Swords Above the Stars

by Roman Zlotnikov

  He mentally gritted his teeth.

  If they were unable to release the virus into the fleet’s control systems, there would be such a bloodbath that the demise of the previous fleet would seem like nothing in comparison. At least, after the last time, the kingdom had the remnants of a fleet and a legitimate heir.

  Yv, meanwhile, with an unreadable expression on his face, surreptitiously observed those present, trying to determine who wanted, and had the opportunity, to play a dirty trick on them in the near future, and assessing their chances.

  The picture was gloomy.

  Well, he thought, let’s see what can be learned from their squabbles. He cocked his head in surprise, catching himself on such thoughts. Six months ago, the old Yv would have felt the tension with his skin, tried to keep his ears open and his mouth shut, and prayed to God to leave such an inhospitable place as soon as possible, and not to get involved in something ugly. Yet now, he was trying to find something of benefit to him in this fiery situation. What an insolent soldier he had become!

  “I beg your attention.”

  Yv woke up and stared at Admiral Shantorin who was standing by the holocube holding a stylus. She glared at him and Don Krushinka angrily, who was also pondering something intensely and staring into space. Both Dons started, and posed as obedient schoolchildren, faking burning interest on their faces. The admiral, haughtily pursing her lips together, turned back to the holocube. This gesture spoke volumes that she herself felt no positive emotions about communicating anything with the dons.

  “The need for this meeting is due to the fact that headquarters have reworked the original disposition of the fleets ...”

  She made a report of about fifteen minutes long, but the change in the disposition of the fleets came down to the fact that Tera’s flagship and Unpleasant Surprise were separated on opposite flanks, and the protection of the flagship was increased by several ships with more powerful protective fields. The admiral finished. Everybody furtively cast jealous glances at the dons. They were experienced fighters–everyone recognized that, but at the same time, no one wanted outsiders to contest the plan. Yv looked pointedly at Don Krushinka. Don Krushinka slowly rose.

  “Well done, Admirals, a beautiful plan.”

  Yv saw frank relief in most faces, but some of those present could not hide their disappointment. It seemed as if some people had been hoping that an argument would erupt immediately. Don Krushinka meanwhile caught Yv’s eye, nodded slightly, and, immediately averting his eyes, he continued.

  “We have, however, a few suggestions that we think can improve our chances.”

  Admiral Shantorin tensed involuntarily and leaned forward, ready to shoot down any of the don’s proposals, but, catching sight of Flagship Captain Estelle, she said nothing.

  “We are ready to listen to you, Don,” said Tera calmly.

  Don Krushinka quietly turned to the holocube, where bright lights indicated the final stage—the landing parties—and, with a few clicks, he returned the image back to its initial stage.

  “Here we propose to align the shape of the reflection fields of all the ships from the corvette to the battleship. This will keep The Enemy guessing about our order of battle before weapons contact is made.

  It was reasonable, and, moreover, it didn’t contradict the plan, so after a brief discussion, the officers agreed. The same thing happened with another pair of almost meaningless revisions. The faces of some of those present expressed disappointment, then Don Krushinka moved to the main proposal.

  “In addition, because, according to the new version of the plan, my flagship will be based far away, and in such a large-scale battle you can expect many surprises, I would like to propose that the connection between Her Majesty’s ship and my headquarters is via my liaison officer.”

  The amazement on the faces of the admirals was replaced with irritation, then anger. Don Krushinka added hastily. “Of course, he will only take up his position just before the battle ...”

  This is pointless, thought Yv. No one will agree, but then suddenly came the voice of the flagship captain.

  “Well, I think this is a reasonable request.”

  Everyone opened their mouths in astonishment, and the flagship captain flashed Yv a sugary smile.

  “Tera’s liaison officer once showed loyalty to the throne, so we should agree to the noble don’s request.”

  “We can’t have a man on board ship during battle!” Admiral Shantorin blurted out angrily.

