Chapter 1

WINDHOLM MILITARY CENTER, WINDHOLM, PROVINCE 14; THALIA

 2532 AD 

Lieutenant Kalliska Hayward walked past rows of offices lining the hallways of building 17C in the largest military base in Thalia. She counted the tall navy doors as she went by, her auburn hair tied neatly behind her head, not really thinking about anything important. She was new to the base, since she’d been deployed at a smaller, backwater location on the other side of the planet for the first two and a half customary years of her career, and everything seemed more intense. And…big. This place really is built for larger people, thought Kallie as her footsteps echoed quietly in the empty hall. She wasn’t tiny, per se, at 1.62 meters tall, but most people in the military were so much taller than she was.

The last door came into view around the gentle curve of the corridor, and Kallie felt her body stiffen as she stepped into the small conference room where her commander waited. “You needed me, sir?” she asked softly.

Brigadier General Torin Dean looked up. “Yes,” he started slowly. “We have received a request from the Empress of Arae Orbis, Miara Kreine.”

        “What did she say?” Kallie didn’t know how Arae had anything to do with her. Arae was the second planet of two in the Thalian Republic, and had once been ruled by a monarch. After the colony had been acquired by Thalia, however, the royals had been overthrown and replaced by a democracy that was a subsection of Thalia’s own government. After about two hundred years of such a system, the royal family still existed, famous yet forgotten. The Empress was still lionized by the press, and half of the people on the planet, but she had no real power and Kallie considered her a mannequin, a plaything for the more old-fashioned citizens. The story of the Kreines was one that everyone knew about, and one that no one cared about.

         “She has requested a bodyguard for personal reasons that she did not wish to disclose with us. She did, however, mention that she feels threatened at times and that her safety has been unstable lately. The government has no choice but to grant this request as the Empress is a major political figurehead in this organization, and as she has some justification for the request.” Dean paused and looked at Kallie. “You know what I’m going to say next,” he said with some sympathy.

            “Yes I do, sir,” replied Kallie, trying not to flinch as she thought of the long months ahead of her.

            “We’re sending you via ventship in a few hours. Be ready.”

 

KREINE ESTATE, IMPERIAL ISLES; ARAE ORBIS

          He looked like he was just sleeping. His hair was black, but graying, even though he was only fifty customary years old. Empress Miara Kreine smiled through her tears. Akio had always been against the anti-aging telomere therapy that had been around for quite a few decades. He had always thought that it was unnecessary to extend the human lifespan. “There’s only so much to see,” he had said. Then again, thought Miara, we have enough money to see everything. Not everyone does. She looked back at the casket, grateful that, even for a second, her thoughts about Akio’s opinions on telomere treatments had distracted her. 

            He didn’t have any opinions anymore.

            Miara felt the tears filling her eyes again. They were only half-real, since she and Akio had hardly known each other when they had gotten married. But over the years she had gotten used to his presence and now she found that she missed him terribly.

            A stroke. Nobody has strokes anymore. Damn you and your insufferable hate for the treatments that would have saved your goddamn life, thought Miara, the tears flowing freely down her face. How could you leave me like this? We’re the only two people in the universe that know what we know. Now you’ve left me with this burden to carry. Alone.

 ***

            The android turned and left the room, the door flipping shut behind it. Lieutenant Hayward glanced at the datascreen she had been given. Empress Miara Kreine’s schedule for the next local month stared back at her.

            Kallie sighed and tossed the tablet on the bed behind her. She’d been sent from Thalia to Arae on a ventship"a type of interstellar spacecraft that created and traveled through a wormhole or, as they were colloquially known, an infinity-vent. The things took an enormous amount of energy to create, so Kallie knew that the Empress must have been fairly pushy when she’d sent for a bodyguard. It really wasn’t too uncommon, in recent years, for officers to be sent on eccentric, tedious solo tasks away from military jurisdiction, but she still felt strange, cut off from everything.

