Defender of the Empire 2: Facades

by Catherine Beery

  The Hail Mary began a dangerous game of cat and mouse with the four attacking ships. She would appear and fire, before jumping away again. But she couldn’t leave, tethered as she was by her mission and her crew trapped on the colony world.

  ***

  Jason

  Meanwhile, Jason was discovering that being planet side wasn’t any better than being on the ship. In fact, he was pretty sure it was worse. The serpent was hissing and throwing its weight around inside his skin. Incessant as a sore tooth, the creature went on and on about how there was danger. We need to protect them! it demanded.

  From what? Where is the danger coming from? Can you at least tell me that?

  Growling, the serpent replied, Everywhere. The danger is everywhere.

  Hey now, that’s specific and very helpful, Jason growled back sarcastically. Just like being planet side was so very helpful. The admiral was sure that Rylynn was on Lenti, but not so sure as to where, exactly. Marius seemed to agree with him, which reminded Jason a lot of how Rylynn and Marius also seemed to be on the same page. How was it that those three always seemed to know things before the rest of them? It made him feel very left out.

  They have help, his other-self hinted at, ever so helpfully.

  What do you mean? Jason asked, rubbing his head and wondering how crazy some would think him if they only knew what was constantly going on in his head right now. Hell, he thought he was very much in need of an isolation room with lots of padding.

  The Race of Light tell them things. Guide them. Tie them together.

  Jason frowned. Race of light? he wondered. He mentally reviewed all the races of the Spectral Empire before the realization of his own obliviousness sucker-punched him in the gut. Of course! Spectrals! He frowned again. But they are supposed to be rare. And people who can see them even rarer…

  “I think it was pure insanity that inspired the first bureaucracy,” Marius suddenly whispered in his ear, jerking Jason back to the real world.

  Jason startled, and stared blankly at the other boy. Marius rolled his eyes and gestured at the table where the officials of the city had the admiral trapped. They had been going on for hours now about how it was time the Legion Fleet took an interest in their plight, and all the grievances the Telmicks had caused them. This was why Jason felt so helpless. Rylynn was out there somewhere, and these people couldn’t let them go find her. Instead, they seemed convinced that they could wave their hands and the Telmicks would magically go away or something.

  Jason turned back to Marius, and gasped softly. Sprawled lazily on the bench next to where Marius was seated was an insubstantial black panther. Starlight hazed the edges of her body and fur. Jason wasn’t sure what made him think the creature was female, but it seemed right. She shifted her great feline head, and settled it on Marius’s lap. Bright golden eyes met Jason’s gaze. They were dozy, as if she was bored. A moment later she blinked slowly, and then her eyes widened.

  “Are you all right, Jason?” Marius whispered in concern.

  Jason met his gaze and said, “She is a Spectral, isn’t she?”

  Marius’s green eyes widened in surprise. The panther sat up and tilted her head curiously at Jason, before turning to Marius. Marius’ eyes shut and he snorted softly. “I’m an idiot,” he muttered softly to himself. Jason normally wouldn’t have heard him, except that the serpent had heightened his senses. Marius leaned toward Jason. “I should have remembered,” he continued, “the gift of your family has always been able to see Spectrals. They are both creatures of energy, after all.”

  “How do you…” Jason began, but Marius shook his head.

  “This isn’t the place or time for this conversation. We can talk later,” Marius promised. Marius turned back to the conference going on a few feet away. Stunned, Jason followed his example, and couldn’t help but stare at yet another member of the ‘Race of Light’, as the serpent had called them. This one was a raven with feathers the same shade as his mother’s lapis lazuli dishware. Only these feathers were glowing. Its beady silver eyes didn’t miss a thing in the room.

  The raven was studying him from Admiral Wingstar’s shoulder. Jason forced himself to breathe. So, now he knew how the admiral and Marius were often on the same page. This made him wonder, what kind of Spectral did Rylynn have?

  “Excuse me, gentlemen. It is an urgent call,” Admiral Wingstar said suddenly. He rose from his seat before the mayor and the other officials of the prime city could say a word.

