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  Vik grunted, “Make the first three happen,” he turned to Dessia and Solyra, “What do you think about number four?”

  Dessia said, “I’d accept some kind of shield jewelry, or even clothes, but I don’t like the idea of being followed all the time by a device that could spy on me.”

  I frowned at the implication, but kept my mouth shut. It could be used that way, but I’d never use it for that purpose. Still, I wouldn’t be the only one with access.

  Vik grunted, “Fine, I want both of you to get with Jillintara and design something, or show her something to duplicate with integrated dimensional ports. You are to wear it at all times. I’ll do the same. Now, how do we deal with Jervistad without sparking a full scale civil war?”

  Security I could answer, I had no idea what to do on that question. Well, outside of volunteering to aerate his brain cavity, but I knew Vik wouldn’t let me do it.

  Jillintara said, “The problem isn’t what we know to be true, but what we can prove. We know Jervistad would have used your mother and sister for leverage, but we can’t prove it. I wouldn’t be surprised if he catches the person behind it on his planet, a poorly misguided person who believed the rumors. The six royal guards are dupes, and their beliefs and statements will muddy their boss’s intentions.”

  I sighed, “She’s right, I take back my last suggestion, you shouldn’t accuse him of anything we can’t prove. It’s even entirely possible he’s innocent in this.”

  Dessia said, “You should address the rumors and false accusations, as soon as possible before it gains more traction. If nothing else, it may pull his teeth, and at least we know where Jervistad stands. He wants to destroy your reputation, and finish off our family so he can take power, or at the very least transfer some of it to his own hands.”

  Cyntariel shook her head, “It seems obvious, by keeping power you protect the rights and opportunities of the citizens. It’s been too long since the days of large government, people have forgotten the lessons we learned. This is… dangerous, and it needs to be addressed quickly as Dessia said. It wouldn’t hurt to remind them that the empire is in danger.”

  Solyra said, “The Suateran and Stolavii? That could backfire, it’s our family’s fault those two independent worlds have become a threat.”

  Vik grunted, “I think in this case, the best thing is to simply tell the truth. What our brother did in his insanity, and what we did to fix it. I’ll also tell them what I did to prevent it from happening again. I’ll also remind them they are free, and of the dangers of large government. The only way I have power over them is if they break the law. Then I’ll tell them the rumors, accusations, and absurd accusations is simply fear speaking, fear of something that is already extremely unlikely to happen again.”

  Huh, that wouldn’t work on Earth, and would be incredibly naïve, but I had to believe he knew his own people better than I did.

  Cyntariel said, “Does anyone else think this was a desperate and foolish plan on their part?”

  I scowled, “Probably because of what Jervistad learned in the meeting two days ago about the capabilities of both our current and upcoming ships, both of which make the old type obsolete twice over. If he had any plans to use force, he probably discarded them at that point, and went to terrorist and leverage tactics to accomplish his aims, whatever they are.”

  Vik said, “Our sensor net isn’t picking up any unaccounted for building sites, are you suggesting he was building a fleet?”

  I shrugged, “Our sensor net doesn’t pick up our power station on the moon in our formerly illegal ship building system either. If Denik’s rule caused him to hatch plans for a coup, it’s possible he was building ships inside a large asteroid, or even inside a moon in their system. Whatever he was up to with your brother in power, it would have to be hidden from any empire ships. I could be wrong, but I’m sure both he and Tek were alarmed by the power of the new ships, alarmed in a way that indicated derailment their plans. I mean, it is a bit suspicious, being upset that their own empire is gaining in power and will be booming in opportunities and wealth generation shortly.”

  I added, “It would also explain why he moved so quickly in a desperate gamble, in a month or two the populace will begin to enjoy a booming economy, and any naysayers would be ignored at that point. Besides, it would be arrogant to think we were the only ones fighting against Denik’s tyranny, wouldn’t it? It’s just our plans came to fruition first, and ruined his, or theirs as the case may be. Did we figure out how they got on planet? Maybe they were dropped off in an unaccounted ship under cloak?”

