Empire of Bones (22 page)

“That’s an interesting theory,” Jared agreed. “And these Pale Ones. Are they a relic of the rebellion where some lingering imperative forces them to continue to seek out unconquered humans to enslave? How could they still have the advanced technology for the implant machinery, yet still use such primitive ships? If they had access to the kind of ships found in the old Empire, we would all be dead or enslaved long ago.”

Sanders nodded. “And there’s the rub. Without going to look in their system, we have no idea what we face. Could we end this cycle of attacks by destroying some facility? Perhaps that is all there is…a single complex modifying people from a slave population.”

“We have probes,” Jared said. “The attack here is over. What if we sent one through the flip point as a gesture of goodwill? Knowing what awaits us over there is the first piece of information that we all need to formulate a plan.”

“And if they have defenses to destroy it?”

“Then that tells us something important, too.”

The Commodore sat silently for a few minutes, and then he nodded. “We would be in your debt for any intelligence you could gather for us, Lord Captain.”

Jared smiled widely. “We’ll get started, but I’d like to ask you for a small favor in return.”

Kelsey sat in her seat on
Athena’s
cutter and fumed. The destroyer was moving toward the flip point leading to the Pale Ones’ system to launch a probe and she was on her way to Pentagar. She knew Jared had to have been behind the Commodore’s insistence she leave now for Pentagar to begin negotiations. Unfortunately, she couldn’t do anything about it.

Kelsey eyed Talbot. “Am I going to get the silent treatment the entire trip?”

“It’s nothing personal, Princess, but we’re not a barrel full of monkeys while on a combat patrol either. There’s time to be serious and there’s time to have fun. This is the former.”

“This isn’t combat.”

“No, but what kind of impression would you make if we joked around with you? That might cause the people here think you don’t take them seriously. Or that you’re making some kind of subtle insult. We just need to do our jobs and then we can have a beer when everyone isn’t watching your every move.”

He was probably right, but she’d never had the chance to be so casually friendly with anyone like the marines before. She found she fit in really well with them and missed doing so.

She sighed and looked out the port at the ship they were approaching. It was much smaller than
Athena
. Two men in light blue tunics met them when they docked. Both bowed.

“Princess Kelsey,” the one on the left said. “I’m Lieutenant Parker, the command pilot of the fast courier
Lance
. This is my engineer, Lieutenant Walker. Welcome aboard.”

“Thank you. I appreciate you taking us to Pentagar.”

The main compartment of the Royal ship proved to be very small. There were just enough seats for her, the four marines, and the three scientists accompanying them. “We’ll be departing at once,” Parker said. “With our fast grav drives, we’ll be in Pentagaran orbit in just under two hours. There are facilities through that door and we have some bottled water if you get thirsty. I apologize for the lack of amenities, but we don’t normally carry passengers so far.”

“Thank you,” Kelsey said. “We’ll be fine.”

They settled in and Talbot promptly went to sleep while the other marine kept watch. She decided that was a stellar idea and settled back to catch up on some well-deserved rest herself.

She woke when Talbot nudged her. “The pilot says we’re about to enter the atmosphere.”

Kelsey stretched and wished there were some ports. She took a minute to use the facilities and to drink a bottle of water. They landed fifteen minutes later.

The pilot opened the hatches and sunlight poured in. Kelsey took a deep breath. It had been over a month since she’d smelled unfiltered air. The breeze had a hint of something sweet, but otherwise seemed completely natural. Someone had moved a portable ramp next to the ship and the pilot gestured for her to go down first.

She stepped out into the open and took everything in. The blue sky was so pale that it almost didn’t look like a color at all. Small fluffy clouds raced above her, but the breeze brushing her face was light. The sunlight was somewhat redder than she’d expected, but not overly so.

The ship had landed on a wide field of stone, some kind of poured mix very similar to plascrete. A number of other ships sat at varying distances away. Some were near large buildings and others sat alone. Hers was the only one with a group of people waiting near it.

