Chapter 20

Vesta, 4 Kedaa, 4395 Orthodox Calendar
Tuesday, 30 November, 2008, Native Regional Reckoning
CNN Headquarters, Atlanta, Georgia, USA, Terra

Every television screen on Earth shared the same image. It was a handsome young man, with green eyes and blond hair, dressed in a black Faey formal robe, sitting behind a glass desk.

“Good evening. I am Jason Karinne, Grand Duke of the House of Karinne, and effective immediately, I have operational control of the planet Earth.

“As most of you realize, I’m a human being. But, for reasons I’ll explain in more detail in a press release tomorrow, I’ve been installed as the leader of the Faey noble house of Karinne. The short of it is that one of my ancestors was a Faey, and that Faey was a member of the ruling family of the House of Karinne. Since I’m the last known survivor of that family, the house comes to me. And since I am a human, I’ve claimed the right of first option for Earth. Effectively immediately, House Trillane no longer has control of this planet. I do.

“As I’m sure many of you who live in areas where Faey work have noticed, there’s a sudden influx of Faey soldiers wearing black armor. These soldiers are Imperial Marines sent by the Empress Dahnai Merrane to ensure that the withdrawal of Trillane from Earth is orderly and complete. While Trillane withdraws from the planet; these Marines will be assuming temporary control of all governments and law enforcement agencies. For the next few days, Earth will be under a state of martial law while Trillane evacuates. But don’t worry, my friends, this is a good kind of martial law, because the Marines are here to protect us from any attempts by Trillane to sabotage our planet or do any kind of damage while they are evicted from Earth. For the next week, I ask that everyone please stay home, limit your trips outside to going to the store for needed supplies, and to keep close to your vidlinks to keep yourself updated on the current news.

“Once Trillane has left our planet, we will be partially returning to our original system of government, at least up to a point. Every living former leader of the old nations of Earth either has been or is currently being contacted by emissaries of House Karinne, and it will fall upon your former leaders to reinstate their original governments. But I’ll make this very clear, right now. Neither the Marines nor House Karinne will tolerate any dispute over these governments by elements within the nations. If you were in a nation that was in the middle of a civil war, you are stuck with the government that had official recognition from the United Nations when the Subjugation began. And there will be no more civil wars. Humans will never fight humans again, not over something as silly as who controls a country. If you don’t like the government your nation had when the Subjugation began, you are more than welcome to try to effect change in a peaceful and non-violent manner. Armed insurrections against these governments will be stamped out quickly and forcibly by Imperial Marines. The Marines are the law, ladies and gentlemen, and they answer to me.

“Each nation will be sending a delegate to the United Nations, and it is the United Nations that will be assuming the responsibility of governing this planet. Each nation will be partially independent, allowed to set its own rules and guidelines within its own borders, but it will also be subject to the rules and regulations set forth by the United Nations. Where the U.N. law contradicts the laws of a nation, the U.N. law will supersede local law. This will allow each nation to restore its culture, customs, and national pride, but will still make it a part of the collective whole, part of a united Earth.

“There’s going to be some hard work ahead of us. Though Trillane is gone, the Imperium will remain, and now it falls upon me to honor the agreements that Trillane made with the Imperium when they won control of our planet. That’s the price we have to pay to regain a portion of our independence. The Imperium is hungry, people of Earth. They are starving, and our planet is a farming powerhouse. They need us to help feed them, and it pains me to say this, but we need them too. We need their technology and their skill, and we need their protection from the other governments out in space that would fall on us like a pack of wolves and conquer us if we broke away from the Faey. But we have won something here, people of Earth. We aren’t a subject race to the Imperium any more. We are equals to the Faey now. A human now sits in the halls of power in the Imperium, and I will do my best to fight tooth and nail for the betterment and welfare of the human race, and I’ll make sure that the human race is given all the rights and privileges as the other races of the Imperium, something we were denied under the rule of Trillane. We are now partners with the Faey, not slaves. Now we will show them the kindness and good hearts of the human race. We will put the past behind us and move forward hand in hand with the Faey instead of being pushed ahead by the barrel of a gun.

“Why are we going to do this, you ask? Because the Faey need us. They desperately need us. Their people will starve without us. And we would be sorry excuses for human beings if we turned our backs on those who need us. We will continue to produce food for the Imperium, food they desperately need, but now we will do it because we want to do it, not because we are forced to do it. A new noble house, the house of Suralle, will be arriving soon to replace the Trillanes on the farms, but they will not be our overlords. They are here to help us, and only to help us. They have no voice here. They have no authority here. They are here only to supply us with the infrastructure and technical skill we need to continue our farming efforts and that is it. I will say this right now. If anyone has any negative experience with a worker or noble from the house of Suralle, I want you to report this incident to a Marine barracks or your local government immediately. I will not tolerate any mistreatment of our planet or our people by the Suralles, and it will fall upon you, the people of Earth, to help the Imperial Marines to watch the Suralles and make sure they keep their word.

“Naturally, because we will continue to farm, that will necessitate a certain amount of continuation of the Faey’s ways. There will still be mandatory farm work, but that work will not be forever. A summons to a farm will not be a ticket into slavery, and the farm lotteries are hereby forever abolished. A plan is being worked out now so nobody works on a farm for more than two months out of any year, and no more than a year total farm work in a span of ten. And you will be paid for this service, people. You will be paid very well, a salary that will probably be more than or equal to what you make now at your current job. People may also volunteer to work on a farm if that is their desire, and those people will be receiving a larger salary for that voluntary service. There are more than enough people on Earth to allow us to continue to produce food in the quantity the Faey need to help keep their people fed but not condemn us to a life of forced farm labor. We will spread the burden out as wide as possible, so everyone does just a little, instead of some doing it all.

“There is one more matter, a matter I regret to have to bring forward, but something that needs to be done. The Trillanes were engaged in wholesale illegal kidnapping of human beings for illegal purposes, and the House Karinne will need your help to try to get them back. If anyone you know has disappeared or has been forcibly taken by the Trillanes, you need to report this fact. Contact numbers are going to be set up by tomorrow afternoon, you can file a report in person at any Marine barracks, and a CivNet site will also be opened where you can report this online. Please, we need your help. We have to know who was taken so we can try to find them and bring them home. Empress Dahnai herself has pledged Imperial support in this effort to find and recover our missing people. So please, we need you to report anyone you know is missing. When you do, give as much information you can, and if you have any pictures of the abducted people, those would really help.

“But I promise you, people of Earth, it will never happen again. As long as we continue to meet the quotas of food production the Empress has set, we will be allowed to look after ourselves. Remember that. As long as we fulfill the obligation Trillane made when they won the right to farm Terra, we can keep ourselves out from under the heel of another Faey noble house. I know it’s not much of an improvement to go from the control of one house to another, from the Trillanes to the Karinnes, but at least with me, you know you’re getting someone who cares about what happens to you. I am a human, and I will do my best to make sure that we will be both respected and treated with dignity by the Faey. That is my solemn promise.

“In closing, I have just one more thing to say. I am no noble, and I’m no politician. I will make mistakes, and I’m sure some of them will be real whoppers. So please, have some patience with me. I’ll be working my butt off for you, and if you give me a little leeway, I promise I’ll be the best Grand Duke I can be, a Grand Duke that works for the people, not a Grand Duke that expects the people to work for him. This too is my solemn promise to you. This is not my planet. I am not a ruler. It’s just my bad luck that I’ve been thrust into this unwanted position, but I’m here, so I have to do my best to make sure it’s done right. I’ll do everything I can to help Earth and the human race regain its dignity, and together, if we all work hard, we can build something that our children will be proud of.

“Thank you, good day, and good luck. May God bless us and watch over us, because we’re going to need it.”


Raira, 33 Kedaa, 4395 Orthodox Calendar
Saturday, 25 December, 2008, Native Regional Reckoning
The Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, New York, New York, USA, Terra

Christmas was supposed to be a day of family, good cheer, and rejoicing.

This Christmas was the most special Christmas ever, for the entire planet was celebrating. For on this day, the United Nations had reopened. It only had three officials there in any real capacity, but it was open for business and ready for when the nations reorganized themselves and sent their ambassadors. Right now, only three nations had seated ambassadors: the United States, China, and Great Britain. Those three nations had been fastest in reseating their old governments after Trillane was kicked off, though it certainly wasn’t complete. Jason had ordered that each government’s original governmental structure would be reinstated, and that was still a work in progress just about everywhere else.

America had been the first to get back into operation. The entire government that had been seated when the Faey arrived was recalled to Washington and simply picked up right where they left off. The President, the Congress, and seven of the nine members of the Supreme Court were back, and they were already getting things back into operation… or at least mostly. Now, they knew, they were like a state government, for they now answered to the United Nations, and it was that entity that would allot them their yearly budget amount for them to spend, and any laws they passed couldn’t contradict U.N. law. But the U.N. would be relatively unobtrusive, and that was by intentional design. It would interfere with the member nations as little as possible, letting the old nations look after themselves with only the lightest of touches to ensure that things were being done to the satisfaction of House Karinne, and the biggest concern for House Karinne was that the food continued to be produced at the set quotas. As long as the food was being shipped out, the people of Earth could do anything they wanted short of start wars with each other.

Jason had been there of course, the Grand Duke Jason Karinne and his wife, the Duchess Jyslin Karinne, opening the doors of the United Nations building as cameras took pictures and video cameras caught the event live. There was even a pair of INN crews there to do stories on the event.

But that was over now, and Jason was taking a breather in the room they were renting. He didn’t want to stay in the Waldorf, but he was the Grand Duke, and the mayor of New York had been scandalized when he asked for just some room in a hotel near the U.N. building. He got thrown here basically against his will, but he didn’t take the penthouse, as a determined sign to everyone that he did not think he was above them.

It was really strange. They were actually homeless. They had no house of their own. For the last month, he’d been moving from hotel to hotel, running all over the fucking planet trying to iron out all the problems and talking to the leaders of the old countries. It sure wasn’t easy, on him or anyone else.

It had been so nice and quiet when they first got back. The first thing he did was invite the entire Legion into the house, and they all agreed. Everyone was a Count or Countess now, except for Kumi. When Jason offered her a place in his house, she demanded a higher rank, since she was already a Countess, and besides, he needed her. That was true enough, and he had to bow to her blackmail. So instead of being the Countess Eleri Trillane, she was now the Duchess Eleri Karinne. And it was her expertise in how noble houses worked, and education in house operations and her knowledge of business, that let them get where they were now. Thanks to her, House Karinne already had a house bank account on Moridon, she had worked out a financial plan with Anya Suralle, and a material deployment schedule had been worked out. Kumi had worked fast, and he’d be lost without her. If Jason was the face of House Karinne, Kumi was its brain.

Quiet… well, up to a point. After two days sequestered with Jyslin, interrupted only by visits to court, time she demanded and time he was more than happy to give her, he caught up with the others, and saw that things had moved along since he was captured. There were only 21 surviving members of the Legion; the rest had been killed in action, and Sheila Hart had been killed in an accident in the mountain. Ian had expressed while he was gone, and Jason had learned that Temika had started dating Mike Colbert, which was a very good thing. She was finally overcoming her phobia about being touched. And in a rather curious turn of events, within days of getting back, Songa had taken up with Luke. This surprised Jason, but then he stepped back and looked at it a little more closely. Both of them had lost the focus of their lives, Luke his family and Songa her husband and they seemed to sense the melancholy emptiness in each other. And since both of them were compassionate, good people, they wanted to help each other, fill that void with something that could never replace what was lost, but something that would at least ease that pain and make life bearable again. In just three days, Songa had become quite attached to Luke, and by the end of the week, they were living together. It was a good match, as far as Jason was concerned. Luke would treat Songa like a queen, and Songa would treasure Luke’s gentle attention.

Myra wasn’t too happy about it. It seemed that Myra had designs on Luke.

The House of Karinne went from 12 to 33 members, but none of them really did all that much right now. Myri had taken over as the commander of the Scimitar, and she kept most of the Marines with her, keeping the ship manned at all times. Myleena was in heaven up there, tearing the ship apart one little piece at a time and learning how it all worked, then putting it back together. The others were basically working as gophers, running back and forth between various countries as Jason’s representatives, just seeing how things were going and getting status reports on when each country hoped to be back up to the self-governing level and when they’d be sending ambassadors to the U.N.

If only he could spend more than two days in a row on Earth. Every other day, it seemed, he had to rush off to Draconis to attend court, and when he was there, it was like another war. The Siann didn’t know what to make of him, but they certainly didn’t like him. It was nothing but arrogant looks when he was there, and the only nobles that would talk to him where members of house Suralle. The new representative of Trillane in court since Maeri was banished, the Duchess Myana Trillane, Maeri’s eldest daughter, couldn’t take her eyes off him, and those eyes promised a horrid, painful death if she could ever catch him alone. The fine that Dahnai blackmailed out of Trillane had been crushing. It nearly bankrupted the house, and obviously, they were blaming Jason for it. They couldn’t do much to avenge themselves against Dahnai, but Jason was a very available target. After the first court, where Jason introduced Jyslin to the Empress, Dahnai ordered her guards to escort Jason around, because she was worried that someone from Trillane might actually attack him. Attacks within the palace were not unheard of.

The only relief came after court, but it wasn’t much relief. After court, without fail, Dahnai summoned him to her quarters. There, three things happened. She taught him how to use his telekinetic abilities, he began training her in the forms of Aikido so she could better defend herself, and she missed no chance to try to trick him or push him into saying something about the Karinnes that would give his knowledge away. Every damn session was a chess match of caution with Dahnai, for she was relentless. He really had to push the line between subject and friend with her, because she knew he knew the secrets of the Karinnes, and she wanted to know those secrets. She would alternate between trying to trick him into saying too much, trying to catch him off guard, and there was the occasional outright orders for him to tell her the truth. But, to her credit, she had not used her talent to try to find out. She was as bad as Jyslin, a fucking pit bull that had latched onto his leg and would not let go. She used her status as Empress as a club against him, for he could not deny any summons she made. That was the law. If she summoned him to her presence, he was legally obligated to show up.

She did seem to establish some rules in her mind. She wouldn’t threaten him with retaliation if he didn’t tell her. She didn’t use her talent, or have someone else do it for her. And while she was a typical Faey with a few modesty issues because she was accustomed to having someone watching her at all times, she kept her hands off him, not trying to seduce the answer out of him, despite him getting the feeling that she did want to put her hands on him. He knew that if she had any kind of sexual attraction to him, she’d act on those impulses without batting an eye. She was the Empress, she could have any man she wanted and they could not, by law or by custom, deny her advances. Sometimes, though, when she looked at him, he could tell that she did have those impulses. He could tell when he was being undressed by her eyes. But she refused to bow to those impulses, wouldn’t even admit to him that she had them, which was what a Faey would do. Kumi was the perfect example… from the first meeting she made her attraction to him abundantly clear, as well as her intent to bed him. He wasn’t sure why Dahnai was doing what she was doing, and that made her very mysterious.

But, he couldn’t deny that he liked her. When she wasn’t trying to dig what he knew out of him, she was an intelligent, witty, charming young lady with a razor wit and an almost supernatural ability to see the smallest detail. She also learned fast, he had to admit. As he learned the basics of telekinesis, she learned the basics of Aikido. And after they shared their knowledge, they would talk, about anything and everything. Jason learned a hell of a lot from Dahnai on the basics of leadership, learned quite a bit about the various houses of the Siann and the current alliances and enmities, and learned quite a bit about Dahnai herself. She was unmarried but had two children, sired by a Merrane male chosen by the house, a five year old son and a three year old daughter… which she only saw once every ten days. By custom, the Empress didn’t care for her own children, couldn’t be burdened with that responsibility when she had an empire to oversee. They were being raised by foster parents from Merrane until they were ten, when they would be allowed to live with their mother. That seemed cruel to Jason, but to Dahnai, it was just the way it was. She loved her children very much, and was already counting down the months until her son, Maer, would come live with his mommy. Then her daughter, the Crown Princess Sirri, would come live with her two years later, and they’d be a family.

It was custom for the Empress to produce the heir before marrying, since the Empress didn’t marry at the behest of the house. She’d already produced her heir with the chosen male, carefully selected for his lineage and pedigree, so now she was free to marry. Empresses often married for political gain, but did not always do so. Unlike other high-ranking noble women, Dahnai was free to marry anyone she wanted, not who was chosen for her for maximum political gain. Being the Empress, no one could make her marry anyone.

It didn’t take long until Jason saw Dahnai as a close friend. Despite the tension between them concerning his silence, she really liked him, and he really liked her. He was as close to her as he was to Kumi… probably even closer. And what was just a bonus was that Jyslin and Dahnai really hit it off. There was a great deal of discomfort on Jyslin’s part at first, because she was the Empress, but after the shock of that wore off and Jyslin started seeing Dahnai for who she was instead of her title, they started getting to know each other.

The Siann took note of this personal attention, as did INN, and that was probably half the problem. Jason found it impossible to get back to Karis and see how things were going with Cybi because several Faey media organization followed him around everywhere he went. INN had to be the worst of them, but that god damned tabloid CivNet site The Examiner was horrific because they resorted to paparazzi-style tactics to get pictures of him and Jyslin, of the other members of Karinne, and everyone they associated with. He was hoping that they’d lose interest in him, but the combination of his unusual rise to status and the Empress’ personal, intimate interest in him made him like a fucking rock star to the Faey. Everywhere he went, there was a camera and a reporter, people asking him questions, and annoying the hell out of him. As the days moved on, it got worse and worse out in the world, but things within court got… weird. Nobles began cautiously approaching him, saying nothing of importance, just trying to engage him in smalltalk. He seemed to be in favor with the Empress, and he realized they were testing the waters, seeing if he might be amenable to them, and through him gain the Empress’ ear.

He dreaded going there now. Not because of Dahnai or the Siann, but for an entirely different reason. He noticed it about two weeks ago, when he and Dahnai had spent an afternoon outside. He’d gotten sunburned, and after applying some burn-heal to it, he ran to Songa immediately, going all the way back home to do so, for his skin had taken on an unpleasant grayish pall. He feared he’d had some kind of allergic reaction to the burn-heal. She gave him a thorough examination, then laughed and told him that it wasn’t a medical problem.

Jason was part Faey, and exposure to Draconis’ sun was triggering his hybrid melanin to protect itself.

And it was turning him blue.

The blue tint in his skin was noticeable now, and it merged with his beige skin to produce a dusky, almost grayish hue. It was like any tan; it would darken with more exposure and fade if he stayed out of the sun, which would allow the blue to fade completely. Jyslin thought the idea of him turning blue was entirely proper, but she was terribly biased. Jason hated the idea of it, and now he didn’t go to Draconis without wearing long sleeves and carrying an umbrella to shield him from the sun. He didn’t want to turn blue. He wanted this blue tint to fade and go back to his normal coloring, and it had been doing so. It was very faint now, and after a couple more days, it would be gone entirely. He’d just have to be careful from now on to limit his exposure to the sun while he was on Draconis, or he’d turn as blue as a Faey.

It wasn’t just him either. Tim and Ian had gone with him to Draconis last week, and both of them had come home sunburned. And just like him, their skin started taking on a bluish undertone. Temika had laughed at them, but when she went to Draconis the last time Jason had to go to court, spending all day outside, she came back looking like an Aborigine, her creamy brown skin turning almost purple because her melanin too tried to turn blue once it was exposed to the Draconis sun. She didn’t laugh at them anymore.

He was glad Karis’ sun wouldn’t do that to him. He hadn’t been back since leaving with the Scimitar because of all the attention, but he was keeping abreast of things. Cybi could communicate with him using the Scimitar as a transceiver, and she contacted him at least twice a day to give him status reports, and also just to talk. The Kimdori remained on Karis, continuing to repair everything they could find. They had restored operations on all but two of the reclamation robots, and those robots were again working to restart the planet’s ecosystem. And to his surprise, the Kimdori were starting to rebuild. They seemed to have this notion that the entire planet would be repopulated, so their civil engineers had gone in, brought along old maps and plans of the old cities of Karis, and had every intention of rebuilding every single one of them, putting the planet right back the way it was. Jason had to intervene at that point. He did agree with Zaa that rebuilding some of Karis was necessary, but not that kind of large-scale restoration was required. He allowed Zaa’s people to begin to rebuild one city, the capitol city of Karsa, which was on the coast of the small central continent about 1,000 miles west of the island where Cybi was. And that was the continent that Jason told Cybi to concentrate on restoring first. They would start there, on the continent of Dacha, and work their way across the planet.

The Kimdori hadn’t just been fixing machines. Zaa had called personally two days ago and told him that the KMS Defiant, or Karinne Military Starship, the cruiser that had been docked in the lunar base, had been fully repaired and was ready for service. This was not a scout ship. This was a warship, and it was fully armed and armored. And holy shit was it ever fucking armed. It had weapons on it that Jason had never seen before, but they seemed absolutely devastating. Its main weapon was a striated particle beam projector, a stream of subatomic particles that ripped matter apart. The Imperium had weapons nastier than this, until one saw that this weapon was fired as a sustained beam. The beam lasted for nearly six seconds until the projector had to stop to cool off, but during those six seconds, the focusing lens could shift, moving the beam. The result was a shearing beam that could rake across an enemy ship and literally cut it in half. The Defiant had three of these particle beam weapons in it, and all three could fire at once. It also was armed with teryon cannons, weapons similar in behavior to MPAC projectiles, explosive energy blasts that penetrated before detonating. But the most dangerous weapon on board was actually a defensive system called a torsion wave generator. It created a spatial shockwave around the ship, kind of like a space earthquake, that did tremendous stress damage to anything caught in the wave. It was primarily and anti-fighter and anti-missile shield, a defensive system that destroyed anything small that got close to it, but it couldn’t fire if other weapons were being used, because the torsion wave altered the trajectory of any energy beams that passed through it while it was operating.

Zaa had told him that the two destroyers, the KMS Resolute and the KMS Sora’s Pride would be repaired and ready within two weeks. The Kimdori had been focusing on the cruiser.

That was good to know, but right now, the Defiant was just an oversized toy. He had no crew to man it.

While Jason was running around the planet like a maniac getting in touch with nation leaders, Suralle had arrived and got to work. Their first order of business was saving the crops that were currently in the ground, and this they did quickly, taking over seamlessly from the Trillanes. Those people who had been on the farms like the Suralle way better, for they were nice and helpful, they started working to upgrade the living conditions of the workers, and what was most important, they started handing out hard currency payments to the workers, paying them for their work. The Trillanes had never paid them; working on a farm was like being in a prison camp, where the borders were fenced in and guarded, everyone worked every day, and nobody got a single credit for their labor. But the Suralles charged in and started tearing down the fences, started fixing up the dorms, started giving everyone a cash advance on their future pay, and brought in shuttle service so the workers could get to towns and have a night off, have a little fun, and buy what they needed. The workers were still stuck on the farms and had to do their jobs, but they were all told that they’d only be there until they could get a new personnel system in place, and those who had been on farms under Trillane would never have to work on a farm involuntarily again once they were relieved. They had a lifetime exemption from compulsory farm duty. They were welcome to stay on as voluntary workers and receive a healthy salary for their work, but they didn’t have to stay if they didn’t want to.

Anya Surrale had come to Earth personally and was overseeing this transition, and he often caught rides to Draconis to attend court on her ship, since Anya didn’t miss open court. He felt like a carpooler. He did like Anya, though. She had a shrill, unpleasant voice, but she knew she did and actually preferred to send. She was an earthy middle-aged Faey woman who had the Faey equivalent of doctorates in chemistry and political science, a very well educated woman who happened to be very nice, and he became friends with her rather quickly. Anya had been continuing his education in Faey politics, and it was from her that he saw the ugly side of it. She confided in him-dragging a promise that he wouldn’t tell Dahnai out of him-that both House Dorrane and House Trillane had tried to approach her to form an alliance against Merrane. Anya could smell an approaching war, and she wanted no part of it. Suralle was prospering right now, and they had nothing to gain from a civil war that would ravage the Imperium, so she kept her loyalties to Dahnai very public and very known. The largest four Highborn houses were maybe too large, too powerful, and now they had revolution on their minds. The Trillane scandal was just the proof that her suspicions were correct, in her mind. Trillane had started executing a plan to take the throne of the Imperium away from Dahnai, and she knew that Dorrane and Shovalle couldn’t be far behind. She predicted some rough times ahead for Dahnai, since she was the target of these plots, but Anya confided to him that Dahnai was a very smart young lady. She was only 40, which was about 28 in human years, but she’d been on the throne since she was 14, and she was well settled into it. She was a formidable Empress, and the other houses would be hard pressed to outfox her.

They had a court date tomorrow, and after the ceremony, Anya had arranged to pick him up from the hotel tomorrow afternoon so they could get there.

But that was tomorrow. The ceremony was over, and for the rest of the day at least, they had no obligations. This was part of his Christmas present to himself, a little free time where he wasn’t running to the next shuttle that would ferry him to another part of the world, dragging his wife in tow and forcing messages to try to chase him down from country to country.

Jyslin was taking it well enough. She shared his discomfort for being in the public eye, for she wasn’t a noble, she was a Marine. Some of the little soundbites they’d picked up from her, Jyslin being Jyslin, had made it onto a few INN newscasts, and that had embarrassed her to no end. Of course, it was Symone that the cameras really liked to follow, because of her natural charisma, her ease in front of a camera, and her downright naughty demeanor, making her a real media darling, and driving Tim up the wall. They followed Jason around because he was the Grand Duke, but they loved following Symone around because of what she might say or do next. She did look a little haggard, though, he noticed as she took off her earrings and put them on the table near the door. She was wearing a formal robe, a very pleasing cream color that went well with her hair, simple and unadorned; since they hadn’t had the time to really buy any good ones. They were still wearing the robes that Dahnai had given them when they visited the palace when they dressed formally, clothes from the “rent-a-robe” inventory the chamberlains kept to dress visitors so they could attend the Empress. They’d both amassed quite the wardrobe of them, for they were given new robes when they attended court for the first couple of weeks, until both of them had 6 or 7 robes to choose from, and they’d just been wearing those ever since. The other nobles laughed about it, since their generic robes made them look like beggars, but Jason really didn’t give a shit what they thought. He sure as hell didn’t dress up to impress them, he did it because it was custom to appear before the Empress in formal robes, and that was what he did.

Help me with this, Jyslin called, starting to undo the ties of her robe. I swear; it takes a fucking maid to get this thing off me. I feel like a dork that I can’t dress myself.

I can’t do it either, he reminded her. Boy; was that ever true. Anya always spent ten minutes fussing with his robes every time she picked him up, fixing them for him ‘cause he still hadn’t quite got the hang of how they were put on to make it look right. He dragged her over to the bed and sat down on it, and started working on the complicated series of ties, snaps, and buttons that kept the robes in place. Anya dragged me into a corner and fixed my robes this morning, before the ceremony.

I saw that. So, what do you want to do with the rest of the day?

Sleep, he sent immediately, but she slapped him on the top of the head, which made him laugh. I don’t care what we do, hon, as long as we do it together.

That’s better, she purred mentally, putting her hands on his shoulders. Wanna get some movies and just snuggle in for the day?

That sounds wonderful, he agreed.

Did you send out those gifts for your Christmas holiday?

Yeah, I got them all out yesterday morning. I just hope they got there in time. We need to send some thank-you cards out to the guys, too, thanking them for the gifts.

Curious custom, this Christmas of yours. We don’t have anything like it.

Yah well, I’d be surprised if you did, since it’s basically a religious holiday. It’s evolved to take on a non-religious aspect as well, but at its core it’s based in religion. It celebrates the birth of Jesus Christ, who is the Messiah in Christianity.

Leave it there, she warned. One of the rules of the Fox Shaddale household was that religion was not a topic of discussion. Jason was a Methodist, and while Jyslin wasn’t very pious, she did at least acknowledge her religious roots in the Trinity. Neither of them wanted to start a holy war, so religion was a forbidden subject.

I’m not gonna go any further, goof, he chided her, getting the last tie undone that would let her take off the upper garment of the robe. He stood up and took it from her after she took it off, leaving her bare from the waist up.

Thanks, love, she sent, patting him on the shoulder. She sat down and started unlacing her slippers, and Jason started working on the laces of his own robe. There was a fast knock on the door, and the door opened partially. “I beg your pardon for the intrusion, your Grace, but-”

The door burst open, and the uniformed hotel worker was pushed aside as Tim and Symone got past him. “Bugger off, Charlie,” Symone told him, pushing him out of the door when he gawked at Jyslin’s bare breasts, then shut the door behind him. “I swear, what a jackass,” she growled, looking back at them. Both of them had changed since the ceremony. Symone and Tim both were wearing tee shirts and faded jeans. Symone’s tee shirt was a Washington Redskins football logo tee shirt, and Tim’s tee shirt was a plain white unadorned shirt Hey guys, what’s up?

Just getting undressed from the ceremony, girl, Jyslin answered, pulling a slipper off.

Here, lemme, Symone told him, coming up to Jason and starting to work on the laces. You’re a total klutz at this, ya know?

I didn’t grow up wearing this crap, Jason protested as Symone started working her way down.

Tim-Tim, help Jyslin with her shoes, dink! she ordered.

Sure.

Thanks, Tim, Jyslin sent as he knelt down and started untying the complicated laces around her calf, and she started on the ties of the waist of her breeches. She got those undone just as Tim finished taking off her shoe, and she wiggled out of her breeches and panties boldly; the panties Jyslin wore under the robes could be called boxer briefs by some, because the trousers chafed her thighs. She didn’t like wearing them any time other than when she wore the formal robes. What are you two up to? she asked as she sat back down and pulled the garments off her legs, then got up and went to the dresser, digging for a new pair of panties.

Eh, we dunno yet, we wanted to see if you two wanted to do something. We didn’t want to leave you out, Symone answered, finishing her unlacing and helping Jason take the robe off.

That’s sweet of you, but we weren’t planning on doing anything. Just curling up on the couch and watching a movie. You’re welcome to hang around if you want.

Sounds good to me, Tim sent. If you two don’t mind company.

We never mind your company, Tim, Jason told him.

The door opened again, and Temika walked in, wearing a heavy overcoat to protect her from the New York winter cold. One look in the room would have sent her running two months ago, but now, she had a much better understanding of the relationship between these four people. After all, it would be easy to read into things seeing Jyslin stark naked, leaning over the dresser drawer with Tim sitting on the bed, while Symone was undressing Jason by the couch. Two months ago, Temika would have immediately jumped to the conclusion that something kinky was about to happen, but she knew better now. The relationship between these two couples was almost like they were intermarried, and this kind of intimate social interaction was entirely normal for them. Jyslin had no qualms about parading around naked in front of Tim and Symone, since Symone was her best friend and she’d already had sex with Tim, quite a few times, so there was nothing about her Tim hadn’t seen, touched, or probably kissed, before. Just as Symone had filled Jyslin’s shoes when she was with Jason and he was separated from Jyslin, Symone had shared her husband with Jyslin while Jason was in Faey custody, providing her with physical comfort and release. Jyslin had joked that if Tim hadn’t have been there to pop her cork, she’d have been ten times the bitch, and she probably could have run the entire house of Trillane into the ground. In that time after Jason was captured, poor Tim didn’t sleep in the same bed two nights in a row. Symone had literally handed him over to her best friend every other day, to give her someone to yell at when she was angry, a shoulder to cry on when she was emotional, and a man to just fuck senseless when she needed it.

And it didn’t bother Jason at all. He completely accepted the unusual situation between the four of them, and he was honestly happy that Tim had been there for Jyslin when she needed him.

“Hey, y’all, what’s up?” she called, closing the door. “Or should Ah just turn around and go?”

Jyslin laughed. “No, no foursome today, we’re just changing,” Jyslin told her with a wink and a grin. “What are you up to, Mika?”

“That’s not a bad idea, though,” Symone giggled. “We’ve never done it together. We should try it.”

Temika pointedly ignored Symone. “Ah was gonna go down to Times Square and look around. They setting it up for New Year’s Eve, and Ah wanted to take a look. Wanna go?”

“No thanks, hon, me and Jayce just wanna relax today. Thanks for the necklace, by the way. It was lovely.”

“Ah was hopin’ you’d like it, sugah,” she said with a smile.

“I love it. It’ll go really nice with those blue robes the Empress gave me last time I was at court.”

“Oooh, Mika gave you jewelry? Show it off!” Symone said excitedly.

Jyslin opened a small box on the dresser and turned around, showing a blue crystal necklace to Symone.

“Wow, nice!”

“Ah remembered you talkin’ about how all the nobles have jewelry, and how you didn’t have none, so Ah thought it would help you out. Ah just wish Ah could afford real jewels, but Ah thought it was pretty,” Temika said with a flush.

“Push off, Mika, it’s gorgeous,” Jyslin told her. “I’d be much prouder to wear your necklace than a whole torque filled with rubies and sapphires. At least your present came from the heart. That makes it worth more than jewels.”

“You better keep it quiet,” Symone told her with a grin. “If word got out you’re giving Jyslin jewelry, people might think you want between her legs.”

“Eww!” Temika gasped, then she stalked over and smacked Symone on the shoulder. “That’s nasty, Symone! Ah ain’t no lesbo!”

Symone lurched forward and grabbed Temika’s head, then kissed her full on the lips. Temika shuddered, then she pushed Symone away, hard. Temika looked outraged, but Symone just gave her a roguish grin. “Yup, you’re right, you don’t like girls. There was nothing in that kiss at all.”

“Why you little blue bitch!” Temika shouted, but then she laughed helplessly. “Ah swear, Ah should kill you, Symone!”

“Pft, I’m too cute to kill.”

“You better thank God above for that too, sugah,” she snapped. “Ah’m leavin’, before Ah do kill Symone. We’ll bring y’all back some tee shirts, ‘kay?”

“We?” Tim asked.

“Me an’ Mike,” she answered. “Think Ah’d go out there alone, with all those reporters camping the hotel? They all scared of Mike, they ain’t never seen no man as huge as he is,” she said with an unconscious little trill in her voice. Temika was highly attracted to heavily developed men. Mike was a bodybuilder, and his massive frame really appealed to her. “He chases them away.”

“Well, have fun Mika. This time, I expect you to get more than a kiss goodnight!” Symone challenged. “He’s never gonna make the first move, girl. Just grab his dick and blow in his ear, that’ll show him what you want!”

“That’s just too damn forward,” Temika grunted, not blushing at all. “It ain’t the way a lady behaves. He might think Ah’m a tramp.”

“He’s still unsure about you, Mika, he’s not going to do anything you don’t initiate,” Jyslin told her evenly. “He really wants to be with you, but he knows you’re still dealing with those other issues. When you’re ready, you have to tell him. He won’t take the initiative. We kinda warned him not to.”

“You really think he won’t think Ah’m a slut?” she asked sincerely.

“Honey, he wouldn’t care if you were the biggest whore in the Gamia province,” Symone told her. “So go pull his pants down and show him how much you care.” She put her finger on her chin. “And remember it good enough to share an image of it. I wanna see his dick.”

“Not my boyfriend, you won’t,” Temika growled, marching out quickly.

Think she’ll get up enough courage this time? Symone sent, looking at Jyslin.

I hope so. She just needs to conquer it once, and that should do it.

Symone laughed. I’m sure the instant she gets Mike’s dick in her, she’ll be cured, she sent with a lustful taint running through her thoughts. A girl can’t take a dick that looks as big as his without wanting more of it.

