Alien Courage (Rise of the Empress) (25 page)

He hurried to meet Toormis at the Space Fleet briefing
room. Toormis was there servicing both his and Lord Ambrae’s pistol and rifle
blasters. He put his tools down and stood up when Lord Ambrae entered the room.

“All is in readiness as per your orders My Lord,”
Toormis said saluting.

Lord Ambrae returned the salute. “Very good,” he said.
“Now I have a mission which I feel I must tell you about, but I cannot order
you to go on. It will cost you your life. Maybe not today but if the Trigeals
ever learn of it - it will!”

Toormis looked at Lord Ambrae with amazement on his
face.
“Permission to speak freely My Lord.”

“Of course.”

“If the Trigeals ever scanned or mind probed me, I’m a
dead man anyway. Do you remember the Priest maintenance ship in the
Delro
sector that mysteriously blew up?”

“That was you!?” Lord Ambrae said with surprise.

“Indeed it was Sir. If you recall the Volen smuggling
ceased in that sector after that. I caught the evil creatures running body
parts of Irrimus citizens in their ship’s reserve fuel canisters. I didn’t
think the Confederacy would mind losing a Priest, he sanctioned the whole smuggling
operation,” Toormis explained.

“I’m raising you a pay level Toormis.” Lord Ambrae
said beaming, “well done!”  

“What are my orders Sir?”

Lord Ambrae’s face went very sober. “We are going to assassinate
the Academy Administrator. The Assengi have him somewhere on Ennack.”

“Oh my,” Toormis replied. “That is quite the
assignment Sir, but I heard you say ‘we’. I decline your participation. I will
take a couple of androids, get the job done and be back before evening
briefing. Please give me the mission intelligence.”

“Thank you but it’s not like that Toormis. You will
never be granted permission to enter Ennack’s air space. Planetary defence will
destroy you before you get anywhere near the atmosphere. Please just do as I
ask. Be ready to fly escort for me and make sure both our ships are heavily
armed for anti personnel operations. Sacrifice back up life support systems and
excess fuel for extra cloaking ability if you have to, you understand?” Lord
Ambrae said.

“Perfectly sir,” Toormis replied and handed Lord
Ambrae his blasters. “Little bit more
sting
in these
Sir.”

“Thank you. Here’s the scan frequency for our
objective. Enter it on our ship’s computers,” Lord Ambrae said giving Toormis
the small data disc.

“Will do Sir.
I will have our ships ready immediately. I will be
standing by in my cockpit,” Toormis said saluting. He then smartly marched out
of the room.

Lord Ambrae went over to a desk and activated an
intercom device. “Cassy you may come in now.”

A door opened at the back of the room and Cassy
entered. She didn’t enjoy the mystery of being told to wait in a small room but
accepted her father’s wishes. “Yes father, what is it?”

“I need you to do something for me immediately. It is
very, very important no one else knows. I want you to take Johe and the old man
Torquay to the android base on Zion. Wait there until either myself or Irrimus
Space Fleet comes to get you,” Lord Ambrae explained. He knew he couldn’t give
her an escort as it would be noticed. He must make it look like a routine
freighter doing a supply run to Zion.

“Father, what is going on?” Cassy said now deeply
worried.

“All I can tell you Cassy is that Johe has been caught
up in a Trigealian mistake and they are preparing to remedy their error. We
must be prepared for any eventuality. I have organised a small space freighter
with android pilots to take you, Johe and your passenger to Zion immediately,”
he said noticing concern etched across her pretty face. “It is more of a
precautionary step than anything else,” he lied.

“OK father I will go, but what are you going to do and
when will I see you?”

“I’m going to Ennack to sort this situation out so
Irrimus will carry on unaffected. Please don’t worry Cassy. I will be with you
as soon as I can,” he said moving over to her and picking her up in his arms
hugging her. He held her as a tear ran down his cheek and with a great effort
controlled his breathing.

“Oh father, we will be alright, won’t we?” She said
enjoying his hug but knowing something is terribly wrong. He has never showed
outward affection since mother died many years ago.

“Of course we’ll be alright,” he said now holding her
at arm’s length trying to memorise every aspect of her. He moved forward and
kissed her cheek. “Now go… oh take this,” he said reaching in his pocket and
taking out a small metal medallion on a simple silver chain. “I want you to
keep this safe for me, please wear it. It’s very sentimental to me and I want
it back when we meet again. It contains something very important for the future
of Irrimus.” It contained the password and activation code for the Irrimus
Administrative and Financial program he had just implemented.

“Yes, of course father,” she said with tears welling
in her eyes as she put the medallion around her neck. She jumped back in his
arms and sobbed, “I love you so much,” and gave him a squeeze and then ran
quickly from the room.

“Lord Ambrae sat heavily on the table and stared for a
moment into the empty room. He finally felt relaxed just sitting alone; his
sadness relieved knowing Cassy will be safely away from Irrimus. He ran from
the room.

Two Starfighters broke through the atmosphere of
Irrimus simultaneously. Toormis feeling relaxed as he always did when he
entered the vacuum of space. His skill in manoeuvring a Starfighter was
legendary throughout the Great Houses and a number of Controlled Conflicts were
forfeited when he took command of combat squadrons.