Two lines of men in white tunics stood at the base of the ramp with weapons held in front of them pointing into the sky. A glance at Talbot showed he wasn’t worried so she walked down the ramp.

Two men and a woman stood waiting for her. Behind them were half a dozen men in colorful tunics. The woman wore a wide headband of gold. She smiled and stepped forward. “Princess Kelsey of the Imperial House of Bandar, I am Crown Princess Elise of the Royal House of Orison. On behalf of my father I welcome you to Pentagar.”

Kelsey bowed slightly. “Thank you for your kind welcome, Highness. On behalf of my father and Captain Jared Mertz, I bring greetings and well wishes.”

“As we are both of high rank, I insist you call me Elise. Allow me to introduce my companions. This is the Royal Chancellor of Pentagar, Sir Ellery Matcliff, Baron of Windshire.” She gestured to the tall man with the distinguished gray hair to her right. “And this is Lord Admiral Sebastian Shrike, Deputy Commander of the Royal Fleet.”

The last was obviously a reference to the short, bald man of indeterminate age to her left. Kelsey couldn’t tell how old he was, but he obviously kept himself in shape. His arms were quite muscular. The two men bowed.

“Thank you,” Kelsey said. “Please call me Kelsey as well. I’ve brought three members of our scientific staff to consult with your people about the Pale Ones.”

“Of course. Our scientific and medical delegation will receive them. I know they have much to discuss.”

It turned out the people behind the other woman were that delegation. They led the scientists away, jabbering in techno speak as they walked. All but four of the honor guards faded away.

Elise gestured for Kelsey to walk beside her. “We have a grav car to take us to the palace. His Majesty is looking forward to meeting you, but he asked me to make the initial overtures of friendship. He believes that we women might come to a decision more quickly without his official presence.”

Kelsey raised an eyebrow. “I see. And these two gentlemen?”

“My keepers,” Elise confided. “They’re to make sure I don’t sign away the Royal Palace.”

The Baron smiled. “Actually Your Highness, the Lord Admiral and I are here to provide more detailed information if required. Between the two of us, we know where all the figurative bodies are buried.”

“And more than a few of the real ones I’d wager,” the bald admiral rumbled in a surprisingly deep voice. “Are you the sole Imperial representative on your mission, Princess Kelsey?”

She nodded, deciding they didn’t need to know the sordid details of Carlo Vega’s death. “I am. Tell me, Lord Admiral, does the honorific denote a relationship to your King?”

The short man nodded. “It does. The King did not marry until late and proved to be a lusty youth. We have a good working relationship.”

There were two grav limos waiting for them. They climbed into one and the guards into the other. Both sped away together over the city. The view through the windows was quite beautiful. The buildings were lower to the ground than back on Avalon, but they were significantly wider.

After a few moments enjoying the view, Kelsey turned back to Elise. “This is the first time I’ve been directly involved in negotiating an agreement like this. What are we hoping to settle today?”

“The main goal of the evening is for us to become comfortable with one another. Agreements can come later. No one gains anything by rushing into something with strangers.”

“Though if we can come to a few minor understandings quickly, that might make things less tense,” Lord Admiral Shrike said. “The very idea of space-time bridges we were unaware of makes my skin crawl. Just because the Pale Ones haven’t come through one doesn’t mean they won’t find one tomorrow. That could spell the end of us.”

Kelsey nodded. “I’ve already spoken to Captain Mertz. We would be happy to scan your system and to pass on the specifications of the scanner without any preconditions. We’ll also share what we know about flip drive technology.”

Sir Ellery looked a little surprised, but pleased. “That’s most generous of you. You cannot believe how difficult it is to see savages with interstellar drives, but be unable to create our own.”

“Two peoples that want to be friends will find a way to help one another,” Elise said. “I’m certain that we can offer you support. Then when you manage to find a way back our help will also not be forgotten.”

“True enough,” Kelsey said. “Our scientists have probably already handed the data we collected over to your delegation. Unless they forget they have it with them. For being geniuses, they can be awfully absent minded.”

The Crown Princess laughed. “I see that our people are more alike than I’d imagined.”

