Vendel Rising Omnibus

by L A Warren

  “No, you leave now. You can coordinate your efforts from Malbra.”

  “Eager to get rid of me so quickly?” His lips twisted into a smirk and her heart shattered. “It won’t make it any easier to forget me. Are you afraid you’ll change your mind?” The need in his voice tugged at her emotions.

  “No.” She cleared her head of the images swirling within.

  She turned to Alice. “Transport these men to Malbra.” Without turning around, she said, “Goodbye, Gregor.”

  “You will miss me.” His words faded as Alice folded space around the Vendel. Gregor, and all the rest, disappeared in a shimmering veil.

  And just like that, she and the women from Earth were free of their Vendel masters.

  Silence hung in the air.

  “Will you be okay?” Alice collected Elise in her arms and brushed back the hair from Elise’s face.

  No.

  “I need to be alone. I need to rest. Can you handle things from here?”

  “Yes, just tell me what you need.”

  “Don’t leave my friends alone. Until we leave Vendel space, they need guards. Carek understands the Gambit better than the rest. Send Chandra with him. He can figure out what we can handle ourselves using the WOR-skill and what we’ll need others to take care of. Dove, Jeena and Larkin should be our interfaces with the Vendel left on board. They’ll know who to recruit. Send Aomi with them. Paula can head the departure of the ship’s crew. I don’t want them stripping the Gambit. This is our home. Either shuttle people off the ship or send them by teleport, but get rid of them. The Gambit is home to tens of thousands, it’s a big job. Paula will need help. You handle the rest. Keep everyone organized, busy, focused. We can’t let down our guard. Did you hear me send out to the other WOR?”

  “Yes,” Alice said. “Do you think they will join us?”

  “I hope so. Someone will need to help them.” Elise’s head spun with all the tasks required to take over a Vendel fleet ship. How were they going to make this work?

  “Elise, I’ll take care of everything.” Alice hugged her with sisterly concern.

  “I haven’t slept for days. I’m exhausted.”

  “You did it. All of it!” Tears streamed down Alice’s face, but her lips spread into a broad smile. “When everyone started dying back on Earth, I thought the world had ended. When the Vendel brought me on board, and after the braklav touched my skin, I knew I’d entered hell. Do you remember that yoga class?”

  “Yes, it seems like a lifetime ago.”

  “When I found out I wasn’t alone, and that you were the one who devised that silly little code, I rediscovered hope. You didn’t let me down. You never stopped. You kept working, and fighting for freedom. No matter what they did to you, you never gave up. I could never have done what you have done. Rest, you’ve earned it. I’ll take care of what needs to be done.”

  Elise and her silent sisters retreated.

  As she walked away, Alice’s voice rose to shout orders.

  The lift tubes were down, courtesy of Bobo, but Elise reactivated the ones she needed. In a few short minutes, she stepped into the private rooms of the Vendel Emperor. She didn’t even consider the incongruity of her choice. She headed to his bed and collapsed into sheets full of Gregor’s warm scent.

  It was done.

  They had won, but she was broken.

  And she missed Gregor.

  Ten Years Later

  Elise stood on the Command deck and tracked the progress of the Clan’s exit from the Milky Way. Ten years had passed since New Terra’s liberation from the Vendel Empire. Five years they spent preparing for the Clan’s arrival. The past five years they used the WOR-skill to hide the entirety of the human race while the Clan swarmed the Milky Way, looking for the feast promised by the S’Lorek.

  Clan members searched for the S’Lorek, but their explorer had vanished, along with the feast promised within the shrill noise of swirling dust and light that made up the Milky Way. Instead of a delectable feast, they found a dull lifeless place full of painful noise radiating from the energies of stars being born. Black holes shrieked at them and vast clusters of stars hurled violent bursts of energy toward them.

  The Clan hurried through this painful place to return to the tranquility of deep space. For five years, Elise and her sister-WOR forced the Clan around a cone of carefully crafted WOR-space. In the void left behind, humanity huddled in the shadow.

