Denied - 78. Chapter 78

“If you want to kill your father, do it yourself!” Freska demanded. “But my friends are not your pawns. And before you even think to order those guards to do anything to us, know that I have skills you did not even know I possessed. Did you wonder what I was doing before you pretended to wake up? Do you know I don’t need to touch electronic systems once they’ve let me in? I know that this whole place is wired for vid and sound.”

Rilecca gaped at her. “What?”

“See, I figured you would need proof of them killing your father, which meant you’d record it. That meant there had to be a recording system even in this chamber where the council met. I asked the building AI to access the system and broadcast it. Live. So your plan might have been to pretend to mourn and take your father’s place, but now your people know the truth.”

“So?” Rilecca hissed. “I still hold the power. My father’s generation is done; I have allies and we will take over.” She straightened, planting a smirk on her face. “This is even better. I have my father to plumb for even more information, but my people will respect my power. They will respect my ability to see a plan through and fall in line behind me so I don’t take them down for getting in my way. And we still control Brox and your Central Council. What if I don’t change our role in the universe like you so naively believed I would? What if we just keep taking over planets and systems?”

“See, the AI gave me all that information too. And I asked it to not just broadcast to your planet, but to connect to my ship’s A.I. which your father failed to neutralize when they towed it here. My ship is equipped with custom systems I designed; this was broadcasting to the entire vid network. That means a live vid of all your information is bouncing out among the stars. Right. Now.” Freska stood tall and triumphant, holding Danie to her. “You lose, you and all you damn Elite bastards who thought they could just take what they wanted and damn the rest of the universe in the process!”

For the first time Rilecca looked truly shocked. She staggered, and one of the guards rushed to her. “My lady, your orders?”

She gasped. “Kill them!”

“I don’t think so!” Anyas stepped in front of the group and pressed something on his belt. A shield went up, the shimmer just visible as it rose from the floor to the ceiling. “Back up,” he hissed. “Corner. Now.”

Captain and Deke fanned out, more of the undetectable weapons in their hands. Had they had them the whole time? Anyas grinned over his shoulder at me. “They really need to learn to search Elites better. I am not nearly as padded as they seem to think life on that frozen wasteland made me.”

Blasts ricocheted off the shield and hit the walls and ceiling. Powder and bits of the building flew through the air, and that did make it through the shield. I started coughing, doubling over.

“Kohen, are you okay?” Captain glanced over his shoulder.

I nodded and waved my hand, unable to talk. I just wanted this to be over.

Deke stepped out from the shield and shot, winging a guard, then he darted back inside. The chaos actually helped as the screams and mess from the three guards’ shots added to the confusion, letting Deke and Captain take them out one by one.

That just left Rilecca hiding behind the chairs and her father who was slumped on the floor by the table. “Kill order, Captain?” Deke asked.

He hesitated. Deke closed ranks, and they started saying something that wasn’t filtering in to the mess that was spinning inside my brain. Then Rilecca’s head popped up and she made a break for the door. A flurry of activity took us all by surprise when Anyas dropped the shield, jumped forward, scooped up the weapon that had fallen from one guard’s hands and shot her, right in the back.

Blood bloomed on her gown at the base of her neck and her arms flew outward. Rilecca’s initial wail cut off with a wet gurgle, and she fell to the ground. The wound on her back was small, but the pool of blood under her head and chest spread rapidly.

Anyas turned, gun held ready, and pointed it at her father, the only surviving Elite in the room besides him.

“No!” Danie said. “He knows things. Information. We need him.”

“I thought we had her.” Anyas gestured toward Freska with his free hand, not taking his sights off the aged Elite. “She can talk to all the computers; nothing is secret or protected from her.”

“Freska has been trying to unlock my memories, and there’s stuff in here I know he is responsible for. The things he did… he’s a monster, but killing him helps no one and could damage our ability to unravel his plans.” Danie was calm, rational.

I wasn’t. “It would help me!” My chest was heaving. “He has to die. He knows how to take control of us. He can’t… no one should be able to do that.” My voice broke. Captain tossed his weapon to Deke and rushed to me. He pulled me into his arms, and I clung to him. I buried my face in his shoulder. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry.”

“Shh,” he murmured.

Freska turned. “No, Kohen, you’re safe. I broke the conditioning, once I found the keys from the AI here. No one can do that to you again. I’m sorry, but Danie’s right. There’s much still to unravel.”

Captain pulled back. “We’ll put him in restraints. Gag him. Cut out his tongue. Whatever you need.” He cupped my face. “Never again, Kohen. I’ll make you feel safe.”