“It might be possible on a courier ship, but these ships don’t fly inside the atmosphere, so you first need to grab a shuttle. Then dock with the courier ship, somehow convincing the crew that we not only can, but must open a gateway, and without confirmation from main HQ that is nigh-on impossible. Even then we would only have a forty-minute head start, and I'm not sure we could sneak through unseen.”
“That means,” nodded the girl, “the only choice we have is the orbital fortress. At least, there we will have a chance to send a call to the fleet and the peers and hold out until they are ready to help. Assuming they want to, of course.” She paused, thinking about something. “But that's not all there is…” Again, she paused. “There is the fact that when Karsaven seized the treasury, there was no royal regalia.”
“How can that be?” exclaimed her mentor in amazement, verbalizing the surprise of all those present.
Tera smiled. “Because I hid them.”
Amalia straightened up in excitement. “So that's why during the video address to her subjects she was still wearing the ducal mantle. She had nothing royal to wear!” The marquis laughed. “Well done, Your Majesty, if you address the people dressed in the royal regalia, I guarantee that the job would be half done.”
“I thought about that, but the fact is that the only person who knows exactly where the regalia are hidden, is in Emilat.”
“What about you?”
“Yes, I also saw the place. It’s in a forest park, around three miles from the palace. I am certain that I would be able to find the place, if we had the time, but we just don’t have it now. That’s why we need her.”
“The palace is swarming with the duke’s henchmen.” The sergeant frowned as he spoke. “It’s unlikely we will be able to slip in unnoticed.”
“Then we must figure out how to make their numbers less,” replied the girl stubbornly.
The mentor shook her head in thought. “If my memory serves me well, the prisoners told us that Captain Agrippa runs the whole palace these days.”
The marquis nodded in agreement. “I met her a couple of times. Very clever, a calculating and ambitious bitch.”
Adults should not speak in such a manner in the presence of little girls, but there were no little girls in this room anymore—sitting in front of them was their leader. Tera looked at her mentor enthusiastically. “Galiyat, I love you!”
The rest looked at them blankly. The mentor chuckled. “What do you think Agrippa would do if she was given the opportunity to personally capture the heiress and present her to the duke like a precious gift?”
The marquis’s face lit up.
“Excellent! I am sure that barely a tenth of the palace garrison will remain behind.” She frowned worriedly. “This must be well thought out, she is not fooled easily.”
The little girl laughed. “Well, I am a desirable trophy for any rebel officer, so the best thing to do would be to hint to Agrippa that someone wants to get to me before her. For example, the lieutenant didn’t immediately file a report about us.”
A few hours later the plan was ready. The hardest part fell to her mentor and the sergeant. Their task was to try to quietly capture some transport shuttle ready for launch, and wait until the queen arrived on board. The girl was determined to try to free the rest of the guards, but no one knew how many troops would remain in the palace, and how soon the squad that went with Agrippa would return. It was agreed that in any case an ornithopter with the girl and two guards would land near her hidden cache. The others would try to quietly find out what could be done in the palace. Of course, the idea was a little adventurous, but everyone was excited and ready to move mountains if necessary. At the end, the sergeant came up with another idea that could substantially level the playing field, and which with luck would seriously weaken the duke’s position. By the evening of the next day, everything was in place.
“Your Majesty, Emilat is on the horizon.”
The little girl sat up in her seat. “Have you logged in to the population database?”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
Tera grimaced. “Drop the titles for now. Look for the address and directions to one retired sergeant of the guards by the name of Evlampa. Time of her arrival in the city, roughly ten to twelve days ago.”
***
Captain Agrippa nodded in satisfaction. Smoke was rising from the chimney. The humanoid detector revealed the presence of people inside the building. Through the thick stone it was difficult to read how many of them there were, but the detector could not be mistaken, so they were there. No question. The captain deployed her command discflyer in front of the gallery leading to the building, which was hewn into the rock, and initiated the powerful onboard laser beam. She began to deploy the laser beam, and the detectors displayed lines on the screen depicting the cavities within the body of the rock. Perhaps not all of them were part of the hunting lodge but the captain chose not to take the risk. Besides, she imagined with pleasure how the lieutenant was writhing around in agony in there beneath the powerful dose of radiation. “Yes, my darling, that will teach you to try to push your mother out of the way, and bypass your superior.” Finally, the captain decided that enough was enough. Whoever was in there wouldn’t even be able to move their lips by now. She turned on the general frequency. “All units move ahead. Attack according to plan.”
At this command, one company of space marines had to break in through the front door and another into the hangar with the hunting ornithopter on the opposite hillside. The third company was to hover over the mountain, blocking any attempt by the enemy to break out. Of course, she could have captured the girl with her bare hands. But wouldn’t it be worth mentioning in her report to the duke, that the capture of the heiress was undertaken during an assault operation, and without a single loss of life? However, the captain could not shake the feeling that a catch lay behind all this. It would probably be worthwhile to wait a little, or at least to conduct reconnaissance, but time was of the essence. That bitch lieutenant could have contacted the duke at any time on the direct communication channel. So, Agrippa decided to take the risk and to be ready for any eventuality, bringing along most of the palace garrison with her.
