by K. L. Bone
I leaned over his body and removed the neps from his left wrist and neck, easing his pain. “Shall we try this again?” I asked. “Darin, how are you today?”
“Fine,” he answered through gritted teeth. He had bit his lip so hard trying not to scream that a trickle of blood ran down his chin. I took a wet cloth and moved it towards his face. He tried unsuccessfully to move from my approaching hands. “It’s just water,” I assured him. “I am going to wipe the blood away.” I touched the cloth to his lips as gently as I could. I used the other side to wipe away his tears. “There,” I said. “That’s better, isn’t it?”
“Yes,” he said back softly, his voice strained from screaming.
“Now tell me, Darin, what do you know about the Lorid home defenses?”
“I won’t tell you that.”
I looked at him for a moment. “Yes, you will. However, we can start with a simpler question. It is my understanding that you have held an actual audience with Lord Darcoth, the supreme commander of the Lorid Sovereignty. Is that true?” Darin continued to just look at me, his breathing finally beginning to slow. “Come now, I only wish to know if he is as noble as the stories say. You can at least tell me that.”
“Yes,” Darin paused then said, “I have met Darcoth.”
“And is he everything they say?” I asked, genuinely interested in hearing a firsthand account about the esteemed Lord.
“He is,” Darin replied. “The way he described battle strategies and some of the surprise victories he has led was amazing. Ideas I have never even dreamed of. He likes to take risks and will do crazy things based on nothing more than an unexplainable feeling and somehow manages to come out on top.”
“And protective of his people?” I asked.
“Oh, yes. He would rather risk his own life than another and does not ask his followers to do something he would be unwilling to do.” He looked up at me then. “Have you never met him? I would have thought that the leaders of your Empire would have met him at least at some point.”
“Lord Kasar has met him,” I said. “Along with three other Councilors, but I personally have never had the pleasure. I look forward to doing so someday. I hope to be the one to offer him an honorable death.”
Silence fell at that and I moved the subject forward. “I want to know about his inner defenses. Are you going to tell me now?”
“No,” he said firmly.
“How about you, Damon?” I called across the room.
“This one,” the inquisitor answered, “is not talking either.”
I turned back to Darin. “Tell you what; I am going to give you both a night to think about it. We will begin again tomorrow.”
I left the room and spent the rest of the night completing some business before retiring to a good night’s sleep. I got up the next morning and had Darin and Damon brought back to the interrogation room. They were returned to their respective tables. “How are you doing this morning?”
“Better than last night,” Darin answered.
“Are you ready to give me the information I need? I promise it will be a lot less painful if you do.”
“No,” Darin said. “I will not tell you.”
“Okay,” I answered. “We are going to try something different today.” I took a thin blade off the table behind Darin and moved it into his field of vision. I moved the blade to his left upper arm and cut sideways into the muscle. He hissed. I made a matching cut across his right arm. Then I made two cuts on both sides of his upper chest. The cuts were not deep; just enough to draw blood to the surface. I soaked two small cloths with Sectra D12. I held them over both of his arms and squeezed.
“Ahh!!!” he screamed. Tears filled his eyes again, “God Damnit!”
“Don’t curse, Darin. It’s very un-hero like.”
From across the room, Damon matched Darin’s curses with screams of his own. I poured more of the solution onto the cuts on his chest. I kept it up for several minutes before turning around and filling a syringe with the powerful liquid. “Darin,” I said, “look at me.” He did. “This,” I held up the syringe, “is going to hurt. You cannot imagine how much this is going to hurt. You do not want this in your veins. Tell me about the Lorid inner defense systems and any other vital information you have and this liquid will not touch you. You have my word.”
He looked at me through his tears. “Please,” he whispered.
“Just tell me. Tell me anything.”
He shook his head. “I can’t.”
I nodded sadly, “Okay then, here it comes.” I reached for his arm and injected the harsh liquid into his bloodstream. It took only a few seconds before he whispered, “it burns.”
I nodded. “There is an antidote. Tell me what I need to know and I will give it to you.”
The liquid burning spread throughout his body. He began to jerk, trying to escape the terrible sensation. His veins burned with liquid fire. “Oh my god!” he cried out. Damon screamed across the room, but neither man confessed. I let the drug run its course, giving them the most agonizing hour of their life. When it finally wore off, I had both men returned to their cell with the promise that we would continue the next morning.
I spent the rest of the night in the command room changing some of the perimeters of the Lorid battlefront. I swapped a few commanders from one place to another and added a few troops to the inner rim. I had orders from the Emperor to hold the line between the two armies, but not to attempt and advance.
The next day both men were ready once again for my arrival, however this time only Damon was strapped to a table. Darin was chained into a chair, giving him a clear view of the other man. This time, it was Darin who spoke first.
“How are you, Chrissa?” he asked.
“I am very well today, thank you for asking.”
“That’s good to hear,” he replied. “But I am still not going to tell you anything.”
“Yes, you will,” I replied. “I would love to play for a few more days, however I am running out of time and the information you have might be rather vital to the battle to come. Therefore, today we are going to try something different yet again.”
