Starblade
Page 18
Not wishing to displease, the blonde sprinted forward to catch the Valküri's dense armor with her vajra.
“Keshla!” Spat out T'Kara.
From the blonde's strike sparks crackled off the golden armor, yet there was no damage aside from a bit of tarnish to its outer layer. Clearly the Falcanians had designed a means to protect against the weapon they had developed.
She waited for Frederik to tire, but the woman did not slow down. The Queen lurched back now angered. She brought her weapon above her head poised to attack in a crouching stance. Nadia growled and in a flash struck back. Frederika bobbed aside with the easy movement of a cheetah, her enhanced responses saving her.
“I,” Nadia, said, the sound of sparks filled the air between she and her adversary. “Have no wish to hurt you child.”
Blade crossed with the Queen, Frederika responded, “You won't get a chance!”
They pushed apart and circled each other, a predatory dance.
Frederika lunged at Nadia who used her jets to vault away from an on-coming strike to land on a small boulder in a rock garden. The Queen took up a crouched stance. Above her head the curve of her claw-knife held outward. Her tail and its pincer whipped and bucked behind her.
Sprinting off the ground Frederika slashed at the Queen.
Nadia extended a kick and sent Frederika back to the ground with a thud.
She fell on the ornate stonework foundation of the plaza. Frederika's grip slipped on her weapon. Helplessly she watched as it rotated across the plaza until at last it pierced a chunk of black granite beside a tree.
A smell of brimstone filled the air.
Wide-eyed Frederika glanced at the sword that rested in the rock, like a space age Sword In The Stone, stuck in an anvil which awaited a new hero to pull it forth the technological blade now slept. Friction caused a seething orange glow in the rock where the blade's titanium filament edge had rent apart the block of polished granite.
One last attempt at an assault, Frederika jumped for the blade, however an unseen force knocked her back to the ground and prevented her from moving her limbs. Puzzled, Frederika looked at the Queen. Telekinesis? Nadia made a casual hand gesture toward her and suddenly Frederika found herself pinned to the earth.
“In our bones is hrisanar, what you call Quantum-X. Some of us can utilize the element within us to form waves of gravity and magnetism.” There was the Queen knew no harm in telling the girl this, she already knew more about Falcanian biology then she should already. Nadia sent a telepathic command to the girl's subconscious. “Now sleep.”
Before passing out, Frederika wondered why Oberon had placed her in an impossible circumstance. There was no chance of extraction from this island.
FS-9 Raptors filled the air. Blood red warships each adorned with gold racing stripes soared over head of the gathered throng leaving the Island nation heading for space.
Green, red, and saffron banners waved in the breeze adorned with the elegant Kaliburn script as well as tharrin emblems strewn through out the crowd.
An ocean of troops stood and awaited orders from their Shotar who beheld them from on a platform of steps. Ranks of golden armored Valküri, red shrouded Drakorian, and the iron gray of Falcanian Wingmen stood at attention.
Amongst the Falcanian warriors a rabble stood. At the head was a priest adorned with an OM syllable tattooed between his eyes. The Falcanian concealed his bald head in a yellow turban and beside him stood Zoar the Tahru leader, at their tri-clawed boots were remains, fragments of something metal and ceramic, it was hard to make out what the wreckage once had been.
Sharr raised an unusual vajra out in a triumphant gesture for his people, its coruscating blade shimmering before him. Strangely, Sharr’s hair was strikingly white, a hint of fading brown-red highlighted his long mane. His goatee also white hinted still at having been before brown-red. Most strange was the drooping parted mustache that he now wore, imparting a mystical quality to the Shotar. It did not seem possible that a Falcanian could age in such a manner. There felt to be an atmosphere of profound change about him.
