“Which is why he won’t get what he came for,” Stephanie replied and stared at the screen like she could somehow stare into the pirate’s eyes.
Chapter Thirty-Five
The pirate moved and the drone camera followed him wherever he walked. He stopped in front of the forward viewing screen and looked out at space beyond.
After a brief moment, he shook his head, turned back to the camera, and gazed directly into it. He hesitated when he had a strange feeling that someone stared at him equally as intently. He shook it off—because it really was a fanciful notion that did not belong in a warrior’s psyche—and smiled at the people watching before he resumed his speech.
“This ship and—most important to you self-centered righteous bigots—your very skin will taste the heat of a million suns or the icy touch of space if this particular passenger decides they are more important than you are.”
He glanced meaningfully at the forward screen with its vista of stars and shrugged arrogantly. “What they will decide I do not know, but I’ll be glad to watch the action either way and I promise you, this is no virtual act. You won’t make it back from either experience in this life.”
Saqteq took a deep breath, clapped his huge hands together, and glanced over at where the captain waited, his face now slightly flushed. He permitted himself a chuckle at the man’s emotion before he looked at the camera once more. “So, here it is—the name of the person who needs to come forward, the one who can save you or sentence you to the grave. Are you on the edges of your gold-coated seats? Good.”
His face lost all humor and become stern and serious, and his lip twitched. “Ambassador of Meligorn, how about you come to the Bridge and save a few lives by not making this difficult? Leave your bodyguard behind if you value his life. You have five minutes before we start executing the crew. We will be waiting.”
The screen went black as the mic clicked off. Stephanie whirled to face the team, her eyes wide as she shook her head. “No. That…that’s not right, is it? The ambassador’s not here on this ship, is he?”
There was panic in her voice, and the team had no idea how to answer her. They simply stared and their faces revealed that they felt as confused as she did.
Finally, Lars walked over and put his hands on her shoulders. “What did he tell you about this awards ceremony?”
Calming slightly, she shook her head. “Nothing really. He said he would see me there, but he said nothing about being on this ship.”
Her voice rose. “I mean…if he were on this ship, he would have told me, right? Brilgus would have called to let us know. We would have known.”
Lars stared at her for a moment before he looked at the other guys. “Johnny, check the passenger logs for any unusual names in the royal rooms and floors. Then cross-check who is staying there and make sure they really exist.”
He turned to her. “I am positive he’s not here. I have no idea why they think so, but freaking out won’t fix this situation. You have to stay calm.”
Stephanie nodded and walked over to the center of the room. She thought about the MU conversation she had with the other Meligornian she had met.
She tapped her foot against the carpet and rubbed her chin as she wracked her brain to think of something she could do to determine whether or not the ambassador was actually there. When she recalled her encounter with Garma, she had an idea.
It might not work but was certainly worth the attempt. She took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and focused on a search for any sources of MU on the ship. Her gMU stirred and she could almost see it as it crept out of her and flowed across the floor.
She monitored it carefully and the energy traveled out under the doors and through the hallways to probe and seek for any trace of MU that might be there. It would take her a while to move through the entire ship that way but she decided it was the best chance she had to confirm the ambassador’s presence.
If he was on board, there was no way she would let him surrender to the Dreth. If he wasn’t, that freed the team to make a move. Either way, they couldn’t simply sit there and do nothing. Everyone’s lives depended on it.
Captain Penman looked at the pirate who held him down in his chair, a gun pointed at his head. His gaze followed Saqteq as he paced the room. He wasn’t sure what the pirate captain had planned, but the Dreth’s body language said he was waiting for something.
Aware that the human captain watched his every move, Saqteq waited for the signal. Either the ambassador would come or there would be an explosion that would rock the Federation. There was a fairly good chance that both would happen, which essentially made the explosion inevitable.
Captain Penman couldn’t know that, but it soon became clear that the human had no intention to simply sit there. “Saqteq—”
His guard reversed the blaster and smacked him in the side of the head. “Shut up.”
Saqteq turned toward them and waved his hand. “Let him speak. It is fine. What were you saying, Captain?”
Penman rubbed the side of his head and gave the pirate a filthy look. “I wanted to say that you are mistaken. I would know if the ambassador was on this ship. He has been our passenger in the past. I am the captain and I know the name of every passenger on board. That is my duty and obligation, despite the fact that some prefer to travel in secret. I cannot protect someone if I don’t know they’re on my ship. And I am telling you, the ambassador is not here.”
The Dreth leaned his head back with a smirk and folded his arms over his chest. “Sure, sure. Maybe you don’t know he is here but let me ask you something. You do have a special high-level person traveling to Meligorn on this ship, don’t you?”
Penman felt shock flare through him. He knew he carried someone special but not exactly who. He tried to pretend ignorance and rolled his eyes. “That could be anyone. The Federation even defines famous actresses as special high-level guests on occasion.”
Saqteq snarled at him. “Don’t act like I am stupid, Captain. I have scalped humans alive for worse than that.”
