Contested Crown

By Juliet Sem

Princess Keestu returns home to find the Separatists have seized control of Sandar. She is shocked to see her trusted handmaiden at the Separatist leader's side, and realizes that her future as Sandar's queen isn't as certain as she was brought up to believe. Eluding her enemies with the aid of her loyal bodyguard, Keestu gathers her forces for a battle to decide who will take Sandar's Contested Crown. Can she take control of her planet before the Separatists consolidate their hold or the assassins stalking her strike?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Juliet Sem
• Release date: Dec 12, 2012
• ISBN: 9781301723645

Juliet Sem

Juliet Sem began writing as a young teen to alleviate boredom she experienced in school after she wasn't allowed to skip grades. At the time, most of the major female characters in books she read were written as beautiful but useless in conflict. Juliet's first novel, The Tourney, is the result of her desire to write stories featuring strong female characters who are more than just eye candy waiting around for their men to come rescue them. She continues to read and watch fiction and is relieved that strong female lead characters are no longer the exception in books, movies, and TV shows.She lives in Arizona with her husband and cat in addition to caring for several abandoned outdoor cats. Her hobbies include outdoor activities, fiber crafts, reading, games, and ciphers--she designed all the games and writing systems mentioned in her Union series books.

Book preview

Contested Crown

By Juliet Sem

Copyright 2012 Juliet Sem

Smashwords Edition

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you're reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to your favorite book dealer and purchase your own copy.

Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

Table of Contents

Chapter one

Chapter two

Chapter three

Chapter four

Chapter five

Chapter six

Chapter seven

Chapter eight

Chapter nine

Chapter ten

Chapter eleven

Chapter twelve

Chapter thirteen

Chapter fourteen

Chapter fifteen

Chapter sixteen

Chapter seventeen

Chapter eighteen

Chapter nineteen

Chapter twenty

Chapter twenty-one

Chapter twenty-two

Chapter twenty-three

Chapter twenty-four

Epilogue

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Chapter one

Crown Princess Keestu Ranell stood in the secondary foyer of her family's palace. She had just returned from purchasing a rare mineral called lumescite from the Mining Consortium, which owned and mined a number of planets that lay outside the Union, which her homeworld, Sandar, belonged to. Sandar needed lumescite to manufacture its money, specifically what were known as Neutral Units, since all that was needed to confirm the money was legitimate was a reader equipped with a black light; lumescite fluoresced green under short ultraviolet wavelengths and purple under long ultraviolet wavelengths and was impossible to duplicate using other raw materials. In addition, lumescite was quite friable, meaning that any attempt to melt down a lower denomination of money in order to use the lumescite to forge a larger denomination was impossible--the temperatures required to melt the Units destroyed the lumescite before the metal melted enough to release the lumescite, and any chemical used in an attempt to extract the lumescite from the metal coins would also destroy the mineral. Keestu needed to purchase lumescite for her planet because a group of separatists, whose demands included that Sandar secede from the Union and cease all off-planet trade, had broken into a military weapons depot and stolen what they thought were nuclear bombs, but which turned out to be explosively pumped flux compression generators, which rather than exploding and releasing widespread destruction and radiation, produced a much smaller explosion but a still sizeable electromagnetic pulse that was capable of destroying unshielded electronics. As their Unit readers and linked electronic banking system were of older design, they were the most affected by the blasts, since Unit readers used simple electronics to read and write to the microchips embedded in Registered Units when ownership of a Registered Unit was transferred to another person. The Registered Units themselves were safe; the microchips in each protected from the pulse because they were embedded in metal coins, so all that was needed to keep Sandar's economy going until new Registered Unit readers were manufactured was a fresh supply of Neutral Units, which did not need microchips with the owner's information stored in them.

After she bought the lumescite, Keestu had gone from the mine to the nearest town to shop. Some of her guards had accompanied her, but they had become separated on the hike back to the mine when one of the guards was injured in a fall and a storm blew up. Keestu had gone ahead looking for shelter and help, but had been intercepted by a team of trained maress, semi-sentient simians rumored to be native to the world of the Triker, a sentient and space-faring reptile species. The maress had tried herding Keestu towards their Triker's ship, and when that failed, they had bodily picked her up, carrying her to the rendezvous with the Triker ship. Not knowing her attackers were maress, Keestu had run to the Triker's lander when it appeared. By the time Keestu realized that the Triker was a bounty hunter and not part of a rescue team, it was too late; she was captured.