I walked over to the table where Damon was lying. “Where is Darcoth planning to attack next, the center?” Darin did not answer. I cut Damon across the chest. Red blood rose and burst from his pale skin. “How many new ships have been accumulated by the Lorid military since their defeat in the Keif system last year?” Silence. I cut my way down Damon’s right arm, turning it into a bloody mess. “What is the name of Darcoth’s top military advisor?” I ran the blade across Damon’s right cheek, right below his eye.
“What are you doing?” Darin finally screamed. “God stop it!”
“Every time you refuse to answer a question,” I informed Darin, “Damon will be punished.”
Darin stared at us, a look of horror on his face. “Tell me about the Lorid defenses,” I demanded. I grabbed a vial of Sectra D12 and turned the bottle over Damon’s chest. The liquid raced out, drawing so much pain from its victim that Damon couldn’t even scream.
“He’d rather die!” Darin said in an anguished voice. “We’d both rather die than tell you.”
I walked across the room, my high heels shattering the silence with every step. When I reached the chair, I knelt down to one knee so that I could gaze up into Darin’s golden eyes. “Darin,” I said softly. “I am going to tell you three things. First, every time you do not answer my question, Damon will suffer for it. Second, he will experience more pain than you can imagine in a hundred life times and third,” my voice was reduced to a harsh whisper, “he will never die.”
I almost felt pity as Darin stared into my cold eyes. Tears rolled down his face. “Are you a monster?” he asked.
“No,” I replied. “But I am willing to do monstrous things to better serve the Empire. I will do anything to win this battle, Darin. Anything.”
Darin started to talk. By the end of the night, I had all the information I needed to
move forward in our plans. I gave this information to my captains and our Empire began to advance in the war. Defenses were knocked out, prisoners were taken and the Lorids started to question who they could trust among their own people. When members of an army and government no longer trust each other, it is hard to effectively fight a war.
My military operations were moving perfectly when Lord Kasar arrived. As I have previously said my father stood as the highest-ranking military commander within the Empire, just under my top council position. Sadly, when my promotion took place it placed a barrier between Kasar and myself. It was my hope that when the Lorids were defeated, my father would be promoted to a council position by my side.
Meanwhile I found that Darin fascinated me with the most unobstructed interest. I am still not sure why, but this interest led to a personal game for me that would continue throughout the war. Darin had been broken into confessing the information I sought, but what I wanted was to break him completely. I gave orders to have both Darin and Damon’s wounds tended and over the next few weeks, both of the young men were taken care of by the best of our physicians.
Then one night when the doctors had cleared them, I had very formal attire sent to them and demanded their presence for dinner. Plates full of the rarest meats and most luxurious sea foods were presented. There was shrimp, lobster, and several types of steak followed by some of the most mouth-watering deserts ever created.
I arrived several minutes after them to ensure that they were already served and aware of what they were being offered before I, their enemy, arrived.
Darin and Damon sat in one of the ships elegant ballrooms. The walls were painted a deep red with diamond chandeliers hanging from the ceiling, lit by candlelight. A fireplace burned brightly on the left side of the room, warming those who sat before it. Lights danced off the diamonds, sending sparkles of color across the room. Darin and Damon sat at a round table before golden plates, black cloth napkins and crystal champagne flutes.
I had to walk clear across an empty room to reach were they were seated. My heels under my long red dress were silent across the carpeted room and they did not notice my presence until I had nearly reached the table. As they saw me, their bodies stiffened and Damon pointed to Darin who turned around to find me standing directly behind him. “Is the food to you satisfaction?” I asked. Unsure of what to say, Damon nodded his head while Darin remained utterly still. “In that case,” I told Damon, “I’ll allow the cook to live another day.”
With that, I took a seat in a chair next to them. “You had best eat. You must be starving.” I watched them exchange confused glances as I began to eat my meal. After a few hesitant moments, they resumed devouring theirs as well.
When we were finished, I ordered them to follow me. I took them into one of our archive computer rooms. I had the computer to create a map showing all the major planets and systems. I had all the systems owned by the Empire in red and all those free in blue. When this was done, every system containing a major species, with the exception of the Lorids’, was in red. The map seemed to be floating throughout the room and one could walk straight through it. As the map surrounded the two young men, the computer started naming all the planets and species belonging to the Empire. The true power of the Setians came rising to life before them. “Why are you doing this?” Darin finally asked.
“To convince you that no one is coming to your rescue,” I answered. “There is no one left to do so.”
I left them there and walked to my command center. When I reached the command room, my father was waiting for me. Leaning back in a black chair he offered a warm greeting and a smile. “Nice to see you in person, my Lord.”
“Agreed,” he replied, “but I am rather curious as to why you asked me to appear in person on this fine day.”
“I needed to tell you a few things, father. I have been working on a few ‘projects’ behind the scenes. And since they are finally in place, I thought I might share them with you. It is rather confidential, and I didn’t want to broadcast this information over any channels, even encrypted.”
