. But anyone could use this law, even a commoner, and if a commoner used it, she faced execution after making her case before the Empress unless the Empress so deigned to spare the commoner’s life. That was why it was called the Martyr’s Gambit. Even a commoner could get before the Empress and plead her case, but she could lose her life in the bargain. If she was willing to martyr herself for her cause, then that option was always available.
The modern Faey citizens probably didn’t know about this law, and if they did, it would do them no good, really. The law was still binding, but the Gong of Morr, which had to be struck to enact this law, was on the Imperial grounds, and no commoner could reach it without being shot and killed by the guards or the automated defenses of the Imperial compound. That was how the Empress got around that little law, by making it impossible for any lay citizenry to actually reach the gong.
But he reached the gong. It was a ceremonial golden disc suspended by two chains from an old wooden support stand, and a cloth-covered mallet hung from a rope on a pet on the leg of it. This was the Gong of Morr. It was the ceremonial doorbell of the Imperial palace; one had to strike the gong three times as an official request to enter. He took up the mallet and struck the gong, which made a low, tinny sound. He struck it again, and then once more, and hung the mallet back on the peg and stepped up to the huge double doors, covered in crystal lattice done up in the Merrane crest of three moons surrounding a star, all within a triangle. Those doors opened, showing a stupendous entry hall filled with carpets, rich tapestries, mosaics, and a gem-encrusted ceiling glittering rainbow light down to the floor below. A stone statue of a young Faey woman, nude, her hands behind her head to tousle her long, thick hair greeted those who were at the door, placed prominently on the far side of the hall so it was the first thing one saw once the door was open. The woman was a very handsome woman, with a strong pair of cheeks and large eyes, and a pattern Faey body that was graced with all those elegant curves that men fancied, offset by muscular definition in her arms, legs, and stomach.
Even from that distance, he could identify the face on that statue, for he’d seen enough pictures of the model.
He had to give Empress Dahnai Merrane some marks for guts for posing naked for a statue that everyone entering her palace couldn’t help but see.
Before he stepped in, he recalled the rules of protocol that Zaa had taught him. Sending within the palace was permissible, but it was considered extremely rude for your sending to extend past the room where you were in. Private sendings between people in different rooms were fine, but the customs of decorum demanded that a certain amount of mental silence hold firm within the palace. Filling the air with inane chatter all over the place would make it hard for someone to hear the sending of the person beside them. Since he was a man, it was unseemly for him to go anywhere unescorted. That was a stupid rule, but it had its roots way back in the antiquity of Faey history. He would go nowhere alone here. Since he came with no escort, a woman would escort him wherever he went, either a guard or one of the palace staff, a groom or chamberlain. It was expected for him to bow to any nobles, who would be identifieable by their red sashes, but he was only expected to bow once when he entered a room. If other nobles entered, they would bow if higher ranking nobles were present, but those already within the room were not required to bow. Since there were so many nobles here, that rule was enacted to save time from endless bowing as nobles roamed the palace. If he was in a hallway or passage, he was not required to bow to anyone but the Empress herself, should he chance encountering her outside the audience chamber. When he stood before the Empress, he had to wait for her to speak or send first, and custom was to always reply in the method she used. One did not speak or send to Dahnai unless she did so first, and even then, if she spoke, it was custom to continue to speak until she sent once again. Only then was it permissible to send in reply.
He was led to an antechamber at first, where he was required to bathe to clean the blood off himself, a room equipped with a bath in the corner, chairs to rest upon while waiting, and a vidlink panel monitor on the wall tuned to INN, though the sound was muted. It was here where he would wait for the official call to enter audience with the Empress, but it was also a place where he could groom himself to be presentable. He knew he had to look the part, so he partook of the bath willingly. He was dirty and sweaty and his clothes were stained with his own blood from the nosebleed he suffered when doing those high-G maneuvers. His Terran clothes seemed to offend the stewards that continuously filed in and out to attend those waiting to see the Empress, and they basicly stole them while he was taking the bath, and left him Faey clothes, a long, flowing shimmering black robe and soft pair of trousers to wear under it, with the right sleeve so long it fell over his hand and the left ending at his forearm, both of them with flared cuffs that made them huge.
It was then he sighed in relief that he had kept everything important with his underwear at the lip of the bath.
He hated the idea of wearing this robe, but he had to make the right impression, and it would more or less require some bending of his moral fortitude at the moment. If he offended the Empress or too many of the Siann, they could shoot this down. He could be strong, but he couldn’t appear to be overly arrogant, nor could he appear to be rude. Showing up in front fo the Empress wearing a tee shirt and a pair of jeans with Nikes would be very rude. She was the Empress, and he had to afford her respect. He had to look his best for her, and though he would have preferred wearing a suit, they didn’t have suits here on Draconis. This robe was what was formal wear here, and when in Rome, don’t begrudge the toga.
He did draw the line, though, when a woman came in and announced she was Erya Zoranne, a chamberlain of the palace, and she would help him prepare for his audience. Jason remembered something of this title from Zaa’s teaching. This woman would be responsible for getting him ready to see Dahnai, where she would act as a maid, helping him bathe and dress. But, while he was drying himself off, she tried to sit him down to put makeup on him. "No," he told her flatly as he scrubbed his hair dry.
"You would stand before the Empress without makeup?" she asked in sincere surprise. "Don’t you want to look your absolute best?"
"I’ll wear a Faey robe, but I’m not gonna paint my face, which Terran men do not do. I still have my dignity. I’m bowing to Faey customs, but I won’t go that far. I am not a Faey."
"Are you sure?"
"I’m positive."
"Very well. Sit down, please, I’ll help you with your hair."
"I can manage that myself."
"I know you can, but it’s my duty to help you get dressed and prepared. I can do your hair in any style you prefer, sir."
He basicly gave in at that point. While he put on his underwear, trousers, and a soft pair of calf boots that fit him perfectly, she combed his hair in a simple part and then used a device that looked like a miniature cricket bat to dry it into place. She then helped him put on a soft linen-like undershirt and the robe, doing its ties in the proper style while Jason fussed with the lapels of the garment, which crossed in front of him. The robe-like garment was slit up to his waist on each side, allowing him to walk freely, and it had a multitude of pockets. He placed the ring and his black master key in those pockets, then the maid helped him tweak the robe so it fell just right. "There now, you look rather handsome," she told him, looking at him with a tilted head, tilting it to and fro as she walked around him. "You look good in black. I’m glad I chose it for you."
"You did?"
"Of course I did," she told him. "I wasn’t about to let you stand before her Imperial Majesty wearing bloody rags. My reputation as a chamberlain would be ruined. This robe goes well with your skin and is a perfect accent for your blond hair."
"Well, thank you," he told her sincerely. "I guess now I just wait?"
She nodded. "It shouldn’t be very long, though," she told him.
It wasn’t. Five minutes later, after several pages entered the room to send privately with the chamberlain, a rather regal looking woman with long silver hair stepped into the room, wearing a red sash over a dark blue robe that was flared in the front to expose a considerable amount of blue cleavage. Jason bowed to her immediately. "You are summoned to stand before the Empress," she announced. "Know that under the conditions of Martyr’s Gambit, you will be taken straight from the audience chamber to the gallows to be hanged for your audacity, should the Empress not spare your life."
"Let’s go," he told her evenly. "I don’t have all day, you know."
It wasn’t far to the audience hall. He followed this regal woman, with the chamberlain holding his left hand on her right arm to act as his escort, down a long, elegantly decorated passage, to stand before a pair of ornate gold-filled double doors, gold filagree bored into the dark, polished wood done up in the Imperial crest, which was the Merrane crest under a crown, showing that House Merrane currently sat upon the throne. Jason figured they changed the doors every time a new house came to power in the Imperium. They opened, and he found himself staring into the lion’s den.
The large, cavernous room was filled with nobles. Clearly, Dahnai had been holding court when he barged in on them all. This he had not expected. He had expected maybe to be doing this in front of just the ruling heads of the Siann, who stayed in the palace most of the time, who no doubt would be called to the chamber once he made his claims, to debate on the matter. It was bad luck that he’d done this on a court day, when Dahnai entertained many members of the other houses in this twice-a-week gathering of the nobles in her presence, where they would talk issues, make alliances, break them, scheme, plot, and generally do what spoiled Faey nobles did when packed into the same room with each other.
All of Jason’s confidence seemed to bleed out of his feet when he saw a few hundred nobles turn in his direction to look when the doors opened, as all conversation and sending died down, but Jason’s eyes were instead locked on the figure at the far end of the hall. Sitting on a gold-plated throne that had a rich fur cape thrown over it, wearing a simple white robe that showed off her ample cleavage, was her Imperial Majesty, Dahnai Merrane. She was surprisingly young for an Empress, maybe only about 40 or so, still considered quite youthful by Faey standards, but she sat upon that throne like a woman who knew she owned it. She had hair the color of polished copper, a rich reddish-gold, like bronze, that was long and straight and luxuriously thick, fanning out on the throne behind her like a wave of shimmering riches. Twined into her hair was the crystal crown of the Empress of the Imperium. Her face was youthful and lovely, with strong cheeks and a slightly squared jaw, strong facial featues, but with a delicate nose and lovely, large, expressive green eyes. Even though she was slouched on the throne, one leg thrown casually over an arm which displayed the fact she wore no pants under her slitted robe, showing off a great deal of shapely leg, holding handpanel in her hand as if she were sacked out on her couch in her living room, she still just oozed Imperial bearing. Even in that intimate, comfortable pose, she still radiated a strength like the Denmother Zaa, an aura of command that told anyone looking at her just who the boss was around here. She looked at him with lazy eyes, but he could tell that those eyes were quite focused, quite energetic, and they seemed quite amused by his presence there.
"Imperial Majesty!" the woman who had come to fetch him boomed in a loud voice. "I present to you Commoner Jason Augustus Fox, subject of the Crown, seeking redress under the auspices of the Martyr’s Gambit!"
Let him step forth, she sent in reply, going back to her panel as if he no longer interested her, proving that the woman who had intervened before truly was the Empress herself.
Jason walked with the chamberlain down the center of the room, on a blue carpet that led to the dais holding the throne, until they reached the first step, about ten feet from her. Jason bowed gracefully as the chamberlain bowed deeply to her, and then she let go of his hand and stepped away. Jason looked at her, vaguely realizing that he was living out a nightmare he had had so long ago, bowing before the Empress like a lapdog wearing a Faey robe, but there was no hope for it. The only way to kick Trillane off Earth and protect his people was to do this, to take a place within a system he hated and despised. But the sacrifice of his honor was more than worth the gain for the Terran race.
"Imperial Majesty," he began, then he took a cleansing breath with his voice wavered, betraying his fear and nervousness being here. That caused a few titters of laughter behind him, as the nobles all crowded in to watch the show, watch a commoner flounder before the Empress, and then be dragged off to be hanged for his impertinence. "Your Imperial Majesty, I must first protest my introduction. I am a married man. My proper name is Jason Augustus Fox Shaddale. That introduction insults the honor of my wife and the vows we share."
"Indeed," she said slowly, not doing much but glancing at him as she continued to look at her handpanel. "The scribe can make the necessary corrections," she told him with a vague wave of her empty hand. "Just hold on a second."
