Defender of the Empire 2: Facades (4 page)

              Blinking in surprise, I peered out the door and watched him walk down to the stairway. I hadn’t expected that. Ace doesn’t just leave like that… Unless, of course, he figured he had already won. I glanced down at the envelope, wondering what kind of persuader it could be. I also wondered if Ace had another plan up his sleeve. He always tended to have a few… I shut the door and turned sharply to face my roommate. “You didn’t sign anything, did you?” I asked Lassie. I may not like her, but she didn’t deserve to be forced into prostitution. Her family might have pull, but signed contracts were one of the few things that were not easily voided. If they were, there would be a hell of a lot of problems in the Empire, more than there probably already are. And, Ace is not one to hold back if he feels he has leverage.

              She blinked and frowned at me. “No. Why?”

              “Good. I’m pretty sure he was considering how much your contract would be worth when I came in.”

              “Contract?”

              I rolled my eyes before shaking my head. “If you didn’t sign anything, don’t worry about it. What you
do
need to worry about is the ceremony scheduled in an hour.”

              “Shit!” she swore, and I watched in bemusement as she went to work getting ready. Who knew such a chaotic mania could end with such a trim and polished individual? Shaking my head again, I slipped into my own dress uniform and ran a comb through my hair. I had gotten it from the guest quarters of the
Hail Mary
back when this whole adventure started. Once I was as ready as I was going to get, I sat on my bed and stared at the envelope Ace had given me. Lassie was too busy touching up her hair to notice.

              It was plain, with no adornment. I glanced up to see what Lassie was doing. Without looking at me, she left the room. I assumed she was going to see if her friends needed any help. Once the door shut, I slipped the small throwing knife I had tucked into an ankle sheath out. Since waking up on the
Hail Mary
after they picked me up from Lenti, I felt vulnerable without a weapon. It was against Academy rules for any cadet to have a weapon on them in the school. But I wasn’t a cadet anymore, now was I? And Marius was the one who had given me the ankle sheath and throwing knife.

              The paper hissed as the blade cut along its fold. Finished with opening the envelope, I tucked the knife away, and pulled out the tri-folded paper that had been sheltered inside. Unfolding it, I found it to be a letter. My hand started to shake as I recognized the handwriting.
How did Ace have this?
my mind frantically asked as I started to read.

             
Dear Rylynn,

              If you are reading this, then it means my past has finally caught up with me… Oh Rylynn, I must apologize to you because there is so much I have kept from you. Too much to atone for in a single letter. I am ashamed of my duplicity. My only excuse is that I was trying to give you as much of a normal life as I could. Of all my secrets, this is perhaps the most important.

              Do you remember when you asked me if I was ever afraid? Though you did not believe me then and I doubt that has changed, I have been afraid for a long time. You see, when I was young, I always had dreams. Strange dreams that were always vivid. Many were terrifying, others haunting. Most would steal me away at night, others visited in my waking hours. My dreams scared my family. They began to believe that I was crazy. I started to believe that they were right. But I could not stop the dreams. So I lived a half-life; always pretending, to keep my family from worrying, but knowing that it was only a façade. My sister was one of the few who would listen to my dreams, but I could tell that she only thought them a product of an over-active imagination. Even though I knew the dreams were more than just imaginings, I never corrected her. All part of that half-life I was living.

              So, when I met someone who didn’t think I was crazy, and in fact believed my dreams were glimpses of what was to come, I felt at home. He courted me in a way that I could not resist. I was in love. I married him and left my family’s House. I never told them the true reason why I left. I could not tell them I had married someone because they wouldn’t have understood my needs. They thought I was crazy, after all. Though I was blissfully happy in finally being accepted for who I was, I knew there was a darkness in my new husband. It was dangerous and I didn’t want it near my family. Even though I sensed this, I hadn’t expected my husband to be… well let us just say that our enemy is dangerously cunning.

