My Kingdom Come book 1: The Saints We See

667 standard years after the signing of the Alliance

Valenna stared at screen in front of her for the ten thousandth time. At the top of the screen ran the words, ‘Happy birthday Hathu. I remember the field. The day you ran out to the hunt. I wish we could talk like that again, you’re old enough now. I hope you’re well.’ The rest of the screen was filled with a gibberish of letters and numbers.

Valenna looked up. “I’m sorry, I had my people run it through every cipher we have in our system and they came up with nothing.”

General Kahn let out a little growl of frustration and rubbed his forehead. “Shit. Well, thank you Valenna.”

“Who is Hathu?”

“Hathu is the rebel leader’s youngest son.”

Valenna raised an eyebrow. “Is Hathu in your custody?”

General Kahn shrugged slightly. “He’s…in custody of the emperor.”

“Have you asked him about the message?”

General Kahn let out a frustrated sigh. “No. Why would I show him a message from rebels? That’s clearly what they wanted to happen.”

Valenna shrugged. “We aren’t getting anywhere. You should ask. He might be willing to help in return for some concessions.”

* * *

Hathu tried to focus on what the dean was saying, but he couldn’t concentrate. She was furious with him. That much he could tell. She kept saying something about how bad his timing was.

Colonel Hira had been upset too. He had asked why Hathu hadn’t told him he was having such a hard time with his prime. He would have tried to help Hathu figure out an alternative to the zarpan. Colonel Hira hadn’t shouted, but the disappointment in his eyes made Hathu feel ashamed. In another few weeks that feeling would go away.

The dean slammed her fist down on the desk. “Dammit, Hira, couldn’t you have waited one more week?!”

Hathu blinked. “I…my name isn’t Hira, it’s Fons.”

The dean sighed angrily and rubbed her face. “I’m sorry. I forget you’re not the colonel’s blood son. He registered you at the school under his family name.”

“He…did?”

“You didn’t hear a damn thing I said. Did you?”

Hathu frowned. She was upset he hadn’t waited anther week to…to take the zarpan, probably. “Yes I…I tried to wait another week, general. But I couldn’t. I can’t go anywhere but school and home, because of the…” He frowned trying to gather the words that were just out of his grasp. “I’m sorry, it’s hard to remember words. I’m still on house arrest. I have so many restrictions, my options for dealing with my condition is very…it’s very limited.”

“I know. Getting you off the zarpan is going to be nearly impossible this time. Why didn’t you talk to me, or one of your teachers? We would have helped you figure something out. That’s what we’re here for, Fons.”

Hathu let out a breath. “I’m sorry. I’m not good at…” he waved his hand aimlessly trying to figure out what he wanted to say.

The general sighed. “Most good officer material isn’t good at asking for help. I guess that’s what makes us good officer material. We know how to figure stuff out on our own in the field. But sometimes…” she shook her head.

Hathu watched her look at him. He didn’t know what she wanted from him.

She sighed again. “You had so much potential.”

* * *

Hathu walked from the dean’s office down to the game fields. He’d gotten a message from Jed’s account, but it was from Jed’s double. He had asked Hathu to meet him at the game fields this morning. He was apologetic that he hadn’t been able to meet Hathu yesterday afternoon, when Hathu should have taken his second dose of zarpan, but an unavoidable delay had come up.

Hathu had begun to feel his prime rising up again since yesterday afternoon. It was still under the zarpan’s control, still below the surface, but he could feel the drug’s control weakening.

One of the emperor’s official hover cars was waiting at the edge of the field. The prince’s double was waiting for him outside the car. He watched Hathu as he walked closer. When Hathu was within talking distance he cocked his head and frowned a little. “How are you feeling?”

Hathu shrugged a shoulder. “The…the zarpan is working. Thank you.”

“Is your prime still under control?”

Hathu blinked. That seemed like an odd question for him to ask, but Hathu couldn’t put his finger on why. “Yeah. The medication is getting weak, but my prime is still under the surface.”

The prince’s double nodded. “I’m sorry to ask, it’s just something has come up and I don’t want to spring any surprises on you if you’re not able to handle them. General Kahn is with me. He has a question he needs to ask you.” He stepped towards the car and knocked on the window.

Hathu watched dully, a feeling of slight confusion pulsing at the back of his mind, as the door opened and General Kahn stepped out. He closed the door behind himself, smirking at Hathu “Well, hello Fons. How are you feeling?”

Hathu’s prime pushed, but it couldn’t come forward. Hathu’s breathing was uneven. “What do you want?”

“Your rebel family sent you a message.”

Hathu stared at Kahn. He understood the words he had said but…what he said made no sense. “What?”

Kahn scoffed. “I’ll never understand what Veli, sees in you.” He held a datapad out to Hathu.

Hathu frowned at it for a moment before taking it. He read the message on the screen: ‘Happy birthday Hathu. I remember the field. The day you ran out to the hunt. I wish we could talk like that again, you’re old enough now. I hope you’re well.’ Then there was another message written in the secret code Deetha had invented. Hathu frowned. He blinked at the screen. He tried to remember the key…

“What does it mean, Fons?”

Hathu noticed how tightly he was gripping the data-pad. He relaxed his fingers a bit. “I…” He looked up at Kahn. “I…my head isn’t clear enough to decode this.”

Kahn snorted. “Figures. You were always so damn useless.” He tried to take the datapad back from Hathu, but Hathu didn’t let go. “Give me the datapad, Fons.”

“No.” Hathu shook his head. This was the first thing he’d heard from his sister in five years. He hadn’t even known if she was still alive.

Jed’s double laid a hand on Hathu’s shoulder. “Let it go for now, Hathu. You’ll get to see it again, but it’s sensitive information. It shouldn’t leave the general’s hands for now.”

Hathu looked up at Kahn. “I’ll get to see it later?”

“Yes,” he snapped.

Hathu looked at the down at the datapad again and swallowed. He let go. Kahn tucked the datapad into his pocket. “You’ve caused us a lot of problems, Fons, and it looks like you’re going to keep causing us problems.”

The double’s hand tightened on Hathu’s shoulder for a moment, his lips flattening.

Kahn continued. “We need to sober you up, and keep you sober. The only reliable way we can do that is to get you a Durweh slave.”

Hathu blinked and frowned. He took a step back, the double’s hand slid from his shoulder. Hathu shook his head. “No. No, I..I don’t want a slave.” Memories of his father’s hunts flashed through his mind. I will not give in to my beast like that!

“It doesn’t matter what you want. The emperor needs your service, and you’re useless like this.” The general jerked open the hovercar door. “Get in.”

Hathu took another step back. His hands curled into fists, his heart was starting to beat faster. The medication had weakened a little more. “No.”

Jed’s double touched his shoulder again. “You aren’t going to be forced into anything, Hathu. I promise. But we have a particular young man in mind for you and we would like you to meet him. If you meet him and still don’t want him, we’ll find another way.”

Hathu swallowed and stared at the prince’s double. It felt like he was looking into his friend’s face. He trusted Jed. “You promise?”

The double nodded. “I promise.”