Swords Above the Stars

by Roman Zlotnikov

  For a while the girl gazed into her mentor’s face, then her face lit up in a smile.

  “Galiyat, I …” She collapsed.

  Her mentor rushed to her and managed to pick up her limp body. Adam be damned to hell; how could she forget that their cast-iron leader was only eight years old!

  When Tera opened her eyes, it was already dark. The girl stared blankly at the branches of the stunted pines swaying above her head awhile, then sat up straight, throwing off a pile of cloaks from her feet that had been covering her. The mimicsuit served as a decent heater, but was already worn out and too small to work at maximum efficiency. Her mentor was sitting next to her, listening intently. Turning quickly toward her, and seeing that the girl was sitting up, she stretched out her hands to put her on the mat again and throw the cloaks back over her.

  “Lie down, my dear, you need to rest.”

  “Where are the guards, Galiyat?”

  She had been staring for some time at the little girl’s figure, wondering how those fragile shoulders could stand the latest news. Then she sighed. “Half an hour ago, eight space marines came out of the house in full combat gear. They had a humanoid detector with them. It looks like they exposed Amalia to a cerebral scan. Now they now know all about us. The sergeant and the guards have taken up position on the southern slope. She wants to engage with them and lead them away from here. I will prepare our pack, my girl. Once the fight begins, we will need to leave immediately. I’ll carry you on my back.”

  Tera thought, biting her lip. Then shook her head. “No. I know that nothing happened to Amalia. We have to save her.”

  The mentor shook her head in reflection. Then she brought her bracelet communicator to her mouth and clicked her tongue into it. A moment later, a barely audible voice answered. “Umarka here.”

  “Where are the space marines?”

  “They turned and went down the eastern slope, line abreast.”

  “Did anybody else come out?”

  “No.”

  Galiyat nodded in thought. “Looks like you were right, my girl. We scared ourselves needlessly. It’s unlikely they would have sent just eight people if they knew that a dozen guards were hiding in the forest.” She again raised the bracelet to her lips.

  “What do you think about this detachment?”

  “It does not appear that they know about us. They are moving in a search pattern. The detector is set to wideband mode, and the equipment is only on standby. It looks like it is just a patrol. Maybe to catch looters or any who survived after the stormtroopers hit. Or maybe the commander was fed up with bored soldiers wandering about under her nose, so she kicked them out for some fresh air.”

  Galiyat nodded to herself in thought, then looked at the girl. “I think we may have a chance.”

  Tera nodded, compressed her lips sternly, and rose to her feet.

  “Hey, where do you think you are going, Your Majesty?”

  “Do you think you have a chance to avoid the detectors if they continue to operate in a wide search mode?”

  The mentor jumped to her feet and grabbed the girl by the shoulders. “You’re not going anywhere, do you hear me? I do not want to know what you are planning to do, but while I'm alive, you're not going to participate in these deadly games!”

  She shook her, if not to reach agreement, then at least to remove the stubborn expression from the girl’s face, but Tera stayed silent, gritting her teeth. Galiyat finally broke down and hugged her close, with her eyes squeezed tightly shut. Old soldiers should never cry. The girl froze in her arms, then gently lifted her face, and rubbed her cheek against the sleeve of the jumpsuit. “Don’t worry, Galiyat, everything will be fine.”

  ***

  This bloody patrol had ruined all her plans for the evening. Although it began promisingly, the day had pretty much gone to hell. In the morning Lieutenant Mendoza hinted that tonight would be an appropriate time to show the corporal the family album she had been dragging around with her in the memory unit of the platoon’s com log.

  Since all romances in the platoon started off in the same way, the corporal was already mentally rubbing her hands together in anticipation of a fabulous evening in the count's apartments, which the lieutenant was occupying.

  Despite the building being listed as a hunting lodge, the furnishings and wine cellar here were excellent. The corporal knew of estates where the main homestead couldn’t hold a candle to this little place.

