by Dani Hoots
“Yes. Meaning most of the people on Valle will be gone. They won’t have a defense on their base.”
I thought carefully about the information he had just revealed to me. “So we could move in and wipe out their base. And be ready for the Ttkassian attack as well. They won’t have a chance to regroup. Go to each planet one by one and destroy their underground resistance, which will already be in shambles.”
“This could be the war to end all wars,” Tom agreed.
“We need to inform the Emperor of this. Then the planning can start.”
“Planning. Now that’s a word I didn’t think you knew the meaning of,” he sneered.
“Very funny Tom. I mean it; you generals need to plan this out so you can beat them to it. Did he know when they would strike?”
“All he said was soon. And what do you mean us generals? Are you not going to help?”
“Tom, you should know by now, I work in the darkness. Battles aren’t for me. I have another job I must attend to, but I wish you three all the luck in the galaxy.”
Tom’s eyes narrowed. “You have some nerve.”
“An order is an order and I have mine. Get over it.” He hated not knowing my secrets but that wasn’t my problem. He needed to learn how to deal with it.
“Fine, whatever. I don’t care. All I care is now we have an in. This can truly be the end of this strung out war.”
“Which brings me to the question, why did you tell me before telling the Emperor?”
He looked at me quizzically. “What do you mean?”
“You never tell me anything you find, especially after our argument earlier. Why are you informing me of this?”
“I just happened to run into you, Arcadia, that’s all.”
I stepped up to him, leaving only a small gap between us. “It has nothing to do with you wanting to know about where I was? You weren’t hoping that I would tell you since you told me this?”
“No, Arcadia, I just thought I would tell you that we could be almost done with this war. I’m not manipulative like you,” he said.
“Fine. Shall we speak to the Emperor then?”
Tom nodded. I followed him as we headed to Neil’s office. It was getting late in the day but we knew Neil would still be in his office working. The duties of the Emperor called for long days and nights dealing with matters over all of the Empire. I knew I would never put up with that. Then again, I usually had long hours and the like, but I was out and about not stuck in some stuffy office.
Peter and Laura were already with Neil, talking about the servant that had been murdered by Rik. They had to deal with all the paperwork since they had found the body. As I entered, glares full of hatred turned to me. I guess theoretically that I had found the body and should be helping with all of the paperwork, but truth be told, I didn’t want to. I didn’t do things I didn’t want to do and they knew it. They knew I could get away with it and leave them to do it.
“Arcadia, I have a bone to pick with you,” Peter started. I leaned against the desk since all the chairs were taken.
“And what’s that?”
Peter stood up quickly, as if wanting to start something.
“General Haas, that is enough!” Neil warned. Peter sat back down.
Tom cleared his throat. “Sir, I have finally retrieved information about the Ttkassian attack out of our prisoner.”
Neil leaned back and brought his fingers together. “Go on.”
Tom explained what he told me in the meeting room. I examined Neil as Tom was telling what Rik confessed. He didn’t show any emotion. Neil acted differently when he was around the generals. With me he always acted honest and open, but with them he never made it apparent what he was thinking. I never have asked him why.
Tom finished detailing the attack that they were planning and waited for Neil’s reply. “This is a stroke of luck on our part then,” Neil said. “If he hadn’t tried to kill me, we wouldn’t have been as ready for their attack as we will be now. And now we can destroy their base as well.” We all nodded in agreement.
“I figured I could lead my legion on Ttkas and Laura and Peter can lead theirs to Valle. We can plan more out once we figure out details,” Tom reasoned out.
“That sounds good. What about you Arcadia?” Laura eyed me.
“Me? I’m sitting this one out. I will go after any underground resistance in the other planets once you are through, but for now I will watch from a distance.”
“I figured as much,” she mumbled.
“Then why did you ask?”
Laura didn’t answer.
“That brings me to my last question, sir,” Tom changed subjects. “What do you want us to do with the prisoner? I say we execute him immediately sir. If he escaped, he could warn the P.A.E. and our chance would be ruined.”
“I agree, sir. We don’t know what could happen if he got away,” I knew this would be their chance to get away and I could start my mission. Neil looked at me a second more then turned back to the rest of the generals.
“Fine. Execute him immediately and then report back to me at once. We will then discuss our tactical plans for this war we are about to end.”
“Yes, sir. Laura and Peter, you can wait in the meeting room. Arcadia, you can do whatever you want to do, I really don’t care,” Tom signaled to the other two.
“I will go with you,” I followed him down the corridors.
He cocked a smile, “Just can’t stand to be away from me too long, can you?”
“I just want to see this scumbag shot, that is all.”
“Sure, that’s why,” Tom said with a smile. I eyed him as we grabbed four guards to help us escort Rik to the room where he would be executed.
The room of execution had never been anything fancy. Just a couple of chains, some lights, and lots of stains. The prisoner stood against a wall while the guards or one of us read him his sentence and then he was shot until dead or hung by chains depending on our mood. It wasn’t the most humane way of killing, but treason doesn’t call for humane. It calls for death.
