The warships retaliated beyond all reasonable measures. They destroyed entire buildings in retribution for a single rocket.

  Richmond should have looked away. He should have gone to the bunk room and relaxed with the Thelak, but he couldn't tear his eyes off the scanners. It seemed somehow critically important that he watch this.

  He didn't hold himself responsible for it--or anything else that happened on Narillia. He didn't think of himself as the firebrand that had ignited this powder keg of conflict.

  He did have to see it, though. He was a part of whatever was happening to this planet. He might not be Narillian, but whatever this was did concern him. Telling himself it didn't would never change that.

  The second bombardment lasted just as long as the first, if not longer. The noise and constant concussions of warship gunfire booming through the city wore down everyone's nerves.

  But it didn't keep everyone awake this time. No one could stay tense and watchful for that long--not without completely giving up and walking away.

  Everyone in the safe house walked away long before the bombardment ended. No one stood around staring at the ceiling. Everyone went about their business, ate their food, and eventually went to bed.

  Richmond did the same thing. He and his friends wouldn't be going anywhere as long as this was going on. He couldn't get to the Thalek compound to blow the explosives. He couldn't go outside to find a new ship to take him into orbit. He couldn't even get a vehicle to take him where he wanted to go. No one else could, either.

  He stretched out on his bunk, rested his rifles against the wall, and shut his eyes. All of Narillia's problems would still be there waiting for him when he woke up.

  He opened his eyes in the middle of the night and listened to the silence. The bombardment had stopped again. Were the warships still out there standing guard over Nesara?

  The steady tide of breathing filled the bunk room. Everyone was asleep--everyone except him.

  He lay awake listening, and then he sat up. Faint purple-blue light drifted through the light tubes from the street outside. The dim glow gave just enough light for Richmond to see where he was going and what he was doing.

  He couldn't identify when or where it happened, but something had changed. He couldn't stay here. He had no reason to stay here.

  He picked up his two rifles, went out to the lounge room, and used a writing implement he found on Niri's scanner desk. Richmond only knew it was a writing implement because he'd seen Niri using it to jot down notes on things he saw on his scans.

  It resembled an egg-shaped ball of spongy rubber. The person using it gripped the ball in his hand and squeezed. The device activated a microscopic laser that left an almost imperceptible burn on whatever surface the person wanted to write on.

  Niri used the device on a kind of slate with a smooth, almost waxy surface. The laser made just enough of a black mark to form letters, but didn't damage the slate at all.

  Niri had used a different style of egg-shaped ball to erase the letters when he wanted to erase something. The laser marks vanished completely. They left no residue or indentation to show that the writing had ever been there.

  Richmond picked up the egg and the slate, wrote Stay here until I come back, and put the slate on the desk where Niri would find it the next time he checked the scans.

  He didn't want anyone here to think something had happened to him. He didn't want anyone worrying about him when they woke up in the morning and found him gone.

  He didn't sign the note, either. Everyone would know who left it.

  He took his rifles, slipped out of the safe house without making any noise, and set off down the street.

  None of the warships or fighter craft patrolled the skies at this time of night. The Vasyke had made their point. They didn't need to make it again.

  Richmond didn't try to hide, nor did he bring his weapons forward. He didn't check the side streets or keep his eyes open for anyone who might see him.

  He walked straight down the sidewalk, heading for the Palace of Sevao.

  CHAPTER 13

  Richmond halted next to a building and studied the Palace of Sevao in front of him. It looked the same way he remembered--and yet so different.

  It was the one and only place in all of Nesara that the warships left untouched. Of course they would never fire on the palace.

  Several Lilri soldiers stood next to the wall, guarding the small door leading to the amphitheater. This was the door through which the Lilri had first led Richmond after they took him off the prison ship.

  He remembered that day as if it was yesterday. He remembered every turn, every corner, and every intersection from the outer wall to the amphitheater, all the way to the Necrodrome. He traced the route in his mind, even though he had no plans to go back to any of those places. He didn't need to. He just had to get into the palace.

  The soldiers changed their guard rotation. The troops from the previous shift left and the new batch took their places.

  He could have attacked them while they were distracting each other. Instead, he waited until only the new guards remained. He'd have to kill fewer of them this way.

  Richmond waited a few more minutes, took a wide roundabout path through a different neighborhood, and approached the palace and the guard post from the side.

  The soldiers faced straight out into the open street. They couldn't see Richmond from here.

  He shouldered one of his rifles, took careful aim, and fired at one of the soldiers. A laser rifle would have done a better job, but he kept his scavenged Lilri rifles instead.

  He didn't have to worry about anyone using the laser to trace his location, but Lilri gunfire was much less recognizable. No one would be able to tell from his gunfire which faction he belonged to, or even if he came from a faction.

  That shot could have come from another Lilri with a vendetta against the target soldier. No one would know just from looking at the shot itself.

  The shot hit the soldier in the head and took him down. A second soldier whipped around and leveled his weapon at Richmond's hiding place.

  Richmond retreated into the shadows where the soldier couldn't see him.

