Defender of the Empire: Cadet #1

by Catherine Beery

  Marius’s chuckle drew my attention. “Oh please! Westley, don’t try to tell me that the best pilot in his class never once bent the rules a little. And I know, from good authority, that your idea of bending rules included pushing LFAs speed records after hours, if you know what I mean.” He said winking back at me.

  “You mean to tell me that Westley took LFAs out for joyrides?” I asked in disbelief. My eyes flicked between the two of them, wondering if it was possible that Westley had truly done something like that. It seemed impossible considering his love of rules. Then again, he had ignored orders in an attempt to keep a perceived coward from sullying his beloved Legion Fleet. Was it possible that I hadn’t engendered a onetime event?

  Westley grunted. “I only took them out every once in a while.” Westley grudgingly admitted.

  “Truly?! Without permission?” I actually asked aloud.

  Marius laughed, from the gut this time, while Westley grumbled. “Don’t let the good boy facade fool you, Rylynn.” Marius began in a tone of playful insight. The green eyed imp ignored the warning look shot his way from Westley. “When our dear Westley says that he once in a while took an LFA for a fly around, he means to say that he was part of high speed races with his friends. You could say it was a divine vocation granted him to make sure LFAs were still testing the limits of their construction.”

  “And where did you hear this?” Westley demanded.

  “Some old racing buddies of yours.” Marius said.

  Before Westley could demand exact names I interrupted. “How fast can you fly one of these things, anyway?” I asked.

  “Just shy of the speed of light.”

  “And you flew that in an atmosphere?” I asked.

  “She is onto you, my friend.” Marius warned.

  “Because you had to bring things up.” Westley said. Marius’s only reaction was to smile. Westley must have felt my stare because he finally confessed to a single race in the imperial system. He added that there had been safety measures taken but still…

  “Were you ever caught?” I asked.

  “Yeah, but I just got a slap on the hand because I was able to point out tweaks to the ship’s design; ways to make it faster, more economical, and make it handle like a dream.”

  “So, how soon will this ship get us to our destination?” I asked. As fascinating as I found it that Westley had had a direct hand in designing the Legion Fleet’s scout ships I was also worried for Jason. We only had so much time before we lost him forever.

  Westley seemed to understand. “Five hours at this speed, but I’m going to jump into hyperspace once we are away from the disrupter field. That will cut it down to two hours. In the meantime, what’s the plan?”

  “Arrive. Take stock of what we are up against. I have this feeling that we’ll need some assistance to deal with the mercenaries’ employers. So we’ll send this message to Admiral L’Seral and Captain Wingstar once we get there. Then we will find where Jason is being held, get him out and escape. Failing that, stall till we are rescued.” I said. “Obviously there are a lot of holes, but that can’t be helped till we know what the situation is like.” I added.

  “Two things, why don’t we send that request for aid sooner so we are not sitting ducks for too long if we have to stall.” Marius suggested before asking “And why only send it to Admiral L’Seral and Captain Wingstar?”

  He knew one of the reasons, the one I couldn’t say aloud yet. The other was simple enough. “They are the ones heading up the investigation.” I replied.

  Moments later when we must have been pass the disrupter field Westley phased us into the hyper field. The light of space and time folding around us washed into the cabin. On the Hail Mary I had spent hours staring at it. Now I just concentrated on learning as much as I could about the sector we were flying to and any hints in the database about the Telmicks that we could use to aid us. Maybe some custom that I hadn’t seen or understood back on Colony Lenti. Of course, there was no guarantee that any of this information would be useful when pitted against a large sum of credits. After all, we were up against mercenaries. As to the information I was getting on where we were headed… there was very little of interest to the empire. Just a brown dwarf surrounded by a cloud of debris that had stayed around because the star had never ignited, never releasing a solar wind. Granted, the debris could be used for fuel, but there were many other brown dwarfs in the empire. One on the edge was of little consequence, apparently.

  I sat there with my head tilted back against the seat and wondered how we could use any of this information to our advantage.

