“Don’t throw me a parade yet. All it will take is one smartass questioning my orders and I’ll bury ‘em.”
“So, you’re fine then. Don’t even know why I was worried.”
“Is that sarcasm?”
“You just lost two dear friends. I was inquiring about deeper emotions you might be feeling. If I had a million credits for every time you went off…”
“I’ll be fine. I’ll join you later, once I’m done with the Cjittan.”
The shuttle landing in the Claymore’s hold ended our back and forth. I really didn’t want to leave the shuttle. I sat down in the number two seat and sighed, telling Shawna to go on ahead. One sigh must have said it all. She left without a word. Reclining the seat back, I watched the ramp close then my eyes did the same. I knew better than to hope that if I went to sleep I would wake up later to find it was a bad dream. This life didn’t cater to dreams of any kind, but we kept dreaming. Maybe, if nothing else, I could be left alone. Just a little peace and quiet while I remembered.
Gus’s place, the table where they always sat. The stories Grubb and Buddy used to tell. They were brothers, merchant marines and part-time smugglers. I imagined the latter was why they were retired and living on Anubis. Any given day for them was exactly the same. Wore the same clothes, drank the same beer sitting in the same seat. Then Andrea showed up and everything began to change, but not just for me. They ogled Andrea when she came to the bar during those weeks she recruited me, but at the same time, they were respectful. Always had a little advice for me. Then I left and came back with Andrea, Natalia, E’Aria and Lorelei and we lived on the Vander Hoyts’ farm. Those two warmed up and worshiped the ground the girls walked on. They became two adopted uncles, integrating into our lives. It seemed right at the time to ask them to come along. Never once did they complain about not going back to Anubis.
Could I get a message to Anubis? It might be easier to get one to Trillond. Grubb and Alona, the Prime Minister of Trillond, had a crazy night together. Maybe she would want to know. Emily might still be there working for Alona. She could get a message to Anubis if anyone could. Our friends there would want to know.
“Sorry to interrupt. We will be meeting the Cjittan transport in just a minute.”
“Should I just stay in the shuttle?”
“No. They are on the outskirts at a port in a warehouse district. We can land the Claymore.”
“Tell Lorelei the crew is to stay on the ship. Our passengers can get off, but they are on their own.”
“Understood.”
“I was wondering if you were ever going to leave the shuttle,” Taz said. “I’ve been waiting on you. I want to talk to you.”
“Can we talk later? I am going to get your soldiers organized and send them back to harass the Khalnalax camp.”
“I feel like you’re avoiding me. You left while I was sleeping, then you return and stay onboard the shuttle. Our brief reunion earlier when you kissed me only lasted for a few minutes.”
“No, I’m not. We will have some time just as soon as I’m done.”
“I’m coming with you.”
“Of course you are.” Zuri growled at her. I looked down at her and smiled.
“You find it amusing that your pet threatens me.”
“No, I was just agreeing with her. I can get this done a lot faster if I go alone.”
“But they are my soldiers.”
“And I’ve taken charge of them,” I said, reaching out and putting my hands on her shoulders. “Unless you’re backing me one hundred percent, your presence might do more harm than good.”
“I am sorry about Grubb and Buddy. It was me they gave their lives for.”
“They would have done it for any of us. The rest of us would have done the same for them. If you’re going with me, go tell your Commander to load up. I’ll be there in just a few to give him his orders.”
“So that’s it? You’re not going get angry and fight with me?”
“It wouldn’t be much of a fight and won’t bring them back.” I smirked, then frowned, one emotion giving over to another. Luckily, she couldn’t see either and walked away. Then something else occurred to me.
“Taz, where are your body guards?” I yelled making sure all could hear. I knew where they were. In front of me sitting and standing around. The volume and tone of my question had everyone in the hold looking my way.
“Two of my people are dead because they didn’t do their job,” I continued. “Now you’re about to stroll out alone. Is the concept so damn difficult to grasp?” I felt my anger boiling over as I realized my people would be alive if hers had done what I instructed them to do. I could tell they remembered my warning. I started in their direction. Taz ran past me then turned, putting her hands on my chest, pushing back.
“No, Benjamin.” I took another step. Her feet slid on the metal decking. “I won’t let you. Most of them have never fought, guarded or held a weapon until a few weeks ago. It was my decision to run for the Claymore instead of our own transport. We were overtaken at the end and overwhelmed by weapon fire. They acted on instinct and fear and ran for the ship.”
I took another step and she slid, then tried to dig in. Not working, she let her arms slide around my chest and fell forward, holding me. “It’s all my fault,” she said softly. “I gave the order for the six ships to attack and sent all the crews to their death. My orders are the reason we are here instead of Xanlos or somewhere safe. I gave the order to charge onto the battlefield when I saw you, and lost half my people. So many have died because of me.”
She broke down, grief taking control. My people were watching calmly and waiting to see what I would do. Taz’s people, except for Zora and Dela’maah, were nervous. I sighed. It would do no good to take out my anger on anyone but the Khalnalax. I rubbed her back and tried to put together some words of encouragement besides you fucked up, get over it and learn from your mistakes. That’s what I’d been told . . . more than once.
