Voice of the Chosen (Spirit of Empire, Book Three)

by Lawrence White

  Trexler began the briefing with details of the battle for Earth and what was taking place there in its aftermath. Earth now knew of the Empire, of the vast numbers of aliens existing throughout the galaxy, and the planet was dealing with grave internal issues as it struggled to adjust fully to a war footing.

  “Is it going to work?” Ellie asked.

  “Too soon to say, but the consequences of failure are unacceptable. We’ll make it work.”

  Ellie turned to Akurea. “I never, ever reveal to others what I learn during Testings. Admiral Trexler knows your story, but Sir Otis does not.”

  “Your Majesty, my Testing need not remain private. I have no secrets from anyone in this room.” She addressed Otis. “I was assigned to manage a project dealing with the Chessori. Our purpose, assigned by Struthers himself, was to provide the Chessori with improved weapons and shields. In return, the Chessori would provide him with the hypercom.”

  Otis growled deep in his throat, and she understood. “I know what you’re thinking, Sire. A small group, including myself, set a plan in place to sabotage any improved ships. In the end, it wasn’t needed. The ships I worked on are not capable of upgrade in their present condition. Chessori power plants are inadequate.”

  “A temporary setback.”

  “Not so temporary, Sire. The technology to upgrade power bottles, the hearts of power plants, is orders of magnitude beyond present Chessori capabilities. They’re years away from a solution. We could install our own power bottles fairly easily, but Struthers is holding back. He’s using it as a bargaining chip.”

  “For what?” Otis growled, not fully convinced.

  “The Chessori have installed hypercoms in a number of Struthers’ ships, but they have not given him the science, and reverse engineering of such a complex system is not possible. From what I understand, he’s agreed to give the Chessori the science and production technologies behind our power bottles, shields, and weapons if they’ll give him the science of the hypercom. To date, they have refused and the process is at a stalemate.”

  Otis stared at her as his mind working the angles. Then he turned to Trexler. “You’ve beaten them badly in several engagements.”

  Trexler nodded. “Possibly beaten them bad enough to make them reconsider Struthers’ offer.”

  “There’s more, Sire,” Akurea said. “Even if Struthers gives them the science and engineering, the processes will take a long time to develop. After the recent battles, battles which he lost badly, he might not want to wait. I believe Struthers will do the work for them in his own shipyards.”

  Trexler waited for Otis and Ellie to draw their own conclusions. He wanted to see if they came to the same conclusion he had, and they did.

  Otis looked to Ellie and said, “We’ll have to monitor our major shipyards.”

  She nodded. “Not a simple process. We can’t just send squadrons in to look. They’ll be driven off before they get close enough for their sensors to see anything. Besides, they’re needed elsewhere.”

  Akurea spoke. “The Chessori ships were parked in the open on Grnlee, but the Rebels will surely cover them now. I think we’re going to have to send people in on the ground.”

  Otis looked to Trexler. “Waverly doesn’t have the resources, and we need him to continue clearing sectors headquarters.”

  “Agreed. I see a couple of possibilities. First, if we send in squadrons, and if those squadrons are attacked, we have a pretty good idea why and we can send a larger force back. That doesn’t resolve the issue of our shortage of squadrons. Second, while we don’t have the resources, Serge Parsons might. If his traders fanned out and just made cursory inspections, they might identify targets for us. These ships are big and hard to hide. They certainly won’t fit inside buildings. He wouldn’t have to act on the intelligence, just get it back to us.”

  Silence descended on the room. Ellie finally spoke. “I’ll ask him. I don’t know what he’s going to say.”

  Trexler nodded. “According to Mike, he’ll do whatever we ask.”

  “What do you mean?”

  Trexler’s eyebrows drew together. “Their agreement.”

  “What agreement?” She asked sternly. “Surely he’s not holding out on me?”

  “I doubt it. In fact, I know he’s not, but I wouldn’t be at all surprised to discover that some other crisis intervened and he forgot to mention it.”