  But no, instead, at lunchtime, that damn doll had to show up. As soon as she appeared at the door, the communicator alarm went off. The space marines took up their positions and captured the marquis at the entrance. She didn’t even have time to utter a word.

  Tribute must be paid to the lieutenant; she at once ordered the woman to be given a shot of tavlon and walked her outside. If the girl had company, they should be lured into the same trap. However, no one else appeared.

  In truth, using the tavlon was unnecessary. Something softer could have been used, but it had long been rumored among the troops that the guards were subjected to psycho-blocks so that many biological compounds no longer worked on them.

  It was possible that the marquis had not been subjected to such a thing because of her high rank, as her mother was a peer of the realm, or it could be that these rumors had no basis at all. Nevertheless, the questioning had to be postponed. Under the influence of the tavlon, the marquis would admit to anything she was accused of, and to the doubtless great pleasure of the executioner, she would have pulled out every hair of her entire luxurious black mane by herself.

  Now. it was time to relax, but the lieutenant had opted instead to send out a night patrol. The corporal sighed. The evening had gone down the drain. However, maybe it was for the best. The lieutenant was so irritated by her blunder with the tavlon that she had not even reported the capture of the marquis to headquarters yet.

  When the platoon sergeant tried to mention the order demanding an immediate report, the lieutenant glared at her so hard that the sergeant shut up immediately and took herself far away from trouble, instead inspecting the weapons and equipment, taking her anger out on her subordinates.

  The corporal turned onto a track and glanced at the detector screen. Then she turned back and began to count the members of the patrol, but the number two suddenly flashed up on the detector. Clutching it in both hands, she raised the detector panel to her visor. There could be no doubt. The detector showed a fire and two figures, one large and one small. The corporal issued a soft hissing sound, and this signal was transmitted via the communicator to the headphones on everyone’s helmets and the patrol moved immediately to battle positions. So, let the lieutenant appear before headquarters in all her splendor if she wants to, not only with the prisoner, but also with information. But, for Mendoza it would be enough to have some captives, especially these ones!

  4

  The duke irritably stripped off her dress uniform and threw it on a chair. For Adam’s sake! Everything had gone wrong from day one. First, they had failed to capture the girl. Then the remnants of the Royal Navy refused to join her and moved to Lusus. Count Amalia had publicly accused her of mutiny. However, even the latter, to be honest, she was happy about at first. The peers needed to be taught a lesson, and the object of this lesson turned out to be the count, or at least that’s what she thought would suit her at the time.

  Count Amalia’s loyalty to the ruling house was very well known, and the duke knew that even if they managed to persuade the count to be neutral, it was ridiculous to even think of her offering any support, so in the future she could still cost the new queen a lot of blood.

  In this case, it appeared that all the problems had been solved. One strike from the stormtroopers had left this hornet's nest, and its mistress, as a pile of ashes. In reality, everything had gone head over heels. The strike against the count had forced the other peers to begin to arm themselves. Before that, they would have looked a laughing stock, but now? The forces of the peers, even if
at least half of them come to an agreement with each other, along with the remnants of the fleet and several orbital fortresses, the commandants of which had remained neutral so far, exceeded those that were at her disposal. At the same time, the royal regalia were no longer in the royal treasury. In itself, this loss was not a problem. However, along with everything else …

  “Garmada!”

  The duke unbuckled and took off her tall parade boots. Today's meeting of the Council of Peers had gone to damn Adam. Most of the peers didn’t even turn up. Of those who did come, half of them displayed nothing but open defiance.

  ***

  When Count Elmeyda openly snorted in response to a proposal by the duke’s friend Baron Majid, in anticipation of the imminent danger to the kingdom, of a transfer of sovereignty to the experienced admiral and representative of a direct royal blood line, Duke Karsaven, the duke snapped.

  Barely holding her irritation, she asked the count what she found so amusing about the Baron’s proposal. She brazenly stood up and her words sounded out in the silence that reigned after the duke’s question.

