Solastria

By Sharon L Reddy

Contains both Emperor Evolved and Task Worthy of Princes.

The clan conquered all of human space, then shocked all people when they went went home. They would not rule. Each time great evil arose, one clan of the emperor's descendants sacrificed all their lives to bring an emperor into being. This time, there was no great evil against which to battle, but there was no law on the frontier and pirates were taking most ships that passed through the stargates. Where there is no other law, the emperor deals justice, with two swords. Solan's choice of Housefriend was two sisters, not a very large clan. He didn't have to lead a jihad. Sigma Prime Zack Morrow and Jubal of Caluba loved them, and they were sure even Coba and Sooli weren't enough and the kid needed them too.

Altruistic research went awry. All of human civilization was in danger from the corruption of the drug thanoc. The emperor's children chose to battle it, in court and on the estates of those rich enough to buy complete privacy. He gave them 150 days. He would allow it to exist no longer. If they did not succeed, the Death Angel would once again wade in the blood of those no other could bring to justice.

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• Language: English
• Publisher: Sharon L Reddy
• Release date: Jun 6, 2011
• ISBN: 9781583385562

Sharon L Reddy

I write science fiction romance, but it's the literary definition of romance. Swashbuckle, Baby, in "white tie and tails." High romantic fantasies, million word mysteries, family sagas, statesmen, gurus and wise immortals. Loving dads, sons and brothers, and of course, the women who understand and appreciate them. High fashion and landscape design. Materials and art, the books are built to be read very fast, specifically for the way women visualize. Research on the soap operas of the fifties, trends in international populist (fan) fiction, technological development, and above all, long-term entertainment value. It has to be good in reruns. The intent is create a body of work that's just fun to read, in spurts or bursts over decades. Ethics, responsibility, nobless oblige, the power of money, the use of prestige. I write good guys win. Period. They're fantasies for women. Men with lots of muscle say, "I love you," a lot.Most of what is currently published was written in the first decade, 1991-1999, before Mother Nature changed my personal definition of "mature audience." I hope you'll remain with me as I and my work mature and enjoy the second decade of my work now being published, as well.I've lived many places and visited far more. My current residence is on a high mesa in New Mexico, in the United States, where I am engaged in a habitat restoration project.Explanation of the Pilots Group:Some of these works have been sitting on my hard drive close to twenty years and they're no fun for anyone just sitting there. They're exactly what they've been titled, pilots, like for a TV series. It is my intent and hope that other writers will choose to continue the adventures of the characters. There are only three restrictions. Don't kill off my heroes, don't make good guys bad guys and give my story credit if you publish. Yes, you may publish and make money on your stories. I loved reading and writing fan fiction, but the limitations on it could be frustrating, so... Have fun with these works that specifically don't have them.

Book preview

Sharon L Reddy

Solastria

©1995, 2011

Double Novel

Contains Emperor Evolved and Task Worthy of Princes

Target Yonder

Millennium Works Collection

Smashwords Edition

ISBN 978-1-58338-556-2

Volume I

Emperor Evolved

©1995, 2011

Chapter One

Coba looked over the prospects for pleasant company and decided there weren't any. That didn't really surprise her. The bars and gaming houses on this side of the space dock didn't attract many people who could carry on a reasonable conversation, at least not for long. Techs and officers played on the other side of the port. Since most of them were even more boring than the drunks of lowside, she didn't waste her money on high-priced food and drink and once in awhile she met someone very interesting. One of the drunks sauntered, staggered, her way. He obviously didn't know who she was.

Go away. If you'd interested me, I'd have come to your table.

I am most interesting. Though not now. Now I am most drunk. I have hopes you will be here for a time. I have a few yet bound within. Voices, you know. A wake I'm holding, you see. For voices in my dreams. I hold a wake for every death and every voice, which didn't have time to scream when I killed them. That way I know someone says good-bye. My responsibility. Beautiful big lady, I like the way you wear your guns and I want to unwrap that wind of rich brown hair and bury my face in it. I want to read you poetry and quote Lord Byron. My hope is you will be near in a few days, about sixty. It will be a long wake. There are many voices.

Coba just blinked. He was short, thick, scarred and fascinating. Who was he?! She wouldn't be around for sixty days, but it just might be worth another stopover. She looked at the grin on her 'favorite bartender's' face and knew she was going to make her ask.

Sooli, who?

Coba, if you can find out, every woman in this port will pay for the information. He even charmed you.

He certainly did. It was the Lord Byron. I'm a sucker for swashbuckling romantics.

I do the ones who are shy and brilliant.

You do the sweet young men who are awed by your wisdom and beauty.

Well, somebody has to keep them out of real trouble on this side of the dock. He's the real thing Coba. He walked in sober, handed me a large cred auth, informed me he would be holding a personal wake for the dead only he knew and got drunk. Nobody moves like that who isn't trained and, damn, he's got pretty eyes.

And no one knows who?

No, and I'm not the only bar host he handed an auth. Coded cash deposit, no name, no nomer. He hasn't gotten mean. He did stand on a table and propose a toast, but since he bought the round, nobody minded. He asked a blessing.

Say what? Sooli, not fair. What did the very interesting little man say?

Lord, let none cry mercy who are not heard. This is to those whose cry came so late, only you could hear it in time to save them. Bless the souls of the foolish and the driven, and send the evil bastards who led them into sin to Hell!

Sooli, I'm in love. You memorized it.

Stick around. He's done it twice. Next time I'm going to record it. Wish I could record the way it makes me feel. I don't recognize the accent either.

Archaic and... affected?

Interesting idea. Where you headed next?

Nice little courier run Dupa to Cystalli. Bonded and all. Pure paperwork and not particularly secret.

Not a healthy highway, Coba.

True. Which is why the fact it's pure paperwork is not a well-kept secret. The nest in that area needs exterminating. Those pirates don't just take. They leave nothing alive on a ship.

Coba, he's staring at you. Here he comes.

