by Jason Letts
“Is that so? What if I told you that your father stood in the same place you are now and attempted to do the same thing you’re doing? He thought he could catch me off guard and end the Alliance with a single knife-stroke to the back. Let me show you the scar where he came close and you can judge for yourself whether I’m imagining things.”
Yetrue pulled on his collar to reveal some of his left shoulder, which bore a long, deep scar that was probably bone deep.
“Nothing to say?” Yetrue went on, now coming forward himself. “Your old man thought he should be chancellor and I was the only thing standing in the way. He was a fool and it cost him his life. Textbook law of the Planetary Alliance. He got what he deserved and you’d say the same if you were impartial about it.”
But if it were true, Rion saw that his father had been right. Taking this man out by any means necessary was imperative for everyone’s wellbeing.
Charging forward, Rion attempted to swat away a swinging arm and drive hard right into the man’s sternum. Rion connected but the chancellor didn’t budge. Soon strong arms wrapped him in a bear hug and wrestled him to the side. Before Rion could get his feet set, he was thrown over the edge of the platform onto the terrace’s hard floor. His side slammed into it and sent him groaning. Yetrue hopped down a few meters and landed by his side.
“Ahh, my advisors have arrived. That’s the thing about advisors. Every once in a while you have to show you’re tougher and smarter than they are, otherwise they get notions in their heads to do things other than advise.”
Rolling, Rion caught vague glimpses of three male figures blocking the way back to the lift. They were older but also appeared in pretty good shape, making Rion wonder if his best bet was to try to stall and give Bailor the time he needed to bring the entire station down. Right now, the only way to stall seemed to be to line up for more punishment.
Staggering to his feet, Rion attempted to focus on his adversary, who lithely maneuvered about the small courtyard.
“At least your dad was smart enough to bring a knife. What have you got? Nothing!”
Rion lunged forward and landed a fierce jab to Yetrue’s stomach, causing him to wince in pain. The response came an instant later, a chop to the shoulder and a kick to the side of the knee. Once again, Rion was mostly against the ground.
He breathed deeply, trying to think ahead about what might happen if he actually gained the upper hand. The advisers would be all over him. Looking over at Lena, he saw she was still tapping on the glass. On a whim, he glanced in the direction of her pointing, thinking that he’d see a spaceship or something approaching the bubble, but nothing was there.
Getting up once again, Rion fought through the pain to summon another assault. Feinting a right hook, he juked to the side and then came down hard on Yetrue’s scarred right shoulder. It couldn’t have healed completely because the chancellor roared in agony. Unfortunately, it only made him angrier and more aggressive. He shoved Rion away and then unleashed a volley of punches that felt like a jackhammer to the side of the head.
Sprawling and struggling to remain upright, Rion caught the edge of one of the shrubbery containers. He breathed deeply and let his fingers sink into the soft soil. It came to him then what Lena had been trying to tell him. Following her finger, he saw the container she was directing him to.
Facing the chancellor again, Rion wasn’t able to get off a single shot before the chancellor delivered a crushing blow. While Yetrue gloated and laughed openly, Rion spilled toward the container, nearly tripping before falling against it.
“You’re convincing me to come out of hiding, boy. If you’re the worst that’s out there, I have nothing to be afraid of. No one can stop me, especially not after I continue to tighten the screws. Everyone will live my way or not at all,” he said to Rion’s back.
Bracing himself for another blow, Rion ran his hand through the unpacked dirt. He could tell that Lena had done something to it, buried something here. Then his finger felt something and his hand closed tight.
Rion sensed Chancellor Yetrue about to come down on him. He jerked away, pulling something out of the dirt and managed to slip behind the old fighter. Rion’s arm wrapped around Yetrue’s neck as he held the Brain Candy gun to it. They twisted to face the advisers, who were stunned.
“Don’t move a muscle,” Rion ordered them.
Yetrue strained and twitched, but Rion managed to hold tight. The edge of the needles were right to his adversary’s neck, ready to pollute his brain and steal his memories. They were both breathing deeply, remaining still for a moment. The red syrupy dye looked so delicious.
“You’ve got me,” Yetrue wheezed. “You did what your father couldn’t. Let me go and I’ll leave this place to you. No one will be the wiser that you’ve taken over and I’ll keep my mind.”
“No,” Rion said. “What I want is for the lies to stop.”
As he spoke, he noticed lights and shapes moving out in space, and he squinted to see what they were. Yetrue must’ve noticed that he was distracted, because he arched his back and slammed an elbow into Rion’s ribs. Jerking, Rion pressed the injector into the man’s neck and pulled the trigger.
Yetrue groaned, gurgled, and then went limp as the fluid seeped into his system. The advisers leapt into action now that nothing was holding them back. They grabbed Rion and tore him away from the chancellor, twisting his arm and driving an elbow into the center of his back. The Brain Candy injector was knocked out of his hand and broke against the floor.
The advisers dragged Rion and held him up against the side of the platform. That gave him a perfect view of the ships now hovering overhead. The Vestige, engines in perfect working order, loomed large next to other cruisers. Smaller ships approached the bubble, passed through, and hovered a short distance from the terrace floor as they discharged personnel on ropes. Soon there were dozens swarming about the grounds on their way toward them.
The imminent arrival of so many new parties forced the advisers to make haste. They held Rion’s throat, pummeled him all over, and shouted in his face.