They waited in silence while she kept her attention on the handpanel. But she turned it off and looked at him. "Now, what’s so important to you that you’re willing to be hanged afterwards after you tell it to me?" she asked, showing much more interest now, putting the handpanel in the seat beside her as she took her leg off the arm and took a more normal pose, giving him her full attention.
It was a surprising change, and Jason wasn’t the only one to notice it. Had she been feigning disinterest, or was she just feigning interest now? He wasn’t sure, this young Faey lady was hard to read.
"I came here using the laws of Martyr’s Gambit, but I have no intention of being hanged," he told her evenly. "I came here to claim my legal rights and duties under the laws of Siann."
"My. I don’t recall ever seeing your name in the charter, goodman Fox," she said cheekily, which produced a few soft chuckles. "Let me find my panel, and we’ll take a look at it, shall we?"
Ah, so she was a talker, and she had a barbed sense of humor. Well, Jason could talk too. Or more to the point, he could banter with the best of them. "Well, begging her Majesty’s pardon, but it’s there," he told her evenly. "It’s just hiding. I guess it’s not very proud of the fact that it’s me coming here to drag it back out."
The corner of her mouth raised.
"I read the laws of Siann so I’d understand things, your Majesty. I understand the forms and the protocols. All I need to prove my case, is this."
He reached into his pocket and withdrew the ring of Karinne. He offered it to one of the guards flanking the dais, who would then take it up to the Empress. The guard, wearing white armor but no helmet, advanced and took it, then she stepped up onto the dais and offered it to Dahnai with a bow. She took it and looked at it, turning it over in her hands, and then she actually smiled. Then she laughed! The nobles behind him seemed uncertain of her reaction to whatever it was he had passed to her, for they hadn’t seen it, and she had it in her lap. "Clever. They said you were a smart one, Terran, but this is really proving it. How did you get this? I’m impressed."
"I tracked it down after a great deal of research, your Majesty," he told her. "They tried to hide it, but they didn’t hide it well enough."
"I see, it makes sense now. That explains why you’re wearing that ridiculous ornament," she said pointedly. "Looking the part, are we?"
"It is my heritage, your Majesty," he said evenly.
Now a few of the nobles understood, those who remembered enough of their history to get an idea of what was going on. That revelation boiled through the nobles in a cascade of private sendings.
"So, you are laying a claim on the seat of House Karinne," she said, her eyes dancing with amusement. "You’ve got some ovaries for a man, Terran, I’ll give you that. It’s a rather cunning little ploy. Why, if you can convince me you’re a descendent of the Karinnes, well, it’s just very convenient that you can lay claim to Terra citing the laws of first rights? You know, taking it away from that house you’re fighting a private little war with right now? What happened, did they use up your box of toys, and you’re using this as a way to end it?" she asked.
"Not mine," he answered easily. "As recent events profess, your Majesty, Trillane’s still losing money hand over fist because my rebels went into overdrive. Capturing me was actually a really bad idea. You pissed my wife off eight ways to-er, nevermind, Terran expression. Anyway, let’s just say that she went nuclear, and she’s been the one that’s been acting in my stead since I’ve been off Earth. I was content to slowly bleed Trillane til they gave up and sold the contract to another house, but my wife Jyslin decided to go for the jugular after that attack dog you set on me tracked me down and captured me. And she’s every bit as smart as me," he said honestly, heaping praise on that glorious woman who had blessed him beyond all others by marrying him.
"Indeed," she murmured, leaning back in her throne, resting an elbow on the arm and crossing her legs. "So, you’ve done it, Terran. You got the ring, how, I have no idea, you show up in a ship I had to have my historians look up in the database, you give INN enough footage of Pilots Gone Wild to fill an hourlong special of spectacular fighter crashes while banging holes in my city, and you managed to get right there, and now there you stand, in the final stages of some clever, meticulous plan, while your eyes linger on my legs," she said, smiling lightly. "So, convince me. I’m curious now, I want to hear this."
Jason did blush a little. It was hard not to look at her legs, since they were the closest part of her to him, and she was sitting above his eye level. "Well, your Majesty, that ship your historians looked up is the biggest piece of my evidence. I salvaged it after tracking down its location in the histories of my people. It is a Karinne Scout Ship, the Scimitar, a research vessel. I tracked it down and salvaged it. After the fall of Karinne, ship’s crew didn’t sneak back to the Imperium. They went to my planet instead and established a colony, hiding from the war. Well, Terrans were already there, and I guess I’m the result. When I was trying to figure out why I had talent, I stumbled across this in the history of my people. It wasn’t easy. The Faey don’t appear in our history, they only appear in our folklore and myths, but it was enough for me to piece it together. Using those clues, I found the Scimitar and I found where they hid the ring, and, well, here I am. My ancestor was Baroness Zera Karinne of the House of Karinne, 173rd in the line for the throne by Karinne registry, which should be an archived public record your historians can research. I’m a telepath because I have a Faey ancestor, and that Faey was Zera Karinne. In fact, all the Terrans on Terra that are telepaths are only telepathic because they are descended from those Faey that landed on Earth to escape the war. Some are Karinnes, like me, but we don’t know who their ancestors were, so they can’t really stand here before you like I can. Some aren’t, descendents of the ship’s crew. I have some records to prove that, by the way, DNA records taken by one of the doctors that had been treating my people, showing that my DNA is directly related to Faey DNA. From what I read in the Charter, by the rights of noble birth, I can lay claim to the vacated House of Karinne by simply staking that claim in your Majesty’s presence with the ring."
"I must protest, your Majesty!" a voice called from behind. A tall, mature Faey woman with grayish hair and a tall, willowy frame encased in a brown robe stepped forth. "The house of Karinne has been destroyed for over a thousand years! This Terran can’t lay claim to a house that is no more!"
"Begging your Majesty’s pardon, I can," Jason said simply, refuting the woman. "All the proof I need of that is right there."
He pointed. They all looked up, to the banners that were hanging from a beam high along the ceiling, banners that showed the crests of all the nobles houses. And right there, right where Zaa said it would be, was the banner showing the crest of the House of Karinne.
"That banner shows that the Imperium still considers the House of Karinne to exist as a noble entity. Since it is there, there is a House of Karinne, it just has no nobles. It is an empty house. Well, I am claiming that house."
"They haven’t changed those banners since the Third Civil War!" the woman protested.
"Actually, they have," Dahnai herself mused, looking up. "I don’t see the banners of any of the other houses destroyed in that war. The only one I see up there is the Karinne banner." She looked at Jason. "Very clever, Terran. You certainly prepared well for this. It might be an oversight, but it is there, and that does give your claim some legal weight."
"With all due respect, your Majesty, I’m not an idiot, and I knew the price I’d pay if I didn’t make a convincing argument."
She chuckled. "Indeed. But, I don’t see where you’re going with this, really. Even if I do grant your request and seat you as Grand Duke Karinne, and you make a legal claim on Terra, you’re just going to lose it again, because there is a contract. You can’t unmake that contract. If you replace Trillane, you must honor the terms of the contract they signed with the Crown for the rights to Terra. If you can’t serve me in that capacity, then I’d just strip you of Earth and give it back to Trillane, and that puts you right back where you started, doesn’t it? You had to understand that, you’re not a fool. So, explain to me your brilliant plan to get around that little stumbling block."
"I was of a mind to bargain a deal with another of the Highborn houses to lease the farms of Terra to them, your Majesty," he told her. "I don’t care about the profits, so I’m more than willing to make the terms very favorable with that partner. They provide the expertise and infrastructure, we provide the manpower. All I want out of it is direct Imperial supervision of all aspects of the operation, to ensure my people are treated fairly and well and given all the rights and protections as any other Imperial citizen. That’s all that all of this has been about. This isn’t about me, or getting rich, or getting a noble title, or anything like that. If I get dragged out of here and hanged, but what I’ve done here today forces Trillane off Terra and brings in another house that will treat us fairly, then I’ll consider that a victory. I don’t matter in the big picture, your Majesty. The only thing that matters is the welfare and fair treatment of my people. That’s what I’m here fighting for."
She was silent for a very long moment, looking at the ring in her hands. Then she stood up. "I will see the Highborn house leaders in my study," she announced. "And you," she added, pointing at Jason. "Lead him there," she said to one of the guards at the foot of the dais. That guard bowed to her.
He was led from the audience chamber and down a side passage, with eleven women filing along behind. He could hear the swish swish of their robes as they walked in silence, but he doubted they were anything but silent. There was probably a sendstorm going on between them, as they tried to fathom what Empress Dahnai had to say in private she couldn’t say in public. Jason himself was feeling just a tad optomistic. Dahnai hadn’t laughed him out of the palace yet, and he wasn’t being led off to the gallows. She seemed to actually be giving him the benefit of the doubt, but he guess he’d have to wait to see what she had to say outside of the ears of the rest of the Siann.
The room to which he was taken was a surprisingly small, cozy little affair, and it was clearly very much the study that Dahnai had named it. A large black desk stood on the far wall, and there was a very large vidlink panel screen hanging on the far wall behind it. Two cozy chairs flanked a small endtable between them on the right side of the study and a couch with a coffee table was against the wall to the left, which was carpeted with an almost mesmerizing geometric patterned rug. There was a door on the wall left of the desk, and by that door was a peg on the wall holding a sword in a scabbard. There were three guards in the room, wearing that white armor, each standing in a corner, but none of them appeared to be overtly armed. Jason was led into that room, and the guard gave him a flat look. "Stand here and touch nothing," she ordered, then bowed as the other eleven women entered. Jason put his back to the wall and gave them all a cold, dangerous look as they sneered in his direction, but they all turned towards that door on the far side of the room when it opened. Empress Dahnai Merrane stepped in, her hands on the glittering sash around her waist.
"Now then," she grunted as they all bowed to her. She pulled the crown off her head, and to Jason’s surprise, tossed it absently onto one of the chairs all the way across the room. Seeing her up close was much different, and he had to admire her. Dahnai Merrane was tall, taller than any other Faey he’d seen, probably eye to eye with him, and her hair was glossy and silky, a beautiful bronze, where she had gold colored hairs and copper colored hairs mixed together. She stepped over in front of the desk and looked at them, then reached into the pocket of the shimmering robe and pulled out the ring he’d given her.
"Now, let’s get down to tokens," she said bluntly, looking at them all. "The Terran has made at least a decent claim, if you take all his circumstances and look at them as one big picture."
"Your Majesty!" the gray-haired woman objected.
"Push off, Maeri," Dahnai snapped at her. "But that’s all it all is, circumstantial. We can prove it one way or another, right here, right now. I remember my history, Terran. Every member of the Karinne ruling family was a telekinetic. It was a well-documented family trait. Isn’t that so?"
"I do remember something like that," one of the women behind him said.
"Thank you. Now, if you’re descended from them, then so are you. So. Here’s your challenge." She opened her hand and showed him the ring. "Take this ring out of my hand from where you stand, and I’ll recognize you as the Grand Duke Karinne. If you can’t do it, you leave this room and go straight to the gallows." She looked at the other women. "This is something that none of us can deny, Terran," she told him. "If you are a Karinne, you can take this ring, and there’s nothing any of them can really say about it. That’s proof that makes your circumstantial subi dance you just pulled off in the audience chamber rock solid. Not even Grand Duchess Maeri Trillane can refute that," she said, glancing at the gray-haired woman who had spoken up. "I brought you in here because I don’t think you could have managed it in the audience chamber. You’re hiding it well, but you’re so nervous that I think you’d hit the ceiling if someone goosed you right now. I brought you here so you’d have a fair chance. I’ve seen some telekinetics, and what they do takes a lot of concentration and a lot of effort. At least here, with only twelve witnesses, it’s not as nerve-wracking as trying to perform in front of the entire Siann."