              I fled from him and our home on Prima Imperium. I found myself on Colony Lenti and knew it was the perfect place to hide. No one knew who I was, and I had the freedom to start over. But I was afraid that he would find me… My fear grew when your father begged me to care for you. I had chills because I had dreamed of that happening. The fear became stronger because I feared for
you
. I loved you and I knew the enemy would move quickly to kill you if your existence was known.

              I was fearful, but you made me courageous. You are wiser than your years and can see life for what it is. You see the patterns, both the dark and the light. I pray that you keep strengthening the bright ones. I know that you will.

              I apologize for the tangent into my history, but it needed to be told. You needed to know that you have enemies. But there are friends, too. There is a reason why I ran to Preh’heti instead of offworld when your father gave you into my keeping. I and some others know of the danger that lurks on our doorstep. It is imperative that you speak with Jack Fairhand. Tell him I sent you. He will understand what it is that I cannot write at the moment. All I can say is that the heart of the problem is Lenti. Remember to find Fairhand. Talk also to the L’uf. They will know even more. And never mind what most say, the Lu’f are wiser than most believe.

              I love you, Rylynn. I hope you can forgive me.

              Aunt Sylvie

              My first thought after reading the letter was,
who was Jack Fairhand?
The second was,
why am I getting lightheaded?
I soon realized that I was getting dizzy for lack of air as I was too busy staring at the letter. I had been holding my breath. I worked on remembering how to breathe as I reread the letter several more times. A single tear trailed down my cheek. I could hear my lost aunt’s voice through her words. Yes, I was angry that she had kept things from me, but she had apparently spent her childhood learning to keep things from others so they wouldn’t worry. And it wasn’t just me she kept things from. She kept her marriage a secret from her family! A noble family too, according to my late-night researching. I had also learned that my father’s family were noble prime Citizens, which is kind of ironic considering how the Empire sees me. It just underscored a craziness I already knew: blood does not make you a Citizen. Where you are born
does.

All of my life, I assumed that rock I had been born on was Colony Lenti. But now, reading my aunt’s letter that seemed not to be the case. My father came to her with me in his arms… so where was I born? The next free moment I had, I was going to search in the Shade database. Marius had told me one evening, as I was researching in the lobby, that he remembered hearing about an Amber and Joseph Raven in the ranks. When I asked if he had known them, he had shaken his head. He had been on a mission elsewhere most of the time, and rarely met other Shades.

Looking over the letter again, I wondered who Aunt Sylvia’s husband had been. He must have been someone bad if she ran from the cultured capital of Prima Imperium to Colony Lenti so he wouldn’t find her. And who was this ‘enemy’ she kept talking about? Did it have anything to do with Knight? He had been part of something big, if they could draw the Zar’daka into the fold.

              And what did she mean by ‘the heart of the problem is Lenti’? And telling me to talk to the L’uf? Besides the char mines and the economic value of the gems and metals, what did Lenti have that made it ‘the heart of the problem’? Were the Telmicks hired by the organization that was behind Knight? Were they to give the char mines to this organization?

              I felt cold just thinking about it. I needed to talk to someone.
Marius will know what to do,
I thought, just before there was a knock on my door. I wiped the tear from my cheek and checked the clock, and realized time had waltzed around me. I opened the door feeling a little sheepish. The guys were all there. “You ready?” Westley asked, with an eyebrow raised. I usually didn’t take half of forever getting ready for anything.

              “Yeah. Of course,” I said, stepping out of the room, “Roommate had a guest that decided to take their sweet time leaving.” I was proud of myself. It wasn’t a complete lie… it just wasn’t why it had taken me forever. As I closed the door, I slipped Aunt Sylvie’s letter into my sleeve. We then began the process of leaving—a process made interesting by all the people in our way. There were times when we had to walk in a line as there were too many people bustling about. Westley and Jason were in the lead, and I had stepped back near Marius. Marius raised an eyebrow at me and I knew he had seen my sleight of hand.
Need to talk to you later,
I mouthed to him, and he nodded.

