Chapter 5

“A leader is best when people barely know he exists, when his work is done, his aim fulfilled, they will say: we did it ourselves.”

—Lao Tzu

Jason was sitting comfortably in the restaurant drinking a cup of coffee on the Friday afternoon before the holiday. He had just finished another grueling session with the intelligence group and was trying to relax. The year-end results had also come through. Annjus and Emic had dominated the quarter academically. Jason came second in politics, but Oksana was close on the heels of Emic. After Oksana, Norda Derwald the daughter of the leader of the Warriors of the Apocalypse was ranked next. Palatal Nulagor of the Jumo was the top student in economics and accounting. Razza ranked ahead of Jason in small unit management and tactics. When he looked at the two squads in which his Empresses and friends were clustered, they scored at the top of the 99th percentile of the students. He looked at Ooryphyon’s results and saw she had improved substantially over the quarter. She was in the top quartile of the group.

Coaching had improved all of their fighting skills.

Corvus sat down at the table with a tall glass of a green fruit juice and a plate piled with pastries. He offered Jason a pastry. Jason shook his head as he chewed on his own almond croissant which he dipped into his coffee. Jason rubbed his chin absorbing a drop of coffee in his napkin.

“Corvus, how did dinner with your aunt, go?”

“Jason, it was an excellent meal. I enjoy her company very much. She isn’t stuffy like some of the other oldies but is stimulating and interesting. She has never felt old to me. I told her what happened to you verbatim. You will have to do penance for two hundred years before she will forgive you for missing your time with her. The beating you received and the Gazronnaas attack are not acceptable excuses. Your extensive reparations must include solving the runes problem.

“She tells me the committee trying to resolve the rune issues is exhausting her. I can see she is tired and run down. Pleb dictated what was to happen next term, but the Dinnion member remains implacable and insisted that the Dinnion know the only way to teach the sciences, mathematics, and engineering. In my view, the Dinnion is expendable and is probably an agent of the forces of evil.”

“That is a simple request and a minor first act of reparation,” said Jason laughing. “I will of course find a solution that will solve not only that problem but will also produce a perpetual motion machine.”

“I didn’t have a chance to talk to you after the last meeting I had with her, but she intends to accelerate the Gromelix students’ as fast as possible, so we can build up our powers and learn to deal with the Gazronnaas. She believes the original methods of training she received are too slow. She wants to move ahead and advance you and Annjus as fast as can be done. She has arranged for the Gromelix to have their own training program as we are already far ahead of you guys. Everyone will be accelerated, some more than others.

“She can sense the Gazronnaas have increased their troops, but she says they have a way of blocking her from acquiring more information about them.”

“I am really sorry I missed my appointment with her. I can feel all this power around me and I am frustrated. I want to know how to use it properly,” said Jason. “I feel I know it, but I can’t quite grasp what I once knew.”

“I am going to think about how we can resolve the problem of the runes. The Dinnion sounds like one of those people who is self-righteous. We need to find a way around her or get them to replace her. I don’t think Pleb knows what to do. There must be some kind of solution to this problem. It has occupied far too much of everyone’s efforts that would be best directed towards the problem of the Gazronnaas.”

“Is there anyone who knows more about the runes than the academics?” Corvus asked.

“Maybe,” Jason replied.

“Have you found anything else of interest after you acquired the energy and memories from the Gazronnaas?” Corvus asked.

“I spent a delightful morning with the intelligence people trying to get me to remember other stuff. I remember when I did the same exercise with the Ghoul it took me months to extract his most important memories. The Gazronnaas also has some form of encryption on the memories. This time I sent the whole extract to Porquenta, the Uzliumbax and Dinnion AIs. I also gave the whole lot to the intelligence people as well as a package showing the whole sequence of events that my AI put together for them.

“Let them work on it. They know my every smell, taste, sight and thought from before the bullies attacked until I reached the hospital. They need a few challenges. I also sent the package of information to Ben and Alex Kafka. They work well together, but they need Gazronnaas material to work on. They are both working during the holiday with the cyber warfare people who are trying to get into the Gazronnaas AIs.

