The Blood Empress (8 page)

"Come on, we aren't done yet," she said, taking Velore's hand and pulling her into the lavatory to fix up her hair.

Nykostra had watched her servants do her hair her whole life and had never imagined that she might do the same for someone else. When she had finished, she stepped away and let Velore look at herself in the full length mirror.

"I, I look like you, my Empress."

Nykostra nodded. It wasn't a perfect match, but it would fool the house staff long enough for her to get away.

"Okay, get into my bed. Quickly."

The two girls traded places near the bed, Velore climbing into the thick, luxurious covers and pulling them up to her shoulders. Nykostra gathered the dishes from her evening meal and stepping back to make sure she had everything in place.

"Remember, don't let anyone inside unless you have to. Pretend you are tired and want your rest. Say as little as possible."

Velore was hesitant and then started to cry. Nykostra came back to the bedside and tried to quiet her.

"Stop it. I'm coming back, eventually. You just have to pretend for a few days."

Velore wiped her eyes on the back of her hands.

"What if I'm caught? Security will have me killed."

Nykostra shook her head. "No, they need a direct order from me to harm anyone on my staff. This ruse will be up soon enough and you can slip out of here and return to your duties."

"Where are you going my Empress?"

"I'm going on an adventure and you're helping to set me free."

This brought a weak smile to Velore's tear smudged azure face.

***

Captain Verrad's shuttle boarded late that evening from the landing pad nearest the Imperial Castle. It was a small, ten man shuttle and the only passengers were himself and a handmaiden. The shuttle's pilot and load master ignored her presence and she took her seat at the rear of the craft.

Verrad sat up by the pilot, his nose buried in a datapad. Kaleen had a small seat next to a porthole and she looked out of it as snow fell outside. This was her first trip off world and her first space voyage. She was nervous and giddy at the same time. Her ruse was going to work. Nobody had even questioned her presence at the starport or on the command shuttle. Handmaidens were not uncommon on warships as personal sexual objects of higher ranking officers. She had asked Verrad if he already had such a woman and he waved off the notion. It was unclear if he was just between women or didn't agree with the practice. Either way, it left her a good route to orbit without raising any questions from underlings.

She had no idea what was expected of her aboard ship but that was of little concern to her now. After the warship left the system, she planned on shedding her commoner clothes and resuming her role as Empress. There would be no way the Imperial Security Forces could come after her then.

Her foot tapped nervously against the seat back in front of her. It seemed to be taking forever to take off. She looked down the isle to where the cockpit was and watched Verrad and the pilot discussing something. Verrad looked back at her after finishing his conversation and winked. No man had ever dared flirt with her publicly like that. No man save for Ketar. Reminded again of her lover's absence, her face clouded in anger.

The shuttle started to vibrate as the main engines fired and minutes later they were ascending over the mountains that surrounded the castle. Looking out the porthole she saw the castle slip away under the constant planetary cloud cover. With nothing to occupy her out the porthole, she returned her attention to the cockpit. The cabin hatch had been pulled shut and she could no longer see Verrad or the pilot.

Alone in the main cabin, she grabbed the nearest handhold as the ride became bumpy. The bouncing and swaying eventually stopped as the tiny shuttle burst free of the lower atmosphere and sped into the inky blackness of space. She looked back out the cold porthole and saw the blue and white world she had grown up on move away out of her field of vision. The stars were so bright. She had never really seen them from the ground before. Once, when she was younger her mother had taken her to the top of mount Karnak for a Circle of Honor ceremony. It had been dark then and occasionally the thick clouds had parted and she caught a glimpse of a star or two.

But this was completely different. Space was so tightly packed with stars, she couldn't really see black, just a dark gray pattern of dim stars reaching out to infinity. It was beautiful and stark.

The starfield shifted again and she could feel the shuttle's engines throttle back as it approached Verrad's warship, the
VCF Creavor
a large destroyer. Nykostra wanted to see it as they approached but her view was too limited. Instead she sat back and held onto her armrests.

