Falco Invictus: On the Forge of War (23 page)

She glanced at the picture of the human
female again.

She typed A-R-I-A.

The system unlocked.

Now her only problem was she couldn't read
Falcanian.

There were folders labeled with Falcanian
calligraphy arranged on the screen. Opening one folder, she
discovered some writing, poetry in English and Falcanian.
Interesting, but not strategically helpful to her cause.

Trying another folder she discovered what
seemed to be a database of languages. This she glanced through
hoping to find a key to the Skora and she was lucky in that Sharr
had kept a file marked as such. The file had not been changed since
long before she had been born. It contained rudiments of the
Falcanian tongue which allowed her eidetic mind to memorize the
grammar.

At last Frederika found the Shotar's email
program. She began to search recent mail. Much of what she read
contained personal correspondents. Sharr talked about the Queen,
often. Clearly Sharr relied on her for his strength.

An offhand comment to ISG Kra in a response
line intrigued Frederika: “How is the build up going, Shuriken?”
Such a simple question, yet it told her much. The Falcanians had
amassed an army. Now her Intel had not mentioned anything about
this. She was surprised Oberon's henchmen had not found that the
Falcanian were up to this.

How does one hide an army?

Remembering the Amrita drug, she tried a
search feature built into the operating system, hoping to see if
there was anything on Sharr's computer in relation to the drug. The
Hindu meaning came up, but there was a surprising cross-reference
with other files. An email exchanges between Sharr, Kvaltar, and
Shuriken which discussed the construction of a military force to
compete with the Imperium.

Good Intel to be sure. The three had devised
a shadow game and leaked information about a fake drug to cover up
the training of this new army. Their plan was working. No one
searched for an army.

She skimmed through the message and learned
where the military was being built. A complex located deep inside
the Himalayan range and below the Falcanian City of Kuras on the
subcontinent. She leaned forward in her seat. Sharr also listed the
locations of “nested” FS-9 Raptor class warships and Korsharra
starfighters, all poised to strike against the Imperium in a
preemptive maneuver intended to cripple them.

They were planning on turning Earth into
Falcania-Vor… Falcania - Prime by breeding themselves into
superiority. If it worked, the Falcanian Khanate would become
masters of the Earth. Should it fail, disaster awaited the
burgeoning Empire. Frederika actually found herself become sad at
the idea of no Falcanians in the Universe. Frederika's emerald eyes
widened when she found troop, and ship numbers.

How do I make this work for us? We can't
fight them, she thought. The Khanate could easily take on her
Reich's own military structure with ease.

She closed the files. No need to copy
anything because Frederika could recall all the numbers and words
with a thought. However she carefully back stepped through the
system to make sure any trace of her use would be gone or well
hidden. Sharr Khan would not know she had been there.

Tanusri leaned closer to the Queen who stood
with her to peer out from the latticework overlooking the garden
below. The two Falcanian women were hidden from any that might look
up from the garden.

“What interests you about this trinket,
Nadia?” Sure she had gotten Sharr's hormones flowing, but that was
nothing new. “What fascinates you about her?”

“Tanu, how many women willingly volunteer to
be caned?” asked the Queen pointedly.

The sitarist considered the question. What
Frederika had chosen certainly appeared to be noble, putting
herself in place of that other girl Mia however it was somewhat
striking.

“That is true. Yet consider, she does what
she thinks to be honorable. Certainly that is not so strange a
thing. Even for a human.”

In the garden, Frederika could be seen
standing beside the whipping bench, now stripped down to her green
bra and panties. By her casual stance, it was abundantly clear
Frederika had no shame about her curvy body. If anything, one could
read pride in her form. Considering what was about to happen to
her, the blonde appeared incredibly calm, her hands relaxed at her
sides.

Atar Kran waited as well. He wore a black
mask covering the upper part of his face, only showing his strange
golden eyes. He held a straight cane cut from an inch thick rattan
in his right hand, reaching forty-two inches in length. His
expression solidly impassive.