  Jillintara shook her head, “The six royal guards came aboard a scout vessel. We don’t know how the Kaprorix military unit got here, or how they deployed without being seen. It seems unlikely they were on the scout, or the guards would have known they were there. A second unaccounted for cloaked vessel is a reasonable guess and probably correct.”

  Vik said, “Jill, contact the press and invite them to the palace press room. Let’s go with my plan, tell the truth, and we’ll decide what to do with Jervistad when we learn more about what his plans were, and what they are now. Lori, get those fabrication patterns finished, the sooner we can test the new ship and start full production the better. Especially if Jervistad does have a hidden fleet somewhere in his system. Our ships are more powerful, but we don’t have all that many left.”

  We broke up after that, and got to work…

  Chapter Twelve

  The next few weeks went quickly.

  The ship’s fabrication pattern was finalized, and had another week before it would be ready. It should work as advertised, but we would still go on a shakedown cruise before we committed all three building systems to the new ship design. Vik planned to do a tour of sorts, and visit the other planets in the empire. I thought it was crazy, and a danger he didn’t need to be in, but apparently it was expected. A tradition for the emperor to tour the empire once a decade or so. We’d be leaving in just a week for the tour in the new ship.

  Vik’s press conference, and interview went well. The rumors had gotten more vicious, and made little sense given the facts, but that was politics. Still, Isyth’s, Vehiri’s, and Raitov’s populations seemed dismissive of the smear campaign, which was a good thing. Unfortunately, it seemed to be quite effective on both Kaprorix and Xulia. I was worried those two worlds were headed for secession at best, and civil war at worst.

  If Jervistad had a fleet somewhere, it hadn’t shown itself yet. Regardless, our fleet had shields up at all times, just in case he was planning a sneak attack like the one we perpetrated against Denik’s fleet.

  Things were going very well on the three planets that were ignoring the rumors and vitriol, there was a feeling of optimism as more and more companies got into ship building for private hauling and mining, and even private transportation ships to shuttle people between worlds. Space was going to be crowded soon. A lot of that was the new reactor designs. In fact, outside of the weapons technologies which were restricted to the defense fleet, most of my other advances were freed for use in the public sector. Suddenly, space travel was cheap, and full of possibilities for income and job generation.

  It also made me filthy rich. I wouldn’t have to work a day for the next several thousand years, if I managed to live that long. Of course, that would be boring, I liked being Vik’s guard, not to mention companion and lover. Idleness sounded like hell to me. It was a bit intimidating in a way, because it was just the beginning, I’d be making an obscene amount of credits from my designs. Credits weren’t what made my life rich, that was down to Jillintara, Vik, and Telidur.

  We also made several efforts to contact the Suateran and Stolavii leadership, to diffuse the upcoming war if possible. Unfortunately, due to Denik’s horrific actions in suppressing the independent worlds, an oops sorry, my bad, wasn’t going to cut it. They were still building ships, and they’d sent out scouts. Vik had given orders to rebuff them, and thanks to our probe network we intercepted t
hem quickly, but they’d still gotten close enough to the systems to see our current ship numbers, and they saw sixty out of the ninety more ships being built, thirty each in three different systems. Regardless of their intentions, it didn’t look like they were ready to attack yet, so we were far more focused on Kaprorix and Xulia, and the internal issues in the empire.

  Gionus, another independent world, had reacted to our overtures, and we were helping them rebuild their system’s infrastructure, and had sent an ambassador who was accepted. At least one of the original three independent space going races wouldn’t be our enemy.

  Earth… we hadn’t heard much from them at all, and didn’t expect to until they came to buy new cores in about five years. I’d considered it, and would design a new reactor core for their fifty ships that will run on Xenon, and sell them a gas mining ship which could keep them in fuel. It would make Earth more independent and lower the cost of staying in space as they continued to reverse engineer everything. I wondered if that would bite the empire in the ass one day, but realistically Earth won’t be a danger for fifty to a hundred years, if ever. Hopefully, they’d be at the point they could play well with others when the time came.

