A King's Ship (Empire Rising Book 2) Read online

  -Extract from Empire Rising, 3002 AD

  30th June, 2466 AD, Amack, Vestar

  As James stepped off the shuttle he couldn’t help but be overawed at the structure before him. They had landed in the Overlord’s palace and as he looked up it seemed as if the white spires in front of him stretched up into space. Behind them he could see even taller spires that were all but blocked out by those in front. Directly in front of him there was a giant set of white steps that led up to the main entrance to the palace structure. They dwarfed those of the Haven Council Chamber by a factor of over a hundred.

  No one had come to meet them so, shrugging, he walked towards the steps. Beside him strode Major Johnston, Agent Bell and Lieutenant Scott and to each side they were flanked by six marines in full combat armor. The Overlord had chosen not to reply to James’ message personally, instead a text message had been sent back requesting that James and his officers come to the Overlord’s palace to discuss their requests in person. There hadn’t been anything about coming unarmed so James had decided to bring as much firepower as they could fit into the shuttle. If nothing else, it would show the Overlord that human military technology was far more advanced than their own.

  When the last marine stepped onto the stairs a loud crunching noise rumbled from beneath their feet. Everyone looked around in alarm but as the stairs suddenly kicked into life and began to move upwards they relaxed again.

  “They are one giant escalator,” Bell said, “I’m sure glad we didn’t have to walk all the way up them. I thought the Overlord planned his palace this way just to get sadistic pleasure out of making anyone who came to visit him exhaust themselves just walking up the steps.”

  “Me to,” James said, “but let’s keep the chatter to a minimum, no doubt there are bugs everywhere recording everything we say. We’ll have to keep our thoughts to ourselves.”

  As the group ascended the steps in silence they had time to look at the various statues that lined either side of the escalator. James had already seen images of the aliens from Endeavour’s optical scanners but the statues fascinated him nevertheless. The aliens were quadrupeds but they seemed to stand at almost the same height as the average human. As they continued up the steps each of the alien figures was looking him in the eye and more than one was clearly designed to intimidate visitors. At least that was the effect they had on him, who knows what those facial expressions mean for the aliens, James reminded himself.

  The statues were painted green to resemble the color of the alien’s skin. Analysis of the dead bodies from Haven suggested that the alien’s skin actually resembled scales from reptiles back on Earth. As James studied the nearest statue closely he could make out markings in whatever material the statues were made of that looked exactly like the scales from the pet snake he had as a child. The thing that marked the aliens out and their most fascinating feature was their extra set of arms. Four legs he was used to, most earth mammals and reptiles had four legs. But four arms, that was something entirely new and the human like hands with four fingers and a thumb at the end of each arm was more than a little unnerving.

  We will look just as strange to them, James reminded himself. At least if there are some similarities it might make it easier to communicate.

  When the group neared the top of the steps they stopped moving and James and the others ascended the last couple of steps themselves. Before them the giant door into the palace opened as if it had a mind of its own. Inside there didn’t appear to be any lights and it looked like they were about to step into a giant black hole.

  “Lead the way Captain,” Bell said with a smirk on her face.

  She is actually enjoying this, James thought as he shook his head and moved forward.

  “Greetings Captain,” a voice said from the darkness as James crossed the threshold. The ear implants Scott had given them automatically translating the alien’s speech. “Welcome to the palace of the Great Supreme Overlord Tal’Nack. I greet you on behalf of his benevolence.”

  “We thank you for your welcome,” James said into the darkness. As his eyes adjusted he made out a shape in the darkness. Stepping towards it he held out his hand. “It is customary among our people to shake hands when meeting someone for the first time. My full name is James Patrick William Somerville.”

  “We have no such custom,” the alien said as he turned and headed further into the palace. “If you would follow me, we have prepared a room for you to wait in until the Supreme Overlord is ready to see you.”

  James looked back at Bell and her face clearly said what he was thinking, that wasn’t the best of starts.

  James led the group after the alien. He couldn’t help but watch the alien as it walked. Like the statues outside, it was clothed in a tight fitting military uniform which didn’t leave much to the imagination. No one knew the specifics of how the aliens reproduced but the rest of the alien’s body was very impressive. As it walked its leg muscles bulged under its own weight, suggesting the alien could propel itself at a much greater speed if it wanted to. Its torso was equally covered in muscles and there wasn’t an ounce of fat apparent anywhere.

  James was sure that if Major Johnston or the other marines accompanying them were ever to don such form fitting uniforms their bodies might portray the same bulging muscles and lack of body fat. Yet seeing it on a potentially hostile alien was unnerving and intimidating.