  “What is their agreement?”

  “Serge is building some new ships for us, and he’s going to transfer some of his manufacturing to Earth. Earth has a huge pool of skilled labor to do the work that’s being done on Shipyard now. Actually, a prototype of one ship is already finished, and it proved its value during the battle for Earth. Its sensors found Chessori who were approaching without beacons.”

  Ellie stood up to pace, and Trexler continued. “That’s not the main thing, Ellie.”

  “There’s more?”

  Trexler nodded. “Ships and manufacturing are important, but Serge can’t do it alone. The main thing Mike did was to give Serge the tools to convince his people to help us. I’m fairly certain that the people of Parson’s World and Shipyard are fully behind you now.”

  “Why?”

  “You know how much these smugglers value their freedom. Mike convinced Serge that if the Rebels complete their takeover of the Empire, their pals, the Chessori, are going to turn on them and take over the Empire for themselves. Neither Serge or his people will allow themselves to become slaves of the Chessori.”

  “Mike did that?” she asked, her eyes sparkling.

  “He did. Have you noticed any changes in your relationship with Serge?”

  “No, but now that you mention it, things are better with some of the others I deal with, and Admiral Jons has even remarked that he’s not having to argue about resources for his projects.”

  “I think you can count on Serge’s help, Ellie.”

  “Let’s get him in here and find out.”

  Trexler held up a hand. “We’re not done yet. There’s more.” He looked to Akurea.

  “Your Majesty, modifying Chessori ships was one part of my duties. The other part consisted of installing Chessori hypercoms on our own ships for the Rebels. I worked closely with Chessori engineers, and I had to learn their language in the process. That learning included reading engineering drawings.”

  “I thought you said Struthers did not have the science behind the system?”

  “He doesn’t, at least not while I was part of the project. I can’t speak to what’s happened since I left. I was only shown enough to connect the hypercoms to our ships, but the Chessori engineers, of course, knew the details of the whole system. From time to time they referenced a computer that I believed held drawings to the complete system, but they would carefully shield their activities when they used this particular computer. When Krys learned of this, she acted. Her Protectors stole the computer, and we blew up the whole complex to hide the theft. It’s highly unlikely that the Chessori know we have it.”

  “Yes!” Otis growled, raising a fist into the air.

  “She’s gone on the attack?” Ellie asked in alarm.

  Akurea’s shot a glance to Trexler looking for support. He shrugged, then decided he didn’t like feeling powerless and frowned. Akurea got the message: she was on her own. She focused on Ellie. “I’m new here, Your Majesty. I have no idea what you might have heard concerning her, but I lived with her for months. Do you know what she did for Admiral Korban?”

  “No.”

  “She had a vision of a major counter-attack against Korban. The attack would be preceded by gleasons.”

  Ellie stood up, very focused. “Please tell me she’s not fighting gleasons.”

  “I’m sorry, Your Majesty, but she is. She and her Protectors fought a pitched battle right inside Korban’s headquarters. Krys was right there with them. I don’t know why since she’s blind, but she was.”

  “Blind!”

  Akurea looked hard at Ellie, t
hen turned to back to Trexler.

  “I have the whole story, Ellie,” he said. “She left here with orders to continue spreading her message, but she has taken advantage of opportunities just as you expect your Knights to do. She and her crew freed a district headquarters all by themselves. In the process they rescued two Imperial Senators and a governor who were all incarcerated and sentenced to death. On Grnlee they stole the Chessori computer. During their escape, they fought off scores of Chessori military ships. The fighting took a while, and the consequences to Krys of extended subjection to the scree blinded her. Her Rider was working on repairs when Tarn Lukes was mortally wounded by gleasons in Korban’s headquarters. She sent her Rider to Tarn, then had to leave him behind because she had the vision of the attack about to take place against Earth.”

  Ellie turned her back on them and walked over to her desk. She stood there for some time. “That was never my plan for her,” she said, turning back to them.