She looked down, and didn’t really feel comforted as the glossy black waveband on her wrist caught her eye. The device used massive transmitter buildings and a chip in each owner’s skull to communicate, but Kallie knew that it really didn’t change her situation. Arae was the most rural of the three human colonized planets, the others being Thalia and Earth, and the isolation was almost palpable. She was essentially stuck on Arae, the young world with the tiny sun, ozone scented air, and strange, dark-skinned people. How long am I going to have to do this? she wondered, hoping that the Empress wouldn't keep her on Arae O. for an extremely long time.

            It wasn’t as if much could happen out there.

 

NEAR NORTH POLE; ARAE ORBIS

            Eridan Heidrich sat at his desk, his bright blue eyes fixed on the blank wall before him. He was restless; in fact, he’d never been so worried in his entire life. This is what I’ve spent the past 6 months preparing for, he thought nervously. It’s out of my hands now. They’re already on their way.

            He glared harder at the wall. If his men failed, then it would all fall on him and he had a criminal record, a…lengthy one. The government didn’t know where he was, but if they did, if someone told them, someone who was upset at his defeat, he’d be screwed.

            Time ticked by, and Eridan buried his face in his hands. He was 36 customary years old, a smallish man with enormous blue eyes and dark brown hair. His face was sweaty, his hands were sweaty, and he didn’t bother to wipe them off. Nobody better screw this one up, he thought fervently. Nobody.

 

KREINE ESTATE

            “There are reasons I’d rather not…reveal at the moment for this increase in security. However, your presence here is necessary and not a waste of resources.”

            Kallie Hayward managed not to fidget as the Empress talked about Kallie’s indefinite stay on Arae. She was supposed to tail the woman almost everywhere"the Empress had practically an army of guards with her when she left the estate, but Kallie was apparently the only permanent shadow. This should be fun, she thought dryly as Miara Kreine droned on, evidently taking Kallie for stupid from the way that she kept repeating herself.

            The Empress was probably twice her new bodyguard’s age"mid or late forties, it seemed"with almost black hair and bronze skin. She was a fairly tall woman, perhaps a meter and three quarters tall, or at least taller than Kallie…but then again, that wasn’t saying very much.

From the way that Miara carried herself, it was difficult to tell why she’d have anything to be afraid of. She had a tall, proud stride that had been entrenched in her by years on the throne; in fact, the only things that suggested any kind of fear were the deep frown lines and the harried expression that were both constantly plastered on her face.

Still, Kallie found it hard to believe that there was any real trouble. It was more than likely that she had only been called to the Empress’s service to comfort her, to ease the phobias of an insecure woman.

            She fought the urge to sigh as the Empress started again, from the top.

 

NEAR NORTH POLE 

            “Almost zero,” laughed Eridan Heidrich, trying not to show his anxiety. “They’re not going to fail.”

            “If you’re sure,” replied the man standing in his doorway. “Are they on their way?”

            “Yes. Should be nearly at the estate by now,” replied Eridan.

            Without another word, he was left alone. Eridan stared off into space for a second, only slightly vexed by the interruption. This is actually going to work, he thought to himself.

 

KREINE ESTATE

            Empress Miara Kreine and another woman, a senator for one of Arae’s districts, walked down yet another black-draped corridor"the entire palace was in mourning, and no amount of the color black seemed to be considered excessive. Kallie followed them as unobtrusively as possible, but still managed to attract Miara’s attention.

             “We have…private affairs to discuss, Lieutenant,” said Miara before the door closed in Kallie’s face.

After a second of staring at the door in front of her, Kallie sighed and leaned against the fake wood, accustomed to doing nothing for hours at a time already.

Through the ornate but badly insulated wall she could hear the senator talking, though Kallie couldn’t quite make out the words and didn’t try. After awhile, the constant talking stopped for the briefest of moments. The pause didn’t even register with Kallie until another sound filled the gap.

Someone was screaming.

Mostly expecting it to be nothing, Kallie stood up and activated the door, taking a step inside before realizing that something was wrong. S**t.

