The Queen's Advantage

by Jessie Mihalik

  “What prevents someone from stealing a transponder?” Imogen asked, sharing my concerns.

  “They’re secured when not in use,” Natalie said. “As a safety precaution, today I manually flagged the approved transponders after verifying my soldiers were still in possession. Someone could kill a soldier and take their approved armor, but that would generate different warnings.”

  “Were these soldiers out during the attack?” I asked.

  “I’m not at liberty—” she started.

  “Two squads were deployed around the spaceport and adjacent buildings,” Valentin cut in. “The rest of the park, including the folly, was covered by the standard security patrols.”

  I frowned at him. He hadn’t told me about the soldiers when I’d asked. He caught my expression and linked to me. Koan is generally very safe, but I’m not stupid. The two of us together are a tempting target. I would not gamble with your safety.

  Why didn’t you tell me?

  I didn’t want you to worry.

  Then you failed because I was worried that you were running around without any security, I said. Figuring out what happened, who attacked and why, is my wheelhouse, but I can’t help you if you don’t give me all the information. With soldiers on patrol, either the attackers were in place early or the patrols themselves were compromised. That makes a difference. I need you to trust me, at least with this.

  I do trust you, but I am not used to sharing. I will try, he promised, then closed the link.

  I understood where he was coming from. When secrecy meant survival, you learned to keep everything close. It was something I had struggled with for years, especially after I first became queen. I had tried to do everything and be everywhere because I didn’t trust others enough to let them in.

  The fact that I couldn’t do everything had been a hard lesson to learn.

  Our transport landed on the edge of the manicured lawn surrounding the stone folly. Before Natalie opened the door, she checked with her teams on the ground and in the surrounding buildings. The site was as secure as they could make it.

  I would still be keeping a wary eye on my surroundings.

  Up close, the folly was bigger than I expected, close to fourteen meters from the ground to the top of the dome and ten meters in diameter. The second level was held up by eight stone columns and two curved staircases that spiraled down in the middle of the circular structure. The second-story balcony had a beautifully carved stone balustrade that provided minimal cover.

  So why had the attackers chosen this building?

  I circled the perimeter, looking for a clue to their thinking, but nothing obvious came to light. I might have chosen this building for a one-person sniper strike, but for an entire team? There had to be better options.

  I looked back toward the palace, where our transport had been attacked. I could just see the scorched earth where an explosive round had landed. I tilted my head, gauging distance. Perhaps they had picked this building because it was at the limit of the range on their ordnance. A plasma rifle could easily cover this distance and more, but I was less familiar with explosive weapons.

  “What is it?” Valentin asked.

  “Do you know what they were shooting at us? It seemed like an explosive rocket of some type. Does it have a range of four hundred meters?”

  “Most shoulder-launched plasma rockets have a point range around four hundred meters,” Natalie said.

  “Do they cause damage like that?” I asked, pointing to the disrupted ground.

  “Yes, if they miss.”

  “And if they’d hit our transport?”

  Her tone was grim. “We wouldn’t be having this conversation. Valentin’s transports are armored, but those weapons are designed to pierce armor. You might’ve survived, but you would’ve been in medical for a long time.”

  I turned to Valentin. “Did you plan your exact route or have someone else do it?”

  “I did.” He paused. “But Lewis handled coordination with security.” Desolation haunted his expression for an instant before cold fury chased it away. “He has been with me since before I became emperor.”

  I touched his arm, though I doubted he could feel it through the thick armor. “He might be innocent,” I said quietly. “You said others had access. Don’t jump to conclusions.” But even as I spoke, I made a mental note to dig deeper into his assistant. I hadn’t gotten any weird vibes from the man, but compromising someone so close to the emperor would provide a gold mine of information.

  Valentin stepped closer and tipped his head down to mine. My breath caught at the intent look in his eyes. Luka cleared his throat. Valentin stopped and straightened, then murmured, “Thank you.”

