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

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Voice of the Chosen (Spirit of Empire, Book Three) Page 24

by Lawrence White


  A smile touched her lips in spite of the heavy issues before them. “Imagine, a Knight accepting a few coins. Whoever would have thought?” She paused, then asked in a small voice, “We leave tomorrow. He and I have not spoken since before the coup, and now my big brother wears the pins of a dead Knight whom he admired greatly. I desperately want to congratulate him.” She turned toward Borg. “If he can’t come to me, is there any way I can go to him?”

  Borg considered. “Not without giving him away, and possibly ourselves, My Lady. It will have to be tomorrow, or perhaps very late this night.”

  Her eyes glistened. “We can’t wait long. I haven’t told any of you yet, but in my mind I see a large number of gleasons moving through space, to where, I don’t know. I sense it is important that we find out, and quickly.”

  “Are they coming here? Could they be Struthers’ secret weapon?”

  “I don’t think so. There are too many. Thousands, I think, and I do not sense that they are coming toward us.”

  Josh spoke from his place across the room, his back still to them. “Why focus on the grave?” he asked. “At the very least, it’s counter-productive to focus on death, at least on our own deaths.”

  Tarn stepped around chairs and tables to stand in front of him. “I, too, have been considering that phrase. I don’t want to mislead us, but the word ‘grave’ can have two meanings. It speaks of death, but it also speaks of important matters, grave matters.”

  Josh’s whole body straightened, his eyes focusing on something far away. Tarn saw his head begin nodding and suspected that things were falling into place for him.

  Their gazes met, and Josh nodded once again. “I believe you’re right, Sire. The meaning of the riddle is now clear to me. It’s a powerful message.” He stood up and looked at Mike. “Our task just got harder.”

  “Or maybe easier. She can’t come now. She learned her lesson about gleasons on Centauri III. They almost killed her.”

  “What then? Are you going to address the Imperial Senate yourself?”

  “If I have to.”

  Krys disagreed. “She can’t allow the Senate to confirm Struthers, Mike. As First Knight, your presence will be meaningful, but you are not her. She will come. She is destined to come.”

  “She’s not coming,” he stated again in no uncertain terms.

  Otis padded up to him. “We’ve been through a lot together, Mike. We’re approaching the end game now. You know what the stakes are. They are, very simply, winning or losing. She has no choice but to come. She has known that since the beginning.”

  “Need I remind you of our number one priority?” Mike demanded angrily.

  “You know better than that, First Knight,” Otis growled back at him. Then in a gentler tone, “Think with your mind, not your heart. She needs you to do that, and so do we. Like Krys said, she is destined to come. She has been called as no other Chosen before her.” The two stared hard at each other, their gazes locked.

  Otis was the first to break the log jam. He padded over to Josh. “Our plan must be perfect. There is no alternative.”

  “We’re not there yet, but we will be. It’s coming together in my head. Let’s finish this up.” He turned to Mike. “The vision was of me in the Chamber. The heart knows wonder, but eyes cannot see. We’re pretty sure that refers to gleasons inside the Chamber. They’ll be outside as well. Focus on the grave, on what’s important. Focus on need. What’s Ellie’s need here?”

  “To survive,” Mike answered instantly.

  “No, it’s not. Survival is important, but not in itself. Her life and Talents mean nothing if there is no Empire. Her greatest need is for the Empire to survive.” He turned to Otis. “With gleasons part of the picture, my wonderful Senate Chamber has suddenly become a killing ground. We can deal with whatever Struthers sends our way, but what of the senators? With gleasons, there will be lots of death in that room, including the senators. There’s no way around it. They went through a partial culling once before, on the night of the coup. If it’s repeated, it could mean the end of the Empire.”

  He looked around the room at all of them. “I have to move the fighting outside the chamber. I don’t know how, but I have to do it, and fighting a large number of gleasons is going to take all the Protectors.” He looked to Otis. “Certainly all the Great Cats. Fighting gleasons is not going to be a quick thing: the Rebels will have time to bring in reinforcements. I’m going to have to secure a larger area, but my men are all spoken for.”