  Five years of constant vigilance would soon come to an end, but it came at a cost, one shouldered the most by Elise. Exhaustion seeped from her pores. The constant state of alertness and use of the WOR-skill drained her last reserves. She didn’t know if she would last until the last of the Clan exited the Milky Way.

  Gregor had been correct about one thing. There was no way to fight, but fighting hadn’t been the answer to the Clan threat. That swarming mass of bio-pods churning on the hangar ceiling had inspired the solution to the Clan threat. Humanity would hide while the Clan passed by the Milky Way.

  The cone shaped construct spanned the length of the Milky Way and required the constant attention of fifty WOR to weave the WOR-skill in linked super-circles. To keep them linked required Elise. She spent most of her time in the reclined chairs in Command and Control, overseeing the super-link. The rest of the time she spent alone, dodging the legacy of her battle with Gregor.

  She didn’t want to be a hero, but the role found her. It set her apart from the others. Except for Alice, Aomi, Chandra, and even Paula, Elise had few friends. Dove, Jeena, Larkin, and Carek joined her inner circle, but that was all she had. Everyone else treated her with reverence, leaving her feeling lost and alone.

  Her battle with Gregor ended in a standoff really; one neither of them had won. They had both lost, in the end. After all was said and done, nearly four thousand Vendel Citizens chose to travel with the Earth WOR. Gregor placed a unique spin on the whole affair. The Vendel saw him as a hero, holding true to his oaths. He had ended the S’Lorek threat. That he lost all the Earth WOR seemed a conveniently buried truth.

  History rewrote itself easily enough. The history books would claim Emperor vlor’Malita liberated the Earth WOR to stand as Vanguard for all Vendel. While he did not encourage emigration to New Terra—they had renamed Gambit to reflect their earthly origins—he hadn’t forbidden it either.

  Now, ten years later, New Terra was a burgeoning world all its own. Full of twenty-thousand citizens, it was bursting at the seams and ready to expand. Inside, eight-hundred Earth WOR had found refuge and a new home. Few had chosen to remain with their Vendel masters.

  Most had made a trip back to Earth at one time or another, but all had chosen to return. Earth was not as they remembered. It was a broken, ravaged wreck. Elise had not yet made the trek, unwilling to revisit the death and destruction.

  Alice had taken over as Director of New Terra. Elise had been asked to take leadership of the new colony. It was a job she refused. Only when she threatened to leave did they relent. She preferred to live in isolation from the oppressive adoration of everyone around her.

  Carek was appointed Assistant Director and assisted Alice in the governance of New Terra. It took him three years to work up the nerve to ask Chandra to marry him. Larkin had no problem asking Aomi to marry him. On New Terra, matrimonial rights no longer belonged solely to women. Dove and Jeena headed the New Terra Pilot’s Guild as joint Guild Masters. Jeena asked Dove to marry her the day New Terra claimed independence from the Vendel.

  Her friends were happy and thriving. New Terra was self-sufficient and carried on an active trade with the Vendel Empire. Why was it then, she struggled to rise each morning and collapsed into her bed at the end of the day?

  Elise sighed and rose out of the pit chair, ending another double shift holding the super link together. She walked out of the pit and into the center of Command and Control. WOR filled five of the concentric rings and were in the process of handing over their stations to their shift replacements. The other ci
rcles of command consoles were filled with New Terra civilians monitoring ship’s systems. Alice stood in the center of it all with Paula who waited to take over Elise’s shift.

  “Ready for relief?” Paula smiled at her.

  “Yeah, nothing new to report,” she said.

  She and Paula transferred control of the super-link. Paula wandered down to the chairs in the pit to begin her shift.

  “Elise?” Alice came to stand near Elise. “Have you given thought to my request?”

  “Yes, and the answer is the same.” Elise hunched and ducked her head. She didn’t want Alice to ask again. Why couldn’t they understand?

  “I want you to reconsider. I need someone I trust, someone who can negotiate for what we need.”

  “We talked about this. I’m not interested.”

  “When was the last time you took a day off?” Alice pulled Elise toward her office—Gregor’s old command suite.

  Ten years ago.

