by Randal Sloan
The Master resisted dwelling there with his mind’s eye upon the Golden One, moving across the galaxy once more. He felt just a touch of something far out there, surprisingly located within the human arm of the galaxy, but even farther out on the Rim than he’d ever seen anything before. Whatever it was, it was quiet for the moment, but the Master suspected it was the key to the coming events and he would have his answer soon.
He must be ready to do his part, whatever that might entail. He would do his best, for the Prophecies always deserved one’s best. When all this was finished, he would finally be able to meet the Golden One.
He longed for that day.
Emperor James Grayson Von Hasson, leader of the Galactic Empire, stretched his tired limbs as he listened to the report he had just received from his little Jarra, who was still somewhere in the Borjon arm of the galaxy. They had successfully completed their mission, but that had only raised more questions and provided too few answers. Still, his niece’s advice to him was by far the best he’d heard yet.
“You must find a way to delay our people from attacking the Aerstone. Even with the destruction of the First Sentinel, the evil that he left behind is still strongly entrenched in the Dark Council, despite the fact the Supreme Leader is now on our side. Plus, our new First Sentinel is just beginning to build his fleet of good Sentinels that we’re going to need to counteract the dark Sentinels. That doesn’t even take into account all the other weapons the Aerstone have in their arsenal.
“We dare not let it develop into a full-fledged war with the Aerstone for any time in the immediate future, even with our new and potential future allies, for I have absolutely no doubt we will lose! We all know what the loss of that war would mean — the death of all biological life in the galaxy.
“I just hope our new friends within the Aerstone find a way to hold back the rest of them. With the Aerstone ability to reload themselves from their backups, the threat of war to them is at best an inconvenience. I fear that eventually even our allies on the Council won’t be able to stop the others, so consumed as they are by the evil left behind by the First Sentinel. You’ve seen the data on the defenses the Aerstone have for the core worlds and nothing short of a fleet of Sentinels would be able to overcome those defenses, so that means the solution the Borjon employed to ‘win’ the last war is no longer an option.
“Honestly, it looks hopeless to me, but our Borjon monk friends still believe somehow it will happen. Master Hadassah assures me that nothing has changed in his visions of the future, so he believes a way out still exists. Of course, he has no idea how it could be done either, but he swears the Prophecies have never failed them before. Even across the millennia of time his people have lived.
“We still plan to leave here in the next day or so. The team and I have all been recovering and we needed the break. I now understand just a little of what you’ve had to deal with all this time, for when I thought our Sara was not going to make it because of my actions, it was the most difficult thing I’ve ever faced.”
Jarra paused for a moment as she tried to collect herself. James could see that she was fighting tears, something he’d very seldom seen from her even as a child. She managed to hold them back, taking a deep breath. “On a more pleasant subject, I hope to spend a few weeks with you before we set out on our next mission. As you know, Jason and I intend to make public the announcement of our engagement, and I’m certain the Imperial Publicity Department will want a considerable amount of time to set up the event. Some things not even we humans can rush.”
She gave him a smile. “Our journey back should go fairly quickly, but you can understand if we take it a little slower this time. For starters, we won’t have a Borjon ship leading the way through the core, but Galen promises me he’ll be able to handle it himself. Kaeden will be working with him, so I don’t anticipate any problems.”
Jarra looked straight into the VR system. “I think that’s enough for now. We’ll talk more when I get back and it’s not like any of this has any kind of urgent deadline. See you soon, dear Uncle. Jarra out.”
James sat there just staring for a few moments. He tried to dwell on the last part of her message, for that did give him something to cling to for the near future at least. The rest, not so much. Many of those in the Empire envied him his position, thinking it would be grand to be Emperor even for a day. Perhaps one who didn’t care about others would find it quite so, able to order others around on a mere whim and to enjoy the riches of the Galactic Empire. But it didn’t work that way for James.
Like his brother and his father before him, James carried within himself a tremendous sense of duty — duty to serve the Empire to the best of his ability, duty to keep all those within his purview safe. It wasn’t easy in simpler times and it certainly wasn’t easy in these trying times where the fate of the galaxy hung in the balance.
Despite his niece’s most excellent advice, plans would need to be made, plans that he had no idea how to bring about. He had some time, perhaps, so he would think on it for now.
Thank God he had his little Jarra out leading the way. That brought a smile to his face.
Chapter 2
Block 85
Missy of Block 85 stood staring out her overlook, observing the block below. She’d just gotten another tip from her source, Jonah, and she was waiting for her friends to join her. Unlike the last time, this tip seemed to be entirely on the level. Based on what Jonah had told her, it appeared they were going to have a busy evening.
It had been a long journey to get where she was now, but she was going to make sure she did her job tonight. Missy, along with her two special friends, girls each very different from her in some ways but in many ways the same, had earned the Protection rights for their block. She and her friends were the only ones at their young age to do so, not to mention the three being the only girls in the organization.
