The Blockade

by Jean Johnson

  “Only Terran messages in or out until we get full cooperation, though we will deliver news of the ultimatum to all systems, and news of which specific systems have agreed to our demands to each system that has not yet agreed to them. And yes, I know that’ll make it difficult to find His Highness. Ensuring that our people are respected is more important than the comfort of one or two mere individuals. Even if one of those individuals is me,” she finished, closing her eyes. Still dizzy, she let herself rest, conserving her energy.

  “Your dedication is appreciated. I’ll make sure those tranquilizers are on standby,” Hamza agreed dryly. “Do you need anything?”

  “Food, coffee—extrastrength if it’s V’Dan caffen—and someone to help me shower and change. I’m not standing on a slippery surface and contorting myself to get clean without someone to catch me if I fall.”

  “I’ll get right on that.”

  V’DAN WARSHIP J’UNG SHAN G’AT

  TON-BEI SYSTEM

  The leftenant returned with the captain in tow. “Captain Del’un Qa-Reez,” she announced, “of the Warship Bounding Cat Roar.”

  Captain Del’un Qa-Reez, a middle-aged man with deep-tanned skin, short brown curls, and pale yellow jungen crescents, did not look happy about being summoned like a servant. The stunner in his hand was proof of that, as were his surface thoughts and agitated swirl of his aura. The instant Li’eth sensed those in combination, he reacted, mind lashing out the moment the captain brought his weapon up into firing position. Telekinesis smacked into the man’s wrist, jerking the muzzle of the stunner up at the ceiling; light and sound pulsed in a tzzzzz of energy. It hit the ceiling harmlessly, dissipating within half a heartbeat.

  Li’eth shifted his mind, twisting his telekinesis to clamp around the older male’s forearm and hand, lifting and bending the limb so that the weapon pointed at its owner’s head. It was crudely done, and Li’eth could see the pain being caused in the way the captain bared his teeth in a silent snarl.

  “Drop it,” Li’eth ordered, carefully keeping ahold of the man’s wrist but not his fingers.

  Those fingers hesitated, then unfurled from around the weapon. It dropped as requested, bouncing off his shoulder and chest to clatter across the infirmary floor. Li’eth released the captain’s arm and quickly scooped up the weapon with his mind. He lifted and set it on the bed next to his still-infirmary-robed body.

  “Clothing suitable to my station. The name of this ship. The name of our nearest star system. And a communications link to the nearest V’Dan authority so I can finish registering my claim of Imperial Tier Law 74,” Li’eth stated calmly. That was, externally he looked and sounded calm; internally, he nearly shook from dizziness and anger.

  Behind the captain and off to one side, the infirmary door slid open, and a woman entered, one with the large hollow triangles of a leftenant superior on her shoulders. So did two other officers, leftenants with smaller triangle outlines. Li’eth was grateful they weren’t openly carrying weapons and glad when they stopped just inside the room, eyeing the tableau of their superior and the famous stranger on their infirmary bed.

  He knew they recognized him; it was evident in the shocked widening of their eyes, in the quick way they straightened to attentiveness. Particularly the two male newcomers. The surprise, however, meant they hadn’t known he—Imperial Prince Kah’raman—was on board until now. That means their captain intended to keep my presence on board a secret . . . but a secret from the enemy or a secret from anyone sympathetic to me?

  Out loud, he carefully stated, “Your loyalty to my sister is commendable, Captain Qa-Reez, but the law is the law and is superior to everyone. It is the law even for the Empress herself, never mind a mere Princess Regent. I am now under the jurisdiction of the Tier Advocates, not the Eternal Throne.

  “Failure to obey and follow the law will be seen as an act of mutiny . . . at which point I will be well within my legal grounds as a Grand Captain, never mind an Imperial Prince, to commandeer this ship and throw you and your fellow mutineers out an airlock. I would rather not have to do that,” Li’eth added softly. “I’d like you to prove that you and your crew are intelligent enough to be law-abiding instead. Will you cooperate?”

  Captain Qa-Reez narrowed his eyes. “Imperial Tier Rule 74?”