  She dug in her heels and pulled back. “I like the work. It keeps me busy.”

  “We’re worried about you. I’m worried. You spend all day here, oftentimes pulling double shifts and then retreat to your rooms. When was the last time you did something fun? When was the last time you ate in the mess halls?”

  “I can’t relax. You know that.” She gestured toward the view-screen. “As long as they’re out there, I can’t let down my guard.”

  “We can handle it. Take time off. Go on a vacation. Maybe even take care of my request while you’re gone.”

  “Where would I go? Earth?” She didn’t want to go there. “This is my home.”

  “I need you to negotiate terms for the new colony fleet. New Terra needs room to grow. We’re starting to rub shoulders.”

  “Then limit immigration.” She shrugged. “Problem solved.”

  “The problem isn’t with immigration, but with our birthrate. Simply put, we need new space. In another five years, we’ll be bursting at the seams. Please?”

  She shook her head. “Negotiations at that level guarantee a run in with him. Send Aomi, she’s the one who found out about the commission of the new c-fleets.”

  “Aomi has her strengths, but I need New Terra to negotiate from a position of power, and face it . . . you’re our strongest asset. Vendel will have a hard time saying no to their savior. It doesn’t have to be him, but I doubt he would say no, not to you.”

  “We have nothing to trade.”

  “Bullshit, Elise. We, you in particular, are providing protection for their people. That’s our bargaining chip.”

  “Gregor knows I’d never follow through with pulling that away. It’s an empty threat.”

  Alice sighed. “I wish you hadn’t forced me to do this.”

  “Do what?”

  “You gave me your word. Do you remember?”

  She damn well remembered her promise.

  “I’m fine.”

  “You’re the walking dead. You live for one thing. No one can shoulder that burden forever. The Clan can’t be your life.”

  “I can decide that for myself.”

  “Not anymore.” Alice grabbed Elise’s shoulders and shook her gently. “I’ve watched you change. What happened to your spunk? Your determination?”

  “My determination is what gets me out of bed each day? Don’t lecture me.”

  “And when you go to bed, who is there to share it with you? You’ve pushed away every man expressing any interest. Who holds you at night? Who do you confide in? It sure as hell isn’t me, and I’m your closest friend. You’ve pushed everyone else away. You can’t go on living half a life.”

  “Dammit, I’m fine.” Her fingernails dug into her palms.

  The doors to Alice’s office swished open and Alice thrust her inside. Dove, Jeena, Carek, Larkin, Aomi, and Chandra sat at the conference table.

  She tried to back up, back out of Gregor’s office, but Alice blocked her retreat.

  “What the hell?” she said.

  “It’s called an intervention, kid,” Jeena said. “I believe you know what that means.”

  “I don’t need any damn intervention.” She scowled at her friends.

  Jeena placed a large package on the table and shoved it toward her. “Open it.”

  She ripped the packaging away. Inside, she recognized her old red flightsuit, a credit chit, and a snarking pad.

  “The jump-jet circuit is getting under way above Segra,” Jeena explained. “Dove purchased a jump-jet and secured your entrance fee. It starts tomorrow. You have just enough time for a few practice runs if you leave right now.”

  “I’m not going back.” Her voice dropped to a whisper. “You can’t ask me to go back.”

  Alice stepped up from behind. “Elise, you’re going.” She smoothed Elise’s hair. “You were happy when you competed in the jump-jet races. Take two cycles and forget about New Terra and the Clan. We need you, but not the way you are now. You don’t have to be our negotiator, but I wish you would consider it. Spend two cycles on Segra, if you can’t handle it, come back and I’ll send someone else.”

  Memories of flying through silver rings whisked through her mind. They were right. Flying had always made her feel free. Even after the worst training sessions with High Tender Marcus, a run though the jump-jet rings never failed to soothe her nerves.

  Dove focused on her fingers unconsciously smoothing wrinkles from the flightsuit. “Chickadee,” he stood and straightened the fabric of his trousers, “you’re not right. A part of you has died. Work, WOR-skill training, and a hermit’s existence? You’ve cut yourself off from the world, and now, you’re cutting us out too. Do this for me.” Dove wrung his hands. “Remember who you were, and who you can be again.”

