Defender of the Empire 2: Facades

by Catherine Beery

  Coronaius System

  Spectral Empire

  Balenna

  The world of Coronaius was one with an endless metropolitan skyline. The higher apartments and businesses were reserved for the noble elite and sickeningly wealthy. The tight maze of the city’s foundations were for those not so lucky, but that didn’t mean street rats or beggars. Even the actual streets of the city were well maintained—practically spotless. The real estate was still exclusive to the well to-do middle class. On a world that worshipped the Machiavellian principle of gaining wealth and power, one did not find the poor. Either they left before their finances were shot, or they were sold by their creditors to the colonies.

  The golden-eyed and squat Kootoli loved desperate folk. She did too, but for a different reason. The Kootoli enjoyed the cheap labor, and she enjoyed the tasty snack they made. Staring thoughtfully out the window of her transport, she decided to stop by a deportation center after her business was concluded. She needed to keep Adrian’s soul strong enough to keep his body running smoothly for some time yet, and she couldn’t keep chewing on the Mythic Spectral in the Lous-eci’dalb, nor could she devour another Spectral. Too many of the morsels, and the mythic would be able to break free. That wouldn’t do at all.

  Adrian’s fists tightened as she thought of all the temptation around her. She should get a damned medal for her restraint, especially since she was always starving. Yes, she definitely needed some of those desperate creatures soon. Ten should be… no, make it fifteen. Yes, that should be enough till we get to Colony Lenti, she calculated as her transport arrived. Mentally shaking herself from her hunger daze, Balenna directed Adrian’s body out. She blinked a couple of times at the bright lights of the city. It might be night, but the lights made it seem like day. The tinted windows of her transport had dimmed it to an agreeable level. Thankfully, Adrian’s eyes adjusted quickly enough.

  “Welcome Adrian,” a man said, coming forward. Balenna recognized him as Jonas Baden, the leader of the Movement’s headquarters on Coronaius. Adrian and he were good friends, though they had disagreed on things in the past.

  Tuning into how Adrian would respond, she smiled. “Thank you, Jon. Is everything ready?” she asked, clasping Jonas’s forearm in the men’s traditional greeting.

  Jonas nodded and gestured for Adrian to proceed him into the building. “Yes. They are waiting for you.”

  “Excellent. Thank you,” she said, moving to the communications room. Glaring at her from one screen was the Zar’daken WarKing, Zar’Shash. The other screen framed the tattooed masked face of Brel’toatalklen ses-KGor. Balenna inclined Adrian’s head to the other leaders. “Thank you both for your time—”

  The WarKing hissed furiously. “That is the first thing you say to me after your plan killed my youngest son?”

  Balenna bowed Adrian’s head solicitously. “And for that part there are no acceptable amends I can make. That said, I had wanted to employ the ses-KGor to do the kidnapping,” she said with an elegant gesture toward the leader of the ses-KGor, who smiled. “Unfortunately your son felt differently and hired the ses-Ky.”

  “Are you saying my son got himself killed?” Zar’Shash clicked dangerously.

  “Not at all,” Balenna soothed.

  Brel’toatalklen snorted. “Of course your brat got himself killed,” he said derisively to the Zar’daken. “Everyone knows that while the ses-Ky are a formidable force, they also have the unfortunate habit of keeping some enemies alive. It is their fault that the Legion Fleet showed up at the meet.”

  “And to be completely blunt, the Legion Fleet are the ones with your son’s blood on their hands,” Balenna pointed out. In the Zar’daken courts, the fault of a crime did not rest with the one pulling the strings. The fault lay with the one who had actually committed the deed. Meeting the Zar’daken’s insectoid eyes, she continued. “Great WarKing, I offer you a chance to avenge your son. Are you, by any chance, familiar with chars?”

  The Zar’daken blinked at her unexpected turn in conversation. “Of course, though what does this have to do with vengeance?”

  Balenna smiled. “The substance is mined on a single colony world. Could you imagine how crippled the Legion Fleet—the whole Spectral Empire for that matter—would be if you used that weapon against them?” She could see the light of interest burn in the WarKing’s eyes. Oh yes, he could definitely imagine the possibilities. Balenna turned to the Telmick, “are your people ready?”

