Empire's Son: An Epic Science Fiction Novel Series

As soon as Kaller’s shuttle entered the orbit of Sora X, he knew something was amiss, because Command refused to send his shuttle captain a landing code. Both he and the captain had tried multiple times over the better part of two hours to get answers, but they got stoned-walled every time. Hold and wait was the only answer they were able to get out of the operator in charge of the traffic coming in and off the desert planet. And they weren’t the only ones. The captain said there were dozens of other ships in holding patterns around Sora X.

So the planet was under lockdown. This meant one of two things. Either the College itself was under attack, or something bad had happened to a visiting client. Kaller was hoping for the latter.

He had received a cryptic message two days ago from Tessa that the first attempt to get to the Heir had not gone according to plan, and only managed to put the whole College on guard. That was too bad, but Kaller knew plans were in the works for another attempt, but he had been kept out of the loop to have deniability. If the College was under lockdown, then that meant the second attempt had already happened and Prince Adar was finally taken care of. That happy thought kept Kaller company as he waited for Command to finally allow his ship to land.

At the two and a half hour mark, instead of the operator, a red-faced Commander Jordem came across the communication system demanding to speak to Kaller. The Protector had the shuttle captain transfer the call to his unity ring. That red-face now glared at the Protector from a close up projection of the Commander, which hovered in the air before the seated Kaller.

“Did you have anything to do with this mess?” Jordem’s accusing voice filled the small shuttle.

“I don’t know what you are referring to, Commander. Can you be more specific?” Kaller tried his best not to smile. This was not the time. He was just glad he hadn’t been told the details just for this reason right here. He couldn’t tell what he didn’t know.

Jordem looked like he was ready to explode any moment, but he managed to contain himself enough to elaborate. “Prince Adar has gone missing. I’m going to ask you again, Hame, and it better be the truth. Did you have anything to do with the Prince’s disappearance? And if you know where he is, then you better come clean now, or this will go badly for you.”

Missing? Why missing? He should be dead. “Missing, Sir? I don’t understand.” Kaller blinked with real confusion at the man.

The Commander steamed some more, but he didn’t seem inclined to say anything else on the matter. Instead, he turned to someone outside the camera capturing his image. “What is it so yavit important you couldn’t wait until I was done with this call?”

Kaller heard another voice speak, but he couldn’t make out what was being said. Whatever the person was saying, it was causing the Commander’s face to go from red to a deep purple.

“Fine. Bring her in for questioning,” Jordem said to the other person, the Commander then turned back to address Kaller. “I’m sending a team to escort you to my office. Don’t even think about trying to go elsewhere until you come see me.” And then the link was gone, and the image before Kaller disappeared.

The Protector blinked at where the Commander had been just a moment before, and his heart sank a little. Prince Adar was missing? That hadn’t been part of the plan, or at least not his plan. But there were others that were in on this. Maybe the plans had changed for some reason, and he hadn’t been told?

He glanced at his unity ring and considered calling Tessa. She’d been the go-between for communications on this whole thing, so Kaller wouldn’t have any direct contact with anyone at the College, or Zorren himself. Tessa was a socialite and it wouldn’t be unheard of her to have communications with a wide range of people across the Empire, and she had been eager to do the job. Guess she was still mad for getting banished from the White Place. She wasn’t the only one.

“Call Tessa Vende,” Kaller gave his unity ring the voice command. The small rectangular readout window pulsed green as the ring sent out a signal. The pulsing stopped after a minute, and the window lit up in red indicating the call had not connected. She must be busy.

“Leave message?” the readout asked.

Kaller tapped the small screen to close it out, and sat back with an exasperated sigh. Guess he was going to have to wait a little longer to see what was going on. He did his best to relax as he felt the shuttle dip down toward the planet, and tried not to think too hard on what this new development meant.

***

The normal active bustle of the College had been replaced by an eerie silence. Kaller walked the streets sandwiched between the two Pledges that had met him at the entrance of the College and was a little unnerved by the calm quiet, which declared more than anything that all was not as it should be.

If someone as high in status as the Heir to the Empire had been deemed missing, then that would put the College on high alert alert status, which meant that all classes would temporarily be suspended, and those not necessary to the search would be ordered to their residence until further notice.

Sure enough, as they rounded the corner of the auditorium and started for the upper section of the College, a squad of eight Disciples marched from the main assembly area in Kaller’s direction, and another two squads made from a mixture of Cadets and Pledges marched toward the upper section of the College. The eerie silence was broken by their sharp boot falls on the hard stone of the street. The sound echoed across the building faces of the Pledge residence hall and combat arenas across from the assembly area.

“So the Heir went missing? Do we know who did it?” Kaller asked the two Pledges that walked a few steps in front of him.

