1.26
On a planet at the edge of the Pirou system, Sabitha Lendrick let out an anxiety riddled howl of frustration. She looked at the screen again, hoping against hope that her eyes had deceived her in their exhaustion. Yet, it wasn’t to be. Even in her fear and a wish that she hadn’t read what she had, the words still scrolled across the screen, tiny white symbols on a black background that taunted her every time she gazed on them.
“Cam Ket,” She said in a hushed whisper, reading it aloud from her datapad. It was one name of many, all which made up the Free-Space documentation for the newest batch of registered pilots. It was also name whose significance she knew very well. Ever since her husband had returned from Ketris, it was a name that had never seemed to leave his lips. Even in the dead quiet and solitude of their most intimate moments, she knew that name was never far from his mind.
“Oh Lazarus, you absolute fool,” She hissed, pacing the room, deep in thought. She knew who that name belonged too. Even if Lazarus hadn’t told her, she was the Chief Information Officer for Amreith’s military affairs, she would have learned about the fate of the Pellyn boy, eventually.
She also knew, that the Prince was unhappy with the outcome. A ‘Mismanagement in every sense of the word’ he’d called it. Lazarus was lucky he wasn’t in one the penal legions, piloting a squire with a bomb strapped to its chassis, or worse. And now the Pellyn brat had been threaded. Even if Prince Caustos was a higher class of pilot at beta, this was bad. She gulped, her eyes drifting back towards the screen, up towards a red button marked with the word ‘Delete’ in the far right corner. Could she really do this? Would she really do this?
She would. This was her husband after all. The love of her life, the father of their children. She wouldn’t offer him up like a lamb to slaughter, Amreith be damned. Slowly her hand reached up, hovering over the button.
“I wouldn’t do that if were you, Sabitha.” A deep, refined voice, dripping with venom and cold as the winter night cause her to jump in her place. She whirled around, where she was to face, or rather, face to sternum with a massive blackish-gray mass of muscle and scar tissue.
“G-General Aylim!” She exclaimed, dropped her datapad on the desk and clasping her hands behind her back, bowing slightly at the waist in a show of respect. “W-What are you doing here?!”
“You don’t get to ask those questions Sabitha. I go where I please.” He said, walking past her and gazing around the empty office space that belonged to her and her team.
Her heart dropped into her stomach at his harsh words, she swallowed hard, putting on her friendliest smile and nodded, bowing lower, “Y-You’re absolutely right General, I forgot my place. It is an honor to have you grace our section.”
“Indeed,” He said, tone imperceptible as he ran a finger along the spines of several binders situated on a bookshelf in the back corner. They all had dates and names signifying different operations Sabitha and her team had undertake in the past. Whether it was the hedonistic gluttons of the Ma’Kirian empire, or the glorified harbormasters that was the Ketris nobility, Amreith requested information and analysis on all interplanetary assets friend or foe. Aylim, however, demanded it.
“Do you enjoy your job, Sabitha?” He asked, not looking back at her, choosing instead to continue touring the room.
This question gave her pause. She rose slowly from her deep bow and turned back to look at him. “S-Sir?” She asked.
“It’s a simple question,” He said in response, his eyes slow rising up to meet hers, “Do you enjoy working for the planet of Amreith, more specifically, do you enjoy working for his majesty, Prince Caustos?”
“Y-Yes, of course!” She said, forcing excitement through her tone to help better convey her conviction to the crown, regardless of how disingenuous it truly was, “I… Love my world. I would give anything to protect it.”
“Would you die for it?” Aylim asked, his eyes boring holes into hers. The cold neutral expression even more menacing than a violent sneer could ever hope to be.
Her eyes went wide, her pale skin, growing even paler as she ran a trembling hand through her graying chestnut colored hair. “I… I don’t like to think about something like that.”
She clearing her throat, her heart hammering in her chest as she mustered up all the courage she could to hold his gaze and respond with the answer she knew he wanted to hear. “But if it came down to it… Absolutely I would, General.”
Aylim simply stared at her, and Sabitha wasn’t sure if he was taking her measure, or guaging her honesty. She eventually got her answer when, without breaking contact, he reached behind his back and pulled out a datapad, similar to hers.
“That’s good to hear Sabitha,” He said, looking down as he unlocked the pad, swiping through a series of pictures with his finger as he spoke. “Though, there is a distinction I need you to be aware of.”
“W-What’s that?” She said, her voice trembling, and her stomach knotting. She felt a cold sweat break out on her neck as the tension grew heavier with ever second that passed in dead silence. Finally, his eyes looked up, catching hers and she could see that the once cold gaze radiated fury, though his voice maintained it’s calm.
“There is a difference, between a martyr and a liability,” He said, turning the slate around to show the same screen she had been staring at for the last few hours. And there, right in the middle, circled with red e-ink, was the name she had longed to never see.
