Reaper Inc. (13 page)

"We will
handle it from here. Thank you for your help."

"Right,
whatever you say." Ben wiped his knife off and put it away. The governor
lay on the ground, a little bruised and hurting but alive. Ben knew he wanted
to just kill him and not even waste time with a beating. It probably would not
have gone over well. He said nothing to anyone as he walked past and headed
back to the Claymore. Good deed accomplished, bad guy still alive, no wildlife
killed, time for a shower and call it a day.

"E'Aria!,
I am all out of favors and good will. You diplomats figure out how to handle
shit from here on out and don’t ever ask me to risk my life and tell me I can’t
have a weapon to defend myself. The kid and I owe our lives to his dead friend,
two full bellies and a good supply of rocks. When the Cjittan decide to go on a
feeding frenzy from planet to planet, you and General go throw fucking rocks at
them, am I clear."

"Yes."

"Good."
No one heard the exchange. It appeared as if E'Aria was lost in thought for
a second, then she was back.

General Raza
asked. "Does he not want to stay for the evening meal?"

"No,
General. I believe he prefers to be alone right now." E'Aria spared a
glance in Ben's direction.

                                   
****

It was quiet on
the ship. He didn’t think anyone would come back to it tonight. Lorelei had
sent him a message trying to get him to come out, but he ignored it. He took a
couple of pain killers and closed his eyes. It wasn’t long till he drifted off;
the pain meds took the edge off his anger. He had his first night of real sleep
since losing Andrea and didn’t wake at all till he felt the ship vibrating
gently. He looked at the time; it had been twelve hours and he was starving.
Dressed, he went see what Adam had on the menu.

Quiet, that is
how the crew would describe the remainder of the trip. They arrived on Allond
three days after the stop at Lotham. Ben kept to himself and operated on a
daily routine that involved two workouts, a shower, and eating alone. E'Aria
had been downloading the latest news from the capital for the last two days.
Ben read through it, purposely skipping any news about the peace summit. He had
no intention of being involved and would tell them so.

Ben could never
really understand what, why or how he became important. He knew there were
soldiers who were equal or better than him. Maybe it was the fear factor. He
wasn’t afraid of the Cjittan or Allith. The Allith had proven over the years
that they weren’t much for talking. Killing and eating topped their list. When
he met the Cjittan, it seemed they would be the same but he hadn’t found any to
talk to until the trio of mantis turned up. Instead of shooting or punching,
they had a conversation that ended a massacre that was taking place. A little
fresh meat as a parting gift and they departed the colonial ships they had
boarded.

This was
different. His style of conversation was not going to work in a room full of
diplomats and politicians. He didn’t know what would work and had no idea what
the alternatives were, or even if there was a peaceful alternative. How many
systems unknown to him had the Cjittan devastated? Maybe this was all a smoke
screen so they could say they tried before starting a war to wipe out or reduce
in size the number of Cjittan mouths to feed. Whatever happened, they could
figure it all out without him and eventually he could fade away to anonymity.
He had more pressing matters he needed to deal with.

The quiet of
the last three days had given him time to think. His life of late until this
week had been the best he could remember since joining the marines five years
ago. He had a beautiful lover and a new business. Everyone got along and it
seemed like it was all coming together. Now he wanted to walk, find a long
road, put one foot in front of the other and not look back. Maybe he would stay
somewhere in Allond space when the others leave to return. A little research
would probably turn up a planet he could live on just fine.

He had at least
two weeks to contemplate his course of action then he would have a meeting with
the others. A ship wide announcement by Lorelei indicated they were on approach
to land and would be on the ground in seven minutes. He lay down on his bed and
waited.

The landing was
smooth and everyone was told to meet in the hold in ten minutes. There would be
a greeting and transportation to the palace.

"I have
a request for you from the palace. The emperor is requesting you wear your
armor but take no weapons. Please do this for all of us and the company."

"They
will need to come back or wait for me because it’s dirty. I haven’t touched it
since. . .for a week."
Ben was a little choked up.
"Just let
me know. I will start cleaning it."
He put on a thermal suit, socks,
his armor and boots and walked down to the showers. He took the long-handled
back brush along and some soap. Not exactly the way he would normally do it but
on short notice it would work. His boots were waterproof; he just had to be
careful no water went down around his neck.

Ben walked out
of the shower to find E'Aria and Lorelei waiting on him. He grabbed two towels
out of the linen locker and threw them.

"Don’t
stand there gawking. Dry me off." They both rolled their eyes as he held
out his arms and spread his legs."

