Shadow of the Blue Ring (4 page)

“We’re in emerald suite.”

“Ah great! I’m in crystal suite, right next door. You can be sure I’ll be around to visit whenever I can. You can tell me all about the famous adventures of captain James Tavarez and the brave crew of the… erm, what’s your new ship called?”

“The Centaur.”

“. . . The brave crew of the Centaur… hmm, doesn’t sound quite as majestic as I though it would,” Kosare chuckled, “but anyway, you go and get settled in, I’ll be over later to hear all about your new adventures. I’ll bring that bottle of wine too, provided these half-wits don’t get lost on the way back to my room. Catch you both later!”

With that she disappeared back into her room, followed by the rather irritated looking staff that she was continuing to harass. Azare continued to lead them past the scene and into the emerald suite.

“If I may say, sir…” he began, his tone a mixture of concern and irritation, “. . . if you could keep your friend next door out of trouble this week, it would be very much appreciated.”

“Keep Jaiden Kosare out of trouble?” James laughed, “yeah, that really isn’t going to happen, trouble is her middle name. We’ll keep her occupied though, stop her from tearing down any walls. I’m pretty sure it’s all just an act, she’ll calm down in a day or two.”

“Very well sir,” said Azare, “so as I was about to say before that little interruption, your cases have been placed in your bed chambers for you and your attire for the evening has been prepared for whenever you should need it. I will let you take a few minutes to settle in then I will take you on a tour around the facilities we have on offer here.”

He left, closing the door behind him, leaving James and Isha to their own business. The suite they had been booked into was impressive. It had a large spacious living and kitchen area, a massive double bedroom and a bathroom complete with a hot tub. It was the life of luxury that they had longed for.

“I could get used to living in a place like this,” said Isha, “luxury facilities, ocean view, bars and swimming pools right on our doorstep… this is the life huh?”

“Lets try not to get too used to it,” said James, “we’ll be back to our old life by next week. I doubt we’ll see another place like this for years, not unless we build one into the Centaur.”

“Good luck getting Jamerson to sign off on that one,” Isha chuckled, “I doubt a luxury suite being built into a warship would be something the admirals would support. We’ll just enjoy this one while we can.”

Having taken a few moments to have a look around their suite and get familiar with their surroundings, the two of them rejoined their tour guide as he lead them down to the hotel facilities. On the site were three very large swimming pools, a sport centre, a therapy and massage centre, several small bars and one very large night club. Even the top ranking and most serious military officials who were booked into this complex would have a hard time turning down the many pastimes that this hotel had on offer for them. It was only right that they had the chance to let their hair down and blow off some steam once in a while.

As the day drifted into the early afternoon, many more of the scheduled guests began to arrive and James and Isha both kept an eye out for any familiar faces among them. While James was eager to catch some of the sun’s rays, sunbathing in Lahara at midday was inadvisable for non-Churians so he and Isha had decided to make their way to the pool-side bar for a cool drink or two in the shade. James had decided it would be worth sampling one or two of the exotic looking drinks, although he had decided to give the Tolian Aquari drinks a miss this time, they had given him a terrible hangover last time he had indulged in them.

“SURPRISE!”

Just as they were about to take their seats, Isha was pounced on by a slight, dark-haired figure, almost knocking her off balance and her drink out of her hand.

“Kaydenne? You didn’t tell me you were coming?”

“Sorry for not mentioning it,” said a beaming Kaydenne Melina, “I wanted it to be a surprise. Besides, I haven’t seen you in ages, you’re always too busy nowadays.”

“Oh yeah, sorry about that,” Isha said awkwardly, “things have just been a little hectic recently, not much time for contacting family I’m afraid.”

Melina had wasted no time in kitting herself out in her beachwear, wearing just a skirt and a bikini top along with an interesting pair of sunglasses. She was most certainly out to enjoy the Laharan weather, as were many of the other guests who were gradually making their way down and filling up the pool-side bars. If anyone deserved a holiday right now, it was Melina, especially after her recent achievements back home.

“So, Kaydenne…” James began, “. . . how does it feel to be champion of the Systems Gala?”

