Starblade

by Rodney C. Johnson

  One of his warriors motioned Kran over as they lifted a large head out of the sand. Its once vibrant green eyes dark with death. Though he was skeptical from what the queen had seen in Kheira's mind, Kran had an idea as to whom these bits of armor had once belonged to.

  “Shiertar!” Atar exclaimed.

  “What, my lord?” asked the nearest Drakorian confused.

  “Nothing,” Atar lied.

  The future Falcanian's appearance remained a classified matter, even more than the army the Khanate covertly built. Kran would need to see the Queen and Princess Kheira to confirm that this shell had once been Shiertar's own.

  But Kran was much more preoccupied with the thought about whom or what could have killed this superior being? Obviously something as superior as it had been. The notion of some unknown future warrior wandering Vanguard did not sit well with the Shrai-Bashir.

  Kheira walked on the beach and shook her head sadly. She recognized Shiertar's parts and pieces scattered among the sand.

  “Your Highness,” Atar called, surprised to see the girl among his soldiers.

  She looked over at him. Her illuminated face told the Drakorian commander she knew something about what had occurred here.

  Kheira noticed the guards who held aloft Shiertar's head. She gasped at the sight and put her hand over her mouth. Her lip quivered, almost on the edge of tears.

  “Princess, do you know what took place here?” Asked Atar.

  She took a deep breath, working up the ability to answer. “I felt something.”

  “Felt what?”

  “The Shadow. Sent by the Great Eye, it transported here and destroyed him.” Kheira explained to Atar, though she could tell by the look on his face that he did not fully accept this idea of the time travel.

  “Are you sure that he's dead?” Atar Kran examined a piece of the burnished alloy. “This is just his armor. Surely if he was as advanced as he claimed, he could survive outside of it.”

  “No, Atar. He is dead, his light consumed by the darkness. Shiertar sacrificed himself, becoming a target so the All Seeing Eye could not find me.”

  Not long after the discovery of Shiertar's remains a contingent of the Queen's Valküri fell upon the Drakorian Guard investigation, they soon took all the evidence of Shiertar’s presence into custody. The armor would not be seen again by anyone outside of a small circle for centuries to come.

  Frederika moved down the hall and it didn't take long to reach Sharr's office. Luckily there were no Drakorian in sight. There was no reason to guard an empty room after all. Besides, if anyone asked why she was there, she would say that she hoped to find the Shotar.

  Frederika glanced around for security cameras. There were none to be seen, but that didn't mean they weren't there. Pushing on a switch, the ovular doors slid into the wall. Frederika entered and moved behind Sharr's opulently carved desk. Again Aria's picture confronted her. She wondered how Nadia felt about the girl’s image beside the Queen's own and his many daughters.

  The flat screen of the Shotar's computer glowed with an image of the Falcanian Phoenix. Touching the keyboard, she was pleased to find that Sharr had left his system on, but password protected.

  What password would Sharr use to protect his system? She typed in both the Queen's names but was denied access. She frowned. That should have been it. Frederika shook her head and tried some other names.

  She glanced at the picture of the human female again.

  She typed A-R-I-A.

  The system unlocked.

  Now her only problem was she couldn't read Falcanian.

  There were folders labeled with Falcanian calligraphy arranged on the screen. Opening one folder, she discovered some writing, poetry in English and Falcanian. Interesting, but not strategically helpful to her cause.

  Trying another folder she discovered what seemed to be a database of languages. This she glanced through hoping to find a key to the Skora and she was lucky in that Sharr had kept a file marked as such. The file had not been changed since long before she had been born. It contained rudiments of the Falcanian tongue which allowed her eidetic mind to memorize the grammar.

  At last Frederika found the Shotar's email program. She began to search recent mail. Much of what she read contained personal correspondents. Sharr talked about the Queen, often. Clearly Sharr relied on her for his strength.