Three extra people were in the room; men, and at least one of them had a gun, aimed squarely at the Empress. The guest was cowering in one corner, acting as if her life was seriously in the balance, while the men really didn’t seem to care that she existed. It was Miara they wanted.

            The intruders all turned toward Kallie as she flew into the room and almost collided with the end of the pistol, which by now was trained on her. Kallie cursed herself inwardly for not having a weapon on her; inside the house, Kallie rarely carried, only because Miara had told her not to. I should have ignored her and her stupid squeamishness, thought Kallie frantically, looking around for the help that she knew wouldn’t exist.

            Now she was stuck. “You stay out of this,” growled the man with the gun.

            “Who are you?” asked the Empress. She had gone pale, but unlike her guest, she managed to maintain her usual dignity.

            “Shut up,” snarled the man, keeping his pistol trained on Kallie but taking his eyes off of her for just a second. She sucked in a quick breath, too rushed to really think anything through, and dashed forward. She tried not imagine invisible bursts of electricity flashing at her head as she grabbed the gunman’s hand and tried to wrench the pistol out of his grasp.

            He let go, and Kallie stumbled backward, weapon in hand, as the three intruders stared at her, obviously deciding what to do.

            They ran. Kallie, realizing that only one of them had had a weapon, started to follow them. The men were headed for the other door in the room"a door that led to an uncovered, low balcony facing the east lawn. It’s going to be harder than I thought to catch them, thought Kallie as she broke into a run. She didn’t even stop to wonder how the men had gotten in, and how they managed to exit through the same door without identification.

            Before she could leave the room, she heard another ear-splitting shriek from the senator behind her.

            Kallie turned to see that the Empress had fainted and hesitated, looking at Miara, and then at the attackers as they jumped off the low balcony and dashed across the lawn and past the tree line. Kallie decided that there was little hope of her catching up to them and ran back across the room. She checked Miara’s pulse and found it to be normal. Miara’s helpless acquaintance was staring at Kallie in horror, and accomplishing literally nothing. “Do something!” Kallie snapped. “Get security in here and call the police. Now,” she added as the woman gaped at her.

After a few seconds the senator fumbled at her waveband with shaking fingers. Somewhere in the distance a siren was going off.

            The door opened. Kallie looked up, her right hand gripping the pistol so hard that her fingernails turned white. Caden Kreine, Miara’s son and only child, ran in and Kallie relaxed slightly. “What happened?” he shouted. The anger and fear in his voice made Kallie feel even more on edge.

            “I don’t know,” she said, struggling not to shout back at him. She glanced at the older woman to the side. Despite her previous commands, she wasn’t really doing anything. “We need to get the police"”

            “The police?” asked Caden, looking around with shock written all over his face. He seemed to notice the weapon in Kallie’s hand and the terrified senator huddled in a corner. His eyes widened. “Oh god,” he whispered. Grow up and get a grip, Kreine, she thought. He had to be around her age, and he was still handling the situation worse than most children would.

            Kallie decided that he too was useless before turning back to Miara. The Empress’s eyelashes fluttered slightly and Kallie realized for the first time that she was on her knees next to her charge. She closed her eyes for a second, trying to absorb everything that had happened. “Is she hurt at all?” demanded Caden from near the door. Kallie chose to ignore his question. He was just as bad as the sobbing woman on the other side of the room.

            “Get security. Fast,” she said. “One of you two.” She wasn’t worried about Miara’s condition. She’d be fine.

It was the attackers that Kallie was worried about.

            “No.” Kallie looked back down at the Empress in surprise. Miara’s eyes were wide open, and she looked serious. “Don’t…call …authorities,” she gasped, obviously shocked from the attack.

            “No, no. Hayward’s right,” said Caden quietly. He seemed to have regained his senses. “You’re not thinking clearly-“

            “I am thinking clearly,” said the Empress, in a much more firm tone than before. Kallie helped her into a sitting position.