  I wanted to haul him back and kiss him again, but we had an audience that was pretending not to look at us while also keeping us firmly in view. Luka wasn’t being an asshole; he was looking out for Valentin. It would do Valentin no favors to be romantically linked to the Rogue Queen. Still, it stung.

  “You’re welcome,” I said with a too-bright smile. “Ready to check the upper levels?”

  Valentin frowned at me, but when I shook my head a fraction, he let it go. “Lead on,” he said.

  I approached the empty folly with Imogen, Valentin, Luka, and Natalie trailing behind me. A meter from the building, between one step and the next, a dozen soldiers appeared inside, seemingly from thin air. I had my gun drawn before I recognized their Kos armor and lack of visible weapons. I hesitated just as Natalie shouted, “Don’t shoot!”

  I took a deep breath and let the adrenaline work its way through my system. “That was not smart,” I said. “I could’ve shot one of your people. You should’ve warned me.”

  “You’re far faster than I gave you credit for,” she agreed. “I didn’t think you’d go straight for your weapon.”

  I couldn’t see her expression through her visor, but she sounded calm. She had known the soldiers were there, hidden behind active camouflage. I fought to keep my own voice level. “Attacks tend to make me twitchy,” I said, “so when a bunch of unknown soldiers appear, my instinct is to shoot first. By withholding information, you put your soldiers’ lives in my hands.” And stars knew my hands had enough blood on them already.

  “According to command, you are a security concern,” Natalie said. “The soldiers are armored. Command wanted to see how you would react to a threat and deemed it an acceptable risk. I disagreed but was overruled.”

  “My pistol rounds would’ve punched straight through their armor at this distance. If even one of them had been holding a weapon pointing at me, they would be dead.” I turned to Valentin. “Did you know about this?”

  “No,” he said, his voice cold.

  Ice slid down my spine. If Valentin didn’t have control of the military, then he didn’t have control of the Empire, and a military commander testing a foreign dignitary without prior approval from the emperor seemed like a distinct lack of control.

  Just how tenuous was his position?

  Worry hardened into resolve. Valentin would remain the Kos Emperor, even if I had to personally kill every one of his traitorous advisors to make it happen. They were right to think of me as a security concern, but they were stupid to reveal their hand so early.

  They had no idea what I could do, what I would do, to protect what was mine—and for now, Valentin Kos was mine.

  Next to me, Imogen still had her plasma pistol drawn, though she kept it pointed at the ground. It was one thing to underestimate me, but to underestimate me and my bodyguard was either incredibly stupid or an attempt to set up an intergalactic incident.

  “You fucked up, Sergeant Major Sakimoto,” I said. “Not command, you. You put your soldiers’ lives at risk.”

  “I have to follow orders, ma’am.” She kept her tone polite, but frustration seeped through.

  “You could have discussed it with me,” Valentin said. “Why didn’t you?”

  “I was ordered not to warn either of you.”

&n
bsp; “By whom?”

  “By Commander Young. But I believe the original order came from Advisor Krystopa.”

  Chapter Five

  “Oskar Krystopa ordered you to test my diplomatic guest without my knowledge?” Valentin clarified, his tone dangerous.

  “As far as I know, sir,” Natalie said. She stood at attention and wouldn’t meet Valentin’s eyes. “Commander Young grumbled about it.”

  “And despite the fact that I personally asked you to keep Queen Rani safe, you continued to follow his orders over mine?”

  Natalie flushed red. “Queen Rani was never in any danger. All soldiers were warned not to return fire in the event things went sideways.”

  “The fact that you even had to give them that order meant you knew things could go sideways,” Valentin growled. “Why did you go ahead with it?”

  Natalie seemed frozen in place, but Valentin waited her out. Finally, she met his eyes, then frowned.

  “Answer aloud,” Valentin said. “Queen Rani deserves to hear your reasoning.”