He didn’t know these two, but he hadn’t been back to the College in a long time. Many Protectors took their allotted leave time here on Sora X, though Hame usually opted to take actual vacations to places like the paradise world of Shanta–Mi for time at the beach or relaxing on a luxury cruise, or he’d go for an extreme hunting expedition in the lush forest of Revok Four. Even still, Kaller had enough contacts here that he kept in touch with on a regular basis, though he was sure Jordem had picked these two because they had no ties to Kaller.

“When did he go missing?” Kaller tried to get the Pledges to talk. Though Kaller already assumed this new development had to have been recent, otherwise Tessa would have called to give him an update, and the longest Kaller had ever heard of the College being on lockdown for any reason was twelve hours.

Again he was met with silence. Kaller smiled to himself as he decided to try another tactic. “I get it. You’re just doing what you were told. I bet the Commander ordered you not to talk to me and to escort me to him as quickly as possible with no stops. That’s fine.

“But you know I was in a shuttle for the last two and a half hours orbiting this yavit planet while whatever was going on down here. No one told me anything. I just got yelled at by the Commander for something I had nothing to do with and now he’s treating me like I’m guilty of something. How? I’ve been in transit from Dyniss for the last three days. This is ridiculous. All I’ve ever tried to do was my duty, and it seems like I’ve gotten nothing but reprimands for it.”

“Is it true you almost killed the Heir with your bare hands?” The tall Pledge on the left looked over his shoulder as he asked the question.

The other Pledge had a bulky frame full of muscle much like Kallers. He gave his partner a nasty look. “We have orders, Curtis. Shut your mouth.”

Curtis threw the muscled Pledge a heated glare. “I was just curious, Waye. There’s so many rumors going around, it’s hard to know what’s true and what’s not.”

“It’s not our business to know anything but what we are told to know and ordered to do. You best remember that, or you’ll never get a charge.”

Curtis snorted. “I’ve been waiting for almost two years now. At this rate, I’ll be getting a regular staff job here before I ever get a charge.”

“Must be because you can’t follow orders,” Waye threw back.

“You’ve been waiting almost as long as me.”

“Barely a year,” muttered Waye.

Kaller smirked as he saw an opening. “You know I waited almost a year and a half before the Emperor chose me.”

This got both of the Pledges’ attentions as they slowed their pace down to throw Kaller amazed expressions.

“Truly?” Curtis asked. “I mean I know it can take a while to get placed with a charge. There aren’t always nobles looking for new Protectors and the College always trains more than is needed so they have a large selection for the high borns to choose from, but I thought that if you wait more than a year for placement, that you usually get placed on regular College staff?”

“I was on regular staff. I had been on search and rescue duty for four months before I was placed with the Emperor.”

“Then how did you get put on the Emperor’s list?” This time the question came from Waye, and now their walk had almost stopped entirely as the two men were now solely focused on their line of questioning.

Kaller understood the plight of these two Pledges all too well. He’d been right where these men were once upon a time. It was a glorious thing to finally pass the final test and graduate the Program to become a full Pledge. It was even better to see your name on the active Pledge list, and to eagerly await a potential charge to come pick you as their Protector. But the waiting got old quick.

In the meantime, graduated Pledges took on specialized assignments to fill their days. Some Pledges got snatched up within weeks or a few months of graduation, but a great many waited. And waited. And many were eventually rotated to a full staff position, which most times meant they weren’t getting a charge.

A Pledge could only be on the active list for up to three years before they were pulled altogether. The only way to get back on was to go through a strict one year refresher course, and by then, most Pledges had given up on the idea of ever being placed, and resigned themselves to their staff position and any chances of getting their names into the Hall of the Renowned.

Kaller made sure to make eye contact with each of the men, so that he had their full attention. “The Emperor was looking for a Protector with specific skill sets, and I happened to have two, so I was put on his list. I can’t even tell you how surprised I was when the Commander at the time, Everett Hasen, called me into his office and told me I’d been chosen. Best day of my life.”

“You were here in Hasen’s days. He was a Legendary,” Waye said with more than a little bit of awe in his voice.

Kaller nodded, deciding to reel them in even more. The only thing that got a Pledge’s attention more than talking about getting placed was discussing those who had made it into the Hall of Renowned, especially those with Legendary status. “I know. We had been on first name basis. We often had drinks at the upper cantina after hours.” Not true, but these boys didn’t know that.

“Seriously?” Curtis sputtered like he couldn’t quite believe what he was hearing. “That must have been amazing. What was Hasen like?”

“Can I tell you over a drink? I’m parched,” Kaller nodded to the upper cantina that was just a short brisk walk up the street from them.

Waye blinked as he suddenly remembered what he was supposed to be doing. “Sorry, Captain. Orders. You know how it is. Besides, everything is on lockdown, even the cantinas. We really should be getting you to the administration building.”

Kaller nodded as if he was in agreement with the Pledge. “Of course, I understand. Maybe we can just duck into the residence hall for a moment so I can at least take a piss. It won’t take long. Just a quick trip to the washroom. It was a bumpy ride down to the planet.”