              As we walked to the landing pad and the waiting shuttles, I couldn’t help but wonder again how Ace had gotten the letter. How long had he had it? And why didn’t he give it to me sooner? It wasn’t like I was hard to find, until a month ago. And why now? I was missing something, and the Universe was laughing at me.

Chapter 4 – The New Admiral

Rylynn

              We found out that the ceremony was to be held in the great hall of the Spectral Palace. I was surprised until I remembered that, duh, they were electing an admiral, all of whom also served as the emperor’s advisors. So, of course the ceremony would be at the palace… Like seeing the emperor himself, I hadn’t expected to ever see the structure up close, let alone walk through its doors. But I saw the emperor. I even spoke to him—and by spoke, I mean I confronted him—in a somewhat polite way. Considering that I apparently hadn’t been too afraid to talk to him that way, one would have thought that I wouldn’t have been nervous entering the palace. But I was.

              Stepping out of the shuttle in the palace’s bailey, I was struck by the beauty of the edifice before me. Compared to the buildings around it, the palace was a shimmering jewel surrounded by dull rocks. And since there were no such thing as ‘dull rock’ architecture in the capital, the palace was in its own league. Its graceful architecture made me think of spun glass, and looked just as fragile… but there was something else about it that made it hard to imagine it being shattered. Perhaps it was the quiet strength in the colonnades and towers that supported the rest of the structure. There was also a sense of age around it that attested to its inherent strength. To add to the beauty, the crystal-like walls shimmered with energy. The whole thing reminded me of a Spectral.

              An incessant jabbing at my shoulder yanked me from my awed appreciation of the palace. “Ow,” I muttered, as I rubbed my shoulder and moved it away from Jason’s nasty finger.

              Jason shrugged. “It isn’t my fault that you forced me to take drastic measures. You were the one not moving in the doorway,” he said as he moved out of the way next to me. Westley and Marius joined us, and we forged our way through the press as the rest of the passengers exited the shuttle. I flushed slightly. I had completely forgotten that I hadn’t moved out of the way. I guess Kylesst’s words back when I first arrived on Prima Imperium had been true. Beauty had an understated power. Lord knows it had frozen me in place.

              “Sorry,” I muttered softly.

              “It’s okay,” Westley said. “It gave us a moment to get an eyeful, too.” He winked at me.

              Marius also grinned. “It has been known to happen a lot.” He pointed to the students coming off a nearby transport. They were also staring. I felt relief that I wasn’t the only one. I glanced back to Marius and noticed his eyes flicking about the palace. I figured he knew a lot about the palace, and I wondered briefly just how many times he had been here on Shade business in the past. I also wondered if I would be coming here more too, since I was a Shade, even if I didn’t yet have my Spectral. I glanced at Jason and noted him also looking around, though he was nowhere near as awed as the rest of us. Which made sense considering…

              I leaned close to him and whispered conspiratorially, “At least we won’t have to worry about getting lost.”

              He cast me a bemused glance before his pretty eyes widened in understanding. It was his home, after all. He smiled and said, “Of course not.” Anyone listening in would just figure we meant the crowd around us, which was somewhat true.

              “It’s a nice place,” I remarked looking about again.

              Jason snorted. “Oh, please. Don’t try to act so unaffected.
You
are the one who couldn’t stop staring.” He looked ahead to make sure that he wasn’t going to run into anybody, before turning back to me. “It sure is pretty, but can you
imagine
what is expected of those who live here? I shudder just thinking of all the etiquette lessons one must have…” His voice became soft. “That, and how the responsibility one has to shoulder to live up to the name and place must weigh one down. Perhaps even make them feel trapped behind the façade they have to maintain…” He shook his head and said slightly louder. “Nope. I’m glad that I come from a much humbler family.”

              I resisted the urge to pat his shoulder. It was that ‘humbler’ story that had given him the freedom to be himself and still serve the Empire.

There is a kind of security in being at the bottom, looking up. You can always push on, and always rise. Granted, if you are at the top you can see all around you… but up there you are seen from all around, and there is next to nowhere to hide. If you try to escape, you tempt fate and gravity. And the resulting fall would hurt horribly.