E'Aria said,
"I got above the waist."

"I'm good
with that," Lorelei replied. "Hold still, big boy. This won’t hurt a
bit."

It wasn’t
polished like he would have done had he more time but they buffed each plate
with the towel, giving it a dull shine.

"What's
going on, E'Aria? I know you know." Ben asked.

"We are going
to meet the Emperor right now for a personal welcome. He knows about the rescue
on Hyson, not sure about the mining colony, but my guess is he knows about that
too. Most of all he knows about the Morningstar and the Cjittan. I believe he
wants to hear that story directly from you."

Ben didn’t
comment, he wasn’t in the mood to tell stories but. . .the emperor did give him
a fine starship, nothing like it in the Alliance. He decided he would tell any
story the emperor wanted to hear, but he wasn’t going to repeat everything a
million times. He walked off the ship to find an Allith servant waiting to
drive them. It was dressed in what Ben felt were very fine robes. He remembered
what he was told about the Allith who were loyal subjects of the emperor. In training,
all the marines had a class on identifying male and females of the known alien
species. Over time, what had really mattered was alive or dead. This one nodded
and opened the door to a small runabout shuttle. Everyone else had gone ahead
already. Natalia was with Emily, the crew and politicians were being cared for
by a team of palace workers. They had the shuttle to themselves.

Their shuttle
landed at a private entrance to the palace near the emperor’s personal
quarters. He had a smaller receiving room where he could entertain and talk
with his guests in a more intimate setting. The palace’s great hall was just
too large plus it was being set up to host the peace summit.

They were met
at the door by a member of the staff; an Allond female dressed in flowing
garments.

"I am
Nedra. I am the steward of our beloved emperor's household. If you need
anything at all, please seek me out. I will show you to your rooms where you
can refresh yourselves and will call on you when the emperor is ready to
receive you. If you will follow me please."

They walked
about fifty yards to a wing of the palace that had a equal number of doors down
both sides. The space between the doors was not equal indicating the size of
the room. It looked like an illusion as the doors grew closer together the
farther you walked. It dawned on Ben that was a status thing. The higher
ranking the guest, the larger the room. Ben was surprised when they stopped at
the first door. He stepped out so E'Aria could enter, being a princess.

Nedra looked at
Ben. "Your room, Benjamin Jamison." She opened the door for him and
walked in. "If you step inside, I will show you around."

"Are you
sure this is for me and you didn’t make a mistake?"

"Are you
implying that I am incompetent in my position, Benjamin Jamison?"

Ben said,
"No ma'am, are their others staying with me?"

"No, do
you require someone to stay with you? The Princess Aok perhaps?"

"NO!"
Ben and E'Aria said at the same time.

"Then this
is for you only, Benjamin Jamison."

"Can you
call me Ben and stop saying my name like that."

"As you
wish, Ben." He finally walked into the room, E'Aria and Lorelei following
him. Ben followed Nedra around as she explained the amenities and told him how
many kings and nobles, governors and dictators had slept in the room where he
now stood.

"Has just
a common citizen or soldier ever slept here?"

"No,"
Nedra said. "It has never happened." Ben couldn’t tell if she did or
didn’t approve of him being there. It wasn’t his fault. He knew it would be an
issue to refuse and would make the emperor look bad. This was politics at its
finest, putting a nobody in one of the finest suites in the house while other
more important visitors shared or made do with smaller quarters. Ben smiled,
thinking it was going to be interesting.

Nedra said,
"You are smiling Ben. You are satisfied with your apartment?"

"Yes, of
course. It’s beautiful. I was thinking that your job is about to get
interesting as others see the room assignments." Ben caught a slight smile
that vanished in a millisecond. "I am honored Nedra, but between me and
you, I think the emperor put a target on my back. I am not good at politics at
all."

"Yes, we
have heard you are more about action, less about discourse."

"Mostly
true, but there is much more to it than that. It is about knowing when to act
or when to talk. I am hoping I do not have to do either while I am here."

"Ben, you
are a part of this and I am sure you will be required to speak; you have a part
to play. There will be those who will offer council to you, some of which will
be false. I must go and show the Princess to her apartment. If you have a need,
do not hesitate to com." Ben heard his com beep indicating she had set
herself up on it.