  “Why would anyone want to pass something over to somebody, if we already have a regent appointed by our queen, who already owns the Royal Ring of Power? If we are going to talk about experience, our queen obviously had a different opinion, when in the hour of the decisive battle she left so worthy an admiral to watch over men’s pants. However,” the count added with a nasty chuckle, “she even managed to mess that up as well.”

  Karsaven felt that if she had stayed in the council chamber for even a moment longer, then she would have turned all those present into charred corpses. By tradition, no one in the chamber could carry any weapons with them, except for their ancestral sword, but there were always a dozen guards behind the door. Now there were two dozen Reymeyks in full combat gear there. The duke jumped up from her seat, and throwing a furious, angry gaze at the peers, swiftly exited the chamber.

  ***

  “Garmada, where have you been, you damned Adam’s slut?”

  The duke did not immediately remember that she had also sent the adjutant to help Agrippa turn the royal palace upside down in search of the royal regalia. Garmada was an unsurpassed expert in interiors and was irreplaceable during room searches.

  Remembering this, the duke, before cooling down slightly, once again flew into a rage. On top of everything she would have to do without her adjutant’s help! Had she known what she would have to go through, she would positively not have tried so desperately to take the crown. The latter idea was not entirely sincere, but, oddly enough, it calmed her down.

  The duke sighed, pulled the lace underwear from her body, and glanced towards the wardrobe, where her familiar and so comfortable field mimicsuit hung, but she instead decided to take a shower. Opening only the cold-water tap, she slowly turned around under the jets of water for some time, then changed to a power shower with hydro massage. Coming out of the shower with her skin red, calmed her nerves a little. She pulled on her mimicsuit, went over to the console, and called the palace. Soon Agrippa’s face appeared on screen.

  “So, my dear, how are you getting on?”

  Agrippa caught the remnants of the storm on her face and paused a moment, but then decided not to play along. “Dull, like the inside of Adam’s damn throat. We have already questioned all the guards, the servants, and most of those remaining at court, even the seventeen most stubborn, including the chamberlain, and cleaned out their brains, but …” Agrippa threw her hands up in the air.

  The duke slammed her fist on the console. “I need this snotty little kid, Agrippa, dead or alive, I don’t care which!”

  Agrippa was silent. Karsaven pulled herself together, and, after a pause, she asked, “And how is Garmada doing?”

  “Nosing around. She’s found a lot of interesting things. In particular the queen’s diaries from when she was a child. But as far as the royal trinkets go, no results.”

  “What do you think we should do about that?”

  “Now we are trying to figure out who visited the palace since the departure of the Queen, but among them will be many who are beyond my reach.”

  “Don’t worry about them,” wryly, “I'll deal with them myself, but there's something else. Please help Garmada. It turns out these trinkets still matter a lot for some people, so at least if we manage to find them, some things will be considerably easier.”

  “Wow.” Agrippa grinned in turn. “If I'm not mistaken, "somebody" is slapping asses in the Council of Peers.”

  “That’s none of your business.” The duke frowned. “You, the role model, you, the daughter of a merchant from a planet on the outer rim …”

  Agrippa apparently caught her Master’s dissatisfaction and quickly bit her tongue.

  “Everything understood, we will do what you ask, my lady.”

  The duke turned off the console and turned away. It would not hurt to take a nap for couple of hours. The last time her head hit the pillow was thirty hours ago.

  “Your Majesty!” The soft voice of the Reymeyk commander of the guard came from the stationary comlink beside the bed.

  Karsaven shuddered angrily. She really needed to get some rest; her nerves were at the end of their tether. She was close to becoming hysterical.

  “Well, what else is there now?”

  “General Yugon is here for you.”

