by Celeste Raye
She and the other women extended themselves against the wall, their backs to it and their eyes trained on The Federation ships. The citizenry still stood outside, all of them clearly frightened and unwilling to go back to their homes in case they missed whatever clear signal might come.
It was Jenny that spoke first. “I must admit, I never imagined that this would be my life. When they put us on that bride ship, well, the slaver ship that they claimed was a bride ship, I thought that I would be shuttled off to some horrible and forbidding planet and be forced to live out my life with a creature that I could scarcely stand.”
Jessica said, “I don’t remember going onto the ship because they drugged me, and when I did wake up, they were already throwing me into the cryo-chambers. I really had no idea what was going on at first and when I woke up, all I could think of was escape. But you’re right; I never would’ve imagined this would be my life either.”
Clara said, “Nor I.”
Margie’s back met the sun-warmed stones of the wall behind her. Her voice was quiet and reflective. “It may yet not be our lives.”
Jessica, ever practical, replied with a simple, “We shall see.”
Jenny leaned in closer to Margie. One of her hands came up and touched down lightly along Margie’s ribs. “How far along are you, Margie?”
Margie looked down at her belly, which was still flat, and then over at Clara, who was clearly pregnant and swollen by that pregnancy. “What?”
She had no idea why she was trying to avoid that question. Jenny was a natural healer, and she could sense things about people.
Jenny lifted an eyebrow and said, “Is this something you did not know?”
Margie’s head drooped down toward her chest. “I know. He doesn’t. He doesn’t want a child.”
Jessica said, “I have heard that from Talon. And the reason why. Are you afraid?”
Margie’s hand went to her stomach and stayed there. She decided to be honest. “I am afraid that this child will never be born.”
Clara sigh was gusty and heartfelt. “As am I. If it comes to war, then I will fight. Even if it means our deaths and the deaths of our unborn. What else can we do?”
Jessica said, “If there was ever a time that I was grateful for what The Federation did to me, it’s now.”
Clara asked, “What do you mean?”
Jenny said, “Yes, tell us what you mean, Jessica.”
Jessica said, “They sterilized me. Before they put me on the ship. They sterilized a lot of women they put on the ships, you know. Not all, but some. Those that they felt would be the most problematic anyway. Also, the brothels and the pleasure planets that use sex slaves pay more for human women who cannot bear children. It is too inconvenient to have a woman who can reproduce aboard these planets. Makes it difficult to work I guess.”
The expression on Jessica’s face was so bleak that it broke Margie’s heart. She held out a hand and laid it lightly on Jessica’s shoulder. “At least you don’t have the worry that your child will be murdered while still within your womb.”
Jessica looked down at her feet. “I know. I don’t envy you that.”
But did she envy them the ability to bear children?
Jenny said, “There are many here who are with child. Did you know that some races have those who are about to be with child and it’s the males who do that?”
Jessica burst into laughter. “I did. I’ve seen it here on the planet, and every single time I see it, it’s so odd to me that I can’t help but stare. Then I feel badly, like I’m looking at them inappropriately or something.”
They all burst into laughter, and that helped to lighten the mood just slightly. Jessica stuck her ear to the door, obviously trying to hear through the thick thing. Her face took on a look of frustration, and she shook her head. “I wonder what it is they could be talking about.”
Jenny said, “The Federation officer is probably hoping to broker a peaceful surrender of the planet.”
A small streak of hope lit up within Margie. “Do you think they will ever surrender? They do believe in always doing things for the greater good. Would they drag us into war if it wasn’t necessary?”
Jessica said, “War against The Federation is wholly necessary. There’s no way around it. The Federation has become too corrupt. They cannot be allowed to stand, and you know that.”
That little flare of hope died out as fast as it had lit. Jessica was right. The Federation had to be stopped, but would they be the ones who had to make that stand?
Chapter Six
The siblings stared at the officer, who had introduced himself as General Bates. He lounged against one wall, his neatly attired figure relaxed and seemingly at ease. None of them would fold. This was a mission that he was on, and he would not stop until he had the answer that he wanted or until they and all the citizens in their small little city were annihilated.
That was Jeval’s thinking at that moment, and he found himself wondering if there would be any satisfaction at all in just going ahead and killing the man, in unleashing his gift against those ships. He knew that he had not allowed the ship on the pleasure planet to communicate the news that there was a Revant aboard the ship that had taken Ruckland and his supposed consort and slave off that planet, but perhaps The Federation had heard that from someone who had been on the planet and seen them all together.
Talon’s fingers drummed along the surface of the table. His eyes were narrowed with thought, and Marik wore a blank expression that said he was thinking hard. Renall leaned forward across the table, his fingers forming a steeple before his chin. He said, “I don’t think I heard you correctly.”
General Bates said, “Oh you did. You heard me very well.”
