Chapter 1

Whilst the young man was a centre of attention for some in the lower level of Treeos Block, to many he was just ignored as he appeared to have nothing worth stealing. To those who saw what he was up to though, it was fascinating. Art in the Empire was generally big business, multibillion credit displays by technical experts rather than talented, if often poor, struggling individuals. Yes, there were tri-dees, both visual and written in the form of novels, but these were more often than not cobbled together by AIs for corporate media. Hence, in the Empire, creativity often took different paths and those who could produce something original often struggled to go mainstream.

“Wow! That’s such a good likeness,” a young girl complemented the young man.

“Well, everyone has that something special about them and I have a gift that can bring it out and show them in a picture,” he replied. “Do you want it?”

“Can I?”

“Well, yes. It is a picture of you,” he chuckled.

“Thanks...?”

“Dayyev.”

“Thanks, Dayyev.”

“Get the AIs to seal it for you, otherwise it will smudge.”

“Thanks, I will,” she beamed then hurried off as Dayyev began sketching someone else in the group watching him.

Eventually though, the crowd parted, or rather were shouldered aside by two gang members who proceeded to try and rip the pad Dayyev was using from his hand, only to grab fresh air as it moved smoothly out of reach.

“Tonnek, leader of the Bladers, wants to see you ... now!” the guy doing the grabbing stated.

“Say please,” Dayyev chuckled.

“What?”

“If you want something, you say please,” Dayyev replied to the increasingly angry looking thug.

“Look, if Tonnek wants to see you, it isn’t a request!”

“I don’t care. Say please and I might co-operate.”

The thug reached out to grab Dayyev whilst his mate pulled out a knife, only to find Dayyev could move faster than he had ever seen anyone move in such a confined space. He found himself being struck powerfully on a nerve cluster that rendered him helpless whilst the first gang member found that the knife he held was suddenly not in his hand anymore and his body was heading to the ground at a rapid rate as his legs would no longer hold him upright. Dayyev then threw the knife across the space of fifty pacemarks to embed itself directly between two young women who were watching, making one of them squawk in terror.

“Sit ladies. If one of you makes a move, trust me, you’ll regret it,” Dayyev spoke in a carrying voice to the gang observers, who both promptly sat.

“Who the shleck are you?” the original member spat out, fear making his voice break at the third word.

“Someone you should be polite to,” Dayyev chuckled. “Now, introduce yourself and tell me why this Tonnek wants to see me ... politely.”

“He wants you to draw his little sis in her finishing dress, that’s all, there was no need to get so violent!”

“Shouldn’t grab what isn’t yours or pull knives then,” Dayyev commented. “Your name?”

“Parric.”

“You see, Parric, if you’d just introduced yourself and asked me to come with you, you wouldn’t be on the ground now, wondering if I’m going to humiliate you further.”

“I get it, I get it. Sorry!”

“Good,” Dayyev chuckled and reached down to pinch part of Parric’s anatomy, loosening the nerve pinch and allowing him to rise, despite the feeling of numbness still in his arms.

“What about Riso, there?”

“He pulled a knife on me. Do you think I’ll let someone like that get up whilst I’m here?”

“I’ll ... er ... vouch for his future good behaviour?”

“Good enough for me, though you won’t like the result of you breaking your word ... either of you.”

“We’ll ... we’ll behave. Won’t we, Riso?” Parric stumbled out.

“Yeah, we’re sorry,” Riso moaned.

Dayyev reached down and undid the nerve lock on Riso. “I suggest you go over there and fetch those young ladies, then we can go see Tonnek.”

“Er yes, Dayyev,” Riso replied nervously.

“Well, off you go,” Dayyev suggested with a slight smile.

“Right.”

Ten rotations later, Dayyev and the gang members were in a room that was off the grid as far as the AIs were concerned, though it was obvious Dayyev wasn’t ... concerned that is. It was also fairly obvious to Parric that he wasn’t allowing any of the gang to get behind him as he followed them into the room and positioned himself with his back to the wall. Not that Parric had any intentions any more of provoking Dayyev. He had a pretty good idea that if Dayyev wanted him dead, he quickly would be.

“Don’t move!” Dayyev said sharply to Hinna, one of the young women who’d been observing and who was reaching for a pocket in her coverall.

“I’m just...” she began.

“Bring it out with your fingertips.”

“Er ... yes, sir,” she squeaked, clearly terrified of the young man they’d ... invited into their den.

Hinna gingerly brought out a small tube of sweetened protein chews and relaxed slightly when Dayyev simply nodded at her.

“That goes for the rest of you,” Dayyev warned. “Do not make any sudden moves and do not surprise me.”

“You heard him,” Parric added, trying to regain some authority.

At this point Tonnek, the gang leader, entered the room and paused, staring at the man whom he knew was the artist who drew people, but noting the nervousness of the gang members also in the room. It was also pretty obvious that Dirv, his ‘enforcer’, who had followed him in, was picking up the vibes as well.