  That's it. No request for an audience. No appointment. Just drop in and give me enough time to pull on a negligee. The duke had a rush of blood to her head. These Reymeyks had finally become totally insolent. Indeed, the old queen treated them too liberally. Well, she would not make the same mistake, despite all their merits. But that would be later, much later. Today the Reymeyks were her main strike force. She was ashamed to admit it, but even her second light squadron was in foment.

  These stupid bastards were harping on about such ephemeral things as honor and loyalty to the crown and vassal, and couldn’t understand that at this moment the kingdom needed a different, stronger leader than a snotty eight-year-old girl. The duke again found herself lying to herself and grimaced in annoyance, but in the next instant the wide double doors swung open and she had to quickly pull a smile onto her face and step towards the door with open arms.

  ***

  Captain Agrippa switched off the console and wearily leaned back in her seat. Adam be damned, how tiring this week had been. The captain reached her hand toward the console, deciding to warn the duty communications officer not to bother her for at least a couple of hours. At the end of the day, there was nothing urgent enough that would need her personal involvement … but then there was a knock at the door. Agrippa winced in annoyance. If someone had just arrived at the cabinet, it must mean that either the information was crucial, or one of the officers was trying to break in. She shook her head wearily and shouted, “Come in!”

  The royal cabinet was too extensive for a normal voice to be heard beyond the door. Major Branderra, the battalion commander assigned to the space marines cruiser, entered carefully and moved sideways across the room. Agrippa had to smile. Many of her people had felt the awe of the palace and didn’t feel at ease here. Glory to Eve, their work was not affected.

  “Well, what do you have then?”

  “So, it’s …”

  Agrippa chuckled to herself. Major Branderra was well known for getting tongue-tied. In the second light squadron there was even a common saying, ‘as eloquent as Branderra.’

  “What is it?” Agrippa reached for the printed sheet.

  “That is a list of those who have left the palace over the past two weeks, so … that …”

  Agrippa sighed and lifted the top page up to her face. Of course, the major had overdone it, including in the list even those with the misfortune to show their faces on its territory, even momentarily. It included the pilots of discflyer couriers, drivers of grocery trucks, and palace personnel ending their duty. The captain groaned to herself mentally, but portrayed a satisfied grimac
e on her face. Branderra was extremely proud.

  “Thank you, Major. You have done an excellent job.”

  The major clicked her heels together and in a marching step, she left the cabinet office. Agrippa sighed. A welcome rest had gone down the drain again, but there was nothing she could do about it. If Duke Karsaven could not hold on at the top, then she herself was threatened with hanging for participation in the rebellion. If everything was to work out right, then perhaps she had a chance to become a count. Especially now that Count Amalia’s estate was ownerless. The captain moved the printed pages closer, picked up a pen and buried herself in them, line by line.

  ***

  “You wouldn’t dare, bitch!” the duke swung her hand and slapped Yugon across the face. The tall, dark-haired Yugon fell to the floor.

  There was a deathly silence in the office. The general’s cheek blossomed a red handprint. Then the general jumped to her feet, right fist clenched impulsively, stopping near her gun holster.

  “So, Your Majesty,” her voice was broken with rage. “In the name of freedom and Reymeyk I will suffer this insult, but one day the time will come …” She gritted her teeth and walked out of the chamber, slamming the door behind her with all her might.

  The duke fell, exhausted, onto the couch. All day had been damned to Adam! It seemed everyone was conspiring to drive her to an early grave.

  Karsaven put her hands to her temples. One more conversation like that and she would find herself without the Reymeyks. But how dare she! the duke exhaled loudly. How dare her filthy tongue make such demands from the QUEEN! She jumped to her feet and walked around the chamber nervously. Her thoughts were rushed and confused from anger. If that is what being a ruler is like, it would be worth considering shoving this burden on someone else’s shoulders.

  Her expertise was in maneuvers and battle. Karsaven grimaced. The old queen had wanted to seriously humiliate her when she denied her the right to lead the royal fleet into battle. Ultimately, she was also from a dynasty of queens. Was not her own dear grandmother the queen before the one that just died?