They had won the battle of Dela Turkomann. The CasterLan forces were in shambles and only continued to exist because they had gone into hiding. That didn’t mean, however, that more Athens Destroyers weren’t needed. There would be another war. There would always be another war.
If the next conflict wasn’t with the Solar Carriers and the remaining CasterLan generals who commanded them, then it would be with another kingdom’s fleet. Taking over Edsall Dark, destroying the once great CasterLan Kingdom, wasn’t what Mowbray was betting his legacy on. He needed more. More planets. More kingdoms. As soon as his fleet was rebuilt, another system would fall under his gaze and his empire would expand yet again. Then again. And again after that.
History didn’t remember the galaxy’s greatest rulers because they had won a single war or defeated a single leader. History’s greatest rulers—Mron the Destroyer, Gish the Merciless—were remembered for expanding their kingdoms to the limits of the known galaxy. Stories were told of the rulers who tripled the size of their kingdoms. The annals of history celebrated the rulers who controlled more of the galaxy than any other previous rulers. This was what Mowbray wanted.
Before he could focus on his next campaign, though, he had to deal with the information he had just been given. Vere had managed to escape from the Cauldrons of Dagda. The news didn’t make him fly into a fit of rage. He didn’t find the nearest officer and kill him merely because he could. He simply continued staring out at the expanse of purple sky, purple clouds, purple reflections.
Reading through the report, he saw that a pair of ships had landed at the prison. The raiders had freed Vere, set Balor loose within the facility, then made their way back to their ships. One of the vessels was headed back toward the furthest reaches of what had been CasterLan territory. The other—he couldn’t help but smile about this part of the report—was actually making its way further into Vonnegan space.
His first thought was that Vere and her friends were coming to kill him. She would be seeking revenge for all the death he had brought to her kingdom, for turning Edsall Dark into an extension of his own empire, for taking her Meursault blade. He imagined her ship sneaking into the capital, its occupants dispersing into the busy streets, each trying to find a way inside the royal hall, then working toward him until they killed him.
This wasn’t realistic, though. He knew it and they would surely know it. Their ship would be spotted before it got near the EndoKroy atmosphere. As soon as it was detected, one of the many orbiting Athens Destroyers would blow it out of space. Even if they hijacked a different ship and managed to land at one of the spaceports, security would spot them before they made it two blocks. And even if they managed to sneak all the way to the capitol, either the hundreds of Vonnegan guards outside the building would stop them, or his nine Fianna—his elite guards—would get them once they were inside the royal hall.
No, Vere and her allies wouldn’t be coming for him, no matter how much they wished they could. He guessed they were making their way deeper into Vonnegan space simply because they had no other choice. His ships at Terror-Dhome had blocked the portal there. Vere and her friends would have known that every Vonnegan ship between them and wherever they wanted to go would converge on their course. Their only option would be to go further toward EndoKroy, hope they could connect through a portal, and find an alternate path home.
This was what made Mowbray smile. He could have been furious that someone had escaped the Cauldrons of Dagda. It was supposed to be invulnerable, after all. He could have been especially enraged that it had been Vere who had escaped. She had become a legend after somehow surviving for two years when most inmates lasted only one week. Now that she was free, people would be tempted to think there was nothing that could destroy her. They might rally around her as some sort of symbol.
He smiled because this would give him an opportunity to remind the rest of the galaxy how thoroughly he had defeated her once before by soundly defeating her again. He also smiled because the same report said Le Savage had thrown himself into the lava fields. This only proved Mowbray had selected the best man for the job. He would have been concerned if the person he had selected for the post had instead tried to go into hiding, tried to sneak away and never be seen again. Most officers would have done that, especially after knowing what Mowbray would do to them for failing. Ninety-nine out of one hundred people would have blamed the escape on someone else, would have tried to find a way to have someone else take the punishment. It took someone who knew the importance of honor and respect to do what Le Savage had done.
Mowbray was confident that his decision-making was as sharp as ever. Behind him, as if to remind him how far it had gotten him, he peered at the sword he had taken from Vere at Dela Turkomann. The Meursault blade was hanging on the wall as his favorite trophy.
“Assemble the fleet,” he said.
There was no one in the room with him. Even his Fianna were outside his chambers. But as he watched, the two closest Athens Destroyers hovering over the planet began to turn and move toward a muster point.
Vere and her friends would die soon enough. A single ship was capable of running for a long time, but no matter how fast it was, it couldn’t run forever. In the meantime, he would find the last vestiges of the CasterLan forces and destroy them. People might think of Vere as some kind of miraculous icon because she had survived the Cauldrons when everyone else had died, but she and everyone she knew would soon be dead.
What he couldn’t tolerate, now that she was free, was allowing the remnants of her fleet to exist. As long as they did, other rulers would think they might be able to survive the appearance of Mowbray’s fleet. They might actually think they had a choice the next time hundreds of Athens Destroyers blotted out the sun and the sky above their kingdom. He would do what he should have done two years earlier; he would remind the rest of the galaxy that no one was ever free of Mowbray Vonnegan’s grip.