Think well about the term you used. He who kills those adjudged as evil is still a killer of sentients. He is an executioner. Vermin have no choice. They cannot be redeemed. They have no motive. They are both parasites, but one has the choice to change. Judgment and retribution are the wages of sin. Some have back pay accumulating.

You're interesting even when you're drunk. I'll see you when the wake's over. I didn't know them, but I'll lift my glass. I prefer executioner. I'm too damn pissed to be satisfied with the image of misting for roaches.

Thank you. Good night.

Coba grabbed for him and quickly realized it was a mistake. She just stepped back and let him fall. She'd have strained muscles or even torn ligaments.

Thud! Second night he's done that. Notice you moved out of the way fast.

Sooli, I know better than to try to catch collapsed matter. You check the floor after he hits it?

Does it a few more times and I'll head for the crawlway with a torch to see if any struts are bent. Heavy man. The short is probably high-grav adaptation. Beautiful, isn't he?

He was. Somebody laid fresh scars on old recently. Why doesn't he have them removed?

Did you really look at them, Coba? Some of them are from blades, some from beams, and there are some that look... deliberate. I keep wondering if he's... really human.

Little sister, you're being silly.

Yes, but I still keep wondering. I keep thinking of ancient mythology and names like Vulcan and Ares.

Not the ones I usually think of when someone says 'Greek God,' but I do see what you mean.

You think of Apollo and Zack Morrow. Of course, everyone who's seen him does. Ow?

I've missed him.

But not enough to say yes.

Sooli, I enjoy men in general too much to say yes to marriage, even to Zack. Seen Jubal lately?

Coba and her sister talked about old friends. She reminded Sooli that Jubal didn't resent his world calling him back, when she steamed a bit about the short visit he and his girls had made a few days before. Sooli noted she looked too disappointed she'd missed him to be convincing. Coba grinned and said she had been thinking of a visit to Caluba, but the man neither of them were going to try to move had changed her plans.

Do me a favor, Sis. Toss loud-and-thumping-on-the-table out. That would be a bit more subtle than me pulling a blaster.

Coba laughed and sauntered over to remove her little sister's annoyance. She tapped him on the shoulder, slugged him, caught him when he folded, carried him out and leaned him against a wall. She smiled at the fellow who stuck his head out to see and he grinned. She hadn't called station security.

Get him back aboard for roster.

We will. You could tell we're mercenary marines.

Easy to do. Sooli, he's napping outside. Sec asks?

He wasn't a problem. Must have been working hard. Couple drinks and he got sleepy. Coba, careful on that run.

I'm not carrying anything secret or negotiable. I'll be back. Hope he's still here.

Boys! Would you help move the chunk of collapsed matter, who's been buying drinks this evening, out from in front of the bar? My sister would be disappointed if he was doing ninety when she gets back in sixty.

Ninety?

A drunk almost holed the station four days ago. Station Sec said pass 'ninety days' around to see if it'll reduce the number who think weapons and alcohol go together.

The run Coba made wasn't simple. The pirates evidently didn't believe she wasn't carrying anything important. Her ship took damage to a stabilizer and she had to space dock and shuttle down. She got suspicious, then mad. She called an attorney and placed a claim. She'd been carrying something she didn't know about. She was sure of it. She'd been contracted document only.

She got a reply and settlement in minutes. She'd been carrying the marriage contract and property settlement documents that would end a dispute far too many found profitable and someone had 'rumored' she carried gems. She won diplomatic courier pay, a share of a fine against the contractors, and got her ship fixed. She still wasn't pleased. She wasn't going to get back to her sister's within sixty days. She sighed and chided herself. Ending the exploitation of a planet was probably more important than seeing a very interesting man again.

The pirates came out of the shadow of a planet and were on her. She swore and ran. Someone was still rumoring. Her ship had good engines and fair armament. She might be able to squeeze through the globe they were tossing around her. She certainly couldn't fight her way out. Suddenly space lit up. She just cut engines and stared. The pirates had scattered. The ship directly in front of her had put a shot across their bows. One shot, across all their bows. She opened comm.

Hello, I'm trying to decide if you're a friend.

I find I am rather conceited. I was fully sure you'd not have missed a tryst by choice. I am opening a docking bay for you. Please don't leave it, until I get there. I would hate to spend hours hunting for you.

She saw a small port open, then decided she'd better check her sensor array. She whistled. The huge ship was four times as far away as she'd thought and bigger than many moons. She switched on her thrusters. The interesting man she'd seen in her sister's bar had just gotten even more interesting, beginning with the scarlet robes he was wearing and ending with a ship so big she should have heard of it. She landed her ship in a dock big enough for six its size and waited.

Lights came on and her sensors registered atmosphere. She left her ship and sat down cross-legged beside its hatch. She'd definitely wait. The ship echoed emptiness. She had no desire to explore it, at least not without a guide. The short scarred man in scarlet robes arrived in under three minutes.

'Hi. Welcome aboard Solando. Come with me, please.

Not yet. First, who are you?

I'm Solan, lord of all this. Call me Lanny. My mother would have, or so Solando tells me. Solando, full cloaking. Time to disappear.

It is done, Lord Solan. The person with you is armed, Sir. There are concealed weapons on her person as well as the guns and power belts.

I expected no less, Solando. I call this one Housefriend. She is Coba Corren.

The Housefriend is acknowledged. I have scanned her ship and given call reference, Lord Solan. Housefriend status is extended to known clan members. Only one identified. Sooli Corren, host of leased service bar titled 'Sooli's' on Space Dock Rulbora Four, relationship, half-sister.

Thank you, Solando. Coba, there are more pleasant places to answer questions you will not ask. Since I have chosen you as Housefriend, I will answer many.

Housefriend?

Solando will monitor. At any need, I will come. It is a rather reciprocal arrangement, however. If I am in need, Solando will seek your aid for me. Solando, explain your function.

I'm the ship of Lord Solan. I guard his life for his task. I am his birthplace and home. I am his trainer and retainer. I aid his task. His task is of his choosing. I had none to give him.