I think I’m gonna have to take your word for that, honey, Tim sent dryly.

You better. I’ll share you with Jys, but no way am I letting you go to the sheets with a man.

I’m so glad, he sent dryly. So, what movie should we get?

Something new, Symone said as Jyslin stepped into a pair of silky black bikini-style panties and pulled them up. Wow, nice panties, Jys, they really make you look hot. New?

Yeah, I bought them last time we went to Draconis, she answered. Help me find my black shorts.

While Symone helped Jyslin root through the drawers to find her shorts, Jason hung up his robe, then he sat down on the couch and took off the boots. At least for him, it was much easier to take off the shoes. Men wore soft calf boots by tradition, while women wore long-laced slippers that wrapped around the ankles and lower calves and then tied off. He took them off and pulled off the trousers, then caught the sweatpants and tee shirt that Jyslin tossed him and put them on. She put on a pair of short, slinky black shorts and a rather skimpy black half-tank top that barely managed to cover her breasts, and both Jason and Tim had to stop a second to admire how sexy it made her look.

They decided on watching the new Pirates of the Caribbean movie first, and settled in for a rare afternoon of simple domesticity, quiet time that Jason had been craving and desperately needed. They watched three movies that afternoon, with Jyslin curled up on one side, and then he had Symone leaning up against the other with her legs thrown over Tim’s lap. He put an arm around each of them, playing with Jyslin’s gorgeous red hair absently with his fingers as his other arm draped comfortably on Symone’s upper chest, his hand lightly resting on her shoulder, just happy to be.

He and Jyslin had no home… and he guessed it was about time to address that, he realized as they started watching the Fantastic Four sequel that didn’t interest Jason very much, but Jyslin and Symone had wanted to see it.

Clearly, negotiation would be required. Jason hated heat, and Jyslin hated cold, so he figured they would have to split the difference. Since he could fly his skimmer or Nova wherever he wanted, it meant he could live virtually anywhere and still get around the planet to do his job. But he would kinda like to live near New York, since he’d have duties as the head of the U.N., which was his official position. There would still be a Secretary General to handle the day to day stuff, Jason would just be the guy over him.

Long Island. There were some houses out there, they could find something close to the ocean and also something fenced in, to give them some space from those maniacal reporters. It’d be expensive, but Jason still had some money stashed away on Moridon.

Yeah, they had estates and crap like that out on Long Island. There had to be one for sale out there, somewhere.

We need a place to live, he announced. Something more permanent than this.

Ya think? Symone sent archly. Me and Tim haven’t looked at anything yet, cause we wanna be close to you guys.

Well, what about Long Island? he offered. It’s warm in the summer, cool in the winter, and they have to have some fenced-in estates out there up for sale, so we can get some space from the reporters. It’s close to the U.N., too.

Sounds perfect, Jyslin told him, leaning her head against his shoulder. Let’s start looking tomorrow.

You can, love, I have court tomorrow, he sent sourly. Wanna come?

And watch you flirt with Empress Dahnai? No thanks.

I do not flirt! he protested.

You flirt with her every time you tell her no, love. That drives Faey women crazy, she told him, raising her head and looking him the eyes, smiling knowingly.

Well, this no is not up for negotiation. She keeps trying to find out what I know of the Karinnes, and I won’t tell her.

I know. Just be careful. Eventually, she’ll get tired of playing this game and come after you much more seriously.

Yeah, don’t remind me, he sighed.

Me and Symone can help Jyslin look, Jayce, Tim offered.

Sounds great.

And the matter dropped. They returned to silent togetherness through the movie.

When it was over, Symone rubbed her foot against Jason’s leg meaningfully. “Let’s do it,” she said.

Do what? Jyslin asked.

Together. Let’s do it. We’ve never been all together before. I want to be in the same bed with my husband and my best friends. I want to be able to reach out and touch the two sexiest men alive at the same time.

I’d love to. I’ve been wanting to myself, Jyslin said. What about it, guys? Wanna be kinky?

A few months ago, I’d have thought that was a crazy idea, but not anymore, Jason sent, running his hand up Symone’s leg. I can’t think of anything better than making love to my wife with my best friends there to share our joy, and I think making love to Symone while Jyslin watches would be interesting. I want to try it.

I seem to have been outvoted, Tim sent with a laugh. But I’ll admit, I’ve been thinking of it myself. We trade off often enough; we should just cut out the middle man.

Damn right. Now get naked, lover, I’m horny, Symone told him as Jason started unbuttoning her jeans, and as Jyslin pulled her half-shirt over her head. Ooh, Jason, take charge, baby, she sent with a wink.


It didn’t take them long to find a place of their own.

Jason had been right. There were quite a few estates for sale on Long Island, and some of them were selling dirt cheap, being sold off by people who had been rich before the Subjugation, but then lost their fortunes after the Faey arrived. The big, ultra-luxurious estates had been bought, but there were quite a few walled estates on the market, enough to allow them to basically take their pick.

Jason mentioned the house search to Dahnai at court the next day. She scoffed and gave him a dirty look, and told him she’d take care of it. He had no idea what she intended to take care of, since she ended court immediately after that and also told him to go home, that she had something to do.

That made him nervous.

By the time Jason returned from Draconis a few hours after court, waiting for Anya to deal with some Suralle business, Dahnai had already acted. Anya’s shuttle was diverted, and landed at a large walled estate on Cape Cod, in Massachusetts, that overlooked the ocean. Waiting for them there was a member of Merrane, who handed him a set of keys. “Her Majesty owns this planet, your Grace, and all unclaimed or destitute property is, by law, property of the Crown, which she can sell on the open market. This is one such property. She told me to tell you that this is your house now, but it’s also not free. She expects you to pay her fifty thousand credits for this property.”

Fifty thousand? It’s worth five hundred thousand, at least. Maybe a million, Anya scoffed.

“It’d take me a week just to dust something this big,” Jason said uncertainly. “It’s too big for me and Jys. I’d be spending my whole life just cleaning.”

“Jason. You are the Grand Duke Karinne. You do not clean,” Anya said, scandalized by the thought of it.

“I wasn’t born a noble, I don’t think like you do, Anya.”

Well, get over it, she sniffed. And you’d be a maniac for turning this down. Not only is it perfect for you, but you’d really offend her Majesty. One does not turn down a gift from her.

She’s charging me, Anya. That means this isn’t a gift.

Charging you one tenth of its value? Yeah, she is, Anya snorted.

That about settled that. Jason accepted the terms, reluctantly, and found himself in possession of an estate, ironically enough, named Foxwood. And it was rather nice, almost perfect. It had a pool and a tennis court on the grounds, a cavernous garage with lined spots for twenty cars, and a stone wall fenced in nearly 30 acres that isolated the mansion from the road. It had a large fifty room mansion with all the amenities one would expect from a place like this, already furnished, and what was most important, it had a concrete slab out behind the house that was originally a helicopter landing pad, but would serve him well as landing spot for his skimmer and Nova.

Jyslin loved it, but Jason, well, he felt it was too big. He felt lost in the place, it was so damn big, and it didn’t feel cozy. It didn’t feel like home. But, he guessed, he’d be expected to live in a place like this, and all the spare bedrooms would certainly be useful. He left Jyslin to deal with the other issues, like hiring a staff to man the place, because he had to go back to court the next day.

It was during the training session after court that Dahnai broached the subject. “So, what did you think of the house?” she asked.

“It’s too big,” he answered immediately. “Raise your right hand more. Good.”

“It’s befitting a Grand Duke.”

“I’ll be sure to tell the Grand Duke the next time I see him,” he said dryly. “But Jason doesn’t like it quite that much. It may be a house, but it doesn’t feel like home, you know?”

“I can understand that. Look where I live, after all, the most ostentatious, gaudy building on Draconis. Just do what I do, hon, pick the part of the place you like the best and make it your home. The rest of the place can just be the window dressing for the visitors.”

“That’s not a bad idea.”

“Of course it’s not. I suggested it.”

“My, that title certainly makes you think you know everything, doesn’t it?”

She gave him a look, then laughed. Then she got her butt thrown to the ground because she wasn’t paying attention.

But it was a good idea. Jason and Jyslin selected a series of three connected rooms in the north wing, and declared it to be their apartment. They tossed out all the furniture, refurnished it, redecorated it, converted one room into a living room, one into an office and study for Jason, and the other into a bedroom, and moved in. Tim and Symone couldn’t find anything available near the estate, so Jason and Jyslin just solved that problem by moving them into the manor. Tim didn’t want to live in the manor house, so they instead moved into a guest house on the other side of the pool. After taking a look at the six room house, Jason was kicking himself that he didn’t think of moving in there first. The cozy little house would have been perfect.

They weren’t alone long, that was for sure. Miaari and Kiaari almost had a cow when they saw the place, and saw that Jason and Jyslin were living in the cavernous manor alone, since Jyslin hadn’t started hiring a staff and Jason had been too busy fussing with the apartment to think about things. Miaari placed a call to Zaa, Zaa called Dahnai, and Dahnai got on the gravband almost immediately to the Marines. Dahnai had no idea that Jason had moved in without telling anyone, without hiring a staff, without even bringing any security for crying out loud, and she was angry with him over it. She moved swiftly to deploy a Marine detachment to the manor, and they quickly secured the place. The detachment commander, a bulldog-jawed Faey Major, Major Zhara Ulinne, was both efficient and discreet, posting guards all through the grounds and in the house itself, but making sure they were never ostentatious. Kiaari almost scornfully took over from Jyslin the task of finding and hiring a staff to man the house, telling her a Kimdori was best suited to dealing with matters of security… and the workers that would be caring for the private residence of the Grand Duke Karinne was most certainly a matter of security. Kiaari was both fast and effective. Jason had to go to court again, but when he got back early in the morning of the next day, Kiaari had a full staff of maids, cooks, butlers, maintenance personnel, and groundskeepers already hired. And she was training them personally. It seemed that she and Zhara had got together and worked out a security plan for the manor, and Kiaari was training these new workers in their duties as the private house staff of the Grand Duke Karinne.

“Uh, Kiaari, why are you still here, anyway?” he asked as she came into their apartment one early afternoon as Jyslin helped him dress in the formal robes for court. “Shouldn’t you have gone home by now? We’re done with what you came here to do, after all.”

“You still need me, Jason. You hired me to help you, and just because you’re the Grand Duke now, you still need me. If I’m not here to help keep you alive, who’s going to? Don’t ever think that Trillane has forgotten about you, my friend. They haven’t. They’ll eventually try to get revenge on you for what you did to them. Major Zhara and the Marines are here to handle the obvious threats and to keep the riffraff out of your hair and let you have some peace and quiet. Well, I’m here to handle the not-so-obvious threats. Kimdori know how to play the game, hon, and that includes playing defense. No assassin is going to sneak into this manor and threaten you or Jyslin so long as I’m here keeping watch over it. And now that we have a permanent place, I can set up a more effective intelligence operation, and bring in some of my people to help me,” she said, rubbing her furry hands together. “Miaari may be your ambassador to my people, but I’m still your intelligence chief,” she winked.

“I can’t afford that kind of an operation,” he warned.

“Who said you were paying for it? The Kimdori have always performed this service for the Karinnes, Jayce. It’s tradition, and you know how Kimdori are about tradition. I’m just lucky that sister Handmaiden talked Denmother into giving me this assignment. It’s a real chance to prove myself. I get to run the operation, not be part of it. For someone as young as me, it’s really rare. If I do a good job, I’ll bring even more prestige to the clan. Why, our father would almost burst from pride if he had a Handmaiden for a daughter and the youngest gamekeeper among the Kimdori for another daughter.”

“Gamekeeper?”

“It’s all nothing but a game, after all,” she winked. “The Gamekeeper controls the game. And Terra will be my playing field. I am the Gamekeeper of Terra. This planet’s intelligence is my responsibility.”

“And Miaari’s gonna be there looking over your shoulder,” Jason realized.

Kiaari winced and gave him a hard look. “You just had to remind me,” she growled. “Of course she’s gonna be looking over my shoulder.”

“Look at it as always having someone around to give you advice when you need it,” Jyslin told her.

“And someone to harp on me when she thinks I’m not doing things the way she wants them,” she added.

“That woulda happened no matter what,” Jyslin chuckled.

The manor house was entirely too big, but at least it filled up quickly. Jason brought in the rest of the house and gave them a permanent place to stay while they found homes of their own. Everyone had a room, and for a while, the place was lively and felt like home. But one by one, the ex-Marines and the former members of the Legion found houses, and moved out. But, thankfully, they all decided to live very close to Foxwood, so everyone found houses in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut, a quick and easy commute to both Foxwood and New York, which made the Marines Dahnai sent to Earth very happy, since it put all the Karinnes in the same region, a region that they really saturated with troops to keep things safe and orderly. And they didn’t have to pay for them, either. Jason bought them their houses, using old leftover Legion funds, making sure they had a good head start.

Not everyone decided to go that route, though. Myleena decided that the action would be at Foxwood, so she went the same route as Tim and Symone and claimed the second guest lodging on the estate, which was a studio apartment over the garage originally meant for the estate mechanic. It also kept her right there on hand to tinker with the two Novas, both the one Jason had nearly trashed, which the Kimdori had repaired, and the spare one. The Karinne dropship was also brought to Foxwood for safe keeping, and Myleena-and Jason for that matter, when he had time-was quite content to putter around on the ships at hand when she wasn’t studying the Scimitar. In reality, Jason and Kiaari both preferred it if Myleena lived on the grounds. Given she was the only other Generation in the house, Kiaari wanted to keep them both under her watchful eye.

But, it made it more like home to him. Myleena was an interesting young woman, and he both liked her for who she was and admired her for her technical expertise. He liked learning from her, tearing things apart with her, and he just liked her. Having her nearby to basically chew the fat when he needed a distraction was a good thing.

And then there were Tim and Symone. They lived on the grounds, and they probably spent more time in Jason’s apartment than they did in their own home… but that was the way all of them wanted it. Tim and Symone were his best friends, and Symone was almost like a second wife to him, not just someone to share a bed with when they were both in the mood, but someone to whom he felt he could talk on a level reserved for someone very special in his life, someone he trusted just as much as he trusted Jyslin and Tim. She knew less about the truth than Jyslin, but she never pushed to know more, and was content in what he was willing to divulge. But what made what existed between them go to another level was that they didn’t just share when the other spouse wasn’t available anymore. It was broken the night he admitted to Jyslin that he’d been wanting to make love with Symone again, despite the fact that Jyslin was there. Jyslin just laughed and summoned Symone to their apartment that very second, and sent them into the bedroom so Jason could explore his awakening desires for Symone. Then she went to go find Tim.

It was probably the last barrier that had been broken in him, and had allowed him to fully embrace the relationships he had with these two Faey women. Jyslin was the love of his life, and the woman he wanted to spend his life with, but Symone, well, Symone was a fun, entertaining woman who had squirmed her way into his libido if nothing else, and he found sex with her to be both different from sex with Jyslin and also exciting and fulfilling in its own ways. It was what Jyslin considered to be a thoroughly natural Faey response, two friends who had the hots for each other exploring that attraction, but in a way that didn’t threaten either of their marriages. Jyslin felt the same way about Tim, finding him to be a really sexy man and a thoroughly satisfying and vigorous lover (the second best lover on Earth, Jyslin had told Jason), and the four of them formed what in Faey terms was called the amu dozei, the harmonious love, a term closely related to the amu donai, the courtly love, where a single spouse shared a deep “platonic” love affair with someone outside the marriage that did not involve the spouse. What existed between the four of them involved both pairs of spouses, a combination of friendship and mutual sexual attraction that brought them together as more than just two sets of married friends.

And it sure as hell was no secret. The Faey considered such arrangements to be entirely proper, even practical, but the humans Jason governed, who were just as curious about their Grand Duke as the rest of the Imperium were, well, it took them a little while to wrap their minds around the idea of him having a mistress, who happened to be a married woman, and to whom neither his wife or her husband didn’t object. There was the certain “scandal” when it came out that Jason was cheating on his wife with the wife of his best friend, but Jason didn’t address it, knowing it would just fade as soon as Jyslin was asked about it. And boy, did it fade fast. When a CNN reporter threw that question at the pair when they were attending a formal dinner with the delegates of the U.N., trying to startle a juicy response out of the Duchess, Jyslin just laughed and loudly shouted back that he’d damn well better be screwing Symone on the side, seeing as how Jyslin had worked so hard to set it up, and how she was screwing her husband at the same time.

That shocked the reporter into absolute silence. And that was probably the moment when the people of Earth learned a valuable lesson: never try to embarrass a Faey woman on live national television, for she will destroy you.

It even reached all the way back to Draconis. Two days after that dinner, Dahnai decided she wanted to have her training out on the grounds, since it was such a pretty day. In reality, she did it only because of the sunlight. She knew that the Draconian sun caused his skin to turn blue, and she was taking almost devilish delight in trying to accelerate that process as much as she possibly could. Any time he was at court and it was both warm and sunny outside, Dahnai demanded outdoor exercise, had even taken court outside to the lawn on three occasions.

It was a pretty day, he had to admit. The air was sweet and warm, but not hot, and that damned sun shone down on them with invigorating energy. She knew he couldn’t shield himself from the sun and train her at the same time. She was wearing what Jason would call a spandex training suit, a skin-tight pair of thigh-length shorts and a bra-like halter, both glossy black, while Jason wore a traditional Aikido gi, with the loose shirt and flared, pleated leggings, whose baggy, flowing volume would deceive the eye and hide his motions from her senses. The back of his gi showed the crest of Karinne, but had also been altered with the Legion Phoenix rising from between the two waves, under the single star. Luke had doodled the design a couple of weeks ago, and Jason liked it so much he was having a new signet ring made with the design, and had it embroidered on the back of his training gi. When that ring was complete, he’d present it and a new banner to Dahnai, informing her that the House of Karinne was adopting a new crest.

“You’re looking a bit dusty, old man,” she teased as they reached the sand-covered training field, where the Imperial Guards practiced hand to hand combat. There were guards in attendance that day, as there usually was when he trained, ten guards wearing tank tops and workout shorts, standing in a wide ring around the Empress and her mentor. The guards were officially defending the Imperial person, but unofficially, they were watching Jason and learning. His non-lethal martial techniques that would immobilize a foe without killing were of great interest to the guards, for they could perform those movements while in armor. Jason didn’t mind their observation, and had even been approached by the Captain of the Guard, a middle-aged woman with her blond hair done in a crew cut, about who she could contact on Terra to find someone that could teach her guards some of what Jason knew, since Jason didn’t have time to be training the guards himself. He was happy to give her some names of several respected sensei, any of which would probably be happy to move to Draconis to become a tutor.

“You do this on purpose, don’t you?” he accused as he put his hands together. She mirrored him, and they bowed in respect to one another. Dahnai had been scandalized when he demanded this, and it almost got him executed when the Siann learned that he was demanding the Empress bow to him, but he had been absolutely adamant. She was not bowing to him as a subjugant in political power, she was bowing to him as her teacher, and it was a tradition so deeply ingrained into both Jason and the art that he flatly refused to teach her a damn thing without the bow. She was paying her respects not to him, but to the art, and she’d better damn well respect it. If she had no respect for the knowledge he was willing to impart upon her, he would not teach her.

“Of course I do,” she winked. “I think you’d be devastatingly handsome with blue skin. It’s the only part of you that I’d care to change. And since I can change it, well, here we are.”

“Bitch.”

“Bet on it,” she teased. “What are we doing first?”

“You realize that I look utterly ridiculous at home,” he pressed. “Only my face and hands are turning blue. Look!” He pulled his sleeve up, showing a rough boundary between his bluish-tinged skin and his beige skin. “It makes me look like I’m diseased!”

“Well, if you don’t want a two-tone color scheme, I suggest you take off your shirt so you can tan out to a uniform color,” she winked.

“Sometimes I hate you, Dahnai.”

“Then I’m doing my job as your Empress,” she teased. “Are we practicing forms, or are you teaching me something new?”

“Forms, of course.”

They practiced the base forms with flowing grace, as the Imperial guards watched on, as well as quite a few of the Siann, watching from windows in the palace behind them. “I saw an interesting little blurb on INN this morning,” Dahnai noted as the turned with grace, sweeping the right arm out wide. “I didn’t know you had an amu dozei.”

“Symone,” he answered, taking a single step forward. “She’s married to my best friend, and she’s my wife’s best friend.”

“The human telepath?”

“Yah.”

“I’m surprised you got into that kind of a relationship. You seem to resist your Faey heritage and embrace your human one.”

“It’s hard to resist Symone,” he said dryly.

“How does your friend see it?”

“Same as I do. He’s much more adapted to Faey customs than me,” he answered honestly. “I had trouble with it at first, when Symone and Tim came to live with me, and I was separated from Jyslin. Symone wanted to fill Jyslin’s shoes while we were apart.”

“An entirely proper thing,” Dahnai noted.

“That’s how she saw it,” Jason agreed. “I didn’t see it quite that way, at first. It took Symone time to wear me down, but I guess over time, it wore me down far enough. I like Symone. She’s fun, she’s funny, and she’s a great person to be around. When I admitted to Jyslin I’d been having fantasies about her, but wouldn’t do anything about it because, you know, Jyslin was home, she just laughed and sent Symone to me. Ever since then, whenever I feel like sleeping with Symone, or she wants to sleep with me, we do, and whenever Tim and Jyslin wanna do it, they do. It’s been kinda fun, really.”

“So, you can bend that towering human morality with enough motivation,” Dahnai chuckled.

“More like with the right people,” he corrected her. “I think I’d be jealous if my wife were sleeping with anyone other than Tim. I understand their relationship. I know that they knew where the line is, and Jyslin knows that me and Symone are the same way.”

“Well,” she said as they finished the first exercise. “That makes sense. You have to bring Symone and Tim to court some day. I’d like to meet them.”

“Bringing Symone to court would be a bad idea,” he said immediately. “If she didn’t mortally offend some Grand Duchess, she’d have them all dancing in a congo line.”

Dahnai laughed. “I have no idea what that is, but it sounds… interesting.”

“Symone’s a unique girl, with a lot of natural charisma and a happy-go-lucky attitude that makes people relax around her. It’s part of what attracts me to her. And I’d never be insane enough to bring her here. Symone would not gel with the Siann. They take themselves way too seriously to be ready for Symone.”

“Now I really have to meet her,” Dahnai laughed. “Sounds like my kinda person.”

“She wouldn’t be afraid of you at all, Empress,” he warned.

“That’s why I want to meet her.”

He practiced with her through what he’d taught her, then taught her new techniques of locking an arm of an adversary. “Always remember that the momentum of your enemy can be your ally, if you use it correctly,” he instructed. “An arm in motion will remain in motion. That’s energy your opponent has expended that he can’t change without effort. You use that against him. Attack me,” he instructed.

She did so. He never told her how to attack, or what to try. He always allowed her to do whatever she wanted to do, which really annoyed her. She really tried to hit him or knock him down, but he never failed to conquer her attempt and put her into whatever lock, hold, or throw he intended to teach her. It was the way he was taught, and it was the way he taught her. She hovered back a moment, her feet tamping, and then she lunged forward with an open hand, trying to grab him and perform the armlock he taught her last week. He intercepted her and twisted her around, then snapped her arm straight out and bent her wrist, which sent her to one knee in a hiss of pain. “This is the straight arm wristlock,” he instructed, applying more pressure, which made her gasp. “With this hold, you incapacitate your foe by forcing them break their own wrist or dislocating their own shoulder to return to the vertical base. With a little nudging,” he said, torquing her arm, which literally put her on the ground to avoid either a broken wrist or a dislocated shoulder, “you can take someone off her feet. This hold is about leverage, Dahnai. If you can’t gain the leverage on your opponent’s wrist with the initial hold, it can be safely broken.”

“I see, if you didn’t hold my arm the right way, I coulda bent my elbow and got inside.”

“Exactly,” he said, letting go. “Always remember to bend the wrist away from the elbow, and get the foe’s arm straight with a good snap before you apply the hold. If you bend into the elbow or try to apply the force on a bent arm, your foe can just curl in the arm and retaliate.” She regained her feet, and he stepped up and waved in a guard. The guard would be their practice partner, someone Jason could use as basically a practice dummy to demonstrate the moves where Dahnai could see it from the outside. This guard was one he’d never met before, a tall, willowy woman with dark green hair tied back in a ponytail, just like Dahnai’s bronze hair was, wearing a Marine tank top undershirt and a pair of workout shorts. Just like Jason and Dahnai, she was barefoot. He put the guard in the lock, showing Dahnai the form without applying any force, explaining it in more detail. “And always remember the basic focus of the art, Dahnai.”

“Flowing movements that complement the momentum of the enemy, using it against her,” she recited.

“Exactly. Just like any hold, it can be broken if your foe moves the right way. Understand this, move with your foe, keep your leverage. Thank you,” he told the guard.

My pleasure, she sent in reply, bowing to them both and stepping back to the outside.

Jason let Dahnai practice the lock on him for the next hour, letting her learn the nuances of the hold and the necessary ways to move to maintain it, for he broke the hold on her several times to show her how it could be done. When their time was up, Jason and Dahnai bowed to each other, and she caught a towel a guard threw to her. “Nice workout. What’s on your schedule tomorrow?”

“I’m meeting with the president of Russia tomorrow,” he answered as he took a drink from a water bottle. “Er, well, in about nine hours,” he corrected, looking at his watch. “This time difference is driving me nuts. Dracora time is ten hours ahead of local time for me now. It’ll nearly be dawn by the time I get home. It makes me tired.”

“I can relate, believe me,” she grunted. “Want a room? You can take a nap and then just go straight to your appointment.”

“Nah, Anya’s going back to Earth, and I’m catching a ride with her. Besides, they’re expecting me back home. Jyslin worries when I don’t come home when I say I will.”

“You sure?”

“I’m sure.”

He and Anya rode a Suralle shuttle up to a large personal ship, Anya’s personal yacht, that then started out for the stargate. But it didn’t reach it without incident. Klaxons started blaring in the passenger cabin, where he, Anya, and two of her aides were seated in what looked like a living room, albeit a small, cozy one, and the windows sealed over with armored plates. “What’s going on?” Jason asked in surprise.

Strap in, your Graces, we’re under attack! came a frenzied sending from the bridge. Fearfully, Jason helped Anya to one of the foldaway chairs attached to the bulkhead and strapped her in, but then he was thrown to the deck with her aides when the entire ship rocked violently, sending him flying. They were being fired on! Anya’s yacht had been hit!

It was a terrible feeling, being helpless like that. Jason was a passenger here, and all he could do was climb into a seat beside Anya after helping Anya’s young aides strap in, wait, and worry. He could feel the ship lurch this way and that, as the pilots of the yacht executed evasive maneuvers, and felt the ship shake when it was hit. The klaxons continued to blare, and Jason could hear the roar of rushing air behind the door to Anya’s compartment, telling him the hull had been compromised and the yacht was venting atmosphere into space. A second, heavier door came down over the first one, a bulkhead door to isolate their compartment from the hull breach.

Where is the Navy? Anya sent in fear. Why aren’t they helping us?

We were far out from the planet, halfway between the planet and the stargate, it’s gonna take them a couple of minutes to get here, Jason answered. I just hope your pilots are good enough to keep us alive until they get here.

I hope so too, she sent in fear, grabbing Jason’s hand in a crushing grip.

[Contact. KMS Defiant mainframe. Establishing link.]

What the fuck? His gestalt wouldn’t be establishing that kind of link unless the Defiant-

Holy Trelle! the pilot sent. What the hell kind of ship is that?

What’s going on? Jason sent.

A cruiser just jumped in out of nowhere, it’s getting between us and the cargo ship firing at us! It’s shielding us from enemy fire! The pilot sent an image of what she was seeing, and Jason gasped in surprise.

It was the Defiant!

Through the pilot’s eyes, he saw what happened next. The cargo ship tried to come in underneath the battle cruiser, and then a sustained streak of angry white light erupted from the port wing of the cruiser, raking across the blocky cargo ship. The beam sliced it in half like paper, shearing through the hull, which caused the ship’s atmosphere to explosively decompress, pushing the two halves apart. Plasma vented aggressively into space, and then the stern half of the dead ship exploded violently of its own volition, sending the bow section spinning off into space. Who was manning that warship?

[Are you alright, Jason?] a voice came, relayed to him by communion with the gestalt

He gasped. It was Miaari! She was using the Defiant’s mainframe to communicate with him by communion!

[Miaari? What the hell is going on?]

[I’m aboard the Defiant. When our scanners detected the attack, Jinaami warned Denmother, and she sent us. I was on board, overseeing while my people ran a shakedown cruise to make sure it’s operational, when she ordered the Defiant to immediately jump out and assist. Are you okay?]

[We’re fine now. Thanks for the help.]

[Your ship has been hit. Is it in danger?]

[It seems alright. The hull was breached, but we seem to be alright. The pilots aren’t telling us to use the escape pods.]

[Naval ships are coming. We’ll let them assist you, my friend. We’ll jump back out and let them wonder just what happened and who we are. Faey love mysteries, so we may as well give them one they’ll never solve.]

[Miaari, that’s mean,] Jason had to tell her with an audible chuckle.


Two things happened after that.

First, the mystery of the Defiant swept through the Imperium like wildfire. Nobody had ever seen a ship of that design before, and it was an absolute mystery where it had come from and where it had gone. Video of it firing on the cargo ship was analyzed eight ways to Sunday by both the government and the media, showing the Imperium a weapon that they’d never seen before, some kind of cutting beam so powerful it sliced through the hull of the cargo ship like a hot knife through butter. The video angles they had at first only showed the strike on the cargo ship and then the ship jumping out almost immediately after the ship was destroyed, but later, the media got their hands on surveillance video showing the cargo ship attacking a Suralle personal yacht with almost reckless disregard, in plain view of the entire planet. It was such a maniacal thing to do! It showed the Suralle yacht being hit, and then the mysterious triangular warship jumps in like an avenging angel, destroys the ship attacking the Suralle yacht, and then jumps out, almost like a ghost.

That was the public reaction. The reaction in the Siann was much more reflexive. They all knew that someone had ordered that attack, had tried to kill either Anya Suralle or Jason Karinne, but the sheer nerve of it, to attack in the open at the home planet… that took some balls. Nobody knew who did it, because the destruction of the independent cargo ship, privately owned, had killed the crew and destroyed the computer. They searched the remains of the bow section, but found no evidence of who had hired the ship to try to kill members of the Siann. That made them all nervous, unsure if they were talking to someone who had just done something one just did not do out in the open.

The second thing that happened was that Dahnai was utterly pissed. She had a much more thorough education in history, and had recognized the triangular design of the mystery warship that had saved the Suralle yacht immediately. The Defiant was simply a much larger version of the Scimitar with a flatter bow and narrower stern, and Dahnai had not missed that comparison. She called Jason back to Draconis before he even got back to Earth, making them change ships and turn around and come back, and she grilled him in her private quarters. She knew that ship was a Karinne ship, and it had shown up to defend him from attack. She was through playing games. She wanted the truth, and she wanted it fucking now.

This was not the light probing and entertaining game that Dahnai usually made of it. This was the Empress of the Imperium making adamant demands of one of her subjects, but Jason stood silent. He would not answer her. He would not betray his word. He stood in silent vigil for nearly three hours, eyes forward and unmoving as she yelled at him, threatened him, waved an order to yank Karinne’s charter in his face awaiting her signature, even summoned a mindbender to stand at the door, waiting for her order to drag him out to be interrogated, but he would not move from his position, nor would he even give Dahnai the tiny victory of saying a single word.

In the end, he wore her out. She leaned back on her desk and crossed her arms under her breasts, giving him an ugly look. “Look at me,” she demanded. He had been standing there with his eyes forward the entire time, and when he refused, she bent to him by marching into his field of vision. He felt her mind brush against his, but she found nothing but emptiness when she tried to look inside him. He had been using the same trick he had used against Jyslin so long ago, entering a meditative state that suspended all outward thought, giving him the same sense of telepathic presence as a toaster. “I know that was your ship, Jason,” she told him flatly. “You salvaged more than just your Scimitar. And you are going to answer me. You’re going to tell me what you know of the Karinnes, and you’re going to bring that ship out and let me board it and look at it. It may not be today, but you will. That’s a promise. If you thought I was bad before, honey, that was just play. I was amusing myself. But now it’s not a game anymore. The Shovalle Empresses that sat on this throne before me always ignored the Karinnes, had let them play their games on their own, as long as they kept doing their research and feeding new ideas and new technology to the Imperium. They knew the Karinnes weren’t releasing everything, and that was one reason why they were destroyed. When war was declared, the first thing the Shovalles did was order the immediate and total destruction of Karis, even going so far as to leave their own territory undefended to muster a battle fleet big enough to do it. If Merrane hadn’t have gotten there first, the Shovalles would have been the ones to destroy Karis. But the Merranes did it because they couldn’t afford to let the Karinnes side with the Shovalles. Even then we knew that the Karinnes were much more dangerous than they pretended to be. We knew that whichever side they took was going to win the war because that side would have the Karinne telepaths and the Karinne technology, so they had to either be brought over or destroyed. If they weren’t going to side with the Seditionists, they were too dangerous to be allowed to survive. If you read history, you know that the first thing that happened at Karis was the destruction of the planet. After that, when the Shovalles showed up, the largest naval battle in Faey history that took place over the planet. Both sides had brought huge fleets to destroy the Karinnes, and they met head to head right there. That battle actually decided the war, because it seriously crippled the Loyalist fleet. The Loyalists won the battle, but they lost too many ships, and in the long run it cost them the war.

“I’m not going to make the same mistake my predecessors made, Jason. I’m not going to just smile and look away as the new house of Karinne picks up where the old one left off, and plays its own little games. The Karinnes will either be a part of the Imperium, or they will not be a part of the Imperium,” she said with intensity.

Jason looked at her. “The Imperium isn’t ready for the Karinnes to be part of it,” he told her evenly, in a low tone. “When the Karinnes can trust the Imperium, then the Karinnes will be a part of it. If I handed that ship over to you, what would you do with it? You’d take it apart, learn how it works, and build more of them. Then you’d use them to make war on anyone and everyone around you. The Karinnes vowed to never allow that to happen, and I am a Karinne. They withheld their true technology from the Imperium because the Imperium would have done nothing with it but make war. I will honor the sacred traditions of my ancestors, because I agree with them completely. The truth is, Empress, you aren’t ready for what I know. Faey are violent and aggressive, and though I love the Faey people very much, I detest their negative aspects. You have so much technology, so much culture, so much advancement, and all you do is make war, even on each other. I’m not going to indulge the worst parts of the Faey, Dahnai. I’m not going to help you become better killers. We will not give you new tools to use to make war on others and each other. Until then, until the Faey evolve past their need to conquer and dominate everyone around them, the Karinnes will never be a willing part of your system. Remember that, Dahnai. If you can’t accept that, then you’d better kill me right here, right now, because I would rather die than betray the duties I accepted when I took the title of Grand Duke Karinne, duties to more than just you.”

She was silent, for a long time, just looking at him, her fingers tousling her long bronze hair around and around and around her fingers. Then she sighed. “Go home, Jason,” she ordered. “Just go home. And don’t come back until I summon you.”

Jason nodded and walked to the door. “For what it’s worth, I’m sorry,” he told her over his shoulder. “I only wanted to be your friend, and I’m sorry if I hurt you.”

“I’m sure you mean that,” she answered.

