by Kyle Larson
“Then what do you suggest we do?”
“Treat with your sister. Find out what’s really going on. Try to convince her that war and conquest are not necessary. If she wants to join the Nine Kingdoms, she can take the throne. Tell her that if she returns to Earth, she has the potential to save your father. There is no reason to ally herself with criminals like the Pirates of Mercury.”
The platform was close to the hangar where Kelvin would meet his sister for the first time in ten years. Kelvin couldn’t imagine they could be more different than they were. Not only was he nervous to meet Aren, he was sad it was under these circumstances. His idea of their meeting was nothing like this. Kelvin imagined he’d be rescuing his sister, not negotiating with her to spare the Nine Kingdoms her army of pirates. It was surreal and sad to Kelvin.
“What if she doesn’t listen to me?”
Riz could see the self-doubt in Kelvin. It was too much to ask a kid, or anyone, for that matter. It wasn’t fair, but Riz knew there wasn’t a choice for Kelvin.
The platform came to a halt and locked into position. The large door was before Kelvin.
“Her shuttle just landed,” Riz said, looking at a message from the bridge on his phone. “Princess Aren is in there. Do you want me to come with you, Lord Sellwood?”
Kelvin thought for a moment. Maybe Riz would be better at dealing with whoever Aren had become. Kelvin realized he truly knew nothing about his sister, but that she was a grown woman with a fleet of her own, and not the child he remembered playing with as a little boy. Riz was a military officer, with years of government experience, treating with all the Nine Kingdoms. Yet, Kelvin couldn’t shake the feeling that he was the best person to speak to his sister.
“Just stay here, I’ll get you if I need you,” Kelvin said, reluctantly.
Riz nodded in acknowledgement and activated the door. It rumbled up, lifting slowly and revealing the hangar slowly. At the far end, the silhouette of his sister in front of a small shuttle faced him. She stood still, no wave or smile, from where he could see. She looked serious and confident, while he couldn’t help but think he looked clumsy and foolish. Kelvin felt self-conscious about his uniform, remembering that Captain Harcrow mocked it earlier. By right, Kelvin did command an army of his own, but his sister was different. However she came to be commander of her army, it wasn’t given to her, she no doubt earned it. Kelvin had no doubt as he got closer to her and could see how strong she looked. Aren exuded strength and poise.
“You’re going to be tall,” Aren said when Kelvin got closer.
“Huh?” Kelvin said, caught off guard by the remark.
“You’re a lot taller than I was at that age. You must have dad’s–” Aren seemed to catch herself with the word ‘dad’. “You must have the king’s genes.”
Kelvin shrugged, despite the strange formality Aren used instead of dad.
“Kelvin, I’m sorry we had to meet like this. I understand what you’re trying to do with…the Traditions of Service. The Nine Kingdoms are lucky to have someone like you. You’re one of the good ones and I’ve no doubt you’ll play a big part in the future of the solar system,” Aren said.
“What’s going on, Aren? Where have you been? What is this?” Kelvin felt his tone sharpen, if not shake.
Aren laughed out loud and caught herself. The questions seemed absurd at first, but for as integral a part Kelvin played in her plan, Aren had to remind herself that he had no idea.
“Aren, you shot at this ship. Your own people? Why did you let them shot at this ship? People could have been hurt! And you let that captain threaten us!”
Kelvin’s anger was out. He was sick of dancing around whatever had been going on. His sister laughing at him sparked something within him.
“We knew what we were doing. We were just trying to scare you. Trust me, Kelvin, if we wanted to hurt people on this ship I wouldn’t be here.”
“Then why are you here?” Kelvin snapped.
Aren looked behind Kelvin and saw Riz standing there.
“Ahhhh…Lord Ristep,” Aren said. “The mighty defender of Earth! I’m surprised my father let you off your leash.”
Riz said nothing, but didn’t hesitate to meet her glare and make clear his dislike of her through his eyes.
“No!” Kelvin said. “No! You are talking to me! He’s not the commander of this ship, I am! Why are you here?”