  He paused, then stated in no uncertain terms, “All players play. I think that’s key, and it’s a blessed warning if I ever heard one.” He stared at each of the players before him, then said, “The battle ground just got a lot bigger. We have to take the whole plateau. Waverly’s going to have to provide security for my guys.”

  Stunned silence met his words. “Can you take the whole place?” Mike asked in awe.

  “I can, but there’s a ton of logistics involved. Waverly’s guys have to train, and I have to come up with some tactics to use against these gleasons. I don’t have a clue how I’m going to draw them out of the chamber.”

  “Triton calls, the Queen holds, the twin dares, the unseen hunt,” Tarn said softly, looking at Krys as he did so.

  Her eyes looked in the direction of his voice. “You’re so right, Tarn,” she said. “Its full meaning just became clear.”

  Josh looked a question to him, and Tarn explained. “Krys had another vision, a vision we might not have completely figured out until now. A woman you have not met, a woman from Earth, is destined to come here to Triton, pretend to be the Queen, and draw the gleasons to her instead of to the real Queen. Until she has done so, the Queen will not be able to enter the chamber.”

  Borg growled. “The gleasons will be drawn to the Queen, but once they see us they will come for us as well. It would work.”

  “All players play,” Josh mumbled. He looked across the room to Mike. “I have to leave for a while. Otis and I have to meet with Waverly, Trexler, and the rest of the Protectors. This is going to take a lot of coordination.”

  “We can say you left for a family emergency, I suppose. We can’t get Waverly’s guys in through our secret passageway. There are too many of them.”

  “I know. We’ve figured out the words of the vision, but what about the visual part of the vision? I think it gives us the answer.”

  “How?”

  “I’m going to turn the tables on the Chessori. If I have to, I’ll force them to use the scree. It would slow down any gleasons we’ve failed to deal with, and it will take down any Rebel guards in the vicinity. Depending on the range of the scree, it might even incapacitate the gunners manning the defensive weapons.”

  “Unless those gunners are, themselves, Chessori,” Tarn added.

  Otis padded up to Josh. “You have the outline of a masterful plan. Leave the gleasons to me. I will need some of your men, but I can bring more of my own, as well. We have a lot of Great Cats manning Buskins’ ships at Earth. I don’t think they are needed there any longer. I’m bringing them back to Brodor . . .”

  The two of them left the room deep in conversation. Mike, despite his frustration at Ellie coming at all, clapped his hands together. “Well! It’s never dull around Krys. My Ladies, may I introduce you to each other? Krys, meet Reba . . .”

  * * * * *

  Val knew Resolve intimately. He had changed out of his beggar outfit - a beggar would never be permitted free access to the port - into black pants and a black jacket and made his way to the quarters he still thought of as Ellie’s. He entered silently and stopped, staring at the three people deep in conversation. He took in Reba who had dressed in a crisp, green business suit to fulfill her part of the marketing delegation and a tall, young man dressed in standard blue ship-board coveralls. He guessed this was the infamous Tarn Lukes. His gaze did not linger long: his focus was his twin sister. She must have sensed his presence, for she stopped talking and stood up, turning toward him, h
er black pants and blouse almost identical to his own.

  He had feared this meeting, not knowing what she would look like now that she was blind, but to his surprise, she seemed little changed since the last time he had seen her. The years should have aged her, though on second thought, she now carried a Rider and her aging process was essentially halted, just as his was. That didn’t mean her demeanor was the same. The person who turned to him exuded confidence and determination.

  “Val?”

  “I’m here.” He stepped over to her and took her in his arms. It was just the two of them in the room for a little while. “It’s been a long time,” he whispered into her hair. They stepped apart, and her hands went to his face. He placed his hands over hers and leaned forward, kissing her on the forehead. “Hi, little sister.”