“Today we go forth. Our people shall be avenged and Falcania-Vor shall be wrought!” called out the changed Sharr. He turned his attention to another and said: “You have done well my little Jhawr...“
Her emerald eyes opened slowly as she came out of the vision-dream. Frederika heard an argument outside the cell door. The voices belonged to Nadia and Sitara. It sounded as if the Queen were scolding her child for her indulgences with the trinket of the nodor.
She looked through her disheveled curls. Once her mind cleared, Frederika realized Sharr waited inches away from her in the cell. She watched his armored tail snap back and forth, yet he said nothing. He was furious.
Frederika realized she sat on a small bench up against a cold gray wall. Her hands chained above her head, she pulled on the exquisitely wrought links.
“Those shackles will hold even you,” Nadia said as she entered the dungeon cell.
Nadia had no wish to leave Sharr alone with the girl. He was so angered that the likelihood of him drawing a weapon and killing Frederika was very possible. What kept him from doing just that was the fact she happened to be an attractive young woman, and one he had taken a liking to. It had been a very long time since she had seen Sharr this furious, almost to the point of madness. Back then, it had also involved a woman.
Without warning, Sharr slapped Frederika. It was so unexpected even Nadia jumped where she stood as the echo bounced around the dim cube of a room.
The Queen stepped closer toward her mate and their prisoner as a precaution. Should Sharr lose his temper completely she would be there to intervene.
Sharr grabbed her chin, roughly forcing Frederika to look at him. “You came here to seduce me and spy upon me. Why? Who is your government? What is it you seek here?”
“What more can you do to me?” Frederika asked through gritted teeth.
For a moment Sharr looked as if he might slap her again. His mate's presence relaxed him somewhat as they glared at each other.
“What a symmetrical plan,” Frederika at last said. “Even if in the end it will result in your annihilation. Use one truth to shield another. Who'd believe it?” Despite her training, she laughed nervously. This was different, nothing went as it should have. “You risk repeating history, Sharr. This preemptive strike will give Romulus all the reason he needs to destroy your people. Do you think the Imperium will not learn of this army you are constructing? Or learn that the 'Amrita' is indeed real? Romulus will not give up eternal youth. He shall bring all the might of his Empire down upon Vanguard Island to get what he wants!”
The Shotar's gauntlet started to go in the direction of Jaikra. He shook with a building rage until Nadia placed a staying hand on his arm to prevent the forthcoming death cut. “So you are my upgrade.” Nadia murmured without a trace of irony or anger.
Curious Sharr glanced at his Queen.
“My Shotar, she is like me, a Morningstar.” Nadia explained and reached out a motherly hand to caress Frederika's bruised cheek. She pulled the black collar and Thor's Hammer from the girl’s neck and forced Frederika to turn her head, revealing the hourglass tattoo. He knew the GenKon insignia very well, having long ago incorporated it into the Falcanian symbol structure. “We two are sisters of a sort,” Nadia sighed, and lifted Frederika's chin. “My own father placed that freckle upon your face.”
Nadia glanced at Sharr, telepathically communicating her wishes to her mate. Nadia made it clear to Sharr what must be done with this girl who had presumed to spy upon them. She found her desires to his liking.
Like another slap the revelation hit Frederika. In her heart she felt a sense of betrayal. Why had Oberon not told her this?
“What are you going to do with me?” Frederika asked, sensing a change in the air.
“Thanks to our daughter, you know too much about us to be let loose into the world,” Nadia answered. “More than that, you are an asset.”<
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“You will remain here,” Sharr told her. “Become one of us.”
The Shotar watched as Frederika raised an inquisitive brow. Sharr offered her Rashalon. She had expected to die, not be remade into a new being.
“My own people are as threatened by the Imperium’s expansionist plans as your own. I propose an alliance between us.” She had just switched sides. Had she just chosen fire? “My government has developed a new starfighter. As part of the alliance I would offer it to you.” In those few words, she betrayed her people. Yet Oberon had not told her about her connection to the Falcanians. Frederika did not like that. This woman, the Queen, was the closet thing she had to blood family.
