The Catherine Kimbridge Chronicles #4, Retribution Read online

  Who cares? I thought. I just need to give the others time. It doesn’t matter what happens to me. As fatalistic as that thought might sound, it was incredibly freeing. I didn’t have to worry about complications or relationships. I didn’t have to worry about worrying. All I had to do was run—and I love running.

  It’s a phrase used perhaps way too much, but perhaps it is the only way humanity can express true running. I was flying, only touching the ground when I had to, and only for a moment. I leapt over plants and small debris. I dodged around fallen walls and lean-tos. My muscles burned. My lungs stung. My throat was worn raw by the exertion. My heart hurt, and if I had one of those fancy Medi-comps the Primary Citizens enjoyed it would have been screaming at me. Probably better I didn’t have one. That would just be annoying and pointless, because none of that mattered. My entire existence narrowed to only one goal: running.

  I could hear the thudding of my pursuers. I didn’t look back, that would only throw me off balance and defeat my new-found purpose. Blazes of light glittered around me in brilliant displays of red. Huh, they mean to stun me. Lovely. So pretty. I thought inanely. Everything was surreal. I was too focused on my task to find any of it alarming.

  What was alarming was the ten-foot-thick wall that surrounded the city was coming up with no gate in sight. Nor could I see anything I could use to climb up. Being short didn’t matter this time, as there was absolutely nothing my taller companions could grab onto, either.

  I was at the end.

  I closed my eyes, thinking that perhaps if I hit the wall hard enough and in just the right way, the Telmicks wouldn’t be able to enjoy the fruits of their hunt.

  That is when something I hadn’t expected turned my life into something I couldn’t recognize. Energy sizzled over my skin. Light blazed around me, blinding me. My black hair rose on an unseen wind that I couldn’t figure out. I couldn’t see the wall any more. Had I hit the wall already and somehow just hadn’t felt it? Time slowed, and I could no longer make sense of anything… anything except for the pain that replaced the energy sizzle.

  Everything blacked out eventually.

  Chapter 2 - Captain Wingstar

  Imperial System

  The Spectral Empire

  Watching Prima Imperium grow out of the darkness of space invoked in me feelings similar to what I imagine a gerbil feels when trapped in a Giant Aracre’s web as the webmaster stalked ever closer. Beautiful, but ultimately terrifying. I slouched against the wall near the window and wondered how my life had changed so drastically. I can’t really explain what had happened a week before, back on Colony Lenti, when I had been running to my death.

  I know that I hadn’t made it to the wall. I know that I had felt trapped. I know that I had been hurting.

  I couldn’t tell you anything more than that. Those moments between one stride and being transported to the LFH starship, the Hail Mary, are beyond my reach. I only know for sure what they told me in the medical bay. Or more accurately, what they didn’t say. Their smiles and scanners couldn’t hide the fact that I had woken a full twenty-four hours later unable to move thanks to field restraints. Eventually they told me that when they had brought me onboard I had been suffering from a seizure. One that, for whatever reason, they couldn’t nullify nor could they identify its cause. I have this feeling that I would have been made into a kind of test subject if it hadn’t been for Valencia stalking in ahead of an LF officer. At the time I had no idea of what his rank was. I just knew the uniform was Legion Fleet, and above enlisted swine. A gold star was on his collar.

  “You are an idiot and a coward! Why the hell did you run? Especially since I told you to get down!” Valencia had begun shouting as soon as she saw that I was awake. Thankfully, the restraints had been removed and I had been able to put the bed between us. I had only been with Valencia for a few weeks after leaving the gang, but I knew that she had a mean hand when angry. I kept wary eyes on her through my lashes, my head bowed before her tirade.

  When she had finally run out of breath, I had asked, “Are the others with you? Are they safe?”

  Valencia had been surprised by the question, but had been quick to recover. “Yes, and no thanks to you. If you had just followed my order the Telmicks would have passed us by. Then we were only a block away from the pick-up point,” she informed me, acridly.

  I blinked. I hadn’t know that we were going to be picked up. I had assumed that we had been going to a safe house before slipping out of the city and away from the devastation. Despite that, I knew she had been mistaken about the Telmicks. I know what I saw. The Telmicks had been aware that we were in the area. I had seen the hunting glint in their eyes. They would have searched until they found us. There would have been no way to sneak past them, because they would have sensed it. My running and noise making had focused their entire attention on me. The very fact that Valencia was here and the news that the others were also was a good indication that my plan had worked. There had been such a wonderful sense of relief in knowing that.

  None of my thoughts had been given a voice, though. Not with the medical staff and Legion Fleet officer observing. Valencia was a leader. One did not critique a leader before others, because that would be embarrassing and they would not listen to what was being said. They would only think about how you had been embarrassed them in front of others. In my admittedly small experience, retribution was quick to follow. In the end, nothing would change.