  “Some say my men saved Earth, but it was really Krys who saved Earth,” Trexler said. “She is no longer the young girl you rescued from the orphanage. She has become everything a mother could hope for. Be proud of her, Your Majesty. To be Named a Knight is a call to even greater sacrifice in your name. Krys has answered your call. Despite her blindness, she has saved worlds, and she represented you very well to my people. As important . . . she has given you another great gift.”

  Ellie didn’t care about gifts at the moment. “Will her vision be restored?”

  “Maybe. She believes her blindness is the source of even greater visions. She doesn’t want it restored yet. Other than her blindness, she’s well, though she is deeply engaged with the enemy.”

  “She’s a frightened young girl, Ray.”

  “She is a Great One. As Otis once said of Waverly, songs will be sung of her exploits one day, both here and on Earth.”

  “I did not willingly send her into this, you know.”

  “I know. She and her crew have entered into a pact. Until the Empire is restored, each has sworn to give all that he is.” Ellie lifted a hand to her throat, but Trexler wasn’t done. “Major Washburn, Krys’ head Terran Protector, added something to that pact, and the pact is sweeping through your fleets like wildfire as we speak. Washburn said, ‘We give all that we are. We do it for our children and for our children’s children.’”

  Ellie stared into his eyes, her own eyes shining. “Powerful words, Raymond, words that even call to me.” She lifted her eyes to Otis, then Akurea. “With you as witnesses, I, too, swear to the pact.”

  Otis growled his assent, but added, “Your Majesty, you already took such an oath.”

  “I did, but these words bite deeper. They give better focus. The concept of Empire is sometimes impersonal and hard to grasp. For our children and for our children’s children is clear and immediate.” She lowered her gaze back to Trexler. “Thank you, Raymond. Are those words the gift to which you referred?”

  “No. You can thank Major Washburn for them.” He turned to Akurea and raised his eyebrows for her to continue.

  “I’ve had the Chessori computer in my hands for several months now, Your Majesty, and I haven’t been idle.” She held up a small computer crystal. “This crystal holds a complete set of plans for building a hypercom, all translated.”

  Ellie reached a hand out for her chair and sat, her eyes on Akurea but her mind somewhere else. Otis, too, stared into space for a moment, then he rose and went to a knee before Akurea. “Your Queen honors you, and so do I,” he said gruffly.

  Trexler interjected. “There’s more, Otis. Krys planned well: she destroyed not only the Chessori ships but the facility that housed the computer. The Chessori do not know we have these plans. In addition to using the system ourselves to position forces, we might be able to listen in on Chessori-Rebel communications to learn their plans.”

  Otis’ lips rose into a ferocious leer. A deep growl of anticipation sounded, his thirst for the fight kindled. He swung towards Akurea. “Can you build it?”

  “Anyone can build it, but with the gift comes a threat, Sire. Before stepping aboard Resolve, I had never heard of or even imagined a fast ship. I have no idea how our fast ships work, but I believe there are some similarities to the physics of the hypercom. From what I already know of our drives, and from what I have learned of the hypercom, I believe that given enough time I could build my own fast drive.”

  “You’re saying that the Chessori have the ability to build fast ships?”

  “I believe they do, Sire. It’s a leap, but not a huge leap from hypercom to fast ship, it’s only a matter of extrapolating concepts. The Chessori have not, apparently, made that extrapolation yet, but now that they’ve seen fast ships in operation, I believe they will.”

  “How much time do we have?” Ellie demanded.

  “I have no idea, Your Majesty, but the answer to that question comes back to power requirements. The Chessori ships do not have the power to sustain a series of micro jumps. It needs better engineers than me to figure it out, and probably some scientists as well. We should ask them.”

  “We have access to superb engineers and scientists. Are you prepared to get them started?”

  “I am, Your Majesty, though we have the issue of examining shipyards, too. Admiral Trexler believes I might be more useful in that area, and he deems that a higher priority.”