E'Aria and
Lorelei were both smiling as they walked out. He knew they had been talking
softly as they walked around his grandiose apartment. There were doors leading
to a balcony with tables and chairs. He decided later after dark he would check
it out have a drink and relax. He had his armor on and he didn’t want to
scratch or accidently break anything so he sat on the edge of a chair, waiting
to be summoned. He imagined all of it to be similar to the kings of Europe who
had multiple estates they spared no expense on at the time they were built.

Elbows on his
knees, head in his hands, Ben dozed off to sleep. He never heard the door and
woke up to find a number of people standing in front of him. They were all
smiling, including Nedra. Ben heard then saw some of the crew out in the
hallway waiting. He stood up and walked towards the door, never saying anything
to Nedra, E'Aria, Alona, Lorelei and Natalia. Nedra caught up to Ben and began
explaining the evening’s events. He was to meet with the emperor while the
others went to a reception. The emperor and Ben would join them once they
concluded their discussions. There was an Allond male, obviously another member
of the staff, waiting with the crew. Nedra was going to accompany Ben while
everyone else was led to the reception.

Ben didn’t get
nervous very often but this was different. He didn’t like the fact that he
slept while five people walked in and stood over him or that he even dozed off.
Now he was about to meet the emperor of an empire and he had no idea how long
they had stood in power. Nedra led him to a plain looking door and stopped. She
whispered in her com and the door was opened and held by a member of the Allond
Military or palace guard, he didn’t know which. Immediately he recognized three
faces: Prime Minister Jinwasys, Captain Dakkon and General Raza. Two female officers
stood with them. He did know one; the General had killed her Captain, but he
didn’t know her name and the other, he did not know at all.

"Prime
Minister, Captain, General good to see you." Ben held out his hand and
they each shook knowing the custom, then Ben laid his arm across his chest fist
over his heart in the Allond form of greeting to which they responded in
exactly that same manner.

Prime Minister
Jinwasys said. "Benjamin, let me introduce you to Colonel Tawniz Dakkon
and the soon to be promoted Captain Jinwasys."

"Colonel,
Captain, congratulations." This time Ben reversed the order, fist over the
heart then they shook hands. The door behind them opened and Nedra motioned them
to enter. The emperor was sitting behind a large ornate desk reading a stack of
correspondence. He stood about even with Captain Dakkon but slightly thinner,
more like the Prime Minister. Ben just remembered he still had his helmet on.
The others hadn’t even seemed to notice. The emperor walked over in front of
Ben who was busy nervously unbuckling. He pulled it off, then realized he was
holding it in both hands and couldn’t salute or shake.

Ben looked
around for somewhere to put it and saw Nedra trying not to laugh. He tossed it
to her unexpectedly and she barely caught it. The emperor, as well as everyone
else, looked amused almost ready to laugh.

"She said
if I ever need anything, she would help," Ben deadpanned. Now he didn’t
know what to do. No one had said what protocol was. He noticed the emperor move
slightly and was holding out his hand. Ben grabbed it and shook it giving him a
smile. The emperor let go and gave the traditional Allond greeting which Ben
returned.

"Well
done, Benjamin." the emperor said. Everyone was still smiling, enjoying
his uneasiness. The emperor stretched his arm out and put his hand on Ben’s
shoulder. The look on his face became more serious.

"I am
sorry for the loss of your mate, Benjamin. You have all of our condolences. I
understand she was a well respected warrior and will be missed by all who knew
her."

Ben was touched
the emperor would know, let alone express such a sentiment.

"Thank
you, your highness." Ben looked around to see if he had used the right
phrase. The prime minister picked up on his look and nodded. Ben didn’t want to
say anymore; he was a little choked up. The emperor, as well as everyone, else
could tell.

"Benjamin,
we have two gifts for you, but first, how is my ship?"

"The
Claymore, your highness?"

"Yes. Has
she seen battle and proven her worth?"

"Yes,
Highness. She has been taken on two Alliance warships twice her size and gave
them pause. I did not push for a kill because of the situation but we could
have taken them out I believe."

"You
fought against your own people."

"Yes. They
were trying to stop us from making the voyage here. There was an Alliance ship
we were helping to escape from them at the same time and they were successful
in getting into Trillond space where the prime minister gave them asylum."

"It seems
there is a longer story here?"

"Yes and
maybe better told by Prime Minister Aok. I trust her to give you good solid
facts about the situation."

"What
about the Alliance Senator Sims? Would he not know?"

"It is
possible but I trust the prime minister. There is a rot in the Alliance
government, your highness. I am not sure how far it has spread so while I have
no personal issue with the Senator, I cannot stand behind him. The source of
his information may be corrupt and he may not even know."