Mutineer (Empire Rising Book 7)

by D. J. Holmes

  “This High Queen clearly doesn’t want to take any chances,” James commented. “We’ll be a long way from support if things go south.” Ya’sia looked at him with a quizzical expression. It took James a second to realize why. “That’s an expression. For things to go south means they have gone badly.”

  Ya’sia’s face changed. “Ah, that makes sense. Yes. This High Queen is being cautious. That is a good thing though is it not? If she fears us, then she may take us more seriously than Hir’ram has done.”

  “There is another explanation,” Maleck said, speaking for the first time since James had entered Handmaiden’s bridge. Maleck was Handmaiden’s Captain. James had had a few brief conversations with him, but it seemed he liked to keep his thoughts to himself and James turned to him in surprise. Instead of explaining what he meant, Maleck lapsed into silence. He was looking at Ya’sia, awaiting permission to continue. When Ya’sia nodded, he did so. “It could be some kind of ruse. We’ve already decided Hir’ram was playing games with us. But what if this is another game? If both of you go to meet this High Queen and are killed or captured, it would be a serious blow to our fleets’ organization and cohesion.”

  James smiled. Maleck was growing on him. It seemed he had a more suspicious mind than the average Crian. “That is a point worth considering,” he said with a nod of approval.

  “But they wouldn’t gain very much,” Ya’sia responded. “Even if they kill both of us and destroy Handmaiden. We will likely take out their flagship and their High Queen. Given what we know about how their Queens telepathically control those below them, losing their High Queen would hurt the Flex-aor far more than we would be hit by losing James or I.”

  “You’re assuming this High Queen will be on her so-called flagship,” Maleck countered. “If it’s a ruse, the High Queen won’t be on this flagship. It may not even be a flagship but a large ship designed to take out our flagship.”

  Ya’sia tilted her head to one side and then straightened it again in what James had learnt was a Crian sign of respect. “Your point is valid. I will take it under consideration. Eralla what do you think?”

  “I am uneasy Admiral,” the diplomat replied. “If the High Queen’s intentions are to enter into a well-intentioned dialogue, then why has Hir’ram misled us? She could have been honest with us about the timing of her High Queen’s arrival. She didn’t need to stall us in the way that she has. These two facts suggest that trusting this High Queen could be a mistake. However, if the offer is genuine, this is a real chance to put an end to hostilities. If the High Queen agrees to a negotiated ceasefire, then the rest of the Flex-aor species will fall into line. That possibility is worth the risk of Admiral Somerville and your lives.”

  James’s eyes widened at Eralla’s last comment. He knew that Crians were more forthright than Humans, but Eralla had just discussed Ya’sia like she was a pawn on a chessboard.

  When she replied, nothing on Ya’sia’s face or in her tone of voice suggested she had taken offence. “You’re right. We have to proceed under the assumption the offer is genuine until we have certain evidence to the contrary. It is too important a chance to pass on.”

  James wasn’t surprised at what Ya’sia was thinking. He was surprised by what she said next as she turned to him.

  “I am aware that you will be risking your life as much as I if we go to meet this High Queen Admiral. You have been far from keen on allowing negotiations to proceed this far. If you prefer, I would be happy to meet this High Queen on my own. You may return to your flagship.”

  James shook his head vigorously. Though she was right, he had no hope that the High Queen would actually agree to a ceasefire, and he was just as suspicious as Maleck about the genuineness of the offer, he wasn’t going to abandon his new ally. “No. I will remain with you. If this is a trap, then we will face it together.”

  Ya’sia tilted her head at James and then turned to look at the holo projector. “Then we proceed. Send instructions to the rest of our fleets.”

  Normally James had very little to do but watch his subordinates go about their duties after he had made the important top-level decisions. On someone else’s flagship, he had even less to do. It gave him plenty of time to think up a whole host of ways in which the High Queen could be trying to trick them during the hour and half it took for the Human and Crian ships to get to the coordinates the High Queen had sent. It took another twenty-four to rendezvous with the High Queen’s flagship.

  “It’s certainly impressive,” Eralla commented. “Whatever they call her, she has to be at least twice the size of Golden Hind.”

  “Closer to three times,” a junior officer informed Eralla.

  And even more firepower, James thought. From the crystal-clear images Handmaiden’s sensors were taking of the High Queen’s flagship, it was evident that almost all of the ship’s laser cannons had been sacrificed for more missile tubes. It looked like the massive ship could fire thirty missile carriers. That meant a missile salvo of three hundred missiles. The warship was an impressive engineering feat. Given that Ya’sia’s flagship was only slightly bigger than a Human heavy cruiser, it no doubt looked even more impressive to Crian eyes.

  “Well we’re not here to fight it,” Ya’sia commented. “Thankfully,” she added. “Come on Admiral, we better head to the shuttle bay. If we’re going to do this, there’s no point delaying.”

  “No,” James agreed as he followed Ya’sia off Handmaiden’s bridge. He continued to study the High Queen’s flagship as he went. Three hundred missiles was a terrifying number. There came a point when more advanced technologies and impressive strategies were outclassed by an enemy’s sheer weight of fire. If the Flex-aor had many more such ships, he knew his fleet would be in trouble.

