CALLEY (RIBUS 7 Book 3) (15 page)

He draped the shroud over his shoulders as he glanced up into Fremma’s chambers, his mind and body invigorated, his ardor channeled for the battle to come. This battle, this particular victory, was going to be so sweet, his potential reward more than he could have ever imagined. And that reward, no matter what its form, was going to validate every move he had ever made in the past pertaining to the little alien. Even if their communion was only fleeting, it was going to eclipse everything that had gone before.

One small incident so long ago had caused their worlds to collide. And now they would come together once again… just for a brief moment in time… but that moment would feed his soul for a lifetime. She had just granted him all.

Fremma sat in the command chair on the Bridge surrounded by a contingent of his top officers. Vraydon spoke. “My Lord, all the last-minute arrangements have been taken care of. Men positioned on the dark side of Calley’s moon and on the ground have all reported in, and everything is a go. Fleets just outside the solar system and beyond are in position and reports indicate all clear.”

Fremma nodded. “Korba seems to have removed the trouble from Lethos II, but he still wants us on high alert. The colonies on that planet were well trained and exceedingly well outfitted. He has no doubt that there are other factions out there sold on the knowledge that the acquisition of the Lady Chelan would indeed be a prime military coup. That acquisition simply cannot happen.”

Vraydon nodded. “The extra men and ships you ordered shortly after we left Iceanea will ensure that nothing untoward ever occurs.”

Fremma stood. “Let us hope that is true. So far, intercepted communiqués from rebel planets aligned with Lethos have indicated that those who may be seeking to acquire our Ladyship are all looking in the wrong direction. But we cannot afford to be complacent.” Fremma then became still as he ran through a mental checklist.

Vraydon straightened. “Sire, if you are still concerned for her safety on Calley, as an additional precaution, we could tag her.”

Fremma shook his head. “No, what Korba found on Lethos led him to believe that the technology ROPE has procured may indeed rival our own. At first even our Emperor had contemplated a tagging, but if we can track her, so can ROPE. Shortly, she will be just one Earthling among billions. We will know her whereabouts; foreign entities, if they manage to ascertain that she is on Calley, will not.”

All the officers nodded their agreement.

Fremma took one last look at his men. “Then we are a go. You know your orders and assignments. From this point on, the Lady Chelan is your sole concern until RIBUS 7 returns. There can be no mistakes.”

Vraydon nodded. “Understood, my Lord. She is as safe under us as she would be in Korba’s direct protection. You have our word.”

Fremma dismissed his officers and then hurried down the corridor to the private Command Center. The main chair swung around and Chelan gazed up at him. Fremma stopped and caught his breath. “It is time, my Lady. I take you now to the dark side of your planet.”

Chelan stood and rubbed her hands nervously down the front of her shroud. “I don’t know about you, but I suddenly feel totally unprepared.”

Fremma’s blood cooled. “This is one of the most uncomfortable decisions I have ever made, Chelan. But too much has been set in motion, and I cannot take you into battle.”

“I know. I'm ready to go.”

Fremma moved to the center console and hit a switch. “Tarn.”

“Yes, Sire.”

“All clear?”

“Yes, Sire.”

Fremma flipped the switch off and grabbed Chelan’s arm. He smiled briefly then tugged on her to follow. “This way.”

Chelan looked up into his eyes as he ushered her along. “What was that flicker of a smile for?”

Fremma glanced at her as they hurried toward the security doors. “Oh, I don’t know. Just something with Tarn.”

“What about him?”

Fremma shrugged. “I am not sure. He is usually so reserved, but tonight when he took over the command, he was different. Almost as if some great burden had been removed from his chest. He seemed buoyed.”

Chelan watched her footing. “Any reason?”

Fremma stopped and worked the security access codes, then headed with her toward the private hangar. “No, not really. Maybe he is just excited about the ensuing battle. And with me off with you, he gets the ship to himself for a short while.”

Chelan smiled. “Well, just as long as he is happy,” she whispered to herself.

Fremma looked down at her from below furrowed brows. “Why, do you know anything about this?”

Chelan glanced up at him. “It is just that after all these years I finally managed to have a long talk with him. I finally got around to thanking him properly for bringing me here, and I made a promise of sorts for the future.”

Fremma grinned. “Oh, and in what form did your promise of gratitude present itself?”

Chelan’s lip quirked. “I promised him a date, that is all.”

Fremma chuckled. “A platonic date?”

“Yes! Of course… for now. Um, but he made his desires clear.”

Fremma’s brows rose. “I can imagine he did. So, I take it you did not shut him down completely?”

“Well, none of us can predict the future. I mean, well, I…” Her mouth snapped shut.

Fremma watched as she turned a pretty shade of red.

Chelan looked up at him. The impish grin on his face plainly portrayed his amusement with her quandary. She rushed to explain. “Look, I owe him my life. I always have. Since all hell is about to break loose, I wanted him to know what he has meant to me all these years. When he expressed his thoughts on just what he wanted out of our meeting, I realized I could not turn him down flat. I mean, well… I will admit that my impromptu decision was complicated by the volatility of the upcoming mission and the uncertainty of it all.”

Fremma looked down at her. “Uh-huh. Now I know why he is so happy.”

Chelan reddened further as she hurried to keep up. “Hey! To begin with, I did not exactly give him a time frame. And right now, my plan for our rendezvous revolves solely around time spent alone speaking of the past, nothing more. I made that clear.”

Fremma grinned. “But you did leave the door open.”

Chelan frowned. “I did. I guess with all that we are up against… Well… Often we are nourished by our dreams of what may come to pass. I was honest with him. Anyway, who knows if we will even have our meeting. The future seems so nebulous at times.”

Fremma nodded. “Regardless, you know what you have done to the man, right?”

