"Today, in the shadow of these dark events, we chose to honor one who endured the gauntlet of much of this first hand. Ensign Lakeisha Johnson, please step forward." Lakeisha stepped forward and knelt before the Queen. "In honor of your bravery, despite overwhelming circumstances, Lakeisha Johnson you are hereby promoted to the rank of Second Lieutenant and awarded the Star of the Commonwealth for meritorious service. Rise Lt. Johnson." Upon her standing, Admiral Hawthorne approached Lakeisha and swapped one of her silver collar diamonds for a new gold one. His shook her hand and offered his congratulations.
The Queen then continued. "In addition to the promotion, you will be offered your choice of next posting. We thank you for your service." Lakeisha bowed, turned about, and walked back to where she was standing before just out of frame. "I would encourage all citizens of the Commonwealth to pray for your leadership, for your military, and most of all, pray for peace. May the Creator continue to bless the Commonwealth."
"And we're off," the man in the suit said loudly. "It was an honor for our network to be part of this, Your Majesty."
"Thank you, Charles," the Queen acknowledged. "Tell everyone at your network how much their hard work is greatly appreciated to get this arranged so swiftly." Then turning to Lakeisha she asked, "Lt. Johnson, do you have any ideas regarding your next posting, or do you need some time to think?"
"With Your Majesty's approval, I would like to transfer to the Royal Guard Detail," Lakeisha responded. "I became a Sovereign Angel to serve and protect my Queen. I will, of course, go wherever my Queen feels I would best serve Her and Her people, but I would request to serve by Your side."
"Then it shall be arranged," Queen Constance stated with a smile. "Report to the throne room tomorrow morning at first watch, Lt. Johnson."
***
Baron Zhi had been following the Ridgeway trial with keen interest. He was sitting in his quarters on his personal ship, watching the news coverage of the trial on the wall monitor. He didn’t know Ridgeway or care about his innocence or guilt, but he did care about the outcome of the trial. Since his conversation with the mysterious woman, he interest in current events had greatly increased. He knew that the poor fool on trial was a pawn the Legion was using to further their agenda. If all went according to plan, Ridgeway would be found guilty and handed over to the Protectorate for execution. Pawns were made for sacrifice. His part in the plan would soon begin. The Legion had promised him many things if he played his part well, and so he would.
“Baron?” One of his aides broke the hold the screen had on him.
“What is it?” Zhi snapped at the aide.
“You said you wanted to be informed when we arrived in Mars orbit,” the aide said his head bowed low.
“Have my shuttle readied for immediate departure to the capital,” he ordered.
“At once, Baron.” The servant backed out of the room with his head still bowed.
Now to pay a visit to my cousin Constance.
***
Danielle and K'oron arrived early the next morning at Glars'n palace. Danielle walked alongside K'oron as they traversed the halls on the way to the throne room. This palace was nothing like the one she had seen on Mars. Everything here was so bright and shining. The exterior walls were made mostly of glass, the small solid portions in between the glass panels were only there for support, she assumed. She definitely felt out of place though. Everyone they passed stared at her in complete curiosity. She could hear whispering behind her as they passed by. The doors to the throne room were made from some black metallic substance that was polished like a mirror. A guard opened the door and ushered them inside.
Emperor Glars’n was already seated on his throne and his guards in their defensive positions. This time they stepped aside for K’oron. As soon as they approached the throne, K’oron knelt down. Danielle quickly followed his example.
“Danielle, K’oron, rise." The two stood back up. "I’m so pleased to see you this morning,” the Emperor greeted them. "I do hope this idea of yours works, Danielle. I do not want a war, and I highly doubt your queen does either.” Glars’n addressed his guards. “Leave the room. I have private matters to discuss with these two.” The two guards on duty snapped to attention, gave a bow, then left the throne room. When the sound of the doors closing had faded, the Emperor spoke again. “I had one of our communication devices brought in earlier. K’oron should be able to assist you with it.”
