Empire’s Child

By Barbara Jay

A young man strains against his birthright to achieve his greatest ambition. A light-hearted story of relationships and adventure set in a universe where there is a long-standing conflict between the Empire and the Alliance. What’s the matter with you, Kendru?’ The young Barovian raised his eyes and stared hard at the older man. ‘The matter is that I have just had a taste of battle and I want more.'

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu Publishing Services
• Release date: Nov 8, 2016
• ISBN: 9781483459622

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Empire’s Child

BARBARA JAY

Copyright © 2016 Barbara Jay.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored, or transmitted by any means—whether auditory, graphic, mechanical, or electronic—without written permission of both publisher and author, except in the case of brief excerpts used in critical articles and reviews. Unauthorized reproduction of any part of this work is illegal and is punishable by law.

This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, names, incidents, organizations, and dialogue in this novel are either the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

ISBN: 978-1-4834-5963-9 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4834-5962-2 (e)

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

Lulu Publishing Services rev. date: 10/21/2016

CONTENTS

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Twenty

Chapter Twenty-One

Chapter Twenty-Two

Chapter Twenty-Three

Chapter Twenty-Four

Chapter Twenty-Five

Chapter Twenty-Six

To Joan (Mum)

Sadly no longer with us

But she was the one

who endured patiently with no more than a little sigh

while I spent hours enmeshed in another world

when there were many more important things to be done!

CHAPTER ONE

T he pounding feet of their pursuers were gaining on them as the four men paused for breath in the shadows of one of the primitive dwellings. It was growing dark which would aid their flight but as the light faded so the cold became more bitter and their panting breath steamed in the air all around them. One of the men, Acuna, the eldest of the group, rammed the lethal double-edged hunting knife he had acquired into the top of his trousers, making the youngest man, who watched the move, wince, but he was too much out of breath to comment as he bent almost double and supported himself with one hand against the building wall. Once his hands were free, Acuna pulled his comms pad from his pocket and tried once again to hail their ship. ‘Mikko, dammit!’ he panted harshly into the communicator, ‘Where the devil are you?’ but he was greeted by nothing but static.

‘Time to go!’ warned one of the other men who had been keeping a lookout and they all darted out of their hiding place and ran headlong between the dark, menacing bulk of the silent buildings.

The deep shadows of the twilight concealed the four fleeing men but they had no idea where they were headed, and until they could communicate with their orbiting ship, no idea if they were running towards or away from the shuttle which would be awaiting them even now. Acuna cursed himself for allowing Kendru to drag him yet again into one of his hare-brained schemes, but it had appeared plausible enough upon the honeyed tongue of the irrepressible young captain, and in truth it had very nearly succeeded. They had not expected this disruption to their vital communications with their ship and had no idea what had caused it and whether it would ever clear. Meanwhile some of the primitive Sentraki people were hard on their heels and were hardly likely to be prepared to listen to an explanation which would sound to them like far-fetched mumbo-jumbo, even supposing they could communicate with them.

‘We’ll just nip down to the planet’s surface and pick up a few chunks of raw vanadium, which they’ll never miss from such a huge deposit. We won’t even land the shuttle in case it’s seen, then it can return to pick us up when we’re ready to leave, and no-one will be any the wiser,’ Kendru had said glibly, totally ignoring the Universal Gamma Treaty’s major directive that no approach to pre-technological races were to be made under any circumstances.

Damn you, Kendru, Acuna thought now as his breath rasped in his dry throat, glaring daggers at the back of the young man running just ahead of him who was the cause of their present difficulties. If the Sentrakis gained on them much more, they would be forced to stand and fight, and that was not a prospect which appealed over much to the large Barovian. It was not that he was afraid of a fight, even though the odds, which must be at least four or five to one favoured the Sentrakis and tended to decrease the prospect of any pleasure, as did the idea of fighting with primitive weapons undoubtedly more familiar to the Sentrakis than themselves. It was however the niggling prospect of revealing themselves to the primitive people in direct contravention of a Treaty the existence of which he himself had not for one moment forgotten which dampened his enthusiasm for direct confrontation.

At that moment, the young man at whom Acuna was glaring, turned his head, meeting the expected condemnation in his older compatriot’s eyes, but all he did was laugh, the excitement and exhilaration lighting his face and eyes as he ran, but at the same time he pointed ahead and Acuna nodded grimly. There were no more buildings ahead, just an open expanse, and what lie in the open area was concealed by the now almost total darkness. ‘Ahead,’ Kendru panted, opting for the risk of the open area which could possibly accommodate a rescue shuttle rather than continuing to go round in circles in the relatively safe concealment of the buildings.

