Firestone Rings (The Two Moons of Rehnor, Book 4)

by J. Naomi Ay

  “He's building an empire? What do you mean? SdK already provides health care services for half the galaxy.”

  “Not that kind of empire!” I practically screamed. “Do you know what that ship said on it? No, of course you don't. You don't speak Mishnese, but I do. I speak Mishnese now because I have to. It said, Empire of Rehnor on it. Not kingdom, Jerry, Empire, and I don’t mean a fricking health care business empire. I mean a real one with a fricking Emperor running it. He's got Rehnor, Andorus and I bet by the time I get back, Altaris will be worshipping the ground he walks on too."

  Jerry’s eyebrows disappeared into his forehead.

  I grabbed a blanket off the bed and wrapped myself in it I was shaking so hard.

  Jerry cleared his throat. “Empire of Rehnor,” he repeated slowly.

  “It's named after me! The bloody ship has my name scrawled across the hull. Anybody who speaks Rozarian can see that! It's like a flashing billboard! Look Spaceforce Command, your newest enemy is named after one of your captains.”

  There was a knock on the door. I froze. Jerry stared at the door.

  “Is it them?” he whispered.

  “Why would they knock?”

  “Madame?” It was Siria. Jerry let out a huge sigh. “Madame, we must come in.”

  I unlocked the door and in came Siria, Tilia and one of the Andorian men who followed me around too. They all got on their knees.

  “What do you want?”

  “He cannot stay alone with you here,” Siria said and pointed at Jerry.

  “And why not?”

  “It is not allowed, Madame,” Tilia replied and looked up at me hesitantly as if she was afraid I might hit her.

  “Who told you that?” Jerry asked curiously, pushing his glasses up his nose. “The Emperor?”

  The girls giggled and put their hands on their faces. The guy glared at Jerry and looked like he was capable and willing to rip Jerry's head off.

  “Are they coming?” I asked the Andorians.

  Nobody responded.

  “They are, aren't they?” I said.

  Siria gave a slight nod and glanced at Jerry.

  I paced the cabin again. “Fortunately, I'm already packed.”

  “Katie,” Jerry said abruptly and turned away from the Andorians. “Let me come with you.”

  “What?”

  “I want to come with you. Remember? I told you before I would.”

  “You're kidding me, right? This is serious, Jerry.”

  “No, Goldie. If you leave, I leave.”

  “Jerry.” I stopped in front of him. “You can't follow me across the galaxy. I'm married to the Emperor of Rehnor, and he's a damn scary dude with the power of life and death. You saw that. You know what he can do.”

  “He's really the Emperor?” Jerry looked confused.

  “What did you think?” I cried. “Prince Shika was making it all up?”

  “Well, sort of,” Jerry shrugged. “I thought maybe Ron was working for the Emperor. I figured he was the Darth Vader character or something.”

  That comment left me speechless for a moment. I went into the bathroom and swallowed dry two migraine pills.

  “Jerry,” I said when I had returned. “You can't follow me there. You can't give up your whole life to a woman who is married and in love with someone else.”

  Jerry looked away. “I already have.”

  “Don’t Jerry! I love him. I always have and I always will. I don't love you.”

  He set his mouth in a tight line and looked me straight in the eye. “I still want to come with you. For the record, we’ll say I'm following Steven there.”

  “Fine. You do what you want, Jerry.” I threw down my hands. “But I won't let you come with me now. You want a job, you go talk to Thad. I'm sure he knows how to get you there and who is in charge of what.”

  “Madame,” the Andorian man interrupted. “They are here.”

  “How do you know?” Jerry asked.

  The Andorian held up his cell but at the same moment the ship rocked. The lights flickered and went dark. We stopped moving. The engines were silent and the computer systems were down. We had thirty-seven minutes of oxygen remaining until everyone aboard suffocated, unless the engines were turned back on. EMP Control, Senya's parting words to me six months ago. That bastard planned it this way. He left me out here so he could demonstrate his ship's prowess to the Alliance.

