The Quest (Sanshlian Series Book 1)

by Dani Hoots

  As light started to break in the distance, the door to Neil’s chambers slid open. I quickly stood, grabbing the gun that still lay next to me and pointed it at the entrance. I found Tom leaning against the doorway with his jacket flung over his shoulder, grinning as he typically did. His once clean shirt was now covered in blood and his tie hung loosely around his neck. It had been a long few hours.

  “Hey, easy now, it’s just me,” Tom saw the gun in my hand.

  “I’m still a little tempted to shoot and say it was an accident, like I thought you were an intruder or something,” I teased.

  “You wouldn’t do that,” Tom entered the quarters, closing the door behind him. “You were packing tonight?”

  “Yes,” I answered, a little suspicious. “Why?

  “Where? I don’t remember seeing any traces of a gun under that dress of yours,” he tilted his head as if still examining where I could have hidden it.

  “How close were you looking?”

  “Close enough,” he smirked.

  I squeezed the bridge of my nose, hoping it would make my headache go away, but Tom still stood there. “Anyway, what did you find out?” I sat back down on the couch, laying the gun on my lap.

  Tom took a seat across from me. “His name is Rik Archer. He was alone, I am pretty sure of that. I haven’t had many lie to me after what I’ve done to them. So far, I know he is part of the P.A.E. and has been for most of his life. He finally got fed up with all the hiding, planning, and failing so he decided to assassinate the Emperor himself. The stupid fool.”

  I thought for a moment. He must have gone to Valle after we were separated that night. It was surprising that we hadn’t crossed paths earlier, since I mostly dealt with the P.A.E.

  “We should see if he knows anything about an attack on Ttkas. Neil wanted me to seek out anything I could find on a suspected attack on Ttkas before everything went down last night. I was supposed to leave this morning, but I doubt I will now. I can leave for that in a couple of days, after things cool off. No big deal, not like waiting will give them an advantage against me. Besides, our best bet of finding any information on it now is getting it out of our friend Rik, since he is part of the P.A.E. If he knows something, it will make my job a whole lot easier,” I remarked.

  “I will question him about that next. Anything happen up here?” Tom inquired as he leaned back and stretched.

  I shook my head. “No, not a peep. You are right, he was probably alone, or his partners left him to take the punishment. But if that were the case, he would have ratted them out by now, just as they all do.”

  “That’s what I figured. His plan failed miserably. I’m not sure why he even tried.”

  “Hatred. Revenge. Who knows?” I answered. “Question is, why did he use a knife when he had a gun?”

  Tom raised an eyebrow. “What?”

  “He had a TG-1 and probably a better chance with it than that knife of his. If I were him, I would have used the gun in the open like that with a bunch of people. Knife is only good in hand to hand combat,” I tried to reason as I ran my fingers through my hair. That was a lie; I would have used the knife no matter the situation. Something about a knife made it feel so much more satisfying.

  “You never mentioned this earlier.”

  “I never had the chance. Besides, I haven’t talked to you since you went off to interrogate him,” I added.

  Tom nodded. “True. I agree though, that does seem odd.”

  “What about the others?” I hadn’t heard from them for a while.

  “Peter and Laura are sweeping the ballroom to see if they can figure out how he got in undetected. Last I heard, they hadn’t found anything.”

  “I suspect they won’t or else he would have been detected in the first place. He got close, too close. He’s a smart guy to get as far as he did,” I commented.

  A smug smile appeared on his lips. “I guess he would have to be to get past you.”

  I narrowed my eyes. “What do you mean?”

  He leaned forward. “When I got to the corridor, you were on the ground and the man almost got away. If I wasn’t there to cover your ass, he would have gotten away. Am I right? Or was it all part of some master plan you had laid out in that precious little head of yours?”

  “I knew you were there, Tom, I let him fall into your hands on purpose.”

  “I don’t believe that for a second. You messed up and could have let him get away. You could have let a person who tried to kill our Emperor go.”

  “If it wasn’t for my fast reaction it could have ended very differently. I was the one who spotted him and knew he wasn’t supposed to be there. I stopped him from killing the Emperor. Don’t forget that,” I stated coldly.

  “I just found it strange, you being so powerful, held so high in the eyes of the Emperor that one simple man could get past you. And so easily, too. Did you really think you could have gotten away with such a mess up?”

  “That’s enough General Draff,” a voice ordered behind us.

  Tom and I quickly stood up to find Neil standing in the doorway between his room and where Tom and I were talking. His eyes carefully watched us.

  “Sir, did we wake you?” I began.

  “No, I was awake already. Tom, shouldn’t you be questioning our prisoner about the Ttkassian attack instead of harassing Arcadia? The sooner we know about the attack the better. Or do I need to remind you of your duties to me?” he questioned harshly.

  “No need, sir, I know.”

  I watched as Tom bowed and left as quickly as he came. I let a sliver of a smile escape my lips, but quickly retracted it before Neil saw it. I didn’t want to seem to stoop down to Tom’s level in front of him. We could argue as much as we wanted alone but in front of him I had to be on my best behavior, as always. Neil didn’t like to find us feuding about petty things in front of him.

