Defender of the Empire: Cadet #1

by Catherine Beery

  “We’re transporting you onboard.” Marius was told. A moment later the captain told him that they had found Rylynn and Westley.

  “Are they alive?” He asked, both needing and dreading the answer.

  “Beaten up, but yes. They are both alive.” She told him gently. Marius found he could breathe a little better as he was beamed up. Two of them were alright. He had no idea about Jason.

  Chapter 24 – To the Edge

  RYLYNN... LASS, YOU HAVE TO WAKE UP. A familiar voice encouraged.

  I knew it was a friend instinctively, but couldn’t for the life of me remember the name. Since it was a friend I figured I could try to ignore it… and I managed to for a moment. Curiosity, then, got the best of me. Why? I thought back at it.

  YOUR FRIENDS NEED YOU TO. Was the simple yet profound answer. It is funny how ‘simple’ always seems to be so profound.

  I had friends now, I realized that. The only problem was I couldn’t remember anyone’s names. They were an odd-ball mix of corporeal and incorporeal. There was one who was about my age with beautiful tri-colored eyes and a voice that encouraged all to listen to it. He was good at that thing that was both amazing and a pain in the mind. Then there was another with green eyes who acted the age he looked, but I knew he was much older than that. The last was the first I had met. Tall and handsome in his own way. Ambitious but willing, at times, to admit to being wrong. There were a smattering of others I knew, but I hardly saw them anymore because of… something. Why couldn’t I remember them at the moment?

  MAYBE BECAUSE YOU ARE IN THE DARK? The voice suggested. Now that he mentioned it I realized that I was aware of… nothing. No sight, or sound or touch. Nor was there smell or taste. The only thing that I could count as awareness was the difference between my thoughts and the voice of the friend with me. While I gathered that he was distantly fretful he felt very calm. Which was great because now that I was aware of nothing else I panicked. SHH, RYLYNN, CALM DOWN. And I don’t know how, but he was able to thaw the ice the panic had strangled my thoughts with.

  I remembered a similar situation. One where fear had me plastered to a shuttle window. He had spoken to me then too, giving me a plan that I could work with. He had been there before when I had inadvertently witnessed a killer at work. Kylesst? I asked hesitantly.

  YES.

  Where am I? Better yet, how to I get out?

  YOU ARE CURRENTLY UNCONSCIOUS ON A HOSPITAL BED AT THE ACADEMY BACK ON PRIMA IMPERIUM. THAT IS WHERE YOU HAVE BEEN SINCE THE REMNETS OF YOUR TEAM WERE RESCUED FROM NEM…

  He could have continued but he didn’t need to. I wouldn’t have heard him anyway. Nem. One of the three moons of Avana. My team’s third and final challenge had taken place there. And something had gone horribly wrong. We were attacked by Telmick mercenaries… JASON! I thought as everything came back in full color.

  GOOD. YOU REMEMBER.

  Did Marius get to him in time? I asked, feeling dread. After all, Kylesst had said that my friends needed me. And Kylesst was anxious about something…

  YOU KNOW THE ANSWER TO THAT, LASS. If I was conscious of my body I would probably be trembling in fear for my friend. I knew what Telmicks could do to a person. SHH. Kylesst whispered. JASON IS STILL ALIVE AND HE WON’T BE SUFFERING WHAT YOU FEAR. THEY NEED HIM.

  They?

  YESSS. KNIGHT AND HIS ALLIES.

  You said that there was a plot against an imperial prince, but… is Jason a prince? And if he is, why didn’t you say so? I asked.

  I felt Kylesst sigh. I KNEW ONLY WHAT THE ENEMY SAID ALOUD IN THE PRESENCE OF THE LOUS-ECI’DALB. THEY SAID THAT A YOUNG PRINCE WAS ATTENDING THE ACADEMY WITHOUT REVEALING HIS TRUE IDENTITY. I WASN’T SURE IF HE WAS ON YOUR TEAM OR NOT, TRUTH BE TOLD.

  Then why did you say anything at all? It was confusing and annoyingly cryptic when I didn’t need either. I was quick to tell him.