  “Captain!” Somebody yelled and pounded on my door. “Are you in there?”

  Siria grabbed my bag.

  “Come, Madame,” the Andorian guy urged.

  “Are they doing this to us?” I asked.

  “Yes,” the Andorian replied.

  “This is a unique way to end your twenty year career,” Jerry remarked, fumbling in the dark. “Killing everyone aboard.”

  “Going out in style,” I replied. “Electro Magnetic Pulse control wipes out all electricity and immobilizes the enemy ship. It was something Spaceforce was working to develop but hasn't done it yet. Leave it to Ron to figure out how.”

  “Will we breathe again after they leave?” Jerry asked.

  “I hope so.” I moved in the darkness to where I thought Jerry was last sitting. I touched his arm. “Goodbye Jerry.” I leaned in and kissed him on the cheek. “See you in the next life.”

  “Bye Goldie,” he replied in the dark.

  The Andorians and I pulled the door open and bolted out into the dark hallway. They led the way even though it was pitch black and everyone was just a shadow in the dark. Even our torches didn’t work.

  “Captain?” Someone grabbed me. “Lt. Hevzi said that all engines and generators are down and you need to go to Engineering.

  “Go find the Staff Captain,” I told the young officer. “He is in charge now.”

  “Captain?”

  I wrestled from his grasp and ran after the Andorians who I could hear were opening up the vertical hatch to the upper deck. The lifts were out and so we would need to climb up the ladder tunnel to each deck, open the next hatch and keep going. I assumed we were heading to the airlock on deck twenty, the one we usually used at a spacebase docking. It should take almost twenty minutes to climb the entire distance. I glanced at my watch which has died like everything else and I couldn’t see it anyway. We probably had less than thirty minutes remaining of air. The young officer was following us, yelling to me but I didn’t have time to argue.

  “Just go find, Kurt!” I shouted at him, anchoring my hand on the bottom rung of the ladder. I climbed rapidly, following Siria and Tilia, the Andorian man behind me and shoving away anyone who tried to come after us. On each deck someone was shouting and there was a lot of frantic movement in the dark hallways. We were half way there, having passed five decks with five remaining, when a group of men surrounded the ladder blocking our path to the next level.

  “Is the Captain here?” one of them yelled in the dark.

  “Get the hell out of my way,” I ordered. “I’m heading to the bridge.”

  “Why aren't you using the other tunnel?”

  “Because I like this one better,” I replied and climbed out of the hatch so the Andorian could come up behind me. “Open the next one, Tilia.”

  “This doesn't seem right to me,” a man said. I didn’t recognize his voice. “Spaceforce Command ordered us to take you into custody right before the power went out.”

  I felt a hand brush me and then the heavy arm of the Andorian shoving it aside. Someone thumped against the wall and groaned. I tried to fend off the other guys, I think there were four of them, by landing a few well-placed kicks, and then scrambling for the next ladder which was hard to do in the dark when no one could see each other. Someone grabbed my legs though and then next thing I knew, I was flat on my face with my ankles and wrists locked behind my back and someone's knee in my spine. I ran my tongue across my teeth wondering how many I just chipped or lost when my face slammed against the floor.

  “I am sure glad my security team is so well
trained,” I mumbled, tasting a bit of blood but thankfully, all teeth were intact. The big Andorian man managed to dispatch a couple of the guys but more came running from the dark hallways. I didn’t hear a word from Tilia and Siria so I assumed they had made it up the next level.

  “Katelina de Kudisha,” someone started in. “You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can…”

  “Shut up!” I yelled, trying to lift my head although someone’s foot was on my neck. “We have less than twenty minutes of air left until we all die. Let me get out of here so they will turn off their EMP control!”

  “Huh?” some doofus said which raised my doubts about the intelligence of my security team.

  “The Rehnorians have EMP control over this ship.” I enunciated each word as best as I could with a dirty boot on my head. “Until I get off this ship and onto theirs, they are not going to release it. You guys want everyone aboard to die?”

