Slave Empire III - The Shrike (17 page)

Tarke went on
to explain the plan’s details, which his commanders had been
working on since he had returned with Rayne, while his scientists
had been analysing and producing the potent venom. At the end of an
hour-long talk, Tarke paused, folding his arms.

“Are there any
suggestions or concerns?”

The men shook
their heads, some glancing at each other. An officer asked, “Will
you be coming with us, sir?”

“No. I’d like
to, but I’m needed here.”

“Good.”

“Stuff you,
Kovar.”

The men
laughed, and Kovar beamed as a couple of other officers thumped him
on the back.

Tarke said,
“Okay, we’re all happy I’m not going, especially my wife.”

The men nodded
and chortled again, falling silent when the Shrike raised a hand.
“You’ll all be tested to make sure your shields are strong enough,
and those who are will go aboard this ship to get to know the
battleground, and to meet it. It will be your home, your protector
and your guide, so get to know it, and like it. Its name is
unpronounceable, but my wife calls it Scrysalza. It can move
through time as well as space, so you lot won’t be gone long. I’ll
go with you, to speak to the Ship, although it prefers my wife, and
who can blame it?” Tarke paused as the men laughed again. “Still,
it does talk to me, and I can show you how to kill the Envoy. Those
of you who pass the mind shield test, assemble here at the same
time tomorrow. That’s all.”

The Shrike
headed for a door on the far side of the room, and the men parted
to let him through.

“Sir!”

Tarke halted
and turned to find Kovar approaching. “Yes, Kovar?”

“I’d just like
to say, on behalf of all the men, how glad we are that your lady
wife has recovered.”

“Thank
you.”

“And we want
you to know we’re not going to let anything like that happen to her
again, ever.”

“The men who
were guarding her weren’t to blame,” the Shrike said. “They did
their best, and I know all of you will always do your best. More
than that, I’ll never ask of you.”

“We know that,
sir. It’s an honour to serve you.”

“You don’t
serve me, Kovar.” Tarke glanced around. “None of you do. You allow
me to lead you, and the honour is mine. No one could ask for
better, more courageous, more loyal comrades. The day I fail you as
a leader is the day I’ll expect you all to leave.”

“Never, sir,”
Kovar said. “We’ll kill any man who turns his back on you.”

“No, you won’t.
No one stays with me unless they want to. If they don’t, I want
them to leave. I shouldn’t have to explain that to any of you. I
will not be a party to forcing anyone to do anything against their
will, and I won’t tolerate it from any of you, either.”

Kovar hung his
head. “Yes, sir.”

The Shrike
nodded and made for the door again as the men parted in front of
him, bowing and smiling. Often, he wished he could take off the
mask, even though he was uncomfortable without it. He hid his
identity for their safety as well as his own, and they knew it. A
faceless man could be replaced by another faceless man, and, as
long as it was impossible to identify him, Atlan would never know
if they caught the right man. He did not employ permanent decoys,
although it might have been useful to be in many places at the same
time.

On six
occasions, when Atlan had been on the brink of capturing him,
another man clad in a mask and similar clothes had been placed in
their path to take his place on the execution block. Tarke had not
been told about it until it was too late to prevent it, for he
would have tried to stop it, although he doubted that he would have
succeeded. The only time his men disobeyed him was when they were
trying to save his life. That kind of sacrifice and loyalty could
only be born out of love. Just before he reached the door, a
handsome soldier stepped into his path, and several others grabbed
him and tried to drag him aside.

Tarke stopped,
raising a hand, and they released him. “What is it?”

The man bobbed
his head. “My name’s Trebith, sir. I came in with the last
shipment... shuttle... rescue. I just... I wanted to thank you for
saving us.”

Tarke shook his
head. “I don’t require thanks, Trebith. That I was able to help you
is all the reward I need, and these men helped. Without them, I
wouldn’t be able to do much, so thank them, not me, okay?”

The men smiled
and shook their heads, and a couple dragged Trebith aside, ruffled
his hair and thumped his back. Tarke walked towards the door once
more, wondering if he was going to make it this time. He rarely
mingled with his men, although he would have done it more often if
not for their extreme loyalty, which he found hard to bear.

