The Smuggler's Ascension

by Christopher Ingersoll

  There were two guards, dressed in the formal uniforms of the Purannis Protectorate, just inside the doors to the compound who snapped to attention as Subat went by. The bald man clearly had some authority here, Kristof noticed, which added to the mystery of his old friend. Kristof reflected that, beyond being Anasha’s father, he really didn’t know much about the man. They passed more guards along the way, all of whom again snapped to attention, until they came to a set of large, ornate double doors. The guards saluted before opening the doors for Subat and Kristof and ushering them inside.

  Kristof felt extremely out of place in this small, ornately decorated palace. While everyone and everything here was impeccably clean and polished, he wore a battered old black leather jacket, similarly battered black pants, and a faded red shirt that bore faint black stains from engine oil and a few faded blood stains as well. While the holster and weapons at Subat’s side were obviously well cared for, the holster around Kristof’s waist was much like the rest of his attire. Only his blaster showed signs of the immaculate care he showed it, since his life frequently depended on the weapon.

  The room that Subat had led him to was dominated by the large conference table at its center. To the left was an elaborate computer console, while to the right was a bar lined with bottles of alcohol from all around the galaxy. The far wall was dominated by a large fireplace, though thankfully no fire burned in it now.

  Two men sat at the table, Kristof saw. The first was dressed in a finely tailored suit often seen among the aristocracy of many worlds. He had an air of pomposity about him that made Kristof instantly dislike him and hope that the job did not include him for long. The second man at the table was military through and through. Kristof immediately recognized the officer’s uniform of the Purannis Protectorate, and after a moment of deciphering the elaborate rank badges, realized that the man was a General. Both men eyed Kristof with dislike and slight bewilderment.

  “Gentlemen,” Subat began, “May I present my associate, Kristof Anders. As I indicated before, he may seem a bit rough around the edges, but his skill set is exactly what we need right now. Kristof, may I present General Jorge Mannis of the Purannis Protectorate High Command, and Lord Stephan, Seneschal to the Royal House of Arctura. Also,” Subat went on, “while you have known me only as Anasha’s father, I am also a member of the Purannis Royal Secret Service and the Commander of the Su’Tani Defenders.”

  Neither the General nor the Seneschal rose to greet him, Kristoff noted mentally as he adjusted to the shock of Subat’s announcement, nor had he expected them to. Kristof knew that he was here only because of Subat, and that the others obviously hadn’t liked the idea. Subat brought him a drink and gestured him to a seat at the table.

  “Let’s begin then, shall we?” Subat suggested.

  ~*~

  ~4~

  Sabine watched the monitor as Subat led the stranger into the study to meet Stephan and General Mannis. Much as his mugshot had indicated, the man seemed coarse to say the least. She took in his battered clothing at a glance, but it was other things that caught her attention. While his manner seemed casual and indifferent, she watched as his intense eyes took in the room at a glance, cataloging everything he saw much like a predator surveying the landscape.

  Also, Sabine watched the way he walked and moved as he approached the table and sat next to Subat and General Mannis. Again, she got the sense of a predator and knew in her heart that this was a dangerous man. Only Subat truly knew this, she was sure, out of all the men in the room with this Kristof Anders. The disdain on Stephan’s face was obvious, and General Mannis seemed to give off a sense of vague contempt, both of which blinded the men to the true danger of the man before them. They underestimated this man, even though they had read his file beforehand, Sabine could tell.

  Sabine had read the file as well, though the men at the table did not know it. She had long ago made it a practice of ferreting out information that Stephan sought to hide from her. For her own protection, he often liked to claim in the past. Stephan often still thought of her as the young girl she’d been when they first came to this world, and not the young woman she was now. And now that she was Queen, her need for information was even more vital. The dossier Subat had provided was very thorough, she’d learned.

  The file had been a tale of a good man that had gone bad, or so it had seemed on the surface at first. Kristof Anders had once been a young officer with the Clovani Imperial Navy before being dishonorably discharged for striking a superior officer, though the official record did not state a reason for the assault. Only the fact that Kristof’s father had been an admiral and part of the emperor’s inner circle had kept Kristof from serving several years in a military prison, it seemed.