Nadia pushed closer to the lattice, her lips
parting as Drakorian secured Frederika onto the wooden frame. Tanu
pressed nearer, and gripped the Queen's upper arm in a mix of
tension and curiosity.

Down in the courtyard, Frederika’s honey
curls fell in disarray over her heart-shaped face. Her wrists were
bound straight over her head which pulled her taut across the
varnished wood. Once Frederika’s ankles had been buckled hard
against the frame Atar personally ripped off the silken green thong
which protected Frederika’s virtues. A way to further add to her
intended humiliation.

A loud swish and crack signaled the first
stroke of the cane and it echoed throughout the courtyard and down
into the market. Frederika bore it all with supreme fortitude, but
for a grimace of pain.

Only her anger allowed her to remain strong
and not betray her discomfort, later alone in a room filled with
subdued candle lights. Upon turning over she immediately felt the
intense pain. Frederika bit down hard and did her best to restrain
a yell. A few candles radiated light in the room and carried a
pleasant and relaxing fragrance. Someone decided she didn't need to
be kept around the other women in the harem. She knew she was in
the Royal level of the palace.

A pitcher of ice water sat on a nearby table
but Frederika couldn't find the strength to reach out for it.

“Forgive me. Forgive us,” a voice said.

Frederika turned her head. She searched the
room and she found the source of the voice.

Sitara stood in the center of the room
highlighted by the saffron colored candle's flicker. Her
rose-colored wings were alight with a glow from the candles behind
her.

“I do not blame you,” Frederika bit out
through her gritted teeth.

The princess sat down on the cushioned
nest-bed and looked away from the purplish welts crisscrossing the
dancer's hind end. She pushed the wild mess of those blonde curls
out of Frederika's face. Reaching over she poured a glass of the
ice water and helped Frederika drink.

“I have done something. If someone learns of
this, I shall suffer the same fate as you,” Sitara whispered, her
violet eyes wide and gleaming in the ambient light.

“What?”

The Princess produced a small sipping bowl.
“This will make you feel better.”

Sitara put the bowl to Frederika's lips. The
blonde looked down and saw a honey-like jelly. A hint of its sweet
smell touched her nostrils and she gulped it down. Its taste
familiar; honey touched with ginseng, like the liquor that she had
tasted on Sharr's lips the night of the party.

Her body filled with electricity and felt
the effects right away. The pain in her hind end subsided. In its
place, a new strength and vigor filled her muscles. The toll of the
beating seemed to be negated.

“What was that?”

“Rishaak fruit. Our fruit of immortality.
Its genetically restorative properties bestow upon we Falcanians
perpetual youth.“ She bit her lip. “In some, it unlocks the inner
eye.”

All Frederika could do was stare at the
Princess. This was why she had been sent to Vanguard Island.
Frederika knew that she had to get one of those Rishaak fruits.

“Queen T’Kara, there’s a message for you
from Kuras.”

“Thank you,” she replied, and sounded
preoccupied but looked up from her microscope. “Send it down
here.”

Nadia turned to her monitor and linked into
the system. Sharr was spending time with Tanu and Kitana, no doubt
to let off some steam. He was still angry about the whole matter
with Mia and Frederika. At any rate, this allowed Nadia time to
ponder in her lab. Better the Shotar get past his aggressions or
they would fight. Though sometimes Nadia and Sharr enjoyed a good
quarrel, the apology sex was always excellent.

But the Queen was consumed by what she'd
seen in Kheira's mind. The answer to the riddle of Shiertar rested
before her, yet she could not figure out the true fiber of what he
had been. Passion drove her to find the answer, pushing aside
everything else in her life with the exception of Sitara's wedding.
And now they had his armor locked safely in a vault inside the
Valküri Temple. Some strange techno-organic metal, its properties
were beyond their current level of tech. She imagined the wonderful
things that Falcanians could construct. Ships, armor, weapons. The
possibilities were limitless.

If only we could reproduce it!
Nadia
thought.