“Don’t be a liability Sabitha,”
The maze of hallways ran the length of Amreith’s royal palace were dim and cold, much like the rest of the kingdoms architecture. On a planet so close to its systems sun, very few places on Amreith were habitable, and even those were inhospitable deserts filled with rolling sandstorms, temperatures in the triple digits in winter, and large fire-spitting centipedes the size of a Squire. Most of their populace resided in a massive, continent spanning cave system, where at its heart, lay the Obsidian Palace. It was a massive, pyramid shaped structure, floating above the waves of an underground Ocean, it’s sleek black stone seeming to morph and shift with the very waves that rolled off it.
It was an imposing structure, one of a power and strength. At least that’s what the nobility believe. To the rest of the planets citizens, it was a constant reminder in their hearts that like the stone from which it was carved, their Prince’s heart shared the same hue. To them, it was a place of fear. And as Sabitha walked its halls, she felt that fear for the first time. Her feet clacked rapidly on the stone floor, accented by the thunderous foot falls of Aylim’s boots as he followed behind her, guiding her to their destination with a low-toned growl of either left or right.
“Left,” He said, his voice booming and deep, easily rising over the echoing sounds of their footsteps.
That was when the crying wails of a man reached her ears. Sobbing soliloquies of apology and pain the reached inside her and squeeze her heart until she felt it may burst. She knew that voice, even through the gasping sobs leaving his lips. Lazarus.
She faltered in her step, losing balance in her shock and nearly crashing to the floor as one of her stiletto heels lost it’s placing. Instinctively, Sabitha reached out and grasped the wall, trying to take what little time she could in that moment to compose herself.
“Keep walking Sabitha,” Aylim ordered softly, “We’re nearly there.”
“Y-Yes… General,” She said, daring to look over her shoulder and steal a glance at the man. In his eyes, she that same fire of fury that had burned when he first showed up at her office and ‘requested’ she accompany him here. Red flames of anger danced behind his eyes of gold and she quickly looked away, not wanting to be the focus of his rage. With another breath, she kept walking, trying her best to hide her horror as the wails grew louder, accented by the unmistakable sounds of a fist connecting with a face.
“Stop here,” Aylim said, as the pair reached the end of a long hallway, arriving at a door that would have nearly blended in seamlessly with the black wall, if it weren’t for the gold trim and doorknob. That, and the overwhelming cries of agony coming from the other side.
Sabitha tried to hold her emotions in check. Tried to keep the tears from falling and her body from trembling. But hearing her husband crying out for mercy was enough to cause even an experience officer like her to break.
“Open it,” Aylim commanded.
She complied, her heart breaking with every inch that opened.
There was Lazarus. The same chubby little man who won her heart so many years ago. Back when she was young and beautiful, and he was happier and full of hope. Hope for a brighter future for a lowborn man such as himself. A hope that lit a fire of passion and love in her own heart that caused her to marry him and raise his station. That’s how she wanted to remember her love. Happy and hopeful, not the pitiful creature that stood before her now.
He was chained to a post, his clothes tattered and stained with blood and sweat. His hair hung down in front of two swollen, blackened eyes, as his body slumped against it’s bindings. He didn’t look up as she entered. How could he? He was to busy reeling from the powerful blows Prince Caustos had pistoned into his face.
“You said everything would be fine,” The prince said, his tone calm and quiet yet still dripping with a deadly venom as he drove a fist in her husband’s jaw, spittle and bloody teeth flying as he recoiled in pain.
“You said… not to worry about it,” Another blow landed, this time rocketing up into Lazarus’s stomach, the impact sounding like a gunshot as he was lifted off his feet, gasping for breath as Caustos reached up and gripped his hair, yanking his face up so Lazarus’s eyes would meet his.
“This. Is. Worrying!” Caustos growled, his gold plated canines glinting in the light as he leered at the former diplomat.
“Your… Majesty, I” Lazarus tried to speak, but the Prince quickly cut him off, capturing his throat in a vice like grip and pushing the man back against the wall, augmented strength due to his threads causing the stone to crack from the force of the impact.
“Silence worm!” Seprith bellowed, “Did you even stop and think about the ramifications of letting a royal scion leave for Free-Space?! And with a pilot no less?! Of course he was going to get threaded! And now, if word reaches him about our plans, he can simply sell off favors of the Pellyn name in exchange for Beta, Gamma, or stars forbid even Sigma class pilots to come here and rip our empire apart! Even if me and Aylim are Gamma class, it wouldn’t take many to devastate our national military. And it’s all your fault!”
He was practically foaming at the mouth now, his teeth bared in a savage display of anger as Sabitha watched her ruler choke the life out of her husband, powerless to do anything.
“Your Majesty,” Aylim said, clearing his throat to get his nephews attention.
Caustos looked up, his eyes meeting his uncle’s before they slowly dropped and met Sabitha’s frightened gaze.