  An offhand comment to ISG Kra in a response line intrigued Frederika: “How is the build up going, Shuriken?” Such a simple question, yet it told her much. The Falcanians had amassed an army. Now her Intel had not mentioned anything about this. She was surprised Oberon's henchmen had not found that the Falcanian were up to this.

  How does one hide an army?

  Remembering the Amrita drug, she tried a search feature built into the operating system, hoping to see if there was anything on Sharr's computer in relation to the drug. The Hindu meaning came up, but there was a surprising cross-reference with other files. An email exchanges between Sharr, Kvaltar, and Shuriken which discussed the construction of a military force to compete with the Imperium.

  Good Intel to be sure. The three had devised a shadow game and leaked information about a fake drug to cover up the training of this new army. Their plan was working. No one searched for an army.

  She skimmed through the message and learned where the military was being built. A complex located deep inside the Himalayan range and below the Falcanian City of Kuras on the subcontinent. She leaned forward in her seat. Sharr also listed the locations of “nested” FS-9 Raptor class warships and Korsharra starfighters, all poised to strike against the Imperium in a preemptive maneuver intended to cripple them.

  They were planning on turning Earth into Falcania-Vor… Falcania - Prime by breeding themselves into superiority. If it worked, the Falcanian Khanate would become masters of the Earth. Should it fail, disaster awaited the burgeoning Empire. Frederika actually found herself become sad at the idea of no Falcanians in the Universe. Frederika's emerald eyes widened when she found troop, and ship numbers.

  How do I make this work for us? We can't fight them, she thought. The Khanate could easily take on her Reich's own military structure with ease.

  She closed the files. No need to copy anything because Frederika could recall all the numbers and words with a thought. However she carefully back stepped through the system to make sure any trace of her use would be gone or well hidden. Sharr Khan would not know she had been there.

  Tanusri leaned closer to the Queen who stood with her to peer out from the latticework overlooking the garden below. The two Falcanian women were hidden from any that might look up from the garden.

  “What interests you about this trinket, Nadia?” Sure she had gotten Sharr's hormones flowing, but that was nothing new. “What fascinates you about her?”

  “Tanu, how many women willingly volunteer to be caned?” Asked the Queen pointedly.

  The sitarist considered the question. What Frederika had chosen certainly appeared to be noble, putting herself in place of that other girl Mia however it was somewhat striking.

  “That is true. Yet consider, she does what she thinks to be honorable. Certainly that is not so strange a thing. Even for a human.”

  But that was just it thought Nadia: Is Frederika even human?

  In the garden, Frederika could be seen standing beside the whipping bench, now unclothed down to her green bra and panties. By her casual stance, it was abundantly clear Frederika had no shame about her curvy body. If anything, one could read pride in her form. Considering what was about to happen to her, the blonde appeared incredibly calm, her hands relaxed at her sides.

  Atar Kran waited as well. He wore a black mask covering the upper part of his face, only showing his strange golden eyes. He held a straight cane cut from an inch thick rattan in his right hand, reaching forty-two inches in length. His expression solidly impassive.

  Nadia pushed closer to the lattice, her maroon lips parted as Drakorian secured Frederika onto the
wooden frame. Tanu pressed nearer, and gripped the Queen's upper arm in a mix of tension and curiosity.

  Down in the courtyard, Frederika’s honey curls fell in disarray over her heart-shaped face. Her wrists were bound straight over her head which pulled her taut across the varnished wood. Once Frederika’s ankles had been buckled hard against the frame Atar personally ripped off the silken green thong which protected Frederika’s virtues. A way to further add to her intended humiliation. A loud swish and crack signaled the first stroke of the cane and it echoed throughout the courtyard and down into the market. Frederika bore it all with supreme fortitude, but for a grimace of pain.

  Only her anger allowed her to remain strong and not betray her discomfort, she found herself alone in a room filled with subdued candle lights. Upon turning over Frederika immediately felt the intense pain. Frederika bit down hard and did her best to restrain a yell. A few candles radiated light in the room and carried a pleasant and relaxing fragrance. Someone decided she didn't need to be kept around the other women in the harem. She knew she was in the Royal level of the palace. A pitcher of ice water sat on a nearby table, but Frederika couldn't find the strength to reach out for it.