Acuna nodded his agreement and they all dashed on into the unknown. Almost instantly, Acuna’s communicator burst into life and a calm voice announced, ‘Should any of you be tiring of your energetic exercising, you will find the shuttle awaiting you half a kilometre north-west of your present position. I thought you’d never come out of those buildings. Don’t know what they’re built of but they’re a very effective communications screen. Perhaps one of you could go back and grab a piece for Kae-Lin to analyse?’

Kendru glanced behind again and now they had broken cover they could see how many Sentrakis followed them and how close they were. It would be impossible for them to board the shuttle without the ship being seen by their pursuers. He gestured to Acuna for the Comms pad and panted into it, ‘Tell Gallica I want a smoke screen.’

The man aboard the mother ship laughed, ‘A smoke screen it is, Captain, and may I suggest an eerie beam of light which you can use as a guide?’

Almost instantly there was a deep roar of sound as the shuttle’s stabilisers were fired briefly and a billowing cloud of choking fumes drifted towards them from out of the darkness.

The Sentrakis had halted in their tracks the instant the deep roar had sounded and as the cloud swallowed up their prey they made no attempt to follow, then, when a huge, bright light pierced the swirling fog they turned tail and fled, although their quarry did not pause in their headlong flight to notice that fact.

The shuttle hatch slid open and they all piled aboard to crash out on the deck panting. The shuttle pilot watched only to ensure they were all aboard before closing and sealing the outer hatch, and air lock, and then he smoothly lifted off the planet’s surface.

The four Barovians remained where they were until they had regained enough breath to pull themselves up into seats, but it was even longer before they had recovered enough to attempt to speak, so Gallica, the shuttle pilot made use of the time to fill the unwonted silence. ‘You may think your adventures are over, Kendru, but there’s a little surprise waiting for you back on Kestrel.’

‘What?’ Kendru demanded, but the pilot shook his head.

‘All in good time, Captain. Don’t be so impatient! It will keep! For a while, anyway.’

The young Barovian glared his response, as he was still too much out of breath to string a series of expletives together.

They all watched in lethargic silence as the shuttle steadily approached the sanctuary of their familiar imperial mothership the Falco-asteron class vessel, Kestrel, and the pilot guided it skilfully to land in the tiny shuttle bay. Thereafter they disembarked and Kendru snapped, ‘Day room, thirty minutes,’ then they all went their separate ways, the engineer Ballin carrying the precious, stolen vanadium which was essential for their failing scanners.

Kendru went straight to the Control Room and sat himself in the vacant helmsman’s seat where he was studied by the man seated in the Comms seat. ‘Not good, Kendru,’ was Mikko’s verdict. ‘There’ll be trouble from this. Did you get the vanadium?’

‘Of course we did. Do you need to ask? Why trouble? Who’s to know?’

For an answer Mikko switched on the viewer which showed, albeit at great magnification, six imperial Tau Ceti fighters heading in their direction.

‘Jura!’ Kendru uttered. ‘Who is it? Do you know?’

‘Who would you least like it to be?’ Mikko returned cryptically.

‘Damn!’ Kendru swore. ‘Can we outrun them?’

‘We could, for a while. But they know we’re here. They’ve changed course to match ours, and they’re bound to have seen what we were up to. Running will only make matters worse.’

Kendru was silent for a while, sitting broodingly watching the approaching fighters. ‘Any chance of reaching the Parmenides Belt?’

‘Kae-Lin did the calculations. Technically possible, but not probable, was his verdict.’

‘Then, I’ll take possible,’ Kendru decided.

‘And commit yourself to running?’

‘We can say we didn’t see them,’ Kendru grinned.

‘You can say what you like at your own court-martial. I’ll only support a change of course if Acuna agrees, which is unlikely.’

‘Your insubordination is noted, Mikko,’ Kendru remarked without rancour. ‘You seem to have forgotten who’s in command of this ship.’

‘Right now, I’d say Captain Keri is,’ Mikko returned grimly.

Kendru sighed and stood up. ‘In the day room in twenty minutes, if you please, Mikko.’

He left the Control Room and Mikko switched off the viewer.

* * *

Kendru stood viewing the four men seated at their ease upon the comfortable couches of the day room. They were all once again dressed in the black and green Barovian uniforms and they were all silent waiting for Kendru to speak. He looked at Acuna knowing almost word for word what he was itching to say, and he sighed. As soon as he spoke he would give the other man the opportunity to vent his spleen. Moving his gaze away from the experienced officer he said, ‘I daresay you are all aware by now we are being tracked by Captain Keri’s squadron and as he will have seen what we were doing on Sentraki, he is likely to board us to demand an explanation. You may rest assured that no blame for our little excursion will fall upon any of you. There may be times when I have my suspicions that this ship is run by committee, but you know very well that I pull rank when I think it’s necessary. Acuna, I’m well aware of what you want to say about the expedition but this is more important right now. I’m only interested in any idea anyone has for giving Captain Keri the slip until we can convert the vanadium and so destroy the evidence. At the moment the Parmenides Belt appears to be our best chance.’

