by K. B. Wagers
“Of course, Commander-General. Go along, children.”
I watched as the Selan herded the group away, winking as the one named Zel threw a last glance over their shoulder at me.
You’ll have to kill them if you can’t convince the Selan not to attack Faria, Hail.
My amusement left me like the rush of air escaping from a wounded ship.
We made it to our destination without any further interruptions and Biea ushered me into a round room. I spotted Tolm standing with three others.
“This is the Selan leadership,” Biea said. “There are four of us, two each from the divisions of defense and livelihood. The fifth is a civilian who is chosen at random to provide perspective.”
“Biea, what is this?” The Selan speaking had a gold pattern on their face similar to theirs.
“Her Majesty Empress Hailimi Bristol requested that I bring her to speak with you all. There are concerns about the fate of the Farians.”
“They should have thought about that before they dealt with criminals,” the Selan replied.
“They didn’t know,” I replied to the Selan who’d just spoken. “How could the Farians have possibly known what Thyra and the others had done? You’re talking about condemning an entire race because of your people’s actions.”
“Your Majesty,” Tolm said. “There is no other solution.”
“Cowshit. I’m the solution.”
Confused looks spread over their faces. “You are a single human,” the tallest of the Selan said with a frown. They had a spiral of neon orange under their eye. “You are no match for Thyra alone, never mind if she has an army of her creations.”
I smiled slowly, pleased as the Selan responded with the same nervous shift any rational living being did when presented with a predator. “You have no idea who I am. I am the Star of Indrana. Everything in my life has conspired to put me here so that I can stop this. I will stop Thyra, but I must go to Faria to do it and I need time.”
The five Selan started talking too rapidly for my smati to keep up, and I watched the discussion rage for several minutes before they finally subsided. Biea seemed satisfied, though annoyed as they turned to me.
“Your Majesty, we can give you no more than a hundred of your standard hours to bring the criminals to us for justice. After that we will be forced to take action to remove them from Faria no matter the cost.”
“You know what will happen if you do that,” I replied. “I am allied with the Farians. I cannot stand by and let you attack them.”
Biea studied me for a moment and sighed. “I have no wish to fight you. In fact, I will offer to join you in this hunt of yours, if you will have me, but this is the decision we have made. You have until the clock runs out, Your Majesty. I hope you are as good as you believe.”
38
How are you so calm?”
I turned my attention away from what could be called the organized chaos of the Istrevitel’s headquarters and smiled at Captain Zov. “Experience?”
“Temperament,” Hao said. “You can learn it, Captain, but Hail’s been like that her whole life, don’t let her tell you otherwise.”
I shrugged and smiled. “I have something of a reputation.”
“It’s earned.” Dirah smiled and held out her hand. “I suppose I will not see you again until this is done, Your Majesty. Thank you, for everything.”
“Take care of yourself, Captain.” I reached out and clasped her forearm in the traditional Istrevitel greeting.
Hao did the same and then Gita; my Dve leaned in and whispered something to the Istrevitel before she released her. The three of us watched as she wove her way through the mass of people.
“I like her, I hope she doesn’t die,” Hao said.
“If we’re lucky they won’t see any action at all.”
“When are we ever lucky, sha zhu?”
“Fair enough.” I sighed and returned my gaze to the preparations. “You still mad at me?”
“Yes,” he said, but he smiled when he said it and bumped his shoulder into mine. “Stop being so fucking reckless.”
“It was kind of necessary,” I murmured. “I wasn’t about to let them make that decision without listening to me. I know I couldn’t convince them, but I at least bought us some time.”
In the almost two days since the Selan had revealed themselves to us, we’d managed to put together a battle plan that relied a little too heavily on three separate forces who’d never fought together before.
Beggars, however, could not be choosers. So I’d worked with Admiral Amo and Inana, Captain Zov, and Biea to coordinate the forces of the Shen, the Istrevitel, and the Selan into a plan that would hopefully allow them to all play to their strengths while not stumbling over each other too much.
