Spirit of Empire 4: Sky Knights

by Lawrence White

  Ellie stood up, clapping her hands again. “Well! That’s settled then.” Her gaze shifted to Galborae. “I had some idea of your importance to Tranxte, but I had no idea of your importance to the Empire.”

  “Nor did I, Your Majesty. I have yet to meet these Leaf People who have guided my life—actually all our lives—for so many years. They chose Gar as their messenger and me as their sword. I’m happy to have served. I hope it’s all behind us now. I believe the end of our gleason problem is finally in sight.”

  “Do you realize you stopped the spread of a whole new pestilence, a pestilence that might have rivaled or even exceeded that of the Chessori? My Empire is in your debt. Because of your bravery and intelligence, Tranxte has earned a place of honor within my civilization.”

  He stood up. “Thank you, Your Majesty, but look around this room. It took every single one of us, and others gave their lives so that we can be here today.”

  “Agreed, but you were their guide when it mattered. Leaders like you are rare. When they come to light, I do not hesitate to call upon them, though the reward I give for such unselfish actions is more often than not a call to even greater sacrifice in my name. Will you kneel before me?”

  Galborae seemed rooted in place. He blinked a few time as he considered her words, then said, “Those words carry a certain connotation where I come from. What exactly are you asking of me?”

  “I think you know. You have become a Great One within our Empire. I want to make it official.”

  “I’m not a member of your Empire.”

  “My husband Michael’s very words. I’ll tell you what I told him—I am not a clerk filling out forms here, and you know it. My Empire is ready to receive you, and it needs you.”

  Galborae stood rooted in place for another few heartbeats, then he went to a knee, though he was ten paces away from the Queen. He spoke as formally as he could. “Your words honor me and my people, Your Majesty, but I cannot.”

  Ellie seemed to sag. “Why?”

  “Everyone holds the Leaf People in high esteem, so everything they say matters. They named me Speaker for Tranxte in a vision.”

  “I know. You’ve been singled out in several visions. Until recently I did not give Tranxte the attention you all deserved. For that I apologize.”

  “My purpose as Speaker is to unite Tranxte. According to the vision sent by the Leaf People, if I fail in my duty as Speaker, Tranxte will ignite. I hold to that calling, Your Majesty. Can I speak for the people of Tranxte, can I help them unite, if I’m sworn to you?”

  Ellie stared into his eyes, but her thoughts were elsewhere. Eventually, she stepped over to him and pulled him to his feet. “You are truly a Great One. I made a similar offer to another and he declined on similar grounds. I will tell you this: my Knights often conceal their identity, meaning few know of their position.” Her lips firmed as she shook her head. “I do not want to form a relationship with Tranxte based on deceit.”

  “Nor will I, Your Majesty. The honor you have bestowed on me with your request will help carry me through whatever the future brings.”

  “A few rare individuals shine like beacons. Your light has led many of us, and I believe it will continue to light our way into the future. Titled or not, I will not hesitate to call on you should the need arise.”

  “There’s not a person in this room who would hesitate to answer your call, Your Majesty. I’m certain you know that.”

  Ellie smiled. “Actually, I do. Thank you. Now, am I to understand you plan to meet a gleason personally?”

  “I do.”

  “You have 25,000 marines on Tranxte. Let them do it.”

  Atiana stood up and went to his side. “This is one thing we’ll not ask anyone else to do.”

  “You’ve both graduated to greater responsibilities now.”

  “We’ll have marines with us, but if it’s too dangerous for us, then it’s too dangerous for anyone. Don’t forget, we are both soldiers first.”

  “I haven’t forgotten, but I’m asking you personally to not be the heroin here.”

  Atiana shook her head. “It has nothing to do with being the heroin. Surely you of all people understand that. It will not be a negotiation between soldiers, Ellie. It’s a meeting between heads of state, between civilizations. We’re going to make promises to a gleason that we’ll have to stand behind. It should be Gar doing this, but he’s not ready.”

