Star warrior complete a.., p.53
Star Warrior Complete: A Scifi Alien Romance Bundle, page 53
“That sounds terrible,” he said finally.
“Tell me about it,” I replied.
He arched an eyebrow but didn’t say anything else. I hoped the warm fuzzy feelings I was sending through the bond made it clear I was being sarcastic. Mostly. Maybe I was still a little peeved at being taken away from my last command and dropped on this mud ball orbiting a red star that couldn’t even put out the correct color of light.
“This view is terrible,” Jorav said, looking out to the palace. “I thought you said you wanted a view of the mountains? Now that is a tradition you should uphold. That’s far more important than that human nonsense about not seeing your bondmate before the ceremony.”
“Yeah well what is directly above these rooms is far more important to me than the view,” I said. “And if you’re not going to abide by not seeing your bondmate before the ceremony then I’m not going to give a flying fuck about the mountains. Besides, you can sort of see them off in the distance beyond the palace.”
I turned back to my crew. They all stood at attention in their reactive matrix suits and they were all loaded up and looked ready for business. I clapped my hands together.
“We ready to do this?” I asked.
“Ready!” they all said in unison.
Rodriguez moved forward and pulled a charged plasma cutter out of a bag at his side. He went to work cutting out a large circle big enough for everyone to fit through and then kicked the transparent aluminum out sending it tumbling through the air.
I held a hand up to stop him but it was too late. Damn it. That thing was going to fall to the ground below and it could potentially warn someone that something was going on up here. It wasn’t terribly likely, but any warning was something we wanted to avoid.
Smith apparently had that in hand though. She was at the circle leaning out way too far with a weapon in her hand. She took aim and fired once. I had no doubt she’d hit the circle of transparent aluminum tumbling through the air and vaporized it. An impressive feat considering how fast it had to be moving and that it was clear which would make it hellaciously difficult to see it in the first place.
Smith turned back to me and saluted. “Ready to go, captain. Is the order given?”
I nodded. “It is given.”
Smith reached into a pocket at her side and pulled out a personal antigrav generator that she held out in front of her. A moment later she disappeared up the side of the building looking for all the world like a hero from some ancient comic using a grappling hook to fly through the air, though of course she was using a device that took the laws of physics into a back alley and roughed them up a bit rather than a grappling hook. As she moved up she disappeared as her suit’s camouflage reactivated.
I braced myself, waiting for the sound of an alarm going off. If we were going to be caught by some patrol then this would be the time with Smith dangling off the side of the building and us cutting a big hole in the side. Only the alarm never came. Either the security for this building was amazingly lax, entirely possible, or they’d never accounted for the idea of someone trying to lead an assault on the building from the inside.
Not that I was even sure this would be an assault on the building. All the research I’d done showed that the giant gun they were heading for was a museum piece that nobody ever visited. Sort of like the ancient warships tied up at various docks around the world where people could come and visit them.
The only difference being this was a museum piece that could still do a hell of a lot of damage if someone was wily enough to find a way to power it up.
I turned and glanced at the other members of my crew who were still quite visible, though that would change in a moment.
“I’m not one for motivational speeches,” I said.
“You’re not even going to try captain?” Rodriguez said. I couldn’t see the smile under the strange alien ninja suit he wore, but I could feel the smile in his voice.
“Fine. Everything rides on you now. All the planning I’ve done comes down to you getting up there and getting those energy cells installed properly. If you don’t then we’re all going to die slow and painful deaths,” I said.
Rodriguez and Tanaka looked at one another and back to me. “You really know how to motivate captain,” Tanaka said, sarcasm dripping from her voice.
I shrugged. “I figure if the desire to stay alive for a little while longer isn’t enough to motivate you then nothing is going to do it, so get out there and make me proud or we’re all going to die.”
“Don’t worry,” Tanaka said. “We’ll kick some Livisk ass.”
“If it does go pear shaped for whatever reason then I want you to use your weapons to take out as many of them as you can before they get to you,” I said.
Rodriguez and Tanaka both snapped a salute then followed Smith out the window. I shook my head as I looked at them. There went a group of brave and slightly crazy crew mates. Sure I’d done lots of crazy things since coming to this world, but there was crazy and then there was going out into the open air without any technology all around you to keep you from falling.
I liked to have an enclosed space between me and a fall to certain death thank you very much. Next to that the idea of facing down angry Livisk bristling with guns and swords was nothing.
“Do you think they’ll complete their mission?” Jorav asked.
“They’ll complete it or they’ll die trying,” I replied. “They’re good people. They might have needed being captured and taken to a hostile alien planet to realize what they were truly capable of, but they’re a good crew.”
Jorav put a massive hand on my shoulder and I leaned in and rubbed my cheek against his fingers. It amazed me how something as simple as feeling his powerful hand against me could be enough to reassure me and let me know everything was going to be okay.