  Danger, the serpent hissed softly.

  ***

  Braeden

  “Admiral, we are under attack!” Lieutenant Rael said over his personal com once he’d established the link.

  “Excuse me, gentlemen. It is an urgent call,” the admiral said to the officials of the city. Rael’s words were all that he could focus on. He got up, and left the room. “What is happening up there, Rael?” he asked, once in private.

  “Two Zar’daken ships will be here soon, and we have guests. The Sol’s Memory and the Falcon. They say they are here to aid us.”

  Braeden frowned. He didn’t like the fact that his ship would be under attack while he wasn’t there to help her. He also didn’t like that the Sol’s Memory was there. While it was usually a good thing to have other Legion ships in a situation like this, Braeden didn’t trust Captain Benson. The captain had always rubbed him the wrong way. He’d always seemed to have different priorities than the Legion Fleet.

  However, he did trust Admiral L’Seral. A quick instruction to Gigit, and Braeden could hail L’Seral. “Francesca, the Hail Mary will soon be under attack by the Zar’dakens. Also, two unscheduled Legion Fleet ships are here, but I would feel better if you and the Terrenza could make an appearance.”

  “Of course, Braeden. You know I love a good fight,” Francesca said with a smile in her tone. “I also know that the Zar’dakens love seeing my beautiful face, too.”

  Braeden laughed, “I’m sure they do,” though he doubted the Zar’dakens had a similar idea of beauty. “My thanks,” he said before switching back to Rael. “Rael, patch me through to the bridge.”

  “Yes, Sir.”

  A second later, Braeden could hear the faint buzz that told him that the rest of the bridge could hear him. He spoke to them for a few moments, telling them that the Terrenza was on her way. Being able to do nothing else, he returned to his meeting with the officials. “My apologies,” he said.

  “I trust that things are taken care of?” the mayor of Sage’tehti asked.

  Braeden made to reply, when two things happened simultaneously. The city’s sirens wailed to life, just as Rael let him know that the Zar’dakens had arrived.

  An aide ran into the suddenly panicked conference room. “The Telmicks are attacking!”

  “Your ship has to aid us, Admiral!” the mayor demanded, panic coloring his tone. Braeden couldn’t blame him, since the man had just spent the last several hours explaining the stretched-thin militia and the overtaxed supplies of the city. An open attack on the city was the absolute last thing they needed.

  Braeden shook his head. “They are under attack by a couple of Zar’daken warships at the moment.” His announcement silenced the chaos in the room. The young man who had come with him stared at him in shock.

  “S-surely you jest,” the mayor sputtered.

  Braeden met his gaze. “I wish I was. Take me to your defensives. We will have to depend upon ourselves at the moment.” The mayor gaped like a fish out of water for a few seconds before complying with Braeden’s order. As he followed the stressed man, he couldn’t help thinking that they were sitting in the middle of a well-orchestrated trap. The Telmicks were attacking planet side, and the Zar’dakens on star side. It was too simultaneous to be a coincidence, and it kept either side from helping the other. He took a moment to pray.

  Chapter 19 – Relentless Change

  Rylynn

  “What is your favorite type of game?” I asked Timothy while we waited for the word to head ou
t. Jack Fairhand was talking with Kifen and Talis. I assume they were discussing ways of getting off the planet without getting shot down.

  “My favorite type of game?” Timothy repeated thoughtfully as he leaned back into the couch in Jack’s living room. After a moment he grinned at me. “I would have to say that strategy games are my all-time favorite. They require skill, and a firm understanding of the rules.” His grin turned somewhat sly. “Of course, one can also bend the rules if they are really good.”

  “So, chess?”

  He nodded. “Checkers, bagh-chal, mancala, bridge, pasang and others. Oh and drad’age when I’m lucky enough to run into a J’Aran.”

  “Drad’age?” I asked. It and pasang, were the only ones that I hadn’t heard of before.

  “I’ll have to teach you that one,” Timothy said eagerly. “Drad’age has two players, but is played as if there were three.”