“We have thousands of scientists working on samples of the Gazronnaas armor, the weapons and most importantly the shield and power supply. Who knows how long before we begin to see some breakthroughs?” Jason frowned. “So far I know they are flummoxed. Nothing works as they expect.”

Jason sighed.

Ooryphyon, Lisirra, Linda, Andrea, Zafa, Oksana, Trackrof, Razza, and Julia joined them at the table carrying drinks and snacks.

“Now we are together, can we talk about what else we can do about the bullies. I am sick and tired of being picked on and now beaten. Jason, it is now time for you to do something!” Ooryphyon stated emphatically.

“Why pick on Jason? All of us are equally responsible,” Corvus stated.

“He is due to have one of his meetings with the president of the college. It is time he did something for us. There’s been plenty of talk about waiting for the University to do something. Now we are waiting for the soldiers and scientists. It is always somebody else we are waiting for. Jason, you need to do something for us,” said Ooryphyon vehemently.

“It reminds me of how Jason was with my big project. He takes it over, gets all the credit for himself and I land up looking like I have done nothing. You are not the man I thought you would be. You consort indiscriminately with any number of women and yet despite all we have done for you, you leave us vulnerable. We need defensible doors in our rooms, and we need our own weapons. There is no time to call security while someone is breaking in. This time when you see Pleb get something done,” said Lisirra.

“Lisirra, I know all about that project of yours. You were in trouble and you were stuck. You chased after Jason to help you not vice versa. He didn’t claim any credit and always praised you for the work you did. You are simply jealous of Jason, you seem to want to spend time with him, but at every opportunity you criticize him. You also like to kick him when he is down,” said Zafa.

Lisirra glared at Zafa.

“Jason, you seem to forget I was brutally beaten yesterday. I was beaten because you didn’t make sure I was protected. It is like the previous time, it’s all promises, but at the end of the day somebody else pays the price.” Ooryphyon glared at Jason holding her hands on her hips.

“Oory I know you are upset, and it reminds you of the past. Don’t forget Jason was beaten up and was nearly killed by the Gazronnaas. I don’t think Pleb is going to resist giving the students weapons. I don’t know how much more Jason can do in the current circumstances,” said Andrea.

“Yes, Andrea, it is all too easy for you to speak. When are you going to tell Jason about what you intend to do?” Ooryphyon asked.

“I will talk to him tomorrow morning,” said Andrea angrily. “I didn’t expect you to break my confidence and embarrass me. This is not an appropriate time and place. You don’t need to take shots at everybody. You are an irrational, emotional, ungrateful bitch Ooryphyon. You owe Jason a lot more than he owes you.”

“And what about you, Andrea? One may say you owe him a debt of gratitude, but how are you going to repay him by doing what you intend to do?” Ooryphyon asked.

“I told you, Ooryphyon this is not the time or the place to discuss me. We are talking about dealing with the bullies, the Gazronnaas and we were going to talk about cheating in the examinations,” said Andrea.

“Jason, the situation with cheating is another thing that irritates me intensely,” said Ooryphyon. “You accuse Annjus of cheating just because she does better than you and fights better than you. The cyber intrusions may be from her grandmother’s Association, but I am sure they are simply checking on your background. I’m sure several of the others who don’t know you like Oksana have also done the same.

“I like Annjus and I think she is a fine person,” said Ooryphyon.

“Well, Annjus tells me she doesn’t think much of my background. She accused me of not being who I purport to be. I can’t believe her speed is normal. She seems to know everything I am going to do. How can anyone perform in exams as she does? I think she is getting exam papers using her family Association resources,” said Jason angrily.

“Emic and several other of the ancients keep ahead of you Jason, but none of them is a problem in your mind. I think you are so preoccupied with corruption amongst the Uzliumbax, you believe Annjus must be cheating,” said Lisirra derisively. “You need to accept she is better than you and she is not being conned by you.”

“How is it, Lisirra you constantly criticize Jason yet at the same time you remain as close to him as a rash?” Zafa asked derisively.

