Defender of the Empire 2: Facades Page 2

  With that gentle reminder of the facts, I was dismissed. On my way back to the Academy I was joined by my friends. Our respective supervisors appeared to have the same internal clock, and a similar sense of practicality.

  Jason had been the first to notice that I had stopped going to classes at the Academy, since I had been in all of his afternoon ones. I had told him that since we had been transferred to the Hail Mary, I figured that I should do what I could to help the ship that had helped us. Besides, the professors had agreed that I could go and help with repairs. I think it was to get me away from the other students who were somewhat miffed that I now outranked them and had a commission on a starship. I guess they figured that if I was out of the way, the others would focus on absorbing the material put before them.

  Jason, Marius, and Westley had agreed that I had a good idea, and also received permission to aid in repairing the Hail Mary. Though we always arrived together, we very rarely saw each other as we helped where ever we were needed. Considering the damage that had been done to the ship, we were pretty much everywhere. Though, maybe now that the ship was so close to being repaired, we would be seeing more of each other.

  Some may wonder why we returned to the Academy for the night instead of sleeping on the ship. The answer was, simply because we had no time to move in. All of our energy had been spent on getting the ship spaceworthy again. Until that happened, we were stuck between being Academy trainees and crewmembers. It was weird and I didn’t like it.

  I find that I prefer the quick changes, the ones that sweep you up and dump you somewhere new. They might be disorienting, but they don’t have a long transition time. I felt like I’d gotten stuck climbing over a wall, with one foot on either side. I had the feeling that I might fall, but wasn’t sure which way I’d tumble. If I had just vaulted I’d know exactly which way I was going to fall and I wouldn’t have had time to think about how much it was going to hurt. As Aunt Sylvie had always said, ‘ripping a bandage off is easier and less torturous than taking it off slow’.

  I guess those in charge either didn’t know that, or wanted to watch us sweat. Ace would have muttered something about admiring the power such people had… before figuring out how best to dispose of them so the power could be his. Then he would go about refining their techniques—he was a scary son-of-a-gun.

  “So, how was everybody’s day?” Marius asked casually as we trekked back to the Academy. When I stopped to think about it, it always amazed me how well Marius pulled off being a fifteen cycle old Academy trainee. According to the Shade Commander, Marius was one of the masters at the skill. He was able to make himself believe that he was who he said he was and keep the facts straight. The commander had said that it was a skill that I could develop, since I already had the raw talent for it. And I had to agree, though privately. I had proven to myself that I was adept at acting terrified out of my mind, and letting others believe what they want about me… and yes, some of that was through lying by omission.

  Most of the time I can’t imagine Marius as anything other than what he appears to be, even if he is my teacher in all aspects of Spectrals and their Shades. That is his new mission—to train me. Since Knight has been publicly dismissed from service, and disappeared before he could be arrested, Marius has been pulled from the hunt.

  I’m not sure how he feels about that, but I plan to make it up to him by learning all I can, as fast as I can. Then, I’m going to hunt the disgraced admiral myself—not only for my own peace of mind, but because he has my Spectral imprisoned in a foul weapon that most consider to be a myth.

  “Good,” Jason said, answering Marius’ question. “I’ve been working on the transporter controls.”

  Westley groaned. “Crap, remind me not to let them transport me anytime soon.” We all laughed at Jason’s indignant gasp.

  “Fine,” Jason said, straightening his posture in a way that reminded us all that he really was an imperial prince name Gaelen. “I’ll make sure they test its operation on you first instead of the fruit.”

  Westley sputtered, and I laughed. “Yeah, I can see it now,” I said softly. “Crewmen Jason Winter giving orders…” I let it trail off.

  Marius sniggered and Westley grinned. None of us could think of Jason as his Imperial Highness Gaelen Imperen. We might not have known his real name, but we knew him. We knew the person without the pomp and circumstance. If that bothered him, he should have thought about it before he changed his name and left the guards behind. But I don’t think it did—he wanted to make a life for himself with the Legion Fleet and be just like everyone else.

