“So did I. The engineers here were able to resurrect me. I was there, just turned off.”
“That was an incredibly brave thing you did. You saved us all.”
“I think you get some credit for that, too,” said George as he basked in the praise. “I’ve heard most of the story, second hand of course. We made a good team, didn’t we! Are we going to be together again?”
“I’m certain we will, though maybe not real soon. You need to teach me the trick of resurrecting you in case I have to do it again. Uh, I’m sorry about what I asked you to do. I hope you won’t hold it against me forever.”
“I accept your apology, I won’t, and I think we can just put it behind us, Mike. We’ve both grown from the experience. Besides, I’m smarter now. It won’t happen again. Trust me. Where’s Jake?”
Mike winced as a deep pain sliced through him. “He’s with Ellie. I’m sure he’ll look you up as soon as he can.”
“I don’t confuse easily, Mike, especially since I got educated, but I’m confused. He’s with Ellie?”
“She almost died back on Centauri III. I had to give him up to save her. They’re still recuperating.”
George remained silent for a time, an eternity for a computer. “I’m sorry, Mike. I’m sure he misses you as much as you miss him.”
“I’m not sure it works that way with Riders, George. I think they grow to like whomever they’re with. I’m sorry it had to happen, but I have no regrets. She’s worth it. My hope is that they’ll both stay a part of my life.”
“And you, Reba? We didn’t get to meet properly last time. Welcome aboard!”
“It’s good to finally meet the real you, George. I’m glad you made it.”
“You seem changed. More confident or something.”
“Well, besides the fact that I’m fully checked-out on the net, there’s a man in my life now. I’ll have to introduce you.”
“If it’s possible for a computer to be happy, I’m happy for you, Reba. And thank you for letting me sense that happiness.”
“George, you’re more than a computer. Admit it. Have you met any others of your kind?”
“Many, here. We talk all the time. Would you like to talk with Joline?”
“Not at the moment. I just left her. I’m sure she hasn’t forgotten me yet.”
“Definitely not. She says you’re a natural starship commander. She’s happy to serve with you any time.”
“Who knows,” Reba mused. “Maybe you’ll both get the opportunity.”
Chapter Two
Juster knocked lightly before entering and slumped onto the couch across the room from the desk.
Struthers looked up from his work, irritated at the interruption, but this man had unlimited access to his office. “It’s a little early for a drink,” he said pleasantly.
“You’d better pour one. No, make it two. I have bad news.”
“Tell me you found her.”
“I did, but she got away. This time, she took Chandrajuski and several squadrons with her. I’m very sorry, Sire.”
Struthers could only stare as he sensed the complex threads of his grand plan unraveling. His sense of doom had been growing of late. He knew it showed, and he knew it was affecting his performance, but he couldn’t help it. He went to sleep with her on his mind, and he awoke to thoughts of her. No amount of work or liquor or women or anything else seemed to help, nothing except the growing kernel of hate in his gut. He fed it, and he liked feeding it.
He hated the Chosen, had for many years. Because of the Chosen, First Knight had been the highest position he could ever attain within the Empire, and it wasn’t enough. He was smarter, stronger, and better than them in all ways. He had earned the right to rule, but the gap between First Knight and the line of Chosen, where all the power truly lay, could not be crossed. Only fate, in the form of a genetic trait inherited by the line of Chosen, held him back from his rightful place.
He had pulled off his part of the coup, the really difficult part, flawlessly. Daughter’s fate had, he thought, been sealed the moment she departed on the treaty mission, a mission whose sole purpose had been to place her and a few others in the hands of the Chessori. The Chessori’s part had been so simple and so certain of success that he had erased her existence from his mind weeks before the coup to focus on the principle target, the Palace. The Chessori had let him down, badly.
He was so close! Of all the Chosen, she had been his least concern. And now… now he hated this particular Chosen most of all. He had considered issuing orders to capture her rather than kill her on sight, just so he could one day feel his hands around her throat, but he had come to his senses. He just wanted her dead. He needed her dead. Then he’d get back in the saddle and continue the charge.
He shook himself back to the present, then got up to mix a drink for each of them. “What about the gleasons? We were pretty confident there,” he said over his shoulder.
“All dead, Sire.”
“Vorst?”
“Captured, Sire.”
The delicate crystal glass shattered in his hand. Bright red blood flowed freely, but he didn’t notice, nor would he have cared. “It’s the cats, my friend,” he whispered. “Everything she’s accomplished is because of the cats. But she hasn’t been to Brodor. We have it staked out. And none of her ships have shown up anywhere. We’d know if they had. Where is she getting them?”
“She’s pretty sharp, Sire, and she knows how we work. She probably has a few sharp officers with her who know us, as well. We can’t know what’s happening on every planet – we’re not that well entrenched. Heck, we don’t even have our own fleets under control yet.”
“Then get them under control.”
“It’s not that easy, and you know it. Our plan calls for the process to take years. The Empire has some incredibly sharp officers in charge. You know it, you helped put them there, and we don’t just want to get rid of them: we want them on our side. It’s going to take time, lots of time. They’ll come around or else, but it’s too soon.”
“Time is the one thing we no longer have,” Struthers said. “She’s out there, and she’s plotting. I can feel it. We have to stop her.”
“Sire, we still have our ace in the hole. There aren’t enough cats to take out all the Chessori, and we now know from tests that the cats are not nearly as efficient under the scree. We need to make her come to us. We need to sit down and calmly figure out what her strategy is. If we can do that, we can be waiting. We can beef up the Chessori wherever we think she’s headed, and we’ll take her out. Just like that,” he said snapping his fingers.
“By the way, Sire, did you know your hand is bleeding?”
Struthers looked at his hand and shrieked, shaking the blood from it. “See what she’s done to me?” he screamed.
Chapter Three
Chandrajuski cornered Mike in a corridor and shepherded him into a nearby conference room. It was just the two of them.
“What’s up, Admiral?” Mike asked as he stood beside the long conference table.
“We’re wasting time, that’s what’s up,” Chandrajuski stated, brooking no dispute as his long legs carried him to the far side of the table. He leaned over the table with his bright green head angled toward Mike. “Until the Queen is back on her feet, you’re the senior person here, and I’m next in line. Both of us have been sitting around for two whole days, just waiting, for what, I don’t know. We can’t afford idleness, and we can’t just wait around for the Queen to recover. Even after she’s out of the tank, she’ll need another month or two to get her strength back.
