Kyle, part 7

As the Cetacea was hovering inside the atmospheric lock, Krigbaum was helping Heeswyck drag bodies of the former crew members back to the engineering deck.

'This kid doesn't mess around', thought Krigbaum, as he saw the broken neck on the fourth crew member that they had dragged back.

"Hey, Heeswyck. Captain Hollingsworth says you are pretty good in a fight, and now I've seen you work your magic twice. Why the hell are you just a Steward? You could have gotten a job in the Imperial Security forces, or for a corporation, or just about anything."

Heeswyck was wiping blood off his hands with a borrowed deck rag from the engineer he just dumped in the engine room. "Well, you see, my family is closely tied to the Hollingsworth family. My father, and his father, were both Seneschal's to the Hollingsworth family estate. I, as a younger son, was trained to be the personal bodyguard for family members. Then when the new Imperial decrees eliminating Noble holdings wiped out the Hollingsworth legacy, I was out of a job. So I took a position as a steward on the first ship that Captain Hollingsworth himself was in charge of. That was when he was running the King Richard, before he joined the Rebellion."

"You guys were on the King Richard? Shit! I've always wanted to take a vacation on that tub!"

"Uh, yes. You see, the Hollingsworth family owns controlling interest in the parent company. . .anyway, when this is all over, I'm sure you could travel on her for a while. But anyway, that's how I got the job as a Steward. And it turned out, I really liked to cook. Still do."

"Wait a second - you can get me a gig on the King Richard? Damn! How do you get a position as a pyramid dealer in one of their casinos?"

"You want to be a card dealer? On a starliner? I think we could arrange that. I'll have to talk to Hollingsworth, but I don't see a problem. Wouldn't you rather be the pit-boss?"

"What?!? Just like that - you can make me the pit-boss on a ritzy tub like the King Richard?" Krigbaum couldn't believe his ears - it was his dream. Wearing a formal suit every night, watching over the high stakes pyramid games, rubbing elbows with beautiful super models. Ahhhhh.

"Not me, but I'm sure the Captain could." Heeswyck, having cleaned his hands, was rummaging through the weapons locker in the hallway. "He told me he's very impressed with the work the entire crew is doing, and after his family fortune is restored, he wants to reward everyone. When I tell him how you took care of that security robot back there in North Raven, I'm sure he'll be impressed. That one damn robot could have murphy'd the entire mission."

"Wow." Krigbaum was still thinking about the super models, when the intercom broke into his dream.

"Hey back there, this is Captain DeAlteriis. We should be rendezvousing with the Rani of Lahore in about 40 minutes. Heeswyck you might want to get something ready to eat, I'm kind of hungry. And Krigbaum, get on the transponder and let the Rani know that we are coming in. You can let them know that our boys on the planet are in good hands. It seems that the Aslan bond-family down there thinks a lot of our Danny, and they want him to take over as senior male of the operation. They're working out the diplomatic details now with the Corax government, but I think our guys will be just fine, from the radio traffic I've been listening too. DeAlteriis out."

'A new tuxedo every night. Beautiful broads. High roller pyramid players. Champagne and caviar. Damn. Mister Krigbaum, that'd be me.'

"Heeswyck, don't you forget what we talked about. I'm serious. You tell Hollingsworth that I'm his man, make no mistake."

Heeswyck smiled at his friend. "Sure I will. But first we have to rescue Kyle and save the Imperium."

"Not a problem." Krigbaum had gotten the transponder ready to go, "Not if it means me being pit-boss on the King Richard." He adjusted the dials on the transponder and began his call to the other ship.

Krigbaum didn't see the smile on the young officer's face, as Heeswyck realized he had created a monster.

*****

"Culp, you have worked your mastery once again. I can't believe that you made it work, but the ship's telemetrics are working like a fine clock. As far as the Imperials are concerned, we are just plain old plankton freighter Cetacea, bringing in a load of yummy sea bugs for Capitol."