Solando is this ship. She was built to hold many thousands. The many thousands never came aboard. They changed their minds. I was nurtured in an artificial womb and then cared for by robotics. I chose the task of finding those who slaughtered the many thousands for the gems they wore and the crops they husbanded.

Lord Solan, they chose to die.

Yes, Solando, so you've said, but I still hunted their killers. You see, Coba, they were afraid someone would learn I existed, so they sent the great ship and met the raiders unarmed. They allowed themselves to die so no one learned I had been conceived, or that I had been given the three tools.

I'll bite. What tools?

Solando, the sword and the scepter.

Uh, huh. My sister wondered if you're human. I told her she was being silly, but I'm beginning to wonder a bit myself.

How many generations of change can there be until a race becomes a species? As human as you are. I want your sister to bear me a child. I want you in my bed.

Say what?!

You are a warrior. I would not ask you to raise young for me, yet, but yours is the only line I found worthy. Therefore, your sister to bear a child. It is your mother whose line I would seek, though both your fathers were worthy men. Solando, open a salon near us. Prepare a meal. We shall come forward later.

First corridor left. Second hatch on the right, Lord Solan. Roast pheasant under glass?

No, steak and potatoes. Baked, I think. Green salad would be nice. A light vinaigrette dressing. I'm sorry, Solando, I'll let you show off later.

Yes, Lord Solan. I shall remind you.

Solando collects recipes. She'd feed me til I was as wide as I am tall if I'd let her. I suppose you're deciding if I'm dangerously deranged or just deranged. Oh, very nice lounge, Solando. Make a note of it so I can find it again. How many rooms does that leave I've not been in?

Forty-two thousand eleven.

How big is this ship?

The size of a large city. Work for me.

Doing what?

Courier, not documents, or not often. I have things I want returned to their rightful owners without answering how I got them. As a courier, you need answer no questions. You were contracted to return stolen property that had been recovered. The first cargo is a child's toy and a wedding ring. It is all I can give them. The loved wife and mother I cannot. The second is a museum piece which is beyond price and worth a finite amount that staggers the imagination even if only the gems it bears were appraised. Take down your hair.

Lanny, you are the strangest man I ever met. I don't know whether to run or stick around to see what happens next.

Next, I serve you dinner, read you poetry, quote Lord Byron and make love to you. It should be interesting. I've never made love before. I hope you like your steak rare.

Coba decided not to run. He was just too interesting. Of course, being told one is the first a fascinating man has chosen to make love... Just too interesting.

Tell me about your scars.

They'll fade. All but the designators, the pattern beneath the others. The chevrons on my cheekbones and the crown on my brow will always remain. Do you bear scars on your perfect body? Am I ugly to you? Will you be repelled when you see my body bears many more scars than my face? Do you know what a cat-o'-nine-tails is? Tell me no, Coba, and I will return you to your ship, but still be Housefriend. If you do not, I shall learn.

I guess we both will. Just leave Sooli out of it.

Why? Don't you think your sister is worthy to bear the child of the richest man in the universe? I am the emperor of humankind. I am the Solastria.

You're the... Death Angel.

Yes. My clan believed one was needed. They were right. They died as proof. It has been eight millennia since an emperor was created. Humankind has spread to new frontiers. Where law cannot follow is the realm of the Death Angel. I'm the executioner. I am the emperor and the last. It is always so. Coba, I am not invulnerable. In that, the legends are wrong. Teach me to kiss.

She decided he was telling the truth, then that he was a very quick study. Several hours later, she stretched and smiled at the man lying beside her. She'd never been more thoroughly loved and she knew exactly how surprising it was. She carefully moved away from him. She just had the feeling peaceful sleep was rare for him and she didn't want to disturb him.

Solando, tell me a bit more.

He is all he said, Coba. He has also been lonely. While he sleeps, I will ease his wounds and heal the freshest scars. I believe he knows I cause them to fade. There are few who know the designators. Even clearly seen, they will not identify him to many.

I didn't really doubt it when he said he was the Solastria, but it was a shock. The Death Angel is a created being, genetically engineered.

Lord Solan is the child of two who loved deeply. He is fully human, but he is more. He is the emperor of the known universe, and like all his line, its defender. The emperor is created for that one purpose. His clan had thought to escape this time. I was built to that purpose, then they learned he must be the last. If he isn't needed enough all are willing to die to create him, he is not needed at all. He carries their strength into battle. I'm not programmed to understand, but I know he is more because they surrendered their lives. I observed something, which my visual sensors recorded as light, surround and enter the one I carried as fetus when his clan died. He must build a new clan. In millennia to come, there must be many of his heritage, so another emperor can be created at need.

Solando, you're talking about me.

Lord Solan, the questions were asked by Housefriend.

Understood. Will you be Death's handmaiden, Coba? Will you serve the executioner? Will you say yes and help me get rid of things which give me bad dreams? There's no point to the deaths if the living are not aided by them. I kill those who prey on those who have done no grave ill to others.

I'm not enough, Lanny. You need a courier group under contract. I won't carry something worth a planet's ransom. I can't protect it. I'm not fast enough or well-armed enough. The work's worthwhile, but I wouldn't be able to keep the job long. I'd be dead. Transship. Drop it at a major terminus and designate a carrier group. Then watch over it when the group moves out. Lanny, it's recovered loot. Nobody has jurisdiction out here. You say who it goes to and it will get there. That's what the mercenary carrier groups do.

Form one for me. I can't give what I have into the hands of anyone but you. You are Housefriend. Basically, most beautiful woman, you are the only one who I can trust. Your clan and mine are joined. I can trust your sister, or I could not have made you Housefriend. I want her out of that bar. I understand why she loves it, but I need her. Solando tells me an emperor usually chooses a clan with a large number of people in it as Housefriend. This is a place beyond all law. It is not a battle between good and evil. It's between civilization and savagery. The savage laziness of the one who will kill to take what another has earned must be stopped. All can get rich out here. It is a place of wealth lying about. Some would rather cut purse from another's waist, than turn the rock to gather gold from beneath it. You and Sooli.