  She cast a faintly apologetic glance my way before staring straight ahead. Her tone was subdued. “From what I heard, Advisor Krystopa believes Queen Rani is a threat. Commander Young disagreed, but he approved the test because it came with permission to use the active camouflage veil units, which increased site security for you. He was worried about snipers, sir.”

  Sakimoto did not sound like someone who wanted Valentin gone. Oskar remained a wildcard, but perhaps the military as a whole wasn’t as lost as I thought.

  “I will speak to Commander Young and Advisor Krystopa,” Valentin promised. Based on his tone, I would not want to be at the other end of that conversation. “Queen Rani is not a threat, and even if she were, that is not for you to decide. From now on, you will disclose any orders that may affect me or my guests. That is a direct order. Do not fail me again, Sergeant Major.”

  She snapped a precise salute. “Yes, sir. I’m sorry, sir.” She glanced at me out of the corner of her eye. “I’m sorry, ma’am.”

  “You should be,” Imogen snapped. She was not wrong, and Luka nodded along with her.

  Valentin turned to me. His visor was open but his face was unreadable. “I apologize,” he said formally. “Thank you for your restraint.”

  “It was a near thing. I hope you make it very clear to Advisor Krystopa that he nearly got a soldier killed today. He may not like me, but his orders were reckless.”

  “It will be crystal clear,” Valentin vowed darkly.

  “And then thank him for showing off your stellar active camouflage tech. I didn’t know it could cover entire buildings.”

  A reluctant grin bloomed on Valentin’s face. “Only small buildings.”

  I looked over my shoulder. I could see the transport behind us. I stepped back and crossed through the invisible line of the veil. The soldiers in the folly disappeared, hidden behind the projection of an empty folly. When I stepped forward again, they reappeared. I’d seen Kos active camouflage in use in Arx when the Quint Confederacy had attacked, so I’d known it was good, but I hadn’t known it was this good.

  “Does the veil protect the upper levels as well?” I asked.

  “Yes,” Natalie said. She had retreated behind a wall of ice. I didn’t blame her much. Being dressed down by the emperor in front of your troops had to sting, even if she knew it could’ve been much worse. People had been convicted of treason for less.

  At least we wouldn’t have to worry about distant shooters thanks to the camouflage. I could almost see Commander Young’s side of things, especially if he truly didn’t think I was a threat to his troops.

  “Did the shots come from the second or third level?”

  “Both,” Luka and Imogen said at the same time. He waved for Imogen to continue. She said, “The rockets came from the third level, but the plasma rifles were shot from the second floor.” Luka nodded in agreement.

  “Okay, then let’s see what we can see.”

  In the middle of the folly, two sets of curving stairs spiraled up like a double helix around a solid central column. The staircases were beautifully carved out of what appeared to be solid marble. The vast amount of wealth displayed in this little building—nothing more than a pretty landscape piece—boggled the mind. I could feed my people for six months for less than the cost of the staircase alone.

  On the second floor, an arched doorway opened out to the south side of the balcony. From here, I had a better vantage point to the attack site. I released the sniper rifle from my back. At nearly fifteen kilograms, the MK9 wasn’t exactly light. It was designed to be shot from a prone position, with a bipod on the front to hold the gun steady on the ground. In a pinch, the bipod could be propped on a railing, and I could also shoot freestanding with decent accuracy thanks to my strength augments, but when maximum accuracy was needed, nothing beat lying prone.

  Because I didn’t plan on shooting anything, I remained standing and sighted the target area through the scope. There was a fairly small gap between the trees and shrubs where the transport would’ve been visible.

  Waiting in a state of high alert was mentally and physically taxing, but they’d gotten a shot off less than ten seconds after our transport had appeared. We were either dealing with an elite team or they’d had another lookout, someone who had tipped them off that we were on the move.

  I swung the gun toward the spaceport. Valentin was right; it wasn’t visible through the trees. Perhaps they didn’t have a sharpshooter on the team, so they’d picked this building because it provided some cover and was close enough to our route for explosive rounds. The gardens also provided plenty of opportunity to disappear once the attack was over.