“Does being queen make you infallible? Have you fought so many battles you can guess your opponent’s next move?”
“No.”
“Do you enjoy spending the lives of your soldiers on a whim? With no thought toward the outcome?”
“No, no.” She looked up at me, tears in her eyes. “I wanted to win.”
“You can’t stop making the hard decisions. Indecision and lethargy can also get you and your people killed. Collectively, my team and I have probably a hundred years of experience fighting man and beast. What do you have? A couple weeks of hit and run on small outposts with a hundred armed civilians?”
She wiped her eyes with the back of her hands. “It is very hard to discover, then deal with, the knowledge I am lacking and that there is no immediate fix for it.”
“You fucked up. Get over it and learn from your mistakes.” It is still good advice. I kissed her on the forehead. “Get ten of your people to guard you. I want the rest guarding my ship. They need to spread out, form a perimeter around it and keep alert. Go on and tell them.” She hesitated for a second. “Taz, nobody rides for free.”
Part of me still wanted to rip a few of their heads off. There were some in the group who should have stepped up. They knew what they were tasked to do. Instead, I walked over to where my friends lay. It was hard and wouldn’t get any easier. The ragtag group gave me a wide berth as they filed out. I ordered Snake to go out and supervise establishing the perimeter. Buddy and Grubb were covered in a blanket. I pulled it down far enough to see their faces and knelt down to say goodbye. It was a silent thank you for everything and an I’ll miss you both.
“Ronnie, I don’t know what to do with them right now. Can you put them somewhere until we have the time to have a proper memorial? I know we aren’t exactly equipped for long-term storage, but they would understand us having to improvise.”
“They won’t feel a thing. I’ll take care of it. My question is, what about Taz’s people? We don’t have the supplies to feed them all un
less we take some from the Cjittan transport.”
“I am going to offload them on one of the Cjittan ships. They aren’t staying on mine.”
“What about Taz? You gonna let her stay? And Zora, how about her?” Ronnie said. I could see the mischief in her eyes. It had the feeling it was aimed at Genius. He must be listening in.
“I’m afraid I might have to shoot Zora if she asks too many questions.” I smiled and Ronnie pointed to her com, laughing silently. Genius heard my comment and was giving her an earful from engineering. “Tell him I’m joking.”
I didn’t wait to find out what she said. I found Taz with the commander a few minutes later and broke down everything for him. He was to find the mantis and their queen spider. Assign a hundred men to each and have the mantis gather as many of the insects as they could. They had all day to do it. This would be an all-night operation. Then the five squads would attack from different locations. When the Khalnalax retaliated, gathering their forces, the Cjittan soldiers and insects would retreat into the jungle. Move to a new location and attack again. The soldiers would support the insects by providing cover fire and doing all they could to take out the enemy. No sitting back and watching.
I explained that the Khalnalax leadership had taken a hit during the night and most of the officers they would face would be less experienced and lower ranking. There were still a lot of Etash roaming around and they had orders to eliminate them on sight. Finally, they needed to secure one or more of their own transports they left behind. They may be needed by the fleet in the future. The commander had something to say about his orders and I didn’t feel it was a yes sir. The look on his face said plenty. I backhanded him as his mouth started to move. His brain rattled and made him look like a drunk. His words slurred and his coordination was gone. I looked at his second in command, who had eyes like tea saucers.
“You heard everything I explained?”
“Yes. It is simple enough, just not something we practice.”
“If you want to win this war for Queen and Empire, you will need to do things different.”
He looked at Taz then back to me. “The thought is growing on me. Our ways may be outdated.”
“Good. Take him and make preparations. When he comes to, remind him how you will accomplish your mission.”
I looked at Taz. “Get on board. We are leaving.”
“Humph,” she huffed and stomped away. I followed, staring at the back of her head.
“Send your civilians to the transport. They will just be in the way on the Claymore. Your army can take care of them; they have more food and space to accommodate them.”
“If I choose not to?”
“Taz, stop.” She obeyed, keeping her back to me. I was amazed she listened. “Just listen for a second.” I put both hands on her shoulders. “You and Zora can stay. Put Dela’maah in charge and send her with them. Without going into a long explanation, it will be better this way.”
I let go and walked around her, hoping she would do as I asked. In case she had something else in mind, I ordered the Claymore via command code to identify any who weren’t part of the crew. It would stun them and we would drag them off at the transport. I say we, but in reality I would be fighting one pissed-off queen while the others unloaded them. Might be best to stun her too. She should be used to it by now.
Taz walked up the ramp behind me and called her people together. There were a couple in the group who objected; the two she put in charge. The mayor and another man saw they weren’t going to change her mind and led the others away. She gave them orders to guard the transport as they had the Claymore. It was good thinking on her part, as that was their ticket off world.
Snake walked past us to close the ramp, his face lacking any emotion. I hadn’t seen him like that since we found out Win Tanaka had been killed when Gray and his people took over the Warhammer. None of us have many friends, and there are so few of our own kind. To lose two in one day was more than my battle-hardened friend could handle. More than any of us could handle.