After Rawn left
to bath and rest, Rayne waited for Tarke to return, thinking about
all that had happened. Although it was quite late, she was wide
awake.

Her apartment
door buzzed, which told her it was not Tarke, and she used her
implant to unlock it.

Vidan strolled
in and sat on a chair opposite. “Where’s your brother?”

“Gone to sleep.
He’s tired.”

“Right, it was
the middle of the night when Tarke’s men picked him up.”

“Where’s
Tarke?”

Vidan smiled.
“Talking to his men; asking for volunteers to fight the Envoys.” He
paused, his smile fading. “You have no idea how glad I am that
you’re back with us. Not only because I like you, but for Tarke’s
sake. He was going crazy without you.”

“So he said.
I’m still trying to get used to the idea.”

“But he told
you everything, right?”

She nodded. “I
think so, pretty much. He didn’t go into any details. Do you know
what happened to him?”

“No details,
either. And he warned you, too, I assume?”

“Yes.”

“Good. I got a
few black eyes, and I wouldn’t want the same thing to happen to
you. He packs quite a punch; knocked me out three times. My fault,
though.” He sighed. “He might break something if he does it to you,
and then he’d be inconsolable. Be careful.”

“You make him
sound like a monster.”

“No. He’s not a
monster. He can’t help it. I understand it a little, with the way
he was trained to fight. It’s instinctive now. He’s like a spring
trap, trigger it, and lose your hand.”

“Is it really
that bad?” she asked.

“Worse. Once a
slaver grabbed his arm to detain him; Tarke broke his jaw in three
places.”

“With one
punch?”

Vidan nodded.
“One punch.”

“Perhaps I
should wear a bell around my neck.”

The Atlantean
smiled. “That might help.”

“No one’s
putting a bell on my wife,” Tarke said from the door, which shut
behind him. “And I’ll thank you not to put the fear of the Nine
Hells into her, Vidan. I already did that.”

Vidan smiled at
his boss. “Just making sure. We don’t want a repeat of Armax, do
we?”

“Armax was an
imbecile, and besides, if I took a swing at her like that I’d miss.
She’s about twenty centimetres too short.”

Vidan’s smile
faded. “You don’t miss.”

The Shrike
flopped onto the sofa beside Rayne. “And you don’t know when to
stop flapping that big mouth of yours. Time I glued your lips
together, I think.”

The Atlantean
chuckled, shaking his head. “How many years have you been
threatening to do that now?”

“Too many, it
seems. Did you come here to speak to me, or just to scare
Rayne?”

“There’s a ship
in distress just outside your territory. It claims to be under
attack. I dispatched two cruisers to check it out.”

Tarke sighed.
“I don’t concern myself with what happens outside my territory. You
know that. Whose territory is it?”

“Sharmel’s. He
won’t dare to object.”

“That’s not the
point, is it?”

“You want me to
recall them?”

Tarke shook his
head. “No.”

“I didn’t think
so. It sounded like a civilian ship; could be a settler.”

“I’m not the
damned galactic police force, you know.”

Vidan nodded.
“I know; you’re the terror of the galaxy; dangerous, powerful,
enigmatic and the vilest slaver to have ever disgraced the known
universe.”

“Exactly, who
doesn’t rescue helpless civilians from pirates.”

“I’ll make sure
your reputation is untarnished.”

“See that you
do.”

Vidan smiled,
his eyes twinkling. “We wouldn’t want anyone to know the truth,
would we?”

“What would
happen if it did get out?” Rayne asked.

Tarke replied,
“I’d find a dagger in my back the next time I left my territory. Or
a laser bolt.”

The coms-unit
on Vidan’s belt beeped, and he switched it off and stood up. “Duty
calls.”

As soon as the
door closed behind him, Rayne took her husband’s hands and removed
his gloves, then pressed his index fingers to the keys on the sides
of the mask and pulled it off. He rubbed his face and pushed back
the hood and skullcap, running a hand through his hair.

She gazed at
him. “You must rescue thousands of slaves. What do you do with them
all?”

