The Worker Prince (17 page)

O O O

When Miri arrived, the Legallis starport hummed with motion—bustling crowds, a buffet of noise, constant activity. The small diner lay out of the way on the end of one of the numerous corridors, which wound their way out from the landing platforms. The only evidence leading to it were the smells of grease, cooking meat and eggs, and other wonderful kitchen scents one’s nose might be tempted by in the surrounding corridors. It would be easy to go unnoticed there. Besides, this time it was just the two of them, and meetings between old friends were not so unusual.

Kray looked Miri over with concern as soon as she sat down across the table. “You’ve lost weight.”

“I’m fine,” Miri said, deliberately leaning back to appear relaxed. She hated lying to an old friend, but Kray couldn’t do anything about her sleepless nights in the Palace; her mind working overtime.

“Don’t lie to me, Miri. I’m your oldest friend,” Kray said.

Miri smiled. She’d been so busy the past few weeks; she’d had almost no time to actually relax. Sitting here for a moment gave her a much-needed break. “The life of a Princess is always busy.” Even more so with her determination to uncover the truth about what was going on with the workers on Vertullis.

“Yes, and you’ve never been one to stay bored long,” Kray said, nodding. “Promise me it’s not because of worrying.”

“A mother always worries, as you know,” Miri said. Kray had three children herself. “But since we last met, I’ve been so preoccupied with other things; I haven’t had much time for that.”

As the waitress arrived to bring them mugs of Talis, Miri realized it was true. She’d been so focused on saving Davi, she’d had little time to sit around and worry about his circumstances.

“The information you provided was quite startling, as you said,” Kray said, sipping her Talis. “We have discussed it quite often since reviewing it.”

“I appreciate your willingness to take the time,” Miri said, leaning forward as her hope rose within.

“You have our support,” Kray said, her eyes not leaving Miri’s. “But it will require a lot more evidence to validate an impeachment.”

Miri nodded. “Public opinion will soon be on our side.”

Kray looked at her with concern. “You must be very careful, Miri. As the Princess, your movements do not go unnoticed, above all when you interact with members of the media. Xalivar has many friends.”

“So do I, Kray,” Miri said smiling. “It will be handled with the same discretion as our meeting, I promise.” Miri had not involved anyone associated with the Palace. She wanted no chance of leaks, but she knew she would also need to take other precautions.

“I hope so. Don’t let the fact that Xalivar is your brother blind you in regards to your safety,” Kray said. “He’s never been kind to those who betray him.”

Miri had seen plenty of evidence of this in the past. She nodded, sipping her own Talis. “I’m taking extra care, Kray. Really.” Miri reached across the table to gently lay her hand across her friend’s.

Kray’s eyes stayed locked on hers for a moment before Kray smiled, relaxing a bit. “Good. There are few females at our level of power, you know. I need someone around who understands what it’s like.” They both laughed.

“I have always cherished our friendship,” Miri said, squeezing Kray’s hand atop the table. “So tell me about the children. How are they, these days?”

They continued chatting at the table for close to an hour as people came and went around them—two old friends talking about life and family. It did them both good to escape like this from the concerns of their lives—Miri from her worries about Davi and Xalivar, and Kray from the weight of government decisions. Miri realized they had not done this enough. She vowed to try and correct that in the future.

O O O

After two weeks spent covering the basics of flight, Davi allowed the first of his students on the simulators. His class had increased in size since it started, with Aron and the leaders adding more and more candidates with each new rally. Davi had done his best to keep the new students up to speed with the others. Some of them had the advantage of prior flight experience, while others had skill with skitters. He still had neophytes to train, but at least some had a head start.

At the moment, Dru, Brie, Nila and another boy their age occupied the four simulators. Tela and the other students sat at desks behind Davi, observing as he took them through their first mock battle. Each student pilot sat in a mock cockpit, with controls similar to those of VS28 fighters—a screen where the blastshield would be simulated stars and incoming enemy fighter craft. The simulator itself moved as the trainees moved the joystick. Combined, the effect was a sensation reminiscent of being in an actual fighter during a battle. Watching them evoked fond memories of his Academy days.

