Star Brigade: The Supremacy (SB3) (17 page)

Backstabbing pieces of flotsam and jetsam
. “Why wasn’t I told?” Haemekk snarled.

Now Senator Praece spoke, “From my understanding, since the events of two days ago, you refused communications from UComm and Union officials. Given your appalling lack of diplomacy, we had to take charge.” From his obnoxious smirk, Praece was clearly enjoying this power play. “All other Farooqua tribes are not to be harmed unless there is proof of their affiliation with the Ghebrekh.”

That statement met deafening and crude objections from the room. If the three senators had been physically present, someone undoubtedly might have thrown something heavy at them. Haemekk closed his eyes and breathed in deeply, feeling unusually impotent. The Supreme Council, Faroor’s legislative body of the fifty most powerful highborn families, voted Maorridius Magnus and his advisers into power. The Magnus had kept them wealthy for decades, so the Council backed all planetary decisions made by him or in his name. Faroor’s Delegates and Union Senators, however, derived their positions by popular vote, thanks to interplanetary Union law. In short, they operated outside the Magnus or Haemekk’s influence.

Gaorr sat beside himself. “But we must avenge my brother!” he cried out.

“Of course you will,” Praece snorted. “Because a full-on attack against the Farooqua might indirectly kill Taorr, yes? Then you’ll finally become sole heir to Faroor’s leadership.”

Everyone gaped. Beneath his pinkish pelt, Gaorr turned a shade of white only seen on Faroor’s polar caps. “Taorr is of my blood,” he muttered, gripping the table’s edge for support. “How can you speak such slander?”

“Easily,” Praece bit back. “It’s unwise to prattle about how much better of a Magnus you’d make than your brother, prior to his abduction.”

“Enough, insolent pup,” Haemekk warned the senator, eyes narrowing. “I tire of you broaching issues you do not have the shoulders to carry. Leave the ruling to those who live on Faroor more than a few months a year.”

Praece was less than daunted. “Last time I checked, Haemekk, other than Faroor’s defenses—which you are successfully failing to ensure—all other matters are not under your jurisdiction because you are not Viceroy.”

“You mean Magnus?” Koadox corrected him.

“I meant
Viceroy
!” Senator Praece stood up. “Our Viceroy is who knows where, his heir kidnapped, his younger brother an overindulged halfwit and the Supreme Council willfully useless!” Praece seethed, ignoring Gaorr’s offended yelp. “Leaving the Union Senators as the decision-makers on foreign matters. Get it into your skulls that we are not the Supremacy Reborn, but just another member of a star-spanning hyperpower!”

Despite the truth of those words, several ministers glared at the young senator for his insolence.

Haemekk again tried to speak, but Toniem cut him off once again, “Bad enough that Galdor, Ubruq,
and
Cor Leonis have suspended trade with Faroor. But you have no clue how close Faroor was to having those planets’ UComm forces bust down our door to handle your mess themselves.”

Senator Jaice, still seated in his original spot, shook his luxuriantly coiffed head in mild distaste. “Bringing in Star Brigade was our compromise to pacify those incensed memberworlds.”

“It is time you all learned to think more broadmindedly,” Praece snapped, his gaze raking over the clearly offended ministers before him, “before other memberworlds follow Galdor’s example.”

Never had so much tension compacted into one room, the opposite of what Haemekk wanted.

“I—I think it is time we adjourn this meeting,” Gaorr meekly suggested, probably the smartest thing he had said this whole meeting.

That meekness was a vague memory once the meeting had ended. “He called me an overindulged halfwit?!” Gaorr fumed, jabbing his own chest. “Me! I am son to the Magnus and most powerful merchant king on Faroor! He’s an upsprung lowborn who got lucky on a vote. If he’d been physically present I’d have struck him!”

“Calm yourself, youngling,” Haemekk chided, secretly doubting his charge’s claims. Both now sat in the Defense Minister’s office, a large workspace filled with holopaintings of the Old Supremacy’s legendary space battles against the Vorn. “Praece is a mere bottomfeeder trying to make a name for himself at your expense.”

“Did you see everyone’s faces? They agreed!” Gaorr whined. “We must rid ourselves of him, now!”

Haemekk jerked up to his feet. “Shut your mouth, you
unevolved cretin
!” the lanky minister snarled. Gaorr nearly jumped out of his shiny black designer shoes. “This is exactly what Praece used against you earlier.

“We cannot attack him directly unless he blunders. Praece’s ‘progressive views’ are extremely popular,” Haemekk said in quieter tones. “Until then, we wait until the ‘herald of Faroor’s new age’ falls on his face.”