  He grunted. I TOLD YOU. He began slowly; I guess so that I could keep up with him, the jerk, BECAUSE THERE WAS A CHANCE THAT THE PRINCE WAS WITH YOU. AND IMAGINE THAT, HE WAS. AND IF YOU WANT TO SAVE HIM YOU NEED TO WAKE UP.

  And how will I find him? Do you have any clues?

  ONE BETTER, I KNOW THE COORDINATES.

  I woke up soon after he gave me the coordinates of what would be a trade between the mercenaries and their employers. From the numbers I knew that we were looking at something on the fringe of the empire… I just wasn’t sure exactly where. I figured Westley and Marius would have a better idea. I just needed to get to them.

  Of course, I would have to wait. I woke in the Medical Center of the Legion Fleet Academy, just a Kylesst had said I would. I also learned how it was that Kylesst could speak so clearly to me. I enjoyed talking to the Spectral, even if you could find his name under ‘cryptic’ in the dictionary. There was, however, a downside to our conversations. A certain admiral was typically nearby and I really didn’t want to have to deal with him. Especially when he was dressed and standing over me while I was in a hospital bed in that special hospital uniform. I really didn’t want to know how long he had been nearby while I was unconscious.

  WE WERE WITH YOU. Scrae informed me. WE WOULD HAVE KEPT YOU SAFE IF HE BECAME MORE THREATENING THAN USUAL.

  HOWEVER, IT WAS ONLY KYLESST WHO COULD WAKE YOU. Luna piped in. BY THE WAY, WELCOME BACK TO THE WAKING WORLD. She added with humor lighting her tone.

  Thanks. I said with some relief. That relief was also due to the fact that I wasn’t in the room alone with Admiral Knight. Admiral L’Seral, Captain Wingstar, and Dr. Clayton were also there.

  “Ah, I see Sleeping Beauty returns to us.” Dr. Clayton said with a smile. “How are you feeling?” She asked stepping closer to the bed.

  I swallowed to wet my throat. “Good…” I said with a glance at the waiting powers in the room.

  Dr. Clayton noticed the direction of my look and rolled her eyes. She, of course, was positioned so the admiral’s couldn’t see her. Captain Wingstar, however, could and I think I saw humor light his gray eyes. “Don’t worry about them.” The good doctor whispered to me. “They just want to debrief you about what happened in the Avana System. And I must say, we have to stop meeting like this.” She said checking her tablet. When I just looked at her she continued. “Every time I see you lately it is just after being shot. This time, though, I understand why you are not injured by it.”

  “It had been red.” I said before she could.

  Dr. Clayton nodded. “Yes. And only your uniform suffered any damage from the explosion.”

  My mouth went dry. “Explosion?” My voice cracking embarrassingly in the middle.

  “Yes, the Beacon node on Nem is little more than a ruin now.” Admiral L’Seral said coming up next to the doctor.

  My attempt to sit up was halted by a stern look from the doctor. I stopped moving but asked “And the others? Are they okay?” Are they alive? I didn’t ask verbally but I’m pretty sure all the adults ‘heard’ it anyway. I would have thought that Kylesst would have said something if they had perished, but I needed to be sure. They couldn’t be dead…

  “Westley and Marius are fine.” Admiral L’Seral assured me. “Westley had managed to get a shield over the both of you and the LFP Aurora beamed you aboard before the shield could fail under the pressure. Marius had been away when the explosion took place.

  “Now, I understand that you have suffered a shock, but we need you to tell us what you remember happening.” She continued in a gentle, but businesslike fashion.

  “Where do you want me to start, ma’am?” I asked.

  “Start from when you first saw Nem.” Admiral Knight answered.

  So I told them everything that I could recall from the moment Westley had announced our presence to the local branch of the Legion Fleet to landing on Nem. Then I had explained the condition in which we had found the Beacon, how I had thought the silent computer had been strange and how the others had been concerned about the wind sneaking into the building. I told how the Telmicks had appeared to be coming
through a hole on the far side of the building from the main entrance.

  “But it was a trick.” I said. “I had thought the illusion was the wall over the hole, but I think now that it had been the hole and the mercenaries coming through it. It would explain why they didn’t come closer to us.” I shook my head. “The real threat was from above. I only saw it because I had been slower in heading for the door. The Telmicks had been scaling down the wall from an upper platform. I tried to warn the others, but it was too late.”