“Keep your tails up there,” Davi instructed. “Easy on the joystick, Brie. It’s sensitive, designed to move as one with your body. Dru, you’ve got one on your tail. Evasive action!”

The trainees reacted to his instructions. Dru tried hard to stay out of the fire of the enemy on his tail as explosions flashed in front of him on the screen with each hit.

Brie steered her fighter toward the enemy behind Dru. “I got him!”

Davi realized that her excitement was distracting her. She was coming in at an odd angle and way too fast. “Slow down, Brie! You’re going to hit him!” Too late.

Brie’s screen erupted in flashes of yellow light and her console went dead. “What happened?” Brie asked, confused.

“You’re dead,” Tela said.

“You got him off my tail though. Thanks,” Dru said, chuckling.

Brie stuck out her tongue at him. “You’re welcome.” She turned to Davi with a sheepish grin. “I’m not getting it, am I?”

Davi smiled. “It takes practice.”
For some more than others.

Brie cocked her head to one side in a flirty way. “Can you show me one more time please?”

Davi smiled. “Okay. Look.” He leaned over her from behind, holding his hand around hers on the joystick as he ignored the flowery scent of the perfume she always wore around him. “Pull back a tiny bit, like this. Enough to make her go the direction you want to go. Not too hard though.”

Brie smiled, looking up at him. “Oh, right. I gotta practice it.” Davi let go and she tried what he’d showed her. “Like that?”

Davi nodded, ignoring her flirting. “Much better. Keep practicing.”

He turned back to the other students and saw Tela shaking her head and heading out the door. Virun and a couple of others followed her.

“Wait a minute! Class isn’t over. Where’s everyone going?”

The others looked at him and shrugged.

What’s wrong with her?

Brie and the others climbed out of the simulators as other trainees took their place.

“Okay,” Davi said, “let’s try this again.”

The second group was better than the first. A third did better still. At the end of the session though, Davi walked away discouraged. Some of the students would improve with practice, but others had him wondering if they weren’t wasting their time. He wished Tela had participated. She would have handled herself quite well, he imagined. Her performance would have at least been more encouraging.

He left the classroom confused and wondering why she’d disappeared.

O O O

Tired of watching Brie throwing herself at Davi, Tela had stormed out of the training room. It was disgusting, shameless—totally inappropriate in the classroom. She’d grown more and more irritated, until deciding she needed a breath of fresh air.

As she wound her way through the corridors, she started feeling silly. Why did it bother her so much?
You don’t like him, remember?
She’d known women who acted like Brie before. It wasn’t like she had any claim to Davi. They were barely friends.

Sure, things between them had settled down since they’d talked in the shuttle. He’d asked Tela’s opinion from time to time, and she’d done as he requested, helping him explain things when the trainees didn’t understand. So why did seeing Brie flirting with him like that make her so tense? What was the big deal? Brie had every right to flirt with him. She’d acted like a fool. Why did she have such a tendency to do that when Davi was around?

She spent a few moments calming down, then turned back toward the classroom. Rounding a corner near the classroom, she spotted Davi exiting and heading up the corridor away from her. He looked very discouraged. She hoped not because of her.

She followed him across the hangar and into a smaller cave on the far side, where the skitters sat parked in several rows.

Long slender bodies topped with leather seats and two handlebars attached to a control panel, skitters had been designed for recreational use, but were so fast and easy to handle, they’d been adapted for other uses. Borali Alliance ground patrols used them on a regular basis.

She stood in the shadows as he began looking them over. Two mech-bots entered through another tunnel and began working on some of the skitters behind him. As she stepped out of the shadows into the cave, Davi looked up at her.

“Hey,” she said, with a slight wave and a smile.

“Hey,” he said, going back to examining the skitters.

“How’d the rest of the session go?”

He shrugged. “We have a lot of work ahead of us.”

Not even eye contact. So maybe he was upset with her. “Sorry I left. I needed some air.”