  For five minutes they walked deeper into the palace, following the alien who hadn’t given his name. As they went, the amount of light slowly increased until they could see everything clearly. That only served to increase the feeling that everything about the palace was designed to intimidate visitors. Above them were vast open spaces that, even though he tried his hardest, James couldn’t see the top of. All around them there were more statues of aliens; some were in diverse military uniforms equipped with strange looking weapons. Others depicted aliens in various stages of hand to hand combat with muscles flaring as they sought to overpower each other.

  “You may wait here,” their host said when they rounded a corner and entered a small room with a number of seats. They were obviously designed to allow the four legged aliens to sit down but they looked as if humans could use them without too much difficulty.

  “You will be summoned by the Supreme Overlord when he is ready for you,” the alien said, spinning around and leaving before James could ask him anything further.

  “Well this is not how I expected things to go,” James said to the group loudly, happy to let any nearby alien bugs pick up his anger at the way they were being treated.

  “No,” Bell agreed. “But then again, on reflection, maybe this is what we should have expected.”

  “Explain,” Johnston said.

  “Well, we know the Overlord wants his citizens to treat him like a god and not just their leader. Is it so strange to think that maybe he thinks that about himself too?” Bell asked.

  “If he does, then to him we are just another group of inferior beings to be treated as such. For him to treat us as equals would go against his own self inflated ego,” she added.

  “What do we do then?” Johnston asked. “How do we negotiate with a god?”

  “I’m not sure,” James said, “for now though I guess we just wait.”

  Silence descended on the group as each thought through how one might try to open diplomatic negations with an alien who thought he was a god. How will he even view another sentient race? James asked himself.

  Having got no further in figuring things out, James was relieved when their host returned an hour later. “The Supreme Overlord will see you now,” he said.

  Everyone jumped to their feet, glad to be moving, and followed their host down another maze of corridors. It almost seemed as if the palace had been designed to make it difficult for attackers to find their way to the Supreme Overlord.

  After five minutes they rounded a corridor to be confronted by a set of massive doors that were even larger than the ones they had used to en
ter the palace. Pausing in front of the doors their host said, “I must warn you, do not cross the red line in front of the Overlord’s throne. Any attempt to cross the line will be taken as an act of aggression and the guards will immediately kill you.”

  “That’s good to know,” James said, wondering what other protocols they really should be aware of.

  Upon entering the room the group were confronted by a host of attendants who stood on either side of the room. Many of them were dressed in a similar military uniform to the alien who had led them through the palace but quite a few were dressed in much more fancy and colorful attire. James guessed that there were over a thousand aliens present.

  At the front of the room stood an extremely large chair that James took to be the Supreme Overlord’s throne. It was decorated in fine metals and sparkled with what looked like diamonds and rubies. Worryingly, along the top of the throne were over one hundred Vestarian skulls. Before the throne there were twenty more aliens in military uniform and armed with some form of rifle. Each had his rifle raised and pointed at the newcomers.

  Seated on the throne was an alien almost twice the size of any of the others in the room. Like the rest, his muscles bulged in a threatening manner but he was the first alien James had seen with what looked like a layer of fat around his waist and midriff. As he opened his mouth it was clear he had a voice to match his impressive appearance for it boomed across the room. “Ah, our distinguished guests have arrived. They have come a long way from another star system to bring their supplications before me. You may approach,” he commanded.

  Leading the group forward, James came to a stop well before the red line in front of the throne. “It is a pleasure to be granted this audience with you Overlord,” he began.

  “As I said in our COM message. We are humans, we come from the planet Earth. A fleet of alien ships attacked one of our colonies. They bombarded the planet before we drove them off. My ship is an exploration ship. We followed the alien fleet to this system. We come in peace offering friendship but we would like an explanation for this attack.”

  “Attack?” the Overlord chuckled. “Let me assure you human,” he continued, slowly working his mouth around his last word. “The Vestarians have not attacked you. If we did, you would not be standing before me. You would already be our slaves forced to submit to our might.”

  “I’m sorry to contradict you Overlord Tal’Nack,” James said in as neutral tone as he could. “The aliens who attacked us looked as you look, they called themselves Vestarians as you do. They came seeking to trade weapons technology and when they didn’t get what they wanted, they attacked our planet. After we defeated them their ships fled to this system. If they were not acting under your orders my people can understand that. But we must know the truth of the matter.”

  Tal’Nack jumped to his feet in anger, “How dare you accuse your god of lying and not ruling this world? Not one Vestarian breathes without my say so. If I say we did not attack you, we did not attack you. That is the end of the matter.”

  With a wave of one of his hands Tal’Nack sent some form of signal to the guards in front of his throne. In response they formed a semicircle around the human group, pointing their weapons at them. The marines closed in around James and the other officers.

