Defender of the Empire 2: Facades (3 page)

Westley had accepted the stories, but I have caught him watching me thoughtfully every once in a while at dinner. I wondered if he had scrutinized the story and found it lacking. But he said nothing, so I have no real idea.

When Marius answered his own question, he told us that he had been helping with the weapons systems, to nobody’s surprise. When the question was turned to me, I was able to tell them about the many panels I had fixed.

“I swear you have the strangest fascination with those things,” Jason remarked.

I grinned and shrugged. It was true. I did like working with power crystals. They were physical equations that I could actually touch—patterns that I could play with to figure out how I could refine their usage. Ace wasn’t the only one who liked to refine things, and the girly part of me thought the crystals were quite pretty when lit from within.

It really is the simple things in life that bring joy. If one doesn’t pause once in a while to notice them, then life would just be overwhelming at best, and awfully drab the rest of the time. I also found that simple things made it easier when the Universe dealt really strange cards… like a hand that included an ace, a queen, and a joker.

Chapter 3 – A Queen, an Ace, and the Joke’s on Me

              Rylynn

D’trace’s thought that we would be flying out the next day proved to be nothing more than a hopeful wish. We were close, but technology is one of those things that you really can’t predict, especially if it had suffered damage. It was the end of the week before we were close enough to say that we could fly out the next day.

Again, I wanted to keep working to make sure that thought was the truth. Again, I was dismissed in a similar fashion, but this time D’trace gave me more. “Besides,” he added before I could actually ask how I could possibly be ‘overworked’ when all I was really doing was just replacing circuit crystals, “there is a ceremony tonight that all present active members and trainees are to attend. I need to figure out where I put my dress uniform and you need to go get ready yourself. And be quick about it—they don’t do this too often and you don’t want to arrive on the last shuttle.” He shooed me away with a wry chuckle that made me wonder if he had been the one to arrive last to something important.

              I went to go get ready. The guys walked with me to the lobby of the barracks. Along the way, we wondered what the ceremony could possibly be about.

              “They lost an admiral, an imperial advisor,” Jason said thoughtfully. “The ceremony may be—since it is to be attended by both actives and trainees—one in which they elect a new admiral.”

              Collectively, our brows rose at that. “I wonder who they will elect?” Westley wondered.

              “I have a guess as to who it might be,” Marius said. At our expectant looks, he continued bluntly, “they’ve tried to tap him before.”

              “Captain Wingstar?” I asked. He was the only one I knew of who had been asked to take the position in the past but had turned it down.

              Jason grunted. “He’ll probably try to set a whole new record by refusing the diamond again. I really wonder why it is that he refuses to rise above captain. He even turned down the compromise to be a commodore. I guess he just really likes the Captain’s Gold Star.”

              “Or he just really doesn’t like diamonds,” Marius added with a shrug.

              I shook my head before asking, “Are there any other candidates?”

              Jason shrugged. “I’m sure there are. After all, there are all the commodores to choose from.”

              “I bet they’re somewhat miffed at being considered after a mere captain, twice now,” I observed.

              “Perhaps. But everyone who is anyone knows that Captain Wingstar deserves to be a higher rank. They need his skills on the Board,” Westley said, just as we reached the barracks. “Well, we will find out soon enough,” he continued in the lobby. “Meet you all here in a few minutes.”

              And so we split up. Well,
I
went a different way since I was the only female in the group. I climbed the stairs to the third floor, enjoying the exercise and the extra time it took, delaying the sight of my roommate.

There are some people who are just not fun to be around. A stuck up jewel rose who is disgusted that you even exist and live in the same room as her is one of those people. She has been especially sullen since learning that I was now a crewman, and thus outranked her by five levels. When she tried to blame me for the added pressure from her parents to rise above me, I raised my hands and told her to bring it up with the emperor, as he was the one who had given me the commission. She didn’t know what to say to that.

