The Worker Prince (15 page)

“Other than a couple of friendly e-posts, no,” Farien said as he moved his pieces quickly without much thought, setting up several opportunities for Yao to make important captures.

“Well, let’s keep it that way as far as Xalivar is concerned, okay?” Yao said, noting his friend’s surprise as he captured Farien’s bishop.

“You expect me to hide information from the High Lord Councilor?” Farien asked as he deliberated over his next move.

“I didn’t say to hide it,” Yao said, “but don’t volunteer it.” He enjoyed watching Farien strain his brain for the right move.

Farien shook his head. “I don’t know about this.”

“I have my doubts, too, but he’s our oldest friend.” Yao couldn’t believe Farien was even questioning it.

“And that means I should let my career go down the tubes for him?” Farien slid his rook across the board, threatening Yao’s knight.

“Xalivar didn’t threaten us,” Yao said, his eyes urging Farien to cooperate. Even as he did, he thought again about all they had to lose. He took the rook with his own rook, watching as Farien frowned in frustration.

“Oh sure, I totally bought all his friendly chit-chat,” Farien said, his eyes tired, his voice strained. “If he’s allowing the Council to issue a warrant for Davi, he’s not on Davi’s side.”

“I’m not saying he is,” Yao said. “Don’t you think we owe Davi the benefit of the doubt?”

“What I think is I don’t want to get mixed up in this mess,” Farien said, irritably. “I’ve worked too hard to get where I am, and this could really screw things up for me.”

Yao shook his head. “It’s sure screwing things up for our friend Davi.” Despite his own doubts, he was disappointed Farien had such a narrow view of things.
Maybe I need to talk to Miri about this.
He’d send her an e-post as soon as they were finished.

“Maybe he brought this on himself by killing an Alliance Captain,” Farien said, with surprising coldness.

My Gods, has our friendship come to this?
“It was an accident. He told us the circumstances,” Yao reminded him.

“If he wants to blow his whole career getting mixed up with workers, it’s his problem. He can’t expect me to blow mine!” Farien’s nostrils flared. He was angry at Davi for putting them in this position, it seemed.

“Gods, Farien, no one’s asking you to ruin your career, just to look out for a friend a little,” Yao said, frowning as their eyes met.

“A friend who’s wanted by the Council and the High Lord Councilor,” Farien said. “I’m not making any promises, and if you ask me, I don’t think Davi would expect me to.”

“Fine. You keep looking out for yourself as usual,” Yao snapped. He turned and punched a code in the panel next to the door, waiting until it slid open with a whoosh. “You seem to be very good at it.”

He left Farien standing there, staring after him.

O O O

Not wanting to go near the Palace, Yao arranged to meet Miri at the city’s largest public park. She came alone by air taxi, her face haggard with worry.

“Thank you so much for contacting me. I’ve been so worried about Davi,” she said as she embraced Yao warmly. “I haven’t heard from him since right after he took emergency leave from Alpha Base, and Xalivar won’t tell me anything.”

“I’m afraid the Council has charged him with murder,” Yao said.

“What? Xalivar promised he would make sure that didn’t happen!” Miri said, stiffening as her blue eyes filling with anger.

“I don’t want to speak ill of the High Lord Councilor, but he called Farien and I in and asked about Davi. I got the impression he wasn’t going to interfere with the Council’s decision,” Yao said, filled with regret.

Miri’s face registered a mix of shock and rage. “What is he thinking? My gods! Davi came to us and asked about the workers. I’m afraid a startling discovery about his past has upset him.”

“What discovery?”

Miri hesitated a moment, as if she were unsure how Yao would react. “He discovered I adopted him years ago from a worker family.”

Miri clearly expected Yao to react with shock, but instead he nodded. “We heard a rumor about it two years ago at the Academy.”

“A rumor? So long ago? It was supposed to be secret,” Miri said with surprise and worry.

“We heard it from a cadet who never liked Davi. We figured he was trying to make waves, but Davi told Farien and I two months ago on Vertullis that he suspected it might be more than a rumor,” Yao said.

Miri looked at her feet. “It’s true.” Her eyes met his and she was pleading. “Please don’t hate him for it. I know it’s a shock to everyone, but it’s not his fault. I raised him as my own, because it never mattered to me, and it shouldn’t matter to you.”

