The cicada sound suddenly erupted. The muscles in all the combatants screamed in protest, and Jessie and the gleason fell apart. The gleason recovered first, though it, too, was slowed greatly by the Chessori mind weapon. It reached out with a knife toward Jessie, but Otis leaped to her aid, catching the arm. He and the gleason rolled across the ground. Another knife appeared and sliced through the back of Otis’ leg, severing a main tendon. They separated, and Jessie was ready. She fired two quick shots, but the gleason was already moving. One shot struck the gleason in the torso, and the other took off an arm. The gleason fired back, but Jessie had moved and the shot missed.
Moving erratically under the effect of the Chessori mind weapon and its wounds, it vanished into the high grass trailing blood. The cats pursued, Otis following as quickly as he could on three legs, but they could not track the beast at a full run. Tracking took time, time they did not have.
The rescue party in the house had to be warned. Otis and Jessie broke off and raced for the house. Their mission had failed. Their only concern now was to protect the Queen. Two of the three gleasons were dead, one was severely, possibly mortally wounded, but free. Its first priority would be the Queen. They would have to finish the job inside.
Chapter Fifty-eight: The Last of the Chosen
A darkened air car landed a quarter mile away from the guardhouse. Four figures emerged, including Mike and Val. Reba would stay beside the Queen this night. The four figures silently worked their way to the guardhouse and knocked on the door, knowing they were under observation. When the door opened, they burst in with weapons ready, but Jeffers had placed his men well. The guards all held their hands in the air.
A guard spoke. “The password is ‘durgadskri.’” Mike, Val, and the other two relaxed slightly as weapons were collected. Mike entered the viewing room from which the guards kept constant watch on the Gamordians and was sorely tempted to destroy it, but he had been warned that to do so would alert headquarters. A similar display there repeated everything this one observed.
“Remain here until the recall is sounded,” Mike reminded the guards. “And don’t waste any time getting to the assembly point if you want to go with us.”
“Very well, sir. Uh, could you fire at the wall a bit, just to make it look like we tried to resist you? Just in case all does not go well?”
“We can do better than that. Don’t take this personally.” He and Val stunned each of the guards with weapons set to minimum. The guards would only be out for a few minutes, but residual effects would still be present if they were interrogated later.
Val whispered into his communicator. They were joined by five more darkened flitters and drove up to the house. They entered and quickly searched the house, then gathered in the forest room where Chandrajuski and his wife were held under gunpoint.
“What is this?” Chandrajuski demanded.
Ellie removed her hood, ordering all weapons lowered as she did so. Chandrajuski and his wife lowered their back legs and heads in a bow with eyes closed, their expressions impossible to interpret as anything but pleased. “Your Majesty, you honor us,” Chandrajuski said simply.
“It’s good to see you again, Admiral. May I call upon your services?”
“Chandra and I are at your service as always. I am so sorry about events.”
“As am I. The throne will be restored. You will lead my forces.”
“I am at your command, Your Majesty. To what forces do you refer?”
She smiled grimly. “Those you see are all we have at present. It’s not an easy task I set for you, but we can discuss that later. For the moment, it’s time to be away,”
“Please complete your Testing then, Your Majesty.”
Ellie took his head between her two hands and did her eye thing on him. It was very brief, and a look of relief washed across her face as she released him. “A ship will be here momentarily. We can move outside,” she said.
“Not so fast, Your Majesty,” came a triumphant voice from behind them. The room quickly filled with guards led by Jeffers himself, followed closely by Admiral Vorst who strutted to the front of his men, blaster in hand.
He and the Queen locked gazes for a time. “You’ve led a grand hunt, Your Majesty. You must have known you could not prevail with such a small force.”
“Vorst. Why am I not surprised?” she stated distastefully. “What could possibly be in this for you? No one will give you the power you so crave.”
“Careful, Your Majesty. You are perilously close to divulging that which you learned only through your Touch.”
“It does not take the Touch to know you, Vorst.”
“Well, as you can see, I now have command of a full sector. That’s more than your mother would ever have granted.”
“You will not hold it. You’re not up to it.”
Anger lit his face. “I’ve laid a trap, and you fell into it, something no one else has managed to do. I have demonstrated my worth. Now, drop your weapons.”
“Never,” replied the Queen. “And mine is pointed right at your heart. You will be the first to die.”
“Vorst,” spoke Chandrajuski, “order your men to lower their weapons immediately. You will not receive a second request.” Vorst sneered at Chandrajuski, who simply said, “Children!”
The branches above their heads shook as many, many small Gamordians reached down with stunners pointed at the Rebels.
“Only stunners, Admiral?” Vorst asked confidently.
“I would not harm my own men, Vorst.”
Vorst turned to discover his own men’s weapons pointed at him. He blanched, but he turned back to Chandrajuski with his chin lifted. As he spoke, his arm lifted into the air. “I had anticipated as much.”
