Beyond Death (Perimeter Defense Book #2) (12 page)

I set the wine glass down and turned, ready to take the key from Verena's hand. And suddenly, at that moment, Popori de Cacha appeared before my face, sharply jumping to the side and grabbing something invisible. There were a few seconds of unexplained bustle after that, and my bodyguard straightened up.

"Crown Prince Georg, one of my tribesmen just threw a capsule into your wine, possibly poison."

The head of my bodyguard took a strange, flat flashlight from his belt and turned it on. The room lit up an unnatural shade of violet, and I suddenly noticed the large number of Chameleons in the tiny room. They were everywhere: on the walls, on the floor, even on the ceiling. I counted six members of the Ravaash race, one of which was being held down spread-eagle on the floor by two others.

"That is Kupi de, one of the bodyguards given to your brother," Popori de Cacha pointed at his immobilized compatriot. "Now he is subject only to Roben royl Inoky and his wife. I have no more power over him."

"Verena, how should I understand this?" I sharply turned to the lady of the palace. "Recently, I have become quite familiar with the Chameleons' behavior. Kupi-de wouldn't act alone. Did you order him to poison me?"

"Not poison. This is something else..." Verena got a small, flat box out of her bodice and gave it to me. Inside there were a few tablets rolling around.

I read the name of the drug and called up the interactive menu. Aphrodisiac, male potency enhancer? Why? In that time, the woman had managed to open the door with her little key. There was no shell collection behind the door at all. It was the bedroom.

"All Chameleons go out into the hall and wait there! Verena, we need to have a serious talk."

The stunning dark-haired lady got slightly embarrassed at her plans having been revealed, went into the room, waited for me to follow and closed the door. A second later, Verena's white dress had fallen to her knees. The naked dark-haired beauty was carelessly stepping over her clothes and turned to me:

"Yes, Crown Prince Georg. What did you want to talk about?"

If Verena was trying to bewilder or seduce me, she had missed the mark. The only thing I was feeling now was extreme annoyance and anger. I didn't at all like when others tried to manipulate me.

"I'm waiting for your explanation," I reminded the woman.

"Georg, what could I possibly say here?" Verena wondered, trying to get closer and using a playful voice, before quickly realizing it wasn't working.

I took a few steps back, not allowing myself to touch her. Roben's wife stopped and, looking me straight in the eyes, began speaking:

"Alright, your Highness. I will be as serious and honest as I can. I'm so scared after the Tesse ministers appointed you regent that my knees are shaking. I suggested that they name me temporary ruler, but they didn't go for it. Of course, they were shook up by the star fleet orbiting the planet; otherwise, my gifts would have done the trick. Now you are regent, and my son's position is very shaky. Mine, though, might as well be on a fault line. My son and I are totally at your Highness's mercy, and though Georg Junior may be needed alive for some time to legitimize your rule on Tesse, you don't need me at all. That's why I was trying to raise my importance in the eyes of your Highness. The child that would have resulted from our liaison would have been considered Roben's by everyone else and would become legal ruler of Tesse on reaching legal age. And it is of no small importance that any genetic tests would confirm that he really is a Mesfelle and has genes very similar to Roben's."

"And what would you have done when Roben came back?" I wondered, curious.

"So, you're letting him come back then?" an evil smirk appeared on Verena's lips. "If I were to become regent, my husband would never make it back to Tesse-III alive, even if he were released from the Orange House prison. Insofar as I understand, your Highness is also not a slow thinker and would not refuse such a treasure falling so easily into his lap. That is why my offer remains valid. The very rich planet and I myself will completely belong to your Highness, and in sixteen years and nine months, Tesse-III will be given to our child, a Crown Prince or Crown Princess by title. That's for fate to decide. And the drug I got just in case, so there wouldn't be any unforeseen complications. Everyone knows, after all, that Crown Prince Georg royl Inoky was a mystic not too long ago..."

"You thought everything through, Verena. Except my brother Roben will return and will be arriving safely on Tesse-III, and no one will be able to stop him from taking power back into his own hands."