“I see myself as helping Jason to be a better person. He needs someone who will act as his conscience. I am pleased Ooryphyon is also helping in that regard. He has made many bad mistakes. Ooryphyon has had a terrible time. If Jason had been around instead of gallivanting around, she wouldn’t have suffered. Look at the fate of the Teokraeus. Who is responsible? Someone has to be held accountable. Not being there is not much of an excuse,” said Lisirra. “If he wasn’t going to be around he should have made sure he had good people looking after things. The Destroyers ran amuck while he was gone and no one did anything. What kind of planning is that?

Oksana leaned forward to speak. “I don’t understand a lot of what is going on here, but I have known Annjus for a long time. She might be difficult and emotionally cold, but I don’t think you should even think about making a complaint about her cheating. You have no evidence she is cheating, and such a claim will hurt her unnecessarily. She has never cheated as far as I know. She is one of the hardest working people I have ever met. She has great responsibilities ahead of her in her Association.”

Oksana looked at Jason.

“Jason, I am sure my mother and grandmother and great-grandmother have all investigated the people with whom I associate at this University. For them to look at 100 people is a trivial task. The cyber intrusions into the University system could have easily been my family. I bet you the Dinnion Royal family have looked into everyone associated with Emic. It is what we do.

“If Annjus is not happy with you Jason, you can be certain whoever created your background didn’t do a good job. I don’t think you are who you say you are either. You forget your cover story and tell people different stories. People who know you, tell different stories of your past. The conversation we have just had makes no sense in the context of your alleged backstory,” said Oksana. “The Empresses are far too familiar with you. Your story about how you went to the Azayal and acquired your gills and skills may rhyme, but that is as far as it goes. You are not who you say you are. I may like you but I cannot trust anyone who has such a shaky background.”

Oksana shook her head before plowing ahead.

“I don’t know what is going on, but you sound like you have done some seriously bad stuff to Ooryphyon and Lisirra. It also sounds like a brace of anti-ship missiles is heading your way from the good admiral sitting opposite you.

“Jason, I hope you get through all of this but going for Annjus will simply make things a lot worse for you. You are on the wrong side of Lisirra, Ooryphyon and now Andrea. You don’t need another enemy. Don’t mistake Annjus’s brief emotions in the hospital as a weakness. Think of her like a juggernaut. She paused briefly to show you some compassion but will ride roughshod over you if you cross her. She is also vindictive and so is her family. Her grandmother is one of the most vindictive women I have ever met. Make a false complaint and you will make some serious enemies.

“I hope you can get us assault rifles. I feel insecure on campus. I don’t want to go elsewhere; I want a fair chance to defend myself. I would rather die shooting at something than with a Gazronnaas in my head,” said Oksana and laughed.

“I think that I am a one-woman conversation killer. So many stunned faces! Listen, guys, I am not just a pretty face. I may look fragile, but I am not. I may look dumb but I listen carefully and learn fast.

“Have a great holiday.”

Oksana waved, then walked away singing softly.

“Jason, you are an idiot. You want to remain incognito, but you open your mouth wide in front of Oksana. Your intelligence people are hopeless. Whoever set up your past history should be shot,” said Lisirra. “We should have been coached to be consistent.”

Jason slowly nodded, “Yes, someone did do a bad intelligence job. I will raise the issue when we next meet. Someone might find themselves doing duty on a remote miserable ice planet.”

****

Ooryphyon slowly rose up on Jason’s chest lifted her pelvis, inserted Jason, then sank down contentedly. She sighed as she slowly rose and fell. After several minutes she began to speed up and as Jason woke, she moved frantically. Her movements became erratic and uncoordinated, she shrieked loudly, then collapsed on Jason’s chest.

“Ooryphyon you have been hogging Jason the whole night!” Linda grumbled. “He is all used up again. It is all very well testing the warhammer but shrieking loudly is too much, you woke us all. It is the holidays, I wanted to sleep late. Now I need the refresher, please move so I can get past.”

“That’s right blame me for filling your bladder,” said Ooryphyon panting but grinning.

Andrea moved to snuggle into Jason’s side.

Jason hugged her but frowned.