However, some merchant aliens from the planet Rillul that she had befriended on her trip to the Autocracy two and a half years prior had heard of the bounty on her head and offered Mahsazen, the Triker bounty hunter, double what he had been offered to capture and deliver Keestu, and the Triker had transferred ownership of his prisoner to the Rillul, who had brought Keestu home. They had done so while pretending to be bounty hunters themselves so that no other bounty hunters would try and take her from their ship by force in order to collect the bounty on Keestu themselves.

Her family had been notified of the subterfuge by the Rillul government, and therefore, there was no surprise on the faces of those sent to the landing pad to escort her safely into her home when they saw that she was wearing a set of explosive manacles, which were additionally bound together by chains. Keestu was eager to have them removed, as they had chafed her wrists raw again.

She turned to the man who had escorted her in, General Pelka. He was a man Keestu was not familiar with, as the former general, Madis, had been discovered murdered shortly after the separatists had detonated their EMP devices. A similar effort to murder Admiral Kurzon, who controlled the Sandarian space fleet, had failed, because he had been dispatched to accompany Keestu on her covert trip to the Mining Consortium.

General? Where is my father?

The man looked surprised at her question, quickly recovering. He's staying safe until those explosive restraints are removed.

Oh, of course, Keestu said, as Pelka turned away from her. She looked around for any sign of the palace staff, thinking it strange that there were none moving about as there usually were at this time of day.

General Pelka turned to back to Keestu suddenly, and the look in his eyes made her back up several steps, her chains rattling.

Time for you to die, sudi, he hissed at her, pulling out an energy pistol.

What are you doing, General?

General Pelka darted forward, grabbing the chain dangling from her manacles, yanking it down and forcing Keestu to her knees. He stomped his foot on it to keep her kneeling as he stood over her, planting the muzzle of the pistol against her forehead.

Stunned, Keestu went cross-eyed and didn't react to the unexpected attack. Something was terribly wrong.

The man was grinning maniacally at her, savoring her shock and fear.

However, at that moment, a man wearing a colonel's collar on his uniform scurried up to the general, whispering something in his ear. The gun wavered and dropped away from Keestu's face, and she let out a trembling breath, her heart pounding in reaction to what had just happened.

What? Why not? We've positively identified her, and Pelka said...

The man who had come running let out an urgent stream of information, of which Keestu could only hear snatches. Forgot himself...unable to revive...need her alive...

Keestu was taken aback. This man wasn't Pelka? What was going on? Her mind raced, and she braced herself to fight for her life, thinking she might live if she could just get to her office, which only needed her thumb print to open it. If she could get inside, she could use the console to call for help.

However, the man who was not Pelka turned back to her. You're lucky, well, lucky today at least, he said with a sneer. He switched off the pistol before holstering it. However, before he let Keestu to her feet, he raised his hand to deliver a vicious slap to her face. He raised his hand again, but the man dressed as a colonel interceded again.

You'll have your chance later, Torg. Pelka said we have to get her upstairs, lock her in a guest suite until he's ready to deal with her.

The man named Torg snarled something incoherently as he shoved his companion away. He snatched up the chain, jerking hard on it, causing Keestu to gasp in pain as the metal bit into her wrists.

Get up, you little purt, he ordered her, dragging at the chain until Keestu managed to get off her knees.

The guards with them snickered at her discomfort, and Keestu's fear turned to anger. However, knowing she was in grave danger now, she silenced her tongue as she followed these men out of the foyer and into the palace proper.

However, Torg didn't head to the staircase to escort Keestu upstairs. Instead, he headed to the formal dining room, and when he flung open the large double doors, Keestu saw bodies. At first, her mind refused to register their identities, but then she recognized a man whose name she didn't know but whom she knew was one of the palace's morning chefs.

Torg continued dragging her behind him, and Keestu stared at the remnants of the dining room's tables, which had been blown apart in a firefight with what looked like projectile weapons. As she began registering what she was seeing, she looked over the scene again, realizing that most of the fire had been concentrated in one direction, indicating a one-sided firefight; those armed had not faced much opposition.

She tripped on a body, looking down to see one of the guards from the four squads that always guarded her father. His hands were secured behind him, and he had been shot in the head execution style.

Torg continued to drag her through the dining room, finally stopping and yanking hard on the chain so the manacles dug mercilessly into her protesting wrists. He pointed gleefully at the floor. There's your father, you miserable yod.

Keestu couldn't help herself; she looked, whimpering when she saw her father's body. He was wearing pajamas, a robe, and mismatched slippers. All this Keestu would remember later, as she could only stare with disbelief and horror at his face. He'd been shot once in the forehead at close range with a projectile weapon and was lying in a pool of blood.