41
At top speed, it took the Pendragon two hours to get to the next portal. Morgan didn’t bother asking Traskk to have the ship’s sensors detect where the portal would take them. The task proved unnecessary because there was a blockade of Athens Destroyers around the enormous energy ring, preventing any ship from getting through. The Vonnegan fleet had been alerted that her ship would be coming that way and it meant to keep her from escaping.
When Traskk let out a growl from the copilot’s chair, she guessed it was directed at her and not at the array of ships parked in front of the gateway. After all, she was the one who had decided to fly further into enemy territory rather than try to escape when she had the chance.
An alarm sounded inside the cockpit. A moment later, a squadron of Thunderbolts appeared behind the gray moon nearest to the portal.
“Nothing we can do but keep going,” Morgan said, which made Traskk growl again.
After initially slowing the Pendragon slightly as they approached the portal, she once again took it back up to full speed. The pack of Thunderbolts came in behind her as the Pendragon raced past the giant circular field of light. Every one of the Vonnegan fighters fired a constant stream of laser blasts in her direction. Most of these flew harmlessly past her craft, but even with ten shots missing for every one shot that hit, her shields began to take too much fire after only a few seconds.
Another alarm sounded. An Athens Destroyer, also stationed behind the moon, began to come out as well.
Traskk’s tail began to slide back and forth across the cockpit floor, slamming into a console on one side and Morgan’s seat on the other side.
“Okay, okay, I get it,” she said, but his tail didn’t stop.
The Thunderbolts couldn’t keep up for long. Each second that went by, the Pendragon put more distance between itself and the fighters. Soon, the laser blasts stopped hitting the ship and eventually the Vonnegan pilots stopped shooting altogether. The Athens Destroyer didn’t do much better. As large as it was, it wasn’t big enough to block the Pendragon from following w
hatever course it wanted.
The only problem was that they were still heading further into Vonnegan space rather than returning home.
“We’ll have better luck at the next one,” she said.
Traskk’s tail stopped moving, and she thought she might have successfully reassured him. But then he turned and looked at her, narrowing the long slats of his leathery eyelids, and gave a faint hiss as his forked tongue darted out.
If Vere were there, Morgan would have told her that she finally understood how difficult it was when all of your orders were questioned, especially by someone three feet taller, with fangs and claws longer than her fingers.
“Everything will be fine,” she reassured.
Rather than reply, Traskk unbuckled himself from the copilot’s seat and left the cockpit to see how Vere was doing.
At the next portal, things weren’t any better, as Morgan had predicted. In fact, they were worse.
Instead of Athens Destroyers blocking the portal, three large frigates were aligned to block the majority of the opening. In the gaps between each vessel, minefields had been set up. And beyond those, dozens of Thunderbolts patrolled in formation, along with a group of Athens Destroyers.
Traskk had returned to the cockpit by then. Instead of growling or slamming his tail back and forth, he merely closed his eyes and gave a resigned hiss, each of his flared nostrils larger than her entire nose. She knew him well enough by now to know that if she said anything at all, he would return to growling and letting his tail hit whatever it wanted.
There was no alternative other than to continue on the course they had set and hope their luck turned around. Without speaking, she made a wide loop around the blockade and continued on toward the center of the Vonnegan Empire before the enemy ships could target her.
Looking at the navigation hologram, she saw that the next opportunity for a portal jump wouldn’t come in the form of just one portal, but a group of four. The commercial district of the Vonnegan Empire, which they were approaching, brought ships from all over the galaxy. Dealers, traders, cargo vessels—everyone with anything to buy or sell—converged on Greater Mazuma and its pair of ice moons. Morgan doubted there would be enough Athens Destroyers in the sector to block all four portals. Even if there were, she doubted Mowbray would allow the commercial operations to be disrupted. It would be an admission that four raiders and an escaped prisoner were enough of a nuisance to put up a blockade around the busiest area of his empire.
It was the only shot she had left.
Just when she thought she had gotten past the last of Traskk’s tantrums and wouldn’t have anyone else question her orders, Vere and Pistol appeared at the doorway.
Pistol’s damaged eye had been cleaned and a temporary gel poured around the seared area. The gel would harden and keep the damaged edges of the synthetic skin from deteriorating. Vere no longer looked like she was dying of thirst.
Morgan expected Vere to give a sarcastic comment, something about being freed from prison just to die in a different part of the Vonnegan territory. It didn’t help that as soon as Traskk saw her, he hissed a series of noises relating every dumb idea Morgan had acted on and asked Vere to take over for the rest of the flight.
Instead, Vere merely smiled, patted Traskk’s shoulder with one hand and Morgan’s shoulder with the other and said, “She’s doing what she thinks is best. That’s all any of us can do.” Then, to Morgan, she added, “Keep up the good work.”
With a nod, Vere turned and left the cockpit without even bothering to ask what the next part of the plan was.
Morgan and Traskk stared at each other, still unable to figure out what happened to the Vere they had known. The Vere they had known would have told Morgan that she was not only incompetent but dim-witted.