What did Oberon gain by omitting these facts about her background?
“Do you have the authority to make such a proposal?” the Shotar asked.
“I am the Duchess of Saxe-Coburg, if not for my Blackeagle there would be no Dukedom.” Frederika peered up at him emerald-eyes wide. She pulled on her bonds once again. “My actions are for the good of my nation as well as your own. We all risk being destroyed by the Imperium’s boot.”
Frederika considered if Falcania's claws would be any better, but she felt she could manage Sharr's ill begotten war plans.
“Guten tag!”
The wolfish grin of Oberon Kreis filled the huge holoviewer in the Command and Control tower of Vanguard Island. The Prussian did not seem the least surprised that Frederika had contacted him so directly, and on a channel controlled by the Falcanian Khanate.
“Ah, Sharr! It is good to see you again.” Oberon spoke with a casual familiarity toward the Falcanian Shotar. “I suspect that you do not recall my face. Time has not been as kind to me as it has to you.”
Both Nadia and Frederika leaned forward from their place beside the Shotar. The expression upon the Queen's face was one of recognition. Nadia recalled him from Genetic Konnections Incorporated many years past.
“Security Chief Oberon Kreis!” Nadia exclaimed. “Appointed by the Director himself to oversee Morningstar... or rather, the Lucifer's Children Project.”
Intended as warning Nadia reached out and touched Sharr's arm, pressed tightly to indicate her concern over this development. Oberon's involvement in this matter indicated to Nadia a deeper conspiracy existed. Motives that went beyond mere spying upon fellow nations were behind Frederika's coming to these shores. Chance did not bring this constellation of events into play. She was sure of it.
“It is now Colonel Kreis of the Blackeagle Knights, Doktor Korelia,” Oberon said. “It is a pleasure to see you again. The first Morningstar herself, on which many others were to be modeled.”
“Oberon,” Frederika addressed the viewscreen with a commanding voice.
“Ja, my child.” His remaining one-eye came to rest upon his charge. “I assume you 'failed' in your mission or you would not have contacted me in such a manner.”
“All did not go as planned, Colonel.” Frederika bit her lip. She didn't want to sound like a traitor with what she was about to say. “However, as the Duchess of Saxe-Coburg I have chosen to make an offer that is best for both our peoples.”
Kreis's brow rose up, but he smiled like a man who had just won a great battle.
“An alliance of mutual interest,” Frederika continued. “Involving the production of Nemesis-class starfighters und the creation of a special division of Blackeagle Knight to protect our Dukedom.”
“I see,” Oberon said. “Und what shall our Dukedom gain by this alliance?”
“Much,” Sharr told Kreis simply. Your augmented division of Blackeagle shall join the ranks of Falcania, becoming as we are, a very formidable warrior caste.”
Oberon nodded. “This would bold well for us both, my brother.”
Sharr stiffened at the casual camaraderie displayed by Oberon. “Do not presume familiarity with me, Kreis!”
“Most assuredly, Sharr Khan, I am not simply being familiar.” He smiled all too pleasantly at the Falcanian. “We two are sons of the same sire. We are family.” Oberon allowed the meaning to sink in. He savored the moment when each one of them realized that what he said to be a fact.
Her fists clenched with pain and anger, she looked hard into the holoviewer. Frederika’s expression betrayed profound annoyance and disappointment in this old warlord whom she greatly loved. Again, Oberon had lied to her.
“Your mother, Irina, traveled once to the South of France,” Oberon began. “She met a slightly eccentric German millionaire… They spent a few days together on his yacht. That union produced you, my younger half-brother, Roderik.” The Prussian Colonel emphasized Sharr's birth name for all to hear. “Uric Kreis went on to invest in a small company which one day would lead in the pioneering of genetic medicine.” Colonel Oberon Kreis laughed which contrasted nicely with Sharr's own hard serious expression. “It’s funny really that the lot of us should be so interested in the race of the 'Superman'. Our father's dream was of a better world, one ruled by those Neo-humans created from the Korelia's technology. You've come nearest to making it real. Only you und your Falcanians had been willing to defy the world to build your Khanate.” Oberon's self-entertained expression became one of profound revelation. “We've been watching you since you came to meet with the Korelias. You showed tremendous potential in your ideas, a willingness to work outside the law. It's an awesome thing to see what you have wrought. Had he lived Uric would be very proud of you brother.”
