“We did get one,” First Officer Calista repeated again, almost pleading. She knew the news was not good, and her voice showed it.
Domina Alia Lahidan was not speaking. She had been in a good mood as her old friend Junior Domina Chohoa Awda arrived with her staff to present their results. The red sun cast a soft glow through the high windows into Lahidan’s large, well-appointed chambers. The setting was comforting and softly surreal. Lahidan had felt this was a good omen, and had been expecting news of progress.
Now Lahidan was pacing rapidly back and forth. She went over the details of Calista’s report in her mind. Over and over. Every detail. The Griffons had not retrieved the crystal at Belli, which was their target. The strike team they had sent had been completely destroyed, for reasons as yet unknown. Only the news of the death of Magnus mitigated their failures. But even this had been clumsily handled; it had gained too much attention and may have alerted the Humans that something more was afoot.
Lahidan knew First Officer Calista was a key member of Junior Domina Awda’s staff and had been the one to prepare the final report. Calista was a promising young officer, advancing more rapidly than her peers and on the fast track to being a junior domina herself. Now Awda had asked her to present the negative results, feeling her reputation would soften the impact with Lahidan. She was wrong.
Placebo, Lahidan’s male servant, had remained in the room as Awda and her entourage arrived. This was not unusual. But now Lahidan stopped her pacing in front of him and glared at him. Suddenly, she bared her teeth and with a loud cry buried her right fist into his face. With a gut-wrenching groan, Placebo fell heavily, then retreated in a painful crawl into a corner. He curled into a whimpering ball, his nose trailing blood on the floor.
Awda and her staff did not move. Lahidan continued to pace. As she passed her desk, she pounded it with her fist. Every short, staccato thrust was accompanied by a deep, animal growl.
As the one giving the report, Calista bolstered her courage to break the tension. “Mistress Domina,” she said, bowing slightly and using Lahidan’s formal title, “It is only a matter of time until we get the crystal. And they can not trace us to Magnus. Our Illian assassin worked perfectly, easily placed onboard Magnus’ ship and controlled to the very moment of destruction, which was complete. Our plan works. We are still …”
A look from Lahidan made her freeze. Lahidan yanked open a desk drawer and pulled out a blaster. She began to spin its dial, back and forth as she continued to pace.
“Calista is right, Domina,” Awda added, supporting her officer and still trying to emphasize the positive. “The fight at Belli is just a minor setback and in any case was barely noticed by any humans. We also know where the other four Demon Princes are, and they show absolutely no signs of alert.” Her voice was soothing. “We will send …” Awda froze. Lahidan had turned the blaster directly at Awda’s head, not six feet away. Lahidan’s cold eyes glared as her thumb pulled back the actuator. A dull hum indicated the blaster was set at full charge.
Awda blinked at the muzzle, then stepped forward without expression and met Lahidan’s glare. If this was the moment, she thought, then this was the moment.
Lahidan gripped her weapon so tightly that her veins could be seen pulsing around her hand and wrist. Without taking her eyes off Awda, she moved her arm ten degrees to the right and fired. The discharge shot a blast of light and heat that carried to the wall, burning a 12-inch hole into the surface. On its way there it hit Calista full in the face. Her head disappeared in a cloud of pink and yellow mist. The heat of the blast cauterized the neck. There was no blood as the body fell. Nobody else moved.
Lahidan’s arm went to her side. She still gripped the weapon tightly and still glared at Awda.
“At least Magnus is dead,” she said through her teeth.
Lahidan then turned slowly and deliberately back toward her desk. She laid the blaster down on top and sat at the chair. She gripped the edge of her desk tightly and stared at her hands, watching the blood pulse in her veins.
“I want them all,” she ordered. She spoke quietly and evenly. “Every one. Now. And Murgatroid first.”
“Yes …” Awda began.
“And Awda,” Lahidan looked at her junior domina. “I want the crystal found and brought here. Now. And Belli turned into an orbiting belt of rocks.”
“Yes, Mistress Domina.” Awda bowed and backed out of the chamber. Her officers did likewise, two of them collecting the remains of Calista as they did so.
[to be continued]
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