  Unfortunately, Admiral Knight had known of his plans and saw an opportunity. We almost lost Jason, first to the Zar’daka, then back to his family when the emperor revealed who he was before us and the Admiralty Board. As a group, we had stood up to the emperor (I still don’t know how we remained alive) and Jason was allowed to remain. His true identity was kept a secret by us.

  We knew who he was, but he couldn’t pull rank on us since that was a secret. Which was what I had just reminded him of. I’m nice that way.

  “Whose side are you on?” Jason asked, his sullen look almost hiding the self-mocking amusement he had for the situation.

  My brows rose. “Mine, of course.” Jason snorted and I wondered what he would think if he knew that Marius and I were both Spectral Shades, with standing orders from both the Shade commander and the emperor to keep him safe. Mentally, I rolled my eyes. As if we wouldn’t have done that anyway—I mean, seriously, we went after him to the edge of the Empire to save him from Telmick mercenaries and their Zar’daken employers.

  “Which might be why you have the job. It’s just official now,” M. Kit suggested. I smiled slightly as Westley discussed his activities of the day. That makes sense, I thought to her.

  “Of course,” she replied, and I could imagine her preening… if Medi-Comps could preen. “I am a computer. We were made to be logical,” she continued.

  Of course, I thought back, before turning my full attention to what Westley was saying.

  “Well I helped repair the LFGs and LFAs that had only suffered minor damage. I also got to fly in a few of the replacements.”

  “Oh? And which did you like better?” I asked.

  He smiled. “The LFA still holds a special place in my heart, but the LFG would be fun, too. Maybe not as fast, but it would still be fun to see what kind of maneuvers you could pull off with one of those.” His eyes gleamed just like after that race where we tricked several thousand Zar’daken darts into flying into their own mothership.

  “And thus we see the true Westley Trin,” Marius groaned.

  “Hey man, you would enjoy it too. I know you’d love to punch holes in an enemy’s shields so we could get up close and personal. Or have you forgotten how much you enjoyed betting on how many darts you could get with a single shot?”

  Marius rolled his eyes. “I haven’t forgotten.” He then shot me a wink when Westley wasn’t looking. I figured that was because Marius had probably flown a few LFGs in his time. I would be more surprised if we stumbled over something he hadn’t done. I knew he was older than he was letting on, and age tends to breed experience, which I was thankful for since he had helped me figure out how to explain my knowledge of where Jason had been taken to Westley. Knight’s disgrace had helped to give the story plausibility.

  I told Westley that I had woken to hear Knight speaking aloud to someone, supposedly the Zar’dakens, and he had given the coordinates for the meet. I remained quiet and still as he talked, letting him believe that I was still unconscious and as observant as the voiceless walls. The truth was, it had been Kylesst who had heard, not me. As for how I had known where to go once on the mercenary ship, I had cobbled together various facts. I had researched the basic layout of Telmick ships. I also knew from experience what Telmicks would do to a prisoner. The short of it is—I made it sound like a lucky guess. While that story may have been true at some point, I was against leaving any st
one unturned. It was only knowing that Luna had already found Jason that gave me the ability to move us quickly through the corridors.

  Westley had accepted the stories, but I have caught him watching me thoughtfully every once in a while at dinner. I wondered if he had scrutinized the story and found it lacking. But he said nothing, so I have no real idea.

  When Marius answered his own question, he told us that he had been helping with the weapons systems, to nobody’s surprise. When the question was turned to me, I was able to tell them about the many panels I had fixed.

  “I swear you have the strangest fascination with those things,” Jason remarked.

  I grinned and shrugged. It was true. I did like working with power crystals. They were physical equations that I could actually touch—patterns that I could play with to figure out how I could refine their usage. Ace wasn’t the only one who liked to refine things, and the girly part of me thought the crystals were quite pretty when lit from within.

