Empire of Bones (24 page)

Alec Vestor bowed low. “You grace my humble shop, Your Highness.” He straightened with a smile. “And allow me to say that I am moved by how you rescued those poor people from a fate far worse than death. Such kindness to strangers does you great credit and I am honored to make your acquaintance. Welcome to Pentagar.”

Kelsey felt herself blushing. “Thank you Master Vestor, but we only did what anyone else would have done.”

“I think you overestimate the risks many people would take for a stranger. So, what has this miscreant been saying about me? Rest assured that her base slanders are the result of the rigorous discipline I had to impose on her during her training.”

Elise smacked him on the shoulder. “And there I was telling her how terrific you are. Now I’ll tell her the truth. You can barely carve your name.”

He laughed. “Some days I feel like that is the very truth indeed! My secret is out!”

“Kelsey, Master Vestor is the premiere woodcarver in the Kingdom. His works grace the halls of the very lucky few to whom he’ll agree to sell. Not these wonderful knick-knacks, but massive landscapes so amazing they take your breath away.”

“I can hardly imagine anything more impressive than what I see here. I never knew people could do such wonderful things with wood. I feel guilty for liking a roaring fire now.”

Master Vestor took her by the elbow. “There is no need for guilt. I love a good fire myself. It’s not the wood that’s special, although there are some fine cuts, but the love and passion that one puts into it. Many talented artists did these miniatures. Come and look at my latest work. I’m almost done with it and would love to hear what you think.”

He led them to the back of the shop and into a large studio. The scent of wood was so strong that Kelsey almost sneezed. People stood beside tables covered in wood shavings working on projects large and small. Most of the artisans didn’t even glance up as the strangers walked among them.

The thin woodcarver led them into a separate room at the very back. Kelsey made it only a step inside before the sight of what lay before her stopped her in her tracks. She heard someone gasp and then realized it had been her.

Two large stands held an oval of wood three feet tall and five wide. He’d carved the most amazing forest landscape she’d ever imagined into the pale wood. Mountains loomed in the distance, but the vast forest in the forefront captured her attention.

She walked closer and leaned in. She could see leaves on the trees and birds flitting through the limbs. Small animals of some kind peeked out from behind trunks. It was more intricate than any painting she’d ever seen.

“Amazing, isn’t it?” Elise asked. “He puts an incredible amount of time into these works and then virtually gives them away.”

“I wouldn’t go so far as that,” he said dryly. “I make a fine living. Yet I do sometimes give some away. Like this one. It’s a gift to cement a friendship.”

Kelsey smiled. “It must be quite some friendship.”

“I certainly hope so. You see, until today I had no idea what I would do with it. The arrival of your people and their bravery convinced me it should be a gift from the people of Pentagar to those of the Terran Empire. May our friendship be deep and abiding.”

Her jaw dropped. “I couldn’t accept such a princely gift. I truly appreciate the thought, but it’s too much.”

Elise shook her head. “My father had the perfect advice when Master Vestor gave me something very like this. ‘If the giver believes you worthy of it, you should accept the gift and be grateful someone values you so highly.’ That is my advice to you as well.”

Kelsey swallowed and bowed deeply to the master artist. “Then I accept your most gracious gift in the name of the people of the Terran Empire. I hope to return it home one day so that many can gaze upon it and marvel at your astonishing talent. Thank you.”

One of the Royal Guards stepped up to Elise and whispered something in her ear. She frowned and turned to face Kelsey. “I’m not quite sure how to broach the subject, but I just received word that your Lord Captain Mertz has used his space-time drive to venture into the Pale Ones’ system.”

Kelsey turned her head a little, certain she’d misheard the other woman. “He did what?”

“We should return to the palace so we may gather more information,” the Crown Princess said.

Kelsey bit her tongue. Cursing Jared in front of her hosts wouldn’t accomplish anything. She bowed again to Master Vestor. “I apologize for my hasty departure, but something has come up that I must attend to. Thank you again. Your work is magnificent.”

“Come back anytime, Princess Kelsey. I should have the carving done in the next week. I’ll have Elise contact you.”

