The Chronicles of Benjamin Jaminson: Empires At War (Book 5 Part Two)

by Thomas Wright

  “No, but it is something I must do. I will be back and ready before the third zone offensive begins.” He looked at Zuri next. “Come, Zuri,” he said, repeating what he had heard Reaper say to the beast.

  ****

  We stood in a dark closet, waiting, and let Zora and the prisoners pass. Deireadh informed me they had turned and were in a corridor that would take them directly to the brig. I cracked the door and looked out. They were gone, but I could hear the echo of their footsteps.

  Snake, Angel, Harry and Shawna are in position, Deireadh said. The guards in the brig tried to stop them, but were unsuccessful and both are unconscious. The team awaits your—

  Got it. Did you leave enough of yourself in the admiral’s quarters you can get eyes on what the hell is going on there?

  I was about to inform you, before you interrupted, that Zuri and the admiral have left the bridge. Their path would indicate they will arrive at or pass his quarters in two minutes ten seconds.

  Can you tell anything me about the admiral’s quarters? Life signs, how many, etc.

  No, but I can move from the corridor to the admiral’s quarters, arriving just before they do.

  Go. I need to talk to the admiral. Now is as good a time as any.

  “Taz, has Dela’maah contacted you and by chance you forgot to tell me?”

  “Benjamin, don’t be an idiot. Of course not.”

  “Ass, liar, now idiot. I’m not writing you any love songs any time soon.”

  “Can you even sing?”

  “Shush. I need to talk to the admiral.” I opened a channel on my com. “Admiral, I understand you and Zuri are about to reach your quarters?”

  “How did you know? Or maybe I don’t want to know how.”

  “Yeah, you don’t want to know. I need you to turn off all the lights in your quarters and stay in the corridor. Zuri will do the rest.”

  “What’s happened? Why?”

  “I’ve lost contact with Genius and Dela’maah. Both are last known to be in your quarters. I’m not sure where you were headed, but wait and Zuri will accompany you.”

  “Ok. I brought Zuri along. I think my bridge officers are happy I did.”

  “Excellent. After Zuri enters, shut and lock the door. Don’t go in till I tell you.”

  Deireadh, there enough nans on Zuri to get me a visual?

  “We are here, Reaper,” Cushda replied.

  “Zuri, move quietly, find Genius,” I commanded.

  Yes. I will activate now, Deireadh answered.

  Having just been there a few hours ago, I could make out enough of the room in the low light for my brain to fill in the rest. Zuri was moving slowly. I had no audio, but I equated that to moving quietly. Taz slipped her arm around my waist. I lowered my helmet. Unlike my old helmet, this one wasn’t necessary for me to see. Deireadh was tapped straight into my head. It was like watching the scene on the back of my eyelids.

  I followed along as Zuri moved through the meeting room. She made a pass-through and headed for the bedroom. Taz cupped my face in her hands and pulled my head down so my forehead rested on hers. Then she squeezed me around the waist in a hug. Zuri stopped dead at the doorway. Someone sat in a chair with a pistol pointed at Dela’maah. Another body lay on the bed. I assumed it was Genius. The build and height seemed to match.

  My eyes had adjusted to the darkness of the closet. I could see Taz was enjoying the moment, the closeness without anyone around. How my brain was processing both scenes at the same time was over my head. I slipped my hands from Taz’s waist to her face and traced along the edge of her ears then, for a split second, I covered them both.

  “Zuri, kill him,” I whispered, then moved my hands to the back of Taz’s neck and started to massage her. Taz moaned softly while Zuri charged the man with the weapon. It fired and the darkness lit up, almost blinding me. My hands never flinched as I worked the taunt muscles across Taz’s shoulders. The chair must have disintegrated under Zuri. I could not see the man’s body, then his head and shoulders silhouetted the scene, but only for a second. Then it seemed like I was looking at a black wall until Zuri jerked her head back. I could see shoulders and no head. I kissed Taz on the cheek. Zuri looked at Dela’maah, who had pulled her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them. She looked to be peeking over her knees. Zuri leaned over the bed and nuzzled Genius. He didn’t respond. I dug my fingers in a little too hard.