That really depressed Jason. He liked Dahnai, he liked her a lot. It had hurt him to tell her that, had been forced to tell her the truth, but he’d had no choice. If he didn’t tell her why he wouldn’t tell her what she wanted to know, she would never stop. But at least now she understood his position. She knew he took his word very seriously, and that he was dead serious that he would take those secrets to the grave with him.

It didn’t stop her from trying someone else, though. She summoned Myleena to Draconis, alone, and Jason paced the entire time she was gone. She returned almost two days later, pale and shaking, and she clung to Jason for almost an hour after returning. She told him that Dahnai interrogated her personally, trying to force her to reveal what she knew of Karinne technology, but Myleena refused. Dahnai hadn’t used mindbenders, she had only used her own authority, trying to make Myleena obey her Empress. “It was the hardest thing I ever did in my life,” she said weakly from Jason’s arms, after crying herself out. “Since I was a little girl, I was trained to obey my Empress, and there she was, in the flesh, asking me questions I knew I couldn’t answer. It was a nightmare! I almost had a nervous breakdown. That’s when she finally showed me some mercy and let me come home. Oh, Jason! I was so scared!” she said, then she started crying all over again.

Jason expected some kind or Imperial retaliation for Karinne’s defiance, like taking Foxwood from him or recalling the Marines, but nothing like that materialized. Jason was banished from the Siann for now, no longer in the Empress’ favor, and it gave him time to quietly reflect on how hard it was going to be to be the gatekeeper of the secrets of the Karinnes from a woman so hell-bent on breaking that gate down and taking what was inside. He realized that it might even cost him his life.

So be it. He meant it. He would take those secrets to his grave. He would never turn them over to Dahnai. Never.

He buried himself in other matters for a few weeks, riding shotgun as the United Nations finally seated its delegates then opened for business as the Earth’s governmental entity. Jason introduced the Terran Charter to the legislative body, the constitution of Earth that was basically patterned after the American constitution, and it was passed. Each country then had to ratify it; once three quarters of them ratified the charter, it would become the law of the land. It established two separate parliamentary houses, and the Secretary General would act as the main executive, but with Jason over him as the Grand Duke Karinne, who could overrule the Secretary General and act with the same executive power if necessary. The Secretary General would be like a Prime Minister, with Jason being the royal figure above him, like the British system. But unlike the British system, Jason’s position was not ceremonial. He held real power.

The ratification took about two weeks. And it passed.

And so, the United Nations then reorganized itself. Selected delegates would sit on the Security Council, like the Senate, while elected officials would serve in the General Council, which was like the House of Representatives. The World Court was installed as the judiciary in planetary matters, and the Secretary General was installed as the direct executive, with Jason sitting as the ultimate executive, holding the same title of Grand Duke in the charter as he did in the Imperium. The United Nations took over the responsibilities of diplomacy, defense, and the oversight of the farming effort on their side, working closely with the Suralles to ensure that food was produced at the required quotas. The new Farm Worker Act was passed that limited the amount of time a single person could work on a farm, paid them for their work using the portion of the profits that went to Earth from the farming, putting all that money back into the farming effort, and instituted mandatory classes in agriculture for every child and working-age adult on Earth. Everyone, from the richest to the poorest, would learn about the farming business, so they’d have an understanding of what they’d be doing when their turn came up to serve on a farm.

The new system was quite satisfactory, to both the Terrans and to the Suralles, because it protected the productivity of the planet while boosting the morale of the people that would be doing the work. The law made a farmer an important, prestigious occupation, and an occupation that may be hard work, was also a certain path to prosperity with its high financial returns for the effort given. It made everyone happy.

Jason was quite happy himself, because now that Kim Duk Moon, the Secretary General of the United Nations, was in place and on the job, Jason could take a break and relax a while. Kim could just call him and send over anything he wanted him to read. And since he was exiled from Draconis, which let his skin return to normal without exposure to the Draconian sun, he really didn’t have that much to do for a while.

So, he snuck out in the middle of the night, and visited Karis. He had a good visit with Cybi, caught up with the Kimdori on their repairs, which were almost complete, and saw that the floral reclamation project that Cybi had started on the island was already taking root on the small continent of Benja, where the old capitol of Karsa was at. The capitol was already 40% rebuilt, and all sixteen of the reclamation robots were on Benja, planting grass and trees to restart the ecosystem. They’d already carpeted nearly a quarter of the small continent with green, and Cybi projected that the continent would be revitalized in 1.3 years.

They’d really done a good job. All three of the warships were now fully operational, and since there were no Karinnes to man them, Zaa had commanded that Kimdori would man those ships, and keep them on constant standby. The attack on Jason, which the Kimdori admitted they couldn’t track back to the house that ordered it, had spooked the Denmother, and she ordered those warships ready to jump out of the system at a moment’s notice to defend the Grand Duke Karinne if he was attacked again.

He returned home to Foxwood to find a sashed member of the Empress’ personal staff waiting for him, sitting sedately in a chair in a receiving room, chatting with one of the maids who had brought her a cup of tea. She stood up when Jason came into the room, bowed to him, and gave him a small, rather elaborately carved wooden box. She then bowed to him again and waited for him to open it.

He did so.

What was inside made him drop the box like it was a live snake and back away from it. He put his hand over his heart as he tried to remember how to breathe, staring at the object that was inside, almost expecting it to jump up and attack him.

“Are you alright, your Grace?” the maid, Patty, asked.

The emissary said nothing. She just bowed her head and looked, then she shook her head and sighed.

Within the box was a single white flower, looking like a small rose. It was a mey, a rare flower, and its significance was not lost on Jason. It was an ancient tradition, practiced by the Empress and the Highborn Grand Duchesses.

By sending him that flower, Empress Dahnai was informing him that she was taking his hand in marriage.

He didn’t bother changing out of the work clothes he was in. He didn’t call for a skimmer or yacht to come get him. He jumped in a Nova and took off, and he flew at breakneck speeds into space, past the moon, through the gate, and down to the Imperial Palace. He had no clearance to land, and that nearly got him blown out of the sky. He stalked past everyone, even pushed guards out of his way, until he was standing in front of Dahnai’s door to her quarters. It opened before he could knock, and he found himself staring at her, wearing one of her thigh-length robes, splayed across her couch watching the vidlink. “Have you lost your fucking mind?!” he demanded in a thunderous shout. “Are you insane? You have to be insane, Dahnai! What hair got up your ass to do that!”

She gave him a slow look. “Come in. Shut the door,” she said, then she looked at one of the guards. “Leave us. Now,” she ordered in a tone that would brook none of the usual objections when she ordered the guards out of a position to protect her, especially right now, when Jason looked of half a mind to charge across the room and strangle her. The three guards filed past Jason and out the door, and the two guards who had been flanking it closed it, but not without worried looks into the room.

“Sit down,” she told him, waggling a foot at the chair facing her couch.

“Answer me, girl,” Jason said hotly. “Are you nuts? Do you have any idea how much trouble both of us are going to get into if people find out what you did?”

“I gave it a lot of serious thought, Jason,” she told him evenly. “And I told you to sit.”

He blew out his breath, then decided to obey. She was being very calm, very rational. Clearly, she had a reason for this insanity, and he wanted to hear it. So he sat down. “Tea?”

“Skip the pleasantries and get to the point,” he demanded.

“Alright, the point. The point, Jason, is the very trouble that will start because of it. You think I don’t know how the Siann will react when they find out I’m engaged to a Terran? They’ll have a conniption. There’s gonna be angry shouting, protests that I’m disgracing the throne, sneers that I’m introducing the wrong blood into the royal line, the whole pod of chaba nuts. And that’s the point, Jason. Who I marry shouldn’t matter, but it does. It’s probably going to start a war,” she admitted evenly. “The Shovalles and Dorranes will use it as a pretext to try to take the throne. Hell, even the Trillanes might take a shot at it, Maeri will say that I’ve gone insane and she didn’t deserve the punishment I laid down on her.

“Clearly, I’m dragging you right into the middle of it. You’re the perfect catalyst, the handsome alien that sweeps in to steal a noble house, then woos the young Empress and makes her so smitten that she risks war to take his hand in marriage. Quite the story, isn’t it? I’m sure there’ll be literature in the libraries a thousand years from now about the doomed, tragic love between Dahnai Merrane and Jason Karinne, a love that ignited the Fourth Civil War.”

“You are insane,” Jason breathed in disbelief. She was going to start a war on purpose!

“No, I’m not insane, Jason,” she said evenly. “Did you ever wonder why I’ve been so hot about finding out what you know? Well, the simple answer is, hon, that Merrane is in a bad position. The other Highborn houses have grown past us, and they can see our weakness. They’re building alliances to try to overthrow us. The seeds of this war were sown over twenty years ago, Jason. I’m just pouring water on the garden and making it grow faster. This war will happen no matter what. Whether it happens now, or happens in ten years, it will happen. At this point, it is unavoidable. What was happening on Terra should make that very clear to you. The Trillanes were in the first stage of a plan to start that war. If I hadn’t intervened, the Imperium would have been in the thick of it inside a year. It was that close. When I remembered my history and the lore about the Karinnes, I was hoping that I might be able to lure or woo or maybe even seduce something out of you that would solidify the Merrane position, some lost technology that might even the playing field and make the other houses think twice about a war. But, your little speech has made it clear that my hope was a hollow one. You are a man of great convictions, and I have no doubt you would have fallen on your own sword before giving me what I needed from you. So, if you want to blame anyone for me sending you a white mey, look in the mirror. You forced my hand.

“Remember what you said to me? That the Karinnes would never be a part of the Imperium as long as we are who we are? Well, that made me think. It really made me think. I realized that there was two ways you could approach that vow, Jason. You could stand back and do nothing, or you do something about it.

“So, here are your choices, my betrothed. You can do nothing, and watch the Imperium slowly kill itself, and watch the Faey who you love, but whose tendencies you hate, succumb to those tendencies and destroy each other. Or you can use those mysterious, secret Karinne technologies to stand up and say no, you will not do this again. The Karinnes were destroyed in the Third Civil War, Jason. I should know; my house was the one who destroyed them. Do you want to see more banners taken down from the audience chamber? Do you want to stand back and watch millions die, and then live the rest of your life knowing you did nothing to try to stop it?

“So, keep your secrets, Jason Karinne. I’ll never ask you about them again. But for Trelle’s sake, don’t stand back and do nothing. We can’t help being who we are. We can’t help but make war. The Dorranes and Shovalles can’t help but try to overthrow Merrane any more than Merrane can help fighting to retain the power it possesses. We’re like little children, fighting over the best toys in the toybox. So, be our responsible father, Jason Karinne. Stop us from making a terrible mistake.”

Holy shit. She really did think this through. She’d been ready for him, and she explained it all with an awful clarity that made her decision a coldly logical one. And part of her logic was trying to make Jason take a stand, either to side with Merrane or to rise up and decry what was coming.

It was a horrific thought. Yes, the Trillanes had been on the verge of declaring war on the Imperium, trying to overthrow Merrane. Was it truly so far gone? Were the other houses so set in their intent that it really was unavoidable?

Yes. They were. Dahnai was right. If they thought that Merrane was weak enough to defeat, they’d fall on Merrane like a pack of wolves.

He leaned back and looked up at the ceiling. Damn her. Dahnai really was smart. If she couldn’t secure his help, she was going to put him in this terrible position, pitting his morals against his desire to stay out of it, gambling that his morality meant more to him than his word, that his humanity mattered more than his duty. Jason would be destroyed if he stood back and watched the entire Imperium disintegrate into a civil war, and knew that he might have been able to stop it… but had done nothing. It went against his concepts of common decency.

But what could he really do? All he had were three warships and a dead planet, and the knowledge of the Karinnes that he could not share with anyone. Even if it did destroy the Imperium, he couldn’t give them the tools to destroy. It would be a crime greater than the extermination of the entire Faey race in a suicidal civil war. He would not, he could not, facilitate the means by which the destroyed everything around them.

“I… I don’t know what to say. I can’t answer you right now, Dahnai. I have to think.”

“That’s fine,” she told him calmly. “I didn’t really expect an answer right now. But I want you to know, Jason, I didn’t send you the mey just to use you. It was necessary, and I don’t think you’ll believe me, though. I like you. You’re intelligent, funny, warm, caring, and very strong. I admire you, very much. I think I could even come to love you, if we had more time and circumstances were different. To me, you’re the only real man I’ve ever met, I’ve ever known. You’ve shown me who you are, not what you wanted me to see, and you’ve never asked anything from me or my position. You’ve been interested in me, not in the Empress. When I’m with you, I feel like Dahnai, not Empress Merrane, and you’ve been a very good friend to me. I can’t tell you what that means to me. I could marry a man like that without batting an eye, and be content with the friendship, even if I couldn’t have the love.”

“I’m flattered you think so highly of me,” he told her honestly.

“I’m not trying to flatter you,” she told him. “I just wanted you to know that. I didn’t just decide to do this off the cuff, hon. I knew it might destroy our relationship, and yet I did it anyway. Please, remember that, and remember how much I like you. Let that tell you how deadly serious I think this situation is to do something like this, to risk the wrath of the only real friend I’ve ever had. And please, even if you do hate me, know I made this decision because I couldn’t see any other way. This was my last resort, Jason. Please understand that.”

She looked away. He was startled; she was on the verge of tears. He had to believe her, at least about that. This wasn’t something she did out of spite for his defiance of her. This was something she only decided to after heavy thought, and felt that she had no other real choice. He could hate what she did, but he couldn’t deny that it wasn’t easy for her to do.

He had to do something. In that regard, he realized, she won. She’d made her point, proving it to him beyond a shadow of a doubt. But, she didn’t need to be so rash. With some time to consider the problem, maybe they could come up with a solution to prevent a war without having to actually start one.

Besides, she was his friend. He had to help her, to honor that friendship, if for no other reason.

He got up and walked over to her. She looked up at him, and almost flinched when he reached his hand down. But he took her hand, turned it over, and kissed the back of it. “Take back the mey, and I’ll do what I can,” he told her. “I can’t promise anything, though. I don’t have half as much as you think I do, and I’ll need time to come up with anything… if I can, anyway. I told you once before that I owed you, Dahnai. I’ll honor that debt, as much as my duty to the memory of the Karinnes will allow. But we need more time than we’d have if the Siann caught wind of what you did.”

“Well, then consider us un-engaged,” she told him with a shiny-eyed smile. “And I’m sorry. I didn’t want to take it there, Jason. I didn’t want to risk our friendship. But I’m in a bad position, here, and I had to risk it. I don’t have much choice.”

“Actually, that was the only way you were gonna move me,” he admitted wryly. “Because it did make me see how serious you are. But, no harm done. As long as you cancel your crazy idea about marriage.”

“A girl wouldn’t be crazy to want to marry you, Jason Karinne,” she told him with a smile, taking hold of his hand and patting it fondly. “So, I can count on you?”

“You can count on the fact that I’ll see what I can do, but I can’t promise how much help it’ll be,” he told her.

“Fair enough,” she told him with a smile. He moved to return to his seat, but her hand grabbed hold of his and pulled, stopping him. “No. Don’t leave. I want you to stay.”

“I was just going to sit back down.”

Stay with me, she sent, her eyes pleading. I’m anxious, and I’m worried, and I’m lonely, and I just nearly destroyed the only true friendship that I’ve ever treasured. I need you right now. Please. She looked longingly up into his eyes. Please. Stay with me tonight. Show me you forgive me. Don’t leave me alone. Not now. I have to know you forgive me. Show me you forgive me. Please, show me you forgive me.

He couldn’t really say no. She was the Empress. Besides, she was gorgeous, she wanted him, and he felt true compassion for her. He could see that she was offering sex as an apology for her actions, and though it wasn’t necessary, he also saw that the weeks of suppressed attraction to him had boiled up to the surface. She wanted to sleep with him to prove that she was sorry, to make sure he forgave her, and to more deeply cement their friendship, to take that next step that Faey friends of the opposite sexes eventually took, a step she had resisted taking for weeks. He saw it for what it was; both an apology and a test, to see if he wanted to take their friendship to that next step.

He sat down beside her, leaned over, and kissed her, giving her her answer.


God, what a woman. He’d had sexual relations with three Faey women in his life, Jyslin, Symone, and Songa, and two of those were platonic partners… but those two platonic partners didn’t prepare him for a night with Dahnai. Hell, the all-giving intimacy he shared with Jyslin almost didn’t prepare him for Dahnai.

She didn’t cross the boundary and threaten his marriage vows with Jyslin, but she came damn close. She was a very prolific sender when she was having intercourse, very “vocal,” very strong, and Jason found himself having to remind her there was a line she couldn’t cross with him while they were having sex. Repeatedly. She kept pushing it, pushing the boundary, seeing how far she could go. Symone was a sender too, but she respected that line. Dahnai, so used to taking anything she wanted from her sexual partner, wasn’t used to being rebuffed, and couldn’t quite get herself to back off. After all, no man, not even a married man, had the balls to refuse the Empress anything she wanted… except for Jason.

There was that, and there was the raw, elemental, pure sensuality of her, a responsiveness and indulgence of the senses he only experienced with Jyslin, that made their night very intense. She was a heavy sender, sharing her pleasure, her sensations, her desires, and while that pushed the boundary of mental joining that was the sole realm reserved for Jyslin, it did make it much more intense than the casual sex he enjoyed with Symone, who didn’t do so with half the power or clarity. Dahnai was a very powerful telepath; that had to be part of it. She could send stronger and with a more detailed transmission of the myriad sensations and textures that made up her senses and her pleasure than Symone could. Dahnai’s sending had almost crossed the line, but Jason couldn’t deny the intense pleasure it brought to their lovemaking.

And there was her body. Jason felt Jyslin was still the perfect woman, but Dahnai gave her a serious run for her money, with her height, and her long, long legs, and smooth, soft skin, and her perfect blend of delightful female softness and muscular strength. She had the sexiest body in Dracora, and Holy Lord above, did she know how to use that body.

It had been a memorable night for him. It was morning now, the guards were back in the room, and he was tangled up with Dahnai under the covers, in her bed. She had a firm grip on him even in slumber, a leg thrown over his and a hand draped over his chest, fingers curled around his shoulder as her head rested against his other shoulder. He could feel every inch of her skin that was touching his, taking special note of the breasts pushing up against his side and the tickle of her pubic hair against his hip and upper thigh, feeling her with a surprising focus of sensuality awakened in him from the night before. He yawned and blinked, the lifted his head to see a guard in three of the corners, all of whom where looking at him with mischievous eyes.

Shut up, he sent in a surly manner, which made all three laugh silently, for they had no voices.

“Stop harassing my guards,” Dahnai whispered from his shoulder, “and go back to sleep.”

“I’d rather you sent them back out,” he whispered.

She opened her eyes and looked up at him, biting her lip as her hand slid down his chest to fondle him, and then grinned at what she was feeling. She lunged up and gave him a hungry kiss. Out, she commanded mentally, since she was too busy kissing him to speak.

Your Majesty, you have court in an hour, one of them reminded her.

Who gives a shit? Now get out, his cock is hard, and I’m not gonna insult him by doing nothing about it, she snapped, pushing Jason’s head down to the pillow as she threw the covers off and slid on top of him. That embarrassed Jason a little bit. She may not be willing to have sex in front of her guards, but she sure didn’t seem to mind exposing his erect penis and deliberately mounting him, her lips never leaving his as she kissed him with hungry passion. Hurry up, for Trelle’s sake! You’re wasting my sex time!

Yes, your Majesty, came the amused reply.

After two very pleasurable hours, the guards were finally allowed to return to the room. In with them came a small army of maids, standing near the bed waiting to help the Empress dress while she laid splayed on top of him, kissing him absently on the neck. “Time to go back to reality,” she whispered, then giggled. “I’m so glad you forgive me. Want to come back tonight and forgive me again?”

“I think I’ll be spending tonight apologizing to my wife for vanishing.”

She laughed. Fair enough. But we gotta do that again, hon; that was some awesome sex. Some of the best I’ve had.

It was fantastic, he told her. And I’d love to do it again.

It’s a date then, she grinned, licking him on the nose. Let’s get dressed. I’m already late for court.

I just want to know one thing.

What?

Why now? I’ve been sensing your interest for a while, and you’ve kept your distance. Why act on it now?

Because of your amu dozei, she answered as a maid started drawing her a bath. That showed me that you’re okay with some Faey customs. I decided before I met you that I’d honor your Terran traditions, so I considered you out of bounds. But then I find out you’re sharing with a friend. So, I figured, if you’re willing to have buddy sex with your amu dozei, you wouldn’t have an issue having buddy sex with me. I am your friend, after all, and you’re right, I’ve been wanting you for a few weeks now.

Well, I have to say thank you for considering me before yourself. That was very thoughtful.

You’re welcome. I’m glad you didn’t mind, or I’d have missed out on some hot sex. I almost can’t wait for the next time.


The first thing he did when he got home was apologize to Jyslin. He told her what happened, telling her everything. She was a bit shocked that Dahnai would do that, but when he explained her reasoning, she actually nodded. Yeah, I could see that. She was trying to pull you into it on her side. I’m not too surprised that she thinks it’s gotten so bad. After what Trillane did here, it was like a big warning sign.

I know, and she more or less blackmailed me into taking sides, he sighed. I’m really torn up over it, love. I have to honor my duties as the Grand Duke Karinne concerning what I know and the responsibility it represents, but I love the Faey, despite your shortcomings. I can’t just stand back and let this happen. The Karinnes must do something this time. I just don’t know how, or what to do.

So, why did you stay so long?

She, uh, wanted to apologize.

Oh. Was she any good?

Jyslin!

Seriously. She’s one of the sexiest women I’ve ever seen, lover, with her great tits and her long legs, and she really works out a lot. Does she fuck as good as she looks?

I refuse to answer that, on account of I might get smacked, he sent defensively.

She laughed. So she was that good. Tell me. All the lurid details, she giggled, worming herself into his arms, resting her elbows on his shoulders. Every pant, moan, thrust, and position.

Now you sound like Symone, or the twins.

When some other woman can make my husband’s knees weak, I want to know how it was done, Jyslin sent with a grin. I have to keep competitive, you know.

Like anyone could compete with you.

Mmmm, say that again, she sent, leaning in and kissing him.


After apologizing to Jyslin, enthusiastically, Jason paced the manor for many hours, considering the problem.

It was a very complicated one. He had duties to the Karinnes that had to be upheld, the utmost of them to remain as the keeper of secrets. But, he had to admit, he would be a terrible human being if he could find a way to either stop or delay what was coming, and did nothing about it. Dahnai had threatened to trap him into that position to force him to make a decision, and though it was pretty drastic, her action showed him how desperate she was and how serious she felt her vulnerability was.

Dahnai didn’t seem like a weak monarch, but that was his personal sense of her. She was a strong woman, but that’s not what this was really about. This was about the top houses of the Highborns getting so powerful that they had the military and political clout to challenge the Merranes for the throne, and that would lead to civil war. If the Dorranes and Shovalles allied, they could do it, but both houses wanted the throne for itself, so they were as much enemies with each other as they were with Merrane. Trillane proved that. They had been on the brink of making a gambit for the throne all by themselves, without any alliances or help from any other house. Trillane wouldn’t just be facing the Imperial military, but the militaries of all the houses loyal to the throne. That was very gutsy, but it proved Dahnai wasn’t being overly silly or cautious. A single house was going to take on the entire Imperium, and Maeri may be ambitious, but she wasn’t stupid. She had to believe she had a viable chance at victory. She probably believed that the Dorranes and Shovalles would capitalize on the Trillane rebellion to try to take the throne themselves, which was why they’d been working on hamstringing the other two houses, getting them out of the way.

Any way you looked at the Trillane scenario, they all ended the same way: civil war.

Any way you looked at the situation with the Dorranes or Shovalles, it always ended at the same result: civil war.

The political infighting between those three houses was probably the only reason there wasn’t already a civil war being waged right now. Each house knew it had to eliminate the competition for the throne once they took Dahnai off of it, so they were busy fighting each other. This was giving Dahnai precious time to get ready for it, to try to muster the Merranes, build the Imperial fleet, and get as many houses as possible to commit to stay on her side.

And he promised to try to help. He really couldn’t see what he could do. He had no military, just the technology of the Karinnes… which he had solemnly vowed never to hand over to the Imperium. He had to keep that promise.

The more he thought about it, the fewer ideas he had. He eventually had to admit that he was stumped, and needed some advice. And there was only one person he could trust enough to ask for that kind of advice.

He didn’t know how to go about contacting Denmother Zaa, so he asked Kiaari to try to get in touch with her and let her know that Jason needed to talk to her. Kiaari told him she’d take care of it, and boy, did she. Two hours later, an Imperial Marine shuttle secured permission to land, and a lone Faey woman wearing the uniform of the Marines disembarked. Jason only had to take one look at her to know it was a Kimdori. She was brought to him immediately, and when she spoke, it was with Zaa’s voice. “I bring a message to you by courier, your Grace,” she told him with a graceful bow. “And instructions to deliver it to you only in private.”

Naturally, Zaa would know how to play the game.

In his apartment, Zaa resumed her normal form, sat down with him, and they talked. He told her about what happened, and ruefully tried to convey the way he felt about the situation. “I’m trapped, Denmother,” he said helplessly. “I want to help, but I can’t go back on my word, and I really don’t want to arm the Imperium and let them loose. That would be a crime of cataclysmic proportions. But I can’t just let them destroy each other. That’s something I couldn’t live with. I’m damned if I do and damned if I don’t. What do I do?”

She just smiled at him. “Every day, I am more certain that we could not have found a better man to place on the seat of Karinne,” she told him with a warm, toothy smile and a pat on his shoulder. “Your compassion is as much a credit to you as your resolve, and your adherence to duty. But this is not a hopeless situation, my friend. The Kimdori have seen the very same thing as Dahnai, who is a clever and capable woman whom I respect. We have had many debates on the matter, and have come to the conclusion that it is impossible to change the Faey. They are an immature, arrogant, violent species. They have their bright spots, but they are also too dangerous to be left unattended. That is why we interact with them. The Kimdori work to keep them under control, to prevent them from boiling forth from their borders and waging war on everyone around them. By keeping them focused inward, it keeps the rest of the galaxy safe from them. It may seem cruel, but understand that as we keep them focused on each other, we also try to mitigate their activities, preventing them from warring with each other, holding a shifting peace within their species. Since the failure we suffered that was the Third Civil War, and the loss of our Karinne cousins, we have debated our methods and have decided to take a more active hand, should this situation rise again.

“And it is about to rise. There is much you can do to help without betraying your duties to the house, Jason. The first of which is to know that the Karinnes can take sides. Always before, their obsession with the Program blinded them to the realities of the Imperium. You are not so blind as they. If you do not want to give them Karinne technology, then use Karinne technology for them, but also keep it away from them.”

“The warships.”

“The warships,” she nodded. “The Defiant himself is more than a match for any Faey battle cruiser. He could probably battle an entire squadron and have an even chance of victory. Karinne armor technology was highly advanced, they utilized automated damage control in the form of roaming robotic repair units that could respond quickly to any battle damage, and they developed shields using Teryon technology, which are resistant to metaphased weaponry. And of course, his weaponry, even by today’s standards, is highly advanced, beyond the Imperium. His particle beam projector will penetrate any armor the Faey possesses, and that is but the strongest of his weapon systems. If those who wish to plunge the Imperium into civil war understand that the Karinnes will side against them, and bring to bear the ancient secrets entrusted to the line to aid the Empress, they will be much less inclined to make an attempt. It will require you acknowledging that you hold those secrets, and will require you to take a stand that will put you in personal danger, but it would frighten the other Highborns into thinking twice about declaring war. We have learned over the years that one of the few stimuli to which the Faey will respond is overwhelming force. That is how Dahnai maintains her position, with the threat of force. But her force no longer frightens the Dorranes, Shovalles, and Trillanes. You must add to her force, Jason. Only then will the other houses back down.”

“So, I should make an open declaration of support?”

“At the very least. Then make it clear that the mystery ship that saved you from the attack was yours, and hint that you have more that will join the Imperium to combat any challenge to Imperial authority.”

He had to laugh. “I’ve hated the Imperium ever since the subjugation, and here I am, about to openly support it. What a fucked up world.”

Zaa smiled. “Reality is often a living paradox,” she told him. “I would also make another suggestion.”

“What?”

“If you are to openly support the Empress, you make all those who hate her your enemy. You must not follow the path of your ancestors and ignore that threat, Jason. You need an army, and a navy. Build more ships,” she told him. “Build a house fleet. Three ships may be enough to cow the Highborns for a few months, perhaps a year, but it will require real force to maintain that fear.”

“We don’t have any money or facilities for that, Denmother. And I don’t have anyone to put in them.”

“Silly boy, the Kimdori will help you,” she smiled. “The Kosigi lunar base includes a shipyard facility, and my technicians are restoring it even as we speak. That is where the ships you have were built. The Kimdori can help you build those ships. Merely say the word, and we will retrieve the plans for the cruiser and destroyer class ships, and begin construction as soon as the base is restored. It will require that a new biogenic plant be built, though. We lack the ability to build biogenic systems. But we can get the ships on their way to completion and refit them with biogenic systems once a new biogenic manufacturing facility is operating.”

“Okay, where do I find the people?”

“Right here,” she told him. “This planet might be owned by the Imperium, Jason, but these are your people. They will support you. Teach them. Train them. They can be just as effective as a Faey military so long as they aren’t close enough for the Faey to attack them telepathically. Put them in a ship, and they are both safe and effective.”

“I never thought of that.”

“They are not your only option, my friend. You are a charismatic and capable leader, both of humans and of the Faey. You should not overlook the Faey as a potential military force. Commoners have no allegiances, my friend, only to themselves and the pay they are given for their service. Loyalty is the issue for you, but I am sure you could find ways to secure their loyalty. One of your most endearing traits is your ability to instill faith into others, my friend. Use that gift. Lure Faey commoners to come work for your house, using whatever means you can. Hire mercenaries to serve as your house army until you can build a true army of your own. It would only benefit you, for you will be hiring trained workers that can immediately benefit the house.”

“I’ll try.”

“Very good. And there’s one more thing, Jason, something that will help you in many ways.”

“What is that?”

“You are the resurrection of the Karinnes, and that name still echoes through this galaxy, Jason. It is the legend of science and the memory of harmonious advancement, where races from all over the galaxy could find a place to come together and learn, a place where there were no factions, no enemies, only students of science. Reopen the Academy. Build it here, on Terra. If a Karinne builds it, the scientists from civilizations you’ve never heard of will flock here, to restore that legendary place of learning. With a new Academy, you gain access to new ideas, new technologies, you become a major player in intergalactic politics, and you become a powerful voice within the Siann. And believe me, after what happened after the Karis Academy was destroyed, no one would attack this planet without being ready to become hated and reviled for thousands of years. Even to this day, the Merranes have blood enemies in many races and governments for what they did to Karis.”

“Like the Urumi.”

“Like the Urumi,” she nodded. “I think if they had it to do over again, they would not have been the ones forever attached to that stigma. They would have let some other house take on that infamy. Rebuilding the Academy restores the Karinne name in the galaxy, it brings you many new ideas and options, it opens new diplomatic channels for you as you deal with other governments, and it gives you a place where you can train your own people to support the house.”

Jason scratched his chin, pondering her words. It certainly would be advantageous. “Will the Kimdori help?”

“My friend, we won’t have to help. Simply announce that the Karinnes wish to rebuild the Academy, but lack the funding to get the project underway. You will have money pouring in to help you. The Merranes have lived with the dark taint of their actions for over a thousand years. Give Dahnai a chance to atone, and she will jump on it.”

“But I don’t want to be tied to anyone, like I owe them for it.”

“She would not expect it,” she sniffed. “Jason, everyone in the galaxy understood that the Karinnes kept strict neutrality. Financing the Academy would bring them no favors from the Karinnes. It did not in the past, it will not in the present. Though you will publicly take sides in the Imperium, and the Imperium financed the rebuilding of the Academy, to them, that is an internal matter. As far as the rest of the galaxy would be concerned, it would be restitution, atonement by the Merranes for past sins. And besides, after what happened to your ancestors, they will understand that the new House of Karinne will not make the same mistakes as its foremothers. They will not care. Trust me.”

“I do, Denmother. I may need your help with the plans, and finding someone to run it.”

“I know of a Faey that would make an outstanding High Dean of the Academy,” Zaa told him. “Her name is Ayuma Indarre, and she is one of you. She is one of the ones we considered for the task, but declined in favor of you. She was a Major in the Imperial Marines who specialized in the administration of the Corps, but she currently is employed by the Makati, administrating one of their smaller universities on Makan. She is a bureaucrat, but she is a good bureaucrat. She knows how to run a research operation due to her experience in her current position, and she is a Generation, so she is someone in whom you can confide about the true nature of the Karinnes and the Academy. I will give you her contact information, and you can extend to her an invitation to apply to operate the Academy.

“That does remind me, my friend. I will be sending the order to quietly make contact with the other survivors of Karinne, and bringing them to you. I will wait until after you get the Academy project under way, and then we will be bringing them to you. It is time to restore the House of Karinne, and that can only be done by reforming the house from its survivors. And you should institute a policy here to gather up the human descendents of the non-Generational Faey and fold them into your house. A swelling of house members will help put you in a position of strength.

“But for the other matters, I will make some inquiries and find you some people to advise you. Clearly, you will need a builder, and to consult the scientific community to find out what the Academy needs to function. I will see to it.”


And boy, did she. Jason had to agree with Zaa on every point. The only way to discourage the Highborns from civil war was to basically scare the piss out of them, make them see that they were going to have a major fight on their hands if they tried it. So, Jason decided to accept Zaa’s advice and do what she suggested.

Firstly, after Dahnai sent him a message telling him he was permitted to return to court, he offered her a tour of the Defiant. He did so privately, but when the Empress went anywhere, everyone knew, and knew where she was going. So, the Siann was watching and INN had cameras going to catch the Empress and the Grand Duke Karinne departing in an escorted dropship, and then it rendezvoused with the sleek, mysterious ship that had been fueling a firestorm of controversy for weeks since it appeared.

That was his public declaration. Now the Siann knew that the mystery ship belonged to him, and his offer to let the Empress board it was telling them all exactly where his loyalties lay.

That was the public display. But the reality was different from the public image, and that reality affirmed itself as soon as the dropship was out of public view.

Dahnai was bitterly disappointed when she found out he wasn’t even going to let her off the dropship. So, they sat in the landing bay for three hours, playing Queen’s Swords with Dahnai’s guards.

That was his private declaration to Dahnai. He would help her, but he would not give her anything, not even a look at forbidden Karinne technology.

The dropship returned to Dracora, and Dahnai publicly thanked Jason for a wonderful tour of his amazing ship. She played it perfectly, and Jason could see the uncertainty in the eyes of the Highborn leaders. Now they knew, knew that that mystery ship with its formidable weaponry was a salvaged Karinne warship, and it was at Dahnai’s beck and call. The mystery of the Karinnes wasn’t something that most people knew, but the Highborns would know just enough to know that that ship was a wild card, know enough of their history to know that the Karinnes had technology they didn’t share with the rest of the Imperium. Being in the highest ranks of the Imperium’s power structure, they would have access to that information, and he was sure that if they didn’t know, the Kimdori they would hire to seek out the truth would tell them just that.

