THE PRIZE: BOOK TWO - RETRIBUTION (17 page)

“You are a man of many talents, Sir Penn. The dragon represents your clan, or house?” She asked.

“Um… no. It was something I thought would be fitting as a name, the dragon blade.”

“Good. Then that shall be your name among us from now on. Sir Richard Penn-Dragon of the house of Alesha-Baan Tarl.” Hearing that send a shiver up Richard’s back, remembering the old family name from a time long, long ago.

“Thank you your Majesty, you honor me with your family name.” She smiled.

“Never in my entire life have I ever trusted any male as quickly as I trust you, Sir Richard, why is that?”

“It may have something to do with what happened to Ellis… Sub-Major Ellis and myself inside that building. Once we passed through it, I knew I was free from Director Markoff’s sweaty hands and could strike back at him and his bloody Empire, and they have a lot to answer for, not only against my planet but many others.”

“This I can well understand.”

“If I may, your Majesty.” Penn held up a wafer of crystal. “I think this will fit into your viewing system.” Penn handed it to Rem when he held his hand out. Probably an automatic reflex in protection of his Queen, and he pressed it into a slot on her desk.

The huge smart screen on the wall flickered for a moment before clearing and showing Earth from deep space. The familiar blue green ball, the recognizable continents and oceans showed clearly for a moment.

“That is Earth, your Majesty as it once was.”

“Earth? That means dirt, or soil.”

“True. That’s what we call her, maybe because we are all children of mother Earth. This is what it looks like now.” Penn walked over and touched the controls and the picture changed. As before, he merely had to touch a control or switch and he knew immediately what it was for and what it controlled. Now the continents looked dim and indistinct through the haze of dust, the beautiful color dulled and lifeless. The view zoomed in, dipping below the dust cloud to show shattered cities and dead forests. Closer it showed the horrible destruction up close, and the mounds of unburied bodies.

“You call us mad, and we are. A madness born of the horror of planetary bombardment from space, madness against an alien invasion that showed no mercy. Madness against the Empire that perpetrated the senseless slaughter of so many men, women, and children.” Penn had to stop as he felt the anger and sadness swelling inside him again.

“Commander, you and Rem may leave and return to your duties, as I suspect my guards are getting a little nervous and need reassuring.”

“Yes, my Queen.” They both replied and left. Richard kept his back turned to hide his feelings until he felt a gentle hand on his shoulder. He turned to see the Queen standing behind him, her eyes full of tears. She touched the side of his face and it was enough.

“You have the right to your madness, and from this day forward there shall be peace between our races. What is it we can do for you, Sir Penn?” He told her and explained the reason for his journey, and what he needed.

“I wish I could help, Richard.” She at least was willing to use his first name, even against the convention of her people. “Alas, we cannot help.”

“I’m sorry to hear that.”

“It’s not that we cannot build you the ships, but our supply of contra-gravity material, as you call it, is limited. We recently lost control of one of our sources of supply to the Tellurian swine and only have a little in reserve.” The implications of that were obvious. The Silurians dared not lose starships in battle, as they’d have nothing to replace them with.

“I’m sorry to hear that, but you say you can build the ships?”

“Yes. We have a very efficient ship building program, and many shipyards, here on the planetary surface for the smaller ones and in space for the larger.”

“I see. So your only restriction is the amount of Cg material then?”

“Yes.”

“What if I could get you all the Cg material you needed to build a fleet of warships?” The Queen looked at him for a moment.

“You have your own brown dwarf star then?” Penn laughed and shook his head.

“No, we don’t.”

“Then I don’t see how you could. The only known place to get that material is…”

“…in the photosphere of a brown dwarf star. I know. I’ve heard that said before.” He finished for her, much to her displeasure Penn noted by the frown that marred her beautiful face.

“And so?”

“What if I were to tell you I could get you several thousand tons of the stuff?”

“Then I would have to say you are truly mad. Several thousand tons would take a life time to collect and refine.”