  “I will give you one more chance human,” Overlord Tal’Nack said. “Tell me of these weapons technologies you speak of.”

  Deciding to try another approach James gave up on pursuing the attack on Haven. “My people have been exploring space for the last four hundred years. We have many technologies that we have developed, both civilian and military. As a representative of my people we would be happy to open formal communications between our two nations. There are many things we could trade to the benefit of all our people.”

  “Trade! I don’t think you have understood human, we have given you this audience so that you may come before us on behalf of your people and make an offer to the great people of Vestar. We are the chosen people of the galaxy. It is truly a privilege for you to be in our presence.”

  “Indeed we are thankful for the opportunity to come before you Overlord,” James said. “But there can only be trade between two equal partners. We have not come here to give your people anything unless we can come to an agreement. I think you misunderstand our intentions.”

  At James’ last words a ripple of whispers broke out among the watching attendants and James felt he must have said something deeply offensive. This time Tal’Nack didn’t jump to his feet but he did lean forward on his throne. “You have miscalculated human, I can command your death anytime I want. You have come to my planet and into my palace and you dare to insult me. Get out of my presence. I will give you this one mercy. Leave now, reconsider your attitude and I may allow you a second audience. If you were anyone else, you would already be dead.”

  “Quickly, this way,” the alien who had lead them into the throne room said in a whisper, clearly not wanting to attract the Overlord’s attention.

  As the group made their way out of the throne room the large doors shut behind them with a deafening crash. “Well that was short and oh so sweet,” Bell said. “Captain, I think you’re going to go down in history as the man who pissed off the god-king.”

  “Yes,” James said. “That didn’t go quite as I expected. I think we are going to have a problem with these Vestarians. We need to find out where their fleet went and how they constructed it. If they are able, I think they would enslave all of our worlds just so we would show the proper respect to their Overlord.”

  “Agreed,” Johnston said, “I don’t like that bastard one bit but if there is one thing starting off in the lower ranks of the marines teaches you it’s that you don’t piss off someone with more power than you. I hate to say it but if these Vestarians turn out to have us outclassed militarily, we’re going to have to do a lot of ass kissing in the coming decades just to survive. “

  “Excuse me,” a voice called out to them as they followed their host out of the palace. “May I speak with you?” it asked.

  Their host stopped and looked at the alien who was now speaking to them. “I’ll see them out once I am done with them,” the new voice said. Their host bowed and walked off.

  “Let me introduce myself,” the newcomer said. “I am Rak’la’loren. I serve the Supreme Overlord as his Minister for Technology.”

  “And do you have any more insults you want to add to those of your Overlord’s?” James asked, in no mood to hear more Vestarian snobbery.

  “You have to understand, no one accuses Overlord Tal’Nack of making a mistake,” Rak’la’loren said. “He is only used to dealing with his ministers and others that come before him seeking his favor. He has never had to deal with someone as an equal before.

  “If you are willing. I think together we will be able to come to a number of agreements that we can present to the Supreme Overlord. I think that way you may be able to find his favor.”

  “We did not come here looking for technology,” James said. “We came looking for answers. Can you tell us where the ships that attacked our world came from?”

  “Well, I’m afraid I don’t know,” Rak’la’loren said. “You would have to ask the Minister of Aggression about that. But if you do have a ship in orbit then you will know that we have no military ships nor do we have the industry necessary to construct them.”

  “Ok, then tell me about that satellite in orbit. We know you did not build it. Where is it from?” James asked, changing direction.

  “The satellite,” Rak’la’loren said quietly. He looked from side to side in a very human like way suggesting he was nervous. “We don’t talk about the satellite in the palace. It would make the Supreme Overlord nervous.”

  “Why?” James asked, “because its technology proves that whoever built it is vastly superior to your Overlord?”

  “That is blasphemous,” Rak’la’loren said. “If anyone hears you uttering such things they will report you to the Supreme Overlord an
d he will have you killed.”

  “I’d like to see him try,” Johnston said. “It sounds like your Overlord needs to be brought down a peg or two.”

  “Let’s get back on track,” James said. “If you can’t give us our answers we are leaving. We will find them another way. One that does not benefit you or your Overlord.”

  “I am sorry,” Rak’la’loren said. “I simply do not have the authority to give you the information you want. If you would only agree to a number of small trade deals. We have some agricultural technology we would be willing to share. Then from there we could build on our relationship and in time you may get the information you want.”

  “I am sorry too,” James said. “Your Overlord made it clear what he thinks of us. If you cannot give us the information we need then we are wasting our time here. Good day to you Sir. I think we can find our own way out.”

  With that James turned and confidently strode off in the direction he thought the main doors were in. Once they were out of earshot of Rak’la’loren he said to one of the marines, “Did you map out the palace on our way in?”