  Granted, those fifty ships were already soon to be obsolete, but I held no illusions. I wasn’t a scientist in the sense of making breakthroughs, I was sure they’d see the same possibilities inherent in the current technology that I had, once they reverse engineered and understood the science and technology. Worse, I was sure there were scientists on Earth who were good at breakthroughs and may outpace my newest ship quite easily. Humans were very good at killing and war, and inventing. In a way, I felt like we were already in an arms race, ally or not. I’d always hope that Earth would be a positive force out in space, humanity could very well go that way once disease, poverty, and hunger were eliminated. But… hope for the best, prepare for the worst.

  The door chimed, it was late evening and I was alone. Every once in a while, I needed a me night. Ann let me know it was Solyra. I smiled and got up, I liked the princess heir a lot, and walked over to the door as I told Ann to let her in.

  Solyra smiled when she saw me, “Hi Lori, busy?”

  I shrugged, “Not really. Throwing around new designs.”

  She snorted, “New ship isn’t deadly enough?”

  I smirked, “Come in, take a seat. Something to drink?”

  Solyra shrugged, “I wouldn’t say no to a wine.”

  I got us both a drink, and sat next to her on the couch.

  “The new ship is fine, no new breakthroughs, or even ideas to use current technology differently which is all the new ship really is. But… I am designing a cruiser and dreadnought sized ship with the same advances as the scout destroyer. I’ll let Vik decide which to build, if either, as a command type ship for admirals. The small ship isn’t big enough for a crew, and an admiral with his staff for a command and control fleet ship. Still, the smaller ships are good enough and what we should focus on building until the empire is secured and settled down. Just… hedging our bets for the future, and giving Vik options.”

  She nodded, “Okay, I can buy the necessity of that. Anything else?”

  “Not really, I thought about a defense station. A very large ship that’s more of a stationary orbital defense station, which would be able to deploy several hundred multifunction spheres which can act as sensors or missiles, not to mention be able to fire a thousand or so plasma beams anywhere inside the system. But… it’s probably overkill, just ten of the small ships have the same capability, and it wouldn’t be able to support itself by delivering resources which is a huge negative in the empire.”

  She looked thoughtful for a moment, and said, “What if you made it a repair and upgrade depot. Not a full shipyard, but able to supply new cores, auxiliaries that were lost, and other services like fuel. I agree, it can’t make money like a normal ship would do, but if it did more than simple defense it could support itself. Especially if you service non-military craft as well, make it a space station.”

  I nodded in consideration, that could work. It would also be the equivalent of having ten ships in orbit for defense, freeing up the fleet to be smaller, or just elsewhere.

  “So, what are you up to?”

  Solyra shrugged, “Study, and doing everything I can to keep Vik safe. I don’t want to be in charge.”

  I laughed.

  Solyra asked, “Can I ask you something?”

  Ah, finally, the real reason she’d come to talk. Not that she didn’t stop by often to hang out, but I could tell she had something on her mind.

  “Anything.”

  She smiled at that, but then lost her smile as she asked, “What do you think of Cyn?”

  I frowned, and thought about it for a minute.

  “She’s good for Vik, and I like her. She has a strong sense of presence, and she’s confident and holds herself very well. She’s incredibly beautiful, and not just on the outside, she’s truly a friendly open person, unselfish. Actually, now that I think about it, she’s a lot like you, just a few years older.”

  Solyra blushed, “You really think so?”

  I nodded, “She’s graceful and sophisticated, without being pretentious, and as I said she’s friendly and doesn’t put on airs. It’s one of the things I admire most about you. I hadn’t really thought of it until now, when you asked and made me think of it.”

  She nodded, “Then, why do you avoid her overtures for friendship? You aren’t rude to her, but you keep your distance, obviously so.”