Even when it looked like there was a more than fifty percent chance that we were going to wind up with our heads on the chopping block by the end of the day. Or in the disintegration chamber. The Livisk might be primitive in some of their customs, but capital punishment was one area where they were thoroughly modern.
Though they might make a special exception for us since we were trying to overthrow their precious emperor.
Well if it came to that then I was going to do exactly the same thing I’d ordered all my crew to do.
“It won’t come to that,” Jorav said, squeezing my shoulder.
“It’s nice of you to say that, but you don’t know that,” I said. “At least we left that surprise with my crew. One way or another this city is going down.”
“I’d much prefer it if the city was conquered rather than destroyed,” Jorav said.
“The two might not be mutually exclusive,” I replied.
“There’s one part of the city I wouldn’t mind seeing permanently razed to the ground, of course,” Jorav said, turning to look out towards the imperial palace. That massive building that seemed to draw our eyes whenever we were contemplating our future, or wondering whether or not we would even have a future considering everything happening around us.
As we gazed through the window towards the palace there was a change in the giant cloud of ships floating around it. Some of the cloud parted and a massive procession of ships made its way towards our building. Some of the cloud of ships broke off and started swarming around that procession as the lines of hovercar traffic adjusted around it.
“And that would be the emperor coming out here to finish out his official duties,” Jorav said. “I hope you know what you’re doing.”
“I know what that asshole is doing,” I grumbled. “He’s cheating!”
Jorav turned to me and arched an eyebrow. Curiosity was clear through the bond.
“Look at what he’s doing with those ships. A big chunk of them are breaking off to escort him over here. You can bet your sexy sparkly blue ass he doesn’t need that many escorts to protect him in this city,” I said.
“You’d be surprised,” Jorav said. “You’re not the only one in this city who would love an opportunity to take down the emperor, and there’s also always the possibility of a human raid on the city showing up at the wrong time and blasting him out of the sky.”
“Not likely,” I said. “The admirals are convinced that an assault on this planet would be a suicide run so they’re never going to try it. Believe me, there have been plenty of people who wanted to do it and got shot down and had their careers ruined. Now that I’ve seen how this place is defended I’m starting to think the admirals were full of it.”
“High ranking officers typically are,” Jorav said, amusement moving through the bond as he said it.
I looked up at him and grinned. Smacked his shoulder lightly. “Why Jorav, I almost think you made a joke there. Keep that up and you might make a habit of it.”
“I’ll try not to,” Jorav said. “That sounds dreadful.”
We turned back to the escort moving across the city towards us. His royal highness was certainly taking his time getting his overly stuffed ass over here.
“How much do you want to bet all those ‘escorts’ he’s bringing along are going to turn on us the moment we’ve said our vows and the emperor is ready to drop the hammer?” I asked.
“No doubt,” Jorav said. “It’s actually quite clever. This way he can bring a small military force without violating his agreement to keep you under his protection. The emperor can have his moments.”
“Well he’s going to get one hell of a moment here soon,” I said. I glanced up through the floors to the top of the building and the massive gun that sat directly above us. I really hoped they were able to get up there without a problem, because otherwise we were well and truly screwed.
16: Big Day
Jorav:
I stepped out onto the top level and paused for a moment to look at the assembled crowd here to witness the big day. The sheer amount of cost going into this bonding ceremony would have boggled my mind if I hadn’t already witnessed it so many times.
One of the duties of being a general, at least while my former mate was alive and insisted I at least dabble in politics, was attending these things. I’d stopped when she was killed and I no longer felt that obligation, but I’d seen plenty of lavish ceremonies in my time.
I never thought one of those ceremonies would apply to me though. Short and simple. That’s what I preferred. Still, I could see the tactical advantages that this afforded us so I forced myself to walk up the aisle separating two very different groups.
Three, really, because of a group sitting near the back. My men, Ergohl’s people, and nobles who’d apparently thrown their lot in with Ergohl and Talia after I’d been captured, were to my right. To my left were people who were obviously friends of Dovar’s before Talia vaporized him. No doubt they had shifted their loyalty to Dovak as a matter of convenience.
The third group was the most interesting though. A contingent you didn’t often find at a bonding ceremony. People from the imperial court. Courtiers who were no doubt armed to the teeth. They kept glancing towards the imperial palace and the heavily armed procession slowly making its way through the city and over to our position.
It was odd being at a bonding ceremony and knowing that fully two thirds of the people in attendance wanted me dead. Sure I’d been in situations where people very much wanted me dead before, but it was always on a battlefield and never at something like this.
I guess this is how it felt to play politics.
I reached the end of the aisle and nodded at Telak and Pmosk who already stood there waiting for me. They’d gone up a little earlier while Talia and I were going over the final plans with her crew.
“Quite a show they’re putting on for you today,” Telak muttered as I took my place at the front. There was no one there to administer the ceremony as yet because of that show being put on.
The imperial procession moved in low over the building. The emperor’s ship, a large transport that had no doubt been heavily modified with all sorts of comforts for his majesty, moved past giving everyone a good look at it so they could all bask in how powerful he was as nasty looking fighter escorts buzzed all around him overhead.
