Defender of the Empire: Cadet #1

by Catherine Beery

  “Oh?”

  “A DNA strand. Could you look it up for me? It’s case number 608.”

  “Found it.” She said a moment later. “Why didn’t the Station Guard do this already?” She asked in disgust.

  “They had tried, but there had been no name attached to it. I am assuming that is no longer the case.”

  Marius heard Becky’s delicate, almost inaudible grunt. “The Citizenry Archives have just been updated. The only match belongs to a Legion Fleet new recruit named Rylynn Tara Sinclair of…huh.”

  “Of what?”

  “Colony Lenti. They are recruiting colonists now?” Marius chuckled dryly at Becky’s interest, as if it was a novel idea. Before the empire it hadn’t been an issue. There had been no distinction of citizenship based on what ball of rock you were born on. But that had been many centuries ago. It made Marius wonder what it was about the girl that had given her access to the esteemed ranks of the Legion Fleet. He closed the briefcase with all the evidence and notes in it and headed toward the door.

  “Where is Rylynn now?” He asked a still wondering Becky.

  “Hmm? Oh! She is at the Academy now. Has been since yesterday afternoon.”

  “And there were no reports made about Mara?” he asked slipping out into the hallway of the Imperial Space Station.

  “None. The only thing I have on it is the note that Mara had not reported in… If this Rylynn did not kill Mara why didn’t she say something?” Becky asked the question that had rose in Marius’s own mind.

  “I don’t know. But I’m going to find out.” Shade Marius Ty’lon announced silently as he headed toward the station arm where his ship was docked.

  ***

  “Sir, we found a match.” Admiral Knight’s man said over his secure personal com-link. Adrian found his mood lighten enough to smile at the clucking woman he had the dubious honor of dining with. She twittered at him, liking his smile.

  “Do not keep me in suspense, Ted. Tell me so I can have at least one high point to this evening.” Adrian silently urged the man.

  Ted had been a longtime friend of his and thus had some license to pull his leash every once and a while, like now. “What ya saying, sir? I thought you liked those fancy parties.” Ted couldn’t stop the laugh that escaped at the end.

  Adrian hid his narrowing eyes by taking a drink of a fine red wine. Ted knew perfectly well that he loathed these functions and only went because it was expected of a Legion Fleet admiral. “Enough ribbing. Tell me who it was.” He demanded.

  Ted sobered somewhat, but Adrian could still hear the man’s amusement as he finally answered. “The match just came in. The DNA belongs to a thirteen cycle old girl named Rylynn Tara Sinclair of Colony Lenti. Apparently Legion Fleet has started to take recruits from the colonies.” Ted said dryly.

  Adrian blinked. The colonies?? He mentally slapped himself to ask a more pertinent question. “The girl is only in the Archives because she has recently joined the Fleet?”

  “Looks like it.” Apparently guessing at Adrian’s rapid thoughts Ted asked “Why?”

  Adrian set his glass down. “I think I may have met the girl. Show me a picture of her.” He ordered as he began to eat the fine food before him. The food was usually the only good thing about these soirees. An image came before his mind’s eye from his hyper net link. It proved he was right. The dark haired girl with gray eyes from the shuttle down to the Academy faced him from the picture. She was the one who had thrown the crowbar that day not so long ago. “It looks like I will be paying Rylynn a visit tomorrow. Good thing I was going there already to give a lecture and announce the Admiral’s Challenge.” It was always nice to kill two birds with one stone.

  Ted chuckled. “Finally, some good comes out of those things.”

  Adrian snorted. “Now, if only something good will come from these socially inflicted torture events.”

  “That would just be too perfect.” Ted told him dryly before Adrian ended the transmission. Adrian then made an effort to give his dinner partner something approaching a civilly correct conversation.

  ***

  SHE IS IN THE SYSTEM. Raj told him.

  Braeden leaned back in his chair and stared out the window of his quarters. The stars glittered as they had for millions of years. They didn’t last forever, but to someone whose life was numbered in decades and not millennia, they seemed to last for eternity. Space was a steading background when life crossed a threshold long hoped for and feared. We knew she would be one day.

  YES, BUT WHY DO YOU FEAR? Raj asked him. THIS MEANS THAT WE ARE ONE DAY CLOSER TO WORKING WITH HER.

  Aye, and maybe one day closer to telling her…Braeden stopped.