She felt light-headed and staggered when Torg dragged her to her brother Kang. He was as neatly coiffed as ever but for the multiple holes in his chest, large spots of blood staining his tailored jacket a darker tan.

Her other brother Skomer lay near Kang, a pistol clutched in one hand. In front of him were three men Keestu had never seen before. She assumed they were their attackers. Through her horror, Keestu felt a stab of satisfaction that Skomer at least had managed to arm himself and kill some of their family's attackers.

Torg pulled on the chain again, and Keestu numbly followed him to the next body. An overturned table hid it, and as she came around it, Keestu saw that it was her younger sister, Hemda. She was curled into a ball, looking almost like she was sleeping on the floor, until Torg kicked her and she flopped over onto her back. Her head was misshapen, her eyes rolled up and deviated to one side, and her arms and legs now lay at unnatural angles, indicating broken bones, and her exposed flesh was bruised in many places; Hemda had been brutally beaten. Keestu began weeping, her initial shock wearing off. She dropped to her knees beside Hemda, reaching out a trembling hand to her sister, recoiling when she found Hemda was still warm. Apparently, Keestu had returned home just before her family had been slaughtered. She began crying in earnest, for the moment not caring that the same fate awaited her.

A ruckus in the doorway brought her head up as her senses returned to her and her survival training kicked in. It was three men, all wearing captain's collars, and Keestu's mind finally made the connection, as her memory of recent events on Sandar before she left was triggered. These men had to be the separatists who had been causing many problems for Keestu's father, King Ismer! Military clothing had been stolen from a depot in Jeena, a city not far from CeCe, the capital where Keestu lived. These same men had also stolen what they thought were nuclear bombs, setting them off and causing the financial crisis which had sent Keestu offworld to purchase lumescite so that their economy would not be crippled, a trip that had unwittingly saved Keestu's life, for no announcement had been made that she was going offworld, save for a short trip to the Hub, the Union's centralized space station. It had been assumed by the separatists that Keestu would return home as scheduled, and so the massacre had taken place, but her family's attackers had not counted on Keestu's absence. They had apparently found out immediately after slaughtering the royal family that Keestu was being returned home by a bounty hunter and had calmly gone out to collect her. Keestu sent a silent thanks to Rentham that her Rillul friends on the Hancóna Cilóir had recommended that she be returned as though she were a hostage and not a guest on their ship, or the separatists would have attacked them as well.

However, it didn't make sense to Keestu that the bounty hunter had been sent after her. If she was thought to only be going to The Hub and should have returned to Sandar, why put a bounty on her head?

Her attention turned back to Torg, who was confronting the false captains. Now what?

One of the men whispered urgently to Torg, pointing at the bodies.

Well, if Pelka wants it done, stop wasting time and get on with it, Torg ordered, pointing imperiously at his guards. Asto, leave the box with the coded key with me. Asto nodded and set the box by Torg's feet. Torg pulled out his pistol and pointed it in Keestu's general direction, but his attention was directed at the guards, who began lifting her family's bodies, carrying them to the kitchen, moving slowly as the floor was slippery with the blood. They had little difficulty with the bodies until it was time to carry Hemda away. Her broken bones made it difficult for them to lift her, and they finally rolled her onto a tablecloth, carrying her out wrapped up in it.

While that was happening, Keestu looked around for a weapon, anything she could grab that could give her the edge over Torg. Skomer's body was too far away for her to reach the pistol he held, and none of the pieces of furniture close to her looked sturdy enough to use as a club. Keestu's dilemma was compounded by the fact that she was manacled, her hands chained close together.