K’oron walked over to the machine and powered it on. After a few seconds, the display lit up. “I assume that your Terran communication systems operate on energy waves like ours. What is the wavelength you need?” He asked Danielle as he was typing on the machine’s keypad.
“Set it for 2.138 Terahertz, then start scanning higher in increments of 1 Gigahertz until you pick up a pulsing tone,” Danielle instructed. K’oron typed at the keypad, and they heard a beeping sound shortly. “Okay, this is our emergency band. It’s what we use to contact Fleet Command in the event that our usual comms equipment is damaged or is unavailable.” She walked over to K’oron’s side and leaned down toward the microphone. “Fleet Command, this is Lt. Danielle Hart, Valkyrie Squadron. Open a Level 1 Sovereign Angel priority link directly to Angel One on Mars. My access code is Hotel Delta 2 8 1 November Beta 6.”
In a moment the beeping stopped and was replaced by a man’s voice. “This is a restricted frequency. The authorization code you provided is no longer valid. Identify yourself!”
“This is Lieutenant Danielle Hart, Sovereign Angels Battalion, Terran Commonwealth, Number 496131-09. Why has my code been invalidated?” She snapped at the voice.
“Lt. Hart was declared dead, and her access codes revoked,” the man snapped back. “I can give you one chance to confirm your identity. Please state the passphrase you set up during your enrollment to the academy.”
Danielle groaned. “That is what the Fleet uses as last chance authentication? Good grief.”
"You have five seconds to give the passphrase, or this line will be terminated," the voice barked over the speaker.
"Really? Fine," Danielle wilted and took a breath, then mumbled. "I'm so sexy, I should be a porn star." Her cheeks turned a bright shade of red. She was so embarrassed that she wanted to hide. Great. Now the Emperor will think I'm an idiot or a hooker. She dared not even raise her head. How could she even look them in the eyes now?
"Passphrase confirmed," the voice announced. "This is Commander Jason Rutledge of Sentry Command. We were told you had died while trying to escape. Your co-pilot came through here a couple of weeks ago looking pretty banged up. Said you died helping her get away. We can't get a visual from your signal, only audio."
"Commander, I assure you I am very much alive and well," Danielle promised. "The equipment I am using doesn't support video signal it seems." K'oron gave her a puzzled look, then reached over and pressed a button. The screen suddenly had an image of Commander Rutledge on it. "My apologies Commander, I guess I just hadn't pushed enough buttons yet. Good to see another Terran face."
"Good to see you too, Lieutenant," Rutledge replied. "I'll try to get a comms channel open for you to the Queen. Please stand by." The screen went black. She could feel two pairs of eyes focused on her, and she didn't want to look.
"Interesting passphrase," K'oron gave a slight chuckle. "What exactly is a 'porn star'?"
"Nevermind, it doesn't matter. I was sixteen and stupid at the time," Danielle rebuffed. "We will never speak of this again. Never."
"Very well," he replied with a bow of the head.
The screen flickered again. This time the image of a woman appeared. "Lieutenant Hart, I must say that I was shocked when Commander Rutledge relayed your signal to me. He said you were alive, but I couldn't believe it until I saw you myself." Queen Constance was visibly relieved. "We were told that you died. How did you survive?"
"Your Majesty," Danielle bowed her head. "I will give you all of the details of my experience later, but right now we have a much large
r problem. Is there anyone in the room with you? This is eyes-only information."
"I am alone, Lieutenant," the Queen responded. "What information do you have?"
"If Ensign Johnson did as I had asked, she would have informed you that we were attacked by the V'drellians," Danielle explained. "I've since learned that isn't exactly the case."
"She did inform me of that," the Queen replied. "In response, we raised the alert status and began some simulations. Which is where things went off the rails. Now you say that it wasn't the V'drellians? Who then? Was it the Rylans?"
"I'm afraid it's more complicated than that," Danielle answered. "We have reason to believe that there is a conspiracy involving all three nations."
"Wait a minute," the Queen interrupted her. "We? All three nations? Am I missing something, Danielle?"