She glanced over the message from her
mother. Nadia's glossy lips opened in a sharp gasp. She dropped her
work and went to find her Valküri Sisters. A new prize had been
handed to them. Pressing a hidden button on an egg shape, enameled
bracelet, ornamented with the stylized DNA hourglass of GenKon
Inc., she summoned her Valküri. The Queen strode from her lab and
easily became an avatar of the warrior-goddess.

To climb the wall had been easy. Avoidance
of the Valküri proved to be a little trickier. With the probability
that they were all empathic, the slightest stray thought might give
her invasion of this sacred enclosure away. Thanks to Sitara she
had recovered quickly and surprisingly so.

The Rishaak was indeed a super drug. The
golden apple, the Fruit Of Immortality which Gilgamesh himself had
sought.

She crept under the nearest low hanging
branches of a Rishaak tree. The tear-shaped fruits shined with an
internal luminous, casting a pale yellow glow onto her black
outfit.

Pulling the stolen table knife from her
boot, Frederika cut down the nearest fruit and wrapped it in a
piece of cloth. She knew she must leave the garden the way she came
and make for the public hanger or risk being caught.

“Bloody hell! What do you mean she is not in
her room?” the Queen demanded and she glared down at the young
Valküri neophyte.

“Draklin, she was not there…”

“Check the palace. Get Drakorian and Valküri
into the city.”

“Gesa, Maharani!”

“And,” the Queen bit out the words, making
herself explicit in this next command. “Do not harm her! I want her
alive. There are questions I need answered.” Nadia fumed. “See that
the person who approved this girl’s presence on our Island is
arrested.”

The neophyte Valküri Sister nodded and left,
fearful of the Queen's wrath.

Shuttles, personal aircraft and a dozen
small FS-9 Raptor Cruisers filled the hanger. All she needed to do
would be to get to the Occident. Oberon could handle her extraction
from there. She needed to be out of Asia though. Sharr's influence
ran deep within the hemisphere.

A group of Drakorian marched into the
hanger. It was obvious they were searching for her. The hanger
officer canceled an outgoing flight and shut the landing bays
doors. Valküri followed the Drakorian in, and they looked even more
determined than the ox-blood armored Imperial Guard to find
her.

“Well, there goes that plan,” Frederika
muttered to herself.

As inconspicuous as possible the blonde
started for the city. Maybe she could hide in the forest?

A Valküri noticed her. The Falcanian
launched herself across the hanger to land with a thud and a battle
cry before Frederika. Drawing a bladeless hilt from an arm holster
the dark-haired Valküri pressed the vajra's firing node.

A warning slash made Frederika stay her
actions unsure of the lethality of the weapon. The blonde noticed
the blade cast a shadow.
Definitely not made of light
, so it
was not a laser. Behind her came a loud swoop and the Falcanians
encircled her.

Surrender was out of the question. Could she
survive a head on attack?

Focusing herself Frederika bolted for the
door and struck a hard Krav Maga chop into the nearest Valküri. The
blow sent the warrior backward, her monofilament blade flew out of
her hand and turned in a deadly arc. On instinct seeing it in front
of her Frederika seized the vajra, surprised to find that the blade
had a sense of balance and weight. Turning the weapon off, she
stuck it into her belt and ran.

A sound of wings cut the air, both the
Drakorian and Valküri pursuing her. Her heart thundered in her
ears. She ducked into the rush of people and pushed against the
traffic of the Golden Road, glad for the bad weather.

Fog hung over the island. Frederika hoped
even the Falcanian eye could not pick out one target in its
thickness. She made in the direction of the insular Forest Island.
There she could wait.

She reached the murk enshrouded festival
plaza near the Tahru Temple. Frederika paused and looked out at the
insular forest across in the cove, no means to get there. What a
desperate predicament she had gotten into. She wished she had a
pair of wings.

There was no reasonable way off this
island.

“You do not know who you are.”

Nadia!

Frederika turned and beheld a form shrouded
in the impenetrable haze. She did not know if it were real or some
projection the Queen caused her to see. Frederika's answer came in
the manner of a whir. A ring of vajra fired around her. Each weapon
combined into metallic fields, becoming lethal blades crackling in
the moisture of the fog.