“We believe they have an interstellar communicator. The Empire does not have the capability, and it places us at a tremendous disadvantage.”
“So that’s how they keep finding us,” M’Sada said. “We hadn’t followed the line of logic all the way.”
“No one else has, either, not with these Chessori. We’re learning as we go,” Otis replied. He looked at Krys. “Remember your first vision, all those years ago?”
“I remember it well. I spent years trying to figure it out.”
“It was fulfilled on the emerging world. I won’t mention the name of that world. You’ll have to be Tested before that happens.”
“Tested!” Stven exclaimed again. A puff escaped from one nostril, despite the presence of a Knight of the Realm.
Otis’ head swung slowly in his direction. “Your next stop will be the Queen. Surely you know that. Do you fear a Testing?”
“No, Sire. I just… well, I never expected to meet a Knight of the Realm, let alone the Queen.” He looked to Krys for support.
Otis turned back to Krys. “She needs you by her side as quickly as you can get there. She’s alone.”
“Alone!”
“In her mind, she’s alone. All her Knights are away on various tasks, and I don’t doubt that Chandrajuski is, as well. She needs a friend, Krys.”
Another puff escaped, and M’Sada was forced to leave, his upper hands working overtime on his antennae as he raced for the exit. Otis looked at Stven with a peculiar look. “Isn’t that considered bad form among the Rress?”
Stven’s head lowered on his long neck. “Sorry, Sire. There’s a reason I’m here instead of there, something about a weak diaphragm. I’m quite the reject.”
“Then I wish there were more rejects. Stand tall, sailor.”
“Yes, Sire,” Stven said, his neck lifting slightly, still mortified.
“You said the vision was fulfilled,” Krys said. “Most of it I understand now, but who is the man of dirt?”
“I can’t say without revealing more than I can before you’re Tested. Let me just say that you could not have been more precise in your original description of him. All your descriptions fit.”
Krys’ eyes rose to the ceiling as she remembered the words of Daughter’s vision.
“You will be so much more, and have so much less. They will best you, but a man of dirt will come to your aid.”
Alone among all her visions, she had been uncertain of one word. The word dirt seemed to carry more than one meaning. The actual word that had come to her was earth, or Earth, but the sense of dirt came through strongly. Her eyes grew large as she considered Otis’ words, but she remained mute as he continued.
“The only survivors of a ground battle on that emerging world were the Queen, her daughter, the nanny, a Rider whose host was dying, myself, and the ‘man of dirt,’ as you call him. Without his help, none of us would have survived. The Queen was forced to do a terrible thing. She stunned this man from an emerging world and permitted a newly fissioned Rider to enter his body.”
Krys sucked in a breath.
“Yes, somewhat akin to what happened to Val, isn’t it? But for the man of dirt who knew nothing of our ways, it was a difficult awakening. It took many months for him to accept the Rider. I might add that the Rider played a major part in another vision, Krys: your vision with Chandrajuski.”
Krys remembered the words:
“Easy to leave, hard to remain. The man of dirt comes to one in shadow. She will die, but death is not forever.”
“She died at the hands of a gleason, but the man of dirt sent his Rider to her. It kept her alive and healed her. I believe she has since returned the Rider to him.”
Stven worked hard to hold back a puff. M’Sada had just returned to the lounge. “Yes?” Otis asked Stven.
Stven was afraid to breath, but M’Sada, too, was intrigued. He asked the question for Stven. “A gleason?”
“You know of them?”
“Only that they’re the stuff of nightmares.”
“They are. One killed me that night, as well.” Krys turned startled eyes to him, and he grinned his feral grin. “Seems we had just enough Riders to go around.”
He turned back to M’Sada. “Recruiting gleasons could not have been easy. It shows how hard the Rebels are searching for the Queen. Know this: she represents failure for them. If the Last of the Chosen survives, the Rebels will be unable to hold the coup together.”
Otis turned glaring eyes to each of them. “Do each of you understand that?” Heads nodded, and he growled low in his throat.
“It might explain why they’ve been looking so hard for us, and why they were so successful,” Stven said. “They probably hoped they could reach her through us. But, Sire, if the gleason killed you and the Queen, who killed it?”
“The man of dirt.”
“He kills gleasons? And Chessori? And he flew halfway across the galaxy manually? Who is he?”
“He’s just a man, but he made the ultimate sacrifice for his Queen, twice. There’s a lot more to him, but his story is for another day. He is your First Knight, a title that has been earned many times over.”
Krys’ eyes sparkled. “I once told Daughter that she would find her knight in shining armor. I didn’t understand how she would do it since she was soon to be part of an arranged marriage, but her husband is dead now. Has she found her knight in shining armor?”
“You’ll have to ask her yourself, Krys.”
She smiled. His words were answer enough, and she was happy for the person who had come closest to being the mother she never knew.
Otis’ story was long, and parts were left out, but when he was done, a fire had been lit under the crew. What they’d gone through seemed paltry in comparison, but when Krys finished their story, Otis assured them it was not. “You’ve served your queen honorably and well,” he said.
He pulled Krys aside. “Is there anything you have not told me?”
“No, Sire. We have withheld nothing of which I am aware.”
“You must go to the Queen, without delay.”
“I will, Otis, but you should know this: I’m needed out here as much as I am there. In part, because I’m helping to spread the word to high ranking officers, but that’s not the main reason. Admiral Buskin has many more resources for reaching these officers, and he’s reached far more than I have. I need to be out here because my visions are helpful to the Queen. To have those visions, it seems I must be in contact with the person who is the focus of the vision, at least most of the time. Some of the people out here are going to play big parts in whatever is coming. If I can offer them guidance, it serves her.”
“She needs guidance, as well, Krys.”
“I don’t have to stay out here all the time.”
“And she might be able to provide you with some tools to help you in your job. It will be up to her. She’s a very smart lady, don’t ever forget. She’s out of her element some of the time, she’s learning how to be Queen just as we’re all learning the craft of state. She’s stumbling occasionally, but she has a plan, and you’re part of it. I’m glad we finally found you.”
“And now I have to go.”
“Yes, to her. I’m not going to tell you where she is, Krys. It’s not because I don’t trust you, it’s because you can’t tell what you don’t know.”
“Stven and M’Sada will have to know.”
“They’re Imperial Officers. They’ll handle the information appropriately.”
“What, kill themselves if we’re captured?”
“They’re fine officers, Krys. I would expect no less in these difficult times, and I’m certain they’ll deliver no less.” He opened his mouth in a leer, showing his vicious teeth. “It’s a good reason to win, to keep fighting under any circumstances, eh?”
In the end, Stven and M’Sada did not learn the location of the Queen. Buskin did, and Rappor remained at her berth in his hangar bay.
The voyage to Shipyard took ten weeks. During that time, Buskin continued working with his staff to develop fighting tactics. Serious fighting would take place eventually, and tactics for fighting squadron against squadron had never been considered during training at the Academy. Worse, it looked like fleets might end up fighting fleets, an extremely complex endeavor. He’d already spent considerable time working on the issue from his hiding place out among the stars, but there were a lot of unknowns, and he was not at all confident of success.