  After his discharge, Kristof had then dropped off the map until several years later, when he was arrested on the moon of Bonibus for smuggling and sentenced to three years in prison. What the arrest records hadn’t indicated, however, was that Kristof had been smuggling food to the starving people who were suffering from crushing tariffs imposed by the Clovani Empire after the Empire had blockaded the moon. Several of his crew, including his wife Anasha, had died that day when their ship had been shot down. She had been shocked to learn that Anasha had been Subat’s daughter, which explained her protector’s interest in the man. It had taken Sabine hours of searching to find an unofficial manifest of the smuggling ship’s cargo and learn the details of their mission, since Subat’s dossier had not included the information. She was sure that Subat knew it, though.

  Once Kristof had been discharged from prison, he had apparently returned to his smuggler’s ways, though after Bonibus he managed to evade capture. There were currently sixteen active warrants for his arrest throughout the quadrant, two of which were issued by Sabine’s own government. These warrants included smuggling, sabotage to government ships and facilities, theft, assault, and murder. Sabine had concluded that Kristof had been busy the past eighteen years since his discharge from the Clovani Navy, and that he was indeed a dangerous man.

  Sabine continued to watch Kristof on the monitor and listened in as Subat laid out the reasons for summoning him to the Sanctuary. The news of her mother’s death shocked this stranger, as expected, since the government on Purannis was keeping the assassination of Queen Josephine quiet for as long as possible. Shock also registered on his face when he learned that she, now Queen Sabine Arctura the IV, was here on the planet with them. When Subat told him of his plan to smuggle her back to Purannis aboard his ship, though, the man laughed loudly. She hadn’t expected that, nor had the men in the room with him it seemed.

  Disbelief was to be expected, but not laughter. Kristof congratulated Subat on the elaborate joke, but Subat remained stone faced until Kristof’s laughter subsided. Subat then went on to tell Kristof about the blockades by the Empire, the gravitic generators pulling ships from hyperspace, and that the Puranni fleet did not have the firepower at present to break the blockade.

  Subat then told Kristof of the possibility that there was someone inside the palace on Purannis involved with the assassination, and that they couldn’t be sure that their plans to get the Queen home wouldn’t be betrayed if they tried conventional means. He explained that if Sabine wasn’t returned to Purannis soon, then another member of the royal family or one of the other Great Houses may try to seize the throne in her absence. When the Forcun assassins, who frequently worked for the Clovani Empire, were added in with the fact that they had penetrated deep into the palace before discovery, the odds of there being inside help were almost undeniable. If the traitor then took the throne and allied Purannis with Clovani, the balance of power in the quadrant would be suddenly be changed and there would be no one to oppose the Clovani’s violent expansion.

  Sabine felt it was time to meet this smuggler as Subat’s summation neared its end. Originally she had dressed in one of the Royal gowns that were now her right to wear, but she had quickly changed her mind when she realized it would not ear
n her any respect from this man. Kristof was a man who respected strength, she felt. Instead, she now wore one of her favorite black body gloves that Stephan hated so much because, as he frequently stated, it left little to the imagination and was neither regal nor tasteful. She didn’t care, it was comfortable and allowed her to move freely, something the royal gowns never did.

  To her outfit Sabine added the gun belt and blaster that Subat had gifted her on her sixteenth birthday and with which she had practiced with religiously, as well as two laser knives and sheaths strapped to her calves. Lastly, she donned her red leather jacket. If this smuggler respected strength, then she would project strength she thought to herself. And yet every time she looked into his eyes on the monitor, something inside her felt weak and fragile. She didn’t know what it was, but she hoped that he did not see it in her eyes when they met.