  “Yes, though I don’t know why we had to wait this long,” the Telmick sulked.

  “Because restraint leads to the greatest of rewards.” She glanced at the Zar’daken, “The ship that had the largest hand in your son’s death is stationed there.”

  “What is your plan?” the Zar’daken snapped.

  Sometime later, Balenna smiled as she feasted on the slaves she had picked up on her way to Colony Lenti. Not only was her appetite sated for now, but business had gone well. The Zar’dakens and the ses-KGor were pleased with her plan. After all, everybody wins… except for the Empire, but that was the point. The Zar’dakens now had a way to punish the Spectral Empire for existing. The Telmicks were being richly paid. The Movement would see their goals achieved… okay, only one really (though they didn’t know this). They would see the Empire changed. And she had won the satisfaction that only fooling powerful men could bring, and the opportunity to free her people.

  Chapter 10 – Discovering the Puppet Strings

  Braeden Wingstar

  Admiral Braeden Wingstar stared after the retreating pirate vessels. He knew what he saw, but he couldn’t understand the why behind it. Thankfully, he wasn’t the only one.

  “Okay, I’m not complaining, but why did they attack us, then leave?” Commander Race Quinn asked.

  “I don’t know,” Braeden muttered before saying, “I want the officers and cadets in conference room one in fifteen.”

  “Aye, Sir.”

  Braeden left the bridge and made his way to the conference room. Normally, he would wait till closer to when he called the meeting. But this was not normal. There was something wrong and somehow he had missed it. Raj, do you feel as if something is amiss? he thought to his closest companion. The raven Spectral settled on his shoulder. Silver light rippling over lapis lazuli feathers was an entrancing sight that only he and Marius could see. The raven didn’t answer him. Instead, he shifted from foot to foot, obviously troubled. Raj? Breaden tried again.

  SOMETHING IS WRONG. SOMETHING IS MISSING.

  What?

  Raj scratched his avian head for a moment before fixing Braeden with a beady silver eye. THAT IS THE PROBLEM. I CAN’T FIGURE IT OUT.

  Braeden briefly closed his eyes. He could tell that this was what troubled his friend on a more visceral level. Being blind to events of enough import to worry both Shade and Spectral was much more troubling for a raven Spectral, as one of their gifts was foresight. It troubled Braeden, too. What was causing Raj’s blindness? We will find out soon enough, he thought to comfort the Spectral. It was also the truth.

  At the appointed time, the ship’s leading officers and three cadets arrived. Braeden frowned. “Where is Rylynn?” He would have thought she would be one of the first here. Dr. Sandren Rush shook his head. “She had been helping us at medical. I sent her on a run to hanger 4 not too long after the attack began. I haven’t seen her since, though.”

  “Her Medi-Comp isn’t acknowledging me, Sir,” Liuetenet Rael, the communications officer said.

  “I guess it’s on the fritz again,” Jason said aloud, and Westley and Marius nodded. The scenario happened often enough over the past few weeks. “She’ll come as soon as she hears about this through snail communication,” Jason concluded.

  Braeden sat back in his chair. He knew the reason why Rylynn’s Medi-Comp was often ‘on the fritz’, as Jason said. They were going to have to find a way to work around the issue of her ability to absorb ambient energy. Focusing on the issue at hand he said, “What are your
reports of the attack?”

  “Minimal damage that has already been repaired, Sir,” Helmsman Chas’al Evens reported.

  Race grunted. “What I want to know is why they attacked us.”

  “They had to know that they were outclassed,” Lieutenant Milo added.

  “Maybe it took them a while before they figured that out, and that is why they fled,” Evens suggested, tongue-in-cheek.

  “It was too purposeful to be just a mistake in identity. Though what that purpose could be, I have no idea,” Race said.

  A moment passed where they all thought about what that might mean, then Rael spoke up. “I think it was a ruse,” she ventured.

  “What do you mean?” Braeden asked. Rael was usually an animated woman who had no problem speaking her mind when she felt she needed to. To have her hesitate was about as uncharacteristic as having her speak in a monotone. When either event happened, something was truly wrong. Raj shifted again on his shoulder.