  “Ouch, lover,” Taz complained.

  My oldest friend could be dead.

  “Let’s go. Something has come up and I’m going to end some people.” I grabbed her hand and pulled, slamming the door back into the wall. I had wanted to follow and observe to verify my suspicions, scare the truth out of them. Now I didn’t care. I would get answers my way.

  ****

  Dela’maah almost fell trying to get through the door before it had opened all the way. She caught her shoulder on it, spinning her off balance. The admiral caught her before she could go down. Zuri walked through the door slowly, looked up and down the corridor and dropped the lieutenant’s head at the admiral’s feet.

  “The lieutenant held me captive. I’m not sure what happened to Genius. He is alive but unconscious and would not wake when I tried to rouse him.”

  “Why would Zuri do this? Why would the lieutenant hold you captive? This is madness.”

  “Admiral, get a medical team in here and get Genius to my ship. They will know what to do.” Dela’maah would not take her eyes off Zuri. She saw Zuri on the battlefield, but it was just glances, fragments of time. This was different and it terrified her. The beast sat down on its rear and yawned, watching them without a hint of aggression.

  “What do I do about the lieutenant? This is murder—”

  “Admiral, the lieutenant was a traitor by his own admission and sought Queen Tazleaha’s death. He held a weapon on me and would have killed me and Genius. I believe he was waiting for an order. I must warn the queen. Call the medical team now.”

  The admiral was clearly not over the captain’s arrest and pending charges. Now another officer on his ship had been identified as a traitor. Dela’maah could see the panic and confusion on his face. Her hand stung when it made contact, but the look on the admiral’s face seemed to have changed. The handprint would hopefully sting long enough to keep him functioning.

  “Admiral, are you with me? Zuri and I must go. Listen to me. You know nothing of madness and murder. If Genius dies, Benjamin will kill everyone on this ship. There will be no search for traitors or whoever killed his friend. Everyone dying will, in Benjamin’s mind, solve that problem.” Dela’maah felt like the admiral was in control now and understood. She looked at the beast. “Zuri, promise me you won’t eat me,” Dela’maah said to the beast licking blood from her face. “Come. We will find Benjamin.”

  ****

  Zora knew something was wrong when the guard leading the group into the brig suddenly stopped. The comm officer saw an opportunity and tackled the guard, trying to wrestle his weapon from him. He never checked to see why the guard had paused. The captain stepped into the room and moved off to the side and was followed by Zora and the second guard. Four of Benjamin’s crew were armed and casually watching the two men struggling on floor. Snake leaned down and tapped his weapon on the comm officer’s head.

  “What you gonna do with that once you have it?” Snake asked, pointing his pistol at the officer’s face.

  “Zora, it would be helpful if you and your two guards would lay your weapons over here on the floor by us. Just to avoid any confusion like what we have going on.”

  “If we refuse, Angel? Then what?” Zora asked. Angel stopped smiling and so did the others.

  “Benjamin has informed us someone killed Genius and we are sure that at least one of you five will know who. You will come with us to the Claymore nice and peaceful-like or we will fucking kill you all right here and now.” Snake took the weapon from guard on the floor and held it ready along with his other weapon.r />
  “You think you can do that and get away with it? You are outnumbered—” Zora never finished. Snake shot the comm officer through the shoulder. He lay screaming. The guard pushed himself across the floor on his belly, trying put distance between himself and the angry Privateers.

  “Weapons. Hand them over now!” Angel screamed. Zora grabbed the guard next to her and pushed him toward the Claymore crew then turned and started to run. She didn’t see anyone standing outside the door and was startled when someone grabbed her wrist and pulled her through and up, her feet still moving but now six inches off the floor. She swung a roundhouse with her other arm, but he blocked it and grabbed her by the throat. Benjamin pulled her back slowly, as if to throw her over his shoulder, then thrust her forward, slamming her into the wall. She felt bones break. Her eyes wouldn’t focus. Even as her vision swam, she saw Tazleaha standing, arms crossed, a few feet away and staring at her. Tazleaha sobbed and, while she couldn’t see them, she knew tears streamed down her queen’s face. Her world went black. She never felt the floor when she hit it or the queen stroking her hair while her head lay in Tazleaha’s lap.