  But it just didn’t feel right. Was I missing something or was I thinking too much like a lone assassin and not enough like a military unit?

  “What do you see?” Valentin asked.

  “Questions,” I muttered. “Let’s check upstairs.”

  The third floor didn’t shed any new light on the attack. From here, I could just see the tops of the largest spaceships in the palace spaceport, but that wouldn’t be enough to target someone on the ground. Most of the buildings to our north were dozens of stories tall. I carefully checked the rooflines with my scope, but they were clear.

  Valentin had tagged the attackers as a team of six. Two were caught and four escaped. Perhaps the remaining four hadn’t had time to regroup and try for a second attack, but this was a perfect opportunity—one an experienced mercenary crew wouldn’t have wasted. The more I learned, the more I realized these weren’t normal mercenaries or assassins.

  So who were they?

  After inspecting the folly, Valentin, Luka, Imogen, and I headed to the command center for the palace grounds. A man in his late forties in the red-and-black dress uniform of the Kos Empire and with a chest full of medals met us at the door.

  “Emperor Kos.” He greeted Valentin with a wary bow and then nodded at me. “Queen Rani.”

  “Commander Young.” Valentin’s voice was arctic.

  Ah, here was the man responsible for my so-called test. It would be handy if traitors had some sort of visible aura, but Commander Young looked like every other military commander I’d met: fit, serious, and hard-edged.

  “Join me in my office?” Young asked.

  Valentin inclined his head a fraction of a centimeter. He was as cold and distant as a frozen moon.

  Young led us through the command center. More than a dozen people in military uniforms were scattered at workstations in the middle of the room. Offices and conference rooms lined the walls, clearly visible behind clear glass windows and doors. Young led us to a corner office. The wall facing the room was frosted glass rather than clear. Privacy must be one of the perks of command.

  Luka and Imogen entered with us and stood by the door. On the way over, we’d talked about leaving them outside, but if Young was compromised, then armed backup was a good idea.

  Valentin took a seat in one of t
he two chairs in front of the desk. I remained standing. Commander Young hesitated, then settled behind his desk, his gaze on Valentin.

  “You will answer Queen Rani’s questions,” Valentin said. “And then you and I will discuss your treason.”

  “I never—”

  “Silence.” The word cracked like thunder and Young snapped his mouth shut. Valentin turned to me. “Whenever you are ready, Queen Rani.”

  My smile was not kind and Young tensed. “Are you augmented, Commander?”

  Young looked at Valentin but only received a hard stare in return. He sighed and answered, “I am.”

  “So you know how fast augmented soldiers are, and yet you still decided to test me directly after I’d been attacked, when I was trigger-happy and high on adrenaline. Do you care so little for your soldiers’ lives?”

  “I did as I was ordered,” he grated out.

  “Who gave the order?”

  “Advisor Oskar Krystopa.”

  Young knew how to play the game. He was answering my questions, but with as little information as he could get away with. It was time to see if I could shake him up.

  “Were you aware that I was a mercenary before I became queen?”

  His lip curled in a derisive sneer. “Yes.”

  “And were you aware that I rescued Emperor Kos from the Quint forces holding him hostage?”

  The sneer was replaced with a look of faint surprise. “No, I was not.”

  “Who told you I was a mercenary?”

  “Advisor Krystopa.”

  Of course. I’m sure the part where I’d saved Valentin’s life multiple times had merely slipped Krystopa’s mind. If I’d wanted Valentin Kos dead, he would be dead. I wouldn’t have needed to plan an elaborate plot in the capital city. I’d had him in my grasp and let him go, unharmed.

  Krystopa’s claim that I was dangerous to Valentin was built entirely on fiction.

  “Why was the surveillance system down?”

  Young glanced at Valentin once again and got a nod in return. The commander grimaced. “The system is undergoing maintenance for upgrades. It was supposed to be done last week, but the crew is behind schedule.”