There Before the Chaos

by K. B. Wagers

  I crept back to the couch, whiskey forgotten, and Emmory gave me the Look. “Do you always eavesdrop on your Guards?”

  “Sometimes it’s the only way anyone tells you anything when you’re the empress,” I replied.

  “You could just ask.”

  “How’s Zin?” I grinned at the way Emmory’s dark lashes fell over his eyes when he rolled them upward and picked up my whiskey. “See? You should ask Hao, I did this shit all the time out in the black.”

  “You need a hobby,” my Ekam countered.

  “I had one, and then you all dragged me home and made me be empress.”

  “Gunrunning is not a hobby.”

  “True.” I carried my whiskey over to the window. “I am concerned about Ahmed’s news, Emmory,” I said, pulling us back to our original conversation. “And Rai’s in town.”

  “Will he come after Hao?”

  “I doubt it.” I knew I didn’t sound particularly reassuring, but with Bakara Rai you never could tell. “He knows the payoff is really good, but he also knows that the cost-benefit ratio going up against Hao is going to be high. My brother has people besides me who are loyal to him. They will come to his defense.” My exhalation was shaky, and I gave Emmory a poor attempt at a smile. “This could turn into a massive gang war on top of everything else.”

  “Want to go three for three and see if we can start something with the Solarians?” Emmory replied with a wicked grin.

  “Who are you and what have you done with my Ekam?” I gaped at him.

  He leaned on the windowsill next to me. “Trying to get you to see the ridiculousness of worrying about things we can’t control, Hail. Focus on the negotiations. Whatever your doubts, I know you can do this. You were born to do this.”

  “You sound like Fasé, you know. Please tell me you’re not seeing the future now, too?”

  He chuckled, putting a hand over my free one and squeezing it. “I have faith in your ability to make them see reason.”

  “Did you ever think you’d say such a thing to me a year ago?” I asked, leaning my head against his shoulder.

  “No, Majesty,” he replied with a rumbling laugh. “But you have proven me wrong time and again, and I am both humbled and grateful to be able to say it to you now.”

  My smati pinged. “Caspel’s on the com,” I said, reluctantly pushing away from the window and heading to the desk in the corner.

  “Majesty, Ekam,” Caspel said as he came onto the screen. “I have several updates for you I thought you should know about. Sending the files over now. I spoke with my Solarian counterparts and they are increasingly concerned about the mercenary uptick over the last few days.”

  “It’s because of Hao,” I said. “There’s nothing we can do about it except hope that they don’t want to piss off the Solarians by starting something in their territory.”

  “We could have him go elsewhere, Majesty.”

  I pinned my intelligence director with a flat look. “He goes nowhere, Caspel. He’s mine now and if someone wants to try to bring him to Po-Sin they’ll have to come through me to do it.” I knew even as I said it that I was committing Indrana to the same course, but I’d already done something similar with Fasé and I owed Hao just as much, if not more.

  “That’s what I’m afraid of, Majesty.” Caspel cleared his throat and shot Emmory a pleading look past my shoulder. “This situation is an Alcubierre/White Drive about to explode as it is.”

  “If I could tell them all to go away I would, Director.”

  “I realize you’re in a rather delicate position, Majesty. Just be careful.”

  I snorted. “Everyone keeps saying that to me as if I haven’t been extremely careful, and Ekam, if you laugh I will shoot you.”

  That made Caspel chuckle and shake his head. “I made some progress on the money trail for the confirmed mercenaries the Shen have hired, ma’am, including Po-Sin. There are several banks there on Earth that we think have been used to send out payments. I recommend you have Gita follow those leads if you can spare her. If not, I can put you in touch with an operative.”

  “I’ll see what we can do. I realize you may not trust him, but Hao and Dailun might get further on something like that.”

  “I understand, ma’am,” Caspel replied. “I know you are quite capable of handling yourself and you are surrounded by the best Indrana has to offer, but, Majesty?”