“There are a
hundred and fifteen habitable planets in my territory. They go
there, and I’m fauna-forming two more right now. I need more space.
They all have profitable industries, and bring in a lot of revenue,
which is how I can afford to fauna-form more planets and build more
ships. Ex-slaves are hard workers.”

She nodded.
“Their safety and freedom depends on you.”

“Yes; and the
ones who get rich donate much of their fortunes to build new ships
or fauna-form new planets. They all work to keep my empire from
falling. I don’t demand taxes. Those who wish to contribute do, and
that’s pretty much everyone, although I refuse donations from the
poorest. I don’t allow poverty or corruption. Some donations are
used to support those who are unable to work.”

“I’d like to
visit one of your planets.”

He hesitated.
“I’ll show you my world if you want, but you might not like
it.”

“Why not?”

“It’s inhabited
by a lot of damaged people… like me.”

“I want to,
especially if it will help me to understand you.”

“That might not
be a good thing, but if you want to go, I’ll take you.”

“How did it all
start? You were just a man with a ship. What happened?”

Tarke smiled,
took her hand and stroked it. “I started off as a smuggler, then
armed my ship a little better and turned to pirating. I bought two
burnt out slaves dirt cheap and freed them. They became my first
crew. Then I attacked a slaver and killed most of her crew.
Suddenly I had five hundred and seventy-six slaves I didn’t know
what to do with, but I wasn’t going to sell them.

“I took them to
an abandoned mining station on Rimon, gave them supplies and tools,
and left them to make the most of it. They did very well, although
it must have been hard at first. I brought them provisions, and I
pirated more slave ships and brought them to Rimon. The colony grew
and spread, became prosperous, and I kept bringing more slaves.
Soon they were making a lot of money from their farming, mining and
manufacturing. The slave ships I captured were used for transport,
and the slaves learnt how to pilot them. They did it all,
really.”

Rayne shook her
head. “No, you did it, by freeing them.”

“I was lucky no
slavers stumbled across Rimon in the early days, or it would have
failed. It wasn’t a very nice place, but that was one reason I
chose it. No one had any use for it, so no one ever went there. I
explained that to the slaves when I took them there, and they
understood. They were just happy to be free. But I couldn’t protect
them in those days. I only had one armed ship.” A slight frown
tugged at his brows. “Some died. There were accidents, poor tools,
bad equipment... that kind of thing. I did my best for them, and I
think they knew it. They never blamed me for it.”

“Why would
they? You were doing it for them, to keep them free.”

He smiled,
studying her hand. “I remember when they saved up enough money to
buy a proper warship, and presented it to me. They told me to go
and get a good ship... so I could take care of them. That was all I
lived for, and they knew it. I was the ragged captain of a motley
crew, but there was a lot of love amongst us.”

“Was that when
you met Vidan?”

“God, no.” He
snorted and chuckled. “He was the pampered scribe of a
billionairess who treated him like a pet. He was overfed and lazy
as sin, used to getting a daily massage and eating the best food.
He’s a clever bastard, and that made him valuable. The only way I
knew he was a slave was because of his collar. I attacked the
heiress’ ship and took all her slaves, and her ship. I dumped her
on an Atlantean colony with her crew. Vidan couldn’t stand me at
first. He wanted to stay with his mistress. I took him to Rimon. A
week later, he was begging to work for me. I think the rest of them
gave him a hard time.”

She nodded.
“And he saw what you had done for them. Now you trust him with your
life.”

“It’s also the
reason he got thumped so much at first. He was way too fond of
tapping shoulders and grabbing arms. I wasn’t the only one who
thumped him.”

“Poor
Vidan.”

“That’s why I
give him such a hard time, even after twenty years. His mistress
treated him so well, he didn’t know what other slaves suffered
until he went to Rimon.”

Rayne yawned,
failing to stifle it.

Tarke smiled.
“You’re tired. You should get some sleep.”

“I shouldn’t
be. I’ve been asleep for five years.”

“You’ve had a
lot of excitement today. You mustn’t overdo it.” He rose and
scooped her up, carried her into the bedroom and placed her on the
bed.