The two women walked back out onto the street. The intense rage Kelsey felt ate at her. Jared knew she was supposed to be with them! He’d ignored her father’s orders.

Kelsey tamped her anger down. “May I borrow your ship again?”

“Going there isn’t safe,” Elise said. “What if there is an armed response to the incursion?”

“I need to be there waiting for them.”

The other woman looked unconvinced, but nodded. “Please be careful.”

“I’ll be back as soon as he returns. Which I’m sure will be soon. Until then, thank you for your gracious hospitality. Please convey my regrets to your father about missing dinner.”

Kelsey left the bemused woman at the landing pad and climbed into one of the limos. Her marines followed her. The driver looked back at her curiously.

“We need to return to the ship that brought us here. Quickly.”

“Right away. I’ll have you there in ten minutes.”

Kelsey settled back as the limo rose and filled Talbot in. He leaned over and spoke softly in her ear. “Not to tell you your business Princess, but it might be wiser to remain here. Isn’t taking care of diplomatic relations your function? You can’t do that and be with the ship all the time.”

“I’ll wager that Captain Mertz sent a probe over before he went himself. I doubt he would’ve gone across if he thought there was any real danger.”

“Then wait for him to come back so you can tear a strip off him.”

“My decision has been made, Senior Sergeant.”

He sighed. “Yes, Your Highness.”

Their hasty return trip to the spaceport was so abrupt that they arrived before their crew. It took another ten minutes before they rushed onto the plascrete and opened the ship. Someone must’ve briefed them on the way because they asked no questions. They brought the ship to life without any delays.

While the crew worked, she sat in the main compartment fuming. How could Jared do this? He’d likely claim he was protecting her. Then again, he’d lock her in a padded room if he thought he could get away with it. She had to put him back in his place. Hard.

“Princess Kelsey?”

She looked up at the pilot. She hadn’t heard him approach. “I’m sorry. Yes?”

“We’re ready to launch. Would you care to sit up front with me? My co-pilot isn’t close enough to make it back before we launch.”

“That would be very interesting. Thank you.” It would keep her mind off strangling Jared for a while.

The controls in the ship’s cockpit seemed significantly more complex than those on
Athena
’s bridge. It was a spaceship, too. Why were they so different?

Kelsey kept her hands in her lap as the man brought the ship to a hover and spoke into his headset. “Control, this is
Lance
. Requesting emergency departure.”

She couldn’t hear the response, but it must’ve been in the affirmative.

“Roger, Control.
Lance
out.” He put the ship into a steep climb. The blue sky faded quickly to black.

The pilot turned to face her. “We’ll be at the interdiction zone in a little less than two hours. If you have any questions about the ship I’d be happy to answer them.”

“I do have one. Why do the controls on your ship seem so much more complicated than those on
Athena
?”

The corner of his mouth tugged up. “Not knowing what the controls on your ship look like I couldn’t guess.”

She pulled out her communicator. “I took a vid because I wanted to save it for later.”

He examined the image. “We’re only beginning to start using touch screens like these. I’d imagine your controls are probably significantly more complex than they appear once you look at the submenus.”

The pilot launched into a detailed explanation of the controls in front of her and answered her uneducated questions simply enough and with good cheer. That took her mind off her troubles for over an hour and a half.

His console beeped. He checked a monitor beside his leg. “We’re less than thirty minutes out. We’re starting to encounter some of the debris from the battle.”

“Could there be survivors?”

“Possibly, but not very likely. Only a few chunks seem large enough to hold air. I’ll scan those. It looks like there is a ship ahead looking through the wreckage. It just began accelerating.”

He brought the visual onto the screen in front of them. A bright dot of light quickly expanded into a ship. The pilot cursed. “It’s the Pale Ones! We need to get out of here. Go warn your marines while I call for help and evade.”

She unbuckled and ran back to the central compartment. “A Pale Ones ship is coming!”