It was played with a subtle hand, but the message certainly was not lost. They now knew that Jason had access to more of the lost Karinnes than a single research vessel, and he would use those resources in support of the Empress. They had no idea what else he had, what other technology or equipment he had managed to recover, but now he had to be taken into account in any plan they might hatch to take the throne.

After court, Dahnai invited him out onto the practice field, to return to training her in Aikido. He hadn’t packed his training gi, so he was forced to wear a pair of shorts that Dahnai had had scrounged up for him, and nothing else. She wouldn’t let him wear anything else. She wore her skin-tight spandex workout suit, and after their last meeting, he had to take a moment to really admire her toned body. While he taught her, he told her about Zaa’s idea of reopening the Academy, but passed it off as his own idea. Dahnai didn’t know about the personal relationship between him and the Kimdori outside of his public friendships with Miaari and Kiaari.

Wow, that’s a great idea, she told him honestly. It would go a long way to healing some old scars between the Imperium and some other governments, too. How far have you gone with it?

I asked, uh, Miaari if she could look into gathering some people to talk about it. Engineers and scientists, you know, to see what we’d need to put into the Academy to make it workable, and the engineers who may build it there to work out the details. She’s working on it right now. I’m not sure where I’m going to find the money for it, but it’s something that I have to do. It’s important, both for the present and to carry out my duties to the house. Restoring the Academy is a task I was given by my ancestors, and now that I’ve got Terra basically up and running, I can get to work on it.

Well, I think it’s wonderful. What will you need?

What do you mean?

Name it, and it’s there for you, honey. Money, experts, materials, you name it.

Well, I’m not going to commit myself to one backer, Dahnai. I’ve got a press release all ready to go out when I get home, making my intentions public. I want more than just the Imperium to know what’s going on. Before it was destroyed, the Academy was a place where scientists from all over could come to research, and students from any race or government could come to learn. That’s what it’s going to be again. I want it to be a community effort to rebuild it.

Well, count this part of the community in, she told him immediately. I’ll talk to your Miaari, and have the best engineering firm on Makan put on retainer. When you have your summit, you’ll have the best damn engineers in the galaxy there to work up a plan to make it happen.

Wow, thanks, Dahnai.

I’m not just doing it for you. If Merrane helps restore what they destroyed, maybe some people will get off our backs, she sent with a frown. And I can see a light hand in there, Jayce. If you restart the Academy, hell, you’re basically wrapping yourself in a suit of armor. People would think real hard about going after you.

Yeah, I thought of that too.

She grinned at him. You’re maturing real fast, babe. I think in a few more months, you’ll be as feared in the Siann as Semoya Dorrane.

I don’t have much choice. It’s learn fast or go down in flames.

It’s the best learning tool, she sent sagely as they bowed to each other. I’m gonna look forward to this now.

Why? It’s no different than before.

The hell it’s not. After you beat the hell out of me out here, I’m taking you back to my room so you can make it up to me. I already ordered the guards out of my bedroom, she purred, giving him an open leer.

And so you get to learn the first lesson all over again, he sent dryly. Keeping your mind on what you’re doing. Every time I catch you daydreaming, you’re gonna regret it.

Bring it on, sexy, she taunted, crooking a finger at him.


Zaa had not been wrong yet to Jason’s recollection, and in her advice to him, she maintained her perfect record. She had been beyond right in how people were going to respond when he went public with his plans to rebuild the Academy on Earth. Almost immediately, the Empress herself released a statement saying that the Imperium considered the restoration of the Academy to be a top priority for both the Imperium and House Merrane, and was funding the operation… and they would spare no expense. Though there was no outright apology in that statement, the contriteness of the wording made it clear that House Merrane was accepting responsibility, and wanted to make it right.

It got some attention from outside the Imperium as well. Jason received messages from four different outside governments; the Alliance, the Skaa, the Bari-Bari, and a species on the other side of the Alliance called the Veruta. All of them said in their messages that they supported the idea of the rebuilding of the Academy.

With Kumi’s help, they formulated responses and sent them off, but another one came in while they were doing so.

“Demir’s sword, this one’s from, shit, I have no idea who it’s from,” Kumi complained, reading the message. “It’s from some government I’ve never heard of before. The Confederation of the Nine Colonies? Who the hell are they?”

Don’t ask me, Jason answered, taking it from her and reading it. I’m kinda surprised, really. I didn’t think so many would remember something that was destroyed fifteen hundred years ago.

Well, hand me that handpanel.

He did so, and she hauled off and smacked him on the back of the head. “Ow!” What was that for?

For fucking every Trelle-damned woman in the Imperium but me! she snapped. Really, Songa? And the Empress? Shit, babes, I was in line first! Where’s my chance?

Songa needed me, and you don’t say no to the Empress. Besides, you’re still in the doghouse, girl, he told her. I’m not done with you yet over that naked picture.

You can really hold a grudge, she growled.

I have not yet begun to hold a grudge, he answered. Now, where are we gonna find tables?

I hate you.

Fine. Tables. Find. Go.

Bastard.

Count on it.


The third issue, well, that was an issue, and it ran him afoul of Kumi, and also caused some unexpected problems within the Siann… and it gave him his first taste of dealing with the dark side of another house.

That house was Trefani, who basically owned a stranglehold on Faey mercenary contracts due to their deep involvement in organized crime.

It was a rather interesting situation. When Jason started looking for mercenaries to hire, again and again, he ran into this union of sorts known as the Soldier’s Guild. It was an agency of sorts that pushed contracts out to mercenary companies, and Jason found out very quickly that mercs were a bit wary of taking contracts that the guild didn’t touch in some way. Jason saw how this worked pretty quickly, and saw that Trefani was using a kickback scheme to make money off anyone who wanted to hire mercenaries, and were making sure that any mercs that didn’t want to play their game had too many hassles to make a living out of it. They either joined the guild, or they got boned. And once they were in the guild, the Trefanis earned their percentage off their mercenary contracts.

Kumi had almost rebelled when he started looking at ways to get around Trefani and hire soldiers directly. “Babes, that’s a bad idea,” she told him flatly. “You might do alright fencing with Dahnai, but she’s civil. You’re opening an entirely different kaba nut when you start fucking with the Trefanis. They will put the hurt on you, and they won’t care that you’re the current favorite of the Empress in the Siann.”

Jason blew Kumi off, but after a little more time, he realized that she was basically right. It was affirmed when Yila Trefani took him aside in open court and mentioned that she’d heard that he was trying to hire unguilded mercenaries, and she did not even pretend to be delicate about the matter. “You won’t find a single merc willing to take on a contract outside the guild, Karinne,” she told him in an ugly tone. “And if you keep trying, someone might decide to offer out contracts on you rather than for you. Understand?”

“Why, Yila, are you threatening me?” he asked mildly.

“Keep doing what you’re doing, and you’ll find the answer to that question, Terran,” she told him icily, then she stalked off.

“What was that about?” Weia Saenne asked curiously, walking over to him and watching Yila stalk off in a snit.

“I do believe I just did the one thing that you’re not supposed to do.”

“What is that?”

“Threaten to cost the Trefanis money.”

She laughed. “That’s usually not a good idea. They’re one of the largest Minor houses, Jason. Nobody crosses them, because they find ways to make you pay without ever firing a shot. They have their hands into so many things; you’d be amazed how deeply they can fuck you when you piss them off.”

“So, Yila has decided to do the one thing she shouldn’t have done,” Jason said with a narrow-eyed look at her retreating back.

“What’s that?”

“Piss me off. If she wants to play a game of chicken, I’ll be more than happy to take her on.”

“What is this game, chicken?”

“It’s a game Terran children play. The first one to flinch in the face of rapidly approaching danger loses. If she wants to put the screws on me because I’m threatening to get around her little monopoly on the mercenaries, well, I’ll just go get my box of toys,” he said, flexing his fingers in an ominous manner. “We’ll see who flinches first.”

Weia laughed. “Sounds like I need to get a seat and watch this one. It sounds very entertaining.”

“It won’t last long. I must ask you something, Weia.”

“What?”

“I noticed Yila wears a pretty expensive dress. Is she one of the stuck up types? You know, one of the Highborn wannabes?”

“If you’re asking if she would be very angry if you embarrassed her, the answer is yes, Jason,” she answered.

“Oh, I don’t do embarrassment, Weia. That’s kid stuff. My area of expertise is humiliation. Yila Trefani is about to get both barrels of it, right in her face.”

Weia gave him a startled look, and laughed so hard she almost fell over.

The Trefanis were basically the mob, and Jason knew enough about the mob from movies, documentaries, and books to know that they were a combination of a light touch and a heavy fist. They moved with subtlety, but when it came time to get their money, the enforcers showed up with baseball bats. But it was also about appearances. The Trefanis had to keep up the appearance that they were above-board, and that was where Jason decided to attack them. They had legitimate businesses and legitimate interests, and those fronts for their real activities could only function so long as they maintained their appearance of respectability.

The day after court, Jason did three things. First, he called in Myleena and they spent an entire day and night building some new toys. Second, he called in the Kimdori to deliver them. Then, thirdly, he put up an open advertisement for professional soldiers to interview with House Karinne, and he specifically stated that any mercenary company that was affiliated with the guild would not be considered for the jobs. And on that open posting, he offered a very appealing salary, almost half again as much as a mercenary might make with another house. And without the guild there to take its cut, the mercenary would get to keep it all for herself.

The money burned Kumi up. “We’re riding the border between black and red ink here, Jayce! We can’t afford to hire mercs at the salaries you’ve promised! We’re almost broke!”

“Sure we can, Kumi. Part of the Academy budget appropriations includes security and defense. I can’t defend the Academy without an army, can I? It’s a valid expense. I’ve already asked Dahnai, and she said it was. We’ll just attach the mercs’ salaries to that blank check that the Imperium wrote for the Academy. The Imperium will be paying them, not us.”

Kumi was about to say something, but then she laughed. “Holy shit, you’re right. Let me go fill out some contracts!”

Yila Trefani, naturally, heard about this almost immediately, and orders were issued. Trefani enforcers were out and about making sure no merc even thought of going against the guild and trying to hire on, even going so far as to put people in the spaceports, watching for anyone going to Terra that wasn’t a Suralle.

Yila never knew what hit her.

The Kimdori did their part perfectly. Their job was to deliver the packages in a way that made it impossible for them to be traced back to Earth, and make them appear to be real packages sent to real businesses for real reasons. They weren’t, of course; they were all sent to the various front organizations the Trefanis used to hide their activities, fronts the Kimdori knew about and willingly disclosed to Jason. Going after businesses on Trefani-controlled planets was useless, so instead, Jason had the Kimdori target the most important front companies to Trefani illegal activities on Draconis, including the home office of the Soldier’s Guild.

Every one of them got to meet the Friendly Puppy.

The Friendly Puppy was a rather fiendish little robotic animal, built like a puppy, with a big, floppy tongue, large ears, and an insufferably cute face and demeanor, covered in fake yellow fur. Jason had intentionally made them look like Odie from the Garfield comics. All the people who opened the packages thought they were adorable, taking them out and putting them on desks or tables. None of them had any idea just exactly what it was or who sent it, but they really didn’t care, for it was so cute. Each Friendly Puppy also came with a little remote control that was a small black box with nothing but a single red button on it, a button that had an internal blinking red light, and Push Me! scribed around it in flowing, cheerful letters.

Faey, being the intensely curious species that they were, could not resist pushing the button.

Doing so activated the Friendly Puppy. The first thing it did was fire off a striated tetryon wave that fried all moleculartronic memory in a 500 meter radius, wiping it by aligning all molecules in the boards in the same direction. Those who had panels or vidlinks on when pressing the button saw them freeze up, crash, and then die. But the Friendly Puppy wasn’t only about wiping the computers of the opposition. The robots engaged then, jumping down and running in circles in the rooms in which they were activated, barking with a high-pitched yap-yap-yap!, and then their programming activated to make them emulate the behavior of a puppy, doing all the annoying things that puppies did. They barked at small objects fiercely. They chased their own tails. They chewed on shoes and any paper they could reach. And they followed anyone around who moved, yapping incessantly for attention, though the Friendly Puppy was programmed not to leave the room in which it had been activated.

But nobody was around a Friendly Puppy for long, for while they did all these adorable things, a booming speaker in the robot’s back fired off a message so loud that it made anyone within fifty feet of the puppy’s ears bleed. That message, over and over again, was “THIS IS A FRONT COMPANY FOR AN ILLEGAL TREFANI OPERATION!” It repeated itself over and over endlessly, announcing to the world the secret within.

Attempts to silence the Friendly Puppy were in vain. The little robots were equipped with a Neutronium outer hull and were shock-resistant, which made it impossible to smack it with a heavy object to make it shut up. Attempts to shoot the Friendly Puppy with an MPAC or any other weapon caused it to emit a sudden high-pitched whine, like the building up of a power generator building to a crescendo, and then the Friendly Puppy fired a harmonic energy wave from both of its eyes and various emitters around its body, concealed by its fur, that gave it a 360 degree field of impact. It was one of Jason’s unused ideas to use against Trillane. The harmonic energy wave caused ionic bonds in metallic elements to destabilize and come unglued; it was a design that Jason had seen in the Research and Development archives called a metal gun, a weapon that only attacked metal, leaving all other materials undamaged, but had never been pursued because it wouldn’t work on Vanidrium and Neutronium, the two main metals of which modern Faey armor were made. The result was the metallic elements of the MPAC literally melting in the hands of the wielder, making the weapon useless, as well as any metal the wielder was wearing. And any metal around the room, too.

In the end, the Trefanis could not figure out how to stop the Friendly Puppies from generating their ear-splitting warnings, nor could they destroy them. So they were forced to bring in sound-absorbing shields and set them up around the buildings; they couldn’t get the shields set up in the room, for the Friendly Puppy was equipped with sensors and would fire its metal gun whenever any plasma signature was brought within 20 meters of it, destroying its metal and rendering any equipment it contained unusable. That was how it was programmed. That made it impossible to silence the Friendly Puppy without sacrificing the building in which it was located by setting up the sound-absorbing shield from a distance.

In the end, that was what they had to do.

Yila Trefani stormed right over to him the next day, in court, as the Friendly Puppies were out there doing their jobs, and gave him a cold, evil look. “I know you did it,” she hissed.

“Did what? I’ve been too busy trying to hire soldiers for my house to get involved in anything, Yila. But, if I did do anything, well, it certainly wouldn’t be limited to just one thing. You can go talk to Maeri about that, Yila. Ask her what it was like when I was rebelling against Trillane and they had to deal with me. I have lots of toys, and I’ve had nowhere to use them. I guess if I can’t find soldiers to defend my house, well, I’ll have to abandon that idea, and I’ll have plenty of free time on my hands,” he said in an intense, low voice, looking her right in the eyes.

She glared at him a long moment, sighed, blew out her breath while looking at the floor, then looked at him with a grim kind of smile. “Alright, you’ve made your point. Call off your little pets, and I’ll look the other way, this time.”

“You’ll look the other way any time I damn well feel like it, Yila,” Jason told her in a growling voice. “I do not take threats lightly or kindly. When it comes to Karinne, you’d better tell all your house that we are hands off. You won’t try to bribe us, blackmail us, or play us, because I’ll come back at you so hard you’ll think you were fucked by a battle cruiser. If you ever threaten me or my house again, you will find out how deep my toy box really is. You’re not the only house that fights its wars without using guns, and I’m a hell of a lot meaner than you. Don’t ever forget that.”

“You’d better rethink that statement,” she said icily.

“Should I? You got a taste of my Friendly Puppies. How’d you like to meet my Hello Kitties tomorrow? I’m sure you’ll find them very entertaining, at least until they start shaking your buildings apart with their torsion shockwave generators. And if the kitties don’t do it for you, I’m sure you’ll just love My Little Pony. Would you like to ride my pony, Yila? I can guarantee you, it will be a once in a lifetime experience.”

She glared at him, then she actually laughed! “I don’t think I have the ovaries to go that far. You win this round, Karinne. But you’d better keep an eye over your shoulder, because I think I found someone to keep my mind occupied.”

“It’s your hair, Yila,” he shrugged. “You’re going to look awful funny once you’ve torn it all out. And no hard feelings. You of all people should understand that it’s only business.”

Despite Yila Trefani’s declarations, she actually didn’t have the nerve to play chicken with Jason Karinne. Unlike House Karinne, House Trefani had much more to lose, and Yila wasn’t willing to risk it. It was much more profitable to simply let the Karinnes go and stay out of the very dangerous Grand Duke Karinne’s way than it was to try to milk their cut out of him. The resistance holding mercenaries from hiring on with House Karinne stopped, and things returned to some semblance of normalcy.

If only just. The brief spat between Yila Trefani and Jason Karinne showed the Siann that the Terran who had seemed so frightened and looked a promising target when he arrived was not afraid anymore, and what was more, he was an intelligent, cunning man who could take the nobles of the Siann on head to head. He knew how to play the game. He had locked horns with one of the most dangerous women in the Siann without even batting an eye, and he had beaten her.

After the incident with the Friendly Puppies, the Siann took Jason Karinne very seriously.


The fourth issue wasn’t that hard to do. Thanks to the late Rann, God rest his soul, they already had a way to find the human telepaths, and that became the task of just about everyone else in the house. The Marines, Songa, Yohne, Myra, Meya, Fure, Temika, Ian, and Molly were given the task of finding all the human telepaths and bringing them to Foxwood, where Jason could induct them into the house, and also start them in their new school, a school run by the Marines on telepathy. The humans, Myra, Meya, Fure, Songa, and Yohne’s job was to find them. The Marines and Jyslin’s job was to train them.

Kumi did her part. She bought Cape Cod Community College, which was only about twenty miles from Foxwood. The school grounds were defunct and empty, so she bought it all, and that was where the new Karinne Telepath Academy was going to be until the real Academy was up and running. Human telepaths would be brought there and given a crash course in telepathy, and they’d have outstanding instructors in Jyslin and the Marines, who were all first-order telepaths. Once they were trained up to competency, they would take positions within the house, being awarded the title of Baron or Baroness.

Of course, the very first human contacted and brought back to Foxwood was Seamus, the man they’d been in Scotland to meet, and where Jason had been captured. He was a burly, short man, very stocky, with red hair and a sunny disposition. He was intrigued to find out he was both a telepath and a descendent of the Faey, and he was quite enthusiastic about the idea of learning about this other side of himself. He became the first student, and got quite a bit of attention.

But he wasn’t the first for long. Fure and Songa were highly efficient using Rann’s idea to find telepaths and were able to place their screeners anywhere they pleased. They also knew now where to look to have the best chance to find telepaths, so they concentrated their search in Great Britain and segments of America and Canada with large numbers of British descendents. And it worked. They were finding, on average, a human telepath a day, and Jason was meeting an optimistically endless line of nervous men, women, and teenagers, explaining to them why they were there, telling them who and what they were, and then telling them they were going to “telepath school.” Once they graduated from the school and became competent telepaths, they’d earn their title and be placed in House Karinne as nobles, where they’d have good jobs and perks and make decent money.

And to Jason’s surprise, very few of them resisted the idea of it. Those that did resist were gently told that they really didn’t have much choice, that they had to go to the school and learn how to control their abilities, but they didn’t have to join the house. After finishing at school, they could go home and return to their former jobs and former lives, but they’d never get a chance to join the house again. It was a one-time offer. And they had until graduation to make that decision.

By the time of the summit, the Karinne Telepath Academy had 27 students. Five had already expressed, and were already on their way to being trained telepaths.

And Zaa did not disappoint. Before the summit, Miaari had brought to Foxwood a young Faey male with green hair and gold colored eyes, bringing him into Jason’s study as he went over some paperwork Kumi had sent him. The young man, about twenty, was very nervous, and kept staring at Miaari like she was a live snake. “Your Grace, may I introduce Erinn Heyalle, subject of House Trefani,” Miaari said.

Jason looked at him, and felt the shiver that told him that this was the first of the Generations that Zaa said she would bring to Earth. “It’s good to meet you, Erinn,” he said.

“Y-Your Grace,” he said with a nervous bow. “Can you tell me what I did wrong?”

Jason laughed. “Nothing at all,” he said. “Did the Kimdori explain anything to you?”

“They said they were bringing me here because I was a long-lost Karinne,” he said. “Am I really?”

“You are. Don’t I feel a little strange to you?”

“Well, yes, you do. I get this strange shiver when I look at you, same as when I look at Kimdori.”

“That proves you’re a Karinne,” he said. “And since the house has been restored, that means that all the lost children of Karinne need to be brought back together. So, that’s why you’re here. Erinn, I’m offering you a title and a position in House Karinne,” he stated. “You will be the Baron Erinn Karinne, and your immediate duties are going to be to learn, about your heritage and where you came from. I’ll be sending you to a school where you’ll be with the human descendents of the Karinnes that are from Terra. There, you’ll learn about the house of Karinne, and you’ll be trained in telepathy by some of the best in the business. Real training, not what you learned in high school,” he said pointedly. “You’ll also be trained how to use your telekinetic ability.”

“I don’t have any.”

“Yes, you do. You’re part of a, special, branch of the Karinne family line, same as me. All of us have telekinetic ability. I’m being trained in it myself, so I can’t train you. You’ll be trained by your cousin, Myleena Karinne. Once you’re fully trained, then you’ll help train others, and so on. Once we gather up all the lost members of the house and get everyone trained, then we’ll get back to the business of the house.”

“What business is that?”

“Education,” he said. “The Karinnes ran the Karis Academy, a very famous school of higher learning.”

“I remember it from my history class.”

“Well, we’re building a new one here on Terra. And that’s what we’ll be doing, running the Academy. So, what do you say? Wanna be a noble?” he asked lightly.

Erinn laughed nervously. “What commoner doesn’t wanna be a noble, your Grace? I accept.”

“Welcome to the house, Count Erinn,” Jason told him with a nod, getting up and walking over, then shaking his hand. “Miaari, could you please take him to Kumi? She can get him settled in.”

“Of course, your Grace,” she said, patting Erinn on the shoulder. “Come with me, youngling. We’re going to go talk to the girl that really runs this place.”

“His Grace doesn’t?”

“He’s just the figurehead,” Miaari said with a grin at him. “Kumi’s the real hand that controls the house business.”

“Thanks,” Jason said sourly, giving Miaari a rude look.

Miaari laughed, a growling sound, then leaned over and licked his cheek. “I know you still love me.”

“You better be glad I do, or I’d boot your furry butt right outa here.”


The summit went very well. Seventeen scientists and research specialists huddled together with a team of ten senior project engineers from Makan Special Engineering and explained to the Makati what would be required to build a school with the same potential as the original Karis Academy. To fund the construction, Empress Dahnai had basically given the engineering firm a blank check.

For Jason, it was a Xeno class come to life. Some of those seventeen visitors were of different species. Not all of them were Faey. There was a small Beryan, several beautiful Faey, a horrific silicon-based rock-like creature that looked like a petrified treestump with a arms and a head called a Stavak, a feather-winged, avioid Shurai, and a bipedal wolverine-like creature called a Zyagya. All but the Zyagya were part of the five races of the Alliance with the Bari-Bari and the Jakkans, while the Zyagyas were an independent planet that nobody bothered to try to conquer or invite into their government because of the vicious natures of the species… very much the wolverines they resembled. They all looked different; they all spoke different languages while using translator devices, but the one thing they could all agree upon was that rebuilding the Academy was a wonderful idea. The only one that could possibly pull it off was a Karinne, a name from history whose neutrality would be honored, and a name that still, even after so long, was associated with science.

The Makati had come prepared. They’d dug up some images of the original Karis Academy, and had proposed rebuilding it in the same style. It would be impossible to perfectly duplicate the original Academy because the original had been built on a sub-tropical island. The reason it was there had been to isolate the foreigners from the Karinnes, and that wasn’t necessary here. They had researched Earth, and had put up a presentation to build the new Terra Academy, in the likeness of the original, in a similar warm climate. They had looked at several sites, and had settled on proposing building the Academy in the most geologically and meteorologically stable environment they could find on the planet that would be both beautiful and temperate, but would have enough room to grow. Given that they wanted to keep the Academy near the center of activity for the planet, which was near the planetary capitol and the base of the Grand Duke Karinne, the Makati proposed building the Academy in Norfolk, Virginia. It was a temperate location with minimal weather hazards and geological stability, ready access to existing infrastructure, a functional seaport, and was a short shuttle hop from New York and Boston, the closest large city to Jason’s manor.

When Jason asked how much it would cost, the Makati just laughed. “I have an open-ended budget,” he answered. “The project is being backed by the Faey Imperium and House Merrane. It won’t cost the Karinnes a credit, your Grace. Empress Dahnai is paying for everything.”

That went over rather well with the delegates, and it caused the summit to end later that evening on a hopeful note. The Makati had an exhaustive list and quite a few sticks of data concerning what the Academy would need construction wise, and they promised to have a first series of blueprints and design plans ready in two weeks.

Cybi and Zaa both had told him that the Karinnes were much like a separate government to themselves back in their time, and meeting with races other than the Faey reinforced that to him. The ranking member of the Alliance and one of the Zyagya approached him and asked if they could post an ambassador to Earth. When he asked why, since they had diplomats to the Imperium on Draconis, they blinked and told him that their histories told them that they had had separate ambassadors to Karinne, basically there to oversee their students in the Academy and ensure they obeyed the rules. With the rebuilding of the Academy in planning, they wanted to get their emissaries there early, so they could set up and establish the rules by which their students would operate, and also get to know the Terrans, who were an unknown species to them. By getting familiar with the customs and behavior of the Terrans, they could better prepare their people for coming here.

Jason didn’t think that was a bad idea. He asked Kumi to see into finding them some room to set up in Norfolk.


Meeting Ayuma Indarre for the first time was an interesting experience. For one, Ayuma was a mature woman, already pensioned from the Marines, with some of the lightest blue skin he’d ever seen, almost chalky, large violet eyes, and she was remarkably short, only about five feet tall. Faey were very tall by human standards on the average, and to see a Faey so short was almost unheard of. But she was a jovial woman, full of vim and vigor, and had an honest enthusiasm about the business of running things. She was a born administrator, a micro-manager with a voice that could crack like a whip and marvelous memory and attention to detail.

Zaa had arranged this meeting, and to his surprise, the Kimdori had contacted her before meeting him and explained a few things to her. They didn’t tell her the entire truth, but they did tell her that she was a descendent of the long-lost Karinnes, and it was a special aspect of the house that they could sense both Kimdori and each other. So, when she came to Foxwood to meet Jason, the very first thing she mentioned was that he felt just like the Kimdori did.

She was also the most flamboyant telekinetic he’d ever seen. Telekinetics were rare in the Imperium; only about 12% of Faey had any kind of telekinetic ability, and half of those could barely move a feather across a smooth surface without fainting. Those that had any decent ability kept it quiet, since telekinetics usually ended up in Imperial service. People who didn’t want to be working for the Imperium all their lives kept it to themselves. Ayuma had no such reservations. She was a proud telekinetic, and she used her power whenever it pleased her to do so. She wasn’t garish about it or flaunt it, but if she wanted to use her ability, she did. And that was that.

And it was more proof that telekinesis was truly an aspect of the Generations. He wondered if Myleena had ever thought to try.

He rather liked Ayuma. From the first word, she was totally focused on the project. She asked many questions he hadn’t even considered, like how they were going to engineer and place the dorms for those who needed artificial life support to live here, what kind of disciplines the Academy would offer, how the Academy was going to manage its finances, where it was going to get its starting capital, teacher’s salaries, and so on. She was also rather personable and friendly, seeming to be very demure, but he could see the resilience in her eyes when she looked at things. This was a woman with a soft voice but a steel rod for a spine, who knew when to be eloquent and knew when to be blunt. The more he talked to her, the more he realized that Zaa had carefully chosen this woman to do this job. She really was the perfect woman to run the school. By the end of the interview, he and Ayuma were laughing and talking about their personal lives.

“Well, I hope you’re as engaging with the other applicants as you were with me,” she said honestly as they wrapped up. “It’s important for you to see how your potentials are outside the office.”

“There are no other applicants,” he shrugged. “You came with a recommendation that I could not ignore. When you were recommended by that person, I knew you were the only applicant I needed to interview. And she was more than right. Congratulations, Ayuma. The job’s yours.”

“And who was this woman?” she asked curiously.

“Someone you might meet someday,” he said in reply, giving her a slight smile from behind his desk.

“Alright, I can take a hint,” she smiled. She stood up and fetched her hat by making it float from the stand by the door over to her. “Since I have the job, I’ll be returning to Makan to get my affairs in order. When do you want me to report?”

“As soon as you can,” he answered. “I want you here next week when the Makati present their first draft of their design plans. I think your input will be useful.”

“Very well. I’ll get the date from your secretary and-”

“I don’t have a secretary,” he said, scribbling a date on a Post-It and handing it to her.

She tutted. “You need an assistant, your Grace. “Trust me. It may seem easy now, but it won’t be long before you’re buried in paperwork. A good administrator has a damn good support staff there to back her up. That’s why I’m going to try to woo my staff from Bzerr Technical to come work for me here,” she giggled. “They’re good.”

“That’s within your discretion,” he told her. “It’s your Academy, Ayuma. Take it and make something out of it we can all be proud of.”

“That’s a guarantee, your Grace,” she told him with a solemn nod.

Myleena, it turned out, had been keeping a secret from him. He found her in the garage, half submerged under the Karinne dropship’s drive unit, taking something apart to see how it worked. When he told her about Ayuma, and how she was telekinetic, Myleena blushed from her hoverslide she was laying on and reached out to her toolbox. The box lifted up from the ground and floated over to her. “I keep it a secret,” she confided, looking up at him with her lovely, unusual, exotic rose-colored eyes. “It’s considered rude in Faey society to be garish about it if you can do it, and if you’re too strong, the secret police usually draft you to work for them.” She gave him a look. “So, I take it all of us are telekinetics?”

“It seems so,” he nodded. “I guess they engineered it into our line.”

“Eh, makes sense to me,” she shrugged, then slid back into the maintenance panel, leaving only her bare legs visible. She was wearing a pair of khaki shorts, and he saw her legs were scratched up and scabbed. If they could engineer us, it only makes sense that they’d add something like that.

What are you doing, anyway?

The Karinnes used spatial engines, but their design is way different from what I’ve seen, she answered. Most spatial drives create a highly warped interior field that overcomes outside force and makes the ship move. This drive, well, translates space, kinda moves it along like a woman pulling on a rope. Where a standard ship kinda falls in the direction the engines want it to go, this design kinda pushes the ship in the direction it’s oriented. They’re more maneuverable than standard engines, but not as efficient. This ship uses more power than a standard dropship the same size. I think with a little work, I could redesign the translation engines to be better, adapt some modern standard tech and integrate it into the Karinne systems to make them less of a power hog.

Interesting.

Yah. There’s another hoverslide over there, she sent, waggling a foot off to her right a little. Come look. It’s really cool. I’ll download the specs into your gestalt from mine. Give me access.

Myleena managed to thoroughly distract him with the lure of learning more about Karinne technology for the rest of the day. Together, they completely took apart the dropship’s engines and studied them, then put them back together. Jyslin and Symone came looking for him when he missed dinner, and found him and Myleena waist deep in the top access panel of the dropship, reinstalling engine components. So this is where you vanished to! Symone sent up to him. You gonna eat or what?

We missed dinner? Myleena asked, looking at Jason. What time is it anyway?

Almost nine, Jyslin told her.

Jason looked at her curiously. She seemed… anxious. What’s wrong, love? he sent privately to her.

Come home, I need to tell you something.

Sure, lemme clean up and I’ll be right there.

He cleaned up quickly and returned to the apartment. He barely got in the door when Jyslin literally tackled him, bouncing him off the door and to the floor, kissing him exuberantly. Try not to give me a concussion-

I’m pregnant! she sent powerfully, charged with wild emotion. Songa told me today. We’re going to have a baby, my love! A baby!

Really? A baby? he asked, then he laughed and opened his range to send all over Foxwood. We’re gonna have a baby! he telepathically shouted all over the area, so happy and excited that he wanted the whole world to share in the joy of the news. Jyslin’s pregnant!

Congratulations flooded in from all over the compound, from friends and family down to the Marines stationed there to guard them. He sat up and put Jyslin in his lap, kissing her tenderly, putting the flat of his palm against her belly. Oh, Jyslin, you just made me the happiest man in the world, he told her with total honesty, holding her close.

Songa screened the baby, love. He’s yours. I was afraid Tim might have got me pregnant in the time you were being held on Draconis, so I had her check. It would have been a scandal if I’d had a baby by Tim before having your baby. It’s grounds for divorce, and I can’t ever give you a chance to get away from me

That was true enough. Because of the casual attitude towards sex, the issue of the parentage of children did sometimes come up in Faey society. Babies were always considered the sole scope and responsibility of the mother, and the “father” was always the husband of the woman, even if the baby wasn’t his. It was a serious insult to a husband and a major social scandal for the wife, though, for a woman to get pregnant by another man before getting pregnant by her husband; it was one of only three conditions by which the Faey granted a divorce. Fraud and adultery were the other two conditions, a marriage formed by deception, and the joining of minds with someone outside the union by one of the offenders. To Jason, it was a curious parallel between human and Faey mentalities, even if their customs were quite different. Though the Faey were remarkably casual about sex, the issue of parenting of children still mattered to them. Though a wife might have children by more than one man, her first child was almost always sired by her husband.

He?

Yeah, she told me it’s a boy. A healthy bundle of unidentifiable cells about a month old, she sent with a grin. She showed me a picture of it, it looks like a mutant football. But, in about eight months or so, he’ll look much better.

Well, Duchess, it looks like the family line is secured.

I want more babies, she told him immediately. At least five, but I’ll take as many as I can get. I want as many children as you can put in me.

I don’t think we have to take on the job of repopulating the house of Karinne single-handedly, love.

Who cares about Karinne? Every baby we have is another testament of our love, Jason. I want our house filled with love. I want to have your children, my love, she sent tenderly, sliding her hand along his face, over his gestalt. I want to feel the lives we create grow inside me, again and again and again. I want to be a part of you forever.

You already are, he answered, kissing her lingeringly.


News of Jyslin’s blessing didn’t stay on Earth for long. Both Dahnai and Zaa sent presents congratulating the Duchess Karinne, Dahnai sending a lovely crystal statue and Zaa sending a binding board, a ritual wooden board with the likenesses of Jason and Jyslin engraved into it, a present a Kimdori sent to a friend who was pregnant. Dahnai absolutely insisted that Jyslin make a very rare appearance at court, and showered praise and complements on her in open court as Jyslin blushed furiously at all the attention from these people she did not know… and didn’t entirely like. After court, though, Jyslin and Jason were invited to Dahnai’s quarters, so Jyslin could meet her in a more intimate setting. She was a little nervous; she knew much of Dahnai from Jason’s descriptions and stories, but still, being invited to the Empress’ private apartment wasn’t something most Faey could easily accept without a few butterflies. Dahnai laughed at Jyslin’s nervous demeanor after they got to her room, leading them into her bedroom so she could change out of her court robes and into something more comfortable. Two maids attended the Empress to help with the task. Jason saw that she’d had a sofa brought into her room, facing the bed, and she had them sit on it while she changed. “So, now that I have you here, let me say congratulations again,” Dahnai said. “We don’t talk nearly enough, Duchess. Seeing as how I’ve kinda stolen your husband as my amu dorai, I really think we should get to know each other.”

Amu-Jason!” Jyslin gasped.