She saw Seresa, her mother's handmaiden, lying close by. Seresa was a trained fighter, as all members of the palace staff were required to pass physical and defense training, but she had never been armed when on duty. Looking the other direction, Keestu saw the body of Vahin on the other side of where Hemda had lain. She felt a stab of guilt upon seeing his body. Vahin was a protocol advisor who had been assigned to Keestu until her trip to the Autocracy two year and a half years ago, when Keestu felt she'd matured enough to handle herself in public without an advisor looking over her shoulder and upon her return had recommended that Vahin be reassigned to Hemda. He'd turned out to be more of a fighter than she would have given him credit for. A group of disgruntled nobles had attacked Keestu and her entourage while she was in the Autocracy, thinking them supporters of an unpopular ruler on the planet she had been visiting. Keestu had escaped while the rest of her group fought to give her the time to do so. Keestu's physical trainer, Tenget had been injured the worst in the fight, losing his left arm at the elbow. Keestu's personal bodyguard, Gontu Uton, had stopped fighting to put a tourniquet around Tenget's stump before he bled to death, leaving Vahin to block their attackers' advance. Vahin had sustained three broken ribs, a couple of broken fingers, and a collapsed lung, while Keestu's handmaiden and best friend, Lady Rue Soga, had been punched in the face, receiving a black eye while swinging at their attackers with a branch. Keestu herself had been overrun by one of the nobles attacking them, who had been carrying a stun staff. He'd used it to hit Keestu twice, once in the small of the back so that she was spun around on the slippery rock she had been perched on while crossing a river, and the second hit had smacked into her jaw. If Keestu hadn't been already overbalanced and toppled into the river, her jaw would have been broken, or she'd have lost teeth, or both. As it was, she had fallen in the river and been swept away, nearly causing an interstellar war. However, she had been pulled from the icy water by a group of Autocracy commoners and with their help made her own way back to civilization and was arranging to leave the planet when she saw her royal liner and a Sandarian military vessel had arrived. She exited the ship she was preparing to escape the planet on and rejoined her people, finding out that everyone had survived the attack. After their return to Sandar and his recovery, Vahin had enjoyed a lot more respect from all the palace staff and had been grateful for his continued employment as Hemda's protocol advisor. However, Vahin also worked unarmed, not even after what had happened on Vulo.

Just as she came to the conclusion that she could use the heavy manacles on her wrists as weapons, the others returned, and Keestu's chance to take on Torg while they were alone was gone, the men having done whatever it was Pelka had ordered them to do with the royal family's bodies; none of the bodies of the servants or the squads who had guarded her father were moved.

Keestu numbly followed Torg from the dining room and up the stairs to the second floor. She felt some more satisfaction upon hearing that the separatists complain that they hadn't been able to activate the elevators.

She was brought up short when she was thrust into one of the guest rooms. It was in disarray, its chair knocked over and items from the desk scattered on the floor. However, Keestu's eyes were riveted on the bed. Her mother, Queen Mewa, lay there. Her dress was hiked up nearly to her waist, and her arms and legs were badly bruised. As Keestu neared the bed, she saw that her mother's eyes were open and bloodshot, there were red blotches on her cheeks, and her throat had numerous blue and black bruises, and her lips had a bluish tinge. Some medical equipment that Keestu couldn't immediately identify was strewn on the bed next to her mother's head.

Movement from the corner of the room caught her attention, and she tore her eyes away from her mother with difficulty. The man she saw was massive, taller than Gontu and broader, but while he was a giant of a man, he moved with great ease. His hair was light brown, lighter than the brown of his eyes, and he was deeply tanned. When he spoke, his voice was a throaty rumble.

So this is Crown Princess Keestu.

Keestu mutely nodded back, knowing instinctively that this was her enemy, Pelka. Fear filled her as she looked at him.

I'm Pelka Metara, the man said, moving closer and looming over her, And I have a problem. It seems I was too enthusiastic during my, uh, reunion with Mewa. He sighed heavily, pounding one massive fist into the palm of his other hand. But she wouldn't stop screaming at me about Ismer and the others. If only she'd shut her mouth. He turned away from Keestu and looked at Mewa's body, his fist slamming into his hand again and again.

Keestu wisely held her tongue, realizing Pelka was mentally unbalanced, her instincts and training telling her that she was in mortal danger. A single misstep now, and she would swiftly join her family by Pelka's own hand. She flinched when Pelka turned back to her suddenly. She quickly dropped her eyes upon seeing the feral smile on his face. She couldn't help cringing and edging back when he stepped close to her, hands flexing into fists again and again, but the chains that Torg held prevented her from moving very far.

You acknowledge I'm better than you?

Keestu nodded her head. You sometimes must appear to agree with your enemy; say anything that keeps you alive, her personal defense trainer Tenget had told her many times.

I want to hear it from you, girl.

You're better than me, Pelka Metara, Keestu whispered, Much stronger, faster, and smarter, she added as Torg snickered beside her.

One massive hand came out, cupping her chin, tilting it up and forcing her to meet his eyes. That's a good start, girl. Now, you do what I tell you, and we'll get along fine. If not, I'll let my boys have fun with you and then hold a lottery to see which one of them gets to move that coded key away from you until your manacles explode.