  And thus I described, as well as I could, the brief but chaotic encounter with the mercenaries. I added notes on how they had been a higher grade of mercenary because of the number of higher ranked males. They had been elite mercenaries. Something normal people never wanted to come up against… but then, no one in their right mind ever wanted to come against any level of Telmick mercenaries.

  “And how do you know what a high ranked Telmick mercenary looks like?” Admiral Knight asked with a frown.

  “The tattoos. The more intricate and numerous the higher up they are, sir.” I replied. I didn’t say how I knew this, since I doubted he wanted to hear about the war on Colony Lenti. After all, it wasn’t a real war. By the expressions on both L’Seral’s and Wingstar’s faces, I figured they had guessed how I knew. Admiral L’Seral nodded for me to continue. So I did. “One of them grabbed Jason. Marius had been the closest one to him. Last I saw, Marius had been following the Telmick up the ropes. I can’t tell you much after that since I had been shot.”

  I found it strange that a stunning blast had actually worked on me. Especially considering that a more lethal shot hadn’t even knocked me off balance.

  MARIUS. Kylesst answered my unspoken question. And I remembered. Before the meeting about the third challenge Marius had siphoned off much of the extra energy being a Spectral Sync caused me to absorb. Apparently he had found out what I was, but he couldn’t go into much detail since the briefing had been close to starting. He had promised to tell me more at some point. I just wondered when that ‘some point’ would be. It had better be soon.

  The only things that I left out of my narrative involved Admiral Knight and Kylesst. I also avoided saying that the mercenaries had taken Jason because he was an imperial prince. Not guessing at what I hadn’t said, Admiral L’Seral nodded. “Thank you for telling us. It fits with what Cadets Trin and Strausman told us. Now rest, Rylynn. We will find Jason.” She said.

  It was on the tip of my tongue to tell her that her fellow admiral was the one behind my friend’s kidnapping. But I didn’t, nor did I blurt out that I knew of a good place for them to start looking. It would make one suspicious and would beg too many questions that I couldn’t afford to answer. So I stayed quiet.

  “You may be medically fine, but you still need to rest.” Dr. Clayton told me and I realized that Dr. Clayton must be one of two things. The first was, she must not yet realize how horribly I follow the ‘rest’ command. The second was she had to be incredibly optimistic that people would actually do as the doctor ordered. I would have thought the student body of the Legion Fleet Academy would have cured her of at least the second.

  Soon after the doctor’s guideline advice the three judges and the doctor left in single file out of the door. Shortly after Westley came to visit and I grinned. We had work to do and his coming just made it that much easier.

  “Westley!” I greeted him with a grin.

  His hazel eyes brightened as he smiled. “Hey Rylynn. How are you feeling?”

  I shrugged. “I’m good. The doctor says I am healthy. Come on, we need to go get Jason.” I said swinging my legs over the side of the bed.

  Westley shook his head. “She also said you needed to rest. And at any rate, how can we find Jason when the higher ups have no clue where to start?”

  “She also said that I was medically fine, Westley.” I admonished. “And while I am fine, the same can’t be said for Jason. We owe it to him to find him.”

  Westley’s eyes narrowed just before he sighed. He shook his head and glanced out the door. “We still have the problem that everyone else does; where do we start?”

  I stood up and touched his shoulder. “The question is not ‘where do we start?’ but ‘where is he going to be in a few hours?” At his frown I continued. “You and I both know where it started. It began on Nem. And knowing where it started isn’t going to do Jason any good.”

  “So what is your plan?” He asked.

  “Go where the mercenaries are taking him.” I replied as I plucked the training uniform that was hanging behind the door. I guess I was expected to just stare at it until the good doctor had decided I had rested enough. I closed the little bathroom door so I could change from the exposing hospital gown to the more comfortable uniform. When I came out it was to find Westley frowning at me. “What?” I asked tossing the hospital gown on the bed.

  “You could have died and now you want to go against orders…” I am not entirely sure what was causing him to baulk. But I needed to convince him quickly.

  I sighed. “Westley. I am alive. Thanks to you, I survived. Now Jason needs us. Could you fly and LFA to these coordinates?” I asked writing down the coordinates Kylesst had given me. I handed him the slip of paper.”

  “What’s this?”