  “How does that work?” I couldn’t help asking.

  “The players are opponents who are trying to get the ‘drad’ on their side. It’s like this,” he said, talking with his hands as much as his words. “One player takes a turn with their pieces, than moves a piece on the drad’s corner of the board. Then the second player goes, again playing on their side and then moving to the drad’s corner. The goal is to defeat your opponent, but the only way you can do that is to have the drad, or ‘ally’ on your side, which is why you move the pieces around in the drad’s corner. Yes, your opponent is trying to do the same thing, but the trick and thus the fun of the game, is to set up the drad against your opponent in a way that they can’t alter.”

  “So you are building up your defenses on your own side and attacking with the drad?”

  Timothy grinned broadly, his eyes gleaming. “That is usually the ‘safest’ way to do it. The other is to defend with the drad, and attack with your own pieces. Or both,” he said tilting his head slightly.

  My first thought about this ‘drad’age’ was that it sounded crazy. But as I thought more about it I could see why Timothy got excited. It was a game of subtle intrigue and fronts. You had to play two people and constantly try to think of what your opponent was doing before he did. It sounded like fun. “I would like to learn it,” I said.

  “Excellent! I’ll show you on the way, because you know that as soon as I pull the board out, he is going to say we are leaving.” Timothy nodded ruefully at Jack.

  “So maybe you should pull it out so we can get to the L’uf and you could show me how to play.”

  “Well, I guess that is one way to do it,” Timothy said. But, neither of us got to see if my plan would work. The sirens screeched in a way that made me shiver and think the end was nigh.

  “I think the ses-KGor must be attacking,” Talis observed, listening to the siren’s wail.

  Jack cursed quite colorfully before turning to Timothy and me. “We need to go now. Sylvia said it would be like this.” The last of his words were muttered.

  ***

  Talis’talklen

  “When can we be expecting you back on board, talklen?” Saffa’tauta asked over Talis’talklen’s hand com.

  Looking out the window of Jack Fairhand’s apartment, he could see the fireballs that had once been ships raining down. “The ses-KGor are attacking, and all ships in the air are being shot down. Until this is over, Kifen’alusa and I are stuck here.”

  Saffa’tauta cursed the ses-KGor with his usual finesse. Talis’talklen couldn’t help but smile a little at his second’s tirade. “Curse the perto and their timing. We will stay as we are and hopefully this attack blows over soon.”

  “Aye. And perhaps I will have more tokens to add to my collection,” Talis’talklen agreed.

  Saffa’tauta laughed. “Good hunting, talklen.”

  “They are leaving,” Kifen’alusa murmured at his shoulder.

  Talis’talklen glanced over at the humans and saw them gathering bags like hens gathering their chicks together. “Come, we shall go with them,” he said, and Kifen’alusa fell into step behind him. He could feel the younger warrior’s excitement about returning to the field. Fighting was always better than sitting around and waiting. Even better, was that they would be fighting against their rivals. And, Talis’talklen thought to himself with a look at the little human girl, we can see what new tricks our little elarken will come up with.

  Rylynn thought he insulted her by calling her elarken, and yes, originally he had thought it a joke. But after thinking about it, he began to realize how apt the name was. Now it was his own ironic joke, translated into the common tongue of the Empire. Elarken literally meant ‘central flame’. It was what his people called the center fire of the clan. Life was centered around it, but get too close and it would burn.

  Rylynn was much like the central fires of his home, in that she protected those about her. The fire did it through light that scared away predators. She did it through her quick intelligence and courage, both of which had saved his crew at least once. As to the fire’s central location in the clan that one always returned to, the two of them kept crossing paths. And every time he got too close he seemed to get burned.

  They were several blocks away from Jacks apartment when Saffa’tauta hailed him again. “Sir, the LFH Hail Mary is under attack by two Zar’daken warships and two other Hasta class Legion ships.”

