Alien Courage (Rise of the Empress) (60 page)

The Ensign was shocked. He stared at the cylinder and
then at the Captain and involuntarily took a few steps backward.

“No. I didn’t kidnap him. Nor did I murder anyone let
alone steal my own ship,” the Captain said quickly knowing what was going on in
his Ensign’s mind.

“Why… why is he here then?” the Ensign stammered.

“I was ordered to get him to a safe location and wait.
I went to Zion only to get the Emperor’s ship. I felt he would be safer with it
and we would have a better chance of avoiding detection,” The Captain
explained.

“Detection by whom, why?”

The Captain realized the Ensign didn’t know about the
incident in the Imperial Court and being placed under Court arrest by the White
Priest. “Ensign,” he said seriously, “there was an assignation attempt on the
Emperor of which I’m sure you are aware.” The Ensign facial expression showed
he understood. “Well the attempt was made by someone very high in the Court who
had access to the Emperor. I was ordered to keep the Emperor safe but whoever
did this terrible thing has set me up with murder and kidnapping. There is
every chance the Emperor would be killed along with any attempt to capture me
or should I say us. You are part of all this now whether you like it or not.”

The Ensign sat down and stared into his hands. “I
don’t know anything about that sort of thing Sir. I’m just an Ensign and it was
my duty when you asked me along on a secret mission. I had no idea it would
turn out like this,” he said trying to come to terms with the information he
now knew.

“Neither did I Ensign. But there is no escaping the
fact the greatest man in the Confederacy lies in that cylinder close to death. I
am asking you this; it is not an order, that you assist me to find a cure for
whatever is wrong with him. Will you assist me?” the Captain asked looking the
young Ensign squarely in the eyes.

“It would be my greatest duty to assist the Emperor in
any way I can Sir,” the Ensign said standing up and saluting.

The Captain felt relieved, stood up and returned the
salute. “This will probably cost us our lives,” the Captain said.

The Ensign cocked his head to one side and half smiled
replying, “I intend to make that as expensive as possible Sir.” The Captain
smiled but pointed to the other life support cylinder and raised his eyebrows.

The Ensign turned to look, “I wonder who is in there?”

“I don’t know Ensign. Let’s take a look,” the Captain
said kneeling down and releasing the catches to the outer cover. He pulled the
cover open and worked the control panel so the fan extracted the humid mist
from the cylinder. “Well, I’ll be…” the Captain said surprised.

The Ensign looked at the face of an old man with a
white beard, “who is it Sir?”

“It’s a Scholar by the name of Torquay. He is a close
advisor to the Emperor. I wonder what he was doing on Zion,” replied the
Captain looking closely at him.

“Maybe the smugglers already had him Sir.”

“I don’t think so. See the blood on the handles, it’s
also on the skins over there and they are from Zion,” the Captain observed. “No
one was on Traveller when she left Ennack except the android pilot. I scanned
the ship personally.”

“He looks injured,” the Ensign noticed.

“Yes he does. A head wound which means he was helped
into the cylinder by someone else. This is quite a mystery,” the Captain said.

“Yes sir. Could he help us with the Emperor? He is a
Scholar you said.”

“Indeed he is Ensign. We need a medical facility and
someone trained to handle that sort of trauma. The Traveller has a medical
program that can be run through the android crew on the ship. We need Traveller
more than ever.” The Captain realized.

“I’ll get back to the Bridge Sir. Maybe there’s
something I can work out to track Traveller a little more efficiently,” the
Ensign said and walked towards the ladder.

“Good work Ensign,” the Captain said then closed the
cover on Torquay’s cylinder and secured it. He stepped back and looked at the
two cylinders on the floor, “somehow Sir, somehow I’ll work this all out,” he
said to the Emperor and turned to join the Ensign.

---------

Across the sector a standard patrol of Starfighters
were flying at maximum speed toward Zion, soon they would near the planet’s
orbit. The Commander of the patrol picked up the Black Priest’s ship and
Starfighter support on long range scans.

“Starfighter patrol in sector 392-21T do you require
assistance?” He transmitted.

“Negative. Assengi authorized mission underway. Do not
approach this area.
Out.”

The Commander of the patrol ceased his transmission
abruptly as he heard the name Assengi and did not communicate further.

Across the other side of the quadrant another
Confederate Patrol listened to the transmission and reported the communication
directly back to Imperial Headquarters at Space Fleet Command. The Empress was
notified immediately.

“Admiral,” the Empress said over the communicator, “my
concern lies with the safety of the Emperor. I feel the Black Priest may in his
obsession with the Captain of the Guard resort to all manner of violent means
to apprehend him, killing the Emperor in the process. Do whatever is necessary
to make sure that type of thing does not happen.”

“I will recall their mission at once, my Empress” the
Admiral stated firmly.

“Oh no, we can’t do that.”The Empress replied. The
Black Priest is operating on an Imperial Court Directive and even I cannot
alter that without a full sitting of the Court. Just remain aware of what he is
capable of and step in at the appropriate moment and rescue the Emperor. You
can do that can’t you?” she said sweetly.