Andrea looked away.

“Oory, what is happening about getting pregnant?” Jason asked.

“Jason, I am unhappy with you. It’s more than that, I am furious. Everything that has happened in the last few days has made it abundantly clear to me you abandoned our people and left us unprotected. You have done nothing to help the Teokraeus. Thousands of us were taken by pirates, I was captured and tortured repeatedly. You know how long I was in the hands of the Grork. They were cruel and hurt me for the sake of it. Last night I looked at you critically while you slept. What I found upset me. You were an accused war criminal who faced a court-martial. You always pretend to be such a moral person, but you cheated on your wife with other women and had several children. That is all very well, but you abandoned those women and the children. You have always alleged you wanted to be monogamous, but there is no evidence that was ever true.

“You killed little children. I saw the children as your eyes saw them. The little bodies lay on the ground broken after you and your soldiers attacked a harmless agricultural village. What kind of man would do this?

“What kind of man pretends to be monogamous and has children with other women and neglects both the women and the children. Even your son Craig knows this and is angry and disgusted with you,” said Ooryphyon. “I know this as I looked into his thoughts about his father.

“You didn’t have to leave the Uzliumbax and go off to pursue your enemy and your origins. You didn’t make adequate plans to protect the Teokraeus. We were completely reliant on you. My father loved you as his greatest friend and worked for you selflessly for most of his adult life. For this honor, you stuck him and a whole group of the Teokraeus leaders on an ice-moon deeply buried beneath the ice in a miserable cave. I’m surprised they lived as long as they did. They were there so long, the Destroyers found them. We have millions of Teokraeus in the hands of the Destroyers, but you have done nothing. I have mentioned this before, but I don’t think you have taken me seriously. Jason, I have had enough.

“I have not become pregnant; I have not dropped an egg, and I can only think you are to blame. My unconscious mind does not trust you enough to drop an egg, so I have not become pregnant. No, I do not want to use a machine. All of this has come to a head. I am not the only one, Lisirra has had her reservations and Andrea is not going to be with you for much longer. Perdita has decided to stay with the Jumo for the time being.

“I am so angry I have decided I will not stay with you any longer. I will take what I need to my room at the University,” shouted Ooryphyon. “I am not staying here one minute longer!”

“Ooryphyon, I am quite capable of telling Jason myself. I don’t need you to undermine me.”

Andrea turned to Jason. “I am leaving to return to the father of my primary and my ex-husband. They contacted me recently and we have maintained contact. Jason, I am sorry it has come out like this. I wanted to talk to you privately today, but Ooryphyon wants to stick the knife into you.”

“I am shocked and bewildered. Ooryphyon began, so I will address what she said first. Oory, the court-martial was overturned. It turned out to be an intelligence operation undertaken by our enemies to discredit us. The children were armed, but in the pictures, I saw no weapons.

“My wife set me up with two of her best friends whose husbands were infertile. I once tried to talk to her about it, but she refused to do so with a smile. I didn’t know Craig found out and was angry about it. The women did not want to upset their husbands and they asked me not to establish a relationship with the children. I feel guilty to this day about having a relationship with these women. I don’t know whether I am rationalizing about it, but Sarah loved helping other people and the women were very close to her. Sarah mentioned on days when I was meeting the women, she had lunch with them on the same day. She knew who I was meeting. But because she wouldn’t speak about it with me, I have always felt guilty.

“When I first met the women of the Empire, I felt intensely guilty as if I was betraying my wife. I gradually accepted becoming involved with many wonderful women. I struggle to not feel guilty about the babies I will not have the time to meet.

“Oory, I don’t know what I was thinking when I planned the trip to Norbut 19. I don’t know how much effort I put into trying to protect the Teokraeus. I am sure I would have done everything I possibly could, but we all know many things broke down in my absence. I can’t change the past. After your recent remarks, I did form an anti-pirate operation to deal with pirates and find kidnapped Teokraeus. We know where the Teokraeus are in Bekta Delta. They are on very well defended planets. We would not be able to save them without going to war with the Destroyers. We are not ready to do so. I will be sad if you leave us. I will welcome you back if you ever decide to return. I still love you. I will do my best to right the wrongs I have done to your people,” said Jason rubbing his eyes.

