The Star Masters (Mastery of the Stars Book 6)

by M J Dees

  “Shame, I bet they are good at party tricks.”

  “I’m sure they are, but I think they are already on their way back to Lenguicarro, which I hope might one day become a place in which all Star Masters feel they can find sanctuary. If that is the case, then the tremendous sacrifices made by so many of our fighters will have been worth it.”

  “The Sicheoyaman thugs look like they are having fun,” said Tori, pointing to a group of thugs in the hall’s corner who looked very drunk already.

  “I think they are going to hang around until Matthews gives them a good trade deal.”

  “They deserve it,” said Ay-ttho. “Many good thugs, like the Saturnians, were lost in the battle for Inic B’Campa.”

  “The Sonvaenopeans also seem to be having a good time,” said Tori.

  “Thank Chronos. They didn’t have to do very much. If Yrag had offered more resistance, things could have been much worse,” said Brabin. “At least they can go back home and guarantee the safety of their commune.”

  Yor interrupted their conversation when she took to the platform and announced that she would like to make a speech.

  “Oh, no,” said Scotmax.

  “We are all gathered here,” began Yor. “Because we came together with a common goal. We lost many of our friends along the way. Let us drink to them now and ensure that they did not give their lives in vain. To our fallen friends.”

  “Our fallen friends,” the gathering repeated, before finishing their glasses of pish or fushy in one gulp.

  Sgnifwef joined Yor on the platform.

  “I also would like to say something,” she said, clearly feeling the effects of the pish.

  “We are only here because we worked together,” she slurred. “We put our differences aside and worked together. Yor, I love you.”

  Yor gave an appreciative but embarrassed smile.

  “No, I’m serious, Yor. I love you. And you, Brabin,” Sgniwef pointed across the hall. “I love you too. I love all of you.”

  She gestured wildly to the entire room.

  “Someone’s going to have sore antennae in the morning,” said Sevan.

  “She doesn’t have antennae,” said Ayttho.

  “Oh, yeah.”

  It was the early hours of the next rotation before the party fizzled out and there were many thugs and Angetenareans who slept where they had collapsed.

  Sevan, Tori and Ay-ttho did, at least, make it to their rooms. Sevan’s room was as luxurious as he’d imagined a bedroom in the Presidential Palace would be.

  He met Tori the next morning. They both decided it was best to let Ay-ttho sleep. When they returned to the great hall, the staff had set tables for the guests to break their fast, even though many thugs and Angetenareans were still sleeping in corners and under some tables.

  Staff brought them food and drink as they contemplated what their future might hold.

  “Looks like we’re going via Herse,” said Sevan.

  “No surprises there,” said Tori. “We shouldn’t leave until we have received a pardon from Matthews though.”

  “Where is she?”

  “She’ll be busy. Her first proper day of the presidency. She must be very busy.”

  Brabin joined them.

  “Good rotation,” she said as she took a seat. “Did you enjoy the party?”

  “A little too much,” said Tori.

  “I know what you mean. Breaking our fast should help.”

  “How long are you planning to stay?”

  “I’m not sure. Matthews gave us a verbal reassurance that the New Republic would leave Lenguicarro unmolested, but I would feel more comfortable if we had something a little more solid, like a treaty or an entente or even a memorandum of understanding. I would like to speak with Matthews, but I imagine it might be difficult to get an audience at the moment.”

  “Yes, we are in the same position. We hope for a pardon before we leave.”

  “Good luck with that.”

  As they were talking, Scotmax entered with Yor, who looked unwell.

  “Good rotation,” said Brabin. “Please come and break fast with us.”

  “I’m not sure I can eat anything,” Yor admitted.

  “You seemed to enjoy yourself last night,” said Tori.

  “Please, let’s forget about it. I have my dignity to consider.”

  “Where’s Ay-ttho?” asked Scotmax.

  “Sleeping,” said Tori.

  “You didn’t wake her?”

  “Best not to. Have you seen Matthews?”

  “She’s very busy. She won’t accept any visitors. I want to talk to her myself about democratising the Republic.”

  “She has to see me! I’m the ruler of Ao-Jun!” they could hear Sgniwef shouting from the corridor outside.

  She stormed into the great hall, sat at a table by herself, and angrily ordered from a nervous member of staff.

  “Doesn’t look like anyone is going to get to see her,” said Brabin.

  “Well, we can’t leave until get our pardon,” said Tori.

  “And I won’t leave until I have my reassurances.”

  “Relax,” said Yor. “Matthews will be true to her word. She’s the offspring of Kirkland after all.”

  “That’s what worries me,” said Ay-ttho, arriving at the table.

  “Look what the thruugzets dragged in,” laughed Tori.