  ***

  Spectral Empire

  Edge of the N’avé System

  Talis’talklen ses-Ky sat among his men in the mess of their ship the Dark Claw. He chewed thoughtfully on a Heral Beast leg. The dense meat relinquished its flavored juices against his tongue. He took great, primal pleasure in shredding it with his teeth. Reclining next to him was his second, Saffa’tauta ses-Ky. The male was laughing with the men next to him. It was right. It was how it was supposed to be.

  The raid had been successful against an enemy with more teeth than they had thought. They only lost a few and only due to the fact that they had been unable to escape the fiery explosion. Talis’talklen ses-Ky mentally shrugged. The Ky danced with, ate with, and slept with Death every breath they took. Life was never a guaranteed thing. It was a gift, not a right. All of the ses-Ky knew that. So they lived and took what they could from it before Death stole them away. Talis’talklen ses-Ky took another bite of his meat considered how the universe now lacked in two honorable enemies.

  It was rare for anyone to cross blades with the ses-Ky. Any who did tended to use excessive violence to overwhelm his warriors. It only proved to him how weak most were, but they were wise in one way only. You had to kill a ses-Ky to permanently stop one.

  It was even rarer to run into a group of cadets, human cadets, mind, who were unsuspecting and under armed to fight against his warriors. Humans were renowned to be a weak race as a whole. Most were too polite to say it to their faces, but even they knew the truth. Which was why they had developed the one thing that gave them an advantage. And that was technology. It artificially granted them the abilities nature had not seen fit to give them. It could make them faster and stronger. With it they were also able to develop weapons such as blasters that made them very dangerous. Telmicks had fallen in love with the versatility of the blasters and had taken some for themselves.

  What had made the scuffle with the cadets so rare was that they had not tried to kill his men, but instead had disabled them. It had intrigued Talis’talklen ses-Ky. He hadn’t been the only one who had been fascinated. It was why he and his men had not killed the cadets by their own hand when they could, and usually would, have. Sadly, the strange creatures were little more than ash and dust now. The only one who had likely made it was the boy who had followed Saffa’tauta ses-Ky to the shuttle.

  Talis’talklen ses-Ky took a swig of his mrak in a personal toast to his fallen enemies. The frothy fermented drink burned his throat in that way he enjoyed.

  He grinned when one of the men, one who had seen the bottom of too many mugs, swayed to his feet and tried to fight another who was laughing at him. Apparently, Kifen’alusa ses-Ky did not like to be laughed at. Problem was, he was only making it worse for himself. Ai’alusa ses-Ky didn’t have to raise a hand to defend himself since the over-drunk man kept swinging himself to the ground. Talis’talklen ses-Ky had to give the drunk credit for perseverance. Eventually Kifen’alusa ses-Ky couldn’t figure out which way was up anymore, so he stayed on the ground, to the great merriment of his fellows. Although they were a little disappointed that the entertainment had quit for now.

  Their employers were not expected for a few more hours yet, so there was plenty of time for the entertainment to resume. Either from Kifen’alusa ses-Ky or some other who drank too much. Talis’talklen ses-Ky absently wondered why their employers wanted a thirtee
n cycle old cadet. He wasn’t too concerned though because he understood the first rule of being a mercenary: don’t question why. He also didn’t care, as long as he got paid.

  ***

  All was quiet, which to most would be a good thing, but it made me nervous. Especially when dealing with Telmicks. When on the hunt, they were quiet. And all was quiet so far as we intruded into their ship. Did they know we were here?

  Westley and Marius were also uneasy. After all, we were on an enemy ship, full of unknowns… Scrae, Luna can you scout ahead? Can you find Jason? I asked.

  OF COURSE WE CAN. Scrae replied. WE ARE SPECTRALS AFTER ALL. A BETTER QUESTION WOULD BE ‘WILL WE’? OOF! His mental voice grunted.

  SHUSH MOUSE! Luna growled. THIS IS NO TIME FOR JOKES. I felt her focus on me. SCRAE AND ZARA WILL GUARD YOU LOT. THE OTHERS WILL LOOK FOR THE TELMICKS. I WILL GO FIND THE BOY.

  Thank you. I thought fervently. The relief of knowing that we would have some sort of advanced warning allowed me to breathe. I was also grateful that we had a Spectral wolf searching for Jason.

