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

by Lawrence White

Otis blinked. “I can, Sire. I should have thought of that myself.”

  He turned and limped from the ship. Soon, a throng of Waverly’s soldiers appeared, carrying or dragging or floating aliens of many species into the loading bay. By the time they were done, bodies of the living and dead lay in heaps everywhere. The soldiers had not been gentle, but they had been quick. The sorting could take place later.

  Meanwhile, Reba went in search of Captain Stevens and Lieutenant Walters. She met them as they came out of the ground right at the base of a big gun in the center of the park, now overshadowed by the bulk of the cruiser which had lowered itself until just a foot or two above the gun. They had not taken time to change uniforms, but they weren’t overly concerned. Anyone moving around on this field would either be a friendly or a Chessori.

  “Welcome back to the living,” she beamed. “You definitely saved our day.”

  The men were exhausted, having spent anxious days in the tunnels followed by holding off a major counter-attack, all the while knowing that a dead-man’s switch lay at the end of their road. She didn’t give them long to adjust to their new freedom.

  “Line up,” she ordered.

  Stevens looked at her like she was crazy. “Ma’am?”

  She held out a camera, her famous grin lighting up their lives. “A lot of us died today. This is in their honor.”

  The men and two Chessori lined up beneath the great gun, their weapons and helmets held in their hands, and she took her pictures. When she released them, they trudged off toward the nearest ramp into the cruiser. Their fighting was done.

  Josh held the captured Chessori inside the Senate Chamber until the recovery operation was complete. He took a final look around the chamber, then raised his eyes to the ceiling to gaze at the amazing masterpiece there. It had come through the fighting unscathed. A tight grin flashed across his face for a moment, then he marched the Chessori up the center isle and out through the main doors, closing the great doors behind himself. He moved his prisoners outside onto a field littered with bodies and the scorched remains of stingers.

  No one moved. The survivors were aboard the cruiser, and dead Rebels lay where they had fallen. All was silent. He called to the Chessori to halt. They turned to face him, the scree still emanating from them though no visible sign showed.

  “See what you’ve done?” he said. “And for what? Greed? Well, the days of the Chessori are numbered. The rebellion has failed. You’ve failed. You’re prisoners, and Empire law will deal with you. Call your brothers. If there are any left alive, they can stay here or they can join you provided they come unarmed. I don’t think they’ll be so well-loved here any longer. I don’t care what choice they make.”

  Otis joined Josh as Chessori appeared from the buildings to either side. Josh was amazed that they’d found ways to stay alive.

  Reba stood half way up one of the ramps of the cruiser with her camera in her hands. She captured Josh and Otis herding their prisoners across a field of smoking stingers scattered among the bodies of dead soldiers of several races, the background filled with the senate building, scorch marks riddling the walls. Josh, a soft camouflage hat tight on his head, his uniform shredded from his fight with the gleason, his equipment belt hanging by a thread, and the massive bandage on his leg soaked with fresh blood, carried his weapon as if born with it. A look into his shadowed eyes left the impression that he would be only too happy to use the weapon. Otis limped beside him, long gashes down his side and flank, an equipment belt holding flaps of skin together, his weapons holstered but ready.

  That moment, captured in a digital recording, would become legendary throughout the Empire. On Earth, the photograph would receive a Pulitzer Prize. Among Fortress Earth, it was destined to grace the inside cover of its first official scrap book, appearing even before the title page.

  * * * * *

  Trexler joined Steve Brinson in the net. “Any luck finding our man?” he asked.

  “Three possibilities. Here they are,” Brinson answered, highlighting the targets. “I’m pretty sure it’s this one, but the other two are possibilities.

  “Okay. You found him. Want to go get him?”

  “Are you kidding! Get me a ship. I’m on the way to hangar bay,” Brinson said, ripping the helmet from his head and racing off at a full run.