  Talis’talken stumbled slightly, his aching leg taking advantage of his slip in concentration. Kifen’alusa raised an eyebrow at him and Talis’talken shrugged and raised his com so Kifen’alusa could see it. Kifen’alusa nodded his understanding that it hadn’t been the leg that caused him to stumble. “There is a coup above,” he said simply, and Kifen’alusa’s gaze brightened with curiosity. “Have any of them spotted you?” he asked Saffa’tauta.

  “No, Talklen. They have given no sign that they have. What are your orders?” his second asked. Should they help the doomed Hail Mary or not? If they helped they would surely die as they were vastly out-gunned. But watching the doomed ship fall was not something they would relish unless it was their enemy, and the Hail Mary was no longer that.

  “Do as you will, Saffa’tauta. You can see what is going on.” There was a pause before his second signed off.

  “The way we want to go is just ahead in that building’s cellar,” Jack said, as he pointed out the way to Rylynn and Kifen’alusa, “there is access to the tunnel system there.” Talis’talklen pocketed his com and studied the building ahead. The streets about them were loud with panicking people and the constantly wailing sirens.

  “So are we taking the front door or do you have your own ‘front’ door?” Rylynn asked.

  Jack raised an eyebrow at her. “What makes you so certain it’s a ‘door’?” the older human asked before winking at her. “Come on. I’ll show you our front ‘door’,” he said, taking off as briskly as one could in the crowded street. Talis’talklen shook his head at the strangeness of humans. Expecting that they would try to figure out how to climb through a window or some other tedious task, Talis’talken shook his head again in confusion as Jack led them to the actual front door of the establishment. It was a diner, empty of customers. Everyone must have fled in a real hurry, as the kitchen staff had even left the stove burners on.

  “Your ‘front door’ is the front door?” Rylynn asked, bringing Talis’talken’s thoughts aloud. It really was unnerving when she did that.

  Timothy leaned toward her and whispered “dred’age.” He said the word like humans playing chess would say ‘checkmate’.

  Rylynn’s gray eyes widened as the group passed through the abandoned restaurant’s kitchen and down the stairs to the cellar. Her eyes narrowed as she whispered back, “I didn’t know we were playing.”

  To which Timothy just grinned and replied, “Funny, because I thought we were always playing it.”

  “I did warn you, girl, that he was relentless when it comes to games,” Jack said from the front of the group. He stopped near a dark, antique fireplace. In the dim cellar lights,
Talis saw him push on one of the fireplace’s border tiles. A series of grumbling and grinding sounds murmured through the walls, before the fireplace disappeared into the ground. In its place was a wide tunnel that led off into the unfathomable distance. Dim light globes came on one by one.

  “That isn’t creepy at all,” Rylynn muttered.

  Jack snorted as he brushed past her. “Let’s go.” Following his example, the group stepped into the tunnel. Jack slapped a design carved on this side of the fireplace, and the groans and grinding returned as the fireplace rose back up. It reminded Talis’talklen of the burial caves back home. Large stones had to be rolled back in order to gain entry.

  Now they were in a long cave, that had just been sealed. Talis’talklen was not a superstitious man, but he did pray that the similarity to the burial caves was not some sort of omen.

  Jack led the group through the endless tunnel and its many branches without any sign of hesitation, for which Talis’talklen was glad. He did not think that he could have continued to follow the man if he had been at all hesitant. Getting lost down here would be a death sentence—a slow and helpless death sentence.

  “How much longer?” Kifen’alusa asked after a brief break.

  Jack studied the far distance before answering. “I believe we have another hour’s walk before we reach our exit point.”

  “What fight can we expect outside that exit?” Talis’talklen asked.

  “None. Just our L’uf guides, I hope,” the old human replied.

  In over an hour—because of all the breaks, or so Jack claimed—they finally found the exit Jack had been looking for. Upon first seeing the ‘exit, Talis’talklen had felt hopeless. The tunnel just ended. But he didn’t have long to worry as Jack pressed a crack in the wall. The middle part of it depressed to reveal that it was another hidden touch stone like they’d used at the fireplace. The dead end slid into the ground, but instead of a cellar, this opening revealed a short cave that appeared to open into the forest.