by Reg Franklin
As she ascended, she kept her eyes closed and tried not to think about how high she was going, having never been a fan of heights to begin with. She kept herself focused on the climb, foot by foot, yard by yard until she felt the rooftop under her shoes and collapsed to her knees, breathing heavily.
“Definitely not doing that again.” She panted, taking time to recover her composure.
---
Calixta sat on board the stealth shuttle as Commander Karman expertly sliced through the atmosphere of Earth. She had her eyes closed, trying to conjure another precognitive vision.
“Not a fan of flying, ma’am?” Karman asked as their flight levelled out, now running parallel to the surface.
“Just fly, Commander, just fly.” She responded as pleasantly as she could. Deciding that no vision was forthcoming, she opened her eyes, turning them to the dossier the Emperor had given her on their North Korean contact. He needed to be pacified, for he was now concerned that the rigged cargo container had been meant for him or his leader. The Emperor gave her carte blanche to deal with the situation as she saw fit.
Everyone in this country was paranoid these days. Alliance troops were pushing inwards from the borders; Pyongyang was besieged, hell, just being able to find a secluded rendezvous location was difficult. Hence Karman’s inclusion on the mission. The man was an expert pilot, in addition to his bodyguard skills.
Before long they landed, the two of them disembarking casually towards their contact...who was in fact accompanied by Dear Leader himself.
This was not going to be pleasant.
The fat toad who currently ran this country was gesticulating wildly, cursing up a storm in Korean. He demanded answers about the bomb, why had they targeted him, why had the Emperor sent a woman to do his work, and on, and on.
Hearing that last made Calixta stop dead in her tracks. Either he did not know she was fluent in his language, or just did not care. She felt a cold rage start to develop in her mind.
“The Emperor sends me because he trusts my judgment more than he does yours.” She snapped in perfect Korean. The toad-like man’s eyes widened briefly, and then narrowed.
“Who are you to address me like this?” He shouted. Their contact, a weaselly man named Pak Kim, stared dumbfounded at the man’s audacity to challenge their benefactors.
“I speak for the Emperor. Were he here, he would have your tongue out for speaking like that. Be silent.”
Pak was desperately trying to reign in his head of state, but he was having no success. “You frame us for assassination, and then come to insult me? You tell your foolish master that I am changing terms of our deal.”
Calixta had to restrain laughter. This worm seriously thought he was in a position of strength to negotiate. “Really? And how exactly will you be changing them?”
“He will send his ships to sweep our borders of invaders, and then gift me with his immortality. Until he does this, I will not pay you another cent for weapons.”
Pak stood dumbfounded, Karman's face remained neutral, but she could sense the rage building in him as well. “I...see. Please excuse me for a few minutes while I carefully consider your...generous...terms.”
She and Karman returned to the shuttle, and once there Karman's face betrayed his anger. “Just give me the word, ma’am, and this hole of a country will be looking for a new master.”
Calixta laughed. “He really thinks he can dictate terms to us? If it wasn't for our shipments he’d already be deposed.” She held up her hand, closed her eyes, and was silent a few seconds. When she opened her eyes, a strange smile played across her lips. “He’s got troops surrounding us, you know. He thinks if he takes us hostage, he’ll get what he wants.”
Karman swore. “We're trapped then.”
Calixta’s smile widened. “Not at all, commander. Their weapons can't penetrate the hull.” With that, she slapped the ramp controls, sealing the exit. “Commander, may I have the honor of ending our business relationships with this fool?”
Karman smiled, sitting down at his chair. Bullets began to ricochet off the hull as he began lift-off procedures. The toad was running at them, screaming. “Fire control is yours, ma’am.” Karman brought the vessel off the ground.
Calixta thumbed the firing stud, blasting a soccer ball sized hole through the arrogant man’s prodigious stomach. She smiled in satisfaction as he fell face first into the mud. She had never taken a life so directly before, but felt no remorse.
After all, it was done out of love for her Emperor. “Let's press on to Site A, Commander.” The small ship lifted off above the trees and flew south.
13.
Jennifer casually walked through the abandoned skyscraper until she reached the former office of Paul Stragdoc. Warning signs had been placed all over the entrance, the double doors chained shut and padlocked. Jennifer merely took the lock in hand and stared at it, mentally manipulating its inner workings until it snapped open.
A moment later she was in, and looking directly at the large steel door authorities had discovered hidden behind Paul’s former desk. Six feet tall, four feet wide, and estimated to be around two feet thick, hiding God only knew what. There was a digital keypad on the wall, as well as a combination dial. Jennifer was confident that both were, in fact, bogus.
She stood facing the door and laid her hand upon it, stretching her mind into its mechanisms, not unlike how she had entered the office. She probed deeply, determining which pieces were linked to the detonation cycle, which were not, then, relatively confident in her choice, telekinetically popped the locking mechanism.