Yao smiled, putting a hand on her arm. “He’s the best friend I’ve got. He can’t get rid me so easily. Besides, I don’t know any workers. I have nothing personal against them.”

Miri looked relieved. “I wish more in the Alliance thought as you do.” Relieved tears rolled down her cheeks. “If there was a rumor, how many now?” Her eyes widened as the implications sunk in.

“When it came up back then, no one believed it,” Yao assured her, his eyes locked on hers. “I promise. We all thought Bordox was just making trouble.”

Miri’s shoulders relaxed as she sighed. “Bordox. I don’t know why he hates Davi so much.” Then she sobbed softly, overcome.

Yao pulled her to him in an embrace. “It’s okay, Princess. I’d do anything I can to help him. I’ll let you know as soon as I hear from him.”

Yao meant it, although he wasn’t sure what he’d do if the help asked involved things which might be deemed traitorous to the Alliance.

“Thank you. You know you’re like family to me,” Miri said, sniffling as she looked up at his face and subconsciously straightened a loose bang on his forehead just like his own mother would.

He dried her tears with his handkerchief. “You are to me, too,” he said.

“Thank you for your support of Davi,” she said, smiling as she recovered her composure. “And me.”

“If there’s anything you need, don’t hesitate to ask,” Yao said. “But be careful about Farien. He fears his association with Davi could hurt his career.” Yao’s might as well, but Davi was more important.

“There’ll be many others, I’m afraid. Even Xalivar is more concerned for himself than anyone else,” she said, her face graying with sadness. They both stood there a moment, pondering the gravity of it all.

O O O

Aron had skipped the flight-training classroom on the tour. Located on the opposite side of the hangar from the command center, it was clearly intended to serve a dual purpose as a ready room for pilots once training was completed. A rather large chamber, it contained four simulators on one side and rows of chairs and desks on the other. A laser board and vidscreen hung side by side on the front wall, behind a plexiglass podium.

Davi arrived to find twenty eager trainees seated and waiting for him. He was surprised to see Tela, Nila, Brie, and Dru among them. The moment he saw Tela, his heart accelerated in volume and pace. He feared the whole room could hear it.
I guess I should’ve guessed she’d sign up for this. Maybe I can make up for upsetting her the other day.

He walked to the front of the room, taking a closer look at the students as he moved up the aisle.
They look like kids, all of them. Most can’t even be my age yet.
Of course, he’d started flying at sixteen and graduated from the Academy at twenty-one. For some reason, he found himself feeling so much older now.

Stepping behind the podium, he turned and smiled. “Welcome class. Good to see so many future pilots here!” He turned to Tela: “And one very talented pilot already. How many of you have ever done any flying, besides, of course, Tela?”

Tela frowned as a few trainees in the back raised their hands, but none he knew by name.

He swallowed, moistening his suddenly dry throat and glanced around. Several others were looking warily, even angrily, at him. “Okay, we have our work cut out for us. Without fighters to train in, we’ll be doing a lot of training on the simulators and then using skitters to get you used to the speed and feel as much as possible.”

Brie raised her hand.

“Yes, Brie?”

“Skitters don’t fly,” she said, a puzzled look on her face.

Davi nodded. “Well, yes, that’s true, but they do handle similarly to fighters.”

Dru raised his hand.

Davi nodded at him.

“What about laser target practice?” Dru asked. “They don’t have lasers either.”

“Alliance skitters do,” Tela interjected. Davi smiled at her in appreciation but she just looked away again.

“We’ll have to do it all on the simulators for now,” Davi said.

Brie raised her hand again.

“Yes?”
Would they always be like this?

“When are we getting fighters?”

“I don’t know.” He was beginning to wonder if giving some of these people access to fighters would be a good idea. They seemed too eager. Brie and Dru looked disappointed at his answer. “There’re going to be a lot of things we’ll have to figure out as we go along.”

Several of the trainees sighed, frustrated. “How do we know they’ll ever allow us to fly them?” a dark-skinned cadet said from the back row.

“That’s what I’m here for,” Davi answered as everyone in the room waited with anticipation for his reaction.

“Yeah, right,” the cadet next to the other said, smirking at their buddies. “A Borali Alliance officer training workers against his own people.”

A few other cadets chuckled in agreement.

“Not just a Borali Alliance officer! The Prince himself!” said the dark-skinned cadet. Now even Tela and Dru were giving Davi suspicious looks.

