"I really didn’t have an option, Your Highness. If I let them kill you, I would probably never make Lieutenant Colonel." She smiled again but winced with pain half way through the smile.
Smiling and gently shaking his head side to side, he turned to the Shadow medic as two others pushed Eva’s grav-stretcher out to the Corridor through dozens of Shadow troopers. How is she, really?"
"She is a mess. However, she will be OK. I am sure we will save her leg. She has a broken arm, at least a few cracked ribs, a concussion, a dislocated left shoulder, and at least six shrapnel punctures in her back. They did not seem to puncture a lung or an organ. If they did, her symbiont has it under control. That is just the obvious stuff. If you did not have all these trauma kits here and she did not have such a strong bond with her symbiont, we would have lost her before you woke up. She is more amazing than her reputation. I will have to check, but I think she is the only human who ever went one-on-one with a treebarb and lived. Uh, well, I guess other than you, Your Highness."
"Not me. That thing was using me as a punching bag until I blacked out. She saved my bacon. Damned, she is fast."
"That she is sir. Most people have a hard time at first with the muscle and reflex enhancements that come along with being a Shadow. She took to them like rabbits take to sex. We used to make excuses to go to the gym when she was there just to watch her work out. She has a hard time getting people to spar with her. They usually end up spending some time with me if they do. When I have gym duty, I take lots of bandages and painkillers for her sparring partners. I haven’t seen anyone like her since Kip David was an active Shadow."
"Well take good care of her. Tell Colonel Garcia to call my chief secretary Torey Abdul and have her get my personal medical team to the hospital. I want her to have the best care there is."
"I will do that, Your Highness. As soon as you go get on that stretcher, quit messing up my patch jobs, and let us get you to the medical bunker with her, uh, Sir."
Will smiled, saluted the medic sarcastically, and gingerly sat down on the stretcher for the short ride to the best-equipped medical bunker in the Teaman Empire. Strange; instead of thinking about who was trying to kill him, he kept thinking of Eva. How could anyone that lethal be so darned pretty?
On the way to the medical bunker, he hit his holo-comm. "No picture, encrypted burst transmission, Torey. A lot of people died today. As soon as I get an up-check from the doctors I need a few things to happen. First, set up a very brief press conference so the Empire can see that I am fine. As soon as possible, leak much praise that my personal defenses were incredibly effective. Tell the Colonel that you need some specifics and let him be the leak. Second, I want to have a reception at my residence for the families of those who died and those who had anything to do with saving my bacon. All funeral expenses and related travel are on the empire. For anyone on our team that died today, their families can elect to inter them in the Imperial Gardens at the Empire’s expense. The reception can be in a month. I would like those invitations hand delivered with a personal note from me. I will sign each one in the Med Bunker when you bring them. Third, ask Prime Minister Kimbo to visit me in the bunker ASAP and bring anything he has from Shadow Intelligence and TeaInt on who is trying to rid the universe of my royal self. Thanks Torey. Please thank your staff for me. You are a friend I have learned I can count on in a time of need. If you think of something I forgot, please take the initiative to make it happen."
On the way to the bunker, Will had time to reflect on all that had happened to him and the Empire since his parents’ assassination and responsibility for the Empire landed on his shoulders. It was like a grand piano falling from a second story onto a twenty-two year old that was happy being a new Shadow on his first major field exercise. He had earned his place in his first Shadow team before anyone other than his commanding officer knew he was the heir apparent. When word of the assassinations reached his unit, he found he had an entire battalion of dedicated guardians.
Dad pounded into me the constant awareness of politics and every aspect of governance, or "the family business" as he like to call ruling the empire. Thank God, that Willie Kimbo jumped in and kept me sane in the wake of the assassinations of my parents. I am glad he steadfastly refused to just give me the answers. He walked me through every issue until I totally understood it. When I made a decision about an issue that was not delegated to his administration, he asked my reasoning but never tried to change my mind without giving me new information I had not considered. I am glad he is my godfather and was my father’s best friend. It would be very difficult being Emperor without him. I hope he is not still upset with the dramatic increase in security I imposed on him and his staff. Today ought to justify my paranoia to him.