  When she felt she was ready, Sabine left her suite followed by a pair of now ever present royal guards and made her way to the study. The guards at the ornate double doors saluted and immediately opened the doors as she approached. As she entered the room, everyone at the table rose and bowed to her, except the smuggler. He rose from his chair slowly and eyed her from head to toe, causing her to blush slightly, but he did not bow. She suddenly felt that inner weakness again as his eyes locked onto hers, and she cursed herself in her mind for letting this stranger make her feel that way.

  “Your Majesty,” Subat said as Sabine approached the table. “May I present Kristof Anders, a… independent freighter captain?”

  “Smuggler, you mean,” Sabine said, trying to regain her sense of control. “Let’s not mince words today, shall we. I am sure Mr. Anders here is not offended by the truth.”

  “I’ve been called worse things,” Kristof responded, his voice amused.

  “You shall address the Queen as Her Majesty,” Stephan said loudly, clearly offended by Kristof’s lack of propriety.

  “She’s not my queen, Stuffy,” Kristof retorted irritably. Sabine struggled not to laugh at this stranger’s nickname for her Seneschal, no matter how fitting it was. She couldn’t help the smile that came to her face, however.

  “May I remind you that we currently have two warrants for your arrest? Perhaps you will be leaving this world in shackles instead of your ship,” Stephan threatened, his face turning red with anger.

  Sabine moved quickly to head off what was quickly approaching more than words as Kristof’s hand made a barely perceptible move towards his blaster. She silently cursed Stephan’s rigid attachment to propriety, despite her efforts to get the man to lighten up over the years.

  “Now, now, gentlemen, I believe we can dispense with the formalities today,” Sabine said loudly. “There’s no need for any heated exchanges. We have too much ahead of us to let pettiness hinder us.” Sabine walked to Kristof and extended a hand in greeting. He took her hand and again looked deep into her eyes as if judging her mettle, and she hoped he could not see how nervous that look made her feel.

  “Welcome, Mr. Anders,” Sabine said without any trace of the unease she felt inside escaping in her voice. “Subat here has had much to say on your behalf.”

  “Not much of it good, I’m sure,” Kristof replied lightly. “And Kristof is fine, I doubt the Mister really fits me.”

  “Agreed,” Stephan muttered darkly, not quite under his breath.

  “You sell yourself short, Mr.….Kristof,” Sabine replied with a nod. “Your file suggests that if not for you, many people would have suffered deeply over the years. And since Subat has recommended you and trusts you, and I value his advice tremendously, it seems I shall need to follow his lead in trusting you.”

  Kristof inclined his head in answer. Sabine walked to the other end of the table and took her seat its head as she felt all eyes upon her, and the others followed suit and returned to their seats.

  “So, I am sure Subat has filled you in on everything you need to know and then some,” Sabine said. “So the question now is, can you get me past the blockade and to Purannis?”

  “Perhaps,” Kristof replied, a bit evasively. “There are ways, but they are dangerous. Perhaps more dangerous than you are willing to take a chance on.”

  “Her Majesty’s life is of paramount importance,” Stephan interjected. “If her safety cannot be guaranteed, then we must find another way.”

  “There is no way other that I know of,” General Mannis pointed out. “The fleet does not have the firepower needed to break the blockade. We would need at least another six months to build enough ships to counter the Clovani Empire’s blockade and still protect our worlds. The war was unexpected, and our fleet is now tied up defending the core.”

  “In six weeks, let alone six months, someone else will be sitting on Queen Sabine’s throne,” Subat pointed out. “Whoever it is working on the inside is surely already making the preliminary moves needed to assume the throne in her absence. And while we sit here and bicker, there is always the chance that he Clovani commanders will seize on the opportunity presented by Queen Josephine’s murder to advance their invasion.”

  Sabine watched her three advisors argue back and forth while Kristof just sat and watched her while remaining silent. She realized that he knew the decision ultimately rested with her, no matter what her advisors recommended. He raised an eyebrow to her in challenge, looking to see if she would follow them or be a Queen. The fact that the man would so brazenly challenge her like this was disconcerting, but she felt she was up for it.