“Andrea, you became the love of my life along with Linda. I am shocked to hear you are returning to a father who you told me, used to beat down on you and believed you would amount to nothing and to a husband who abused your primary. You are not just leaving; you’re leaving a situation I believe you enjoyed and you are going into what was a very unhappy family situation. I can’t understand what you are doing and why.

“I wish you all the best. You are a superb Admiral and will be a great asset to Cassius. I am unbearably sad to see you go as my wife, lover, and Empress. If it is bad, please come back, I will do everything I can to help you,” said Jason distraught.

“Jason, you have Yoyo one of your oldest friends as your chief Admiral and many fine admirals who are your Empresses. Zafa and Valsam can easily do what is necessary. I am no longer a unique person for you. I hope you all have an excellent holiday. We may well meet again. My bags are all packed and I have a ship waiting.”

Andrea walked out with her head held high.

Jason felt as if he had been hit by a freight train.

“Don’t say a word Lisirra,” said Zafa or I might put my foot in it.

“Don’t threaten me,” said Lisirra, “I am not scared of you.”

Lisirra turned to face Jason.

“Jason, I’m not surprised all this has happened. You didn’t only abandon the Uzliumbax people you abandoned all the allies. Look what happened to the Ordreg and our people the Zaos. First, you supported us during that awful war but then you left us in the lurch. You didn’t even say you were going. Suddenly there was nothing. The Uzliumbax had disappeared. We suffered after you left us and had to hide in that awful dimension. Your enemies used the opportunity to act against you and use your erstwhile allies. We are happy you have returned, but we all feel some of the old anger from when you abandoned us.”

“Lisirra, you tell a wonderful sob story. No one forced the Zaos to hide in the worst dimension one can imagine. The Ordreg allowed themselves to be fooled. The Zaos make themselves out to be great intelligence operatives yet you didn’t know who your enemy was until shortly before Jason arrived. Your project of 9000 years would have never come to fruition without Jason. Jason was the one who brought all the assets to the party. You don’t seem to like him or want him yet you pick on the other Empresses and give him a hard time,” said Zafa.

“You make out you are delighted he will learn something because they are leaving. I think you just think it is three competitors less, what joy! Now I can have him for myself so I can stick the knife into him a bit more. You stay in his bed but avoid sexual contact like the plague. What is it you want other than your beautiful new body to satisfy your narcissistic preoccupations?”

“I am not accountable to you Zafa — go and spend time with your Azloc buddy and drop dead.”

Lisirra flounced into the refresher.

“I would rather fight a major battle than have another conversation like this one,” said Julia.

“Jason, the weird part of it all is none of this stuff is new for any of us. I understand Ooryphyon’s issues the least. There has to be more to this than we know.”

Linda sat up and looked at Jason, “I want to find out more about the Teokraeus and Ooryphyon so I can make sense of all of this. There is also more to Andrea’s situation than she has admitted. She had a series of chats to Alana last week. She has a plan and put on an act today and yesterday.”

Linda crawled to the edge of the bed and stood up.

“Lisirra attacks you to avoid intimacy. She also feels awful in her body. She has not finished her therapy and definitely not sorted herself out as a sexual being,” Linda explained.

“She drives me up the bulkhead,” said Zafa. “She picks on me whenever she can, and I have reached the end of my tolerance with her. She hates Valsam with an equal passion.”

“I am going to spend some time with Valsam,” said Jason. “I haven’t seen much of her for months. I need a bit of time to get my head together. I am seriously strung out after today’s events.”

Jason walked downstairs after he used the refresher and dressed.

“How are you feeling today?” Queen Valsam Sabins head Queen of the Azloc and Empress asked.

“I feel like I was hit by two shuttles one from each side and then a surprise third one landed on top of me. Otherwise, I’m feeling fine,” said Jason. “I am making light of it, but I am in shock. I am perturbed Andrea left. She is so rational and well balanced but is knowingly heading into a den of snakes. I cannot understand what is going on. I can only trust she knows what she is doing and has a rational plan she won’t tell me. If she hopes to reform her father and ex-husband she will be back where her primary was in an instant. Ooryphyon I understand better. I can only hope she will sort out her issues in time and I will remember what really happened.”

