"But if we close the aperture we can't fire the planet-buster." Jeni Deggon pre-empted his next thought.
"But once it's been fired, we won't need the reactor." Commander Kharan looked thoughtful. "If we can destroy the Enemy, we won't need the reactor."
"Right," Jhon had an idea. "Lieutenant, I want you down in engineering, ready to pull the plug. As soon as I give the order I want you to close the aperture. Kill that reactor and we just might live through this."
"Aye sir," this time Jeni Deggon didn't appear to be hiding tears. "On my way."
That left Jhon on the bridge with Lenys Kharan, watching the screens, as the Enemy planet came into range, its massive weapons opening fire on the remains of Belkrath's orbital infrastructure. Jhon shivered as a single hammerbeam strike took out an orbiting hotel. He started in surprise when he realized it wasn't the cold. He couldn't see his breath the way he normally could on a command bridge.
*
Fahad Vidall grunted as he bent a piece of metal out of the way. Husk tried to help, but there wasn't anywhere she could stand to get leverage with just one arm. Besides, he'd seen the way she winced when she let the injured one just dangle. At least this was thin stuff, light sheet metal used for data conduits. One more push and it would be out of the way. There.
They were in a small chamber just off the magazine. The original attack had opened it to space, and while the main systems didn't appear damaged, the compartment was in a vacuum. The air supply in the uniform was good for at least a couple of hours, which was more than Vidall thought they would need. He could see a gash in the bulkhead, on the side facing the magazine. He had a perfect view of one of the two-hundred meter spheres that carried the planet-buster warhead.
The sphere looked fine, but the gap meant there was no shielding against either the planet-buster's radiation, or the grab field that would launch it. They were both going to die, and he had killed Husk. He had killed her just because he hadn't wanted to come down here alone. Fahad turned towards Husk to tell her to leave now, maybe she would be able to get through a lock and survive.
"How much longer are you going to be?" The prince's voice crackled in his communicator. "That planet's getting damn close."
"Just another couple of minutes, sir," he replied, surveying the damage. "I just have to reconnect the feed and she should be up and ready."
"Thanks Mr. Vidall. You do that and get yourself up here as quick as you can."
"Aye sir."
Fahad turned towards Husk, her face showing that she'd been on the same channel, and tried to mouth the words "I'm sorry."
She waved him away and pointed towards the data cable. "You heard the Prince, we've a job to do."
"Right PO," he tried to smile. "Let's get right on it."
The data feed cable slid right back on the connection, and Fahad saw the status light blink green. He had just enough time to reach out a hand to Husk, to meet hers half-way.
*
The light went green and Jhon stabbed his finger down on the firing key as hard as he could. The Enemy planet was a huge globe filling the screen. He couldn't imagine what it must be like on Belkrath, with something this large closing on the planet. It was already close enough to perturb its orbit, and soon it would start affecting tides. He felt Imperial Fury's bulk shudder as the first round fired.
Jhon barely noticed Vidall and Husk drop off the net. All he could see was the Enemy. Imperial Fury shuddered again and again as her main weapon fired, sending round after round at the planet. Each shot was targeted at the same point, the pool of glowing magma where Torrens' ships had wounded it. Imperial Fury had gone to rapid fire, pumping out one round a second, a rate that would drain her magazine in half a minute.
Jhon smiled savagely as the first round hit, sending magma skyward. Take that you bastards, take that. All he could think of was stopping the Enemy before they were close enough to hit Belkrath. He could see Enemy super-dreadnaughts and battle-cruisers lifting from hangars, missiles screaming upwards, what looked like their entire remaining fleet heading towards the spacedock that had hidden Imperial Fury. It didn't matter what they did or how many ships they launched, all that mattered was killing that planet.
It was all automatic; he was out of the loop. Commander Kharan was doing something with point defense, but Jhon didn't care. He hung on to the command chair with both hands clenched. This was it, all or nothing.
"Yes!" He turned at her voice. "We've done it, we stopped them."
He pulled his attention back to the screen to see the planet vanish in a huge explosion, a giant fireball as some measurable fraction of its core converted straight to energy. They had won. They had stopped the Enemy.
Then the first missile hit. Jhon turned back to the screen just long enough to see that every missile the Enemy had left was targeted on them.
"We did it." He couldn't hear his own voice over the sound of the explosions as the wave of missiles struck home.
Chapter 21
"Who is she?"
Tam stood at attention, back braced, and met the Governor's eye as Tavrolan paused in his pacing. He had been pulled out of his suite days ago and transferred to a cell that he thought was somewhere beneath the Star Tower. It didn't really matter. Tavrolan was obviously in charge, and that meant they must have lost.
"Who is she?" Tavrolan looked like he was going to reach out and shake Tam, but didn't. "I want to know everything about that woman."
"She was my aide."
"Commander, you can cut the bullshit." This time Tavrolan did more than simply pause. He stopped completely and turned to face Tam, his hands clasped behind his back. "I know you don't like me, you don't trust me, and you think I'm only in this to destroy the Imperium for my own ends. You know something, in a lot of ways you're right. If I have my way I will destroy the Imperium you've sworn to serve. But the reason I'm doing it is for the people of this Imperium"
Tam kept at attention.