  “Forgive me. Forgive us,” a voice said.

  Frederika turned her head. She searched the room and she found the source of the voice.

  Sitara stood in the center of the room highlighted by the saffron colored candle's flicker. Her rose-colored wings were alight with a glow from the candles behind her.

  “I do not blame you,” Frederika bit out through her gritted teeth.

  The Princess sat down on the cushioned nest-bed and looked away from the purplish welts crisscrossing the dancer's hind end. She pushed the wild mess of those blonde curls out of Frederika's face and reached over, poured a glass of the ice water and helped Frederika drink. “I have done something. If someone learns of this, I shall suffer the same fate as you,” Sitara whispered, her violet eyes wide and gleaming in the ambient light.

  “What?”

  The Princess produced a small sipping bowl. “This will make you feel better.”

  Sitara put the bowl to Frederika's lips. The blonde looked down and saw a honey-like jelly. A hint of its sweet smell touched her nostrils and she gulped it down. Its taste familiar; honey touched with ginseng, like the liquor that she had tasted on Sharr's lips the night of the party. Her body filled with electricity and felt the effects right away. The pain in her hind end subsided. In its place, a new strength and vigor filled her muscles. The toll of the beating seemed to be negated.

  “What was that?”

  “Rishaak fruit. Our fruit of immortality. Its genetically restorative properties bestow upon we Falcanians perpetual youth.“ She bit her lip. “In some, it unlocks the inner eye.”

  All Frederika could do was stare at the Princess. This was why she had been sent to Vanguard Island. Frederika knew that she had to get one of those Rishaak fruits.

  “Queen T’Kara, there’s a message for you from Kuras.”

  “Thank you,” she replied, and sounded preoccupied but looked up from her microscope. “Send it down here.”

  Nadia turned to her monitor and linked into the system. Sharr was spending time with Tanu and Kitana, no doubt to let off some steam. He was still angry about the whole matter with Mia and Frederika. At any rate, this allowed Nadia time to ponder in her lab. Better the Shotar get past his aggressions or they would fight. Though sometimes Nadia and Sharr enjoyed a good quarrel, the apology sex was always excellent.

  But the Queen was consumed by what she'd seen in Kheira's mind. The answer to the riddle of Shiertar rested before her, yet she could not figure out the true fiber of what he had been. Passion drove her to find the answer, pushing aside everything else in her life with the exception of Sitara's wedding. And now they had his armor locked safely in a vault inside the Valküri Temple. Some strange techno-organic metal, its properties were beyond their current level of tech. She imagined the wonderful things that Falcanians could construct. Ships, armor, weapons. The possibilities were limitless.

  If only we could reproduce it! Nadia thought.

  She glanced over the message from her mother. Nadia's glossy lips opened in a sharp gasp. She dropped her work and went to find her Valküri Sisters. A new prize had been handed to them. Pressing a hidden button on an egg shape, enameled bracelet, ornamented with the stylized DNA hourglass of GenKon Inc., she summoned her Valküri. The Queen strode from her lab and easily became an avatar of the warrior-goddess.

  To climb the wall had been easy. Avoidance of the Valküri proved to be a little trickier. With the probability that they were all empathic, the slightest stray thought might give her invasion of this sacred enclosure away. Thanks to Sitara she had recovered quickly and surprisingly so.

  The Rishaak was indeed a super drug. The golden apple, the Fruit Of Immortality which Gilgamesh himself had sought.

  She crept under the nearest low hanging branches of a Rishaak tree. The tear-shaped fruits shined with an internal luminous, casting a pale yellow glow onto her black outfit.

  Pulling the stolen table knife from her boot, Frederika cut down the nearest fruit and wrapped it in a piece of cloth. She knew she must leave the garden the way she came and make for the public hanger or risk being caught.

  “Bloody hell! What do you mean she is not in her room?” The Queen demanded and she glared down at the young Valküri novice.