  “Why will you be more useful on that project?”

  “I operated a shipyard, and I did so while a member of an underground spy network. I know what to tell our crews to look for. In some cases, I might have to go myself. These are major facilities, and we don’t want to destroy them unnecessarily.”

  “Hmm.” She stood and approached Akurea. “You remind me a lot of your First Knight. He, too, manages to accomplish miracles with little in the way of resources. You will lead both projects in partnership with Serge Parsons. It’s time we called him in. Do either of you have any more surprises for me before I do so?”

  Trexler’s lips thinned as he nodded his head. “Krys has had a couple of visions recently. One was for me. We’re pretty certain it has to do with codes for the hypercom. The other was of Nancy Shaw and you. I don’t have the details on that one. All I know is that neither Krys or Nancy understands it.”

  “We need Tarn.”

  “He’s on his way right now. I told Krys to meet us on Shipyard.”

  Ellie brightened at the prospect of seeing them again. “She’s too valuable to be taking risks. Mark my words, all of you: she is not going into any more dangerous situations.”

  She picked up her communicator. When Serge Parsons came on the line, she said, “Serge, it’s Ellie. Can you spare me a little time? . . . Uh, maybe an hour or so . . . No, now would be better. It’s urgent, worth clearing your schedule, and we might both be off to Shipyard before the day is out . . . Thanks, Serge.”

  Akurea stared a question at her and Ellie sighed. “Yes, I know. Queens don’t usually ask, they demand. Tell me, Commander, do you even know what world you’re on?”

  “No, Your Majesty. It’s an Imperial Secret.”

  “So are you now, my dear. We’re on Parson’s World. Ever heard of it?”

  “No, Your Majesty.”

  “Serge Parsons is probably the most accomplished smuggler in the Empire. He answers to no one, including me. We are here at his pleasure, and we could be expelled at any time for any number of reasons. In addition to harboring me, Serge has provided my forces with an invention known as the fast ship. In the process, he’s improved our weapons and shields. The list goes on and on. You will soon discover that his engineers and scientists are second to none. Without his assistance, we would not find ourselves in the position of superiority we now enjoy. You will be dealing with him and his people intimately. Never forget that we are here at his pleasure. Understood?”

  “Yes, Your Majesty.”

  Ellie stood and approached Akurea. “Commander, your accomplishments are extraordinary. More, you have st
ood by your oath to me and the people of Empire. For that, and for what is to come, I Name you Friend of the Royal Family.” She held her hand out and dangled a locket on a chain. “Will you accept this token of my appreciation?”

  Akurea stood uncertainly. “Your Majesty, I never even expected to meet you, let alone find myself in such a position of trust. It’s not necessary.”

  “It is necessary. Once, this locket served to open any door at any time to the bearer. I hope it will do so again, but at present this locket could equally get you killed. Use it wisely.”

  Chapter 9

  Krys stared unhappily at the food before her. Not that she could see it, of course. She grimaced at the incongruity of a blind Seer, but though she couldn’t see, her Seeing had undergone fundamental change that had been of great benefit to others. Before Grnlee, her visions had, in nearly all cases, consisted of seeing through the eyes of someone else. After the Chessori scree blinded her, her visions had changed to encompass events as much as individuals, critical events whose outcomes had led to stunning defeats for the Chessori and, hence, to the Rebels.

  But now . . . now she had the feeling that she wasn’t so much seeing as she was hearing, hearing a name. Once again, the word “Joshua” sounded in her mind, a word she didn’t understand. It could be a name or a place or a thing, but it felt to her like it was a name. The word sounded clearly several times a day, even waking her up during sleep periods.

  Joshua. Who or what was Joshua?

  Tarn was the Guide. She desperately needed him, and she was only two days away from reaching him on Orion III. He had an uncanny ability to decipher her confusing visions, though this time she wasn’t certain he would be able to help.

  She sensed it again. “Joshua.” More insistent now, not just a word, but a command. What did it mean?