Alien Courage (Rise of the Empress) (18 page)

The boy thrashed about and panicked when he realised
what was kneeling beside him. Brakin lifted him by the scruff of the neck, drew
back his fist and gave the boy a strong blow to the jaw. He slumped into
silence and Brakin lowered him to the snow.

Teni and Sasra made their way to Brakin who was now
standing over the boy. They both had the guns, knives and other valuables from
two dead Beclin, their aim was true.
Url
laboured up
the slope through the snow to join them, his broad smile easy to see. When he
arrived his smile faded as he noticed the body at Brakin’s feet move. He
quickly grabbed the axe hanging off his belt and raised it as he moved closer
to the boy. Brakin caught his arm and began wrestling with
Url
,
they both fell to the snow.

Url
pushed Brakin away and was very confused. He got up
quickly and made another lunge for the boy. Brakin scrambled in the snow and
jumped between them, pushing
Url
away again. “No Url!
Wait!” He shouted. Sasra and Teni looked on with amazement; they didn’t know
what to do.

Url
backed away and drew his knife with his free hand,
circling Brakin with blazing eyes. His axe raised in one hand and his long
razor sharp knife in the other. Brakin upended his gun and held it like a club.
The air was tense; Teni and Sasra froze in fear.

The two men circled each other in the snow, their eyes
locked.

Brakin spoke as he shuffled in a circle watching
Url
very closely. “He’s a boy! Maybe he’s the son of a
Chief. They will soon be looking for him. He will make a fine hostage, much to
barter with… Url, he’s too valuable to kill without barter.”

Url
stopped circling but kept his menacing pose but his
eyes softened.  He relaxed his arms and lowered his weapons.  Brakin
lowered his gun cautiously. No one said anything, the four men just standing in
the snow looking at each other.

Url
slowly sheafed his knife then tied his axe back on
his belt. He walked up to Brakin and looked intently at him. “Url
think
this,” he said patting his axe, “You think this,” he
said pointing to Brakin tapping his forehead. “You way, good here,” he said and
smiled.

The men sighed relief and congratulated
Url
on a excellent plan. He beamed with pride and walked
over to the boy lying in the snow. He bent down and grabbed his coat at the
chest and with two hands hauled the boy to his feet.
Url
took one hand off him and grabbed a handful of snow off his coat and rubbed it
in the boy’s face. The boy moaned and opened his eyes.  He focused on
Url’s
bearded face and blazing eyes, Url smiled. “
Eeeek
!” the boy exclaimed and promptly fainted.

Url
turned his head and looked at his companions with a
stunned expression on his face, still holding the unconscious boy. “What Url
do
?” he said.

The three men instantly roared with laughter. Sasra
pointed at
Url’s
face and fell to the ground almost
choking.
Url
dropped the boy with a slushy thump and
turned to look at his companions. With hands on his hips he slowly shook his
head. 

The relief from laughter was short lived as
Url
became restless looking at the sky. Brakin got him to
agree to return to the cave with the boy and formulate a course of action. Teni
and Sasra tied the unconscious boy on the Beclin hunting sled and made their
way back. They all welcomed the decision as they soon had to fight against gale
force winds which came in from the east with sheets of snow coming in
horizontally.
Url
was the last to enter the cave, he
turned and looked as the outside world went totally white. He grunted and went
inside the cave.

High above and far away from the atmosphere of Zion
five tiny dots moved quickly across the void of space at the very edge of
Zion’s solar system. The Emperor and his escort were heading back to
Ennack. 

Four Imperial Starfighters flew in diamond formation
around the Emperor’s personal ship named ‘Traveller,’ a custom built Galaxy
Cruiser. It was one the most advanced ships in the Confederacy. Its crew of
eight is composed of six elite class android pilots, programmed in all
engineering aspects of the ship. The other two were humanoid pilots, the
Captain and his Number One Officer. Three scholars of the Articles of
Intervention were also onboard for this flight.

The Emperor was in deep conversation with the Scholars
when the Captain said through the intercom.  “Sir, Space Command is
hailing us.”

The Emperor got up quickly and climbed the short
ladder to the flight deck. He sat in the communication’s seat and operated the
console. “Traveller here,” he said.

“Space Command acknowledging
Traveller, switching to secure band frequency 6TA-909 Acknowledge.”

The Emperor quickly pulled his diary out of his pocket
to decipher the code and turned a tiny dial, symbols flashed on the screen,
“34C2-8,” the Emperor replied.

“Affirmative Traveller.
Stand by…”

“Sir, Admiral
Cleed
reporting. The Academy is under Trigealian intervention and Assengi Priests are
active in that location.”

“The staff?”
The Emperor asked.

“No data Sir. All communication is down with the
Academy. There is no response to our enquiries, however scans show all
personnel present except the Administrator,” answered the Admiral.

“The Trigeals, Priests?”

“Trigeals still there, present location Staff
Barracks.
The Priests no longer registering on scans Sir.

“Thank you Admiral, keep me posted. Traveller out,”

“Space Command acknowledges, out”.