  “Draklin, she was not there…”

  “Check the palace. Get Drakorian and Valküri into the city.”

  “Gesa, Maharani!”

  “And,” the Queen bit out the words, making herself explicit in this next command. “Do not harm her! I want her alive. There are questions I need answered.” Nadia fumed. “See that the person who approved this girl’s presence on our Island is arrested.”

  The novice Valküri Sister nodded and left, fearful of the Queen's wrath.

  Shuttles, personal aircraft and a dozen small FS-9 Raptor Cruisers filled the hanger. All she needed to do would be to get to the Occident. Oberon could handle her extraction from there. She needed to be out of Asia though. Sharr's influence ran deep within the hemisphere.

  A group of Drakorian marched into the hanger. It was obvious they were searching for her. The hanger officer canceled an outgoing flight and shut the landing bays doors. Valküri followed the Drakorian in, and they looked even more determined than the ox-blood armored Imperial Guard to find her.

  “Well, there goes that plan,” Frederika muttered to herself.

  As inconspicuous as possible the blonde started for the city. Maybe she could hide in the forest?

  A Valküri noticed her. The Falcanian launched herself across the hanger to land with a thud and a battle cry before Frederika. Drawing a bladeless hilt from an arm holster the dark-haired Valküri pressed the vajra's firing node.

  A warning slash made Frederika stay her actions unsure of the lethality of the weapon. The blonde noticed the blade cast a shadow. Definitely not made of light, so it was not a laser. Behind her came a loud swoop and the Falcanians encircled her.

  Surrender was out of the question. Could she survive a head on attack?

  Focusing herself Frederika bolted for the door and struck a hard Krav Maga chop into the nearest Valküri. The blow sent the warrior backward, her monofilament blade flew out of her hand and turned in a deadly arc. On instinct seeing it in front of her Frederika seized the vajra, surprised to find that the blade had a sense of balance and weight. Turning the weapon off, she stuck it into her belt and ran.

  A sound of wings cut the air, both Drakorian and Valküri pursuing her. Her heart thundered in her ears. She ducked into the rush of people and pushed against the traffic of the Golden Road, glad for the bad weather.

  Fog hung over the island. Frederika hoped even the Falcanian eye could not pick out one target in its thickness. She made in the direction of the insular Forest Island. There she could wait.

  She reached the murk ens
hrouded festival plaza near the Tahru Temple. Frederika paused and looked out at the insular forest across in the cove, no means to get there. What a desperate predicament she had gotten into. She wished she had a pair of wings.

  There was no reasonable way off this island.

  “You do not know who, or what you are.”

  Nadia!

  Frederika turned and beheld a form shrouded in the impenetrable haze. She did not know if it were real or some projection the Queen caused her to see. Frederika's answer came in the manner of a whir. A ring of vajra fired around her. Each weapon combined into metallic fields, becoming lethal blades crackling in the moisture of the fog.

  Pressing the jewel on her own weapon, Frederika readied herself. She tested its weight, glad it had almost the properties of a real sword. Rounding on one foot, the blonde saw the golden armored Valküri who enclosed her, each grasping a lightning-bolt blade of their own.

  Frederika's only choice was to fight.

  Like a stormangel the Queen stepped forward, the fog parted for her. Majestic dawn-tinted wings spread out behind her. Her tail slashed the air. She brandished her vajra as if it were Indra's own celestial weapon.

  Slashing out Frederika charged the Queen.

  With an easy deflection Nadia sent the dancer back. Nadia's movements were precise and conservative in elegance. The Queen's fighting style was that of a classically trained dancer. Pulling her Kraris from its sheath she held it as a defensive weapon.

  “Come now, girl. You can do better!” Nadia chided. She wanted to see how skilled Frederika was.

  She switched into a fluid Kalari movement, turning on the ball of her foot and angling her shimmering blade toward the girl. Had she desired, the Queen could easily use her blade as a projectile to cut down the girl. However it was not Nadia's goal to hurt her.