"I'm going to tell you a story, Commander. I'm sure it's one your precious Guard Admiral already knows, but he put his own spin on it and the man's less flexible than battle steel." He took a deep breath, then let it out slowly, as if he were letting go of something he had held on to for a long time. "The reason I'm here is because of the Great Quakes. I don't know if you remember them, before you were born.
"I was a young student, breaking my back for a chance to get into the civil service. Then the quakes hit, some sort of crustal instability they said. It didn't matter. What mattered was that fifty million people died the first week. Fifty million dead and the Tarith sent aid faster than the Imperium." Tavrolan made as if to strike out, and Tam could see how much of his apparent youth was a sham. "I plunged into rescue work, digging people out with tools that weren't shaped right for human hands.
"All that time there was one question on my mind, where was the Imperium? Sure there were some emergency supplies, but less than half what the Tarith brought and that was barely enough. We kept begging for more, and they kept telling us they'd released all they could spare. They had to hold some back in case the Enemy attacked.
"I called it bullshit, bullshit and cowardice." There was a light in Tavrolan's eyes that Tam had never seen on the holos. "They were just more interested in keeping that hold on power that the Guard represented, that the Enemy gave them than in helping their own people. That was when I dedicated myself to bringing down the system. Someone had to save the people of this misbegotten Imperium from a government that put some mythical foe before their lives.
"If no one else was going to do it, I would." Tavrolan stood before Tam, the light dimming in his eyes. "I did it all for the people, and in their name I have one question for you.
"Who is she?"
*
She is the Empress. Jayne started at the voice inside her head, then realized she was still in the chair. She squeezed the armrests as a reminder of where she was. A reminder of who she was. For a moment she had felt like she was the one Tavrolan had
been haranguing, not Tam. You are the Empress, the voice continued. You passed the tests and have been confirmed. The Imperium will survive. Jayne couldn't help but notice a sense of smug satisfaction in the voice.
"What do you mean?"
I have just received a message drone; Jhon Thirion is dead. Jayne could hear no expression in the voice. His title devolves to you as the bearer of his child, the one person who can continue the Imperium. The Enemy incursion has been ended and the threat has receded for another generation. She caught her breath as her heart started pounding in her chest.
John, Jhon, couldn't be dead. He mustn't. He was the reason she was here. She had his child, and she needed him to help raise her.
As long as the Imperium continues so will humanity, the voice went on, that is all that matters. Jayne tried to get out of the chair pushing and kicking against the inside of the shell that covered her.
"I'm not all that matters, Jhon mattered." She punctuated her words with blows on the inside of the shell. "He brought me here, he got me pregnant and Goddamn it he's not going to be ignored because he did his duty to the Goddamned Imperium!"
That is what matters, his line is the line of the Imperium, and without that line there is none who can protect humanity from the Enemy.
"You just said they were gone!"
They are gone for this generation. We do not know how many there are or where they come from. Humanity must be shielded from them, that is what the Imperium is for.
"So you sacrificed him for your greater good." Jayne yelled, her voice echoing inside the shell. "You sent him off to die because no one else could fire your fucking war machine. Now he's gone but you don't give a crap because you've got me and my baby and we can raise more kids for you to kill in your fucking war machines." Tears streamed down her face, and she knew it was as red as her hands from beating on the inside of the shell.
He was not the only one to die. Almost the entire force that was with him died. Images of Tam's crew flashed before her face, Lenys Kharan who was going to be a ship's captain some day, Fahad Vidall and Jeni Deggon. The woman who had flown the shuttle that picked them up in Seattle. He was not the sole casualty.
"That's not the same and you know it." Jayne's anger flared up again. "They were adults and they chose to put themselves in harms way. He didn't have a choice. He was born to go there and die."
Yes, he was.
"Now let me out of here you stupid machine."
Insults are not productive.
"I really don't care if you think they are productive or not. Now am I the Empress?"
Yes your majesty.
"Then as the Empress I command you to let me out." Jayne glared at the inside of the shell until it finally started to open.
"Thank you. Now bring me Admiral Calthran, Commander Holron and Governor Tavrolan. I believe I have some 'Empressing' to attend to."
*
It had not taken long to get the three men brought before her. It seemed that every device in the Star Tower responded to her before anyone else. Transport cars went where she wanted, and weapons didn't work without her permission. In the end, it was the entire Council, plus Tam Holron, who were standing in front of her. Jayne had briefly considered the regular council chamber, but decided against it. She was going to lay down the law and being the one person who wasn't standing would help.
"I don't know why some of you think you're here, and frankly I don't care." Jayne paused a moment to let the shock from that bald-faced statement work its way through her audience. They weren't really any different from the people she had to work with back in Seattle. Power addicts were no different than any other kind of addicts and she'd dealt with enough of them in her time.
She waited until it felt like they had had enough time for it to sink in. "First things first, I am your Empress." She met each one's eyes briefly. "It doesn't matter who I am or how I got here. I have been confirmed as the legitimate Empress and I am in charge. Is that clear?"
