Tassin looked up as the door of her suite opened and Tarvin drifted in. Two cybers followed, taking up positions on either side of the door. They were no longer camouflaged, and stared ahead with empty eyes, their faces blank. She glared at the King.
"I did not invite you in, nor do I wish your company."
"That’s why I didn't push the entry-call."
Tarvin’s chair sank to the floor beside the sofa where she sat, and he touched a button on its arm, switching off the vidimage she had been watching. Erron had shown her how to operate the entertainment equipment, since she no longer went to the observation room where Tarvin might find her. Her suite, it seemed, was no sanctuary from him either.
"What do you want?" she asked.
He shrugged. “Just to tell you that I made enquiries about your fiancé; you know, the man you claim is a free cyber, and Myon Two has denied any knowledge of such a man.”
“Of course they would; they don’t want anyone to know about him.”
“That must be a hard secret to keep.”
“Myon Two is good at keeping secrets,” she said. “They have enforcers to ensure the truth about their horrid practices is never discovered, and they have proven effective.”
“Indeed, they are a formidable bunch with a long reach.”
"I’ve escaped them before, and I’ll do it again."
He shook his head. "Impossible."
"I wouldn’t be so sure of that. All I have to do is get a message to Sabre, and he’ll come for me.”
Tarvin chuckled. “You invent good tales, you really do.”
“It’s the truth.” Tassin raked him with a scathing, disgusted glance. “It’s hard to believe Sabre is related to you, even distantly.”
“I’m on the side of right, my dear. By all accounts, you are a murderess. And Sharlin was a bastard, you know. His father, King Darzel, had two sons, both sickly from birth, something to do with a genetic incompatibility. Sharlin was the product of a brief liaison with Darzel's cousin, who was wed to his best friend. At first, everyone assumed the child was legitimate. Then Darzel's sons died, one after the other, in their teens. His wife conceived no more, and so he had no heir.
"Such a thing would have been disastrous, but then, on a visit after his son's deaths, Darzel noticed how like him young Sharlin was, not like his father at all. Darzel had Sharlin's DNA tested, and discovered the truth. Not only was Sharlin his son, he was perfect, the epitome of a combat physique, and a peerless fighter already at sixteen. But he was a bastard. Darzel was not about to let that stop him, however. First he arranged an accidental death for his wife, then another for his cousin's husband. He married her, and declared Sharlin to be his legitimate heir. So, King Sharlin came to be, and he united the kingdoms through combat, beating all the kings or their champions until he became High King.”
“Clearly he was a better man than you’ll ever be, bastard or not,” she said. “I’ll wager Myon Two killed him, and you’re now profiting from their murderous ways, even using his enslaved clones. How despicable is that?”
“You would be well advised not to rile me, you know. If you persist, I’ll have you fitted with one of those little control units Myon Two makes now."
Tassin's face went cold as the blood drained from it. "A control unit? Like the ones used on cyber hosts?” She glanced at the cybers by the door.
“No, no, not even close. It merely ensures complete obedience. Girls implanted with the control unit are willing, even eager, participants in whatever is suggested to them. That's how it works. Obeying a suggestion causes the control unit to stimulate the pleasure centres in your brain. Refusing makes it administer tiny shocks, which cause the equivalent of a blinding migraine. You won't be truculent for long."
Tassin gulped as bile stung the back of her throat. "I thought you were a decent man, but you’re a monster. If you do that, Sabre will surely kill you when he finds me."
"I'm protected by cybers, my dear, so even if he does find you, he has no hope of freeing you or killing me, regardless of whether or not he is one himself. Ironic, isn't it, that you claim he’s a free cyber, yet his brothers will keep you prisoner at my behest."
"Those are machines. He's a man, and an extremely clever one at that. When he comes looking for me, and finds out who he is, he might just decide to start that interstellar war you mentioned."
“He would be a fool to do that, and I would kill him before he could,” he said. “If you do succeed in summoning him to Parthis, all you’ll do is assure his death. You wouldn’t want to do that, would you? You claim to love him, after all.”
Tassin looked away. "He will come for me, that, I promise."
"Then he’ll die, and you’re going to Myon Two for execution. That, I promise."