Jason could only look at her. "Telekinetic? I didn’t-I’ve never tried. I didn’t even know. There was nothing about it in the-stuff I researched about it."
"Well, then we know this is all a flimsy stunt, then," Maeri Trillane said smugly. "I hope you’ll let us watch him hang, your Majesty."
"He’s not swinging yet, Maeri," Dahnai Merrane told her, somewhat coldly, then she looked at Jason, her green eyes locking on his. "You can walk out that door now, but you’ll be walking to your execution," she told him. "You can always try. You never know, there just might be something hiding in that pretty little head of yours."
Jason was completely at a loss, but he nodded and blew out his breath. He did read that telekinetic ability was known to run through the Karinnes, but nothing indepth was really said about it. If the Karinnes were telekinetic, and he seemed to have the same DNA as a Generation, well, then he could have telekinetic abililty as well. He’d never used it before… hell, he’d never even thought of trying something like that in his life.
But he had no choice. He had to find that power inside him, if it was there, and find it fast. If he couldn’t do it, he wouldn’t live to see Jyslin again.
"Go ahead," she told him, holding her hand out to him with the ring. "Take your time, but do get on with it. At least look like you’re trying."
He closed his eyes and put his hands before him, right fist clasped in the palm of his left hand, centering himself, breathing deeply. She was right, he was nervous, he had to calm down. He entered a meditative lull, concentrating only on the moment, focusing on the task at ahnd. The ring. An image of it appeared in his mind, and his entire existence focused down to that one point, focused on that one objective. I must move the ring, he thought to himself over and over, using it as a mantra to calm his thoughts, cause his fears and worries and doubts to melt away, leaving nothing behind but his determination to accomplish this task.
His breathing changed. It slowed, became rhythmic, calm, as his mind shed all its fears and worries and cares and became one with his task. If it was impossible, that did not matter. There was nothing but the task, and it had to be accomplished.
He opened his eyes. He was in a room that did not exist as anything but a scenic backdrop for the only object in the universe that truly existed outside of himself. It was a heavy golden ring sitting in a phantasmic palm that had no substance to him, an object that, his mind knew, had to be moved without touching it. He focused on that ring, his eyes boring into it, as he gathered up all his strength, all his determination, all his desire and willpower, pooling it behind his mind, behind his eyes. He had no idea how to do this, but he knew that much as in sending, it was a matter of reaching outside his mind with his own mind. But here, instead of touching the mind of another, he would instead touch that ring, and then use the force of his mind to pull it towards him.
There was no need for more preparation. He was ready.
And so he began. He focused his mind on that ring, his will, his very soul, reaching outside of himself and trying to make a connection to it, the only other object in the universe. He felt a tenuous touch, where he became aware of the ring, but it was weak and imprecise. He narrowed his eyes and raised his closed fist and hand higher, trying to fully feel that connection form, trying to wrap his mind completely around the ring that rested some distance before him.
He felt… something. He wasn’t sure what. He took that as a sign that he must have managed something, so he exerted every ounce of will he could muster to force the universe to bend to his will, to defy gravity and pull the ring up from that spectral hand.
Behind his mind, he felt something push, gathering up his will and scooping it up with it as it went, then it projected outside of himself like a palpable wave of force.
The ring shuddered. Then it skittered slightly, and then, it lifted up from where it had been. It seemed to shudder in the air, unsure of itself, and then Jason yanked with all the force he could exert.
The ring shuddered, and then zipped across the empty space towards him. He let go of his fist and raised his hand, and caught it before it hit him in the nose.
He was dizzy. He wobbled on his feet, then dropped down to one knee, panting heavily. God, that was like, like trying to move a train by pushing it with his head! For a moment, he had no idea what had happened, until he realized that he was holding something in his left hand. He opened it and looked, and saw that he was holding the dukal ring of the house of Karinne.
He did it! He really was telekinetic!
"Well. Well, well, well, well, well," Dahnai Merrane murmured, leaning back and half-sitting on the edge of her desk as she gave Jason a curious look, crossing her arms under her breasts. The look the women behind him gave him was like he was a rampaging rhino about to charge through the room at any moment. "I’d have to say congratulations, Grand Duke Karinne," she said grandly, then she reached behind her and pressed a button on the face of her desk.
"Your Majesty, I must protest this!" Maeri Trillane said shrilly. "Just because he’s telekinetic doesn’t prove he’s really a Karinne! How can he be, for Trelle’s sake, he’s a Terran!"
"Terrans and Faey can breed, Maeri," Dahnai said dismissively. "I find his claim has merit. He’s proved it to my satisfaction. Hell, I actually believe it."
"This is ludicrous!" Maeri Trillane snapped.
"He did move the ring," one of the others said, with a bit of surprise in her voice. "That was no trick. He’s telekinetic. I think I’d have to agree with her Majesty on this one. That circumstantial evidence backed up with a documented Karinne ability does give him a solid claim. I think he really is a son of Karinne."
"Push off, Semoya!" Maeri snapped. "This is ridiculous! Handing this, creature a noble charter just because he’s telekinetic!"
"Excuse me?" the Empress said archly.
"With all due respect, your Majesty, but I must protest! There are no more Karinnes! The line is dead!"
"They never found all the Karinnes, Maeri. That’s why the banner is still up. Until we can prove that the entire Karinne family has been destroyed, there is still a house of Karinne. You think this Terran just dug up some history and used it to pull a crazy stunt, but I disagree. He has a Karinne ship. He has the ring. He’s a fucking telekinetic. He really is a Karinne. He was just smart enough to piece it all together."
"But your Majesty, if you follow through with this insanity, it’s going to cost us billions! And it’s going to disrupt food supplies for years! He can’t possibly meet the conditions of the contract!"
"Oh, I think you’ve made up those billions elsewhere, Maeri," Dahnai said caustically, reaching behind herself, to her desk, and picking up a handpanel. "You know, after the first claims the Terran made about slaving went pubic, I sat down and looked through your records. I find it strange that you keep drafting thousands and thousands of Terrans to work on the farms, yet by my math, you’ve already overstaffed every farm on Terra by at least double. You can’t have a thousand people working on every farm on the planet, Maeri, hell, they’d trample all the crops just trying to work the fields. So, I’m starting to wonder where you’re putting them all. I think I might need to go have a look and see if you’re stapling them to the ceilings of their dorms on the farms or something."
Maeri Trillane got very, very quiet, then she coughed. "We’ve been opening new farms, and they have to be manned," she finally answered.
"Right. Well, then, there’s also all these strange visits I’m seeing in the control logs by non-Faey freighters. I seem to recall a provision of your contract stating that all food had to be brought through Draconis. If you’re not putting food on those cargo ships, just what are you loading on them? Or, perhaps, I should ask, what are you taking off of them?"
"It’s a private house matter, your Majesty," she said delicately.
"I’m so sure," she said acidly. "Then maybe you’d like to explain why the last high-detail scan of Terra shows that it’s lost .00354% of its total mass? I checked the tonnage of total food shipped against supply invoices, and from what I’ve worked out, the mass variance should be .0000117% heavier. I don’t think that mass vanished into hyperspace. Care to explain why the planet seems to have gotten a bit lighter since Trillane took over the planet, seeing as how you’ve brought a hell of a lot more mass onto the planet with your supplies and equipment than you’ve taken off with food?"
"Perhaps your ships haven’t calibrated their sensors lately?"
"I should order a diagnostic," she said with amazing dark humor. "And there’s this one other little matter I’m sure you’d like to explain, since you’re here and you suddenly seem so concerned about Terra, since you’re one declaration away from losing it. There’s been a strange loss of records concerning several thousand Terrans. My auditors can’t quite explain where those records are going. Seems they’re right there in the Imperial Bureau of Taxation one moment, then poof, they vanish like smoke. Well, they started trying to cross-check those records with Terran records, and well, what do you know, those records vanished too! It seems awfully strange to me that all Imperial records of quite a few Terrans just seem to be getting up and walking out of their computer storage space. And then there’s these records here," she said, touching the handpanel. "In one day, 18,394 Terrans all died of, and let me quote, ’natural causes due to advanced age.’ That’s certainly believable, until you look closer and see that every one of them wasn’t over the age of 25. I had no idea that Terrans had such a short life span. Demir’s sword, Grand Duke Karinne, you’re practically an old man by Trillane reckoning. Well, Grand Duchess Trillane, since you’re here, perhaps you’d like to explain these little irregularities in your records?"
"I cannot be expected to be aware of every little nuance of Trillane records, your Majesty, any more than you should be expected to be aware of every nuance of Merrane records," she explained loftily.
Dahnai Merrane clapped her hands. "Well, then! Seems like I just cleared my schedule, so why don’t you trot those nobles that do have that nuanced memory of your records over here and let’s have a little sit-down with my auditors from the Bureau," she said. "There seems to be some issues of unpaid taxes here, and you know how much the Bureau hates to see a single Imperial credit slip through their fingers."
"I would have to recall them from Terra, your Majesty," she said quickly.
"Ah, yes, that’s true. And I’m sure they’ll all die tragically in a terrible shuttle explosion en route," she said with a flat, cold look at the older woman. "So, I think I’ll send a unit of auditors to Terra and have them start digging."
"That would disrupt our farming effort, your Majesty!" Maeri protested.
"Riiiight," she drawled. "Wanna know a secret, Maeri? I was willing to look the other way and let you play your little profit margin games over there with the illegal mining, native species poaching, and the water smuggling, but you crossed the line when you started selling off Terrans to the slave markets of Chezaa. The Imperium will not tolerate a house engaged in slavery."
"That’s a slanderous lie!" she snapped.
"Yes, and you’ll stick with that line, won’t you?" Dahnai noted. "You did a good job of making sure I couldn’t find any evidence to present to the Siann that would make you waddle on back to Arctus to fetch your charter. You may be getting on in years, but you’re still a sly and slick old vulpar. So, since I can’t officially punish you, I think I’ll take a big bite out of your ass unofficially. As soon as a certain someone says something to me," she said, looking directly at Jason.
If it wouldn’t get him killed, he would have run over there and kissed that woman solidly on the mouth. She knew! She knew it all, and she was taking his side! He couldn’t have dreamed for a better outcome than this! "Your Majesty, I claim first rights to Terra," he declared. "The Karinnes have been living on the planet for over a thousand years. We discovered it first. We have the right to the contract."
"And so you do," she said with a graceful nod. "We recognize your claim. The contract with Trillane is immediately withdrawn, and awarded instead to the House Karinne."
"This is an outrage!" Maeri Trillane shouted.
"You’d better put your temper back in its cage, Maeri," Dahnai said hotly, standing up as her eyes blazed, "or I’ll send you to the gallows right here and now!"
Maeri Merrane looked about ready to lay an egg, but then she took a cleansing breath and put her hand back in her sleeves. "I meant no offense, your Majesty," she said with barely contained insincerity.
In that moment, a truth opened itself to Jason’s eyes. The Imperium was not anywhere near as stable as he once believed. Seeing the open hostility between Maeri Trillane and Empress Dahnai showed him that the Imperium was little more than a powder keg waiting for a match.