That was my main reason for not having tried to contact either of my parent’s families. The Foréss family may not be in the imperial branch, but they are distantly related. And the Raven family may not be anywhere near the imperial throne, but they are still ruling nobility. Would either accept me? Would where I was raised keep them from acknowledging me? Did I really want to put myself at their mercy? I wasn’t a big family kind of person, having lived only with my aunt most of my life. The Street Wolves were probably the largest family I had ever known, and they numbered thirty all told… but I was only close to ten of them. From my researching, I had discovered that the Ravens were the same size as the Street Wolves and all were pretty close. My immediate family on my mother’s side was smaller, but there were all the relatives… one branch being the imperial family.
Not intimidating at all,
I thought, glancing about me as we entered the great hall.

I’m pretty sure the great hall was large enough to fit the entire Academy’s administration building inside of with a little room to spare, and that building is at least five stories tall, one of the larger buildings on campus. So yes, the hall was plenty big enough for all available members of the Legion Fleet to attend. It was crowded, but it wasn’t uncomfortable.

Jason took one look at the crowded hall and shook his head. “We will
never
get close enough to hear what is going on at this rate,” he muttered.

“We are just crewmen,” Westley replied.

“But they have that screen so we can all see what is happening,” I added.

Jason rolled his eyes before gesturing us to follow his lead. Sharing a look, we trailed right after him. After many ‘excuse us’s we made it to the wall.

“Now we are even farther away,” I pointed out, looking back toward the dais where the Imperial Throne sat, empty at this moment. The Empress’ Throne next to it also sat empty, but the advisor’s chairs behind them were occupied. All but one, of course—that was the one they were seeking to fill tonight.

“Just follow me,” Jason said, and began to walk along the outside edge of the room. Surprisingly, this was easily done as everybody else was pressing closer to the center to get a good forward look at the thrones and soon to be occurring events. We ended up near the side of the dais. Imperial Guards posted there kept us from getting too close, but at least now we could ease our way through the thin crowd to stand near the dais. From here, even short as I was, I could see those upon the dais very well. I would also be able to clearly hear what was going to be said. Already, I could hear some of the admirals whispering. I just couldn’t make sense of the words.

Admiral L’Seral caught sight of us and winked. She seemed to be eagerly awaiting the ceremony. I caught her glancing at her watch. Admiral Bieri also noticed, and placed a slender hand on the older woman’s arm. Admiral L’Seral glanced at her, and the beautiful red-haired admiral whispered something. Admiral L’Seral grimaced slightly and sat back in her chair. I could tell she was trying hard not to fidget. I fought hard not to smile, and Admiral Bieri caught my struggle and nodded with a small smile of her own. I grinned as I couldn’t hold it back after that.

Moments later, the emperor and his wife appeared at the doors leading into the room. Everyone bowed at the waist, except for the guards who placed their right fist over their hearts and bowed their heads. I had discovered the reason for the difference from Marius. The guards (including Shades) and ruling family members put their fists over their hearts instead of bowing at the waist so that they could remain alert for any threat to their emperor. Acting as ordinary Citizens, Jason, Marius, and I bowed like everyone else. I have to be honest. I like the other way better. I can keep watching things then.

Luckily, the bows didn’t last too long. It looked like a wave that followed the imperial couple. The emperor was dressed in a uniform similar to the Legion Fleet uniform except his was black. It was also obviously better made. I thought it looked a little more comfortable than what I was wearing. Being emperor had its perks. About his throat was the Imperial crest. It looked to be made of the same iridescent substance as the sword hilt at his hip. A woven iridescent crown was perched on his brow, and gleamed against his dark hair.