  So I had bowed my head and kept my thoughts to myself. Valencia had turned to the officer and murmured something to him before leaving. I had looked up expecting to find myself alone with the medical staff—but I hadn’t been. The officer had stayed behind. His gray eyes had been thoughtful as he considered me. I had looked down again, aware that, compared to his navy blue uniform with its Legion Fleet insignia and gold star, I was dingy at best. My clothes had been same ones I had worn since the day my aunt’s house had burned—the exact day before the Telmicks had come. The cloth was worn from the constant wear and attempted washings. My mismatched footwear had been removed at some point, leaving me barefoot and feeling very vulnerable. My toes curled into the metal floor.

  “Your name is Rylynn, yes?” the dark-haired officer had asked.

  I had nodded, managing to add a faint “Yes, sir,” that I’m fairly sure was unintelligible.

  “I am Captain Braeden Wingstar of this ship, the Hail Mary,” Captain Wingstar introduced himself.

  My transparent reflection in the window flickered briefly with my wry smile. Boy, had that introduction caught me completely off guard! I had stood there and stared at him for several moments before my brain shuddered past its shock. It than scrambled for some appropriate response. Eventually the one that fell out was, “Thank you, sir, for coming and saving us from the Telmicks.” I was still surprised at how even my voice had been. Surprised that had been the first thing to fall out. Impressed that it hadn’t been a garbled mess. “Can I ask why you even came?” I had continued, before I could stop myself. I, like every colonist, knew that Prime Worlds didn’t care about colonies, as long as their interests were fine. They wouldn’t send a Legion Fleet starship to save some lowlife colonists. We are not citizens.

  Captain Wingstar had tilted his head at my question, before nodding to himself. I hadn’t been able to tell what he was thinking. He was very good at hiding his thoughts behind a civil expression. He gestured one of the orderlies to him. He had said something, and the orderly had sprung to do his bidding. The young man returned with a pile of white cloth, which he had handed to me.

  “Fresh clothes, lass,” the orderly said.

  “Get changed, and then we will talk,” the captain said.

  The orderly had gestured to a cleansing unit, and I had taken my soft burden in. I closed the hatch and washed my face. Then I changed into the loose white pants and shirt. They were a tad bit big, but they were clean, and they were the softest things I had ever worn.

  I met the captain just outside the
medical bay and he took me to a small conference room down the hall. “Would you like some water?” he had asked after indicating that I should sit.

  “Please.” I had watched him pour the water. I had wanted to ask so many things, but I hadn’t wanted to distract him from his thoughts.

  He handed me the water. “You asked why the Hail Mary came to Colony Lenti. The answer is both simple and complicated.”

  The captain had sat down, then. “Word had reached the capital that the Telmicks have been getting nastier in their raids. Orders were to survey the Telmicks’ activity and determine the threat they posed,” he continued, and I had simmered silently at that. The gray giants were definitely more than a threat, they were an active danger. But the Prime Worlds would not see them as an “active danger.” People have died and no one with the power to do anything about it has or ever will, I had thought.

  “That is the simple answer,” the captain had continued. He had paused, then, and studied me with his gray eyes. I had tried to hide my angry thoughts by taking a drink of my water. “The slightly complicated answer is that Lenti and I are old friends. I had asked to be the survey ship to provide her with assistance,” he said, thoughtfully.

  In my surprise I had met his gaze. I had understood what he wasn’t saying. The Prime Worlds may not care about the welfare of the colonies outside of their interest, but the people did hear news. Apparently some people tried to do what they could to help, though until sanctioned by the Imperial Council and/or the Emperor, there was very little they could do.

  Captain Wingstar had seemed to recognize that I understood all of what he was saying. He nodded, seemingly pleased. “May I ask you some questions, Rylynn?” he asked.

  “Sir?”

  “How old are you?”

  “Thirteen cycles.”

  I remember thinking that the captain would be a killer at poker. I don’t know what he had been thinking when I gave him my age. All I was sure of was that he had filed that information away. He had then leaned back in his chair and asked his second question. “Why did you run?”

  Such a simple question. But not such a simple answer. He was an ally of Valencia’s and Valencia had called me a coward. If I told him the reason why I had ran, I risked revealing that Valencia had been wrong before I could talk to her first. To answer him I had shrugged. My gaze strayed away from his.

  “Is it as Valencia describes? Are you a coward?” he had pressed.

  Knowing he had wanted an actual answer, I had stared at my water, so crystal clear it was amazing, and said, softly, “Yes.”

  “Is that why you taunted the Telmicks? Because you are a coward?” the captain had asked calmly.

  “How do you know that?” I had asked, far too shocked that he knew about it to realize that I had verified it. A coward wouldn’t taunt the thing they were terrified of. A coward would simply run.

  Captain Wingstar had smiled. “Valencia told me all about it.” He had eventually added that he had seen what had happened while his crew prepared the transporter. “Why did you run, Rylynn?” he asked again.

  Sighing, I had told him why. “The Telmicks knew that we were in the area. They were hunting us. My running was the only way to draw them away from the others.”

  “And if they had caught you?”