"Sure you didn’t," she said with vast sarcasm. "Now that I have your narrow little ass right where I want it, I want you to know that I know everything. I’d be happy to give you a detailed list of all the illegal activities your house has been up to over there on Terra, and you’re not gonna just waltz off the planet, breaking anything and everything on your way to the door, and expect to walk away with nothing but a revoked contract and a bank account on Moridon stuffed to the ceiling with credits. You’re going to pay back every credit, and I mean every credit, of the value of everything your house stripped off Terra. If you don’t, I’ll yank your charter so fast you won’t know who fucked you, because I have plenty of unofficial evidence of what you’ve been up to, and I’m sure that maybe Semoya or Stera might be interested in some of the deals you’ve been making to hamstring them on your way to sticking your bony ass in my chair. They’re not going to side with you against me over this, not with the dirt I have on you. You won’t just gang up on me like usual and deny it this time, playing the wall of silence game. All I have to do is walk back down to court and start putting some data sticks up on the big board, then I’ll pull out my pointer and start explaining how House Trillane would have done House Trefani proud with some of the scams they were running on Terra. Then I’ll just order the Imperial Navy to start opening fire on anything and everything that doesn’t have an Imperial crest painted on it.
"I’ve been waiting for this moment, bitch. I’ve been waiting a long time for it, cause you’re not squirming out of the snare this time. There’s five squadrons of Imperial Naval vessels en route to Terra right now, and they’re packed tits to backbones with three battalions of Marines, and those Marines will have orders to watch everything Trillane does like a hawk while you pick up what’s left of your operation and limp back to Arctus. At least what that spunky little commoner woman left you, anyway, after she chewed you up and spit you out. We’re gonna be so far up your ass while you withdraw from Terra that we’ll see every speck of food on your forks while you’re eating. If we see so much as a dinner plate out of place in the poorest shack in the most remote corner of Terra, I’m gonna take your charter and ram it down your throat. Do you understand?"
Maeri Trillane gave Dahnai a cold look.
"I’d better hear that squeaky little voice of yours saying four words before I can raise my hand and snap my fingers, Maeri," she warned in a cold, ominous voice.
The three guards in the room raised their right hands in unison, and forearm-mounted autocannons extended out of the vambraces of them. All three of them pointed those weapons at Maeri Merrane.
"I understand, your Majesty," Maeri said in a low, ugly tone, almost a whisper.
"Good. Now, when you get back to your mansion, expect to find a very stiff bill sitting on your desk, straight from my desk. And you will pay it. All of it. You will pay it by close of business tomorrow afternoon, and you will pay it in one lump sum. If you don’t, I’ll revoke your charter and declare Trillane a renegade house, and the other Highborns are not going to bail you out this time by blocking me. If they try to turn the other way after what I show the Minor Houses, they’d probably lynch you right in the audience chamber. You’re going to quietly slink away without objecting to the loss of the contract, and you’re gonna do everything I tell you to do, or I’ll turn Arctus into another Karis, and believe me, bitch, I’ll push the button personally and laugh while the bombs fall. I’m sure the Jakkans would be interested in buying Arctus after we turn it into radioactive slag. May as well make some profit out of it, you know. After all, that’s all you seem to be interested in."
Jason was a bit lost here, but he realized that Empress Dahnai had been ready for this. She’d been waiting for it. She’d known everything that was going on back on Earth, and clearly, she’d been waiting to intervene so she could inflict maximum damage on the Trillanes by doing so. She was going to recognize him as a Karinne no matter what, so she could put this Trillane woman in a political headlock! Holy God above, the Empress had this all planned! Had she talked to Zaa? Did the Kimdori warn her what he was going to do, and let her use it for her own goals? It was possible. There was a Kimdori ambassador to the Imperium here in the palace, and Zaa could communicate with that ambassador in real time.
Maeri Trillane glared at Empress Dahnai, but she didn’t say anything or send anything.
"Now get out of my house, Maeri. You are officially banished from the palace. Show up at my gate again, and I’ll have my guards skin you, and I’ll use your scabby hide as a new rug for my bedroom. I don’t want to see you again. Ever."
"Maeri Trillane," Jason said in a calm voice, turning around to regard eleven rather startled and nervous Faey nobles. He singled out Maeri with his eyes, stepped up to her, reared back, balled his fist, and punched Maeri Trillane dead in the jaw. She made no move to defend herself, and after his fist cracked quite satisfactorily against her cheek, she crumpled like a rag doll, splaying to the floor. She lay there for a moment as the other ten members of the highborn houses looked on in shock and amazement, then blinked and looked up from the floor as blood oozed from her mouth, putting a hand to her broken cheekbone delicately. "That’s a little goodbye present from my people, you bitch!"
"You… hit me!" she gasped, then her eyes flared in fury. "How dare you touch a Highborn, you filthy mongrel!" She struck back at him, not with her hands or her feet, but with her talent. The full force of her mind crashed into him like an avalanche, showing that Maeri Trillane was no slouch, was quite a strong telepath, but he found he could stand against the storm she raged against him without faltering. Her attack hammered against his mental defenses for a long moment as the mind reckoned time in the telepathic realm, reaching out and around, trying to find a weakness in his defense, but it could find nothing. Jason felt the gestalt push behind his own mind, adding to his strength and giving him more than enough power to stand unmoved by the force of her mind.
"I hope you have more than that," Jason told her with narrow, dangerous eyes. "If you don’t, you just put yourself in a world of shit."
"That’s enough of that," Dahnai called. Jason had to actively stop himself from killing the whore, clenching a shaking fist and looking like he was about to disobey a direct order from the Empress, but then he took a step back. "Well, Maeri, think he’s lying when he says he’s a Karinne now? You just got your ass kicked by a boy. He brushed you off like a bug. Do you really want it known you were bitchslapped by a commoner Terran, or you were bitchslapped by the Grand Duke Karinne?"
Jason had to admire Dahnai’s ability to kick someone when they were down. To an arrogant snobby bitch like this woman, that was so many insults on so many levels that Jason lost count. "Get her out of here, and get out," Dahnai said to the other ten, who had stood utterly silent through the entire affair, but Jason had no doubt they were sending privately to each other. "Not you, Terran. Stay," she said as Jason turned to bow. "We have a couple of matters to discuss before I take you back to audience and have you swear fealty."
He nodded and stood there as the others filed out, not looking back. That left him alone with the Empress of the Imperium, Dahnai Merrane, and her three guards, who had retracted their weapons and returned to their silent vigil over their ruler. "Well, that was fun," she giggled, looking to one of her guards. The guard nodded and turned her head towards the door through which Dahnai had entered. "I’m sure you’re both a little nervous and very relieved right now. After all, I just did your dirty work and kicked Trillane off Terra. Well, I should be the one thanking you, really. I’ve been looking forward to doing that for years, and thanks to you, I just hung Maeri Trillane’s narrow ass out to dry."
"I’m a little confused, your Majesty," he said honestly. "You knew all along?"
"Of course I did, but there wasn’t much I could do about it," she told him. "And please, call me Dahnai. I hate being called your majesty when it’s unofficial, like now." She walked past him to the chairs, then flopped down in one of them in a rather un-ladylike fashion, raising her feet and putting them up on the coffee table. "Have a seat, Jason. Oh, toss that thing over on the couch," she added, pointing at the crown.
He picked up her crown, and instead of throwing it, he rather carefully set it on the coffee table, which made her laugh. "You won’t break it, it’s made of vanidrium," she told him. "Sit, sit!"
He wasn’t sure what to make of her. She was being very, well, nice, and he had no idea why.
"Relax, I’m not going to bite you," she told him, leaning over onto one of the arms of the chair and looking over at him. "I’m not what you expected, am I? You had this idea of what was going to happen and had this idea of me all built up in your mind, and now you’re finding out that reality isn’t quite what you imagined, is it?"
He shook his head mutely.
"Well, you could say thank you, you know," she said coquettishly.
"Th-Thank you, Empress Dahnai," he said sincerely. "You saved my people."
"Bullshit I saved them," she said with a sigh. "I shoulda stepped on Maeri before we even knew Terra was there, but she’s a damned crafty old bitch. She’s always been just out of my reach, keeping out of my hands by hiding behind the robes of the other members of the Highborn Council. She always had just enough support to slip out of any punishment. Until today, that is."
"May I ask a question, your Majesty?"
"Sure, go ahead."
"You knew about all of this, didn’t you? All of what Trillane did, and you knew I was coming here, didn’t you?"
"Sure did," she said with a nod. "The Kimdori have been keeping me up to speed. They brought most of the information I’m using to blackmail Maeri to me. I’m not sure why, though, it’s not like them to get involved in the affairs of others without being paid. I’ll have to look into that, I suppose," she said, tousling her bronze hair absently.
"What did you have on them?"
"Theft, and a hell of a lot of it. They were stealing Terra blind. They were also setting up, using Terra as an out-of-sight staging ground to build up their military and get it ready. Mainly, they were channeling weapons and military hardware through Terra, taking delivery and then shipping it elsewhere, but the main thing I have them on is stealing."
"Stealing? Didn’t they have ownership?"
"They had a contract," she said distinctly. "The planet belongs to the Imperium, Jason, not Trillane. What they were doing was basicly stripping the planet of anything valuable they thought they could get away with stealing. I was keeping track of everything they took and I was gonna nail them with a fine at the end of the fiscal cycle, but when they started slaving and kidnapping Terrans, that was it. That was when I sent in the Kimdori, to find out what the hell was going on over there, find out everything in the way only a Kimdori can. What they dug up for me almost made me throw up. I had to get rid of them, but it’s not easy to get rid of Maeri Trillane."
"Why were they building up?"
"To try to take my throne, that’s why," she said bluntly. "Right now, babes, the four biggest Highborn houses all have plots underway to hamstring the other three houses and take the throne from Merrane. They were in the first stages of executing that plan. The others talk about it, plan for it, but Trillane was about to do it. They were raping Terra to raise the cash they needed to arm without it appearing on the books anywhere, doing it under the table. But the biggest issue, babes, was that they were kidnapping Terrans of suitable age and conscripting them. That’s where a hell of a lot of your people went, babes. Millions of them. They’re on Uruma, now loyal little lapdogs to Trillane and ready to fight for the house. The Urumi have the slimy hands in this too, they’re still pissed off over what happened in the Third Civil War. Trillane’s been kidnapping fit Terrans and shipping them to Uruma, where they’ve been training them to be soldiers after using talent to make them more, tractable. Humans are vulnerable to talent, hon, and the Trillanes were using that for everything it was worth, by reprogramming your people to turn them into soldiers for their house.
"That’s what I had to stop, before they got enough to try to start a fourth Civil War and take the throne."
"My God," Jason breathed. That’s what Kiaari meant when she said that what Trillane was doing was far beyond what he knew.
"Yeah. It was serious. But Maeri was very careful, and she did very well to fix it so I don’t have any real evidence to present to the Highborns, just intel gathered by the Kimdori, which isn’t the kind of evidence I can use in an official matter. So, I had to get her through the back door."
"What, what’s going to happen to my people?"
"I really don’t know, hon," she answered honestly. "The Urumi have them on their planet. I can try to get the back, but I’ll be honest. I don’t know if I can."
He nodded soberly.