“Radio
check
, Fighter One to
Fighter Two, over,” Toormis said.

“Fighter Two, reading you loud and
clear.”
Lord Ambrae replied.

“Commencing inspection.
Maintain present speed and course Fighter Two.”

“Affirmative One.”

Toormis inched his Starfighter to within an arms
length of Lord Ambrae’s ship and slowly flew upside down and around the entire
Starfighter visually checking that all was OK since their faster than normal
exit from the atmosphere. Lord Ambrae marvelled at Toormis’s skill as he could
read his cockpit instruments and the lettering on Toormis’s helmet through his
canopy as he was upside down directly above him. Toormis smiled down to Lord
Ambrae then slowly peeled his craft away and levelled out beside him.

“Visual check complete, no abnormalities observed.
Fighter two you are clear to inspect Fighter One.”

Lord Ambrae did not get as close as Toormis did and
completed his pass more slowly. “Visual check complete, no abnormalities
noted.”

“Roger Two. Prepare for Hyper drive activation on my
mark. 5- 4- 3- 2- 1 engage!”

The two Starfighters shimmered as the molecules of the
fuel were vibrated to such a degree in the intake of the engines they equalled
and then matched exactly the frequency of the micro vibration of the displaced
matter within the engine core itself. The resulting effect like two similar
ends of a magnet being forced together actually repelled the engine away from
the fuel being forced into it. Like a sling shot the Starfighters were hurtled
through space approaching half the velocity of light and accelerating.

“Systems check Two.”

“All systems functioning and within
tolerances.”
Lord Ambrae answered.

“Roger Two.
One within tolerances.
Switching over to close proximity transmission frequency,
now.”
Toormis said so their ship to ship transmission could not be
intercepted. All previous radio talk was monitored by Irrimus Space Fleet
Operations to ensure all systems on the craft were under pilot control and was
within the space craft’s tolerances.

“My Lord.
Do you have idea where our objective will be
located?”

“No Toormis I do not. I do however believe it must be
close to the Palace. Longer flights even by the Assengi will be monitored and
placed on Ennack’s planetary defence logs. I’m sure they would wish to keep
that log free of their activities.” Lord Ambrae replied.

“Our flight time will be short at this speed My Lord
plus as ordered I compensated fuel for extra cloaking capability. We will need
to refuel so we can make it back home.” Toormis said.

“Irrimus Space Fleet will be standing by with
refuelers
if we run out. Keep some in reserve to make sure
we don’t run out in Ennack’s atmosphere,” answered Lord Ambrae. “Toormis, I
wish to ask you something personal.”

“Of course My Lord,” Toormis replied but noticed that
Lord Ambrae had switched off his onboard recording systems; Toormis leaned down
and flicked his off as well.

“Irrimus is under the greatest threat of Trigealian intervention
in its history. The Trigeals did a cruel thing by demanding one child of each
of the rulers to be members of the Trigealian Regiment. This is an example of
what can happen.”

“What has happened My Lord?”

“Johe has been lost on Earth and his T334 went berserk
killing a lot of innocent people and now Irrimus will be subject to the
correction of that error. In other words all reference to that mistake will be
erased. I’m sorry to have to tell you this but if you manage to get out of this
alive or without intervention I want you to do your best to hold Irrimus
together. Vela and Volen will almost certainly apply for a conflict with us.”
Lord Ambrae said solemnly.

“I see My Lord, thank you for confiding with me. I
will do my best to handle Irrimus. If we manage to have Space Fleet operational
I will wipe the universe of that Vela and Volen scum.” 

“Thank you, I know you will. What I want you to do is
promise me that you will look after Cassy…” Lord Ambrae said and went silent
for a moment. “Will you do that for me?”

“Permission to speak freely My
Lord?”
Toormis said with
conviction.

“Of course my friend,” Lord Ambrae said looking out of
his canopy across the short distance of inky nothingness to the light grey hull
with dull yellow lettering of Toormis’s Starfighter. He saw Toormis’s helmet
turn toward him and his hand lift his visor up. The welcome sight of this young
Officer’s face made Lord Ambrae proud to know such a fine pilot and friend.

“Cassy’s life is more valuable than my own. Your
daughter has my complete attention My Lord. I am not born of nobility and my
station in life is that of a Starfighter Pilot but I promise you, Cassy will
have a problem with me and my intentions as I’ll always be there for her.”
Toormis said starting to lose control of his words.

“Do you love her Toormis?”

Toormis flicked his visor down and did a perfect
barrel roll and came up on the other side of Lord Ambrae’s Starfighter, at that
speed that manoeuvre would be classified as insane. “Yes,” he whispered
nervously.

Lord Ambrae rolled his Starfighter over the top of
Toormis with as much abandon in safety as Toormis and came to rest in formation
where the two ships were originally. “I have always let Cassy decide what is
best for her. If she chooses you… well… you will belong to her and not the
other way around, if you know what I mean. She is a head strong girl and I wish
you well. You will have not only my consent but my blessing.”

“Thank you My Lord. I will do my best …” His
communication to Lord Ambrae was cut short by an incoming communication from
Ennack.

“Starfighters in sector Two Alpha
Niner
.
Identify yourselves, state your access codes and mission. Ennack Planetary
Defence standing by.”