Kingdom of Stars (The Young Ancients: Timon Book Three)

by Power, P. S.

  "Not exactly. It pretty much just tried to kill me, then we discussed the fact that it might have been around for a while, watching me. It turned into Aunt Connie, made some threats and left. A black craft took off several minutes later. I can't swear it was on board. The golem also turned into the man that tried to destroy my pattern a few weeks back, which I took as a confession. That might be a bit presumptuous, but hey, if you don't want to be thought ill of, you probably shouldn't go around making yourself look like would be killers." Timon wiped at his forehead and looked at Countess Printer, who was standing with her arms crossed, clearly not loving the part where she was being kept out of the loop, information wise. That was just timing though, not him really trying to freeze her out.

  The bald giant with the deep voice cleared his throat over the device.

  "I see. I think. How did you survive?"

  "Magic. I was in a rage, after being goaded... I can go over that later, but I realized I wasn't winning a fist fight with it, and hid in my craft."

  "Good. Why did you stay in place? You could have fled, and probably should have."

  Timon sighed and wanted to shake his head, but realized that Holly might just take it the wrong way if he did.

  "If I'd done that, he might have just killed people here. The Countess and her people, out of spite. I stayed ready to run though, just in case. I... haven't come out yet. Just because a craft left, that doesn't mean Remy was on it. I should probably leave, but..."

  That got a new voice to speak. His Aunt Alice. Now she was a worrying sort of person altogether. In the main he tried to avoid her, personally. She ran the new space fleet, which was interesting enough, but she was also both very tough and hard, and very pretty. That combined with her being called "aunt" was enough to make her too complicated for him by far. Not that she was really related, he reminded himself.

  "Should you leave? If you stay there, Remy will know where to find you, but you can set your traps and ready yourself. If you run, you'll never know when you're about to be hit. That puts you at a disadvantage. Not that you'll live, of course. The Remy's... They're very good at removing people that they don't like. I'm impressed that you survived so far. Very much so."

  That made him feel better. At least he was impressing his aunt, the crazy fighter. Tim smiled though, and rolled his eyes, while Count Lairdgren spoke, his voice a bit more abstract.

  "We're about over the site of the blast now. From the readings it was clearly a nuclear device. I don't have the kiloton range yet, but it was decently large. That's a violation of the treaty, of course, but I don't imagine that's at issue right now. If your craft frustrated a Remy, that speaks well as to the idea that shields might remain helpful as well. Keep yours on at all times. Provide them to those around you as well. It isn't a perfect plan, but I have to agree with Alice. If you leave, the problem will simply follow you. Staying will at least allow you to make preparations there. We also have to reconsider the other situations."

  No one spoke, but Timon understood what that meant. They were supposed to leave in a few hours to try and recover Julie White, the leader of Soam, who had been kidnapped and was being held prisoner. The location was in her own land, near the southernmost tip of her continent, almost verging on the Antarctic.

  Timon thought about it for a bit and then looked out the window. After all, if he was being tracked, his going there would be too. They were, he knew, probably all being watched though. It was a lot less than perfect. The situation on the ground was too heavily protected for him to go in alone, naturally. Otherwise he would have tried to free Aunt Julie days before, even if it meant he might die. That was what you did for family, and while he might not feel that kind of thing, he knew it was a rule.

  That was something he hadn't realized before really. The changes that Tor had made, they didn't force him to love his family any more than he had before. It wasn't an emotional decision then, but a thing of long training that made him say the next part.

  "I need help to get her. I'll go now, but..." It wasn't something he could do alone. Not really. The guards were clones after all and probably had either Cordes or Gray in them, if not copies of other minds that had been long dead and resurrected. That part was interesting, but if it were the case, then they'd probably have been selected for their loyalty to one of the others involved, at the very least. The point was that they weren't just guards, standing there with wooden clubs.

  All of them had special abilities and skills, many of which he couldn't match at all yet. Some he never would, being biologically incapable of them. For instance shape changing wasn't a thing for him. There were other things that no one had even told him about that were very possible too, he didn't doubt.

  Instead of them telling the little boy that he wasn't allowed to go, or suggesting that he pilot the ship or something, for the escape, even though it was an area that he actually was qualified for, Orange spoke up.

  "Kolb, can you do it, if the children help? Tiera and Timon? It isn't a perfect fighting unit, but they are formidable people. As are you, of course." That last bit sounded tacked on, but the woman had a problem with good looking men and Kolb, while no Count Lairdgren or Brown, was ruggedly handsome. It colored the way that she looked at the rest of them.

  "Yes. Tim, can you meet us at the blast site?"

  "Tiera is with you?" He hadn't heard her speak, but there was a soft murmur from what seemed to be Kolb's right side.

  "I'm here." It was the right voice, he thought, but sounded abstract, soft and almost drugged. Like a person in a trance. That had been the plan however, hadn't it? Tiera was trying to protect the knowledge she had about Tor and his Cordes being part of the plot against them, by simply controlling her every thought. Constantly. It was a feat that Timon hadn't expected of her and wouldn't have. She was a bit high strung and edgy most of the time, even after the changes Tor had made to her. Violent and angry. Except that she was doing it anyway, because she had to.