The turmoil caused by the landing of the discflyers subsided, and the space marines began to storm the building. Major Branderra’s voice came over the headphones. “We have stormed the building. There was no resistance.” During an assault the major always inexplicably lost her problem of being tongue-tied. “We have passed through the entrance chamber, and are proceeding through the gallery. There is no sign of the enemy. Oh shit! Adam be damned!”
“What’s happened?” Agrippa broke in.
At that moment, the peak of the mountain erupted, clouds of stones flew into the air and flames billowed out from open vents. The captain felt herself shaken strongly, then something rattled and the discflyer rolled over. A few seconds later the somersaulting vehicle fell to the ground with a terrible crash and exploded. The two discflyers standing on the ground had been overturned onto their sides and destroyed by the rubble and rocks that had collapsed on top of them. In just a few moments the battalion of space marines had been completely wiped out. Thirty plasma rifle energy packs, under a detonation from four kilograms of plastic explosives, had unleashed a blast of energy equivalent to fifteen kilotons. The top of the mountain had been completely blown off. There was no longer anything habitable left of Count Amalia’s estate.
***
When the captain had literally dropped the ornithopter on a tiny square near the tavern, its customers and some of the town residents poured into the street. A few moments later Evlampa appeared, wearing a short-cropped blouson and a leather apron. Throwing a scornful glance at the noisy excited crowd, she leaned against the doorpost, folded her powerful arms, and scowled at the ornithopter. The little girl could not help admiring her former horse jumping instructor. Yes, Evlampa was an impressive sight. It was clear that this tavern had no need to waste money on bou
ncers. But the moment Tera opened the blister hatch and leaned out, the former sergeant jumped up, tore off her apron and rushed through the crowd, scattering anybody who was not fast enough to get out of her way. Once at the ornithopter, she threw her powerful body inside and slammed the blister hatch shut. “You should not take such risks, Your Majesty. You could have called me on the civil network, and I would have immediately got to where you needed me to be.”
“Thank you, Evlampa, but we did not have time.”
She nodded with understanding and smiled. “Well, one way or the other, I'm with you.”
“We need to …”
“I understand.”
Then Captain Amalia intervened. “How accurately can you identify where the cache is hidden?”
“Close enough for you to spit on it, ma'am,” smiled Evlampa.
***
Sergeant Evlampa held out her hand and pointed to the towering rock in a clearing with a small waterfall falling from a cave above. “It’s over there.” She turned to the captain. “If you lower me by rope, we can save some time.”
She nodded. Evlampa hurriedly took off her shoes, tied a rope around herself, then opened a blister hatch and lowered herself overboard. The ornithopter, shaking a little from its voluminous flapping wings, slowly approached the cliff wall. Evlampa waved her hand, directing the craft to go lower. The captain, biting her lip, gently touched the controls. The craft slipped down a few meters. The sergeant swung on the rope and caught hold of the ledge, then reached up and began to climb up and to the side. Soon she reached the right place, and leaned back with the bag in her hands. Tera felt tears roll down from her eyes. Could all our plans be as successful as here and in Emilat?
***
Now they had the royal regalia in their hands.
The dome of the palace appeared ahead. The captain nodded to the guard sitting on the co-pilot seat and got out from behind the controls. “As we agreed, Your …”
“No.”
The girl shook her head in disagreement. The marquis frowned, and Tera continued, “You said yourself that a full battalion would have been sent to the hunting lodge and it was unlikely that they had left more than one or two dozen guards behind here. You have so few people, so you will need the ornithopter as well.”
“Yes, and I will be useful as well,” boomed Evlampa. “I just need one of these toys.” She nodded towards the captain’s plasma rifle.
Amalia looked intensely at the girl. Of course, she was right, but one shot from a plasma rifle…
“Try to understand, these people served my mother loyally. I cannot abandon them.”
The marquis nodded her agreement with a sigh. This little rascal always gets what she wants.
The ornithopter plummeted sharply and hovered over the courtyard. Guards wearing armored space marines’ uniforms jumped to the ground, ignoring the plasma rifles of the security guards around them, split into pairs and formed a column, two marines wide. Their suits bore the logos of the second light squadron on their sleeves, so the guards were relaxed, and the machine on which they had arrived looked more like a hunting ornithopter than a combat discflyer. These days space marines will fly on anything. The blister hatches on the ornithopter slammed shut, it began to slowly rise slowly, and the security guards lowered their guard.
The next instant the plasma rifles of Tera’s guards thundered into action. The ornithopter banked and hovered over the dome of the palace. Evlampa fired off several shots striking the roof of the barracks, shooting the guard at the arsenal. The palace was filled with the sound of stomping boots, shouting, and the thunder of plasma rifles. The entrance to the wine cellar exploded in a fireball, looking like someone had blasted the door with a plasma rifle. They did not know exactly where the captured guards were being held, but the wine cellar was the only sufficiently large structure, with solid walls, where all the prisoners could be accommodated without any security problems.
