Defender of the Empire 2: Facades (16 page)

              “Of course, Braeden. You know I love a good fight,” Francesca said with a smile in her tone. “I also know that the Zar’dakens love seeing my beautiful face, too.”

              Braeden laughed, “I’m sure they do,” though he doubted the Zar’dakens had a similar idea of beauty. “My thanks,” he said before switching back to Rael. “Rael, patch me through to the bridge.”

              “Yes, Sir.”

              A second later, Braeden could hear the faint buzz that told him that the rest of the bridge could hear him. He spoke to them for a few moments, telling them that the
Terrenza
was on her way. Being able to do nothing else, he returned to his meeting with the officials. “My apologies,” he said.

              “I trust that things are taken care of?” the mayor of Sage’tehti asked.

              Braeden made to reply, when two things happened simultaneously. The city’s sirens wailed to life, just as Rael let him know that the Zar’dakens had arrived.

              An aide ran into the suddenly panicked conference room. “The Telmicks are attacking!”

              “Your ship has to aid us, Admiral!” the mayor demanded, panic coloring his tone. Braeden couldn’t blame him, since the man had just spent the last several hours explaining the stretched-thin militia and the overtaxed supplies of the city. An open attack on the city was the absolute last thing they needed.

              Braeden shook his head. “They are under attack by a couple of Zar’daken warships at the moment.” His announcement silenced the chaos in the room. The young man who had come with him stared at him in shock.

              “S-surely you jest,” the mayor sputtered.

              Braeden met his gaze. “I wish I was. Take me to your defensives. We will have to depend upon ourselves at the moment.” The mayor gaped like a fish out of water for a few seconds before complying with Braeden’s order. As he followed the stressed man, he couldn’t help thinking that they were sitting in the middle of a well-orchestrated trap. The Telmicks were attacking planet side, and the Zar’dakens on star side. It was too simultaneous to be a coincidence, and it kept either side from helping the other. He took a moment to pray.

Chapter 19 – Relentless Change

              Rylynn

              “What is your favorite type of game?” I asked Timothy while we waited for the word to head out. Jack Fairhand was talking with Kifen and Talis. I assume they were discussing ways of getting off the planet without getting shot down.

              “My favorite type of game?” Timothy repeated thoughtfully as he leaned back into the couch in Jack’s living room. After a moment he grinned at me. “I would have to say that strategy games are my all-time favorite. They require skill, and a firm understanding of the rules.” His grin turned somewhat sly. “Of course, one can also bend the rules if they are really good.”

              “So, chess?”

              He nodded. “Checkers, bagh-chal, mancala, bridge, pasang and others. Oh and drad’age when I’m lucky enough to run into a J’Aran.”

              “Drad’age?” I asked. It and pasang, were the only ones that I hadn’t heard of before.

              “I’ll have to teach you that one,” Timothy said eagerly. “Drad’age has two players,
but
is played as if there were
three
.”

              “How does that work?” I couldn’t help asking.

              “The players are opponents who are trying to get the ‘drad’ on their side. It’s like this,” he said, talking with his hands as much as his words. “One player takes a turn with their pieces, than moves a piece on the drad’s corner of the board. Then the second player goes, again playing on their side and then moving to the drad’s corner. The goal is to defeat your opponent, but the only way you can do that is to have the drad, or ‘ally’ on your side, which is why you move the pieces around in the drad’s corner. Yes, your opponent is trying to do the same thing, but the trick and thus the fun of the game, is to set up the drad against your opponent in a way that they can’t alter.”

              “So you are building up your defenses on your own side and attacking with the drad?”

              Timothy grinned broadly, his eyes gleaming. “That is usually the ‘safest’ way to do it. The other is to defend with the drad, and attack with your own pieces. Or both,” he said tilting his head slightly.

              My first thought about this ‘drad’age’ was that it sounded crazy. But as I thought more about it I could see why Timothy got excited. It was a game of subtle intrigue and fronts. You had to play two people and constantly try to think of what your opponent was doing before he did. It sounded like fun. “I would like to learn it,” I said.

              “Excellent! I’ll show you on the way, because you know that as soon as I pull the board out, he is going to say we are leaving.” Timothy nodded ruefully at Jack.

              “So maybe you should pull it out so we can get to the L’uf and you could show me how to play.”