  The flagship captain laughed, though somewhat nervously.

  “Prejudice, my Admiral. I heard that the noble dons have something similar against women!”

  Once this proposal was accepted, in a still calm voice, Tera announced that the meeting was over. She nodded briefly at those present, carefully avoiding making eye contact with Yv and left.

  Don Krushinka shuffled around for some time in the control room, and carefully asked if he could copy the new plan onto his crystal, but he was told that the crystal with the new plan would be passed to him directly before the battle.

  He could not see any opportunity to access the control system. When he came out of the control room, he tried to turn into the corridor, where, as he remembered Tera’s apartments were located, and where Sandra could be at this moment. It was politely pointed out to him that the way to his shuttle was in the opposite direction. Well, he had done all he could. All that remained was to hope and pray that Yv would take his chance. If not, there was still no alternative. The countdown had begun, and if he was destined to be doomed, then as was avowed in the dons’ well-known saying, he would die in a way that the Eternal One would have been impressed with.

  3

  Yv was sitting in a corner of the flagship’s control room at a communications console, trying hard to shake off the feeling that someone was aiming a weapon at his temple. It was absurd if only because the battleship was in cruise mode and no energy or kinetic weapons could be used.

  The battleship produced very powerful fields, that covered most of the control room, and its epicenter was located near the muzzles of the weapons. One shot and everyone would be crushed, but from the moment he had stepped onto the deck of the battleship, and with what had been happening around him, it was no surprise that he felt haunted.

  When he had arrived on board the battleship an hour ago, he was holding his gloves in one hand which was sweating with worry. He had a crystal tucked away inside one of the gloves, when to his surprise he was met by the captain of the flagship herself. She stood on the bridge of the main entrance, and looked at him quizzically, slapping her gloves against her palm.

  “Nice to see you, Don.” Her voice oozed sarcasm. “Probably, still wondering why I decided to support the request to take you on board the admiral’s flagship during the battle?”

  Yv shrugged. This lady had already taken the bull by the horns. It was the start of a very interesting conversation. Willingly or unwillingly, she would clarify for him the most important disposition in this battle - the disposition of forces within the main headquarters.

  So, at this moment he should say nothing, so as not to alert her. Meanwhile, the flagship captain turned and walked beside him, continuing to speak. If only he knew what he what he was about to hear!

  “You can guess as much as you want!” The flagship captain curled her lips into a smile. “The thing is that I needed you. I’m planning to take some actions, and you will provide me with the neutrality of your bonehead buddies. To be honest, though, Tera did me a big favor by agreeing with the old bitch to invite you all to the kingdom. In my opinion, it’s the shittiest action of her entire reign.”

  Yv became alert. He expected that the conversation would be about the dons’ miscalculations, but her words rather smacked of treason.

  “Why say such things?” he replied carefully, shrugging. “Especially now, when there are only a few hours left before the start of the battle?”

  He was increasingly disliking the excitement sho
wn by the flagship captain. Besides that, a loyal subject would be unlikely to insult a close friend, mentor, and moreover a relative of Tera in his presence.

  What was meant by calling Sandra an old bitch was clear as day. The flagship captain stopped short and stared at him.

  “So, you still do not understand?”

  Yv looked at her intensely. The flagship captain laughed at him.

  “Men. And some people still claim they are not dumb!” Estelle shook her head and said angrily, spitting out every word, “I need you to convince your dumb admiral that I’m not joking. I need him not to do anything stupid and keep his filthy peasant men in check.” She paused, checking how Yv had taken in all that she said, then she continued, “You will contact your knucklehead admiral and convey to him the following message. He will act as I command, and if he does not fulfill my requirements, I will destroy his bitch and Tera and arrange that the blame for the deaths of both of them will fall on your stupid head.” She gave him a filthy look, twisted her lips, and finished. “Do not play me for a fool like Baron Medjid. Now you don’t have a dozen dons hidden in the ambush to which you lured the baron. As for this shitty corvette, which spins around my ship, in the event of the slightest disobedience it will be destroyed by the first volley. Clear?”