“Jorek! Virun! Cut it out!” Nila scolded, frowning at them.

“Look,” Davi said, “I’m on your side. Why would your leaders send me here, if they didn’t trust me?”

“Did your Uncle order them to?” Virun said with a smirk as his friends laughed.

Davi sighed. For the first time, he found being known as a Royal made him very uncomfortable. He fought the urge to snap back, instead chuckling and smiling at Virun. “Without the resources of the Borali Alliance, we do face some challenges.”

The cadets mumbled in acknowledgement, some still staring at him as if he were to blame.

“However, when I was in flight school, we also didn’t have experienced pilots in the class either, and you have the good fortune to have two.”

He looked at Tela again, who shot him an annoyed look.
What did I do now?
Several of the others were looking at her now. She looked uncomfortable, shifting behind her desk.

“Okay, well, perhaps we should cover a few basics of flight first.”
Going to leave her alone and hope she gets over it. For a pilot, she seems kind of sensitive. Hope she has the endurance to do this.
He made a note to keep the question to himself, flipped on the laser board, and began lecturing.

An hour and a half later, he wrapped up what he thought was a pretty decent lecture on the basics of flight and the trainees dispersed. He found Tela waiting for him in the corridor, eyes fuming.

Might as well confront this head on.
“Tela, I’m glad you’re here. I wanted to apologize to you for offending you when we landed yesterday—”

She didn’t even wait for him to finish. “Don’t single me out in front of everyone! They’re already intimidated enough and they’re my friends.”

“Look, I’m sorry if I made you uncomfortable. I really meant it as a compliment. You’re a very good pilot. You can help them learn.” The heat rose in him just being near her.

“As what? Teacher’s pet? They’ll resent me for it!” She was clearly not appeased.

“Well, to be honest, if you were going for teacher’s pet, you’d have to be nicer to me,” he joked. She didn’t even smile.
What is it with this girl?

“You fighter jocks are all the same,” she said. “Or maybe it’s just you princes!” She stared at him, disgusted, then turned and marched up the corridor.

Davi had to run to keep up with her. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Over-confident braggarts, who think all you have to do is come in the room and the women will start swooning,” Tela snapped.

“Wait a minute! We don’t really know each other. I’m not like that at all,” Davi said, trying to hide his own growing irritation. She was making so many assumptions which just weren’t true. Sure, women had been impressed by his Royal status, but he’d tried not to take advantage of it. Then he remembered the girls at Bar Electric.
Most of the time.

“Yes, you are. I’ve been around your type my whole life!”

“Really? You know some other princes?”

She scowled and rolled her eyes, hurrying off again, but he grabbed her arm.

“You really are something, aren’t you? Judging people without even bothering to get to know them? It seems to me I’m not the one here who’s full of himself!” He sighed, regretting the outburst, even though it was true.

“Oh stuff it up your flight suit, air jockey!” She turned and stormed off, leaving him disconcerted. He’d never had problems talking to women before. Why this one? And why did it turn him on so much?

O O O

Bordox had searched the entire planet for Xander with little to show for it. He had no idea why Rhii was helping the workers. There’d been a rumor when they were at the Academy about Xander being found in a courier, a worker child, and he’d helped spread it, but Bordox never really believed that. It was Xander Rhii after all. The little Prince had always been soft. What Bordox couldn’t fathom was how he’d survived five years at the Academy. Bordox had what it took. Rhii didn’t. Now, Rhii’s actions proved his success at the Academy was a fluke. The Prince had sailed through on his family name, charming the faculty and administration, or, at least, revealing their hypocrisy. Bordox knew he was ten times the soldier Xander Rhii would ever hope to be, and on this mission, he would prove it.

He arrived early for his appointment with Zylo at the Regional Office of the LSP. They’d decided to put their heads together and regroup. But Bordox was wondering if a head butt might not be the best plan. Zylo’s intelligence was worthless. Every lead he’d provided had turned up a dead end. Bordox was doing all the work, and he wasn’t about to bust his butt to see Zylo get all the credit. It always worked that way with higher-level officers. The lower level guys did the work, while the higher-level guys got the glory. Not this time! This was his chance to show Xalivar, the High Lord Councilor himself, who the best soldier in the Alliance really was. At last, Bordox would get the recognition he deserved!