There was a deep scratching sound that gave way to sudden lurch forward and sounds of metal cracking as the shuttle came to a stop. All she could see out her porthole was the gray metal walls of the bay.

The hatch opened and Captain Verrad came out and down the isle. He stopped at her row and looked down at her. She could tell he was nervous about smuggling her aboard his ship by the nervous tapping of his finger on her seat back. His face remained stoic and calm. The shuttle's hatch opened and he quickly stepped off.

She heard a flurry of activity as crewmen acknowledged his return and others scurried around the shuttle to secure it. A ground crewman came aboard and walked right past her. She was not used to being ignored by everyone. Part of her wanted to call him out for his impertinence but she remained quiet. The pilot exited first, she caught him staring at her and immediately she became nervous. Lowering her eyes she pretended not to notice him.

He stopped at her row and spoke to her. "The Captain has fine tastes in xulsh."

Xulsh was a rude term for concubines. Little more than sanctioned whores. Nykostra did not respond and eventually he scoffed and moved off the shuttle. She waited a few more minutes before venturing off.

Verrad had told her directions to his quarters but she still struggled to find the exit to the bay. She watched the activity of the men around her and followed them. Most of them didn't look twice at her until she was in the ship's interior corridors. Then she began to feel their suffocating stares. Many of them had not seen a woman in months and stared like they had forgotten what they looked like. A few actually touched her in a lewd manner as she passed.

She wanted to cut off their arms and more but instead kept her head down and made her way to Verrad's quarters. Standing before his cabin door she hesitated to enter. Was he going to ignore who she was and treat her like the xulsh she was pretending to be, or would he bow to her and do her bidding?

Taking her chances, she pushed open the hatch and entered. The room was dark and empty. Breathing a sigh of relief, she quickly locked the door and turned to face Verrad's quarters. They were clean and sparsely furnished. A bed, a desk terminal, some drawers built into one wall and a tiny porthole that looked out into the black.

Nothing like her royal bed chamber and no second bed or even a floor mattress that she could sleep on. Just his regulation sized bed with rough sheets and a thick blanket. He was right when he said he didn't have a concubine.

There was barely enough room to change her mind much less her clothes. If this was a senior officer's berthing, she would hate to see what conditions the troops lived in. She sat down at the console and tried to access it. Without Verrad's consent she was locked out. Annoyed by that she laid down on his hard bed and waited for him to show. She had to stay out of sight until the ship was in tunnel space on its way to Sett.

***

The cabin door slid open and Captain Verrad stepped inside. He looked down at the sleeping form of Empress Nykostra. Still dressed in her handmaid's clothes she was nearly unrecognizable. Not knowing how to awaken an Empress he moved to the console and started accessing the bridge controls. From there he could monitor the ship's position and status without being there in person.

The computer beeped and sputtered with different audible notices and the Empress stirred behind him. He turned to face her and lowered his eyes when he saw that she was awake.

"What kept you?"

"I had to oversee our departure, my Empress."

She frowned and stretched out on the bed to get her blood flowing. Then she sat up and rushed to the tiny porthole. The space outside was tinted red in the direction of travel but otherwise the stars were static.

"Are we tunneling?"

"Yes. We should arrive at Sett in nine hours."

She looked at him with disappointment on her face. All her life on one planet and the first time she got
off world she slept through her departure.

"I can't stay cooped up in this horrible cabin the whole time."

Verrad seemed to anticipate this from her. "You could safely come out now and take control of this ship. There is no chance of homeland security forces catching up to us now."

Her lips parted in a sly grin. "You have successfully kidnapped an Empress, Captain. You would be the first to lose his head."

"So be it, my Empress."

She stood before him, so close he could see her chest rising and falling with every breath she took. "Have you communicated with Lord Kasaga?" she asked.

He shook his head and looked down at her.