“You’re the commander?” Aren said, her tone cutting and mean. “Kelvin, just because you wear a uniform and the guards salute you doesn’t make you a commander of anything. I’ll speak with you because you’re my brother. Trust me, when you get to know Riz a bit better, you’ll understand. How’d he handle my fleet when they appeared? You don’t have to lie, I could see him speechless and flailing behind you like the coward he is.”
“What do you want, Aren? Enough!”
Aren smiled and seemed pleased with how aggravated she made her younger brother. She’d often wondered what it was like to have a younger sibling to tease or fight with.
“I want this ship, and I’m going to take this ship, but what I want is for no one to get hurt,” Aren said. “I don’t know what Riz has been telling you, but these people are not prepared with the kind of battle my fleet can bring. The Pirates of Mercury were born fighting. These people on the Monarch studied it in a classroom…it’s just a job for them. The Pirates of Mercury know nothing else, other than they’ve been kept down by the Nine Kingdoms since the Solar War. They are ready to take their rightful place in the solar system.”
“As conquerors,” Riz said.
Kelvin and Aren hadn’t noticed, but Riz had walked much closer to them now. He’d had enough and was ready to say his side of things.
“That’s what these people are, Lady Aren,” Riz said. “I don’t know your story or how you got to the place you are, but these people are conquerors. That’s their history. They weren’t noble people who were driven from their homes. They were banished by the first queens and kings of the Nine Kingdoms because they wouldn’t lay down their weapons.”
Aren was furious. The wicked expression on her face frightened Kelvin.
“Why don’t you tell Lord Kelvin how you suddenly became an expert on the Pirates of Mercury, Lord Ristep?” Aren said in a cutting tone.
Kelvin locked eyes with Riz and could tell the man he thought he knew had been hiding something. Riz looked as if he’d been caught when Aren said that. Where Riz had momentarily seemed determined to talk back to Princess Aren, he looked as defeated as he had on the bridge. Kelvin couldn’t understand why Riz seemed so defeated whenever Aren or Captain Harcrow called him out. Why was a fifteen-year-old boy the only one standing up to Harcrow and Aren?
“You can tell me, Riz. What is it? Don’t listen to her. Just pretend she’s not here. What is it?” Kelvin said. He was trying to disarm his guardian so that he could get to the bottom of whatever was going on.
“He’s one of them,” Amelia’s voice came from behind them all. “This was all him.”
Amelia and a full security team, with electro-pistols pointed in the direction of Riz and Aren marched into the hangar.
“You’ve been conned, Kelvin,” Amelia said. “Your sister isn’t the leader and neither is Captain Harcrow. This has been Riz, all along.”
“Lord Ristep, please come towards us slowly and step away from Lord Kelvin and Lady Aren,” the lead security chief said, interrupting the three of them. Kelvin looked behind him and there was a full security team in the entry of the hangar with their electro pistols drawn and pointed at Riz.
Kelvin felt himself start to step away from Riz. Riz seemed to transform instantaneously in front of his eyes. The man who had been his protector – not to mention his friend – seemed to turn to something else completely. There was a chill in Riz, but Kelvin could tell there was also some sense of relief. The man before him at that moment was who he had always been. Riz no longer had to hide. Riz was a villain. Kelvin could see that now. The smile
that crested each side of Riz’s face matched that of his sister. Their charade, whatever it was, was over.
“Kelvin, run!” Amelia shouted.
It was too late, though. Riz snatched Kelvin and restrained him. The strength of his teacher seemed inhuman. Kelvin remembered his basic martial arts training, but his defense did little against Riz. He could hear Amelia calling after him, but the force of Riz’s strength and the speed with which he was being carried away made it hard to see what was going on. He could hear the zapping noise of electro pistols from the Monarch security, but Riz had the advantage on everyone. Riz had trained the security team and this entire journey into the Antioch Belt had been his design.
Riz, in complete control, dragged the struggling Kelvin aboard the shuttle and closed the door. Kelvin was set down with a thud, and by the time he could look up, the small porthole in the door they’d entered showed a grim view: they were flying away from the Monarch.