Curtis shook his head. “You got caught in a sandstorm on the way down, didn’t you? The yavit shuttle pilots can’t fly through those storms without me puking my guts out.”

“You puke on a gentle ride, Curtis.” Waye teased the other man. He then turned and headed for the archway of the Pledge residence hall that was a little behind them now.

Both Curtis and Kaller followed. In a handful of strides, their small group made it into the wide open foyer that was packed with Pledges looking bored and frustrated to be under lockdown. Some stood in tight circles as they ranted to each other about not being put on a search patrol. Others just stood against the walls with crossed arms clearly waiting for something better to do. All of them perked up when they saw Kaller enter the building.

Waye led their group past the quickly quieting foyer as every eye turned to them. There were two doors that led to the first level of private apartments and two alcoves that could access the other five levels of the building and the rest of the living spaces. There also was one other door to the side that led to a communal washroom complete with toilets, sinks, and showers used for quick access during daylight hours. This was where Waye stopped.

“Go on, but make it quick. The Commander is waiting for you.”

Kaller nodded to the Pledge with a thanks and didn’t hesitate and he stepped into the public washroom. It felt strange being back here, especially in the Pledge residence. He been back to the College many times for recertification classes, but hadn’t stepped foot inside this particular building since his placement with the Emperor, and it was bringing all sorts of memories back to him.

The Captain hadn’t particularly like his time at the College. It had been long and hard, but he supposed he’d have to get used to being back here. The College was his new home. That thought felt heavy to him as he made for the bank of sinks on the far wall. He chose the middle one and stood there for a moment.

Curtis and Waye hadn’t followed him in. And it seemed the washroom was empty. Good. It would make what happened next easier. At least he hoped that something would happen. He hadn’t seen any of his people in the foyer when he came in, but that didn’t mean they weren’t around. He just hoped they were fast in getting the news that Kaller was here, which of course, was spreading like wild fire to the rest of the Pledges in the building even now. But he couldn’t stand around waiting forever.

He didn’t have to. Two minutes later, the door to the washroom opened and a tall man entered, taking up a position a few sinks away. The Pledge turned the water on and plunged his hands into the steady stream.

“I didn’t think you were supposed to be making contact until after the severing ceremony,” the man said in a low voice that could barely be heard over the running water.

“I just wanted to know why the change in plans. Why did you abduct him? And where is he?”

“It wasn’t us.”

Kaller blinked at the man in surprise. “Then who the yavit was it?”

“We don’t know.”

Kaller felt a rising anger inside. He’d been relying on his people here to take care of things. He assumed they would be competent enough, but it seemed like they just kept messing it all up. “What is that supposed to mean, you don’t know?”

“We don’t know,” the man said simply.

Kaller blew out a long breath of frustration. He supposed it wouldn’t do any good to get mad. It was what it was. But that left a question of who had abducted the Heir, and why?

“Could it be one of the other Zahn brothers?” Kaller asked absently as his mind tried to figure out who else would act against Prince Adar. He hadn’t been in the Empire long enough to make many enemies, except the natural ones he already had in his brothers.

Kaller knew there was no love between the eldest three brothers, and that they often plotted against each other. He’d kept an eye on their various schemes over the years to make sure they didn’t targeted their father out of spite, or even try an outright take over. It would be just like one of them to spoil Zorren’s attempts to take out their youngest brother, by taking him instead and taunting their eldest brother with possible locations in which to find their father’s chosen Heir.

The man shrugged. “Maybe? We already relayed what happened to Mistress Vende. She seemed upset, but she hasn’t gotten back in touch with us with next steps yet. Do you have orders for us, Sir?”

Kaller snorted. The next steps were obvious. “Yes, figure out who has the Heir and get him back. Immediately.”

The man nodded. “We’ve been working on that first one already.”

“Good.” So they weren’t completely incompetent, but Kaller kept that last part to himself.

“Should we be reporting to you or Mistress Vende from here on out?”

“For now, keep things as they are. It’s better that way.”

“Very good, Sir. Glad you are back with us.” The man then nodded, shut off the water, and quickly exited the washroom.

Kaller stood there for a long moment as he contemplated this new turn of events. What the yavit was going on? Could it be one of the other Zahn brothers, or had Zorren decided to branch off on his own? It seemed unlikely that Zorren would change things on them.

The ex-Ascendant needed Kaller’s people. They were the only true foothold that Zorren had at the College. And that made Kaller realize that the other Zahn brothers didn’t have a foothold here either, so couldn’t possibly have abducted their younger brother. So if it wasn’t his people, or Zorren, or even the other two Zahn brothers? Who abducted Prince Adar?

The thought consumed Kaller as he turned from the sink and made his way back to the two Pledges waiting for him in the foyer. He had a meeting with the Chief Commander, and maybe while Jordem was questioning him, Kaller would learn something that would help him figure out that mystery. One thing was for certain, whoever did have the Heir had just made a terrible mistake, and had just become enemy number one.