              As I approached our room, I noted that the door was open, which meant that Lassie was there for sure. Sighing, I prepared myself for one of her moods. But as I got closer, I heard her delighted laughter and a male voice. My brows rose in surprise before descending into a frown. One of her guy friends was over? Great. Just great. I would need to be quick about grabbing my stuff and going to the bathroom to change.
Wait. Everyone is expected to go to the ceremony,
I thought. I smiled slightly. I had a good reason to kick the guy out by reminding the two of them of the upcoming event.

              It wasn’t until I got closer that I recognized the male voice. My suspicions as to who it belonged to were confirmed when I stood in the doorway. Leaning on the side of the window that granted a view of the door, most of the room, and outside without exposing himself to the outdoors, was a familiar young man. It’s a habit ingrained in those who have discovered the life-saving grace of paranoia. It was a stance I knew well, just as well as his strawberry blonde hair and blue eyes. An unnerving, assessing look glittered in those eyes as he spoke to my roommate.

              Ace was being his charming self, and Lassie was eating it up like it was her due, which I suppose she figured it was. It was how she was used to being treated, after all. I wondered how she would react if she knew that the attractive guy giving her so much attention was really a colonist. Even worse, a gang leader who dabbled in prostitution. Concerned, I glanced at her desk to see if there was any form or anything that Ace could have used to get her signature to apply to a contract. He has been known to be sneaky that way. Ace saw me as soon as I entered the doorway, I’m sure, but it was only now that he turned to me and smiled. Lassie saw where he was looking and glared at me.

              I ignored them and went to my corner of the room, getting my back away from the open door. I glanced at Ace as I went about collecting my dress uniform. “Hello Ace. What are you doing here?” I asked. “Is Carden around, too?”

              Ace crossed his arms and considered me. I could tell that Lassie didn’t like the fact that Ace was no longer paying her any attention. “Hello Ry. No, Carden isn’t here. Someone had to stay and keep the boys in line.”

              “Wait. You two
know
each other?” Lassie asked, glancing between us, apparently only now catching on that I had called him by name.

              I couldn’t help giving her a pitying look. “Of course. Ace is one of the leaders of the Street Wolves from Colony Lenti. I used to be part of his gang,” I explained.

              Ace grunted. “What is with this ‘used to’, Ry? You’re not dead.” He fixed me with his hard blue eyes and I found that I couldn’t look away. Carden might be the obvious scary one, because you know from a glance that he could easily kill you if he set his mind to it. But it was Ace who had the charisma to get close to you, to know you. He was the one who could hurt you the most. He was also the one who considered every member of the gang his family. This is not to say that Carden didn’t feel the same—neither were happy when someone tried to walk away. But it was Ace who had the ability to cross the lines to reach you.

              Like now.

              Lassie’s eyes widened as she realized that I hadn’t been lying to her. “But if you’re a colonist, how could you possibly have gotten here?” she actually asked. Ace gave her a smile that didn’t reach his eyes. If looks could maim and kill, my roommate would be toast. At least he wasn’t pinning
me
with that look anymore.

              “It was easy,” he replied silkily. “Citizens are so sure of themselves and their ‘superior’ technology, it is amazing that they don’t walk into a wall.” He turned back to me. “Why did you leave, Rylynn? We gave you a purpose, a place to be safe.”

              I closed my eyes. It was the only way to escape the guilt of seeing the hurt in his expression. We used to be enemies. He was the bane of my existence until I faced him, and Carden. We became allies… friends, I guess you could say. I was always wary of them, but I could trust that as long as I was useful, they would keep me safe. The truth was—I did have a place in their family. Being surrounded by those who formed the backbone of the under city, I had to keep my grief over my aunt to myself. I had to be strong, and grow stronger. It was the only way to keep them from taking advantage of me. For that necessity I was grateful to them. I was able to survive. As to why I had left… I don’t know. Maybe I had wanted to do something other than just survive. Maybe I was tired of walking the tightrope between living and death, and falling either way had seemed more and more appealing. Dark, right? Thank God that Captain Wingstar had given me a reason to live. But what had driven me to meet up with Valencia and end up crossing paths with the captain, I’ll never know.