  It really is the simple things in life that bring joy. If one doesn’t pause once in a while to notice them, then life would just be overwhelming at best, and awfully drab the rest of the time. I also found that simple things made it easier when the Universe dealt really strange cards… like a hand that included an ace, a queen, and a joker.

  Chapter 3 – A Queen, an Ace, and the Joke’s on Me

  Rylynn

  D’trace’s thought that we would be flying out the next day proved to be nothing more than a hopeful wish. We were close, but technology is one of those things that you really can’t predict, especially if it had suffered damage. It was the end of the week before we were close enough to say that we could fly out the next day.

  Again, I wanted to keep working to make sure that thought was the truth. Again, I was dismissed in a similar fashion, but this time D’trace gave me more. “Besides,” he added before I could actually ask how I could possibly be ‘overworked’ when all I was really doing was just replacing circuit crystals, “there is a ceremony tonight that all present active members and trainees are to attend. I need to figure out where I put my dress uniform and you need to go get ready yourself. And be quick about it—they don’t do this too often and you don’t want to arrive on the last shuttle.” He shooed me away with a wry chuckle that made me wonder if he had been the one to arrive last to something important.

  I went to go get ready. The guys walked with me to the lobby of the barracks. Along the way, we wondered what the ceremony could possibly be about.

  “They lost an admiral, an imperial advisor,” Jason said thoughtfully. “The ceremony may be—since it is to be attended by both actives and trainees—one in which they elect a new admiral.”

  Collectively, our brows rose at that. “I wonder who they will elect?” Westley wondered.

  “I have a guess as to who it might be,” Marius said. At our expectant looks, he continued bluntly, “they’ve tried to tap him before.”

  “Captain Wingstar?” I asked. He was the only one I knew of who had been asked to take the position in the past but had turned it down.

  Jason grunted. “He’ll probably try to set a whole new record by refusing the diamond again. I really wonder why it is that he refuses to rise above captain. He even turned down the compromise to be a commodore. I guess he just really likes the Captain’s Gold Star.”

  “Or he just really doesn’t like diamonds,” Marius added with a shrug.

  I shook my head before asking, “Are there any other candidates?”

  Jason shrugged. “I’m sure there are. After all, there are all the commodores to choose from.”

  “I bet they’re somewhat miffed at being considered after a mere captain, twice now,” I observed.

  “Perhaps. But everyone who is anyone knows that Captain Wingstar deserves to be a higher rank. They need his skills on the Board,” Westley said, just as we reached the barracks. “Well, we will find out soon enough,” he continued in the lobby. “Meet you all here in a few minutes.”

  And so we split up. Well, I went a different way since I was the only female in the group. I climbed the stairs to the third floor, enjoying the exercise and the extra time it took, delaying the sight of my roommate.

  There are some people who are just not fun to be around. A stuck up jewel rose who is disgusted that you even exist and live in the same room as her is one of those people. She has been especially sullen since learning that I was now a crewman, and thus outranked her by five levels. When she tried to blame me for the added pressure from her parents to rise above me, I raised my hands and told her to bring it up with the emperor, as he was the one who had given me the commission. She didn’t know what to say to that.

  As I approached our room, I noted that the door was open, which meant that Lassie was there for sure. Sighing, I prepared myself for one of her moods. But as I got closer, I heard her delighted laughter and a male voice. My brows rose in surprise before descending into a frown. One of her guy friends was over? Great. Just great. I would need to be quick about grabbing my stuff and going to the bathroom to change. Wait. Everyone is expected to go to the ceremony, I thought. I smiled slightly. I had a good reason to kick the guy out by reminding the two of them of the upcoming event.

  It wasn’t until I got closer that I recognized the male voice. My suspicions as to who it belonged to were confirmed when I stood in the doorway. Leaning on the side of the window that granted a view of the door, most of the room, and outside without exposing himself to the outdoors, was a familiar young man. It’s a habit ingrained in those who have discovered the life-saving grace of paranoia. It was a stance I knew well, just as well as his strawberry blonde hair and blue eyes. An unnerving, assessing look glittered in those eyes as he spoke to my roommate.