“I will do everything in my power, my Empress,” the
Admiral said feeling nervous, knowing the impossibility of being precise in
such a matter.

“Very good Admiral.
We will need a new Commander of the Tactical Fleet as
the last one died recently, poisoned I believe. You would like the position,
wouldn’t you?”

The Admiral knew he couldn’t offend by refusal and
quietly agreed.
“Yes, of course my Empress.”

“Very good it’s settled. Bring me the Emperor
unharmed,” she said and ended the transmission.

The Empress returned to her chambers and sat next to
the technician working on her new personal androids. “They will be operational
very soon, my Empress.”

“Can they do what I ask without question,” she said
looking intently at the technician working inside the android’s head.

“Oh yes my Empress. These are the latest technology.
They are classified as ‘elite assault class troops’ as their base model. I have
modified these two as personal body guards and installed the memory programming
of your servant class androids they will be replacing. The fail safe systems have
been modified to be overridden by your voice and they will shoot to kill on
your command or if your life is endangered in any way.”

“And the memory status?” she asked.

“Yes my Empress, as you requested they cannot have
their active memory scanned as its self erasing. Any attempt to bypass their
systems to recover their memory data will result in circuit meltdown. There
that’s it, finished.”

“Thank you, do they work?”

“Indeed my Empress.”

“Good, shoot him,” the Empress commanded and pointed at
the technician. Both androids produced a blaster and shot the technician who
fell dead minus his vaporized head. “Oh yes they do indeed. Clean up this mess
and get rid of the body,” she ordered the androids.  

Filo slithered into the room and watched as the
androids pick up the body. He stepped aside as they dragged it out and turned
watching them go past. He looked at the Empress, “it is time,” he said and
produced a vile and handed it to her. She accepted it and drank the liquid.
This was her second multiple pregnancy she just aborted.

“Soon you will no longer need these.” Filo said
holding up a vile. Your body is changing rapidly.”

“Yes, I look forward to controlling my body,” she said
feeling the flatness of her stomach, “I urge to have my child. One who can
aspire to great things and lead the Confederacy,” she said smiling with cold
lifeless eyes.

“I look forward to our new Emperor with all worthiness
my simple self can offer,” he said slowly in perfect Confederate.

The Empress moved toward him gracefully and placed her
hand on the side of his face caressing his now soft scales, “yes, soon you will
appreciate the control I have upon my body,” she said softly.

---------

Peter sat in the co pilot’s seat and looked at the
main screen. The inky blackness of space fascinated him. He felt elated but
didn’t know why.

Cassy came over and half sat and half leaned against
the main console. She looked at her brother’s body and knew there was someone
else there, yet her own observation saw too many similarities with her brother.
“Thank you for rescuing me on Zion.”

Peter turned his head slightly to look at Cassy. “You
are very welcome. Your safety is important to Toormis, is it not?” He said
glancing over to Toormis who had half his body inside a computer module working
on it on the other side of the Bridge.

“Yes, he has always taken my life seriously, sometimes
a little too seriously I feel,” she replied looking at Toormis.

“He loves you?” Peter asked.

“He is someone I have known all my life but never knew
him at all. He is now like someone I met recently and fell in love with. I
learn new things about him every time frame,” she said putting her hand to her
face and feeling her cheek. “I think of him all the time.” Cassy turned her
head and looked closely at Peter. His eyes met hers and she saw someone real,
not her robot pilot brother who she had never really known but someone with a
life of their own. The softness in her face and eyes was felt by Peter who
relaxed, a contented smile forming on his lips.

“Is there someone special Peter?” Cassy asked softly.

Peter kept his look on Cassy but he facial expression
hinted at not understanding the question.

Cassy folded her arms as if she was cold and hugged
her body. “Do you miss anyone?” she asked.

Peter felt uncomfortable as the question was
understood easily but no memory materialized in his mind. He tried to gather
feelings so he could answer the question but his mind remained blank. A tear formed
in the corner of his eye and trickled down his cheek disappearing into the
corner of his mouth. A pain swept through him which welled up and shook his
body. He looked at Cassy and his face screamed for help with an overwhelming
feeling he didn’t understand. He looked lost.

Cassy stood and moved over to him and knelt in front
of him. She took both of his hands and held them. Neither spoke but a comfort
flowed from her through to him. Peter closed his eyes tightly as a new
sensation not needing memories gave him a feeling of belonging and purpose.

The Administrator entered the Bridge and was paying
attention to his arm console when he casually looked up. He saw Cassy holding
Peter’s hands and stopped. The instant thought he had was emotion is not a
characteristic of a T334 pilot but he quickly realized all life needs comfort
at times and he backed away and quietly went back to his cabin and studied his
data cubes.

Peter carefully released himself from Cassy’s hands
and sat upright. He looked around and seemed lost but focused on the console.
His hand moved to it and his fingers danced on the keypad. A space chart
appeared on the screen and a series of low frequency scans emanated from
Traveller. The scans returned and a siren sounded which caused Toormis to bang
his head inside the computer module.