              Which left me with my current dilemma. How do I explain something that I don’t understand myself to a man like Ace? He doesn’t make it a habit to accept excuses. He considers anything that is not what he wants to hear an excuse. But I can’t tell him what he wants to hear. I can’t really tell him anything because I don’t really know the
why.
I just know that I did leave.

As I pondered this, I noticed something. Random as it was, it helped me to keep from uttering a whole slew of inane things. Ace’s appearance made him look so much older than he really was. His eyes were cold and hard when he wasn’t using a façade. They were haunted, filled with secrets and knowledge of things better left in the dark. They reminded me a little of Marius’s eyes. They were old, and without the masks they made Ace seem much older than Westley, which is interesting because Westley was nineteen cycles and Ace only seventeen.

              Instead of answering him I asked, “Why are you here, Ace?”

              Ace’s eyes narrowed as if he didn’t care that I had avoided his question, then eased. The easygoing mask was back. “The Telmicks have picked the colonist cities clean. Most have left. Those who could, anyway. The rest are too poor to do anything other than what they have been doing—surviving. Not that it will matter much soon,” he said with a shrug that attempted to make little of the situation. It almost worked on Lassie, but she could see how pale I had become.

              “What do you mean?” I asked, though I dreaded the answer.

              “You’re the smart one, Ry. Can’t you guess?” he asked instead of answering.

              I bit my lower lip. “The Telmicks aren’t leaving, are they?” He shook his head and I bowed mine. I knew what he was getting at, though I wished that I didn’t, because I wouldn’t feel so helpless. “They are going to attack the Prime cities next. The Legion Fleet will come…”

              “Why do you say that like it’s a bad thing?” Lassie asked, looking at me as if I were an idiot.

              “Because the Telmick mercenaries love a good fight. They won’t care that people will die in the crossfire, especially since the Prime cities were always richer than the colonist ones. There is also the fact that the Prime cities have control over the char mines. Can you imagine what would happen if the mercenaries got their hands on the sole source of that substance? And don’t get me started on the rare metals and gems that are also found in those mines…” Lassie’s mouth dropped open as she thought about it.

              The Telmicks were an oddity in the Empire, a race split into two groups. There were the few clans who specialized in trade, and the rest were mercenaries. The merchant clans were the ones who were part of the Empire and sat on the council. From my Prime World class, I had learned that the merchant clans always had to explain the difference between themselves and the rest of their people. They were so hopelessly outnumbered by the mercenary clans that they couldn’t enforce anything. The mercenary clans also tended to care only about themselves. Once in a while though, one clan would rise up and lead the others on some campaign for prestige and wealth. That had happened recently. For whatever reason that defied most people’s understanding, they chose to raid colony Lenti. Lassie had to ask herself what would happen if the mercenary clans of the Telmicks got hold of the char mines.

              To me, it would be a very bad thing, which was why the Legion Fleet would work to defend the mines and the people in the cities. But where the Legion Fleet would care about people who might get caught in the crossfire, the Telmicks wouldn’t. They would use that against the Legion Fleet, and many people would die.

              Ace saw that I understood what was about to happen. “Now that you understand, you have to come and help us.”

              “I want to, Ace!” I said, standing up suddenly. Lassie startled in her chair at my outburst. I started to pace. “But what can I do? I’m just one person, who is about to serve on her first LF starship. I have no pull.”
Though Jason might…
I thought. But I couldn’t say anything about that to Ace. I would have to talk to Jason later and see if something couldn’t be done. In the meantime, I really didn’t know what I could do. “I want to help, Ace.” I said again, and stopped my pacing to meet his gaze. “I will ask my superiors when I get the chance. But right now, I don’t know what I
can
do.”

              Something flashed in Ace’s gaze, and then he closed his eyes. Upon opening them, I could see that the easygoing façade was back—even stronger than before. He reached into the pocket of what must have been a stolen trainee dress jacket and pulled something out. I relaxed once I saw it was an envelope. A secret smile played about his lips as he obviously enjoyed my reaction. He then handed me the envelope. “While you ponder your options, add this to your consideration. Talk to you later, Ry,” he said, before moving past me and out the door.