“First I’ve heard of this,” he said defensively, putting up his hand.

“Well, we have enough sex to at least acknowledge the relationship openly,” Dahnai shrugged as one of her maids helped her remove her robe, leaving her with nothing but a pair of laced sandals, showing off her fantastically toned body. “The fact I fuck the Grand Duke Karinne just about every time he comes to court is common knowledge. He’s the best lay in Dracora. You really trained him well.”

Jason blushed.

“That’s all natural talent, your Majesty,” Jyslin told her, giving Jason a slight sidelong smile. “I didn’t have anything to do with it.”

“It’s not just about the sex, though,” Dahnai said as she took a robe from the other maid, one of her little thigh-length affairs, and slid it over her shoulders, then she walked over and sat down on the bed facing them. “I really like him. He’s just about the only honest friend I have here. At least with him, I know I can expect an honest opinion and an outlook not clouded by what he can get out of me, and I know he’ll treat me like me, not like the Empress. He’s real to me, not just a false persona and a face he shows to me. It’s hard for me to explain.”

“I think I understand, your Majesty. He doesn’t want anything from you, and he’s not afraid of you, so he treats you like he’d treat me, for example. And you get to see him for who he is, not what he wants you to see.”

“Yeah. With him, I’m a woman, not the Empress. He’s not like anyone else I know. Does he talk about me much?”

“That’s a nice thing to ask with me right here, Dahnai,” Jason snorted.

“Some,” Jyslin answered. “He does like you, your Majesty, and he looks forward to seeing you, even if he does bitch about having to attend court. He hates court. He considers you a friend, but his duties as the Grand Duke means he can’t be entirely honest, so sometimes he’s worried that you’ll get angry with him. He’s still got this idea I might be jealous of you two, but he should know better than that. He always comes home.”

“That he does,” Dahnai chuckled. “I never really planned to have sex with him, actually, because I read that humans have much different attitudes about it than we do, but then I heard about your amu dozei friends and figured what the hell. Besides, I did something really awful to him, and I had to apologize,” she admitted with a slight blush. “Giving him some Imperial pussy seemed like the proper apology at the time. I meant it to be a one night deal, but he’s such a good lay I decided to make it more long-term. So. Now that I’ve established the groundwork, on to business.”

“Business?”

“Yes, business,” she said, sitting down. “My sources say you’re having a son. Well, I’m taking on a contract for him.”

“A contract?” Jason gasped.

“Yeah. I’m pregnant, Jayce,” she told them, patting her stomach. “A month and a half gone, by Rivin, the male sire the house chose to sire my children. I found out when I realized I missed my period and had myself checked out. He’s sent in here during my window of fertility every month and tries to get me pregnant, and he succeeded. It hasn’t been announced yet, but I’ll start thickening around the waist pretty soon. I’m going to have another girl, and I want her betrothed to your son.”

“They’re not even born!”

“So? This is quite normal for nobles, hon. I want a solid alliance between our houses, and a betrothal is that kind of alliance.”

“I, I’m not sure about that.”

“You don’t have a choice,” she told him evenly. “I’m the Empress. I can arrange betrothals and annul them by choice. I’m not asking you for the betrothal. I’m telling you. Your house benefits and my house gains a critical alliance that might help stabilize the Siann. The others know we’re friends and you support me, but there’s always that chance you might get pissed off at me and back out. But a betrothal between our houses is rock solid, and they’ll have no doubt where things stand.”

“You’re going too far, Dahnai,” Jason said stiffly. “This is our son, not Imperial property!”

She grimaced. “Okay, I knew I’d fuck that up, no matter how I tried to break it to you. I’m sorry. I’m not trying to hit you over the head with my title, I promise. But I need this, Jason. And your son isn’t going to be kidnapped and never seen again. I’m not going to steal him away the instant Jyslin gives birth to him. It’s a political thing, honey. You know the Siann does this. Did you think we’d pass you over? The son of the Grand Duke Karinne is as much a political entity as you are, and your marital status is a matter of political importance. And if you don’t recall, I came this close to marrying you myself to get the political alliance I need,” she said, holding her thumb and forefinger slightly apart.

“I don’t like it,” Jason said hotly, but Jyslin put a hand on his leg.

“Calm down, love. At least hear her out.”

“Thank you,” she said with a nod to Jyslin. “You know our society, honey. Your son’s marriage to my daughter will be paper, that’s it. They’ll both have their own lives, the only stipulations are really gonna be that he lives in her house and he can’t have an official marriage to another woman. Hell, they may actually love each other and be happy; it has been known to happen. But, if he doesn’t find love with my daughter, he can still have an amu dorai and find true love, he’ll just already have a wife, that’s all. He won’t be marrying until he’s 25, when he’s already an adult, and by then he’ll understand things.”

“Alright,” Jason said, calming down a little. That explanation did calm things down a little in his mind, but he was still against the idea. He couldn’t see marrying off his son before he was even born, without giving him a choice. But, he could see the adamance in Dahnai’s eyes. He knew her well, and he could see that she was not going to back down this time. This was something she thought was so important that she wasn’t going to give in, let him talk her out of it. He looked to Jyslin, frowning. She’s not going to back down. I think we’re stuck here, love. What do we do?

Jason, I’m not half as opposed to it as you are, she told him gently. I see things a little differently. If our son can help slow down the coming war by betrothing him to Dahnai’s daughter, then I say let’s do it. You told me you had to help, had to stop what was coming. Our son can help. And we will have twenty-five years to make her change her mind, she reminded him. She said she can annul a betrothal too. So, let’s give her what she wants for now, and see where it goes. We’ll have plenty of time to do something about it if we don’t like what we see.

I’m so glad I married you.

So am I, she sent with a wink.

“I’ll agree to it only on one condition,” he said to Dahnai.

“What’s that?”

“My son remains in the House of Karinne.”

“What? I’m not sending my daughter to Karinne! That’s a scandal!”

“You have to, because my son is the heir apparent,” he told her evenly. “My son can’t be the Grand Duke Karinne if he’s in House Merrane.”

Dahnai opened her mouth, then she laughed ruefully. “You’re putting a man as heir. I shoulda guessed, you’re a man, after all. I didn’t even consider it,” she admitted, tousling her hair. “I thought you’d put your first daughter at your right hand.”

“Call me colloquial,” he said dryly.

“Well. I guess I could see fit to having my second daughter as the High Princess Duchess Consort Shya Karinne. It’ll give her an even longer, more impressive title. Second daughters always feel cheated, because they’re one place short of the throne. She can always lord that over my first born. And it’ll show the Siann how committed I am to the alliance, if I’m willing to send my daughter to the house of her husband.”

“Shya?”

“That’s going to be her name,” she said in a dreamy way, rubbing her belly tenderly. “Shya. It’s a lovely name, isn’t it?”

“It’s very nice,” Jyslin agreed.

“What’s your son’s name?”

“We haven’t decided yet,” Jyslin told her.

“Well, decide. I have to have a name for the contract.”

They looked at each other. “Well?” Jason asked.

“What?”

“I want you to name him, love.”

“Aww,” she said, blushing. “If I get to choose, then I say we name him Rann, in honor of Songa’s husband.”

“Songa will be touched,” Jason said, patting her hand.

“I know. I hope she likes it.”

“Alright then,” Dahnai said, clapping her hands. “I’ll draw up the marriage contract between Shya and Rann, and announce it tomorrow afternoon. Right after I announce my pregnancy,” she chuckled. “I’m glad I didn’t have to fight you over this, Jayce. I was expecting one.”

“If Jyslin wasn’t here, you’d have gotten one.”

“Yeah, that’s why she’s here,” she chuckled. “So, that’s business. Now it’s time for the making it up to you.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Just a little something I had made up for you, baby,” she said with a smile, getting up and going over to her small desk by the bed. She came up with a small box and walked back over to them, handing it to Jason. “Here.”

“What’s this?” he asked suspiciously. “There better not be another mey in here.”

She laughed delightedly. “I wouldn’t do that to you,” she told him with a grin. “Open it.”

He did so. Inside were rings, two golden rings. One was engraved on its flat top with the new design he’d created for the House of Karinne, with the Legion Phoenix added to the Karinne crest. The other, smaller one, had the crest inset into its top in small glittering jewels, diamonds, emeralds, sapphires, rubies, and opals. “For you and Jyslin,” she told him. “I heard that humans use rings to symbolize marriage, and I thought these would be nice ones. Oh, and your ring is your new ducal signet. I’ve already ordered a new banner with your new crest, it should be up by tomorrow morning.”

“It’s beautiful,” Jyslin said quietly, holding her ring out and admiring it. She slipped it onto her finger, and found it fit perfectly. “Thank you, your Majesty. It’s lovely.”

“Call me Dahnai in here,” she told him. “You’re the wife of my amu dorai, you can be informal with me,” she winked.

“That’s not very easy for me, your Majesty. I’m a commoner, I grew up with parents who’d slap me on the back of the head if I didn’t call you ‘Empress Dahnai’ around them.”

“You were a commoner. You’re Duchess Jyslin Karinne now,” she said pointedly. “And trust me, honey, I may be the Empress, but I’m also a person. That’s why I like your husband so much, he treats me like a person. Sure, he knows when he has to be formal, but here, in private, he treats me just the way I like it. He even beats me up,” she grimaced.

“You’re the one who wanted to learn Aikido,” he laughed.

“You don’t have to be so rough!”

“Pain is the best motivation to learn,” Jason said bluntly. “If you want to avoid the pain, learn. It’s how I was taught, and it’s how I’m teaching you.”

“Well, I’m getting there.” She sat back down, leaning on one hand and looking at them. “So. I have you two here, and my schedule is clear for the rest of the day. Want to do something?”

“Usually we’d jump at the chance, Dahnai, but I have to get home,” he told her. “I have another meeting with Ayuma tomorrow, and I have to go to the U.N.,” he said in English, “to handle some planetary business. And I promised Myleena to help her with a few things.”

“Ah, yes, Myleena. Can I have her back now?”

“I’m afraid she’s mine now, Dahnai. She accepted a position in House Karinne. She’s Duchess Myleena Karinne now.”

“Hmph,” Dahnai snorted. “I don’t mind you handing titles out to others, but did you really have to take one of my best research engineers?”

“Talk to her about it, she’s the one that decided.”

“Yes, I should. I did mean to ask one thing. I noticed that she wears a gestalt too,” she noted, pointing at the gestalt on Jason’s face. Jason forbade the wearing of them by anyone but him off the ships, where they were necessary, but Myleena also wore one almost all the time. Like him, she was now so used to it that she forgot it was there. He’d feel almost naked without his gestalt. “I know there’s a significance there. What is it?”

Jason just smiled. “She uses it,” he said simply.

“How?”

“Well, this is Myleena here, Dahnai. She found a way.”

Dahnai chuckled. “She is clever, that’s why I put her in Black Ops. But why do you wear it? You don’t have to club people over the head with your identity anymore.”

“Because it’s my heritage. It’s who I am, Dahnai. Wearing this honors those who came before me.”

“Right. Now, that’s a good explanation, but perhaps you can tell me the truth now?” she asked, leaning on her side on the bed.

“What do you mean?”

“I know you well enough now, Jason. I can see it now when you’re lying. That’s not the real reason Myleena wears hers, and you’re not being entirely truthful with me about why you wear it. So, why don’t you be honest with me? I’d have hoped that we’d be past deceptive stances by now.”

“The truth? I told you before, Dahnai, that’s something I can’t give you.”

“How about an explanation then?”

“You’d have to ask Myleena,” he told her.

“They’re more than what my intelligence reports say they are, aren’t they?” she asked intuitively. “They do more for you because you’re a Karinne. And Myleena has a Karinne ancestor. When you told me she was with you last week, I had her family line researched. She’s a Karinne too. And your Ayuma Indarre, she’s a first-rate telekinetic, a trait well documented in the Karinnes. She’s a Karinne too, isn’t she? You’re gathering up all the descendents of the Karinne line, aren’t you?”

“It’s one of the tasks I was given by my predecessor,” he said honestly. “I can’t restore the House of Karinne without the Karinnes.”

“My question, though, is how do you know where they are?”

“That’s something I can’t tell you. And I think you’re getting too curious for your own good, Dahnai,” he said, deliberately standing up.

“Fair enough,” she shrugged, getting to her feet. She stepped up and kissed Jason, not very chastely, then took Jyslin’s hand and kissed her on the cheek after she stood up. “Come see me again, soon, alright? I really want to get to know you, Jyslin. Jason doesn’t bring you to court.”

“I don’t want to come to court,” she laughed. “He doesn’t make me.”

“Lucky you. I wish I didn’t have to come to court,” she snorted. “I want you here tomorrow,” she told Jason. “We have another training session.”

“Tomorrow might be hard,” he said with a wince. “I’ve got a few appointments I’ll have trouble rescheduling.”

“The day after?”

“Now that’s workable. I might be a little late, though. I won’t be able to get here until after four your time.”

“That’s fine,” she told him. “Have you been practicing?”

“Of course I’ve been practicing. Have you?”

“It’s not easy,” she laughed. “The guards are afraid of hurting me, so it’s not easy to get them to be serious about it.”

Jason glanced at one of the guards, who blushed slightly and gave him a shy look. “Girls, you’re not going to hurt her that much. And if there’s no pain, there’s no motivation to learn how to avoid it. Be more aggressive. She needs partners who will help her learn, not ones that’ll just knuckle under and give her bad habits I’ll have to break later. The hard way.”

We are tasked to protecting her. It’s hard to try to beat her up, the guard sent contritely.

“By beating her up, you’re teaching her how to protect herself, in case something disastrous happens and she finds herself in a position where she has to.”

True. We’ll try harder, but it’s not easy.

They made their way home on the Scimitar, which was now the personal vessel of Jason Karinne, his personal yacht of sorts. After the attack on Anya Suralle’s yacht, it was decided that Jason couldn’t go around unprotected, and though the Scimitar had no weapons, it had powerful defensive systems and could hold out until the Defiant arrived to wipe out any attackers. It was now Myri’s ship, and she commanded it, where the Kimdori manned it for now. They’d even converted some of the labs into a comfortable apartment-style personal area for Jason and whoever was with him, so they spent the hour or so they’d be in transit sitting on a couch watching INN while the Scimitar traveled to the stargate, and then would make its way home.

That went pretty well, Jason noted. So, what did you think of Dahnai?

I think I need to work out more, she sent, her thought tinged with envy. I’ve never seen her naked in person before, just seen pictures of that statue of her. Holy Trelle is that woman built. I felt like a titless teenager looking at her. No wonder you like fucking her.

Well, I could say that’s not the reason, but that wouldn’t be the whole truth, he admitted. She is very sexy. She’s very intense in bed, makes every time with her an incredible experience, and she’s definitely the second hottest woman I’ve ever slept with. Now if I could just get her to back off with the sending, it’d be alright. Every single time, she tries to invade your domain, and I have to push her back. She’s very pushy that way.

If she does, I’ll have to go smack her, Jyslin sent, bristling. You’re my husband. She has no right trying to take from you what is mine and mine alone, even if she is the Empress.

Well, don’t worry, love, I won’t let her. And even if you think she’s hotter than you, she’s not. You are the hottest, sexiest, most beautiful, most desirable woman in the whole universe. I’ll pick you over Dahnai every single time. What I do with Dahnai is because Dahnai wants it. I’ll admit I enjoy it, but it’s more for her than for me, because she doesn’t have anyone in her life she trusts enough to be so open with as she is with me. I also like the occasional tryst with Symone, I can’t deny that either, because I love Symone like a friend, and I understand that that’s what good friends do in Faey society. That’s what she expects, and I can admit now that I enjoy it too. I even initiate it. And I’m never jealous when you want to explore your friendship with Tim and sleep with him, because I know you like him, and you like the way he has sex. But you’re still the hottest Faey in the Imperium, and you’re always first in my heart.

Trelle’s garland, I love you, she sent with a sincere smile, leaning over and kissing him. You know, we haven’t initiated this ship properly, she sent, her desire tainting her thought openly.

We should do something about that, he said, reaching for the ties of her robes. If I can get you out of this robe before we get home, anyway.

Tear them if you have to, lover, she sent ardently. We can just get a tailor to fix it tomorrow.


Jason should learn to listen to Zaa, for she was never wrong.

The very next day, Miaari relayed the news to him.

The Trillanes were about to attack Earth.

Maeri Trillane had already issued the orders and dispatched her attack ships, and had managed to keep her plans a secret from the Kimdori until the very end, when they intercepted the orders issued to the squadron of 17 ships.

Zaa had warned him that his public stance supporting Dahnai might make him a target, and besides, the Trillanes held him personally responsible for their loss of Earth and the heavy punishment that Dahnai had leveled on the house. They had probably been planning this from the beginning, hours after Maeri was expelled from the palace.

The details the Kimdori had acquired weren’t exact, but they had enough. The squadron had orders to attack and destroy the stargate first, severing all communications with Earth. That seemed stupid to Jason, since the gate personnel would see Faey ships attacking them… until Miaari told him that they had some intelligence that the Trillanes had procured two Skaa warships. The assumption was that the Skaa ships were part of the attack fleet, and those would be the ships that would jump out of hyperspace and attack the stargate. After that was done, they were to target Foxwood, the United Nations, and the main hubs of the farm transportation system, to cripple food production. The fleet had specific orders to find and kill Jason Karinne, turn Foxwood and the United Nations into a smoking crater, and to capture the Scimitar for analysis.

Those damn Trillanes. Their plan to try to take over the Imperium was exposed and thwarted, so now they were acting out of spite, trying to kill the one they felt was responsible for that failure and also to deny the Imperium the food that it needed. Or perhaps this was part of a new plan, to sow seeds of dissent in the Siann by starving the Imperium or making them buy food from other governments.

But the reasons for it didn’t matter. The fleet had left Arctus by hyperspace, unable to use stargates else they’d be given away, and would arrive in the Terran system in a little over two days.

He had to sit down after hearing that. “Shit,” he growled. [Open a link with the Scimitar and have it contact Cybi.]

The Scimitar, which was sitting in the Atlantic just off the coast, picked up his gestalt’s signal and opened a relayed channel back to Karis, being the bridge by which Jason and Cybi could communicate with each other. [I am receiving. It is good to hear from you, Jason.]

[I wish this was a social call, Cybi. I need the Defiant, Resolute, and Sora’s Pride in Terran space as soon as they can be launched. The Trillanes have sent a fleet to attack us, and we’ll need them to help protect the planet.]

[I will issue the necessary orders at once.]

Jason stood up. Kumi.

Yah?

Get in touch with Anya. Tell her to evacuate all her people from Earth, now. Tell all Faey civilians to go back to Draconis, now. Have Orbital One evacuated. And I’ll call Dahnai and tell her to pull her fleet back to the far side of the planet, so they’re out of sight, and not to interfere. This is a private matter.

What the hell’s going on?

Your old house has sent a squadron of battle cruisers to flatten Earth, that’s what, he told her. I want everyone out from under our feet. I’m calling in our ships. If they want a war, they’re about to find out just who the hell they’re dealing with. Zaa warned me that I might have to show my hand. Well, that’s about to happen. They’re about to find out just what the Karinnes were capable of.

Just our ships against a task force? That’s a little nuts.

It’s not nuts at all, girl, Myri sent from across the compound. I’ve read the specs on the Defiant, and he’ll kick the piss out of ships three times his size. He may only be a medium cruiser, but he’s heavily armed and armored. Add in the destroyers, and that’s enough to handle a Trillane task force.

Alright, alright, don’t gang up on me. I’ll get right on it.

Myri, get everyone assembled in the ballroom. We have to figure out who’s going to be doing what.

I can command one of the destroyers, no prob, Jayce. But the Defiant is your flag. You’re the Grand Duke. I’ll take the Resolute, and Jyslin can command Sora’s Pride.

Let’s talk about that when we gather.

That turned out to be the way it was going to be. Jason did not want his pregnant wife taking command of a ship about to go into combat, but Jyslin was going to be absolutely immovable on the idea. The Kimdori manning those ships wouldn’t fight unless a Karinne was sitting in the command chair, and Jyslin and Myri were the only ones with any tactical training. The Marines were split up among the three ships; Jason would have Zora and Yana with him, for they would be observing and training with the Kimdori to operate bridge positions. Myri would have Min, Sheleese, and Ilia with her, and Jyslin would have Maya, Lyn, and Bryn. Myleena would be on the Defiant as well, and Erinn, the newest Karinne, would be with Jyslin.

But the Marines wouldn’t be the only ones there. Luke was a good pilot, and he demanded to go too, to learn how to pilot the big ships. Jyslin offered him a spot with her, which he took immediately. Tim and Symone were going to be with Myri, and Ian then cried foul, and was placed with Jason. The other members of the Legion started clamoring for their chance to fight as well, and Jason realized that everyone in the house was demanding a place on the ships, demanding a chance to defend what they had worked so hard to attain. So the entire House Karinne was divided up and placed on the house’s only three warships, which arrived during their conference, three sleek, tapered ships that hung in the sky near Orbital One like deadly ghosts, the crest of Karinne emblazoned on their gray hulls in red.

The new crest of Karinne.

Those damn Kimdori, they were always prepared.

After finishing up, Jason went up to the Defiant in a large dropship with his complement of Karinnes, just one of many ships suddenly rising up from the surface, as the Karinne call for all Faey non-combatants to evacuate the planet was starting to be carried out. It was his first time on the big ship, and from the spacious, well appointed landing bay, he knew the ship would be very capable. Kimdori met him in the bay, and escorted them all to the bridge.

It was much different from the bridge of the Scimitar. The scout ship’s bridge only had room for four people, but this bridge was more like a tactical command center. This wasn’t just where the ship was navigated, it was also where all ship operations and combat aspects were controlled, a large, long chamber deep in the ship that held stations and consoles for 23 people. Some were ship control officers, like the navigator and assistant navigator, some were sensor officers, tracking tactical movements of a battle on a three dimensional hologram projects at the front of the bridge, to the right of the hologram showing the outside view, and to the left was the hologram of the ship itself, showing its status. It was the same setup as the Scimitar, and one he actually found was quite logical, putting everything one needed to see right there together and in an organized format. The captain’s chair was near the middle of the bridge, with the pilot and copilot’s chairs in front of him, and the engineering and tactical to each side. The captain did not control the ship via gestalt like on the Scimitar. Here, the captain relayed orders, which were then carried out. But, since this was a Faey ship, those orders were usually conveyed via telepathy. But the captain, being a Generation, would be in communion with the Defiant mainframe, a computer so sophisticated that it almost felt like it had a personality. It wasn’t quite as sterile as the Scimitar mainframe, capable of more complex responses, but it was still a computer. It wasn’t self-aware the way Cybi was.

The lead Kimdori bowed him, a massive, eight-foot tall black-furred Kimdori male. “I am Shevak,” he said, putting his hand on Jason’s neck. Jason felt that feeling of expansion that came when a Kimdori was sharing, seeing what Jason knew in an instant, the entire functional details of the Defiant and the two destroyers flooded into him. In that instant, he knew everything about the ships; their maneuverability, their firepower, their defensive systems, their capabilities and limitations. And what was more, Shevak was an Elder of martial history, one of the Kimdori living libraries dealing with tactical ship combat, just as Kerreth had been a living history of medical knowledge. In that touch came an education in the aspects of space based combat, a lesson in vectors, firing angles, angles of attack, ship movements, and fleet deployment. In that second of contact, Jason was given centuries of education about the arts of naval warfare. In that instant, Jason became as seasoned as any Naval admiral.

Combining those two different things told Jason everything he needed to know to command the Defiant and her two escort ships capably and well.

“Are you ready?” Shevak asked.

Jason nodded, and stepped up to the captain’s chair and sat down. He knew how it all worked. He knew what the commands were to bring up anything he wanted. He had the computer open the ship’s intercom, a curious device on a ship that was usually staffed by telepaths. But Kimdori weren’t like humans, he couldn’t send in a way that they could hear. He had to rely on the intercom. “This is Grand Duke Jason Karinne,” he called. “Shevak has passed the flag to me, and I am now assuming command of this squadron. We’ll be deploying around the stargate in a few minutes, as soon as the others are set up in the destroyers. That is all for now.” He turned and looked behind him. “All of you behind me, take on the Faey appearance,” he commanded. “Nobody can know that the Kimdori are doing this.”

They all nodded, and in unison, every Kimdori on the bridge shapeshifted into Faey, even appearing to wear the uniforms. “Zora, take the co-pilot’s chair. Yana, go to communications. Your sending will make that your best station.”

“Show me where to go please,” Yana asked as Zora scurried over to the right console in front of him, that a Faey-appearing Kimdori vacated, and as Jason got in touch with stargate control, informed them of the issue, and ordered them to cut all communications between Earth and Draconis effective immediately. The stargate was the bridge between the two worlds, and without it relaying communications through the gate and back to Draconis, Earth was cut off from the rest of the Imperium. Only local CivNet could be accessed, and what was more important, any Trillane spies on Earth now could not warn the house that Earth knew their attack was coming. The ships couldn’t be recalled anyway no matter what, because no ship could be reached in hyperspace, but it at least kept Trillane from trying to distance themselves from the attack before it even happened.

Once that was done, once Trillane was sealed off from knowing what was going on on Earth, Jason had the computer make a call to CNN. It took them all of ten minutes to patch his feed in and record it, with explicit orders not to broadcast it until all Faey were evacuated back to Draconis. “This is Grand Duke Jason Karinne, aboard the military starship Defiant. It has been brought to my attention that a hostile force has launched a task force to attack our planet. As I’m sure some of you have noticed, the Faey tourists and our Suralle partners have already left the planet,” he began. “I have ordered them evacuated for their protection.

“We will soon be facing an armed attack against our planet. If things go as planned, no one on Earth will ever see anything amiss, and we hope to keep it that way. Since we know it’s coming, we’re already moving into a position to repel the attackers before they can approach the planet. They can’t jump directly within striking distance of the planet, because of the limitations of the type of travel they are using. They have to jump in a distance away, and we’ll have time to see them coming and intercept them. However, in the interest in safety, the Orbital One space station has been ordered evacuated, and the Imperial warships garrisoned here has been ordered to stay close to Earth and protect it if the interceptors fail to repel the invaders.

“We know who did this, and we will definitely be doing something about it once we repel this attack. But we not be engaging in war. Earth has had just about enough of war. Our retaliation will be more… subtle, than war, but no less damaging to the offending party.

“When the danger has passed, then the planet will reopen for business, and we’ll be doing something about those who sent this attack against us. That is all. Good day to you.”


They had two days to get ready, and that was more than enough time. Shevak had prepared Jason for this in about half a second, and Myleena had been similarly educated in the way only a Kimdori could about both the ships and military tactics. But where Jason was given information about operations and tactics, Myleena was taught mostly about how the ships worked. She was the house’s best engineer, and that was the focus of her Kimdori education. But the others could not be taught this way without exposing the Kimdori, and that was not something that either Jason or the Kimdori wanted. So, they were here to watch and learn while the Kimdori did all the work.

The only one that came close to being able to work at her chosen position was Zora. The cruiser was piloted the same way as the Scimitar, and Zora had already learned how that was done. So all she needed to learn was the layout of the navigation console and the handling characteristics of a ship the size of the Defiant. Everyone else had to be trained, and one didn’t get that kind of training in just two days.

They worked at it very hard. It was hardest for Myri and Jyslin, for they were the ones in command of the destroyers, and they would be expected to issue commands when the time came; the Kimdori had fired on the unmarked cargo ship to save Jason, but they wouldn’t command an attack on the military forces of another house. They would take orders to do it, but not give them. Myri and Jyslin received crash courses in ship command, but they honored their Marine backgrounds by acclimating to the jobs quickly

And time ran out for them very quickly. At 5 o’clock in the afternoon by Foxwood time, sensors picked up two large ships outside the orbit of the moon. Cameras got images of the ships, long affairs with large horizontal wings at the stern, and what looked like a semicircle cut in half and split apart then attached to the ship’s fuselage to serve as the bow. Within seconds of coming out of hyperspace, the two ships turned and started towards the stargate at high speed. The ship’s computer could not identify the ships, tagging them as [Unknown] on the tactical display, but Jason’s Kimdori first officer, Shevak, told him the ships were of Skaa design. When Jason learned this, the computer updated that tag to [Skaa], picking it up from Jason’s communion.

The ships moved from their defensive position at the stargate. The Defiant moved towards the ships while the destroyers took up a new formation flanking the gate. Jason broadcast on all frequencies and in all known common transmission emulations, so those ships couldn’t miss it. “Attention Skaa cruisers, you have entered sovereign Terran space without permission. You must jump back into hyperspace immediately.”

There was no response.

“If you do not turn from your approach to Terra in ten seconds, you will be considered a hostile force and will be fired upon,” Jason warned.

They didn’t reply.

Jason ordered task force communications to open, which would also broadcast to the stargate, using a local threaded gravband frequency for tactical commands. “Here they come,” Jason called. “Battle stations, people! Gunports open, bring up the weapons and shields! Myri, Jyslin, move to firing arcs, the Defiant will play nose tackle.”

“Aye, Jason,” Myri responded.

“Moving to a firing position,” Jyslin acknowledged.

The two destroyers moved above the stargate and to the sides, so their weapons could see an arc of fire against the Skaa cruisers that was more than just the leading edges, while the Defiant placed herself solidly between the Skaa ships and the stargate, turning broadside and then rotating so the ship’s belly was exposed to the Skaa, to completely cover the gate and also to allow all three of the primary particle beam weapons to have an open firing arc. Those weapons could rotate from their firing positions, providing a full field of fire on the side of the ship where they were located. With her belly turned towards the attackers, the Defiant could fire all three particle beams at them. “Gunnery crews, open fire as soon as they come into range!” Jason barked, and that command was relayed to each individual weapon team that operated each weapon platform.

But the Defiant never got to fire a shot. The two destroyers were ahead of the cruiser, and so they came into firing range first. The Sora’s Pride was the first to open fire, as a stream of white-hot light erupted from the sleek bow of the vessel, searing across space to strike the Skaa cruiser on the left on his display, going right through the attacker’s shields. Their higher position caused the beam to strike the Skaa ship high on the bow at an angle, and that beam appeared under the ship, lancing off into deep space. The beam then raked across the attacker, shearing right through it, severing a large section of the quarter-circle pie wedge of the bow from the ship. Explosive decompression pushed the two pieces apart, and then it was hit again, a new beam hitting the ship almost dead amidships, slicing through its hull and raking across its slender middle, effectively cutting the ship in half. The Resolute opened fire on the other ship seconds afterward, as the ship tried to turn away, and the particle beam struck the vessel dead center in the bow, between the quarter circles, and then ripped down almost along the keel line, trying to cut the ship into two perfect halves. The beam hit something important, though, for the entire ship detonated in a fiery explosion when the beam cut halfway towards the stern, sending debris and shrapnel in every direction.

“Well done,” Jason called over local tactical. “Pull back to formation and-”

“Your Grace, multiple contacts on the far side of the planet!” one of the Kimdori called. “It’s a Faey battle group, 15 ships and a command ship, they just came out of hyperspace 500,000 kathra from the planet!”

“Well, there they are,” Jason grunted. “Contact the Imperium ships and tell them to get out of the way. They are not to engage unless the attackers get past us and threaten the planet. Medaa, get us over there!”

“Course already plotted, your Grace,” the Kimdori navigator answered, and the ship began to turn.

“Jyslin, Myri, follow us, the rest of the attack jumped in on the other side of the planet.

“Open the Faey parlay channel,” he ordered his comm officer, and when the Kimdori male nodded to him, Jason began. “Attention Faey warships, you have entered sovereign Terran space, and you have no authorization to be here. Turn around and jump back into hyperspace or you will be considered hostile and will be met with force. Acknowledge.”

“Sovereign Terran space? This is Trillane territory. The Trillanes do not recognize any spurious claim made by a defunct house over this planet! You will stand down your vessels and be boarded!”

“The hell I will!” Jason snapped. “If you want a war, little missy, you’re about to be obliged. Oh, and by the way, your Skaa ships didn’t even get into firing range of the stargate,” he added. “We picked them off before they knew what hit them. I hope they didn’t cost Trillane too much, cause they were kinda pathetic. They didn’t even shoot back.”

The channel was killed immediately. Evidently, that hit a nerve.

The Imperial ships were in the best position to watch what could only be called a slugfest in space. The three Karinne ships came hurtling around the planet, towards a task force of 6 destroyers, 3 light cruisers, 3 heavy cruisers, 2 battleships, and a command battleship. The three Karinne ships kept a tight formation as they lanced right towards the center of the Trillane formation, aiming right at the command ship. When the two sides got in range, they opened fire on each other. A curtain of plasma torpedoes and plasma bolts rained in on the three ships, but the ships did not change course. There were spectacular explosions and flashes of light as the weapon fire impacted the ships, but zooming in showed that the weapons were hitting the shields of the opposing ships. Those ships had shields that could stop metaphased plasma! But those shields didn’t seem to be invincible. After just seconds, the visible flares as their energy matrices became unstable as the shields began to buckle against the attack, but then Karinne ships returned fire. Streaks of brilliant white light erupted from the wing edges and bows of the Karinne battle cruiser and the bows of the destroyers, sustained beams of energy that struck Trillane ships and ripped through them like an MPAC round through ice. In just that initial exchange, four Trillane ships were either sliced into pieces or had crippling gashes through them reaching halfway through the ship, fatal wounds that were venting atmosphere into space. The cruiser and two destroyers pushed right through the Trillane formation, their shields failing as they were hammered in a raking crossfire between the enemy ships, but their hulls withstood the pounding, refusing to be breached. Ghostly white balls of light peppered away from the Karinne ships, some kind of short-range weapon, which punched through the hulls of the Trillane ships and exploded violently, blowing huge gaping wounds into the hulls of the enemy ships.

It wasn’t all Karinne, though. The left destroyer listed in its formation as it was pounded by plasma fire, and nearly rammed a Trillane cruiser as it seemed to lose helm control, falling out of formation. The hull of the destroyer had not been breached, but the sheer pounding it had taken must have dealt shock damage to its internal systems. It continued to fire, though, its bow-mounted cutting weapon blasting into the cruiser it nearly rammed as it passed under it, then the destroyer nosed almost vertically down and started a spinning dive as it seemed to lose all control. The remaining destroyer and cruiser maintained course, punching through the Trillane formation and getting into a position to open fire on the Trillane command ship.

That was when the Imperial captains and admiral understood the Karinne battle plan, and nodded in appreciation. If those ships could stand up to that kind of beating, then pushing through and taking out the enemy’s command ship, breaking the chain of command, was a smart idea. Without the task admiral to direct the formation, the remaining ships would be in disarray.

And that’s exactly what happened. The cruiser opened fire on the command ship with three of those cutting beams, and the destroyer did so as well with its single beam, shearing massive gashes into the behemoth, a behemoth so large that the beams could not penetrate all the way through the ship. But they penetrated deep enough, and what made those beams so deadly was the fact that they were sustained. All four of them then raked through the enemy ship, tearing long, deadly lines of destruction across the hull, leaving ugly black surgical incisions in the hull that gouted flame and internal atmosphere into space. Those beams carved deeply into the huge battle cruiser, again and again, until all the command ship’s lights went out, all its weapons stopped firing, and the vessel began to list. The attack had crippled it, and it was now out of the battle.