  Rael seemed to have an internal debate with herself, then abruptly typed something into the table’s display computer. “Since we left the Imperial system, I have been feeling like I am playing tag with a ghost, Sir. I have been noticing a lot of minor anomalies in the communications network. They would appear, taunt me, and then quickly disappear again. In the time it took to get someone to look with me, it would be gone. Even the computer couldn’t trace it.” A hologram appeared over the table, showing various wavelengths. “These are the current communications on the ship right now,” Rael explained, “all normal and expected. Nothing amiss.” She typed again and the image changed. “This is during our spat with the welcoming committee. Notice anything?”

  Braeden studied the waves before saying, “There is something off, but I couldn’t tell you exactly where.”

  “And this is why Rael is the communications officer, and we deal with things that are not so headache inducing,” Race observed with a cheeky grin. Rael raised an eyebrow at him and Braeden just gave him a look. The grin became slightly more apologetic. “Sorry, Sir.”

  Braeden snorted and shook his head slightly before turning back to Rael. “What is it that we are missing?”

  Rael’s fingers moved again and a few small sections from several different waves were highlighted. “It’s an allusive signal that is riding not just one of ours, but multiple systems. It’s also jumping randomly from one to the next and back. Sir, I would have showed you this earlier but it was never around long enough for me to capture it like this. And when I tried to look back on it, the computer wouldn’t have a record of it.”

  “Do we know where it was going? I’m assuming it was a communication of some kind,” Marius asked.

  Rael nodded. “I believe so. And, this is why I think the attack was a ruse. I believe it was for the ships attacking us. During the attack it disappeared, but I could pick it up from an LFA.”

  “An LFA?” Race shook his head. “No LFAs were used.”

  Westley traded a glance with Marius before saying, “But an LFA is missing from hanger 4. We couldn’t find it during an after-action inventory.”

  A troubled look crossed Marius’s face. “Doctor, isn’t that where Rylynn was sent on a first aid run?”

  The doctor nodded.

  Race shook his head. “I just called down there and they say they didn’t call for aid.”

  “That is ridiculous. I answered the call myself,” Dr. Rush protested.

  THIS IS WHAT IS WRONG, Raj said, flapping his wings. Only long practice kept Braeden from reacting to the ticklish feel of not-quite-there feathers. He could see Zara’s worry from her spot near Marius.

  “Evens, bring up the video feed of hanger 4, if you would,” Braeden ordered. Evens went to work, and the signal waves vanished. In their place was the current video feed of the hanger. Rows of the bat-like LFG ships floated before them, before Evens backed it up to just before the attack. After a brief pause the events began. The usual calm was broken by the organized chaos of the pilots and deck-techs getting the LFGs ready for action. The hanger’s bay doors opened, and the LFGs raced into the star-dusted blackness where their targets waited.

  And behind them a lone LFA slipped out.

  “What the hell?” Race muttered.

  “Show us the inside door,” Braeden ordered. He already knew there was only the one feed in the hanger. Personnel were identified going in. Evens obliged, and the view changed so they could see the hanger door from the corridor. The room’s designation was written over the door in bold lettering. The camera was stationed a few feet down the hall on the ceiling. Again, they saw the pilots enter. Then the hall was empty for some time.

  “Is there audio?” Marius asked urgently.

  Evens nodded, and turned it up. The sounds of struggling met their ears. Soon they could just make out someone speaking softly.

  “Turn it up,” Braeden said, leaning forward as if that would help him hear.

  And now the voice was clear. It sounded like a young human male. “Do you have to be so stubborn?” he complained. The unidentified voice turned soothing a moment later, “Shh, Ry. It’s okay. Just go to sleep. We’ll talk later.” It was repeated over and over again. A moment later there was a sigh. “There you go. Jeeze are you stubborn.” A short laugh then, “Damn, I’ve missed you.”

  Finally, the tense conference room was rewarded with a view of the man who had attacked one of theirs. He looked like a seventeen cycle old human athlete with short strawberry blond hair. In his arms, Rylynn was out cold. In the man’s hand was the first aid sack. He slipped into the hanger bay just as the LFGs were heading out. Before the door could shut, the command crew could see that no one was looking in the attacker’s direction.

