The Argent Star

by Emerson Fray

  Chapter 28

  Static buzzed over the communication system. The small scow had begun to approach the ships hovering over Mahendra, and thankfully they weren’t shot down immediately. Whoever was in command now was possibly merciful, or simply curious, Ren mused. Soon a high nasally voice was heard, “This is Commander Weild of the SS Lockheed; state your name and purpose or we will open fire.”

  “Not very professional,” Elian muttered.

  “Open communication,” Ren ordered.

  He flicked a switch and Ren began the speech she’d been preparing since she first saw the emergency scow. She took a breath to steady her voice, hoping the fear wouldn’t show through. “This is Ren Argent, daughter of Maksin Argent—we’re here to discuss the terms of your retreat from the planet Novae.”

  Elian smacked the switch. “Their retreat? Are you sure that’s the word you want to use? The Monarchy doesn’t exactly retreat.”

  Ren ground her teeth. “I’ve never done this before!”

  “What was the point in reading all those history books if you weren’t going to learn a thing or two about negotiating a war?”

  “Elian—”

  “Get Naomi up here,” Abetha said. She stood, her knees shaking so hard she had to hold onto the chair just to make sure she could stay on her feet. Ren was used to the nausea that Transporting brought, and she knew how bad it could get, especially when the technology wasn’t quite fully developed. “She’ll know better than any of us how to navigate this.”

  The communicator buzzed. “Miss Argent,” the Commander said, “how nice to hear from you. We were beginning to wonder where you’d vanished to since you left your communicator at home. I suppose your brother, King Argent, is there as well?”

  Ren had no idea how to reply. So she flicked the switch before Elian could stop her. “He is, as is my Sotarian and Guide.” She turned off the communicator and ordered Elian to get Naomi up there with them. If anything letting Commander Weild know Elian was aboard would buy them some time.

  As fast as he could, Elian brought Naomi on board. When she appeared in front of them she took the nausea much better than either Ren or Abetha, and simply tilted her head forward and paused. “I see you found it.” She hiccupped.

  “Yes, we did,” Ren said, “but we don’t have time to talk about it. We’re on the line with Commander Weild.”

  Naomi’s eyes widened. “You’re what?” She recovered instantly and rushed around the console, shoving Elian’s hands away from the buttons. “I wanted you to find the ship, not start negotiating surrender.”

  “Not surrender,” Ren argued.

  “A retreat,” Elian scoffed.

  “The Scows tend to feel those are the same things.” She turned on the intercom. “This is Lieutenant Commander Naomi Bauer, and we are not here to discuss your retreat. What the Princess meant was that we would like to negotiate with the Monarchy.”

  “Negotiate what exactly?” Weild asked.

  Naomi looked to Ren, who looked to Sheridan and Abetha. All she wanted was to get the Monarchy off of Novae—that was it—simple. But that wasn’t something easily done. If Novae was allowed to live without Monarchy rule, then other planets might start thinking the same thing, and that could lead to war on a much larger scale than one tiny planet. Ren answered, “A peace treaty.”

  Naomi pursed her lips, as did Abetha. Apparently that wasn’t the answer either of them wanted.

  “All citizens under Monarchy rule will comply or be eliminated,” Weild replied. Exactly how Ren knew it would go.

  “Novae is capable of more than you think, Commander,” Ren retorted. “And we aren’t looking for a war.”

  “And what exactly are you capable of?” Weild asked.

  Ren could already imagine her preparing the weapons on the Lockheed, so she talked as fast as she could. “Capable of this.” She snapped the switch down. “Elian, send all the soldiers onto the scow.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “Yes.”

  He sucked in a breath before getting to work. While he moved his fingers over the console Naomi pulled Ren aside. “Have you lost your mind? If you do something like this it could get everyone on Novae killed.”

  “She won’t order that,” Ren said. “This is just to show them that we aren’t helpless, that we can take care of ourselves. I need to talk to her in person, on common ground—she won’t do that if she doesn’t think we’re equals.”