"I hope not," she said.

Nykostra put her hands on his wide shoulders and then moved them to cup his chin. He was completely swallowed up by her dark eyes.

"Not so fast. We have business to attend, Verrad."

He looked like he would have rather tossed her onto the bed and ravished her and part of her wanted him to, but Ketar was still too fresh in her mind. She pulled away from him and took a step back to cool her own heels.

"I intend to pressure Sett into sending ships to the front. I will use this ship to do it. Are you prepared to fire on them if necessary?" Her tone was stern and businesslike.

He was taken aback by the request, but recovered quickly.

"Yes, my Empress."

"Put us over their Capital city and be prepared to take it out on my command. If they cave before that, I want you to blast the nearest city as punishment for defying me."

Verrad nodded. She was asserting her power and he was to be her weapon. She could see by the fire in his eyes that he more than approved.

"What if they retaliate, my Empress? We are but one warship. They have fifty ships of the line either at or near Sett."

"Fear of losing their Capital city will compel them to obey me. Fear of offending the Empress on their doorstep. We will not leave orbit until their ships start heading towards the front."

Verrad turned away from her in thought. "Then what will you do?"

"We shall leave for Vac One and do it all over again. They will either comply or suffer my wrath."

He looked at her directly. "You truly are the Blood Empress."

She took a step back from him offended by the term used behind her back and never to her face. She slapped him hard across the face.

"You call me that again and I will cut off your head!"

He lowered his eyes, his face burning from the slap. She went to the wall where his falchion was mounted and took it down. Carefully she pulled it out of the sheath and held it up with one hand. The curved blade flashed in the cabin light as she turned to face him.

"I'm the Kamsa-riecht. You will promise me your life and I will reward you by not killing you."

Verrad got down on his knees and bowed before her. She rested the falchion blade on his shoulder. She brought it to his face and flicked her wrist. The tip of the blade nicked his cheek and drew his blood. One does not draw a blade and not use it. He did not flinch as blood fell from the cut down his cheek.

Verrad looked up at her as she put the metal blade to her face. It felt cool and smooth. Her eyes closed as she held the blade against her forehead. When she lowered it she could see the reddish tint to her eyes reflected on its surface and knew that she was the very definition of divine power.

She calmly wiped the blade off, sheathed the falchion, returned it to the mount on the wall and then faced him.

"Have my baggage brought to this room and find me suitable officer's clothes. I will take command of this ship and then I will bend the will of this Empire to do my bidding."

Verrad saluted her with his right arm across his chest. Then he rose and quickly left.

***

Nykostra entered the bridge of the warship and stood defiantly before the crew. She was dressed in a cut down version of the black and red command tunic. Her family falchion was at her side and on her head the small, metallic crown with the inverted "A" symbol of the Votainion Empire.

Verrad called everyone to attention, "Empress on deck!"

Crewmen immediately noticed her and scrambled to attention. There were less than a dozen men on the bridge at any one time. All of them now stood by their posts at attention.

She could see the startled looks on their faces. Many probably wondered if it was some kind of a test. No sitting royal had ever stood on a warship's bridge before, she was pretty sure of that.

"I, Empress Nykostra take command of this vessel. We are en-route to Sett. Our arrival will be unannounced and my presence will be kept secret."

She stepped forward and walked with as much authority as her youthful frame could manage. Her eyes flashed over the crewmen with icy resolve. Nodding to Verrad she sat in his Captain's chair.

"Back to your stations," Verrad barked and the men returned to their duties, their eyes down and their mouths closed.

Verrad took his position at her side and motioned to the main view screen. The red glow of tunnel space fluttered as the warship dropped out into normal space. A small round circle grew larger until it filled the screen. The planet Sett
was smaller than Voton and covered in verdant forests and white cloud patterns. She had never seen a more beautiful world.

Verrad motioned to his comm officer who opened a channel to the capital city, Se'nar.