"I feel sorry for them. The Trillanes didn’t care about your people, babes, not a bit. They were going to be nothing but gun fodder, but numbers are numbers, and numbers matter. They were going to use them as disposable troops when they made their gamble for the throne. Trillane has the largest house military of the Siann, and lots and lots of military starships, and thanks to them kidnapping Terrans, they would have been able to put a sizable army on a planet’s surface. They’d have a good chance of actually winning if they attacked out of the blue, without the usual forms and customs used when houses went to war with each other. But right about now, about a hundred or so Imperial battle cruisers are coming through the stargate to Terra, enough to blast the fleet Trillane has there to Andromeda and back. Oh, and I sent three squadrons to Arctus, complete with a command ship, where the Trillane leadership on Arctus can see that I’m just waiting for them to either declare war or declare independence, in case Maeri gets any funny ideas about refusing to pay that fine. They may want this throne, but today they learned that I know they want it, and I’m ready for them to try to take it from me. Thanks to you and the Kimdori, I broke up their plan before they could get it into motion. I’m a bit surprised you did it this way, that you’re a Karinne and all, but even before this happened, I knew you’d come up with something that would eventually allow me to intervene, or Myleena would capture you and let me put the plan I had into action. And I was waiting for it, I had all this planned out. And when I could intervene without the rest of the Highborn closing ranks around the Trillanes, I could snap the trap shut on Maeri’s foot and catch her."
Jason leaned back in his chair, a bit overwhelmed. The Empress had used him, used him as a lever in her own plans. What was it Miaari told him? Plans whirl and revolve around him? Hell, was that more than right. The Kimdori were using him to advance their goals, the Empress was using him, the Trillanes were using him. He felt like a two-bit whore, gangbanged by everyone on the block.
"You sent Myleena!" he gasped in realization.
"You bet your ass I did. Personally. She had very strict orders to look like she was trying to stop you, but her real orders were to capture you, to further my plan, because I needed you here. I needed you here on Draconis and in Imperial custody, so I could use you as a club against Maeri by interrogating you and publicly learning enough about Trillane’s activities to step in without the Highborns interfering. But then, after Myleena finally stopped sitting on her ass and pinned you down, I got a visit from the Kimdori ambassador to the Imperium. It seemed that the Kimdori were up to something, and they asked me to back off and let them borrow you for a while, but what they wanted you for was going to help me with my Trillane problem. I’ve never heard of the Kimdori doing that before, and it got me curious. They promised to give you back when they were done, so I agreed. I guess they’re done with you now," she said, glancing at him. "Anyway, I told Myleena to look the other way and let you escape, help you if she could, but not get involved, because the Kimdori already had a plan for you and it couldn’t look like you were getting outside help. And you didn’t let me down. As soon as I had Myleena make up that bullshit about shipping you off to Makan, you didn’t waste any time at all. They said you were smart, but rigging a gurney so it’d fly? That’s fuckin’ awesome, babes. Anyway, you vanish, then reappear a few days later in a Karinne ship, claiming to be the long-lost descendent of Grand Duchess Karinne. Did the Kimdori do that for you?"
"They pointed me in the right direction, your Ma-er, Empress Dahnai," he admitted. "They knew I’m a Karinne, somehow. I really am a Karinne, that wasn’t a lie. I think they knew the Karinnes landed on Terra, and just never told anyone. They smacked me on the butt and got me started. I had to get the rest of the way myself. I found the ship, and I found the ring. I was going on clues the Kimdori gave me, but I had to do the work on my own."
"The Kimdori know too damn much they never tell anyone," Dahnai said sourly. "Anyway, let me be the first to say congratulations, your grace," she said pointedly, reaching over her chair towards him with her bare hand. "Welcome to the Siann. "
"I’m not happy to be here, your Majesty," he sighed. "But it got Trillane off Earth, and that’s all I cared about. I’ll live with this duty if it keeps my people safe and well treated." He reached over and took her hand, and she shook it casually. "What would you have done if I couldn’t move the ring?" he asked curiously. "If you don’t mind my asking. I mean, if you had this planned out, to make me a Karinne so you could trap Maeri Trillane, well, what would you have done if I couldn’t move the ring"
She looked around, then gave him a cheeky grin. "Watch." She looked at the crown on the coffee table, and then, to Jason’s shock, it rose off the table! It spun lazily in the air, and then drifted over to her desk and then dropped down gently. "You’re not the only telekinetic on Draconis, and the Siann doesn’t know I can do that," she winked. "It’s a state secret, so you’re now honor-bound to keep that to yourself. I was gonna make damn sure you managed it, even if I had to do it for you."
Jason gave her a surprised look, then he had to laugh. "That’s the real reason you brought us in here!"
"Yeah, so I didn’t have to do that in front of everyone," she admitted. "Remind me to give you some lessons later. It’s always hardest the first time, and given how fast that ring moved, I think you have some pretty strong telekinetic ability. So, think you can work with me, Jason? I’m not that hard of a boss. Just follow the rules, and we’ll both be happy."
"You’re not what I expected."
"Good. That means I’m keeping those other bitches off guard."
"I guess so, but truth be told, so far I like what I see, and I’m already in debt to you. I expected this regal, distant woman that didn’t really care about me or my problems would kinda lord from on high and proclaim that I was a Karinne, then take Earth away from Trillane. I didn’t expect to see you in a verbal arm-wrestling match with the Trillane woman, and I didn’t expect you to be so, well… ."
"What?"
"Young," he told her. "And pretty."
"Aww, you’re sweet," she told him with a smile.
"And I didn’t expect you to really care about what was going on back home. You’ve saved my people a lot of hardship. I can’t thank you enough."
"Nah, it was nothing. We helped each other, Jason. Thanks to you, I got my claws into Maeri Trillane, and now I get to dig in my nails and make her squeal like a chabi, and I’ve been itching to do that for years. I hate that arrogant bitch."
"So do I."
"See? Not only do we help each other, we have the same tastes. I think I could even get to like you."
"Me too."
"Well, that’s the best kind of partnership there is." She reached over and patted his arm. "So, can I consider you an ally to the throne?"
"I’m not a fan of the Imperium, Empress. I object to it. I think it’s a terrible idea and it doesn’t work. But when you need my support, it’s yours. I owe you too much to deny that to you."
"Fair enough. Now, let’s talk about that contract. I can think of a couple of good houses you might want to approach."
"What about Merrane?"
"You can’t go to Merrane," she told him. "Merrane can’t take this kind of contract, because it’s the ruling house. It’s part of the rules of Siann. You want to go to one of the smaller Highborn houses. I think your best bet is Surrale. Anya Surrale would kill for the Terran contract, they have the infrastructure to handle it, and they’re nice and safely allied to us. If you take your contract to the Shovalles or the Enalles or the Zevannes, they’ll just try what Trillane did, and use it as a springboard for their own plans. Yeah, definitely the Surrales. I’ll have to introduce you to Anya so the two of you can talk over the terms. We can do that later."
"Why not now?"
"Because right now, you and me are going back into the audience chamber. I’m going to proclaim that you’ve proved you truly are the the son of Karinne, and I’m going to install you as the Grand Duke Karinne. Then you swear fealty to me, I give you back your ring, and I give you a copy of the Siann Charter. Those are the symbolic representations of your nobility, so don’t lose them."
"I won’t," he told her. "Empress?"
"Yah?"
"Thank you."
She looked at him, then she smiled gloriously at him. That’s all I wanted to hear, babes, she sent to him. A sincere thank you, from the heart. It was my pleasure, believe me. Now, let’s get back in there. Oh, and Jason.
Yes, Empress?
You can send to me whenever you want. Just do it privately. I don’t send publicly except in certain circumstances in a public setting, it’s a matter of custom. That’s why we always speak in court, and we were speaking here. I’m kinda used to it. I don’t really send much, except to my friends, and I do it privately.
Oh, alright. Wait a minute.
That’s right, she winked. I’m calling you a friend. I do like you, Jason. I like you a lot. You’re a breath of fresh air in this fucking cheese factory. You’re really cute, you’re smart, you have a sense of humor, you’re very sincere, and you truly care about the people whose welfare you’re about to officially take responsibility for. That’s such a rare thing in this place, where the nobles only care about what’s in it for them. When you told me in court that you were willing to die if that’s what it took to help your people, and I could see that you really meant it, it really touched me. You were ready to embrace the Martyr’s Gambit in every sense of the term. You’re a special man, and that commoner you married is a damn lucky woman to have you for a husband. I’d like to get to know someone like you, and be his friend. If you don’t mind, that is.
Wow, I don’t know what to say.
Say yes, she said with a smile, standing up and holding her hand out to him.
Yes to what?
Just yes.
Without knowing what I’m agreeing to? I may be naïve as Faey rate it, but I’m not an idiot, Empress.
She laughed. Well said. Congratulations, you passed your first test. Now let’s go introduce you to the rest of the snakes in your new pit.
I hope to God I don’t get to know them.
Damn, you really are smart.
And so, on Vesta, 34 Demaa, in the year 4395, late in the afternoon of a memorable late summer day, the House of Karinne was again a part of the Siann.
The ceremony was picked up by cameras in court and broadcast live on Courtwatch, a Faey version of the old C-Span network from Earth. The Imperium watched as the white-gowned Empress Dahnai took the oath of fealty from the rogue human, Jason Augustus Fox Shaddale, who turned out to be the long-lost descendent of the legendary, almost mythical House Karinne, even going so far as to wear the face ornament for which the Karinnes had been famous… or, more to the point, infamous. He was installed as the Grand Duke Karinne, and was offered a dukal ring and a copy of the Siann Charter. Empress Dahnai grabbed his shoulders, kissed him on each cheek, then turned him around and announced in a booming voice that the House of Karinne was restored to the Siann, and had all the rights, duties, and responsibilities afforded to a Minor House.
The applause was muted. Courtwatch couldn’t pick it up on cameras and microphones, but a dark revelation had already passed through the nobles, and that was that the Empress had ferreted out some kind of serious illegal activity perpetrated by the Trillanes, and had stamped it out. They weren’t quite sure why the Empress hadn’t taken Trillane’s charter over it, probably because of interference by the other Highborn houses, but they knew that the Grand Duchess Trillane had been escorted out of the palace by ten Imperial Guards, and had been publicly and loudly warned that she would forfeit her life if she set a single foot on the Imperial palace grounds. So, it was pretty damn serious.
Courtwatch got a good closeup up of Jason Karinne, the new Terran Grand Duke of the House of Karinne, and the announcer noticed immediately that he looked both rather nervous, and also a little pensive. He obviously did not want to be there. But if it was because of the newness of being in the public eye, or the serious duties he was about to take up, the announcer wasn’t sure. Perhaps, she speculated, it was a little bit of both.
For Jason, it was both the culmination of a hell of a lot of work, and a lament that his life would never be the same. He was an outsider here, he knew that, and really, he wanted it to stay that way. He wanted to be uncomforatble her, surrounded by Faey and being the outsider. He was a common man thrust into the world of the elite, a world he didn’t want, and probably didn’t want him.
But he knew that he’d better at lest start thinking like something more than a comon man. There was a frightening challenge standing in front of him now; he’d plotted to get into this position, to claim the ancestral house of Karinne to force Trillane off Earth, and he did it. He was the Grand Duke Karinne. Trillane had been kicked off Earth, and what was more, it seemed that Empress Dahnai had really nailed Maeli Trillane’s ass to the wall, basicly blackmailing her into making a huge cash payment to avoid having the Empress go public with what they’d been doing and yank their charter.