Mercenary carriers. Lanny, you just can't move it any other way. I have a very vague notion of what we're talking about. Smugglers are getting real honest. They won't handle stolen. Drugs, but not pirate loot.

You're mine, Coba, and so is Sooli, but only as the emperor. Give Sooli the job. You make the runs. Take other contracts. You'll need people. I'd like a job. I spent a time as marine. I'm a good second. I don't lead. I charge in with a sword in my hands and people follow me. I'm not saying you can stop me every time, but you could keep other people from getting hurt trying to go with me. We get Sooli now. Can't you feel she's in danger? She hears too much. Does she love the life she leads enough to die for it? Competition is brisk. People who might have information on a competitor are rather a temptation. Solando, fully cloaked. We'll take Coba's ship. You are the guardian at my back. Let's go, Coba.

Where?

To your ship. I told you I want Sooli out of there now. Oh, Solando doesn't require a space gate to move from point to point, but we usually use them because direct transfer takes a great deal of power.

Coba managed not to stumble. It took the power of six stars to form a gate. The fact there weren't many was what made piracy possible. There was no one to guard the gates. A ship was vulnerable just as it came through. A great deal of power was a great deal of understatement. She wasn't doing quite as well as she thought though. Solan noticed she was just sort of trailing him.

Coba, I am the emperor. My clan conquered all human space, then shocked it when they demanded the right to protect it, but refused to run it. It is mine. This new frontier is mine. I have the right to protect it. The civilization of humankind belongs to me. My government cannot be overthrown because there is none. When I die, there will be no emperor until the clan I father creates another because one is needed. Hurry, the feeling of danger grows.

Coba docked her ship as close to Sooli's as she could and tried to keep up with Lanny in the crowded station. Once she got close enough, she just 'rode in his wake.' A path opened in front of him. Just before they got to Sooli's hatch, someone stepped in his way. He had a gun. Coba nearly tripped over the someone. She dropped back a bit. Maybe she was following a little too close.

Sooli, come with us now. Coba, get her between us. You lead. Out. Now.

Sooli didn't hesitate or ask questions. She'd noticed too many of her customers had clean fingernails. They weren't ship and dock labor. They wore gloves when they did their dirty work.

Coba turned on her armor. It would shield Sooli some. Lanny expected trouble to be following. All hell suddenly broke loose. Coba yelled Damn! and cleared her shield for weapons use. She heard Lanny howl, or something, but she was too busy to look. She wasn't sure she wanted to look. In front of her were still forms, behind her were screams.

Sooli dove for the floor when beams started flying. She saw him draw a sword from beneath his scarlet robes and cut off pieces of people who were shooting at him. She saw him get grazed, but never hit. He moved with phenomenal speed. The smell of blood made her nauseous. He turned to help her up and she jerked away from him.

Sooli, I dealt pain as punishment. I killed no one. They will not be maimed. The time may come when I must kill them, but they still have this time to think it over. You have seen me give farewell. Do you think I would kill if unnecessary? I believe in the Divine, Sooli. I believe humanity has a purpose. I believe it is in each to find his own part of that purpose. I gave them a critique of their efforts so far.

Lanny, court Sooli after we get to the ship.

Yes, Coba.

And so help me, you do that sword stunt some place really stupid and I'll put a scar on you myself. Sooli, we've been drafted. Prince Valiant back there thinks we're keen. Since he can do it if he wants, he drafted us. I know what my job is. I'm waiting to hear how he plans to explain what yours is.

Organizing a mercenary carrier group. I have a large number of things I took away from people who took them away from those who had worked for them. Coba says there is no one who could protect them. Remedy the situation. She's in charge. Obviously, I'm not a sensible choice to guide a mercenary group. I'm the messiah type. This isn't jihad. It is the territorial rangers. Ah, a name. Empire Rangers? Take us back to Solando, Coba.

Lanny, I hope you're kidding about the name.

Oh. I rather liked it, Coba. How about Outland Riders? Then we'll answer 'Ranger Headquarters' on the comm. Solando, open a door. Someplace close to quarters. I'll see other rooms later. Thank you. Solando is trying to get me to look at twelve more. Then there will be fewer than forty-two thousand no one's ever seen. My ship is a city, Sooli. I was its only occupant.

He's the Emperor, the Solastria, and he wants you to have his kids. You and I are the clan he chose to back him. You get to help him build his clan back up. I get to keep him from getting himself and a couple dozen other idiots killed. Get rid of the scars, Lanny. You held the wake for them. Give up the battle too. Start collecting new ones. You're finished with those. Each time I touched one, I saw its memory in your eyes. No one's going to look for the Angel of Death in a mercenary troop. If they're devout enough to be bothered by the other marks, they'll either leave or decide they're real and quietly worship you. The emperor is a messiah, Lanny. That's been what he or she was for several thousand years.

A messiah isn't needed. They need some territorial marshals. Since there's no interstellar court on the frontier, it's my territory. I'm the judge. I'm the only one with jurisdiction, until they build structures of law.

It didn't take long to get to Solando. The huge ship was very close. Of course Coba did find it a bit odd to follow a beam into something that all her ship sensors and her eyes told her wasn't there. Sooli let out a small gasp when they were suddenly inside a bay and she grinned. She knew just how she felt. Three minutes later, they were on a lift and Coba was wondering how many big, empty, docking bays the huge ship had. The place the lift opened was a surprise too. It was also a mess.

Solando, quarter's lights at evening six-nine. Coba, Sooli, welcome to the palace of the emperor of the human species.

Uh, huh. Who's your housekeeper?

Me. My quarters consists of fifty-odd rooms. I live in this one, Sooli. No one else has ever been here before. This is the bridge of Solando. Of course, until Coba landed in Solando, no one else had ever been on this ship. I live in this room, but I do spend a lot of time in that garden.

That's not a holo?

No, Coba, that's a garden. This is a palace. There are ballrooms. This is the home my clan built for the clan. Each emperor before me was a messiah. Each clan before this prepared a world. Those who prepared for me built a ship. Solando, what is your expected life-span?