  Braeden felt both helplessness and anger at watching the strange man slip off his ship with the girl. Race echoed his thoughts almost perfectly. “And thus one of ours is taken right out from under our noses,” Race said in disgust, glaring at the image.

  “Who was that guy? He seemed to know Rylynn well,” Westley said, anger glinting in his expression.

  “Maybe it was Ace,” Marius said thoughtfully.

  “Who?” Jason asked.

  “He is the leader of the gang Rylynn was part of before joining the Academy. He had visited her there to give her a letter from her deceased aunt. How he had it, I don’t know.”

  “Wait, did you just say this guy was on the capital? How do you know this?” Jason snapped.

  “She told me,” Marius replied, and Jason looked both surprised and hurt. Marius continued, “She hadn’t seen him since, and we both figured he had left. And even if he hadn’t, we didn’t think he could do anything to her once we left.”

  “Some secrets are not worth the price,” Braeden reprimanded before adding, “a single person could not do this alone. He had help; the pirates and the mercenaries for one, which would require money, even if they are friends. And even if he did have the funds necessary, that still doesn’t explain the signal.”

  “You think he is part of an organization?” Race asked.

  “You could say I have a feeling,” Braeden said, while Raj preened Braeden’s hair. Braeden stood up. “We will find her,” he said, meeting everyone’s gaze, one by one. The last was Marius. He didn’t have to say a word. Both Zara and Raj streaked away. It would not be long till the Spectrals found Rylynn. In the meantime, their more fleshy partners would do what they could from their end.

  Chapter 11 – In the Forest Deep

  Rylynn

  The forest floor was mostly dark, the only light a muted green after being filtered by so many leaves. Despite the lack of light, there were still many plants growing about the large tree trunks. Looking at them, I fancied that they were biding their time. One day, through some freak accident, one of the large trees would topple. Its resounding crash against the ground would be like the gunshot that galvanized runners to do what they did best: run. But in this case, the plants would do what they did well: grow.

  Aunt Sylvie
’s library had books that described old earth’s rainforest plants having similar traits. Though here, there were no vines tying the trees together. There were just the shadows and the movement of creatures unseen. But we were seen, that’s for sure.

  Our presence was marked by a small section of the woods going silent around us. I think it must have been our smell, because we were not making a lot of sound, just the whispering of leaves brushing against us and the odd crunching of leaf matter at our feet. I would have thought, given their size, the Telmicks would have been louder. The forest seemed too tight for them, but they moved with a grace that made me more wary of them.

  Talis suddenly halted our group with a raised fist. I strained to hear what he said, and found myself wishing that Luna was still with me. Her senses would be very nice right now. A tense moment passed before I could make out the raucous noise of panicked creatures.

  “What disturbed them?” I whispered so softly that I think Kifen read the question off my lips instead of hearing it. He snorted as we crouched lower to the ground. We, or rather I, couldn’t tell where the noise was coming from. The forest had a way of distorting it.

  “The ses-KGor wouldn’t know silence if it drowned them,” Kifen said derisively.

  “I’m guessing the ses-Ky and the ses-KGor are rivals?” I asked the obvious question. I just wanted to be clear.

  The Telmicks deigned not to answer. Ace leaned closer to me. “‘Rivalry’ is such a tame word to describe what lies between those two clans,” he said dryly.

  Anything else that may have been said remained silent as the sounds of loud crashing swelled. Now there was no doubt where the danger was coming from. Fifty yards ahead of us I could see bright points of light and large Telmick forms flickering between the trees.

  I went very still, but I couldn’t help tilting my head slightly. If the ses-KGor were hunting, they seemed to be going about it all wrong—unless they were trying to instill panic in their prey. For me, their display made me go all quiet and still. My fear was more rooted to the fact that I couldn’t escape into the trees with my hands bound. Glancing at my companions, I could see the intimidation ploy wasn’t working. Ace watched the lights with an assessing gaze, his hand near his blaster. Kifen and Talis looked on the threatening lights with disgust. Ah, the liberty of emotions when ones hands are free, I thought, with a look at the cuffs.