The empress was dressed in a slender white gown whose creator obviously came from the school of simple elegance. A silver necklace studded with star emeralds glittered at her throat. The stones echoed her bright silvery-green eyes. Upon her head was a finally woven coronet of the same iridescent metal as her husband’s. The only difference was that hers was simpler, but no less finely made. Her black hair gleamed under the lights. Before they stepped upon the dais, the admirals stood and bowed. Nodding to the admirals, the imperial couple turned to face the gathered crowd, before the empress settled on her throne in a graceful movement.

Emperor Vailence Imperen’s gaze flickered over the gathered mass, before he finally spoke. He did not need to shout, it was pretty quiet with everyone standing at attention. His voice was one of those that carried easily. It helped that it was melodic, too. “You know why we are here. Who is to be called before Us? Let him or her be called.” And then the emperor sat, his movements just as fluid as his wife’s.

Of the admirals who remained standing, it was Admiral D’rz who stepped forward. There was no chance that anyone wouldn’t be able to hear him. “We call upon Captain Braeden Wingstar,” he said, and I heard Jason’s, ‘I knew it.’

The crowd looked around for the called captain. Movement came from the farthest corner of the room. Captain Wingstar had apparently thought that if he was out of sight he would also be out of mind, but he had been mistaken. As I leaned toward Jason, I noticed Admiral L’Seral’s small, satisfied smile. “Why were you worried that we wouldn’t be able to hear?” I whispered very softly.

Without looking away from the approaching captain, Jason whispered back, “The formal stuff is always easy to hear. I wanted to hear the whispered conversations they have
before
announcing things.”

“Oh.”

Captain Wingstar reached the dais. He performed a smooth half kneel, his right fist over his heart and his head bowed. He held the pose for a moment before rising and stepping up onto the platform. I wondered if the grace came with practice as you rose through the ranks, because I doubt I could have been that smooth.

“Captain. Once again you stand before me, called to this position,” the emperor said in a softer tone. And now I really understood what Jason was talking about. Only those on the dais and those of us close to it could hear what was being said.

The captain inclined his head before saying, “And again, Your Imperial Highness, I must beg forgiveness…”

He was cut off by the emperor’s raised hand. “Captain, the appropriate answer is, ‘Thank you, Your Imperial Highness, for this great honor. I pray to God that I serve admirably’… no pun intended of course,” the emperor said softly, with a smile. He continued when the captain didn’t immediately parrot him. “You are needed, Captain. And there is no one else.”

Captain Wingstar bowed his head slightly before saying in a louder voice, “Thank you, Your Imperial Highness, for this great honor. I pray to God that I serve admirably.”

No pun intended,
I added silently, with a small smile.

The emperor nodded, and Admiral L’Seral stepped forward to remove the Captain’s Gold Star from Wingstar’s shirt collar. I’m pretty sure she wanted to hide it away so Wingstar couldn’t ever find it. She then stepped aside so the emperor could put the Admiral’s Diamond in its place. The emperor then turned to the rest of us. “I present to you Admiral Braeden Wingstar.”

***

              Marius

Despite hearing the conversation between Wingstar and the emperor, Marius was surprised that the captain had finally accepted the commission.

              GOOD THING YOU DIDN’T BET ON THIS… OH WAIT! YOU DID! Zara jeered in her silent way to him. He could feel her smugness. YOU OWE ME, BOY, she added, licking a paw.

              Marius grunted. He didn’t have to worry that anyone heard it as they were all clapping.
And what would Miss Smugness want?
he asked dryly.

              COME NOW, MARIUS. WHAT DO ALL FELINES WANT?

             
Clean litter and fresh cream. Oh! And an ear scratch.

             
NOW YOU ARE JUST BEING OBTUSE, Zara sniffed. AND WHILE THOSE THINGS ARE NICE, WE JUST WANT OUR CHOSEN COMPANIONS TO ADMIT THAT WE ARE THEIR CARING MASTERS WHO DESERVE TO BE PAMPERED.

              Marius rolled his eyes. Just like a cat…
Now you are just laying it on thick. Why did Braeden finally agree to be an admiral?
Marius asked before she could say anything more regarding her winnings. There is nothing worse than a gambling feline.