The Princess Rebellion (The Kyroibi Trilogy Book 2) Read online

  “As you all have been informed, imperial ships have gathered in orbit around Sonna and are using the hostile conditions of the moon Du to keep from engaging,” Gri began. “It was my suggestion that we would use Eidyn volunteers to set up a military post on Du as we are the only race within the Ghowrn Alliance to have the means to do so.”

  The three Eidyn plus Ellie’s father all nodded, as if affirming their participation. Despite the fact that theirs would be the most dangerous part of the mission, not a one showed any outward sign of apprehension. Ellie hoped one day she too would be able to control what her diodes displayed, knowing full well her nervousness was apparent.

  “My intention, of course, was to prevent an attack on our allies by hostiles from the Empire. However, at the leadership meeting, Lady El’iadrylline brought up a very important point. We do not actually know if the battleships are indeed crewed by hostiles. As we all know, many of our brethren have been conscripted into service against their free will. And after speaking with Commander Vonsse earlier in the day, it seems the Empire may have an ulterior motive.”

  Gri nodded to Vonsse, who stood and cleared his throat.

  “As some of you know, I am Commander Vonsse of the Royal Fhasmyrric Elite Guard. Rather, I was, until Fhasmyr and Sintar were taken over by the Huptsovian Empire. I was among the ranks of guardians tasked with seeing that members of the SiFa royal families make it to safety. Needless to say, we were not prepared for the magnitude of the attack. Many SiFa nationals, royals, commoners, and guards alike, did not survive. Even more were taken prisoner when Fhasmyr became the fortified imperial stronghold it is today. Some, however, managed to escape.”

  This piqued Ellie’s curiosity. She knew, of course, that Gevandar was one of the royals who had escaped, but she didn’t think there were any others as he was the only SiFa royalty on the Leadership Committee.

  “I know there have been rumors,” Vonsse continued. “And I’d like to immediately quash them. No, there was never a secret colony of royalty living with the Paisreatta. However, I have spent the last several cycles in the Oravaschaeal Cluster and much of the information I was able to gather has been beneficial, though it comes with a devastating revelation. The Huptsovian Empire, both under Svoryk and Nyessovor, have been sending their highest ranking prisoners of war into battle, ensuring not only that those in power are eliminated, but at the hands of their allies. As such, I concur with Eidyn Master. Our focus must change from a history of military strikes to targeted rescue and recovery missions.”

  A collective murmur of shock and disgust rippled through the room and the commander paused to allow the information to sink in. Ellie allowed her own outrage to display across her diodes, but for more than just what Vonsse had revealed. She understood the Commander’s role and the fact that his revelation had gotten the exact reaction necessary to give meaning to the rescue operation, but it still bothered her.

  Most, if not all of those who were sent to their deaths in the name of the Empire were there against their will. Whether they were royalty or the lowest of low should not have mattered. Ellie made a mental note to keep tabs on all of the Empire’s future moves, determined not to let even a single ship be shot out of the sky, whether those piloting it were of political importance or not.

  A sudden and familiar sensation caught her off guard and she looked toward the door just as Julian slid noiselessly into the apartment. He caught her eye and joined her in the back of the room, taking her hand in his. Through the connection, Ellie felt a thrum of contentment at being together, but Julian projected no explanation as to his tardiness and only replied to her silent inquiries with a slight squeeze of her hand, indicating she should have patience.

  “And so we shall now coordinate our effort,” Ka’griannas said above the din. “For the plan to work in a way that best serves the interest of the Alliance and assumes no intent, it must appear that an attack was made based on our perceived threat. However, we’ll need a precise level of coordination to be sure of no casualties.”

  “Initial scans indicate these ships are not Eidyssic design,” Re’geya noted. “Disabling the thrusters will prevent a return to the Empire’s territory, but how do we force a landing? For all we know, these ships are rigged to avoid capture. Isn’t that the Empire’s usual strategy?”