The cruiser and destroyer then broke off and dove, towards their wounded companion, as they continued to fire at the ships behind them. Six Trillane ships were either destroyed or fatally crippled, and the nine that were left continued to fire at the two ships, but did not move to pursue. Another Trillane ship was struck by one of those white beams dead in the stern, and before the beam even began to rake through the ship, the entire stern section of the destroyer exploded violently, sending the jagged remnant of the bow spinning off towards the planet. When the Karinne ships were clear of the Trillanes, zoomed camera angles showed that the ships had not come out of it unscathed. They were peppered with ugly burns, and though the hull had not been breached, it was clear that both ships had suffered damage from the head-on assault. The cruiser was no longer using weapons on its starboard side, probably knocked out, and the destroyer’s movements were jerky, as it seemed to be trying to overcome damage to its engines.

The Trillane ships finally moved to pursue, sending fire raining down on their opponents, but they learned quickly that they were still in range of the enemy ship’s primary weapon. The two battleships were now the primary targets, and the new angle of the Karinne ships gave them the ability to fire at any ship in the formation. Three angry white bars of energy erupted from the two Karinne ships and struck one of the remaining battleships, two striking near the bow and one in the port stern, and then they raked across, slicing deeply into the ships, shearing datalines and plasma conduits, cutting through bulkheads, slicing across compartments, destroying equipment. An explosion near the surface of the bow near the edge on the battleship ejected debris into space when the beam erupted from the top of the hull, as the beam hit a thin enough area of the battleship to cut all the way through. That battleship immediately went dead, and it began to list as it lost engines and its ability to retain its position. The other battleship turned, tried to present the smallest aspect to the Karinne ships, but it was too late for that. The beams fired again, slamming into it, all three beams hitting the ship sternward of amidships, and they cut deeply into the bowels of the ship. It lost all power forward of the impact area.

That was when the Karinne commander broadcast again. “Attention Trillane commanders! Surrender immediately or we will turn around and finish all of you off! And if you don’t think we can do it, just take a look at your command ship and battleships! You have fifteen seconds to disengage your weapons! Any ship with live weapons after that will be destroyed, because I will call in the Imperial fleet parked by the planet to engage you!”

They didn’t surrender, but they also didn’t continue to fight. The remaining ships, seven of them, turned and started running, trying to get far enough away so they could jump out. The Karinne cruiser left the two destroyers behind, as the crippled destroyer was captured in tractor beams by the other destroyer to arrest its descent towards deep space, and moved to pursue. The Trillane ships continued to fire at the Karinne cruiser, but the cruiser fired back. And where the Trillane impacted that hull and exploded, doing little damage, the return fire from the cruiser was deadly, cutting deeply into the enemy ships if not completely through them. Every ship that beam struck either exploded or careened out of formation, its inertia carrying it forward as the cutting beam disabled the ship.

In the end, only two Trillane ships managed to escape, a medium cruiser and a destroyer. The other five ships that had fled had been crippled or destroyed. And behind them, they left thirteen ships either destroyed or in grave condition.

Those Imperial ships then received a communication. Jason Karinne’s face appeared on their monitors. The bridge of his ship was filled with smoke, and there was a damage control team putting out a fire behind him. “Move in and assist the survivors,” he ordered. “You will secure them and rescue the crews, and tow the crippled ships back to the planet. Park them in orbit near Orbital One. They’re the property of House Karinne now, and the crews of those ships are now Karinne captives, by the forms of war of the Siann. We claim them as the spoils of war.”

“Are you in need of assistance?” the admiral of the Imperial task force, a grizzled veteran named Aniya Shevenne, asked.

“We got pretty banged up, but we’re alright. We’re still under our own power, and nothing happened that a day or two in space dock can’t fix. You can send a ship to help tow the Resolute back to the planet, though. The Sora’s Pride’s engines are damaged, and it’s having problems towing.”

“I must say, that was a daring strategy. Almost crazy.”

“Sometimes crazy works,” the human said, and then he cut communications.

Aniya laughed and looked at her first officer. “Sometimes it does indeed!” she said, then laughed again.

But it wasn’t as crazy as it looked, Aniya understood. That human knew that his ship’s armor was enough to stand up to the Trillane weapons. He used those amazing shields to take the bite off of the initial salvo, the most concentrated of the fire, and then relied on the tough armor of his ships to let them ram right through the enemy formation and take out their command ship, breaking the chain of command. He then went after the next two logical ships that would assume command. Once those were disabled, the remaining ships had no real idea who was in charge, and their nerve broke and they ran. It was a classic military strategy, and the human had used it well.

And Aniya had gotten some great footage of it all, for the Imperial Command to study, so they could better analyze the tactical capabilities of those mysterious Karinne ships, who seemed to have armor and weapons superior to current Imperial technology, but didn’t make those ships invincible, as that battle had proved. They’d lost one of their destroyers on the initial assault, the second had been knocked out soon after, and the main cruiser itself had suffered much more damage than it looked to have taken, judging from the condition of the bridge she’d seen.

But still, it would make for some great study.


Myleena was pissed at him. She was still getting an idea of the damage, and though it was bad, it could have been worse.

The Resolute’s main power was knocked out in the initial attack, and it was going to take at least a week to get it back online. The Sora’s Pride had suffered engine damage, and the ship’s engines had to be stripped down and rebuilt. The Defiant had taken the most damage, with power failures, blown systems, and vibration and shock damage all over the ship, where the ship’s structure was exposed to the damaging jarring and vibration of the impacts on the hull. The entire starboard section had lost power, and the main sensors had been blown out during the attack. It wasn’t crippling damage, but all three ships had to be put in space dock to effect repairs. And since only the Defiant was capable of jumping back to Karis, that meant that they had to do the repairs there, at Earth, using substandard equipment and basically having to jerry-rig everything to get it working enough to get it back to Kosigi, where it could be repaired properly.

Myleena had a lot of work ahead of her, but she was also the kind that considered the upcoming tasks heavenly. She could really get into the guts of the ships now and satisfy her need to take things apart.

The fire on the bridge had been the scariest part of the whole thing, really. It had erupted from Yana’s console, and sent her down to the infirmary with some nasty burns on her face and left hand. But there were no fatalities on any of the Karinne ships, and that was a blessing. The Kimdori were too tough to injure in this kind of a situation, since they could simply shapeshift away any superficial wounds to their bodies.

Jason had the ships dock at Orbital One as the Imperial Navy towed the Trillane ships into orbit near the space station and after he checked up on both Jyslin and Myri to make sure they were alright, and started ferrying over the survivors of those ships, bringing them to Orbital One as well. They were now the property of Karinne, by the forms of Siann. That was the commoner’s fate in a war. They were not prisoners of war, they were property. Commoners served the house, and commoners captured in war were like other forms of spoils, assets to be used, abused, or discarded by the victor house. All of these sailors were now the property of House Karinne. Usually, they were sold back to the house that lost them, since they had all been raised to be loyal to their original house and might be a security risk, but Jason wasn’t so quick to jump on that idea. He had planned for this. Like any Faey, odds are these sailors were jaded in their outlook, and had no real loyalties. Sure, some of them would be loyal to Trillane, but not all of them. They would serve whoever gave them a paycheck, and here was a ready pool of trained talent that could be put to good use.

They had no faith.

If Jason could convince just a fraction of them to join his house, serve him, then he’d have access to technically skilled Faey that would significantly bolster his position.

All he had to do was give them something to believe in, and he would have at his fingertips a pool of trained Faey to work for him. And that was an asset far beyond the ships he’d captured.

He left his skimmer and saw them sitting on the landing bay deck, being watched by two squads of Imperial Marines, the first wave of survivors plucked off their wounded ships. There were about a hundred of them, Faey women wearing the jumpsuit uniform of ship’s crew, and a few in the Class A of command staff, who were mostly all nobles in the house. Odds were, all the officers were Trillanes, and all the enlisted were commoners.

Now the Trillane nobles were to be treated a bit differently, he recalled. They were prisoners of war, and he had to put them in a prison somewhere and hold them until Trillane ransomed their release, Trillane conquered Earth and freed them, or Jason simply let them go. He also had the option of handing them over to the Empress, but if he did that, he wouldn’t see a credit of any monetary settlement the Trillanes offered to get their nobles back.

Some people were being unloaded on stretchers, and those were being taken to the station’s hospital. A quick word with one of the Marines guarding these healthy prisoners told him that the Imperial Navy had already dispatched doctors to the hospital to care for the wounded.

“Lieutenant,” Jason called audibly. “Separate the officers and confine them to the brig.”

“Aye, your Grace,” one of the helmeted Marines called. All officers, stand up! she sent in command. Fall in to be taken to the brig!

The officers, most of them in Class A’s but a few in jumpsuits, stood up, gathered by a squad of six Marines, and then were marched off, leaving a bunch of frightened-looking Faey women. Most of them were young, almost all of them in conscription, serving their mandatory military service in their house Navy. He looked over about seventy scared faces, and had to sigh. He hated that they had been the ones who had had to pay for the anger of the nobles who commanded them. They probably had wanted nothing to do with this fight, but they were stuck. And some of them had died because of it. Jason felt a small measure of responsibility for those deaths, but he also understood that had he not fought, had he not killed some on the ships, then a great many more would have died. It was raw that some of them had to pay that price… but sometimes life just was not fair. Shevak, in the guise of a Faey male, handed him a moist towel to scrub the smoke and soot from his face, and he did so. “Don’t any of you worry now,” he told the crew members, using a calm, reassuring voice, smiling at them. He saw more than a few eyelashes flutter. Jason was very handsome to Faey women, and he was using that now as a weapon, to put them at ease, to listen to the handsome man as he talked to them. “We’re not like other noble houses. As soon as we can find rooms, you’ll be billeted here on the station while we figure out what to do with you. But, since I have you here and there’s no officers around,” he said, squatting down to be more on a level with them, who were all seated on the floor, “I guess I’ll tell you now.

“Your officers, well, they’re going back to Trillane because I can’t trust them, but you, the diligent backbone of a ship’s crew, you’re just serving out you conscriptions, aren’t you?” A few of them nodded. “You know, all of you are older than me,” he mused with a chuckle. “You certainly don’t look it. Anyway, are any of you familiar with the rules of Siann about things like this?”

One young girl with pink hair raised her hand, and after he nodded at her in recognition, she stood and bowed to him. “We’re your property now, your Grace,” she told him, blushing. “Chattel of your house. We have to serve you, if you make us.”

“Well, I’d rather not make you,” he said with a snort. “But I am offering to take all of you into my house. I’d love to have you come work for me. You can come serve your conscription with me, where your time counts towards your conscription as far as the Imperium is concerned. I’d rather you come work for me because that’s what you want, not because I have an MPAC pointed at you. Work for me, and I’ll give you a good paycheck, job security, and as you saw from the fight, you’ll be learning about things you’ve never even seen on a Trillane battle cruiser. At first you’ll be manning your old ships, at least once they’re fixed. You’ll be doing that, but at the same time, you’ll start learning about our ships. And once you’re trained, you’ll be taking positions on Karinne ships, ships like the badasses you saw out there today, and you’ll be a part of the meanest, toughest, most kick-ass house Navy in the Imperium. But just because I’ll be keeping you where you’ve been trained, please don’t believe that it’s because I want you to fight. That’s the last thing I want. Fighting is pointless and a waste of time and energy. The main hope I have from bringing you to my house, is that it scares the other houses to where they don’t want to fight with us. My people, the Terrans, we had a saying for it; ‘peace through superior firepower.’ I’m not sure if there’s a similar saying among the Faey, but that’s basically how the Empress keeps the peace. It’s certainly not because the houses under her accept her rules, it’s because she’ll blow them halfway across the universe if they go against her. That’s my objective for our house,” he told them. “To be strong enough that the other houses won’t bother trying to fight us. The one thing I can promise all of you ladies, though, is that I will never send you into battle without a damn good reason. I’m not like the other Grand Duchesses, ladies. I was a commoner, I know how it felt to be in that yoke, and that’s not something I’m going to forget now that I’m in this seat. With me, you’ll always know that your Grand Duke cares about the common woman, because he was a commoner himself.

“But that’s just part of it. If you come work for me, I’ll allow you to attend the new Academy we’re going to build here on Terra, free. Any of you who want to think about leadership training can apply to become an officer. If you prove you have the skill and ability, you’ll be promoted to a warrant officer, a middle rank between enlisted and officer, and you’ll be trained to be a leader. And no, you don’t have to be a noble in my house to be an officer,” he smiled. “I reward ability and loyalty, not who your parents were. But, if you do want to join the ranks of the nobility, to become a Karinne, that option is there too. Anyone who reaches the rank of Commander as an officer or Deck Petty Officer as an enlisted can petition to join the house as a noble. So, in this house, if you work hard and show you want it, you can be more than a subject of House Karinne, you can be a Karinne.

“That’s the offer, girls. Come work for me, not because I’m making you, but because you want to. You’ll be well cared for with me, believe me. I’m not like your Grand Duchess. I know you exist, I care about you and your well being, and your welfare means much to me. If you serve me well, I’ll be good to you in return. And if you don’t want to serve me, then I’ll send you back to Draconis under care of the Empress, which means you’ll be serving the remainder of your conscription wherever the Imperium decides to send you. I will not send you back to serve your conscription with Trillane. Even if you don’t want to be part of Karinne, I still care about you, and I want you to be okay. I’m sure you’ve watched Court Exposed on the viddy and know all about my little, relationship, with Empress Dahnai,” he said with a chuckle, which caused several of them to giggle. “So if I ask her to treat you well, she’ll honor my request.” He stood up and looked at the Marine. “Billet these ladies down in the guest section,” he told her. “Get them some dinner, and see if you can dig up some clothes for them, will you?”

“At once, your Grace,” the Marine said with a bow. “Stand up please, ladies, and follow me. We’ll get you settled in.”

That was the routine. Jason went through it again and again, each time they had enough crew gathered to make the speech worth giving. The Marines kept count for him, and by the time that the last of the survivors were brought in, they had 4,107 women, 611 of them brought in wounded, and 387 officers of various ranks, from ensign all the way to Vice Admiral Countess Sheva Trillane. He blinked when he realized he’d tried to woo over 3,000 women over the hours, in groups from 50 to over 400.

Jason love, are you done in the landing bay? Jyslin sent to him. Judging from the distance and sense of her thought, she had to be on one of the ships near the station.

I think so. I’ve gone over this so many times, it’s all blurring together. How is the ship?

We’ve just about got the engines to where they’ll hold together. These Kimdori are amazing technicians. But they still say we need to put into the dock at Kosigi for real repairs. What they’ve done is a patch job, nothing more. They just want the engines to hold together long enough to get back to the base.

That’s good. Sec hon, gonna get Myleena. Jason altered his sending to find her. Myleena, how is the Defiant?

Two more hours and we’ll have auxiliary power to the starboard wing, and then we can get the ship to Kosigi. From what I’ve been told, the Resolute needs six more hours before they get power stable enough for a jump, but the Sora’s Pride’s engines are patched enough to make one jump. We’ve decided to jump the ships together, so if one fails somehow, the other two can latch onto it and carry it the rest of the way.

Jason love, I hope you don’t mind, but I’m going to go with the ship back to the base, Jyslin sent. You put me in command here, and I feel like I need to get him home. It’s only right.

I don’t mind at all love. I’m happy you found something that interests you. How did you find command?

Challenging. Scary! But it was exciting! Can I have this ship, Jayce?

Love, it’s all yours.

I love you baby! she sent girlishly, then broke the connection.


Jason’s idea was simple, and it was damned effective.

The conscript crews, all of them young females, found the offer almost as attractive as the handsome man who delivered it. Of the 3,111 enlisted who had been rescued, 2,037 had decided to take Jason’s offer and work for House Karinne. It really was a win-win situation for everyone. Jason recruited naval personnel who had practical experience, were Faey telepaths, and who would both help train new naval personnel and fill the ranks of the house with new officers and nobles.

At least after they were screened. He wasn’t naïve enough to just welcome them aboard without some assurances they were coming to him honestly. The ex-Marines from Jyslin’s squad were taking care of that, weeding out the sincere from the fakers, who would take a position only to sabotage Karinne. Jason didn’t see too much of an issue with that, though. The terms Jason was offering the conscripted women were much more attractive than what they’d get anywhere else. Nowhere else would a commoner get a chance to be an officer, or join a house as a noble, unless they were in the Marines… and the Marines didn’t let just anyone into their ranks.

Some of it was the offer, but some of it had been the salesman. Jason knew Faey. He knew them well, he understood them, and he knew how to appeal to both sides of their brain, occasionally at the same time. Had Myleena got up and made that offer, not even half as many would have signed up. But Jason, a young, handsome, charming man who smiled at them and made them feel important got up there and made them an offer that seemed entirely fair, even generous. There was a little hesitation on behalf of some, but Jason was told by some of the Marines guarding the station that every time someone said “I don’t know,” someone else would look at her and say “are you nuts, he was gorgeous!” Sure, it was a little manipulative to be using himself as bait of sorts to lure them into the idea of it, but he was still solidly convinced that he’d be a much better Grand Duke to them than Maeri ever was a Grand Duchess. To Maeri, those girls were numbers in a column… they were statistics. To Jason, they were people. And he would never forget that; never forget the responsibility he had to them, both as their Grand Duke and as the one who employed them. They were his employees, his subjects, and he would do his best to make sure they were treated well and had a chance to be happy.

To him, that was what being a Grand Duke was all about. It wasn’t about his personal glory; it was about helping those who served him by serving them.

As he waited for his Karinne dropship to arrive in the landing bay, which would take him to the Scimitar and get him to Draconis to tell Dahnai what had happened, the commoners who had passed the screening had been put to work helping the Faey who were returning from the evacuation get the station back into operation. They all pointed at Jason and sent excitedly among themselves, and they didn’t fail to stop what they were doing and bow to him when he walked by, giving him broad, open smiles. Two of them, looking as young as Kumi, ran up to him, bowed, then kissed him boldly, catching him off guard, then they ran back to their duties, sending excitedly with their companions, who all looked at him adoringly.

Oh yeah, this was going to be interesting.

When he got to the palace, he was taken straight to Dahnai’s private gym, where she was doing her daily workout. She didn’t stop, even for him, and he told her about the fight, and about his dispensation of the remains of Trillane’s attack fleet, including the crew.

She laughed when she heard that. “What kind of terms did you offer them?” she asked. When he told her, she whistled, then laughed again as she mounted an exercise bike and began peddling. Jason noticed that the bike was Terran. She had had it shipped in from Earth so she could use it. Very clever, Jason! You probably bagged them all with terms like that!

Pretty much well near all of them, he answered. You told me that my lack of forces was an issue, so I started addressing it.

That was great thinking! she praised. This way you’re getting pre-trained troops! If you can be sure they’ll be loyal, that is.

I have some of the strongest telepaths in the Imperium in my house, Dahnai. They’re checking the girls out. If someone’s lying, they’ll know.

Well done! she complemented again. How many ships did you destroy?

Seven, and two escaped, he answered. But we captured the Trillane command ship and two of their battleships. And, uh, one medium cruiser and one destroyer, he said, digging the figures out of his pocket and reading them. Those we can salvage and put back into service. All of them have some extensive damage, though. But they can be repaired. Once they are, I’ll use them for my house.

And you did that with just three ships?

He nodded. Two destroyers and a cruiser. But my ships got pretty banged up in the fight, and all three are down right now for repairs. But nobody else knows that, he sent dryly. Then again, they have no idea how many ships I have. Myleena is pissed at me that I got her babies beat up. Does Trillane know what happened?

They know something bad happened. They don’t know what yet. When you sealed off the system and evacuated all foreign houses, they knew they were made, but what could they do? Their ships were in hyperspace. All they could do was hope you couldn’t repel their task force, since you banned travel into the system which would have allowed them to leave a beacon buoy to warn off the task force when they jumped in. But now they know something bad happened, since Suralle is going back to Terra, and you’ve come to the palace. They know the attack failed, but they won’t know how bad it was until their ships get back. Did you capture the Skaa ships?

He shook his head. They were the first ships destroyed.

Damn. I’d have loved to get my hands on those.

What’s the Imperial position?

Officially? None. I frown on inter-house fighting, you know that, but I can’t officially stop it. About all I can do is summon you and Maeri to my study and give you a bitching out. Unofficially, though, I don’t think I really need to do anything else. Maeri tried to destabilize the Imperium by cutting off Terran food production, and usually I’d come down on her for something like that. But this time, I think I’m just gonna step back and let her squirm a little. She got her ass kicked, and when what’s left of her task force gets back, she’s going to know just how badly she got spanked. I know Maeri, Jason. She’s ambitious, cunning, and dangerous, but she’s not an idiot. She’ll take that pasting as a sign that she’d better not try something like that again, because she knows that now I’ve seen that trick, and I’ll be coming after her with a task force of my own if some other government’s ships mysteriously appear in Terran space and attack the stargate. I’ll make sure to tell her that, too.

That’s all you’re going to do?

Jayce, baby, she just lost about a hundred billion credits’ worth of military hardware to you. Trust me, I can’t do anything more to her that you haven’t done already. You didn’t just destroy a Trillane command ship, you captured it. A command ship! Trillane only had seven of those, Jayce. Well, six now. Do you know how much one of those costs to build? She lost a major piece of Trillane property to you. Between what you destroyed and what you captured, you punched a big hole in her military budget. It’s going to take them years to replace those ships.

If they’re that expensive, why did she send one to attack Terra?

Because they are that expensive, baby. A command ship is a serious warship. I guess Maeri thought that not even your Defiant would be able to fight off a command ship. If I were in her place, I’d have made the same assumption. I’d have been afraid enough of the Defiant to send a command ship to destroy it, but confident a command ship would be capable of the job. Boy, would I have been wrong, she sent with a chuckle, continuing her steady, rhythmic pedaling. So, are you sending her your ring?

No, I’m not starting a fight that might send the Imperium spiraling into a civil war, he answered.

Good, because I’ve have stopped you. I’m glad you see that too. What are you doing with the Trillane nobles you captured?

Tossing them in jail for now, he answered. I don’t want to keep them, though. I’m not petty like Maeri is, I’m not gonna kill Trillanes or torture them just to get back at them for what they’ve done, or hold those nobles prisoner and make their families suffer with fear and anxiety over what may happen to them or what I might do to them. I will not become my enemy. As soon as things calm down, in a few days maybe, I’ll be shipping them to Draconis and letting them go. Trillane can pick them up here and take them home, or whatever the hell they wanna do. I don’t really care.

Not the way I’d do it, but at least your reasoning makes a kind of sense, given how well I know you, she sent with a nod. You sending those nobles to me, or just letting them go?

Letting them go.

Aww, come on, send them to me, so I can make Maeri pay through the nose, Dahnai winked.

Usually I’d say yes Dahnai, but I’m not going to hold the families of those women hostage because of a power game between the leaders of the Siann. So no, you can’t have them. I’m letting them go.

Fair enough, she sent, slowing to a stop on her exercise bike. She put her elbows down on the handle bars and looked at him. I have to say it, Jayce, you’ve come a long way in a short time. I’m very impressed.

Well, thanks Dahnai, I appreciate it, he sent modestly.

Beh, can the modesty. Now, you’ve done me a favor by pissing off Maeri, so what can I do for you?

Well, my wife’s busy and I’m a little tired. Can I stay over tonight?

Sure. I’ll have a steward find you a room.

A room? he sent, giving her a thorough look.

Her expression was like sunshine as she beamed at him. I thought you said you were tired.

I’m not that tired.

Ooohhh, now?

Not now. After a meal, a bath, and some rest, sure. We can do what me and my wife and our friends do, sit on the couch and watch the viddy ‘til we’re in the mood.

Deal, she grinned, looking to one of the pages who stood near the door. What do you feel like for dinner tonight?

Lobster.

“Subin, go to the kitchen and tell the chefs to prepare a lobster dinner for two, and have it sent to my room as soon as it’s ready.”

“At once, your Majesty,” the young boy said with a whiplike bow, and he ran from the room.

Dahnai looked almost giddy. She usually had to initiate their interludes, but this was the first time Jason had done the inviting. It was a combination of pure lust and living up to a name. He was starting to get the itch, and Jyslin and Symone were busy, so Dahnai was an eminently acceptable alternative. After all, she was a very good time in bed. But, he also knew that Dahnai had officially had him recognized as her amu dorai, and she was going to expect him to show the same interest in her that she showed in him. Jason liked Dahnai, liked her a lot, and he couldn’t deny that he looked forward to spending time alone with her, even if he did have to suffer through court for the privilege. It was about time he at least start treating her with a little consideration, especially since she’d soon be showing signs of her pregnancy and she’d be lamenting the fun they had before she got fat and ugly… in her own mind. She liked it when he spent time with her in an informal setting, like a date, or just vegging out in front of the vidlink, so he would give her some quality time. Then they’d have some very satisfying sex, and both of them would be happy.

That was the plan. And it went very well, up to a point, but reality certainly decided to interfere with their evening. It managed to go well enough; a nice dinner, a few good hours doing absolutely nothing of importance while Jason and Dahnai bathed together (but she kept her hands to herself, enjoying the game of anticipation) and watched the vidlink, first catching a batchi game on the Imperial Sports and Games Network, then watching Terra TV when Jason started telling her about shows he used to like to watch before the Subjugation.

Dahnai was a sucker for Family Guy.

And just about the time Jason was starting to feel it was about time to retire to the bedroom with Dahnai, so much so he was untying the belt of the thigh-length robe she commonly wore around her apartment as she giggled and kissed his neck, the vidlink cut off and came back up to show one of Dahnai’s staff. “I really beg your pardon, Your Majesty, but a priority missive just came in that demands your immediate attention.”

Jason sighed and put his forehead on her bare shoulder, but Dahnai sat up without bothering to close the robe that Jason had just opened to get at the delights within, giving the young woman a truly ugly glare. “Mitti, if this doesn’t involve the explosion of a planet or the Coming of Trelle, I’m gonna scalp you,” she threatened the vidlink monitor, which made the young lady on the other side flinch visibly. “Well? What is it?”

“Uh, Grand Duchess Maeri Trillane has used the call of council,” she said. “I know you know I’m required to warn you of that. Shall I patch her through, or do you wish, uh, to make yourself presentable, your Majesty?”

“Oh, get that bitch on the line right now,” she said hotly, standing up.

The girl’s face vanished, and the mature face of Maeri Trillane appeared. She took in the scene with a single glance and seemed slightly amused. “I beg your pardon for interrupting,” she said with complete insincerity. “But I felt this important.”

“What do you want, Maeri?” Dahnai snapped. “I’m fucking busy, and if not for you, I could be busy fucking!”

“Yes, your infatuation with the Terran is well known,” she said disdainfully. “But it’s been brought to my attention that you’re holding a number of my nobles. I called to bargain the terms of their return.”

Dahnai grinned evilly. “They’re not under my banner, Maeri. They’re under his,” she said, pointing at Jason, who was still sitting on the couch. “I’m surprised that got back to you so fast.”

“Well, when a number of my ships came up missing, I had them tracked down, and found out they’d initiated an unapproved attack on Terra. I want them back so I can put them on trial for insubordination and disobeying orders.”

“Since you acknowledge they’re your ships, maybe you can explain why the Trillanes are using Skaa vessels,” Jason asked bluntly, standing up. “Seems that two of them jumped into my system and tried to attack the stargate.”

“Vice Admiral Sheva Trillane clearly had put some thought into this unsupported action,” Maeri said smoothly.

“You can drop the semantics, Maeri,” Dahnai told her. “You wanna talk terms, then start talking.”

“There are no terms,” Jason told Maeri simply. “Tomorrow when I get home, I’ll be shipping all your nobles to Draconis and letting them go. No terms, no ransoms. They’re free to go.”

“How, generous of you,” she murmured.

“You won’t think that for long, when the only two ships that got away from me get back to your territory and tell you what happened,” Jason told her, sitting back down and crossing his legs, taking a very casual comfortable pose. “I destroyed or captured the rest of them, including your command ship. In three weeks, when we get it repaired, I’m gonna jump it to Arctus and drive it by the planet so you can see the Karinne crest painted on it,” he told her, holding up his hand and ticking off his fingers with the list. “I got your command ship, both your battleships, three cruisers, and a destroyer. The rest were destroyed. I hope you weren’t too attached to them.” He put his arm around Dahnai when she sat back down. “Oh, and you’re only getting the nobles back, Maeri. I’m exercising my rights as the victor house and I’m keeping them as spoils. They work for House Karinne now. Since they were manning those ships, that gives me experienced crews to put right back on them once I get them repaired. I’ve even arranged it so their indentured service to me counts against their conscription time.”

“I can’t believe that,” she snorted. “How could you capture a command ship?”

“Easy when you knock out all its power and leave it dead in space,” Jason answered. “Crews aren’t too worried about repelling borders when they have no life support. They surrendered very quickly.”

“I don’t believe you!”

“I don’t care what you believe,” Jason said, rather flippantly. “When your ships get home, they’ll tell you all about it. By the rules of the Siann, ships and crews captured by rival houses become property of the victor house. Your ships are mine now. So are the crews that manned them, all the fighters in them, even the underwear in the panty drawer of the Vice Admiral. All mine. I’d have kept the Vice Admiral too, she was kinda cute and had a sexy ass, but I don’t have to look very far to find gorgeous women,” he said, brazenly reaching down and fondling Dahnai’s breast, letting Maeri watch him pawing the Empress’ person. “And between Dahnai and my wife, I’m kept pretty much well exhausted. All you’re getting back is two ships and a shitload of scared noble officers who can tell you all about it. So have your people at the Miga Spaceport tomorrow at noon standard time so you can collect up your nobles. And Maeri. Never try that again. If you ever jump an attack force into Terran space, I’ll turn around and jump everything I have to Arctus, and I’ll blow your planet out of the sky. And if you don’t think I can do it, then try me,” he finished with an ominous hiss. “You have no idea what I’ve managed to recover from my ancestors, Maeri. They left me clues to recover everything they left behind, and I have to say, it’s damn impressive. I have toys squirreled away that would make you feel like your house is still using swords and spears. You’ll get to see some of it in action when your ships get back and you can access their visual logs, and see what my ships are capable of. But, to spoil the surprise, I brought in only three ships to take on your attack force. Three, and the largest of them isn’t even the size of your heavy cruisers. And they kicked the piss out of your task force without a single casualty. My crews didn’t even so much as break a nail. But I know you don’t believe a word I’m telling you, so I’ll just let the logs you get back from those two ships that got away do all my talking for me.

“I’ve put up with you so far because I abhor violence and I want to see the Imperium at peace, but if you push me again, I will send you my ring. And I’ll make sure I take it back out of your cold, dead hand.

“Remember that, bitch. Stay away from me, my house, and my planet, and we can coexist just fine. But push me one more time, and I’ll hit you so hard, so fast, you won’t have a clue what the fuck just happened to you.”

“Oh, and Maeri. If you ever try to disrupt food production again, I won’t even bother revoking your charter,” Dahnai told her in a sober, adamant voice. “I’ll just take your banner down from the hall, then have the entire Imperium hunt your house down and slaughter them to the last child. Do I make myself clear?”

“I have no idea-”

“That was not an offer to respond with anything other than yes or no,” Dahnai cut her off, scowling at the monitory. “Do you understand what I have just said to you?” Dahnai asked in a voice that startled Jason with its outright hostility and promise for graphic, ruthless violence.

“I understand,” she said in an arrogant tone. Jason had to give Maeri Trillane one thing; she did not scare easily. Not even an angry Empress was enough to frighten her.

“Now push off. I don’t have time to deal with you. I have better things to do,” Dahnai told Maeri, pointedly turning to Jason and grabbing the ties of his robe.

The image on the monitor winked out, replaced with the show they’d been watching. “Mmmm, sounds like we’re alone,” she purred in his ear, undoing his robe and opening it. “Now where were we?”

“Right about here, I think,” he answered, leaning in and kissing her.

Mmmmmmmmmmm, but don’t think we’re not going to talk about that little speech, she warned as she pushed herself into his arms. Later, she added, melting against him.


He had done everything Zaa had suggested.

He had openly given his support to the Empress. He had showed the Siann his hand, since now the video logs from the Trillane vessels were now in the public venue, and the rest of the noble houses had seen Jason’s deadly ships in action against Faey warships. He had started working on building the forces of his house, and was rebuilding the Academy.

This was the final step.

Jason and Miaari walked along the beach of the Teyan Sea on Karis, as she showed him the work that her people had been doing. The first structures of the reclaimed city of Karga had already been put up by the Kimdori, and in about a year, the entire city would be rebuilt. But those other structures weren’t what they were there to see. What they were there to see was just down the beach.

It was a glittering glass and steel compound enclosed in a defense screen, a force field of a fence that was the first line of defense to protect what was inside. This was the building that an army of nearly ten thousand Kimdori had labored every moment to build, and it was completely, both outside and inside.

It was the new biogenic manufacturing facility.

There had only been one of them, even back then. The compound was huge, the size of a small town back home on Earth, all enclosed in a force shield. Within were the various buildings necessary to grow the biogenic crystals that formed the heart of a biogenic system, as well as the manufacturing facilities to build the computers that would surround them, build new gestalts and memory bands, and begin construction on the components for a new CBIM. Cybi had asked that that be their first priority. She was the last of her kind, the last CBIM, and no other computer could store the information she contained. If she were to malfunction or go offline, then the knowledge of the Karinnes would be forever lost. Cybi wanted another CBIM online to serve as a backup, or serve as the primary and allow her to return to her assigned role as emergency backup herself. Before the fall of Karis, that was Cybi’s function, to be the last line of defense to protect the knowledge of the Karinnes. When another CBIM was complete and online, she could return to that role, but Jason would rather not see that. Another CBIM would not be Cybi. Cybi wasn’t just a computer to him. She was a friend, and he wanted her to continue to be the voice and the face of that which was.

Jason had been surprised they got it up so fast… and not just from the construction aspect. When he asked Miaari about it when she told him of the nearing completion, she responded that the Kimdori had already built all the equipment that would go into that facility, and had had it on hand for years, just waiting for the chance to use it. They had really thought ahead, building the delicate technology that would grow the crystals and waiting for a place to install it to be built. It reminded Jason yet again of the towering discipline and respect the Kimdori had for their word. They had promised not to make biogenic crystals, and despite building all the equipment they’d need to do it, they had never done it. They had built those machines, that equipment, and simply left it in some warehouse somewhere, having it on hand and ready in case they could use it.

“There it is, my friend,” she told him. “The Biogenics lab facility, which we had always called the Shimmer Dome due to the everpresent shield. It was brought up and operational yesterday, while you were, entertaining, the Empress Dahnai.”

“Go ahead and laugh,” he snorted.

She did laugh then. “No, no, we actually approve. You are a moderating influence on Dahnai. You were exactly what she needed, friend Jason, a man who sees her for who she is and likes her for no other reason. Now she knows that she can find a man that can look past her title, and she will look for him. When she finds him, she will marry him, she will love him, and she will be happy. She will always treasure you and the joy you brought to her, you will always be her amu dorai, for you opened her eyes and her heart and showed her that there is more to life than the power that comes from sitting on her throne. And for that, we thank you. An Empress who cares about more than power is an Empress that is less likely to wage war. This is what we hoped would come to pass, and you have helped make it so.

“You are everything we hoped you would be, my friend,” she said as they stopped on a sand dune and looked down on the compound. “You are a strong, wise, cunning man who can play the Grand Duchesses hand for hand, yet you retain your dignity and honor, and your compassion. You are an anathema to the others in the Siann, but as time will show them, you are not weak, as they believe you to be. They mistake your devotion to your people as weakness. In time, they will see that it is the greatest strength you possess.”