‘Too late for that, now,’ Kae-Lin announced. ‘That option was only possible if we had changed course half an hour ago. I told Mikko that.’

Kendru turned his gaze onto the Comms officer. ‘It appears Mikko forgot to mention that vital fact to me. Do I have to fight all of you as well as Captain Keri?’

‘Unworthy, Kendru!’ Acuna announced, finally deciding it was his turn to speak. ‘Nobody supports you more than we do. We even share to some extent your sense of adventure, but every one of us is fully aware that to you having command of this ship is not the same as it is to the rest of the crew. When you tire of it, as you undoubtedly will at some point, you will be able to move on to new excitements and adventures, but the rest of the crew will be left to pick up the pieces of their tattered careers and reputations.’

Kendru sighed and shook his head. He had heard it all before. ‘Jura, Acuna! Sometimes you really try my patience. Why must you always dismiss me this way? You, as well as anyone, know how I had to fight for this commission when I was refused permission to fly fighters. If I wasn’t serious I would have given up then. Just because I enjoy our adventures doesn’t mean I’m not serious about my career.’

‘Then show it by acting your age.’

‘I thought I was,’ Kendru grinned, unable to remain serious for too long and the older man, from several years’ experience, was unable to resist the smile.

‘Aye, Boy, you are! But I’ll not allow you to get yourself into any more trouble. We will not run from the Tau Cetis and that’s final, so you can take that look off your face.’

Kendru swept his gaze across the other three men. ‘Do you all support this mutiny?’

Mikko nodded, ‘You know I do,’ so Kendru moved his gaze onto his fellow pilot who shrugged.

‘We’ve no real choice, Kendru. I know it’s not in your nature to give up without a fight but we’d never outwit Captain Keri, and if we attempted to, it would only make him angry, and we’ve both seen what he’s like when he gets angry.’

Kendru raised his eyes to the heavens to show what he thought of his lieutenant’s cowardice, then settled his eyes finally upon the navigator. ‘Well?’

‘Other than turning our weapons upon them we have no choice but to allow him to board us, and that, Captain Kendru, is not a serious suggestion.’

‘Very well then, Gentlemen, prepare to be boarded, and I wish you joy of our humiliation. I will not speak with Captain Keri until he comes aboard, so, as of this moment, I am off duty and you have command, Acuna. Do what you will.’

CHAPTER TWO

G allica sat in the helmsman’s seat, Mikko in the communications and Acuna in the commander’s. They were all watching the six Tau Ceti fighters in patrol formation at a now much reduced magnification. Mikko glanced down at the display panel before him and muttered, ‘We’ve just moved into comms range. How long do you think ...?’

The comms light flashed and Mikko uttered a sharp laugh, ‘Impatient bastard! Shall I keep him waiting?’

Nobody answered that and Mikko pressed the button which allowed the leading Tau Ceti to view their control room as they could view his cockpit. There was silence for some time as they each assimilated the information displayed upon their screens, and the first thing the crew of Kestrel noted was that unusually, the pilot of the Tau Ceti was not wearing his face-concealing helmet, clearly displaying his familiar features and indicating his total lack of fear of any possible danger. Kestrel’s crew inclined their heads to him but waited for him to speak. He responded in like manner and addressed each of them in turn. ‘Greetings, Major Acuna, Captain Mikko, Lieutenant Gallica. Where is Captain Kendru?’

Acuna, by dint of being the highest ranking officer was elected to be spokesman. ‘Greetings, Captain Keri. Captain Kendru sends his compliments, but at present he is off duty.’

‘How very convenient!’ Keri returned mildly. ‘In that case you will convey a message to him. I intend to come aboard for a private meeting with him, after which you will all be fully briefed. Do you have room in your hangar for a Tau Ceti?’

Acuna nodded, beginning to look concerned, and Captain Keri continued, ‘We will rendezvous in one hour eighteen minutes and I trust your captain will be back on duty by then.’ The Barovian fighter pilot cut the link and Mikko shuddered, ‘Cold-blooded bastard! You know him, Gallica, what do you think he means to do?’

‘Humiliate Kendru, I imagine,’ the pilot replied, ‘Captain Keri was always harder on him than anyone else. I’ll never forget one particular time at the Academy, when he gave Kendru a raking down for insubordination in front of the whole class and sent him back out to repeat a mission even though he had been the first to arrive back after successfully completing his objective.’