  “Gentlemen!” Sabine yelled to get their attention. “I have heard quite enough to make my decision. While the trip is fraught with hidden dangers, to stay here and do nothing is even more dangerous. There is no time to find another way. I will go with the smuggler.”

  Sabine hoped she looked as confident and strong as she sounded. Her advisors immediately bowed to her, accepting her decision. When she looked at Kristof, however, he winked at her and gave her a nod of his head. In that moment she felt both weak and yet powerful, and she struggled to come to grips with why that feeling of weakness continually went through her around this man.

  ~*~

  ~5~

  The loading of fresh provisions was going too slowly for Kristof as two days later he directed the Sanctuary’s androids in the process. His smuggler’s instincts had demanded that Max scan each crate before it went onboard, however, and his instincts had proven true. The third to last crate had contained a delayed activation hyperspace beacon. After fierce denial at first, Stephan finally admitted to placing it in the crate. His distrust of Kristof had made him want a way to find the ship in the event Kristof disappeared with the Queen, he claimed.

  Kristof would have found the man’s lame excuse amusing if the beacon hadn’t had the potential to get him killed. It had been only Subat’s quick intervention that had prevented Stephan from losing more than a couple teeth. General Mannis half carried the dazed and bleeding Seneschal back into the compound as the loading recommenced. Subat apologized profusely until Kristof waved it off.

  “It’s not your fault the man is a moron, Subat,” Kristof said magnanimously.

  “This is true, but I know the danger that beacon would have put you in had it activated at the wrong time,” Subat said. “General Mannis and Stephan are both highly distraught that you won’t take anyone else with you, including me. If you do get stopped and boarded…”

  “Then having more men on board won’t make a difference,” Kristof interrupted. “The Wraith can only bunk six people tops, and very uncomfortably at that unless you wish to bunk in the cargo hold. If we do get boarded, six people won’t overcome six hundred or even sixty. Besides, the route I plan to take will be dangerous, but there will be little danger of being caught and boarded. If I do happen to get boarded somewhere along the line, I can’t very well explain away Protectorate soldiers either.”

  “Point taken. Perhaps it is better I do not know what you plan, then,” Subat said with a sigh. “I will instead wish you a swift and safe voyag
e. As agreed, the warrants for your arrest, in the Protectorate at least, have been rescinded. And two million credits will be transferred to your account as soon as you reach Purannis.” Subat gave him a long look then. “Also, should you accomplish this mission and bring Sabine safely to Purannis, I will count all of your debts to me as paid in full.”

  “How can you say that?” Kristof asked, clearly surprised and slightly pained.

  “I have taught and trained Sabine since she was thirteen years old,” Subat said quietly. “In that time, she has become much like another daughter to me. I can see much of Anasha in her in the way she acts and looks. Save her life and see her home safely, Kristof, and it will atone for my daughter’s life that you have cost me. And perhaps it will help ease some of your own pain, as well.”

  Kristof clasped hands with Subat fiercely. “I failed Anasha, and you, once before,” Kristof said fiercely. “My debt to you will never be settled, my friend. I will not fail you again.”

  “See that you don’t,” Subat said ominously. “Anasha saw great potential in you and gave up much more than you know for your sake. Do not dishonor her memory. I was merciful once because I also saw the potential in you, and for the love that she bore you. I won’t be merciful again should you do wrong by Sabine.”

  Kristof nodded and clasped Subat’s hand again before Subat turned away to watch as Sabine exited the compound with General Mannis. Stephan was nowhere to be seen, for which Kristof was grateful. Kristof watched Sabine as she approached, talking quietly with the General. He noticed she had brought only a single small satchel, which surprised him. Being royalty, he had half expected her to claim half the cargo hold with luggage.

  Sabine had also worn the black body glove and red leather jacket she’d wore days ago when they’d first met. The outfit fit her well, and he couldn’t help but admire the way the body glove clung to her and accentuated her every curve. Subat noticed him noticing her and drove his elbow into Kristof’s ribs. Kristof coughed guiltily and went back to supervising the loading of the ship.