She had been right: the door could only be opened safely that way, every other visible unlock point was wired. The door swung wide, and she gasped at the contents.
---
Site A was where the Chancel’s initial construction had taken place. Somewhere so utterly isolated no one had even considered looking there for the Emperor once he had fled custody. These days, it remained isolated, but was now used as a planetary base of operations. The reason none of the Alliance members had found how they had been getting weapons to the planet was surprisingly simple: they had always been on the surface to begin with.
As Calixta entered the main facility, she opened her parka and brushed snow from her hair. It truly was unfortunate that her current evolutionary state did nothing for discomfort.
One of the technicians, whose nametag identified him as John Parsyns, greeted her. “Ms. Morsalis, I hope you had a safe trip?”
“Quite safe. You know why I’m here?”
“Yes ma’am. If you’ll follow me?” Parsyns led her and Karman down a corridor. “When the Emperor contacted us to begin work on this, we weren't sure we could make it work, but we're just about ready for the first tests.” He swiped a keycard, opening a pair of double doors.
“Yes, that's why I’m here, to be his eyes and ears on the ground for the test later this week.” Calixta stretched as they walked, the long flight from Asia having given her some mild muscle cramps.
“The Emperor also mentioned you have some talents that might assist before we begin?” Parsyns looked at her curiously. As far as he knew, she was primarily a diplomat. He knew nothing of her visions.
Calixta smiled indulgently at him. “All in good time. I’d like to see my quarters and check in with the Emperor, but first if you would show it to me?”
“Of course, I was bringing you there first anyway. Forgive my presumption.”
A minute later, they were standing in a hanger, gazing at a sleek craft. “Beautiful.” Calixta pronounced. “It will be a marvellous addition to our fleet.”
---
Gold and silver bricks lined a wall of the vault, along with precious gemstones. Jennifer’s eyes could not help but widen at the wealth displayed. She had suspected that Paul had maintained a number of assets in here, but this…
She wondered how much she could get out. So much of this could be put to good use, in not only her fight but also seeded int
o communities around the world.
However, there was more on display than just Paul’s personal horde. There was also a computer server. This, Jennifer knew, was not something that she could take with her. And she had no idea if Paul was aware his security had been breached. Moreover, if he did, how long before he sent someone to stop her? Or blow the building remotely?
She sat down and began calling up files. She had found out the full story about Paul's brazen escape from jail, how the briefly surviving guard had heard mention of “Site A”. Investigators after the fact thought it referred to the Chancel, she was not so sure. It somehow seemed more likely that he had had some kind of hidey-hole on Earth before relocating to space. And if so, there might be clues to his next moves there…
She sucked in air when she finally found it. “Antarctica?” It did make a perverse kind of sense: who the hell would look there? Most of the scientific research facilities there had been abandoned when the ice caps began a severe melt in the ‘30s and the ones that had not…
She swore. The ones that had not were wholly owned subsidiaries of Psi-Omega Industries as part of their “Heavy Construction Division”. That was it, Site A was not just his hideout, it was where initial construction of the Chancel had taken place. And God alone knew what else.
14.
Satisfied with her initial tour of the prototype craft, Calixta settled into her private quarters, and called her Emperor.
“Calixta.” He beamed at her through the screen. “I understand there's been something of a coup d’etat in North Korea. Your doing, I presume?”
She blushed, and filled him in on the events. “Can't say I'm surprised.” He muttered. “I suspected that sooner or later that weasel was going to get too arrogant. Are you alright?”
“Perfectly.” She smiled.
“I only ask because you’ve never taken a life before now. It can be hard for someone not used to it.”
Calixta gazed into his eyes. “For the insult to you, I would have burned the entire country to the ground, salted the earth, and done it with a smile on my face.”
Aboard the Chancel, Stragdoc found himself pleasantly taken aback by the ferocity of Calixta’s devotion. And aroused. “At any rate, the nation surrendered to the Alliance hours after you left. While that cuts down on the number of business partners we have, they served their purpose well enough.”
“A distraction, sir?”
Calixta was learning. Fast. “Exactly. While they're mopping up Terrestrial affairs, we are busy preparing to take the planet back.”
“Which is why I'm at Site A.” The smile she gave him radiated with affection. “The prototype is ready for initial tests of its new engine system.”
“Perfect. If successful, that engine will be expanded and fitted to the Chancel.” Rather than risk the large vessel to a test of the faster-than-light drive, he had ordered a ship to be built around Simms’ engine design. Built roughly to scale, it should accurately simulate the stresses that the Chancel’s ultimate new shape would be exposed to if they found a need to escape.
A flickering light caught the Emperor’s attention. Secure data archives were being remotely accessed. Tapping a few commands, he traced the location to…
On the other end of the video feed, Calixta saw her Imperial lover swear violently. “Someone breached the vault in Toronto.” He ground out.