  “Invoking Imperial Tier Jurisprudence Ruling 74 remands me into the custody of the Tier Advocates on V’Dan; if they are not available, the nearest colonyworld’s Tier Advocates are to be contacted in order to get me to the Advocates on the homeworld. This invocation removes me completely from Imperial jurisdiction,” he patiently explained, “which means that any order Imperial Princess Regent Vi’alla gave to your crew is now no longer valid.

  “Continuing to follow those invalidated orders will be considered treason. Attempting to imprison me through stunning and sedation is now treason because you, as a non-Advocate, do not have that authority. Only the Tier Advocates can judge me now,” he explained with icy patience.

  Their judgment could be quite harsh, historically, but it was necessary. Their power over the royal bloodline—granted when a member of the Tier placed themselves in their jurisdiction, as Li’eth was doing—had evolved to help prevent trading one tyrant for another, as well as to help prevent one tyrant from wiping out all possible alternatives to the throne.

  “They can only take jurisdiction over you if they know about you,” Qa-Reez stated coldly. “I thi—”

  “—I wouldn’t do that if I were you, Captain,” the leftenant superior stated. Qa-Reez turned to face her. One of the two men at his back was frowning at their captain along with her; the other was eyeing her and the man to the left warily. The leftenant medic eyed the trio as well. The leftenant superior leveled her shoulders. “There are enough of us on this ship who believe in the rule of law to overrule you. And as we are adamant about upholding that law . . . it would not be mutiny on our side. Any mutiny would be your actions.”

  A muscle flexed in the captain’s jaw. He lifted his chin. “Fine. You take responsibility for him. Get him off my ship . . . and take yourself as well.”

  “Me? Why should I go?” she asked, folding her arms across her chest and tipping her head. “Because I challenged you when you were about to take an illegal action, as a law-abiding junior officer should?”

  Qa-Reez bared his teeth in a brief, silent snarl. “You will take charge of the Tier Advocate’s prisoner and deliver him personally to their authority. To make sure he does deliver himself into their authority. Since you’re so interested in following through on the letter of the law, that is now your responsibility and your official orders on the matter. Everyone else . . . out of the infirmary!”

  Stalking toward the door, he forced the male leftenants to quickly scatter. The one on the right, with the burgundy rosettes, followed his captain out. The leftenant medic disappeared into the infirmary offices. The male on the left, with pink crescents on medium-brown skin and black hair, stared at the brown-haired, green-spotted leftenant superior. “Was that wise, Ka’atieth?”

  “I remember he said he’d served as a fellow cadet with Imperial Princess Vi’alla. He’s currying favor with her, as the heir and future Empress. I don’t give a damn about Imperial politics, but I do about upholding the law.” Crossing to stand in front of Li’eth, she drew herself up, shoulders square, chin slightly raised. “Leftenant Superior A’sha-rayn Ka’atieth, first officer of the Imperial Warship Bounding Cat Roar. Do you remand yourself into my custody, Your Highness, until such time as we can get you to the Advocates?”

  “No,” Li’eth stated bluntly. It made her blink. “I remand myself into the custody of the Tier Advocates on V’Dan and only them. You are not one of them. You may, however, escort me to them, assisting me in my journey. I should like clothing to wear. A Grand Captain’s uniform will do, size 36-7 top, 36-8 bottom, size 23-3 shoes if you have them.”

  “I’ll go
get them,” the fellow with the pink crescents said. He backed up toward the doorway, which slid open behind him. “Anything else from storage? Toiletry kit?”

  Li’eth nodded. He had to grip the edge of the bed because his world was still listing to his right, and movement threatened to stir the dizziness within him, but he kept himself upright. Seated, but upright. The other man ducked out before he could offer thanks. That left him to consider the woman in front of him. “How far out are we from a transfer point?”

  “About two hours, maybe a little less. We’re coasting into the system, checking the lightwave backlog,” Ka’atieth told him. “So far, all is quiet. You’re the most exciting thing in this sector, Highness.”