  ****

  “Taz, let Harry carry Zora to the Claymore,” I said firmly for the third time. “It doesn’t look good for her, but I will wait until she can speak before I act on anything.” Shawna walked up, carrying Genius’s equipment from the admiral’s quarters.

  “Damn, Boss. Zuri bit the guy’s head off. There is blood all over the damn place. I took a look at the file. It was still open, just hidden. I’ll let you read it, but it doesn’t look good for Zora.”

  “Thanks, Shawna. Put it in my quarters.”

  “I demand to know what it says!” Taz shouted and I locked eyes with her.

  “You can read it the same time I do, now stop yelling.”

  Binda and Admiral Cushda were speaking off to the side of the hold. He was unhappy with the relocation of the prisoners. She did her best to appease him, going as far as letting him talk to his captain, which was a waste of time. Cushda had hoped for a misunderstanding until the captain began to berate him and go off on a tirade. The admiral apologized to me, of all people. I told him it wasn’t his fault and no apology was necessary, but then I thought if it made him feel better so be it. He nodded and left, going back to the bridge with, I hoped, a slightly clearer head.

  We had a couple hours until the rest of the Privateers arrived. I was pulling the Warhammer and the Black Scythe out of the pack, then thought the three stingers wouldn’t be much help without the other two so I brought them all back. They could guard Cushda’s flagship and our ships that would have skeleton crews.

  “Taz, let’s go read what Genius found, then we’ll go to the bridge and contact the Khalnalax battleship. We still have work to do and I need your help.”

  We spent fifteen minutes in my quarters. Thirty seconds to read the message and fourteen and a half minutes while Taz cried. I wasn’t sure my trying to comfort her did much good, as I was still angry, and listening to her cry made it worse. She hadn’t had the best of luck with her own decisions lately and dealing with the fallout of those decisions had been hard on her, very hard. Giving the orders that wiped out her fleet, almost dying during her escape in the shuttle, trying to survive on Idaline. All of that was nothing compared to now, when the person she thought would always be by her side, the one she chose as a child from all her royal cousins and the children of nobility, had betrayed her. Even if Zora somehow convinced her of her loyalty, she had hurt one of mine in more ways than one. Genius loved her and when—if—he wakes up, he will eventually know of her betrayal. None of us, not even him, saw this coming. Taz stopped crying and I had her talking. We would work out the next step in the plan by the time we got to the bridge.

  ****

  I rubbed my temples as I thought about Taz’s side of things. She was crushed and angry. Sadness had taken a backseat and hate was driving now. Our first attempt to work with the Khalnalax was a waste of time. I knew it, but there was no convincing her that they would not surrender. At least, I didn’t see it happening. Zuri must not have, either. She lay on the floor napping. The massive ship still sat in the same damn place, laughing and taunting us. There was something wrong with that picture. Taz made demands and had the numbers to back them up. We could win, but we would lose many more ships. The Khalnalax heavy cruisers weren’t totally out of the game. They had taken damage and we had received our share; many of our smaller ships were damaged heavily. Cushda had pulled the smaller ships back out of the action, not wanting to lose them totally. If the Khalnalax had reinforcements on the way, we might not have enough of a fleet to take them on. We did right now, but each minute brought changes.

  “They are going to resist until they force us to destroy them,” I said. “We will lose more ships and lives before we take them out. You won’t have much of a fleet left.”

  “I’m not sure what else to do,” Tazleaha said. “I sent an offer to them to surrender, and it was generous. I would return them to their border, deposit them on a planet where a ship could pick them up and take them home.”

  “I know, but I get the feeling they would rather die than go home the loser in disgrace. How about offer them a peace treaty? Throw in trade opportunities and embassies to keep the lines of communication open.”

  “I do not want peace, Benjamin. They attacked us, raped our planets and people. Total surrender is what I want.”