  An even larger crowd was surrounding us now and I was thinking what great entertainment this would be except nobody could see it. At least I wouldn’t end up on YouTube. I heard Kurt's voice coming down the corridor.

  “Katie,” he called. “What the hell's going on?”

  “Let me go, Kurt. You're running out of air.”

  “Is it true, EMP control?” he asked, squatting down beside me. His pant leg brushed my cheek. He had way too much coffee and something with onion to eat today. Funny what you notice when your eyes don't work. I would have to tell Senya about this if I ever saw him again.

  “Yeah,” I replied. “Remember Black Beauty from yesterday? She's got EMP control on us so it's either me or all of us, got that Kurt?”

  “I can't believe you did this, Katie. I can't believe you sold out Spaceforce like this. We all looked up to you. I purposely transferred onto this ship because of you.” His feet shifted and nearly kicked me in the face.

  “Kurt, the clock is ticking.” I wished I had a free hand so I could slap him or choke him. I wished I had a free foot so I could put it somewhere meaningful on the asshole that still held my neck with his. “Let me go. As soon as I'm on their shuttle, they'll release the control.” I assumed they would but on the other hand, how should I know? If Senya’s intent was to make a splashing announcement, blowing up the Discovery would certainly light up this sector.

  “Take her to the brig,” Kurt ordered, his pant leg brushing my face again. “Command wants a court martial.”

  “You're all going to die, Kurt!” I tried to remind him.

  “No, we're not. We'll get our engines restarted.”

  “They're awfully quiet. You don't have enough time to screw around. Jesus, Kurt. Don't be stupid. I'm not worth killing everyone aboard over.”

  “Command wants you,” he repeated, walking away. He bumped into someone because there was some shuffling and few excuse mes.

  “Command isn't going to get anyone of us,” I yelled after him. I had to yell because now there was a new noise coming down from the upper decks, sliding down the ladders like they were fire poles, metal clanging as they came.

  “Finally,” I muttered.

  I couldn’t tell how many came in the dark, but I heard at least six thumps jumping down from the ladder. Kurt started yelling from down the hall and the Spaceforce security team went scrambling, but there wasn’t anything they could do in the dark when their torches and lasers were useless.

  The Rehnorians came prepared though, hauling with each of them an ancient weapon the Alliance had long since stop using. They were sharp, three foot pieces of steel called broad swords, and apparently the Rehnorians were trained well in their use. I smelled a lot of blood and the guy with his foot on my neck left awfully quickly. There were a few thumps against the walls and the floor, some screaming and strangled gasps, and then someone grabbed me and tossed me over his shoulder.

  I was hauled up the remaining five stories of ladders like a sack of potatoes. I bounced repeatedly against this guy's back and considered inanely that his uniform was really nice material, much better than the synthetic plastic derivative that I was dressed in. The next thing I knew we were through the airlock, into a shuttle which thankfully had lights on. I was tossed more or less into a seat and left there while the shuttle doors locked, and we pulled away from the Discovery forever.

  My namesake was blinking her gold and silver lights just off the horizon, her shuttle bay doors open and shining brilliantly. My Andorian guard smiled at me and showed me thumbs up and then went to the back of the shuttle to converse with the rest of the team who were laughing and carrying on like they had just visited Disneyplanet.

  I wondered how many spacemen and women of my former command were now lying dead in the hallways of the Discovery because of me.

  Chapter 4

  Tilia

  In the shuttle, I knelt down next to my Katie. “Do you need anything, MaKani?” I asked. She had a big yellow bruise by her eye and lots of scratches on her hands and face. I thought she needed some salve cream, the kind that mended these things but I didn’t suggest it. It was not my place to suggest things, only to do as my Katie bid me.

  “I need someone to cut these off,” my Katie said and showed me the plastic ties around her wrists. There were more around her ankles too.

  “Weeph!” I called in our language. My mate came to us and knelt next to me. He took his blade from his pocket and cut the ties. My Katie shook out her hands and rubbed her ankles and wrists.

  “I would rub them for you, MaKani,” I said. I would like to do this. I would like to make her happy, but I may not touch her unless she asked.