Valsam put her arm around Jason’s shoulder and her head next to his cheek.

“Ooryphyon has had a long time in captivity and was tortured and beaten. I am surprised she has done as well as she has. We all know since her damaged body was replaced, she is more emotional and impulsive and has been behaving like a teenager. I think she will come back, but not in the short term. She has too many ambivalent feelings towards you, and I don’t think she is going to resolve them in the foreseeable future. I hope she doesn’t do something stupid,” said Valsam thoughtfully. “She is a fine person but she has had a very difficult time. She told me she was in love with the Emperor from when she was a child. I can understand she felt abandoned. I am sure you made the best arrangements you could to protect the Teokraeus, but we all know that very few long-term arrangements survive.”

“How are you feeling about being here and what you are doing, Valsam?”

“From an Azloc point of view that is a strange question. We don’t think of our feelings or ask ourselves after an event about the decisions we may have made. If something goes wrong, we reevaluate the decisions we make,” noted Valsam. “Until I met you and got to know your people, I never thought about whether I was happy or not.”

“How did you think?” Jason asked.

“The more time I spend with the AIs here the more I realize how similar our thinking is to them. My mother gave me tasks and I set my objectives and planned how I would achieve them. Most of my tasks were to build and supervise fleets. I was trained as an Admiral and as a shipbuilder. My mother expected me to produce more Azloc and demanded I find a suitable king. She was unhappy it took me so long to find a king and then when I did, she expressed her displeasure,” said Valsam and laughed.

“Yes, it was very kind of her to donate 4000 ships with their crew, marines, and armaments to us. She is a very giving mother-in-law. I find it strange a mother would kill her daughter and her husband because she left home. Now, we have so many more Destroyer ships, she is not going to be able to attack us again for a very long time. The Destroyers are as badly off as she is,” said Jason.

“Jason, we have a new problem. Your nightmare of a mother in law is blockading the planet of the sisterhood of queens so you can’t access the Mount of the Bands of the Enigma.

“Queen Odalis Klohn informed me the Gazronnaas attacked the planet of the sisterhood of queens and was driven off by my mother’s fleet. The Gazronnaas attacked several planets and were beaten back.

“I also heard from Pentasa Nefu, Zafa’s aunt, the Gazronnaas attacked two Destroyer planets. They captured several Gazronnaas ships. The Destroyers can detect the Gazronnaas ships even if they are cloaked. I don’t know if my mother can see them, but I suspect she has worked out something as have we. The ship design of those recently captured is entirely different from those our scouts brought back here previously. The Destroyer scientists believe the ships captured previously had been planted and were from a less sophisticated civilization in another universe. It was done to lead them astray. I told Porquenta about it as they have been looking at the ships and technology we brought back after the previous battle in Bekta Delta. I have added a big team to assist in the effort to understand Gazronnaas science and technology.

“Sadly, we are all stuck!”

“Did you have any idea Andrea was thinking of leaving?” Jason asked.

“No, I had no idea. Linda told me Andrea’s primary’s father contacted her before term started and subsequently so did the husband. They have been communicating for several months. Andrea did some research, then she contacted Alana. She told Linda she was looking into her background and marriage. Andrea and Alana spoke almost every day for the last month. Andrea didn’t tell Linda what it was all about. Andrea has no gripe with you.

“Andrea is a long-term strategic operator so her recent behavior surprises me. We know Andrea enjoys the University environment; she is doing increasingly well academically and has made several friends. She and I get on well. I am flummoxed,” said Jason. “We have always had an uncomplicated but intimate relationship. We agree on most things and hardly ever argue,” said Jason, sighed and scratched his head.

“Her father had unrealistic expectations of her and never believed in her primary. Her husband beat the original Andrea, which led her to have poor self-esteem and treat people who worked with her poorly. Why would she accept their invitation?”