            “There isn’t any reason not to report this. Look, somebody may be trying to kill you,” replied Caden, getting angry again.

            “You can’t do this,” said Miara, with a hint of desperation in her voice. What?

             “It would be a crime to hide something like this from the authorities,” said Kallie gently. She wasn’t sure if the Empress was completely sane at the moment.

            “Wait…” said Caden, looking confused.

            “What?” Kallie tried to keep the irritation out of her voice, feeling overwhelmed by everything that had already happened.

            He glanced at Miara, worried. “Maybe we should listen to her,” he said slowly.

            Kallie looked at him, too tired to be surprised. Him too?

            She looked at both of them, Miara with her worry stricken face and Caden, who was obviously confused, and tried to think of an intelligent response. “Why?” was all she managed.

            “It isn’t necessary,” said Miara quickly.

            Kallie ignored her and looked at Caden, wondering how he could possibly justify this. “I just have this feeling,” he muttered. “There’s always been something…”

            The senator hadn’t even called the police. Kallie realized that she had never tried, never comprehended any of the orders Kallie had given her.

She never got a chance to say anything in protest as the door slid open and med crews came in, a few security guards flanking them. “We need to talk about this,” she said to Caden as they loaded the Empress onto the waiting stretcher. All of Miara’s newfound strength seemed to have gone as the crews left, taking her with them. Caden followed them, and, after a moment of hesitation, Miara’s guest left as well. Kallie knew that she was supposed to follow them, but remained kneeling on the floor, thinking.

 *** 

            Miara’s door slid shut with a hiss of compressed air. Kallie looked up. “Nobody got the police involved?” she asked quietly.

            “No.” Caden Kreine paused in front of her. “A security team tried to trace them, and found evidence that their vehicle had been at the edge of the east lawn. But no police.” He walked down the hall, obviously unwilling to further discuss the matter with her. Kallie followed him, not intending to let him slip away so easily.

            “Why did you let her do that?” she asked in a low voice.

            “I don’t know. I just…had this feeling.”

            “Nobody ‘just has feelings’,” replied Kallie, getting annoyed.

             “No. That’s not what I mean. Ever since I can remember, my parents… they’ve been hiding something from me. Something…big. I don’t…I can’t explain it.”

            “You’re going to have to. Look, this is serious,” said Kallie, half-whispering. She didn’t know why.

            “I mean, when I was younger, my parents always overreacted to anything that could mean or lead to a dangerous situation, but they never contacted authorities. Never. There’s something wrong.”

            “This is dangerous,” warned Kallie, wondering if he fully understood the situation. She didn’t want to let him go through with his ideas, but it wasn’t within her control. Kallie knew that there was a relatively large possibility that Caden was trying to get his mother killed, but it didn’t explain why Miara had been the one to protest calling the police at first. There was also the option that Miara was involved in some kind of unrelated crime, or that she knew the attackers…or…or anything, really…the possibilities were endless. Kallie felt like she’d never been so frustrated.

            “She’s fine,” said Caden, in a voice that sounded considerably more confident than his face looked. “Trust me.”

            Kallie shook her head, but he was already gone, walking up the hall in front of her.

 ***

            Miara Kreine sat alone in her bedroom, leaning against the wall behind the bed. Just bad timing, she thought to console herself, trying to convince herself that the attack had only coincidentally occurred immediately following her husband’s death.

However hard she tried, though, she couldn’t push a second thought out of her head. What if they had been waiting? she wondered. Whoever they are, what if they had been waiting for him to die, and then planned to kill or kidnap me?

            The thought was almost too much to bear.

***

            Kallie wasn’t surprised when she heard that Miara Kreine had requested another bodyguard. Kallie knew that she couldn’t blame the woman, but wondered if it would do any good. She wondered why Miara had been so eager to request more protection, but refused to call the police on the previous assault. They didn’t even have any clue as to who would have tried to kidnap or kill the Empress, but nobody seemed to want to find any. Kallie shook her head. What is she hiding?