So… now what?
That was a huge question, and something Jason hadn’t really considered all that much before getting here. Now, here he was, the leader of a noble house… but a noble house with all of 13 members so far, with more to come as soon as he offered the people of Legion a place within it. He had to run an entire planet now, populated by six billion people. God, the logisitcs off that ws going to melt his brain. He was a tinkerer, a putterer, an adept of machines, not a politician, not someone with that kind of educuation or practical experience.
And it was his responsibility now. He had taken that burden when he decided on doing this, and there was no going back. That was what being a Grand Duke was about in the Faey system. It was his job now to run the house, any way he wanted to run it, and the lives and welfare of six billion human beings was now his responsibility. They would depend upon him to keep them safe, to give them an environment where they could live and prosper, and they were counting on him to do it right, and do it well.
Holy God, what a duty. He had to be nuts to take it upon himself willingly.
But he knew he didn’t have to do it alone. The Grand Duchesses and Grand Dukes of the Siann certainly didn’t do it alone. But he felt he was in a unique position here, because he was a house unto himself, and he had a chance here to build his house with good people, and not rely on dealing with family members that might not have any brains.
If he went that route, that is. He also had the option to take a minimalist approach, and basicly let Earth run itself, by restoring all the old countries and reforming the United Nations. The countries would be countries again, but they could form a new United Nations that would act as the new world governing authority, an authority with teeth. He could pattern it after the American system, where he was the President, the assembly was the legislature, and the World Court would be the judiciary. Each country would be like a state, where it made its own rules, but it would still operate with some oversight from the United Nations. As little oversight as possible if Jason had his way, but there had to be some. That way, Earth could return to its original state, and they could all feel like they were back home again. Democracy wouldn’t work everywhere on Earth, but at least those countries that had it could go back to it, and other parts of Earth could adopt whatever government they pleased, so long as they didn’t fight each other. There would never be another war on Earth where men fought men. Never again. He figured that between the people he could find he could trust and the U.N., he could manage to keep Earth running without too much worry. He guessed.
He didn’t have to stumble in the dark, though. Empress Dahnai seemed nice enough, he might be able to ask her for some help on how to do this. And this Anya Suralle woman that Empress Dahnai said would be the best partner to help with the farming, well, if he could trust her enough to come to Earth, maybe he could ask her a few questions, get some advice.
He really wasn’t sure about any of this, though. He was way out of his league, way out of his element, tossed into a shark-infested ocean, and he knew he’d better learn how to swim real damn fast, or he’d have the shortest-lived tunure as a Grand Duke in Imperial history.
He looked around, at all the Faey nobles, in their perfect robes and gowns and their glittering jewelry, and he knew he’d never be one of them… and that revelation actually brought him comfort. They kept looking over at him, and just about every look they gave was predatory, like he was a lamb led in on a leash for their dining leisure.
Well, they’d better get their looks at him now. After he finished up here and went home, he never wanted to come back here again. He knew he’d have to return from time to time, but they would be very short visits. The rules of Siann didn’t require him to be here or to attend court. Court was just a tradition, where nobles could gather and plot against each other, that was all. He might have to come back to Draconis to deal with house issues, but he would never return to court again. He basicly wanted to have this unwanted ten minutes of fame, with their looks and the cameras focused on him, and then quickly fade away to quet obscurity.
He didn’t want this job. It wasn’t something that he wanted, but in the end, he just couldn’t trust anyone else to do this. Besides, he was a Karinne. He had a responsibility to that name and to Karis, and he had a responsibility to Cybi. He had to make things right, he had to restore Karis, and he had to guard the precious knowledge of the Karinnes, keeping it away from those who would abuse it, but be ready to carefully ration out that knowledge out if the need for it arose, such as his plan to release the technology of the Karinne replicators so the Imperium could feed itself. That, he felt, was a responsible use of Karinne technology that would not further the violent tendencies of this volatile race around which his life was now intimately entwined. He was now the gatekeeper for the knowledge of the Karinnes, taking up the age-old post once held by his Faey ancestors, to both be a part of the Imperium and be separate from it, disdaining their childish antics, but willing to assist when the need for him was truly there. He hated the Imperium, he hated it with a passion, but he couldn’t deny his love for the Faey. They were part of him, they were part of his life. He could hate how they governed themselves, but he could accept them as the people that he knew they were.
Maybe, with some patience, his presence in their system might turn out to be a good thing. After all, he was now in a position to change what he saw was wrong with the Imperium. It wouldn’t happen in his lifetime, but then again, the truly good things in life were things one was willing to commit a lifetime to achieve. With patience, careful words, luck, and more than a little hope, the Faey would finally realize the stupidity of their Imperium and abandon it for something much more sensible.
Maybe Terra would be a good example for them. He was the ruler of that planet now, and he could do anything with it he pleased. Well, his first act as Grand Duke Karinne was going to be to put things back at least partially the way they were. The Suralles were going to need workers on the farms, and Jason had to supply those workers… but it wouldn’t be the death sentence the Trillanes made it out to be. People would work on farms in rotations, like a few months a year, and then go back to their own lives until their turn came again. But outside of that, he would show them that something other than the Imperium’s system could work.
Well, that was his idea. He was going to have to sit down with Kumi and think about it, work something out. Kumi was really smart about stuff like that.
After an hour of standing quietly in the corner of the audience chamber, pondering the weighty matters at hand, it was over. And as she promised, Empress Dahnai invited him and Anya Suralle to her study.
At least getting the cooperation of the Suralles had been easy enough. He remembered seeing her from before, she was one of the eleven Highborn noble rulers. She was a short woman with jet black hair and narrow, almost waifish features, but she had a nice figure. She spoke in a shrill voice, but she was a nice enough lady. They sat down and talked about the contract, and just as Dahnai predicted, Anya fell all over herself trying to get it. With Dahnai looking on, privately sending to him on some finer points, basicly guiding him through the process, they worked out an agreement that was mutually beneficial. Suralle would keep 80% of the profits, but they would shoulder the burden if a quota wasn’t met, and they would also help the planet get on its feet, supply some technical expertise, restart schools, provide training in both farming and other job fields, and help the Karinnes do everything for the Terrans that Trillane was supposed to do. The Suralles would have no military forces anywhere on the planet, that was a stipulation. They were there as an ally, not as a conqueror. And watching everything, making sure that Terra was treated farily, would be the Imperial Marines, who would replace Trillane as the primary law enforcement entity on the planet. They were Faey whose neutrality was above board, but the Marines would answer to Jason before they answered to the Imperium. They were still Imperial, they were just being temporarily deployed and put under his command until he could organize and train a military of his own. The presence of Marines on Terra would prevent any houses from thinking that Terra was a plum ready to be picked, for attacking the Marines would be a declaration of war against the Empress herself. No house was that crazy.
By sunset, Jason got the people of Earth the respect they deserved, put a military presence on and around the planet that would discourage any of the other houses from getting any bright ideas, worked out a mutually beneficial agreement with Suralle to take over the farming effort on the planet and help them rebuild and get the planet self-sufficient, and everyone was happy.
Everyone but the Trillanes.
Well, and Jason himself, a little. He was happy that things worked out, but he wasn’t happy about the responsibilities that were now settled on his shoulders.
After meeting with Anya, Jason met the Kimdori ambassador, a very small Kimdori female with honey colored fur named Jinaami, and asked her to relay a message to Miaari to tell the others that everything had gone better than he’d expected, and they could return to Draconis. He made sure to warn Myleena that they were going to need some equipment to pick up what was left of his Nova, which was still sitting out on the lawn, being guarded by Marines to keep everyone away from it. Five minutes after giving her that message, a page ran up to him and handed him a note. It was from Jinaami, telling him that Miaari had replied, warning him that they wouldn’t be there to get him for a few hours, that the Scimitar’s engines were offline while Myleena and her friends repaired the battle damage. It also read that Jinaami had already informed both her and Denmother Zaa about his success, and she congratulated him on becoming the Grand Duke Karinne. After reading the note, realizing he really had nowhere else to go and a few hours to kill, he just wandered around the parts of the palace the guards allowed him to visit. He toured quite a few council rooms, the kitchen, where he grabbed a quick meal, a gym in the basement, an indoor yara playfield, and he also found a media center, that looked to be a hub for reporters, all of which looked at him like he was some kind of mouse when he looked in the door, and then he literally ran away before they could find a camera and chase him down.
It wasn’t long after that that a servant approached him and told him that the Empress wished to see him, in her private quarters. The pre-teen Faey boy, who wore the Imperial livery, guided him through passages filled with nobles, servants, and workers, and then into a wing of the palace that had been blocked by guards, guards who had politely but firmly turned him away when he approached during his wanderings. He realized he was now in the private domain of Dahnai, her personal space, and was sure of it when he was led through a sitting room, through a study, and into the bedroom of the apartment. It was a surprisingly spartan affair, and to his surprise, it was a little messy. Clothes were strewn on the floor and over a chair at the foot of a large bed whose headboard was on the left wall, and there was a desk wedged in a corner behind the bed. A video panel was on the right wall, so Dahnai could watch it while in bed, he reckoned, and past the panel, in the right corner, was a doorway with no door in it, an open archway. And even here, there were guards. There was a servant picking up clothes from the floor, who was being watched by two white-armored Imperial guards.
"I’ve brought the Grand Duke, your Majesty!" the boy called.
"I’m in here!" she shouted from the archway. "Come on in!"
Jason left the boy, who left the room, and made his way to the open passageway, then stopped dead and quickly turned around.
It was a bathroom, a very large bathroom with pearlescent tile on the wall and a soft blue tile on the floor. Dahnai Merrane was in there, seated quite sedately on the toilet, a handpanel in her hands as she read it. And the sound coming from under her made it apparent she wasn’t just sitting there because it was comfortable. She was urinating.
"What’s your problem?" she asked.
"You shoulda told me you were, you know, busy," he answered.
"Oh. Oh, I’m sorry. I’m so used to having people around me all the time, I guess I didn’t think about it," she said with a wry chuckle. "Everywhere I go, there’s always a guard or a servant. I can’t even take a shit without spectators, and after a while, you just get kinda numb to it, ya know?"
"I guess," he said. "I don’t think I could ever get used to it, though. Terrans are very private people."
"You’d be surprised what you can get used to," she grunted, then chuckled. "So, now that you know it doesn’t bother me, turn around. I don’t like talking to someone when I can’t see their eyes. Trust me, Jason, I really don’t care if you look. Hell, I want you to look. Faey like to be looked at, like to be appreciated, and I am Faey. Besides, if you saw my statue out in the receiving hall, there ain’t nothing here you’re gonna see that you haven’t already seen, at five times scale."
Jason had to laugh at that, turning to look at her. "It was a very flattering statue."