  “Grand Captain,” Li’eth corrected. “Please refer to me as Grand Captain Li’eth Ma’an-uq’en, and inform the rest of the crew to do so as well. Any reference to me as a member of the Imperial Blood that leaves this ship could have it painted for the highest priority in capture, interrogation, and consumption . . . whether or not I am still on board. Go warn everyone of that, Leftenant Superior,” he ordered, lifting his chin. “Gossip on this one point is worth this ship’s weight in flk-sauce.”

  “They’d capture and eat us anyway—” she started to dismiss. Li’eth shook his head hard, cutting her off.

  “No. I was captured by the Salik. I know what they would do to a normal crew. I also know what they would do if they thought they could get their tentacles on a member of the Imperial Tier. The only thing that kept them from taking me to their homeworld for a grand feast was their ignorance. That ignorance allowed the Terrans to free us, but we had the promises of the Immortal and the Prophet of a Thousand Years to ensure our survival from enemy appetites. But only a promise for five of us to survive.

  “There are no other guarantees for any other ship’s crew,” he warned her. “My presence on this ship is my sister deliberately sabotaging our good relations with the Terrans, contrary to the words of the Prophet . . . and we need them to win this war. If the Salik learned I was in this system, they would tear this ship apart and torture every last one of you, just to try to take me prisoner and use me as leverage against Her Eternity.”

  “I heard they cut off their interstellar communications and have refused to allow us to communicate. How do we need that from an ally?” Ka’atieth challenged him. “Their behavior—”

  “—Their behavior is a direct consequence of our behavior,” Li’eth stated, closing his eyes, tired of this argument. “We insulted and disrespected them at nearly every turn. Even those who have been formally trained in cross-cultural diplomacy, people trained not to blink an eyelid at the strangeness of the K’Katta or the Gatsugi, have insulted the Terrans based on simple skin color. Would you stick around to help someone who had repeatedly disrespected you for months on end?

  “Would you?” he challenged when she didn’t answer right away. “If you weren’t forced to remain, would you actually stay and let your supposed allies insult and disrespect you every single day, day upon day? Be honest, Leftenant Superior,” he added, opening his eyes to look at her again. “If nothing else, be honest with yourself in silence . . . though I should like a reply.”

  She didn’t look happy, and she didn’t look comfortable. In fact, the leftenant superior looked like she was trying to swallow bitter Terran coffee. “. . . No, sir. I would not.”

  “The Terrans aren’t being forced to remain, and they will not allow anyone to force them to remain. To do so would be an act of war. They had every right to demand what they did of the Empress,” Li’eth told her. “She was about to answer them when the Salik attacked. I don’t know what she would have said, but I would like to think our ruler had the best interests of the nation in mind.

  “Unfortunately, Her Eternity was injured, and my sister took up the War Crown . . . but my sister’s pride refused to consider that the Terrans’ complaints were legitimate. The Terrans were willing to have the answer deferred, but Imperial Regent Vi’alla demanded to continue using their technology without giving them any respect or accommodation for it. That is why the Terrans shut off their communications and are in the process of removing their embassy from V’Dan.

  “That move, Leftenant Superior, is why I refuse to remain under Vi’alla’s jurisdiction. My sister turned the Terrans away from us—and when I warned her what she was doing, she did this to me, had me knocked out and carted off on a ship with a captain loyal to her rather than to the Empire. I don’t have to be there to know that the Terrans will not deal with her. And I will not sit still on an outbound ship while she destroys the Empire, and with it the races of the Alliance, out of pride,” he asserted, his body tight with anger. “I don’t care what the Tier Advocates do with me so long as they see how terrible her policies are for our survival.”

  “I hope they do, Your Hi . . . sir,” she corrected herself. “As soon as we’re within a few minutes of lightwave, I’ll start pinging the ships in orbit around the colony, looking to see which one is headed back to the heart of the Empire. Shi’uln—the pink-marked fellow—can fly us to it in a shuttle, as soon as we find one. Preferably one loyal to the Empire, as you put it. Somehow,” she added dryly, “I doubt Captain Qa-Reez would be willing to reverse the Bounding’s course even by command of this system’s Tier Advocates.”

  “Wait—which colony are we approaching?” Li’eth asked. His question stopped her midturn to leave.