Protection rights could be earned on a block by demonstration to the Protectors that the applicants could do the job. It hadn’t been easy, and she’d been about to give up when she met the other two. Missy smiled when she thought of the day the three met. They might have gotten off to a somewhat rough start, but it turned out rather well in the end.
Missy had been following one of the Imperial delivery vehicles as it made its way through the block. Blocks in York were over a half mile long and each block was assigned a Protector. Of course, there were never enough Protectors, so Block 85 was without an assigned Protector. Missy intended to make the job hers.
Jonah, her source even back then, had gotten a lead on the delivery she was observing, and he had gleefully passed the details on to her. It appeared the truck contained not only a month’s supply of food stock to deliver out to the Imperial restaurants, but even more so it was rumored that it also carried a shipment of Carsuvian ale. In the underground, Carsuvian ale was the equivalent of currency. If this tip panned out, his cut would be quite valuable.
Missy was determined to get her hands on both. For her, it would be a gold mine. She knew their delivery schedule and knew that both the driver and his assistant, really a guard, always stopped for a smoke break. Not only that, but looking for a chance to escape the heat, they always went inside a local cabana for their smoke break.
Missy planned to take advantage of that. She had a special talent; there wasn’t a lock made she couldn’t get past. Somehow she could “see” inside the lock to let her know just how to unlock it. As long as the two of them were lazy and didn’t enable the alarm system on the truck, she had it made. They never did.
They were approaching the cabana which was at the south end of the block. Missy gathered herself to exit her hiding spot just above street level behind the cabana. She would soon see.
Marso, the driver, directed the onboard AI to park in his usual spot in the small dead-end alley that ran beside their destination. He grabbed the key fob, really just a chip, and clipped it to his AI belt pack. With a quick tap, the truck was locked. He started into t
he cabana, the guard following behind him. Just as Missy thought she had it made, Lawrence, the guard, stopped.
“Gotta do the alarm,” he told his companion, who was waiting at the door. “With all the pressure on by the top brass to get everything right for the Galactics, we’ve been warned to make sure we follow the rules. You’re lucky we’re still able to do the smoke break.”
He waved his control wand and a shimmering haze sprang up to surround the truck. The alarm system was now activated.
Drats! Missy stared at the truck in disgust. They needed that food; the ale would have just been a lucky addition. She gathered herself for a run in; with the alarm set, she would only be able to do a quick smash and grab.
Just as she started to move, a hand grabbed her shoulder. “Stop, you idiot. You’ll ruin everything!”
Missy looked back to see a girl about her age with long brown hair. She could have sworn no one had been there a second before. Later she would learn that was the special ability the girl had. She could make herself and anyone with her appear almost invisible. Not knowing that at the time, Missy just assumed she’d not been as careful as she needed to be. It didn’t really matter.
She shook her head. “We need that food,” she told the other girl. “It’s another two weeks until the next drop and you know how that’ll go.”
As Missy and the other girl obviously knew, the drops were grabbed up by the gangs and the little people only got what they didn’t want. In other words, not much.
“That’s why I brought her,” the girl answered with a smile, pointing at her companion who was standing behind her. She was another girl about their age, this one with brilliant red hair that seemed to have a mind of its own. The girl was waving a control wand in the air in front of her.
The redhead briefly glanced at Missy, but she immediately turned back to her task. She had a huge smile on her face as she declared, “Only a Level One. I’ll have this one in a few seconds.”
Missy could only stare in disbelief. Only a Level One! It might as well have been a hundred as far as she was concerned.
“I’m Sissy, she’s Krissy,” the first girl told her.
“Missy,” she replied automatically. At the time she couldn’t help but consider it odd how all three of their names sounded so much alike, but she didn’t pay it much mind. Later the three would decide it was fate.
About that time Krissy announced, “Got it.” The shimmering haze around the truck disappeared. The alarm was deactivated!
Sissy grabbed a rock, planning to smash it into the lock repeatedly until it broke. It was Missy’s turn to grab her shoulder. “Wait!” she said, pulling out her lock pick. “My way’s much faster and doesn’t make any noise.”
Seconds later, Missy had the lock open, the other two staring at her in disbelief. She smiled. “You have a place to store this stuff? Between the three of us, we should be able to get it all.”
That was how the three of them met, each one with a special ability that she tried to keep hidden from the rest of the world, but nevertheless tried to use for good rather than evil. Now they were almost inseparable and together they could do almost anything.
Missy’s musing was interrupted as the other two came up to join her. Both were dressed ready to go out as Protectors, as was she.
“What’s up?” Sissy asked her. “We got your rather ‘urgent’ message,” physically putting air quotes around the word urgent. Left unsaid was the last time Missy had sent a similar message, it had been a total dud. That one was on Jonah, but Missy admitted she might have blown it out of proportion.