Kelvin was now a prisoner.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
THE MONARCH JUST kept getting smaller and smaller as the shuttle sped away.
“Are you hurt, Kelvin?” Aren said, from the pilot’s seat. She looked back at him and Kelvin caught a hint of concern in her expression.
Aside from being frightened and a bit disheveled from Riz’s heavy handling of him, Kelvin was fine physically. That didn’t provide him much reassurance. Everything this journey had been about was turned upside down in a matter of seconds. Kelvin wasn’t even able to process the betrayal by both his sister and the person he thought was his closest ally. Every word Riz told him had been a lie. Kelvin wondered how long Riz had been planning this.
“He’s fine,” Riz said, as he stepped over Kelvin as if he were a pile of junk in his way. “He may be a spoiled little prince, but he’s tougher than he looks. What I’m worried about is the Monarch catching us before we can make it back to Harcrow’s ship.”
“I’m talking to my brother, Riz. You’d do well to remember none of this would’ve been possible without me,” Aren said.
Kelvin could sense that, despite the fact Aren and Riz were working together in this scheme, they didn’t like one another. Whatever common goal brought them together might have made their relationship tolerable, but Kelvin realized Aren probably meant every mean thing she’d said about Riz in the hangar a few moments ago. Riz, despite his new tough appearance, still looked like a man in great conflict with himself to Kelvin. Sure, he didn’t have to pretend to be Kelvin’s protector and an officer in the Earth Navy, but Kelvin sensed a great uncertainty from him.
“I’ll remember that when we address the council and the mess you got us into. You and Harcrow weren’t supposed to bring the whole fleet to flank us. That was supposed to be a surprise attack. Now we’re exposed,” Riz said angrily. “If any of the Monarch’s transmissions make it out of the belt, you’ll have just broadcast our entire offensive capabilities to the Jovians. I don’t know what the two of you were thinking.”
Aren didn’t respond right away and Kelvin stood to ascertain his surroundings. The shuttle was pretty small. About a twenty-feet in front of him, Riz and Aren sat, piloting the shuttle away from the Monarch. Kelvin could see the only contents of the shuttle were a few cargo containers and some space suits that looked like they were from the early days of space exploration. They had emblems and patches sewed into their gray fabric of older space fleets from the first days of the Nine Kingdoms, when planets shared a fleet.
Kelvin realized he still had his phone with him, which also meant he had his digital assistant to help in case he got a chance to come up with an escape.
“You didn’t do us any favors by bringing a full crew on the Monarch. That wasn’t part of the plan. We might have more ships, but there’s no way we can board the Monarch and secure all of those people. Even when we get it disabled, it’s going to take us months to get those people off the ship and into custody,” Aren said.
Kelvin could see through the porthole that the Monarch was no longer as small as it had appeared initially. It was in pursuit of the shuttle.
“Of all the shuttles you could have taken, you chose the one with the worst thrusters and the lowest fuel capacity,” Riz continued, in a condescending tone. “Trust me, we’re not going to have a problem getting those people off the Monarch. It’s amazing what no life support will do to coerce people.”
“You’re a traitor!” Kelvin shouted. “Those people trusted you! My family trusted you!”
“And all of you still should. It may be hard to see it now, kid, but what I’m doing and what your sister is doing is for a bigger cause,” Riz said, not even bothering to turn and face Kelvin.
“There’s no cause worth hurting people for. Those people looked to you to protect them and you’re talking about killing them!” Kelvin shouted back.
“Whoa, hold on there! No one said anything about killing anyone. We need them off that ship and hopefully they’ll come peacefully. Turning off life support is just a way to convince them to come. Things get pretty uncomfortable in space pretty quick when you’re running out of air to breather,” Riz said.
“No one is going to get hurt, Kelvin,” Aren said, her voice was much softer than it had been. Kelvin was so confused by the shifting personality of the sister he barely knew.
Suddenly, the ship shook violently and Kelvin was knocked to the floor. Riz and Aren shouted at each other, but Kelvin could only hear the inaudible echoes and not what happened. The shuttle continued to shake.