“I was disappointed you didn’t stay for your turn,” Davi said as he examined another skitter. “Seeing someone actually succeed on the simulators would have been encouraging. I sure could’ve used it.” His voice sounded tired.

“Was it really so bad?”

“You tell me. You saw how some of the students did,” Davi slid into the seat of a skitter, fiddling with the controls.

“Some of them are a long way from being flight-worthy,” Tela said, watching the mech-bots working behind him.

“Some make me wonder if they ever will be. Sometimes I wonder if Brie actually thinks she can flirt her way out of trouble with the enemy.” He rolled his eyes.

Tela laughed. The flirting bothered him? Good. Still, it saddened her to see him so discouraged. He had always been so positive and supportive of the students. She wanted to do something to cheer him up. She took a seat on another skitter and turned it on, hearing the steady hum of the engine and feeling it rise up off the floor to float on the air as she adjusted the controls.

“Come with me.”

“For a joy ride?”

Tela smiled. “Sure. There’s something I want to show you.” She waved toward the skitter he’d been examining.

He shrugged, climbing onto the skitter. The engine hummed as it rose into the air. “Okay. Lead the way.”

She slid the skitter into gear and drove it out of the cave into a small tunnel. Davi accelerated his own skitter and followed along behind her.

They emerged into the dense forest along a path. Sunlight streamed through the tall cedars, creating a patchwork of dark and light areas on the ground. The chirping of birds and insects blended with the hum of the skitters as a light breeze tousled their hair and the sweet smell of cedars filled her nose.

Tela sped up, forcing Davi to speed up behind her. She admired the fluidness with which he maneuvered the skitter. She’d never seen him fly, of course, but it seemed to her he must be as skilled as the commanders said. She doubted he’d had much time to explore the forest around the base yet. She hadn’t seen him in the skitter bay, but then she hadn’t been there much until the past few days herself.

She led him through several twists and turns then around a bend into a clearing where she pulled to a stop and waited for him to come alongside.

Amid cedars at the edge of the course on both sides there were several wood pylons with various markings. As his skitter pulled alongside hers and stopped, the scent of his sweat and cologne mixed with the pollen from the cedars and she smiled. It was not altogether displeasing. Looking around, she nodded. “Well, here it is.”

“What is it?” Davi said, trying to make sense of the pylons and markers.

“Our skitter training course,” Tela said proudly as she watched him. “Aron asked me to set one up.” Why was she so anxious waiting for his response?

Davi’s looked around and smiled. “You did all this yourself?”

“Well, I may have borrowed some from a schematic of one of the Alliance’s training courses. With a few minor adjustments to compensate for ours being on land and not in outer space.” She had to admit it had been enjoyable working on the course.

Davi nodded, looking pleased. “This is impressive. You amaze me.”

He’s impressed!
She almost blushed. Why did she care so much what he thought? She’d never had time for men, not since her father’s disappearance. She’d been too busy for much of a social life.

She took a breath, trying to hide how pleased she was. “Thanks. Wanna give it a try?” She opened the side pocket on her skitter and pulled out a helmet. “Gotta put on the helmet to see how it works.”

She slid the helmet on as Davi opened the pocket on his own skitter and retrieved the helmet. As he began to put it on, Tela flipped the switch to activate the weapons simulator on her skitter.

After they’d both adjusted their helmets, Davi nodded. “Ready.”

Tela accelerated and took off like a flash, zigzagging in and out between the pylons. Wind nipped at the skin of her face like tiny bugs. Trees passed almost as a blur as she focused on the markers and pylons. All her senses were a blur as she went and she loved the sensation. Glancing down at her control panel, she verified that the weapons simulator was fully charged. The visor of her helmet showed a targeting frame as she passed the next pylon. Everything seemed to be working right.

The next pylon she came to, she maneuvered the frame to aim at the pylon and then hit the fire button. The visor image flashed as she hit the target.

She flipped her communicator on and keyed the switch. “Flip the red switch on to activate the targeting simulator. The black button on the joystick is for firing.”

She slowed down, allowing Davi to pull alongside as he fiddled with the controls. “Do you see it?”