  “V’Ton-Bei, third planet. We stopped briefly at the station at the eighth on our way in to refuel and drop off news,” she stated. Ka’atieth hesitated, then said, “I should like to have the Terrans’ communication ability. Even if it’s only one planet per system, it was amazing, being at V’Du’em-ya and receiving fresh news from earlier that same day on the Motherworld . . . the V’Dan homeworld,” she amended, since it was now widespread news that the Terran homeworld was the Motherworld for their race. “Rather than four days later by news-courier. I . . .”

  “Yes, Leftenant Superior?” Li’eth prodded her when she hesitated.

  She lifted her light brown eyes to his, one eye colored on the outer edge with just enough vivid green jungen to tint part of her iris, and shrugged. “I just . . . if Her Highness stole the technology on how to communicate between star systems, I’d . . . I’d feel sorry for these Terrans, but we desperately need that technology.”

  “Not that desperately, Leftenant,” he countered. “Betraying one ally, even just a mere potential ally, is the same as betraying the entire Alliance. Think about it. If the Terrans could not trust us to be honorable, how could the Solaricans? We are not the Salik. If we lose our honor, we lose the right to let the Empire continue to live. I am not going to let the Empire die in the name of pride or dishonorable expediency.”

  She blinked a little at the fierceness in his words and lowered her gaze. When she spoke again, Ka’atieth’s voice was quiet, too quiet to be easily heard past his ears. “Are you planning to . . . to take over the War Crown if Her Eternity does not recover?”

  It was Li’eth’s turn to blink. Take over . . . ? Be the Imperial Heir? He had considered the question before, but only as an intellectual thing, a passing thought. The extent to which Imperial Princess Vi’alla was willing to be ruthlessly selfish, however, was a fact that made him pause and actually consider the choice seriously for several long moments. Ka’atieth peeked at him, shrugging and lifting her hands in a . . . well? gesture; he responded by lifting his own palm toward himself. She sighed and continued waiting patiently while he thought through her question.

  His dizziness didn’t help his ability to focus, but it did not stop him, either. It also pointed out the strongest consideration. “. . . No,” Li’eth finally said. “My holy bond with the Terran Grand High Ambassador would make such a thing too politically awkward.”

  “If she is your holy partner, then she would become your Imperial Consort. I don’t see what the problem is,” Ka’atie
th said. “Unless Terrans and V’Dan, for all we seem the same species, cannot interbreed, but then all you’d have to do is get a Consort Imperial to continue the bloodline. Problem solved.”

  “Genetically, Terrans and V’Dan can interbreed, though as far as I know, no one has tried just yet,” Li’eth admitted under his breath. “But no, that is not the reason. It is that her loyalty is tied strongly to her people. As strongly as any I have ever seen. If I took the Eternal Throne, I would have to dedicate my loyalty to the Empire.”

  “Ah. And as your Consort, she would be expected to be equally loyal to the Empire, but she is loyal to her people,” the leftenant superior agreed. “So . . . who, then?”

  “My elder sister, Imperial Princess Ah’nan. She currently serves as the Grand High Ambassador to the Terrans. I do not know if the Imperial Princess Regent has closed our embassy on their world, but if we can regain formal ties with them, someone else can fill that role. Ah’nan is of the Blood and is well trained in diplomacy, reasonably trained in military strategy . . . and is not overly proud like her elder sister,” Li’eth muttered. “I would be a last resort because of my situation. Our younger siblings might even be a better choice before me, and even if not, I’d look to a cousin.”

  “You are a very strange Imperial Prince,” Ka’atieth muttered.

  That made Li’eth raise a brow. “In what way?” When she hesitated, he added, “Speak bluntly, if you need. We’re both in the military. I won’t take offense.”

  Ka’atieth flicked her hand at him. “I thought all Imperials were so blood-conscious, they’d never give up a drop of anything their family could claim. I always pictured all of you, or at least most of you, just clustered around the Eternal Throne all day. Supporting whoever sat on it, but eager to one day maybe have a shot at planting your buttocks on the crimson cushions yourselves.”