  Ka’griannas nodded along as Re’geya spoke. “This is a valid point. One I do hope we may address.” He looked up over the heads of those assembled. “Julian? Were you able to make an assessment on the intelligence I sent you?”

  “I was,” Julian said, releasing Ellie’s hand as he moved to the front of the room. “Empire class battleships are a Huptsovian creation, but the technology is a low tech replication of the Eidyssic flat-wing cargo jumpers.”

  He set his computer on the table and pointed it at the wall. After some adjustments, the schematics of two ships displayed side by side.

  “Those of you who went through service flight training are aware that the first gen flat-wings have what can at best be described as a rear stabilizer design flaw.”

  A rumble of knowing snorts and grunts erupted from the three Eidyn soldiers, bringing a smirk to Julian’s face.

  “The Huptsovian version never got the upgrade,” he said with a wry grin. “What’s more, because the fluctuations were constantly triggering the emergency alert system, Huptsovian engineers took them offline completely.”

  “Surely not,” sputtered Yuraelli, her face darkly glowing with unmasked horror. Ellie didn’t know a whole lot about engineering, but she didn’t need to be a scientist to understand that having a disabled emergency alert system on a starship was a recipe for disaster.

  “The lives of those who serve are of little consequence to the Empire. Svoryk was lured by the promise of power. Historically, Nyessovor shares the same weakness. But,” he added, shifting focus away from the atrocities of the Empire, “their incompetence and disregard gives us the advantage we need to ensure the safety of those aboard the battleships.”

  Julian flicked at the screen and the Eidyn ship went away. The Empire’s ship schematics enlarged, drawing focus on a panel of paper thin sheets of metal that folded and swayed, reminding Ellie of vegetation on the ocean floor.

  “The Huptsovian engineers didn’t simply take the stabilizers offline, they made a linear cutoff.”

  Another round of angered muttering and hisses rose up, though this time, Ellie had to wait for the explanation.

  “For the benefit of those who may not understand transport engineering, a linear cutoff means that all system functionality that follows stabilization is unmonitored by the emergency alert system.”

  “That’s ridiculous!” Ellie gasped, realizing that what she was looking at on the schematic was a guiding array. In principal, it worked just like a rudder on a boat, but in practice it was a billion times more precise. “You’re saying that if the navigational controls suddenly decided not to work, the crew would never know?”

  “An experienced crew knows that by the time the alarms have activated, the situation is dire,” Julian explained. “Though I would not be so sure how many of the Empire’s flight crew have gone through more than rudimentary flight training. Regardless, this works to our advantage. Once we have calculated the required trajectory, we can manually lock the guiding array before disabling the thrusters.”

  “How are you gonna do a manual guidance switch without actually going up to the ships?” asked Vitokk.

  “We will be doing just that,” Julian replied. “El’iadryov and I are more than capable of making the manual adjustments with the guidance of those monitoring from the surface of the moon.”

  “How you planning to do that without proximity alerts? Even Svoryk wasn’t stupid enough to take those offline.”

  “You’ve been away for a while, Vitokk,” Ka’griannas said with a mischievous grin. “Cloaking isn’t just for interstellar class vessels.”

  “Nullifying armor will keep our presence hidden,” Julian confirme
d. “But I must stress, this will not be easy. The window for dropping the vessels into the recovery zone is just a few hours each day. We are going to need constant communication with the ground team to coordinate the strike.”

  “This will not be an issue,” Commander Vonsse assured.

  “Will it not?” Gri questioned. “I was of the impression that the atmosphere on Du caused communication issues.”

  Vonsse turned to his first officer, who pulled a box from somewhere within the voluminous robe, causing Ellie to do a double take. The logo on the box bore a striking resemblance to one she knew well.

  “Analog cellular phones from the planet Earth,” Vonsse said with a flourish, smiling at Ellie’s astonishment when he held up a phone nearly as old as she. “A bit bulky, yes, but they come with these curious headsets for hands free use.”