  I had met his gaze evenly. “Hopefully, I would have been too far gone to care,” I had replied.

  An emotion I could not name haunted his gaze for a moment, before he asked, “Do you have any family?”

  “No,” I had said, shortly, seeing no reason to give him anything more. It was personal. To be frank, there was nothing he could do about it. To add to the list, he was a Primary Citizen. Why would he care about the tragic life of a mere colonist? He had waited for me to say something else, but once he realized that I wasn’t about to, he stood up. He called in an ensign. The young man brought in a meal, and I was told that once I was done he would show me to my quarters. Then the captain had left. I had no idea why, but I had been glad he had. Losing my aunt had been sudden, and I had yet to give into the grief and realization that I was all alone in the universe.

  I had eaten like a starved dog with only slightly better table manners. Then I had followed the young officer to a small closet that served as quarters. Since my aunt’s small townhouse burned, this was the first room that I could call my own, even if it was for only a short time. It turned out that the others and Valencia had all been quartered in the same hall. Besides being verbally nasty, they ignored me. They all thought I was both a dull idiot and a yellow-belly coward. I had ignored the name calling, deriving a sense of success in knowing that they could still call names. The knowledge gave me a thicker skin. They could think of me whatever they wanted. They were alive.

  After a tense meal with my fellow colonists, in which I had been subjected to ridicule in the ship’s mess, I had returned to my quarters. Sitting on my bed was a letter of recommendation for the admittance board of the Legion Fleet Academy. It was signed by the captain himself, and strongly recommended that I should be admitted. Once the meaning of the letter sank in, I sat frozen on my bunk. For whatever reason, the captain was helping me by giving me a place to go. A reason to live. I didn’t ask why he had done this for me. I guess it was cowardice on my part. I didn’t want to give him the chance to change his mind.

  It also didn’t escape my notice that I was the first colonist to attend the illustrious Legion Fleet Academy.

  That is why the approach of Prima Imperium was so beautiful and terrifying.

  Orbiting the planet was the Imperium Space Station. It reminded me of a spindle surrounded by several layered rings. The whole structure spun like a dancer pirouetting gracefully. The Hail Mary slid into one of the outer docking rings. I only knew we docked for two reasons. The first was I saw it; the second was the cessation of the engine hum. The engine hadn’t been loud; I hadn’t noticed it until it stopped.

  The beautiful jewel-like capital world and the station were both unlike anything I had ever seen before. Lenti had never had those jewel tones that Prima Imperium had in abundance. It had been more earthen tones: browns, reds, and greens, its waters gray. The world outside my window had purple oceans! I was dazzled.

  “Hey, Rylynn! Let’s go.”

  A sharp voice dragged my focus from the sparkling planet to the ensign who had led me to my quarters. His name was Westley Trin. Westley was six or so years my senior, and didn’t seem to appreciate having to ‘babysit’ the colonist. It was also clear that he didn’t think that I should be allowed in the Academy. A good thing I had observed about his character was his ambition. He wanted to advance in rank, and to do that he had have the good will of his captain. Getting that good will implied following orders. So I was fairly certain that he would guide me through the maze that was the Imperium Space Station.

  At first the only problem I ran into was keeping up with the man. It seemed to me that the universe delighted in making me short and everyone else tall for some reason. I mused about it as I scurried after him. It was ironic that the very height I cursed also served to be a boon, in that he was taller than most of the other people bustling about. Talk about the universe’s strange sense of humor. I was able to keep tabs on him while dodging around people. He was lucky, and had on a Legion Fleet uniform. People saw it and parted around him like stone before white Telmick steel, effortlessly. I didn’t quite have that luxury.

  We came to a main intersection, between the outer ring and the corridor that led to the central part of the station. Westley came to a halt and turned to wait for me…finally. His arms crossed. His good-looking features were arranged in annoyance. I frowned at him.

  “What? Never had to crowd-weave before?” I asked, panting slightly once I caught up with him. “But, then, I guess you probably wouldn’t have. Especially not with the uniform. It performs wonders in that department.” I observed.

  He narrowed his eyes at me before looking about the crowd. “Look, I have a lot to do before
we head out again. So instead of walking you to the Academy Branch I’ll let you find your own way.” So much for my assumptions.

  “But the captain…” I began but he waved me silent.

  “I don’t give a damn. Your kind do not belong in the Academy.”

  “A colonist, I assume?”

  “Yes. And a coward.” He added darkly.

  It was my turn to narrow my eyes at him. Instead of looking at the crowd, I tilted my head and opened my mouth.

  “I wonder what you would have done if you had nine-foot-tall, gray-skinned giant mercenary bandits with chromatic swords half their height and laser guns hunting you. Not only are they hunting for you, but they know you are in the area. Compound that by adding in others who, like you, are just trying to escape with their lives. Would you have gotten down like you were ordered and let the enemy capture everyone in your group? Or would you have done what you could to lead the enemy away so that the others would have a better chance of making it out?”