Warlord Conquering (The Great Insurrection Book 3)

by David Beers

  Thoreaux did his best to hold his anger in. He didn't like being questioned like this, as if he had been trying to hide something from these people. Maybe it went back to his parents' crimes, or maybe it was simply him being human. "I already told you what I knew, Servia. He asked to see her when he first got to Pluto. I showed him what our satellites had been able to gather. That's it. We never talked about it again."

  Servia's gaze fell on the AllMother, and to Thoreaux, it looked as harsh as it had when directed at him. "You knew this?"

  The AllMother met Servia's glare. "I knew everything about him, child. It was my job to know."

  "Everything else about him is okay. I don't have a problem with it. The way he reacted when he saw his wife? What he did to the elevator to keep us from stopping him while he killed someone? I have a problem with those two things because they mean he's unstable. It means he might do something rash when it comes to her. Damn it, he already has."

  The AllMother cocked her head to the side, her eyes narrowed, and stared at Servia for a long moment.

  "What?" Servia asked.

  "I'm trying to understand how you think this universe works, child," she replied with her head still tilted to the side. "I'm baffled. You have no problem with anything else about the man, but his love for his wife is a sticking point with you. Do you think anything else would be the same about him if he didn't love his wife? Or do you think that maybe a key part of him might be necessary to create the whole? Do you think you're any different? That the pieces which make up your life, if removed, wouldn't change who you are?" She paused and straightened. "I didn't pick him despite his love for his wife; I picked him because of it."

  Thoreaux remembered back to Pluto when he'd held doubts about the man. It had been Servia who’d challenged him to make his doubts known to the AllMother, but he hadn't done it in this way. Servia might be wrong, but Thoreaux saw bravery in her too.

  Servia didn't hold back her chastising statement. "Even if you're right, Mother, we should have been told about the attachment he has to someone who is still part of the Commonwealth. We all needed to be aware of what that might mean."

  Faitrin raised her hand from the table. "Want to expand on that, Servia?"

  Lips pursed, she nodded. "Right now, what's he thinking about? Surely, his wife has to weigh heavily on his mind because I think we can all guess what that message was: a threat. Do what we want, or we'll kill her. What is Pro going to do then? If it's his life and our movement versus his wife's life? Do you think he's going to side with us? Do you think he'll give himself up? Do any of us have any idea?"

  Faitrin tapped her finger lightly on the table. "My vote is he sticks with us."

  "Same," Thoreaux agreed.

  The AllMother chuckled softly. "I'm not sure why any of this matters. If we're voting, Servia, clearly I'm on the side that says he will not betray us. However, you act as if we have a choice in the matter. As if we're somehow going to find another leader while we sit on a dreadnought that is scheduled for imminent destruction." She shook her head with a wry smile. "My children, for better or worse, our fates are tied to him."

  The room fell silent then, and Thoreaux looked at Servia. The AllMother was right. None of it mattered now because the only person with the attributes necessary to keep them alive was Prometheus. They either trusted him or died.

  Servia still had her arms crossed. "I want to talk to him about it. As soon as possible."

  Faitrin laughed. "He doesn't seem too keen on talking about his wife."

  "Well, he'll need to be," she countered.

  Thoreaux raised his hands. "Okay. I'm going to go back to the medbay and check on the bitch down there. We've got about another standard hour and a half before he wants to meet with us." He shrugged and glanced at Servia. "I'd wait until after the meeting before you talk to him. You know how he is with his thinking."

  He didn't wait for a response. He left the room and headed for a place he shouldn't be going alone.

  Chapter Six

  “Love—true love—allows us to rise higher than apes on the food chain.”

  —The AllMother

  Hel had watched the former Titan leave the room and listened as he told the droid doc what to do: fix her, then put her in the brig. That was what the Titan planned to do with her in the short time he had left to live. It also meant Hel had a short time left to live because Kane was exactly where the Ascendant wanted him. They were unable to hide or run, so the Fleet would destroy this ship and everyone on it.