  “Yes?”

  “I don’t have a good feeling about this. Be careful.”

  “I will. I promise.”

  I met with President Hudson late the next morning. It was a formal event at the Indranan Embassy, filled with news cameras and an awkward handshake that pushed the boundaries of even my tolerance for not-so-subtle displays of power.

  I squeezed his hand back, a pleasant smile on my face as I wondered who’d forgotten to tell their Earth-born president that Pashati’s gravity was slightly higher than Earth’s and I wasn’t exactly what one would call delicate.

  Regardless, it wasn’t my issue, and I kept smiling as the immaculately tailored and polished man hid his wince and untangled his grip from mine.

  “Your Imperial Majesty, it’s a great pleasure to have you here. Allow me to express my condolences for the attack on your empire’s ships. The Solarian Conglomerate shares in your grief with our own dead and hopes we can use this tragedy as a bridge toward peace between the Farians and the Shen.”

  “I sincerely hope that is the case, Mr. President.”

  “Your Majesty, is it true you’ve accepted the loyalty of Po-Sin’s nephew Cheng Hao?” A reporter at the back of the room shouted out.

  President Hudson sighed. “Joseph, we talked about appropriate questions.”

  The reporter grinned, unrepentant.

  “The answer is yes,” I replied. “But that’s all I’m going to say about it.”

  “What’s the response at home over the attack on your ships?”

  “Is it true you’re going to force the Shen and the Farians to wear gloves at all times?”

  “Do you have a plan for getting the Farians and Shen to come to a peace agreement?”

  The questions were yelled on top of each other as my reply to the first reporter opened up the floodgates. I folded my hands at my waist and waited patiently for them to realize I wasn’t going to say anything until they fell silent.

  “I dislike being shouted at,” I said. “One at a time. You first.”

  37

  I confess I’ve never seen someone handle the press quite so well, Your Majesty,” President Hudson said later when we were settled into the quiet study of the embassy eating lunch.

  “They were not much louder than home. Still, my people have come to expect I will walk out of a press conference if they get out of hand.”

  Hudson smiled and passed a hand over his gray hair. “I’d ask you for pointers but I suspect your history has a great deal to do with it. My press would not let me walk out of anything. No one fears a former banker.”

  “They would if they were smart.” I let the backhanded compliment slide on by and instead sipped at the wine. It was cloyingly sweet with a bitter aftertaste that would have made me concerned about poison if Emmory hadn’t tested the glass himself before setting it in front of me.

  “We appreciate your assistance with this situation, President Hudson. I suppose we will see if the Farians and Shen can come to some agreement.”

  “Certainly. I have received coms from a number of other governments with some requests. Primarily we think it would be of paramount importance to have you inform all sides that we require an immediate cessation of military activities in our sectors.” The Solarians had become the de facto voice for humanity in this arm of the galaxy, given Indrana’s isolation and the long-running war with the Saxons, and with everything else going on both at home and here I wasn’t looking to challenge him on that front.

  At least as long as he was gracious enough to keep our diplomats in the loop, and last night Ambassador Zel
lin had assured me that was happening.

  “Are you willing to back that with force if they don’t agree?”

  The president scratched at his scalp. “Indrana already has, Majesty, and without consequence it would seem. But yes, the Solarians and a fair number of others are willing to engage in a show of force should it be deemed necessary.”

  “Fair enough.” I nodded. “Send me any additional coms that come your way. I’ll bring up the issue during the negotiations and see what the response is.”

  “So, tell me, Your Majesty, just what was it like being a gunrunner?”

  “Dreadfully boring,” I replied.

  For the better part of an hour I dodged, deflected, and otherwise avoided the president’s repeated attempts to get me to talk about my past. I left the meal in a foul temper and strode for my rooms, leaving a startled Alba staring after me in the hallway.

  Emmory handed me a pillow off the couch without comment. I stared at him and he shook it. Taking the blue velvet cushion, I buried my face in it and screamed.