Chelan blanched. “Oh god, what?”

“You have just turned him into a one-man fighting machine. He will obliterate the galaxy just to find out what form your date may take.”

Chelan laughed, the spike in her tension leaving in a rush. “That is a good thing, right?”

Fremma nodded. “A very good thing for all concerned.” And he took her hand, giving it a reassuring squeeze. Soon he ushered her up to a huge Secondary fighter and stopped. “Ready?”

Chelan nodded. “Ready.”

Fremma began ascending into the ebony war machine. Then he extended his hand and helped Chelan up into the cockpit. He fitted her flight helmet and then his own. After securing her tightly, he strapped himself in. Once the cockpit was sealed, Fremma did all the last-minute checks and then ordered the massive hangar deck doors opened. Within moments, the fighter was catapulted into the inky blanket of space pockmarked with billions of points of light.

Fremma spoke. “Until we are near your planet, Chelan, I am putting up the projections. I would not want to run into anything.”

Breathlessly, Chelan took one last look around space and then settled down. “Okay,” she whispered. Suddenly, the stars disappeared and she was immersed in three-dimensional virtual reality. She peered all around her, wondering if she dared ask questions.

Then a large ball became visible, its high-velocity approach causing her to press back into her seat. “What is that?” she asked anxiously.

“That is what you refer to as Uranus.”

Chelan watched wide-eyed as the orb continued to approach rapidly, its size expanding explosively. Suddenly, when it seemed about to fill the cockpit, the fighter veered and the planet passed to her right, its color switching as it entered the rear-view display, its size diminishing just as quickly. “Jesus,” she mumbled.

Fremma chuckled. “Up close and personal, my Lady.”

Chelan smiled. “Any more?”

“Not on our present course, but it can be arranged.”

Fremma studied the planetary orbits for but a moment and then he angled the fighter’s trajectory to the left again. “Here we go.”

Chelan waited for what was only seconds and suddenly the projections disappeared. “What has happened?”

“You will see.”

Instantly, the black screen that covered the cockpit dissolved. Chelan could tell that the fighter had stopped. But then her attention was caught by an object to her right, and her eyes widened. “Saturn,” she gasped in awe.

Fremma maneuvered the fighter downward and Chelan’s heart nearly stopped as the rings came into view. “Oh, they are beautiful!”

Fremma smiled at her childlike exuberance, and as the fighter dipped below them, he looked at his readouts. “An annular disk… thicknesses of the main rings varying between ten and one thousand meters.”

Chelan nodded. “Composed almost exclusively of water in ice form.”

Fremma watched the monitor. “True, with the main contaminants being tholins and silicates.”

He took the controls again and the fighter skirted under the rings. Chelan’s jaw dropped as she looked up. “The Cassini Division,” she whispered as a large gap came into view.

Fremma maneuvered the ship again. “Moons,” he said. He accessed the battleship’s mainframe and then spoke. “Meet Tethys, Hyperion, and Prometheus.”

Chelan would have fallen out of her seat if not for her restraints. Then her heart leapt. “Oh, Fremma, can you find Enceladus? We think it is seismically active.”

Fremma once again cross-referenced her Earth terminology with that of the Telesians. “Enceladus… embedded in E ring, which is almost two thousand kilometers thick… Radial distance, one hundred eighty thousand to four hundred eighty thousand kilometers…” His voice trailed off as the fighter once again was set in motion and, within seconds, the moon came into view. “Active south polar jets just for you, my Lady.”

Chelan felt like she was about to cry. “Oh, wow…” was all she could manage.

Fremma smiled to himself, caught up in her enthusiasm. He had not thought how awe-inspiring this would be to her. Planets were nearly an everyday occurrence in his life, and many had rings. Suddenly, he wished that they had more time, much more time, but they didn’t. “We have to go,” he said softly.

Chelan simply nodded.

Within an instant the holographic display was once again substituted for the beautiful reality, and they were in motion. Chelan watched the screen. Squinting, she detected several points of light shadowing the fighter on the rear-facing display. Her mouth dried. “Fremma. There is something out there.”

“It is okay. They are here for your protection.”

“Ah, yes.”

Fremma smiled. “I can’t help you directly on the planet, Chelan. There you will have to fend for yourself among your own kind for the most part. But I will protect you from beyond. The last thing the Empire needs is for Korba to be rendered powerless by your acquisition by the enemy. You would indeed be the ultimate bargaining chip.”

“Hence this whole little venture,” she whispered.

Fremma had never gone over the details of the protective forces that would surround her, expressly leaving out information as to the breadth and scope of the mission. He had no wish to worry her on any level. “Those ships,” he told her now, “are part of even a larger contingent I will leave behind to ensure your security on Calley. Should trouble arise, they will scoop you up no matter your location or situation.”

Chelan stared at the display. “But what about you? You need those men yourself.”

“Chelan—do me a favor and think about yourself for once. One of the things Korba and I discussed was just how many additional men were required for this aspect of the mission. I added a large contingent to RIBUS 7 within the first few days of leaving Iceanea. Korba agreed with my plans and with the number of warriors recruited. So I am not leaving the ship short. And regardless, the whole crew of RIBUS 7 is expendable. Another Warlord, another ship, another crew—they could all be conjured up in a matter of weeks if necessary. You, however, are irreplaceable.”

“You are not expendable, damn you!”

“I am to the Empire, and that is what I exist for… the Empire.”

Chelan sighed.

Fremma chuckled. “Now, in a moment we will be entering your atmosphere. Hold tight—even with the antigravity, there may be a few bumps.”

Chelan laid her head back against the seat and shut her eyes, but she felt nothing. And no sooner than she had drawn her next breath when there came the sinking feeling of the inertial dampening mechanism shutting down.

All was silent. “We are here,” Fremma whispered.