  *

  As the Crian shuttle passed through the High Queen flagship’s shuttle bay doors, James knew he was entering a truly alien vessel. While there were many similarities between Crian and Human warship design; nothing he was looking at seemed familiar to him. Scott had tried to describe the Flex-aor ship she had visited, but her descriptions hadn’t quite hit home with James. Now they made more sense. Normally shuttle bays were well-ordered and full of stacked crates or stored equipment. There were service terminals and other shuttles with technicians busy at work. In both Crian and Human shuttle bays, the decking and side plating was a dull, unobtrusive color. The Flex-aor shuttle bay was almost the exact opposite. Its deck, ceiling and walls were all colored a bright yellow with orange streaks. Despite the color, there was no sign of any activity. Moreover, the entire shuttle bay was empty. It was as if they had landed in a vacuum chamber.

  “I guess we don’t deserve a welcoming party,” Ya’sia observed.

  “Scott believes they have no such concept,” James replied. “Either that is the case, or they are trying to insult us.”

  “Let’s assume it’s the former,” Ya’sia said, though her tone suggested she suspected it was the latter.

  “Lowering access ramps,” one of the shuttle’s pilots said. “Stay safe Admiral,”

  “I intend to,” Ya’sia replied as she placed a hand on the pilot’s shoulder. She turned and nodded to James.

  “Let’s go Captain,” James said to the marine Captain sitting opposite him. Captain Rivers was second in command of Golden Hind’s marine company. He had five marines in full combat armor with him. The Crians didn’t have their own equivalent of the UN marine force so James had sent for Rivers. He didn’t intend to simply walk onto the High Queen’s flagship unarmed and unprotected. If the Flex-aor wanted to attack Ya’sia and himself, he intended to make it difficult for them.

  Descending the shuttle together, everyone stopped as soon as they took one step onto the shuttle bay deck. No one wanted to go any further if they didn’t have to. James turned three hundred and sixty degrees as he looked around, there was no sign of anyone.

  “I guess we wait,” Ya’sia suggested.

  By James’ reckoning, it took at least a ful
l minute for someone to appear. When they did, James was strangely disappointed. He had expected a Flex-aor warrior like the one that had met with Scott and Eralla. Instead it was an individual from what Scott called the Flex-aor worker class. He or she didn’t even come up to the height of James’ shoulder, Ya’sia was nearly twice its height. Nevertheless, it didn’t show any sign of fear or intimidation when it spoke. “The High Queen will see you now. Follow me and I will take you to her chamber,” the worker said without raising its eyes to look at its guests.

  James shot a concerned look to Ya’sia. She had been filled in on Commander Scott and Captain Becket’s experience with the Queen on X-38. They had been expecting to speak to the High Queen through an intermediary. Meeting her in person was not an appealing prospect. Ya’sia’s face shared his concern but she rolled her shoulders to clearly say, ‘what else can we do?’ James responded by gesturing for Ya’sia to take the lead. If she was happy to continue, he was happy for her to go first.

  When they left the flight deck, the color scheme changed. The corridor’s decking, walls and ceiling were a dull red. Twice they passed open hatches that gave views into spacious areas, each had its own slightly different color palette. It seemed to James that the different colors were meant to indicate something. Perhaps the entire ship was color coordinated with different sections marked out by their color. Just another sign of how strange the Flex-aor really are, James concluded.

  After at least ten minutes of walking, the guide came to a halt in front of a large circular hatch. Standing in front of it were ten Flex-aor warriors. James felt tension fill the marines at his side. They were all ready to spring into action. Turning, their guide spoke for the first time since the shuttle hanger, “Your guards must remain here. No weapons are allowed into the High Queen’s chamber.”

  James gave Captain Rivers a nod. Rivers returned the gesture and stood aside; the rest of his marines followed suit. Being made to wait outside had been anticipated. Initially Rivers had protested. However, when Ya’sia had produced several extremely small yet potent explosive devices that could be hidden within a naval officer’s uniform, he had backed down. They had all agreed that going into the High Queen’s chamber without weapons was extremely foolish, if for no other reason than the High Queen herself was a deadly weapon. Though the Flex-aor wouldn’t know it, James and Ya’sia were armed.

  After stepping aside, Rivers positioned himself facing the Flex-aor warriors. James mentally rolled his eyes, it seemed there was going to be a staring contest whilst James and Ya’sia spoke with the High Queen.

  Once the marines were out of the way, the aide stepped forward directly in front of the circular hatch. There was a couple of seconds when nothing happened, then the hatch rolled to one side. Behind it another circular hatch rolled in the opposite direction, and as it receded, it revealed a third hatch. This one didn’t move until the other two had rolled out of the way. Then it moved backwards and twisted to reveal a mechanical arm that lifted the hatch up and out of the way. Beyond the third hatch, the so-called Queen’s chamber was pitch black. The only thing that could be seen was a thick greyish mist that slowly spilled out of the open hatch.