What should I do about this new assassination attempt? I will have to find something that will make people think twice about that particular game. It is damned sure getting old.
While I do not want to create more ill feelings in the non-Shadow guards, I am going to have to insist on a personal guard that is all Shadows. Dad was right to nestle our little empire between two larger empires and become indispensable to both. We try hard to appear non-threatening to our partners and the rest of the empires. We purposefully don’t have a sizable Navy or Army. Focusing on quietly getting the Shadow program grown and strong was the right goal. Now, it is probably time to use our Shadows as something besides just counter insurgent teams and trainers contracted to hundreds of fringe worlds.
Aw damn, this assassination attempt will again have all the political parties badgering me about producing an heir! I am not ready for marriage. I don’t have time for it. I wish they would quit parading beautiful women in front of me at every social gathering. As Emperor, I can’t have a casual romp in the hay without it making a big deal on the news. I could do serious damage to one of those women if I got too passionate. On the other hand, with someone like Eva…
Chapter 2 – Med Bunker Changes
Dr. Tarik decided to upgrade the Emperor to ambulatory-but-convalescing. In the presence of a Shadow guard in his hospital suite, William talked at length with his Prime Minister about steps they needed to take both immediately and in the long term. When the P.M., Willie Kimbo, and two of his staff left the med bunker, the young Emperor turned to the harder task of getting his overzealous medical staff to let him take a walk. They were decidedly unintimidated by his position or by the rock hard looking Shadows in combat harnesses that guarded him.
Will walked through the busy throng of medical people. Being an Emperor was not as haughty or tedious when one was wearing a robe and slippers. In fact, he mused that he might even get by unnoticed if no for the three efficient and lethal guards flanking him on both sides and in back. He was careful to smile and give each one who looked him in the eye a friendly nod. This particular set of guards discouraged people who wanted to have a casual word with their monarch by staring at each passerby with the intensity of a gunfighter waiting for the other fellow to draw. The Emperor still thought of himself as "Will." It did not seem like three years had already passed since his father and mother died when several of their guards joined with a fanatic terrorist group to take out the entire wing of the children’s hospital they were visiting. Teaman Intelligence recently discovered that a faction within one of the governments of the Alliance to which his Empire belonged had funded and provisioned the attack. He just did not know why they saw the need to rid the galaxy of the Teaman Emperor. Willie could not believe that they thought young Will would be an ineffective ruler in his father’s absence. Privately, Willie saw Will as having a steel willpower and the confidence that went along with intelligence that bordered genius in most of the areas that Teaman University could measure.
It was fortunate that Will had left the week before to join the Fourth Shadow Regiment training exercises in the tropical jungles of Kenicky. The quick thinking major leading his mock assault force received a holo-comm message about the death of Will’s parents. He
immediately called in an emergency evacuation. Will was “secured” by a whole Regiment of Shadows while the Third Shadow Regiment proceeded to root out and thoroughly investigate the weak links and suspects within the royal guards and the entire palace staff as well. The guard was recruited from former or current police officers and military people. After the assassination of his parents, the P.M. insisted on a rotation of a small group of Shadows into the Palace Guard. It helped keep all on their toes.
Will convinced his parents, volunteered for the symbionic enhancement process, went through Shadow training, and embraced the exercise and diet requirements that resulted from the "faster" metabolism and dense muscles the symbiosis created. He was "one of the guys and a team player" when in uniform. The word got around at the speed of the military gossip mill that he was a decent guy, not full of himself, a hard worker, and a team player. He became one of their own. That it took at least two strong Shadows sparring with him to make him break a sweat demanded respect. After they found out that their teammate in the Third Regiment was really the new Emperor, the Shadows showed absolutely no sense of humor where Will’s safety was in question. The Shadows that escorted him wore that lack of humor with all the subtly of a pimp wearing a loud shirt and two pounds of gold chains.