  “We?” Naomi repeated.

  Ren hadn’t realized she was grouping herself in with Novae. She looked over her shoulder at Sheridan and Abetha, and realized that she felt more at home with them than anywhere else. There had been a lot of twists and turns, and more surprises than Ren was comfortable with, but Novae had slowly become her home. When all this was finished, she knew where she was going to stand. “Yeah,” she whispered, “we.” Looking back at Naomi she added, “I’m fighting for this.”

  “Done,” Elian called. “All Monarchy soldiers are now on that ship.” Ren stepped back beside him, noting the smiles on Sheridan and Abetha’s faces.

  The communicator buzzed before Commander Weild came back on. “Cute trick.”

  “We just want the Monarchy off of Novae,” Ren told her. “That’s it.”

  “I can’t do that, I have orders to eliminate any and all threats to the Monarchy.”

  “We aren’t threats,” Ren said, careful to control her tone. She wanted to scream—how could Novae be a threat to an entity that spanned galaxies? She paused when an idea struck her. It was something that hadn’t been done in so long, most people today didn’t know about it. “Sovereign nation.”

  “What?” Elian asked.

  “A sovereign nation!” Ren said louder. “Novae will be a sovereign nation, governing itself without the Monarchy’s ruling but still open to working with the Monarchy.”

  Silence. Ren didn’t breathe as she waited for Commander Weild to reply. To say that it was never going to happen, to question what a sovereign nation even was because at that moment Ren couldn’t think of a planet that had that kind of power. In fact, she couldn’t think of anything, not until the communicator clicked a few times.

  “There is no Monarchy representative present to make that kind of decision,” Commander Weild said. “With the Advisor gone—”

  “You can make the decision,” Ren argued, “you’re part of the Monarchy.”

  “I make decisions in times of war, in battle.”

  Ren bit down hard on her bottom lip. There was no way an Advisor would decide to allow Novae to become a sovereign nation, not when their interests were the same as the Monarchy. And if someone like Garret were to arrive…

  “Actually you can,” Naomi said. Ren whirled, finding a large smile plastered on Naomi’s face. “Didn’t you read your handbook Commander? The law states that when an Advisor or Monarchy representative is not present that the highest ranking officer can negotiate any and all accords.” She paused, letting that sink in. “If you would like we can meet on the manor grounds to discuss this further.”

  Ren furrowed her brow and whispered, “I’ve never heard of that.”

  “It’s archaic,” Naomi whispered back, “but it still holds. If the Monarchy were to back out of a decision agreed upon they’d look worse than if they invaded Novae.” She shrugged. “In their opinion at least.”

  “I can see why they wouldn’t advertise that in the history books.” Abetha groaned as she stepped up. Sheridan was holding her up at the waist, trying to push her back towards the chair. Abetha shoved Sheridan off and forced herself to stand straight.

  Commander Weild came back on. “I’ll see you on the planet in ten minutes, Miss Argent.” The communicator clicked and buzzed before going dead.

  Ren couldn’t help but drop her jaw in amazement. “They’re…they’re actually considering it?”

  “It seems so,” Naomi said. “Or they’re send
ing a report back to the nearest Outpost and awaiting their new orders.” Her eyes slid towards Ren. “Either way we should get down to the planet.”

  “Right.” Elian began flying towards the manor, taking his time as his eyes darted constantly towards Abetha who had finally given up on standing and fell into a chair.

  Ren was shaking again, but this time it wasn’t from fear, it was excitement. Her chest fluttered with hope, and she thought she could see the light at the end of the tunnel. Novae seemed to have a chance.

  “I need to sit down.” Without a second thought Ren fell to the floor, letting her entire body tremble. She ran a shivering hand through her hair, taking slow and steady breaths in hopes of calming her heart rate.

  “It isn’t over yet,” Naomi warned. The scow began to approach the manor; it seemed so empty now that the soldiers were gone. Ren was a little surprised that Commander Weild hadn’t sent them back to the planet, but took that as a sign of good faith.