Evlampa opened a blister hatch and climbed onto the roof. They were not mistaken about the wine cellar. A few moments later the sergeant noticed the confused guards, climbing from the cellar, and screamed at the top of her mighty lungs, “Guards! To the arsenal! Eviva the queen! Death to the rebels!”
When the crowd of tired but angry guards rushed to help the marquis’s assault team, the remaining space marines were crushed in an instant. A few minutes later a rapidly expanding dot appeared on the horizon, and soon after, an orbital shuttle ruthlessly destroyed the precious marble of the palace square with its noisy, heavy landing.
Just a few minutes later, the mentor popped up on the still lowering ramp, ran to the girl, and checked her over anxiously. Tera ran to her and clung to her broad chest. “Galiyat, I'm so happy!”
She smiled.
“I see that you managed to do everything you wanted. Now admit it, were you hanging around here during the battle as well?”
Tera looked at her slyly and laughed.
“I'm fine, and how are things with you?”
“Oh, it came out much easier than I expected. The duke has managed to get herself disliked by a much larger number of people than could ever have been anticipated. Even some of the port security flew alongside us; led by their commandant.”
Half an hour later, when the shuttle, stuffed to the eyeballs with guards, peers and palace attendants, was rapidly taking off, there was a video call in the control room. The captain looked questioningly at the marquis, but she nodded, readdressing the look to the girl. Tera nodded silently. Duke Karsaven’s face appeared on the screen distorted with rage. “So, you little shit, you finally crawled out from your hole! I swear you will not poison my life for much longer.”
The girl stared for a few moments at the face of her enemy then turned to the captain. “Turn it off.” When the screen went blank, she turned to her mentor and said bitterly, “She hates me. I feel so sorry for her.”
6
When they were on the shuttle outside the planet’s atmosphere, Tera gathered all the senior officers together, and tabled a question about what to do next. Although a decision had already been taken in the hunting lodge, and the shuttle was on course for orbital fortress Mae, Tera decided to think things over again, and discuss them with her trusted team.
In addition, until now they only had information extracted from the open network, while the liberated captives or merchants who joined them could have more information. Of course, if they had a dossier on the officers on board the fortress, access to confidential information files, or at least the time to send a request from one of the consoles in the palace which had increased access to the classified network, then …
So, they had only a HoloNet message claiming that when orbital fortress Mae was asked to swear allegiance to Duke Karsaven, they replied with silence. Orbital fortress Mae was not the only fortress to do so, but it was the most powerful one available to them.
They had discussed several options. One of them was to try to break through the blockade of air-space interceptors that Duke Karsaven already had in the air, and to try to reach Aldiler, which was Tera’s family duchy. But after the conversation with the duke, nobody supported this option.
Judging by the look on her face when the connection went off on the shuttle’s screen, it was clear that she would stop at nothing to get to her rival, and the family duchy would not be a haven, especially since it would be the first place Karsaven would look for them. Should they try to reach one the neighboring planets of the system? There were undoubtedly supporters of the princess on planets Derra and Unira. During the last rebellion, when trying to destroy the planetary defense batteries, the former Duke Karsaven exposed these planets to terrible bombardment. The memories were still too strong for them to recognize the new ruler. However, the shuttle was not suited to long-haul flights. In close orbit it could compete with any craft, but at the speed with which it could move in open space, even pleasure craft could catch it. So, if there was even a single ship in orbit from the Second Light Squadr
on—and it was certain there were more than that—the fate of the shuttle would be decided within a couple of hours after leaving orbit. In addition, Duke Karsaven could do what she needed without using ships. She could take this chance to cross the “T’s” and dot the “I’s” between herself and orbital fortress Mae.
For six hours of the trip they had been within distance of a heavy defeat from the fortress’ murderous defense batteries. What was there to prevent the duke from demanding from General Santana, commander of the fortress garrison, that she use the weapons on the fortress to destroy them, and in the case of her refusal to threaten the general with dismissal and appoint her own officer? Tera decided it was better not to test the general's oath of loyalty in her absence. In short, they really had only one possible way out.
Tera stood in front of the closed doors of the airlock hatch. Compressed air hissed quietly behind the wall, filling the space inside the mooring tunnel. She was completely alone. She felt scared for a moment, but she managed to crush her fear, make it disappear, and hide it deep inside.
She had made the decision herself that she would go alone.
The doors of the hatch shuddered and started to slide open majestically. The girl took a deep breath, lifted her head proudly and slowly walked down the wide path inside the main mooring tunnel.
She reached the end of the mooring tunnel.
When the heavy airlock doors of the fortress began to open, Tera hesitated for a moment, feeling the chill in her hands and feet, but in the next instant raised her head decisively and stepped forward. There were four people inside the huge airlock. Rather, to be accurate, there were actually more people there than that, including a platoon of space marines in full armor, two teams of stormtroopers whose faces gleamed dimly behind their menacing weapons, and some other people were huddled in corners, but these four took center stage. Tera stared at them with watchful eyes. She knew only General Santana. The girl took a few steps and stopped directly in front of the general, “I am Regent Tera. May I know, General, what action you intend to take to suppress the usurper?”
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