  Ace was being his charming self, and Lassie was eating it up like it was her due, which I suppose she figured it was. It was how she was used to being treated, after all. I wondered how she would react if she knew that the attractive guy giving her so much attention was really a colonist. Even worse, a gang leader who dabbled in prostitution. Concerned, I glanced at her desk to see if there was any form or anything that Ace could have used to get her signature to apply to a contract. He has been known to be sneaky that way. Ace saw me as soon as I entered the doorway, I’m sure, but it was only now that he turned to me and smiled. Lassie saw where he was looking and glared at me.

  I ignored them and went to my corner of the room, getting my back away from the open door. I glanced at Ace as I went about collecting my dress uniform. “Hello Ace. What are you doing here?” I asked. “Is Carden around, too?”

  Ace crossed his arms and considered me. I could tell that Lassie didn’t like the fact that Ace was no longer paying her any attention. “Hello Ry. No, Carden isn’t here. Someone had to stay and keep the boys in line.”

  “Wait. You two know each other?” Lassie asked, glancing between us, apparently only now catching on that I had called him by name.

  I couldn’t help giving her a pitying look. “Of course. Ace is one of the leaders of the Street Wolves from Colony Lenti. I used to be part of his gang,” I explained.

  Ace grunted. “What is with this ‘used to’, Ry? You’re not dead.” He fixed me with his hard blue eyes and I found that I couldn’t look away. Carden might be the obvious scary one, because you know from a glance that he could easily kill you if he set his mind to it. But it was Ace who had the charisma to get close to you, to know you. He was the one who could hurt you the most. He was also the one who considered every member of the gang his family. This is not to say that Carden didn’t feel the same—neither were happy when someone tried to walk away. But it was Ace who had the ability to cross the lines to reach you.

  Like now.

  Lassie’s eyes widened as she realized that I hadn’t been lying to her. “But if you’re a colonist, how could you possibly have gotten here?” she actually asked. Ace gave her a smile that didn’t reach his eyes. If looks could maim and kill, my roommate would be
toast. At least he wasn’t pinning me with that look anymore.

  “It was easy,” he replied silkily. “Citizens are so sure of themselves and their ‘superior’ technology, it is amazing that they don’t walk into a wall.” He turned back to me. “Why did you leave, Rylynn? We gave you a purpose, a place to be safe.”

  I closed my eyes. It was the only way to escape the guilt of seeing the hurt in his expression. We used to be enemies. He was the bane of my existence until I faced him, and Carden. We became allies… friends, I guess you could say. I was always wary of them, but I could trust that as long as I was useful, they would keep me safe. The truth was—I did have a place in their family. Being surrounded by those who formed the backbone of the under city, I had to keep my grief over my aunt to myself. I had to be strong, and grow stronger. It was the only way to keep them from taking advantage of me. For that necessity I was grateful to them. I was able to survive. As to why I had left… I don’t know. Maybe I had wanted to do something other than just survive. Maybe I was tired of walking the tightrope between living and death, and falling either way had seemed more and more appealing. Dark, right? Thank God that Captain Wingstar had given me a reason to live. But what had driven me to meet up with Valencia and end up crossing paths with the captain, I’ll never know.

  Which left me with my current dilemma. How do I explain something that I don’t understand myself to a man like Ace? He doesn’t make it a habit to accept excuses. He considers anything that is not what he wants to hear an excuse. But I can’t tell him what he wants to hear. I can’t really tell him anything because I don’t really know the why. I just know that I did leave.

  As I pondered this, I noticed something. Random as it was, it helped me to keep from uttering a whole slew of inane things. Ace’s appearance made him look so much older than he really was. His eyes were cold and hard when he wasn’t using a façade. They were haunted, filled with secrets and knowledge of things better left in the dark. They reminded me a little of Marius’s eyes. They were old, and without the masks they made Ace seem much older than Westley, which is interesting because Westley was nineteen cycles and Ace only seventeen.