              “Well, I guess that
is
one way to do it,” Timothy said. But, neither of us got to see if my plan would work. The sirens screeched in a way that made me shiver and think the end was nigh.

              “I think the ses-KGor must be attacking,” Talis observed, listening to the siren’s wail.

              Jack cursed quite colorfully before turning to Timothy and me. “We need to go now. Sylvia said it would be like this.” The last of his words were muttered.

***

              Talis’talklen

              “When can we be expecting you back on board,
talklen?
” Saffa’tauta asked over Talis’talklen’s hand com.

              Looking out the window of Jack Fairhand’s apartment, he could see the fireballs that had once been ships raining down. “The ses-KGor are attacking, and all ships in the air are being shot down. Until this is over, Kifen’alusa and I are stuck here.”

              Saffa’tauta cursed the ses-KGor with his usual finesse. Talis’talklen couldn’t help but smile a little at his second’s tirade. “Curse the
perto
and their timing. We will stay as we are and hopefully this attack blows over soon.”

              “Aye. And perhaps I will have more tokens to add to my collection,” Talis’talklen agreed.

              Saffa’tauta laughed. “Good hunting,
talklen
.”

              “They are leaving,” Kifen’alusa murmured at his shoulder.

Talis’talklen glanced over at the humans and saw them gathering bags like hens gathering their chicks together. “Come, we shall go with them,” he said, and Kifen’alusa fell into step behind him. He could feel the younger warrior’s excitement about returning to the field. Fighting was always better than sitting around and waiting. Even better, was that they would be fighting against their rivals.
And,
Talis’talklen thought to himself with a look at the little human girl,
we can see what new tricks our little
elarken
will come up with.

Rylynn thought he insulted her by calling her
elarken
, and yes, originally he had thought it a joke. But after thinking about it, he began to realize how apt the name was. Now it was his own ironic joke, translated into the common tongue of the Empire.
Elarken
literally meant ‘central flame’. It was what his people called the center fire of the clan. Life was centered around it, but get too close and it would burn.

Rylynn was much like the central fires of his home, in that she protected those about her. The fire did it through light that scared away predators. She did it through her quick intelligence and courage, both of which had saved his crew at least once. As to the fire’s central location in the clan that one always returned to, the two of them kept crossing paths. And every time he got too close he seemed to get burned.

They were several blocks away from Jacks apartment when Saffa’tauta hailed him again. “Sir, the
LFH Hail Mary
is under attack by two Zar’daken warships
and
two other Hasta class Legion ships.”

Talis’talken stumbled slightly, his aching leg taking advantage of his slip in concentration. Kifen’alusa raised an eyebrow at him and Talis’talken shrugged and raised his com so Kifen’alusa could see it. Kifen’alusa nodded his understanding that it hadn’t been the leg that caused him to stumble. “There is a coup above,” he said simply, and Kifen’alusa’s gaze brightened with curiosity. “Have any of them spotted you?” he asked Saffa’tauta.

“No,
Talklen.
They have given no sign that they have. What are your orders?” his second asked. Should they help the doomed
Hail Mary
or not? If they helped they would surely die as they were vastly out-gunned. But watching the doomed ship fall was not something they would relish unless it was their enemy, and the
Hail Mary
was no longer that.

“Do as you will, Saffa’tauta. You can see what is going on.” There was a pause before his second signed off.

“The way we want to go is just ahead in that building’s cellar,” Jack said, as he pointed out the way to Rylynn and Kifen’alusa, “there is access to the tunnel system there.” Talis’talklen pocketed his com and studied the building ahead. The streets about them were loud with panicking people and the constantly wailing sirens.

“So are we taking the front door or do you have your own ‘front’ door?” Rylynn asked.

Jack raised an eyebrow at her. “What makes you so certain it’s a ‘door’?” the older human asked before winking at her. “Come on. I’ll show you our front ‘door’,” he said, taking off as briskly as one could in the crowded street. Talis’talklen shook his head at the strangeness of humans. Expecting that they would try to figure out how to climb through a window or some other tedious task, Talis’talken shook his head again in confusion as Jack led them to the actual front door of the establishment. It was a diner, empty of customers. Everyone must have fled in a real hurry, as the kitchen staff had even left the stove burners on.

“Your ‘front door’ is the front door?” Rylynn asked, bringing Talis’talken’s thoughts aloud. It really was unnerving when she did that.

Timothy leaned toward her and whispered “dred’age.” He said the word like humans playing chess would say ‘checkmate’.