Jeval asked, “Do you truly think that we would believe that you wish to topple The Federation?”
Bates lifted a gray eyebrow toward his equally gray hairline. He was an older human, and the lines in his face marked his age. He said, “Do not pretend that you do not know this must happen. War is inevitable. The Federation is falling apart; it was corrupted long ago, and it has no reason to try to right itself.”
Talon asked, “Did you swear a loyalty oath to them?”
Bates said, “I swore an oath to uphold and protect the universe. I swore an oath to do whatever was necessary to end terrorism and to help abate war. I have thought long and hard about this decision. I assure you there is not one person on any of the ships that are above you and on your surface that does not agree with me in this decision.”
Jeval said, “Or so you say. It’s quite possible this is a Federation trap as well. We agree to join forces with you to take them down and then you have just cause to blow our people to smithereens and take our planet.”
Bates came to the table and took a seat across from the four siblings. His face held a weary cast, and his fingers rested on the surface of the table, held together lightly within each other. He said, “I understand that you don’t believe me. I don’t blame you for that. I chose you, all of you, because each and every one of you has reason to hate The Federation. Each of you has been declared an outlaw at some point or other in your life, and some of you still are. Each of you is a warrior, and from what I’ve heard, your women are too. Or at least, the ones who have skills equally as good.”
Jeval sat back in the seat, his face betraying nothing of his thoughts. There was only one way to be sure. He said, “The Federation knows not everything about us.”
Bates said, “They know enough. I know enough. I need assistance. I am willing to fight against the tyranny that The Federation has brought to the universe, but I cannot do it alone. I need powerful people with powerful contacts; you have those contacts.”
Talon said, “Or you could just want our contacts so that you could imprison and murder them too.”
Bates snorted. “There is a huge criminal element in the universe. I’m quite sure that you know that the last people they wish to be friends with are Federation officers. B
ut you know, as do I, that the greatest amount of weaponry is lodged within their realms and not The Federation’s.”
Bates was right there. Still, he wasn’t sure if he trusted the man. Bates looked at the siblings, and they all looked back, regarding him steadily. Each of them gave a small and almost imperceptible nod.
It was the last thing Jeval wanted to do, go running about in that man’s brain, but if they were going to know for sure, he was going to have to do it.
Very well then.
If nothing else, if Bates proved to be a liar, they would know exactly what it was The Federation had planned. And they would be able to warn anyone against believing offers like these. He was fairly certain it wasn’t just him and his siblings that had been targeted for such an offer if it was a false one.
There were probably Federation generals and lesser officers making the same offer to others all across the universe right now in an effort to weed out criminals and to take control of smaller planets who had so far refused to accept The Federation’s decree of martial rule.
He leaned forward, holding a steady gaze on the general’s eyes. He spoke softly. “You will speak only truths from here on out. I am going to be in your mind, and I will know when you lie. Even if they put in a block, even if they’ve implanted you with the thought that you are doing this of your own free will and that you truly are rebelling against The Federation, I will know it.”
Bates blinked a few times. His face took on a smooth and unlined look. His mouth opened but no words came out. It was amazing how men of such power never thought to guard their mind against an invader. The truth of the matter was there were very few telepaths left in the universe, and there were even fewer mind-crawlers like him. That gift was so rare these days that it was mostly myth.
It was just part and parcel of that dark gift that he had been born with though. It was the one he used the most because it was the one that was the most useful and the least harmful to the people upon which he used it.
He leaned forward again. His hand dipped into a pocket and produced a round credit coin. The coin flipped back and forth across the top of his knuckles and then in between each finger. The general’s eyes went to that coin, and his mouth went even more loose and slack. His eyes stopped blinking and just stayed open, staring widely. Jeval let his mind wander toward the general’s. He felt resistance there, felt the general trying to push back despite his weakened state. That was good; if the general tried very hard to keep him out that meant he was hiding a secret.
Well, he intended to find out exactly what that secret was.
He pressed forward again. The general’s mind was like a honeycomb, filled with many different compartments and spaces. It was like walking through a maze. Jeval knew that the direct route would leave him nowhere. This was a man who compartmentalized things in order to live with them. He peeked into one of those chambers of the general’s mind and recoiled in utter horror as he watched a memory float through the general’s head.
That memory was of the general standing in a room filled with many tech-nodules. Along with the tech-nodules were many men wearing the same insignia he wore and the very upper echelon of The Federation’s members. Bates was shouting, “They will all die if you do this! They are our people! How can you do this to them?”
That memory spun out, and Jeval watched it unfurl. The general had been against some invasion or another, but his had been a single voice in a large crowd, and his words had not been heeded. His eyes were now the general’s eyes, and he turned them toward one of the tech-nodules and watched, feeling the cold horror that ran through Bates as Bates had watched it happen: the destruction of a planet filled with females and small children, but no men. He watched as Bates sank into a chair and muttered, “Why? For God’s sake why?”