Talbot said something not suitable for Imperial ears. “We aren’t wearing our armor and only have handguns. Get the Princess back into the engineering compartment and barricade yourselves in. Find some oxygen masks in case they breach our hull. Hopefully we can hold them off until help arrives.”

Kelsey suppressed her terror and did as he ordered. She prayed that the pilot would evade the enemy ship.

The engineer grabbed a heavy wrench. “Shoot her before they take us. Me, too. Then yourselves. We don’t want to become like they are. Trust me. Death is much better.”

“I’m not killing the Princess,” the marine sneered.

“Then at least shoot me. Please.”

The marine started to respond, but Kelsey would never know what he was going to say. Without warning, their world went black.

Jared had Zia begin transmitting the agreed upon signal and transitioned back to Pentagar space. He expected to see the Royal ships still engaged in search and rescue. Instead, alarms began sounding before the disorientation faded.

Ramirez changed course with such lightning swiftness that it probably saved all their lives. A missile exploded beside them instead of directly impacting them. Jared’s console lit up with lurid red warnings of battle damage.

“A Pale Ones ship just fired on us and transitioned,” Zia said. “Royal forces were in pursuit. No other missiles detected.”

Ramirez turned from his console. “We took the hit in engineering. Flip and grav drives offline. Damage control reports casualties.”

“Incoming signal from Commodore Sanders, Captain,” Zia said. “On screen.”

“Where the hell did that damned ship come from?” Jared asked.

The older officer grimaced. “It must’ve been damaged. It couldn’t have repaired itself at a worse time. It ambushed Princess Kelsey and her people just before they got here. We tried to disable it, but we don’t really have weapons suitable to cripple.”

Jared’s blood ran cold. “Where is she?”

“I’m sorry. They were captured.”

“I’m going after them.
Athena
out.” He opened a channel to engineering. “Dennis, we need to transition now.”

Baxter shook his head. The scene behind him was organized chaos. “Drives are down. It will be hours before we can flip again.”

“Unacceptable. The Pale Ones have Princess Kelsey. I want this ship moving faster than that.”

“Captain, the drives are physically damaged. We’re working as fast as we possibly can. We won’t waste one precious second. Engineering out.” Baxter cut the connection.

Jared felt like banging his head on the console. What had possessed her to come to the interdiction zone? He took a deep breath. “Zia, send a probe after that damned ship. I want to know exactly where it goes because we’re going after it as soon as we can.”

“Aye, sir. Launching another drone to follow and send back everything it can.”

“Get me Commodore Sanders back as soon as you’re done with that.”

A minute later, Sanders reappeared on the screen. Jared tried not to shout at the man. The blame for this could go right to the one responsible for her. Jared Mertz.

“Commodore, our drives are damaged. My engineer tells me it will be hours before we can follow that ship.”

“I’m so sorry, Lord Captain. The damned thing jumped them just short of the interdiction zone. We tried to fire a near miss, but they made it through.”

“I should’ve kept her closer at hand. I’ll get her back or die trying.”

He proceeded to tell the Commodore what he’d found out in the other system. The old man looked grim by the time Jared was done. “We won’t be ready to repulse the next invasion and we can’t take the fight to them in time.”

“We might be able to do something to delay them. I’ll have to consider the options.”

“Can we help in any way?”

“Yes. We only carry thirty marines, but our pinnaces can hold seventy in armor. We have two. If you could scrounge up a hundred volunteers I could use more combat trained ground fighters.”

“I have that many on my ship. Major Edwards will gather them and their gear. Can my engineering teams help get you ready more quickly?”

Jared shook his head. “I’m afraid not. We’ll send the pinnaces to collect your people. Thank you for your help in this.”

“You put yourselves in harm’s way for my people. How could we do any less? Besides, it’s possible we can strike against this invasion fleet before it is ready to depart the shipyard. I’ll communicate with Pentagar and see if they can come up with any options.”

“Thank you.
Athena
out.”

He stood. “Zia, get the pinnaces over to
Mace
. Coordinate with the Commodore on any plan he devises. If we can strike against those ships, I want to do it while they are under construction. I’m going to see Doctor Stone.”