Lost Valor
Page 24
Vars was dead. I sat up. A mix of emotions shot through me. He’d been trying to kill me, but he’d known something about my family, some secret. Maybe if he’d survived the fall…
I crawled over to the edge and looked down. His body had hit about fifty meters down and I could tell that he wasn’t going to be walking away from that. I could see some spots where I could get down to him, check and see if he was breathing. Maybe if I got him back to Athan, the doctor could keep him alive, hit him with some painkillers and I could find out what he knew…
Yet as I stared at his body, I knew that was a daydream. From how he lay, Vars hadn’t survived that fall. And I doubted he would have told me anything, even if he had. Maybe not even if I did somehow manage to get him back to Athan’s lab.
Any information he’d had must have died with him.
I looked over at the briefcase, but my gaze went something shiny, just a meter or so away. It was Vars’ letter, I saw. The wind had caught it, but it had just enough weight that it hadn’t blow off the ledge, not yet. I reached for it, catching it just as the wind gusted again.
I stared at it, my mind feeling oddly blank. It was Vars’ pass the Drakkus Imperial Military Institute. It had his name on it, I saw, and a big official golden seal. Turning it in the light from the spaceport, I saw the thick paper was printed with holographic ink that shimmered under the light. I guess Vars wasn’t going to be going there after all. I lifted my hand, about to let the wind take it… and I froze.
Vars had an implant that could get him into the spaceport. In fact, Vars’ implant had access to all his accounts… and it would act as his identification. This letter in my hand, it would get Vars into the Drakkus Military Institute, no questions asked, as one of their cadets.
Jonna had gone there. Kiyu, the only other person who’d been decent to me, had gone there. I couldn’t catch a ship out, not now, but I could put myself in a position to help Century. I there’d been some kind of attack, something that the Admiral had defeated, then there wouldn’t be any ships going between the two systems. I might book passage on a neutral ship and from there to a neutral world and get back home… but that had another level of risk. They’d be looking for spies, looking for whoever had slipped information to Century about the attack. Vars had suspected me already. Drakkus no doubt would be screening suspicious passengers soon, if they weren’t already.
But what if there was another option?
I went to the edge of the building and looked down at Vars’ broken body. I went over to the briefcase and pulled out the comm unit that I’d kept. I dialed Athan and waited as hold music played.
“Yes?” Athan asked, his booming voice jovial. He had to know this was a call about business. The Barrens was violent and chaotic, which meant for him that business was good.
“This is Will,” I told him.
“Ah, you’re calling to see if your friend made his ship? As far as I know, he made it just fine. The ship should be going to FTL warp shortly.”
“Well, that’s good to know. But this is something else. I’ve got a donor for you,” I told him, looking down at Vars’ body. “I need to arrange pickup.”
***
Several days later, I stood in line, just outside the spaceport.
The line wasn’t moving very fast, which was fine with me. I was still in a lot of pain. Athan hadn’t been lying when he said the process of putting all the implants in could be painful. I was barely able to walk, even with quick heal. My body ached pretty much everywhere, because Vars hadn’t had a normal set of implants, he’d had a full suite, what Athan had called a “type two plus” which included connections throughout my body.
I sort of felt like I’d been gutted and then had the skin stripped off my body. But I was alive and I had a plan. I was rich, too, but I’d had to stash the money someplace safe before I came here.
The person in front of me finished being processed through and now it was finally my turn. I stepped forward, keeping my expression calm as I got up to the gate.
There was a uniformed officer standing there, along with two enlisted. All of them wore black body armor, with full face masks, though the officer’s mask was down so he had better visibility.
“Strip down and step up to the scanner,” He told me. I’d already given my name earlier and he checked his datapad for me as I quickly stripped out of my jacket, shirt, pants and boots. I dropped my clothing, my comm, and the little bit of money I’d brought with me into a bin next to the scanner, keeping just one thing in my hand. I stepped into the full body scanner and stood as directed, arms extended and feet on the lines. There was no illusion of privacy here, but at this point, it was a small thing to worry about. It chimed after a moment, “Identity confirmed,” flashed on the display.
“Says here you’re not enlisting,” the officer noted, looking at me suspiciously. “We don’t take recruits into the officer corps, not unless...”
He trailed off as I stepped forward and held out the stamped and sealed letter, the only thing I hadn’t dropped in the bin.
The officer took it from me and waved at me to get dressed. I did so quickly, even as he checked my letter on his datapad, then got on his radio. I could only hear part of the conversation, but whatever he was hearing, he didn’t seem alarmed or angry.
The officer’s face was suspicious as he finished. He looked me up and down. “Hmmm. This is… unusual. We don’t’ normally get this kind of admittance, not from the Barrens. Definitely not someone with your type of background.”
I swallowed, “Is there a problem?”
“No. It checks out, but this is an Imperial Code on it,” the officer shook his head.
“Friends in high places,” I smiled at him.
“Friends in high places won’t help you where you’re going,” he told me dismissively. “You’re just in time to join this class, I got confirmation that they won’t start their inprocessing until tomorrow and we’ll ship you up there tonight.” He passed the letter with its impressive seals back to me and gestured at a guard to step out of my way. “Welcome to the Drakkus Imperial Military Institute, Cadet Vars.”
###
The End
The Story Will Continue With Stolen Valor
If you enjoyed Lost Valor, be certain to read Will’s sister’s story in the Children of Valor series starting with Valor’s Child
About the Author
Kal Spriggs is a science fiction and fantasy author. He currently has five series in print: The Valor’s Child YA series, The Renegades space opera and space exploration series, the Shadow Space Chronicles military science fiction and space opera series, the Fenris space opera series, and the Eoriel Saga epic fantasy series.
Kal is a US Army combat veteran who has been deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan. He’s a graduate of a federal service academy and used a lot of his experiences from there in writing the Valor’s Child books. He lives in Colorado, and is married to his wonderful wife (who deserves mention for her patience with his writing) and also shares his home with his son, and several feline overlords. He likes hiking, skiing, and enjoying the outdoors, when he's not hunched over a keyboard writing his next novel.