****
Sabre opened his eyes as a chiming came from the door, noticing the cyber’s warning that had not woken him. The drug Tarl had given him made him groggy, and his head now seemed to be stuffed with cotton wool. It was better than the endless waves of senseless feelings that had battered his brain before, however. He gave permission for whoever was seeking entry to come in, and the door opened to admit Tarl. The cyber tech went to a chair and flopped into it, frowning.
"I've heard the whole story now, and it's a bit worrying, bud."
Sabre closed his eyes. "Yeah. I'm not too happy about it either."
"Myon Two is never going to stop hunting you now, not until they get what they want."
"Are you suggesting I should give it to them?"
Tarl sighed. "Perhaps, if they agree to leave you alone. That's the only thing that's going to stop them. It seems those beings of light didn't do you such a big favour after all. Now you're a prototype. They can't kill you, because of Fairen, but they can steal from you."
Sabre opened his eyes and stared at the dimpled plastic ceiling. "You're just stating the obvious now."
"Well, I…"
The ship lurched, as it had done many times before, to avoid Imperial's attempts to get grapplers on it, but this time an alarm whooped. Sabre rose and headed for the door. Tarl jumped up and followed. A tense atmosphere pervaded the bridge, and Thestan vacated the commander's chair as Sabre entered. The cyber ignored him, his eyes flicking around the bridge.
"Report."
"We're exiting the corridor, and Imperial's got a grappler on us. We can't shake it. We have to fight," Thestan told him.
"It's an hour too early. We're too far from Parthis."
"We don't have a choice. We can re-enter once we get free."
"He'll target our engines. If he cripples us, we won't be able to get back into the corridor."
Thestan nodded. "You have a better plan?"
The navigation officer said, "Exiting corridor in ten seconds, Commander."
"If I do, it's too late now, isn't it?" Sabre asked.
"I didn't have a choice," Thestan said.
"You should have called me before making the decision."
"Once he got the grappler -"
Sabre held up a hand. "Don't explain what I already know, it's irritating."
"Exiting corridor," the navigation officer stated. "Solar wings offline, engines coming online in four... three... two... one... online."
"Battle stations," Sabre ordered. "Target Imperial's grappler emitters, and send the distress signal. Identify yourself as a Myon Two ship. Is there any sign of Shadow Hawk?"
"No sir."
"Well done, Thestan. You've succeeded in dropping us in the shit."
Pathos shuddered, and pulses of red laser light flashed past.
"Grappler emitter destroyed," another officer said. "We're free."
"Get us back into the corridor, and keep sending that distress signal in case we don't make it."
"If we try to re-enter the corridor, we'll be vulnerable," Thestan pointed out. "We'll have to turn broadside on to the -"
"What did I just say about stating the obvious?" Sabre asked.
"As sub-commander, it's my duty to -"
"As your commander, it's my prerogative to tell you to shut the hell up. If I want your advice, I'll ask for it."
Thestan's mouth compressed into a grim line, and he frowned. Sabre stepped closer to him, his demeanour threatening. "And if I don't start hearing some 'sirs', I'll give you some bruises to go with that bad attitude."
"Yes... sir."
The ship shivered, and distant alarms whooped and brayed. An officer said, "We're taking hits on the starboard flank; hull strength down to fifty per cent in three places."
"Initiate emergency depressurisation procedures," Thestan ordered.
"Depressurisation doors activated, sir." The ship quivered again, and the officer frowned at his screen. "Engine two damaged, taking it offline."
"How long before we're back in the corridor?" Sabre asked.
"Two minutes, fifty-three seconds, sir."
"Turn away."
The navigation officer looked surprised, but tapped his console. The ship veered, stars moving across the screens from left to right.
"We're now heading away from the corridor, sir."
"Give me full dorsal thrusters, and deploy solar wings."
"But -"
"Now!"
Thestan relayed the order to the cyber pilot, and Sabre sat in the command chair as vibrations ran through the ship. An officer tapped his keyboard, and a new alarm joined the cacophony, along with a strident automated message spoken in a toneless artificial voice.
"Brace for emergency deceleration, brace for..."