He fingered the string of scalps dangling from his hip and saw the captain pale. “Now,” he said, “the special high-level guest. Who could that possibly be if not the Meligornian ambassador? The Federation does not hide the knowledge of simply anyone from the security system, not even your high-level actresses. Only the privileged and elite get to walk under the sun without the Federation’s all-knowing yoke resting on their shoulders. Only those they deem as powerful as themselves are able to be a ghost in life. And the ambassador is one of those people. Perhaps even close to number one on that list.”
Captain Penman shook his head. “Then why don’t I know of his presence now? Why would I know about him every other time he’s traveled but not his identity for this trip?” He narrowed his eyes. “Why would I not know, but you would?”
Hormghast Saqteq spread his arms and his blaster hung sloppily from his left hand. “Oh, I don’t know. Perhaps for this reason, exactly. So that you can have—what is it? Plausible deniability? So that you can tell me you always know and I think you are telling the truth. Well, it won’t work this time. Do you want to know why?”
Penman shook his head and looked at the floor because he already knew the answer. The Hormghast ran forward, grasped his captive by the cheeks, and squeezed them hard as he raised his face to thrust his own inches away from it. “Because no matter what, if I don’t have the ambassador when I leave this ship, you will all die.”
He released the man’s face with a dismissive flick of his wrist and turned away. The ship captain rolled his jaw and spat on the floor. “You’ll kill us no matter what happens.”
Saqteq paused mid-stride and pivoted, faking shock. “What? You doubt my honor? You think we don’t have an honest bone in our bodies? Well, we sure as the Hromiqteg Deeps used to. It was only after your Federation destroyed our freedom that we left our honor behind. So, you may be right. I might truly intend to destroy all the souls on this ship because I have no hono
r. And, of course, you know all Dreth believe that a dead Federation citizen is the best kind of Federation citizen there is.”
Time was running out. The Hormghast had set a countdown clock to spin down in the center of the Bridge and focused the security camera on it to show the people how long they had until he blasted them all to hell.
As Dreth warriors took over the command consoles, Penman was forced to join his crew. When he reached them, his executive officer leaned toward him. “I know who that guest on the ship is.”
He raised his eyebrows, his expression plainly dubious. The man nodded vigorously. “I do too. It’s not the ambassador either.”
The captain shook his head and made eye contact with him in a meaningful exchange. “We have to reveal the secret to save some lives. Even if it only buys us ten minutes to get them into stasis pods, at least they’ll have a chance.”
The executive officer took a deep breath. “It’s the witch. She’s being hailed as the savior.”
“Then she should be here doing some saving,” Penman said. “By not coming, she’s given up her right to choose.”
He straightened but his heart sank as his face reddened. Guilt-inspired nausea rolled through him as he tried to find an alternative to what he had to do.
He didn’t want to hand the girl over to the pirates, but it was one life for many—and she was the witch. Surely she could get herself free, which was not something even the ambassador was capable of.
Left with no choice, the captain cleared his throat. Hormghast Saqteq turned toward him with raised eyebrows. “Yes? Are you ready to divulge that the ambassador is indeed here?”
The captain shook his head. “He isn’t. But someone else is.”
The pirate snarled and walked quickly toward him. “You had better be telling me the truth or I will sit you on top of that bomb when it blows.”
He swallowed hard. “I am telling you the damn truth. The secret person is—”
The comms squealed and crackled to cut him off and both captains looked at the screen. There was no picture, but they could hear breathing on the other end. “This is the ambassador.”
The voice was unmistakable and in the next moment, the screen flashed on to reveal the man standing proudly in front of the camera, his robes draped around him and his silver hair sparkling under the overhead lights.
His gaze shifted to something beyond the screen and the Hormghast sneered. He strode closer to the screen and inspected the Meligornian’s face intently. After he’d stared at the purple haze in the ambassador’s eyes that confirmed his identity, he turned to Penman and the executive officer. The two men stared at the screen in complete and utter shock.
Saqteq laughed, crossed to the group, and crouched beside the captain. He draped an arm over Penman’s shoulders and stared at the screen with him.
“See?” he said and forced the man’s chin up with a brutal grasp when he tried to lower his head. “You see? Even the Federation hides the risk from the captain of the ship which carries him. You are nothing but patsies for others. Playthings. You should have chosen to be a liberated human. Now we will get who we came here for.”
Penman stared at the pirate. “Why? Because you couldn’t have the job you wanted? Because you couldn’t have the house, or the city, or the car, or any of the luxuries? Is that why you’re angry?”
Saqteq raised his arm and patted the man on the back. As he stood, he looked at the human and all humor had faded from his face. “I don’t care about those things. No Dreth does. What we do care about is our freedom. We care about not being corralled and pushed around. We care when the Federation dictates our every move and thought and when the way it governs us kills our people.”
He ruffled Penman’s hair as he stepped carefully away and the man flinched. “Those are the things we care about, but even you—a servant to the rich—cannot see that you are nothing but a sheep. You humans like to be sheep. It makes you feel like you belong, and it’s pathetic. But no matter. I am about to get what I came here for and that is what is important.”