  SHE IS SAFE ONLY BECAUSE HE IS DEAD. Raj reminded him gently, but firmly.

  Braeden sighed and raked his fingers through his dark hair. “I know that.” He muttered aloud. There were times when it made him feel better to hear his response aloud. It made the response sound stronger than it did when he was mentally speaking to his raven Spectral.

  To prove that he wasn’t as easily fooled Raj said IT WILL BE HARD, BUT IT WILL BE BETTER THAN NOT EVER KNOWING HER.

  Braeden nodded and made to return to his reports but he couldn’t focus on them. Fear kept niggling at him. Life wasn’t normally easy for a new LF recruit. It would be even harder for Rylynn because of where she was recorded to have been born. But that wouldn’t be the only thing to threaten the girl now that she was part of Legion Fleet.

  WHY ARE YOU AFRAID? Raj asked again.

  You know why. You Saw. Braeden replied. One of the gifts of a raven Spectral was foresight. They had both Seen what was coming and they both knew that Rylynn was crucial for the survival of the empire… knowing that didn’t change the fact that he feared for her. Rylynn was in the system in more ways than anyone realized. Braeden couldn’t continue to stare at ship diagnostics or reports on the Lenti-solum system. He took a moment for himself and rested his head upon his folded arms Ah God… he began and prayed in the wordless fashion of someone in his position; trapped in circumstances to keep many and a single life safe which denied him his rights as a…Braeden couldn’t even finish the thought, but God knew it already.

  Chapter 11- The Screams

  If I ever said that the Universe likes me I take it back. The Universe decidedly hates me. Why do I believe this? Let’s look at the apparent price for simple pleasures. Two budding friendships for the price of a hundred little cruelties, professors who either look down on you or pity you, which is just humiliating, and a roommate who thinks it is funny to turn off my alarm so I won’t wake up in time for class. Which would be reviews of things I had never heard before but would be expected to take a test involving those things in the next two days.

  Ah, the joys of being a Recruit in the Legion Fleet Academy.

  Luckily for me, I am a very light sleeper and saw her sneak over last night and commit the deed. My poor misguided roommate assumes things very easily. I could live without my alarm because I had the perfect one in my head. The mouse Spectral doesn’t need to sleep so he was perfectly willing to wake me up on time for my morning lab with Westley. What I hadn’t realized was that Lassie’s alarm had mysteriously turned off. Neither alarm sounded that morning. As a result, Lassie had slept right through her first class, which began a little later than mine. I am not certain, but I think the mouse may have been the one to turn off Lassie’s alarm. He won’t give me a definite answer either way. M. Kit, my Medi-Comp, is not as aware of the Spectral when he is quiet, so she doesn’t know if he was responsible or not, but she shares my opinion that he had something to do with the malfunctioning alarm.

  All this on only my second full day at the Academy and I would soon discover that the worse had yet to come. And the news began innocently enough. Westley had mentioned to me that we would not have lab until after dinner instead of after classes as there would be a very important speaker. He hadn’t known who exactly the speaker would be though. His guess had been a vis
iting commander or captain. Westley hadn’t really cared as he was no longer a proper student despite his current rank and wouldn’t be there. He had said that he needed to fill out reports.

  So I knew there would be a speaker that day. It was Jason, though, who had the honor of telling me who was giving the lecture. And because the Universe, who loves to hate on me has a horrible sense of humor, I am the idiot who asked him who it was. “Jason, do you know who is speaking after class today?” I had asked oh so blissfully unaware on our way to our last class. “Westley mentioned that it might be a captain.”

  Jason laughed. “He’s a bit higher ranked than a mere captain.”

  “A commodore?” I asked in surprise, using my new knowledge of LF hierarchy.

  “What is one step higher than a commodore?” He asked.

  My eyes widened. “An admiral?”

  He nodded excitedly. “Yes. I’m guessing it has something to do with the Admiral’s Challenge.

  “Admiral’s Challenge?”

  “Yeah. It’s a school wide event that occurs every couple cycles. At least that is what I heard.” He added so quickly that I glanced at him before sinking into my own thoughts.

  I knew from our last class that there were five admirals who also served as the emperor’s advisors along with one other. Four of the five admirals represented the military. The last admiral served as the representative of the civilian space program. As part of the class we had learned the names of the currant admirals. I already knew two of them; Admirals Adrian Knight and Francesca L’Seral. The other three were Admiral’s Jackie Bieri, Lauzlo D’rz, and Kielaun Jus’ka. Admiral Jus’ka was the civilian advisor. Of the two that I knew, I was strongly hoping to see Admiral L’Seral again. She was a fascinating woman who, as far as I knew, wasn’t a murderer.