  Yv tried as naturally as possible to portray a mixture of indignation, amazement, and fear, feeling that Estelle was waiting for just such a reaction. He just did not quite understand what she meant by referring to the dons hidden in ambush.

  “But ... how. It’s not possible...”

  The flagship captain took a few moments to enjoy his apparent confusion then barked at him.

  “Shut up!” She opened her palm. On it lay a crystal, identical to the one which he held in his sweaty palms. “This is a new version of the plan. This is the plan I want. I need one thing from you. Somehow stick it into your admiral’s stupid head that he takes no action when the new plan takes effect and let him make his idiots stick with this plan.”

  Yv was startled. All the groups of conspirators worked in the same way. The dons and Estelle were planning to use an altered plan, which had already been installed into the control systems of the ships. For a split second, he considered knocking the flagship captain unconscious and immediately replacing the crystal. But that thought merely flashed somewhere on the periphery of his mind, as if he knew in advance that it was not the right thing to do, so his mind told him not to do it.

  Apparently, the flagship captain saw him shiver.

  “That’s right!” She engulfed him with a look of contempt and added, “To finally dot the I’s and cross the T’s, I can tell you that I myself would prefer to die rather than betray my people.”

  Yv fell silent. The flagship captain snorted contemptuously and jabbed him with a finger.

  “Men. Get moving, Don. If you’re a good boy, I think I’ll spare your life, and might even allow you to take away your snotty whore with you.”

  Yv barely restrained himself at her words. Especially since it was pure garbage. Conspirators never leave witnesses behind alive. Estelle turned contemptuously, and clattering her heels, she disappeared around the corner.

  Now Yv was sitting at a console and pondering over everything that was going on here. Yv knew that Don Krushinka had not ruled out betrayal—even the battle plan compiled by the dons included a battle with some part of the royal fleet.

  He didn’t trust Estelle either, but who would have thought that the whole team on the flagship would commit treason and take Tera hostage? There was one encouraging thing. The conspirators apparently did not know that he had dealt with Baron Medjid’s whole gang single-handedly, although there were still questions to be answered here too.

  Did they not know, or did they not want to believe, or did they want him to think that they did not know? The conversation in the hallway was suspicious enough. It could well have been to provoke a rash reaction, enabling them to seize the moment.

  In short, it was a puzzle. The bet in this game was the life of Tera and thousands of others, not suspecting that death awaited them, and not from the direction they were expecting. Yv wiped his sweaty forehead. The worst thing was that he did not have the luxury of being able to make a single mistake. Estelle’s impish voice sounded out next to him.

  “It seems like our valiant don is sweating a lot.”

  Yv looked up and saw that the flagship captain was back, standing next to him, throwing a crystal decoder up and down in her palm. The next second, his body moved without thinking. He straightened up like a spring and tipped himself backwards. The captain of the flagship had no time even to wonder what was happening.

  Next second the toe of his boot struck the hand holding the crystal, and the crystal tumbled up into the air. Yv crashed onto his back, issuing a bewildered “Heck!” Then he stared dumbfounded at the crystal, falling towards his face.

  At the last moment, he awkwardly put a hand across his face, and the crystal bounced off his glove before falling at Estelle’s feet. She glared at him angrily, and hissed in a whisper, “Are you trying to play games with me!”

  Then Captain Umarka appeared next to her and the flagship captain, throwing a fierce gaze at Yv, turned abruptly and went to the command console. Yv got up and again wiped the sweat away under Umarka’s intense look and sat back on his seat. The captain stood there looking at him contemptuously, then shook her head and walked away.

  Yv breathed deeply, stealthily watching the flagship captain. She exchanged words with several officers, then put the crystal in the receiver and threw a triumphant look towards Yv.