  “I appreciate it, guys, really . . . but,” she stammered, trying to find a way out.

  “No, buts,” Aomi said. “Even a hero needs to take a break.”

  Larkin stroked the first two fingers of his wife’s hand.

  She scanned the room. Chandra and Carek, Larkin and Aomi, Dove and Jeena, they’d all found their mates. Her heart settled as a lump in her throat and she understood how reclusive she’d become. The truth of their words settled uneasily on her shoulders. She took in a deep breath and slowly forced the air out between pursed lips.

  “All right, two cycles,” she said through gritted teeth. Inside, her heart soared. Two cycles of flying. No Clan. No WOR-skill. No constant struggle with the super-links. No worries of little slips and discovery.

  Rest, Malice whispered. We need rest.

  Agreed, Alex echoed. I’m tired.

  Me too. Shriek stretched and gave a yawn. Just two cycles of not having to weave WOR-skill.

  Yes, rest would be good, and perhaps a little fun.

  “That’s a girl.” Dove gave his broad, crooked smile. “Everything you need is on that chit. Your ship is the El. Take good care of her and send us updates. Larkin already has a betting pool started.”

  “Really?” Elise eyed Larkin with suspicion.

  He grinned back and shrugged. “The jump-jet races are quite interesting. Maybe you can bring back a few jump-jets and we can start a New Terra circuit.”

  “Maybe.” Elise hugged the flightsuit. She picked up the other two items. “Thank you.”

  The bright eyes of her friends flickered as she opened up the WOR-step. Maybe negotiating with Gregor over that new fleet of colony ships wouldn’t be so painful? Between one moment and the next, she stepped from Alice’s office to the jump-jet hangar on Segra. A small blue and purple jump-jet, with El painted on the side, glistened in the light.

  She walked over and peered into the cockpit. Inside, a larger brown package rested. The card on top read To the woman I loved and lost, find yourself again and soar free. Her teeth buzzed and a presence loomed from behind.

  “I was wondering if you’d like to share a drink?” A misted veil covered the pilot’s face.

  Her heart lurched and her vision narrowed. Gregor Ulysses vlor’Malita sto
od before her, as glorious as she had remembered.

  “Who told you? Alice? Carek? Dove?”

  He deactivated the veil. “Would you believe, Jeena? I was surprised when I had a message from her. My surprise turned to delight when I read her words, and I have to admit, a little bit of fear. It’s good to see you, Elise.”

  “Fear?”

  “It’s been a long time.”

  “It’s nice to see you, Emperor,” she said. The words rang true and she flashed him an honest smile.

  He spread his hands. “My friends call me Ulysses. Emperor seems . . . too formal.”

  “I would call you Gregor, if I may?”

  “Names are everything to the Vendel.” He eyed her with speculation. “Are you sure?”

  “I could never call you Ulysses. Gregor is how I know you.”

  “Your memories of me are not very flattering.”

  “Not all my memories are bad, time has mellowed most.”

  “If that could be true . . .” His breathing hitched. “You and I deserve a fresh start.” He swept her a bow. “What do you think? Are you willing to risk it?”

  “Care to wager on who will win the jump-jet finals?” She couldn’t answer him directly.

  “I thought you didn’t bet,” he said, straightening. “But, I’m intrigued. What would you wager?”

  “If I win, you give me a c-fleet and a fleet of jump-jets to start a jump-jet circuit on New Terra.”

  “An expensive bet. What if I win?”

  “Then, you give just the c-fleet.”

  “An unusual bet. I pay either way and win nothing. I hear negotiations are being set up to discuss just such a transaction. New Terra intends to buy the c-fleet, why should I gamble it away?”

  “If you don’t take the bet, then I won’t race at all, and where’s the fun in that?”

  He said nothing, but crossed his arms with an amused expression.

  “Tell you what,” she said, “when I win and take my jump-jets with me, I’ll see if I can’t release the ban on vlor’lords on New Terra. You could race in the first New Terra jump-jet circuit.”