The bulk of the plans belonged to those involved as I would be otherwise occupied—taking a Selan ship down to Faria to link up with Johar and Fasé.
After that, I wasn’t entirely sure what we were going to do, but the clock ticking steadily away in the corner of my vision reminded me that if I failed, a lot of people were going to die.
“You don’t have a plan on how to take on Thyra, do you?”
I shot Hao a look and he held his hands up in surrender with a laugh.
“I’m just asking.”
“I’m working on it. I don’t have a lot of information to go on, you know.” We’d finally gotten the antivirus to Johar, but the consensus was that it was safer to wait until we were on the ground to discuss both the situation on Faria and what we planned to do once we got there.
I had the barest minimal report from Jo about the army we were facing, and I’d used it to build a preliminary plan for the ground forces.
None of it changed the fact that I was going to have to face Thyra, and the vision of her impaling me on her limb was as constant as the timer rapidly clicking down in my vision.
“There’s Emmory,” Hao said, knocking me out of my thoughts. “You can carry your own bag, Your Majesty.”
I tripped him, hooking his foot with mine as he tried to walk away. Hao only just regained his balance and didn’t look at either Gita or me as he continued across the bay.
“My younger sister was as bad as you growing up, Majesty,” she said, laughing.
“It keeps him humble.”
“True. Shiva knows he needs it.” Her humor faded. “I sent your message to Princess Alice as requested.”
“I figured. Even though I told her we’d be out of coms range, I got four messages before I turned off my notifications.”
“All the BodyGuards got three, and Emmory and I have gotten two from General Suvish requesting that we check in.”
“Whatever they say, they can’t fire you.”
“I am not concerned about that.” Her mouth curved. “Though they could technically bring us all up on charges.”
“I’ll just refuse to come home until they’re dropped.” I grabbed my bag and slung it over my shoulder, shifting out of the way before she could take it from me.
Admiral Hassan met us halfway across the bustling room. “Majesty.”
“Inana.” I set my bag down.
“I am supposed to, and I quote, ‘bash her over the head and bring her home if her damn BodyGuards won’t. She can’t fire me, I’m the Heir.’” Inana smiled. “I told Her Highness that I was unsure of your whereabouts, so I’d appreciate it if you’d get on that alien ship and get out of here so I’m not a complete liar.”
“We’re headed out now,” I replied, and stuck my hand out, clasping her by the arm and pulling her into a hug as the emotion rose up in my throat. I’d respected this woman when we’d met each other again, but now it was too much like sending my own family into battle. “Stay safe. Please.”
“You, too, Majesty.”
We separated. I reached for my bag, came up empty, and glared at Gita’s unrepentant grin.
“Bad enough we’re letting you march into a war zone, Majesty, at least let me carry your bag.�
� Her grin softened. “I get it, Hail, and I highly doubt you’ll ever become the kind of person who assumes someone else should carry anything for you.”
“Well, not if I keep Hao around, that’s for sure.”
Gita’s laughter carried with us to the waiting Selan ship.
Biea had joined us on what I understood was a midsized ship much the same as our Sarama-class destroyers. Tolm had not, but another Selan by the name of Weil seemed to be in charge of the ship.
They had a trio of horizontal lines with a single dot under their left eye in the same gold as Biea’s. The other Selan on the bridge also had marks in varying metallic shades.
“Biea,” I said, trying to keep my voice low. The bridge had the same familiar background conversation of any that I’d been on, though this was all in Selan. “May I ask a question?”
“Of course, Your Majesty.”
“What is the significance of the marks on your faces?” I tapped my cheek. “Thyra has marks but they are all black.”
Biea was silent for a moment. Then they tapped their limbs together twice. “The best words in your language seems to be a product code. Though that would be in reference to what Thyra and the others had. And theirs were only black, unchanging. It was an indicator of our purpose and a tracking system for the Infrastructure.”