Sabre tuned it out. The stars in the screens moved upwards as Pathos dived. The massive solar wings flared out on either side, turning the ship into a giant butterfly with wings of filigree fire. The bridge crew hung on as the violent deceleration overwhelmed the interior stasis field, hurling anything and anyone who was not tied down across the room. Sabre waited as the stars continued to fly up the screens. Effectively, the ship was turning on its back, but, without exterior gravity, the change in attitude went unnoticed. When deployed outside a photon corridor, solar wings provided excellent braking for the moment it took them to calibrate to the photon stream, or lack thereof.
“Take solar wings offline,” Sabre ordered.
"Imperial is overshooting, sir," an officer said.
"Naturally, they're larger, and have more inertia. Set course for the corridor."
Thestan turned to him. "You do realise -"
"That it overloaded your generators, yes, I do. I know more about what it did to your ship than you do, so kindly keep your carping to yourself."
"Yes, sir."
"Entering corridor in five minutes," the navigation officer stated. "Imperial is still decelerating and turning. They've lost ground."
Sabre nodded. "With a big ship like that, deploying the solar wings would burn out his generators. He doesn't have that option."
The tension on the bridge remained in a stifling cloak of silent animosity. Sabre tried to relax, tapping on the arm of his chair. Kole came in, looking a little alarmed, and Tarl explained what was happening in a mutter.
Pathos re-entered the corridor four minutes ahead of Imperial, a lead the larger ship would close in the hour that remained to Parthis. Sabre returned to his cabin to lie down, taking two of the pills Tarl had given him. The surges of anger and anguish nibbled at him again, and he was not ready to deal with them yet. When he had Tassin back, he would deal with the new emotions, for then they would be good ones, he hoped.
****
Tarvin frowned at Tassin, his patience wearing thin. When his men had informed him that the girl had vanished, it had only taken one his cybers two seconds to find her, but his men had wasted three hours winkling her out of the air duct she had crawled into in some hare-brained escape attempt. Where she thought she was going to go, he had no idea, but now she stood before him in his private lounge, flushed, dishevelled and scowling, smeared with dust and unrepentant.
He schooled his expression. "Since you choose to be so troublesome, you leave me no choice but to control you in a more aggressive fashion, one you cannot defy."
She raised her chin, although her eyes glinted with fear.
“You will be taken to my hospital, where they will give you drugs to make you more amenable. You only have yourself to blame."
"You will rot in Hell for all eternity."
"I think not."
Tassin lunged at him, her hand aimed at his cheek. A cyber sprang from the shadows and yanked her away by one arm, making her hiss with pain.
Tarvin was thoroughly fed up with her antics. She would find out what happened to people who defied him. He would not tolerate it. "Hurt her,” he ordered the cyber, “without damage."
The cyber shifted his grip to the nerve bundle in her elbow and pressed with iron-hard fingers. The Queen gasped and gripped one of his fingers, trying to bend it, but his hand was too strong. She gritted her teeth, her lips drawn back in a snarl and her brows knotted.
"When you agree to stop the being so difficult, I’ll order him to release you," Tarvin offered.
"Let him rip off my arm. I'll never stop," she gritted.
"That is unfortunate, for you. Cybers can inflict excruciating pain. They are expert torturers."
Tassin gazed up at the clone. "The man trapped inside his head hates you. You use his body against his will, and that is the worst kind of slavery. What's more, he’s your blood kin, and any man who would condone such a thing has no morals and is not fit to be a king, or even a man. You should be a worm, rather, and that would be an insult to worms."
"Doubtless you have an endless supply of derogatory remarks, but they are of no consequence."
"I am sure you’ve heard them all before."
Tarvin shook his head. "No one would dare, and soon, neither will you."
"I’ll curse your name with my last breath."
"Think that, if it pleases you, but soon you’ll be smiling and doing your utmost to be pleasant, I assure you."
Tassin bit her lip, clearly striving to hide the pain the cyber inflicted, which he knew was becoming unbearable. Tarvin ordered him to release her, and she sagged, then glared at him again.
"So, you remain defiant," he said. "How very brave of you, my dear. Shadow Eleven, take her to the hospital and tell them to make her a lot less truculent."
The cyber took hold of Tassin’s arm, and she accompanied him to the door with admirable dignity, her head held high. It opened before they reached it, and Sub-commander Geral trotted in and bowed to Tarvin.