He leaned forward with interest as I laid out recent events. Slowly, his eyes began to light up. “I don’t believe it!” he said when I finished. “You actually pulled it off. What do you need me to do?”
“What I need is for you to accompany me to the home-world to address the rest of the council. My forces are ready. Everything is in place. All I need is the okay from the other Councilors.”
“Of course I will go with you. But who will stay here if we both leave? I like my second, but to leave him in charge of the Lorid front? I don’t like it.”
“Lord Kavra will be in charge while we are gone.”
“Kavra? He’s in the Fultra system!”
“He left two weeks ago.” I replied. “He’ll be here by tonight. We can leave tomorrow.”
Lord Kasar smiled. “Perfect.”
Later that night Kavra arrived. He immediately took a small transport to my ship. As he stepped out of his ship and into mine, I ran up and embraced him. “Hey, Chrissa,” he hugged me back.
“I’m so glad you’re here,” I said, his presence comforting; my plan falling into place.
He released me and I walked with him into the guest quarters. He had come with only a handful of ships, leaving his fleet behind. “So,” he said as he slid onto a chair beside the bed. “What’s going on?”
“Lord Kasar and I are taking a short trip. I am leaving you in charge. You will stay in this ship and run things from here, that way hopefully the Lorid’s won’t notice the change for a few days.”
“Do I need to do anything special?”
“No. Just hold the line and don’t lose any ground. Nothing fancy until I return.”
He nodded. “I think I can handle that.”
“I thought so.”
I spent the rest of the night catching up with Kavra. I had not seen him since we had captured Darin.
A few minutes and it seemed as though we had never been apart. We ended up laying down on the large bed talking into the night. “So,” he finally asked, “what are you really doing tomorrow? Don’t tell me it’s just a ‘little errand.’ I did not think you would leave this battle for anything.”
“Battle!” I said. “What battle? We hold these lines yes, but make no move to strike. Again and again I implore the Emperor to strike, to let me lead this army like it should be led, but he will not hear of it. Tomorrow, I’m going to plead my case in person. Yes, I could have had some Harars hold the front as easily as you, but I don’t trust them. Besides, if everything goes according to plan, you will want to be here. Trust me.”
“Always,” he replied. As I began to fall asleep, I pushed my body next to his and rested my head on his chest, listening to the steady rhythm of his heart. He slipped his arm around me as our conversation began to slow, and then cease. More asleep than awake, he asked. “Chrissa, you’re not about to do anything stupid, are you?”
“Not if I can help it,” I said back softly before falling asleep where I lay.
The next morning I returned to my chambers and changed into traveling clothes. I then left the room, said goodbye to Kavra, and took a transport over to my father’s ship.
Three battle ships accompanied us on our journey towards the Setian home planet. The journey took four days during which I spent time with my father planning and strategizing for upcoming battles. I stayed in my old room, perfectly preserved as it had been the first time I ever seen it. The pink walls stood in complete contrast to the darkness I had become accustomed to seeing in my own ships.
Four days later we arrived. Our ships landed in the docking bays above the land and we stepped out and began walking towards the council chambers.
My father and I had both changed into suits for the occasion. I wore black slacks, a crimson dress shirt and a black jacket. My father wore a similar suit, with a white shirt. Together we reached the building, handed over our IDs, and were allowed into the chambers. I
had called ahead and requested that all my fellow Councilors be present when I arrived. As I had been the only member off-planet, everyone was there as I walked into the room, Lord Kasar at my side.
Lord Kasar gave a low bow before the council. I simply said, “Emperor.”
“Greetings, Councilor Dehartra. Greetings, Lord Kasar.” a tall woman sitting on my left, Lady Reta, said. “Your message sounded urgent. What are we doing here?”
I smiled. “My Emperor and fellow council members, I have called you here today on an urgent matter of the utmost importance. Emperor, I have come to plead with you. My ships are in place to strike against the Lorid world. The commanders are willing, the ships are set, and the planet is covered from every angle. Everything is ready to go. I have come to tell you all of this in person, and to ask for you to allow me to start the final siege.”
The room was in the shape of a circle, with the actual members of the council seated in the front half of the room. Directly in front of me, a tall man stood. In the form of a human, Emperor Hidford stood six foot one. He had closely cropped blond hair, harsh emerald eyes, and extremely pale skin. He wore black jeans, a dark blue shirt, and a black leather coat that reached his ankles as he stood. “Councilor Dehartra,” he said with a sigh, “How many times must I tell you. Fighting the Lorids is suicide. Their forces number our own, and their weapons are just as advanced. Why must I repeat this?”
“My Emperor,” I replied. “Forgive me, but I must say once again that we can do this. Give me a chance, and I shall win this battle.”
“Impossible!” he yelled. “It is impossible I tell you. Your job is to keep the Lorids at bay. You cannot fight them.”
“But.”
“No!” he said firmly. “The Lorid commander Kimle is on their side. He is a brilliant commander. I have made many attempts to turn him.” The Emperor shook his head.