  "Come out with your hands up!" the Lilri bellowed. "Show yourself or I'll shoot!"

  Richmond kept quiet, slipped away down an alley, and came out behind the soldier. He could have gone straight into the palace through that door, but he couldn't risk that last soldier raising the alarm.

  Richmond waited until the second soldier came back. The Lilri scowled at the surroundings, but he didn't see Richmond even when he passed him on the way back to the door.

  Richmond stepped out of hiding, leveled his rifle at the man's head from behind, and fired.

  He dragged both bodies out of sight and left them in an alley at a distance from the door. It would take time for anyone to figure out that the soldiers had left the door unguarded. Then it would take more time for anyone to find the bodies.

  Time was all Richmond needed. He returned to the door, cast one last fleeting glance around the empty neighborhood, and slipped into the palace.

  He walked into a whole squad of soldiers leaning against the corridor walls. They obviously weren't doing anything other than standing around waiting for something to happen.

  Richmond didn't expect to run into so many soldiers so soon. He reacted without thinking and dumped gunfire down the hall before the soldiers had time to straighten themselves up.

  But he couldn't just go around the palace shooting everyone in sight. He'd come here for a reason other than killing Lilri soldiers.

  He hustled past them, found the stairs, and took himself up a dozen floors to the Vasyke's private areas.

  He didn't have a clue where to find Zaliv Temobos. Richmond strode down the long colonnade, looking into all the side rooms. The surrounding Vasyke paid no attention to him--almost as if they expected him.

  He found Temobos in a room full of sprawling, luxurious couches. He was in the middle of talking to three of the Vasyke judges from the amphitheater.

  The three of them definitely jumped when Richmond showed up armed.

  Richmond didn't threaten them. He just walked into the room. His presence was enough to get everyone's attention.

  Temobos tried to play it off by dismissing the judges and turning to face Richmond with that same idiotic grin.

  "What can I do for you, Captain?" Temobos sneered. "I thought we had concluded our business during your last visit."

  "I'm ready to share power now. I'm here to accept your offer."

  Temobos pretended to raise his eyebrows. "My offer is no longer on the table. You turned me down and continued with this armed insurrection of yours. Whatever happens out there in the city--no matter how many people the warships kill--you have only yourself to blame for it."

  "Call it what you want, but I'm sure you don't want to continue fighting a full armed insurrection from the Narillians. I'll share power with you in exchange for keeping the peace. If you don't, I'll continue with the insurrection. You don't want that. I'm sure you and your people would much rather rule over a planet that regulates itself and lives at peace so you can maintain control. You don't really want to destroy the Narillians. They were so peaceful and prosperous before. You can go back to that."

  "With you in charge," Temobos clarified.

  "You can hold the true power. I'll just make myself a figurehead. The Narillians already want me to lead them. I'll be your mouthpiece. I'll tell them to stand down their insurrection, and everything will go back to the way it was before."

  Temobos paced across the room to look out at the view. "I should have you hauled away for execution for even having the nerve to show your face in this palace."

  "What are you waiting for? You could have executed me a dozen times after the judges sentenced me. You need me. Just admit it and embrace it. I can help you return the city to peace."

  Temobos turned around, and another smug grin spread across his face. "Very well, Captain. I accept your offer. It will be your responsibility to ensure that none of the factions takes up arms against us and the Lilri. If any faction conflict breaks out, our agreement will end and you'll go back to being a prisoner."

  "Then it will be your responsibility to pull all the fighters and warships back to the airfield. It will also be your responsibility to remove the destroyed vehicles, provide the citizens with operable replacements, and repair all the buildings you destroyed."

  Temobos shut his eyes and gave another flourishing bow. "As you wish, Captain."

  Richmond narrowed his eyes at the man in front of him. He didn't trust this fool any further than he could throw him.

  Temobos wasn't making this deal so he could live in harmony with Richmond. That was just stupid. He would pull some other dirty trick. It was only a matter of time. Richmond was still a prisoner in this palace. That would never change.

  He walked away and headed down to the caverns where Halener had once parked his hover vehicle.

  Richmond selected one from the collection of other vehicles housed there. They may have belonged to the Vasyke, the Lilri, or perhaps some other Narillians who worked at the palace.

  He paused before he flew the vehicle out onto the streets. The warships no longer patrolled the city. Temobos didn't have to pull the Lilri craft back. They were already grounded at the airfield.

  Richmond returned to the safe house just as his friends were waking up. None of them had even gotten his message on the slate. He'd been gone all night.

  He had to spend at least an hour explaining to everyone what he wanted to do and why.

  "We can't cooperate with the Vasyke," Niri insisted. "Cooperating with them goes against everything we stand for."

  "We aren't cooperating with them," Richmond pointed out. "Come on. Don't tell me the Gelara actually want the Vasyke to send warships against unarmed civilians and bomb residential apartment buildings into the ground. This situation can't continue. This is the quickest way to stop the assault and find a way to bring down the Vasyke at the same time. We can't even move otherwise. We would be trapped here indefinitely, and the rest of the population would be in peril. I had to do something."