"Sire, a ship in distress has just entered Estron space. They're under attack by Emperor Endrovar, and are requesting assistance. It's a Myon Two enforcer ship. We've confirmed their codes."
Tarvin raised his chair and turned to face his sub-commander, frowning. "Why is Endrovar attacking them?"
"They didn't say, Sire."
"I suppose it's irrelevant, but still, I'm curious."
Tarvin set his chair in motion, heading for the door. Tassin cast a look over her shoulder as the cyber led her away down the corridor, and he experienced a twinge of satisfaction at the hint of desperation in her eyes. She would regret defying him, queen or no.
Tarvin followed the sub-commander to the bridge, which thrummed with tension. A variety of screens and tactical workstations lined its dull blue bulkheads, an officer manning each one. A central, U-shaped dashboard housed the most important instruments, such as steerage and engine controls. A cyber pilot sat behind it on a floater chair, the data cable that connected his brow band to the board providing a direct interface. Subdued, recess lighting cast a subtle glow, allowing the monitors and flashing keys to be more visible, and massive front screens gave a panoramic view of space. Parthis Two shone like a blue jewel in the distance, still only a tiny, featureless sphere.
Commander Andon, a tall, handsome man with gingery hair and pale blue eyes, turned and bowed as Tarvin entered the bridge. "Sire, the enforcer ship is heading straight for us, and decelerating. Imperial is following."
"Did you agree to protect them?"
"No, Sire, not without your approval."
Tarvin studied a tactical screen, where two tiny points of light moved towards Shadow Hawk, one noticeable bigger than the other. In a magnified real time view on one of the smaller screens, the two ships were distinguishable as a vast burgundy and gold battleship and a much smaller, mottled battle cruiser that looked more like a pirate than an enforcer. Pulses of laser light strafed the enforcer ship, striking her hull with blue flashes. The enforcer fired back, lines of blue fire pouring from her stern to score glowing marks on Imperial's forward shielding. The enforcer was badly outgunned, and clearly knew it. She headed for Shadow Hawk like a frightened child seeking shelter behind its mother. Since Shadow Hawk had been travelling in sub-light parallel to the corridor, the ships approached from the side, and angled their trajectory as Tarvin’s ship moved past them.
"Contact Endrovar and tell him to break off his attack. He's in Estron space now. I want to know his reason for attacking the enforcers."
"Sire, the enforcer is altering course. If Endrovar keeps firing, any shots that miss the enforcer will hit us."
"Tell him to ceasefire immediately," Tarvin said.
Andon touched a coms-con key and murmured into his headset's microphone, waited a moment, then said, "He's not responding, Sire."
"Take evasive action."
"Firing dorsal thrusters." Andon watched his tactical screen. "The enforcer is altering course again, keeping in line with Endrovar."
"Probably hoping Endrovar will break off his attack rather than hit Shadow Hawk, which he should."
"He's not," Andon said.
"Turn towards him, and arm."
"Yes, Sire."
The stars moved across the screens as Shadow Hawk turned. The points of light that raced towards them swelled, becoming discernable without magnification on the main screen.
"Tell the enforcers to alter course," Tarvin ordered.
Andon keyed his microphone and murmured into his headset again, frowning at the ships on the screens. Plumes of flame burst from the enforcer's bow, and she veered. A tinny voice gabbled in Andon's ear, audible in the bridge's hushed hum. He glanced at Tarvin.
"Sire, they say they're damaged, but they're trying to obey. They say..." He listened for a moment. "They freed a Myon Two technician from Endrovar, that's why he's attacking them, apparently... They're requesting our aid again. Now they want repairs, too."
Tarvin glared at the screens. "Since when did Endrovar become a pirate? That's a tall tale to swallow. Still... fire a warning shot across Endrovar’s bows, and tell him to break off his attack immediately. I will meet with all of them and get to the bottom of this."
Andon relayed the order to the cyber pilot, and twin beams of white fire shot from Shadow Hawk's bows, barely missing Imperial. Instantly, a pair of blood-red laser bolts shot past Shadow Hawk's bows in a retaliatory warning.
"What's the matter with him?” Tarvin demanded. “Has he lost his mind?"