  Neil took the seat Tom had just vacated. “Now, tell me, what did he mean by what he just said?”

  “Sir?” I inferred, hoping he didn’t catch Tom talking about how I almost let Rik escape.

  “General Draff said the man from last night got away from you and he caught him before he could escape. It doesn’t sound like something that you would do. What exactly happened?”

  I thought about all the things that happened only a few hours earlier. I didn’t know if I should tell him about Rik or simply that he got away from me. If he found out the truth and I didn’t tell him, I would be in an even worse situation.

  “The intruder, sir,” I hesitated, thinking about what the outcome of what I said might be, “was my brother.”

  Neil leaned back and rubbed his chin. He knew my history; he knew where I came from and what had happened to me and my family that night.

  “I thought you told me he died with your father when you were captured on Garvner,” he spoke at last.

  “I thought he did. We got separated that night and I figured he died since I never saw him after that,” I explained, still surprised that he, in fact, was alive.

  “You mean you never saw him in the Kamps?”

  I shook my head no. I didn’t and that is why I thought he was dead. I figured, when I was imprisoned there, I would see him one day and we would escape together. That never happened. He never came for me.

  “So then,” Neil changed the subject. “He caught you by surprise and that’s how he got away.”

  “Yes sir. I’m sorry, that is still no excuse for my failure to capture him. Tom is right, if he didn’t show up when he did, he would have gotten away.”

  “Just promise me that it won’t happen again.”

  “Yes sir.” Unless I had another brother I didn’t know was alive, which seemed highly unlikely.

  “And no more secrets,” he added.

  “I don’t think I have any more secrets.”

  “We will see about that,” Neil murmured. “Now, what do you want to do next?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “About your brothe
r,” Neil stood. “He will be executed as soon as Tom gets all the information he can out of him.”

  “You want me to decide his fate?” I questioned.

  Neil nodded. “Yes, it seems appropriate. He is your brother after all.”

  I shook my head to the contrary. “He tried to assassinate you, sir, and so he deserves to be executed as would any other person who has done the same thing. He’s not the same brother I grew up with; that brother is gone. But I do ask if you can postpone his execution until I figure why he is really here. I have a feeling assassinating you wasn’t the only thing he came here for or if it was even part of the reason.”

  “Then get to it, I’m not sure how long I can delay Tom from killing him. He tends to go overboard with the interrogating.”

  “Are you sure you don’t need me here anymore?” I questioned as I stood up.

  “Yes, now go. Report to me what you find,” he ordered.

  I agreed and left his quarters. The armed guards were still outside his room and I would send Tom up as soon as I got down to the cells, just to be safe. Daylight shone through the sky now and I trusted that there wouldn’t be another attack on Neil’s life today. Besides, I didn’t really believe that was the reason Rik came all this way.

  I decided to stop quickly by my quarters and change into some more comfortable clothes to question Rik in. A formal dress never felt as threatening as military clothes did. Although it wouldn’t be the first time, nor the last. Especially if Neil kept hosting these stupid formal balls.

  Making my way down to the cells, I slammed my fist on the cell that held Rik. I knew which cell he occupied since all the others were open and vacant. Not many men got sent down here, and those who did didn’t last very long.

  The door opened and Tom stepped out holding a knife dripping with blood. “What do you want? Shouldn’t you be with the Emperor?”

  “He has sent me down to interrogate the prisoner. I presume you will go up and guard him,” I paused, examining his clothes. “After a quick change of clothes, of course.”

  Tom thought for a second, wondering if he should fight my orders or not. He knew he couldn’t defy the Emperor’s orders but he didn’t want me to find any useful information.

  “Fine,” he handed me the knife. “I’ll leave him to you.”

  “Why thank you, you’re too kind,” I sarcastically remarked.

  Rolling his eyes, he left towards his quarters. I slowly entered the cell, examining the damage that had been done to my long lost brother.

  My brother dangled there, arms chained up to the ceiling so that his toes barely touched the ground. Blood ran down his arms, his face, and his entire body. I wondered how he managed to stay alive. Tom never held back. His stolen waiter uniform, now shredded, simply hung on his body. Bringing up his head to look at me, he tried to create a half-cocked grin.

  “About time, I began to wonder if my dear sister would ever come at all,” he muttered. “I mean, it’s just a simple courtesy to visit your brother when he’s in prison.”

  “I think this is a bit different than a normal prison sentence. You tried to kill the Emperor,” I asserted.

  “Yeah, well, he deserved it.”

  “Did he now?” I circled him, examining all the wounds that Tom had given him. Stab wounds covered his body.

  “You know as well as I that he did.”

  I stopped in front of him. “But that isn’t why you are here, is it?”

  “Excuse me?”

  “I need to know what you are really doing here, Rik,” I bluntly stated.

  “Whatever do you mean?” he sarcastically retorted.

  “I know you weren’t here to simply kill the Emperor. You were here for something else. Something more important. What was it?” I questioned.

  “You think you know me well enough to presume there’s something else on my mind? Some other plan I really schemed? What are you, a mind reader?”