Missy smiled at her. “I’m pretty sure this one is legit and it could turn out to be rather important. I know I tend to get excitable, but this is another tip from Jonah and it needs investigating. You remember the greenie that showed up in Murphy’s bar the other night? Well, he’s back and he’s meeting with a stranger tonight.”
Then she gave them the punch line. “We’re going to listen in on their conversation. Something’s going on with that guy and we’re going to find out what it is.”
Sissy didn’t argue. “You know we’re in. There hasn’t been much excitement around here lately. Although, odds are it’s nothing that matters to us; it’s probably just another drug buy or something.”
“You know how I feel about that,” Missy told her with a sniff. It was drugs that killed her mother, after all, so she hated anything to do with them. “But I just have a feeling about it, a feeling that this is something else and much more important than that. Plus, this one, if it turns out like I think it will, we’ll need to do something about.”
The other two just shook their heads. Missy tended to “see” things they couldn’t. Things that turned out just like she’d said they would. It had to be some kind of psychic ability, not that Missy even understood it herself. It didn’t matter — they knew her feelings couldn’t be ignored. Despite her penchant to be over-enthusiastic at times, when Missy said they needed to do something, they usually needed to do it.
Murphy’s bar was already busy. Truth be told, it was always busy. After all, it was the center of everything going on for the block. Missy apparently was on to something, though, because all the petty criminals had decided to abandon their plans for the evening. Instead, there was a nervous air about the place.
Even the bartender was nervous as he handed them their usual non-alcoholic drinks. He didn’t say anything, though, so they headed on toward the back of the bar. The Protectors paid him for information at times, but he obviously didn’t have anything concrete to tell them.
It appeared it was going to be a strange night, but that wouldn’t deter them from their mission. Missy was determined and the others were ready too, she knew. Something big was definitely going down.
“They’ve rented the back room,” she whispered to Krissy. “Will your bug pass their scans or do we need to plan for a contingency?”
“Oh, it’ll pass,” Krissy replied. She’d put her bugs up against anyone’s and also against any bug detection device. That bug was a sixth generation one too, one of her new and improved ones that would pass galaxy-wide. “Don’t worry so much. I’ve got it.”
She passed both the other girls a set of her ear inserts. They were so small no one would see them even if they knew what to look for. The three nervously took a seat in the hidden alcove they were provided as Protectors for the block.
Luckily, their wait was short-lived or Missy would have gone crazy waiting. She’d never been the patient sort, not that her companions were much better. Two men wearing hoodies and dark glasses passed below them and went into the back room.
Greenie, Missy’s nickname for the man they’d been keeping up with because he was new to the block and completely ignorant of the proper way to do things, was the first to speak after a brief moment of silence. “You scanned the room for bugs, right?”
The unknown man answered gruffly. Missy decided to call him Gruff for now. “You just watched me do it. This little gizmo set me back a pretty penny, but it’s guaranteed to catch every bug in the galaxy. We’re clean.”
“Good. I just needed to be sure. My clients are quite concerned that their plans remain secret.”
Gruff answered him even more gruffly. “I assure you my clients are just as concerned with the security of our meeting as you are.”
For the three listening, there was no video but they had a pretty good idea of what was happening. Missy figured he’d just shaken his head in disgust.
He went on, “For the purposes of our conversation, you can call me Mr. Black. I represent the group of bosses that run all the important stuff behind the scenes on this planet. We’re very concerned with the deal the local government has made with the Galactics and intend to put a stop to it. It has the chance to mess up a lot of our plans.”
Greenie told him, “Not so different from you, I represent a small group that have plans for this planet that don’t involve the Galactics. They are willing to assist your faction f
or a very small price. They need the Galactic station taken out and they need the claim rights to enough ships to declare orbital rights. If you can take care of the space assets, we can deal with the Imperials. We have been planning to remove them for some time.”
He paused a moment as if deciding if he needed to say more. Finally, he shrugged. It would be best to get it out in the open now. “There’s something you need to understand. The ones I represent are not human; they are the original alien inhabitants of this planet and they’ve waited hundreds of years to reach this point where the leaders have the support to reclaim their rightful place. If you’re willing to let them have control of the planetary government, they couldn't care less what us humans want to do.”
Mr. Black was quick to reply. “That’s not a problem for us. We have no interest in running things — that would cut too much into our profits. I’m certain such a deal is acceptable, if you can guarantee we will be able to maintain our ground assets in place with no interference. Of course, I’ll have to verify this with my clients. I can bring you back word tomorrow night. Set us up a meet again, but not here, just in case someone is watching.”
Greenie must not have been happy, because his tone of voice sounded angry. Missy smiled. He was probably as tired of dealing with the locals here as they were with him. Now he’d have to deal with another set of them. “Whatever. I’ll leave you word at the drop point. It doesn’t matter one way or the other to me.”
Mr. Black went on. “Assuming they accept the agreement, we’ll be ready to move in two days. Can your people be ready by then?”
Greenie laughed. “They could be ready tomorrow if need be. Oh, they’ll be ready!”