  “Well, don’t give away the store.”

  “We won’t, but I’m counting on your Empire to back us up with transportation.”

  “We’ll back you up with more than that. You’re not going out there alone.”

  “We’ll have lots of marines.”

  “You’ll have a Protector by your side as well. He’s a Knight, and he has the authority to speak in my name. The Empire will back his promises, hence yours.”

  Atiana turned on Josh with sparks almost flashing from her eyes. “You might be a Knight, but you’re no more ready to fight for your life than Gar.”

  Otis padded over to her. “I will stand with you.”

  She shook her head in disbelief. “But you’re the Queen’s Protector. This is not your place. It’s my world, not yours or hers.”

  “Everything you say is right,” Otis said. “What you left out is that the Empire brought this scourge to Tranxte.”

  “The rebels brought them, not the Empire.”

  Otis sat with his head cocked to the side. “Do you think your people will ever appreciate the difference?”

  “Yes! I . . .” She stopped talking, suddenly uncertain.

  “Exactly, Your Majesty. Knights always take the fullest possible view of things. You might not know it, but you’re doing it as well. Why else do you insist on doing this thing yourself?”

  “Sire?”

  “I think you know the answer even if you haven’t put it into words. It’s because history will record this event. Your people will always know who risked everything for them: you, a queen of their very own, and your Speaker, an individual destined to lead them through their emergence. History demands a representative of the Empire as well. It’s not about us as individuals, it’s about what we represent and will represent for posterity.”

  “Your wisdom inspires me, Sire.”

  “As does yours, My Lady. Everyone likes to be the hero, but our importance here is as figureheads, not heroes.”

  “I understand, and I couldn’t agree more.”

  “My presence will make your job harder,” Otis said. “It might even make it impossible. If it does, I’ll withdraw.”

  “Why harder?”

  “Because my people and the gleasons have ancient grievances.”

  “Then find someone else.”

  “No. If the gleason agrees in my presence, we’ll know the agreement has teeth. He, and by inference the rest of the gleasons, will abide by it. The challenge is to get to the point of agreement. I hope you’re persuasive.”

  * * * * *

  As the meeting was starting to break up, Ellie took Atiana’s arm and pulled her aside for a private conversation. “I understand you’re a little more trusting of visions now?” she asked.

  “We’re assuming it was the Leaf People who helped me remember the code on the net. Whoever it was, it’s an experience I’ll never forget and one I hope to repeat under different circumstances.”

  “We’ll make certain you do,” Ellie said. “What exactly happened?”

  Atiana smiled as she brought the memory back. “It felt like someone was right there in my head, but I felt like someone’s arms were around me as well. He said we had done well but that we needed just a little more help, then he gave me the code.”

  “What you felt is exactly how the rest of us felt when meeting them in person.” Ellie brought two fingers to her chin while she considered. “I believe that’s a first,” she finally said. “They’ve led Krys in real time, but I have not heard of them personally intervening in the flesh, so to speak. It opens doors t
o other possibilities which I will consider deeply. Thank you.”

  “I don’t think this makes me a Seer,” Atiana added.

  Ellie nodded her head thoughtfully. “Who can know? That said, I tend to agree. Yours was not a vision so much as an active intervention.” She looked sharply to Atiana. “I hope you’ll let me know if there’s a recurrence.”

  “I shall, Your Majesty.”

  * * * * *

  Seeton led everyone back through the ship to air cars waiting outside. Shortly after leaving Ellie’s meeting room, Claire suddenly stopped, then leaned against the corridor wall with glassy eyes. She stood there for a moment, then slid down to sit with her back against the wall.

  Atiana waved the others ahead and joined her in companionable silence. Claire was the first to break that silence with her head hanging between her knees and her eyes focused on the deck. “Three months ago I was in an underground prison with no hope and no future. Today I participated in a meeting with the Queen and . . . just how many Knights were in that room?”