“You’ll pay for what you did!”
“The chancellor shows no mercy,” one said.
It didn’t escape Rion’s notice that the chancellor rolled around on the ground in a trance, receiving zero attention from any of his closest confidantes.
“It’s time for your execution!” one of them shouted, drawing a blade located along his hip.
“Stop right there,” came a stern voice among the on-rushers.
It was Commander Hobart, whose sudden presence and unmistakable authority caused everyone around Rion to freeze. They all had a moment to catch their breaths as Hobart surveyed the chancellor and the scene. Rion exchanged a brief glance with Hobart, whose stony face revealed nothing.
“This man assaulted the chancellor in an attempted assassination! He needs to be neutralized,” one of the advisers argued, still gripping Rion tightly.
Rion, Lena, and everyone else around waited to see what Hobart would decide to do about it. Hobart cleared his throat and grimaced.
“The chancellor abused his office and was rightly pacified. We’ll take him into custody and make sure he gets proper treatment and due process for his crimes,” Hobart said.
“But he was injected with Brain Candy!” said the adviser.
“Harsh, yes, but under the circumstances it was regrettably necessary. Now let him go at once. We’ll deal with him as well.”
The advisers took Hobart’s command literally, allowing Rion to drop in place. He hit hard but was helped upright a moment later. Hobart didn’t seem to mind a little blood on his sleeve. But for all the agony Rion felt, he had more pressing concerns.
“Lena, she’s been trapped in there. Yetrue was starving her,” he said, feeling dizzy.
It took Hobart a moment of searching to connect with Rion’s line of sight. A smile, ever so slight, flashed across his lips for the briefest of instants.
“You did it, Rion. Now w
e can make things right,” he said.
As good as that sounded, it didn’t give Rion much immediate satisfaction. There was still one more threat that needed to be taken care of.
“Bailor is on the lower floors trying to set the station to blow in case I was killed. I have to get to him to call it off,” Rion said, weakly dragging a leg forward toward the lift. Hobart stopped him.
“I’ll get him found as well,” Hobart said, shouting orders to a few officers rushing by. Everyone on the terrace was scurrying about. Someone used a torch to slowly cut through the thick glass encasing Lena.
When enough of it had been hewn away, she broke out and brushed off the officer attempting to catch her. Barely avoiding a fall, she hobbled toward Rion with a limping stride. The energy it took for her to move must’ve been enormous and proved yet again what an indomitable person she was. She slammed into Rion and gave him a fierce hug.
“Watch out! She’s trying to suffocate him!” one of the officers said.
That got Rion and Lena laughing like giddy children. The dark clouds that hovered over them for so long were finally dissipating.
“Maybe we don’t need to worry about getting blown up now. Not right away, at least,” Rion said, holding Lena.
“You’re right. We’ll have to find something else to do in the meantime until we can find some distant paradise to run away to,” she said.
She leaned in and pressed her lips to his, her kiss even easier to get lost in than her eyes. There were other people around, but they didn’t care. It was only when they heard the lift open that they were able to focus on anything other than themselves.
A few officers escorted Bailor down the walkway toward the platform and the console. Unlike Rion and Lena, he looked unscathed and fully lucid. Like Rion and Lena, he appeared to be in a good mood and had a smile on his face.
“Well?” Rion asked. An officer handed him and Lena some crackers. Bailor shrugged and held out his hands.
“We don’t need to worry about the station ending up in pieces because of anything I did. It didn’t take all that long for the cavalry to arrive. That said, this place is rusting out like crazy and is full of obsolete technology. It should be a museum!”
After Rion told him what had happened, Bailor’s interest drifted to the console, which was still lit up and running. When he started walking toward it, Rion and Lena found the strength to follow him. As they looked over the interfaces and the feeds running, Hobart climbed the steps to join them. The pat on the back Rion received was firmer than it needed to be.
“Do you think this thing can tell my parents I’m coming home for good?” Bailor asked, a wide grin on his face.
“I’d imagine it could,” Hobart said. “This is where the chancellor operated the vast resources of the Alliance. His powers were limitless, nearly.”
“What happens next?” Lena asked.
Hobart turned from the screen and directed their attention upward, pointing to the various ships.
“Representatives for most of the regents are here. Everyone will know what has happened and that things will be different from now on. I’ll make sure the other commanders back me up. As for what happens next, we can start stripping down the ex-chancellor’s policies right from here. Go ahead and push that button. Then you can take some time to rest, because we’ve got a lot of work to do building something better.”
It sounded like music to Rion’s ears. He had Lena, he had a ship, and for once in his life, he felt like a worthwhile future was out there waiting for him. He couldn’t wait to experience it.
The End
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FROM THE AUTHOR
I hope you enjoyed reading The Alliance! If you enjoyed the book, it would mean the world if you would write a review of it on Amazon. That more than anything will determine the success of this story. Thank you very much for reading!
You’re also invited to contact me at [email protected].
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Jason Letts is also the author of the Powerless Series, Cumerian Unraveling Trilogy, and Inevitable Trilogy. In addition to to being a writer, he’s a new father who enjoys spending time playing, reading, and hiking with his son.
The Alliance © 2017 by Jason Letts
All rights reserved: no part of this book may be reproduced by any means without written permission from the author.
This book is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to any actual person, living or dead, is purely coincidental.