“Sorry,” Gaorr nodded in rueful submission. “What about the vote of approval from the Council of Ministers? It was supposed to happen in that meeting.”

“To make you acting Magnus?” Haemekk frowned. “The timing was far from ideal.”

Gaorr got that petulant, sulky look on his face and stamped his foot. “Why not?”

Haemekk glared down at the Ttaunz, frothing with anger. “You had a chance to show your resoluteness. But after one challenge you ran to me like a babe in need of succor.”

That shut Gaorr up instantly.

Seeing the boy’s sorrow, the Defense Minister put a hand on Gaorr’s shoulder. “Your ascension will happen. Be patient and do things my way.” He kept his voice whisper-soft. “After UComm deals with Ghuj’aega and confirms your brother’s fate, then we focus on your rightful claim.”

Gaorr nodded dutifully. “Do you think my brother is dead?” he asked, conveying mild concern.

“I wish I knew.” Haemekk shrugged, indifferent within and without. “For now, I have ordered you entertainment to take your mind from these matters. You still have an appetite for Cantalesian consorts, yes?”

Gaorr brightened like an overeager five-year-old.

“Two are waiting in your quarters. And one more thing.” Haemekk’s thin-lipped smile vanished. “You will no longer sleep with your brother’s betrothed.”

Gaorr stiffened in surprise, but nodded without protest.

Once the young Ttaunz was gone, Haemekk leaned heavily on his desk. The boy had no idea what treacherous grounds they stood on. With the Magnus out of the way, Haemekk had hoped his sons to be more controllable. However, Taorr rebelled against all Ttaunz customs while Gaorr indulged in too many. Now, as trade with other memberworlds plummeted, it was only a matter of time before the Supreme Council roused itself and selected a new Magnus. The Minister suppressed a shudder. And if that happened…

It won’t.
Haemekk pushed that dread away and summoned in two of his aides.

“Maetus,” he motioned for a well-groomed female aide. “Schedule a meeting with the Supreme Commander of the Ttaunz Defense Force in an orv. We have much to discuss.”

“Jaoffa.” He looked at his male aide. “We have a guest to check on.”

Later on, Haemekk and Jaoffa arrived in the underground levels of Magnasterium, dimly lit and somewhat dank in smell. The walls, gunmetal in coloring with roughly hewn and circular designs etched on them, brought back to mind the years under Maorridus Magnus’s leadership when Haemekk had used the space for the not-so-gentle interrogations of enemies to his government. Today he now returned with similar intent.

In one of the larger side rooms he and Jaoffa entered, a stout Ttaunz soldier of low birth stood with an energy rod in hand as if it were some prized possession. His puggish face was grim yet sadistically satisfied. The same could not be said for his prisoner, a young Farooqua with arms and legs tightly shackled behind her.

Jaoffa studied her and blanched. The interrogator’s handiwork was unmistakable. Her dark, furry skin looked ragged and pockmarked with oozing burns, longish mane stringy with blood and sweat, her face bruised from abuse. Still, a smoldering defiance burned in her dark bulging eyes as she watched her captors.

“Well?” Haemekk gave the Farooqua a cold look and folded his arms. “What have you learned?”

“She’s resilient,” the soldier marveled, rapping his rod against the palm of his hand. “Not a single word. From a bioscan, we know she is of the Quud tribe.”

“I could have told you that with a glance,” Haemekk snapped. “She was at the scene of Taorr’s abduction, certainly having something to do with it. After two days, her ethnicity is all you acquired?”

Sensing his superior’s annoyance, the soldier quickly continued, “I ran her bioscan through our database of registered Farooqua.”

Haemekk raised his eyebrows in surprise. “She has records?”

“Her name is Mhir’ujiid. She attended the Herope Academy two years ago, but withdrew due to safety issues. She made regular trips to Kabakuru, like many other Farooqua, since.”

Haemekk bristled. “That city-state needs to be wiped out of existence.”

Jaoffa, silent this whole time, frowned. “Don’t Muunica, Thasque, and a few other city-states have emigrant Farooqua living in their slums? So they would have to be wiped out too, yes?”

Haemekk glared at the young Ttaunz. “Speak when spoken to, underling.” What Jaoffa said was true, but Haemekk had those Farooqua slums under nonstop guard. “Go on.”

“From surveillance data, she and Taorr met many times in Kabakuru, Kurrey, and Sovlei.”