  “Better, Majesty?”

  “Yes, thank you.” I handed the pillow back to him and smoothed my hair away from my forehead. “The nerve of that man. I deserve a medal for not killing him.”

  “I’m very proud of you.”

  I rubbed at my temples. “At least he didn’t try to insert himself into the negotiations, thank Shiva.”

  “I believe Ambassador Zellin had some very stern words with him about that before our arrival. It helps that the Farians and the Shen have been very clear that you and only you are the one leading the negotiations,” Emmory said. “However, it’s also why you didn’t get to wear your guns to lunch.” He handed my holsters over, passing the SColt 45s along once I’d gotten myself situated.

  “I love that you trust me to not shoot a pair of warring alien races but not the president of the Solarian Conglomerate.”

  “You did eject the Solie ambassador and his staff from Canafey, Majesty.”

  “Removed them from a war zone for their own safety,” I replied with an absent smile as I checked over my guns. “I swear it’s like you’re all conspiring against me to get me in trouble.”

  “You get in trouble enough on your own.”

  I laughed and shoved the SColts into my thigh holsters. “All right, Ekam, let’s go try to make peace.”

  The Farians turned as a single unit when I came through the door with Emmory and Alba at my side. The first thing I noticed was that there were five of them, instead of the four-representative limit I’d laid out clearly in my terms for the negotiations. And the second thing—

  “Itegas Notaras, where are your gloves?” I came to a stop before Emmory put his hand out.

  “I didn’t think you meant me.” Adora smiled in a poor approximation of an innocent look, and I crossed my arms over my chest in response.

  “I meant everyone, and I’m not sure if you think I can’t count or I wasn’t going to notice because of how short you all are.”

  The Farians gasped, again as one, which was getting decidedly creepy, but I threw up a hand before anyone could say anything. “You get four reps, Adora. Not five, or eight, or seventeen, but four. And I guess since you are missing the proper attire for this affair you get to leave.”

  “Your Majesty!”

  “Other option is I’m out of here and I tell the Shen you weren’t interested in these talks because you couldn’t follow the rules. We’ll just sit down with them and Fasé instead.”

  “You wouldn’t.”

  “Try me,” I replied, and headed for the door. I had my hand on the handle before Adora folded.

  “Your Majesty, wait. Tilla, give me your gloves and go back to our quarters.”

  I stepped aside so the young Farian could get past me on her way to the door without incurring Emmory’s wrath and turned back around, waiting patiently as Adora pulled the gloves on. She held her hands up.

  “Happy, Your Majesty?”

  “Follow the rules. I won’t give you a second warning.”

  Adora’s mouth tightened. “Your Majesty, before we start I’d like to know when you’re going to deliver Fasé and Sybil to us.”

  “I’m not. They are here as part of a legally recognized faction for these negotiations.”

  “Legally recognized by whom?”

  “By Indrana and by the Solarians as of this morning. If I need to I’ll have eight other human governments sign on to that by sundown. Again, you can take it or leave it. You killed my people. You have killed Solarians. You and the Shen brought this war to us through hubris or negligence, I really don’t care which. You will pay the price for it one way or another.”

  “Your Majesty!”

  I took a step forward, and a humorless smile curved over my face when the Farian closest to me took several scrambling steps in the other direction. “Itegas Notaras, if you truly wish to use your precious time here in an argument—which I promise you, you will lose—that is your choice. However, I would think very carefully about leaving this room without giving me any indication of what it is you want to negotiate with the Shen about, because then I am left with only their options to bring to the table.”

  For a moment I thought I had pushed Adora too far, but the Farian drew in a deep breath after fisting her hands at her sides and finally dipped her head in my direction. “We will proceed with the negotiations.”

  “Fantastic. Have a seat.”

  All four Farians moved around to the opposite end of the table and I settled into my chair. Both women were taller than Adora, one of them almost Zin’s height with her hair cut short, almost militarily so. The other had curls like Fasé’s, the whole mass done up in a knot at the base of her neck.

