Defender of the Empire 2: Facades

Defender of the Empire

Book 2

Facades

By Catherine Beery

Cover by Andrew Beery

Copyright September 2014

My name is Rylynn Sinclair, and I have survived the Admiral’s Challenge and my first month at the Legion Fleet Academy. I was even made a crewman, along with my friends, stationed on the
Hail Mary
. I was moving up in life and my focus was on the future.

Unfortunately, my past wasn’t finished with me.

It all started with Ace showing up in my room talking with my roommate, and the letter he had. From that point on, everything in my life started to pull me back to Colony Lenti and the secrets that surrounded it. It is truly bizarre to find out you know so little about your own home—that you had been naively believing all the facades were real. Somehow, I still had to figure out how to save my Spectral from ex-Admiral Knight.

Armed with only questions, I found myself back where I had started and thrust into the arms of an enemy I hadn’t even known I had…

Chapter 1 – Cockroaches

             
Cycle 2865 Spectral Empire

              Lenti-solum System

              Colony Lenti

              Valencia

              Valencia the Unpredictable Cat, as many called her for unexplainable reasons, sat at a dirty table in a rundown bar. She marveled that the place still stood, considering where it was. The colony city of Preh’heti was a ruin. About a year ago, it had been a thriving city filled with support businesses for all the miners. Then the Telmicks had come, and nothing was the same. Those more respectable Citizens, those with ample currency, had been able to flee to the Prime World’s cities or off the planet. Valencia couldn’t say she minded too much since it ensured a steady pay, at least for the foreseeable future.

              Taking the place of the Officers of Order were the once-secretive gangs. They were the only source of protection the poor had access to when the Telmicks came to visit. The gangs didn’t mind the new business opportunities either, and a few of them used her services to get paying customers off world.

              Apparently, it wasn’t just gangs and smugglers like her who were still scraping by. This bar she frequented to meet with new customers and gang contacts did very well. No matter how many times the Telmicks stamped their big gray feet, the barkeeper kept coming back. It just proved that where there was a credit to be made, someone would be there. It helped to have nerves of steel and a tenacity that leaned toward suicidal; some just didn’t know when to leave. But she wasn’t complaining. It was her favorite watering hole planet side. And customers knew that it would stick around until the barkeeper died.

              Sadly, that could happen sooner rather than later considering the way things had been going. But then, it took a lot to kill a cockroach. Maybe the bar would outlast the Telmick’s current interest. Satisfied with this assessment, Valencia raised her mug to her lips. Her jade eyes surveyed the bar’s current customers as she took a sip of the L’uf ale the barkeeper always had on hand. Not much could be said for the dogs, except that they could make some very fine ale.
Speaking of dogs
… Valencia’s nose wrinkled and she looked toward the doorway. A moment later, two newcomers entered. One was of average height, though lanky. The other was taller and broader than his companion. Obviously he was one of Lenti’s dogs.

              They paused by the entrance. She assumed this was to let their eyes adjust to the lower light. Then, the shorter of the two wove his way through the tables to the bar. The taller one followed. Valencia watched the two of them—there was something about them warning her that they were important. It was a sort of sixth sense that guided her about who to take under her wing and who to leave to someone else. It also waved the flag when she saw someone who was in immediate danger. It would drive her to warn them.

Ten months ago on Coronaius, it had drawn her to a man who, appearance-wise, was unremarkable. But his personality had been charismatic. The sense compelled her to move close to warn him off the planet. She told him that he had been in danger. He had thanked her for the warning and said that he would consider it. Valencia had shaken her head as he walked away. She knew,
just knew
, that he wouldn’t leave. When someone said they would ‘consider’ her warning, they really meant they would forget it in a minute. And thus she knew that he would die that very night, and it had made her so angry. What was the point of warning anyone when they wouldn’t listen to you, anyway? But that sixth sense didn’t care, and it had helped her far more than it had hindered over the years. She couldn’t afford to ignore it.

Like now.

What was it about the newcomers that had her sixth sense jangling? Was it her cat nature asserting its disgust over having a dog so close to it? Or was it the violence she could smell on them?

Mugs in their hands, they approached her table in full view. Because they were being obvious in their approach, she figured they were not meaning to threaten her. Perhaps they were new customers? Intrigued with the idea she watched them approach, looking as relaxed as could be, but ready to flee or fight if the situation warranted it. As they got closer, she could smell that the shorter one was human. She could also see his strawberry blond hair and blue eyes. The L’uf behind him had brown hair tipped with black. His eyes were an animalistic amber-brown. Both looked to be young, but their eyes were aged by the current circumstances.

“You Valencia?” the human asked.

She raised an eyebrow at him. “Who’s asking?”

“I am, of course,” the redhead said as he sat down across from her. He didn’t even ask. Valencia’s eyes narrowed. She did not like it when people were rude. It didn’t matter if everything else was shot to hell, that didn’t mean good manners were a thing of the past—
especially
when they were in a bar. Fights were an unfortunate consequence of imbibed customers for bar owners. She wasn’t drunk, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t start a tavern showdown if she wished. Valencia almost growled as she considered the possibilities. The human had the audacity to flash a grin at her. “I’m Ace of the Street Wolves,” he said, finally answering her question.