  "What's your plan, Joel?" Zuna asked. "What's the end game you see yourself working toward?

  "Just what I told you before--to blow the explosives and leave the planet. Staying in hiding here sure as hell isn't getting it done. At least we can move around now."

  "How do you plan to get a ship to leave the planet?" Hayes asked. "We're no closer to that than we were."

  "The Vasyke have all the warships," Richmond pointed out. "We'll be closer to them there than we are here. We'll have better access to the palace, the explosives, and the warships. I don't see how any of you can have a problem with this."

  "You can't expect us not to have a problem with making allies of the Vasyke," Niur interjected. "I understand you plan to make this alliance temporarily and for your own gain. It still doesn't sit right with us. You must understand that."

  "I understand it because it doesn't sit right with me either," Richmond replied. "I didn't see any other option, and this one has so many obvious benefits. What other alternative is there?"

  No one had an answer for that. No one pretended to be happy about it, either.

  Richmond couldn't blame them for that. He also couldn't blame them for being nervous and jumpy when he loaded his friends into the vehicle and drove them back to the palace.

  The Gria departed in their usual abrupt, silent way. They didn't have to explain anything to him. The Thelak and the Gelara also opted not to go to the palace with Richmond's party.

  Richmond confronted his five new allies before he left. "You don't have to come. I'll understand if you all want to go back with the others. I won't take offense. I just have to tell you that if you decide to leave the planet with us, you'll have to be with us when it eventually happens. I won't be able to go looking for you. If you're with us, you can come. If you aren't, you stay behind."

  "I'm coming with you," Jolok snarled. "I don't care what it takes. I'm going with you no matter what."

  Richmond found himself smiling at the guy. He was much bigger and had a much harsher, more brutal attitude than Venov.

  Venov had been downright sophisticated compared to Jolok, but something about Jolok's rough nature made Richmond like the man immediately.

  "We're going too." Uril made a slight hand gesture to indicate both himself and Thar. The two of them went everywhere and did everything together. Richmond had never seen the two of them apart, but Uril was always the one who spoke for both of them.

  "We made an alliance and we'll stick with it," Uril went on. "You're going into the Palace of Sevao to play mind games with the Vasyke. You'll need some big species to back you up."

  "I'm in, too," Tiron added. "I'm betting on you, Captain. The odds might be against us, but you always come out on the other side."

  Richmond didn't tell him about all the friends and allies who had fallen along the way--friends and allies he couldn't save.

  He turned to the last man in the group: Benar, the Drichi. "What about it, Benar?" Richmond asked. "Whatever you decide will be fine with me."

  "I have to stay behind," Benar replied. "I have a family with children in the city. I have to go back."

  "No problem." Richmond shook his hand. "I wish you all the luck in the world."

  "I don't need luck, and neither do you," Benar replied. "You'll make it. I know you will."

  He left with the Thelak. Richmond cast one last look around the safe house before he left it behind.

  CHAPTER 14

  Richmond drove his hover vehicle back across Nesara on his way to the palace. Tiron and Zuna talked in their own language the whole way there.

  Richmond parked in the cavern under the palace and led his friends up the stairs to the Vasyke's separate levels. The friends must have been the first Narillians to set foot in the place--apart from traitors like Halener, of course.

  Four Gulepes hustled up to the friends before any of the Vasyke could get the wrong idea about why all these grunt Narillians were invading the Vasyke's private areas.

  "If you follow us, Captain, we'll show you where you'll be staying," one of the Gulepes announced.

  Richmond wanted to get started cracking a bunch of Vasyke heads, but he went along with this little piece of domestic formality just for the sake of appearances.

  The Gulepes escorted the group to a different area. This level consisted of colonnades, sweeping verandas overlooking the city, and magnificent sitting rooms where the Vasyke could meet, talk, and just enjoy each other's company--assuming the Vasyke enjoyed each other's company at all. It also included countless private apartments, each one as grand and luxurious as the rest of the Vasyke's residential areas.

  Each apartment had its own living room, a massive bedroom, and its own private veranda open to the atmosphere above Nesara.

  The Gulepes assigned each person to their own apartment. Each member of Richmond's party separated from the group until everyone had parted for their own living quarters.

  The Gulepes left Richmond until the last. They finally conducted him to the very end of the colonnade, through a set of enormous double doors, and into an apartment three times the size of the others.

  He stopped on the threshold. The apartment had multiple sitting areas on different levels. They led into a number of different bedrooms, each one as elaborate and majestic as each of his friends' apartments.

  "Um...what is this?" Richmond choked.

  "This is the Vice-Consul's apartment," the same Gulepe told him. "Sevao assigned you this apartment--since you'll be his Vice-Consul from now on. Won't you?"

  The Gulepe studied Richmond on the side as if the alien couldn't understand why he didn't understand who and what he was.

  Richmond hadn't known the Vasyke had a name for whatever he was now. He'd thought Sevao was an absolute ruler.

 

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