We entered the execution room as the guards brought in Rik. He looked terrible, more terrible than he did before. The guards had to keep him from collapsing to the floor. I felt a little sorry from him. Just a little, he was my brother after all. I tried not to show this in worry that Tom might notice.
Tom started the reading. “By order of the Empire you have been charged with attempt to assassinate his majesty the Emperor.”
The guards let him fall to his knees and took their positions to shoot.
“Do you have any last words?” Tom questioned.
Rik grinned, even given the circumstance he was in. “The only thing I want to say is,” he spat out some blood. “It’s not over.”
The lights went out.
“Don’t shoot!” I shouted to the guards. I didn’t want some surprised trigger-happy guard to ruin my plan. Especially with a TG-3. If you didn’t know what exactly you were shooting at with one of those, things could get ugly.
“Get the damn lights back on!” I heard Tom order.
I stood still and waited for what was about to happen. If I was correct, they would come out of the secret entrance from the tunnels below, the exact tunnel I found that led straight to this room. They waited until Rik was going to be executed, hoping I would be there and they could grab both of us without any trace. Feeling a rag cover my mouth, I didn’t resist inhaling the chemical it possessed.
Chapter 6
Heat from the warm star beamed down on my skin. Echoes of a beast’s roar rung through the jungle. Light from the souls of a thousand men. All so strange, yet all so familiar.
“Sbiohi, foymkvig, gipiprig qka eay ogi,” a woman’s voice filled my mind.
Opening my eyes slowly, I found only darkness. The dreams were happening more frequently now. I peered around to see if I could see any traces of light. The only light I saw came from underneath the door positioned in front of me. I tried to move my limbs bu
t I found them to be bound by ropes to what seemed to resemble a chair. My head felt as if someone had hit it with a shovel. A metal shovel in fact, not one of those wooden ones. I knew the difference. Whatever drug they used to knock me out didn’t have great side effects.
“Is anyone there?” I called out to the other room beyond the door.
I heard footsteps on the other side and the door opened to reveal light into the room. I squinted. It took time for my eyes to adjust and I realized where I was. I was on a ship. The Class Two ship I had seen earlier. I could hear the faint hum of the engines now that I listened. We must have made it to space. Their plan had worked.
“What do you want? Where are you taking me? Where’s my brother?” I looked around again. Cans of food were stacked all around. “Why am I tied up in a food pantry?”
“Enough questions,” the man slapped me across the face. This made an echo of pain run through my head. If I wasn’t so used to pain I probably would have groaned.
Grabbing the back of the chair, he pulled me out into what appeared to be the dining hall. Class Two ships were a type of civilian ship not typically used for much other than travel and maybe some small cargo transportation. This one could have artillery of some kind, which would be illegal for this class of ship, but they wouldn’t have cared. They had just broken into the Pandronan Imperial Palace and kidnapped a prisoner and an officer of sorts. They would be stupid not to arm the ship.
The man pulled me out of the pantry and sat me at the table that stood in the middle of the dining area. Taking a seat across from me, he sat there, not saying a word. He had a stern look across his face, as if he wasn’t particularly happy I was on board the ship. Grease stains covered his plain shirt and jeans and blackened his once blonde hair. I concluded him to be the mechanic of the ship. I watched as he kept his stare. If I wasn’t mistaken, he was the man I saw running through the tunnels when I was returning to the palace. I believed his name was Will.
“Is there any particular reason you are glaring at me? Because you are starting to get on my nerves,” I inquired without letting my eyes leave him.
He didn’t respond nor even move an inch. I don’t think I saw him blink the entire time we sat there. I peered around the room. It was obvious that the room was for multipurpose use. Besides the table, the room also had two large couches, a galley, and the food pantry I had just been in. A flag with two crossed swords and a star in the middle hung above the chairs. The Second Republic flag, the flag the P.A.E. never took down after the war. The area was probably used as a galley, dining room, storage and recreation area. Now they used it as a prisoner holding area. Creativity always made ships like this more useful.
I wondered if this was the first time or if they had captured more Imperials before me. They had a good plan and must have known where to put me from experience. Problem for them was that I wasn’t an ordinary Imperial officer. I could get myself out of a lot worse situations than any regular officer could.
“You killed him,” the man finally ended the silence.
I sighed. Not another revenge addict. There were way too many of those in the galaxy, and I seemed to attract them. “Who did I kill this time?”
“You killed our father,” he bluntly stated.
“Your father? You are going to have to be more specific,” I turned to face him. “I’ve killed a lot of men throughout my time.”
“His name was John Basen. You murdered him!”
I paused for a second. I knew that name. I knew the name all too well. “I don’t recall killing anyone by the name of John Basen,” I lied.
He stood up and slammed his fist against the table. “Yes, you did! Three years ago on Cisum! You killed him, you murderous bitch!”
“Language, good sir. I am a lady, after all.”
Without hesitation, he grabbed for a knife and started for me. I presumed he wanted to stab me the entire time I had been onboard and I had finally pushed enough buttons for him to go through with trying. I had already loosened the ropes that bound my arms and waited to see if he would truly try to stab me. If he came any closer I would stop him from doing anything. Before I concluded if he really wanted to stab me or was just trying to scare me, another man walked into the dining area.