  The three of us slinked along the corridor and I got my first real good look at a Telmick mercenary class ship. It was built with its crew in mind. The halls were dauntingly tall. Whatever metal that was used was an odd brown with a greenish tinge. It reminded me of camo that someone would use in a savanna. I wondered why they would use it when the outside of the ship was a more metallic color. It seemed too bland to be an attempt to remind homesick mercenaries of home. But then again, what do I know?

  Time seemed to move sluggishly as we made our way through the ship. I wondered how much time we had before help arrived. As Marius had suggested we had sent out the message requesting aid and giving the coordinates that Kylesst had given me. And, as I had suggested, we had sent the message to both Admiral L’Seral and Captain Wingstar. Shortly after sending our brief transmission Westley had dropped out of hyperspace. He had timed it to be just short of our true destination. We didn’t know what we would find so we decided to check it out first.

  Orbiting a large volcanic world that resided just on the star side of the frost line was the Telmick mercenary ship. It was a bit larger than the shuttle they had used to visit Nem and it was still smaller than an LFP. With careful precision, Westley had docked the LFA to the docking hatch. Marius had done something to silence any alarms. Even so, we had thought that someone would have come to investigate, but that didn’t happen. Which was why we were sneaking about the ship on our toes even if we did have Spectrals helping us.

  I FOUND HIM. Luna announced.

  Where is he? I mentally asked. I couldn’t hide my excitement now that I would soon know where to find my friend.

  TURN LEFT AT THE NEXT INTERSECTION. THE SECOND DOOR ON YOUR RIGHT IS WHERE HE IS BEING HELD.

  Is he hurt?

  Luna sighed. HE IS ALIVE. THEY DID NOT TREAT HIM KINDLY, THOUGH. BUT THEY DID REFRAIN FROM MUTILATING HIM.

  I managed to take some reassurance that Jason had a chance. Which was getting better since we were almost to the intersection.

  How many guards? I asked picking up the pace slightly. Enough that I had both guys staring questioningly at me.

  I nearly tripped when she replied. THERE ARE NONE.

  What? Then where are they?!

  CELEBRATING THEIR RAID. A disgusted new voice said. Even through the disgust I got the idea that whatever Spectral it appeared to be was of the peaceful, down to earth kind.

  THEY WOULDN’T BE EXPECCTING ANYONE TO COME AS YOU THREE DID. Scrae added. THEY DO NOT UNDERSTAND SNEAKING AROUND. BESIDES THEY THINK YOU LOT ARE EITHER DEAD OR TOO DEMORILIZED TO TRY ANYTHING. BESIDES, HOW WOULD YOU KNOW WHERE THEY WERE GOING?

  I snorted softly. Well the Telmicks were going to learn the hard way that size was not everything. I ignored the questioning looks Westley kept throwing my way as I took the lead with purpose in my steps. I couldn’t help myself. We had to get to Jason and I knew where he was. I couldn’t pretend to not know. I figured I would have to find a way to explain myself later when I came up with the story of how I had known the coordinates. I wished my future-self luck with that. I can hear her cursing me now. But right now, I didn’t care. Future explanations didn’t matter at this time. What mattered now was now. Jason’s life was hanging in the balance. What would come would come.

  Entering the narrow room where he was held, I realized just how accurate my thought had been. The three of us paused upon entering the room. Jason was suspended against the rear wall. His wrists were clasped tightly by heavy chains that, coupled with his weight, cut into his wrists. They held his arms up over his head and kept his toes from touching the floor. More chains kept his legs immobile. A tear slipped down my cheek at the evidence of the agony Jason had gone through. Not only were the chains cruel, but it looked like he had been beaten. Before or after he was strung up like a hunk of meat, I don’t know. But what used to be lightly sun bronzed skin was now a mottled coat of black, blue, yellowy brown, and red. No wonder he was unconscious with his head lolling forward listlessly. Westley finally broke the silence. “Damn! What did they do to him?”

  “I don’t know, but it could have been much worse.” I said hurrying toward the boy. “And no, you don’t want to know what could have happened to him.” I said before he could ask.