  "Right, I'll be there in... Call it five minutes, I need to let Countess Printer know that something is going on at least or she'll kick my behind. She might anyway." He wasn't certain that she wouldn't, as soon as they were alone, to be honest. She looked pretty miffed at him at the moment.

  There was a pause and then Kolb spoke again.

  "Tell her I said hello. Out." The line broke then.

  Timon didn't want to chat with the woman, but it was her County, and she was the boss there, so he did it. The trick was the common one now though. He had to tell her the truth, but not all of it, since she knew Tor and wouldn't be able to control her mind like Tiera was doing.

  He started by making himself sound young, since that would probably get him more slack than anything else. Or at least he tried for that. It came out sounding professional and a bit clipped instead, like a military man.

  "The others are getting readings right now. It was a nuclear device. I don't know what that means past some basic facts. It's a bad sign, that it was used at all. Right now I need to go and meet up with them, so that I can do some scutt work or something along those lines. Sorry about being abrupt earlier. It was rude of me to just get off the line like that. Nerves." He was ready to go into greater depth, but the woman in front of the craft just nodded, clutching something small and copper in her left hand. It was probably an explosive device. That's what Timon would have wanted, if he had one, which he simply didn't.

  "I understand. This isn't a good situation. You were just in a combat rage as well, so I take no offense. I'm sure it won't come between us, as friends." She was being a bit stiff about it still, and didn't smile, but that was probably because she had to be considering kicking him out of school, or at least asking him to leave on his own.

  People were trying to kill him, and it wasn't just a normal assassin or two. She didn't have to know the whole story to get that Remy Seventeen wasn't just some guy with a knife that might accidently stab the wrong person. People had come very close to destroying her entire city, k
illing her in the process.

  If that was the kind of thing that was going to happen now... Well, no place was really safe, but removing the target, which seemed to be him in this case, at least so far, made sense.

  Of course that also made him wonder why they were working quite that hard to remove him from the picture. He was, no matter how you sliced it, still just a boy with a few tricks. Ones that a person working with them had come up with, for the most part. If he was a threat to them at all it was only because of Tor. That didn't make him happy to realize, since he was still angry with him, but that didn't make it false either.

  The woman took a deep breath and went rather still, her body language stiff suddenly.

  "Timon, I mean no offense, but... it might be best if you weren't here, for the time being? I don't want to send you away, it's simply that we aren't ready to face this kind of thing." She seemed... shamed by her own words, even if they were the right ones from her perspective.

  "Understood. Kicked out after one class. I was doing so well too. I hardly bled on anyone at all. Well. I'll figure something out. Don't worry about it." His behind was a little sore from sitting already, which probably had to do with the incredible amount of tension he was feeling. Shifting a bit he smiled at the woman through the front and then got ready to leave. His not being wanted there didn't mean he could get out of the rest of his work.

  She mumbled at him, which wasn't like her at all, from what he'd seen.

  "Forgive me?"

  After feeling a moment of irritation, since the whole thing had been an excuse to stay away from his brother, Tim nodded.

  "Don't let it worry you. Have Mindy pass out the shields, in case of another attack. The clothing too. Make sure you get an accounting of who has what though."

  "I shall. Until we speak again." Then, rather deliberately, she shut off her device and walked away, looking stiff and uncomfortable, as if she thought that Timon would hold a grudge over what she'd done. More, that him holding a grudge might mean something that a sitting Countess couldn't easily handle.

  Without waiting, he took off and headed out to the part of the ocean that had exploded. There was still a cloud over the spot, a giant column of water, and the glowing orange craft was easy to see, even in the distance. That would be the point he knew. Well, the color was just the one that Orange was predisposed to like, but the glowing was all about being visible, so that people would know who was there. Even from space.

  Blinking he tried to work out how to hide his craft when they left and thought he might have a plan. It would be hard to do, but he thought he could pull it off, if he was alert enough.

  At first he didn't know what he was supposed to do, since he couldn't put down, not and do anything with the other craft, which was about ten thousand feet up in the air. That was fixed rather handily, when the side of the much bigger vehicle started to blink at him, going between orange and silver, meaning it was a message for him, so that he noticed the hole that formed. There was a large empty room inside, he noticed, as he approached, barely letting his craft move at all. It was all gray inside, but there was a circle on the floor, which he took to be a target, meant for him to try and land on.

  Slipping in wasn't hard, though he went slow, not being up on exactly what the protocols were. If he had to stop and move away, he could at any time. Nothing really happened, until he was in, and then the wall that he'd entered through reformed behind him. It was just silver, to match the color of the floor. Or, to be honest, a bland gray, that looked like someone had wanted his favorite shade, but gotten too depressed to actually muster the energy to make it shine.