  The man was stiff-shouldered and wide-eyed; his lighter silver eyes kept darting from me to my BodyGuards and back again. It was impossible to tell their ages, but I pegged him as the youngest of the group—at least now that Tilla was gone. If he wasn’t the youngest, he was clearly the most inexperienced and I wondered why Adora had brought him along.

  “A list of our demands, as you requested, Your Majesty.” Adora slid the tablet across the table. “My companions and I would like the record to reflect that we are open to negotiations on all those points save the final one.”

  I scrolled to the bottom of the list and froze.

  “Itegas—”

  “Since there has been no discussion yet of reparations in the murders of our gods,” Adora continued, “the Pedalion will accept one hundred Shen to be sacrificed for each god who was murdered by Javez and Aiz Cevalla.”

  I swallowed back the million protests that rose up in my throat and settled for the one most like a question. “You want me to negotiate for the deaths of five hundred Shen for a crime that was committed before they were even born?”

  “Four hundred,” Adora corrected, her businesslike nod so unnerving that I almost missed the fact that the number meant Colonel Morri’s story had another inaccuracy. “And it’s likely that some of them were, but that is immaterial. Blood will be spilled for blood, one way or another. They can do it to try to foster this useless peace, or they can do it when we go to war.”

  Fasé’s contingent was made up of Sybil and the twins, their presence in the room a welcome respite for all of us. I could see the way my BodyGuards’ shoulders relaxed, even if only minutely, as the foursome came into the room.

  For a moment I didn’t recognize my—could I call her my friend? Fasé was younger than Sybil and at times so inexperienced, but as she walked into the room it was clear she was in charge, and I caught a glimpse of the Farian who was inexplicably leading a revolution against the might of the Pedalion.

  Over the last year Fasé’s clothing had gone from her ITS uniform, to an approximation of a gray prison outfit, to the white dress she’d been wearing on Pashati. Now she was in all black, an outfit very close to my own chosen uniform. Her red curls were pulled back from her face, done up in an intricate braid that was no doubt th
e work of my maid. She and the others wore black gloves and I muffled the amused thought that they all looked a great deal like my own BodyGuards rather than Farians.

  “Come have a seat,” I said.

  “Did you have any trouble with Adora?” Fasé asked as she settled into the chair closest to me, Sybil at her side. The twins sat on the opposite side of the table.

  “Some.” Taking a drink of the chai Stasia had slipped me during the break, I shot Fasé a smile over the rim. “She wasn’t wearing gloves and had an extra person. I almost kicked her out of the proceedings.”

  Fasé’s laughter bounced off the ceiling. “I don’t suppose I could impose upon you for a recording of that exchange?”

  “Maybe.” My smile spread into a grin. “I’d rather not be accused of favoritism, though.”

  “It’s probably too late for that, Majesty. However, we do appreciate your support.” Sybil passed a tablet across the tabletop. “Here are our requests.”

  I took the tablet and read through it, looking up at Fasé. “You know how Adora’s going to react about wanting the Pedalion disbanded?”

  “We do.” Fasé nodded. “But it is the driving force behind this revolution, Majesty. I can’t not include it. We wish to open Faria up to humanity. We want to share our technology with you, our medical knowledge beyond just this.” She waved her gloved hands with a rueful smile. “There is more we can teach you rather than just making you ever more dependent on us to fix what is wrong. In turn you can teach us how to live and how to die. We have all lived for so long we no longer truly understand what those things mean, and we must or this whole experience becomes pointless.”

  “Okay,” I replied with a nod, surprised by the emotion Fasé’s words had dragged up in my soul. “Everything else seems straightforward. Are the Shen in agreement with you over the Farians providing land for them to settle on Faria?”

  “I believe it will be one of their requests.” Fasé looked down at her gloved hands for a moment and then smiled as she stood. “We tried to keep things to the major issues. We will handle the issues past these on our own.”