  “Okay, this I have to hear,” Ellie said with a snort. “How exactly are cell phones that can’t even be used on Earth anymore going to work when your technology doesn’t?”

  “How, I could not tell you. Why, however, is easy,” Vonsse said as he continued to unpack phones. “Transmitter relays are actually quite easy to set up and the atmospheric anomalies on Du are of a frequency that parallels those used by these phones. It was Mikk’s idea and quite frankly, I was surprised it worked.”

  Rather than take credit, the first officer seemed to shrink further into the cloak at the praise. At least now Ellie knew a name, though Mikk was clearly a nickname and gave her no further information about the mysterious figure.

  “So how soon do we plan to be in position?” Ellie asked, adding, “And may I also reasonably assume everyone in attendance this evening is our entire team?”

  “Aside from some additional coordination with the Sonnan relief agency, yes, we are it,” Gri assured, answering her unspoken question.

  “We will be leaving this evening to establish the base on Du,” Bryotonnae added. “I would like to run a few tests with the communications devices before we make our presence known.”

  “A wise choice,” Ka’griannas said and took the floor again. “I would request that everyone on the ground team stay here this evening. In the morning, we will leave together for the transport terminal. Richard Whitmore, may I ask you to stay and assist me with creating the illusion of attack? I know this is short notice, but the day after tomorrow, when the moon approaches, we have our best chance for directing the disabled vessels into the secured location.”

  “Of course,” Richard agreed.

  Ellie pursed her lips. Two days was not a very long time and she was well aware of the fact that most military strikes on Earth took weeks if not months of preparation, but it still seemed like a long time to wait when lives were at stake. And yet at the same time, she felt irrationally upset that she wouldn’t even have one last night to spend with Julian before he put himself in danger by traveling to Du.

  “I’m going to miss you too,” Julian whispered, taking her hand again.

  “You can read my mind, can you?”

  “Only your intent. I promise you, we’re not in danger.”

  “So you say,” Ellie frowned, but Julian only smiled and handed her an old Motorola.

  “I’ll be checking in at regular intervals, so keep this handy. If I miss a communication, log it and tell Gri.”

  “I will,” she said with a nod before taking his hand in hers and leading him around a corner into the hallway. She would have liked a far more private goodbye, but it was the best they had.

  “Be safe out there,” she said, punctuating her words with an unspoken diodal transmission, not even trying to restrain her emotions.

  “Of course I will,” Julian replied, breaking their intimate connection before they both forgot how very little privacy they actually had. “This will be over before you know it,” he added, giving her a light peck on the cheek before rejoining the rest of the Eidyssic in their planning.

  No, she mentally corrected with a dark look as Julian walked away. This is just the beginning.

  As she watched the Eidyssic prepare to leave, she felt a hand on her shoulder and turned to see Bethany smiling at her.

  “No time for moping, your majesty. We’ve got a lot of catching up to do.”

  Chapter 7

  “Figures you got a better view than me. What’s the point of being royalty if I’m stuck living in a villain’s lair?”

  Ellie didn’t bother to hide the envy that lit her face and tinged her words. Bethany’s entire quarters may have been half the size of just her main room at the palace, but the window looked out on the open square, where the last light of the day glittered in the crystalline roof.

  “Never mind that,” Bethany said as she threw herself onto what looked like an overstuffed cloud in the corner. “What’s the immigration policy here and do I get special favors for knowing a princess?”

  “What?” Ellie whipped her head around and stared in wide-eyed shock at her friend. Yes, there was definitely something different and it was clearer now. “You really like it here, don’t you?”

  “What’s not to love? Look, Ellie, you know I’m a proud New Yorker, born and raised, but I don’t pretend for a minute that everything’s all hunky dory even in our tiny little accepting corner of the world. You’ve seen how low people can go and I don’t have to remind you of the reason I started working out four hours a day.”

  “Well sure,” Ellie said cautiously. A stab of sympathy went through her heart as she remembered the story Bethany had told her of being a scared and confused teen and the awful attack that led her to finally seek out a support network. “But Bethany, things here are…” she bit her lip, unsure exactly what she wanted to reveal.