  “At least three. I’m never certain when I’m around her. I know exactly how you feel. What she did to you, she has a way of doing to everyone around her. I think it’s her way of cutting through all the barriers to reach the person you really are.”

  “It works. I feel like I was stripped naked.”

  “You were. We both were. So what’s your answer?”

  Claire lifted her eyes to Atiana. “I haven’t been asked.”

  “You might want to do a little homework before answering. Tranxte is primitive compared to all this,” she said, motioning vaguely at the ship. We don’t have vehicles or running water or even electricity. Until the marines came, we fought with swords. It’s still brutal and dangerous. There are no truly safe places on the planet, and very few of my people know how to read or write. Governor Havlock is trying to introduce the Empire to us in a way that makes sense. I’m sure you can appreciate the importance of teachers to that process.”

  “I’m aware of all that. I have a Rider descended from Stren, remember?”

  Atiana smiled. “I haven’t forgotten.”

  “What’s Governor Havlock’s process?”

  “He’s introduced the Empire to most of the planet. The next thing is to rid the planet of gleasons, then as he puts it, the hard work starts. He wants to introduce technology and learning a little bit at a time, hoping we’ll take it to the next level on our own. The whole process is in its infancy.”

  “I can see myself being a part of that. I’ve been teaching my guards for years.”

  “What did you teach them?”

  “Mathematics is my favorite, but all the sciences, philosophy, history, everything. Our elders were a group of scientists, and they demanded high performance even if there was little hope. As guard captain, I was also responsible for weapons training. We spent a lot of time on that.”

  “In that case, I’m asking. Will you come back with me?”

  “Of course I’ll come with you. What will I do?”

  “What we end up doing is not always what we expect to be doing, but I desperately need someone to teach me. We brought another woman for that purpose, but I’m pretty sure she’s not going to have as much time as I’ll want. And it might not be just me. I’d like to include a few others if I can break them away from their homes and families. Part of the process we have in mind is to teach the teachers—teach local people from Tranxte who will then spread what they’ve learned to the rest of the planet.”

  She stared into the distance for a time, then said, “I can’t really see past the gleasons leaving. We need people who can. You’ll be one of them if you decide to stay.”

  Chapter Forty

  Seeton arranged for transportation back to Tranxte, though Josh, Akurea, and the refugees from Harac stayed behind on Aldebaran I. Josh needed to recuperate, and he would do so with his family who had recently relocated from Earth to Aldebaran I. Akurea went out on another assignment. At Seeton’s request, Mayor Nbara, stayed to coordinate her peoples’ reintegration back into Empire life. She would have the option of joining Claire on Tranxte later.

  Havlock, Atiana, Galborae, and Claire, along with the surviving marines, returned to Tranxte. Lebac stayed on Aldebaran I to oversee modifications of the ships that would carry gleasons from Tranxte. Despite the best efforts of healing tanks and Riders, Havlock and Claire still had months of recuperation ahead of them during which their physical activities would be limited.

  Otis went with them—it was time to meet with a gleason.

  * * * * *

  A lone shuttle descended toward a clearing, it’s shields off and its gleason sensors working the way George had designed them to work. Within that clearing, the images of three gleasons appeared to be feasting on a kill. What that kill was, the people on the shuttle could not tell. Atiana, Galborae, and Otis, his hackles raised since the moment the gleasons came into view, watched as a marine crawled out onto the shuttle’s open ramp and dropped a red cloak near the gleasons.

  Galborae’s voice sounded across the clearing, his message carefully constructed in the limited gleason language. “I return tomorrow. One of you will carry the cloak and speak. If you fail to come, many of you will die without ecstasy.”

  The shuttle withdrew to a high altitude to observe. The three gleasons left their kill and split up, leaving the cloak behind in the clearing. When, by the following afternoon, no gleason had picked up the cloak, Galborae sighed.