The Emperor sat back in his seat and gripped the arm
rests tightly. He was not particularly surprised with the current events at the
Academy. The missing Administrator added an unknown dimension for him but he
had to make a decision. He spun his chair around and looked across the pressed
metal decking to the back of the two flight chairs with the Captain and his
First Officer seated in them. He looked beyond to the many coloured
illuminators and flashing buttons of their consoles and then into outer space
through the main screen. The stars and constellations of the Confederacy were
easily identified. He wondered how he could keep the House alliances together
with the steady build up of secret androids and attack space craft. He sprung
to his feet and in two strides gripped the ladder and slid below.

The Emperor tapped one of the Scholars on the shoulder,
“follow me,” he said. He led the man down a ladder to a lower level and took
him into a small stateroom. “I need you to return to Irrimus and take Johe to
safety if this situation deteriorates. The codes of the pilot transfer data may
have to be recovered quicker than we think from the Earthman’s mind. The
Administrator is now missing, I think the Assengi have him,” he said quietly.

Torquay nodded his head slowly. “You understand what
would happen if the Assengi catch Johe and myself together while they have
possession of the Administrator. The Earthman’s memory will be nothing for them
to decipher. The codes must not fall into their hands; otherwise the
Confederacy will be lost to an evil of incomparable magnitude. Black Priests
operating T334s is a horror beyond imagination.”

The Emperor leaned his head against the bulkhead and
sighed. “Just why do the Assengi exist? They cause the Trigeals all sorts of
trouble as well as disrupting the Imperial Court,” the Emperor always asked,
frustrated with them. “They live in my Palace and I don’t know why”, he
seethed.

Torquay understood his Emperor’s frustration and tried
once again to explain to him why the Trigeals allow such an organisation to
exist at such a high level of influence. This was an area of understanding
Torquay had the greatest of difficulty explaining so it could be understood.
“Sire, the Assengi exist knowingly to both the Trigeals and the Confederacy
because if they didn’t exist in a known condition they would in an unknown
condition, which is a scenario even more dangerous. They also create a
diversion of attention away from the Trigeals. It gives us something to occupy
ourselves with, something more immediate to hate, so to speak.”

“That is just a theory surely. I would wipe them out
in a moment if the Trigeals didn’t intervene. We would be a lot better off
without them,” the Emperor explained yet again to Torquay.

Torquay looked at him and saw the blazing anger and
frustration in the Emperor, he truly hated the Assengi. “Please look at their
effect on you Sire. The Trigeals don’t have to intervene upon you; you are
doing that for them as we speak. The Trigeals know there are conspiracies
against them and by allowing something like the Assengi to exist; well…
attention is diverted away from them.”

“I do know what you mean!” the Emperor said raising
his voice, “but it still doesn‘t explain to me why they operate independent of
the Trigeals and get away with it. No one in my Empire has that right! ” the
Emperor said venting his anger.

“Sire, I do understand but we need…”

The Emperor’s features went solid and he lashed out at
Torquay, “And who are you to advise me! He shouted, eyes blazing.

Torquay bowed his head and took a tiny step toward the
Emperor and whispered, “What don’t the Assengi know about you Sire?” 

“What about me?” The Emperor said raising his voice.

“What don’t the Assengi know about you?”

The Emperor glared hard at Torquay. Torquay raised an
eyebrow, “well?”

“You dare to speak to me like that. I’ll have you…”

“What don’t the Assengi know about you?” Torquay
repeated, his words cutting through the Emperor’s rage. The Emperor looked very
hard and long at Torquay. A lesser man would have fallen to his knees with the
way the most powerful man in the Confederacy was looking at them. The two men
stood with their eyes locked, one in a rage and the other calm.

The Emperor’s face changed to an evil grin. “They
don’t know I’ve amassed a couple of android regiments among the secret armies
specifically programmed to annihilate them at the first instant of a Trigeal
uprising.”

This Torquay already knew that as did many others and
pressed the question again, “yes, but what don’t the Assengi really know about
you
?”

“I’ve got nothing to hide about those evil merchants
of horror…” the Emperor suddenly stopped talking and saw Torquay’s raised
eyebrow and knew he was going to get the same annoying question again. Suddenly
his mind jolted and a memory flashed. He smiled to himself internally as he
looked at it and then looked sternly at Torquay but he couldn’t hold it and
whispered. “I ordered my Captain to assassinate that tall blacked robbed Priest
who used to threaten my guests with mind probes and actually had one of my
friends probed. Created quite an intervention if you remember but the Captain
is a good Officer and had it done undetected.” The Emperor felt relieved and
not quite so angry anymore. Torquay nodded with a faint smile now happier the
Emperor wasn’t so irrational on the subject of the Assengi. The present
circumstances were taking a terrible toll on his stability.

The Emperor straightened his uniform and said, “Anyone
but you who would talk to me in such a way would find themselves on a worker’s
moon for the rest of existence. I don’t know how you do what you do Torquay but
you are my most trusted advisor,” the Emperor said knowing he had a very wise
and powerful ally in this man but added, “I would appreciate if you would have
a chat to the Empress sometime.”

“As you wish Sire,” Torquay replied smiling.

“Now, I will send you back to Irrimus with one of my
escorts. It will be android piloted and the ship cloaked until you cross
Irrimus’s border. Lord Ambrae will be expecting you as I will be in contact him
while you are in flight. I just want you there but say nothing. Do you have any
questions or is there anything I can do for you Torquay?”