  The aide, unperturbed by the eerie darkness, walked in without hesitation. James looked to Ya’sia, happy for her to continue to go first. She raised an eyebrow at him and slightly shook her head before nodding for him to go first this time. James looked back at the open hatch and decided he wasn’t going anywhere. The Flex-aor were mistaken if they expected him to walk blindly into such darkness. As if reading his thoughts, a series of lights switched on inside the chamber. They weren’t very powerful and didn’t really illuminate the chamber, but it was enough to get an outline of the large room. The chamber was a large circular dome. The lights were built into the floor and spread out equally distant along its outer edge. They lit up the exterior of the chamber while keeping its center largely in darkness.

  When James’s eyes settled on the center of the chamber, he swallowed hard. There was a large pit filled with a thick slimy liquid. Goo, James thought. That was how Scott had described it and she had been exactly right. Time to go I guess, he thought as he took a step forward. It didn’t appear they were going to turn on any more lights for him. If the High Queen was inside, she clearly preferred darkness. As he advanced he was reassured by the distinctive trotting sound of Ya’sia’s four feet following along behind him. Whatever he was about to encounter, at least he wouldn’t be alone.

  Chapter 12

  One great advantage we have over ancient military historians are our battle simulators. We can replay the battles of the past endlessly and with so many variables to take into account, we can ask ‘what if’ of almost every space battle in Humanity’s history. Not to overstate it, often the results are alarming. Key battles that led to the formation of the Empire have often turned on a single decision.

  -Excerpt from Empire Rising, 3002 AD.

  Flex-aor Queenship, X-62 system.

  As they stepped through the circular hatch, James looked around for their guide. There was no sign of him. A quick survey of the circular chamber’s walls didn’t reveal any sign of another access hatch. It seemed he had just disappeared. That didn’t help the unnerving feeling the dark misty chamber was giving off. Before James could say anything to Ya’sia about their guide’s disappearance, a few bubbles rose up the goo and burst near the center of the chamber. Small ripples followed them and started to move towards where James and Ya’sia stood. They quickly increased in size and larger bubbles broke the goo’s surface.

  Instinctively James took a step backwards. Ya’sia did the same. Though he was trying his best, when a large bulbous head emerged from the goo, James could not keep his face straight. His mouth opened on its own accord and disgust washed over him. The High Queen’s head was like that of a giant octopus. It was round, full of bumps and ridges and clearly very slimy. As more of it appeared, eyes opened and here and there large tentacles whipped around, revealing themselves from the goo. As large as the Queen Scott and Becket had encountered must have been, this one was far larger. Without realizing it, James’ hand moved down to the section of his uniform where the Crian explosives were hidden. The massive beast was moving towards them and showed no sign of stopping. Its speed was just slow enough that it didn’t seem like it was intending to attack, but such an assumption seemed like a big risk.

  Realizing where his hand was, James touched one of the explosives and prepared himself to it. Just before he unfastened it, the creature came to a halt. Then it fixed all of its eyes on James and Ya’sia. What could only be described as a maw opened and the High Queen began to speak. The sound came out was a series of high pitches and squeaks, even more unintelligible than what their guide had spoken. Thankfully, the Kulrean translation software was able to decipher what the High Queen was saying.

  “Greetings Crian and Human. I am High Queen Ala’ron. You have been granted a great honor to come into my presence. Now I will commune with you and you will understand that your species is destined to serve me.” From the goo two large tentacles whipped out towards James and Ya’sia.

  It wasn’t hard for James to guess what the High Queen intended. She wanted to telepathically link with them. Probably she wanted to try and brainwash the leaders of the two fleets that were threatening her world. Not wanting to resort to the explosives at his fingertips just yet James did the only other thing he could think of. “No!” he shouted. “Stop right there,” he continued as he raised one hand and pointed at the tentacle closest to him.

  Surprisingly, the High Queen listened. Her tentacles came to a halt and hovered in mid-air.

  “You will not touch us with one of those things,” James demanded. “We have met one of your kind before. We know what you intend to do. You will not touch our minds. If you wish to communicate with us, do so verbally.”

  The High Queen fixed all her eyes upon James. It made him feel more than a little uneasy. “You have spoken face to face wit
h one of my daughters? Who and when?”

  “I did not speak with her,” James replied. “But some of my officers did. She called herself Qura-rnt. She tried to telepathically take control of my officer’s minds. She was killed before she was able to.”

  Every eye that was locked on James narrowed and huge ripples pushed out around Ala’ron’s body as she raised herself out of the goo on her tentacles. “You killed one of my daughters!” The two tentacles that had paused began to move forward again.

  James fished out one of the explosive devices and held it up high. “Stop! Stop or you too will die.”

  Again Ala’ron paused. By now she was towering over James and Ya’sia. “What are those?” she demanded.

  A glance at Ya’sia told James she was holding up one as well. “They are explosive devices,” he explained. “Designed to get past your security. If you try and attack us, we will detonate them. We will die, but so will you. We came here to talk, not to be attacked. This is our insurance.”