"That’s the real me, ya know?" she told him, quite proudly. "I was getting fat, because I sit so much. So I started working out, but then I really got into it, because it makes me look hot. I’ve got the hottest bod in Dracora, and I know it. I want people to look at it." She wadded up a handful of toilet paper and finished her business, then stood up and unbelted the thigh-length, very plain blue houserobe she was wearing, opening it to expose her belly… and the fact that she wore nothing under the robe, showing him not only a knotted belly, but a formidable bosom and a neatly trimmed triangle of bronze pubic hair. "Look at these abs," she said, patting her flat, washboard stomach. "Now that’s a stomach. Nothing but muscle." She turned around and raised her robe to bare her backside, a very shapely, muscular backside. "And check out this ass. You won’t find a tighter ass in Dracora. And see, my delts give me a much sexier silhouette, they really show off my waist, and I worked on my legs to give me more curve through my hips to make me look even better," she said, sliding a hand along her side, along her deltoid muscle, which did exaggerate the slimness of her waist quite admirably. Then she patted her hip, pointing out that she was curvaceous both above and below her waist. She turned back around and patted herself on the chest, just over her right breast. "My pecs really lift up and pronounce my tits, which, thank Trelle, graced me with a pretty good pair to start with. The muscle under them just makes them even better looking. I get some awesome cleavage when I wear the right robe or top."
Jason had to chuckle silently to himself. She may be Empress Dahnai Merrane, ruler of 72 star systems and the most powerful woman in the Imperium, but she was all Faey, to the roots of her hair. Both literally and figuratively. She was showing him that her title didn’t change her core Faey personality, and part of that was a desire, almost a need, to be admired by the opposite sex. Just like a man who might lift weights to impress a girl, Dahnai had worked out to make herself the most physically attractive woman in Dracora, and he had to admit, she did one hell of a good job. She had toned herself in all the right places and built muscle in all the right place to absolutely maximize her feminine beauty. In her case, her muscle truly did enhance her attractiveness. She was built like a brick house, and could probably punch like a bull, from the ripple in her biceps when she moved her arms.
Jason knew Faey, and he knew he had to both take her preening seriously, and also not read too much into it. She wasn’t baiting him or luring him, she was just showing off, and that was something Faey girls loved to do for men. She wanted him to look at her because she wanted to hear him say that he thought she looked sexy. That was all it was about. Even if she had absolutely no interest in him at all, just knowing that he thought she was sexy would make her feel good about herself.
"I’m impressed," he said honestly. "You did a really good job. You’re drop dead sexy, Empress."
"You’re so sweet," she gushed, belting her robe. "So, now that you’ve finished everything up, I had a few things I wanted to ask you," she said in a more serious tone. "Come on, let’s go sit down. Did you eat?"
"Yeah, I picked up something when I went through the kitchen."
"Good. I told them to accommodate you. I’m not sure where your ride home is, so I’ll arrange a room for you over in the guest wing. But before you turn in for the night, I want to talk to you a little."
She took him to the living room, and sat him down on the couch. She sat down beside him, sliding her legs up daintily and putting an arm over the back, getting into a comfortable position half facing him. "Now then, Jason, I have to ask," she began, reaching out towards him. He didn’t pull away when she put her fingers on his gestalt, but he did have the presence of mind to make it shut down when she started pulling. She pulled it off his head gently, raising it over his ear, then she took it in her hands and turned it over, then looked at him. "Is this a real gestalt, or just something you replicated to look the part?"
"What do you mean?" he asked carefully.
She chuckled. "I see it is. Jason, honey, there’s three versions of things around here. There’s what I officially know, there’s what the Siann thinks I know, and there’s what I really know. You saw an example of that today with the Trillanes, seeing all three versions at once. I’m not just a pretty face. I’m a history nut. It’s my hobby, I love it. I’ve read my history, and what’s more important, I have access to a more accurate version of history than most other people. The Karinnes had been running some pretty crazy experiments for years, trying to develop computers that could send, trying to break the machine-Faey telepathic barrier. They were fuckin’ obsessed by it. They did have some successes, but they never worked exactly right. One of those near-misses was developed into the gestalts, machines that could understand very basic sending, you know, focused, basic thoughts of a couple of words, and translate it into commands. So, this is a real gestalt, isn’t it? Too bad nothing in this room is set up for remote operation, I woulda loved to try it out," she mused, putting it on her own ear bravely, snuggling it down. "How do I look?"
"Like you’re wearing something that belongs to me," he answered before he really thought about what he was saying.
"Oooo, an impertinant snap! How wonderful!" she said with a giggle. "Keep it up, honey, you’re almost there!"
"Almost where?"
"Almost treating me like Dahnai instead of the Empress," she answered with a wink. She took the gestalt off and handed it back to him, and it made Jason a little wary. Clearly, the Imperium knew more about the Karinnes than the Karinnes knew, but they also didn’t know everything. He was going to have to be very careful here. He was growing fond of this woman, but he wasn’t going to tell her anything about the Karinnes. "So, you know about these, that’s good. Did you find anything else interesting in the ship? The Karinnes had their own technology, you know. It was different from the Imperium at that time. Some historians think it was more advanced, that the Karinnes didn’t share everything they discovered. I think they’re right. That little fighter sitting out on the lawn was pretty amazing, and it has to be, what, fifteen hundred years old?"
"The scout ship was stripped out when we found it," he answered with complete honesty. "When the Karinnes abandoned it, they took everything, even some of the wall-mounted equipment. We had to put some of it back together to get it to where it would work."
"You did? How did you fix it?"
"Well, Myleena’s pretty gifted," he blurted. "With her help, we got it working again."
"Ah, so you’re the one who kidnapped her!" she laughed. "She’s been missing for days!"
"I guess she has been," Jason mused. "Can you kinda pull some strings? She didn’t come with us willingly at first. It wasn’t her fault."
"I’ll make sure she doesn’t get into trouble," Dahnai assured him with a grin. "So, does your Karinne ship run using these? Does it have any manual controls at all?" she asked, pointing at the gestalt he was putting back on his ear. "The histories that only the Empress can access, the old intelligence files, say that the Karinnes converted their entire system to run on the gestalts, that you couldn’t even open a door on Karis outside of the Academy without one. I must say, it’s one hell of a security measure," she chuckled. "As long as they kept tight control of the gestalts, anyone snooping around couldn’t so much as get into a building without inside help."
"I… I don’t think I’m going to answer that, Dahnai," he said, after weighing the situation. He was sure that she knew that he knew a great deal about the truth of the Karinnes, so pretending ignorance about them wasn’t going to work. But, she didn’t know how much he knew, so he was going to have to walk a fine line, admitting to a small truth and hiding the much larger one. "When I found the ring, I also found some orders from the one who left it where I found it. She ordered whoever found it to silence, to never reveal what we discovered about the Karinnes, and I’m going to honor that wish. I’m very sorry, but I can’t tell you anything."
"Not even if I order it?"
He shook his head. "I like you, I really do, but this is a matter of principle. I haven’t even told my wife about some of what I’ve found, because the woman who held this ring before me commanded me not to. I may have consigned myself to live in your system, but I’m not betraying my honor or my values, even if you order me to."
She gave him a stern look, then she laughed. "Fair enough," she told him. "I think you were a good choice as the new Grand Duke Karinne. I think you really understand things, better than I thought."
"What do you mean?"
"I think you know what I mean," she winked.
How much did she know? If she was really as well versed in real history as she claimed, she probably knew a lot more than most others about the Karinnes, but clearly, she didn’t know everything. And he could see some lively times in his future dealing with her, because she clearly knew that he did know more than he let on, before he had made that declaration, and she wanted to know herself. He just hoped she wouldn’t be as tenacious as Jyslin was. Good God, Jyslin had been a pit bull, sinking her teeth into him and refusing to let go once he piqued her curiosity.
She just gave him that same mysterious smile, raising her hand from the back of the couch and waving it towards him. A handpanel appeared in his vision, floating in the air, and it floated over to him. He took it, again in wonder at Empress Dahnai’s amazing ability. She made it look so easy, and he remembered how hard it had been for him! "Read that."
He did so. It was a schedule, the schedule of the Empress At Court, the times when she held open court. There was one every five days, held for at least three hours, which was by custom. But she also held other courts, usually to debate matters of policy or law with the Siann, or for official functions. "That’s my schedule for the next two months. I expect you to be here for every one of those courts."
"Be here? But I have-"
"I know you have a lot to do, but you’re not going to get yourself situated as someone who knows what’s going on and someone the others better not fuck with if you’re not here to show them," she told him. "Consider this an order, honey. You will be here for every open court. You don’t have to say a word, just stand in the corner like you did earlier today. Just lose that look, like you were a tabaxi caught in the headlights of a hovercar," she said with a smile and a wink. "You’re gonna need to rent a house or something in town, though. It can get tiring traveling back and forth. The others in the Siann keep a residence in Dracora, you should too. Oh, and keep your schedule loose. I’m gonna teach you how to use your other little trick."
"You are?"
She nodded. "You already know my dirty little secret, and it’ll give me all sorts of private time to wear you down and find out the truth," she winked.
Nope. She was just as bad as Jyslin. Probably even worse. He could see some real barnburners in his future dealing with this woman.
"I meant to ask. If it’s a secret, why did you do it, you know," he hedged, his eyes glancing at the guard in the corner, who quietly and inobtrusively defended the Empress, even in her own apartment.
"The guards know more about me than anyone," she chuckled. "And their silence and loyalty are beyond reproach. After all, they’re around me all the time. Sometimes I forget they’re even there, and that’s the way they like it. If I don’t know they’re there, then they’re doing their job by defending my person without interfering with me or my personal life. They’re with me all the time, except for one thing."
"What?"
"I refuse to have sex with an audience watching," she stated, looking at the guards. "When I bring a man in here to get some, they leave. It’s the biggest thing I feel I should have the privacy to do without guards watching. We’ve had that little argument in the past, and it’s the only thing I’ve ever been able to win on," she said with a grunt. "If I wasn’t so much larger and stronger than most men, I doubt they’d even have given over on that. I think they feel that if I’m one on one against a naked man, I’ll win. Not only is my talent stronger, but the guards have taught me how to throw a mean right hook. They trained me to fight hand to hand. These muscles do more than make me look hot."
That guard over in the corner. Jason was looking at her while Dahnai was talking, and her stony, sober face cracked a slight smile.
"Show him, Ynara," Dahnai called, looking at the guard that had smiled.
The woman in the corner, she stepped forward to the couch, then she raised her chin. Under her chin, across her throat, was a dark scar.
"That’s the commitment the Imperial Guards take, Jason. They have their vocal chords surgically removed. That is the vow of silence, the oath to keep the privacy and secrets of the Empress to themselves. I know it doesn’t mean much to a Faey, since she can always send, but it’s a tradition that goes back to the formation of the Imperium. And it’s a lifetime commitment. When a woman becomes an Imperial Guard, the only way out of the order is death. They serve as long as they think they’re fit for the duty, and when they’re ready to retire, they take up residence here in the palace, in their own wing, known as the Pensioner’s Wing. I go visit them from time to time. Real funny group of old ladies."
"Hold on, one of those guards spoke to me when they brought me here."
"That was a trainee," she answered. "They don’t have the same duties as the other guards. If she passes her training, she takes the vow."
"Oh."
Ynara nodded, then returned to her place in the corner.
"You get used to them. You really have no choice," Dahnai chuckled, tousling her shimmering gold-copper hair. "When I was first on the throne, I was a little intimidated by them. They don’t obey me like everyone else, following their own rules, and they’re all really focused, you know? I thought they were all brainwashed or something. It took me a while to get over that and start talking to them. A woman has to be gruaduate of an accredited Academy before she can even apply. Outside of their degree, they take courses on all kinds of things, like musical instruments and etiquette, even stuff like sciences and philosophy, so they know how to treat visitors from other nations, and so they can entertain me if I’m bored, and carry on an intelligent conversation. They can’t sing, of course," she chuckled, "but Ynara there, she plays a mean sinar. She’s really good."