From across the void of cyberspace Sharr glared at his brother. Science would need to check this statement before he accepted it fully as true. Either what Kreis said would be proven authentic, which would explain much about his parentage and the secrecy his family had always placed on it, or the Teutonic Dukedom simply now took advantage of his sordid past?
“Colonel Kreis,” Frederika spoke in a cold tone. “In ten days, you are to bring the Nemesis prototype here to Vanguard und twelve Blackeagle. You shall join me on this island becoming a citizen of the Khanate.”
Oberon saluted. “By your command Lady Gotha.”
The holoviewer went black.
Across the globe, Oberon Kreis inhaled from his pipe, very pleased with himself. He had all that he wanted, and his sacrifice had been such a small thing. Losing Frederika to his brother's vision would gain him more than the genetically engineered girl. He'd rule an empire. The chess pieces were all now in play.
“Is it done, my son?” The strange modulated voice asked.
Oberon turned from his monitor and looked over at a canister that had been attached to a complex computer system. All sorts of lights flickered and bleeped. Gel bubbled in a jar.
“It is, father.” Oberon grinned. “Your bastard son will soon oversee our rebirth as gods’ und it shall be WE who rule this planet.” A vision of winged soldiers at his command made Kreis salivate. A glorious thing now in the making.
Uric Kreis experienced joy, or rather an approximation of bliss, for the recordings of his once human form could never fully recall the old emotions. The life long plans he had set out and expanded on in his neural gel form had at last come to be. This fleshling son of his had done well and a renegade son fostered by a chance encounter had mastered technology he could use to become both more than a human reboot. He would rule the planet as an omnipotent being, ending at long last humanities perpetual conflicts. Uric would be able to take down the Techatron Unions own master computer, and supplement it with his own programming. The Falcanians would be the cannon fodder in his war of global dominance.
Oberon acted out of love. He wished only to see his father inherit an optimal form. As it so happened, his half-brother had come to be in control of the tech that could make it happen. There could be no denying the serendipity of this convergence of events. Two scions, each thrust onto a road driven toward the improvement of the human race at last would meet after so many years had passed to make their father's visions a reality.
[Kuras, Capital Of The Falcanian Khanate On The Subcontinent]
From beside Sharr, Frederika looked out the window. She was shocked to see the mix of humans and Falcanians who greeted them. “I’m amazed to see there are humans among your followers,” she said to Nadia.
“Since our forces helped bring peace between Pakistan and Bharat, we Falcanians are welcomed here as allies,” Nadia explained. “This province has become our own. Granted to us by the last Prime Minister of India, his Excellency Naresh Singh.”
Frederika nestled close against Sharr. Sitara glared at the blonde from across the other seat near her twin and soon to be mate. Neither girl had spoken to the other since the revelations about who Frederika really was had come to pass. Understandably, Sitara had been angered to be used by the Morningstar to gain information.
The hover car reached the steps of the great palace, not all so different from Narshin Thryak as the Imperial motorcade came to a halt. House guards glided down the immense steps to help their Shotar disembark. Sharr and his court ascended the staircase to greet the Matriarch of Falcania.
A picture of classic beauty, the Grand Dame of Falcania stood tall and tanned, a fierce cleverness churning behind pale-gray almond eyes. She chose a golden sari for this occasion, offsetting her red-wings and silver tail. Thanks to the Rishaak fruit, she had an air of youth about her with only a hint of gray in her black hair, the only indication the Grand Dame’s age was as advanced as it was.