Chronicles of a Space Mercenary 3: Vengeance (21 page)

“Did you have to?” I asked though clearly spoken in his look had been his murderous intent. A reptile did not take Command of the Queen’s soldiery on his own authority
unless he was prepared to fight for dominance and by the look on Bherlon’s face it had been clear he hadn’t thought the odds were in my favor. As always I suddenly found myself inadequately prepared.

“I do so hate leaving undead enemies behind myself, even if they aren’t technically
my
enemies.” Serrath replied while we watched Bherlon’s lifeblood pump and my blast-rifle covering him just in case. It was then that a larger attack-floater separated itself from the mass above and floated down towards us. It was the Queen or I wasn’t a reptile. She was big but wiry which meant she would be both faster and stronger meaning she would be extremely hard to kill in single combat. I’d get no such up-close opportunity however I was suddenly sure as I looked into her eyes and saw the assurance of my death within them. Plainly she had not inherited her Throne- clearly she had gotten it the old fashioned way and looked more than capable of keeping it that way- but that did not mean she would extend
me
the same opportunity. She looked really pissed off and her teeth were plainly in view. I decided then and there that it wasn’t a good thing and that bad things were going to happen.

“You dare to
execute one of
my
soldiers?” The Queen hissed as her floater halted several meters in front of and above us. I surmised that at this point any excuse to kill us was as good as any other and I had not missed her reference to the fact that they were
her
soldiers not mine. Bherlon had informed via wrist-bot and once again I had to marvel at Serrath’s intuition. The tension among the gathered Fsyth surrounding us was electric and though all had just sworn fealty to me none would interfere in a Royal Challenge. I was very conscious of the blast-rifle in my hands though I would never get the chance to use it.

T
hough technically I wasn’t the one who had done the deed I decided it was an opportune moment to keep my mouth shut for once nor did I let that blast-rifle move an iota. The floater’s cannons were pointed right at me and I can’t say I’ve ever been closer to my maker. The Queen was going to talk for a bit and then she was going to kill us. Of that I was quite certain. It was then that Serrath’s
training
paid off. Not warned by Bherlon that there were actually three of us the Queen did not recognize Leethea amongst the crowd as a personal danger until it was far too late. Leethea raised her blasters where she stood in the crowd and the Queen and her floater vanished in an explosion that once more slapped us to the ground and left me dazed but somehow still alive.

A
glance Serrath’s way assured me she would survive though for the first time ever she seemed to have been knocked from her eternal perfect poise. She made hard work of getting to her feet but the fire in her eyes was in no way diminished. I did not think we would have survived the closeness of that explosion if we had been wearing our human bodies. Maybe not even if we had been Alartaw. The resilience of these reptilian bodies continued to amaze me. There was blood coming from my ears and nose I noted indifferently but though I couldn’t hear a thing I was alive and in the end that was all that mattered. A doc could fix anything but death.

T
he floater lay burning in the middle of the street amongst my cheering subjects. I couldn’t hear the cheering but I could see it clearly enough. I would either convince the remainder of the Queen’s Regulars that I was the new King they wanted to follow or I and everyone else within this section of the street were going to be returned to their disparate atoms. I raised my arms aloft in victory and turned a full circuit amidst the attack-floaters and their bristling cannons. All were pointed in my direction but suddenly the tension was lifted.

First one
began to descend and then slowly the rest to follow. The Queen was gone and they needed a strong new leader. I was the reptile which had successfully led this assault on their ages old enemy and I was the reptile they wanted as their King. There was no room to land in the packed streets so they descended to just over the heads of the crowd and all made the small bow which indicated their allegiance.

“Hail the King! Hail the King! Hail the King!” They chanted over and over again and though I still couldn’t hear a word they were saying knew exa
ctly what they were saying. If they had not been ready to proclaim me King they would have done their speaking with their cannons.

I was King of the Fsyth-
for whatever that was worth.

Chapter 51

The attack-floater ride back to Warmonger only took moments and no feeling of inertia even with the reckless pace I adopted. Despite the rapidity of our travel through Cravotia’s atmosphere the anti-gravity field propelling and protecting the little floater kept the conditions within the confines of the floater itself undisturbed even though it was open to the air around us. The pressure of the atmosphere ripping past us at such velocity should have ripped us from our floaters piecemeal if our harnesses wouldn’t let us come bodily but with the anti-gravity drive surrounding and protecting us we were powerful yet invisible ghosts flitting quickly yet silently through the night. If any noticed us none dared further interfere.

The floater
was maneuvered via pheromone command and whipped us across the city as fast as my thoughts. The only real limitation of the floaters velocity was the pilot’s visual processing powers- the physical reaction-time of the pilot. It was nearly as fast as my thoughts but would never compare to my Alartaw link. My link allowed instantaneous communication with my ships and had the added benefit of the AI’s which would already have every possible probability pre-calculated before they were even thoughts in my own head. That made their response time very fast but once again I was impressed by the Fsyth’s biological computing system as suddenly I was physically connected to every one of my ships which were present. I would only be able to control one ship at a time but I could access any sensory data from any of those ships nearly instantaneously and nothing short of an AI piloted ship would be able to give me any kind of real challenge in a ship to ship dogfight. Maybe not even then. I now had an intimate connection with all of my ships which I felt through my linking with my floater and which were at my instant command should I merely think the thought.

There were no thieves lurking
about their games in the spaceport this day as I brought the floater down beside Warmonger amongst the entirety of my attack-floater force. Add to that the fact that there were a thousand Fsyth Destroyers littering the atmosphere above. All floating invisibly within the fog- though all within the city knew of their presence. Floating invisibly and silently on their anti-gravity drives and keeping a careful watch on everything occurring below. Above the Destroyers- and this also known by all within the city as the grapevine spread the word nearly as quickly as voices could talk- prowled the Armada of Fsyth Battle Cruisers on high-alert in orbit above.