Calixta closed her eyes, trying to visualize who could be inside. It came quite quickly. “A blonde woman.”
“Yes, I assumed that, thank you.” He snapped. Why didn't I destroy the contents? He mentally berated himself. “Calixta, gather Karman and a small strike team. Get to the tower and retrieve or destroy anything left there!” He saw her hurt expression. “Calixta. You're the only one I can trust with this.”
Shaking off his angry sarcasm as a result of the shock, Calixta nodded. “And if the woman is still there?”
Stragdoc grinned wolfishly. “I leave it to your best judgement.”
She nodded, cutting the connection. She knew how best to deal with the mystery woman. She would cut out the bitch’s heart and present it to her master.
---
Jennifer was still rooting around in the files when she realized something: this was not an abandoned file system; it was remotely linked to the Chancel. She excitedly began digging further, trying to find out the next phase of Paul's plans so she could get ahead of him.
She only had time to access construction reports, indicating that the vessel was being re-configured, when she heard a loud crunching sound from the roof. Damn. Jennifer scurried to gather as much abandoned wealth as she could comfortably carry.
Footsteps, down the hall. She could sense them, five men and a woman. The woman's mind stood out the most, her thoughts glowing like magma. No time to flee the room, she knew they had orders to kill. Damn damn damn. She mentally berated herself. Of course he would be able to find out she had accessed the vault.
Casting her mind back to the hall, she heard the woman give orders.
-I want her alive. Shoot to wound, but I want her alive. Understand?
Well that was paradoxical. Jennifer scanned her thoughts more deeply. Oh, that was why. Because she wanted the “pleasure” of killing Jennifer herself. She grimaced, pulling a small conventional firearm before looking to the vault and getting a better idea.
---
For a moment, Calixta felt different, almost as if feather-light fingers had touched her head. She shook it off. Karman was preparing to breach the door. Suddenly a flash of vision hit her. “Get down!”
Just as she hit the floor, a bar of gold hurtled through the door, striking the man to Karman's right in the head, felling him instantly. Three more bars followed in quick succession.
Karman knelt next to one of the holes and blindly shot through it. Calixta crawled to the fallen soldier, checked his pulse. Faint, but there. Thank god for Alphite physiology. No, she mentally corrected, thank the Emperor. A bar of silver plowed through the wall above her. She pulled a sonic grenade from the man’s belt and hurled it through the newest hole. Sonics were designed to stun, not kill, but she was still horrified to see it neatly pop right back out on her side of the wall. She grabbed it and threw it away, shielding her ears from the blast. The troops she had brought had worn ear protection at least. Another gold bar, this one only a foot away from her head. This bitch is playing with us.
Calixta was not far off in that thought. Jennifer was indeed having a bit of fun, knowing that if any of the bricks connected, they would not do any lasting damage to her opponents. This time she mentally grabbed as many bars as she could and hurled them through a nearby window, telekinetically directing them to a nearby rooftop. She knew that soon she would have to deal with the military coming up to see what had landed on the roof in addition to Paul’s force of sycophants, so it would be best not to be here then. Glancing back, she saw her female opponent through the last hole she had made and recognized her from the news. “Not your most diplomatic solution, Ambassador.” Jennifer gaily called out, as she settled a new mental grip. This could end very badly, but it was the only solution to her current situation.
Calixta was attempting to line up a shot on the blonde woman, when she suddenly ran for a broken window and leapt out. Unbelievingly, she ran into the room, to the broken glass, expecting to see a blonde smear on the pavement. Instead, she saw the woman gliding to a nearby building’s roof. Karman joined her, staring unbelievingly at the flying woman.
“That...that’s not possible.” Karman stuttered. She landed on the roof, turned and looked at the two of them, smiled sweetly, and made an obscene gesture before a pile of gold and silver bars levitated beside her and followed her out of sight.
He is going to be mad at me. Calixta despaired. She attempted to hide her inner turmoil and turned to Karman. “Destroy the computer. Take everything else.”
She did not hide her turmoil that well, as Karman saw tears in her eyes as she turned away.
16.
Rather than return directly to Site A, Calixta opted to return to the Chancel, and own up to the disaster in Toronto. Karman and his men were forced to fire upon the Canadian troops guarding the building, who had ascended to investigate the battle noises above them, as well as the obvious spaceship on the roof.
Calixta gave her full report kneeling before the Emperor, trying to maintain her composure, but failing quite miserably. “Pity about the soldiers. I always liked Canada.” She heard her master’s voice above her. “Get up, Calixta, show some dignity for god’s sake.”
Sniffling, she rose. She could not bear to look at him, so much trust he put in her and she had failed so utterly…
“Oh for….” He sighed in exasperation. She felt him willing her head upright to face him. “Calixta. At this point I’m more disappointed in your current behaviour than your inability to kill Safyo.”