“How does it feel to be saviour of the Freedom alliance?” Melina countered back, “no it feels amazing, best moment of my life, I don’t think anything will ever compare to it. There is nothing quite like being neck and neck with the two race favourites right up until the final straight and then snatching the victory from them right at the last few seconds… it was so much more satisfying that way. First Andurian win for almost thirty years too, we were overdue a win I think. Kind of made me a bit of a hero back home too.”

“Well we’re all proud of you for getting it,” said Isha, “it was an amazing race, I saw the highlights. Kind of wish the admirals had allowed me the time off to come and watch you.”

“You can come and watch me next year,” said Melina, joining the two of them at their table, “I’ve still got plenty of races left in me and I’ll be going for a couple of years yet.”

Even though Melina was effectively part of James’s family now, being Isha’s cousin, the two of them had barely seen each other in the past years. With her intensive flight training for the Gala and with James and Isha constantly tied up with the fleet, it was almost impossible to make time for each other and as such, they were restricted to the occasional visit each year. She was actually the only member of Isha’s extended family that James had met. Isha had met his mother though and the two of them had a fairly good relationship, even if family time was rare for them.

“Oh by the way…” said Melina, “. . . I just bumped into our old friend Karlo Danero up on the top floor.”

“Danero? How is he?”

“He looks well, very well considering what he had to go through during the war. I think I actually saw him smile… although it could have just been my imagination. There was some other guy up there with him, definitely Voronian, and he looked really familiar too, I swear I’ve seen him somewhere before.”

“Interesting,” said James, “we’ll have to catch up with him later when we get a chance. We saw Kaldun here earlier, he was here with his wife. We ran into Jaiden too, have you seen her yet?”

“Seen her? No… Heard the staff complaining about her? Yeah,” Melina laughed, “I hear she was making quite the scene up there. It’s on the other side of the floor from me though, I’m in sapphire suite.

“I don’t suppose you’ve run into Loca Morelli since you’ve been here?” Isha asked, “or what about Kasha? Those two have to be here, they played as big a part as anyone in our campaign.”

“Loca is definitely coming at some point,” said Melina, “she’s in Ruby suite, next door to me, I saw her reservation. Not sure about Kasha though, I haven’t seen his name mentioned.”

“What else do you know?” James asked, seeing Melina’s face turn a little more serious.

“
HE
is here,” she said irritably.

“Who is here?”

“Tasos,” said Melina, “that arrogant little Tolian bastard. He’s got the room right down the hall from me.”

James didn’t know the exact details of what had gone on between the two of them but he did know that they were no longer together and that whatever relationship that they had once had ended pretty soon after leaving Naisus.

“He ditched me because his father told him to!” Melina raged on, “apparently the great leader of the Tolian republic didn’t want his son to water down the Artennes bloodline with Andurian blood so he was told to get rid of me and find someone
worthy
. So instead of standing up to his father and fighting for me, he dumps me, sends me on the first shuttle back to Anduria.”

“Tasos doesn’t seem like the type to just to throw someone away like that,” said James, “I thought he would have at least tried to talk his father into letting you stay.”

“No, you don’t know Tasos like I do,” said Melina, “the revolution changed him, made him arrogant, made him think he’s invincible. He’s going on about how he survived the most dangerous mission of all time without a scratch when the only reason he’s here now is that the Vulians wouldn’t have dared shoot an Artennes, not with the power his father still maintained. They let him survive because of his family name, he wouldn’t have lasted ten seconds in that battle otherwise. I really can’t believe he’s going to be leader of both the Tolian republic and the Freedom alliance council one day. I can’t see how he’ll keep everything together when his father still does everything for him even at his age. He even tried to book himself into the penthouse suite simply because he thinks he deserves the best room in the city. Thankfully Ravenn overruled though, reserved it for his daughters, downgraded Tasos to the diamond suite… Ha, can you can even call that a downgrade?”

“Kaydenne, don’t worry about him,” Isha had to wait for a break in Melina’s rants before she could get a word in, “just ignore him, I’m sure he wont be staying long, his father will take him straight back in a day or two. Just try to enjoy your time here.”