  It was much worse closer up. I won’t lie to you. I nearly gaged. It angered me that anyone could do something like this to another living being. It angered me more that it had been done to my friend. Fear tangled with the fire of anger because I knew what could have happened to him. And, grateful as I was that it hadn’t, I wondered why. Why had they taken him in the first place? Kylesst had said a prince was going to be kidnapped and I could safely guess Jason hadn’t been completely honest in telling us who he was. The question remained though: Why? Was it a ransom? Or was it something more? Admiral Knight was involved I knew. Just how did everything fit together?

  Stop it Rylynn! I scolded myself. I had a friend who needed aid. I just was stymied as to how to provide that help.

  REALLY? COME ON RYLYNN. SURELY YOU CAN GUESS? Scrae challenged like a teacher. I glanced at Westley and Marius who had come up and started to work on getting Jason down. My eyes widened as I glanced at Marius. Back on Prima Imperium, Marius had still been in some pain from the battle on Nem. The medical nanites could only work so fast and Zara had been trying to help. When I had touched him, I had incidentally transferred some of that energy I had so much of to him. It had healed him faster and healed Zara. Could I do the same for Jason?

  Only one way to find out. I thought to myself as I lightly touched Jason’s chest. I gasped. So much energy was pulled out of me that it appeared as a large bolt of electricity. It was so strong that it caused some of the systems nearest us to stutter. In the flickering light I could see that most of the bruises were gone. Leaving only smears of blood and the lightening of the worse contusions behind.

  “What the hell was that?!” Westley exclaimed glancing uneasily at the flickering lights above us.

  “Doesn’t matter!” Marius hissed at the same time that I was told that our position was being approached by a large number of enemies. “We are going to have company!” Marius continued for Westley’s benefit since no Spectral could warn him. By this time we could hear the clanging of steps coming toward us. Westley swore and took out a plasma knife and began cutting off the chains, leaving the cuffs alone for now. Marius followed his lead. By the time our guests arrived, Jason was free of the wall and just coming around.

  LOOK OUT! Luna howled in warning. And I didn’t see the reason to be redundant since we were already trapped by enemies at our door. In the next moment I learned why.

  Chapter 26- The Imperial Gift

  The tall, gray, and heavily tattooed leader of this band of Telmicks entered the room. A pace behind him was a many limbed creature. It was gray-green in coloration. And had six jointed legs that supported a central body. Its head was an inverted pyramid that supported two eye stalks ab
ove a clicking mouth. Each of the six legs had decorated armor plates and ended in three clawed points. Tooled leather formed a baldric of sorts that covered its humanoid form from one shoulder to just above its legs. Four arms gestured as it spoke with the Telmick leader. There was only one think that fit this description: A Zar’daken. The gesturing conversation stopped in shock when they noticed the four of us.

  The Telmick leader’s yellow eyes widened when he caught sight of me. Hey sucker, I’m back. I couldn’t help thinking with grim humor. His surprise quickly turned to anger. And who could blame him? I mean, here he was assuring his high paying customer that the merchandise was secure and alive only to find that said merchandise was no longer secure. And to make things worse, there were three intruders. His credibility was now very questionable. I almost felt sorry for him… no that’s a lie. I could never feel sorry for a Telmick.

  He shouted orders at his men who were pouring through the door around him and the Zar’daken. We were more than overwhelmed. And to add to it, more Zar’dakens were entering too. I wondered vaguely what they would do if they accidently killed the one they were after? Then I mentally slapped myself and bent my brain to do something more productive- like finding a way out of this situation alive and, preferably, intact.

  Westley, Marius and I were pulling weapons to take as many of them down as we could before one of two things happened: help arrived in time or we were overwhelmed. I definitely preferred the first to the second. I just hoped we could last that long. We ducked behind some luckily placed consoles and storage pods to avoid getting shot ourselves. I jerked Jason undercover next to me. He was still mostly out of it when blasts lit the room in red flashes. Even though that was the stunning color, it still terrified me. What would they do to us if they caught us? It really didn’t bare thinking about. And besides, the Zar’daken used different weapons than us. There probably wasn’t a stun setting on their weapons.