  * * * * *

  Brinson went right for the main target with three fast cruisers. Three more cruisers went after each of the other two targets, surrounding them. The Rebel cruisers knew better than to open fire.

  Brinson spoke to his target. “Ahoy there. I’d like to speak with Admiral Juster.” He got no response, nor did he expect a response yet. “Okay, you’re surrounded. You know you’re dead if I give the order. Here’s the deal: Give me Juster and you go free. Fail to give me Juster and you’re dead. He’ll be dead in any case, so I don’t care which choice you make. You have one minute.”

  A senior admiral came on the line. “He’s not here.”

  “Oh. Sorry. Forty-five seconds.” He cut the connection.

  The minute ended, and he fired a shot across the bow. The captain came back on. “Standby.”

  A new face came on the pickup. “I’m Juster.”

  Brinson suddenly realized he didn’t know what Juster looked like. “Standby,” he said. Privately to his own crew, he asked, “Can anyone here verify his identity?”

  “It’s him, Steve,” the Empire captain said. “I don’t know him, but I’ve seen his picture.”

  “Do we have any way of positively identifying him?”

  “Not that I know of. Uh, wait a minute. The Queen will know him.”

  “How do we get him over here?”

  “He has a shuttle.”

  “He might try to get away. Our only option would be to kill him. I want him alive.”

  “We could go get him. Or,” the captain said thoughtfully, “they could push him out through the airlock. We could pick him up.”

  Brinson got back to Juster. “My offer stands. You come to me and your men go free.”

  “No.”

  Brinson fired another shot across the bow, and Juster’s visage disappeared from the link. More shots were fired, this time striking the cruiser. He targeted a main battery, and it disappeared in a flash.

  The connection opened again. It was the captain. “We’ll send a shuttle.”

  “No. Put him in a suit and push him out the door. I’ll pick him up.”

  “Sir, that’s no way to treat a flag officer, even your enemy.”

  Brinson started to laugh, then his brows came together and his eyes practically shot flames. “Tell that to his mother. Tell that to his brothers and sisters. Tell that to the Queen’s husband. Tell that to my friends. Send him over.”

  A nearly incoherent Juster sailed into the hangar bay and landed hard. Brinson was there to meet him. “What the heck is wrong with you?” he demanded.

  Juster could only babble. Brinson thought he heard something about “afraid of heights,” but he wasn’t certain.

  Chapter 25

  Stven escorted Ellie to Resolve’s bridge. “Your brother has been captured,” he told her. “They need verification that it’s him.”

  She stared into the pickup at her brother. Her blood. She knew that if she said it was him, she was signing his death warrant. She considered all that had happened as she stared into his eyes, eyes that stared defiantly back at her.

  “It almost worked,” he said.

  “We have Struthers, you know.”

  “He’s a shell of the person he once was. He was not supposed to have survived today.”

  “Both of you will survive today. I’m not certain how many more days you have.”

  “Between the two of us, we have a lot of followers. We might be able to make an arrangement.”

  “You ask for mercy from a Chosen?”

  “Never. This is a business deal.”

  She closed her eyes and nodded to Stven. His visage disappeared, and she slumped i
nto a nearby seat. Her great day of triumph had come at a high cost. It harbored more than a fair share of sadness and sacrifice.

  She felt Stven’s nearness and opened her eyes. The dragon’s two purple eyes stared into hers. Though he was a reptile and often saw things differently than others, she sensed his understanding. She reached a hand out and touched his scales, whispering, “Thank you, Stven.”

  “A horrible day, Your Majesty. A great battle has been fought and won, a battle that should never have been. Many have died. Too many have died. I wonder - will they be the last? Can it be over? Can your brother make it over?”

  She closed her eyes again, remembering her Mother and brothers and sisters. Her first husband. The other Chosen. The many thousands who had suffered and died since that terrible night. Could it be over?

  She opened her eyes to Stven again. “I don’t know. He deserves a fate worse than death.”