It would have been awe inspiring if I hadn’t seen that sort of thing almost constantly when I was fighting actual wars off planet. I also wasn’t terribly impressed with the flying ability of most of those fighters. They were sloppy and inexperienced, and it was a wonder that none of them slammed into each other and caused an accident.
The imperial transport circled one final time before it came to rest against the building next to me.
A door opened in the side and several troops came out loaded to the teeth with weapons that they pointed in every direction. I’d had weapons pointed at me often enough that it didn’t bother me in the least, but there was some grumbling from the assembled crowd. I wanted to shake my head, but I also didn’t want to show any emotion in this moment.
Still, it disgusted me that a crowd of people from our capital city could be so thoroughly unused to raging battles that they flinched away and grumbled at having weapons pointed at them. Truly there was a sickness in this city. I could only hope that what we did here today was a start towards fixing that problem.
Once the area was secure the emperor stepped out onto the top level. He looked at the assembled crowd with a smile before walking over to join me. The transport closed up and pulled away to rejoin the rest of the fighters moving around the building, but the armed guards he’d brought with him didn’t leave. They moved out to take position around the building and watched the crowd constantly for any sign that someone might try to kill his imperial majesty.
Such paranoia. Though justified in this case. I wasn’t lying to Talia when I told her she wasn’t the only person in this city who would be happy to see the emperor dead.
The emperor came up and embraced me. I blinked in surprise and wondered if I was going to feel the prick of an assassin’s needle working its way through my skin, but no. Of course he wasn’t going to do something like that. Not before the bonding was complete. Not when he could be sure that he could have his guards shoot me with no loss to his honor once his protection had dropped.
Not that he cared about his honor. Not really. He only cared about how it looked to those assembled.
“So glad you could finally make it nephew,” I whispered. “I was starting to worry you wouldn’t come. You so seldom leave your palace.”
“I wouldn’t miss the end of this ceremony for my life uncle,” the emperor hissed back at me.
“It very well may be your life now that you’ve made the mistake of coming out here,” I whispered back.
The emperor pulled away, his hands on my shoulders. He shook his head and his smile looked almost sad.
“Are you still trying to make me think you somehow have the upper hand? You’re bluffing, uncle, and this day will see the end of you finally. I will have my revenge.”
I shrugged. “We’ll see about that.”
I looked out over the assembled people. The ones who’d looked so hostile earlier when I was making my way up the aisle were giddy with excitement now. No doubt they were just as aware as I was of what it meant that the emperor was here. It meant the ceremony was about to start. That his protection would be dropping soon. I’m sure most of the assembled guests were mostly waiting for the fireworks that would come as a result of that protection dropping.
I looked to the forces assembled around my building. A cloud of fighter craft and troop transports waiting for orders to launch and do battle. It filled me with pride to know that they all knew they’d be going against the emperor and yet they hadn’t questioned those orders. Those men would follow me to the death.
Finally I glanced up to the turret that dominated this building. It was difficult to ignore. An extravagance that only Dovar’s family could enjoy because of their unique position of power among the nobility. Actual power, though they didn’t have much of it. The turret had been stuck in the same position for as long as I could remember, and supposedly it had sat at the top of other palaces belonging to Dovar’s family before the imperial ascension. They looked on it as something of a lucky charm defending them symbolically even if it didn’t work these days.
At least it hadn’t worked for generations. Today might put an end to that.
Chanting from the opposite end of the building pulled my attention away from the massive turret overhead and back to what was happening here on the roof. It was the chanting that told everyone that the female was about to make her appearance, and slowly the entire crowd joined in on that chanting.
Two thirds of this crowd might hate us and want to see us dead, but they weren’t going to break tradition.
Then Talia stepped out onto the roof and she took my breath away. She wore a sparkling blue dress that would have made it look like a Livisk female was nearly nude, a throwback to ancient traditions when our civilization hadn’t been quite as advanced or enlightened as it was today, but on her with her contrasting pink skin it looked magical as it sparkled in the dying light of the setting sun.
Ergohl stood next to her and her arm was intertwined with his. He would be the one doing the duties of giving her away. It was only appropriate since he was her adopted father on this world. Plus getting her real father would have taken sending multiple infiltration teams to earth to try and kidnap her human parents and sneak them off world without human authorities noticing. With the way they’d been on high alert ever since my successful raid that was deemed tactically difficult, to say the least, and we gave up on the idea.
I drank in her beauty as they started down the aisle. The chanting rose as she moved, but I took the opportunity to drink in every curve of that dress clinging to her body. I wanted to remember this moment forever.
I felt her blushing. She was too far away for me to see it, but I could feel it through the bond. That wasn’t going to stop me from drinking in the sight of her though. She looked the most beautiful she’d ever been since the first time I laid eyes on her, though admittedly that dress looked far better on her than the power armor she’d worn at that first meeting.