Lord Solan, the question as stated is unanswerable.

Just answer it, Solando.

With normal maintenance, I have no projected date of cessation of full function. However, I am actually designed to function on a planet and not deplete my energy reserves. Consuming asteroid belts to rebuild them is noticeable.

Compromise. You find someplace to hide ninety-eight percent of you, near a stargate, with a breathable atmosphere and we'll use the two percent as headquarters.

Lord Solan, you do make it difficult. Would you give up atmosphere for the ability to move the planet?

A moon?

With a geothermally active core. There is atmosphere, but not to breathe.

And how much of you could you hide?

There's enough power to maintain full cloaking without using any internal reserve.

Three wings and bay facilities, external docking ports and four domes. My quarters and reception area. Don't show the whole palace, Solando. Make it look reasonable for three. Sooli, I need Coba as a warrior right now. I need you to bear my child. Please don't say no. I'd rather never learn if I could have forced you, even to preserve the line of the emperor.

What happened to poetry and Lord Byron? Coba gets that and I don't? No deal. I get poetry too.

Coba laughed. Solan was surprised at her sister's answer, but she wasn't. She knew how fast her sister thought and moved, when it was necessary. She was sure Solan knew a great deal about them, but there were things about Sooli only she knew, though both Jubal and Zack knew she was a great deal more than most people saw. She'd been looking forward to someone else discovering them, but hadn't had a great deal of hope someone would, until Solan had suddenly appeared.

Sooli had been 'empress in hiding' since they were children. It was why she hadn't been more shocked when Solan told her he'd chosen them, but she did have questions, a lot of them. She put off asking them when Solando said they'd landed and she'd prepared a flitter for them to examine her cloaking and immediate environs.

Lanny took them up and Coba and Sooli stared. Against the craggy rocks of a moon stood a huge complex. The wings were launch ramps for fighter groups. There were more than a dozen sleek ships lined up in launch order on each wing.

What did the ship do, bury herself under the mountain range?

No, Sooli, Solando is the mountain range. Coba, are forty enough? Should I have her add another wing?

There are only three of us so far. Forty is a bit many for us to use currently. How many wings are there?

Solando, how many wings are there?

One hundred eighty, but only twelve can be made available without opening the interior decks. I suggest one more wing and cruisers. Wing one is available.

Coba, I leave it to you.

Cruisers?

Yes. The fighters are single-person ships. A cruiser is designed for a command group of three, but can move several hundred marines or carry large loads. They're also massively armed. Wing one has four and my personal ship in it. It's rather large.

How large?

Two wings of fighters can land in it. Solando show them.

Oh, my lord. I'm not sure we need that big.

We need it, Coba. We haul in the cruisers if the cargo is so valuable someone wants to pay the price. We need Calubans.

Sooli, there are few cultures stranger than Caluban.

They don't proselytize, Solan. They're warriors and they're a recommendation that can't be topped. A Caluban will not work for anyone who doesn't meet their standard of fair practices.

Are you going to call me Solan all the time, Sooli?

Yes. You can be Lanny with Coba, but not with me. So, Coba, is he any good?

He has a lot of natural talent. He also learns fast. He's only had one lesson so far, but he did get it from me.

Going to be interesting to see how he handles Caluba. Land, Solan. Time for your second lesson. Pick me a bedroom. While you're at it, pick you one and something nice for Coba. You're being un-nested. The bridge is going to be central command.

Coba smiled and decided her little sister was going to ask questions for them both. She was the one who loved history and knew exactly what should be asked. She was going to 'thump' Solan with it, and probably keep him dizzy and wondering what hit him forever. She had no doubt he'd enjoy it. Sooli never disappointed her. She began asking them as soon as they walked back onto Solando's bridge.

So, you chose our house, Solastria. Coba doesn't really know what that means. I do. I don't like it.

Good. I don't like it either. You are Solastarana. If you liked it, there'd be something wrong with your mind.

Consort and concubine!

Chosen mother of the children of the ruler of the human species. Your rooms are this way.

Coba didn't follow. Sooli would tell her what she'd asked and what he'd said and she needed time without her there to get to know Solan a bit.

You'd better spread it around some, Solan. This house doesn't have a hundred women in it.

No. I will share my body, but only with those of your house shall I share my seed. There are no others worthy.

You have a weird idea of worthy. Why us?

Because your mother and your fathers made you worthy. You carry all the royal lines, Sooli, but many do. Only in you and Coba do all of a house... Sooli, I know yours is the clan to be Housefriend to the emperor.

Our mother was a prostitute and our fathers were regulars.

Your mother was a mistress and the men who helped her survive loved her. She gave love in return and she had to have been honorable because you both are. Your fathers did not hide your existence. They were proud of you. They too were honorable. Only in you two does that honor, combined with the bloodlines of my heritage, and enough real practice at staying alive exist. I don't need to father a thousand, Sooli. It is not a holy war. I kept expecting one. I couldn't see who or how it could happen, but I was still expecting it. You are all the Housefriend I need. I will blend no other clan with that which creates an emperor. Solando, give the Solastarana Sooli a counter for her reproductive control medication. I hope you like this room, Sooli. I chose it for you.

Sooli, he decorated it for you. He chose every item in it.

Solando, sometimes you are not helpful. This room is my poem to you. Through those doors are bath and closet. Through those, the garden. I have chosen you as first counselor. You and your sister will shape the future of the human species. Coba doesn't really understand one part of me and you don't understand one. Do you know how an emperor is created?

No.