  Yv furiously rubbed his face, then turned on the console connection. When, on a small screen in front of him, Don Krushinka’s face appeared, Yv exhaled with relief and spoke two coded phrases.

  “Admiral, communications are normal.”

  This indicated that the virus was running. Estelle had no idea that the crystal that she had caught was not the one that she had dropped, so that part of the plan was going fine. However, the phrase that followed indicated that he had some serious problems.

  “I’m just sat here quietly doing nothing.”

  He looked up and lifted his eyes to a look of malicious joy. Estelle was certainly in control of their communication channel. However, as it turned out, not only Yv caught the flagship captain’s demeanor.

  Tera suddenly frowned and said something to Umarka as she leaned over her shoulder. Umarka nodded, quickly looked around, and for a second, held her gaze on Yv, raising her eyebrows. Then she left the control room.

  Estelle watched her go anxiously and hurriedly pressed something on the console. Yv pondered the actions of the captain of the royal guard, and for some unknown reason, he was suddenly seized with the confidence that Umarka would like to entrust to him the responsibility for Tera’s life.

  He could not understand where this feeling had come from.

  Umarka had always been very suspicious of Yv and could not stand the dons whatsoever, but now he felt that he had guessed correctly. Well, it was looking like events were moving towards a climax.

  Yv carefully looked around the control room, memorizing the location of everyone in the room, and felt a warm sensation in his stomach. He had felt something like this in the clearing before throwing himself at Baron Medjid.

  So, now a new moment of truth was coming.

  It took about half an hour.

  He just stared at the flagship captain.

  She threw exasperated looks around and from time to time glanced at the door with impatience. Finally, the door swung open. A bunch of Space Marines in combat gear burst into the control room, dragging a few bodies in behind them.

  Yv instantly recognized two of them—Sandra and Umarka. Their clothes were torn, and bruises that were beginning to turn blue were visible on their faces. Tera jumped up, but at that point, three officers near her drew their swords, and Tera was surrounded by blades.

  She cast a helpless glance at Yv, but he sat st
ill with a stony face. It was not yet the right time. He knew that he needed to wait until all the masks had come off.

  The five officers standing next to Yv, did not even draw their swords, but simply stood in a semicircle around him, staring at him menacingly. Yv looked all around, as if in slow motion. Across the cabin several dozen officers drew their swords. The points of their blades were directed at the chests of their companions who had not yet had time to understand what was happening.

  Some tried to resist, but a few strikes from their previous companions turned them into corpses without mercy. In the next second, Yv felt that somewhere inside of him something akin to an abscess had burst, and time went back to normal speed.

  This hadn’t happened during the fight with the baron, and a worm of doubt squirmed somewhere deep inside him. Suddenly, it seemed as if there was nothing he could do. Could it be that his uncanny ability had suddenly left him at the crucial moment?

  Then he embraced the belief that this was not so, and that he may, when he needed to, accelerate his perception, and become invulnerable and deathly to the slow-moving people who filled the control room.

  This was a new sensation for him. he could now control his ability.

  The whole event took about ten seconds. Now all the masks had been dropped. The flagship captain arrogantly clapped her hands together repeatedly, pretending applause, and turned to Tera.

  “Well, that’s it, my dear, the end of your betrayal.”

  Tera drilled her with a burning gaze. “You will pay for all of this.”

  Estelle laughed. “Bravo! No silly questions like what does it all mean? No tantrums. Learn from this man!” She snorted, turning to Yv, then she slowly walked through the control room, her whole demeanor demonstrating the scope of her triumph.

  Enjoying the sight of Sandra and Umarka hanging in the hands of the Space Marines she spoke again to Tera. “I will clarify something at once to save time. I am a Reymeyk. Not by birth, no, but I am the daughter of Count Semilia who was captured during the time of the first rebellion and was executed on the orders of your mother.