The guard, Ynara, she smiled and bowed slightly.
"So, the next question, Jason," she said, leaning against the back of the couch more. "The one you never answered."
"About what?"
"Will you come work for me?"
He gave her a strange look.
"Who do you think gave you that master key?" she told him. "Or the exomech? I did. The master key was your escape rope in case things went sour on you, and the exomech, well, I wanted to see if you really were as smart as some of my advisors said. So, I sent you something that had tech you’d never seen in school, and I wanted to see if you could puzzle it out and fix it. I’ve had my eye on you for a long time. Before the Kimdori derailed my plans for you, I had you right on course to land you in a lab somewhere, a place you could use those brains of yours. I was having some of my people interfere with Trillane to keep them from finding you, and I was about to start putting more of a hand in to get you where I wanted you, but then you started your rebellion and kinda messed that up. But, since I know now that you’re a Karinne, well, I can see where it comes from. You’re from a long line of Faey who had science in their blood. Your technical skill is fucking genetic or something. So, wanna come work for me?"
"I don’t have time for that," Jason snorted. "I’m gonna have my hands full with everything else, and you want me to come work in research?"
She chuckled. "I know, but I just wanted to hear the answer," she winked.
"No."
"Fair enough," she told him, tousling her bronze hair. She was silent a long moment, just looking at him, and he wondered what she was thinking. She was a dangerous, dangerous woman, this Dahnai Merrane, but he had to admit that he did rather like her. She was nothing like what he expected the Empress of the Imperium to be. And as far as he was concerned, it was a good thing. This Empress was witty, warm, compassionate, and had a sense of humor he could appreciate. That was much better than the cold, aloof woman he’d imagined before meeting her. "Have you considered how you’re going to handle Terra? I know all of this is new to you. You’re not a noble, you’re a builder, and now you have to build a working government."
"I’ve had some idea. I’m not quite ready to put anything in stone, though."
"Good. If you want to talk about it, I’m here, and I’m not busy now that I’ve kicked Maeri’s ass. I’d be happy to help."
"Well, I might ask you some questions about some general things, but I’ll be honest, Empress. You’d just tell me to do things in a way that just won’t work. My people won’t operate under a house system very well. It’s not us. If I want to make things work smoothly, it has to be done the Terran way."
"Very good!" she said brightly. "I wasn’t sure if you understood that, but you do. You really do. I think you’re gonna be one damn fine Grand Duke, Jason. You already understand, and you see the holes and traps that woulda made things nasty for you if you tried to do things any way but your Terran way. The Makati don’t use a system like any other noble house either, but for them, it works, and it works well. So, build what you know the Terrans will be able to work under, hon. It’s your planet, they’re your people. You understand them better than we do. Give them what works for them, and they’ll work for you."
"I’m going to," he nodded. "It won’t be easy, and I’m gonna have gray hair before it’s all over, but I think we can build something that works."
"That’s all I wanted to hear. I’m feeling better and better about going out on a limb and handing Terra over to you. I wasn’t sure if you were up to the pressure, but now I see that you’ll be able to handle it. Oh, and keep an eye on Anya. She means well, but she’ll try to bully you whenever she thinks you’re not doing things right."
"I can handle that. I’m not afraid of Faey."
"Good. But you better be afraid of me, or I’ll punch you in the nose," she winked.
"You could try," he said evenly.
"Oooooooo, that sounds like a challenge," she said, reaching over and slapping him on the leg. "Care to get up and put your money where your mouth is?"
"Dahnai," he said carefully. "I’m not about to become the first man murdered in your bedroom by your guards because I punched out the Empress. I can guarantee you, I have way more training in hand to hand combat than you. I grew up learning it. You just learned what the guards thought you should know. I know much more than those basics."
"Ynara, Brini, Zai, don’t interfere," she announced uncoiling her legs and standing up. "If he does hit me, you will not intervene. Do you understand?"
The three guards in the room nodded to her.
"And I promise you, Jason, I won’t do a thing if you do hit me, even if you bruise me or give me a black eye. I’m not that petty. So, get up, Jason. I can’t let a challenge like that just slide by, the Imperial honor is at stake now. Get up, and let’s see if you can hit me."
Jason sighed. "Alright, alright, but let it be known right now that this is a stupid idea, and you’re gonna regret it."
"Bah. I got ten credits says I can punch you in the nose."
"It’s your money," he shrugged.
Two guards moved the coffee table to give them room, and Jason cracked his knuckles with an unpleasant look, his disapproval of this all over his face. Dahnai stretched her arms, then spread her feet and assumed a rather practical fighting stance, facing her left side to him with her left arm out defensively and her right in a good position to strike. It almost looked like the karate ready stance. They did train her pretty well.
But that’s about as far as it got. Dahnai clearly thought this was some kind of fun game, because her first-and only-attempt to punch him got her ass kicked. Much as Jyslin had done years before, she badly underestimated Jason’s physical prowess. His hand whipped out in a blur to catch that well-formed punch, a punch using her shoulders and hips, a punch that was well taught to pack some power. It was a very fast, very strong punch, but it wasn’t fast enough. His hand locked around her wrist, and it was over. He whipped her towards him, using her own momentum against her, stepped around her, then took her down in a shoulder throw. Assurances or no assurances that he wouldn’t be held responsible for anything he did,, he was not going to punch the Empress and leave any bruises on her. She slammed into the floor, hard, and he twisted her arm and put a foot on her belly to hold her down. She gasped, her eyes wild, and then to his surprise, one of those long, long legs tried to whip up and kick him in the face. He caught her ankle with his other hand, let go of her hand, kicked the back of her leg with the foot that been on her belly, and then wrenched her around so she was on her stomach. Still holding her ankle, he stepped through her legs and grabbed the blue leg in his grip with both hands and torqued her knee against his own, just enough to make it hurt but not hard enough to injure her.
"Aaaiiiyaah!" she hissed. "I give, I give, I give!"
The three guards looked shocked. They gave him wide-eyed looks, and then all three of them started to nod. They could see that he really did know what the hell he was doing in a fight.
"What was that?" Dahnai asked from the floor as Jason let her go and stepped over her legs, releasing her. She rolled over to sit on her hip, one hand down to steady her on the floor as the other rubbed her knee, and then she looked back up at him. "I’ve never seen a move like that before!"
"Akido," he answered. "It’s a martial art that uses the energy of the opponent against her. It’s a form of locks, holds, and throws. It’s a martial art designed to immobilize or incapacitate. I learned it with my father, we were both students. It was when I was a child."
"It’s pretty damn effective," Dahnai admitted. "Guess I owe you ten credits," she laughed, holding her hand out to him. He took it, and helped her up. She tugged at her robe to get it back into place. "Guess next time I try something else, something better."
"It was a good punch," he told her. "You were trained well. It just wasn’t fast enough," he chuckled.
"Pft, next time, I’ll take you on naked. I think you’ll have a hard time keeping your eyes on my hands if my tits are waggling around for you."
"Part of my training is to ignore distractions and focus on the fight," he said conversationally. "You have a sexy body, Dahnai, but my old master would fight wearing all kinds of really weird things, even fight naked, but the worst was a girl’s school dress, all done to try to distract us. Ever seen a sixty year, scrawny, ugly little old man about yea big," he said, holding his hand at his chest, "dancing around wearing a high school girl’s skirt and blouse? If you can focus yourself when facing that nightmare of a vision, you can keep your focus through anything, even a pair of swinging tits."
She gave him a look, then laughed.
"He was an eccentric old man, but I gotta admit, some of the oddball crap he used to do made a hell of a lot of sense later on."
[Contact. KES Scimitar. Communication request. Open channel?]
[No, tell the computer to warn the pilot to hold position. I can’t leave here until I’m dismissed.]
[Opening link to Scimitar mainframe.] There was a very quick pause. [KES Scimitar mainframe. Command?]
[Tell whoever’s at the conn to hold position and do nothing right now. I’m in conference with the Empress and I can’t leave until it’s done.]
[Relaying.]
A servant came into the room and bowed. "You wished to be informed when the Grand Duke’s ship arrived, your Majesty," the teenage girl said. "It has just appeared about twenty minutes out from the planet."
"Guess your ride’s here, Jason," she told him. "I’ll arrange to have a ship take you there, and I’ll have your little fighter taken up to your cruiser with you too, okay?"
"I guess that’s alright," Jason reasoned. "I have to get up there somehow." [Tell them that I’ll be coming up shortly, and they’re bringing my Nova with me. So just have Zora approach the planet and park the ship in orbit until I arrive.]
[Relaying.]
[Oh, and tell them don’t try to contact me. I’m kinda busy.]
[Relaying.]
"I already have a dropship there waiting for you, Jason, and I’ll have a cargo ship over in just a minute to pick up your fighter. It’ll follow you up to your ship."
"Alright."
"It was good to meet you, Jason. I really enjoyed it, and I really enjoyed kicking Maeri’s ass today."
"I want to thank you one more time, Empress. What you did for my people today, I hope someday I can repay you."
"Oh, you will, Jason," she winked. "I call in my debts. Don’t ever doubt that. Remember, I want you here tomorrow, noon standard time, at court."
"I won’t like it, but I’ll be here," he sighed.
"I don’t like it either. We can suffer through it together. After court, you and me are gonna have another talk with Anya, and flesh things out a little more, then you and me are gonna have another little chat like the one we just had. So don’t make any plans. Oh, and you must bring your wife tomorrow. I really want to meet her."
"I will, your Majesty," he promised with a nod. "I’m not sure she has anything to wear to the palace, but we’ll figure something out."
"Then just come a little early, and I’ll have a chamberlain get her something appropriate."
"Alright, we will. Do I need to give these robes back?"
She looked at him, then laughed delightedly. "No, keep them. We have plenty of spares, and they do look rather handsome on you." She reached out her hand to him, and he took it and impulsively kissed the back of it, like he’d seen people do in old movies. She looked a little surprised, then she gave him a wolfish grin and crossed her arms under her breasts. "Now get home, you. You had a long day, and you need a good night’s sleep so you’ll be ready for tomorrow."
"I haven’t had any private time with my wife since I was captured, Empress. I can assure you, she’s not going to let me sleep."
Dahnai laughed, and the little servant girl giggled. "Chini, take the Grand Duke to the landing pad," the Empress told the girl.
"Yes, your Majesty," the girl said with a bobbing bow. "This way please, your Grace."
In all, it was an eventful day. But it was a good day.
Trillane was gone. His people were safe. He had done it, he had won. But there were more challenges ahead, more problems, more things that had to be done. Earth had to be transitioned back to self-governance. Cybi needed him on Karis, and there, they needed to breathe life back into a dead planet. He saw that he was going to have some interesting times on Draconis, fencing with the delightful, disarming, and thoroughly dangerous Dahnai Merrane, as she tried to find out what he knew.
But those were worries for tomorrow. For today, for the rest of today, there was just enough time to sigh and smile and know that if only for this moment, all was right in the universe, and the day could only get better. There were old friends on the Scimitar he hadn’t seen for months to be reunited with. Tim, Temika, Kiaari, Kumi, the survivors of the Legion, they were waiting to see him again. And then, there was beautiful, beautiful Jyslin, the light of his life, who was waiting for him to come home.
God, what a wonderful thing that was.
Tomorrow was tomorrow, but today… today had been perfect.