  That was something Hel couldn't allow to happen, not as long as she was aboard.

  She didn't want to fight Kane again, not in a fair match-up. The man was barely human, and regardless of her talents, she wasn't equipped to deal with him. He had left very few Titans alive, so the medbay was empty since the injured had succumbed to their wounds quickly. Hel didn't care in the slightest what had happened to the bodies; she was just glad the majority of the droid docs were inactive.

  When she heard Kane’s direction to the droid doc, she understood she would not be returning to the brig. Since the doc would have to take the clip off to fix the fracture in her forehead, she would bide her time. There was only one to deal with, and despite its innate android strength, it wasn't created to fight.

  As soon as the doc took the clip off, Hel made her move. Her face and body were badly damaged, but she was pumped up with enough drugs to feel almost nothing. Her body was working pretty well, which was all she needed.

  Hel rose and grabbed the doc’s head with both hands, then yanked backward as hard as she could. The droid offered virtually no resistance. Its metal-and-wire neck came free, and using all her strength, she pulled until fluid started leaking, then dropped the metal contraption on the deck.

  She looked at the torso. It wasn't inactive, but close enough. It was shaking a bit on the ground, and one of its legs was contracting and releasing, but it wouldn't be able to stop her. She examined the rest of the medbay quickly, moving from room to room. Everything was silent, meaning Kane had shut this area down.

  Hel didn't have her Whip, but she appropriated a scalpel. She could do more damage with a blade than many Titans could with a MechPulse.

  When she reached the entrance to the medbay, she realized she was going to have a small problem. Her security clearances would have been erased, so to get off this gods-forsaken ship, she'd have to get them reinstated. She retrieved the droid-doc and dragged it to the wall panel. It felt like she was moving a bag of cement, but she eventually got it there, although she was out of breath. Now she had to figure out how to prop it up to do a lens scan for the panel.

  The medbay door opened, and one of Kane's lackeys stepped through. Hel smiled, missing teeth and newly set jaw looking grotesque. "Hi, darling."

  Surprised, the lackey reached for his waist, but Hel was much too fast.

  She straightened and extended one leg as she moved, catching him in the groin. He doubled over, though one hand was still trying to find his StarBeam. Hel laid her right fist across his jaw hard enough to bring the lackey to his knees. He was still trying to get that StarBeam, though. Hel straddled his back, and with one hand, pulled his head back. She put the scalpel in the other hand against his neck.

  "Grab for the weapon again, and I'll carry your head around this ship to open the doors I want. Understand?"

  She felt the lackey's hand slacken, and she stroked the scalpel lightly across his neck and face, drawing blood.

  "Good choice. Now, we have some things to do before we get off this ship. Come along, my new friend."

  As Thoreaux was being escorted out of the medbay with a scalpel to his neck, Servia was making her way to see Prometheus. She'd heard what Thoreaux told her but had disregarded it. Maybe Pro did need to think, but he also needed to talk to her. She'd risked her life more than once for him, and she wanted to know he would do the same for her should the need arise, regardless of what happened to his wife back on Earth.

  She went
to his quarters, and with her hands on her hips, looked into the lens and said, "I don't care if you're thinking. We need to talk."

  Moments passed, and Servia wondered if he was going to let her in.

  When the door opened, the drathe was sitting on his haunches, looking up at her. Inside the room, Pro sat on a bed. He was leaning forward, his massive hands clasped, looking at her. "Come on in."

  Servia walked past the drathe, who licked her hand as she entered. When the door shut behind her, she didn't go any farther, only waited for Obs to pad over next to his master.

  "Thoreaux told you I wanted two hours?" Pro asked.

  She nodded. "He did, but I can't wait. I need to talk to you."

  "About what?" The man's eyes were red, and while his face was dry, it was clear he'd been crying. Servia softened some at that. She'd thought a lot about those she loved over the past few minutes, and now she saw the toll this was taking on him.