Haemekk focused with more interest on the Farooqua, who perked up when hearing Taorr’s name. What was her actual relationship with Taorr? He had theories, a few which made him queasy. Best that he ask the source. The military minister crouched in front of Mhir’ujiid, causing her to recoil.

“Mhir’ujiid?” he began softly. “I am Haemekk son of Haennis from House Phala.”

The Farooqua glared at him. Flummoxed by the lack of reaction to his name, the minister continued, “Since you made frequent pilgrimages to our city-states, I will forgo using a kineticabulary translator and speak in Standard.

“Many say our two races cannot work towards parallel goals. But I believe you and I can prove that false. I will let you leave this city-state alive if you tell me two things.”

This close, Haemekk barely stifled his disgust. The sight of her mangy physique appalled him. And the smell… “Why can’t Ghebrekh be detected by regular geo-scans? And is Taorr son of Maorridius Magnus dead?”

Mhir’ujiid did nothing but glare. Haemekk’s civility vanished. “Hear me, you filthy savage. We know the locations of the Quud tribal lands. We also know you met with Taorr several times before his kidnapping. That gives us Ttaunz full rein to assault the Quud. The attack you saw on the N’noa will pale in comparison to what I do to your brethren…unless you cooperate.”

“Liar,” Mhir’ujiid hissed. Her bloodied lips curled into a startling smile.

Haemekk recoiled as if she had spat on him. “What?”

“You lie,” she repeated with more venom, struggling up to a kneeling position. Her opal-like eyes filled with amusement. “You won’t expend a single pulse blast on my tribe.”

“And what makes you so cocksure?” Haemekk bristled.

“Your body language betrays you, ‘Minister.’ Either because you bluff…or someone has you on a leash and all you have…are empty threats.”

Haemekk put on a thin-lipped sneer that never reached his eyes and snaked a gloved hand out, seizing Mhir’ujiid’s throat.

The Farooqua female’s wide, round eyes bulged. Haemekk’s grip tightened. “C-Can’t…breathe!” she gasped.

“That is the whole point of a choke, mongrel,” Haemekk responded silkily, his bizarre smile never changing. The minister’s fingers continued to tighten, and Mhir’ujiid clawed frantically at his wiry forearm with her bound hands. He slowly turned his head to the Ttaunz soldier and reached out his other hand. Without hesitation, the solider approached and placed his weapon into the military minister’s open palm. Clicking the rod’s “on” switch caused its tip to shoot off bright-red sparks. Haemekk swung the rod down in a vicious arc, ramming it into Mhir’ujiid’s belly.

There was a crackle of energy. Suddenly, Mhir’ujiid went rigid—not just from the blunt force of the rod’s tip. Haemekk could only imagine how blinding the pain was. Mhir’ujiid opened her upturned mouth and shrieked. Haemekk’s insulated glove kept him safe from the charge.

“Minister.” Jaoffa sounded very uncomfortable. “Please stop.” His pleas fell on deaf ears.

“Now…” Haemekk spoke calmly over Mhir’ujiid’s screams, relishing the feel of power again. “Does this threat feel empty, Farooqua?”

At this point Jaoffa moved to pull the minister off the convulsing Farooqua. Fortunately, the puggish TDF soldier yanked him back forcefully.

The Farooqua girl screamed no longer, only a half-conscious croak rattled out of her shuddering body. After what seemed like an eternity, Haemekk released his grip and pulled away the rod. Instantly, Mhir’ujiid collapsed in a heap.

Haemekk rose to his feet, straightening out any rumples in his robes and smoothing back stray strands of hair. He could feel young Jaoffa glaring behind him with barely veiled disgust. It actually made him chuckle.

He stepped over Mhir’ujiid’s unconscious body and approached the TDF soldier in the room. “Be as creative as required to get information from this one,” Haemekk ordered, his voice back to its cool cadence. “…without permanently maiming her. At least until we have something concrete.”

Haemekk strode toward the door with Jaoffa trailing behind. The minister halted and looked over his shoulder at the fallen Farooqua. “From now on, Jaoffa will be assisting you.”

There was the punishment for insolence. Jaoffa stopped and gazed back at his superior in horror. Seeing this, the pug-faced soldier barked out an amused laugh. The young Ttaunz opened his mouth, trying to stammer out some feeble protest. But the doors had already hissed closed behind a departing Haemekk.

Even with her eyes closed, Liliana Cortes was far from blind. A steady
whoosh whoosh whoosh
of revolving cord cut through the air as she rapidly hopped up and down. The sound cascaded against the doctor’s slender frame like flashes of light in the dark, whipping overhead and under her hopping feet at blistering speeds.