"Yes, your majesty." Tam was the first one to reply and she smiled a little inside. He didn't have the kind of hidden agenda the others did.
"Yes ma'am." Admiral Calthran was next.
"Yes, your majesty," This was a huge man that her implant identified as Terenc Hewl.
There was a chorus of similar answers until it came round to Gregar Tavrolan, who stood there, silent.
Jayne sat there watching, not saying anything, just looking straight out at the older man. She could see he was thinking things over, wondering what she was going to do, how he could fit her into his plans.
"Governor?" She gave him the little victory of a second chance.
"Yes your majesty." It sounded forced, but at least he said it.
"I have a task for you." She smiled briefly. "As Belkrath is part of your sector, I am sending you to take over the relief efforts now that the Enemy has been defeated."
The words had the desired effect and he stood straighter and met her eyes openly for the first time. "Yes your majesty."
"This time you will have the full resources of the Imperium behind you."
"Thank you, your majesty." She could feel the relief in his words.
Admiral Calthran just looked at her but she didn't care how puzzled he was. She had her reasons. No child of hers was going to be sent to die just because of who his parents were. I will build a republic.
About the Author
I’m Dave, and I write. I’m also a father, a reader, gamer, a comic fan, and a hockey fan.
Unfortunately, there is a problem with those terms; they don’t so much describe me as label me, and the map is not the territory. Calling me a father says nothing about my relationship with my daughter and how she thinks I’m silly. It ignores the essence of the relationship for convenience.
It’s the same with my love of books, comics, role-playing games, and hockey; labels only say what, not how or why. They miss all the good parts.
If you want more of a biography: I was born in the UK, grew up in Canada, and have spent time in the US. I’ve been freelancing for the last seven years. Before that, and in no particular order, I’ve managed a bookstore, worked in a pawnshop, been a telephone customer service rep, and even cleaned carpets for a living.
As a freelancer, I’ve done everything from simple web content, to ghostwritten novels. I’ve even written a course on trading forex online. I’ve also edited everything from whitepapers to a science fiction anthology.
You can reach me at [email protected], at my website, www.daverobinsonwrites.com, or find me on Twitter as @dcrwrites.
Now, read on for an excerpt from my heroic fantasy novel, Amadar.
Excerpt from Amadar
Chapter One
Two men played toss-knife in an inn yard. This throw had better do it, Gwion thought, looking across the shadowed yard toward the makeshift target. A knife stuck out from a thin wooden board resting against a hitching post on the other side of the yard. Three gold crowns rested on top of the board, a fingers-breadth from the knife. If he made this throw, that gold would pay his rent for a moon and food for a week. His stomach growled; he'd had no breakfast.
"Hurry up, young’un," a harsh voice interrupted. "If ye don't throw I'll claim forfeit and take my gold back." The man sounded sour like the thin beer he'd been swilling. "You've turned copper into gold at my expense and I'll not stand here much longer, so toss the knife if you think you can best me."
Gwion ignored the man's words, took aim, and threw. The throw was good, the blade flashing as it leapt from sun to shadow. His knife thunked into the target, quivering between the other knife and the coins.
"I'll thank you for my gold instead," Gwion walked over to collect his winnings. "I'd let you try to win it back, but I've other things to do this night."
"I don't think I'll be tossin' a knife with you any time soon. Next time I see you coming I'll keep my coin in my pouch and my knife at my belt."
Gwion nodded, and sheathed his blade. There was a roast
in the common room calling his name.
*
Gwion's belly was full, and his pouch a weight against his leg. The sun was setting, and most of the streets were dark. Gwion moved through the streets, eyes open for pickpockets, sliding just far enough past people that he wouldn't be touched.
"Look out below!" Gwion stepped aside just in time to avoid the stinking brown and yellow mess that hit the street. That was a close one. He looked up to try to find the window it had come from but it was shut already. He shook his head, remembering a night spent drinking with a maid who worked on the Street of Cats who had told him how she always aimed the honey-buckets she dumped out the window.
Something clacked on the cobbles behind him, sounding like a cross between footsteps and hoof beats. Gwion tried to ignore it; but the noises grew louder. He sped up, and the beat matched his pace: clack-clack-clack, clack-clack-clack. His pulse raced and he started looking for a way off the street.
"Cat's-Kin," a voice hissed from behind him. Gwion turned to see a bulky figure silhouetted by the falling sun. Its bare feet showed dull claws, the source of the noise. It hissed more than spoke, but not unintelligibly. "My Master wishes to speak with you. Come with me."
The creature looked like a lizard whose mother was an ape. As far as anyone knew it was nameless; just Amadar's lizard slave and Amadar was a powerful enough wizard that no one questioned him too closely.
"Your master wants to see me? Why would he want to see me?"
"I do not question his meanings; he gives orders and I obey. You would be wise to do the same." The creature turned back the way Gwion had come. "Follow me."
Gwion didn't want to follow it, but he wanted to spend the next thousand years wishing he was a toad even less. The roast that had put such warmth in his belly was a lump of ice.
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