The ambassador stood in front of the drone camera and glanced across at Lars and the team every once in a while. The Hormghast was talking to the Dreamer’s captain and forced him to look at the screen before he left him and came to stand before the drone camera.
“Well, Ambassador, now that you have come clean, get your ass up to the Bridge. We have some business to discuss and I have a public of freed Dreth, humans, and Meligornians waiting to see you lose your head as retribution for all those who have ever been oppressed.”
The ambassador’s jaw clenched and Saqteq narrowed his eyes where he stood very close to his own camera. “What’s wrong? Are you afraid? You always said you would do what was in the best interest of Meligorn, no matter the personal cost. Wasn’t that the line that made people trust you? Now, though, you are part of the human’s world, and I fear that has corrupted you and made you weaker.”
The Meligornian raised his chin in what could have been a challenge. “You are surely mistaken, pirate. I am stronger than I have ever been.”
His eyes flashed black momentarily before they returned to their usual hue. It was so quick that Saqteq wasn’t sure if his eyes had played tricks on him, or if something was going on with the man. “No matter. Come to the Bridge. We will handle our business there.”
With a nod, the ambassador turned the video off and let his shoulders relax. As he turned toward Lars and the team, his body shrank down and his features altered. In less than a minute, Stephanie stood where the ambassador had been.
She rubbed her face. “That is a bitch to do. Next time, someone prepare a speech for me, okay?”
Frog jotted it down. “Noted. But I personally have to say, you were totally awesome.”
Stephanie chuckled. “That was the easiest part of all. Now, we have to actually save these people.”
Her expression grim, she lifted the hem of the robes and walked forward to claim her blaster off the bed and raise her robes even higher to strap it on her thigh. She had to take the pistols off her hip in case the Dreth noticed them before she could reveal herself.
There were lives at stake and she couldn’t take chances. “Are you guys ready?”
The team was lined up in their battle gear and ready to go. Lars nodded and Marcus grinned. “Hell yeah, we are. The question is, will you be able to hide us from the cameras? Otherwise, they’ll know it’s a set-up before you even get there.”
She bit the inside of her cheek. “I don’t know for sure. I have to find a way to manipulate what’s in the system.”
Stephanie closed her eyes and let her mind scroll through the possibilities. With the pressure on, she was able to think clearer and faster than she’d expected. It was another new development she’d have to explore at another time when an entire ship wasn’t held hostage by Dreth.
When the ambassador had told her that she had opened parts of herself that humans normally couldn’t access, she hadn’t been sure what he’d meant. Now, she began to have an idea of what that involved. The only thing was that she wished she could think this fast when she wasn’t on her way to meet someone who wanted to kill her.
“Or,” she countered. “I have to find a way to freeze the cameras I pass…” She rushed across the room and stood at the door with her hand on the knob. “You guys have to be thirty seconds behind me. As soon as I vacate a hallway, I’ll work to freeze the cameras to what was there at the moment I left.”
Lars nodded. “And that should give us time to get to the dark spot and wait for you to pass again. It should work.”
Stephanie nodded. “It should. Using that, we can get through from here to the Bridge okay. You’ve seen the feeds, so you know there are still Dreth out there and you have to sneak through.”
She drew the hood of her robes up over her head and her hair lengthened into long, silvery wisps as she stood there. Slowly, her body began to grow, fill the robes out, and broaden at the shoulders.
&nb
sp; That complete, she lowered her head as her face morphed into the ambassador’s. “No failure,” she told her team, her voice still her own as she opened the door slightly. “We are on the way to Meligorn. Meligorn! And I will be damned if I let a horde of smelly, arrogant pirate savages stop me from seeing the planet of my dreams.”
That thought alone angered her more than she could even explain. She let the door close again and the hood of her robe slid back. Her eyes flashed to black and sparks of energy erupted around her like miniature lightning bolts.
Her voice rose and then fell and became heavy with promise. “They want to threaten the ambassador? They want to threaten this ship? Well, we will make them wish they never found us. They will cry for their Dreth mothers by the time I am done with them. And when the last of them have been relieved of their lives, I will send a message to anyone else who wishes to destroy the very foundation of truth. We are not on the side of the Federation, but we are not on the side of the rebel Dreth scum either. We are on the side of freedom.”
As she took a deep, steadying breath, the magic began to fade and her eyes returned to the ambassador’s usual color. The guys stood awed by her power and motivated by her words.
Lars nodded and raised his fist in solidarity. Stephanie let the magic form a ball in her stomach and grinned from ear to ear as she flipped her hood up to cover her head. “The time is now, boys, and then we’ll go and have a damn drink.”
They cheered quietly and readied themselves while she walked out of the room. Fortunately, she remembered to mimic the ambassador’s distinctive walk. She turned right and headed along the path to the Bridge she’d memorized.
From behind her, a whispered hiss demanded attention. She glanced up, then slowly turned. Frog had his head poked slightly out of the door and pointed frantically in the other direction. “The Bridge—it’s the other way.”
Witch Of The Federation (Federal Histories Book 2) Page 39