| |
DAKU TRIED TO project a professional and confident attitude as he followed Kara’s lead, but ruined it by staring in awe around him. The spaceship they were on was sleek and ultra-modern. Blue-tinged metal walls and ceilings joined with no discernable seam, and a soft grey carpet muffled their footsteps. He shook his head at the carpet in the main corridor; in a Fleet ship, the crew would have worn it down to tatters before the first week had been over.
This ship was most definitely top of the line. He wouldn’t be surprised if there were upgrades on this ship that had yet to be declassified and released to the general spacecraft construction industry.
Several times the Royal crest emblazoned in gold on the ship walls caught his eye. He wanted to stop and investigate, but Kara had not slowed her steps, and Tarsk followed behind him. Daku could feel his watchful gaze locked onto his back, so he kept moving.
After moving into the middle of the ship, they took a small flight of steps up to a set of double doors with a large Royal crest etched across both sides. The pattern formed part of the lock on the door and as they slid open the seal divided in half as the doors disappeared into the wall recess.
Kara led the way into a briefing room, dominated in the centre by a large metal oval table, which rose from the pale blue carpet. Intricate swirling patterns, blending from dark grey to pale blue, with hints of purple in between, decorated the single central leg and wrapped around the edge of the table. The trailing ends of the lines reached towards the centre of the table and linked around the instrument panel built into the table. Hidden recessed lighting bathed the room in soft clear light, spotlighting the banners of the four Zones that hung along the side walls. The Sapphire and Ruby Zones were next to each other on the wall to Daku’s left, and to the right, hung the Onyx and Jade Zones.
At the head of the room hung the Royal banner of the Rhaslok Empire. The large rectangular cloth displayed the trisected circle of Ruby, Sapphire, and Jade, with the Black triangle of the Onyx Zone overlaid, the tree points touching the outer edges of the circle. The lights caught on the gold threads of the Royal crest in the centre of the triangle.
Daku swallowed, staring at it.
Royalty would have been in this room. He didn’t belong here. A near disgraced, lowly Fleet commander shouldn’t be on this ship or in this room.
He shot Kara a worried look, but she had retreated behind her cool mask of composure and deadly calm.
She bowed towards the front of the briefing room, and he realised he’d been gawking. Someone else was present and had been observing him the entire time. He shifted, but then his Fleet training kicked in and he stood at ease, hands clasped behind his back, legs braced apart, and shoulders most definitely squared.
He profiled the woman as she rose from her chair, taking in her severe clothes, the fitted jacket sealed shut to just below her chin, her trousers falling in a straight line. The dark fabric was unrelieved by adornment or embellishments and washed out her dark complexion. Her dark brown hair was pulled back into a tight bun and emphasised the severe look. She raised her hand, and Daku realised she even wore matching gloves. The sleeves of her jacket were cuffed tight at the wrist, and they showed no gap of skin.
Eerily, she wore an expression almost the same as Kara’s; utter calmness and assurance. As if she knew a great secret no one else did, one that gave her strength. She couldn’t be another bio-cyber, could she? The thought slipped into his mind, disturbing him. And yet he was more disturbed that there was something familiar about her beyond her expression, but he couldn’t place her.
“So, this is Commander Daku Nightwyn,” the woman said, studying him as intently as he’d been observing her.
He kept his stance even. He wouldn’t let this unknown person intimidate him.
“Yes,” Kara replied. “I thank you for allowing me to extract him from Jade Fleet HQ.” Again, Kara bowed her head.
Daku stared at Kara, tightening his jaw to suppress his surprise. Why was she talking with such formality to this woman, when normally she was decisive and a lot more abrupt?
Kara turned to him, her face wiped of emotion, reserved. She had withdrawn from him once more.
“Commander Nightwyn, you have asked for answers that at the time I was not at liberty to discuss.” She glanced at the woman standing at the head of the table, as if for approval.
The woman tipped her head in acknowledgement.
Daku looked between the two, tensing as he waited. He hated being kept in the dark.
Tarsk walked past his left side. The Morus paused, making a short, but elegant bow to the woman, and then took a seat at the table. Tarsk swung his chair back and forth, his gaze tracking Kara, but only when she wasn’t looking at him. Which appeared to be most of the time.