  She smiled. “In spite of what’s gone on, yes, I am still your little sister, the little sister of a one-legged beggar boy who became the man who now wears Sir Jarl’s pins. I’m so proud of you.”

  “The Seer has come into her own, as well.”

  Krys nodded. “She has. I barely remember the person I was before all this began. You’ve done well, and I’m happy for you.”

  He frowned. “I wish I could say the same for you.”

  “Everyone focuses on my blindness. Don’t. It serves me well and I’m happy. I have Tarn.”

  He glanced over to Tarn and nodded, then turned back to Krys. “The Guide. And I have Reba. In that regard, we are both lucky.” He looked around the room. “It was this very room in which we met.”

  She nodded. “Fifteen years ago.”

  He grinned. “We had to learn to dress and eat like civilized people. Remember your favorite pastime then?”

  “My stories filled with the adventures of Queens and Knights and quests?”

  “The very same. Are you taking notes?”

  “It’s different when it’s real.”

  “That it is, but you might want to start taking notes. What you’re doing will become a part of our history, Krys.”

  “If we live that long,” she rejoined. She considered, then added, “No, there will be no notes for either of us. We cannot chance their discovery by the wrong people. But I’m told there will be songs sung one day.”

  “About you, there will. As for me, I might be a footnote, but that’s more than I want. I’m the First Knight’s right arm, and it’s just where I want to be.”

  She smiled. “He’s married to Mother. He’s King now.”

  Val shrugged. “I know, but he’s not very kingly - he’s fully engaged. He’s right there in the trenches with us. I still think of him as First Knight, not King. He’s been cleaning bathrooms for the past few months.”

  She choked. “You’re kidding!”

  “Nope. Mother chose well.”

  “She misses him.”

  Val nodded, though she couldn’t see it. “What are your plans?”

  “I never really know. At the moment there are more gleasons in my future. Since becoming blind, it seems that I can see them in my mind, at least sometimes. I see a large group of them traveling between the stars. I don’t know where they’re going or what their purpose is. We’re going to find them and learn what it is.”

  “Whatever it is, it won’t be good.”

  “Whatever it is, it will have an impact on the war. All my visions do.”

  “So that means Struthers is involved.”

  “Most likely. I hadn’t thought about that. Let me introduce you to my man.”

  Tarn stepped forward and stuck out a hand. “The Right Arm, I presume?”

  Val nodded. “And you’re the Guide. Finally, we meet. You have guided us well.”

  Tarn inclined his head. “It’s never a sure thing. According to the Leaf People, we’re destined to carry the burdens of our failures as well as our successes.” He looked askance at Reba. “I hope we’re not remembered for our failures more than our successes.”

  Her face lit with that incredible grin. “You’re implying we’ll be remembered at all. That’s progress.”

  Val chuckled, then instantly sobered. “I heard what you did for Krys on Orion III. Thank you.”

  Tarn rolled his shoulders, exercising his back muscles. He still wasn’t completely healed from the gleason’s attack. “I don’t think we need to go there, Sire. If we do, we’ll have to go back to . . . what did you say it was? Fifteen years ago?”

  Val’s lips thinned. “Indeed. We’re all doing our parts, and I don’t think any of us are of a mind to quit.”

  “My crew has a compact among ourselves,” Krys said. “I’m told it’s spreading through the fleet. We have pledged to each other to give all that we are until this ends.”

  Val’s eyebrows rose. So, too, did Reba’s. They both nodded.

  “There’s more,” Krys said. “We do it for our children and for our children’s children. It has become the battle cry of our fleets. Mother has taken the pledge.”

  “How is she?”

  “Invigorated. She’s been stuck on Parsons’ World and Shipyard for too long. She’s leaving. Struthers has found her.”

  Val stepped away in surprise. “I didn’t know. I thought our contacts here would have heard something of that nature. I guess we’re not in the know as much as we thought.”

  “Mike and Reba know the whole story. They’ll fill you in. Josh is going with us.”