“You know, the more I hear about this group the more I dislike them.”
The chitter that echoed from Biea’s mouth drew looks from some of the nearby Selan. “I do like you, Your Majesty. As you may suspect, the meaning of our melak—” They paused and tapped at the symbol on their cheek with an expression I assumed was a thoughtful frown. “There is not a good word in Indranan for this.”
“I would say tattoo, though that probably leaves out some of the significance?”
“Yes,” they replied with a nod. “And it does but it works. Now the tattoos signify our place within the whole.”
“You can change them?”
“Of course.” Biea blinked their wide eyes. “Our people are free to change their jobs, and those who serve in defense of the whole are promoted as their skills progress. You do the same, yes?”
“Yes, in some cases. Our indicators are usually on the uniform.” I smiled. “And in my case, I didn’t really earn my position.”
“That is not what I have heard.”
Emmory choked back a laugh behind me and I resisted the urge to elbow him in the stomach. “Well, don’t believe everything you hear about me, Biea.”
“Of course, Your Majesty.” I honestly couldn’t tell if they were joking or not; the inflections and tone of the Selan didn’t change much and I was sure the translations were imperfect. “Did you have other questions?”
“You don’t live on a planet?”
“Correct.” Biea dipped their head.
“Why? There have to be habitable planets in this sector or elsewhere.”
“It did not feel right while the criminals were still free, Your Majesty, and this has been our life. I suppose we may think of it after this is all over, but it would still be somewhat dangerous. Our creators, or their descendants, may still be looking for us.”
“They couldn’t possibly think to still try to kill you after all this time?”
“I honestly don’t know.”
I frowned, the beginning of an idea springing to life in my mind. One I hoped I would be able to follow rather than going to war with the Selan over the fate of Faria. “Biea, I’d like to speak with you about this again. Hopefully after this is over we will still be friends.”
“Of course, Your Majesty. Tolm and the rest of the leadership would need to be involved. I am just a defender.”
“Just a defender?” I snorted. “That’s a bit like Emmory saying he’s just a BodyGuard. Technically correct, but the reality is a bit different, yes? I am new to the empress game, Biea, but not how things work. You are part of the Selan’s leadership; even if I hadn’t seen that, I know your people wouldn’t have sent just anyone to meet with us.”
“Fair enough, Your Majesty, and you are correct.” Biea dipped their head. “I am in command of our defenders.”
“That’s what I thought.” I smiled. “Well, shall we get this show on the road?”
“We are jumping straight to the planet, Your Majesty.”
This time I did elbow Emmory when he laughed. “It’s an idiom. I’ll explain them to you on the way.”
“Nice ship.” Johar pulled me into a quick hug, letting go and stepping out of the way so that I could wrap my arms around Fasé and Stasia.
“I was so worried for both of you,” I whispered, blinking away the tears.
“We are fine, Your Majesty,” Stasia replied, her arms tight around my waist. “Sergeant Patil took very good care of us.”
I pressed my cheek to the top of her head. My Royal Marines were standing in parade rest behind her. “You have my gratitude, Sergeant.”
“We were doing our jobs, Your Majesty.” Patil was barely taller than my maid, but her voice was firm and all seven of her Marines came to attention at her words.
“Emmory has instructions and briefing files for you.” I looked around. The Farians were watching the small group of Selan who’d disembarked with open distrust. “We should probably all get somewhere safer for the rest of this?”
“This way,” Johar said, jerking her head to the side. Sergeant Patil barked an order and the Marines separated, moving out ahead of us.
I let Stasia go but kept my arm around Fasé. She hadn’t said a word and her fingers were digging into my hip as though she were afraid I’d vanish if she let go. “You okay?” I murmured.