All the people of the clan of the emperor agree one is needed. It's always a unanimous decision and they all give their lives to do it, usually by being slaughtered by the forces they created an emperor to battle. The clan which created me had great wealth, but they lived simply. At the last moment, they chose to create an emperor to battle the evil they had built Solando to flee. There's no jihad. There's me with my swords in my hands. I usually use two. I'm the emperor who will kill the fewest of all those of my line, but I will kill nearly all myself. I am faster, smarter, stronger and all other things which are fundamental to a legend, lovely woman, but... Every one of those who gave their lives to bring me into being held one thought as life left them. 'Lord, give humanity an emperor.' Solando says she saw it, or something. Oh, I call Solando 'he' or 'she,' as the mood strikes me. I will call Coba 'Sir' and you 'Lady.' Here I stand. It is simple to Coba. She just doesn't see life as complicated. She doesn't worry about... To Coba, right and wrong are simple.

Yes, they are. She's why this makes sense. Get rid of the scars. I want to see you handle Caluba. They're one of your peoples and highly honorable. Too bad you didn't wait just a bit longer. Being a virgin male would have made things lots easier for you. I won't refuse, Solan, but it will take awhile. Get some more lessons from my sister. You must be better than any lover I've had or I will be terribly disappointed. She has very good friends on Caluba. Deal with the culture. You figure out how to keep from spreading yourself around. You're not celibate and you're not bonded. You're companioned and I plan on making it real hard on you.

I can't, Sooli. It's wrong for me. I will allow no others to bear my children.

Good. Now figure out how to accept the Caluban culture and still keep that vow. Satisfy yourself with your acceptance of the way of an honorable people. While on their world, you will accept their ways. I will and so will Coba. If companions decide to share, we will share. It is the female's choice to share her companion. There aren't enough males. Only one child in fifty or so is male. They understand the needs of the women. They choose their companions, but their companions choose to share them. Your progeny are not needed. Your acceptance of their need is. With even one Caluban in our force, we have an unbeatable credential. The code of honor insures no Caluban would work for anyone who was not honorable. I want Jubal and his companions. He has seven. Unusual, but so is Jubal. They have no children. He, however, has many. None of his companions are fertile, but you'll treat them as if they are. Nearly every other female on Caluba is. Jubal and his girls have been in the bar I used to run. You still smell of blood, Solan.

He realized he'd been dismissed. He knew who Jubal of Caluba was, but he wasn't sure he wanted to meet him. She'd set him a test. He wondered if he was going to pass it or run for the ship. He was not sure he could meet her challenge. However, he did like some of her instructions. He walked into the rooms he'd chosen for himself long before and stripped.

Solando, activate some mechanicals and clean my 'nest.' Warn Coba that's what you're doing. Familiarize her with your flight systems. I need a fragrance which won't remind Sooli of the smell of blood, and get rid of the scars.

That will take some time, Solan. I can begin, but unless you are willing to spend several hours under the healing lamp...

No, thank you. Begin will do.

Solando was quite pleased. Coba was warned to sit in the pilot's chaise and get her feet up. Solando planned on getting it done fast, before Solan changed his mind. Coba laughed when she saw the sudden flurry of mechanicals. In ten seconds, the bridge was overrun with every shape and size of them small enough to fit through a door. In two minutes, they had all disappeared and the bridge area was spotlessly clean and looked very different, but it still didn't look like a ship's bridge.

You've wanted to clear the clutter awhile, Solando.

Yes, Coba, but his apartments are very large and there was no one to physically share them. There is now.

There is now. How is this area accessed from the wings you selected?

The four wings I chose meet in a central hub. There are seven tiers of living quarters and work areas set around a central lift shaft which terminates through the doors on your left. The domes are all recreation and training areas. This area is actually the first of several public rooms which are available from this direction. There are two conference rooms to your left and one very large assembly area to your right. The tier directly below this holds laboratories and communications facilities. Exterior docking facilities are accessed by a lift shaft which debauches in the third tier below us. That tier is like no other. It can be disconnected and expelled.

In other words, it's designed to remove unwelcome visitors who might get that far.

Precisely. Coba, Lord Solan is deceptive in many ways. It is not intentional. He really doesn't know all he is. One of those is his age.

"He's really older than he appears?

No, Coba, younger. You will see some of it when the scars begin to fade, but age itself is an arbitrary measurement. The emperor is not an infant at birth. The process is somewhat speeded, but he spent the equivalent of his first fourteen years in a growth chamber with a direct mind-link. For the equivalent of seven more, he learned physical skills in a high gravity chamber, still with a deep mind-link. He came out of that chamber six years ago. He was conceived and given into my care eleven years ago. He has the knowledge and skill of a man of a thousand, the physical perfection of a man of twenty and the real experience of a six-year-old child, and he spent those six years carrying out the execution ordered by his race. That's what the birth of an emperor is. He will not take orders well, Coba.

Sure he will. I won't give him any unless I feel I must. If it's that important, he'll listen because he'll have to stop being Lanny and become Solastria Solan, Lord Emperor, the Death Angel. Eleven years old, ten if you start counting from when babies should be born.

Coba, everything went very well with my charge, except for one unusual item. There was no record of any previous emperor exhibiting the type of physical behavior Lord Solan exhibited.

Maybe they just thought masturbation wasn't a nice thing to talk about? Solando, you're trying to find a way to ask me, warn me, or at least brief me, about something, and since you say you had no record, you had no programming to handle it. You think you did all right, but it would be nice to have a human confirm your improvisation was reasonable and at least non-harmful. That's very much a human male. You did good. Now, warn me or ask me.

He would lie on the floor, pressing himself against it and scream until he eventually cried himself into exhausted sleep. He did not masturbate. I suggested it. He said no. He stated it would be boring. Sooli told Lord Solan he was to learn from you. She expects him to be the best lover she has ever had.

That's my little sis. If he's going to be the only one, he'll sure as hell be the best. Oh, and she will make it Hell for him on Caluba. Solando, my sister is a voyeur. She watches everything and she hears everything. She won't take another man. She'll get her pleasure vicariously, or her foreplay vicariously. She's going to enlist the aid of Jubal's girls, and probably Jubal, in keeping him so hot he has trouble walking, let alone thinking. Don't worry. We've already got a good idea what our sweet Solan needs to put sex into a proper context. Sooli's the one who may get kinky. She might enjoy handing Lanny over to a bunch of women and watching while they get him warmed up for her, then spend several hours in a filmy negligee, while he reads her poetry by candlelight. When he goes crazy, she'll be everything he wants. I'm different. I grab a hand and pull him around a corner. If we've got seven hours, great. If we've got three minutes, great. Solando, does he wear his... What does he wear into battle?