  “Your Majesty, you’re a Chosen, and you studied on Rrestriss. There are deals, and then there are deals. He doesn’t have to walk away free.”

  She reached a hand out to him again. “You are truly a Rress, Captain, and I value your counsel. It’s time you knelt before me. Will you?”

  His wings ruffled as they started to unfold. He pulled them back in, but a puff escaped from one nostril, then again from both nostrils. She ignored it, as did he. “This ship already carries two Knights, Your Majesty. Isn’t that enough?”

  She frowned, then a smile lit her face. “This is a ship of Knights, all of you.” Her expression hardened. “We dealt a death blow to the Rebels today. Not so the Chessori. For Earth’s sake we have to take the fight to them. I don’t know how, but Resolve will spearhead our efforts just as you have spearheaded our defeat of the Rebels. You, Krys and Tarn, O’Brien and Washburn, M’Sada - all of you will be at the center of whatever comes. You’re all Knights, some just less official than others.”

  She stared off into the distance for a while. When she returned, she said, “I like the feel of a ship of Knights . . . well, maybe not all Knights, but certainly Knights and admirals and generals. We’ll wait until Krys feels better.”

  * * * * *

  Chandrajuski, when he learned of Juster’s capture, could only stare at Trexler. “Struthers and Juster both?” he asked in disbelief. When Trexler nodded, the great praying mantis stood frozen a little longer. Then with his forces in the midst of disengaging and lots of fighting still going on, he turned away. He did not look back as his delicate steps carried him from the operations center, but his two fists beat continually against each other.

  Chapter 26

  Mike found his way to the brig and had the ensign in charge let him into Struthers’ cell. Looking around at the cell, he decided it was about what he expected. In fact, it was similar to the room in which he’d woken up in Resolve and discovered Jake inside of him.

  >Recognize the place, Jake?<

  >Indeed I do.”<

  >We’ve come a ways since then, haven’t we?<

  >All the way, Mike. We’re a good team.<

  >That we are. This meeting could get a little dicey.<

  >Don’t forget he’s got a Rider.<

  >I guess it makes sense. What becomes of his Rider?<

  >I don’t know. I’ll have to give that some thought.<

  Mike stood by the door as the ensign closed and locked it behind him. Struthers was lying on his bunk, the stub of his right arm encased in a sleeve of nutrients. He rose to a sitting position with his legs hanging over the bed when Mike came in. Mike had instructed the medical staff not to waste their time on repairs, and Mike doubted his Rider would have time to rebuild the arm, but the Rider would keep most of the pain at bay.

  “First Knight,” Struthers said bowing his head minutely.

  “Mr. Struthers,” Mike said in greeting. “Are you being adequately taken care of?”

  “I am.”

  “It’s pretty obvious you’re done. Do you have any comments or suggestions you’d like to make to me about why you did what you did?”

  “Not really.”

  “I’m not recording this or anything. This is just between you and me.”

  “I understand. I understood that the moment you walked through the door. It doesn’t matter. My fate is decided.”

  “I’m sure it is. I doubt if there’s much room for negotiation - unless you have the means to call off your rebellion.”

  Struthers perked up, then slouched back onto his bed. “No. I’m at peace with myself and what will happen. The rest is up to you, my friend.”

  “I would prefer you not address me as ‘my friend.’ I never will be, you know.”

  “You won’t? Not even First Knight to First Knight?”

  “No. I’m just curious why you did it.”

  “You’re new to the job. You’ll find out.”

  “Find out what?”

  “That it’s the end of the line. You’ll never be anything more.”

  “I already am. I’m King.”

  Struthers jerked his head away. After a time, he stood up and said, “Then it will most likely be you who makes the final decision concerning my fate. The Queen will wash her hands of it.”

  “You’d be surprised. She’s a lot tougher than any of you gave her credit for.”

  “That one I learned the hard way. I’m at peace with myself.”