The limo crossed a boundary of some kind. The city became manicured woodlands. Beyond them rose a magnificent castle. Bright pennants flew from the highest towers and men patrolled the stone walls.

“Welcome to Orison Castle,” Elise said. “Home to the Royal Family since before the monarchy was established. Of course, we were only a house of minor nobility before the Empire fell.”

“Don’t worry,” Sir Ellery assured Kelsey. “The plumbing has been updated.”

The Crown Princess smacked him on the arm. “Don’t make her think we’re backwoods folk with twigs in our hair.”

“I think it’s beautiful,” Kelsey said. “I must take vids back home to show my father. He’ll be absolutely green with envy. He would have loved to live in a castle growing up. Me, too.”

The limos settled onto a landing pad beside the castle. The marines and Royal Guards came out and made sure the pad was secure before Talbot gave her the high sign. The Admiral exited first and held the door for the ladies. The Chancellor followed them out.

Elise gestured to the wide entrance. “My father is waiting inside. This is a casual visit, so we’re not standing on ceremony. He wants some quiet time to get to know you and to assure you that we’re decent people.”

“I already knew that,” Kelsey said. “I’ve been watching the news vids. It didn’t take long to figure out that what we were seeing wasn’t propaganda. The people here seem genuinely happy for the most part. Even those who criticize the Royal House don’t seem to feel afraid to do so. That told us a lot.”

The Crown Princess laughed. “I can only imagine what you heard. Some people seem to go out of their way to find something to be unhappy about. Or look for some conspiracy. If so, they’re free to do so. Open speech is a cherished right here.”

She gestured for Kelsey to precede her. “Come on. Let’s have lunch and get to know one another.”

Jared brought
Athena
to a halt outside the sphere of orbital fortresses surrounding the hostile flip point. He didn’t need to be inside it to send the probe and being under all those missile tubes would make him itchy. Their Royal Fleet escort stopped with him.

The damage to the fortresses was…extensive. Many were little more than floating clouds of debris. The Pale Ones had severely damaged most of the rest. Smaller ships were flitting around grabbing large chunks of wreckage and moving them toward a collection point. They also towed the remains of the enemy ships. Some of which looked surprisingly intact.

He looked down at his console, focusing on the image of Commodore Sanders. The other man sat on
Mace’s
bridge watching the same scene on his main monitor, Jared presumed. “Commodore, some of those attackers look better than I’d have expected after a missile duel at knife range.”

The older man shrugged. “Sometime they appear too close to one another and their grav drives mesh as they attempt to accelerate. That fries them right quick. Their actual momentum after transition is too small to get the derelicts far..”

“Have you pulled any usable intelligence from them?”

“Not in years. We’ll casually examine them, but they’re not our priority. The space-time drives burn out with the grav units. For whatever reason, they make their drives as a single unit. On rare occasions, they manage to repair a ship and continue on, but no space-time drive has survived one of these burnouts. Or the battle damage required to stop the ship.”

Jared frowned as he considered the man’s words. “Exactly how does a savage repair a damaged drive unit?”

“Most likely in the same way they can pilot a spaceship. We hypothesize their implants have some automatic way to do some of that work without intelligence. We’ve seen the manner they fight hand to hand in the ones we’ve captured. Rote execution of advanced martial arts moves based on the situation. They are quite deadly in a fight.”

“Might we have a relatively intact ship to study? Sometimes an outside eye can see something new.”

Sanders nodded. “I’ll have them shift one of these to your care. What will you do with it?”

“See if I can strap it to a cutter dock and flip it over to the other system. The scientists can disassemble it to their heart’s content. If there’s anything to be learned, they’ll find it.”

Zia turned in her seat to face Jared. “We’re ready to launch the probes, Captain.”

The plan was to launch two probes through the flip point. One would stay just long enough to get a scan of the immediate area and return. The other would remain for fifteen minutes. If it survived that long, they would have an idea of the star system on the other end. They’d also launch a widespread volley of probes set to scan the Pentagar system for any anomalous flip points.