“Will! Don’t!” the stranger quickly ran and grabbed Will’s arm before he could lunge at me. I was right, his name was Will.
Will struggled. “I wasn’t going to kill her; I was just going to do to her what she did to Rik!”
“No, he told us not to hurt her,” the other man kept his grip on Will’s arm.
Will kept trying to get out of his grasp. “I don’t care! She deserves a lot more than for us to just stand here and guard her.”
“It isn’t our call.”
“But she killed him, David! She killed him and won’t even admit it. She’s heartless. We can’t trust her even being on this ship. I don’t care that she is his sister. She’s endangering all of us! That woman deserves to die for the things she has done!” Will proclaimed.
So the other man was David. I made a mental note of his name but stayed quiet as they kept arguing.
“I know, I know. But we need her to stop the Empire from ruling. We need her to find what Rik is looking for. You can’t kill her,” David tried to calm him down.
“If you hate me this much, why did you go through with helping Rik capture me?” I put out in the open.
Ignoring the question, Will stopped struggling and let go of the knife. After David let go of him, Will pointed to me.
“When we are done with this mission, I will kill you. Remember that.”
“Threatening me is not a wise decision and warning me that you’re going to kill me is just plain stupid. You should have killed me while you had the chance,” I said with a sly smirk.
Will turned and stormed out of the room. David watched as he left the room.
“You don’t really think I will help you all in trying to take down the Pandronan Empire, do you?” I made a quick examination of my new guard.
“That is not for me to say,” he slid his hand through his dark brown hair. “Sorry about my brother. He is a little, how do I put this, pissed off.”
This man was different than Will. He wore a collared shirt and trousers, a contrast to Will’s more casual wear. His blue eyes were hidden behind round glasses.
“I bet,” I commented, “You two aren’t actually related. Adopted?” He looked at me, startled with my statement.
“No, we aren’t actually related. Will, Rik, and I were all adopted by John when we were young. About eleven years ago, I believe. After the attack on Garvner, John brought Rik to Valle and found Will and me alone and adopted us as well. We were all about the same age and each in a bad place. I don’t know where I would be if it wasn’t for him. Honestly, I don’t think any of us do. Will and I were street kids struggling to survive, pickpocketing any person we could find. John took us in and he taught us everything we know.”
So that was the John he was talking about. “Nice story, and no I don’t think you would have survived pickpocketing, just look at you. Anyway, by John, you mean the man Will claims I killed?”
“Yes. He blames you for his death. You were said to be seen on Cisum during a raid in one of our strongholds. Not many survived.”
“Sounds like somewhere I would be,” I remarked.
“He thinks you killed him with your bare hands there.”
“I can see that. So I presume you don’t think I did?”
David shook his head. “Many Imperial officers were there when things went down. I can’t blame you for his death. I can’t blame a single person for the casualties of war.”
I grinned at his comment. “Tell that to Rik. Speaking of which, where is Rik? Where is my long lost brother? The one who went through all this trouble just to talk to me?”
“He’s in the medical room. Your people almost killed him. If things happened any later than what was planned he could have died,” he tried to
see if he could get an emotional response out of me. I didn’t show any.
“We are thorough,” I said.
“So I’ve noticed.”
“Personally I am surprised he wasn’t killed earlier. General Draff has a reputation of killing his prisoners before their actual execution. He has a problem of not knowing when to quit.” Interrogation wasn’t the only thing where Tom didn’t know when to quit.
David rubbed his chin. “Lucky for us then.”
I studied him. “You are awfully calm about all this.”
“I like to keep my emotions to myself. Keeping a calm head lets me make better decisions,” he said as he took the seat across from me.
“You mean to tell me you broke into the Imperial Palace and captured me with a straight head? That doesn’t sound like the actions of a calm person, let alone a sane man.”
“We succeeded didn’t we?”
I smiled, knowing their plan wouldn’t have worked without me being ordered to spy on them. “For now. You don’t think the Emperor will have his men looking for you? It won’t be long until you are caught. And believe me, you don’t want to get caught.”
David took off his glasses and cleaned the lenses with a piece of his shirt. “Don’t worry, we won’t get caught.”
“We will see about that.”
The door opened to reveal a petite brunette. She was the woman I saw earlier. Her white apron was spattered with blood stains. This wasn’t the first time she had to work on a badly injured subject. I wondered how often these people had to be treated by her.
“Rik’s awake,” she began. “And he has requested to see her.”
David stood. “Already? He is well enough to talk with her?”
“No, but he keeps asking to talk to her. He won’t rest until he sees her so I figured why not. Then at least he will get some rest,” her eyes didn’t leave me for a second. I concluded she must fear me for what I could do, or hate me for what I did.
David nodded. “Alright, I will bring her. Just give me a minute.”
She waited a second longer, fiddling with the edge of her apron, and then left the dining area. I glanced at David, who was still staring at where she had been standing.