James would have thought the Artennes family would have been more open-minded, especially as they were the ruling body on Tolis and on the alliance council, not to mention the most famous family in the history of the alliance. He imagined the Andurians would not have been too impressed at the leader of the alliance branding an Andurian ‘unworthy’ to date his son. With all the difficulties in rebuilding the alliance, the last thing it needed now was a division between the races and a war of words between leaders.

“He’ll grow up eventually,” said James, “he’s young, he’s lived his entire life in a shell, unable to do what he wants and go where he wants because of his family name. Give him a couple of years and he’ll grow out of it.”

“I still dread the day he succeeds his father on the alliance council,” said Melina, “with his current attitude, he’ll destroy the alliance that his father worked so hard to rebuild. As much as I don’t like that guy for what he said about me, I have to respect the job he’s done in putting the galaxy back together. It would be chaos without him. As for Tasos though, he can forget about ever trying to win me back, I deserve better, I…”

“Change the subject please,” Isha interrupted her, “as much as we love hearing about your problems with your ex, we’re on holiday. Can we talk about something a little less depressing please?”

“Fine,” Melina huffed, the whole situation still clearly hitting a nerve or two for her, “so then, Isha, how are you finding life working for the Human fleet?”

“I said less depressing Kaydenne, not more depressing.”

“Oh wow, that bad is it?”

“It has it’s moments,” said Isha, “but yeah, it is pretty depressing being stuck on the ship the whole time.”

“Well you wouldn’t have had any more luck back home,” said Melina, “our fleet has done almost nothing except patrol the Varduran borders and transport resources to the other alliance worlds for the last few years. Our government is refusing to sanction any sort of exploration mission until the galaxy settles down a bit so everyone gets stuck doing the boring stuff.”

“I’d be surprised if it’s different anywhere,” said James, “it’s not like anyone has the resources to spare for exploration right now. I’d be surprised if anyone did anyway, the last group went missing.”

“Missing?” Said Melina, “what do you mean missing?”

“Just something I heard from the admirals,” James explained, “a couple of Churian exploration ships went missing on some kind of survey mission last week.”

“Was it Vulians?”

“I doubt it, they went missing out in the Blue Ring sector, that’s entirely the opposite side of known space,” said James, “if it was Vulians, they were a long way out of their own space, we would have detected them passing through the Valoran sector.”

“But still, what would the Churians be doing in the Blue Ring?” Said Melina, “that’s a long way out from Churian space. And what if it wasn’t Vulians then? Who, or what, was it?”

“Hell if I know,” James replied, “they’ve sent ships out to find them though, we’ll know in a few days.”

If he was honest, he really didn’t want to think about it. James knew more than anyone about the history of the galaxy and of the dangers that could lie beyond the borders of known space. During his time on Raylia, the Iyacs machine, an ancient, Jaiytid artificial intelligence had revealed many disturbing facts about the galaxy and what could be lurking beyond the borders of known space. The most disturbing of all was the fact that the ancient Xerions, the race that almost wiped out every inhabited world in known space, could still be out there, lead by an insane and immortal warlord. Hearing about mysterious disappearances and knowing this fact was not a comforting combination but he didn’t want to let it detract from his enjoyment of his holiday which was now well and truly underway.

Isha and Melina managed to keep the tone of conversation a little lighter over the next few hours, away from work, away from disappearing ships and away from troublesome ex-boyfriends. All James cared about in this moment was taking some time to relax in the sun next to the hotel pool, he was happy to let the two of them catch up. He hadn’t been able to relax like this since before he became a captain in the fleet, in fact, other than his honeymoon, he had been a teenager the last time he had been able to relax on a beach and the British coast had nothing on the coastal resorts of Lahara.

The rest of the day passed by in what seemed like mere seconds. Before any of them knew it, the sun was starting to go down on the horizon and it would soon be time for all the guests to assemble for the main event, the general’s retirement party. Normally, such an event would be limited to only a few leading figures from the Churian military but with Ravenn’s well known eccentricity and his decision to hold the party on the anniversary of the end of the occupation, the event was likely to be something out of the ordinary.