I stopped, already half way out the door and turned to the frozen naked beauty:

"Don't worry, Roben will never find out about our conversation or your offer. Understand, Verena. You are an insanely beautiful woman, and under different circumstances I would agree. But I will never do anything to hurt my own brother."

I didn't stay for any shows or gladiator matches. The shuttle took me straight back to
Joan the Fatty
, and I went to my cabin. The screen on the wall was showing the final result of the auction for Astra's picture: forty-seven million credits. I was glad for my favorite, that she had found her calling in life. But I myself was feeling lonely and empty. Verena wouldn't get out of my head. Maybe it was stupid to refuse such a tempting offer from such a beautiful woman?

I sat for ten minutes in solemn thought and decided to turn on my communicator and call my butler:

"Bryle, bring a pair of glasses and a bottle of good sparkling wine to my cabin."

Then I called the beautiful officer that had earlier made an unambiguous remark on a potential future meeting:

"Valian ton Corsa, I suggest we go over an offer you once made right now and in great detail."

R
oben arrived three days after the feast. He was haggard, pale, and had huge bags under his eyes. He didn't look at all like himself. I greeted my older brother at the Tesse orbital docks, where the repair and modernization of my ships had been completed.

"I watched the live broadcast of the trial," I told Roben. "I still haven't figured out what the Orange House prosecutor was hoping for with such worthless accusations."

"Oh, that," my brother said, waving it off in annoyance. "By that time, everything had already been settled for almost a day. Five billion to the Orange House head, and I was set free to go back home. The trial was just theater for the public, so it would look like I had been detained and subsequently found innocent."

Roben went silent, looking over the huge battleship
Master of Tesse
through the thick armored glass. It had once been his own flagship but was now part of the Perimeter Sector Eight Fleet. I supposed that my brother would resent that and demand I return his ship, but he didn't mention it.

"How'd you get along here without me, brother dear?" the ruler of the star system wondered instead.

"One step at a time. I loaded down your manufacturing sector and got to know your ministers. And on my honor, I paid a fair price for everything. I didn't offend anyone. And now I'm preparing an expedition to Swarm territory. In ten hours, the fleet will be ready to set off."

"And how are Verena and the boy getting along?" Despite the reduced gravity at the orbital docks, Roben's legs were already getting tired, so he pulled up a chair and took a seat.

"They're fine. Your wife is waiting for you in the palace. To be honest, we messed up the lawn a bit. We had a massive party to celebrate the liberation of Tesse from the Duke's appointees."

"Think nothing of it, brother dear. And the battleship doesn't mean shit, either. I thought it would be worse... They tried stubbornly in the interrogations to force the idea into my head that the new regent would never allow me to return and that my starship simply had no chance of reaching home unharmed. If it hadn't been for little Millena, who supported my faith in humanity, I probably would have given in and agreed to work together with the Orange House Head... To be perfectly honest, they almost convinced me that everyone around me was constantly thinking of ways to get rid of me!"

"Now, how could you think that, Roben?! Everyone here on Tesse could think of nothing but your return the whole time. I was only appointed regent until your return, and now, today, I'm already giving your star system right back to you and flying off to another one. Your beautiful wife missed you very much. She wants to share some excellent news about your son's health. But make sure to throw her a party every once and a while. Verena gets bored cooped up in the castle..."

Roben suddenly covered his face with his hands and began to sob. The huge fat man had three streams of tears running down his face and couldn't stop them. In order not to embarrass him further with my presence, I bid farewell to my brother and set off for
Joan the Fatty
.

On the cruiser, there was a small scandal waiting for me. First, after returning to the ship, Princess Astra had noticed traces of my romp in the cabin: a pair of thin leggings that Valian had forgotten. She hadn't been able to find them, but Astra had, in the bathroom inside a wall cabinet that she considered hers. There was also an unfinished bottle of wine in there.

