Evan Currie - Heirs of Empire

William wasn’t concerned. He was the only man for some distance, having left his allies at a safe camp several dozen miles away. This wasn’t a pickup. It was a meeting that would hopefully settle a good many problems for him in one swoop.

And create several more, of course.

That was the way you made progress, though. You solved the current problems and created new ones to deal with. Movement was only possible through solving one issue after another.

The Naga, apparently satisfied, hauled down on its sails— hard —and accelerated in as fast as the winds blew and then some. The stubby fighter swooped in, only to pull up at the last moment and stand on its sails again just a couple dozen feet from William.

He was used to Cadre pilots, however, being one himself, so he didn’t flinch.

The handler let out the sail line and settled the Naga into place as neat as could be, then began drawing the sails down by the numbers. William nodded curtly and waited until the lines were secured before approaching.

The Naga’s canopy smoothly hissed open on hydraulics as he approached, and William recognized Delsol from her file imagery. He’d read it before the coup, and before he’d destroyed the Cadre files in the palace. But the skimmer handler behind her surprised him. William spotted Brennan Scourwind as the boy let the gunner seat rotate out of his way and unstrapped his restraints.

“Brennan!”

“William.” Brennan nodded, stretching out but not dismounting from the aging fighter. “I’m glad you made it out.”

The Cadreman nodded. “And I, you. I hoped that Kayle had gotten you out, but when his death was reported, I almost lost hope. Lydia?”

“She and I got out together,” Brennan said. “We joined up with the skipper here a few days ago.”

William blinked, two things catching his attention: the twins had been on their own for weeks, apparently, and Brennan had called Delsol “skipper.”

That wasn’t an official title anywhere in the empire, but rather a title of respect generally offered to a ship’s captain by her crew and no one else. If Delsol had only had the twins for a few days, then she’d apparently gotten Brennan’s attention in that time, if nothing else.

“Well, you have no idea how glad I am to hear you both made it out,” he said finally. “The chaos was pervasive in those last hours.”

“I know. I was there too,” Brennan said dryly. “We had to escape by air, and it was a close call. The rebel skimmers controlled the skies. I had to free fly the city to evade them.”

William whistled.

Free flying was a common enough maneuver, of course; it simply meant operating without a sail. Civilian skimmers were designed to be able to glide safely to the ground in case of a failure, but they weren’t intended to navigate the artificial canyons of the capital.

“As touching as the reunion is,” Mira broke in, “I believe we have business to discuss?”

“Right, of course.” William nodded. “Do you have a manifest?”

Mira handed him a portable interface, and he linked to it automatically as his hand closed on the device. William only took a few moments to skim the list, then he whistled again, this time even more appreciatively.

“I knew you’d raided a depot, and I guessed that there was a Cadre stash there,” he admitted, “but it must have been one of the newer ones. You’ve some choice materials.”

“I do.”

“We’ll take them,” he said, “all of them.”

“I have a crew to pay,” she said cautiously.

William chuckled softly. “Yes. I heard about those idiots you turned to fertilizer. Don’t worry, Delsol, I’m not here to rob you. We can’t pay full value, but then I doubt you expected that?”

Mira shook her head.

While full value would be nice, of course, she was offloading hot and illegal materials. She’d be more than satisfied with a significant cut over market value, and that was before any loyalist discount she might offer.

“I think you’ll find our offer fair,” William said. “I’ll have the list itemized and an offer transmitted. Acceptable?”

“Eminently.”

“Good.” He turned his focus back to Brennan. “I need to speak with Lydia.”

Brennan glanced at Mira before answering, an action not lost on William, but he didn’t comment.

“She’ll be at the delivery.”

William nodded slowly, wondering if he should push for more, but Brennan had always been protective of his sister and distrustful of authority … particularly Cadre. William supposed that he couldn’t really blame him, all things considered, but for the moment it was problematic at best.

He sighed. “All right. Then I think we’re finished here.”

Mira nodded. “The Andros will be ready to offload wherever you need us as soon as you confirm payment.”

“We may want a little more than just supplies,” William said, looking at Brennan. “With the heirs found, we can finally move against Corian with a chance of success.”

Mira glanced at the young man. “That’s between you and them. You’ll have your chance to pitch your proposal.”

Brennan only nodded in agreement.

“That’s all I ask,” William said calmly, though he was masking a certain level of disappointment that he hadn’t secured a little more enthusiasm from them.

“Excellent,” Mira said as the gunner seat rotated back into place and she dropped into it. “We’ll see you at the transship site.”

“Looking forward to it,” William said as the canopy closed.

He stepped back, clearing the area as the sail projectors launched. The aquamarine sails bloomed above them, hooking the deep whirlwinds that existed around the God Wall, and the aging fighter was lifted into the air as he watched.

Godspeed, Brennan. We need you and Lydia now, more than we’ve ever needed anyone in generations.

Flying out from the unpredictable winds around the God Wall took all Brennan’s focus, and he didn’t have time to speak any of the thoughts swirling in his mind until they were well clear and on their way back to the Andros .

“You knew he was going to want to bring Lydia into this,” he said quietly, his voice accusing.

“Yes, and you should have known it too,” Mira said calmly from in front of him.

Brennan didn’t have much to say to that. It was blatantly obvious in hindsight. He’d been blinded by the chance to fly his lovely little toy, but that was a foolish mistake; in the end it was only a toy. His sister was all he had left right now, and he didn’t much like the way things were going.

“What do you think we should do?”

Mira smiled slightly, careful not to let Brennan see it. He’d take it the wrong way, of that she had no doubt, but she couldn’t help it. She knew that just asking that question must have hurt him, almost physically, but it was a good sign that he was seeking someone else’s thoughts.

“Corian is a threat to you and Lydia as long as he lives,” she answered honestly, “so you’ll need to weigh that long-term risk against the risk of attempting to retake the throne.”

“Blast the throne to plasma,” Brennan spat. “It’s done nothing for us but bring pain.”

“You barely can even conceive pain ,” she snapped back. “You lived in the palace your whole life, with every need cared for. The worst thing you ever experienced wasn’t even your own pain.”

Brennan’s breath sharply hissed through his teeth as he sucked it in.

“Oh yes, I know all about that little mess you and your sister stumbled into,” she said. “Bad business that. Should never have happened, but don’t count that as your pain. You were a witness to someone else’s pain, which can be bad enough, I’ll admit, but it was still theirs to claim.”