“I saw you go back to Pashati.” Her voice was thick with tears, but her gold eyes were dry. “You left us here and we tried to fight but they were too strong. This army is—”
“It didn’t happen. I’m here, and you did a good job keeping everyone alive, Fasé.” I tightened my arm around her. “I wouldn’t have ever left you.” My heart twisted at how close I’d come, though, how I’d nearly let Alice convince me to go home and let someone else do my job for me.
It would have been too little, too late, when help arrived.
“I brought some friends,” I said. “Sort of, anyway. We’ll do a round of introductions and catch everyone up on what’s happened.”
“How do we know we can trust them?” Fasé eyed Biea, who was walking alongside Hao and Gita.
“At the moment they’re going to blow up the planet if I can’t find a way to stop Thyra in sixty-two hours,” I admitted, waving a hand at Fasé’s startled look. “They already know I won’t let that happen, Fasé. But I don’t want to have to fight them in the space above the planet and Thyra’s army on the ground. At the moment we’ve got time, and I figure that’s as good as on our side as we’re going to get.” I smiled and hugged her to my side once more as we headed down a flight of stairs toward a long tunnel, pushing aside my sudden knotted anxiety about going underground. “Biea has offered whatever help they can to take Thyra out, and I’m not going to turn anyone down at this point.”
“We haven’t heard from Sybil or the new leadership since Adora’s first attack,” Fasé said. “I would like to hope they are alive, but I don’t know.” She sighed and headed into the building.
I saw Biea hesitate at the door and turned to look at the Selan. “Are you all right?”
Biea tipped their head, shaking it slowly. “These buildings are unpleasant.”
“Tell me about it,” I said. “Are they hurting you?”
“No,” they replied. “But they are too sharp and they will restrict our movement. It causes interference here.” They shook their head as they tapped on their chest with a single limb. “We will be limited in our abilities while we are here.”
“Interesting that the others didn’t have that problem,” Hao murmured.
“Funny what several thousand years of living with it will do for you. We knew they’d designed the architecture to hide themselves; n
ow it appears it also will impact the Selan in other ways.” I looked back at Biea. “Do you think Thyra will be able to tell that you are here?”
“I do not know. The ship is well concealed, but we were not expecting this. We will move forward and see how we can combat this. I am sending data to our people as we speak.”
“Good.” I nodded and gestured to the door. “After you.” I waited for Biea and their people to go through, and fell into step with Emmory. “Put Iza and Indula on the door; as soon as you have the Marines briefed I want them back outside with a radius far enough out to give us some warning if we have incoming.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Well, let’s go plan a party.” I walked through the doorway.
39
I rubbed both hands over my eyes as the map lines of the Pedalion facility blurred and muttered a curse. “There is no good way in here.”
“There is, Hail,” Aiz said. “You’ve just got to stop thinking like a human.”
I glared over my shoulder at him. He was sprawled in a chair, chin resting in his hand. We’d been going rounds about this since Aiz had first suggested it three hours ago. I didn’t care that the Farians and Shen could come back from death. The very idea of using them as shields was abhorrent.
“I am not going in through the front door, Aiz. I’m not sacrificing Farian and Shen lives when there has to be another way in.”
“We’ll come back.”
“What if you don’t? What if Thyra has done something to these Farians that will allow them to kill you permanently?”
“She’s right, we can’t risk it,” Mia said from the back of the room. “Stop needling her, Aiz, you know she’s not going to agree to it. We’re better off if they don’t know we’re coming anyway.”
“It would be less of a fight,” Aiz conceded with a sigh.
“Haven’t I been saying that for the last hour?” I muttered.
“There is a way in,” Hao said, rubbing at the back of his neck. “You’re not going to like it, though.”
“You’re probably right; hit me anyway.”
Hao crossed to the schematic on the display and tapped a finger against an outside wall. “There’s no such thing as a zero-access building, it’s just a question of where and when. Air goes in somewhere, comes out somewhere. Same with water. Shit.” He grinned when I made a face at him. “Wherever the kitchens are is probably our best bet. We could—”