Then Morgan shook her head and said, “They must have really done a job on her in that prison.”
42
Vere knew they were headed deeper into Vonnegan space. An angry Traskk had just told her about their predicament. She could have asked him what they could do about it but that would only encourage her friend to growl in frustration even more.
What could any of them do? She could demand that Morgan turn the ship around, but they would only be facing the same Athens Destroyers and Thunderbolts they had already evaded. She could tell Morgan that she never should have attempted a rescue party in the first place. That wouldn’t take her friends out of the danger they had placed themselves into on her behalf. It also wouldn’t bring Cade or Baldwin back. She could say something pessimistic to Morgan, the way she would have done years earlier, but that wouldn’t help them get through this either. She could worry about what would happen to them, the way Traskk was, but that wouldn’t help any of them.
As she saw it, they had one option and one option only: to trust that Morgan was making the right decisions and to do whatever she thought was best. Everything else was wasted time and energy. She could regret the past or worry about the future but neither were in her control. Only the present, sitting in the Pendragon with her friends, was of any concern.
In front of her, she saw the person she strived to be. Pistol, a mere android, did nothing but stare at the wall in front of him as the journey progressed. He didn’t worry about what would happen next, he simply lived moment to moment. It didn’t matter if Thunderbolts were somewhere in the distance. It didn’t matter that more Athens Destroyers might be blocking another portal. He remained calm through it all.
“You’re way ahead of us,” she said.
“Excuse me?” Pistol said, unsure what she had meant.
“What were you thinking about just now?”
His good eye lit up briefly, then went dim again.
“My internal systems were functioning as normal.”
“But what were you thinking about?” she asked.
She didn’t know why she was interested. She knew he and every android like him didn’t have thoughts the way people did. But there was something about his demeanor through all of this that appealed to her.
“I wasn’t thinking,” he said. “I was just being.”
“You don’t even know how wise you are, do you?” she said, smiling.
Normally, his social programming would have registered this as sarcasm. But something about the way she said it, the way she leaned forward and studied his face, made his verbal interpretation software run in endless circles.
It only stopped when she added, “My goal is to be more like you.” Then she sat next to him and stared at the same wall he had been staring at, saying nothing for the next hour.
In a way, it reminded her of her time in the sleeping quarters at the Cauldrons, the exhaustion giving way to introspection, only without the constant threat of vibro whips or a monster killing her.
“I could get used to this,” she said, when she finally spoke again.
43
There were a lot of places Quickly could have gone to read Vere’s message. He could have visited friends aboard the Solar Carrier, N.M. World Builder. He could have gone to the café at the spaceport that had been built within the DorEca asteroid field. Instead, he returned to the Griffin Fire—more specifically, its cockpit—where he put his feet up on the copilot’s seat. After having spent so much time aboard the ship, it felt more like his home than anywhere else in the galaxy, the exception being his actual home on Edsall Dark, which he hadn’t seen in two years. It, like every other part of the CasterLan Kingdom, was now part of the Vonnegan Empire.
Not only had the Griffin Fire become the place he was most familiar with, it offered a sense of consistency that appealed to him so much that he considered sleeping there at night instead of aboard the World Builder.
As soon as the message came up on the screen, he forgot about where he might sleep and about everything else. The words were from Vere, as transcribed by Pistol, and said what should happen in the coming weeks and months, regardless of whether she survived the escape from Terror-Dhome.
Quickly r
ead the message over and over, not believing what he was seeing. It had to be a mistake. She must have been delirious after spending so much time at the Cauldrons of Dagda. That was the only explanation for all the things she was saying.
Someone else in the CasterLan fleet has to read this, he thought. It has to be some sort of joke.
One thing he was certain of was that there was no way a message like this should be read by anyone outside of Vere’s inner circle.
A tiny flashing indicator at the bottom of the display screen indicated that a secondary program had also been running in the background. When he clicked on it, he saw that the message had been encoded to automatically send itself, using Vere’s secure access code, from the Griffin Fire to the leaders of every realm in the galaxy.
“No!” he gasped, scrambling to his feet, looking for a way to stop the program.
It was too late, though. Ever since the Griffin Fire had reappeared from the mission, the same message had been blasted out to every corner of the galaxy. The same absurd plans he had read and thought to be the ramblings of a woman who wasn’t thinking clearly was now going to be seen by every other kingdom the CasterLan leaders had ever associated with.
He noticed then something he never thought he would ever see. Even as the fleet of Solar Carriers had been destroyed, Vere taken prisoner, and Edsall Dark turned over to Scrope as an extension of the Vonnegan Empire, Quickly didn’t feel they had truly lost the war. Maybe it was blind optimism. Maybe it was unrealistic idealism. But he always thought the CasterLan Kingdom would somehow return to its former glory.
After reading Vere’s message, he knew he was wrong. The shocking thing was that the end of the CasterLans wasn’t caused directly by anything Mowbray had done. The end of the kingdom was in sight, and it would all be because of Vere’s message.
The Round Table (Space Lore Book 3) Page 13