A support thong.

And nothing else?

Coba, he had never fought a battle where he did not kill all until you were required to battle to return to your ship with Sooli. The red robes are his choice of garb most places. He does wear spacer covalls to 'blend in,' as he states it.

He gets a uniform. You've seen my battle armor, at least greaves and gauntlets. I'd like him to wear a breast plate if I thought I could convince him. Definitely a groin guard.

I doubt you can get him to wear any of it, Coba.

Let's do a bit of manipulation. First, greaves; red and stud them with rubies. Gauntlets, the same. Now, let's design a groin protector that fits like a support thong. Receive stylus input on this screen. Give me an image of him in a support thong. Oh, my, no one would have had any doubt about who he was. Let's give him silk, draped on his hips and the groin shield unit built into the cup. He'll probably still wear the thong, but... Is there any material you can think of which won't hinder his motions and is still heavy enough to weave a cuirass field generator into it?

None. The field itself would slow him. The robes cover his back sheath, but barely slow him to draw or fight and he can shed them fast.

Not fast enough. Create him a long vest. Drop the back below the hilt of his sword. Hold it together with mags at the shoulders. He wants out of it, he touches one pad. Now, a helm. Make him an amulet for his brow. Use silk again as the material to go round his head. The amulet design I will leave to someone else. It hangs at the tip of his widow's peak and covers the crown on his brow. Build a shield for his thick skull in the amulet. Since the groin cover is the only thing I'm giving him to wear under the vest, I get him in armor where it comes in most useful, except over his heart. If we move fast enough, even that won't kill him. The only things we can't replace are brains and balls. The gauntlets and greaves will give him four good deflecting surfaces. Has he practiced with them?

Lord Solan has practiced with all weapons made, or dreamt of, in any human culture. He may wear another sword. He often does. May I suggest a sash, with scabbard that could be released as the vest?

Very good, then we could put... No, you said the field itself would slow him. How goes the scar removal?

Not quickly. Coba, I believe some of it may be that he needs to appear older to himself than he does. I doubt you are truly prepared for it either.

How old does he look?

Fifteen and fifty thousand. He's approximately twenty-five.

Or age six with a thousand death screams in his memory. I love him. Head over. Never change. Interesting Sooli is too. It's a kick. We just got picked by the sweetest piece of baby boy in twenty millennia. It's not a job you can turn down. That's not allowed. It's his choice, period. Oh, and Sooli is going to keep him dizzy and interested forever. I'll be his buddy. Sorry, Solando, but it's my job now. I plan on asking you lots of questions. Start with cat-o'-nine-tails.

Were they so evil the entire settlement must be destroyed? Three years as one of their slaves was long enough for him to believe. He still wept when he did it. His people had brought him into being to wipe out a pirate enclave that was expanding to the point of isolating worlds which are barely self-sustaining. They had judged them. He had to endure it to understand the act of judgment.

If we make it expensive, fewer people get in the pirate business. They don't get started, or they get out in time, the Death Angel doesn't have to execute them.

The emperor does not have to judge them. He's a bit confused by the raiment arranged in his dressing room. May I suggest you help him don it?

Oh, you have good ideas, Solando. Is there a door between his room and mine?

No, yours connects with your sister's.

Does hers connect with his?

No.

Solando, add parlors to our rooms, put balconies on them, whatever you have to do, but you make them connect to the emperor's bedroom. We will have more than one way to reach him. His life is his to risk, but it is ours to protect. Can you do it? Or do we have to move things around?

They have been moved. I would not change the rooms Lord Solan created for you and your sister. I created a bedroom for him between your apartments. I extended your drawing rooms, adding another room to compensate for the loss of area. Do you wish a door from your bedroom to his or from your drawing room?

Put mine my bedroom to his. Put Sooli's in her drawing room. What's he doing now?

Hopping on one foot, cursing. He kicked one of the mechanicals moving everything and rebuilding around it. He's not terribly pleased his bedroom was disassembled and moved while he was dressing in it. He's not delighted his closets, bath, study and entrance to the garden are now across the corridor from his bedroom. You have his bedroom between you. There are no locks on the doors.

Replace the doors with beautiful, heavy, drapes. If I don't want to, I'll pitch him out. With Sooli, he's got to get past another door. How big is his bedroom?

Large enough for a slumber support field and two chairs.

Put satin sheets on his bed and deep pile carpet the floor. Get rid of the chairs and scatter some big pillows. Fill a cabinet with sex toys. I doubt he'll find most interesting, but he needs to ask why they exist. He's decided on us. He gives us what we want. His bedroom is ours. The rest of his apartments are his, but his bedroom isn't. Now, give me a light path to my room. How's construction going?

He's sitting in the center of the support field watching.

Are the satin sheets on yet?

No.

Good, when it's time, dump him off the field by removing the bedding. Make it up in snow white satin sheets and a covering of scarlet velvet. Tassel the cover at the corners with big gold cord. Line the room with mirrors. Don't cover the walls, but place beautiful etched mirrors all around it, and on the ceiling. If Sooli wants vid cameras mounted, give them to her. I'll probably drag him into my room most of the time. She wouldn't watch without asking anyway. He's made Sooli and I the ultimate sex objects. We're wanted for our reproductive capability. This room tells him we know and we intend he understand completely. In his bedroom, he is a sex object. That's why both Sooli and I will usually take him to our rooms. I don't plan on being faithful. Don't plan on just his kids either. I plan on having one of Jubal's and one of Zack Morrow's. Made both of them put seed in the freeze in case something happened to them. I've got ova put aside in case for me. Those two kids will be born. This house isn't big enough. I will enlarge it in my way. I'm the Soldista, the general. How nervous is he?

He's working his way down from furious at the moment.