  Her voice softened a bit. "I need to know about your wife."

  Pro's eyes narrowed. "What about her?"

  Servia wasn't sure what to do next. She could proceed as she had originally intended and demand his loyalty. She saw in the man's face, though, that he might not react as she wanted him to. He was guarded about his wife even now.

  What is it you want, Servia? Why did you come here? she asked herself.

  I want Alistair to not make the same mistakes he did.

  She took another step into the room, deciding to tell him something she'd never thought to share with anyone. She swallowed, then said, "What's her name?"

  Pro was obviously surprised by the question. "Luna."

  "That's a beautiful name," Servia whispered.

  He nodded and looked down at his hands.

  Servia moved a step closer. "I came here wanting something from you, but I think I'd like to tell you a story if you don't mind. Do you have time to hear it? It won't take too long."

  Prometheus stood up and walked to a chair against the wall, picked it up, and placed it in front of the bed before sitting down again. "Tell me your story, Servia. It seems like death is always right around the corner, but it hasn't gotten here yet. Maybe it'll wait a little longer."

  Servia took the seat. She was nervous for multiple reasons. She didn't know how much time they had, and regardless of what Pro said, he didn't know either. Yet here she was, about to start story-fucking-time.

  She was also nervous because only the AllMother knew about this. In some ways, it wasn't fair since she knew about Thoreaux's parents, but he'd never heard about her past. He knew about her parents, of course, but not the whole story—because the whole story included a young man named Appius and his death.

  Chapter Seven

  “The difference between my sister and me is I still respect my lineage. She thinks she can forsake it. We are de Finitas forever and ever.”

  —The AllSeer

  Servia had known she was going to marry Appius from the moment she saw him. In that way, she was a lot like Prometheus.

  They’d met when he was seventeen and she was sixteen.

  Within the AllMother's family, there was no royalty. If there had been, both of their families would have been part of it.

  Her parents were close to the AllMother, but Appius' were slightly closer. Truthfully, it should have been him and Thoreaux serving her. It was only through Appius' idiocy that Servia wound up in the spot where he belonged.

  Was it idiocy, Servia? she wondered whenever the thought came to her. Or was it love?

  Love.

  It had always been about love.

  Servia remembered the first time she saw him. He was tall, his skin much darker than anyone Plutoborn. At that age, the two of them were not allowed on Pluto. The AllMother kept all children off the planet, though the reason wouldn't become apparent until a decade later. They'd both been on one of Venus' moons. Their parents were gone, doing whatever the movement required of them.

  The kids stayed wherever the Commonwealth wasn't hunting too ruthlessly. Servia had been awestruck by the young man's beauty and elegance, so she'd done what came naturally. She'd walked up to him and made a fool of herself.

  "I've never seen someone as tan as you."

  He'd been in the middle of biting into an apple, and he stopped, mouth open wide, eyes almost as large. He pulled the apple back and said, "Excuse me?"

  "I've never seen someone as tan as you," she repeated, sounding as confident as always but wanting to crawl into her skin and then disappear from the world.

  Appius chuckled as he put his apple down. "How well-educated are you?"

  "Excuse me?" she shot back.

  He raised his hands in surrender. "I only mean, have you heard of Africa on Earth? It no longer exists, obviously, but it did, and that's where my people are originally from. That's the darkness in my skin, though there's been mixing, I'm sure. Or else I'd be even more tan."

  He grinned at that last bit, and Servia didn’t ask if she could sit down.

  She just did.

  Two weeks later, he gave her her first kiss.

  A month later, they made love.

  Servia might have romanticized the whole affair, and wasn't that natural? After everything that came, wasn’t it natural to look back on a piece of life and think, Yes, that was perfect.