The ramp closed, signaling the bridge, and we were moving. Unlike Snake, I was a bundle of emotions and unfortunately most of them were dark, now overshadowing my reunion with Taz. If the rest of the Cjittan army was like this sample, then I hoped the navy and Admiral Cushda were better prepared. If not . . . I couldn’t answer that right now. I would find out shortly how they fared against the enemy, then make my decision.
Chapter Twenty-Two
I wasn’t exactly sure how long I had been awake, but I was definitely sure when it all caught up to me. Taz had walked to her old quarters without saying a word and I did the same. I think we were both lost in thought. I sat on my bunk and waited. It would have been stupid to go to sleep because they were just going to start calling me with updates. A minute went by with no call, so I got up and splashed water on my face then ordered Deireadh to his container. I lay down and that was it.
When I finally woke up, I was surprised by a number of things: the weight on my arm and the hand clutching my thermal on my chest, the snoring radiating from the floor and no messages on my com. The lights were off, but there was no mistaking Zuri’s form stretched out on her side. I had forgot all about her and, better yet, she had let someone take off her armor. There was a conspiracy afoot and my dog and crew were in on it. Someone conspired to let me get 6 hours of sleep. Probably the big lump lying on me.
I studied her face like I had never seen it before. The eyes a little larger and slightly slanted, on a face more angular than a human’s. Her pale white skin and platinum hair rounded out the main differences. She relaxed her grip on my thermal and I took her hand and held it. I immediately noticed it was rough and so were her nails. It made sense; she had spent weeks roughing it. She shifted in her sleep and threw her leg over me then settled down. I lay still, not wanting to disturb her, and after thirty seconds or so I had a feeling she was awake. Her breathing was silent; only the movement of her chest told me she was breathing at all.
“I’m not sure how much time we have, but I’m thinking we better get up.” Zuri heard me and woke up. I didn’t need to look to know she yawned, opening her mouth all the way, and stretched before sitting up and looking at us.
“There is plenty of time. Rest yourself. I have heard that you have not been well and damaged yourself to the point of death once again.”
“I bumped my head on a World Eater and had a swollen spot. No big deal.”
She began stroking my chest with her fingertips. “They say your mind was broken and you carelessly risked your life with little hope of survival.”
“It’s been broken for a long time and little hope of survival is what has kept me, and the rest of us, alive.”
“They say you have been saying strange things, calling yourself king. I know you want to be with me, but you never had any desire to serve as king, just lover and friend, husband possibly. Your lack of desire to be king had some bearing in my decision when I said you and I should end.”
“I have the sneaking suspicion you have been busy interrogating my crew.”
“Don’t get angry. There were many questions left unanswered between us. Only questions of your health did they speak freely about. I believe they wanted to lay some blame at my feet and make me feel guilty for what happened to you.”
“Did it work?”
“I admit to feeling some guilt, but it was your past actions that caused many of the problems.”
I laughed and patted her arm. “Look at who we are, where we come from. To make it more than just two people finding comfort together is where we went wrong. We can argue who is to blame, but it won’t solve anything or end your war. Let’s go review the situation and see if we can help the admiral out. Besides, my idea of a king and yours are a lot different.”
“No.”
“No? Why the hell not?”
“Because I need you to perform one of your kingly duties right now and make your queen very happy.” I wasn’t sure she was listeni
ng to me. Her body eased on top of me. Face to face, she rested on my chest, our noses touching. The dark couldn’t hide the mischief on her face.
“My Queen, I’m sure I don’t know what you mean,” I feigned and stuttered. “Would it be possible for you to remind—” Evidently it was possible. Being the slow learner that I am, it took almost an hour of remedial lessons.
****
Everyone was chatting when Taz and I walked onto the bridge, although Zora and Dela’maah looked like they were discussing something serious with Lorelei and Nedra. A glance at the big screen showed all the Privateer ships were in a formation around us and not far from Admiral Cushda’s heavy cruiser.
“The admiral called a few times for you, Boss,” Shawna said. “It sounds urgent.”
“Yeah, and he also asked for the queen,” Lorelei added. “Shawna told him you were behind closed doors in deep discussion. She emphasized that it was very deep discussion making a gesture with her hands. His face turned pink and hasn’t called back since.”
“Well, they were. It’s not like I lied to the old guy.”
“I know but you can’t say things like that about the boss’s boss, our queen.” Lorelei said.
“Get the admiral back and no goofing around,” I warned. “When we’ve finished with him I want all our ships on a comm.”
“Nedra, would you update me on the Cjittan fleet?” Taz asked.
“The admiral has the advantage, but is using his assets cautiously,” Nedra responded. “The corvette-class ships are engaging and have had some success, but he doesn’t capitalize on it. The light and heavy cruisers have withdrawn and sat idly since the first engagement, where they lost three ships.”
“Coward! Why does he sit and do nothing?” Taz complained.
“There could be a lot of reasons for his actions,” I said. “It could range from being overly cautious to treason. Until we speak with him, we won’t know. I talked to him when we arrived and didn’t get any bad vibes, so I’m leaning toward cautious.”
The Chronicles of Benjamin Jaminson: Empires At War (Book 5 Part Two) Page 31