“Faith.”

“Faith,” she said with a nod. “You give others faith, my friend. You help them believe that there is something better, and with hard work and devotion, they may attain it. It has shown Dahnai that there is love out there for her, if she only opens her eyes to find it. Your commoner crews see a real future ahead of them, and the Terrans see hope that they will return to the lives they once held, with only minimal intrusion from the Imperium. You have learned the one thing I hoped that you would learn from me, my friend, and that is your faith was your greatest asset. You held onto it, and now you pass it to others. You make the lives of those under you better, for that is what you see as your duty, and in return, they give to you a powerful devotion and loyalty.”

“I’m glad it helped you out too, Miaari,” he said, reaching over and touching the white band of fur on her upper chest, between her collarbones.

She gave a growling laugh, touching the white band herself. “I still find myself staring at it in mirrors,” she admitted to him. “I almost can’t believe it. A Handmaiden, me. Kimdori children dream of the honor of the white band from as soon as they learn its meaning. When my father found out, he ordered a feast that lasted for nine days without respite.”

“Did Kiaari take it well?”

Miaari laughed again. “She wasn’t too jealous,” she told him. “And Denmother gave the others that helped me their own measure of honor and respect. Kiaari’s efforts were definitely noticed, my friend. It is why she is entrusted with your safety, despite her being so young. For a Kimdori her age to be given such an assignment is almost unheard of.”

“Well, I’m glad of that,” he said. “And I’m glad you’re my ambassador, Miaari. I wouldn’t want anyone else.”

“Which is why you have me,” she told him, patting him on the shoulder. “So, Jason Karinne, what next?”

“Next we build more ships,” he told her. “As fast as your people can build them.”

“The first ship of the same class as the Defiant will be ready for launch in three months,” she told him. “There is another cruiser two weeks behind it, and we will have the first destroyer class ship out of space dock in three weeks, with two more only weeks behind it. We have every bay in the shipyard on Kosigi filled, my friend, and we are working hard to get those ships out so we can start anew. There are even more Kimdori at Kosigi engaged in the construction effort than there are here building the Shimmer Dome. The cruiser and destroyers will be built before the crystals are grown to build the computers. Have you had your first meeting with the Makati?”

He shook his head, looking up as a dropship came down into view, landing near the compound. The tickling sense of Jyslin was all over that ship. She had come down from Kosigi. “Next week,” he said. “Ayuma is scheduled to return to Terra tomorrow with her staff, and we have our first meeting with the builders on, uh, Wednesday I think.”

“It will not take them long. Six months maybe.”

“Seriously?”

“Jason, the Makati are as quick as they are thorough. I can guarantee you that they will give you a time frame of about six months. Maybe more, maybe less, depending on the complexity of their blueprints and the number of workers they assign to the project. What the Kimdori build fast using sheer numbers, the Makati build fast using skill and experience. They are some of the best civil engineers in the galaxy. Building is genetic for them. They evolved from burrowers who made elaborate home systems underground. The need to build is coded into their DNA.”

“Huh.”

Jason! Jason, where are you?

We’re up on the dune near the sea. He sent her an image of what he could see, the compound and the dropship near it, now on the ground, and then he saw her come out of it. She pushed out a sweep to find his mind, locked onto it, turned and waved to him, then started running up to him. Tim and Symone climbed out behind him, and to Jason’s surprise, so did Ian and Erinn. Jason thought it was a bit early to reveal Karis to Erinn, but it was too late now. Jason should have thought that through more. He should have realized that when he told Jyslin she could bring the ship back, she’d be bringing her crew with her. With all three ships here, that put just about all of the House Karinne on Karis.

“I see you are introducing your house to Karis,” Miaari noted. “How are they taking it?”

“I really don’t know, those ones are here because I wasn’t thinking,” he said honestly. “Let’s go meet them.”

They met Jyslin about a quarter of the way. She threw herself into his arms and kissed him, excited and breathless. You should see Kosigi, my love! It’s huge, it takes up almost the entire inside of the moon! The moon is hollow, Jason! It’s nothing but a big base! There are Kimdori everywhere, and they’re building more ships! One of them looks like it’s almost done!

I haven’t been to Kosigi yet, he told her. I think I want to tour it before we go home.

“It’s good to see you again, Duchess,” Miaari told her.

“Miaari! Your people are helping us! Thank you!” she said, pushing out of Jason’s arms and actually hugging the Kimdori. Miaari looked a little startled, but she put her hands on Jyslin’s shoulders and patted them fondly.

“Yes, we are helping you, as much as we can. The success and prosperity of the Karinnes is a very important matter to us. We have entered an agreement with your husband to work with him while he rebuilds the house. Until you have the hands to work the necessary jobs, Kimdori hands will fill in. As your house grows in size and training, we will pull back and allow you to handle your own affairs.”

“Well, thank you. Thank you very much.”

“You are more than welcome, Duchess,” Miaari said with a toothy smile.

“Did you have to take off like that, Jys!” Symone complained as they reached them. “Really, that baby in your belly is going to your head! Jason, did you know that the moon is hollow, and it’s got like a million Kimdori in it building ships?”

Jason laughed. “Yes, I know, Symone,” he smiled. “How was the trip back?”

“Scary,” Tim said. “The Resolute’s power failed in mid-jump, and the other ships had to pull it through. They told me that if it had tried to jump by itself, it would have been trapped in hyperspace forever. That didn’t sound very pleasant.”

“No, it would not be,” Miaari mused.

“Anyway, we got all three ships back, and they’re on that moon being fixed by an army of Kimdori. But I think you knew that.”

“Yeah, I knew that. I didn’t know you guys were still here, though. I thought you’d have gone home.”

“Nah, there was too much to see!” he said excitedly. “The moon’s hollow, Jayce, and it’s huge! It took us almost a whole day just to look around. And when we were told you’d come, they allowed us to leave the base and come down to the planet to join you. Seems they don’t allow anyone down here unless you’re here or you approve it.”

“Yeah, security,” he said, looking at Miaari, who nodded. “This is what they’re protecting, guys,” he said, waving his hand at the compound as Erinn reached them. “That’s the new biogenics manufacturing compound, and I’m told it just started up yesterday. You okay, Erinn?” he asked, switching to Faey.

“I’m a little overwhelmed, your Grace,” he said honestly. “I just get out of secondary school four weeks ago, and now I’m a Karinne noble, I just had a battle with another house the other day, and I’m standing on Karis! They said in school that this planet is dead!”

Jason laughed. “That’s what we want everyone to think, Erinn,” he told the green-haired male. “So consider this your first test as a Karinne noble. The Karinnes were all about keeping secrets, Erinn. If you’re going to be a Karinne noble, then get into the habit. What you’ve seen here, what you know, you can never discuss it with anyone off of this planet. Not even with people who do know about it. A secret unspoken remains a secret,” he cited, using a Kimdori saying.

“Truly,” Miaari said with a nod.

“It’ll be hard, but I think I can do it,” he said with a nod. “Your Grace.”

“Can it with the titles, or I’ll start calling you Count Erinn,” Jason told him. “Call me Jason, or Jayce.”

“Sure, uh, Jason.”

“I guess this is as good a time as any to tell you guys some of the things I haven’t explained yet,” he told them. “Now that you’ve seen Kosigi, I’m sure you know that there’s much more to this place than meets the eye. I think I need to take you to Kosiningi and meet Cybi. I think it’s time for you to see the true legacy of the Karinnes, and it’s about time for Erinn to receive his gestalt.”

“Ohh, I’ve heard about this mysterious Cybi from the Marines,” Symone breathed.

“And when I find out who was talking about her, I’m gonna kick her ass,” Jason grunted. “They know they’re not supposed to be talking about things like that off this planet. Who was it?”

“Uh,” she said, then she looked him in the eyes and tapped her temple.

Oh yeah. Symone could hear private sending. “Alright. I’ll deal with her later,” he said, pretending Symone had sent the answer.

Miaari gave them a tour of the biogenic facility, which was conducted by the Kimdori scientist who was in charge of it. They showed them the vast liquid tanks where the crystals were grown, and the huge facilities where those crystals would be cut and shaped into both processing crystals and the board on which all the components would be installed. The computers used cybernetic components rather than moleculartronic and were actually less powerful than modern Faey moleculartronic computers, but the site commander also showed them a research building where they were already at work adapting biogenic components to the new standard in computer science, moleculartronic systems. He was quite confident they would have their first moleculartronic-based biogenic system by the end of the year, since they’d already done a great deal of research and preparatory work for this project, they had just lacked the biogenic crystals to test their theories and designs. When they managed to do it, they would refit every biogenic system currently in operation to moleculartronics, and would build new gestalts and memory bands using the more powerful system. For Jason and the other gestalt wearers, it would be like having the power of a panel at his disposal rather than the current computer, which wasn’t half as powerful.

Introducing those new to Karis to Cybi was an experience. Jason flew them to the island of Kosiningi and took them down to meet Cybi. She seemed quite interested in them all, but was particularly interested in Erinn, who wasn’t quite sure how to take it. He really didn’t know how to take it when Cybi told him the truth about the Karinnes, that he was the result of a thousand years of genetic engineering and careful selective breeding, which gave him the ability to commune with biogenic computers. It was also the moment when the others learned the truth about Jason. The truth he wouldn’t tell Jyslin, Tim, or Symone was revealed by Cybi, and now they knew the full extent of how different he was from the others, that he, Myleena, and Erinn were the descendents of genetically engineered beings who had been carefully produced through a millennia of selective breeding after that initial engineering.

After the revelation of the Karinnes was dropped on them all, Erinn was presented with his first gestalt. Erinn had seemed almost disbelieving of the tale… until he put on that gestalt. There was no denying that he could commune with biogenic systems once a gestalt imprinted to him. He was a bit scattered, trying to wrap his mind around it for a while, but seemed to take it well enough.

“Since I have you here, let me say two things,” Cybi told them. “First, Duchess Jyslin, my warmest congratulations. My sensors detect you are pregnant.”

“Yeah, and thanks,” Jyslin told the hologram, putting her hand on her belly.

“This leads me to the other matter. Jason, when are you bringing the others back to the house?”

“The Kimdori are bringing them to me, Cybi,” he told her. “Me and Miaari talked about that the other day, and we felt that bringing one back at a time would be prudent. Now that Erinn’s been fully inducted, the Kimdori are going to be bringing another.”

“I see. Jason, I cannot stress enough how precarious the situation is with the Generations. The program will be halted, but the fruits of that labor are very small in number. You are an endangered species, my friend. Ensuring the continuation of the lines should be your top priority.”

“What do you mean?”

“Jason, there are too few of you. You must increase your numbers.”

“We’ll do that as the Kimdori bring more back to the house.”

“No, beyond that. There are only two hundred fifty-four of you if you count your unborn child, my friend. That is not enough. Each Generation should produce at least four children, each by a different partner, to broaden the gene pool and protect the lines. And you and Erinn, being males, should try to produce those children as quickly as possible, since you do not have to carry the child.”

“I’m not sure we have to go that far.”

“I am, my friend. I know your personality and know you would not see it in a kind light. So understand that I only speak out of my concern for the Generations. It would be too easy to lose all of you when there are so few of you. You should produce at a bare minimum three more children by different mothers. I know you frown on the idea of selective breeding, but I would be gravely irresponsible if I did not suggest Yana as one of your partners. Her raw power merged with the abilities of a Generation would produce an amazing child.”

“Cybi!” Jason gasped.

Well, Yana certainly wouldn’t mind that idea, Jyslin mused privately to him.

“Yana and the other Marines would be prime partners, Jason, for they are members of the house.”

“I just don’t know about that, Cybi.”

“I know, my friend, but it is something that I had to tell you. It is a matter of the survival of the Karinnes.”

It was a preposterous idea. The only problem was, he was the only one who thought it was preposterous. Miaari just shrugged and told him it seemed entirely logical to her, and was only smart. Jyslin laughed at him and told him that Cybi was just looking out for Jason’s family, and she was right. Erinn seemed enthusiastic about the idea, but then again, he was a boy, and he’d be having all the fun without having to carry any the children. And the one person Jason thought would be on his side against it, Myleena, solidly shocked him by telling him she was already working on it.

I knew we’d have to do this, Jayce. There aren’t many of us, and just one outbreak of some new disease could wipe us out forever. We may have been created out of cold science, but we are here, and we have a duty to protect our line. Cybi said it best, babes, we’re an endangered species. We have to increase our numbers, and do it fast. I’ve been at it hot and heavy with a friend of mine from Dracora. He’s cute, and he’s also a pretty strong telepath for a man, which I consider a necessary quality given that my kids will be nobles, and have to be strong. So, I’ve been trying to get pregnant. Once I do and have my baby, I’ll go find another man that has attractive qualities and strong talent, and have him get me pregnant. I already realized that to enrich our gene pool as much as we can and prevent inbreeding, my children couldn’t have the same father. I’m aiming for six kids. Most Faey women can produce six kids in her lifetime, so I’m shooting for the average. I’d be overjoyed with nine, but I’ll take three.

I’m, shocked, you’re okay with this idea.

This isn’t about us, Jason, she sent seriously to him. This is about way more than just us. This is about protecting the Karinne family line, on both sides. The human telepaths should be doing the same thing we’re doing on their side, breeding to increase their numbers, because they are the last identifiable members of the other side of the house. Every human telepath should be required to have at least three children by different partners.

But, it’s like I’m cheating on Jyslin. She already has to share me with Dahnai. It’s not fair to her.

Jason, I talked about this with Jyslin a while ago, but I didn’t go into specifics, just talked with her about me having kids to bolster the numbers of House Karinne. Just ask her. See what she says.

He did so, after they got home, so he could ask in the privacy of their home, and when he did so, she just laughed at him. Love, Cybi didn’t say anything that’s all that shocking. She’s right. There’s so few of you, you have to protect your legacy. If all of you vanished from the universe, it would be nearly as much a crime as it was when your ancestors were created. Cybi was being both practical and prudent. Now that I know the truth about you and the Karinnes, I’m siding with Cybi.

Wow, I’m surprised you would.

Why? Jason, you let your personal feelings interfere too much when you need to put them aside and look at things from the cold logic of a Grand Duke. Your emotions do you credit, but there comes a time when you have to look past what you want or need and look at what the house wants or needs. The house needs more, what did she call you? Generations? There aren’t enough of you. It wouldn’t take much to wipe all of you out, since there are so few of you. That’s a problem that must be addressed.

It just seems…

I know, but I’m sure you won’t mind that dreadful chore too much. Just think, you’ll be forced to have sex with girls that will certainly be horny about the idea of getting you in bed. Such a terrible thing, she sent with a sly smile. I can imagine the torture you’d feel sliding your dick into a willing wet pussy. I don’t know how you’ll stand it. I never realized I was being so mean to you all this time, she sent airily, waving a hand noncommittally in the air. I guess all that moaning when you come in me really is pain.

Don’t be nasty.

You tell me not to be nasty? she sent with a laugh. That’s like telling me not to be Faey.

Jyslin was a woman of wise words, but, when the situation demanded it, she was also a woman of action. She had stated her case to Jason, and that was that. He knew where she stood. But she also knew her husband, and knew that since he wasn’t too keen on Cybi’s suggestion, that when he would say “I’ll think about it,” that usually meant “I’ll just ignore it ‘til everyone forgets about it and it goes away.” Where Jason was concerned, about some things, some action would have to be taken.

That action was Yana.

Jason found her in their bedroom that night, laying on the bed, wearing nothing but combat boots. Jyslin told him she wanted to go out with Myleena and girl around New York for a while that night, so he hadn’t expected anyone to be home when he got back from a trip to New York himself to meet with Kim, his Secretary General.

“Yana! What are you doing in here?” he demanded.

“Jyslin sent me,” she purred, rolling over on her side. “She told me to wear these. She said it would mean something to you,” she said, pointing at her boots.

He saw those boots, and he just had to laugh. “Yes, they mean something. Now get up and get dressed.”

“Nuh-uh,” she told him. “Jyslin gave me orders. And I have to say, they’re the hottest orders I ever got from Sarge.”

“Orders?”

“A while ago, before Jys went to Karis, we had a squad meeting, Jayce. It was right after you brought us into the house, when we talked about what we could do to help. I mean, none of us really have any skills, you know. We’re Marines. We’re trained to fight, we can operate ships when we have to, and we’re all strong telepaths. We’re not scientists, or engineers like you and Myleena and Jyslin. There wasn’t really much we could do but do what you asked of us and try to find ways to contribute.

“Well, that was when Maya brought something up that I think all of us knew. We have one thing, Jayce, one thing we can bring to the house, and that’s that all of us but Maya are unmarried and in our sexual prime, just coming into peak for childbearing. The one thing all of us could do for the house would be to have kids. That was something all of us thought about, but Maya pointed out that you’re the only one of your kind, Jayce. You’re the only human descendent of the Karinne nobles, you’re the only human Generation. Just one accident, and poof, everything that you had to offer is gone from the universe. The same danger went for Jyslin and your kids. One accident involving all of you, like a skimmer crash, and that’s it. Your whole splinter race is gone. We decided then that someone had to convince you and Jys to spread your line across more than one woman. It was needed to continue the human Generations, and it was needed for the house. That was when we decided that at least one of us had to be a second mother to your children. One at the minimum, all of us at maximum, and anywhere in between. We did decide that it was only right and proper to not say anything until after Jyslin had her first child. But after she got comfortably pregnant, we were going to approach her and tell her that at a bare minimum, one of us had to bear another child, to protect your line.

“When you guys came back yesterday, Jys called us all together this morning and held a squad meeting and told us what Cybi said, that the Karinnes need more people, she was a little surprised to find out that we’d already had this discussion. We told her our plan, but she blew that off and told us hers. She told us about Cybi’s call for four children from each of the Generations by different partners, and well, there’s two male Generations here. So, we decided to take one for the house,” she chuckled. “Each of us promised to have two children. One by you, and one by Erinn. Maya already has kids by Vell, and Jys is married to you, so it’s gonna be four and four for now. Vell doesn’t know about this yet, and Maya won’t agree to it without talking to him. But I’ll tell you this, when we had our own plan, she volunteered to be the mother,” she told him. “She had a damn good argument. She’s already married and has two daughters, so the baby would grow up in a family setting with two parents and sisters to play with. That plan, Vell agreed to. But the new plan, he has to agree to it first before she’ll take part.”

“I don’t fuckin’ believe it,” Jason breathed. “You really thought the only use you were to house was to have babies? Yana, that’s just stupid!”

“I didn’t say that was the only thing we felt we could do, we felt it was the best thing we could do,” she told him. “And Jys agrees with us. She believes that Cybi is right, and that it’s very important for the Generations to increase their numbers. And there’s only one way you can do that,” she told him, sliding her hand along her leg sensually. “So get over here.”

“I’m gonna kill Jyslin,” Jason growled.

“That’s between you and her,” Yana told him. “But in the meantime, I promised Jys I’d help, and I’ll be honest, Jayce, the idea of having your baby is very appealing to me. You’ve been so good to us, you’ve given us so much, it would make me overjoyed to give birth to one of your children and feel that I’ve given back to you something too. It may be a duty, but we all did agree to it willingly, and I have to say, enthusiastically. And Trelle’s garland, is it gonna be a sweet duty.” She patted the bed. “Right now, Sheleese has her legs wrapped around Erinn in the other wing, doing the same thing we’re about to do. Protect the Karinne family line. So this isn’t just about you. This is about the Karinnes.”

“Get dressed, Yana.”

“No. Jys told me not to leave this room until we fuck, and not just a quickie. Specifically, Jys told me to have you come in me three times, since I’m close to my period and I should be either in my fertile phase or right about to enter it. Besides, I thought we were friends, Jason. I know you know that in Faey society, it’s perfectly acceptable for friends to fuck as long as the wife allows it. Well, Jys is allowing it. Hell, baby, she ordered it. She wants her son to have four half-brothers and sisters as quick as possible, and it just reinforces the bonds of the squad. By the time this is over, each of us will be tied to you through the baby you gave us. That’s true camaraderie. We’ll all be the mothers of your children, and what’s most important, the Karinne name will be protected, and the human side of the Generations will live on.”

“I’m not okay with this.”

“Jyslin told me you might not be, so here,” she said, picking up a remote that was by her on the bed and pointing it at the vidlink monitor on the wall. Jason realized that it was his infamous one-button remote. She pressed the button, and a recorded image of Jyslin appeared. “Jason, get over it,” the image said. “Remember what we talked about? That sometimes what you need to do as Grand Duke matters more than what you feel as a person? Well, this is one of those times. Cybi is right. I don’t care if you refuse to admit it, but she is. And I’m not going to let your stubbornness threaten your family name. So, I’m telling you this right here and now. One way or another, you’re gonna end up in that bed with Yana. I’ve given her permission to use any means necessary, even if it means she has to use sending, even if she has to join your minds to do it. And if for some reason she doesn’t manage it tonight, she’s going to call me, I’m going to come home and use all my arsenal on you, even if I have to get in that bed with the two of you and get you hard, then sit her on your cock. And that’s probably gonna rightly piss Yana off, since she’s your friend and you’re so resistant to the idea of proving it to her. She’ll think you’re not the friend she thought you were.

“This isn’t going to be the same game we played when we met, lover,” she said with a wink. “Because this isn’t just about us anymore. This is about the house. You will lose this battle, because no matter how much you can say no to Yana, you can’t say no to me. So admit defeat with grace right now and climb into that bed with Yana and do your duty.” She held up three fingers. “Three times, Jason. That’s what you need to do tonight. This isn’t about having fun, though I’m sure it will be. This is about getting Yana pregnant. She’s close to her period, so she should be fertile. That means it’s your job to give her the best chance possible to conceive, and one way to do that is to fill her with lots of semen. So you have to come in her three times. I’m sure Yana’s going to enjoy the effort of getting you up and getting you off three times.”

“You bet your ass I will,” Yana purred.

“And it’s not just going to be tonight. Tomorrow you two are going to be having sex again. You’re going to have sex with her at least three times, once in the morning, once in the middle of the day, and again at night. Each time you have to come in her at least once, but you have to come in her five times over the course of the day, so two of those sessions are going to be double-ups. Songa told me that that kind of constant infusion of fresh semen, spread out over time, gives her a very good chance at conception. After tomorrow, you two are done, though you might be having sex one more time the day after tomorrow, depending on what Songa says. So there’s your schedule, love. And time’s wasting, so get busy.”

The recording winked out, and Jason sighed. Jyslin was right on two counts. First, Yana would be really insulted if he said no, and second, he could not say no to Jyslin. If he resisted now, he knew she’d take much more direct, personal action when she got home, and the idea of having Jyslin in bed while she basically watched to make sure he did the deed with Yana was not something he would want. He was comfortable having her in bed when he was with Symone, but it’d feel weird and unsettling to have her in the same bed while he was with some other woman.

“Alright, alright, I know when I’m beaten,” he sighed.

“Don’t make it sound like I’m twisting your arm!” Yana said indignantly. “I agreed to this, Jason! I want this! Show a little fucking courtesy, will ya?”

He shook his head. “I’m sorry, Yana, I really am. This isn’t about you and me, really. Yes, you’re very sexy and you’re very appealing, and if the circumstances hadn’t been like, this, well, I wouldn’t be reacting the way I am now. I hope you can understand that.”

“Yeah, I can see that.”

“It’s just that even though I know I’m in the Faey world, some part of me likes to keep myself for Jyslin, you know? Jyslin’s so considerate and understanding. She doesn’t mind sharing me with Symone, and she doesn’t mind sharing me with Dahnai. Now she’s going off on this tangent, basically sharing me with half her squad. It’s just not fair to her.”

Yana laughed. “Jason, she loves you, and she also loves the House Karinne. She’s being like this because she wants to see the house flourish, and so do I, and we both can see that steps have to be taken to protect the Generations from extinction. And I’d be honored to help continue your line, Jason. I wouldn’t be agreeing to have your baby if you weren’t a Karinne, and you weren’t who you are, the only Terran Generation. But I’m a Karinne, you’re the last Terran Generation, I’m a woman, you’re a man, and I know that we need more Terran Generations to protect your bloodline. One way to get more Karinnes is to induct new members, but the only way to ensure the survival of your line is to make little baby Karinnes, the more the better and the faster the better. And even on the Faey side, there aren’t many of you left, only what, like two hundred and fifty, and that’s way too small a number. This isn’t just about you, Jayce, you need make sure to protect the other lines in the Generations. All of the Generations’ main priority should be having kids, to protect your lines and also to increase the numbers of the house. And here’s a news flash for you, but she trusts you, hon. She knows that you always come back to her, and no matter where you stick your dick, your heart is hers. You’re her husband.”

“That’s true.”

“And you’re not picking up a harem here, hon. This is about one thing, and that’s getting me pregnant. That’s why Jys was so fuckin’ anal about how many times you come, because we only have maybe three days to get me pregnant. We’re not gonna keep fucking after I get pregnant. Well, if you don’t want to, that is,” she added, licking her lips. “But I dunno about that. Jys would have to approve, and you already have an amu dozei to fill in for Jyslin for when her pregnancy makes sex with her impractical. Maybe I can talk her into it. I’ve always been attracted to you, I was just too shy to admit it.”

“You’re certainly not being shy now,” he said, looking at her in a way that made her blush a lovely shade of violet.

“I almost died when we talked on the dropship going to Karis,” she admitted with a laugh. “I didn’t think about who was in the ship after I took my armor off, but then I realized you were there, and it was all I could do to keep from blushing. But then you started talking to me, and I realized I was being silly for being so shy with you. You were so nice. Then when you touched me, you were so kind and considerate when you saw my little, problem,” she said with another blush.

“You were very demure. Not like now.”

“I was so scared. I didn’t know what to talk about, and I kinda blurted out asking you about Jyslin. That was when I got comfortable with you, you know? You were willing to talk about that with me, and you could tell I was serious when I asked. It really made me feel comfortable.” She patted the bed. “So, could you please come here? I promise, I’ll be careful. Jyslin told me to keep myself out of your head, but she did say we could go about halfway,” she told him. “She told me to tell you to let me take it as far as you let Dahnai go. She said that’s okay with her.”

He laughed ruefully and came over to sit on the bed. She propped herself up on an arm, looking at him, and he could feel her warm breath on his neck and face. “I’m not too enthusiastic about the idea of this, Yana,” he admitted. “But it’s not personal. It’s not about you. It’s about the situation.”

“That’s fine, Jason. But look at me, and tell me that I’m not sexy, and if you were single and I asked you out on a date, you wouldn’t make love to me.”

“That would be a lie.”

“Then that’s all that matters to me,” she said in a throaty whisper, putting her hand on his shoulder and pulling him down into a kiss.


Yana did in two days what Jyslin took nearly a year.

Get pregnant.

Songa announced the news about a week later, after Jason had had his first meeting with Ayuma and the Makati about the Academy. Jason was glad to hear it, but it had put a sincere strain on his relationship with Jyslin. They’d had an actual fight about it after it was over, because Jason didn’t approve of how she had basically twisted his arm into it, where she told him that it had been necessary because she knew him and knew he would be very resistant to the solution, the only solution that was available to them. It had been the first fight they’d ever had like that, and it had surprised Jason quite a bit.

It wasn’t that they fought, Jason had expected to have fights with Jyslin eventually, it was how intense it got. He never thought he’d be screaming at his wife, and it had honestly scared him that he could get so worked up to the point where he’d be shouting at the woman he loved. He didn’t say anything hateful to her, but he was very vocal about how she had made up her mind on the matter and refused to listen to any alternatives.

That was basically the point of it, really. Jason thought there had to be another way, and Jyslin didn’t. Jason couldn’t deny the underlying problem, that there were very few Generations, and something had to be done to increase their numbers. And in Jason’s case, he was a unique being in the universe, the only human Generation, and he and Myleena were the last of the Ducal family, the last two direct descendents of Sora Karinne. The line had to be protected, and that could only be done with children. Both Jason and Myleena’s primary focus should be with producing children, and while Jason had already gotten his wife pregnant, Myleena was still trying. But the point was, they were trying.

Jason didn’t feel that him being tossed about like a stud bull on a cattle ranch was the answer, but Jyslin did. It was an impasse that made her take direct action and got them into a fight, which lasted nearly two days. Jason slept on the couch over at Tim and Symone’s place after his little tryst with Yana, because he was that angry.

After things calmed down enough between them to talk, the matter basically revealed itself. When Jason told her about alternative methods like artificial insemination and in vitro fertilization, she almost laughed herself off the couch. “Jason, if you even suggested that to any of the squad, they’d beat you!” she told him. “You don’t understand Faey women, hon. To ask one to conceive a child artificially is a huge insult! You’re telling her she’s not woman enough to get pregnant the normal way!” She laughed and patted her chest. “Oh, Trelle’s garland, I’m glad you didn’t say anything, or I’d have been trying to mend some fences. Really, Jason, that’s about the worst insult you could have laid down. Faey women don’t do it any way but the natural way. If you want to have children with a Faey woman, you have to do it the way Trelle intended, having sex with her. Any other way is a huge insult to her womanhood, and if you even broached the subject with one, she’d either beat you or never talk to you again.”

Things smoothed over at that point, they apologized to each other, and things got back to normal between Jason and Jyslin.

Songa came to him after the meeting, which went very well, and handed him a little pink ribbon.

“What’s this?”

“For your coming daughter,” she said with a smile. “Yana is pregnant. That high-intensity regimen you did with her really worked.”

“Really? Already?”

“Already. Her fertilized egg is already secured to her uterus and has started a normal, healthy pregnancy. I’ll be keeping a close eye on her for you, hon. Congratulations!”

He felt a little silly, hugging her when she leaned down and kissing her on the cheek. “Thank you, hon.”

“She won’t be the only one having a baby,” Songa told him. “I’m pregnant too!”

“Really? That’s wonderful, Songa! Have you told Luke yet?”

“No, not yet,” she told him. “I want to marry him first. If I asked him, do you think he’d say yes?”

“He worships you, Songa. If you asked, he’d say yes before you could even get past the word marry.”

Songa laughed, sitting on his lap. “What is it about you Terran males that get us Faey girls knocked up so fast, Jayce? You get Jyslin pregnant just a few months after you marry, and Yana pregnant on the first try, and Luke gets me pregnant after only two months! What do they feed you in high school?”

Jason laughed, patting her on the leg. “I have no idea, Songa. But the question is, does it make you happy that we can?”

Yes!” she said immediately. “I’m going to have a baby, Jason! I can’t tell you how wonderful that is!”

“Even knowing it’s not a full-blooded Faey baby?”

Like that ever mattered! she sent with sudden heat, slapping him on the shoulder. And she wasn’t gentle. Sometimes, only sending could truly convey the emotion within a statement, and she was outraged at the idea he had put forth. How dare you even suggest such a thing!

“Easy, easy,” he said placatingly, putting his hands up. “To Terrans, it would matter, Songa. Some Terrans are very racist. I wanted to make sure it didn’t matter to you.”

“Some Faey are too,” she admitted. “But Jason, a Faey woman would never sleep with any man she wasn’t willing to have a baby with. Even on a first date, when you sleep with your date, you know there’s a chance he might get you pregnant. That’s a responsibility you accept before you ever undo the first button on your blouse. When I finally lured Luke into bed, I knew that I might have his child. And that thought made me feel almost ecstatic. He’s been so lonely since his wife and daughter died, and I knew I might have a chance to give him something new in his life. And he might bring me something my dear Rann didn’t have the time to manage,” she said with a sigh. “Oh, and Jason? Thank you.”

“For?”

“For naming your first child after him. I was very touched, and he would have been honored.”

“Hon, Jyslin was responsible for that, though I’m glad she did it. And Rann’s name will never fade away,” he told her, turning in the chair and accessing the data stick holding the plans for the Academy. He bought them up and zoomed in on the northern quadrant. There in big red letters, was the words Rann Berylle Biological Sciences Academy. “I had them name the new medical school and bioresearch center for him. Rann will always be part of House Karinne, Songa. I wouldn’t have it any other way. Our son’s name was Jyslin’s gift to you. Naming part of the Academy after him was mine.”

Songa looked at the blueprint, and her eyes misted over with tears. “Oh, Jason!” she said with a sob, throwing her arms around his neck and hugging him tightly.

“I’m glad you liked it. Now, would you like to come to Karis with me today? Cybi would like to see you. She asked about you the last time she talked to me.”

“Me? Of course I’ll come, why are we going?” she said, sniffling as she rose back up to look at him.

“Ayuma needs to be introduced to Cybi and inducted into the house,” he told her. “She’s a Generation, and the Kimdori told me they won’t bring another until she’s seated in the house. One at a time, they said, to keep things controlled. I’m inclined to agree with that idea, that way Kiaari only has to keep an eye on one potential security risk at a time. When Kiaari signs off on the newcomer, the Kimdori will bring a new one. I’ve decided that that’s how new Generations the Kimdori bring to me will be inducted into the house, to go to Karis and meet Cybi, and receive their gestalt, where they are forever sealed to the house by learning its deepest secret.”

“Why reveal that before you induct them into the house?”

“So they fully appreciate where they came from, who they are, and the stakes of the game,” he answered. “To hear that you’re a long-lost Karinne doesn’t have the same impact as meeting Cybi and putting on a gestalt. That’s when you know what you are, because you can’t deny it.”

“Ah. Well, put that way, it makes sense. Show me more of the Academy, Jason, please?”

“Sure, I’ll show you everything that the Makati showed me. They did an awesome job on it. Ayuma was so impressed she almost kissed Prekt, the lead engineer on the team. She had no complaints at all. They patterned it after the original Academy, but made it a little bigger. It’s circular, like the original one, and it’s split into six main sections. One section is the medical school and bio-research facilities. There’s a physical sciences section, a sociological sciences section, an engineering, computer, and technological research section, a history and general studies section, and an arts section.”

“Arts?”

Jason nodded. “The original Academy’s largest campus was the campus of the arts. Music, literature, sculpture, painting, and so on. The Karinnes grouped literature and language in with arts rather than history or general studies, so the Faey Language school will be on that campus rather than the general studies campus.”

“And an English language school.”

“Of course, and however many languages I can get for it. The Makati already have a Makati language teaching staff ready to take a spot, and Kumi told me that the five races of the Alliance have already offered to send language professors, but only if we guarantee they get to teach the right way. No implantation,” he chuckled.

“That sounds boring. Why spend five years learning what I can pick up in five minutes?”

“Because when you learn it that way, it stays with you longer,” he answered. “I’m kinda curious about the Bari-Bari. I wonder what their language sounds like, since they’re ten feet tall simians.”

“I’ve heard it. It’s weird. What’s this area?”

“The living quarters. It’s sectioned off by the environmental needs of the inhabitants. Not everyone breathes oxygen and can tolerate our gravity, so each section will have different environmental conditions. We’ll even have some classrooms in these environment blocks, both for the students to take remote classes outside their environment when they either can’t or don’t want to use an E-suit, and also to teach about alternate environments. I’m kinda looking forward to going into a couple of them.”

“How long will it take for them to build it?”

“Five months,” he answered. “They’re going to basically take over the entire city of Norfolk with like thirty thousand Makati workers. They said they’ll have the whole place up and all the equipment installed in five months. I don’t believe them, but we’ll see if they can live up to that claim. Ayuma says they can, so we made a little bet.”