Immediately a strong cicada sound erupted. Everyone, including the Gamordian children perched in the trees, fell to the floor writhing in pain, though a few staggered about with their hands over their ears, equally out of control. Only Mike and Reba remained standing. They both focused on three Chessori standing in the background, and their blasters made quick work of the three. The cicada sound stopped abruptly, and Mike and Reba quickly moved within the Rebel forces to disarm everyone except Jeffers. Though Jeffers vouched for his men, there was no need to take chances.
Mike went to Ellie as the people on the floor began recovering. She got to her feet with his assistance and clung to him. Just then, Otis burst into the room running on three legs, Jessie beside him with great rents in the flesh along her flanks.
“One lives!” Otis yelled as he and Jessie closed in on Ellie. From the back of the room, a dark figure rose briefly and let fly a knife directly at Ellie. Otis leaped from the floor, his blaster speaking and striking the gleason as the knife entered his own chest. The dark figure rose again and let fly another knife. Mike and Reba fired at the creature, each shot striking squarely to fling the creature backwards. Jessie launched herself to intercept the blade, but it was a perfect throw and she was not in time. The blade buried itself in Ellie’s heart.
The Last of the Chosen collapsed to the floor, dead.
A Note From the Author
One of the benefits of Kindle publishing is that authors can revise books when necessary. This author has been threatened with bodily harm because of the cliff-hangar ending, and you are right.
My apologies to all of you. Sorry! I’m new to this, okay?
Rather than change the ending, which I like, I am giving you a look at the first chapter of Book Two in the series. The book is available on Amazon.com, but rather than force you to buy it just to keep from going insane, here it is, included with your purchase of Last of the Chosen.
My readers have taught me that a book is like a contract between the writer and the reader. The reader is owed a good experience, and there should be a reasonable amount of closure at the end of the book, even if it is clear that there is more to follow.
I listen to your comments, and I thank you for them. There will be no more cliff-hangar endings i
n my writing.
Turn the page to sample Book Two of the Spirit of Empire series, now available on Amazon.com.
Knights of the Chosen
Chapter One
The gleason struck so quickly that only a few in the great forest room of Chandrajuski’s home knew it was even there. Most were still shaking off the terrible effects of the Chessori mind weapon. The three Chessori lay dead, killed by Mike and Reba, but Otis, Ellie’s Protector, lay dying with a knife in his side. Ellie, the Last of the Chosen, collapsed with a knife in her heart, dead before she reached the floor.
Jessie, Mike’s Protector and the only remaining Great Cat, leaped to the back of the room, firing repeatedly at the gleason to make certain it was dead.
Mike fell to the floor with Ellie, cushioning her. “Guard us!” he yelled to the room at large. Without waiting for a response, he went internal.
>Jake, I need you. She needs you.<
Jake knew exactly what he meant. >It’s not done like this, Mike. You’re my host.<
>We’re her First Knight, Jake. Find a way. You are her only chance.<
Ellie’s death had come so suddenly that Jake was at a loss, completely unprepared for what Mike asked of him. He had never considered living anywhere but within Mike. Riders always committed to a host and remained with them forever. The thought of leaving Mike devastated him. He wanted to fission a new Rider instead, but he knew his Queen did not have time.
>I’ll try. Give me a minute, then remove the knife.<
Mike closed his hands around Ellie’s neck, providing skin-to-skin contact for Jake, feeling for a pulse as he did so. There was no pulse at all. He closed his eyes, oblivious to all other activity within the room, feeling intently, waiting for a pulse. Still nothing. He waited the full minute, then pulled the knife from her chest and immediately went back to feeling for a pulse.
After a time, he thought he felt a faint pressure. The pressure gradually increased until he was certain there was a pulse, though it remained weak.
“Thank you, Jake,” he whispered and was momentarily surprised that there was no response. But there could be no response. Jake was no longer a part of him.
His attention widened to take in his surroundings. All eyes were on him and Ellie. Vorst, the replacement Sector Commander, lay bound hand and foot. Jessie crouched beside Otis who was unconscious. “Is he . . . ?” Mike struggled to ask.
“Not yet,” she growled in response. “But it will not be long. The knives are almost certainly poisoned.”
Mike turned to Reba who stood at the ready, her blaster trying to cover the whole room.
“Jake has gone to Ellie. It seems to be working.”
Her eyes closed as she went internal to her Rider. When her lips thinned and she holstered her blaster, Mike knew the two of them had reached agreement. She went to Otis and laid her hands on him. After a time, she removed the knife from his side.
She turned back to Mike, the sparkle that was always evident in her eyes gone. “Let’s get out of here.”
Jeffers, the leader of Chandrajuski’s underground, spoke into a communicator, then ordered everyone outside to the assembly point. One of Serge’s freighters was just settling to the ground. As they struggled to get Ellie and Otis aboard, the freighter was struck by fire from above. It quickly responded with its own weapons, but it could not move until the ramp closed. Its upper shields glowed from hits, and dissipating energy streaming from the shields struck several of Jeffers’ men. There was no hope for them.
Jeffers boarded and quickly ran for the bridge. When he arrived, the ship was just lifting. Captain Palmetier, though busy, immediately lifted his visor and raised a blaster toward him.