“What you hear in this room is to go no further,” Kara said, snapping Daku’s attention back to her. “You will tell no one. Not friends, not family, and absolutely no one from any of the four Fleets. Do you understand?” her voice hardened.
He looked around the room, still trying to figure out where he knew the woman from, his thoughts churning as much as his stomach was. But he wanted answers, and he realised Kara wouldn’t be giving any if he didn’t agree. He weighed his options, but they were limited.
The banners on the wall were a stark reminder of the Empire he’d sworn to protect. Considering where he was, the woman must be from Fleet Intelligence. They always liked to differ from the main military branch, but this seemed to be extreme, especially with breaking him out of a holding cell. If they’d wanted to talk to him so bad, they could’ve just had him transferred. The thoughts looped around in his mind, as he weighed up his almost non-existent choices.
“Well?” Kara prompted
“I don’t have much of a choice, do I?” he muttered under his breath.
Kara didn’t react, just kept staring at him.
He breathed in and deliberately let it out.
“I agree, but I am loyal to the Empire.” He clenched his hands. “I won’t have harm come to any civilian or stand for a threat against the Crown. You can lock me up again, right now, if that’s what you’re planning.” He glowered at the woman at the head of the table.
She smiled, a mere titch of her lips. “I am glad you are loyal to us. And believe me, I have no desire to see harm come to either my people, or my mother and myself,” she said.
Daku blinked, her wording throwing him off-kilter. Her people, her mother? He took an involuntary step back, his eyes going wide as he stared at her. She couldn’t be—no, she couldn’t be.
The woman seemed to know his thoughts, though that wouldn’t have been hard as he was sure they were written on his face as bright as a laser. She inclined her head and Kara stepped forward.
“Please meet Her Royal Highness, Princess Isra.”
Daku felt like hyperventilating. He’d never thought he’d ever meet the Crown Princess in his life, and yet here he was, out of uniform, and looking scruffy. He inanely wished he could dash off and change. His gaze bounced around the room and he didn’t know what to do. Other than faint and he didn’t think that would be acceptable. He’d never thought of passing out in his whole life, but then nothing that had happened in the past few weeks had been normal.
Tarsk caught his gaze, pinning him to the spot with his sharp eyes. Oddly, it calmed him. Tarsk telegraphed a clear message with his eyes and a slight tilt of his head and Daku snapped into motion. He straightened to full attention. He might not have the uniform, but he gave the most precise salute of his life in that moment.
“At ease, Nightwyn,” the Crown Princess said. She flicked her hand at the table. “Take a seat. There is much that needs to be discussed.”
Kara motioned him forward to the right of the table and he sat across from Tarsk. To his relief, Kara sat between him and Princess Isra. He gulped again, clasping his hands under the table. His confusion had only increased since Kara had broken him out of the cell. Isra was the heir to the Empire. Why hadn’t she just ordered his release?
“I can see you have questions, Nightwyn,” Her Highness said, leaning back in her chair and crossing her legs. “Shadow, please update him on the situation. My reasons will become clear to you then.”
Daku scoped the room again, looking for the person the Princess was speaking to.
Kara swivelled to face him. “I am the Shadow,” she declared. “Delkie and I have been working for Isra for years now, keeping the peace, and making sure the Royal Family is safe and one step ahead of the Council and any threats to the Empire that may arise. It has been my duty to be the Crown’s eyes and ears, to guide the Council subtlety and to ensure the balance of power is maintained.”
Daku was glad he was already sitting down; he didn’t think he could deal with much more revelations today. “Isn’t that what Fleet Intelligence is for?”
The Princess rolled her eyes, while Kara looked at him steadily.
“They ensure the daily functions of the Empire, but they are intrinsically linked to the Fleet.” Kara folded her hands. “If our Queen relied on them, they would broadcast her secrets to dozens of others, as each sought more influence and favours. The entire Council would most likely know everything before a single planetary rotation had occurred. That scenario was untenable for the queen.”
“Which is why I created the Elites,” Her Highness interjected. “I handpicked a select few people to assist me in my endeavours. I brought you here because you have shown an admirable loyalty to us, and the Shadow has vouched for you. Moreover, I could not allow you to fall under the control of our enemies.”
Daku wasn’t sure he understood this all, but he grasped onto the one part he did. “Who is threatening the Empire?”
“A true Fleet officer.” Princess Isra nodded her head. “You have made a good choice, Shadow. Now, tell him,” her voice went flat as she flicked her hand towards Kara. The vibe in the room became tense and very serious.