  As you have probably guessed already, our visitor was not Admiral L’Seral. Neither was it any of the three I didn’t know. No. It had to be Admiral Adrian Knight. Of course it was. As I said, the Universe hates me.

  I paled when I saw the admiral talking to a professor in the grand lecture hall after my last class of the day. Unlike everyone else who wanted to get noticed by the esteemed admiral, I wanted to be as far from him as I could get. But that would look weird. It’s not like you are trapped in a shuttle with him again. I thought to myself as I woodenly followed Jason to a row that was five above where the admiral would speak. I wanted row ‘out of there’, but I contented myself with thinking that at least it wasn’t row one.

  “Are you okay?” Jason asked me once we sat down near the wall, another blessing. We were not in the admiral’s direct line of sight.

  “Huh?” I blinked distractedly at him as I tried to drag myself from my fearful thoughts.

  Jason eyed me. “You look like you are ready to bolt. Why?”

  It was on the tip of my tongue to say: The man you are so excited to hear speak killed a bound woman on the Imperial Space Station. But I didn’t. Instead I murmured an inane reply about how I was nervous about meeting someone so high up in the ranks and who talked to the emperor. The look in Jason’s eye as I said this was a mix of disbelief and assessment. But he didn’t question me further for which I was glad.

  Is our cryptic, mutual friend here? I asked the mouse as the professor introduced the admiral to the student body.

  NO. I DO NOT SENSE THE FOUL WEAPON HE IS TRAPPED IN. The mouse replied.

  That black stone dagger I saw the admiral holding?

  YES. UNATURAL THING. The mouse said with disgust. He was also anxious and I couldn’t blame him. His friend had been killed with that thing. If he hadn’t been a wee bit worried about seeing it again I would have been more concerned.

  I digested what he said then asked do you know what the weapon is called? I wondered if I could find references to it using the hyper net link that was a new feature M. Kit had.

  He was slow to respond. I DON’T KNOW... IT IS DANGEROUS. OUR FRIEN… the rest of what the mouse said was lost in a storm of strange sensations that attacked me from nowhere. The first was a wicked cocktail of fear, revulsion, shock, and panic with a pinch of relief. All of which hit me so hard I felt lost. None of these feelings were mine. Yes, I was anxious about being so close to the admiral, but I wasn’t so fearful as to be sick. The other sensation quickly erased all worry about the first. For the second time in my life pain flooded my veins. I could hear M Kit nattering vaguely about something, but I couldn’t hear her. Which is sad since she was in my head. The mouse was also trying to say something to me, but I could only hear the incessant ringing that grew louder and louder.

  The lecture hall faded away. Even Admiral Knight became insignificant in comparison to the pain. There were screams. I knew there were screams. I could hear them over the ringing. There had to be hundreds of tortured souls reaching out to me. Their haunting cries slashed through my brain in a panicked frenzy. I tried to block them out, but those screams knew how to attack. In the midst of the punishing pain was a single voice that begged forgiveness for something. But I was past the point of caring. All I cared about was the pain stopping.

  Overloaded, my body agreed with me on that and everything went black.

  Someone was singing. Some wordless nursery rhyme, I think. It was both soothing and haunting. It seemed to echo around wherever I was. It offered an apology and comfort. Friendship too, if I could just find it which was easier thought than done since I couldn’t see anything. The soul deep ache was fading slowly as I listened. I still couldn’t see anything. Nor could I feel anything with my sense of touch. But I could hear and make out emotions. There was a faint echo of fear in the strange place I was in. But there was also a fragile flutter of hope that dulled the edges of the wounds the fear had left behind.

  Where was I and who was singing that wordless rhyme?

  YOU ARE IN YOUR OWN MIND, RYLYNN said a female spectral voice. I noticed the singing stopped.

  You were the one singing. I thought because I couldn’t speak.

  YES.

  Why? And who are you? You are a Spectral, aren’t you? I guessed.