“Ah…” He said, clearing his own throat and backing away from Lazarus, removing his grip from the man’s throat, causing him to gasp audibly.
“Thank you for coming Sabitha,” He said, his booming voice once more under a calm and collected control.
“M-My Prince,” Sabitha said, dropping to her knees and prostrating herself before her prince, “Please Prince Caustos, spare my husband. I… Whatever you wish of me to do, I will do it. But please don’t kill him. I beg of you.”
Sabitha couldn’t see, as her forehead was currently touching the floor, but there was mistaking the sound of a soft chuckle rising from the lips of her ruler as she begged for her husbands life.
“Rise, Sabitha,” The prince said, with Sabitha instantly obeying. He looked at her for a long while, cocking his head to the side, seemingly deep in thought. After what felt like an eternity, he opened his mouth to speak, malice still dripping off every word.
“I have three tasks, that I request of, Sabitha Lendrick,”
She gulped, her stomach twisting in knots as she slowly nodded, “A-Anything, My Prince.”
“First,” He began, holding up a single finger to denote the number, “I want you to recall all of Amretih’s scouting units. I want their Squires outfitted for battle and formed into quick reaction forces. I want them loaded onto our ships and I want every available pilot at the ready.”
She nodded slowly, her anxiety stalling somewhat from the rather mundane tasking.
“Yes, My Prince.”
“Second,” He continued, raising another finger to join the first, “I want you to get me the Captains Code of one Killian Gray. You will find him in the Gamma class pilot listings. While you’re at it, I want you to move 500,000 silver bars from the royal treasury into a Free-Space escrow account.
“A-And the third request?” She asked, gulping as she realized she had spoken out of turn.
That didn’t seem to bother the prince though, he simply smiled, and walked up to her, reaching behind his back as he did so.
“Third,” He said, pulling a loaded rail pistol from behind his back, placing it into Sabitha’s trembling hand, before stepping aside, and pointing at her husband.
“I want you to finish the job,”
Sabitha’s eyes went wide with horror as she looked at the Prince, then back to her husband. Her heart felt like it was going to leap from her throat, and she couldn’t stop herself from shaking her head vehemently, her voice cracking from desperation as she spoke.
“P-Prince Caustos, please. No. I can’t! He’s my everything… Please… Please don’t make me do this!” She cried, tears stinging her face as she looked at the impassive, slightly irritated white’s of Seprith’s golden eyes, watching them roll with annoyance.
“Oh by the stars woman!” He said, “Grow a backbone! You’ll die for this country but you won’t kill for it?”
“Please,” She said again, her voice soft like a midnight whisper, “I… I can’t lose him.”
A heavy sigh left the Prince’s lips as he brought a hand up, pinching the bridge of his nose.
“I’m going to make this a very simple choice for you, Sabitha,” He said slowly, like he was talking to a child, “Your husband, or your children.”
Her eyes went wide, as her heart fell through her stomach, dropping the rail pistol with trembling hands, as she dropped to her knees once again, reaching out to grip the hem of the Prince’s regal robes.
“Please My Prince!” She sobbed, “Please!”
“Make a choice,” He growled, “Or I’ll take them all.”
Her heart shattered at this, a hard lump forming in her throat as she wailed in emotional agony. She sobbed loudly for a long time, curling up into a ball, wishing and hoping against hope that she’d simply wake up from this nightmare, find her love laying next to her, as her children ran in their room, tiny feet padding on the floor to come rouse them like they’d always done. He couldn’t make he choose this. If there was any justice in the universe, then he couldn’t do this.
“My love…” A soft, trembling voice called out to her, causing her to look up with tear-filled eyes.
“Lazarus?” She said, her voice shaking. She tried to scramble over to him, to hold him tight, to have him kiss her in the way he would that would let her know everything was alright.
But everything wasn’t alright. Caustos, held up a massive leg blocking her path, as her husband spoke again.
“It’s alright my love. You know the right choice.”
She closed her eyes, wiping away the tears as she shook her head, desperation giving way to hysteria, “No… No.. I won’t do it. I can’t kill you.”
“You must,” He said weakly, “For the children. My purpose here is over, regardless. Please my love. Do this one last thing for me.”
She swallowed hard, meeting her love’s eyes as he gazed at her through strands of sweat-stained hair, and then he… smiled. That damned smile. The one that he saved for her, because he knew it worked on her when he wanted his way. And as more tears fell, the damn bursting fully now, he got his way, one last time.
“Okay,” She whispered, wiping her eyes, as she grabbed the rail pistol, and stood on trembling legs. Slowly, she brought it up, the barrel pointed directly between the eyes. She was a good shot. She had to be in her line of work. And at this range, there was no chance she could miss.
“I love you, Sabitha,” Lazarus said, that same smile etched on his face, as his details became blurry through a fresh set of tears.
“I love you too,”
Bang