  The two of them had fought like any young couple, though there was a sense of fear permeating the relationship. Neither of them knew if they would get the dreaded holovid, the one the AllMother sent to children whose parents died in the line of duty. This was before Servia had met the old woman, though she knew her parents loved the AllMother dearly.

  Appius scored some imported wine. It was hard to get because the moons around Venus had been terraformed, but not in a way that would support the growing of grapes. Distilleries could brew fake vintages, but a year into their relationship, Appius had worked hard to find something real.

  Servia hadn't even known what the hell it was. The AllMother might have held their families in high esteem, but by Earth standards, they were savagely poor. To get actual wine? It wasn't conceivable.

  Yet, Appius had managed it.

  The two of them were young, but parental supervision was not very strict on the moons. They managed to sneak out of their dorms and find a field of grass. Servia hadn't known what Appius was planning, only that she was glad to be out of the dorm and in this field with her boyfriend. The slight risk of being caught added to the excitement.

  After they were beyond the lights of the small town, Appius pulled a blanket out of his bag, laid it out, and squatted on it. Without saying anything, he pulled the bottle out of the bag. It had no label, and the cork, something Servia had never seen before, was old.

  "What is that?" she asked.

  "Shhh," Appius said with a grin. He reached back into the bag and pulled out a metal contraption. It was something else Servia had never seen, but the smile on Appius' face kept her quiet. He screwed the contraption into the cork and pulled.

  He glanced up with an open bottle in his hand.

  "Appius, what in the hell are you doing?" Servia couldn't help but let his smile infect her.

  He tossed the contraption on the blanket and pulled something else out of the bag: a small banged-up tin cup. He handed it to her, then took one for himself. "Sit."

  She sat on the blanket. He nodded at her cup, which she held in front of him. He poured it full, then did the same for his own.

  He carefully placed the cork back in the bottle without a word, then titled his cup toward her. "Cheers, my love."

  They touched cups, but as she went to drink, he slowed her hand. "You're supposed to smell it first."

  Her face grew confused. "What? Why? What is this?"

  Grinning, Appius said, "Wine, love. Tell me what it smells like."

  She did. "Cherry. Wood?" She looked quizzically at him.

  "Probably how it's stored while it ages."

  "I think a hint of chocolate? I can't tell."


  Appius titled the cup to his nose, closed his eyes, and breathed in deeply. After a moment, he drank, and she did too. Servia would never forget the taste or the sweetness as it sat on her tongue before washing down her throat. She'd looked at him, eyes alight. "That's not bad."

  His face said he begged to differ, and he shook his head. "No way. It’s awful."

  She mock-grabbed for his cup. "Gimme yours, then!"

  He caught her hand and pulled her close. "I love you, Servia." He leaned in and kissed her lips.

  When they pulled apart, she said, "I love you too, Appius."

  They drank the bottle of wine together, slowly getting tipsy, then quickly getting drunk. They ended up on their backs, shoulder to shoulder, staring at the massive planet their little orb circled.

  "Do you miss your parents?" Appius asked her.

  "Yeah, I think so. It's been so long since I've seen them that I sorta forget about 'em." She turned her head to the side so she could see him. "What about you?"

  He nodded. "I do. It's been a long time for me, too. They've given their lives to this movement, and I sometimes wonder if it's worth it."

  Servia's face screwed up at that. "What do you mean, ‘Worth it?’"

  He was quiet for a moment. When he answered, he sounded more emotional than she'd ever heard him. "I'm not being facetious when I say they've given their whole lives to the movement. Everything, Servia. Even their son. I'm expected to follow in their footsteps, as I'm sure you are. Their son, though I'm not sure I'm that, outside of from a biological standpoint. I don't even know them."

  Servia wasn't sure what to say. She'd never heard anyone talk like this. You gave your life to the movement because in the end, freedom was more important than any individual.

  Appius chuckled, more than tipsy. "It's the same thing as the damned Commonwealth, Servia. The individual is sacrificed for the collective. We trick ourselves into thinking we're different or better."