Acuna said, ‘Kendru is no longer a student and this is beginning to look serious. I think it is more than a matter concerning the vanadium expedition. I’ll go and have a word with Kendru.’

* * *

The two officers watched the fighter land in the tight space of Kestrel’s hangar and waited while the pilot powered down and disembarked wearing his helmet until he reached the airlock. By the time he joined them he had removed the helmet and was carrying it under his arm. He was dressed in the same black and green imperial military uniform as they were, and he bowed to them jointly, raking the younger of the two with his cool gaze, before moving on to view the older man. ‘Major Acuna, greetings again. Captain Kendru, I am honoured you can spare the time to see me.’

‘Welcome aboard Kestrel, Captain Keri,’ Kendru replied calmly, ignoring the sarcasm. ‘Do you care for refreshment prior to our meeting?’

‘No, thank you, Captain Kendru,’ the visitor replied firmly, his tone suggesting his impatience with such delaying tactics.

‘Captain Keri,’ Acuna put in, aware of the growing tension between the two men. ‘Would you object to my presence at your meeting with Captain Kendru?’

The impassive gaze was raised to the major’s face. ‘Still don’t trust him, eh, Acuna? I do object to your presence. What I have to say is for Captain Kendru’s ears only. You will be briefed with Kestrel’s other officers.’

The young commander pointedly looked elsewhere during the exchange, and now he merely said, ‘This way please, Captain Keri.’

The fighter pilot followed his former student and knew him well enough to detect his extreme tension at this almost unprecedented disruption to his patrol. Already he would be feeling humiliated. How he would feel afterwards Keri dreaded to contemplate.

Kendru led the way to his cabin and after they had entered he closed the door and indicated the commodious couches positioned around the comfortable lounge. ‘You may sit, if you wish.’

Keri viewed the young man facing him with a straight look. ‘You may sit, Kendru.’

The Falco-asteron’s commander remained standing. ‘Just tell me why you are here, Keri, and get it over with. It’s obvious you’re not here to exchange pleasantries.’

Keri paced across the room. ‘No, I wish I was.’ He took himself to a seat, then said, ‘Sit down, Prince Kendru.’

The young man obeyed the obvious order and dawning comprehension transformed his features. ‘So, that’s it! You are here at the command of the Emperor.’

‘I am,’ Keri admitted. ‘You are being recalled.’

Kestrel’s captain shot to his feet with a curse and paced back and forth with violent energy. ‘Why?’ he demanded reasonably.

‘Kendru, I told you to sit down,’ Keri reiterated firmly.

‘I don’t want to sit down,’ Kendru snapped back, his anger clearly apparent.

‘I won’t answer your question until you do.’ Keri’s calm reply was in marked contrast to the previous fiery words, and Kendru obeyed them instantly, fixing his visitor with an aggressive stare which made the fighter pilot apparently change the subject. ‘If you hadn’t been such a brilliant scholar and excellent technical student, I would have been able to keep you for another year and I might then have made a fine pilot out of you.’

Kendru sneered his response, ‘Oh, don’t take it so personally, Keri, I manage well enough without your approval.’

‘That’s just the problem, you don’t. You were an excellent scholar but you lacked discipline, as I recall mentioning once or twice. I was making headway with you, but as I said, I needed one more year, and the consequences have manifested themselves all too clearly. You have embroiled yourself in too many questionable activities. There have been too many complaints. Your activities are supposed to be covert, but it seems you don’t understand the meaning of the word. Therefore, you are being recalled.’

Kendru was flushed with humiliation and his eyes glared to hide his hurt. His chin rose and his inborn pride rose to support him. ‘Recalled how? Under arrest? Relieved of my command?’

‘No, I’m not here to arrest you. I am only the messenger. At the moment, the Military Council has agreed to allow the Emperor to handle the situation discreetly, which is why nothing is being transmitted over the Comms network. You will return to Barovia unescorted and report to the Emperor.’

‘Jura!’ Kendru uttered appalled, ‘He will ground me. He’s been waiting for just such an opportunity.’

‘Then you’re more of a fool than I thought for playing into his hands.’

Kendru glared at the quietly spoken messenger. ‘I’m not interested in your opinion of me, Keri. You have no hold over me now.’

‘No, more’s the pity! Perhaps I should request your transfer to my squadron.’

Kendru grinned at that. ‘I would suffer even that fate to get behind the controls of a Tau Ceti.’

‘Oh, I wouldn’t allow you to fly a Tau Ceti. At least, not until you proved yourself, but that’s only hypothetical, isn’t it? The Emperor won’t allow you to risk your precious neck that way. If he had seen what we