Second, Crown Princess Likanna then found Astra walking around my personal cabin like she owned the place without the slightest bit of shame, and despite her young years, was able to figure out what was going on. Of course it is strange, but it never occurred to my daughter over her three days of talking to Astra to think about the Princess's status in my retinue. And now, both Princesses had been patiently awaiting my return for several hours on the cruiser so that they could turn up the hysterics even higher together.

The main problem lied in the fact that I would have to get my daughter out of the room to have a talk with Astra and vice versa. But neither of the Princesses would voluntarily leave my cabin. I decided not to fall back on the foolproof method of using Phobos and Deimos to carry the Princesses out kicking and screaming. So, making an excuse about my presence being needed at headquarters, I hurried to leave the room.

The fleet was preparing for a long warp. There were messages coming in about systems coming online, technicians verifying network connections, thrusters and energy storage. There was some trouble caused by the seventy ore freighters I was preparing to take to Sss with the fleet, in that civilian ships couldn’t understand the concept of things like discipline and responsibility. Out of seventy total, only fifteen had already fully assembled their crews, and twenty of them were still missing their captains. And that's fifty minutes before takeoff!

Finally, I found someone to take out my pent-up annoyance on! I ordered a mixed team of human and Iseyek assault soldiers sent out to all of the offending freighters with the goal of maintaining order and determining whether the best method of convincing that particular crew to follow the Crown Prince’s orders in good time was negotiation or force. I don't know how, and I don't want to, but the soldiers managed to force the lazy civilians to move their butts, and all I heard from it were some echoes of the reeducation campaign:

Global fame increase. Current value +12

Global standing decrease. Current value -26

Standing change. Empire Military faction opinion of you has improved.

Presumed personal opinion of you: +10 (trusting)

Standing change. Blue house opinion of you has worsened:

Presumed personal opinion of you: -2 (indifferent)

Global standing decrease. Current value -27

Finally, a message came in from Colonel Gor ton Vulf, recruited on Tesse just two days earlier. The huge, graying heavyweight, a native of a planet with elevated gravity, had appealed to me in that he had combat medals, an excellent service record, and knew the language of the Iseyek. A personal conversation had only confirmed my initial impression, and I appointed the colonel to lead all my fleet's human landing groups.

"My Prince, all ore-ships are ready for takeoff. We had an explanatory conversation with the crews that were especially disobedient. I can assure your Highness that none of the crews will be causing further delays."

"Were there civilian casualties?" I clarified just in case, surprised at the fairly significant fall in my personal standing.

"Nothing serious, my Prince. No one died. But we had to bring order, which meant overlooking the aristocratic origin of some of the captains. Some objected. But not for long."

I approved the colonel's harsh methods in bringing order. That uncontrollable band of good-for-nothings really had to be reined in right away. Otherwise, while moving from system to system by warp beacon, which appear for mere seconds at a time, a lack of discipline would threaten separating my fleet into many unconnected, uncontrollable parts.

The communications officer informed me of an incoming call from the Fastel system. I winced in anticipation. Every time I spoke with Marta, I was left with a very unpleasant taste in my mouth. But there was nothing to be done. I ordered her put through.

"Georg, you have completely lost your mind!" I wasn't fast enough at switching over to headphones, and the woman's hysterical cry rang out for the whole headquarters. "Lika just called me. You've built yourself a real den of iniquity! Your many lovers are having catfights and arguing about their relationships with you right in front of my daughter! That crosses all boundaries!"

I muted the volume and waited patiently until the chubby lady with golden hair stopped jerking angrily, gesticulating and flapping her lips. Four minutes later, my wife calmed down. I turned the sound back on.

"And what did you want to tell me? Sorry, I just forgot to turn the sound on," I wondered in a totally normal tone.

On screen, Marta was just sucking air in indignation; however, she did not repeat her hateful speech. Leaving a short pause and calming down slightly, my wife said:

"Georg, I ask you to send my daughter Likanna to Fastel as quickly as possible. There is no reason whatsoever for the girl to be talking with loose women from your society. And Lika's school vacations will be over soon, and I'd like to spend some time with her myself."