In no way did he apologize for his rudeness, but now she understood why. What with the potential violence around him, she should have guessed that he was a gang leader. They were often a law unto themselves… unfortunately. What they wanted, they often got. They could afford to be impolite, because they wrote the rules of etiquette when they deemed it necessary. And he was of the Street Wolves, no less. She couldn’t help glancing at the L’uf standing guard behind his chair. She was not a gang leader, but she was a valuable asset and thus she could be discourteous if she wanted to be. “Let me guess, your mascot?” Valencia lived by the golden rule of ‘treat others as you wish to be treated’ but with the definite twist of ‘treat
me
as you wish to be treated’. Rude behavior begot rude behavior.

The L’uf growled and narrowed his eyes at her. Ace laughed, unperturbed. “Careful kitty, don’t temp the big bad wolf. You might not like what happens,” he drawled. His warning was clear.

Valencia didn’t like threats but decided that in this case it would be best to just find out what he wanted. She tilted her head. “What do you want?”

“Information.”

She raised an impatient brow. “About what? The price of dog food?”

Ace smiled and leaned forward, making her lean back slightly, to her disgust. “The whereabouts of a friend. One you helped to take off world,” he said.

Deciding to make her instinctual response look intentional, Valencia sat fully back in her chair and crossed her arms. “You will have to be more specific, I’m afraid. I help many off world.”

Ace also sat back slightly before saying, “She appears to be a mouse most of the time, but is very hard to forget. Tell me, Valencia. What planet did you dump Rylynn on?”

Valencia blinked. “Rylynn? Why would you want to know?” she asked. Her sixth sense was doing a jig. What was it about that girl that tugged at her sixth sense?

The dog’s eyes flickered. So what if she had just told them that she knew who they were talking about? No vow of secrecy had been given. It just bugged her that she had let something slip—around a dog, too. When did she become so lax? She glanced at her ale before returning her gaze to Ace.

“My reasons are my own,” Ace replied calmly.

Her brow rose again. “Then what will convince me to tell you? What if I have reasons of my own for
not
telling you? Are you going to set your dog on me?”

Ace sighed and considered her for a moment. He glanced at the L’uf before leaning toward her again. “Tell me, Valencia, do you enjoy the current boom in your business?”

“Of course. Why? Are your threatening it?”

His grin flashed at her again. “I’m not threatening it.”
Yet
was the operative unspoken word that hung in the silence of his pause. He frowned thoughtfully at her. “I’m amazed you haven’t heard.”

Valencia shook her head, trying to figure out where he was going with this. “What are you talking about and what does this have to do with Rylynn?”

“War is coming,” he told her softly. It was soft enough that she had to lean forward to hear. It was obvious that only the three of them had heard it. The bar’s normal buzz continued unaltered. Though
why
it
would
change was beyond her.

“What are you getting at Ace? Have you… I don’t know… looked outside lately? War has been ruining the cities for about a year now,” she said with a bored gesture toward the mostly buried windows. Only the tops of them were clear enough of outside debris to let in any light.

“Those are just raids,” Ace said with a dismissive shrug. “The Legion Fleet hasn’t done anything because
nothing
of the Prime Worlds has been damaged. The problem is, the colonist cities are now pretty much picked clean. The only wealth is now in the Prime Cities. The Telmick clans will come, and the Legion Fleet will defend, and we will all learn the real meaning of ‘ruin’.”

Valencia’s eyes widened. “Nothing will be left.” Her sixth sense resonated as she thought about what Ace was telling her. The Legion Fleet would do what it could to protect the still-standing cities and those in them, but the Telmicks wouldn’t care. They would use that against the Fleet in potentially nasty ways. She frowned and added, “Again, what does Rylynn have to do with any of this?”

Ace nodded to the L’uf, who reached into his jacket. Valencia tensed, but the dog only pulled out a wrapped package. He plunked it on the table before her. “Open it,” Ace directed.

Valencia glanced between him and the package before reaching out hesitantly. Just as her hand touched it Ace kicked the table, causing her to jump. She glared at him and his annoying grin. “Sorry, I couldn’t help it,” he said unrepentantly. Valencia shook her head and once again reached for the package. She unwrapped it decisively, and froze. Her jade eyes flew up to his face in shock. Ace nodded toward the pile of precious gems as she hastily covered them again. “That is to show you how badly I want to know where my friend is.” Valencia hardly heard him. She was too busy thinking about what was resting under a thin veil of fabric. She knew quality when she saw it, and her sixth sense was nodding its head frantically. That little pile of gems was worth more than she had made in the last year getting people off world. Ace leaned toward her again, and his movement caught her attention. “So I ask again, Valencia, where is Rylynn?”

It was some time later that Valencia realized that Ace had never answered her question about why Rylynn was important.