  Ay-ttho did not look amused.

  “I hope there’s some food left for me,” she said.

  “Are you calling Brabin a drovvol?” Tori joked.

  “No, he knows I wasn’t. I was calling you and Sevan drovvols.”

  “How dare you?” said Sevan. “What’s a drovvol?”

  “Let’s just say, they eat a lot.”

  A great fanfare suddenly filled the great hall and High Priest Callahan stood by the presidential platform.

  “Please be upstanding for President Matthews,” said Callahan.

  Matthews entered, surrounded by a guard, and climbed onto the platform where she sat on her throne. Attendants brought her food on trays.

  “Please, carry on,” she announced to the hall, and those that had been standing sat down and resumed their meals.

  CHAPTER 13: THE MAKING OF DESTINY

  When the food was clear, Callahan brought the hall to order.

  “Please, pray be silent for the president of the Republic and all its territories, President Matthews Kirkland.”

  The hall descended to a hush as Matthews rose to her feet.

  “Dear friends, colleagues, compatriots, fellow fighters for our cause of justice, we have truly won a great victory and have made the first steps towards reform of the Republic and its dealings with neighbouring territories of which many are represented here by their brave warriors. Yes, we must celebrate our glorious victory. Yes, we must mourn those we lost on the journey, but one thing we must not do is that we must not become complacent. Although we have taken a major leap towards a New Republic, there are elements, dangerous elements, who wish to see our work destroyed. We must not let our efforts amount to nothing. We must honour the lives our friends gave for our cause and it is for this reason that I am inaugurating a new branch of the Republic’s military. The branch will be dedicated only to rooting out and destroying those who would resist the changes that we have worked so hard to begin. I hope you will join me in supporting this additional force whose mission will ensure that we can implement the reforms that our galaxy desperately needs. They will hunt down our enemies and ensure they no longer form a barrier to progress. My message to all systems within the Republic and beyond is simple. You are for us, or against us. Thank you.”

  Matthews stepped down from the platform and left the hall, followed by the shouts of those that wished to consult with her.

  The attendants did their best to field the myriad of questions that delegates from many systems were hurling at them.

  “That sounded ominous,” said Ay-ttho.

  “How are we going to s
ee her?” asked Tori.

  “Not sure. Any ideas Scotmax?”

  “Don’t ask me. I can’t get to see her myself. I think we are just going to wait and while the hospitality of the presidential palace continues, why not?”

  Sevan knew exactly what Scotmax meant. He was enjoying his luxurious apartment and the excellent food but he wanted to get back to the Doomed Planet and his aunt whom he hadn’t seen for a long time, not since before he was plucked out of his job with Corporation’s mining concession and ended up on this series of unwanted adventures with Ay-ttho and Tori.

  “So, what are we going to do, then?” he asked.

  “We just have to wait,” said Ayttho.

  “There’s not a lot to do anymore,” said Brabin. “Future used to be a bustling city planet, but most of the residents were here against their will. The resistance organised an exodus and now the planet is only really occupied by the presidential entourage that moved here from Atlas when Barnes destroyed it. There are still a lot of tourists, of course, but they used to just come here to see the palace and do an abandoned city planet tour on their way to the casinos of Zistreotov. Now the casinos have gone, there’s not a lot of reason to come here. Pleasant gardens, though. They have tronqaks and cukids.”

  Sevan avoided eye contact with anyone. Tori and Ay-ttho both knew that Sevan had been complicit in helping to facilitate the exodus.

  “I heard that Barnes and the Corporation were involved in the exodus,” said Scotmax.

  Ay-ttho. Tori and Sevan kept their silence.

  “Wouldn’t Barnes and the Corporation have been an excellent ally for you in your fight against the Republic?” Brabin asked Scotmax.

  “Not really. Although the Corporation and the Republic position themselves as enemies, they are, in fact, allies. They both have the same aim, to keep the citizens of the Republic in their place.”

  “But what about the battle of Genzuihines? That happened.”

  “Yes, it happened. The Corporation and the Republic both knew that to keep the citizens in their place, they needed an enemy, so Barnes agreed they could use the Corporation as an enemy.”

  “But what about all the fighters that died?”

  “Collateral damage.”

  “I’ve heard some conspiracy theories in my time, Scotmax, but that really takes the be’rn carbo-floss.”

  “You may laugh, but it’s true.”

  “What do you think, Ay-ttho? Do you believe this?

  “I do. I was at the battle but I still believe it needn’t have happened and Barnes said as much.”

  “You met Barnes?”

  “Yes, he keeps trying to kill us, or not, depending on his mood.”

  “Well, we can’t sit here all rotation,” said Tori.

  “I plan to visit the gardens,” said Brabin. “Anyone care to join me?”