"Not just you, Your Majesty," Danielle said. "We all have missed a lot. The V'drellian nation is, in fact, alive and well. They're not the monsters that the Rylans once dealt with. That regime is gone. They are not the enemy that attacked us. There is a group operating inside the Commonwealth, Protectorate, and Dominion governments. They want to destroy us all. The ship that attacked the Expedition and Valkyrie Squadron was a V'drellian ship, but not acting under the authority of their emperor. That ship, the Drah'jik, is under the command of a man named No'tok. He is working with this conspiracy."
"That explains a few more things," the Queen acknowledged. "We had an incident between one of our Dreadnoughts and a Rylan passenger ship. The captain swore that he attacked one of the drones that we were simulating a V'drellian attack with, but the debris was definitely a passenger ship. Thousands dead. The Protectorate wants to make an example out of him. The captain's defense is that someone tampered with the ship's logs and sensor data to make it look like the Commonwealth attacked the ship maliciously. If there is a conspiracy at work inside the government, they might have people anywhere. It's possible maybe Ridgeway is right. But, you still haven't told me who 'we' is."
Danielle took a deep breath and then stepped back away from the communication device. When she did, two V'drellian men came into focus on each side of her. Now comes the moment of truth. I hope the Queen doesn't declare me a traitor.
"Lt. Hart, who are these people with you?" Queen Constance asked startled by the revelation of this alien presence.
Here goes. Danielle looked to the left at K'oron. "Your Majesty, allow me to introduce Commandant-General K'oron of the V'drellz Stragizi. Without his help, I would still be a prisoner, or worse." K'oron bowed toward the camera. Danielle then looked to her right. "Now allow me to introduce Emperor-General Glars'n of the V'drell Dominion."
"Your Majesty," Glars'n gave a slight bow, "I am so very pleased to meet you. First I must tell you how sorry I am that any member of the Dominion would attack your people. Trust me when I say that we are working on apprehending him, and he will pay dearly for his treachery. Secondly, I have no intention of launching an attack against your people. In fact, I would greatly like to develop a peaceful coexistence between our nations. I realize that our history might make many distrust us, but we will overcome those fears and prove that we can be a worthy ally."
"Your Excellency," Queen Constance tipped her head, "the honor is mine. I want to thank you for taking care of my Angel. Lt. Hart is a valued member of our fleet and my Sovereign Angels battalion. Her safe return will be huge relief myself and to our people who have believed her dead for weeks."
"Um, Your Majesty," Danielle tried to delicately interrupt. "with your permission I'd like to keep my being alive a secret. K'oron and I have several leads on the conspirators we would like to track down from this end. If you announce that I'm not dead, and I don't return immediately it would look strange. I think we will have a better chance of success if, for the time being, I can work free from the confines of the Commonwealth, and even the Sovereign Angels. I will, of course, report any important findings to you immediately."
"Very well," the Queen agreed. "I must act on this information or an innocent man could die. I will not reveal that you are my source. You may pursue your investigation, and I will keep your survival quiet for now. I don't want you gone too long though, you've been through enough. We are ready to have you back." She paused. "Good hunting, Lieutenant. May the Creator guide you and give you wisdom." Then the screen went black.
So." Danielle turned to K'oron, "where do we start?"
CHAPTER 17
No’tok hated being on the surface of a planet, especially one like Kr'atzic. He felt more comfortable on the bridge of the Drah’jik than anywhere else in the universe. He hated waiting too, and he had been here for much longer than he expected. He was tired of waiting for the person he was supposed to meet with. The bar, if one could call it that, was as filthy as its patrons. Outer colony trading posts were the homes of the least worthwhile people in the Dominion. Everyone here was a criminal to some degree or another. No one wants to be this far from civilization without a reason. He had selected dirty civilian clothes that would not draw attention to himself for his trip here. The fabric made him itch, and the smell was almost noxious. He had pistol a tucked in the inside pocket of the overcoat he was wearing.