One of The Federations leaders stepped forward. “It is not for you to question what we do, Bates. It is for you to carry out our orders. I would hate to think that you choose to betray us and to willfully discard your duties.”
He felt the general’s fear at that moment. The general lifted his head and said, “I would never perform a dereliction of my duty. I’ve always upheld my duty. I just do not understand why. There was nothing there to harm.”
The Federation leader said, “They would not surrender, and their men are all dead because they fought with this continuously. You know that; besides, the planet has one of the few remaining wormholes left in the universe and we need it for trade routes. All they had to do was agree, but they chose not to. They chose to die. You keep that in mind.”
He left that memory and walked through more. He watched Bates order deaths that he wished he didn’t have to order. He watched as the general read several pieces of classified information, and put his head in his hands and wept with pity for whoever it was that was going to die.
Then he saw what the general was hiding. He knew that was the thing he needed most to see because every time he drew near it, the general pushed him back, trying his best to hold secret whatever it was that was there.
What was there, was a man.
Not just any man either: a pirate named Blade that he and his siblings actually knew well. But in the general’s memories, the pirate, known to be not only bloodthirsty but fully against The Federation, and to the point, where he would often take Federation ships even though it meant losing much of his crew, stood in front of the general—much younger and far less battle-scarred, saying, “Why can’t you see what they are, Father? Why do you uphold them? You can see that they are destroying the entire universe, and yet you go along with it. You are complicit in their crimes.”
He was his son! The human pirate called Blade that The Federation had been trying to capture for many years was the general’s son!
No wonder the general hid that!
But he had more as well. He had faked his son’s death, pretending that his son had been lost in an accident on a pleasure planet. He had personally killed several people who might have been able to say otherwise. He’d killed people in order to protect his son and to send his son away and into a new life.
That was not all well. His son had recently raided a very large Federation stronghold and had uncovered secret and highly sensitive documents. The general had no idea of what was in them; he only knew that now that his son was in possession of them, his son’s life was as good as over. He also knew that his son would use whatever was in those documents to try to strike out at The Federation.
The rest was even more interesting. The general had been falsifying documents for years and killing anyone who would point out the discrepancies. He had been hiding the fact that for years his son had been amassing a vast rebel army, mobilizing them in the largest and most isolated outposts. The general, however, had all of that information. He hid it from The Federation and all who were within it, but he knew. He knew that his son was about to strike against The Federation in a way that would guarantee war across the universe.
A war that the general was no longer willing to sit out. He had come to the decision to join forces with his son, the son who had no idea that his father was now attempting to drum up an even larger army.
A single thought floated through the general’s head, and Jeval heard it. The words struck him right to his soul.
Is there anything a father would not do for his son?
He went deeper, probing every recess, looking for blocks and implanted memories. Looking for telltale signs that a tech or a scientist had somehow altered or tampered with the general’s brain, but he found nothing.
The truth was right in front of him. He had seen the pirate who was the son of this general seated before him. He knew their faces were similar, too similar to ignore the resemblance.
He spoke hastily to his siblings, all while keeping Bates in his trance. They took the news with as much shock as he had expected, but they quickly arranged their faces into blank and inscrutable expressions so that he could awaken the general, who would likely not even know that his b
rain had been probed when he did awaken. He brought the general out of it with a quick snap of his fingers.
The general blinked and said, “Again, I know you have no reason to believe me, but I assure you that the fight against The Federation is my fight. I have culled from the ranks of The Federation military those who would stand against it.”
Talon, not willing to let go of the advantage of their knowing his secret said, “How can you trust them?”
The general said, “Many of those who are in Federation service are not there of their own free will. You must know this. Many are forced into service due to labor and service laws handed down to the generations.”
Renall spoke softly, “When The Federation took over their planets, they demanded their sons and daughters for military service for eternity. They will forever be enslaved to that service to The Federation. Many of them rebel against it, I am sure, but how can you be sure that the ones who are with you are truly against The Federation?”
Bates said, “I checked into each and every one of their families. Many of them have families in the rebellion on their home planets. You know that the uprising has begun. It began several years ago. There are quite a few worlds engaged in war, flagrant and open warfare, with The Federation. Because we’ve never been able to actually hunt down their weapons suppliers, squashing the actual rebellion has been difficult.”
They all knew why that was now. They had always assumed that that pirate was the luckiest creature in the universe. The truth was he was being aided and assisted by a father who was a high-ranking general in The Federation army.
Did he even know that his father was on his side?
Bates said, “I need your help. I cannot go where you would lead. I am willing to follow for a change.”
Jeval said, “If you truly wish to rebel against The Federation, you will need every skill you’ve ever learned in your lifetime of waging war at hand. If you truly intend to join up with the rebellion, they will practically insist that you remain in charge, at least in charge of your own troops.”