“Someone within one of the four Fleets is committing treason.” Kara’s eyes were flat and hard, as if by willpower alone she could destroy the perpetrator.
Daku clenched his jaw and balled his hands into fists, enraged. “Who?” he snapped out the single word.
Tarsk slapped his paw down onto the tabletop, letting out a hiss. “If we knew, I’d have skewered them on my claws already.” His voice dropped to a low snarl, the sound reverberating through the room.
Kara tensed at Tarsk’s outburst but didn’t respond to it. Instead, she reached forward and pressed a button on the instrument panel in the middle of the table. A holo-display flicked on, the pale blue light glowing over the table. The lights in the room dimmed and, a few seconds later, footage taken from a security camera, with the telltale time and location stamps on the bottom of the image, began playing.
At first, Daku recognised nothing. It was just a vid of a man bent over a docking bay command console. Sure, his body language was nervous, and Daku would have flagged him as a potential risk if he’d been coming through a checkpoint, but he couldn’t see anything to be worried about yet. Then the door to the room slid open and Kara stalked in on the vid. Daku sat bolt upright, a sudden realisation hitting him.
This was from the Gaklun Two spacestation when he and Kara had been tracking down the Dark Raiders. He shot a look at Kara, but she continued to watch the event unfold. The man had just dropped to the floor, dead. Daku’s heart sank, because by all appearances it looked like Kara had killed the man and Daku could see himself standing there, a deadly frown on his face. This was not good. Taken at face value, it looked like they’d just tortured and killed an innocent dock worker.
He swung his gaze back around the room, but they were all focused on the holo-vid. He turned back and watched the rest play out, each second becoming worse. The Dark Raider bio-warrior stormed in and Daku went flying. He watched Kara’s deadly grace matched against the other fighter. Watched their unbelievable strength and speed, and knew that anyone else viewing this would know that these two were cybernetically enhanced. He saw himself slammed into the wall, and he winced in remembered pain. He touched his chest as he watched the image of himself slumped against the wall, blood pumping from long gashes across his chest. Gashes he didn’t remember taking. Because when he’d become conscious afterwards, he’d not had them.
He knew this footage was bad. But he didn’t think it could get any worse.
At the end, after the Dark Raider had fled with the body of the dead man flung over her shoulder, Kara had dropped to his side. He watched as she performed a battlefield blood transfusion. Watched as the deep wounds across his chest stopped bleeding and the flesh knitted back together.
“Eternities,” he breathed, his eyes riveted to the holo-vid. It made it clear that Kara had biological augmentations, and not just carbon-fibre cybernetics. Anyone from the Fleet seeing this would label her a criminal without a second’s pause, and from all accounts, they’d assume he had become a bio-cyber too. The footage cut off, but the briefing room remained silent.
Slowly, he turned towards Kara, his thoughts in turmoil.
She examined him, her body tense, the lines around her mouth strained.
Without hesitation he reached out, cupping his hand around the side of her face, his fingers gentle. He licked his lips and swallowed to ease his dry throat.
“You saved my life. Thank you,” he murmured.
Her hand came up, and he noticed it trembled. She pressed it against his, holding his hand to her face, and turned her cheek further into his palm as she let out a shaky sigh.
He bent forward, temporarily forgetting their audience, and pressed his forehead against hers.
“I know who you are, and that is a woman that never gives up. I could never turn away from you because of the bio-cybernetics,” he whispered to her. “If I did, I’d be a right fool, and a dead one at that. You saved me, and without you, Jiman and the other settlers of Geejo would have died, or worse.” He brushed a kiss across her forehead, and she clung to him, letting out a shuddering sigh.
A muffled cough made him jerk upright and brought him back into awareness of where he was and who was watching. A blush warmed his cheeks, but he didn’t let go of Kara’s hand.
Tarsk had tipped his head to the side, an enigmatic look on his face as he observed them. The princess had one brow raised at Kara.
“Sage, please continue for us. The Shadow needs a moment,” Her Highness said, a small smile playing on her lips.
Tarsk nodded in acknowledgement. “We’ve ascertained that someone transmitted this holo-vid to a group or individual who have already compromised the Empire’s security. So far, no one has identified Kara, but you have been, Nightwyn. Which is why we needed to get you out of the Jade Fleet HQ and fast. We couldn’t risk you being compromised and revealing classified information to the wrong person. And they were after you.”