Finally, he saw the man he was waiting on entering the room. The man sat down across from him. His hood obscuring his face to anyone not directly in front of him. “No’tok,” the man’s voice sounded serious, “we have a major problem. I believe that not only has the Emperor decided to grant the Terran female’s citizenship, but he is also attempting to communicate with the Terrans.”
“How is that a problem?” No’tok asked, looking very unconcerned.
“If he communicates with the Terrans, it will only be a matter of time before they figure out who launched the initial attack on our side,” the man’s voice began to rise, “then they will know that is was you.”
“Yes, that sounds likely,” No’tok concurred, still appearing disinterested.
“Are you listening?” The panic in the man’s voice becoming obvious. “They are going to track everything back to us!”
“I understand, and you are correct,” No’tok agreed and looked into the eyes of the hooded man. “They will trace it all back to you,” the little man smiled during his last word. “You’ve been sloppy, old friend,” he continued. “The others have been concerned about your actions for some time now. You’ve left a trail of clues so obvious that a blind man could follow them. So, the Valuvian and Terran asked that I explain the situation to you.”
“There is no way the others would speak directly to you!” The man’s panic had turned to anger.
“Ah, but they did,” No’tok reiterated. “You had an opportunity to watch Glars’n fall before your very eyes, and all you needed to do was wait. Instead, you chose to take circumstances into your own hands and try to spin them for your own political profit. Don’t misunderstand, I personally applaud your initiative but the others think you have strayed from the path of Kamseth. I think you just got too greedy, too fast.” The hooded man’s anger was turning into fear with each word from No’tok’s mouth.
“What are you saying, No’tok?” The man asked with a trembling voice. “What did they say you should do?”
“It’s time to retire, old friend,” No’tok said. “Time to find a quiet place somewhere far from V’drell Prime to disappear to where no one will find you. Come with me, I’ll take you to such a place where you can live out the rest of your days.”
“Thank you, old friend,” the hooded man managed a smile. “For a moment I thought you were going to kill me at this very table.”
“Killing you here and now wouldn’t change what has happened. It would serve no purpose,” No’tok explained.
The two men left the establishment and walked back to No’tok’s shuttlecraft. Once the craft was airborne, No’tok spoke again. “You look nervous, my friend,” No’tok reached into his overcoat and pulled out a bottle. He offered it to the other man. “It's Gnargalian Dramph,” No�
��tok told the man who was looking at the bottle with great suspicion. “It's all I could get out in this wasteland. I know it’s not the V’drellian wine you’re used to, but it might help.”
“Poisoned?” The man asked.
“Old friend,” No’tok sighed, “if my orders were to kill you, why would I go to all of this effort? Wouldn’t it have been easier for me to just shot you on the surface with the gun I had? I doubt it would have been the first of such incidents in that place, nor do I think it would have been the last.”
The man thought it over, pulled the stopper out and took a big gulp. “Thank you,” he said gratefully. “So, what happens to me now? What have the others decided to do to me?”
“At first they did just want you eliminated,” No’tok explained,” but I was able to convince them that another course of action would be more beneficial.”
As the man set listening to him, his eyes began to get heavy. The bottle fell from his hand to the floor and began to spill out on the metal plating. “What did you put in there? You poisoned me!”
“I did not,” No’tok said as he calmly picked the bottle up and replaced the stopper. “That is merely a sedative. Something to make you a bit easier to deal with for the next phase of the plan. The part where you make things right before you retire.”
“What plan?” The man slurred. He was barely hanging on to consciousness.
“Th’arn, my old friend,” No’tok smiled, “you are going to Mars.” Th’arn’s eyes closed and he slumped down in his seat.
***
Zhi was already in transit to Mars when he received the notification of the meeting. His cousin, the Queen, had called a meeting of the Council of Barons, with attendance mandatory. Too bad. I would have liked to have discussed matters with her in private before bringing the Council into it, but I can use this too. He was positive that it was about the Ridgeway trial, which was not going well for the captain. She probably wants to have a formal extradition order drawn up. It would be the prudent thing to do. None of the Barons were going to risk open war with the Protectorate, even if some of them might not agree that the trial was a proper course of action.
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