Hollingsworth was talking over the intercom to their security specialist, but he was standing on the bridge looking out the view port at a most impressive sight.

The surface of the Imperium's home world was ahead, and it loomed large in the view. However, the entire surface of the planet was covered in structures. There wasn't a patch of ocean, or open land anywhere to be seen. Long ago, the clouds stopped forming, and the exhaust haze had been cleaned up.

The Cetacea was being directed by an automated beacon towards the docking bay she normally moored at. It was all so simple. They had made the journey from Corax to Capitol in record time, barely stopping to refuel between jumps.

The system of Capitol was incredibly busy. There were thousands and thousands of ships everywhere. Most were neatly following the navigational beacons that had been set for them, but a few strayed here and there. Among this vast armada of freighters and couriers doing busy with the heart of the imperium, there were also a couple dozen patrol cruisers - keeping an eye on things, and making sure there were no problems.

The other worlds in the star system were equally busy, and nearly as covered with structures and bases. There was a LOT of activity in this system, and rightfully so. The Imperial Science Academy was here, as were the headquarters stations of all the branches of the Bureaucracy and the Military. Not to mention the Imperial Moot, as well as the normal administrative heads of all the aspects of such a huge and galaxy spanning empire as this one had become.

And the Cetacea, painted like some oceanic leviathan, was slowly, slowly being drawn into this packed well of humanity.

Celena was standing on the bridge, with Hollingsworth. She just stared off into space, not really concerned with what was on the view panels or in the ports.

"I have him. And his location." She spoke without moving.

"What? Kyle? You know where he is?" Hollingsworth broke out of his trance, and turned to look at her.

"Yes. He is here. In the Imperial Palace. And Barnette is with him."

The longer that he talked to her, the more like Celena her voice became. It lost some of the edginess that it had when she had first come on board, and now it was almost like talking with Celena herself. Granted, a very distracted distant Celena, but the voice was there.

"Barnette. That ass hole has a lot to pay for. Okay. I'll get us down, with the help from the ID broadcaster that Culp fixed up for us, and then we'll go in and have a look around this Imperial Palace."

She looked at him, for a second when he mentioned Barnette with such acidity, but turned away quickly. He wondered how much of her was still Rish, and how much was the real Celena. No matter, once this was all over, and Sekula is satisfied with the return of Kyle, then the Rish would depart Celena for the crystal, and she'd be returned to him--to Hollingsworth.

*****

"Sekula, what have you got for me?"

She looked up from her portable computer at him, and smiled.

"I have a lot, Sir, thanks to Culp here. She got me hacked into the local security network, and I've been intercepting broadcasts for the past half hour. It turns out that Kyle is in one of the security cells of the Imperial Palace, and also that the Robot is there on the palace as well."

There was a hologram of the palace in the center of the table, above the standard hologram projector. It was the normal blue-ish color of a hologram, but it showed the perfectly spherical Imperial palace - suspended by anti-grav over a decorative lake. The surrounding area was an pristinely manicured park, a real treasure on Capitol - one of the few places where natural vegetable matter grew on the busy, busy center of the imperium.

"Alright, so how are we going to get in?" Hollingsworth sat down across from the two women, and looked at them each in turn. They both smiled at him.

"We've already got it figured out." Sekula was saying, "There appears to be some sort of an honor guard from one of the outlying subsectors coming for review today. We can manage to make mimic uniforms and beat them to the palace, and with forged id cards, we should be able to get in."

Culp took over at that point, "It would take the Imperials about an hour or two before they realized they let the wrong party inside. We should be home free by then."

"An honor guard, huh? Alright, but I want everyone to go, even Celena. This could be important."

"Right. We'll get to work immediately. I'll see to the uniforms and small arms, and AJ here can get the ID cards ready."

"Good. And by the way, good work. The two of you have made the continuation of this mission possible, with the help from our alien friend inside of Celena's head. Don't think all of this will go unrewarded when we're all through."

Together they said, "Yes Sir."

Conclusion