  “They’re not ready.”

  “But they’ve surrounded the clearing,” Otis said. “Our sensors show them clearly. They’re hoping you return.”

  “We won’t disappoint them,” Galborae said. “We’ll pick up the cloak as a signal to them for what follows. They hate dying without ecstasy.”

  His voice carried across the clearing again. “I have returned. You failed to carry the cloak. For that, you will die without ecstasy.”

  The shuttle settled to the ground, the ramp opened, and Galborae stepped to the ground. He drew his sword and held it high, it’s shimmering blade calling to the gleasons as it had in the past. He retrieved the cloak as a horde of gleasons raced toward him, their eerie cries filling the clearing, but he did not wait. He stepped back to the ramp and the shuttle lifted him safely away. Without warning, lasers and blasters reached down silently from invisible ships high in the sky, snuffing out one gleason after another. When only one gleason remained, he halted the killing. His shuttle returned to the clearing and dropped the cloak, then hovered over the clearing.

  “Hear me,” he said, his voice projecting over the killing ground. “I return tomorrow. One of you will carry the cloak and speak. If you do not, I will kill again without ecstasy. Carry the cloak, and I promise you and your descendants more ecstasy than you have ever known.”

  The shuttle returned to Havlock’s command ship where Havlock instructed General Stymes to put all his forces on alert. The one card the gleasons had not yet played was for all of them to attack cities at the same time. If that ever came about, civilization on Tranxte would probably be set back thousands of years. The gleasons would ultimately die, but a lot of them would enjoy ecstasy in the process.

  Otis looked at him and growled, “You give them too much intelligence. Such an effort would require planning and someone in charge.”

  “Do I? Would it?” Havlock replied. “It would for us, but we don’t communicate mind to mind. These creatures are savage, but they’re not stupid. If just one of them comes up with the concept of a massive uprising, it could spread like wildfire to all of them. We’ve worried about this since the very beginning. It’s why I’m using the caravans to entice them rather than just cruising around and killing every gleason in sight. We don’t know what number of deaths would trigger such a response, but we believe that killing very large numbers of gleasons without giving them the opportunity to experience ecstasy would push them over the brink. We don’t have enough resources to defend the whole planet from such
an attack.”

  Otis growled low in his throat and sauntered away, unhappy with the whole concept of allowing gleasons to live at all. Intellectually he knew the Queen’s decision to treat them as a non-emergent alien race was the right thing, but ancient instincts fought hard to be heard.

  The next day the cloak remained where it had been dropped from the shuttle, but this time there were no gleasons in the area at all.

  “Well,” Galborae said, “it looks like they don’t like the price paid by their dead brothers. That’s progress.” They found another group of gleasons and killed all of them but one, then dropped the cloak again.

  When they returned the following day, everyone gasped. The images of three gleasons glowed in the middle of the field, and the cloak appeared to be floating. Many more gleason images showed in the tree lines surrounding the field.

  Galborae looked at Otis and Atiana. “We’re on.”

  A plan had already been set. Stymes, in a command ship high above, issued orders. Two shuttles escorted Galborae’s shuttle to the clearing while ten more shuttles hovered at a higher altitude but ready at a moment’s notice.

  As they lined up behind the closed ramp, Galborae asked Otis, “Are you sure you don’t want some armor?”

  “I do, but it’s important that the gleasons knows exactly who I am,” he growled. “Let’s get on with it.”

  The shuttle came to a low hover over the clearing, and Galborae made another announcement in the gleason language. “Take the shiny piece from the cloak and put it on your ear. We will then be able to speak to each other.”

  It took the gleasons a while to figure out what he meant, but one eventually complied. Galborae and Atiana stepped to the ground in plain sight of the gleasons.

  Galborae called across the intervening 50 meters, “I bring an ancient enemy. You will want to seek ecstasy, but you must not. You must hold while we speak or we will kill you without ecstasy.”