“If I get it for you, will you build the ships for me, for Earth?” The Queen looked him directly in the eyes, pondering his words.

“If, and I say if, you can do that, I will build you all the ships you’ll need.”

“Then we have a deal. I’ll need a large ore ship to bring it to you.” Queen Tal Alesha-Baan stood and paced back and forth across the room, hands on her hips. After a moment she came back and stood in front of him.

“Never in my life have I ever trusted someone so quickly, or on such slim evidence, especially not a male. They all lie, so why is it that I should believe you, Sir Penn?”

“My charming personality?”

“Charming personality be dammed.” She snorted. “You’re a mad human assassin that I should have executed the moment you stepped foot on my planet. Even now, just looking into your eyes scares me to half to death, and yet…” she paused, “I do believe you, may the prophet preserve me.” She thought of the blur of motion she’d seen as he left her office and came back a moment later with his weapons.

Regina Tarl was right. If he’d been sent by Markoff to kill her, that would have been the perfect moment. He hadn’t, therefore he was telling the truth and truly wanted her help. How any being could move that fast was incredible, and in many ways, it made him the perfect assassin. After hearing his story, if true, she understood why he would work for the hell spawn of a Surl, Markoff, then a thought struck her.

“What do you know of the turmoil that besets the Tellurian capital at the moment?” A smile pulled at the corners of Penn mouth hearing that.

“My um… wife and I visited Emperor Cytec and gave him a present.” He laughed.

“A present, you mean as in a gift?”

“Yes. My planet is such a burden on the Empire, what with all the troops they have to keep ferrying in and out, I thought it would be nice to save them all that trouble. I removed the location of Earth from their navigational database.” Penn chuckled at some unspoken joke. Queen Tal Alesha-Baan sat, and contemplated her visitor and his statement. She didn’t doubt he’d done just what he’d said, but how he’d accomplished that, and to what end escaped her for the moment.

“To what end, Sir Penn?”

“Simple. I erased the location of Earth from their database in the stellar cartography institute and added a further erasure protocol to all inbound and outbound ships. They in turn downloaded it to all the navigational buoys along the way, rather like a virus. Within six months the actual location of Earth vanished.” The Queen nodded, understanding perfectly what he’d done, but again, why?

“And the reason for this?”

“After my supposed attack on Cytec, the Capital was in an uproar. As the word spread, some thought it was the perfect opportunity to get out from under the thumb of the Empire. Civil war broke out, planets and star systems declared their independence, in short, chaos. Now, the Imperial Navy is running around trying to restore order and have had little time, or ships to spare to re-survey the region of space where Earth is.”

“By the prophet! It will take them years to do that…” She stopped as the light dawned. “And by doing so, you have a window of opportunity to recover and rebuild your military forces.” Penn nodded. It was brilliant. “And so, the need for ships.” She eyed him shrewdly.

“And who’s is to say, that once you have these ships you won’t use them against me or my people?” It was a good question, and one Richard would have asked in her place.

“I can only speak for the now. It will take many years before we finish rebuilding our civilization, and maybe not in my lifetime. While I live there will be peace between us, and I swear on the life of the one I love, that no human will harm, or cause to come to harm any of your people.” Queen Tal Alesha-Baan let out a breath she hadn’t even realized she was holding. Such an oath wasn’t taken lightly, and strangely she had no reason not to believe him.

“It is said in the Empire, never trust a human, and that you will fight at the drop of a hat, even if you have to drop the hat yourself. Is that true?”

“When it comes to Emperor Cytec, Markoff and his minions, yes. We will fight at the drop of a hat, and no, the Empire can’t trust us. We will do anything, and everything to destroy that abomination any way we can.”

“From the devastation I saw in that vid, I can well understand your anger. I too would do anything to destroy the Empire, but how will a few ships change things? It would be many years and take thousands of ships to defeat the Empire Navy.”

“True. We have no experience building large space warships, and we need a model to start with. Given time we will build our own shipyards and start building our own ships.”