  Val’s eyebrows rose. “That changes the whole dynamic of our operation here. I’d better get back to work.”

  He stepped back to her and kissed her on the forehead again. Her arms went around him for a moment, then she let him go.

  “Be well, big brother. I’ll do my best to be back here for whatever you end up planning.”

  “So far we don’t have a need for you or your ship.”

  “All players are going to play,” she said. “We’ll be back if we can. I love you, Val. Know that whatever happens, I’m proud to be your sister.”

  His lips firmed. “For our children and our children’s children.”

  Tranxte

  Chapter 15

  The trip to Aldebaran I took a full month since Resolve could not fast-ship out of the Triton system. During the voyage Josh, Washburn, and Otis roughed out a plan for securing the top of the plateau. It would take all of the Protectors, and it would take a lot of Waverly’s troops. Everyone needed training specific to the palace complex, and Otis decided that training would take place on Brodor where they already had a partial replica of the Palace.

  The Protectors would be fighting gleasons, and there was no known way to ensure success. Otis, Washburn, and a few others had fought gleasons, and none of them had any desire to repeat the process. Washburn’s battle had been brief and intense. Otis’ battle had been more drawn out, but it had only been against three gleasons. The senate battle promised to be much different: potentially large numbers of gleasons on a large battleground that would, by its very nature, require a prolonged battle. The Protectors had few options. Josh believed the Great Cats and his men could take on the gleasons if they could just find them, but the gleasons were, essentially, invisible. A way had to be found to foil that invisibility.

  M’Sada, coming off pilot duties for a rest, scurried through the lounge on his way to his quarters. He slowed down at what to him was still an amazing sight: every Protector on the ship in a meeting with three Knights. The room promised lots of interesting smells. He began a rapid preening to make room for them.

  Washburn called to him. “Join us, Commander.”

  M’Sada scurried over to a table near the group, pulled out a chair, and used it to scramble up onto the table. Schect didn’t use chairs, but they preferred to be on the same level as others in conversations. “Am I interrupting?” he asked.

  “Not at all. In fact, I was wondering if you might have some ideas. Your tactical planning skills are legendary, at least your space borne tactics. Do you have any skills related to ground fighting?”

  “Terry, my pe
ople live underground, but we spend a lot of time above ground hunting and harvesting. Unlike the Great Cats who have always been hunters, we spent most of our history as prey. Until discovering the benefits of tools, we defended ourselves with our bare hands and our wits. As you can see, I have a lot of hands, but they’re not particularly well-designed for fighting. My ancestors survived mostly on their wits. Applying the skills we learned to space travel is a comparatively new challenge. We like challenges.”

  “Do you know our problem?”

  M’Sada’s upper hands moved from his antennae to his whiskers of their own accord. His mind was not needed for the preening process, and he felt the change from flying duties refreshing. His hands stopped for just a moment. “Gleasons,” he said, then resumed his preening.

  “Potentially lots and lots of gleasons,” Washburn replied. “How would your people go about fighting a horde of them?”

  “Hmm. Actually, I’ve been giving it some thought. Aside from your need for a solution, it’s an interesting problem. What have you come up with so far?”

  “We’ve considered blinding them. They’re sensitive to light in the infrared spectrum so they might be vulnerable to a strong light source. It might also be possible to set up some life force sensors, but the units are big and heavy. Our men need to remain fluid.”

  “You took out gleasons on Orion III.”

  “Krys saw them in her mind and there were only eight of them. She directed our fire, and once the creatures were injured they lost their invisibility. Then it was just doing what we’re trained to do, though the creatures are utterly devastating even when wounded. Even if she came with us on Triton, there’s no way she could point out large numbers of them.”

  “How have the Great Cats fought the gleasons?” he asked Otis.

  Otis replied without hesitation. We fought them on Centauri III. We used long blasters, short blasters, and grenades, but only after spending several days surveilling them. There were only three of them and six of us, and it was a close thing.”

 

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