  “How can you possibly be at peace after all the death and suffering?”

  Struthers waved a hand in dismissal. “No one who mattered. What matters is that I’m honest with myself. I tried, First Knight. It’s a pretty amazing feat that I pulled off, don’t you think? The greatest challenge of my life, and I pulled it off.”

  “That’s all? You did it for the challenge?”

  “No. I had thought it was power I sought, but in the end I realized it wasn’t the power. In my mind I kept coming back to those years of planning. What an incredible rush it was. We had to do everything right under the noses of the Queen and her Protectors: get the new governors ready to assume their positions, all the senior fleet officers, we had to negotiate with the Chessori, and we had to do it all while avoiding the Queen’s Test. I’m proud of what we were able to accomplish. The challenge of running the Empire was not what I thought it would be. These past few years have not been kind to me.”

  “How did you keep knowledge of the coup from the Queen?”

  Struthers brightened as he relived the excitement. “See, that’s just it. They think they’re so much better than us, but they’re not. She was aging. It was child’s play to divert her attention to other matters. I hate Testings. I managed to avoid them for many years.”

  “What kind of arrangement did you make with the Chessori?”

  “We agreed to let them join the Empire, and we agreed to give them free access to our markets, to let them trade on an equal basis with our own traders. That’s all it took.”

  “And they were going to reciprocate, let you trade in their empire?”

  “Not right away, but eventually. Their price was not unreasonable considering what they gave us.”

  “Did you ever wonder if they were playing you?”

  “Not at all. They did not call the shots. I did.”

  Mike winced. It would serve no purpose to disabuse this man. He would let him go to his grave thinking he had been in charge. “Would you be willing to give me the name of the head Chessori with whom you negotiated?”

  “I will if you’ll tell me how you defeated the scree.”

  “You don’t know?” Mike asked in surprise.

  “No. You must have developed some kind of gadget. I’m not a gadget man, I distrust such things even if they do come in handy.”

  “Yes, we came up with a gadget,” Mike responded. “We couldn’t find a way to shield ourselves from the scree, but we found a way to alter the alpha, epsilon, and omega waves in our own brains that completely negated the effects of the scree. It’s kind of weird when you first do it, and some people get real confus
ed, but it works if you stick with it.”

  Struthers nodded his head. “Yes, it makes complete sense. My scientists were just beginning their work on it. They hadn’t had any success yet. I wonder if they tried that approach?”

  “We’ll find out, but it doesn’t matter. We’re comfortable with the unit. It’s just a little pin we wear on our shirts. You can even carry it in your pocket if you want. I suppose someday everyone will have one. You had a name?”

  “I have two names. Gibbzm was the senior Chessori representative to the Empire. Forseth is the guy he reported to back home.”

  “Did you ever meet this Forseth?”

  “Only once. We met on a neutral world. I’ve never been into the Chessori domain.”

  “How does their government work there?”

  “This Forseth is in charge. I never got a clear answer on his title.”

  “I see. Is there anything else you can tell me about the Chessori?”

  “They’re secretive and hard to read, but what one of them knows, the rest of them seem to know.” He stared off into space for a time, then shook his head. “No, no way.”

  “What?”

  “Nothing.”

  “It must have been a real challenge to get the gleasons on your side.”

  “It was. I refused to meet with them myself. It was pretty scary having them around.”

  “So what did it take to get their cooperation?”

  “Trantxe.”

  “Trantxe?”

  “It’s just a small world, completely unimportant. I’m not surprised you haven’t heard of it.”

  “You gave it to them?” Mike asked.

  “The world, the creatures that inhabit it, and transportation to and from. That’s all it took. It was to be a second homeland for them.”

  “And, uh . . . who inhabited it?”

  “It was classified as an emerging world. They were so far behind the times that they would never have made it to the Empire.”

  “Were?”

  “Come, First Knight. The gleasons are there in numbers.”