“Retreat,” a graceful woman in black Paladin’s armor says.
“De’sai,” another growls.
That’s the Syldrathi word for shame. I see it reverberate around the room, half the assembly murmuring agreement, the other half uncertain.
For warriors like these to even consider retreat an option … I begin to understand what Caersan means to them. He’s not just a leader. He’s a father. The man who saved them from shameful peace with Earth, from the “weaklings” on the Syldra council. And his disappearance has cut them like a knife to the heart.
Sharpened teeth are bared. Hard words are spoken. I catch unrest and Templars and coup. One of the younger Paladins slams his fist onto the table—for Syldrathi, an outburst like that is unthinkable.
And then Saedii speaks.
Her voice is calm. Hard. Cold. I hear words like honor and vengeance, father and truth. I understand what she’s telling them. Saedii intends to rendezvous with the Unbroken armada, take command, then return to Earth and find out what happened to the Starslayer.
Her voice brings calm to their frayed nerves.
The Unbroken princess, stepping up to the king’s empty chair. But …
“That’s a mistake, Saedii,” I finally sigh.
All eyes turn to me. A Paladin with iron-gray hair glares, hand slipping to the beautiful silvered kaat blades crossed at his back. His Terran is fluent, but marked by a heavy Syldrathi accent.
“You dare speak so to a Templar of the Unbroken, so’vaoti?”
“Aye.” A sharp-eyed female glowers at me, glances to Saedii. “Who is this refuse we dragged from the Void’s belly, Templar?”
I answer before Saedii can speak for me. “My name is Tyler Jones. Son of Jericho Jones.”
I see my name echo around the room.
Before he joined the Senate and fought for peace, my dad fought the Syldrathi to a standstill. Gave them the worst bloody nose of the entire Terran-Syldrathi War.
“And while we’re keeping score,” I continue, “I’m the one who saved your Templar’s life when the Andarael got hit by the Kusanagi. And then broke her out of a holding cell before they tortured her to death. I didn’t see many of you there helping her.”
Erien bares his teeth, canines sharpened to points. “I should cut your tongue out of your head, Terran whelp.”
“Maybe you could leave me half?” I wave at my mouth. “Unless you want to remove the Syldrathi part, too?”
His eyes narrow at that. He glances at Saedii, who inclines her head. The knowledge of my Syldrathi heritage seeps into the room like smoke.
“I mean, that’s presuming you can lay a glove on me at all, big man.” I lean a little closer, dragging Erien’s eyes back to mine. “Or maybe you forgot I’m also the one who killed a drakkan single-handed?”
Okay, so normally I’m not a whip-it-out-and-measure-it kind of guy. Most days, I prefer to let my actions do the talking for me. But I know for a fact that the Unbroken respect strength. Conviction. And above all, courage. So I just stare at Erien, the air boiling between us, until a younger male Templar beside him touches his arm. The touch only lasts a second. They exchange a glance, something passes between them.
“Be’shmai,” the younger male murmurs. “Osh.”
Erien’s gaze flickers, then returns to Saedii.
“Perhaps,” she says, licking at the split in her lip, “you could elucidate the nature of this mistake I am making.”
I flash her half a dimpled smile. “Thought you’d never ask.”
“I am not asking. I am commanding.”
She scowls at me, dark hair tumbling about her cheeks as she lowers her chin. But from the glint in her eye, the faint flicker of her thoughts, I can still sense Saedii is almost … amused.
A Templar of the Unbroken has no use for sycophants, I realize. Good leaders never do. Saedii likes struggle. She likes being pushed, challenged. And from the way her eyes keep drifting to them, she also likes my dimples.
Let’s be honest, who can blame her.
Tyler Jones: 2
Saedii Gilwraeth: 0
Erien glowers as I turn to the myriad of news feeds projected on the walls. Eyes narrowed, I search until I find the one I want and point toward the stream. “The feed from GNN-7. Can you call that up?”
One of the Paladins glances at Saedii, and she acquiesces with a small wave of her hand. The feed grows larger, dominating the wall. A Chellerian male is talking on the feed, his blue skin rendered gray by the Fold. Even in black and white, his smile is dazzling, and his suit looks like it cost the GDP of a small moon. The name LYRANN BALKARRI floats beneath him, headlines in a dozen languages scroll behind him. The news is grim.
“An attack by Rigellian insurgents on Chellerian holdings in the Colaris sector,” Saedii reads the headline, raises a brow. “And?”
“Colaris has been contested by Rigel and Chelleria for the last fifty years. The Chellerian consulate just brokered a cease-fire after a decade of negotiations. And Rigel suddenly just starts blowing up Chellerian ships?”
I turn to another screen. “That one. Bring up that one.” I point to another feed. “That too.” They’re small stories—if you weren’t paying attention, they’d be easy to miss in the noise and confusion of the Unbroken attack on Terra. But there are dozens of them. And I’m paying attention.
Ishtarri colony ships destroyed by a gremp attack in the Fold.
A three-way border war between the No’olah, the Antarri Collective, and Shearrr, cold for the last seven years, suddenly flares again.
Three top-tier Dominion officials assassinated by agents of their chief rivals, the Pact of Shen.
“Distractions,” I say, looking around the room. “Provocations meant to drag a dozen different races into a dozen different conflicts.” My gaze falls on Saedii. The bite marks on my neck sting with sweat. “Just like your abduction dragged the Unbroken into war with Earth and Trask.”
“The war with Earth never ended for us, Terran,” Erien growls. “We were simply concerned with other prey.”
I ignore him, staring into Saedii’s eyes. “You know who this is.”
“This … Ra’haam you spoke of.”
“It’s corrupted the GIA. And the GIA has operatives in every sector of the galaxy.” I wave at the feeds, trying not to sound like a conspiracy nut. “It could pull this off with enough planning. And it’s been planning for centuries. It wants the galaxy at war. Tied up and distracted so nobody learns who the real threat is until it’s too late.”
There’s an exchange in Syldrathi among Saedii and her command crew. Questions. A brief explanation of the Ra’haam, the Eshvaren, the Weapon. I sense skepticism among them, see their disdain as they look at me. Saedii can see into my head. She knows I’m telling the truth.
But still …
“Our concern is not for some weed festering in the shadows,” she declares. “Our concern is for our missing Archon.”
“Those problems are one and the same, Saedii.”
She drums sharp fingernails on the table, eyes flashing. “I presume you have a plan beyond bleating like an orphaned bâshii?”
“My commanders in the Aurora Legion,” I say, ignoring the jab. “They know something. These boots of mine? The jammer inside that busted us out of that holding cell? It was waiting for me ten years inside a Dominion vault. Put there by Legion Command years before I even joined the academy.”