  I squirmed a bit, it was true enough. Was this why Solyra had come tonight, to find out what my problem was with Vik’s other friend. Friend in all senses of the word as related to Isyth society? I did admire her, just like I admired the princess. Though, I didn’t have the same sisterly feelings toward Cyntariel.

  I sighed, and confessed, “Despite all that, which is true, I’m horribly jealous. I’m not proud of it, and try to suppress the feelings, but I feel jealous over the attention she gets from Vik and what she means to him. It’s a human failing, and no one’s fault by my own, least of all Cyn’s.”

  I truly believed that, I wasn’t on Earth, and I was the one that needed to accept a different society. Unfortunately, that society was modeled to control and channel Isythian instincts, human instincts were quite different in some areas.

  Solyra bit her lip, “You should try to get past it, maybe spend some time with her, like we do. I’m also flattered you see the same in me.”

  My gut twisted at the idea, but maybe it would help? On the surface, that thought was absurd, but then it was also absurd that the idea of Telidur and Jillintara together should turn me on. Maybe if I knew her better, and made friends, it would be easier to share Vik with her?

  Or I could just shoot her.

  Nope, that first one was probably a better plan, if I could do it. Maybe it would help if we had a foil, at least the first time we got together.

  “How about the three of us. What are you doing tonight?”

  Solyra smirked, and said in a disingenuous tone of voice, “What a good idea, why don’t I see if she’s busy.”

  I narrowed my eyes in realization as her eyes unfocused, and she communicated through her A.I. Damnit, that was the little vixen’s plan all along…

  Chapter Thirteen

  “Am I crazy?”

  It hadn’t taken long for Solyra to get with Cyntariel and plan a girl’s night out of sorts. We were going to take a shuttle and spend about eight hours at a resort. Swimming, food, dancing, and pampering. Of course, with nanites there were no need for pedicures, manicures, waxing, or the like. Nanites took care of cuticles, removed hair where I didn’t want it to grow, kept my nails healthy, hard, and perfectly shaped. They also prevented split ends. No face masks either, they kept skin healthy as well. But massages, hair styling, and painted nails were all on the table.

  Solyra had taken off to pack a bag, swimsuit, dress, and had let me know I needed to do the same. Jill
intara was in my room helping me with that and Isyth fashion. I’d also just got done dumping my insane thoughts on her, about maybe being able to share with Cyntariel if I knew her better. I really didn’t know her that well, I was truthful in my comparison to Solyra, but I was sure there were many differences and subtleties between the two.

  Jillintara smirked, “No, not crazy. Just… intuitive and inexperienced when it comes to relationships. Your current course is doomed to fail, and it wouldn’t be long before you grew bitter and resentful. If you haven’t consciously realized it, a part of you has and is adjusting your approach, even if your logical reasoning is incomplete, you intuitively grasped what’s needed.”

  I frowned at the gorgeous woman.

  Jillintara shrugged, “You have three choices. You can continue to be Vik’s lover, guardian, and friend, all while you hide away from his other intimate female friendships. Like I said, that option, what you’ve been doing, is doomed to failure. One of the other two choices are what you’re doing tonight, befriend those woman, jump in with both feet so to speak. You may drown anyway, but at least in that case you’ve tried your best to make it work. You aren’t one to let fear dictate your decisions.”

  I thought about that for a minute, and it was true, sort of. Battles, physical danger, those were easy. Danger of the heart? They were kind of terrifying.

  “Third choice?”

  Jillintara snorted, and stared at me like I asked if the sky was blue. When the obvious occurred to me I blushed. In truth, I was very new to this kind of thing, and I appreciated her being a soundboard of sorts. More than that, I was fairly sure she’d absorbed all she could on human psychology from the internet.

  “Oh, right. I could just walk away now. I certainly have the credits to live comfortably, there’s nothing to hold me here besides my love and loyalty for you, Tel, and Vik.”

  She smiled, “See, you hadn’t even consciously considered taking the coward’s way out.”