“Tonnek, this is Dayyev, the guy you asked us to ... invite here,” Parric informed him nervously.

“Invite?” Dirv asked looking bemused.

“Trust me, if we hadn’t invited him, he wouldn’t be here and I suspect we all might be in the medical centre,” Parric explained.

“That’s correct, though I would have gone easy on the young ladies,” Dayyev confirmed.

Tonnek looked slightly confused as if unsure who the young ‘ladies’ were before deciding to simply act as if it had been his idea in the first place.

“Pleased to meet you, Dayyev,” he began. “I was wondering if I could get you to draw my younger sis in her academy finishing dress?”

“No problem, where is she?”

“Er ... don’t you want to talk credits?”

“I don’t charge for stuff like this.”

“Right...”

“I would like some info off you though.”

“Oh ... er, OK.”

“You’re in a territory dispute with the Spike Mantles. I’d like to know a bit about their leader, Renso?” Dayyev asked.

“We don’t know a lot, to be honest,” Tonnek shrugged. “He turned up about seven binary cycles ago from seemingly nowhere, killed the old leader, Mantti, and has then expanded the areas he’s surrounded by. Totally ruthless too. They don’t take prisoners ... or rather they do but torture them and leave them wrecked afterwards.”

“What does he look like?”

“No one knows. He wears a mask covering all his head. He leaves us alone for the moment as we’re larger than his gang, but I think he’ll make a move soon.”

“OK. Where’s your sis?”

“Follow me.”

A bit of background seems in order. I’m Dayyev, son of David and Kirim and brother to Kiria, Hilli, Truna and Galh. My Dad’s a Cure, which means he can cure anything in a human, and some humanoids to a certain extent. My Mum is a Senior Investigator in the Guardians, a sort of paramilitary police force that goes under various names in the Empire. Kiria, my sister, is a Healer and Commander in Ground Force, the Imperial army. Hilli, adopted brother, Truna and Galh, adopted sisters, are studying at Ala Upper-Level Imperial Academy. I’m about a binary cycle away from taking my final exams at the Academy, though have yet to specifically state what my career option is as I’m basically an artist and sales from my works already have given me a good income. That said, I do have a secret job for ImpSec, those responsible for the maintenance of Imperial Security throughout the Empire and beyond. Not that I’m allowed to talk about this job to my family, other than my Mum and Dad, as it basically involves going to certain places where the AIs have noted ... anomalies and having an initial nose around for ImpSec, reporting back via my Aunt Vilgra.

The other unusual thing about me is that I have a girlfriend. Not that having one is unusual, it’s just who that girlfriend is. Amanda is the Princess Royal, next in line to the throne of Amantil the Great of the Far-Flung Stars of the Imperium ... or generally Aunt Manny to me, unless it’s something official. Not that anyone not in the know would guess who Amanda was if they met her with me. She, like her sister Vicki and her Mum, wears a holo-disguise at all public appearances and the whole of the Empire, other than a few close friends and acquaintances, think they are blonde and somewhat shorter than they actually are.

Amanda, too, is about to take her final exams. After which she’ll take over a huge chunk of the ceremonial duties her Mum is supposed to do, but mostly doesn’t as running the Empire is a full-time, behind the scenes, job. Vicki, her sister and Plenna, Vicki’s boyfriend and my best friend, will also finish their exams and move on to careers in Fleet, the Imperial Space Navy, she in Command training, he to Engineering.

I do know that I’ll be expected to accompany Amanda on these duties. ImpSec will arrange for some visits to be to potential trouble spots and I’ll be asked to nose around behind the scenes whilst all attention is on Amanda herself.

“So, the local gangs are getting nervous?” Vilgra asked Dayyev later on in the day as they sat in a very non-descript office, generally used by Aunt Manny to ‘have a word’ with people she wanted to guide down certain paths. Not that this was Vilgra’s official office, or even the one in Medical Resource where she generally kept an eye on various Cures who were not as well behaved as my Dad.

“Yes, Aunty. This Renso is seriously bad news from a rival’s perspective,” Dayyev responded. “No one I spoke to could even give me a description of him.”

“Territorial?”

“Not that I could tell. I drew people all over the area and never spotted anyone who was obviously ‘gang’ watching me.”

“Yes, the AIs raised a similar concern,” Vilgra agreed.

“Not even any defined territory by gangmarks, though the Bladers all knew where it was from what they told me.”

“It’s why I asked you to have a look around. Troubleshooters stand out too much when we go there ... or at least the ones this currently warrants,” Vilgra nodded.

“Amanda wants to pop down with me when I return,” Dayyev chuckled.

“Make sure she has Truvia or Trusha and she should be fine. Amantil will step in if necessary, if she thinks there’s a real risk.”

“I can’t imagine Amanda escaping her shadow,” Dayyev chuckled.

“That’s why I said it’ll probably be OK.”

“The Empress agrees,” the AI chimed in.

“See?” Vilgra added with a smile.