  “The coordinates to where the mercenaries are going to trade Jason for their pay.”

  “This is on the outside edge of the N’avé system. On the edge of the empire.” He said looking at me in surprise.

  “I thought it was on the edge, I just wasn’t sure where exactly. So can we fly there?”

  “Yeah, but as far as I know there is nothing there.”

  “Perfect place for a trade, don’t you think? Come on. Let’s go.” I said heading for the door.

  Westley caught up to me in a couple steps, which was annoying because it had taken me much more than that. “How did you get these?” he asked catching my arm.

  And how do you answer someone you respect and who you want to respect you a question like that when the truth was considered by most to be crazy. Only a Shade would believe me and Westley wasn’t one. At least none of the Spectrals had said that he was one. So I settled for giving myself time. “Let’s go find Jason. After he is safe I will tell you.”

  Westley stared at me and I met his gaze steadily. It was all I could tell him at this point. “Fine.” He said in a tone that told me quite clearly that I would be telling him what he wanted to know and soon.

  Now that Westley was no longer fighting me, we moved quickly. Luckily the medical staff ignored us because we were both dressed in normal clothing. If I had been still wearing my hospital gown we would have been stopped immediately. So I was glad that someone had left the uniform on the door… which made me wonder who it had been. Only for a moment though. It was probably just common practice to leave a uniform on the back of a door in anticipation for the day when the cadet was well enough to return to a normal schedule.

  We left the medical center and made our way to the landing pad. I smiled at the timing. At a distance we were just part of the crowd going to class. And people were too preoccupied with the coming exams to pay us much heed. Exams, by the way, that I would also have been worried about if I didn’t have a friend in extreme danger.

  We were just entering the main courtyard with the jewel garden when someone did intercept us. “Rylynn! Westley! What are you two doing?” I started like I had been caught with my hand in the cookie jar.

  “Marius!” Westley said in relief. “Do you have to be so loud?”

  The green-eyed shade grinned. “So? What are you two up to?”

  “We are going after Jason.” I told him. Silently I thought to the mouse in my head Scrae, can you please tell him that Kylesst gave me coordinates to where Jason is going to be in a few hours?

  OF COURSE. The mouse spectral said. I knew the moment that Marius heard the message. And, apparently, he had been expecting something like it.

  Marius nodded at both my si
lent message and what I had said aloud. “Good.” He replied with that mischievous smile of his. “I’m glad to hear that I didn’t steal that LFA in vain.”

  Chapter 25 – Hanging in the Balance

  “That shouldn’t have worked.” Westley muttered to the endless field of stars out of the front view screen. “I can’t believe it worked.”

  “Be glad that it did.” I said from my seat in back. I glanced at the empty seat next to me. It shouldn’t be empty. And, God willing, it wouldn’t be when we returned.

  “I am glad… sort of.” Westley replied glancing at me. A confused tangle of emotions flickered in his hazel eyes. “But we just stole an LFA from the Legion Fleet’s seat of power. The layers of security should have kept us from doing this.”

  “I have long believed that the more complicated something is, the more holes it has in it.” Westley’s co-pilot said philosophically. “Also, the more elaborate the system is the more complacent people become, trusting the system to protect them when in reality it should be them protecting the system.”

  “And when did you get so poetic?” Westley demanded.

  Marius flicked him an amused glance. “Come now, you know the defenses are for those on the outside. Besides, who would expect a trio of students to do something so career threatening?” And Marius had a point. We could be kicked out so fast we would never catch up.

  “And fool on them.” I replied in a tone that had both of them looking at me with raised brows. “They should have known we wouldn’t just sit on our hands while our friend is in danger. Isn’t it also one of the Legion Fleet’s own tenants we are following? Leave no man behind?”

  “Yes, though they expect their orders to be followed. And by ‘they’ I mean Admiral L’Seral and Admiral Knight.” Said Westley

  I snorted. As I figured it, we were following the oldest orders of the Legion Fleet. It may be old, but it still held. I did wonder, though, if security measures would be changed to keep something like our adventure from happening again. And if and when they went to change it, would they find anyone else sneaking through the red tape? As Marius and I knew well, there was already a traitor in the ranks. How many more where there? I shook my head and turned my thoughts away from that issue to focus on the more immediate one.