  “Things here are a hell of a lot different than they are back home,” Bethany finished. “Look, Ellie, I know you ain’t happy with the politics and I don’t blame you for that, but girl, I am whole now.”

  “Whole?”

  “You know I’ve been holding off on total reassignment because of all the complications, right?” Bethany asked and Ellie’s jaw dropped.

  “Wait, do you mean you went ahead and had it here?”

  “Yes and no,” Bethany explained. “Ellie, they didn’t just swap out the fixtures, they reinstalled the plumbing.”

  “You mean…”

  “YES!” Bethany shouted, jumping up from her chair and dancing around the room before grabbing Ellie by the shoulders. “I’m a woman. An honest to god, uterus-having woman. And here’s the thing: no one even blinked an eye when Re’geya brought me to the clinic. Ellie, your people are so advanced that not only do they have the technology to reassign a person’s entire genetic makeup, but they don’t even question why.”

  “That’s because we aren’t normally born with an assigned gender,” Ellie said, calling upon the information she’d been too embarrassed to access before.

  “Makes sense with you being intersex and all.”

  “Actually, I’m not.” Somehow, despite the personal nature of the topic, Ellie felt far more comfortable discussing Eidyssic genetics and sexual habits with Bethany than she had with Julian or her own mother. In truth, Bethany had been one of the only people Ellie had ever confided in regarding what she thought was her own anomaly. “I just don’t have the same reproductive organs as humans and that was mom’s excuse. She thought she was being helpful.”

  “See? That’s exactly what I’m talking about.” Bethany pounded her fist on the table for emphasis. “No one questions anything here. Back home, there were people within our own community who still had no idea what to make of me. And can you blame them? Everyone’s happy and comfortable when a male to female trans person acts glamorous and girly, but a butch gym rat who likes boys and girls was too far outside people’s comfort zones.”

  Ellie remembered some of the nastier comments she’d overheard and had to admit, Bethany had a point. Even amongst the open-minded, there were still prejudices. But Ellie could easily say the same about the cultures she’d found in
the Ghowrn system.

  “You’re right,” she said carefully. “And I’m truly happy that you were able to finally realize yourself without the dangers presented back on Earth…”

  “I sense a but coming on,” Bethany cut in dryly.

  “Perceptive, you are.” Ellie smirked, but it faded, overridden by her concern. “There are a lot of buts, actually. The biggest being that this isn’t a perfect utopia. We’re still headed into war.”

  “Like we’re not constantly at war back home?” Bethany shrugged.

  “Yeah, but this isn’t the vague notion of war,” Ellie argued. “I mean like, in two days we’re headed to a refugee camp to rescue prisoners from imperial warships.”

  Bethany gave Ellie a blank stare before shaking her head.

  “Sometimes I forget how young you are.”

  “Young?” Ellie bristled, but Bethany went on, ignoring her indignation.

  “I will kindly remind you that my plan for a free ride to college was rudely interrupted by the terrorist attacks that devastated my world. The four years I spent in the Middle East, watching lives cut down before they had a chance to begin, was anything but the vague notion of war.”

  Ellie lowered her eyes as her cheeks flamed with embarrassment. While Bethany was usually tight-lipped about her life prior to coming out, she had talked about her time in the army.

  “Sorry, I didn’t think before I spoke. But still, if anyone knows how terrible it is, it’s you. Do you really want to stick around for yet another war?”

  “For something I believe in, yes, as a matter of fact I do. I didn’t have to join the army. As soon as it became obvious we were going into war, some of my friends did exactly that. This is no different. I’m fighting for something I believe in. Aren’t you?”

  “Of course,” Ellie replied automatically, but when she thought about it, she wasn’t sure she could say so in complete honesty. Fighting against the oppression of the Empire was one thing, but she still could not condone all that the Alliance saw as right and lawful.