The hospital bunker was cool, but that made sense considering how vast an underground structure it was. Will’s tree barb wounds no longer hurt. The doctors had applied a liberal amount of bandages to assure he would not move his shoulder too freely and harm the temp-skin that was holding his deeply clawed shoulder together while his symbiont community speeded the renewal process at a rate that shocked even Dr. Tarik.
"A moment please, Highness," said the lead guard, Sergeant Major Denny Dennis, as they came to Major Quan’s room. Denny noted the information display on the door, saw it was OK to enter, and quickly gave the room a thorough look. He promptly opened and held the door for his Emperor. He stopped the other three guards who tried to follow the Emperor into the room. Denny looked like a soap opera star at six-feet two-inches with dark brown curly hair. But his decision to be the fiercest operator on the meanest Shadow team transformed his good looks into a dangerous stare that missed nothing. Denny’s classified operations folder made him look like Sergeant York of the old American Army.
"I think we can have Zak look in the window from here and give them some privacy," said the burly Sergeant Major. "If there is anyone we can trust with the Emperor, it is Major Quan."
The others grunted affirmatively and started quietly discussing who would go where if they had to secure either the room or the hallway. It was the nature of their team that no one took time to relax until first covering all the possible details of a situation. They were interrupted. Sergeant Major Dennis caught movement out of the corner of his eye and said, "Atten-tion!"
Corporal Zak came to attention but did not turn from the glass half-window where he watched his Emperor and Major Quan. The Sergeant and Corporal Put stood at attention as Sgt. Major Dennis rendered a smart salute.
"At ease, gentlemen. Denny, how much sleep has your team logged since the attack?"
Colonel Juan Garcia looked beat but still managed a slight smile.
"Put and Zak have had two four-hour shifts and I have picked up a four and a two, Colonel. I also have Sgt. Minor Smith on his second four hours of sleep right now, Sir." Sgt. Major Dennis was surprised at the Colonel’s use of his first name in front of his team.
"Not bad for thirty-four hours of level three security operations. I am impressed with your organizational skills and attention to your team."
Just then, Sgt. Minor Smith rounded the corner and saw the Colonel. He walked up but did not salute since Sergeant Major Dennis was already present and outranked him. Instead, he nodded and said, "Colonel, Sergeant Major, I am back on the clock."
The Colonel smiled. "Let's all crowd around Zak for a stand up meeting. Everyone set your holo-comms to full scramble, range to five feet and click them on. I take it that Zak’s eyes are glued to Major Quan and our Emperor. Zak, your ears are still available. I do not have much time, so listen up."
"The group that you helped overcome was a terrorist group from New Brazil, an unaligned planet between us and the Republic Des Amis. They lost track of the man they called "the Prophet" and think, or were led to think, that our Emperor’s government abducted him because he was getting too influential. Of course, some of the other Alliances were all too willing to fuel their fires with bad information. They apparently think that we in the Teaman Empire have a long-term plan to take over New Brazil. The Prophet has some really devout followers. Right now they are worse than mad. They are afraid. The most dangerous people are those who are both afraid and normally meek. They have to get creative to kill and their inventiveness is not channeled into traditional methods that career professionals like us study. Since they don’t know what the "expected" is, they almost always do the unexpected."
"Did the four of you review the video marble of the attack in room C-21?"
MSgt. Dennis replied, "Yes sir, we downloaded it into our wrist-holo-comms and watched it in shifts while we were guarding the Emperor’s room. Was that OK Sir? It is part of our team SOP."
"It was as OK as anything could be," smiled the Colonel. "Think hard; who have any of you had more than a three-word conversation with since reviewing the video of the attack?
It turned out that only Zak had a conversation with anyone else since the attack. Everyone else was too busy with duty or trying to get sleep. "Zak, I am relieving you to talk to the Colonel more freely," said Smitty as he moved to the door and stared through. Zak was the smooth one and the talker on the team. Smitty was the strong, silent type. He was friendly enough. It was obvious that he would rather be taking on enemies at impossible odds or reading up on new munitions than going to a social gathering that did not include Shadows and war stories.