“A bet?”

“Yeah. I put a Duchess title up against her ancient Jakkan war mask that the Makati are late on their deadline.”

Songa laughed. “You’d better be ready to give Ayuma a new title,” she told him. “The Makati never miss a deadline, Jason. They’re always very conservative. If they come in on deadline, they’re actually late. They always pad their estimate to deal with unforeseen problems.”

“Practical. Damn, though, I was really hoping to get that mask. It was really cool.”

“Is Ayuma handling the courses?”

He nodded. “She’s done pretty well. Before she even got here to set up her offices, she already had quite a few professors under contract, and she’s already written out an operational guideline. She ran a university on Makan, so she has lots of experience with it. She set up a four term year. Here, she put it all on a handpanel for me.” He reached out to the handpanel with both his hand and his mind, enacting the telekinetic abilities which Dahnai had trained very well, causing the handpanel on the shelf to float over to him steadily and quickly. He took it from the air and offered it to her, which made Songa laugh.

“I’ve never seen you do that before!” she told him in surprise. “I knew you could do it, but seeing it is something else!”

“I know, and I get scolded for not practicing,” he chuckled. “My telekinesis is common knowledge in the Siann. It’s a family trait of the Karinne ruling family. It’s how I proved who I am.”

“I read about that in Court Daily,” Songa told him. “It said you had to use telekinesis to prove you were descended from the last Grand Duchess.”

“Yeah, I had to take the signet ring out of Empress Dahnai’s hand,” he told her. “Anyway, that’s the report Ayuma gave me, outlining all her organization plans for the school. Read it if you want. Tell me what you think of it, I’d like your opinion.”

“Sure, I’d love to,” she said, taking the panel. “Did Yohne talk to you about the school?”

“What do you mean?”

“We were talking the other day, and Kumi told her that she needed to open up and be more than her personal doctor. Be a house doctor. You know how she’s resisted that.”

“Yeah.”

“Well, she was kicking around the idea of asking you if she could take a post at the Academy, as either a teacher or in the campus hospital.”

“If that’s what she’d like, sure. I’ll talk to Ayuma about it tomorrow.”

“I’ll tell her to come talk to you then.”

“Works for me.”


Luke and Songa were married the very next day, in a private, quiet, intimate ceremony that involved both a Baptist minister and a Templar of Trelle. The two clergymen seemed to get along, chatting amiably after the ceremony, and after they chatted they both approached Jason directly. “We’ve heard that you’re rebuilding the Academy, your Grace. Have you thought to include shrines and chapels on the grounds for the spiritual well being of your students?” the white-haired Templar asked him.

“Actually, we did,” he answered them. “And we have a Religious Studies branch too, part of the History and General Studies college.”

“Very good! What faiths will be represented?”

“Any faith that wants to send representatives,” he answered. “I understand the council of the Templars has already dispatched the monks and Templars to start an abbey there, and some of them are going to teach Faey religious history and open a seminary school. And the Catholic Church is going to have a chapel there, too, and they’re sending some teachers to teach Terran religions at the school. I’m sure they’ll be biased, but they promised to teach about all of them, and not just Catholicism.” Jason laughed. “They’ll be running a Catholic seminary at the Academy too. All the chapels and shrines are going to be in the same block of the grounds, near the dormitories for the students so they don’t have to go far to attend services. I hope we don’t have any holy wars starting down there. There are going to be churches and shrines of different faiths literally across the streets from each other. From looking at the plans, there’s going to be a Jewish synagogue and an Islamic mosque standing side by side. I hope they behave. Those two religions have had some issues in Terra’s past, and I was kinda worried I might have a pitched battle in the street between them.”

Both of them laughed. “Oh, I doubt that you’ll have any fights, your Grace,” the minister said. “My Templar companion here may be a heathen, but at least he’s a personable fellow.”

The Templar laughed, clapping the minister on the back. “I was about to say the same thing about you.”

“Would you care if I asked the Baptists if they want to send a pastor?” the Baptist minister asked.

“Sure, I’ll give you a vidlink number so you can talk to Dean Ayuma’s staff about it,” Jason answered. “I want the Academy to be inclusive, not exclusive. The more viewpoints are represented there, the better. Maybe if we understand each other better, we won’t fight.”

“Well said, your Grace,” the Templar nodded.

“I’m just glad you didn’t forget about the spiritual well being of the students, your Grace,” the Templar said with an approving nod.

“Don’t thank me. The need for chapels was brought up in the summit we held when we started work on designing the Academy.”

“Ah, good.”


No matter how much he hated it, Jyslin was quite adamant and would not budge. Though he understood a little better, he still wasn’t quite happy about it. But as in all things, usually, what Jyslin wanted, Jyslin got. She knew him too well, and at least in this issue, he had absolutely no one on his side. Everyone, even Tim, sided with Jyslin on the matter, and he found himself roped into schedule of forced interludes with the women of the squad at peak times in their monthly fertility cycles, where their trysts were not for fun or enjoyment, but solely for the purpose of impregnating the woman.

Not that it wasn’t fun. None of them were reluctant about it at all, and he made a specific point to talk to them before hand to make sure where they stood. But they had the same outlook as Yana. Jason had to protect his line, and it wasn’t just a duty to them. It was a privilege, an honor, both a way to pay him back for his kindness and a chance to be part of his life by having children with him. And they were quite affectionate with him. They knew he wasn’t too keen on the idea of it, so they made it easy for him, making it seem less like he was being forced and more like the fun it was supposed to be.

They didn’t tell him when it was time, one of them just showed up, to make it seem as spontaneous as possible for him, to take the pressure off him. After Yana, and to his eternal shock, it was Maya that was sitting on the sofa in their bedroom, wearing nothing but a fedora. “Maya!” he gasped. “You’re married!”

“Yes, but Vell fully supports this, and has given his blessing,” she told him. “And my daughters would love a new playmate. So come here, Jason,” she said, crooking a finger at him. “It’s my turn to see if Jyslin was just bragging. And after a few days of fun, I get to carry part of you under my heart and know that I’m forever part of your family.”

Songa may have joked about the virility of human men, but it proved true a second time. Jason got Maya pregnant on the first try, just as he had with Yana. And it wasn’t just his side; Sheleese had become pregnant by Erinn, and Myleena came running into his apartment just the other day, ecstatic because she was pregnant. And after Ayuma was told what was going on, she called on an old friend of hers and invited him to Earth, trying to get pregnant, agreeing that increasing the numbers of the house was the primary objective of the house at this time.

Everywhere he looked, Karinne women were getting pregnant. And he wasn’t the only one to notice. Several of the Siann mentioned all these blessings the next time he was called to court, and Dahnai made a special note to ask him about it after practice. “So, you must be one tired guy,” she giggled. “Jemaari says you’ve got three girls pregnant. What’s going on over there?”

“It wasn’t entirely my idea,” he said. “It was decided that since there’s so few of us, we had to have children. Four each, by four different mothers for me. Each of the women have to have four babies by four different fathers.”

“Enriching the gene pool,” she noted with a nod. “That’s actually not a bad idea. With only like fifteen Faey Karinnes, you have to establish a viable base.”

“Well, it wasn’t my idea,” he growled. “I was against it, but I got overruled.”

“Who could overrule you?”

“Jyslin,” he snorted. “She’s decided that it’s necessary, and I can’t say no to her. Not after what she threatened to do. It was blackmail of the highest order.”

Dahnai laughed. “Sounds like you’ve got your hands full over there. But hey, I agree with Jyslin. You need to spread out the genes some, baby, and at the same time, you need more members. Inducting people is one way, but you can never be absolutely sure you can trust them. But having kids guarantees you have Karinnes, since you can raise them to be loyal.” They walked into her apartment, and she immediately shed her practice clothes, standing there in her glorious nudity. He looked at her belly, and saw that she was still flat as a board from her ribs to her hips. “I’m not showing yet,” she said with a giggle when she saw where he was looking. “The docs already told me to stop doing abdominal exercises. They don’t want the kid to have to push against rock-hard abs for space. “I got one coming, and you’ve got, what, three?”

“Don’t remind me.”

“Hey, for men, it’s all fun and games. You don’t have to push a baby out. I’ve done it twice, hon, and trust me, it’s no picnic. That’s the pain we suffer, the price we pay, for the joy and privilege of being a mother.”

“I sometimes find it hard to believe you have two kids.”

“Yeah, I know, I don’t look it, do I?” she asked, putting a hand on her hip and strutting a bit for him, showing off. “Well, I was gonna take you into the bedroom and fuck you, but it sounds like they’ve got you pretty much well worn out. You still have one to go, by my count, so far be it from me to drain out your seed for no reason other than a little fun.”

“That’s so considerate of you,” he drawled dryly.

She laughed. “What, you wanna? Hey, if you wanna, I’m all for it.”

“I’m exhausted, Dahnai. I was so glad you sent a call to court I could kiss you, because it got me out of sight. They pushed another of the women on me, Ilia, and now they’re waiting to see if she gets pregnant. But that’s no guarantee that they won’t decide to send another. Can I beg off this time?”

“Sure, hon, sure. I’m not used to being rebuffed, but I can see you could use a break. After telekinesis practice, wanna catch a movie or something? Maybe some dinner?”

“Now that sounds nice. I’d like a nice quiet evening that doesn’t involve sex.”

“How can an evening be that nice that doesn’t involve sex?” she asked in sincere confusion.

“You’re about to find out.”

They had a nice dinner after practice and sacked out on the couch to watch the vidlink, and he had to ask. “You know, I heard a rumor that you’re going out with another guy.”

She laughed. “Jealous?”

“No, no, just wondering if it’s true.”

“Well, I did meet someone,” she said. “He’s a minor noble from Saenne, Zarinen Kellin Saenne. He’s barely an adult, but he’s really interesting. I met him in the hall about two weeks ago when I was running down to the kitchen for something to eat, and he didn’t bow to me. One of the guards kicked his feet out from under him as he went by, and he seemed really surprised. He never saw us. Seems he had his nose in a handpanel, reading some old books. He wants to be a historical scholar, but his house sent him here to court so he could learn about politics. He was cute, so I invited him down to the kitchens and we talked a while over a sandwich. He was really funny, and didn’t seem to be afraid of me at all! That was so refreshing!”

Miaari did tell him that Dahnai would find someone she could love. Maybe this Saenne noble could be the one.

“So, what happened next?”

She laughed. “Well, I was feeling a bit horny, and he’s really cute. Let’s say that he filled your shoes. And he did a great job! He’s young, but since he’s handsome, he’s had enough laps around a bed to know what he’s doing. Felt weird looking up at the guy banging me so good and seeing blue skin. For a minute I thought he was you. His dick isn’t quite as big as yours, but he knew how to make up for it. And those young guys can go all night,” she said in a purring voice.

“Uh, Dahnai, I am young. I’m only twenty three.”

She laughed. “It’s easy to forget that sometimes. Guess it explains why you can go all night,” she said with a laugh, slapping his shoulder.

“How old are you?”

“I’m forty-one,” she told him. “Still considered in my youth, but I’ll be seeing middle age coming up on the horizon in about ten years.”

“To humans, you’d be middle aged.”

“Yeah, well, Faey live to a hundred and fifty or so on the average, so I’m not even halfway there yet.”

“Wow, human only live to like seventy.”

“Faey women can still have babies at seventy,” she told him. “Well, technically, anyway. There’s been cases of it, but it’s not normal.” She turned on the couch and looked at him. “I would say be careful and live as long as you can, but you’re part Faey too, so hopefully you’ll live longer than seventy.”

“I hope so too,” Jason agreed. “So, back to the topic. What happened after the sex?”

“We talked. You know I’m a history nut, and Kellin is into history too, big-time. We had an actual argument about the originating species of the Alliance. Can you believe it? An argument! That guy had some balls, I’ll give him that! I never dreamed someone from such a small house would have the nerve to argue with me!”

“Sounds like someone you need to get to know.”

“Yeah, I already called him back to court,” she nodded. “He went back to Orion, the Saenne home planet, that’s why he’s not here. I’ve called him back. He was told he’d better be here at court tomorrow. Stay over tonight and meet him, okay?”

“Sure, lemme just call home and tell Jyslin I’ll be here.”

“You can stay with me tonight. I’ll keep my hands off, promise,” she grinned.

“I’m gonna hold you to that.”

“No problem, hon. I can see you’re tired. I may love a good fuck with you, but I’m also enough of your friend to know when to give you a little space.”

“I really appreciate that, hon,” he told her, patting her on the leg and kissing her cheek. “Lemme go call Jys, and then I’m gonna go ahead and turn in early. I’m really tired.”

“Go on ahead. I’m gonna take a bath, and I’ll be there after I dry off.”

Jason met Kellin Saenne before court the next morning, and was impressed. He was the tallest Faey male Jason had ever seen in his life, a bit over six feet tall, almost as tall as Jason’s six feet four inches. That explained why Dahnai, who was so tall herself at six-three, just a shade shorter than Jason, was attracted to him. Kellin was taller than any other male Jason had seen, but still shorter than Dahnai, who would probably feel a touch threatened by a male taller than her. He also wasn’t willowy like other Faey males. Kellin wasn’t buff, but he was definitely not a couch potato. His was an athletic build, not what Jason expected from a man who wanted to teach history. He had reddish-blond hair and green eyes, and was indeed handsome in the way Faey women were pretty.

“It’s good to meet you, your Grace,” Kellin said, bowing to Jason in Dahnai’s apartment before court, as Dahnai was dressed by her maids. “Empress Dahnai spoke very highly of you, and I’ve heard some interesting things about you and your house. When will the new Academy be built?”

“About four months, but I don’t think it’ll be open for six,” he answered as Dahnai fussed at her maid, slapping her lightly on the top of her head as she knelt and did some of the ties at the Empress’ waist.

“I’m waiting for that,” Dahnai said from where she was being dressed. “I want to attend the opening ceremony.”

“You’re welcome to come,” Jason told her.

“I was hoping to attend the Academy as a student,” Kellin told Jason. “I’ve always been fascinated by the Karinnes. Attending the new Academy would be like living in history. I’d love that.”

“Enrollment is open to anyone really,” Jason shrugged. “I think you’d have to talk to Ayuma though. I’m not sure what enrollment standards she’s going to set.”

“Well, I graduated from my prep school at the top of my class,” he said proudly. “And I’ve already taken some Academy-level courses at my prep school in history.”

“That might be enough. I’ll ask Ayuma about it for you.”

“Really? Thank you, your Grace! That’s very kind of you!”

“Any friend of Dahnai’s is a friend of mine,” he told the young man easily.

“I don’t know about calling her Majesty a friend just yet,” he whispered.

“I heard that! And I do like you, Kellin. That’s why you’re here, dipshit! I want to get to know you better. After court we’re gonna go talk a while.”

“I thought, uh,” he started, then trailed off, looking at Jason.

Dahnai laughed. “That was fun too,” she winked. “Real fun. With a little more experience, you’ll be as good a lay as the Grand Duke, and I’m looking forward to giving you that kind of education. I have to get my sessions in with you before my pregnancy makes me fat and unattractive.”

Kellin actually blushed. “Your Grace, did you learn much of your house after reclaiming it? I did a paper on the Karinnes, and they had a rich and somewhat controversial history. Have you learned it?”

“Oh, he knows his house history,” Dahnai said sourly from where she was. “He knows so much he won’t even tell me!”

“The ship I found had the records of the house on it, as well as certain instructions and orders from the last of the old house,” he told Kellin. “Part and parcel of those records was the commands issued to me by my predecessor, commands I decided to obey, because I agree with them. Reopening the Academy was one of those commands. Keeping Karinne separate from the Imperium was another.”

“Separate?”

“We’re part of the Imperium, but only up to a point,” he answered. “If you did a paper on us, you know that the Karinnes were very reclusive.”

“Yes.”

“There was a reason for it, and I have to continue the practice.”

“He’s defending the knowledge of the Karinnes,” Dahnai said, giving him a mean look. “They left more than just commands, Kellin. They left some of their research behind, and he won’t share it.”

Jason wouldn’t answer that, so they talked about something else. Turned out that Kellin had the body he had because he loved to play batchi, a game that was like a cross between basketball, lacrosse, and hockey, which was rather physical and not often played by men, given players tended to hit each other with the batchi sticks. But given how tall Kellin was, he’d make a good striker, able to reach over the other strikers for the ball. That led to a discussion about the professional batchi league, where Jason was educated quickly about the nuances of batchi. Dahnai liked batchi.

“Where do you play batchi?” Dahnai asked.

“Just a local fun league. My team is called the Rakers, but the other teams call us the Tubers because of me,” he chuckled. “But we’re nine and three, and one more win puts us in the fun league playoffs. I play center striker.”

“Wow, rough spot. You must get banged around a lot.”

He laughed. “Yeah, at first, the other players seemed to take offense to a man playing batchi, so I got fouled a lot. That’s why I’m the best penalty shooter on Orion III. Ninety six percent score rate on penalties. The other coaches don’t let them foul me anymore,” he laughed.

“You any good outside of penalty shots?”

“I’d like to say I am, but it’s not very seemly to brag.”

“Eh, I’d have to see you play. Meezi, where’s my crown!”

Dahnai finished getting ready for court, and she tugged at her robes. “I only have a couple of things to do today, and you’re not dressed for court Kellin, so stay here. You going home, Jayce?”

“Yeah, I have some paperwork, and I have an appointment with Miaari today.”

“An appointment? She just walks into your office whenever she pleases,” Dahnai accused.

“Yeah, well, that’s the friend. This has something to do with official Kimdori business, so she’s following the protocols.”

“The other houses hate you for that,” Dahnai laughed. “You have a Handmaiden for an ambassador, and she’s you personal friend. That gives you the mother of all inside tracks straight to Denmother Zaa. Alright, time to go to work. Stay here, Kellin, and don’t touch anything! Keep him out of trouble,” she told one of the guards, who nodded to her as four other guards formed up to escort Dahnai to court.

“That was… odd,” Kellin confided in Jason after she left. “She calls me back here from Orion, and I’m not attending court? What does she want from me?”

“She wants to get to know you, and she can’t do that in court,” he answered.

“She’s interested in me that way? I never knew. I mean, I thought she brought me back to her apartment last week because she was looking for a quick score, you know? She certainly didn’t seem that interested the morning after. Well, she did at first, but then we started arguing about who started the Alliance. I thought I offended her, so I went back home real quick.”

“The arguing was what got her interested in you,” Jason chuckled. “She wants to date men who aren’t afraid of her title, who’ll take her for who she is, not what she is. When you argued with her over history, you were arguing with Dahnai, not the Empress. They’re two very different people. That you seemed to realize that got her very interested in you.”

“I didn’t realize anything, I just kinda lost my head because her conclusions were so utterly wrong,” he laughed ruefully. “Like I said, I left in a hurry after the argument, and she didn’t seem all that interested in having me stay.”

“Oh, she’s very interested in you, Kellin, trust me. Are you interested in her?”

“Of course, she’s the Empress!”

“No, Kellin. Are you interested in Dahnai?”

The young Fay looked at him, then seemed to understand. He nodded slowly. “Yeah, I am. Empress Dahnai is smart and funny, and she really likes history, just like me. I could get to know a woman like her.”

“Then you just passed your first test, Kellin. Always remember that there’s a woman under that crown and those robes, a living, breathing woman with hopes, dreams, and a personality. I can assure you, she puts her pants on one leg at a time in the morning, the same way you do. Don’t let her title blind you to the woman, but you’d better not forget that she has that title when you’re in public, and treat her with the respect she’s due.”

“Wow. You think she really-I mean, do you really think she’d go out with me? I’d really like it. She was so fun, nothing what I expected, and I thought I blew it when I started arguing with her.”

“The argument is what earned you a second date, kid,” Jason laughed. “If you had the guts to stand your ground with her, she knew you’d treat her like the lady she is, and not the Empress. Just be honest with her, that’s all. Be honest about who you are, show her who you are, not what you think she wants to see. If she wanted that, there’s a whole room full of shallow images in the audience chamber for her to choose from. She wants someone real. Show her Kellin Saenne, not Zarinen Saenne. Show her who you are, and if she likes what she sees, expect to be a regular visitor here.”

“Wow. You think I have a chance with her? I mean, you’re her amu dorai. You know what she likes.”

“I think you do, as long as you remember the three rules for dealing with Dahnai. First, be yourself. Second, remember that in private, she’s not a title, she’s a person, so treat her like one. Trust me, she’s one of the most interesting and wonderful people around, and it’s enriched my life to be with her. But remember that there’s a time to treat her like a person, and a time to treat her like the Empress. Don’t disrespect her in public, but once the doors are closed and you’re in private, she’s not the Empress anymore, she’s just Dahnai. Third, don’t try too hard. It’s not a competition, kid. Just because you know she’s interested, don’t try to win her favor. If you do that, you’re gonna lose it quick. Just be yourself and let her make up her own mind. If you force the issue, you’ll force her to decide against you. Until she does, just enjoy it. Dahnai is a wonderful person, both in and out of that bed. I look forward to the visits just to be with her way more than the sex. But the sex is good too,” he admitted with a rueful chuckle. “You’ll have a great time with her, no matter what you do. That’s a promise.”

“Wow,” he breathed, scratching his cheek. “I’ll try, your Grace.”

“Jason, my name is Jason. I don’t like titles in private, friend. Trust me, I’m probably the most uncomfortable noble in the Siann with his title. If we’re in private, don’t call me that.”

“Alright, Jason. Are you staying?”

“No, I have things to do. But we’ll see each other again. That’s a guarantee.”


It was the beginning of the change in his relationship with Dahnai, for Kellin Saenne did not waste any time, in the eyes of the public, worming his way into Dahnai’s personal life. Their official first date was a major event for the Imperium, but that official first date came about three weeks after they started seeing each other, privately… but that wasn’t exactly a secret either. The tabloids always kept up to date on Dahnai’s lovers and conquests, so it was already public knowledge that Dahnai had chanced to meet Kellin in the halls of the palace, and then took him back to her apartment to have sex with him. It was also noticed when Kellin hurriedly left Dracora just afterwards, hinting he’d insulted the Empress, but then there was curiosity when he was recalled, not immediately, which would have been the action of an angry Empress, but days later, which was more the act of a curious Empress. After the second time Kellin spent the night with Dahnai, the tabloids started looking into this unusual young man, who was as tall as a woman and played batchi, yet was very scholarly and studious, very admirable male traits in Faey society. The tabloids kept the Imperium informed as the two of them privately met, unofficial dates that weren’t unusual for Dahnai, given her relationship with Jason.

Those visits basically sealed the deal. Dahnai had confided to Jason just before she officially asked him out for a public date that she was of a mind to either make him her amu dorai or marry him, either or. She wasn’t sure yet which she was going to do.

Sometimes, Jason was there. Sometimes, he wasn’t, but Dahnai kept him abreast of everything. Simply put, Dahnai was smitten by Kellin Saenne. He was the perfect man for her, and she could barely do anything else but talk about him when he visited her. She told him about all their dates and rendezvous, all their conversations, and she couldn’t find a bad word to say about him. She found him to be quiet, reserved, kind, thoughtful, but had a strong will and wasn’t intimidated by Dahnai’s title. He was very open and honest with her, willing to be himself around her, and treating her like a woman he was very interested in for who she was, not the political advantages she could bring to his house.

Which was exactly what Jason told him to do.

Three months after that first date, the news was broken in a firestorm that swept through every major media center in the Imperium: without ceremony or warning, a robed member of the Imperial house delivered to the Grand Duchess Jayi Saenne a box to be given to Kellin Saenne, and everyone knew what was inside it.

A white mey.

As was Imperial form and custom, Imperial guards arrived at the Saenne compound one day after the delivery of the mey, and Kellin was basically abducted, taken from his house with nothing but the clothes on his back and taken to the Imperial palace. There, in a grand ceremony which the entire Siann attended, he was stripped naked and presented to Dahnai, who sat on her throne, as he was ceremonially stripped of all prior ties and obligations and handed over to Dahnai as a baby was to its mother. She accepted him into her house and then officially proclaimed that she would take his hand in marriage.

In that instant, he became the Duke Kellin Merrane.

There was no lengthy preparations or long ceremonies. In typical Faey mentality, when a woman got her hands on a man and got a marriage promise out of him, she moved fast to secure that promise, and it was no different for the Empress. Most Faey couples were married within hours of becoming engaged, except for noble arranged marriages, but Dahnai’s marriage to Kellin wasn’t considered noble, it was considered personal. And because of that, the marriage ceremony took place the next day.

The entire house Karinne attended the ceremony, which was so small, where other houses could only bring 100 members to attend the ceremony; every house was given 100 tickets to the ceremony. Jason even made a little money and a few friends by selling his unused tickets to other houses so they could allow more than 100 to attend. It was a surprisingly intimate ceremony, not the four hour long formal ordeal Jason expected. The High Templar of Trelle presided in a one hour ceremony where he talked of love and devotion, of being good to each other, and then he had the two intended exchange vows. Once that was done, the High Priestess of Aris and the Archprelate of Demir then had them exchange vows again, basically marrying them under all three of the gods of the Faey Trinity. Once the Archprelate of Demir gave them his benediction, Dahnai affixed a glittering platinum marriage bracer on Kellin’s wrist, a piece of jewelry that had to cost a million credits. She then put a small crown on his head and named him her Prince Consort, and that was it.

They were married.

The Imperium celebrated for two weeks, which was custom, but Jason didn’t engage in most of the ceremonies and celebrations. The Karinnes quietly picked up their people and returned to Terra, keeping their traditional distance from the goings-on of the rest of the Siann.

And it was a much larger house than when Dahnai started her courtship of Kellin. In the three months of their courting, the Kimdori had brought to him 47 of the long-lost descendents of the Generations. They were young on the average; the youngest was 22, the oldest was 42, and 22 were male, 25 female. Each one was given some idea of what was going on before they were brought to Jason, and after some discussion with them, they were taken to Karis and presented to Cybi. The Faey the Kimdori brought were carefully chosen, not for their age, but for their idealism. These were the ones that the Kimdori felt would embrace the ideals of the house of Karinne and be true members, and Jason had to agree with their assessments. They all understood the needs of the house, and the need to keep it secret. To a man and woman, Jason knew he could trust them, because Kiaari told him he could trust them. No one could hide anything from a Kimdori, and Kiaari was right there to check them after a few days to see where they stood. In three months, the ranks of the house swelled to 82 members, and what was more, Jyslin, Yana, Maya, and Ilia were all pregnant by him, while Sheleese and Min were pregnant by Erinn. Jason didn’t like the idea of fathering children outside of his marriage, but everyone had ganged up on him and forced it of him, and at last it was over. He had fathered his required four children. He just hoped he could be a good father to them. He was scared enough about the idea of being a father to Jyslin’s child, and now he was going to have three more, from different mothers.

Those three months saw more than the house of Karinne grow. In an amount of time that defied rational explanation, the Academy of Terra went from a scarred hole in the middle of Norfolk to a glistening tower of steel and glass surrounded by an armada of buildings of all shapes and sizes. The Makati were unbelievable! They had brought literally tens of thousands of workers on site, and they worked with a speed that made the most diligent human contracting firm look like kids with Lego blocks. The main building in the center, a sixty story high circular tower, rose a floor a day after they got the foundation set, and the other buildings sprouted up almost overnight. They went from set foundations to frames to walled buildings in the span of a week, and it took only one to two weeks to fill in the buildings with their plumbing, power, datalines, and infrastructure. By the time of Dahnai’s wedding, the main tower only had three more floors until it was completed, and 80% of the school’s buildings were built and ready. The school would be totally built, all equipment installed, and ready for students two weeks earlier than scheduled.

He wouldn’t have believed it was possible had he not seen them do it.

In all, Jason was pleased. The planet was running itself now, with Secretary Kim doing most of the work. Ayuma had things well in hand. Dahnai still called and asked him to court, but she had a husband now, and her calls for him to visit were much fewer and further between. Suralle was being fair and dutiful with moving food, meeting the quotas, and Kumi had set it up so the Earth’s take went to U.N. control, to pay for things.

Things were good. Earth, the humans… they didn’t need him as much now.

By the opening ceremony of the Academy, attended by emissaries and nobles and even heads of state of governments other than the Imperium. Dahnai was there with her new husband, showing signs of her pregnancy now. One of the Supreme Councilmen that ruled the Alliance attended the opening ceremonies, as did ambassadors from the Nine Colonies, the Urumi, even an ambassador of the Skaa, who looked very uncomfortable and got quite a few nasty looks. But Jason had already warned everyone that though Terra might be a planet controlled by the Imperium, the Academy was a free zone, where any race or government could come. The Imperium and the Skaa may be at war, but on the grounds of the Academy, they were not allowed to fight, and Skaa vessels were permitted rite of passage to reach Terra… within certain reasonable restrictions. A fleet of Skaa vessels would be attacked, but a single unarmed civilian ship was more than welcome to arrive and transport students.

The ceremony was brief and to the point. A ribbon spread across the central building was cut by the Grand Duke Karinne, and inside, in the main auditorium, speeches talking about a new age of cooperation and learning dawning were given by Dahnai and several other governmental emissaries, including the Skaa. INN made sure to keep a camera locked on Jason at all times, and many cameras were careful to catch any interaction between the Grand Duke and the Empress. Some of the tabloids were running stories that the Grand Duke was trying to poison the marriage between Dahnai and Kellin, and they wanted to see how they acted together.

They were mightily disappointed. Jason, Jyslin, Dahnai, and Kellin stayed together, talking and laughing, and it was very clear that the two couples were quite happy to be in each other’s company. And when the four expanded to six, with Tim and Symone, there was nothing but sickening friendship and comfortable closeness.

After the ceremony, The Empress and her husband paid a visit to Foxwood, the manor of the Grand Duke. There outside of cameras, she spent the night, leaving everyone to only ponder and imagine what might be happening inside. In the morning, the Imperial retinue left to return to Draconis.

That day, the Academy officially opened its doors and began accepting students for a term that would begin in two weeks. Professors were already in place, already knew how the Academy was going to operate. Students flocked in on a continuous line of transports from Draconis, and exotic ships from other races, other governments, appeared outside the moon’s orbit, jumping in from hyperspace and having left before the ceremony had even taken place, carrying professors, students, and research material to the new hub of science to replace the lost Karis Academy.

The Terra Academy was more than just a school. It was insurance. Now, Earth was totally safe, from the Trillanes, from the Shovalles, from anyone that would exploit the planet or the human race. With the Academy there, Earth was now off limits, a place to be left alone, where the planet and its people could produce food for the Imperium and host the Terra Academy to provide educational benefits for any who could manage to enroll, as well as centralize research to advance the cause of science. It was a place where there was any number of plots and intrigue, but that intrigue would be intragalactic in scope. Since many governments had students and ambassadors in Norfolk, it would become a new hotspot for the brokerage of information, all carefully watched over and controlled by the young Terran Gamemaster, Kiaari.

And that was what it would be. There would be no second school behind the first where the Karinnes pursued their own research. Not now. Not yet, anyway. The school would run of its own volition under the careful ministration of Ayuma Karinne. It would be given time to settle in, mature, and then, maybe in a few years, the knowledge of the Karinnes would slowly be funneled to the Academy, kept in a secret building that would house the first of the new CBIMs, and from there, they’d have to see how it would go.

One week after the opening of the Academy, a note was delivered to both Secretary Kim of the United Nations and Empress Dahnai Merrane of the Imperium. It was from the Grand Duke Karinne, who stated that due to the rigors of office, he was taking an extended vacation and would be unavailable except in the most dire emergency. The note told them that in such an emergency, Kiaari could contact him.

When Dahnai sent a message to the Marines guarding Foxwood, they replied that they had heard no such plans to take a vacation. They went to go confront Jason about the note.

But he was gone.

Jyslin was gone.

Kumi, Meya, Myra, and Fure were gone.

Tim and Symone were gone.

Songa and Yohne were gone.

Maya and Vell and their two daughters, Yana, Zora, all of the ex-Marine Countesses were gone.

Erinn and the new Faey members of House Karinne were gone.

Ian, Temika and her boyfriend, and all the human telepaths, even the ones still in training in Boston, were gone.

How they had all vanished over the night was a mystery, a mystery that raged through the Marines and the upper echelons of the Imperium for years. Nobody had seen them leave. Nobody knew where they went. Nobody knew how to reach them, or when they would return.

Ayuma Karinne, the only Karinne left on Terra, knew where they were. Everyone was sure of it. But when she was asked about it, she would only smile and tell them that Jason was on vacation, and would speak not a single word more on the matter, politely and forcefully changing the subject.

Kiaari wouldn’t even smile. She just gave one a cold stare until they felt uncomfortable enough to change the subject themselves.

It was a mystery that remained so, for a long time. Jason Karinne was out there. They all knew he was out there, for over the months after his disappearance, he did surface two times. The first time, he mysteriously appeared at the United Nations after Secretary Kim relayed an urgent message to Kiaari that African rebels were about to try to declare war on South Africa. Jason simply showed up at the United Nations, ordered a very public mobilization of Marines and Karinne regulars to crush the invasion by force, and then he vanished. After Faey army units and exomechs began to muster in Cape Town, the rebellion quickly dispersed.

The second time he surfaced was at the birth of Dahnai’s third child, Shya Merrane. He and Jyslin, who was very pregnant, appeared at the Imperial Palace the day before the scheduled birth of Shya, and were immediately invited in. Everyone wondered what had been said, what they’d talked about, if the Empress had throttled the Grand Duke for his absence, but by the next day no one cared, for Shya Merrane was born right on schedule, in a natural childbirth.

Nobody saw Jason and Jyslin Karinne leave, and people were watching for it. They simply vanished, and it too was a raging mystery that went on for years, since the Imperial Palace was the most watched building in the Imperium. For two people, and one heavily pregnant, to vanish without a trace from that building was almost impossible.

But in time, even those curious events faded into the tedium of day to day life. Things continued in the Imperium. A new civil war didn’t surface, though there was always maneuverings and schemes by the Highborn houses. The crushing of Trillane had sent a sharp lesson through the Highborns that Dahnai was watching them, and though Merrane wasn’t the power it once was, the threat of her calling in the deadly warships of House Karinne, which was related directly to the throne by means of the betrothal of Shya Merrane and Rann Karinne, was a threat they could not ignore. The Karinne ships always simply appeared like ghosts, then vanished like smoke, and their fearsome firepower and powerful armor and shields were afforded the utmost respect by military women. And though never more than three were seen, it was very clear that there was more than three. They would appear on separate sides of the Imperium, seeming to patrol, to make themselves be seen, and then vanish. They always moved in a triad of two destroyers and a cruiser, and they were an eternal reminder to the Highborn houses that Dahnai Merrane had a powerful ally to call upon if they got any bright ideas.

But oh, were there schemes. A day didn’t go by without some new plot being hatched in the Siann, but now, they weren’t nearly as dangerous. The ascendance of Karinne had tipped the scales back to the center, where the weakness of Merrane was covered by their alliance to the enigmatic, mysterious, dangerous House Karinne and their cunning and fear-invoking Grand Duke Jason Karinne. The House Karinne had brought equilibrium back to the Imperium, and Dahnai’s position as Empress and House Merrane’s place as the ruling house were secured.

It wasn’t a perfect system, but so long as the threat of the mysterious House Karinne kept the Highborn houses in check, quelled their lust for the throne, the system wouldn’t fly apart at the seams.

And that made nearly everyone happy.

Epilogue