  “I’m going to my room.”

  “Me too,” said Ay-ttho.

  “I’m going to make another attempt to see Matthews,” said Scotmax. “I think if I can get to Callahan, I can get to Matthews.”

  “I’ll come,” said Sevan.

  With that, they all left the great hall.

  Sevan accompanied Brabin through the incredibly well tended garden. Many of the plants were tall and thin with large leaves, and the majority were various shades of red.

  Brabin took it upon himself to give Sevan a botanical tour.

  “These squiggly ones here are kaycers,” he said. “You see this one with round leaves with the green flower in the middle? That is a moengi.”

  “What is this one,” asked Sevan, pointing to a sphere with spikes sticking out of it.

  “That is a catgan. It is full of water, so if you ever find one in a desert, you can open it up for a drink. The one next to it that looks like a ball of string, that’s an edokro.”

  “It looks like part of a drirkel straalket. How about this one?”

  He pointed to a plant that was growing out of the side of a tree and seemed to have antlers.

  “Oh, that’s a v’ron, some like them, but I’m not a fan myself. Now this…” Brabin gestured to what looked like a bundle of sticks pointing out of the ground. The stems were red, and the ends were bright green. “Strazell, a beautiful plant.”

  “I think I prefer that.” Sevan pointed to a small plant that looked like a cluster of bubbles.

  “That’s binezon. It has transparent leaves. You know that all these plants are native to Future. It used to be a beautiful planet before they converted it into a vast city. I wonder if the plants will reclaim their land?”

  “That’s a red me,” Sevan pointed to a group of plants dangling over a wall. The leaves looked like Sevan’s antennae. “They are mauts. Their nickname is the red antennae.”

  It was only then that Sevan noticed that the grass on which they were walking was corkscrew shaped.

  “Grelkro grass,” said Brabin, seeing Sevan marvelling at the growth beneath his feet.

  “You know, I never pay attention to these kinds of things,” Sevan admitted. “I’m going to resolve to be more observant in the future.”

  “I called these Nelbians-bulans,” Brabin explained, pointing to small red star-shaped plants, but he cut his explanation short by shouting coming from the entrance to the palace.

  “It’s outrageous,” shouted the recognisable voice of Sgniwef. “I will not calm down. It will take a darn sight more than an uxclod garden to calm me down!”

  Brabin and Sevan turned to see Sgniwef storm into the garden, looking like she wanted to murder someone.

  “What has happened?” Brabin asked.

  “Matthews has sent a fleet of her new force to Ao-Jun supposedly to root out those who oppose the New Republic, but they did not consult me about this. Ao-Jun is not part of the Republic. She has no right to do this.” Sgniwef was pacing up and down. “It’s an occupation force, that’s what it is. Matthews has tricked us into helping her, and now she is breaking all her promises. Her co-beggeter was my partner’s co-beggoton. We deserve more respect than this.”

  “What are you going to do?”

  “I’m taking my fleet back to Ao-Jun. We will resist.”

  “You can’t go to war with the Republic.”

  “We can.”

  “Not by yourselves.”

  “Then help us. We will resist the Republic to the last Ao-Junian, with or without your help.”

  Sgniwef stormed out of the garden and back into the palace.

  “Get out of my way!” they heard her shout.

  “We better find the others,” said Brabin. “Let’s go.”

  They hurried back into the palace where the corridors were the picture of chaos. Thugs, Herseans and Angetenareans were running in all directions.

  “What’s happening?” Brabin asked Yor, whom they found packing frantically in her room.

  “Matthews has deployed fleets of her new force to occupy the systems of the outer regions. It’s all in the name of stamping out resistance, but we all know they are forces of occupation.”

  “Even Herse?”

  “Even Herse, probably Lenguicarro too.”

  “Has anyone spoken to her?”

  “No-one can get near her or Callahan. I advise you to get out of here while you can. They are trying to prevent us from leaving. It was all part of her plan. Draw the best fighters from the outer regions, then get them drunk and keep them prisoner while she sends her new force out to occupy the systems. It wouldn’t surprise me if she is in league with Yrag.”

  A bolt from a blaster pistol exploded nearby.

  “The Republic guard is trying to prevent us from leaving. Get out while you can,” Yor took her blaster and bag and, with a cautious look around the door, ran from the room.

  Brabin and Sevan ran after her.

  Blaster fire was being exchanged in some corridors, so they had to take a circuitous route towards their rooms.

  “Sevan? Meet us at the Mastery of the Stars,” Ay-ttho’s voice shouted over h
is communicator.

  “May the will of Chronos be with you,” said Brabin. “My room is that way.”

  “And with you,” said Sevan. “I hope our paths cross again soon.”