  “I know, love. Just write up a draft and tell them you will hand deliver it for signature if the terms are acceptable.”

  “Of course they’ll be acceptable. It’s a peace accord you’re asking me to provide them. A slap in the face of all the families left behind and those who have died defending my empire.”

  “Taz, I’m asking you to offer them peace and hand deliver it. Nothing more. Of course, you will need a full escort and I know just the people to do it,” I said, trying to get her to understand my real meaning.

  “I don’t know, documents like that take time to prepare. I—”

  I had about enough. I didn’t want to voice what I was planning out loud in front of the bridge crew. We still didn’t know if there were more traitors. I grabbed her and hugged her tight. “I don’t give a damn if you offer up that fine sweet ass of yours and tell them you want to make baby emperors. None of it will be true. Get me on the fucking battleship along with my people. Tell them anything you want as long as it is to their advantage and they save face.”

  “Save face how?”

  “There is no really good way to spin a surrender. Plus, the morale of the Khalnalax people will go to shit. They have to know that. But a peace plan, politicians can spin that. Throw in some white lies and glaze over the part about a dozen missing ships and then it’s easier on the citizens to swallow. Their sons and daughters died for peace and so on, you understand?

  “Admiral, hail the battleship and ask for the person in charge, I want to see a face and hear a voice. They didn’t even respect us enough to sign the refusal message they sent,” I said while Taz was thinking. “Tell them we would like to offer them peaceful terms.”

  The admiral looked from me to Taz. She nodded, then he looked back. I was sure he had overheard most of our conversation, except for the sweet ass part. “Right away,” he replied.

  “Benjamin, what if they don’t want peace?”

  “They will. No, that’s not right. They will lie and say they will to get you onboard that ship.”

  “You’re using me again!”

  “You’ll be safe aboard the Claymore, which will be sitting in their hold. I doubt there is anything they have inside their ship that can breach it. If they don’t let us in the hold, then we aren’t boarding, and if we aren’t boarding, then we aren’t going.”

  “I see. The only thing you care about is getting aboard the battleship.”

  “Finally, Taz. There is the hard way, which we’ve been trying and getting our ass handed to us, or the easy way. How about let’s tr
y it and save some of those lives you were going on about.”

  “So, you would use me, put me in mortal danger?” Taz said, her lips curled in a smirk.

  “I figured I’d have to fight you if I made you stay.”

  “Benjamin, how many times have you used me, my position, our relationship to get what you want?”

  “Is this a test, because I didn’t study. Think you can make it multiple choice? No one told me I had to keep track.”

  “Oh, shut up!”

  “My Queen, Emperor Khalnalax will give you a minute of his time,” Cushda interrupted.

  “Emperor Khalnalax. No wonder. Now it all makes sense,” I said. “Ok, dearest, I’m going to get out of the picture. Hold that piece of paper in your hand and wave it around like it is important and has something on it when you speak of the peace plan.” I moved away to stand next to the admiral outside the viewing area.

  “Reaper, do you think this will work?” the admiral whispered.

  “Of course. You know that prick can’t pass this up, even if he suspects something. He won’t care what her reason is, only that she steps into the hold of his ship. Where he will undoubtedly have at least a few hundred armed soldiers. Maybe more. Get Captain Kimit on the line for me. We are going to have so many surprises for them.”

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Tazleaha examined Emperor Khalnalax, taking in every detail. It was hard not to, with the image zoomed in on his end. He was perched on a throne, of all things, on the bridge. He looked smug, nonchalant and self-righteous. Then he turned and threw his leg over the arm of the throne as if to say he was just lounging the afternoon away with no worries about anything.

  “Emperor, what a surprise. Thank you for agreeing to this meeting. I would like to purpose to you a peace agreement between our two empires,” Tazleaha said, trying not to choke on the words.

  “There can be no peace Tazleaha, Queen of Cjittan. The victory will belong to the Khalnalax Empire and you will sit at my feet as a reminder to all other empires that wish to challenge our might.” Taz looked down at the paper to hide a flash of anger then looked up and smiled.