He dropped her chin, turning back to Mewa's body, lost in his musing again. Just when Keestu thought he'd forgotten her, Pelka wheeled around, making her jump again.

Get Mewa into the kitchen with the others. Lock this one up in the next room and stand guard outside the door and keep the box with the key next to you. I'll figure out what to do with her once I've had some time to think.

Yes, sir, Torg said smartly, dragging Keestu from the room.

Keestu found herself shoved into another one of the guest suites, the door sealed behind her. She went to the console, but it didn't turn on, and she sighed with relief. Pelka must have triggered the lock down of palace controls when trying to bypass security.

Finding herself thirsty, she went into the bathroom, getting a drink from the sink. At least the water hadn't been cut off. She used the commode, then washed her hands as best she could, frowning when the manacles scratched the sink.

She went back out into the room and inspected it, looking for anything she could use as a weapon. Since the room was unoccupied, there were no personal items in it, just the basics of a guest suite, the full bath, a decent sized closet, a bed, and a desk with a chair and console. Keestu looked at the bedding, wondering if she could fashion a weapon from the sheets, but the only thing she could think to make with them was a rope, and she knew that would be of no use to her against the energy and projectile weapons that Pelka and his people possessed.

Frustrated, she went to the window and looked out; Pelka had had her imprisoned in a room on the outer wall of the palace. She saw Pelka's men positioned randomly around the palace grounds, and shook her head. They chose areas with little cover, which while it gave a good view of any incoming danger, provided no safety for them in the event of a fight. However, Keestu thought that if an alarm had been sounded, the guard would have been here by now; she was on her own for now.

She went to the desk and sat in the chair, resting her aching hands on it. It didn't take long for the shock to wear off, and when it did, it hit Keestu like a fist. She began shaking and crying uncontrollably, the images of her slain family coming unbidden to her mind. That added to the fact that she had herself only narrowly escaped death produced a strong reaction in the young Crown Princess, so that it was more than an hour before the crying subsided, and took longer than that for the shaking to abate.

Once she had calmed, her stomach began to rumble. She estimated it must be past lunchtime, but no food was delivered to her. She wondered if she could convince them to give her something, because any dishes that the food would be served in could give her materials to fashion a weapon by breaking them into sharp pieces. She had no idea how much good a sharp edge would do her, but it would be a start. Her mind flashed back to Skomer. He had to have known when he grabbed the pistol that there was no way he could win. And yet, he had fought, reducing the numbers of their enemies by at least three before he was cut down. Thinking it over, Keestu came to the realization that Skomer had known he was doomed, but had fought simply because he could. She felt a stab of pride and love for her brother's bravery. She knew that if she could cobble up a knife from a broken dish and get close to Pelka, she could take him down, because even if it meant the end of her as well, Korin could take over the throne, and if something happened to him, there was still aunt Shina. She didn't want to die, but if it came down to it, she wanted to go out fighting, like Skomer had. Keestu looked around the room again with fresh energy.

She was looking through the empty closet for the third time when the door opened. It was Pelka. He frowned at her, and she felt impelled to explain. I'm hungry, but no food was brought, so I was looking the room over to keep my mind off it.

Pelka grunted, motioning for her to come closer. The Hancóna Cilóir has jumped away, and as promised, has given us the combination to the box that holds the coded key to your manacles.

He showed her the key, and Keestu happily held her hands up so that Pelka could remove them.

However, he hesitated, and leaned close. First, I want you to enter the password I need to unlock all the locks in the palace.

I don't have it, Keestu said.

Well, then we're going to go upstairs and you're going to manually open all the doors starting with the royal bedchambers.

Keestu backed away a step from Pelka, but he followed her. I can't do it, Keestu told him.

You're lying. You're the heir! Of course you'll be keyed to all the rooms in your home!

No, I'm not, Keestu said. My brothers and sister and I didn't always get along, and rather than have one of them complain that I could get in their rooms, but they couldn't get into mine, our father locked us all out of each other's rooms. There was a guard who was keyed to the royal bedrooms, so he could let the cleaning staff into their rooms while he supervised, but I wasn't keyed to those rooms.

And that man's name is?

Keestu shook her head. I don't know. He was part of the day guard squads, and I saw his body in the dining room with the others.

Still not believing her, Pelka grabbed the chain, practically dragging Keestu behind him up the stairs, since the staircase was closer than the lift. Keestu was relieved that he didn't try to force her to open the family's private lift, because her thumbprint was programmed into that lock, and she felt that any inconvenience she could visit on her enemy was a good thing, and unless he demanded that she open it, she wasn't going to mention that she was keyed to that lock.