“It might seem self serving on my part, but why bother wasting time and resources building your own yards, when we have all the necessary slips here to build those ships for you.”

“And keep a degree of control over how many we build, and how they are used?”

“Trust is a two way street, Sir Penn. Either we trust each other from the outset, or we don’t.”

“True enough, but what will your people say when hundreds of humans turn up on your doorstep?”

“Horror, fear, outrage, just to name a few. But all that can be overcome if we start out by trusting each other and doing our best to forestall any confrontation.”

“I can assure you, we will not provoke a confrontation of any kind, even if we are provoked.”

“I can speak for the military, as they will obey my orders even if they disagree. The populace is another matter. Even if I issue a decree, some may choose to ignore it and do something untoward against your people.”

“No matter. I will make sure that even if that were to happen, my people would behave.”

“In that case, we have an accord, Sir Penn.”

“Would it be possible in your culture for you to call me just Penn, or better still, Richard?” The Queen blushed slightly.

“You ask a lot S… Penn. The giving and use of a first name is only permitted between bonded couples in my culture. However, I see no reason not to relax that rule in private… Richard.” She blushed again.

“I meant no offense, nor wish to insult your customs. We have a few cultural oddities as well.”

“Such as?”

“Well, for one, when we meet someone, or come to an agreement, we usually shake hands.”

“And the purpose of this act?”

“Many years in the past, the nobles wore and used swords, and it became the custom to offer your sword hand to someone. This was a sign of trust, as by holding each other’s sword hand, or wrist originally, you couldn’t draw your sword and attack.”

“Logical, very logical.”

“Nowadays, it’s used in greeting, and to seal a bargain between two parties.” Richard stood and held his hand out.

“Again, I must break protocol, but I see the purpose, and the necessity.” She stood and came over to shake hands, smiling slightly. “Your society is much more intimate than mine. You do this in public as well?”

“Yes, and on occasions hug… place our arms around each other in a sign of affection.”

“That I will have to work up to.” She laughed.

“I take it there is a cultural reason for not touching each other in public.”

“I believe that originally it had something to do with a virulent plague that broke out. Touching someone else, especially in public, was courting death. The plague lasted for many years, and by the time it was cured, any form of touching each other in public was um… not normal, you might say.”

“I can see that.”

“However, the day grows late and I need to take care of my duties. I’ll have Rem show you to your quarters. You will join me for a late meal?”

“I would be delighted, your majesty.” For once, Richard bowed slightly, and the Queen smiled at the gesture.

“Thank you for the honor… Richard.” As if on cue, Rem knocked and entered, bowing to his Queen.

“Please show Sir Penn to quarters so he may relax until the night meal.”

“As you command, my Queen.” After they’d departed, Queen Tal Alesha-Baan sat for a moment pondering the conversation and its implications.

“Regina!” She called, and a moment later Regina entered the room.

“Yes, my Queen?”

“Oh, stop being so formal. Take off your helm and sit,” she huffed. Regina smiled and did what she was bid. Taking her helmet off, she sank into one of the comfortable armchairs and relaxed as much as she could in full body armor as her Queen took an opposite seat.

“So, you were listening in I take it?”

“I was, your majesty…”

“Regina, we have known each other since we were children, so stop all this my Queen this and that.”

“You always were bossy, Alesha,” Regina grumbled.

“Answer the question.”

“Yes I was. As head of your security, it is my duty to protect you at all times.”

“Even against a human that can move so fast that even the auto defense systems couldn’t track or stop him if he wished to kill me?”

“Yes, that was a surprise, and no, I couldn’t have stopped him if that was his intention.”

“So we are agreed that he isn’t here to harm me.”

“Yes. If that had been his intention, all of us would be dead by now.”

“Lethal isn’t the word I’d use to describe him. He is death incarnate. The Queen muttered.

“True, and I believe we… you can trust him.”

“And what about you and Rem. When is he going to ask me for your hand?” Regina blushed.

“I… we… that is… we were waiting until he received his promotion. That way we’d be the same rank and he could officially ask you for permission.”