  “No, thank you, Tilia,” she said and looked out the window at the Allied Starship. “Oh!” she gasped when the lights of the Discovery ship came back on. “Oh thank God.” She held her head with her hands and looked very sad. “Go on now.” She waved at Weeph and me, so we left her there in the seat and I went to find Siria who would have new clothing for me to wear.

  I liked my new clothing. Now I would not have to wear these strange garments of the Allied Spaceforce but instead a dress in a style like I knew back on Andorus, my home. It was a nicer dress than ever I had there. The fabrics smelled of flowers and were soft on my hands and my body. There was a beautiful badge on my chest that showed everyone I belonged to the MaKani’s household.

  On my home planet, my dress was made from the bags that carried the fruit and tubers to market. When a bag was too worn and all would fall out, the farmers would toss them in the trash piles and my neighbors, and I would run quickly to gather them. I would put my head and arms through the holes, and now I would have a new dress. Sometimes the bag had a drawing on my chest that said I was forty pounds of potatoes. Siria was already wearing her new dress and spun around in a circle to show me and Weeph.

  “You look beautiful now, my Siria,” Weeph said. “The Little Prince will be proud that you are his nurse.”

  Weeph put his hands around Siria and kissed her. I would like to kiss Weeph, too, but lately he favored her more than me. This was because she had an infant starting in her belly. Weeph thought that he was the sire but perhaps it was Fruph or Reesh. We would not know until it came out and we saw who it resembled. I wished I had an infant in my belly, too. Each of my mates had tried to start one but still I was empty. This was common for us of Andorus. It was very hard to create a new life and Siria was very fortunate that she had done so. I loved my mate almost as much as I loved my Katie. My Siria would continue our family even when I could not.

  “You are beautiful, Tilia,” my Siria said when I had slipped my new dress over my head. She kissed me, and now my Weeph did too, squeezing my breasts and then holding his hand on the space where one was missing. I put my arms around the both of them and for a moment that space did not even ache. I had my family of mates and soon we would be together with our Fruph in the beautiful Palace of the Great Emperor who had brought peace and good fortune to Andorus.

  We followed my Katie from the shuttle into the bay of ou
r Rehnorian Starship. My Weeph and my Reesh liked this ship so much more than the Allied Discovery. It seemed that all they wanted to speak of was this ship and the weapons it carried and how quickly it would travel. It was bigger and more beautiful than the Discovery, and there were many Andorians serving upon it so both of my mates had good company and were happy.

  “We will take over the galaxy with this ship,” my Reesh cried joyfully, and he and my Weeph wrestled about with each other. They would like to take over the galaxy. They would do for our Great Emperor anything he would wish for them to do.

  “Rehnor will rule the galaxy,” my Siria replied softly and our men smiled at her for speaking so smartly.

  We were all proud to be Rehnorians now, and our men were honored to serve on this ship while my Siria, my Fruph and I served in the Great Palace and cared for the Emperor’s precious mate and offspring.

  In my Katie’s room, we were met by the Lady Berkan who did not like us and told us to go away. She looked down her nose at our beautiful new dresses and scolded us for not tending to the yellow bruise beneath my Katie’s eye.

  “Come, Madame,” the Lady Berkan said, pulling my Katie into a chair before a great mirror with many lights. “We will fix you up proper and then we need to decide if you are to be gold today or sapphire. What do you think, Madame? Is gold too festive for simply arriving in Mishnah? Perhaps sapphire or even emerald would be a better choice?”

  “What the hell are you talking about, Luci?” My Katie snapped but sat down compliantly where the Lady Berkan put her and stared at herself in the mirror.

  “Do you need anything more, MaKani?” I asked, and my Siria giggled and reminded me we must now only call her Madame or Your Imperial Highness.

  “No, Tilia,” my Katie replied. “Thanks guys. Go take some R & R. I’m sure this ship must have an awesome Recreational Deck. Everything else seems to be over the top.” She put her chin in her hands and frowned at the mirror as the Lady Berkan began to take a brush to her hair.