A tinny voice spoke in Andon’s ear. "Endrovar says... we should stay out of it... He won't comply with your order. He says the enforcers stole from him... a slave, apparently."
Tarvin's brows rose in surprise. "Well, well. The plot thickens. Why would he be this upset about a slave, unless it was a valuable one? Perhaps the enforcers are telling the truth after all."
Andon consulted his tactical screens. "Sire, the enforcer ship has altered course a little, but she's going to pass very close to us, and Endrovar’s still firing at them. Should I summon aid?"
"Shadow Hawk can deal with Endrovar’s ship. No, move to cut him off. How dare he defy me? It seems everyone thinks I have no spine."
Andon shot him a shocked look, averting his eyes swiftly. "Yes, Sire."
Tarvin pondered the double meaning of his words with deep bitterness. His ego still smarted from Tassin's defiance, and now Endrovar, too, seemed to think he was bluffing. Just because he had a broken back did not mean he could be defied and disobeyed at every turn. This was Estron space. Once again the stars shifted as Shadow Hawk turned to face her enemy, following Imperial's course as it headed after the enforcer. Blazing lines still linked the two ships and glowing spots marked their hulls. Shadow Hawk approached the fiery web, imposing its bulk. The enforcer ceased fire when Shadow Hawk moved into range, but Imperial continued to strafe her.
Andon winced as the tinny voice shouted in his ear. "He's ordering us to get out of his way, Sire. He sounds angry. He's threatening to fire on us."
"If he does, he'll start a conflict with us, and that, he doesn't want to do," Tarvin stated.
A shiver ran through the ship, and bright flashes filled the screens. Andon's jaw dropped, and he shot Tarvin a look of horror.
"Apparently he does, Sire."
"That bloody fool." Tarvin cursed. "Fire back."
Andon relayed the order to the cyber pilot, and lines of white fire lanced from above and either side of the screens. They converged on Imperial, whose hull became dotted with glowing spots. Andon listened to the furious voice in his ear, grimacing.
"He's threatening to engage us, Sire. He says those were just warning shots."
"We're already engaged. I'll ceasefire if he does, otherwise he will suffer the consequences."
"Sire, that's a battleship too."
"I'm aware of that, thank you."
Andon listened to his earpiece again. "The enforcer is asking to dock with us for repairs."
"Not right now."
"They say it's an emergency... some sort of gas leak."
"Fine, let them. Myon Two's going to pay for the damage to my ship, that's for sure."
Brilliant streams of laser fire poured between the battleships, pure white and vivid red mingling in a scintillating web. Imperial's bows were almost molten under the barrage, the glowing spots melding before they faded in the sub-zero of space. Tarvin knew that Shadow Hawk's bows were similarly affected, and the rapid heating and cooling weakened her hull.
As if reading his thoughts, Andon said, "Forward hull strength down to seventy per cent, Sire."
Although a battleship's bow was reinforced to withstand just such a barrage for a while, it would take its toll. When battleships engaged, which was rare, the resultant spectacular battle's outcome depended upon which had the stronger hull. Shadow Hawk's forward shielding was a high-density duronium-tirrinium alloy, but Endrovar could also afford the best, and Tarvin did not doubt that his ship's shielding was just as good. Tarvin squinted as the screens blazed brilliant red, and Andon cursed.
"Close forward shields," he ordered.
Battle shields whined over the forward screens, blocking off the view of the battle, and Tarvin's scowl deepened. The screens, made from Trevian armoured plasglass, were a ship's weakest point, and targeting them was a low tactic. All it did was force them to raise the battle shields, which was a mere annoyance.
"Target their screens too," he said.
"Yes, Sire."
Two could play at a game of tit for tat, but, with the shields up and the vista ruined, all that remained to monitor the battle were the tactical displays and vidscreens that brought images from external cameras. Andon glanced up as a voice gabbled in his ear, looking relieved.
"He's broken off his attack, Sire. He's asking to come aboard and speak to you."
"At last, he shows some sense. Ceasefire and let him wait. I'm not in a mood to see him now."
"The enforcer ship is docked, Sire."
Tarvin turned his chair and drifted towards the door. "Bring their commander to my meeting room. I want a word with him."