Kara straightened, but her body was no longer as rigid and strained as before. “The footage should never have gotten off that spacesation,” she said, her eyes narrowed at Tarsk. “You can see how damaging this vid would be in the wrong hands.”
Tarsk’s ears flattened along his skull. “I never meant for this to happen. You know I would not harm you, ever.”
“Sage, Shadow, enough,” Princess Isra cut in. “It’s out there, the damage done. Fighting each other will not help our situation at all. In fact, it will make it worse. We need damage control and a way out, and we need it fast.”
Tarsk and Kara both bowed their heads, but still avoided each other’s gaze.
“You said someone is a traitor in the Fleet,” Daku said, the accusation weighed on him. The Jade Fleet had become a second family for him. He may not have liked the politics and arse-kissing needed to get to the top, but he never would have accused a single troop or officer of being anything but loyal. “What makes you so sure?”
“Have you wondered why I was sent to audit Outpost 7JZ?” Kara asked.
“I am now,” Daku replied, realising it was odd. “I guess I just thought it was part of your cover.”
“True, but Isra could have sent me to a dozen other locations more useful than a backwater mining operation. You already knew there was a problem with your comms, but you had become so used to it, you thought it nothing more than faulty equipment and officials not agreeing with your...attitude,” Kara said.
“What are you talking about?” Daku’s unease increased.
“We already knew the Outpost had severe communication issues. And you even brought them up in the first few days I was there, but you had already marked it up to you being at the bottom of the priority rung. Did you ever consider that it was sabotage?” Kara tapped her fingers over the instrument panel again and the holo-vid disappeared to be replaced by a star-map of the Jade Zone.
“It couldn’t have been. I checked it myself, and there was no tampering with the equipment,” Daku stated, sure of that fact.
“But you didn’t check the relay beacons, I assume,” Tarsk said.
Kara pressed her finger against the holo-controls and highlighted the relay beacons on the star-map. The communication lines between them created a crisscrossing pattern over the map.
Daku stared at them with dawning understanding over why they suspected the Fleet. “Only the Fleet have access to those. How do you know someone tampered them with? And just how does this tie into that vid?”
“I came to 7JZ because we identified a transmission that shouldn’t have come through the Fleet comm lines. When I was on the base, I accessed the mainframe and the comms log.”
Daku jerked back. “That area is secure. How’d you get in—”
He halted as Kara raised one eyebrow and tipped her head to the side.
“Right. Yeah, why would that be a problem for you? You can waltz right into the secure Fleet HQ, of course, you can get into one small comms room.” He rubbed his head. “Have I mentioned how glad I am that you’re on our side?” He shook his head as he snorted in humour at himself. “So, you found something, didn’t you?”
“Yes,” Kara said. “That signal was interrupting your communications, and piggy-backing off secure Jade Fleet comms. What’s more likely, a rogue hacker breaking into Fleet security, or someone on the inside leaking information?”
Daku bit back a curse as he made the logical jump. “And they sent this vid via that same route.”
They all affirmed his guess, and he wanted to curse again. “But how’d you know about it?”
“I put my own hardware into 7JZ’s comms unit,” Kara replied. “It picked up anything going through that relay, and that’s how we know someone in the Fleet has this vid.”
“But that doesn’t mean that they’re traitors,” Daku argued, considering the information. Conflicted anger stirred in him that Kara could question his Fleet, his people. He doubted he’d ever have a place in the Jade Fleet again. Breaking out of his cell had lost him any chance of ever being reinstated as a commander. Yet the Jade Fleet had been his home for too long for him not to feel defensive and protective of it.
He reached out and clasped Kara’s hand in his own, giving it a gentle squeeze of comfort, trying to find a way out. “As much as I don’t want to remind you, being a bio-cyber is illegal. That’s something the Fleet should investigate, otherwise, they’d be failing at their job.”
“Tsk, if only it was that simple,” Tarsk said.
“It was the Royals that banned all cybernetics and genetic modifications, not just bio-cybers,” Isra spoke up, her voice tight. “What do you think would happen if they revealed that not only do we have a bio-cyber working directly for us, but that she’s carrying out espionage missions for me?”
A hush blanketed the room as she let the implications sink in.