How close is the room to being finished?

Your rooms are next right. I estimate ten minutes.

Excellent. Oh, it's beautiful.

I believed Lord Solan would have wished me to do my best to maintain the effect he worked so hard to create. I completed yours first. I did little but move the room five meters down-wing. The mirrors are beginning to arrive. I caught him off guard and healed a few particularly nasty scars and he hadn't noticed.

Heat his bedroom to a temperature which is perfect for him to be nude. Now, battle armor for me. Do it in red and white. Give me a red satin cape with white trim. This the door to Sooli's room?

Yes.

Knock, knock. Hi. You up on what I've been setting up for high-handed and absolutely right?

Yes. I ask questions when dozens of busy little robots move rooms in my rooms. Coba, you're planning on being very hard on this baby.

Did I set it up right?

You're a genius. Yes, we can accept what he commanded us to give him, if he understands what he's commanded. I want to see you prepare him the first time. I want to see it, Coba. I wanna watch. Can I? Can I please?

Solando, tell Lord Solan his Soldista comes to gird him for his task and the Solastarana will be watching via vid. Put up six mini cams. Hi, Lanny, you ready for this?

No, I have no idea what's going on.

Well, I designed you a uniform to wear that puts armor over your balls and brains. It's so sexy Sooli wants to watch me put you in it the first time. This is your bedroom, but you're ours when you're in it. There are no closets in here, no bath, nothing but pillows and bed. And mirrors. Oh, and vid cams, but we'll always tell you if you're being watched. Your apartments are yours, Lord Solan. Your bed is ours. Now, drop the vest. We start from the bottom up. Show me how you tie the support thong. Like this?

Coba put him into the armor. Sooli had helped. He was so excited he trembled every time she touched him. The idea of being watched... They'd won the first battle. He would wear greaves, gauntlets, groin shield and head shield. He stared at himself in the mirrors.

You really can't hide what you are, Lanny. Your best disguise is yourself. You don't wear clothes because they slow you. You're healing your scars because we informed you we prefer you beautiful. If anyone asks your age, you are to tell them eleven. You may tell them your equivalent age is twenty-five, or so. People are going to ask what you are.

I'm a warrior. I don't wear clothes because they slow me. If these slow me, I won't wear them.

Are you going to give them a chance? The gauntlets may not work, but we left your wrists and elbows free. They can parry a beam and they don't slow you like a field. I put fields over two parts that shouldn't be a problem. They're not supposed to be flexing in a battle situation.

They aren't?

Oh, boy, battle excites you.

Coba, I think everything excites me.

Oh, yum. Be fun watching you try to sleep knowing Sooli's on one side and I'm on the other and we're both watching. Hmm, I think a few diamonds on the red silk drape, Solando. Vee it deeper and reduce the size of the groin cover. Put a crest where the band vees to the groin and put the shield in it. Lanny, do you want the silk cover to be a pouch to hold you or do you want it fastened like you do the thong. Oh, yes, let's do it like that. Two strips of red silk across the muscles of your beautiful ass. You can see the way the support thong is tied through the silk. It's erotic. You won't get fondled a lot because you look very dangerous, but you'll get excited. Every woman will have her eyes on you. That's your uniform. You'll wear it whenever you're on duty. You're on duty except when I tell you otherwise. If they ask you why, tell them I convinced you to wear them by proving they won't slow you too much, in most cases.

There will be times even they are too much, Coba.

Lanny, baby, if I see you strip all the way down, I will grab everybody I know is a friendly and get us all under cover. If you become the Death Angel, I don't want to watch. Executions aren't my thing. Get it? Separate the two in your mind a bit. This is the young warrior I call 'Lanny' and my sister calls 'Solan.' The computer calls him 'Lord Solan.' When you take it all off, you are the power called forth by your people. Mmm, I do like the way silk feels. Come with me, Lanny. We're going to see how the uniform holds up under battlefield conditions. Battle excites me too. Brace yourself. You're strong enough to hold me. Pay attention. If this was a battlefield, we'd have guns in our hands and be watching each other's back, Nice work on the shield clasp, Solando. Coded to?

The genetic code of Lord Solan, Sooli and you. If I had not included Lord Solan's, he could have found himself in difficulty if he wished to use a public toilet facility.

That makes sense. Pay attention, Lanny! Don't let your guard down, and don't close your eyes. I'll use you just like this on a battlefield. I'll tell them you have some kind of clan debt you have to pay and you picked us to bear your kids. As far as I'm concerned, that makes you mine when I want you. Oh, I'll have sex with other men too. Going to have kids by a couple of them. You get jealous and I'll beat the shit out of you. We both know it. You'll never raise a hand to anyone but the enemy. So I'll beat the shit out of you. You're going to lead a very strange life, but it's the one you chose. We both know I can't really hurt you. You barely notice most pain.

I notice. I'm just too busy to spend time thinking about it. Would you really do this on a battlefield?

Yes. Shove your back up against a tree and climb you both. Talk to Jubal, Lanny. He's one of the men I'll make love to and give a child. Pay attention to what I'm doing, what I'm saying and what's behind me, Lanny. Jubal can. He usually has from six to nine companions. Currently, he has seven. They can't be companions unless they're practicing some form of reproductive control. No one is even allowed to bring up the subject of children while a companion, but Jubal fathers children for his world. He has a great many women who love him. I was never a companion and I suggested it. I'm going to give him our child to raise, really foul up his system. Zack Morrow's, I'll raise. You'll help. Pay attention, Lanny. Are you paying attention?

Yes, no, and somewhat. It is hard to watch for threat when I can feel there is none. I do not want to listen to what you're saying. I can hold you, Coba, all night and day again. There is no one else like me. I am angered by it.

"Lanny, you can't come into my life and tell me all my oaths and promises given to people I love are null and void. Sooli never made any. She hadn't found a male she wanted as father for her children. I had. Two. I told them so. We made arrangements those two kids would be born if all three of us died. Zack knows I chose Jubal and vice versa. You're going to be