When he was sure that Sergeant Smith had the Emperor in sight, Zak turned while saying, "Smitty, the other door in the room seems to be only a closet. The Emperor checked it out as soon as he walked in the room. I stand relieved.
"Colonel, I talked with Nurse Coyovich and Nurse Wu while eating in the cafeteria on sub floor three. My only comments that related at all to the military was to assure them that no other attacks were likely to occur with a squadron of warships parked in low-orbit above us and two full companies of shadows patrolling the grounds. That information was playing on the news holos already. Mostly Sir, I enjoyed letting them pry information about Sgt. Major Dennis out of me. Nurse Wu seems to have an interest in my virtuous leader. The meal lasted less than ten minutes because I only had fifteen if I was going to get four hours of rack time.
"Sir, those nurses know better than to ask anything operational from anyone in uniform during any level of security alert. And I would not say anything about any operational issue to them or anyone not on my team or in the direct chain of command above me, Sir."
"That is a relief, gentlemen. Unfortunately, we will be doing a remote super-spook job on both nurses for a few weeks. Sergeant Major, please engage them in conversation every chance you get this week and do a complete passive snoop – holovid, vitals, voice, aura, and pheromones. I want to be able to read their minds from the data. I can see that you are a bit confused. I will remedy that shortly."
"Three months ago, you four were hand-picked for this duty because you were some of the best, meanest, sneakiest operators we had. You just saw for yourselves why we needed guys as talented as you to pull something as mundane and boring as bodyguard duty. By the way, your team racked up some very impressive kill statistics including those last three treebarbs in the palace hall. Good job. So now, all four of you are about to go to the next level. I will explain."
"Zak, what did you think of the holovid of the fighting in Room C-21? Oh, and can the "Sir" stuff. Consider this a team meeting."
"Well, I think that I will never be anything less than respectful to the Emperor. He moves like ligh
tening. That goes triple for Major Quan. I thought that I had never seen anything move as fast or aggressively as those treebarbs. That is, until I watched the Emperor and the Major. Wow. Shadows are all enhanced and fast. On the other hand, they are unreal. I sparred with her before, but now I realize she was going about half speed. How did she get that way Colonel?"
"Some people have a nervous system that better accepts the Syrt colony that makes them a Shadow. Some people may even form a mind link to their symbiont that farther cuts down reaction time and increases the strength lent by the symbiont. All four of you tinge upon that kind of relationship with your symbionts. You should work on it and encourage it. Unfortunately, I don’t know how to tell you to do that. Let us just say that Eva’s Symbiont loves her and is in better tune with her than mine is with me. And now that you know what you do about the Emperor and Major Quan, you cannot share it. With anyone – ever! From this point on, that information about either of them is to be one of the most closely guarded secrets in the empire. You can’t even tell other Shadows or anyone else placed in the chain of command above you. If someone even guesses or jests with you about it, report them to me."
"That holo-marble created another problem. What to do about the four of you and me? The Emperor decided that he either had to shoot us, mind wipe us, or trust us. Since we managed to be actively involved in saving his bacon, he went the trust route. I am hereby offering you a promotion, a zeta clearance and a lifetime job. Two years ago when the Emperor’s parents were assassinated, the Shadows started actively participating in William’s personal guard. The past two years has been a transition period to decide whether a military unit, a civilian group paid by the Emperor directly, or a combination of both would work best.
"We are creating a whole new two-tier guard unit. The four of you, two Shadow telepaths, and I are Tier One. A shadow short-battalion with two companies will take on the portions of security we leave to them. Their battalion commander will report to me. I will freeze my rank at full Colonel. Denny, you are now a Major. Smitty, you are a Captain. Homer and Nakita, you are both First Lieutenants. So that money does not ever tempt you, you have all been gifted four million credits by the Emperor. That is in addition to the pay and per diem that goes with your new rank. A trust fund has been set up with the Emperor’s bank and you may draw off any of the interest that is available. Whatever you do not draw will be reinvested for you. The fund reverts to your heirs in the event of your death. Don’t die soon. I do not want to go through all this paperwork again."
GalTech and the Shadow Warriors: Growth of a Star Empire Page 2