I kn
ew nothing of the ancient blood-feud between the Vaes and the Fsyth, but inferring that the Emperor of the Vaes would not take our attack lightly. That war could very well be expected. Since I was in no way interested in a war with the Vaes I had ordered the immediate departure of all my forces. No reptile had questioned my decision and no Fsyth wanted to be on the surface of Cravotia when the Vaes arrived in force. The gist of what I gathered was that they would utterly destroy Cravotia before allowing us to possess it. I understood the sentiment well and didn’t doubt for a moment that was exactly what they would do if they got through the defending forces. I had no interest in holding Cravotia and less in remaining here even a moment longer than was necessary.

“They’ll leave no undead enemies behind themselves.” Serrath had agreed when I issued the order.
She would understand such a thing better than any being.

“I don’t want to be here when they arrive.” I had
also agreed but the pedantic part of my heart didn’t want them to have what I couldn’t and there
was
the small matter of the insult the Vaes had given. I had ordered the complete destruction of the mining-complex- they would profit no further from their crimes. Serrath had just given me a look as I issued the order that I was sure was reminiscent of many looks I had given her over and throughout our bloody career. In the end we were all just rotten vengeful dirty little animals no matter what skins we were wearing but Serrath and I were just that little bit much more rotten than the rest.

Warmonger would not allow another reptile aboard her without my consent and I
couldn’t leave her or allow other Fsyth aboard her. There was very little difference between Warmonger and other Fsyth ships but we had hardware aboard- the field-nullification chips in the blasters which could not be left behind and that could be very hard to explain if they were discovered. There would be room aboard one of my new Battle Cruisers to store her away safely, and I yet had use of her- use that was going to come as soon as I could come up with a plan. I had no interest in remaining a reptile, I reminded myself, though suddenly I wasn’t so sure of my determination. There had been a small hesitation in my thinking when I reminded myself and I wasn’t sure I liked the implication of that. I did
not
want to stay a reptile.

“T
ime to get back to the Kievor!” I told Serrath and Leethea as Warmonger’s hatch closed behind us and within the confines of her protecting gravity-field I was once again able to speak openly. “I have a plan!”

I lifted
Warmonger from the fusion-fused tarmac the moment the hatch closed. As I spoke and as Warmonger filled me with the mental image her sensory equipment was providing all three of us simultaneously- so any could take immediate control if the current pilot was somehow incapacitated- or if I were suddenly too intoxicated for example because I thought the time for that had finally arrived. In less time than an average being would imagine- truly only moments later- I was sliding Warmonger into the docking bay of one of my monstrous Battle Cruisers in orbit above Cravotia. A moment longer and we were standing within that bay and surveying what was ours.

“If it involves killing Kievor the sooner we get to it the
happier I’ll be.” Serrath commented as we looked over the Commanders who had gathered to show their obeisance.

“I’m ready to kill some
Kievor myself.” Leethea agreed. “No Fsyth will ever be press-ganged on a Kievor Trade Station ever again!” I know that I wasn’t the only reptile looking at Leethea but I wondered if I was the only one wondering if she was just playing along for our benefit or if she was serious. The cold light of murder that danced in her eyes left me truly wondering.

“We’re to attack the
Kievor?” Several among my new Commanders gasped out.

“Not outright,” I assured, “
but the Kievor will pay for their transgressions!”

My Commanders bowed l
ow before their strong new mad King.

Chapter 52

The vagaries of the Universe are many and governed by no absolute laws I can determine- never mind what the high-foreheads say. The Universe writes its own laws as It sees fit is the only sure conclusion I can draw. Either that or the Universe just plain hates me for fouling It’s every attempt to kill me. I was more inclined to the latter opinion but that still left the Universe with the power to change the laws as It saw fit. In my opinion the Universe is both alive and malignant and creates the living beings within it in It’s own image. Intelligent and malignant! The two never seemed far separated.

“Incoming Fleet.” Serrath spoke aloud what every Fsyth on every ship knew the moment those ships detected the incoming warp signatures.

“Of course there is.” I said. Serrath gave me a small look but nothing in the Universe would ever surprise her again and such roadblocks in the course of a being’s endeavors were always to be expected. When things were going too smoothly was generally when things were destined to really go wrong. A few roadblocks, in Serrath’s opinion, meant things were moving along just about as well as could be hoped. Violence was a part of life that could never be avoided completely though in the immediacy of now it needed to be circumvented at least temporarily.

“
They outnumber us two-to-one.” Serrath added unnecessarily.

“I was tired of this neighborhood anyway.” I said as those ships began to enter real-space. As it turns out I hadn’t needed to do all the homework I had earlier avoided because my pheromone link to my ship was also a link to all its stored data.
The data assimilated itself in response to my thoughts. The Vaes Emperor was named Zekel Falangan. The Fsyth Armada under my feet, for another instance, only represented a small number of the entire Fsyth Navy. The remainder of those ships left by the Queen to guard the home-worlds though it was doubtful the Vaes would attack Fsyth home-worlds knowing if they did we would retaliate in kind. Among their own kind reptiles had a certain honor they did not extend to mammals. The Fsyth had invented the anti-gravity drive and the Vaes had stolen that technology, I further assimilated, though the Vaes used conventional computing technology which meant we would be fighting AI piloted Capital Class Warships. I learned and assimilated the entire Fsyth history and much else besides in less time than it takes to describe it herein. I did not have to voice my command but every reptile on every ship heard it when I commanded it. In the barest moment my Armada accelerated and disappeared into warp under my sure control.