"You should have asked for it like that right away, in a normal tone, without your traditional hysterics, which do you no favors, Marta. I'll bring our daughter to the Li system myself in three days. I will not come to Fastel. My combat fleet coming to the system would cause a bad reaction with the rulers and make my crews expect a fight. After all, your father was one of the first to vote in favor of Duke Paolo royl Anjer. My fleet will leave after that, and the Kingdom of Fastel can continue in its close relationship with the Orange House Capital."

"What is this I hear? Since when is it that you started refusing my Kingdom? Or is that your covert way of asking my father for money? Or maybe you need our cruisers for your fleet?"

I was tired of shaking my head. It was the same old song...

"Marta, I already told you that times have changed, but you still haven't realized it. There are fourteen star systems under my control, and I have absolutely no need for money. What are two million measly credits a month from the Kingdom of Fastel to me now? A few days ago, I gave the Sector Seven Fleet Commander almost a billion and a half of my personal money as a gift to buy new ships for his fleet! Marta, I have three hundred starships in my fleet, including a huge mothership, two battleships and over fifty cruisers. So your three cruisers would do nothing to change the situation, all the more so given that your crews would be significantly behind mine in level of preparation and battle experience. You can keep your money and ships. I don't need anything from you at all."

Marta was clearly thrown off and couldn't hide her bewilderment. Then a message came in totally unexpectedly that Marta royl Valesy had improved her personal opinion of me by ten points to minus fifty-three. I chuckled sadly:

"It's too late, Marta. You spent so many years picking at my brain and trying to mix my name up in dirt, that such naive flattery can do nothing to fix it now. Where were you when my fleet defeated the pirates in Hnelle and Unatari? Why was it not my wife but a random favorite next to me during the death-defying capture of the Alien battleship? Why was my wife's place next to me at ceremonial events always left empty? Why have you and your Kingdom taken the side of my enemies in the conflict with the far-away Duke? That's what you need to think about now, not trying to buy me off with your Kingdom's money..."

In response, I got a stream of nonsense. I didn't listen to it and ended the call. No, it turns out you couldn't change Marta after all. The image of the other Crown Prince George was stuck too stubbornly in her memory, a man who gave in to anyone and was willing to tolerate any number of insults and slights just for a pitiful allowance from the Kingdom of Fastel.

* * *

When I returned to my cabin, Likanna and Astra were sitting together on the couch and watching a children's cartoon. In front of them was a little table of pastries that had already been practically eaten up by the two Princesses. The girls did not react to my appearance.

"Astra, I ordered an identical cabin be made available to you with a picture window. You can draw your masterpieces there and not have to worry about other peoples' things lying around in your cabinets."

"But, Crown Prince Georg, I have no problem with that," the Princess answered.

"Dad, let Astra stay here. It's fun with her!" my daughter declared unexpectedly.

"No, Lika. I don't want to hear from your mom again that I've got a den of iniquity here and am poisoning your young psyche by letting you talk with lecherous women."

"I'm the lecherous woman then?!" Astra inquired, getting indignant and raising her voice. "Lika, I've only kissed your father one time. I can hardly be called a Crown Prince's favorite. I'm a laughing stock. It's even uncomfortable to be around aristocrats. I am a grown woman, and yet your father treats me like a baby!"

No, I definitely didn't understand them. My daughter was making a ruckus about me being close with Astra, and now she's demanding I let her stay. Astra is indignant that I treat her like a baby, but her way of expressing that is like an unreasonable child. I flopped down on the sofa next to the Princess, tired, and managed to grab the last pastry from the plate.

"By the way, where is your painting?" I had just discovered that the easel that had held the painting was gone.

"It's all over. I sent the painting to the buyer. He has already transferred the money. Me and Lika were talking, and I decided to send all the money from the sale to the creators of the TV show
Jeanne the Star Traveler
so they can make a new season. Isn't that cool?"