  Climbing out he took the little ship all the way down, leaving a silver etched piece on a chain, which he slipped around his neck. There was nothing inside of it, so it was just as convenient to carry it with him. Then he tapped his chest, focusing on making certain his shield was in place. It would turn on in case of danger, but only when he realized it was there. Before that, it would stay off, so that he could move around more easily. He just wasn't certain that Remy wasn't fast enough to kill him before he was aware of what was happening, and didn't want to take chances that way.

  True, he doubted that Remy Seventeen was on the ship, but it was Remy Seventeen. That sort of gave the impression that there might well be more than one of them around, didn't it?

  No one met him at the door, but as soon as he got into the hallway it was clear which way he needed to walk. There was a line of orange arrows on the floor, pointing the way. It still took a while to find the pilot's area, because the thing was huge, but a short ten minutes later he was with everyone else.

  The scene was a bit distracted and strange, as he watched it.

  Kolb was at an all black table that looked to be made of focus stone off to the left, along with Tiera. They were looking at maps, and had an array of magical items sitting next to the display that was in the middle of it. It seemed to be an Austran design, but wasn't a little handheld compact screen. The weapons master was dressed in weathered looking black fighting leathers, and his sister, who was two years older than he was, still wore simple student brown.

  It was like she hadn't bothered to change or something. Looking down he realized that he was dressed identically. It was the default setting on the magical clothing.

  They didn't see him. They were preoccupied, and Orange was with Count Lairdgren in the center of the room, looking at other devices that seemed to be telling them about the damage done to the world from the blast. The space itself was huge. Like the largest dining room in the King's Palace, if not a bit bigger. The ceiling was at least thirty feet over head and the floor was made to look smooth and slightly shiny. It was in a deep red color that reminded Tim of slightly dried blood. The rest of the space was bright and cheery, done in copper, gold and orange colors.

  Lairdgren pointed at something on the screen in front of him and made a face. He sounded normal for him though, which meant bland. Almost bored.

  "The trace indicates that the Afrak uranium stores were used for it. Not exactly unexpected, but confirmation never hurts."

  Orange crossed her arms and shook her head hard enough that her blonde braid swayed on her back. She was dressed in a tight outfit that was, unsurprisingly, orange, and left very little to the imagination as far as what was under it. Not that Timon was a prude, but sex was a complicated issue for him, thanks to the torture he'd experienced. It was worse right now than it had been, having just seen Countess Alan again. And her Cousin, Bethany.

  "It doesn't help either. We know who's behind this and don't have to prove it. What we need to do is find them and remove the problem. If we can." She turned, not seeming shocked by Timon being there at all. Then, he suspected that her senses weren't exactly normal. She'd probably known he was coming for minutes before he got there.

  "Tim, if you can manage it, try to collect any data you can while getting Julie. She's the mission, but if you have a chance to safely get any information for us, please do so."

  That got Kolb to look up from his map and make a face. They were a good ways away from each other, since, as Tiera had mentioned, they'd fight if they were too close together for too long. Orange and the weapons master would. Since they didn't have time for a giant and no doubt impressive, battle of heroes right then, it was a good plan, those two standing away from each other. The strange thing, as far as he knew, was that both of them thought highly enough of the other and were even friends, after a fashion. They'd just end up hitting each other after a while, if they were too close together.

  "Timon, come and look at the map. This is the latest out of Austra, taken about three hours ago. We can't count on it as far as guard postings, but we have a rough idea of how many are inside. The satellite shows that there are twenty-three human forms in the building. Most of them on the top level. That means that Julie is most likely here." He pointed at a single blob of red and orange that looked vaguely like a person sitting against a wall. "It could be someone else,
since we can't prove that Julie is on our side at all. My best guess is that this is a prisoner however, or an experimental subject that doesn't wish to be there. The size matches, so there's that."

  Then they went over the floor plan, which, as the older man pointed out, was the only part of things that wouldn't change, most likely.

  "We have to assume that this will be a real fight. If there are others like Remy Seventeen left, then we'll die. We have to assume that some of the people will be known to us, at least in form. Don't hesitate. If you see someone you know, it won't be them. Kill them. It will be one less person to try and take their place later, if nothing else. It's one of the rules of clone combat. Do you understand?"

  Timon did, but looked at his sister, who seemed awfully unconcerned about what they were planning to do at all. She did speak though, looking at the weapons master calmly.

  "I do. We aren't to try and take prisoners then? What if they surrender?"

  That didn't seem likely to him, but Kolb sighed and seemed to take the idea seriously.

  "That's a real problem, isn't it? Strip them of weapons carefully, clothing too, so it will be harder to hide anything on their person, and then secure them in a cell, as soon as possible. Assume that it's a trick the whole time. We need to question them, if we can, but the fact is that this installation is probably the best defended place on the planet right now. Each person there will be dangerous and some of them are clever enough to use guile like masters. Or at least we have to assume so."

  That made sense in a lot of ways to Tim.

  "Because we can't be certain who it is we're dealing with, can we? If another Kolb is there, it might be Gray, or Cordes, or even a different copy of you, from a thousand years ago or more, back when you were a dedicated killing machine that would hop to the commands of the right person without question." He was teasing a bit, or trying to, but the large man, who stood about six-six, nodded, as if to say it was just the case.