Pelka's stride was a long one, and she had to hurry to keep up with him. She saw a number of his people stationed here and there on the royal bedroom level, but despite her training didn't note their exact locations on her way by.

Pelka grabbed her hand, forcing her thumb onto the scanner next to her parents' bedroom.

You are not authorized to enter this bedchamber, Crown Princess Keestu, the computer's mechanical voice informed her. Please inform the appropriate personnel if you require entry.

Pelka swore, dragging her to her brother Skomer's room. The message repeated. Only after he forced her thumb into the scanners on Kang and Hemda's rooms and received the same message did Pelka return her to her prison on the second floor. He removed the manacles without saying anything and left the room with them and the key.

Keestu, relieved to have the manacles gone, went to the bathroom and gingerly washed her wrists, hissing in pain as soap stung her freshly opened wrist wounds.

She went back to the main room, looking it over again and again, finally coming to the conclusion that she had nothing with which to fashion a weapon.

She sat back down, resigning herself to wait, figuring she should rest her body if not her mind. She had no idea what was going to happen to her, no idea why she was spared when the rest of her family wasn't. There was no one alive, save for her uncle Korin and aunt Shina, who Pelka could demand a ransom from. However, since Keestu knew his full name, she knew he knew if he let her go that there was nowhere in the Union that would be safe for him, and their allies in the Autocracy would not hesitate to turn him over to the Union if he sought refuge there. The Rillul Council had made it plain that they didn't tolerate acts of piracy by their own people, and Keestu was confident that Pelka would find no welcome there. That left only the unknown laws of the Mining Consortium and the Triker, and Keestu doubted that the exophobic Pelka would consider asking the Triker for asylum. On further thought, she remembered being told that the majority of business the Consortium did was with the Union, and in order not to jeopardize their relationship they would not hesitate to turn Pelka in, either. So unless Pelka had a false identity and a place prepared that he could run to on Sandar, there was no way he could let Keestu leave his custody alive.

She got up and paced, trying to think of a solution to her problem. The only thing she possibly had on her side was the element of surprise. If she hid beside the room's door, she might be able incapacitate one of her enemies. If he happened to be armed, there was the possibility that she could hold off her enemies long enough to alert the rest of CeCe that something had happened at the palace and that help was needed.

Looking at the window, Keestu smiled. If she could disarm one of the separatists, she could use his pistol to fire shots at the noble residences. When she found a home that was occupied, it would not be long before the guard was called to investigate the shots.

Finally having a plan in mind, Keestu carefully stretched her body. She stood beside the door, stiffening every time she heard the sounds of someone passing by. However, the afternoon passed without anyone else coming into her room.

Giving up on the possibility of disarming a separatist for the time being, Keestu slid down the wall to a sitting position. She found herself nodding off, and remembering Tenget's advice that she should rest whenever she was able, she allowed herself to drift to sleep.

Chapter two

She was awakened some time later when the door whooshed open. Keestu was shocked to see her personal bodyguard Gontu walking into the room. She struggled to her feet. Gontu! You weren't here when it happened! She started towards her bodyguard, hands outstretched.

He looked at her with an unreadable expression, then, hearing others coming in behind him, raised his hand and viciously punched her so that she crashed to the floor again. Never address your betters before they address you, girl, he roared, his face screwed up in anger. I couldn't believe it when they said you and Admiral Kurzon survived the attacks planned for you because you weren't here, and you had been captured by bounty hunters, so I had to come see it for myself.

Face stinging, hands and wrists hurting where they had caught her fall, Keestu could only stare up in mute horror at the man who'd guarded her back for the past seven years. She couldn't help herself, and tears began to well up anew.

The others with Gontu started snickering and pointing. One of them quivered his lips, Oh, he moaned in mock distress, I think I'm gonna cry.

Gontu was looking down at her, face still completely immobile. Suddenly, a calculating grin split his face. Out, all of you. She's mine.

He moved close to her, wrapping one hand around her throat, roughly hauling her back to her feet and slamming her back against the wall, driving her breath out so she couldn't speak. He leaned towards her, his face filling her vision.

He turned slightly away from her to find his fascinated companions still watching. I said get out! It's time I...collected some back pay. He looked at her with a vicious glee.

Realization dawned, showing plainly on Keestu's face, and the others laughed at her now horrified expression.

You heard the Commander, one of the others said finally. We'll have our turns later.

"You'll have your turns when I'm done with her,