“I can’t believe it! They’re firing on us!” Riz shouted as the shuttle continued to rattle violently.
Kelvin could see all the Pirates of Mercury ships getting closer through the cockpit window where Riz and Aren sat. He turned to the porthole and saw the blue blasts of the Monarch’s electro cannons hurling shots at the shuttle. Things were about to get ugly very quick.
“Harcrow,” Aren shouted, as she activated the communications array. “Fire everything we have at the Monarch. Target their weapons systems only.”
“All weapons systems are powered by the port power station! Target the port power station, that will buy us some time and shut down their electro cannons!” Riz added.
“You two are going to have a lot of explaining to do to the council,” Harcrow’s voice said over the static of the speakers. “I’m still not sure why they put you two dummies in charge of all this.”
A shower of electro blasts came shooting out of every Pirates of Mercury ship in front of them.
“No!” Kelvin shouted. He ran to the porthole and watched the blasts slam into the port side of the Monarch. The ship stumbled like a might beast might if it were hit by a barrage of hunters rifles. The blast wasn’t enough to destroy the Monarch, but it was certainly enough to slow it down. Kelvin saw every light on the Monarch’s hull flicker, and as it had been getting closer, it was suddenly still.
“Nice shot, Harcrow,” Aren said, her tone returning to the militaristic one Kelvin had come to know. She seemed genuinely pleased a ship carrying thousands of her own people had just been fired upon and disabled. Kelvin was horrified, as he imagined the impact must have injured many of them. He couldn’t imagine how his sister could be happy that people were getting hurt.
“Looks like the port power cell overloaded from the blast and shorted out most the power on the ship. They’re running on reserve, which is programmed to only maintain life support, artificial gravity, and environmental controls,” Riz said.
“That’s a negative, Riz,” Harcrow said through the speakers. “We’re still detecting they have some weapon power. At least enough to get a few shots off at your shuttle, which I’m sure you’ve realized, is a sitting duck at the moment.”
Riz and Aren exchanged a frustrated look. They were stuck between the Monarch and the Pirates of Mercury. Kelvin hadn’t noticed they’d stopped moving. The shuttle was adrift.
“Then fire another spread to disable their weapons and send a shuttle to tow us back to the fleet,�
�� Aren said, abruptly.
“That’s a negative too, princess,” Harcrow scoffed.
“I told you not to call me that. You do it again and I’ll have you blown out an airlock,” Aren snapped. Kelvin couldn’t believe he heard his sister just threaten murder, even if it was at someone who had no problem hurting his people. Violence went against everything in his upbringing and he couldn’t imagine how his sister had strayed so far from what their family should represent. Kelvin felt so ashamed.
“With the power surges in the Monarch, we can’t fire on them until they get their generators and power cells under control. If we trigger another surge like that, it could blow up the ship,” Harcrow said. “Those puny sensors on your shuttle probably can’t show you that, but that’s basic engineering, and I’m not sure why I need to explain that to someone who is supposed to be in command of the Pirates of Mercury.”
“He’s right,” Riz said, quiet enough so Harcrow couldn’t hear.
“We’ll keep an eye on the situation and as soon as we can take another shot to knock out their weapons, we will, and then we’ll come rescue you two fearless pilots,” Harcrow said, with a loud laugh at the end. “Harcrow out.”
The static over the speakers went silent.
“The council’s not going to like this,” Riz said.
“What’s the council?” Kelvin said, choosing to start getting answers to the swirling questions in his head rather than sitting idly by, hoping the Monarch can rescue him.
Aren slowly spun her chair around to face her brother. For a moment, it made her feel bad to see the way Kelvin looked at her. There was anger and mistrust in her brother, but most all, she could see he was afraid of her. Aren remembered the fear she had when the Pirates of Mercury first took her. She remembered how terrified she was until the day Riz came to talk to her and explain why she was so important. It had taken weeks for him to do that, all while she was locked away in a cell, uncertain and frightened of what her fate may be. The best thing Aren could offer her brother now was an explanation, and she hoped, the beginning of Kelvin joining the cause she had devoted herself to.
