Renz commanded a fleet. The fact he couldn’t bring them all was another insult. He didn’t feel up to arguing, not with the last threat hanging in the air. “Of course, sir.”
“Good. Then be gone and good luck. I’ll wait for your word.”
“Of course.” Renz slapped his fist against his chest before spinning on his heels, heading for the elevator. He looked at the coordinates, frowning at the location. He vaguely know of the sector but it was distant… somewhere they didn’t have any presence at all. Our reach was much longer. It will be the same again soon.
He contacted his ship, letting them know to be prepared for departure. He fully intended to get there within the next several hours. We’ll kill whoever dares desecrate our tombs and then, father… we shall have a talk about civility. And how quickly you can leave that chair for good.
***
Lord Marshal Severan Divol watched his son depart, heaving a sigh. Revealing his knowledge of the assassination chatter was a calculated risk; one that put his spy in grave danger. Renz might try to find them. It all depended on how seriously he took his mission and whether or not he had it in him to put aside his vanity.
He shouldn’t surround himself with people who have the nerve to recommend assassination. Severan hoped his son would be above such things. I suppose I should be glad he didn’t act on the recommendation… that he didn’t throw his life away in some ill-fated attempt to ascend to my position early.
Attempts on his life came with the territory. Shortly after he had taken over, a small group had attempted to kill him. They’d planted a bomb in the podium where he had planned to give a speech. It had gone off during the sound test, killing the technical crew. The military had rounded up the planners. They were executed and their deaths had solidified his rule.
Unfortunately, that hadn’t been the last time. His wife had died in such an attack; another mistake by his enemies. That time they had been given intel he would leave a particular place ahead of his wife. He’d been detained with a conversation and she had stepped outside. They had shot her, killing her in an instant.
Renz had only been fifteen at the time. He had taken his mother’s death hard, insisting the perpetrators be hunted down and killed immediately. His ruthlessness had come out much sooner than anticipated, spawned by the loss of his mother. Severan never knew if his son mourned the loss of his mother or took it as an affront that she’d been murdered.
It didn’t matter either way. The boy grew into a man soon after and rose through the ranks of the military. His rise to general mostly came about honestly though some of the review boards gave him passes where Severan might not have. Once the boy took the mantel of general, he came into considerable power, even more than as the son of the Lord Marshal.
And through his short career, he had crushed many planets. There was much to be proud of… almost as much as needed to be concerned with. But that wasn’t the biggest problem on Severan’s plate. He faced an insidious problem which brewed for months right under his nose. The Prophet represented an issue he hadn’t expected.
It was biting him now. Not only had the man eluded his soldiers and best spies, but he managed to get off world. Severan had no idea where he might be but his broadcasts hit the airwaves often enough to be troubling. His technical people managed to suppress many of them but damage was being done.
Even if I wanted to follow Renz’s plan of killing him, it isn’t exactly as simple as that. The man preached peace through violence. Rise up against the military, take them down, return to the old ways. Such nonsense had come up before but he quashed it much faster back then. He wondered how.
Was I more ruthless back then? Severan couldn’t say. Age calmed all men, settled their blood, made them think before they acted. At that point in his career, he sent soldiers out immediately to gather up the dissidents and marched them off to die in the camps. Right alongside the impurity… those aliens put to work until they died.
Many things had changed for the supreme leader of the Kahl. He’d been considered part of the Lost when he was a child, a person with no prospects. Joining the military gave him a sense of purpose but it also introduced him to the real plight of his people. They lacked vision. They had no purpose.
Once he identified the issue, it was only a matter of time before he found a way to fix it. Thinking back, he smiled at how easy it sounded. His own perseverance had overcome the fact he barely knew his parents. He had spent more time in an orphanage than in their care. The lack of their presence in his life pushed him to marry… to have Renz.
But he never figured on what some of his people considered a normal life. Once he took control, he had lost the privilege for anything of the sort. Instead, he and his family rose above the common, living better than he ever imagined possible. He harnessed the incredible focus of his culture and channeled it into galactic conquest.
Which worked well. Their efforts put them at odds with some incredible opponents. They would all fall eventually. With men like Renz leading the armies, those with true zeal for their efforts, victory was inevitable. Even with someone like the Prophet attempting to undermine their efforts.
Severan believed he would be rid of the religious fool. But he needed the information