Jeffers raised his hands, shouting, “I’m on your side.” He set his own blaster on the floor and slid it toward Palmetier, then submitted as two crewmen pinned his arms to his sides. A glance at the screens showed a full squadron of fighters engaging the freighter.
A loud, “Time to boogie, Jer,” came over the speakers as another freighter appeared on the screens headed directly into the fray, its weapons firing nonstop. Serge Parsons had come in person.
“On the way, boss,” replied Palmetier curtly. He slid his visor back over his face to cover a grin.
Moments later, a cruiser came into view from over the horizon, moving fast.
“That one’s on our side,” yelled Jeffers. “So are a couple of others. Be careful who you shoot at. Get me into the net so I can help.”
The two crewmen were uncertain until Sir Val showed up. “Let us both into the net,” he ordered.
It didn’t take long before they cleared the fighters and headed for space. In fact, by the time they reached space, there wasn’t a single Rebel fighter left. The Rebel command ship, a cruiser, broke off its pursuit when Jeffers’ friendly squadron approached. When two more squadrons of Jeffers’ ships came over the horizon, it was no contest. The Rebel cruiser retreated.
They reached the edge of space, but they did not have to wait three weeks to jump as did Jeffers’ ships. Use of the micro jumping capability might give away a closely held secret, but Ellie’s life hung in the balance. Joline’s beacon went silent, and it was likely the Rebels would not even see the ship amidst all the confusion. As Palmetier prepared jump computations for the first micro jump, Val contacted Serge and gave him a set of coordinates, explaining to him that three heavy squadrons loyal to Chandrajuski and the Queen would head for that point in space. Admiral Chandrajuski wanted those ships, but none of them knew the location of the Queen’s secret base.
Serge balked until apprised of the Queen’s condition, then grimly advised Val that he’d take care of it.
Joline’s sickbay carried no life support tanks, only a medic and basic supplies. Jake and Celine, the two Riders, had their work cut out for them.
From his own experience Mike knew that, at the very least, food was essential to their survival. The healing process used by Riders consumed large amounts energy. The medic attached two IV’s to each of them and pushed all the nourishment she could into the comatose bodies.
Her principle concern for her patients was not the physical damage caused by the knives – the Riders seemed to have that problem well in hand. Her greater concern was whether the Riders could cope with whatever poison had been on the blades. She took blood samples, then had to wait while a computer worked on the samples.
Mike remained by Ellie’s side. She couldn’t hear him, but he believed his presence might somehow help. She and Otis each contracted high fevers despite their Riders’ best efforts.
The computer only partially resolved the issue of the poison. It was there, and its molecular structure had been analyzed, but it matched no known compound. The medic made an educated guess that it was from the home world of the gleasons. Any wrong attempts to treat it might make Jake and Celine’s jobs harder.
It didn’t take Mike long to make the logical connections. He called Captain Palmetier.
“You carried Otis on his research mission to study the gleasons. Do you have his notes?”
“I do.”
“There might be some mention of poisons used by the gleasons. Can you get everyone you can to review the records for us?”
“We’ll get on it immediately.”
It took a while, but Val and Reba eventually showed up with printouts in hand. “We have a number of possibilities, Mike,” Val advised. “We’ve discarded most of them as being so lethal that they kill instantly. Neither Ellie or Otis would still be alive if they had been used. We’re down to three that are a little slower acting but just as deadly.”
They showed the printouts to the medic who studied them intently. She then went to work on her computer.
“Of the three, I can synthesize antidotes for two,” she announced after some study. “An antidote for the third is unknown. I cannot say which of the remaining two is most likely. I’m going to take samples for testing.”
“How long will the testing take?” Mike asked
wearily.
The medic worked while she talked, taking new samples of blood from Ellie and Otis and placing those samples on a number of test dishes. “A day or two, minimum. I have to let the growths get started, but I can work on making both antidotes while that’s going on. Then we test the antidotes on the test growths. Another few hours to a day or so.”
“Let me know the minute you have the antidotes ready,” Mike ordered. “It doesn’t look to me like we have days. They’re burning up with fever.”
The antidotes were ready in a few hours. Mike pushed the medic as hard as he could. “Is there any sign of growth yet in the test samples?”
“Only microscopic. Not enough to test.”
“You have lots of samples. Test a few right now.”
The medic did as ordered, but she was not happy about it. “The tests results will not be valid, Sire.”
“I know. You can run complete tests on the other samples later.”
Mike then reached both hands down inside Ellie’s hospital gown, placing both hands flat against her stomach. With his eyes closed, he willed his thoughts to Jake. “Come on, Jake. Come to me,” he whispered.
It didn’t take long for Jake to sense his presence. Though he couldn’t feel anything, Mike felt Jake’s presence.
>Hello, Man,< he heard faintly, as if from far away.
>Hi, Jake.<
>I’m too busy for idle chatter. I don’t think we’re going to make it this time.<
>Yes you are, and I’m going to help. I need you to pass me a sample of the poison.<
>You already have samples.<
>No, Jake. I need you to pass a sample into my body. We don’t know which antidote to use. We’ll test one of them on me.<
Last of the Chosen (Spirit of Empire, Book One) Page 63