Rylynn’s gray eyes widened as the group passed through the abandoned restaurant’s kitchen and down the stairs to the cellar. Her eyes narrowed as she whispered back, “I didn’t know we were playing.”

To which Timothy just grinned and replied, “Funny, because I thought we were always playing it.”

“I did warn you, girl, that he was relentless when it comes to games,” Jack said from the front of the group. He stopped near a dark, antique fireplace. In the dim cellar lights, Talis saw him push on one of the fireplace’s border tiles. A series of grumbling and grinding sounds murmured through the walls, before the fireplace disappeared into the ground. In its place was a wide tunnel that led off into the unfathomable distance. Dim light globes came on one by one.

“That isn’t creepy at all,” Rylynn muttered.

Jack snorted as he brushed past her. “Let’s go.” Following his example, the group stepped into the tunnel. Jack slapped a design carved on this side of the fireplace, and the groans and grinding returned as the fireplace rose back up. It reminded Talis’talklen of the burial caves back home. Large stones had to be rolled back in order to gain entry.

Now they were in a long cave, that had just been sealed. Talis’talklen was not a superstitious man, but he did pray that the similarity to the burial caves was not some sort of omen.

Jack led the group through the endless tunnel and its many branches without any sign of hesitation, for which Talis’talklen was glad. He did not think that he could have continued to follow the man if he had been at all hesitant. Getting lost down here would be a death sentence—a slow and helpless death sentence.

“How much longer?” Kifen’alusa asked after a brief break.

Jack studied the far distance before answering. “I believe we have another hour’s walk before we reach our exit point.”

“What fight can we expect outside that exit?” Talis’talklen asked.

“None. Just our L’uf guides, I hope,” the old human replied.

In over an hour—because of all the breaks, or so Jack claimed—they finally found the exit Jack had been looking for. Upon first seeing the ‘exit, Talis’talklen had felt hopeless. The tunnel just ended. But he didn’t have long to worry as Jack pressed a crack in the wall. The middle part of it depressed to reveal that it was another hidden touch stone like they’d used at the fireplace. The dead end slid into the ground, but instead of a cellar, this opening revealed a short cave that appeared to open into the forest.

“The defenses of Sage’tehti can’t be that great with holes like this in it,” Talis’talklen observed.

“Perhaps, but only if the attackers knew where an entrance was
and
how to open it,” Timothy said.

“And we don’t use it that often,” Jack added.

“But you may have to soon,” Rylynn said quietly. “In case the defenses fail, these tunnels could be used to evacuate the civilians.”

Jack nodded. “My people have instructions to guide people to and through the tunnels should the need arise.” At his words, Rylynn’s shoulders softened in relief. “Come, we still have a long way to go.” Once everyone was just outside the tunnel’s entrance, Jack touched what must have been another touch stone, but his body hid its exact location. The wall rose, grinding as it closed.

Talis’talken and Kifen’alusa followed the three humans out. By the time they made it to the mouth of the cave, he wasn’t so sure they were in the clear. The little
elarken
paused mid-step. “It’s too quiet,” she whispered, glancing back at him to see if he sensed it too. He nodded, because she was right. The silence was what had bothered him.

The other two walked heedlessly out before any of them could issue a warning. Both human males suddenly raised their hands in the universal sign of surrender. Since they were in the mouth of the cave, the two Telmicks and Rylynn did the same. After all, that is what one did to keep shots from being fired by an enemy who had gotten the drop on you, and had you surrounded. It was a situation Talis’talklen was none too pleased about. Eying his surroundings, he noted twenty or so Telmicks, bearing the blocky markings of the ses-KGor, leering at them.

“Well this is a not-so-pleasant surprise,” Timothy said nonchalantly.

“Indeed,” Jack agreed. He frowned at the Telmicks. “Aren’t you a bit far from the city?” Kifen’alusa and Talis’talklen traded a glance. What were the crafty humans up to now?

Rylynn glanced between the Guardians and the narrowed eyed Telmicks. “I have the feeling,” she began, “that they are trying to cover their asses. I mean, we did just walk into their midst while they were huddling out here—while their kinsmen fight in the city. At least it looks like that, doesn’t it?” she asked Talis’talklen.

He glanced at the band around them and saw several faces darken as the human’s meaning sank in. Turning back to Rylynn he said, “it does.”