  Elian landed the ship gently behind the manor, only a few feet away from the maze of bushes that Ren had often wandered. Naomi opened the back door and helped Abetha out, followed by Elian. He looked back at his sister.

  She called, “I just need a minute.”

  “We don’t have a minute,” Naomi countered.

  Ren waited for a single heartbeat before trying to stand, finding her legs weak. Sheridan helped her up, almost having to drag her by the elbow to get her on her feet. “Thanks.”

  When they stepped off the scow Naomi arched her eyebrows and eyed Sheridan’s kamas. “You can’t bring those.”

  Sheridan narrowed her eyes. Before the Sotarian could argue Ren stepped in. “She’s right—we’re negotiating peace. Weapons don’t exactly say peace.”

  “They could attack.”

  “If they attack they’ll use guns,” Naomi stated. “Those won’t do any good.”

  If Naomi were talking about anyone other than Sheridan, Ren would have agreed. And that was exactly why Ren wanted to make sure Sheridan left her kamas behind; if the soldiers as much as flinched Sheridan would attack to ensure they didn’t get the chance to reach for a gun.

  Sheridan hesitated before pulling the kamas from her back. She stepped into the scow and placed them on the ground, just far enough away that they would go unnoticed but close enough to be easily accessed.

  “Good,” Naomi said. “Elian, take Abetha inside—she’s in no state to be here.”

  “I am fine,” Abetha argued. She was holding her stomach, and no matter how much pain she was in Ren knew she wasn’t going to back down.

  “Go to the centre of the garden, under the gazebo, we’ll meet them there.” Ren gave Abetha a soft look, which was met with a glare. No pity allowed, it seemed. Ren was starting to get used to how strong Abetha really was, although she could have done with a lot less hostility.

  Elian helped Abetha over, no matter how much arguing she did. Eventually she quieted down and leaned more of her weight on him as they made their way through the small maze.

  Without much else to say, Ren started moving behind them. She began to think of all the arguments to make about why Novae should be left alone, or at the very least govern itself without scows constantly flying overhead. But all her arguments only made sense to her, and anyone other than Novaeans would think it pointless. After all, why would anyone want to leave the Monarchy?

  Before she knew it she was standing under the stained glass, the afternoon light casting prisms on the stones below. Within seconds Commander Weild and two soldiers were Transported into the garden. Ren held her breath as she waited for more—more soldiers, more weapons, more threats. But it was just the Commander and her Lieutenants. No weapons, no threats, nothing.

  Commander Weild was nothing like Ren thought. Anyone in the Scow Army had been tall with sharp eyes and short hair. Commander Weild had the eyes, elegantly decorated with cat’s eye eyeliner, but she was no taller than five feet and her hair went past her shoulders. The soldiers stood like bookends on either side of her. Her jaw tightened as she closed the space between herself and Ren.

  “Miss Argent,” she said, her voice lower than on the intercom. “I certainly hope you know what you’re doing.”

  “Back at ya,” Elian muttered. All it took was one sidelong glare from Commander Weild to make his jaw snap shut permanently. He leaned back beside Abetha on the bench, choosing to listen from then on.

  “Commander Weild,” Naomi said with a salute.

  “Lieutenant,” Weild stated. “I looked up the law and found you were actually correct. There’s much to discuss before anything is signed.”

  “I agree completely,” Naomi replied.

  Commander Weild faced Ren, giving her more authority than she thought she deserved. Weild asked, “Are you ready?”

  Ren didn’t hesitate.

  “Yes.”

  Thanks for reading to the end! I hope you made it this far because you enjoyed the book, and am here to ask if you’d write an honest review.

  Connect with Emerson Fray online

  Website: www.emersonfray.wordpress.com

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  Twitter: @FrayEmerson

  The Howling Jade

  The following excerpt is from an early draft of The Howling Jade, and therefore some things may change in the final version!