  “No, but I know what a person looks like when they have another agenda on their mind. Believe me; you look exactly like one of those people.”

  “Well, well, what a smart girl you turned out to be. But what exactly about me makes you think that?” he inquired with a sly smile.

  “For starters, you tried to kill the Emperor with a knife. Stupid idea, you know someone easily could stop you. And you had a gun on you that you could have used. Why didn’t you use it? It would have been a lot easier and quicker for that matter. You wouldn’t have gotten away with it of course, but at least you may have succeeded. Doesn’t make sense why you didn’t use the gun.”

  “Maybe a knife felt better to kill him with. Longer death, more satisfying to kill with,” Rik answered.

  “That’s true, but I don’t think that’s the case.”

  “I blame him for our father’s death, Arcadia. You should, too.”

  “No, he didn’t kill our father, our father killed himself. He started a resistance against the Emperor. If he had simply obeyed the laws, he wouldn’t have been killed,” I automatically responded.

  Rik shook his head. “Is that what your precious master trained you to say?”

  I slapped him across the face. “No, that is what I say.”

  His eyes darkened. “Really? Somehow I don’t believe that, not even for a second.”

  “Things have changed since we were children, Rik, you should know that. Look at you; you are a P.A.E. agent now.”

  “You’re right, time has changed things. Because here you are, interrogating your own brother. You have the power to release me, yet you just stand there and obey orders. As the shadow has always been known to do.”

  “I am here by my own will; no one gave me orders to talk to you. I could have easily killed you last night, but I didn’t. I should have, but I didn’t.”

  “What about all the other orders you have been given? The ones to kill men who stand up for freedom? Ones where you slaughter families because they fight for what they believe? A belief in a better galaxy,” Rik tried to argue.

  “I am sent to destroy any harm that could come to the Empire. It isn’t my fault that they aren’t the ones obeying the laws set in front of them,” I simply explained.

  “But they didn’t have a say in those laws, the laws were forced upon them.” don't

  “That isn’t my problem now is it?”

  “Then it is true,” he whispered. “You are the horrible beast everyone says you are.”

  I punched him in the stomach.

  “Don’t you dare call me that!” I yelled in his face.

  “You kill those who try to bring peace to the galaxy!”

  I punched him again. I didn’t want to hurt him but every time he spoke he made me more and more angry.

  “I kill those who are trying to destroy the galaxy! Those who can’t abide by the rules! I do what I am trained to do.”

  “That’s right; you are the Emperor’s faithful servant. His shadow. You’ll do anything and everything that he orders you to do, won’t you? Without even a minuscule of a thought of how it affects the people of each world. Do you even stop to think how they are all affected through your wars?”

  “If your people didn’t start the war there would be no casualties, no hostages, and no people that get stuck in the middle. It is your people that have caused all of this suffering.”

  “That sounded fake.”

  “You don’t know how Emperor Valym really is. He isn’t at all like how you rebels view him. He cares for his people. He tries to bring peace to the galaxy and you guys get in the way.”

  “Oh, and I am supposed to believe this? Why?” he glared.

  “Because he saved me.”

  “Excuse me?”

  I pulled off my glove to reveal the mark of the Kamps branded on my wrist. Rik remained silent.

  “You know what they did to me because I was the daughter of a resistance leader? They sent me to the Kamps! They tried to brainwash me, Rik! They made us take drugs to erase our memories and become virtual
droids that served the Empire. I was able to survive, but not before doing things that will forever be embedded in my mind. They made us fight each other, Rik, to the death. We were just children, made into killers. Then Neil came and he rescued me and let me destroy the Kamps and everyone who had ever caused me pain. He taught me everything I know and in return I serve him. I do what he needs me to do.”

  I put my glove back on. “What I want to know is where were you, Rik? Where were you? You never came for me! I waited for you to save me! Every night I fell asleep hoping that my brother would come find me. Every night for four years. Four years of pure torture! But you never came. I figured the only reason you never came was because you were dead. It was the only explanation I could think of for why you didn’t come and I accepted it. However, Neil did come. He cared for me and looked after me.”

  He stayed quiet with the look of regret swelling in his eyes.

  “Tell me why my brother never came for me!” I ordered.

  “I searched. I thought you were dead.”

  “Well, you didn’t search hard enough, brother,” I slowly scratched his cheek with the knife, leaving a trail of blood behind. “I was in the same damned spot and it has left too many scars to count.”

  “I am sorry I never came for you.”

  “Yeah, well,” I threw the knife down. “Sorry doesn’t change the past,” I started for the door. “And I’m not going to help you out of this, Rik. Rot in here for eternity for all I care.”

  I left him in there alone. I paced through the corridors of the palace, trying to calm myself down. The conversation left me frustrated but I had gotten what I wanted. Rik didn’t realize he let out the answer to my question. He didn’t realize how easily I played him. I had carefully listened to every word he said. You are the horrible beast everyone says you are. He knew I would be there that night; he knew that I would stop him and question him. He wanted to talk to me. Whatever he was planning, it wasn’t for the Emperor.