  I AM A SPECTRAL, LITTLE PUP. Her voice seemed to wrap around me like a warm fuzzy blanket. MY NAME IS LUNA. And with the pronouncement of her name I saw for the first time since I became aware. A wolf made of glowing dust and auroras was curled about me. I was sitting against her side. Her silver irises were outlined in gold that made me think of sunlight coming around an object. That eye blinked as the wolf bowed her head I AM SORRY, LITTLE PUP.

  For what? I asked in confusion.

  FOR CAUSING YOU SO MUCH PAIN AND DISTRESS. KYLESST FREED ME FROM THE CURSED WEAPON JUST BEFORE THAT MONSTER CAME TO FEED FROM HIM. UNTHINKING OF WHAT WOULD HAPPEN, I HAD DONE WHAT KYLESST HAD ASKED OF ME AND STRENGTHENED YOUR CONNECTION WITH HIM… AND YOU SUFFERED FOR IT. She murmured before licking my cheek in apology.

  I went still for a moment. First of all, because a Spectral licked me. The second because what she had said. Luna had been trapped in a weapon, just like my cryptic friend. A cryptic friend I had a connection with. I smiled. One mystery answered about Cryptic-No-Tell. I now knew his name. Could you tell me what kind of Spectral Kylesst is?” I asked my new friend.

  The wolf Spectral made to open her mouth when a smaller, darker gray lighted mouse Spectral pounced on her nose. DO NOT! The mouse squeaked to her.

  Luna’s eyes went wide in surprise. ”WHY NOT, SCRAE?” She asked the mouse.

  HE HAS ASKED THAT SHE DOES NOT KNOW TILL HE IS FREE. HE SAID THAT TO ME AS HE SHIFTED ME TO HER A FEW DAYS BACK. SURELY HE TOLD YOU SOMETHING SIMILAR? The mouse, whose name was apparently Scrae, replied.

  I frowned. Why should it matter if I know or not?

  Luna sighed. IT IS KYLESST’S RIGHT TO TELL YOU HIMSELF. SOMETHING HE CANNOT YET DO.

  I know what you two are. I pointed out.

  AYE, Scrae the mouse nodded his head, BUT WE ARE NOT PERMANENTLY BONDED TO YOU.

  HE IS WORKING TO FREE HIMSELF EVEN AS WE SPEAK. Luna added. YOU GAVE H
IM HOPE, ALONG WITH THE REST OF US WHO WERE TRAPPED WITH HIM.

  So, why exactly are you here? I asked.

  WE WERE ONCE BONDED. She said with such pain in her voice that I could feel it.

  TORN BEFORE THE PROPER TIME WE WOULD HAVE BEEN ENTANGLED IN OURSELVES. Scrae continued for her when she could not. WE HAVE TO BOND TO SOMETHING OR WE WILL DIE. BEFORE YOU CAME, THAT SOMETHING WAS THE WEAPON THAT KILLED OUR SHADES.

  IT IS A FOUL THING. Luna spat in disgust. IT KILLS THE SHADE AND TRAPS THE SPECTRAL IN ITS GRASP WHERE WE CANNOT HEAL OR WARN OTHERS. AND WORSE, IT TRAPS THE SOUL OF THE SHADE IN THEIR OWN BODY. THAT, BY FAR, IS THE WORSE CRIME FOR IT GOES AGAINST THE DIVINE.

  I stared speechless at the two Spectrals. God had created everything. Every race in the Empire had known of His presence before the Empire even formed. Every soul was his masterpiece. And the soul could make its own choice to have a relationship with Him or not. Nothing should be able to keep the soul from going to where it had chosen to go.

  On a more personal note, I had always thought that the soul was untouchable. It would go where it would after the shell fell away. Enemies could do what they wanted with your body, but your soul was safe from their hands.

  Apparently there was a weapon out there that warped that reality.

  Who could make something like that? I asked them dumbfounded. My thoughts skipped back to one of the things Luna had first told me, that she had been freed to me just as a monster came to feed off of Kylesst. Was that the thing that could make such a weapon?

  Scrae, having apparently heard my thoughts, nodded. WE BELIEVE SO. ONLY ONE OF THEM COULD THINK OF SUCH AN IDEA. THEY HAVE NO REGARD FOR THE DESIGN OF THE DIVINE. ONLY THEY WOULD THINK TO TWIST IT.

  What are they? I asked feeling chills in my soul. Never mind, I am sure I will find out soon enough. And the sad part was, I was certain that I would. Did I feel Kylesst’s pain before this conversation?